There’s much to love about being an entrepreneur. You’re able to put your ideas into practice, work to your own rhythms, and have a positive impact on the world. But it would be wrong to suggest it’s easy. While there’ll be times when you feel like you’re in the groove and working well, if you’re going to enter this realm then you’ll have to accept that it’s going to be a largely uphill battle. There are, however, ways that you can make things more straightforward. Just because things will be tough, it doesn’t mean they have to be extremely tough. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at some handy ways you can streamline your operations and reduce the feelings of stress.
Choose the Right Business
There are a million and different one companies, possibly more, that you could start. But they won’t all be right for you. In fact, the vast majority will be wrong for you. While you may have a general wish to start a business, it’ll be best for you if you choose a business that’s in line with your skills and interests. There will be some businesses that naturally fit with your ethos. So focus on those ones. You’ll find that, when the going gets tough, it’s your inner interest that can keep you grinding away.
Lifestyle Matches
As well as the type of business, think about which ones will fit with your general lifestyle ambitions. Some people like to grind away in an office, during regular business hours. Others will want to start a business that they can do when they feel like it; that is, working on their own schedule. You might find it easier to start a business that you can run from, say, a beach hut. In this day and age, there’s no shortage of ways to run a business. Choose the one that is in line with your general preferences.
Start at the Right Time
You might be eager to get a business up and running, but is now the right time? There are a lot of factors that determine when the best time to start a company is. You’ll want to think about your level of experience, your energy, the amount of money you have, the contacts you have, things like that. It’s tempting to get going as soon as you have the idea to start a business, but it’s often best to practice a little patience and wait until the time is right. Indeed, you’ll find in general that learning the art of patience is a skill that serves you well again and again as you journey through your entrepreneurial career.
Hiring Staff
You’ll have a lot of skills, but you won’t necessarily have all the time you need to bring those skills to the table. There’ll come a time when your business has expanded to a level where you should consider hiring staff. A lot of solo entrepreneurs are reluctant to jump into this, especially if they’ve never hired an employee before, but it’s worthwhile pursuing. You’ll find that once your staff are on board, that everything becomes a lot easier to manage. Of course, it’ll only make your job easier if you have the right employees. If you hire someone who isn’t quite right, then you might find that you end up working more because you’re continually checking up on them.
Outsourcing
As well as hiring employees, you’ll want to look at outsourcing some tasks to other companies. You won’t, after all, be able to hire a member of staff for every task — you won’t have the budget or the need for a full-time employee. Here’s where outsourcing can help. If there are tasks that are taking too much of your time yet which won’t directly push your business forward, then hand the task over to someone else. Examples of jobs that should be outsourced include your IT and your legal matters.
The Right Tools
We live in an age that is ripe for entrepreneurial life. After all, there are many, many tools that you can use to make life easier. There are scheduling apps, services that make collaboration and communication between team members more straightforward, and an invoice app that’ll allow you to easily create and send invoices to your clients. Whatever challenge you’re facing as a business owner, you’ll likely find that there’s an app or item of software that can make the job much more straightforward.
Client Feedback
Your business doesn’t exist to improve your life. It exists to improve the life of your clients. So why not find out what they need? You’ll have figured out part of this during the market research phase of your business development, but it should also be an ongoing process. One of the best ways to improve your operations, and limit some of the stress relating to the direction of your company, is to ask your clients directly for feedback. They might have feedback that significantly improves your operations, and all you need to do is, well, ask them. Of course, you won’t take every piece of feedback on board. You have to do your own thing, too, that’s what will keep you interesting. However, if you notice a common theme among the feedback you receive, then it’ll be a good idea to listen.
Work/Life Balance
You want your business to be successful. But sometimes, entrepreneurs can become a little mixed up about the best way to do this. There’s often a temptation to work as many hours as possible, in the belief that the more you work, the more you’ll progress. But this isn’t really true. It’s not the number of hours that you’re at the office that matters, but how much productive work you do while you’re there. If you’re continually working 14 hour days, then it won’t be long before your work standards begin to slip. You’re a human, not a robot, and eventually the long hours will begin to take their toll. So make sure that you have a healthy work/life balance. It’s fine to work on the odd long day when it’s required, but, in general, you’ll want to have a cut off period. After that hour has passed, you should do nothing more other than focus on yourself.
Be Aware of the Competition
You’re not in business all on your own. No matter what industry you’re in, you’re going to have competitive rivals. You can remove some stress, and push your business forward, by being aware of what they’re doing. This can help prevent one of the problems that can cause a company to go out of business: it’ll stop you from falling behind your competitors.
And the Future
It’s also important to look towards the future and see where your industry is headed. While your main focus will be on your day to day operations, the future is coming whether you like it or not, and when it arrives, you’ll want to ensure that you’re still able to meet the industry standards. Reading up on trade magazines and attending trade events will give you an insight into where things are going down the line.
Reviewing Your Operations
We are creatures of habit. We can see it in all aspects of our lives, and it happens with our businesses too. We get stuck in one way of working, and rarely think to review our operations. But there’s a lot of value in doing so. By taking a few hours, you can get a snapshot of your current way of working, and then get to work on finding ways to improve things. You might just find that there are a couple of small changes that make everything run much more smoothly. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, then consider hiring an outside expert to do the task for you. Sometimes, they can point out major improvements that’ll boost your operations.
When Do You Work Best?
Finally, one of the best yet oddly underrated tips for entrepreneurs is to figure out when you work best. We’re told that we should work from 9 until 5, but if you know that you don’t work well first thing in the morning, then you’re not duty-bound to follow that order. You’re the boss now! It could be that an 11 – 7 working day is best for you. Really the only rule is to work around your clients. If they’re relaxed about your working hours, then work at a time that’s best for you.
Conclusion
As we said at the beginning of the article: there’s unlikely to be too many periods when it feels like you’re working on autopilot and everything is smooth sailing. But equally, you shouldn’t let the difficulties of running a business become too pronounced. If you take the tips that we’ve outlined above, then you’ll be well on your way to creating a business landscape that works well, and which doesn’t result in too many overly stressful days.