A small business owner or freelancer is the single most important entity for the business he or she is running. There are many responsibilities that they have to address from time to time. Even with flexible work hours and smaller setup, the commitment to give good results keeps them under constant pressure.

However, the good news is that by developing good management skills one can alleviate stress and stay focused on the business. Anxiety levels can be controlled by delegating tasks and managing time.

Here are a few tips that you can use to manage stress:

• Think positive. Negative thoughts hamper the productivity of your business. Accentuate the positives and address the negatives.
• Have a great attitude toward your work. It helps in the maintaining the feel-good factor required for managing your business
• Do some stress relieving exercises such as breathing, meditation and stretches. These will help in relaxing your mind and body.
• Exercise and eat healthy.
• Practice efficient time management skills. There are many tools and resources on the internet that you can use to manage the daily work schedule.
• Learn to decline opportunities that you cannot manage. Don't pile up your work by accepting too much, it could hamper your overall performance.
• Maintain a good work-life balance by strictly sticking to work time and having no compromise on family time.

You must try to determine stress causing factors in your business and see if they are short term or long term. Short term stress can be addressed right away by implementing a few strategies and adjustments, but it is the long term stress that is the real concern. Question yourself as to why the long term stress has cropped up. Do you like what you are doing in your business? Talk to family and friends to ease your concerns and discuss how to make the best of the given situation.

Stress should not be treated as a business success barometer. Although having stress at times, helps achieving goals within stipulated time limits, it will affect your life and future performance. Having regular checks and meetings to make sure deadlines are met, delegation of tasks, and team work help in business growth in a stress free environment.

Take network marketing businesses for example, where you can achieve your goals and sell products by having efficient team members, setting realistic time frames and feel stress free. The flow of this business model is designed to have happy business owners. The same attitude can be applied across any small business ideology.

Stress is an indicator of how you react to events. The response you choose is the deciding factor to either survive the problem or go in to a full-blown panic attack.

Be cool and stress free!