Once I was pregnant with my first little one, I used to be in a aggravating company job working as Enterprise Growth Govt driving throughout city. I used to be so drained that I used to be petrified I used to be going to go to sleep on the wheel, and the sheer quantity of labor made me need to disguise within the toilet and cry, albeit, it might have additionally been the hormones.
Regardless, I knew the stress and calls for of the job weren’t wholesome for my unborn little one, so I give up the safety of paid employment and hoped that my husband’s earnings would get us by Christmas.
A couple of weeks later, he misplaced his job and that put us in a pickle.
It was on this second of disaster I began my very own consulting enterprise at six months pregnant, and the remaining was historical past.
Since then, my consulting and training enterprise has seen me start two stunning boys, and though being a solopreneur has allowed me to be residence and lift my boys and do significant work I like, it additionally got here with its personal units of psychological well being challenges too.
Right this moment, I need to share with you the three psychological well being challenges solopreneurs face and the way I’ve been capable of work by them.
1. Feeling Lonely
Being a solopreneur, I used to be not ready for the quantity of loneliness I might really feel.
With nobody to have a chat and offload my struggles throughout my journey to the espresso machine within the kitchen, I didn’t have a colleague subsequent to me to bounce concepts with and even knock on the door of my supervisor to get suggestions and help on one thing I’m engaged on.
We spend, on common, about one-third of our life at work based on a report on Office Wellness by PWC & Medibank 2010 Australia.
As solopreneurs, we regularly work longer hours, so having mentors and help inside and outdoors our business was key to assuaging loneliness and sustaining motivation in addition to drive.
Listed below are some concepts to assist relieve loneliness:
Be part of a Group
Nowadays, you may go on Fb Teams and join with native professionals who’re solopreneurs from comparable industries, and sometimes these teams are free.
I’m a part of a neighborhood group of well being and wellness professionals that meet up repeatedly, and it’s not solely a fantastic networking alternative, but additionally a chance to start out a mastermind group and desk subject small enterprise challenges and get inventive options from skilled and season enterprise house owners.
Have an Accountability Buddy
That is somebody who will get what it’s wish to even be a solopreneur. You might need weekly “group” conferences, set your intentions for the week, and construct in some accountability.
Construct Partnerships
Collaborate with different professionals and work on initiatives collectively that may additional each of your companies like internet hosting an occasion, being a podcast visitor, operating challenges, and competitions.
I personally love working with different native companies as a result of it feels good to construct my area people up, and you can begin creating referral partnerships within the course of.
2. Feeling Overwhelmed
Feeling overwhelmed can solely result in one factor – that’s shedding motivation and drive.
One of many greatest challenges I confronted as a solopreneur is having to put on a number of hats in my enterprise. I used to be not solely the CEO but additionally the gross sales and advertising group, however I additionally needed to be the accounting and IT division too!
While you’re first beginning what you are promoting, it may be paralyzing on how a lot you need to be taught that’s not associated to your “job title.”
We will then fall into the behavior of compare-itis, second-guessing ourselves, and permitting the worry of failure to set in earlier than we’ve even began.
Recognizing that you simply’re not going to know every part, you can begin to establish abilities gaps in what you are promoting, comparable to the right way to use social media for advertising, and schedule time throughout your week to shut that hole.
Questions you may ask that can assist you shut that hole:
- Are you able to outsource it to knowledgeable?
- Are you able to get steerage and help in your group?
- Are you able to recommend this because the desk subject of your subsequent mastermind?
- Are you able to bounce concepts together with your accountability companion?
- Are you able to learn a e-book about it?
- Are you able to hearken to a podcast about it?
Think about in the event you spent one hour a day studying – that’s 365 hours a 12 months – to grasp something you have to learn about constructing and rising what you are promoting.
If you happen to assume you don’t have time, simply know that based on GlobalWebIndex’s 2018 report estimated on common, we spend 2 hours and 22 minutes on-line every day globally on social media.
Minimize out senseless social media scrolling and use this time to be extra productive. You’ll be able to test inside your social media settings to see how a lot display time you’re truly spending to watch your progress week by week.
3. Feeling Like a Failure
Have you ever felt that there’s a lot to do and whenever you go to take a seat all the way down to work, you don’t know what to do first?
One of the crucial vital abilities I consider as a solopreneur is efficient time administration abilities.
Because the captain of your individual ship, you’re additionally the crew, so it’s simple to get closely engrossed in an exercise after which understand after a day’s onerous work that you simply’ve wasted an excessive amount of time on one thing that wasn’t crucial, like tweaking your web site for the a centesimal time.
There’s a clear distinction between doing income-generating actions and time-wasting actions that make you’re feeling such as you’re doing work however you’re simply conserving busy (aka, paper shuffling).
As Benjamin Franklin as soon as stated, “If you happen to fail to plan, you might be planning to fail.”
So a sure-fire technique to cease feeling like a failure is to have a plan for a productive week by scheduling every part in your calendar for the entire week so you may visually see in case your,’re managing your time successfully
Give your self a small win by scheduling a straightforward activity firstly of the day and construct on that momentum. Prioritize greater initiatives into smaller 2-hour blocks and plan them out from once they’re due.
Extra importantly is to plan for normal breaks and have a wholesome and nutritious lunch to gasoline your mind to stay up for.
Block out at the least one stroll to get recent air and mini-breaks to stretch, do a respiration train, and meditate. It should enable you to assume clearly and be extra productive
From unpredictable money circulate, working lengthy hours, and the juggling the a number of duties, it’s vital we prioritize our psychological well being and bear in mind to undertake good sleep hygiene, plan to eat properly, allocate time for train, and naturally play.
