If you are feeling stressed about your business, the place to look might be in the mirror. Yes, running a business is hard, but sometimes we make our lives more difficult than they have to be. Below are seven ways you may be adding unnecessary stress to your business.  

Trying to make things perfect

When you are building your business or launching something new, perfectionism is something you want to avoid because perfect doesn’t exist. Nothing will ever be perfect. 

What you want to do instead is embrace good enough. What is the minimum you can do to put something out into the world so you can get feedback from prospective clients? What is your equivalent to the minimum viable product concept they use in technology? 

You may find yourself messing around with fonts, colors, taglines, and landing-page copy. Don’t do that. Ship!  

Not asking for help

Help is a four-letter word, but it isn’t that kind. Many people think asking for help is a sign of weakness. It is not; it’s self-awareness. You know that you don’t know something or that you could do something better. Ask for help if you need it. Don’t waste time being stuck. 

By the way, people love to help, so you’re giving them a chance to feel good, in addition to making your life easier. 

Not delegating

You may do some tasks in the business because you had to in the beginning. At some point, you will probably need to delegate them to someone else. You may find yourself thinking that nobody else could do it, or that you should be the one doing it. This is a control issue and your ego is running the show. We love to be needed!

Investing time as soon as possible to train someone properly gets you more time in the future. Yes, it can be frustrating getting them up to speed, but this is time well spent that should get you a great return in the form of time you can spend doing something that only you can do. 

Not prioritizing rest and recovery

Creative problem-solving requires white space. You won’t be able to think properly if you have back-to-back meetings with no rest and no social life. You will likely produce better quality work faster if you block out time for rest and fun. 

Not having a Red Velvet Rope Policy

Not everyone with a pulse and a credit card should get to work with you. I highly recommend instituting Michael Port’s Red Velvet Rope Policy in your business from the very beginning. What that means is only your ideal clients get to work with you. 

Who are your best clients? Who are the clients that stretch your business (and patience) to the breaking point? Have you thought through who you will work with and who you will refer out? 

Are you willing to say no to clients who suck your soul dry? I highly recommend that you dump the duds, even when you can’t afford to lose the revenue, because better clients almost always replace them quickly. 

Hiding behind your logo 

You are your brand and most entrepreneurs can’t hide behind their logo. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. Clients don’t really care about my company. They want to know what it will be like to work with me.

Yes, it is scary to be the face of the business. We all have visibility wounds. Show up anyway. Don’t be afraid to be seen. Your ideal clients will want to work with you. 

Confusing being busy with being productive 

The hustle culture hustled you and the badge of busyness is BS. Don’t think that being crazy busy is a good thing. Often, it’s just making you crazy. 

You may be doing lots of things, but are they the right things? That is the question you need to be asking yourself. 

Again, our ego likes to feel important and being busy makes us feel like we’re needed. Watch out for that because burnout can be right around the corner. 

And here is a bonus pro tip: “No” is a full sentence. Say it loud, say it proud, and say it often. 

What will you say no to so you can say yes to something else?

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash