ENTREPRENEUR WELLNESS || 6 Tips I’ve Learned over 2 Decades to Retain Your Sanity
At select points during your entrepreneurial journey, it will feel like the world is conspiring against you.
This past month has been a real test of my sanity, where it feels like anything that can go wrong will go wrong. At times like this, you will feel like you aren’t doing enough, you aren’t a great boss, and probably even not suitable to run a business. Life’s most prominent question of “What am I doing here?” is amplified a hundred-fold as you’re required to confront it again and again to justify your worth in something YOU started.
Here are a few things I’ve learned over two decades running for-profit and non-profit businesses in turbulent times to keep a hold on my sanity.
1 | Sleep on it
You don’t want to make rash decisions. Nor send that angry email. Or make that phone call when you’re not in the right mindset. Sleeping on it tells you that even if you didn’t solve the problem yesterday, nobody died, the world is still running, and the sun still rose from the east. I can’t tell you how many times this has saved me from making poor decisions, but a good night’s rest, or even any sort of rest for your brain, is better than calling the shots when your fuel tank is empty.
2 | Do something else to give the problem some breathing room
Your best ideas and solutions come to you when you’re not actively putting a magnifying glass on it. So, if something is nagging away at you and you find yourself examining every little detail like a crazy lunatic, it’s time to give the problem some breathing room. Switch tasks and get other things done first. Wallowing and dreading the outcome of a problem you have little control over is a waste of time. If you are in control but feel like your thoughts aren’t clear, and the options are still fuzzy around the edges, time away from it, even if for only a few hours, can help bring clarity. If you need even more time, refer to #1.
3 | Let people go to free them and yourself
There will be more than a few people you interview and bring onto the team only to find out that while they are great, they are great for another business or culture, just not yours. You may fight to find a spot in the company where they can shine, but sometimes, the misalignment in culture and values is too much. It’s dragging both of you down. In these cases, it’s better to let go and set a deadline for when to let go.
In another scenario, people outgrow your company, and that’s okay. You should help them move on. If you trust them enough to tell you the truth, do an exit interview where they can tell you about all the improvements they feel you can make to the business.
4 | Earn financial freedom for your business
As in our personal lives, financial ‘freedom’ in your business is also very important. What would give you freedom and peace of mind is up to you to decide. A 3-month runway is enough for some firms to tie them over for foreseeable seasonality. A 12-month cash stockpile in the bank may be the bare minimum for another business owner to feel at ease.
An owner must constantly forecast the economic headwinds to protect and safeguard their business. A well-known Chinese saying amongst entrepreneurs is: “It’s easy to start a business, but it’s hard to protect it [for the long term].” Only you know the dangers of your industry and how much you need in the bank to weather the storm.
If you want to sleep at night without worrying about paying your staff, prepaid taxes, rent, and inventory, build that cash reservoir to the threshold where you can feel that you have financial freedom in your business. Having such freedom with your money frees up mind space to pursue growth for your business.
5 | Consider first, second, and third-order consequences
Make sure you know the impact of your choices. Think of first, second, and third-order consequences as your options’ immediate, mid-term, and long-term outcomes. For example, if you have to choose a product or service to remove from your offerings to preserve your business’s overall financial well-being, which one would you select? What are the projected results of this move? Most people are reactionary and short-sighted, so they only see the first-order consequences. Leaders who pay attention to economic and competitive landscape changes have more information to evaluate second and third-order consequences. So, it’s an ongoing habit that you must develop in order to have adequate information to make good choices.
6 | Take a step back to see the full picture
Owners spend a lot of time working in the business because they play all these roles: accountant, social media creator, receptionist, HR, marketing manager, operations manager and more. Think of it as when you start out, you’re spending 100% of your time trying to get business in the door; the next step is saving up enough money to bring on your first hires, at which point you can, hopefully, free up 10% of your time to take a step back every so often to look around and see what the market and your competitors are doing. As you bring on more trustworthy team members, you should regularly step back to see the full picture. The ability to survey the landscape ties back to #5 because the time you invest in understanding the market and what’s going on around you gives you better information to navigate your ship, which is your business.
There’s so much more that I’ve learned in the nearly two decades I’ve been in business, but these are the foundational things that come to mind when I think of things out of habit that keep my sanity intact. I foresee another wave coming that may involve a credit crunch in the market, higher unemployment, and reduced consumer spending. As an agency owner, not only do I need to figure out the route for my business, I also need to consider how we would advise our clients with their marketing spend. The good news is I actually enjoy doing these things. When you run a business, the money and the passion aren’t enough. You must really, really, really love what you do because why else would you be trading years of your life to do this every day?
