What Keeps you awake at Night

[leannem]

I was wondering if you could help me. I know what causes me pain in my business but I only know what I know so I am putting it out there to learn from others who are travelling the road or have been on that small business road for some time.

If you could specifically pinpoint the 3 major challenges that keep you awake at night what would they be?

Look forward to hearing them - I am one of those persons who likes to be ready (god forbid) and plan for my pain rather than end up in it! lol.

Thanks for helping out.
Cheers
Leanne

[MihadAli]

Hi Leannem,

The main things that keeps me up at night are: the many ideas I have and whether I should write a plan to implement them or not, whether a client will be happy with what they asked for and what plans I could put in place to make the experience easy and less risky for potential clients.

[JakeThomas]

To be honest, I don't really get kept up at night worrying about things - I'm not really that kind of person (love my sleep to much!!) but the three things that worry me the most are:

1) Cashflow
2) Meeting growth targets for the next month / 6 months / year
3) Staff looking after clients the same way I would.

[v2Media]

1) Code crunching. My mind doesn't stop coding when I finish for the day. Watching an engrossing TV show or playing xbox for an hour takes care of that.
2) Keeping deadlines.
3) Worrying about the future of the industry. Web design remuneration is being flushed down the toilet. Diversifying or planning to diversify helps there.

[flower child]

Funnily enough, mine are the exact same as Jake's, though mine DO keep me up at night!

Cash flow seriously stresses me.

[Burgo]

Nothing keeps me awake at night as I have a kleen conscious, no stress, eat a balanced diet, drink good wine and enjoy a scotch, and get plenty of exercise.
I occasionally work to remind me what it was like. Have become involved in an association, Cleaning Council and run the Australian arm of an international organisation. I watch little TV and spend a lot of time looking after grandkids and playing on my computers.
I enjoy the company of good friends, am happy to discuss any thing and everything with anyone.
So life is good.
Dont stress or worry about anything because it wont get what is to be done any quicker, start to enjoy what you do and start to say NO when you have more work than you should. Smell the roses from time to time but dont dwell on a problem, turn you mind to something you enjoy and let it relax and by the time you come back to the work related problem you may find yourself saying "WHAT PROBLEM"
Think outside the square and step outside every now and then to look at what you are doing and the way you are heading.
Life is about enjoying what you do regardless so DUMP the STRESS.

[leannem]

Thanks Guys, I think with small businesses cash flow is a definite one that stresses me out and having staff that run the business when you are not in it the way you want it to be. It got me to thinking so Why do i want cashflow, why do i want staff to run the business as if they were me, why would i want to do things in my business for growth. What is it that I am really after - Enlighten me!!!
L xx

[v2Media]

Without cash, the business suffocates. Staff are in it for the pay cheque, the pay cheque and only the pay cheque. So if you loose sleep over them not treating customers as you would, then you're doomed to be an insomniac.

[JakeThomas]

I'm not so sure if I agree with that one Mark. It's very possible to empower workers by challenging them, testing them and giving them flexibility - it's not always about the pay packet =)

[v2Media]

If you said to your workers, "sorry, there's no cash in the account to pay you this month and we've maxed out our credit"

Take away the pay cheque and you take away the employee. No one is going to work for no pay.