Firstly, set yourself up for the week by taking advantage of the weekends – do something you enjoy (i.e., start a hobby) or end Sunday on a good note (i.e., happy film, positive thoughts, uplifting music; gentle stretching; read a book).
1. Start the week refreshed – go to bed early Sunday night; do some exercise Monday morning, it doesn’t have to be aerobic, it could be simple stretches. Plan your coming week and get prepped
2. Prioritise and implement boundaries for a work life balance (i.e., set specific work hours; have a separate work space at home; take time away from tech)
3. Get the balance right between having to balance all aspects of your business – solopreneurs are quite often a ‘Jack-of-All-Trades! Hence, they end up working in multiply areas of their business, even if they have no real experience. Quite often ‘imposter syndrome’ may come a visit because you may start to feel inadequate. To help with this you could batch work to stop yourself going backwards and forwards. For example, you could use Mondays to do client work, Tuesday focus on marketing, Wednesday operations, and so on and so forth
4. Avoid multi-tasking – this always seems like a good way to work, but you will probably find that you get less done. So fucus on one thing at a time and cross that off your list then move on to the next thing on your list
5. Delegate – sometimes as a solopreneur we still may have to delegate to independent freelancers, virtual assistants, etc. Delegating is good practice where you can
6. Don’t forget to allocate time to ‘work on your business’. Some solopreneurs get so focused on doing for their clients and customers that they neglect to take a step back and ‘work on their business’, i.e., optimizing processes to become more efficient, automate processes so they become easier and streamlined. In effect, you are looking for ways to work smarter, not harder
7. Learn to save for a ‘rainy day’. Running your own business means that you pay for everything, which means when money is tight, it can become very stressful. So, when you have increased income, remember to put some aside for the times when money is tight. Budget, budget, budget! Also, there are lots of tools and app out there that you can use within your business that are free. Look at these to help you become more efficient without increasing your costs
8. Remember, stress can come from not taking care of yourself and your wellbeing too. To make a success of your business you need to be on top form and that means taking good care of yourself!