5 signs you’re a building firm owner suffering from stress…

Two-minute read: Trouble sleeping? Worrying? Forgetting stuff? The following five statements could be contributing to a build up of stress – and very common in small business owners.

1. You’re trying to be a builder, a manager, a bookkeeper, HR person…

Delegate tasks where possible. Consider hiring help to take tasks like bookkeeping, site managing and general admin off of your hands. May be outsourcing your quotes to a reliable estimating service. You need to concentrate on keeping the money coming in and the customers happy.

2. You’re over-committing

Try to avoid stretching yourself, even if you’re concerned about keeping the wolves from the door. Know when to say no. It could actually be a financially astute decision. It’s also better to manage the expectations of your customer too, rather than over-promise. Most would rather a realistic timeframe and high quality work.

3. You don’t know where to start…

Set goals, focus on the most important tasks and complete them. Trying to do a small part of each task, will result in you completing very few of them. Don’t try to do everything at once. Try to focus on one or a small number of tasks at a time. The things you need to do first should be at the top of your list. At the very least, step away from the situation for even just 10 minutes. It can refresh and calm you.

4. Mistakes are happening – including financial ones

If you can’t switch off from your business, it’s going to take its toll and mistakes are inevitably going to happen. Trust your business to technology and you could soon find yourself better able to manage work-related stress. Specifically, project management tools can help you keep track of the work you’ve got to do. Estimating software or service for accurate costings, Health & Safety software to keep everyone safe on site, automated contracts to ensure you get paid, and so on.

5. You’re not taking any time out

You’re skipping lunch, working in the evening and at the weekend. You’re missing family holidays. Take the time off and you’ll come back  more creative and productive. It’ll be good for you and your business. Take care of yourself. Make sure you have at least one ‘day off’ during the weekend that you spend doing something you enjoy. Establish a ‘cut-off’ time each day where you mentally leave the business behind. Plan a holiday.

Conclusion

It is easy to only focus on the things that are going wrong. Forgive yourself. Business is not easy. Remind yourself of the things that are going right. List out all your accomplishments (even the small ones) and any small business milestones you’ve achieved. There are probably more than you realise.

And remember stress isn’t always negative—a certain amount of it is necessary and can even motivate us. When you’ve got a particularly busy day ahead because of slipped deadlines or labour shortages, try and look at it as a challenge!

And if you want a stress-free conversation about software for your construction business, give us a call on 0117 916 7898.

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