Internet Marketing &
Business Promotion
If It Was Easy, Everybody
Would Do It
By Tim Knox
Q:
How do I handle the stress of running my business?
A: Being an entrepreneur can be incredibly stressful
and overwhelming. There are times when you wonder if
it's really worth it. I remember complaining once about
the stresses of business to an elder entrepreneur. He
just held up his weathered hand and said, "Son,
if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. Now suck
it up and move on."
Suck it up and move on... quite the fortune cookie
moment, if you know what I mean. I get all warm and
fuzzy just remembering it.
He was correct on the first part, though. Running a
business is never easy and always stressful. Even when
things are going great you know in your heart that Mr.
Murphy is lying in wait just around the corner. That's
one of the things that makes being an entrepreneur so
exciting. It's like walking a tight rope... backward...
with your eyes shut... and your pants on fire...
Have you ever had what I call a "garbage truck
moment?" That's when the constant pressure finally
catches up with you. The debts are mounting, your staff
is shrinking or growing, you get that nauseous feeling
in the pit of your stomach--and you long for the apparent
simplicity of driving a garbage truck.
OK, I know driving a garbage truck is not easy work,
but humor me for a moment, please.
I used to feel like that all the time, but not as much
lately. I've found that while stress is a part of everyday
life and there is no way to do anything important (like
run a business) without it, you can absolutely control
how it affects you. I don't think it's the big crisis
that gets you, but the constant pecking of little things
every day, most of which you can't do anything about
and many of which will not come true. Mark Twain said
it well: "I am an old man and have known a great
many troubles, but most of them never happened."
If anyone knows what stress feels like, it's my friend,
Greg, a highly successful entrepreneur. Greg professes
that he has spent many nights sick with worry about
his business problems. He could see the effect it was
having on him, both physically and mentally. He talked
to doctors, counselors and friends; He read books and
listened to tapes, but nothing really helped.
Greg would return from a week-long vacation in Hawaii
feeling great, but by noon on his first day back, it
would be like he'd never left. He tried back massages,
exercise and meditation, and they all helped a little.
Eventually, Greg figured out that he was just treating
the symptoms and not the real problem.
Unfortunately, there's no magic way to deal with stress.
My experience is that you are going to feel it no matter
what you are doing. There are two basic ways to attack
it. First, you can make yourself more resistant to stress.
Get in good physical shape; watch what you eat; get
some interests outside of work; take up calming exercise
such as tai chi or yoga. All these things will help,
and you really can't go wrong with any of them.
If you really want to put a serious dent in your stress,
however, you must understand what is causing it. For
many of us, much of our stress is caused by that unknown
feeling about the future - all the things that are "out
there" that are going to come in and mess us up.
There is a straightforward way to combat this - come
up with a clear plan for your business.
Think about it for a second: When you are just zooming
along (even if things are going well) without a clear
idea of where you are going, you will feel stress in
everything you do.
All this stress comes from the unknown, and you'd be
amazed at how much a clear vision of your business goals
will sweep away much of that unknown. When you have
a plan, you are usually too busy working on that vision
to spend much time worrying. You tend to see setbacks
as minor events, and because you see what is coming
next in your plan, you are able to keep your imagination
from blowing things out of proportion.
The feeling of not being in control is the most stressful
of all. Remember that the more defined your plan, the
less of that feeling you'll have. So get organized,
figure out what you are really trying to do, and get
busy doing it.
If you can throw yourself into that plan, you won't
have time to worry about all those little things, most
of which you can't do anything about anyway.
Now suck it up and move on, will ya. I've got a truck
to catch.
Here's to your success!
Tim Knox
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author
Online Entrepreneur Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur
and www.OnlineProfits4U.com founder, Tim Knox. Tim serves
as the president and CEO of three successful technology
companies: B2Secure Inc., a Web-based hiring management
software company; Digital Graphiti Inc., a software
development company; and Sidebar Systems, a company
that creates-cutting edge convergence software for broadcast
media outlets.
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