Women business owners are stressed. Women run the world, but it comes at a hefty price. We never seem to rid ourselves of the timeless disregard and devaluing of our contributions to the culture, home, and workforce.
Particularly in the workforce, studies show that women business owners are significantly more stressed than their male counterparts.
However, only 27% of small-business owners are women.
You read that right. Only 27% of business owners in America are women.
How can such a small percentage carry the bulk of stress in the workplace?
This post explores critical stressors among women business owners.
What are female business owners stressed about?
The three stressors plaguing women business owners are finances, daily stress, and concerns about work-life balance.
Fiances
Gallup reports that female business owners tend to have fewer employees and are likelier to be self or family-funded rather than bank-financed.
Compared to men, women business owners tend to have lower business revenue, receive dismal venture capital funding, and are often denied approval for traditional small-business loans. And when women do get financing, their business loans are 31% smaller than those for men — even when their companies have similar capabilities and setups.
Daily Stress
Collectively, women often bear the brunt of care responsibilities, whether this be for children, aging parents, or an ill-loved one.
Caregiving is a daily stress and can include obligations such as meal preparation, transporting family members, organizing and managing extra circular activities, and being emotionally available.
The height of the coronavirus exacerbated an already stressful situation for women in general.
Remember how hastily businesses, schools and daycares shifted online or closed altogether?
Those speedy closures meant added stress to working moms as they were thrown into the uncharted waters of managing a household and career from the dining room table (in between bouts of homework of course).
Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, these obligations did not lessen for women business owners.
In fact, 62% of female business owners reported that they experience higher levels of daily stress than men (51%). Women business owners are also more prone to worry (60%) than male business owners (47%).
Work-Life Balance
Having to endure the constant battle of running businesses with less money but ample stress, it’s no surprise that women want better work-life balance conditions.
60% claim work-life balance and personal well-being are “significant” for their success.
Work-life balance can mean various things, but for 54% of women in the workplace with kids under 18, it means the luxury of staying home with them.
Better remote and hybrid options in the workplace would alleviate many of the daily life stressors exclusive to women.
In addition, women business owners crave more flexibility at work to dedicate more time for themselves and family.
They often have very little time to spend with their kids and significant others, visit aging parents, have a girl’s night out, or get back in the dating scene. The demands of keeping the business afloat are simply too high.
What can women business owners do to decrease stress?
Female entrepreneurs often feel like the world’s weight is on their shoulders.
Their impossible workloads (outside of work) and long hours make running a business more challenging.
The number one remedy we’d recommend is to seek the right help to support your business.
Business owners like you need support services that are reliable, consistent and solution oriented.
The right kind of help is not merely an assistant but a partner.
Women business owners need support professionals who can surpass simple task completion by helping them think through their next steps in the business.
Female entrepreneurs need executive support to help them adequately plan and grow their businesses unhindered with as little stress as possible.
Other approaches to decreasing stress include:
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- Taking regular, short walks throughout the day while at the office.
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- Grab your headphones and take Zoom and phone meetings outside when you can for a change of scenery.
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- Taking regular, short walks throughout the day while at the office.
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- Set a hard stop time for work and stick to it as much as possible. If your goal is to be home by 6PM, your hard stop in the office should be between 4:30 and 5PM.
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- Brain dump all your to-dos.
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- The goal is to get everything out of your head and onto something tangible (notebook, whiteboard, Google Docs, etc.)
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- Brain dump all your to-dos.
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- Set up a chore schedule for the kids to follow throughout the week.
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- Adjust your caretaking routine with your significant other, sibling, or family member. Express that the current schedule no longer works and that you must make a few adjustments.
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- Use the timer approach when working on several projects.
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- If you have several items to work on in the day but none have to be completed the same day, set a timer for each task so that no project gets more time than another.
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- Use the timer approach when working on several projects.
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- Take a staycation whenever possible, even if it’s just a half-day, to watch movies and eat popcorn with your kid.
- Engage in a mindless activity such as flipping through a magazine or taking a few minutes to listen to your favorite music.
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- Spend 10-15 minutes in the morning to read, pray, meditate, or sit quietly before the hustle and bustle of the day officially starts.
Improve your stress levels as a female business owner today to set yourself up for business longevity and overall healthy well-being.
For more help on wrangling stress in the workplace, schedule a call with SHS to assess your business needs.
Be Well,
Chassidy Michelle
Servant's Heart Services, Administrative Professionals
Founder | Owner