Botkeeper
As a small business owner, you’re surrounded by stress from morning to night (and even in your sleep). But there are ways to kill the killer of productivity and reclaim each day as a chance to make your mark in the world of entrepreneurship. Here are five ways to de-stress your days.
1. Choose the right working hours.
One of the hardest things for business owners to do is maximize profit while minimizing overhead. In today's remote work world, not all your employees (or clients) will necessarily be within driving distance of your "office." Being available for your firm's customers during their working hours, however, is an obvious requirement. If the majority of your clients do seem to be in one geographic area, you can align yourself to that. Other options include introducing shifts to ensure someone is always available for your customers, or choosing operating hours that overlap at least some part of all your clients' workdays.
2. Communicate needs to employees and vendors alike.
When you work for yourself, you quickly find out that you are not the only person you need to be successful. A small business’s success is the result of its management and the support it receives from employees and vendors. Communicate your needs early and often. For example, if you find yourself with regular scheduling conflicts, consider investing in an employee management system or scheduling software to help you keep things moving without double booking yourself. Discuss potential changes to your operating hours and scheduling needs with your employees.
3. Keep the right people in your corner.
Speaking of your employees, you must put forth plenty of effort to ensure you have the right people in your corner. Plan your hiring strategy in a way that prioritizes what you actually need and, when it comes time to have multiple people on staff, avoid taking on new employees with the same skill set as your existing ones. Having individuals in place with complementary skills will help you cover a broader area of business. Business services provider Xero offers more information on how to hire the right people for your firm.
4. Stay physically fit.
It’s no secret that you have to stay active in order to be physically healthy but you may not realize your fitness routine affects your mental health as well. This includes your ability to handle stress at home and at work. If you find yourself stuck on a particular task, take a few minutes for a quick walk around the block. While it’s easy to fall into a pattern of playing catch-up during your quiet time, sneaking in a few minutes of exercise instead of work will kick your brain into high gear and help you feel more self-confident and energetic. Further, taking a short break will help you refocus your attention and you’ll return to your duties ready to get things done. Can’t leave the office? No problem. Inc. shares several simple exercises you can do indoors and at your desk.
5. Sleep.
Your nighttime habits affect your daytime abilities. Sleep should be a priority. Find ways to automate, delegate or eliminate tasks that take up too much of your time so that you can break away from your business at a reasonable hour and get some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Sleep has a multitude of benefits, the least of not which is improved concentration, which will help you power through your work today so you don’t have to go home and fret about the loose ends that didn’t get wrapped up by EOB.
Stress can tank your ability to be an effective leader. But only if you let it. If you want to truly be successful, you have to be stress-free; otherwise, your professional wins will equate to personal losses. If you want your firm to be free of the stress of low-margin, time-sucking bookkeeping, we have just the AI- and machine-learning-powered solution. Botkeeper automates your clients' bookkeeping with easy connectivity to financial institutions, automates journal entries for loans, provides detailed task and project management and MUCH more. AT only $69 per client per month, it's a no-brainer for making your firm's life easier. Get started with Botkeeper today!
