Burnout is a real problem for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Your business can become your life and you want to work hard to make it a success. With a limited staffing budget, the onus falls on you to complete all the tasks necessary to get up and running and become a success. But this is not sustainable. You need to practise self-care to prevent burnout and, thankfully, a virtual assistant can help.
It's not the load that breaks you down it's the way you carry it - Lou Holtz Click To Tweet
What is Self-Care for Entrepreneurs?
Self-care is any activity that helps you remain well physically, mentally and emotionally. In terms of entrepreneurs, this means anything that helps take you away from your work for a time and reminds you that you are not a robot. You are a human who needs some balance in their life.
When you own your own business, you need to refresh and revitalise yourself for the good of your physical and mental health and also for the good of your business. If you look after yourself, you will be in a better position to contribute productively to your venture.
Examples of self-care include exercise, mindfulness activities, eating healthily, reducing stress triggers and more.
How a Virtual Assistant Helps Self-Care
There are many ways that a virtual assistant can help your self-care as an entrepreneur or small business owner.
Reduce Stress
One of the major concerns for a small business owner when trying to build their business is staffing. The bigger the business gets, the more work there is and the more hands are needed to maintain productivity.
For someone who has been used to doing everything alone, the idea of employing someone or multiple staff and having other people relying on your business for their livelihood is extremely stressful. It is one thing to put your own living at risk by starting your own business, but to take on employees is an entirely separate issue.
Then there are the other expenses that come with employing people. Supplying equipment, paying holiday pay and sick pay, and even renting larger premises to accommodate them can all be concerning and stressful for the business owner.
Hiring a virtual assistant is the ultimate act of self-care because it instantly reduces this stress. You avoid a major stress trigger. They get the work done, but without the commitment of employing staff. They work remotely using their own equipment, they don’t claim sick pay or holiday pay, and you can hire them for as long or short a time as you like. If you have a month with a lower income for whatever reason, you can cut the hours they work, increasing them as soon as cash flows again. This is just not possible with employees.
Work-life Balance
It is very difficult to have any kind of work-life balance when you start your own business. However, being able to take time away from your desk and see your family and friends is essential for self-care.
Missing out on social occasions and school plays and the like can be detrimental to your mental health. The feeling of missing out mixes with the guilt that you might feel. However, being able to attend these events can give you just the boost that we all need.
Your business is important, but you are a person as well as a business owner and being able to concentrate on your personal life is made possible by a virtual assistant.
Your VA can take on all manner of tasks, from managing your social media to office admin to event management. You can pick those tasks that you dislike, that don’t require your expertise or where you understand you need someone with an expert skillset involved. This frees up your time to concentrate on your work-life balance.
Healthy Eating
Freeing up your time helps you eat better too. When we work flat out, we are more likely to crave junk food or simply have no time to cook anything healthy. Eating lunch whilst working means that you often fail to take your time, wolfing your food and getting indigestion or eating more than you need because your stomach has not had time to send the signal that it is full to your brain.
With the extra time gained by hiring a VA, you can give yourself more time in the morning to make a healthy packed lunch than grabbing something ultra-calorific from the shop on the way to the office. You can step away for half an hour to eat in a more considered and healthy manner. You can even leave work earlier and cook a proper meal from scratch rather than opting for an unhealthy frozen meal.
Provide a Sense of Community
It can be very lonely being an entrepreneur. By the nature of the role, you are striking out on your own and building your business from the bottom up. Whilst this is exciting and can be very rewarding, it is also something you do by yourself for the most part.
This can be tough for some people, particularly those who were used to working in offices with many other colleagues before they went solo.
A VA is not the same as a colleague in the office, but they add a sense of community to your small business. They are someone who works with you and is there to take tasks on and feedback on what they have done, as fellow office workers do.
This makes you feel less alone and more like a team member within your own organisation.
Sleep Better
If you are being honest, how many times have you struggled to sleep at night because you have been thinking about all the outstanding tasks on your list? It can be tough to switch off, but then having a poor night’s sleep just makes everything harder.
With a virtual assistant to help you attack the to-do list, you get more done and you worry less about tomorrow’s new list because you know that you have help at hand to complete some of those tasks.
This means you can sleep more easily, with less preying on your mind.
Hire a Virtual Assistant Today
Hire a virtual assistant today to help you administer self-care. Supportal can take a range of different tasks off your hands, allowing you to look after yourself more easily and concentrate on yourself. We understand the stresses and strains and how important mental health is. We have supported the mental health charity Mind for the past six years and fully support self-care for entrepreneurs.
Start outsourcing to a virtual assistant today by booking a free consultation so we can discuss your needs today.
