How do you keep your sanity?
Those of you who are small business owners know the seemingly endless
barrage of challenges that come your way every day. Managing those details to make your business
successful is an essential trait of an entrepreneur, in addition to the ability
to think ahead, plan, and execute strategies to grow the business further, make
more money, and build a better lifestyle for you and your family.
Managing all that “stuff” is one of the challenges that can
make or break the business, and in some cases our own spirit. To do it successfully requires the ability to
prioritize so that we give proper attention to the most important tasks. It requires a clear knowledge of where the
business is headed so that our actions take the business in the direction we
intend. It requires extreme discipline
in getting up every day to do what we do even when some of the tasks required
aren’t our favorite things to work on, or that we aren’t very good at. It requires persistence such that even when
things don’t go as we plan, the odds are in our favor that our efforts will
eventually succeed. How small business
owners bring these qualities to their business every day is essential to their
success or failure.
The threats to our businesses and to our own well-being are
in the volume and complexity of the challenges faced every day. The temptation is to try to be a super hero
and fly from task to task with eternal energy and lightning speed putting out
the fires, wowing your customers, and winning the admiration and follower-ship
of your team. But we aren’t super
heroes, and that attempted behavior always ends badly, usually at a high cost
to our business, our health, our relationships, and more. The allure of trying to be great at
“multitasking” has also proven to be a poor way to perform, because the
constant changeover time between tasks actually ends up wasting more time than
we think we are gaining.
So how can we manage to build the successful businesses we
want? Here are some basic tips that have
proven effective:
- Block out periods of time to focus on the important functions you need to complete. Maybe you need to spend one hour per day on followup calls and email, an hour on employee issues, two hours on marketing and sales, an hour on book work, etc. Block everything else out, and deal with the distractions on your timetable.
- Have a clear view of your strategic plan or direction so that everything you do adds to the progress you planned.
- Measure something in your business. Reviewing your numbers, your “scorecard”, helps to ground you in the reality of where the business is at, so that you make better decisions than you would if you let “gut feel” be your compass.
- Delegate. I know how tough this may be for you, letting go of tasks that you know intimately, and that you are afraid will get screwed up if someone else does them. But building a valuable business requires delegation, and it is well worth finding ways to shed certain tasks if it leads to more income, lifestyle, wealth and equity for you.
- Find a coach/mentor/advisor to help you stay your course, focus you on the most important things, and hold you accountable for accomplishing the strategies you’ve set. When you’re drowning in details, having someone to throw you a lifebuoy that sets you back on track is invaluable.
When you are feeling bogged down by the details, working
hard but getting nowhere, consider implementing one or two of these important
tips to get your business moving forward again.