Take The Pressure Off Your Start-Up! - 3 Top Tips!

This one is for all the small business owners who are struggling a little or for anyone looking to start their own small business soon.

One of the main conversations I have with small business owners is about the struggle to pay bills and maintain a basic lifestyle whilst having their own business. I actually met a couple of people at the TeamMalaysia event last night who were speaking about this too.


Let’s just get real for a second. Having your own business is a STRUGGLE, especially at first. Not just physically and emotionally, but financially. Even if you have someone who can support you financially or perhaps a large amount of savings, it is still a major challenge and these savings can be diminished pretty fast.

image via @commonground.work

Nearly all of the money I make from my business goes back into my business. You all know how this works, i’m sure, but the draw of owning my own business and being ‘financially free’ was so huge that I desperately wanted to try. I found myself crowding my business too much with my own financial insecurities and thus made some pretty unwise choices at times. So I went on a bit of a quest to separate myself from my business, because I realised I was the main problem in our relationship.

I’m here to give a few tips about what you can do to take the pressure off of your business and give it the creative breathing-space it needs to survive, because I really believe that having a business and maintaining your life financially are two entirely different things.

Here’s what I learnt.

1. Get a job


image via Pintrest

But hang on.. isn’t the whole point of having my own business that I don’t need to work for someone else? I hear you, but by having another income to support your lifestyle you can take the pressure of your new business to start making money as quickly as possible. You don’t need to work solely for someone else, why not free lance or take a part time job? By getting a job, I just mean find an avenue which can provide you with a regular side income. Steemit is also another option, although I would still aim to have some guaranteed money coming in, since we know crypto can be a bit volatile. 


One of the main questions I’ve been asked about this is:

"
Doesn’t that mean I will be less thirsty for my business to succeed?" I thought that too in the beginning. But the job you decide to do ought to be something which you do as a means of income only (or mainly). That way it keeps you focussed on the long term goal of your business.

In the beginning I was too proud to get a part time job, I felt like I was going backwards, but there is nothing backward about paving the way for your business to succeed. Try not to view it as looking backwards. Instead look forward to the way you're heading. 

Now I have a couple of part time ventures and I love it because it provides me with an outlet away from my business to keep me sane and allows me to maintain a lifestyle I enjoy from a financial perspective. I cannot stress enough how much having a separate source of income you can rely on will increase your happiness and benefit your business. 

2.  Don't suffocate your business 

image via Pintrest

You want your business to succeed, but you don’t want to put so much pressure on it that it doesn’t grow properly. Kind of like a child I guess.

I still have a hell of a lot of passion for my business, but not as much as those early days. There is no rush to grow it as fast as you can and I think that’s something we all want to do in the beginning. We want to push it and see how far it can go as early as possible. That will come naturally, what may not come naturally is giving it the space it deserves.
Talk to people about it, learn how to figure it out, take your time to go through the processes. It’s an incredible journey and there isn’t the huge rush you may feel - especially if you already have Point 1 sorted!
But if your new start-up is still your main income, in my opinion, you might be going slightly wrong..

3. Diversify

image via Pintrest

I understand that many people don’t want to quit their main job to start a business. It’s too scary and the lack of income is damaging. I would advise trying to slowly start up a business part time. You might feel like you have no time or room to do so, but if it’s something you’ve been wanting to do, you should go for it. I find that when I have more on, I don’t just stop and do nothing, instead I end up getting more done and many people are the same. I believe we make time for the things we really want to spend our time on.
Again, there is no rush.

If you do have your own business and you are looking for a side income or rather a way to become wealthier (which are quite different things) I would suggest looking where and how you can invest, even if it’s only a tiny amount.
 As everyone on this platform knows so well, crypto is a fantastic place to start investing. I don’t feel qualified to give advice on how i’m investing, mainly because I wouldn't want to give you bad advice, but there are plenty of steemit blogers and vloggers who can give you a great overview and tips on this.

Hope this helps you to find way to think of your start-up separately from your income and gives you a little motivation this Monday.

Yasmine

* if you have any advice for Small Business Owners, or you're a small business looking for advice then use the #sbo so we can create a community of like-minded thinkers