YOUR HEALTH IS
THE KEY TO YOUR
BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Making conscious choices about how you treat your body and mind will greatly influence how you
respond to challenges and be the recipe for success in small business, writes Anastasia Massouras.
emember when you decided to
start your own fitness business,
fuelled by the prospect of
freedom,
flexibility
and
unrestricted
earning
potential?
The
excitement of choosing the hours you
worked, taking holidays when you wanted,
for as long as you wanted.
Now compare this to the reality: working
up to 80 hours per week, struggling with
cash flow or financial expertise, dealing
with mental health and wellbeing issues,
and managing casual staff and their issues.
These are the most common challenges
facing many small business owners today.
Statistics from the Australian Small
Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman
show that 97% of Australia’s economy is
made up of small business with no more
than twenty employees. Yet more than 60%
of these fail within their first three years, and
the odds are stacked against those that
continue.
In addition, in 2019, the Productivity
Commission Inquiry into Mental Health
Report, conducted by The Mentally Healthy
Workplace Alliance, revealed one in five
working Australians reported experiencing
mental illness, with evidence suggesting
psychological distress is most acute for sole
traders. Fleeting instances of excitement,
achievement and growth are often buried
among feelings of isolation, fatigue and
ongoing financial stress. There is, however,
a way to bring happiness back to your work.
R
64 | NETWORK SUMMER 2019
Bring happy back
Just as you have achieved success in your
business and life thus far, you can achieve
further success with the right support,
education, tools and strategies surrounding
your health. Extending your hand for help
is the first step towards gaining a sense of
control over your environment. Knowing you
can change yourself, your business and your
life is crucial: not just to survive, but also to
progress. Silent suffering is the silent killer
of a business.
Your mindset plays a huge role here.
Your perception of your reality powerfully
influences the decisions you make in
business. It helps you move from talking
about what you wish for to actually taking
steps, and doing the stuff that will transform
your life. This kind of growth brings feelings
of freedom, power, authority, motivation and
encouragement. This is a tipping point in your
business. You can breathe again and start
to find joy in why you do what you do each
day. You shift from feeling overwhelmed and
helpless to hopeful and in control.
24/7 self-care
Running your own small business is a
24/7 activity, which is why you need to be
mentally healthy, fit and strong. There will
always be pressure: it will never go away.
There will always be setbacks, failures, and
obstacles. What counts is how you deal
with that pressure, with those challenges.
It’s essential to move away from simply
reacting to events and toward responding to
events. It is also important to learn how to
prevent stress or adversity that you may be
experiencing in one aspect of your life from
negatively impacting other areas.
Taking conscious choices each day
about what to eat, when to exercise, and
how to switch off from work and on for home
is the recipe for success and stamina in
small business. As Phil Knight, the CEO of
Nike, said, ‘There is an immutable conflict at
work in life and in business, a constant battle
between peace and chaos. Neither can be
mastered, but both can be influenced. How
you go about that is the key to success.’
Maintaining your own health and that
of your business requires time, consistent
effort, commitment and care, but it is an
investment that will reap dividends.
Anastasia Massouras
Anastasia is a leader,
facilitator and coach helping
small business owners and
teams to overcome barriers
that prevent growth and
success. She is the CEO
of Work Happy, which provides wellbeing and
employee assistance programs and tailored advice
for corporates, as well as the founder and CEO of
Pure Insights, a consultancy specialising in mental
health intervention.