Being a business owner is hard, tough-going and more often than not; lonely. I want to talk about what I consider big killers of a business owner’s dream; their business. Some people will deal with these killers on different levels, for different lengths of time and some will even wear them as badges of honour to validate where they are. But I’m here to tell you it really doesn’t have to be that way and I believe everyone can avoid them killing their business. Keeping full immersion at bay is enough to keep your business going and realising your dream. Surely, that’s where we all want to be; living our dream?

Procrastination

You know that ‘manana’ moment, leave it till tomorrow? It sounds too painful, will take too long and may not bring the result you are looking for. But wait, what if it was all and more of what you wanted? Every single time I’ve put something off, without exception, it has not been as bad and on occasion the result was even better than I had thought.

So, the solution then, Nike has it! Just Do It! It really is that simple. Take the task and if you need to start a list of the steps you need to take, break it down into smaller tasks that you can do throughout the day rather than seeing that huge frog and just ignoring it. Another blog for you on Procrastination can be found here.

Getting Stuck

Which way to turn? So many things to put in place, so many options to take, so many things to buy that will solve all your problems but which problem to address, which direction to go in and who’s the best person to believe? It’s enough to stop you in your tracks and stop you doing anything at all. Becoming static and floating around; achieving nothing and the problem not getting solved. Wow, doesn’t sound like a good place to be but I know this can go on for months!

What you need to realise is – you’re not alone. There I’ve said it – everyone at some time or other has experienced being stuck. There are others that can empathise with you, give you ideas that worked for them, words of wisdom, point you to someone who has experience in overcoming your problem or helping you to overcome it. So, the solution, ask someone else. Be it a coach, another business owner, a facebook group, a confidante or mastermind group. Just ask.

Overwhelm

There is so much to do when you are running your business and put that together with the rest of your life and to be honest you are not in an enviable position. Remember all those times when you have to think about why you’re doing it and why employment is just not your thing anymore? Are those times getting more frequent? Is that urge to run for a dark room, taking a bottle of choice with you and sticking your head in the sand so, so powerful? Stop, breathe and look it straight between the eyes.

One way that I have found has worked for me is to write it all down. Get it out of your mind; every single thing and have it there for you to view. Personally, pen and paper works for me but it’s just as easy to put it onto your phone, record it into a note, create Trello boards for each area of your life. Just get it all out of your head. Get to see the wood for the trees, be able to chunk things together so time is used efficiently doing all the same task at the same time – like calling people, writing blog ideas, creating a list of people you’d like to thank, books you’d like to read (can you see how much I love lists!?) Read lots of other ways to tackle your overwhelm in these blogs: Overwhelm Part 1, Overwhelm Part 2, Overwhelm for Business Owners, Overwhelm and work life balance, and Overwhelm in the Office.

I love simple solutions and I realise not everything is that simple but to start is key. Just that one step to finding a solution, finding help, trying something different can make the difference.

If you want to know the one thing that has the biggest impact on stopping all three killers – the answer is here.