Running a business – any business – can be very stressful at times. Between managing employees, keeping customers happy, and trying to pay the bills, there is plenty for a business owner to worry about on a daily basis. Home staging is certainly no exception – stress is a fact of life. But while it’s normal to experience stress from time to time, when stress becomes constant and debilitating, you have a serious problem. If you’re too stressed out to function effectively, let alone make the right decisions for the future, your business is at serious risk.

If you can identify with any of these feelings, here’s a solution that works for many people. Focus on doing your best… and forget the rest. Now what does that really mean? It means acknowledging there are certain factors beyond your control, and stressing about those factors is literally a pointless waste of time and energy. When you learn to differentiate between the factors you can control and those you can’t, it becomes much easier to focus your energies and avoid stress.

Now, it is vital that you don’t take this philosophy too far. Don’t start to categorize things that you CAN control as things that are beyond your control. For instance, let’s say you’re launching a direct mail campaign. What CAN’T you control? Ultimately, you can’t make the recipients pick up the phone and call you. But you can control a whole lot of important details, such as…

• Targeting the right audience.
• Creating a visually effective mailing.
• Choosing an appealing offer.
• Timing the mailing properly.
• Proofreading, etc.

In this example, there are a variety of details that you must worry about. (This is the “Do your best” portion of the equation.) But ultimately, once you’ve done your due diligence, you have to sit back and wait for the phone to ring. At this point, stressing about your response rate and second-guessing your decisions is unproductive… and you shouldn’t do it! (“Forget the rest!”)

So how can you apply this philosophy to your life as a home staging professional? By breaking down  goals into short-term action items—so you can do the work that must be done, without worrying about the “big picture” outcome. For instance, assume that one of your long-term goals is to boost your revenue to $50,000 annually. Rather than spending your day aimlessly hoping your business will grow, or even worse, becoming stressed about the LACK of growth, make a plan. Identify the factors  you can control, and set to work performing each of them to the best of your ability. Once you’ve done all that you can do, sit back, relax, and trust that you will reap the benefits of your hard work !

Stress can be debilitating for a small business owner. It’s important to learn to keep stress to a minimum in order to run your home staging business effectively. So the next time you feel stress creeping into your day, remember… do your best, and forget the rest!