Small businesses often run at capacity to be effective, which is fine when you have a full complement of staff. But when you run a company alone, it leaves you with no room for growth, and when one or two members of a small team take time off, it can leave a lot of slack to take up. This can lead to you having to skip lunch breaks, start early, work late and even take work home with you. Either way, this can have a negative effect on your mental health. But you can save yourself stress by outsourcing to virtual PA services.

Here are some of the most common stresses for a small business owner, and how you can counter them when you outsource to a virtual assistant.

 

Stress Statistics for Small Business Owners

Haines Watts found that more than a third of small business owners lost motivation for their work due to stress at least once a year. In London and the south east, this figure jumped to 45% of entrepreneurs who were driven to the verge of giving up their businesses because of stress.

In another survey, Simply Business looked into the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on those who run their own businesses and It found that a fifth of small business owners rated their mental health as ‘bad’, with 30% admitting to having suffered from depression in the 12 months preceding the report.

 

Reduce Stress by Outsourcing to Virtual PA

Financial Stresses

The current cost-of-living crisis affects everyone, but it is extremely tough for small business owners. Not only do you have to pay more to keep the lights on, maintain the heating at a comfortable temperature and power your essential devices, but you also have to worry about how the financial crisis affects the spending power of your customers.

If you are working at capacity, but still not bringing in enough revenue, it can become problematic. You don’t have the time to get out and bring in more custom, but you cannot afford to take on a new staff member.

Thankfully, there is another way. Outsourcing to a virtual assistant does not require the long-term, fixed financial outlay of employing a staff member, but it does free you up to work on building your customer base. You simply outsource to a virtual assistant purely for the hours you need and can afford them, and you don’t have to create more office space or supply them with equipment. There is no sick pay or holiday pay, you simply pay for what you use.

 

Poor Work-Life Balance

In the Haines Watts survey, just 4% of small business owners said their work-life balance was tipped towards life. The vast majority reported that they prioritised work over all else, which can be another driver of stress.

There is a real sense of guilt for many entrepreneurs who miss out on family occasions, school plays and other such activities, but building a business can be overwhelming. This is another situation in which a VA can help. They can take on the time-consuming tasks that keep you tied up for hours on end. If you can pass over admin to your virtual PA services, you can get away from your desk more often and spend more time with your family, relieving the stress of parent guilt.

 

Struggling to Switch Off

Spending more time with the family is a great aim, but being able to be in the moment and present is another matter. It is also something that small business owners often stress about. The Simply Business study revealed that more than a third of respondents had trouble switching off from work and more than half had trouble sleeping.

Constantly worrying about your ever-growing to-do list, stack of unopened emails, unfinished projects and the like can infiltrate your life away from your work and make it feel like you haven’t had a break at all. Only by truly detaching your brain from work for a bit can you truly look after yourself properly.

Outsourcing to a virtual assistant relieves this stress because they can take care of your inbox management as well as a host of other tasks that you then do not have to worry about.

 

Ready for Outsourcing to Virtual PA Services?

If you are ready to outsource to virtual PA services, contact us straight away. Supportal can provide all of these services and more to make sure your day to day work life is as stress-free as possible.