We’re living in some pretty insane times right now. To help you weather the storm, I’m offering my 5 best entrepreneur tips for staying sane and leading your business effectively amid the crazy.
Starting, growing and building a business is hard work. You start as a solopreneur, then you hire people, and before you know it, this idea you once had is a living, growing entity that keeps you on your toes and your brain awake with ideas almost every hour of the day.
I know a lot of us are facing things in our business right now that we’ve never dealt with before. Learning the ins and outs of working with our kids at home. Trying to work with our teams over Zoom calls. It’s all part of the crazy pandemic we are living through at the moment.
It’s important for us as business owners to make sure we are leading our team well through all the craziness, and still maintaining our own sanity at the same time.
Entrepreneur Tips: 5 Strategies for Not Losing Your Mind
Pinterest is just one part of your business. As a business owner, you have to figure out how to navigate everything going on around you and keep a level head. So let’s talk about five strategies that I use to stay sane as an entrepreneur during crazy times (and right now is just about the craziest time I’ve ever seen).
#1 – Really Get to Know Your Personality
Gaining a better understanding of my personality through tools like the Enneagram, Kolbe, Strengths Finder, etc. has helped me to know what I need for myself and from my team members.
Figuring out your personality and how you operate allows you to know who you are and who you are not.
You can have your team members take the tests and that will help you know and understand them as well. Having this information in hand will help you respond better in a crisis or chaotic situation.
#2 – Create Hard Stops
I’ve talked about this before on the podcast. Hard stops are firm boundaries you set in your day. They are the hours you set for yourself, just for you.
For example, I do not check my email in the mornings before 8 am or in the evenings after 5 pm. I created this hard stop after I opened up an email first thing in the morning and had it ruin my day.
Putting up these boundaries keeps me safe from things that could have power over my day. Only handling information during specific times allows you to prepare mentally and emotionally for them. These hard-stops are non-negotiable for me.
#3 – Have Designated Maker Days and Manager Days
I lead a team of 38 people working at Simple Pin. Each week, I have a lot of meetings and people I need to touch base with. I also have to schedule:
- my podcast recordings
- interviews as a guest on other podcasts
- calls with potential clients
- calls with colleagues
- calls with my mastermind groups.
My weeks can easily be consumed by meetings.
I’ve found it very helpful to designate Mondays and Fridays as my maker days. I don’t schedule meetings on those days.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are my manager days, and these days are crammed with meetings. It can feel overwhelming on these days, but participating in these meetings is vital to keeping Simple Pin Media moving forward.
I also schedule blocks of buffer time throughout these maker days to allow myself time to rest and recover. If I have several meetings in a row, I’ll schedule an hour in the day to go for a walk or just take some time away from everything work-related.
It’s also a great idea to have a weekend or a day set aside once in a while to just be creative. Be intentional about planning time to step away from your normal work environment to carve out time just to create and dream.
#4 – Find Your People
You need to have a place to ask your raw or “dumb” questions.
People say things that you might not understand and that’s okay. There really aren’t any dumb questions.
I participate in two personal mastermind groups and I have my business coach, Jaime. They are my people that I’m able to talk to openly and ask the raw questions.
Make sure you choose people that are a good fit for you (going back to tip #1!). I have an entire post about choosing mastermind groups and coaches that are a good fit for you.
#5 – Move Your Body
I know that not all of us have access to the gym right now. If not…walk, walk, walk.
You can workout in your home with an app. Even just moving for five to 10 minutes can alter your entire day. It allows you to release that pent-up stress and energy.
BONUS Entrepreneur Tip: Team Crisis Commitment
Here’s another key piece of advice for entrepreneurs. If you have a team, create a team crisis commitment.
There are always going to be tough times, externally or internally. How you weather the storms will shape and mold the legacy of your company.
As the CEO of your company, it is your job to model this well.
It doesn’t matter if you have 38 team members or one virtual assistant. Committing to leading them well shows that you value them and will inspire in them a desire to commit to you.
These are the things that I am committing to as a CEO and that I have asked my team members to commit to as well:
- Speak only what is true, kind, and helpful, especially when under stress.
- Ask for help when struggling emotionally.
- Trust all team members and that their intent in words and actions come from a place of good.
- If a misunderstanding happens, speak honestly to your fellow team members to bring clarity and unity. If you feel you need to process this with someone before going to that team member, please only talk with your direct report. Gossip is toxic to a team.
To me, these are important values should adhere to during a crisis situation.
What are you doing right now to keep your head above water? What are your strategies for not losing your mind as an entrepreneur? We’d love to hear your entrepreneur tips. Leave us a comment and share your takeaways from this post.
For Further Reading/Listening:
These are all great tips and I especially can’t agree enough with the importance of hard stops. These help when creating a work-life balance, especially in these trying times. Work is important, and we should have pride in what we do, but it’s equally important to look at what matters outside of the 9-to-5 schedule.
Here Here Robert! Plus, I believe building in those hard stops help us to operate at peak performance when it is time to work
So many people aspire to own their own business and be their own boss. Iread blogs like tejkohli.co.uk to keep myself updated. It’s important for us as business owners to make sure we are leading our team well through all the craziness, and still maintaining our own sanity at the same time.
We agree! Thanks for sharing!