Increased responsibility strains certain elements of the business owner’s life and can trigger stress. FOTOSEARCH PHOTO
Last week, we learnt that one third of business owners suffer
depression at some point of their business growth. I appreciate the many
responses and comments I got on this from readers who have witnessed or
experienced this situation.
One interesting thing is
that depression does not only plague those with failing or struggling
business. I have testimonies of owners of successful business who
suffered stress, burnout and depression.
A simple
definition of stress — which when prolonged leads to depression— is a
state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or
very demanding circumstances.
Most people focus only on “adverse” and forget “demanding.” Demand may be very positive.
Both adverse and demanding situations if not well managed over time lead to stress, burnout and depression.
Some
of the demands that can lead to stress and eventually depression in a
thriving business include: First, cash flow management. A business may
be doing extremely well and strain capital.
To a
business person, getting enough money to pay bills, seeking loans for
expansion and managing various partnerships and stakeholders’ demands
are key stressors. One is tempted to over-borrow or expands too fast
that the capital requirement dwarfs money coming in.
Secondly,
there is demand to keep promises, reputation, brand name and company
image. A rapidly growing business attracts all sorts of people including
difficult customers, bad employees and sometimes ill-intentioned
competitors who might try to sabotage it.
Trying
to make things run smoothly in such an environment becomes a nightmare
and the business owner lives in a state of perpetual frustration and
high tension.
Thirdly, the increased responsibility
strains certain elements in the life of the business owner and trigger
stress that causes seismic effects in all other core areas.
For
example, business growth requires one to make several weighty
decisions, meet more people, solve more issues and complete more tasks
within limited time.
If one does not balance well, some important goals may not be achieved or be met at the expense of other equally important ones.
One
of the simplest ways to avoid business stress is to come up with a
realistic business plan that accurately guides you on your enterprise
requirements in terms of capital, personnel and other resources so that
you can be adequately prepared.
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