No matter what industry you are in, if you are a startup founder, then you need to be mindful of your overall health and wellness. Entrepreneurs lead busy, high-stress lives, and their mental and physical health can get the best of them if they’re not careful. If you’re the founder of a new company, or know someone who is, then read this article. Share it with a friend too. These entrepreneur wellness tips could save them from a long period of burnout, their business going under, or worse.
Things That Startup Founders Find Stressful
Founders are unlike most people who have jobs working for international companies. If you’re a startup founder, then you have many more sources for stress than the average person. Let’s examine a few of them.
- Employees. Whenever you’re the owner of a company, there’s one simple rule. Feed your people first, and then if there’s anything left, you can eat, too. You need to take care of your employee payroll and overhead expenses. You also need to hire people, and hope that they’re the right people to grow with your company. When their values and skills are aligned with the position you’re trying to fill, awesome. But more often than not, they look great on paper, rock the interview, and then fall flat after you hire them. Staffing is a tremendous source of stress for the average startup founder.
- Finances. If you’re a founder, then you’re likely always wondering where the next paycheck will come from. You need to pay your people, pay yourself, pay your landlord, pay for advertising… the list is endless. Some startups will seek out funding for their startup from angel investors and venture capitalists. Sometimes this works out great. You get the money you need and the company rockets to the next level. You get paid, your staff gets paid, and your investors get paid. Everybody’s happy. Other times, it’s a disaster. You fail to meet your investors’ and board’s expectations. Sales numbers fall short of projections. You lose staff. And now that you’ve got investors, you’ve got a bunch of new bosses telling you what to do. Whether you’re trying to make the next payroll, or trying to keep your investors happy, finances are always a source of stress for startup founders.
- Sales & Marketing. When you have a new business, you have to try to market it as much as you can. This is challenging if you’re bootstrapped, because you don’t have the cash to play with the big boys. Instead, you have to be creative about inexpensive marketing tactics to drive new business and awareness for your company. Sometimes it works great and you get lots of new eyeballs on your business, and people buy your products. Other times, it’s a complete disaster. You spend oodles of money on advertising. You waste hours on end coming up with a marketing plan, ad copy, and other creative content. And, you invest tons of money into your staff to execute on the marketing plan. Combine that with hiring sales people to follow up on all of those leads you were hoping to generate. If you’re lucky, you get a rockstar who closes deals left and right. More often than not, they fall flat and generate no new business. Then, nothing happens in response to your marketing, either. You get no customers, no sales, and it becomes a colossal waste of time and money. Sales and marketing can be a huge source of stress for founders.
How to Overcome Stress as a Founder
Do you find yourself stressed out because of employees, finances, sales, or marketing? Whether your stress and anxiety stems from these, or other sources, there is hope for you to keep your sanity. With a little effort, you can overcome your stress and focus your energy on living well at the same time as growing your business. Try the tips below.
- Spend time working from home. Instead of commuting to work every day, try creating a hybrid workplace. Go into the office a few times per week, and spend the rest of your time out of the office. This will give you more balance in life, more hours in the day, and more opportunities to address the sources of stress in your life.
- Go to the gym. When you don’t exercise, your cortisol levels build up. This causes you to feel stressed out, and it takes a big toll on your health and wellness. You need to release these hormones from your body, and a great way to do that is through exercise. So, go to the gym. Do some cardio and lift weights. If you’re not ready for all of that, then start out by going for a walk each day. Build some movement into your routine, and then build up to going to the gym.
- Get some sleep. Too many startup founders are sleep-deprived. If you fall into this category, then you need to be intentional about getting more sleep. Set a bedtime for yourself and stick to it, no matter what deadlines or workload you may have to deal with. You’re the boss, and tomorrow is a new day. So, let your brain and body recover overnight, and start anew the next day.
Take Care of Your Health
There are plenty of other ways to destress, too. Start with these three and see how your life improves. More time to yourself, more time in the gym, and more sleep will help you live a more abundant life. Try it out, and you might just find that your brain functions better, you get more done, and your company grows like never before.
