The Nightmare Entrepreneurs Never Talk About

Maybe you started your own business with the idea that self-employment was the answer to all your problems. You could be your own boss, set your own hours, and earn a large income.

HA! Little did you know that being your own boss means you need to understand and/or do everyone’s  job; Setting your own hours means you needed to be the first one to arrive in the morning, the last one to leave at night, often working 20 hours per day, 7 days per week; AND the income you will earn is calculated only AFTER first paying everyone else … AND if there is anything left over after that, investing it back into your business… AND if there anything left after that,  maybe you can draw a salary,  which is usually considerably lower than the one you received at the job your quit to start your business.

The affect of stress in the workplace and on productivity has been well studied and documented in the past few years. According to an academic study done by the COMSATS Institute, the main stressors for employees were personal issues, lack of administration support, lack of acceptance for work done, unpredictability of work environments and inadequacy of monetary reward. These stressors resulted in decreased job performance and increased turnover. Employers are becoming more aware of this problem and are attempting to make changes with employee engagement programs, team building, and morale boosting activities.

But what about you, the self-employed entrepreneur? Now that you own your own business, all this corporate stress will just begin to fade away, right? You couldn’t be more wrong! Whatever stress was experienced as an employee will be quadrupled. The Wall Street Journal states that 50{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} of small businesses will fail. Stress will eat into your profits and productivity and could be the deciding factor in whether your business will survive. Mastering and overcoming the stresses of your workplace is vital.

KEEP YOURSELF IN THE GAME! Make next year a HAPPIER NEW YEAR!

There are things you can do and ways to restructure your current systems and procedures that can help you become more efficient, productive, and profitable while lowering stress. 

Let’s tackle these stressors one by one:

Personal Issues:

These are present for everyone, however, once you are self-employed the personal and the professional life are no longer separated. The stress of work and personal life will begin to pile on top of each other.

        TIP#1 Set aside time and space in your home where business will be done. Life will leak into business from time to time, but keeping these mostly separated will help to manage the stress of both.

Lack of Administrative Support:

When you own your own business, you ARE your administrative support. For those of us that do not enjoy paper or computer work, this can become a huge stressor.

TIP#2 You may want to find outside administrative help, even only part time. This can free up a good deal of time spent doing activities you are not comfortable or proficient at. If your budget does not allow for an extra hand, reach out to others and educate yourself in the administrative tasks you need to tackle.

Lack of Acceptance:

There is nothing more discouraging than investing of time and money developing a product or service, just to have it rejected over and over again. In an ideal world, everyone would enjoy and utilize your product. The reality, however, is that only a select group of the population will buy and use it. In theory, it may seem like a larger target market would result in more customers and a more successful business. The reality, however, is exactly the opposite.

TIP#3 The more targeted and purposeful your marketing is, the more certain customers will be that they need what you offer. In addition, a small business does not have the resources to market to a very large audience. Highly targeted and purposeful marketing will yield better results and give you plenty of customers relieving some of the stress of rejection and financial worry.

Inadequacy of Monetary Reward:

Low cash flow is every business owners nightmare.  If you do not see the cash flow, you will become discouraged and stressed.

TIP#4 Train yourself to think ROI – return on investment. How much are you actually making AFTER expenses? Avoid spending money before its in your hands. Invest what you make back into your business. Sell your products/services for what they are worth to the target market that can afford them.

Unpredictability of the Market:

How many clients will you attract next week, next month, next year? Small business owners live with unpredictability. There is no guaranteed paycheck every two weeks.

TIP#5 Keep plenty of prospective clients in your pipe line. Lead generation is the key to finding new markets and more loyal, repeat business. You must develop rapport, where a client begins to call you their trusted adviser because they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST you. This will create repeat customers who provide quality referrals.

Did you know how powerful LinkedIn is for generating leads and connecting with decision makers?…

Have you discovered the power of LINKEDIN to fill your lead generation pipe line?

Companies who are not using LinkedIn are missing out on a veritable flood of  NEW BUSINESS and PAYING CLIENTS!

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