Being a small business owner is filled with ups and downs – there are good days and bad days, both exciting and stressful times. You must wear many hats, from head instructor, to accountant, to marketer, to purchasing agent, to human resource manager. Needless to say, it’s a demanding gig! If you’re looking to simplify your life, we have a few tips that may just help you navigate the rough waters of being a small school owner:
1.) No matter how busy you are, make time for a work-life balance
As a small school owner, it’s not uncommon to put your business over everything else…including your friends, your family, and even yourself. While this mindset may seem to be the secret to success at first glance, it will ultimately lead you to one of only two possible outcomes – burnout or the realization that the business you have built doesn’t allow you to lead the lifestyle you desire.
When you’re juggling so many different things, finding a healthy balance between your work life and your personal life may seem impossible. Here are a few of our recommendations:
- Find your strengths and focus on them
- You can’t do it all – sort through your to-do list and find the most important task for each day
- Set attainable goals
- Use a calendar to keep track of anything and everything, from staff meetings to dinner plans with friends
- Take short breaks during your workday to maximize productivity
- Establish hours for work and hours for relaxation, and stick to them no matter what!
Check out this article by Mental Health American for a few more practical tips that will help you achieve the work-life balance you deserve.
2.) Be patient with yourself and your team
It’s easy to place your eye on the prize. Instead, try setting small goals and begin to stack up those small wins. With each little win, your confidence will grow. And here’s the best part – over time, all those little wins will add up to big wins.
Okay, that was a little vague. Let us give you an example: Let’s say you set a goal to grow from 20 students to 100 students over the next year. As amazing of a target that would be to reach, it’s just too big. You’ll quickly find yourself saying, “I know I didn’t get the 8 new students that I needed this month, but I have plenty of time to make it up.” The next thing you know, you’ll still need to grow by 60 students…but only have 3 months remaining. Once you realize that’s not likely to happen, you’ll become discouraged.
Instead, break that big goal down into smaller and more specific goals. Something along the lines of, “This week I want to grow by two students in my adult class.” Now you can prioritize your time and focus your marketing efforts. Rather than using a “shotgun approach” to your marketing, this “rifle approach” is a better fit for the sometimes resource-challenged small business owner.
3.) Automate everything you can
Your time is precious. As a small business owner, you must do everything you can to work as effectively as possible. Our point here? Automating tasks is crucial.
Leveraging technology will help simplify your life. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Work ON your business, not IN your business.” That simply means that the time you spend on tasks that could be automated is time not spent building your business. You should be on the mat teaching classes, not sending mundane emails and sorting through payments. Kicksite’s robust yet uncomplicated Membership Management Software is a surprisingly affordable all-in-one solution!
4.) Invest in YOU
As a small business owner, you are the business! So no matter how full your schedule gets, don’t forget to invest in yourself.
How is this done, you may ask? Instead of trying to figure everything out for yourself, find a community you can turn to.
There’s no exact science to being a business owner. It’s tempting to spend hours scrolling through the web for the answers to your questions, but this is rarely the most efficient method of problem-solving. Instead, build a support network, whether that be hiring a business coach or simply establishing a network of fellow owners to reach out to for advice.
As a small school owner you have a lot of weight on your shoulders. Be sure you eat well, get plenty of sleep, and manage the stress of small-business ownership by incorporating these tips and others you will find by utilizing Kicksite’s FREE martial arts business focused content regularly.