Small Business owners, or those who run businesses GIH!
 

Do you have trouble disconnecting from work? Man as I assimilate deeper into our family business it gets tougher to leave work at work. I have enveloped myself into the intricacies of the behind the scenes of the business ie: bills, payroll, workers comp etc etc. I also run the front of the business, I run all the service writing, order all the parts, deal with the customers, set up appointments etc etc. I am sure there are many of you on here who do this. I am in my early twenties and man do I have trouble sleeping at night, worried about getting this job done, or that job done, or getting this part in, or getting paid for certain jobs. I have found it makes everything else harder also, it's harder to relax, makes all my school studies more difficult to focus on.

Those of you who know what I'm saying, how do you handle it/how have you learned to handle it better.?

I usually have a martini, maybe go box at the Harvard club.

"it's tough, but i manage."

I'm sure that it doesn't help that America HATES small businesses.

lol

QFFT!!!!!

LMAO
awesome.

I do too bud.

But it is what you do. If you don't you will likely fail. I try to disconnect though. My wife doesn't work in the business and I don't live on the premises, so I disconnect really well.

But it is part of the job and what you do for the opportunity to succeed. Hopefully it works out for you and you come out ahead of everybody else who works for someone else and takes no risk.

I'm smelling what you're cooking.

That used to be my issue for a good 3 years. I'd worry about this or that, and what if this, or what if that. I was a gawdamn wreck. I'd lay in bed for 2+ hours thinking about shit, and finally get up and go downstairs to my office and work for a couple of hours. I did this every night.

Then, one night after dinner, my youngest jumps up on my lap, who was 3 at the time, and said, "Daddy, how come you aren't happy anymore......" I just started bawling. I knew, at that point, I was either going to have to be happy with what I did at work and leave it there, or quit and find another job. Fortunately, I trained myself to leave it at the office.

My comment to you, is to gain or find some perspective - whether it's with your wife, child, etc. They are the most important things in your life. Your job is just a means to an end. Once I gained that perspective, I achieved more success (both business and within my Family) than I ever dreamed I would have. Good luck!

You have anxiety for any number of reasons. I've struggled with business related anxiety to the point I didn't want to leave my house at times.

I've tossed and turned for hours with my mind running 100MPH. I've found the best thing for me is to write down the things on my mind or send myself a text. Generally, the stuff I'm thinking about is loose ends or crap I'm scared I'll forget. If you document it, your mind will allow you to relax - at least that works for me most of the time.

Like, if I'm working a job in the morning and need to gather 30 different tools to achieve success, I'll lie restlessly trying to remember every single tool I need. Whereas, if I make a list then I can actually rest.

Leave work at work is what I do. The ride home is the time to vent about the day but other than that just leave it at the office. Its tough to do but you have to train yourself to do it. One of my real estate books, the author summed it the best. You have 8 hours to work, 8 hours to sleep, and 8 hours to yourself. Don't let work take away from the time you have.

The only advice I would give would be to manage your own expectations and figure out what you want the business to become. Based on what you are telling me, you don't own a business. You own a job, and there is a big difference between the two.

Its great to put in 80 hour weeks if you have a plan and a path to evolve the business into something self-sustaining. It isn't okay if the only way your business will ever remain viable is for you to put in ridiculous hours just to keep the lights on.

You may need to do some soul-searching to determine what course of action to take. If you bust your ass for 2-3 years, can you grow the business to the point where it can run itself if you only oversee things from a distance while still being profitable? If so, you need to focus your energy on getting it to that point.

If you come to the conclusion that the business is only going to survive by working yourself to death while barely scraping by every month, you may need to let it go and find a more productive use of your time and energy.

Owning a business means that you can focus your energy somewhere else for months at a time while still earning a solid income. Owning a job means that the business has little to no value without your own labor. There is nothing wrong with owning a job if you enjoy it, it pays well, and it doesn't dominate your life. If any of those three conditions are not met, you would be better off pulling the plug and finding another way to make a living.

Wow man, that is awesome, exactly the type of story I was looking for.

Hmm, who would think such a simple concept can be so difficult to grasp for some, but reading it makes you realize how spot on it is. Thanks for the post.

Very interesting, I appreciate you taking the time to post that. There is some sobering realization within your posts for me. It's always interesting to see what others see, because you can't see things when you have blinders on. That post about hit it on the head.

You will wait until you get miserable enough to change. Or you will just grind out until you die. you decide.

I started my business when I was 28,I'm 49 now and wished I could offer a no fail plan but alas I cannot.It seems as though I've tried everything,I hire more people that's supposedly going to make my job easier and I end up having to hold hands and working twice as hard.

I then try the plan of just laying back,doing my job and let what happens happen and find myself losing ground to the competition and getting more stressed which leads to periods of burn-out.

I then get an infusion of new energy with new ideas and implement them into the business which starts out great and then eventually loses steam because I find myself having to deal with a personal crisis of which there were more than a few in 2011.

Finally,I just say to hell with it and do my best to play the hand that I'm dealt daily and most of all to realize that I've had a good run and that when all is said and done I've never seen a hearse pulling a moving trailer with all the stuff one has accumulated.

The best part is that if you do put in 80 hour weeks for 10 years and grow the business to the point where you employ dozens of people or more and finally start to earn a serious monetary return for your effort, that half of the people in the country will think you don't deserve the money and will demand that you give it to them.























(I hear the DC Forum is lovely this time of year.)

Welcome to the part of the dream they don't tell you about on the protest signs.

Have run a a company for years...on call 24-7...many 100 hour weeks, but have also had success and made money. It's not a 9 to 5 world.

Immersing yourself now will ensure you are able to run things later. This won't always seem so all-consuming. At some point in your 30s you will turn the corner and wake up one day realizing you have a handle on it and are good at what you do.
Then you will start to create and expand.
Good on you.

Literature's Seven Great Steps for Business Success

1) Spend more time on chiefsplanet for good tips and motivation strategies

2) Worry about the small details, because if missed, those will be the things that destroy you

3) Read Donald Trump's books. Take notes carefully in the margin. Go over your margin notes daily. Order a subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek.

4) Use the bathroom for reading time to enhance efficiency

5) Yoga three times daily for relaxation and self-realization-enhancement

6) If there's a TV in your work and/or break area, set the channel to only the following: CNBC, Fox Business, or CNN. You will absorb key business strategies and investment options and understand how the financial markets operate in mere days

7) At the end of the day, spend two hours to blog about your experience

Work-related advice from you is as valuable as dating advice from gochiefs.

Another great tip is to network by going to funerals. Funerals are free to attend, multi-generational, and provide free lunch. Make sure you incorporate your business into conversations, but in doing so, you must include the deceased.

For example, "Yeah, I'm going to miss Jim. And Jim is really going to miss my services at XYZ Hardware located on Locust Street. He loved my delivery policy."

Importantly, write these off as a business deduction, and it's like getting them for free!

This is priceless advice right here, but hard to do once you get your butt in bed.

Marijuana

I havent really...I lose a lot of sleep..Spend sleepless nights going over things...

It really sucks...

Its a compromise though.....If you work for someone else, you can leave the job at work...but they will never value you or reward you as well as if it was YOUR OWN company. Now there may be exceptions but by and large I think that is true. No one will appreciate you like you.

But if you want to call the shots then you have to be the one where the 'buck stops' and make no excuses.

For me working out hard after work has been my best disconnect.

You need to relax or you will burn out quick. I'm not saying it not good to work hard and do a good job, but you should not have so much trouble leaving work at work. Work hard... Play harder.

I just cut my vacation short by 2 days and drove 12 hours back to KC to have a 3 hour meeting with some employees.

So I can give you no help. I do as Phobia does as far as lists go. I also keep a pocket recorder with me to keep track of ideas.

Ang

My advise, get a hobby, or Fire up a doobie every once in a while. But not every day!

I tried the play harder approach for several years.

Tough to bust ass for 12-14 hours and then party your ass off till close then work again at 7.

Hangovers make the next day worse then drinking again that night...

Yeah that isn't a good time after a while.
Posted via Mobile Device

I do the opposite. I try to do nothing as much as possible when I can manage a free minute

I think it means you're doing a good job.

The small/family business is suffering right now and the fact that you care this much should be a compliment to both your family and yourself.

Now, that said, are you studying something related to the family business?

If the family business is baking bread and you're studying to be a biologist there may come a time you need to step away.

Thats me at this point.

Not partying near as much and if we get the news we are anticipating probably not at all for a while. I dont drink alone and dont go to bars without my s/o (just a rule we live by)
Posted via Mobile Device

Play <> Drinking. Play = what ever it is you do to relax. For some it is nothing, for others physical activity, Video games, Fishing, CP....If he needs to get disconnect from work to get some sleep and not burn out.

Thats how I played harder
Posted via Mobile Device