When I first started my business I found myself really overwhelmed and stressed with all the responsibilities of being the one and only employee and trying to navigate an online business world that is constantly changing.
When I first started out I had no support network, no one in my circle “got” starting a business or the challenges involved and I found myself feeling really alone.
After a while, I started wondering if the stress, overwhelm and the loneliness really made it worth running my own business. But I just couldn’t throw away all that I had been working hard to build in my business and go back for working for someone else.
I realised that I had to make getting on top of my stress and overwhelm my number business priority, even over marketing and product creation.
I started to join online business groups and realised that there were so many women who were just like me, they were stressed and overwhelmed in their businesses and were feeling alone in their journey.
I realised there just weren’t many people out there approaching business in a holistic way as just one aspect of your life rather than a separate entity outside of your life. This inspired me to start running workshops to share all that I had learnt as a student of productivity, wellness coaching and yoga teaching training.The way I approach overcoming overwhelm and stress in business is not only interconnected with every aspect of your life but can also be applied to overcoming overwhelm and stress in every aspect of your life.
Without giving away what you’ll be chatting about, what has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you navigated it?
Throughout my entire career constant burnout has been a chronic problem for me and I constantly found myself struck down with some nasty bug every time things in my highly stressful marketing management job would just get too much to handle.
To add to that, like so many other professional women I have always been a perfectionist and overachiever and as a result, I suffered from work-induced anxiety and I literally would panic myself into illness.
After a while, I started to realise that wellness and job/business success is all interconnected and that when I was my healthiest and the least anxious in my work then I enjoyed my life so much more. What I had to figure out was how to get rid of the severe stress and anxiety not temporarily but permanently.
I came up with my own system that is all about good business systems, self-care and wellness that set me up for a stress and overwhelm free life.
Do I still get stressed and overwhelmed sometimes, sure, but not the bad kind that leads to burnout and just wanting to pack it all in.
Career or personal highlight so far?
By far my absolute personal highlight so far was setting up a Non-Profit in Laos handuplaos.org and building our first Primary School which we finished in January 2015 after a long slog at fundraising. The amazing thing about running my own business is it allows me the time to volunteer my skills and raise the funds to support motivated, underprivileged women, ethnic minorities and youth in Vang Vieng, Laos.
What are you focusing on next as a project?
Right now I’m in the middle of writing my first book due for release early 2016. It delves deep into the philosophies of yoga and wellness in a non “woo, woo” way that applies to running a business that lights you up and makes you feel fabulous in your business and life. It will touch on aspects of what I teach in my workshop and online courses as well as some new takes on business success that people are just not talking about in the business world.
Overcome Business Overwhelm and Stress | Workshop
When: October 9, 2015 @ 9:30am – 3:00pm