Are You a Good Boss to Yourself?
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Most small business owners enjoy the freedom of choosing their own hours, working from their own offices and making their own rules.
Are they good bosses to themselves? In most cases, no. The average small business owner has never learned to delegate the tasks that they don’t enjoy or don’t excel at. They aren’t aware that there are virtual assistants available to help them with these.
They tend to push and over extend themselves, often to the peril of their own health, not realizing that some part of their business are high priority while others can be left to another day. The original intent of business owners is to have time for themselves, their families and their interests but they quickly find themselves so immersed in the business that they have little time for anything.
Even business owners need to stick to a schedule. That means not working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. If you’re focused on your work, eventually you should be able to manage a business successfully working what others would consider part-time hours. You also need to be able to put thoughts of your business aside when not working and so many business owners have a difficult time with this. They also dread relinquishing any control at all to an associate or assistant.
Not all business owners are lucky enough to just work for themselves. Many work outside the home while they’re building their business and many have children they’re also responsible for and children don’t stick to a schedule. This is where you have to learn to juggle your many hats, ask for help and don’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion. A good boss knows when their employee has had enough. You want to enjoy your work, not feel that it’s just another chore that has to be completed. The most important thing you can do is make sure you give yourself vacations, even if it is only for several days.
Invest in yourself. The most successful businesses know that the road to long term, intelligent, loyal employees is to invest in them. Spend time education yourself on business practises that you aren’t familiar with. Learn something new, even it if doesn’t seem to pertain to your business. Expand your knowledge in any way that interests you.
Forgive yourself. We all make mistakes and remembering that will help you through the times when you’re berating yourself for something you did that you think is stupid. Appreciate the fact that you built this business all on your own and that each day will be part of a learning curve. Not everyone has put the effort into building a business and you should be proud of yourself.
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Several years ago, a study from the Max Planck Institute found that stress can be extremely contagious. Just being around someone who is depressed, very stressed or observing stressful situations can cause you to also become stressed. Surprisingly, stressful situations online and reading articles about stress, (such as this one!), also raise your stress levels.
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with ways to relax and relieve our stress, news on our health and how to improve it, is it any wonder that more of us are stressed each day?
Each business owner, within their own small business, will always have a certain amount of stress and small amounts of stress are good for us, they can motivate us to get things done that we otherwise wouldn’t bother with.
But when you start to add in the other responsibilities such as family, trying to find time to spend with friends, outside interests of our own, our stress builds. Add to that the stress of others and you can become a walking time bomb for ill health. How do you juggle the things you have to do with those you like to do and at the same time avoid the added stressors that come with it.
First, take a look at the people you do spend your time with. You know which of these people get upset easily, are depressed or negative. These are the ones you need to avoid or spend less time with. Rather than agreeing with them that everything is going downhill, remember, you do have your own opinions and it’s best to stick with them. Most people empathize far too much and that empathy can actually be bad for you. Other people’s stress and bad feelings can drain you and that’s the last thing that we, as business owners, need.
For example, Susan, a small business owner, who only has weekends to spend time on herself and her interests, has a new boyfriend, we’ll call him Bill. Bill works part-time and doesn’t have any additional responsibilities. After several months of dating, he is complaining because Susan doesn’t have the time to spend with him that he wishes she could. At the same time, he has resentments toward a variety of people and things and seems to get depressed easily. Susan is starting to feel the stress of Bill’s complaints toward her and also about the many other things that bother him. She feels that he isn’t being fair but also feels guilty because she can’t spend the time with him that he’d like her to. This is a perfect setup for contagious stress, where Bill’s bad attitude and depression can transfer to Susan, until she is also feeling anxious.
Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves to ensure that our negative feelings, (and we all have them) don’t grow to the point where they wipe out any good that we do for ourselves. When you take into consideration the fact that outside stressors can also come in human form, this makes it even more important that we focus on what is most important to us. While our family and friends will always be important to us, we can’t allow their stress to become ours.
With rumblings in the news of another recession on the way and politicians advising us to tighten our belts, how can we, as small business owners, ensure our business will make it through the next recession successfully.
In Canada especially, the GDP is falling along with the dollar, China is purposely weakening their yuan, oil prices have dropped worldwide and the US is headed into a recession for the second time, which never bodes well for a world where many commodities are based on the US dollar.
What can a small business owner do when all of these different factors are affecting their business?
Even in a bad market, consumers still need necessities and while their idea of luxuries may downgrade, those little luxuries will still be important to them. Focusing on the items you sell which aren’t expensive but are still thought of as unnecessary is an option in this case. There are services which are always needed and if your business is at all maintenance related or health related, it may still sail through the hard times if you’re careful.
This is the time to offer discounts. If there are any prices you can cut, do it now and not only will your most loyal customers stay with you, you may bring in new customers that have jumped to you from a more expensive competitor. Realizing ahead of time that there will be less purchases over all by consumers will help you adjust your selling and marketing strategy instead of being surprised when you find that your profits are dropping.
Now is the time to cut back on your spending. If you carry an inventory, don’t keep anything extra in stock. If you don’t absolutely need it, don’t buy it. Look for ways to diversify your business if possible. Focus on what you do best and which services and products you provide which are the most popular.
Keeping in close touch with your customers at this time is the best thing you can do. Ask them what they need and want the most and then provide it, at a low price if you’re able. A small business that is well taken care of can vastly out perform a large corporation during a recession. Customers tend to shop closer to home and keep their money in their own area rather than give it to an unknown company.
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How do you evaluate the success of your business? By your profit? By the number of sales? By your popularity?
While these were once the usual ways of measuring success, many business owners now find that this is not enough. Besides feeling comfortable with what they are doing, they also want their business to stand for something more than just selling a service or product.
Most business owners are very aware of how quickly things change and they would like to leave some type of footprint behind. Their business is one way of creating this footprint. Business owners would like others to see their business as caring and putting effort into making the world a better place. Whether this is through more sustainable products or through donations to a cause, be clear in what you stand for and show your customers and other business owners that you mean what you say.
Create solutions that are workable. Solve real problems through example. Show others the challenges you have faced and how you managed to overcome them. Make sure your vision aligns with the products you are selling. Back up each and every one with your personal guarantee. Try to make a contribution that will inspire others and at the same time, will improve their standard of living.
Sometimes higher quality products will mean higher prices for your customers but most are willing to pay a little extra in return for what they receive, which is a better product with your name behind it. Ask questions before agreeing to use certain ingredients or resources for your products. Don’t be afraid to be the first business that refuses to lower quality in order to offer your customers a good price.
If you feel your business needs a change, then change it. Sometimes instead of improving your products, what your customers really would like to see is how much you believe in the services and products you already offer. They like to see the person and the personality behind the business and that you stand for something.
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