How to manage the stress of being self employed

Have you experienced that wonderful sensation of being overwhelmed?  You know the one where you own one business while starting a new one.  Have a wife and six small kids to feed and shelter.  Keeping the silent partnership with Uncle Sam satisfied (good times or bad he gets his share), maintaining vehicles and checking on employees.  Collecting money from delinquent customers or any customer for that matter, and of course the best part making payroll every week. All of this while trying to deliver the best product or service possible in one business while developing the start up in another.

            Sound familiar?  Just insert your circumstances and I'm sure we are pretty close.  Dealing with this sense of overwhelm can be tricky.  The number one problem is getting mired down in "EVERYTHING."   This feeling can paralyze you and make you so unproductive it will cost you everything.  Priorities are the first order of business.  List them on paper.  The next step is to assign a time limit to each one.  This is a critical step without this all is lost.  The next step is to stick to the time limit!  Use an actual timer when performing tasks.  You will find that you will adjust time limits quickly and actually have a handle on how long these tasks take.  You want to make use of any key employees and delegate duties to those individuals.  Just remember that the only effective delegation is the one followed up on.  You must be the task master and hold the individuals accountable.  People respond well to this type of leadership and yes they actually want to be told what to do and accomplish it.

            PERFORM INCOME PRODUCING ACTIVITIES!  This can not be overstated.  You must determine what your income producing activities are.  Education, training, purchasing, etc. are NOT income producing activities.  Placing ads, meeting with prospects, closing sales and following up with leads, those are income producing activities.  You want to have 80% of your time on those income producing activities.  By prioritizing your day, instituting time limits and delegating NON income producing activities you will find yourself no longer overwhelmed and you will be in control and increasing revenues which is why you got in this business in the first place.