Running your own local business is no easy task. Between the long hours and the hard work it’s quite easy to lose sight of yourself while focusing on your business goals.  That’s why we invited local psychotherapist and SLF member Ruth Faris to share her advice to business owners on how to prevent yourself from losing steam. Read Ruth’s story and find out ways you can recharge your own batteries once in awhile:

My dining room table is littered with receipts as I organize for meeting with my tax guy….and oh yeah is it part of my gas bill or my electric bill that I get to deduct?

More snow is coming, again, and its me that has to get out there to shovel, and no one is going to call to tell me ‘stay home, don’t worry about trying to get in,’ and if I want to take time off later this week for yet another chiropractor visit for this aching back, I have no bank of sick time to use.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Nothing at all, really; I’m self-employed, and very happily so for most of the time. But yes, there are special pressures that all of us on this brave adventure feel. My business is probably pretty different from most of yours; I am a clinical social worker and I have a private psychotherapy practice. I have a cozy office that I had  built into my home  in 1985 (after doing therapy out of a spare-bedroom-turned-office for a year or two). Its a pretty simple operation: just me, and my clients who come for sessions.  I do my best to help them feel better, live better, achieve some of their goals. I truly love this work and feel myself  privileged to do it, right here on my tiny Somerville street.

Of course, its also ‘just me’ who cleans the bathroom, spreads the snow melt, spends an awful lot of time on the phone with insurance companies. I have important outside support from a group of  other therapists that has met bi-weekly for over 25 years, to consult and guide each other through difficult and confusing issues.

Another huge support is my billing service, people who I have never met but am in constant communication with; how else to navigate the complicated requirements of each insurance company? And yes, you might hear me complaining about how I have to run downstairs to pull up the rugs just in case the rain floods in yet again, or how one of the insurance companies reduced payments by 15%.  But, there is no doubt that I love being self-employed and happily go through these difficulties as part of the package….’part of the price of doing business’ as they say.

I know that every small business has its own version of  hassles and joys, but one  thing we surely have in common is the need to keep ourselves steady and healthy and balanced through it all. We are the ones responsible for our own well-being and this is one task that cannot be delegated.

Your responsibilities are many and never-ending: inventory and staff management and payroll and insurance and so on… forget any one of these at your peril. But, how often do you think about taking care of yourself as one of the items on your daily ‘to do’ list? Do you have ‘scheduled maintenance’ for yourself just as you do to keep your vehicles, computers, and other equipment in good working order?

There are some basics of self-care and stress-reduction that we have all heard a million times: sleeping and eating well, getting exercise, having some amount of fun and ‘down-time’ ….  there are books and blogs and CD’s and entire industries set up to tell us how to do that.

Taking self-care seriously is as at least as  important to your bottom-line and success as any other upgrade or improvement you are planning for your business this year.   What this self-care will look like for you, I’m not sure; for me, its daily yoga; long walks; thrift store shopping; appreciating the humor in life; and so forth.

It would be great to hear from any of you who care to tell us how you deal with stress day to day, and how you take care of your SLF-business and yourSELF in the process!