With Halloween around the corner, we’re prepared for a few jump scares. Expecting them, even. And it’s all fun and games until that jump scare rears its ugly head in the form of the Sunday scaries. You know the feeling. You’re relaxing post 3pm roast dinner. You’ve had a lovely weekend. And then it happens. Slowly at first, sliding its icy fingers up your spine, taunting you. You try to ignore it, turn the telly up a bit louder, do another social media doom scroll, anything to distract yourself. But by the time evening rolls around it’s got you in a vengeful death grip and there’s nothing you can do about the sense of impending doom. It’s Monday tomorrow.

Dramatic, we know, but don’t act like you don’t know what we’re talking about.

Particularly for small business owners, the Sunday scaries can become a regular staple in your weekend plans. The thought of another stressful week, the responsibilities you’ll have to shoulder and hoops you’ll have to jump through can feel incredibly daunting and, if you’re not careful, they can suck the fun out of the whole thing.

So, if you’re a small business owner being haunted by the Sunday scaries, here’s a couple of ways to exorcise them…

 

Planning and Organisation

It sounds obvious, but the better your planning and organisation skills are, the easier it is to cope with anything the working week might throw your way. As a small business owner, its easy to become overwhelmed with the demands of the workplace, which is why it’s so important to put a framework in place to support yourself before it gets to that point.

One way to get on top of your planning and organisation is to carve out time every Friday to plan for the week ahead. This may involve assessing all pending tasks and ranking them in order of priority, so you know where to start come Monday morning. It might include delegating specific tasks to team members or external support to reduce your to-do list before things get hectic. It may even be as simple as having a quick scan of your calendar and shuffling things around to maximise your time and resources.

By doing this, you’re getting things straight in your mind before your weekend begins. Come Sunday evening, you won’t need to be apprehensive about where to start on Monday morning or feel the need to get your laptop out to get ahead of the game right this second. Instead, you can relax, sure in the knowledge that the plan you’ve put in place will allow for a successful, productive week.

 

Seeking Support

One of the scariest things about being small business owner is hands down the responsibility of it. It’s that ‘oh my god’ realisation that everything is riding on the decisions you make. At least, that’s how the pressure can make you feel.

In reality, being a small business owner doesn’t necessarily mean you have to handle everything by yourself (despite the urge to!). This is why seeking support is another tactic you can use to banish those Sunday scaries for good.

For example, if it’s the thought of keeping on top of credit control that looms in the shadows waiting to pounce when you’re just trying to enjoy your Sunday evening bubble bath, it could help to invest in a virtual assistant who specialises in accounts support. This way, you’ve got someone on hand who can manage invoicing, chase late payments and generally keep your accounts looking positive without much involvement from you.

Not only does this tick a task off your to-do list, but it also relieves some of that financial pressure all small business owners feel – two birds, one stone.

how to beat the small business sunday scaries

Optimising your Time

Hands up if you’ve ever spent your Sunday evening thinking ‘how the hell am I going to get all that done this week?’. Same. Time management is a common concern for small business owners – the concern being, there’s never enough of it. And no matter how hard you try, the hours seem to slip away and you’re left with incomplete tasks and an ever-growing to do list.

There are a couple of options here that might help…

Time Block

Block off hours of time for certain tasks. Within these hours, you can only focus on the task at hand and nothing else. This helps to keep distractions to a minimum and allows for deep focus, meaning tasks are completed more efficiently and to a higher standard. Having this sacred time planned in advance can give structure to your week, quelling the uncertainty of when you’re going to fit it all in.

Automate

Another way to optimise your time is to automate anything and everything you can possibly automate. Social media posting? Automate it. Invoicing? Automate. Those three emails that need to go out on Monday morning? Schedule and automate on the previous Friday. By initially carving out time to put these automations in place, you’ll save yourself time in the long run. And, knowing that these tasks are already taken care of before your week begins can help to keep those Sunday scaries at bay.

 

Setting Boundaries

The Sunday scaries can be made all the more frightening if you haven’t been able to use your weekend to distance yourself from the pressure of managing your small business. As a small business owner, it’s always so tempting to just bring a bit of work home with you to catch up on over the weekend. But more often than not, a bit of work turns into a lot of work and before you know it, you’ve had one long Friday that seems to be rolling straight into Monday morning without any respite in between.

When this is the case and personal and professional boundaries are blurred, the Sunday scaries can creep in. You’re regretting the break you needed and didn’t take and spend your evening wondering about how you’re going to muster the energy to get through the next five days.

It’s what we like to call a doom cycle and, trust us, we’ve been there!

To break the cycle, its vital to set yourself some boundaries. If you can, leave work at work. Use your Fridays to tie up any loose ends and plan for the week ahead. And make sure that plan doesn’t involve any sneaky email checks over the weekend. Your business will benefit far more if you can turn up on Monday morning well-rested and with a clear mind – we promise! 

 

Small Business Support

As far as we’re concerned, you should only be scared on a Sunday evening if you’re watching Halloween films in your pjs with a bucket full of popcorn on your lap. Alleviating those feelings of anxiety and stress is about more than just getting your Sunday evenings back – it’s about running your business in a way that means you look forward to your Monday mornings, rather than dread them.

For support in running your small business, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team of talented Ghostbusters. We mean Virtual Assistants. Same thing.