Working as an entrepreneur, as you well know, is exhilarating and rewarding. However, I won’t pretend it’s not rainbows and sunshine all the time. Life as a business owner can be super stressful. In fact, I would say it’s an unavoidable part of being a business owner. But no matter how stressful your business can get, you can still make it work!

For most entrepreneurs, it’s simply about managing stress in the right way so you can show up as the best version of yourself for your team. The truth is, no matter how big of a team we have or how much help we receive, we all experience stress, but it’s how we manage it that can have a profound effect on our performance (and health).

So in this article, we’re going to talk about how to become less stressed, and the best five ways I’ve found to manage my stress properly!

1. Connect with a business mentor

First up on our list on how to become less stressed? Connect with a business mentor! Just because you may run a business alone, doesn’t mean you have to go at it alone. Mentors can support you through busy seasons, give you expert advice on how to move forward during challenging periods, and point you in the right direction when it comes to handling difficult situations. Finding a business mentor can take a bit of digging around, but it’s worth the effort!

You can read more about how to find the right business mentor for you in this blog post. And if you’re feeling ready to jump on board already, I also offer one-on-one business mentoring, which you can learn more about here!

2. Schedule office time

One of the biggest culprits of burnout is going from one meeting to another to another to another… And never having time to actually do the tasks on our to-do list because we’re constantly filling our schedule with other people’s needs. I see it all the time with newer members of my CEO Mastermind Group. This lack of being able to move forward because of endless calls can cause anxiety, sleeplessness, resentment, and burnout.

Have you ever felt this way too? If so, creating office time is a super important aspect to look at if you want to learn how to become less stressed.

Cure the overwhelm by scheduling blocks of time into your week for office work so that you can catch up and complete your to-dos. Knowing you have work time blocked into your week can help you feel less anxious on long days because you already know you’ll have time to focus in the upcoming days.

If you’re wondering, “Ok, Brandee, this sounds great, but how does this look in real life?” I get it — I’m all about giving concrete advice so you can put it into action, so here’s a look into my week:

Monday’s schedule

Monday is 100% an admin day. I use Mondays to catch up on my inbox in the morning since I was away from my desk all weekend. To learn more about why I do this and more specifically how I do this, check out this episode I did with Megan Gillikin where I break down this process in detail!

After triaging my inbox (again, more about that in the episode just linked!), I’ll spend two to three hours on CEO work, which includes team projects, financials, marketing, growth planning, and more.

The rest of the afternoon is spent getting my inbox to zero and looking ahead at the week to ensure all my appointments are confirmed, there are no appointments too close together to protect my time, etc.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s schedules

These two days are for client-facing meetings and calls. For those who are new around here, I also run a wedding business in addition to this coaching business. So for me, meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays could look like going to tastings with wedding clients, taking them through walk-throughs, having final detail meetings, and anything else I’ll need to talk with my Blush with! Thursdays are office days focused on client-facing work.

Thursday’s schedule

On Thursdays, I don’t take meetings, but unlike Mondays where I focus on CEO tasks, I focus on client work. So I’ll work on tasks like timelines, scheduling vendor visits, design boards, work on to-dos from Tuesdays and Wednesdays, etc.

Friday’s schedule

Fridays are blocked for whatever remaining tasks that need to be handled to end the week well. And you guessed it! No meetings are allowed.

If I have a wedding that weekend, Friday is usually spent finalizing last-minute changes and focusing on the rehearsal. If I don’t have a wedding, I’ll use Friday as additional catchup time. Ideally, I leave my inbox on Friday at zero or less than 10 emails so I can come in on Monday with minimal catch-up!

3. Schedule in personal time

Personal time is hard to come by in general, but during a busy season, it can feel nearly impossible. However, we all know that taking time to ourselves is imperative for our mental health and a no-brainer if you’re looking for ways to become less stressed! That’s because we must fill our cups to continue to fill other people’s cups.

The best way to make time in your schedule for some good ol’ me-time? Schedule it. Whether it be dinner with friends, date night with your partner, family movie night, or anything else, you should be penciling that into your calendar to make sure you have something to look forward to on your calendar!

I know that it may feel strange to pre-schedule fun time into your calendar, but by doing this, you’ll go through with your plans instead of just hoping an opening will appear. (P.S. It won’t. There is always something else to book your calendar with!)

4. Turn off your notifications

I must have talked about notifications hundreds of times in the history of being a business coach, but I’ll keep repeating it. Turn off your notifications to protect your time! This is one of the scariest pieces of advice entrepreneurs can receive, but it’s imperative for your productivity.

For example, the only notifications I receive on my phone are texts and Slack. Yep — nothing else!

The reason for this is that Slack is how my team communicates, and I always want my team to be able to reach me when needed. My kids and husband reach me through text, which is why I allow texts to come through as well. But when it comes to social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or even my emails, I turn those notifications off! They’re too distracting if I keep them on.

If you’re with your family, enjoying a day on the lake, and see an email notification, you’ll probably want to answer it. The same goes for when you’re working. You could be trying to crank out a timeline or a gallery edit, see a notification from TikTok — and before you know it, an hour has gone by of you just scrolling. We’re all guilty of this (including me), so what better preventative measure than removing the temptation completely?

Turning off your notifications will make you more productive when you’re working, less stressed from the wasted time, and more present with your family when you’re not working.

5. Join a community of like-minded business owners

I can’t emphasize community enough! Finding your tribe is crucial because when you’re an entrepreneur, it can often feel like you’re in a silo by yourself. It can be a lonely life. However, the thing we often forget is that there are so many other business owners who feel the same way!

When you can be around other CEOs who are building their dreams right along with you, who can build you up when you feel down, share best practices, and hold you accountable to the goals you’re chasing, entrepreneur life becomes much more positive. Sure, we may have a support system at home with our partner, family, or friends — but no one will truly understand what you’re going through unless they’re also an entrepreneur.

If you’re looking for this exact kind of support, I’d love for you to check out the CEO mastermind! Click here to learn more about this amazing community of entrepreneurs (from all stages of business) that we’ve built over the past couple of years!

Final thoughts

Managing stress as an entrepreneur is a delicate balance between work and life — especially during a busy season. It might sound silly, but we have to remember we aren’t machines. (Surprise!) We are humans who need breaks. Yet it can be so easy to lose sight of the fact that we can’t live for our businesses 24/7. There needs to be a balance in our life, or it can be a recipe for disaster.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article about how to become less stressed as a CEO, and most of all, I hope it helps you manage stress in a way that feels sustainable to you.

You can get started on checking tip number five off your less-stress to-do list by attending the Wedding Pro CEO Summit! This is a summit I’ve created for wedding professionals who are ready to build the business they’ve always dreamed of.

The three-day summit is a fully immersive, deep dive into the mindset, strategies, and systems you need to become the CEO of your business. I created it because I thought it was about time to break the industry norm that wedding pros have to be burned out and overwhelmed to be successful. Not to mention, since it’s an intimate summit with only 100 attendees, you’ll get to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs!

Get your tickets here, and I’ll see you in Lake Nona!