One of the Hardest Parts of Being a Small Business Owner

The 3:30-ies are familiar to many small business owners: those middle-of-the-night worries about decisions, uncertainty, and everything that might happen next.

One of the Hardest Parts of Being a Small Business Owner

“The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

H. P. Lovecraft

Small business owner stress does not always come from something going wrong. There are times when running a business feels unusually stressful even though, if you stop and look at what is actually happening, nothing is particularly wrong.

Sales are still coming in. Payroll is covered. Customers are being served. The work is getting done.

But the economy feels uncertain. A large customer has not made a decision. Costs might change. A new employee may or may not work out. A project could succeed or fail. A war, a supply disruption, a change in technology, or something else completely outside your control could alter the assumptions you are making today.

The 3:30-ies

These are the kinds of uncertainties that tend to show up in the middle of the night. Around here, we have a name for the business worries that suddenly become very compelling at 3:30 in the morning: the 3:30-ies.

What tends to create those nights for many of us is not necessarily having too much work or even having a significant problem. It is uncertainty.

What is going to happen next? Will this work? What happens if it does not? Am I missing something? Should I be doing something now?

When Small Business Owner Stress Comes From Uncertainty

These are the kinds of uncertainties that tend to show up in the middle of the night. Around here, we have a name for the business worries that suddenly become very compelling at 3:30 in the morning: the 3:30-ies.

A surprising amount of small business owner stress comes not from having too much work or even from having a significant problem. It comes from uncertainty.

What is going to happen next? Will this work? What happens if it does not? Am I missing something? Should I be doing something now?

When Small Business Owner Stress Turns Into More Work

A known problem can actually be easier to deal with. Once something has happened, you can assess it, make decisions, and begin responding.

Uncertainty gives you much less to work with.

Part of what makes small business owner stress so persistent is that owners are accustomed to being responsible. When something matters, we expect ourselves to do something about it. But many of the things creating uncertainty are not ours to determine. We cannot decide what the economy will do, whether a customer will say yes, or what interest rates will be six months from now.

Being Responsible Doesn’t Mean Knowing What Happens Next

That is where uncertainty can create a great deal of unnecessary work. When we cannot determine the thing we are worried about, we often substitute activity for certainty: checking the numbers again, reconsidering decisions, delaying commitments, or running through the possibilities one more time. It can feel responsible because we are doing something, but the purpose is often rooted in trying to avoid feeling uncomfortable about the uncertainty we face.
 
But being responsible does not mean being able to control the outcome or know what happens next. Sometimes responsibility means making the best decision you can with what you know, recognizing what would cause you to change course, and allowing the rest to remain uncertain.
 
IN PRACTICE

Separate what is uncertain from what is actually yours to do.

What do you know today?
What are you still waiting to find out?
What decisions can you make with the information you have?
And what are you trying to determine that is not actually yours to determine?
You do not need to know what is going to happen next to be responsible for what you do next.

Picture of Christina Fitzrandolph, M.B.A.

Christina Fitzrandolph, M.B.A.

Christina loves spreadsheets and business plans and is happy to tell you how the world is a better place because of them. Her fifteen years as a business guide with Motus have been some of the most interesting and depthful work of her career. Previously, she consulted with hundreds of growth companies across the United States, was immersed in the local start-up community as the Executive Director of the Business Incubator Center, and enjoyed various marketing, operations, and finance roles in the outdoor industry. Christina has a BA in Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from Cornell University.

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