The first year that you run your business is going to be one of the most stressful of your life. One study of 326 members of Business Networking International (BNI) found 28% of entrepreneurs felt moderately to strongly burned out. If you want to run a successful business, then you need to beat those odds. Here are five tips you can follow to reduce your stress levels and run your business successfully.
1. Identify services that you can outsource.
As a business owner, you are in charge of everything from cybersecurity on the company website, to getting any relevant software you are going to need (for example, if you are going to be starting a sportsbook, this payperhead software may be a good option), to human resources hiring and firing. Successful business owners outsource to reliable partners who are experts in their field, reducing their workload and things to worry about.
Identify a few essential elements of your business that you want to outsource. Information technology (IT) support and cybersecurity are two of the most common elements. A business owner can set up an MSP account and their technology provider can help with website authentication, the employee intranet, and employee access to company apps.
This is just one way you can offload a significant aspect of your business without sacrificing quality management. You can also outsource painstaking customer service to Chirpish, or find any number of cloud-based and remote services that can offer expertise instead of you having to handle it directly.
2. Set clear goals for growth.
When you run your business, you should have a bigger goal than to just survive. Smart entrepreneurs create micro-goals for growth that they track over time. These include metrics like a set number of new clients each month or the percent increase in potential leads.
Goals also help your employees. Each team member should have at least one clear goal (with a quantifiable metric) to achieve each month or year. They can also have a stretch goal to encourage them to perform better. As you grow your staff, consider setting up a business OKR (objectives and key results) system to track these goals within your team.
3. Learn how to receive feedback.
No one likes to hear that they didn’t provide the best customer service or need to improve their management skills. This is particularly hard when you are doing your best to run your business. However, if you can learn to accept constructive criticism and take feedback with grace, you can adapt and drive better results than before.
Start by asking your team members to provide feedback on various policies, presentations, and practices. Listen to your employees and make them feel heard. They may come up with some of the best ideas to move your brand forward.
4. Practice delegating.
Learning to delegate is an essential skill for any business owner. Not only can you grow your business with multiple people jumping in to help, but you can also build up the skills of your team members by giving them new tasks and responsibilities.
Delegating shows that you trust your team. You believe that they can get the work done just as well without your intervention or guidance. When done well, this can build up employee loyalty and help your business thrive.
5. Work with a mentor who you trust.
It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to get decision fatigue, or the inability to think through options and make the best choice for that situation. When you have to make so many choices each day, you can start to feel tired when asked about basic issues. A mentor can help guide you through this. They can intervene when you seem too overworked and help you focus on your big-picture goals.
Look into joining a local networking community for other entrepreneurs or people in your industry. You can find like-minded people who want to help.
Running a business is challenging, but it can also be one of the most rewarding things you do. With these tips, you can set your business up for success.