This post was submitted by Sarah Loise, consulting young start uppers using her knowledge of commercial off-the-shelf systems, merchandise and engineering.

There’s no “perfect time” to start a business from scratch, so don’t wait for that “right moment.” It takes lots of courage and persuasiveness to succeed – that’s all you need.

Yes, opening up a business can be stressful, time consuming and small business owner anxiety is part of the process. But if you are determined to flourish, everything becomes bearable. Here are some tips on how to manage the stress of starting a new business, and reach those crazy goals!

DEALING WTIH SMALL BUSINESS OWNER ANXIETY WHEN YOU’RE STARTING UP

Think Optimistically

When we concentrate too much on things that could go wrong, we usually forget about the things that go well. It’s important to focus on the positive aspects of your work. Stress comes out of frustration, and lack of self-sufficiency. If you are aware of your productiveness and remember to thank yourself daily for your progress, you’ll become a less-stressed version of yourself.

Here some useful habits that you could develop in order to thrive both financially and personally in your business life:

• Design 10 minutes for thinking and evaluating your day before going to bed.
• Soon after waking up, reflect on your goals for the day; write them down if that keeps you motivated.
• Take moments throughout the day to thank yourself, and show gratitude towards your business partners (if you have any) – let them know how you feel about the work they are performing.
• As I’ve aforementioned, instead of focusing on what goes wrong, take another look at the problems you are facing, and come up with solutions; it’s easier to complain than to solve an issue, that’s true, but the question is: is it productive to do so?
• Don’t let other people’s pessimism get to you – if your family, relatives, or friends do no trust you, don’t get discouraged: it’s enough for you to trust yourself!
• Learn from your mistakes, but avoid making them again – failures are good life lessons; they teach us how to be strong and continue even in the toughest moments. Don’t be scared if things don’t go perfectly well from the start – try again, and again, and again, until you succeed.

It’s never too late to change your mindset, and take life less seriously. Stop controlling everything, relax a little bit more, and embrace all of your mistakes. Think positively, develop happiness habits and stop caring about what your peers might or might not approve of and you will start noticing that small business owner anxiety melt away.

And you don’t have to go at it alone, you can join online groups such as Canadian Wellness Bloggers here (totally welcome wherever you are in the world), attend  networking events and have a small mastermind group with others in the field so you can share ideas, struggles and tips to succeed.

Do Not Multitask

Shocker! Multitasking decreases your efficiency and long-time productivity. Avoid performing multiple tasks at once. In order to make the best out of your working time, prioritize tasks (see point 3), and don’t try to accomplish everything at once. Take baby steps towards achieving your business goals. The more objectives you try to achieve simultaneously, the more stressful you’ll become – and you really don’t want that to happen.

• Separate tasks in your daily life, not only in your business life – for instance, when you eat, stay away from the TV, or your computer screen (that’s also multitasking!).
• Buy some really good headphones, and forget about your other activities while you are working – concentrate on your tasks, and your tasks only. Forget about your 5 PM business meeting, or your romantic dinner with your spouse. Be present! If you need to be reminded of various activities, set alarms, and rely on those.
• Learn how to develop mindfulness – take at least 30 minutes per day for yourself. Wake up early in the morning, meditate, or do yoga! It will help you destress a lot. Breathe in, breathe out, you got this!

Don’t forget about having fun! Focus on your work while you are working, but after you’ve done with your tasks, relax, and design time for yourself. Read, watch a good comedy on Netflix, walk your dog – do anything that relaxes to you.

Prioritize Tasks

Prioritizing your tasks is truly important in order to stay efficient. As I mentioned earlier, multitasking is damaging to your work flow – but unfortunately, that’s exactly what most people end up doing when they forget to plan their days ahead and figure out their responsibilities.

• Never miss a deadline! If you promised yourself to finish your tasks by a certain time and date, respect that. Respect the promises you make to yourself – otherwise, how are you going to hold yourself accountable for your actions? Be honest with yourself, and set attainable goals – don’t go for more than you can accomplish. Set boundaries, and know your limits!
• Think about the consequences – to avoid stressful situations, think about the consequences that you’ll have to support if you do not respect your own promises. When you think things ahead, everything becomes clearer and easier to handle.
• Schedule your business calls, office hours, and personal time every single week. Staying organized is essential to your productivity and stress management and handling that small business owner anxiety that creeps in with uncertainty.

In a nutshell: don’t negotiate with yourself. I know you are your own boss, but that doesn’t make you less of a boss anyways. Be strict with yourself, and honest with your deadlines and goal setting rules.

Invest in Your Business

As a business owner, you must already know that investing in your own business is a crucial step towards development. However, many new owners prefer not to take risks. They believe that will stress them less in the short run, and increase their productivity in the long run.

Let me tell you something: if you don’t invest in your business now, you’ll stress out later. Investment is crucial to any business expansion or progress. Investing now is actually smarter. Some advice:

• You have numerous investment options available for you, make sure you research well.
• Invest in your staff through continuing education and training opportunities. With coronavirus fears continuing to plague nearly every industry across the world, service workers and restaurant owners would be wise to consider undertaking online food handler’s certification training to gain the skills you need to safely handle food products.
• Don’t invest everything in once – invest in tranches to avoid risks.
• Believe in yourself.
• Put a price on your shares.
• Take into consideration that losing is a possibility to avoid freaking out later.

Wrapping Up

Dealing with stressful situations is a common thing in the life of a business owner. Think optimistically, don’t multitask, prioritize your tasks, and invest in your business if you want the best results. Success doesn’t come easy, but it lasts long! Good luck.

Don’t forget to join the Canadian Wellness Bloggers Facebook group here (totally welcome wherever you are in the world) to connect with other entrepreneurs to share your wins, struggles and successes.

Sarah Loise

As an active constituent of the MyMathDone.com website, Sarah is creating new content and maintaining it. She is also consulting young start uppers using her knowledge of commercial allowed matters, commercial off-the-shelf systems, merchandise and engineering.