By Cheryl Conklin www.wellnesscentral.info
Starting or growing a business under normal circumstances can be taxing. Add the strain of the pandemic to that, and it's no surprise you may be feeling burnt out while working toward your entrepreneurial aspirations. There are steps you can take to ease the stress, though, and find more balance in your life.
1. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Reduce or eliminate entirely small demands on your time and energy. Make a list of everything you might need to do during your normal workday, and then choose three of these that are the least important or time-intensive. Alternate lower-level tasks so you aren't doing them every day. For instance, cut back on posting on your business social media accounts or reuse or repurpose content so that you don't have to create new content each time.
2. Don’t Drop the Big Stuff
Nothing will cause you more turmoil in your business than basic functions not working when you need to be able to rely on them. Give your time and mental energy to those things that you do best, and let others handle the rest.
Managing business finances can be a full-time job, and miscalculations and late payments can come with serious penalties. Avoid the stress and hire a CPA. They know how to make estimated tax payments, find the right business deductions, and offer quality advice for your company’s finances based on data.
Consider your early stage checklist: Payroll comes first. Payroll is one area where mistakes can be expensive in both quantitative and qualitative ways. If you deposit employee taxes late, you can be slapped with serious fines. If you deposit employee pay cheques late, employees will become frustrated, less invested in producing quality and timely work, and more likely to abandon the company. Use a service that handles payroll for startup companies to run your payroll for you and save you the stress of producing pay cheques. Ideally, this should allow for direct deposit, time tracking, and even tax filing.
3. Give Back to Yourself
As much as you want it to succeed, you can't give your whole self to your business and expect not to burn out, especially with COVID still adding stress to the world. Carve out some time in your schedule to help keep your mind and body in good shape and capable of handling what the workdays bring.
Make time every day to exercise your body, even if it is a simple walk around your block. Exercise gives the brain both immediate, short-term benefits such as the release of endorphins and long-term benefits by building a better blood supply to the brain that helps improve mental health.
Some forms of exercise like yoga have added benefits like increasing focus. According to Harvard Medical School, yoga also helps those with depression and anxiety manage their symptoms by improving the body's ability to manage stress. With online classes from Yogaaah, you can practice yoga right from your office during your lunch break. Or bring Yogaaah to the office with a qualified instructor who can teach your group right on the premises.
Meditation has also been proven to help reduce stress and manage anxiety, as well as improving emotional connections. It's also been shown to improve sleep quality. Adequate sleep is an important part of staying healthy as sleep deprivation can lead to any number of serious health problems, but its role in mental and physical health often is overlooked.
Don't let the stress of COVID and running your business run you into the ground. Prioritize what you must at work, delegate when and what you can, and give back to your mind and body so they can see you and your business through this stressful time.
Starting or growing a business under normal circumstances can be taxing. Add the strain of the pandemic to that, and it's no surprise you may be feeling burnt out while working toward your entrepreneurial aspirations. There are steps you can take to ease the stress, though, and find more balance in your life.
1. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Reduce or eliminate entirely small demands on your time and energy. Make a list of everything you might need to do during your normal workday, and then choose three of these that are the least important or time-intensive. Alternate lower-level tasks so you aren't doing them every day. For instance, cut back on posting on your business social media accounts or reuse or repurpose content so that you don't have to create new content each time.
2. Don’t Drop the Big Stuff
Nothing will cause you more turmoil in your business than basic functions not working when you need to be able to rely on them. Give your time and mental energy to those things that you do best, and let others handle the rest.
Managing business finances can be a full-time job, and miscalculations and late payments can come with serious penalties. Avoid the stress and hire a CPA. They know how to make estimated tax payments, find the right business deductions, and offer quality advice for your company’s finances based on data.
Consider your early stage checklist: Payroll comes first. Payroll is one area where mistakes can be expensive in both quantitative and qualitative ways. If you deposit employee taxes late, you can be slapped with serious fines. If you deposit employee pay cheques late, employees will become frustrated, less invested in producing quality and timely work, and more likely to abandon the company. Use a service that handles payroll for startup companies to run your payroll for you and save you the stress of producing pay cheques. Ideally, this should allow for direct deposit, time tracking, and even tax filing.
3. Give Back to Yourself
As much as you want it to succeed, you can't give your whole self to your business and expect not to burn out, especially with COVID still adding stress to the world. Carve out some time in your schedule to help keep your mind and body in good shape and capable of handling what the workdays bring.
Make time every day to exercise your body, even if it is a simple walk around your block. Exercise gives the brain both immediate, short-term benefits such as the release of endorphins and long-term benefits by building a better blood supply to the brain that helps improve mental health.
Some forms of exercise like yoga have added benefits like increasing focus. According to Harvard Medical School, yoga also helps those with depression and anxiety manage their symptoms by improving the body's ability to manage stress. With online classes from Yogaaah, you can practice yoga right from your office during your lunch break. Or bring Yogaaah to the office with a qualified instructor who can teach your group right on the premises.
Meditation has also been proven to help reduce stress and manage anxiety, as well as improving emotional connections. It's also been shown to improve sleep quality. Adequate sleep is an important part of staying healthy as sleep deprivation can lead to any number of serious health problems, but its role in mental and physical health often is overlooked.
Don't let the stress of COVID and running your business run you into the ground. Prioritize what you must at work, delegate when and what you can, and give back to your mind and body so they can see you and your business through this stressful time.