There was a time I was a business owner with 5 staff members working for me. I look back to that time and I can never remember a time when I felt relaxed and truly happy. Even at my own downtime all I thought about was how cut costs and generate more cash. When the business went bust I realised all that time I spent worrying and over-thinking was a waste!
In this post I am going to discuss how to chill out as a boss and how you can be a happier business owner and help reduce the number of times you get stressed.
1) Appreciate What You Have
Regardless if you are a business owner or not, it is so important that you realise what you already have. I have always dreamt of the same amount of money that a celebrity would have. It became my motto – I would love to have the net worth of Drake or Jay-Z. In reality it became an obsession and greed.
My top tip is to write down a list of everything that you have and read it every time you are feeling down or depressed. Trust me, when you realize what you already have and you learn to be thankful for what you have got life becomes more enjoyable.
2) Let Employees Do Their Job
If you have employees working for you, let them do their job! I remember always hovering over my team to ensure they were doing their job properly, going over their work with a fine tooth comb. This is terrible behaviour for a boss. You need to trust your employees and give them an incentive like a performance bonus so that they have something to work towards.
If there is a mutual trust between you and your employees, everyone will take care of their part of the business.
3) Outsource Your Tasks
By outsourcing your tasks you can really help take the pressure more of you by not having as many of the monotonous tasks to carry out. In my experience, instead of trying to do HR, legal, cyber security training, payroll and accounting myself, I should have outsourced it.
I wasted so much of precious time that I could have spent with family with paperwork! I recommend outsourcing HR to a human resource outsourcing company, legal documents to a commercial solicitor, purchase a cyber security eLearning package and payroll and accounting to an accountant. Yes this costs your business extra money, but it is a small fee for a happier life.
4) Have Fun With Your Team
Would taking 20 minutes out of your working week really affect productivity that much? If I had a business again with employees, I would dedicate 20 minutes on a Friday to fun activities and chill out with my team. Activities outside of work can really boost morale for a team. Also when you have down time with your staff, problems and even great ideas can be raised. It is important that you communicate with your team which also helps trust building.
My business failed on me and my health deteriorated. After spending time travelling after the ordeal, I realized my mistakes and thankfully I learned. If you are a business owner, I seriously recommend that you take some of these points and learn to chill out.