5 Key Ingredients To Becoming a Happy Small Business Owner
It’s not hard to find quotes from top company CEOs on the path to success or the best way to enjoy life, but it’s not very relatable, all things considered. It’s possible to be happier amid the largely daunting task of running your own business. The autonomy it affords is incomparable to working for someone else. If you’re a small business owner who wouldn’t quite consider yourself happy, then here are a few ways to help improve your happiness levels.
It’s not hard to find quotes from top company CEOs on the path to success or the best way to enjoy life, but it’s not very relatable, all things considered. It’s possible to be happier amid the largely daunting task of running your own business. The autonomy it affords is incomparable to working for someone else. If you’re a small business owner who wouldn’t quite consider yourself happy, then here are a few ways to help improve your happiness levels.
1. Balance work and life
It might go without saying, but your business can’t replace what you get with family, friends or other sources of fun. Those who are able to strike a solid balance between time spent on work and time spent on life find themselves happier than ever before.
To become a happier small business owner, make plenty of time for entertainment and family, even if you can only afford weekend time. Not only will the family be stronger with your added presence, but your stress levels will decrease as well. While it can be tempting to start discussing the business, keep it off limits and enjoy being present with your family and friends.
2. Keep yourself healthy
Founder of stone + cloth Matthew Clough says that taking time to sleep, eat and workout is critical. He likes to perform 10 minutes of yoga after waking up before work. Not only is better health a consequence of keeping fitter, but so is happiness.
3. Always plan ahead
As a small business owner, it’s a fact that you’ll have to live with a degree of uncertainty. After all, without any kind of risk, there wouldn’t be much of a reward. As a result, it’s impossible to guarantee your income at any point.
This is where you, as an owner, differ from the employee: you’re capable of mapping things out and shaping your future with your own hands. Come up with a plan, a strategy, schedules, goals, deadlines and realistic processes that allow you to plan and also give you the wherewithal to put money aside for your needs and the rest aside for easy-to-miss business responsibilities like payroll services or advisory services.
4. Know your team
It might seem like a waste of time to stand around the water cooler talking to employees, but knowing them can have great benefits to your work life, including improved quality. Not only will you have a better idea of who makes the most valuable assets to your business, but you’ll also find happiness when they succeed whenever you do. In fact, you’ll want them to succeed, much like your own friends and family.
5. Keep communication lines open
Owning a business is a difficult job between the stress and numerous ideas coming to mind. Don’t allow these to remain bottled up inside; keeping this sort of stress dramatically reduces your happiness and can shave years off your life as well. Instead, it’s a better idea to come up with some office strategies to relay information and encourage open communication.
According to happy small business owners, maintaining good intra-team communication is critical to maintaining a happy work life. If you’re a constructive and respectful owner, you shouldn’t have any reason to keep your thoughts quiet. Consider a weekly meeting to ensure everyone can speak and be heard.
By allowing yourself to be proactive instead of reactive, you will have a better grasp on your company and your happiness as a small business owner.
Source: business-achievers.com
