It’s hard work running a business and often we hear stories of the tycoon who drops dead from a heart attack or finds themselves divorced, friendless and penniless at the end of many hardworking years in building up their venture.
Being an entrepreneur means you live in your business as much as work in it, but it if we’re not careful it can kill us.
Know your finances
There are some who believe that a business plan and cash flow projection are unnecessary, they are wrong and at best are falling for survivor bias.
Insufficient capital is the main reason why good businesses fail, it’s also the leading cause for marital breakdowns and the failure of business or personal relationships.
Not understanding your finances means you have no idea whether your business is really profitable or if those returns are sustainable. If you don’t realise the cash position of your venture than you are at real risk if there’s an unexpected change in the market should an unexpected event like sickness or a tax bill arrive.
Take a break
If you don’t take an occasional vacation you are at risk of genuinely going mad. You need some time away from the grind to recharge your batteries.
Getting away from daily work issues also helps your business as it’s an opportunity to see the wider perspective of the markets and society you operate in.
Exercise
Many of us don’t get time to exercise, which starts to slow us down both physically and mentally. Even if our businesses are a success, we may not have the health to enjoy the benefits. Remember the guys who die of a heart attack at 50.
Eating
Coupled with not exercising is having a bad diet, because we don’t have time to eat well we often end up eating convenient junk or not have a balanced diet. Take time to grab a healthy breakfast and lunch.
Poor work practices
When we stressed, racing to get a job done or under pressure, we often take shortcuts or break regulations. This can be anything from a truck driver not respecting driving time limits, a plumber not lifting heavy goods properly through to a consultant not changing the tyres on their car because they didn’t have time to be off the road.
Either way, not respecting safe working practices can be catastrophic for the business person and those around them.
Have an objective
Your business plan should have objectives for your business on a 12-month, one year and three year horizon along with an exit plan.
An exit plan could be building great apps, revolutionising your industry, amassing a retirement nest egg, handing the operation to the kids, franchising the business, a stock market float or making a trade sale.
Whatever your reasons for being in business are, having a clear objective to work towards helps guide you through the morass of daily tasks in running a business.
Ditch the negative people
Whingeing, whining negative customers will drag you down, similarly with business partners and employees who will bitch and moan about customers, the government or staff. Successful businesses are run by optimistic people.
Be objective
The flip side to negativity is undue optimism and a lack of objectivity. It pays to have a realistic view of where a business is going and often that vacation helps you get the objective view needed.
When you get a great business idea it can difficult to let go, so that’s why we need the ability to step back and understand who we are, why we are doing this and where we’re going with the project.
Even if our businesses are successful, we need to be a position to enjoy the hard work and return on our labour.