10 Habits to Become a Better Business Owner

Owning your own business puts you in charge of your own accomplishments. Successful entrepreneurs build habits that push their business in the right direction each day. 43% of your everyday actions are habits and this means you don’t even need to think about them. Habits help you save time and energy that you can further pour into your business to meet your goals. Here are my top 10 tips and habits to become a better business owner!

Avoid inspiration overwhelm

Especially if you’re in a creative field, you shouldn’t spend too much time looking at inspiration. This can overwhelm you and make it hard to come up with original ideas. Instead, try to find one way that you can receive inspiration for yourself each day whether that is a podcast, reading, or a blog post. Spend less time on Pinterest and Instagram… inspiration overwhelm is a real thing! You can consider muting those in your field in order to give your feed, eyeballs, and brain a bit of a break.

Work when it makes sense for you

One of the most sought after parts of being a business owner is the flexibility in your schedule. Don’t constrain yourself to working 9-5 if it’s a struggle! Instaed, find the time of day that makes sense to you. This gives you the opportunity to find what time of day you are the most productive and take advantage of that. For some people, it’s the morning. For others, it’s the evening. Plan your big, brain-heavy work for those times of the day.

Read

Reading up on your niche can help give you inspiration for your business. Additionally, reading in other genres can help spark creativity and exercise your brain. It can also help you to take your mind off what you’re working on and relax. Schedule out time for yourself each day to read a few pages. For leisure reading, check out my monthly recs which are made up of mostly fiction!

Automate as much as possible

To save yourself time and allow you to complete all your tasks for the day, try to automate as much as possible. Tasks that can be automated include posting to social media, email responses, and label making. Do some research to find all the tasks that you can automate in your business and set yourself up for success. Then, take a few days to get everything set up. This could mean scheduling content, setting up email templates for various scenarios, or finalizing your onboarding system. This will save time and (lots of) valuable brain power.

Avoid decision fatigue

Decision fatigue can be described as becoming overwhelmed and experiencing difficulty in decision-making because you have had to make several decisions in a short period of time. As a business owner, you make all the decisions for your business which can cause you to become easily weighed down. To help avoid decision fatigue you can automate tasks, spread decisions out throughout the day, or enlist a trusted advisor or assistant. It is also very important to be in tune with your feelings, so you can see when decision fatigue is coming on and give yourself a break!

Tackle the big stuff each day

One of the most common methods to help with productivity is tackling the most difficult or largest tasks first thing. This can help you better manage your time and stay on track with your tasks. A great habit you can form is writing down your three biggest tasks when you start work in the morning and begin working on those first. Another good method is to write down everything you need to do, and if a task will take less than 5 minutes, knock it out!

Don’t keep tabs on your email all day

You only really need to check your email once or twice daily. You can set the schedule that works best for you, but many entrepreneurs recommend the habit of checking once at the beginning and end of your workday.

Think big picture

One of the most important habits to becoming a better business owner is learning how to focus on the big picture. Since you are running every aspect of the business, you can’t just put your focus on one task. As a business owner you must think about how everything will work together to keep the business successful. This method will help you prioritize tasks that will keep your business running smoothly.

Meditate (you’ll be shocked at the ideas that pop up)

Don’t knock this habit before you try it! Meditation can help relax your body and reduce any stress or anxiety. You may also find that it sparks some of your best ideas, both business and personal. Set yourself up for success and implement it into your mornings! You only need 1-5 minutes each day.

Don’t accept criticism from those doing less than you

Becoming a business owner is hard work and takes lots of discipline. You will continue to grow and learn as you gain more experience. One of my favorite quotes is “don’t accept criticism from those doing less than you.” It’s so true! Don’t let yourself get disheartened by the opinions of others who don’t know what it is like to run a business or don’t understand how much work you are putting in behind the scenes. 

If you’re wondering how to become a more successful business owner, these 10 tips will help you get started. But, the most important part is trial and error. Give yourself the opportunity to try out some of these tips to see if they work for you. As a small business owner, you already know that it’s all about being flexible. Good luck!

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me and email! 

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