THE X FACTOR BLOG

Stress is something we all experience and unfortunately cannot be eliminated altogether. However stress doesn’t have to be an entirely negative emotion –  after all, it’s generally what gets us motivated to take action! A certain amount of stress can actually be healthy, so long as the symptoms of it don’t affect our day to day life.

Reacting to stress in a positive way is all about being prepared and having the right tools in our arsenal to counteract it. Ideally, we need:

A Support System – Being in business can not only be stressful, but it can also be incredibly lonely.  Surrounding yourself with the right support structure is crucial to your business success and your overall wellbeing. As humans we are social creatures, it is in our nature to want to talk, share and discuss. As a business owner you need to surround yourself with trustworthy people who can offer quality advice and act as a sounding board. This group may be made up of personal friends and family but should also contain select professionals such as an accountant, banker, lawyer, business coach, or even a coaching club.

Don’t Try to ‘DIY’ Everything – As a small business owner you are often forced to wear many hats – many of which won’t play to your natural strengths. When one person tries to do everything (e.g. accounting, marketing/selling, general administration AND hold themselves accountable to goals), it often ends up costing you money, time, health and wellbeing in the long term. Instead, where possible, outsource functions that could be done more effectively by someone else.

Plan Your Time and Set Realistic Goals – Sometimes business owners get stressed because they feel like everything has gotten out of control - clients want their work done yesterday and they feel as if time has run away from them. Not all things can be planned for, but they can be allowed for, especially when you effectively manage your time and those events you CAN control. Sit down and take the time to plan out your day the night before, along with your week and month.

Treat the things you need to do as meetings and allocate a certain about of time to get them done. Don’t let everything just happen and assume you will get it all done. Set yourself goals for what you want to achieve and map out how you are going to get there. Not setting goals and not planning is like having a destination but no map and no idea of how you are actually going to get there.

Learn to Say NO – Often we are so busy trying to please everyone and acquiring every new client that comes our way that we end up over-committing ourselves. Over-committing is not only stressful but can also be detrimental to our business, as it means we are not able to give our entire focus to our current clients and service them to the best of our abilities. In reality we should be picking the best jobs that give us the most return, working really hard on them and treating those clients like royalty.

Manage Your Cashflow – One of the most stressful things in business is not having enough cash. To alleviate this, make sure you visit your accountant and work out a cashflow plan to predict and manage your cashflow, i.e. when you can spend and when you need to tighten the belt.

Stress can be a motivator to get us to achieve greater things OR it can be a hindrance in our daily lives.  There is no way to eliminate stress altogether, but by taking some time to prepare and create a toolkit, we can learn to manage stress to make the most of its positive attributes and limit its negative effects.