Are You Addicted to Your Small Business?

This is a simple question, I have asked myself recently and I am posing it to you my fans too.

Speaking from personal experience, as a small business owner and entrepreneur life seems to put on me a whole new pressure, a pressure to achieve success in my business. Looking at my schedule for the last few days, I seem to work on my business both day and night. When I was in paid employment I brought work home, very occasionally which meant that I worked mostly during the day. My life has definitely taken a different turn since I became an entrepreneur!

There is no escaping the fact that when you run a small business, it can become all engrossing and take over your life, if you let it! At the initial stages of start-up and beyond you may have to work two or even three times harder on your business than you did on your job, in order to gain any traction. Truth be told, you may need to ‘grind it out! This can, if allowed, lead to business addition rather than attraction!

Addiction can involve compulsive behaviour. Addiction usually relates to substance misuse and this refers to the state of being enslaved to a habit, practice or something either psychologically or physically  to such an extent that the termination of such a habit can cause a severe trauma. So can you get addicted to your small business or beauty business? Research says that you can!

Here are 3 Sure Signs

1. You Neglect Yourself

You work very long hours on your business to the detriment of your health and wellbeing. You don’t get enough sleep. You skip meals and if you’re ill, you pay no attention to what is happening to your body; all because of your business.

2. You Neglect Your Family

You don’t schedule in time for your family. This could be your spouse, children, siblings, parents and friends. According to Dr Shanno Kolakowski, clinical psychologist and author, the biggest sign of work addiction is neglecting your family and outside life.

3. You Hustle a Lot Which Makes You feel Like You Can’t Stop  

Hustling can be good to some extend but a florid bout of endless activities may only lead to nowhere! When I muse on the word ‘hustle’, I think to myself, I only want to hustle in the right direction. For me that is planning, prioritising and preparing myself for opportunities that may come my way and are in sync with what I have on my plan!

3 Things You Can Do Now to Stop Yourself from Being Burnt Out

1. Schedule time off: It’s that simple. Realise that no matter whatever you do, there will always be something that needs to be done every single day.  So if you’re not feeling well, your body is probably telling you to find the safe middle ground and give yourself a break!

2. Prioritise: Last year, I felt so overwhelmed with my beauty business as it just was not going the way I wanted. Part of the problem was the fact that I was not always prioritising. I’ve learnt my lesson now and I keep getting better at prioritising my most important tasks. 

3. Delegate or Outsource, if you can. If you are a solopreneur consider looking at the the things you can affordably outsource so as to free up your time. You’ll get a lot more done and faster too!

Business addiction is real, as research has shown. Your business does need to thrive but should it succeed at the expense of your health, mental and emotional well-being?

Radiance and Love,

Wumi

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