How To Fall Sick Successfully As A Solopreneur

From the common cold to the flu, being sick well...sucks. Not only as an adult but as a solopreneur. Take it from me! I am one. When you get sick, not only is your mind and body not working at 100%, but knowing that your work won’t complete itself can make you sick with worry. Plus, you may not have sick days yourselves. 

Coming from a person who forgets that there are holidays where businesses close, I don’t often think of taking paid time off - let alone sick days. Either way, owning your own business is hard enough without factoring days off in your to-do lists. It may seem that when you’re sick, nothing can get done or you must meet deadlines. Not the case! You can be successful while sipping tea in bed with a laptop in your lap. 

Here are my top bits of advice to fall sick successfully!

Let Everyone Know

At any sign of sickness coming along, I let the whole world know. Not on social, but I do give a heads up not only to my clients but to my team. The more transparent you are, the more accepting your clients and team will be when you need to move deadlines and delegate tasks. Because the first thing you should know is that you can’t do it all. The more you try to maintain a regular schedule, the more your illness will be prolonged. So don’t overwork your body and brain cells.

As a solopreneur with one contractor and two interns, most of the work still falls to myself. This is a good opportunity to give my interns increased responsibility. I can focus on creating shell outlines for proposals or projects so that I can pass it along to my team for them to flesh out. If you don’t have a team yet, still do these shell outlines so you start projects. Then when you feel better, you can tackle it head-on! Plus, it helps to accomplish little things so you can feel accomplished while in bed surrounded by tissues. OR reach-out to your favorite Upwork or Fiverr contractors.

Be Mindful

Feeding off letting everyone know and delegating to your team, I highly recommend coming to terms with those tasks that simply will not get done! Prep your mindset by giving yourself permission to NOT feel guilty. It’s OK to move deadlines! It’s OK to pass work off to another teammate. Clients understand. Your team understands. The only person left that needs to understand is YOU! Tell yourself that although you may have to work extra hours you will get it done! The anxiety may be real thinking about your everlasting to-do list but it won’t help you get better, so put on that long overdue face mask and watch Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings And A Funeral. 

Sharpen Your Mind

If you’re REALLY sick to the point where you’ve come to terms with moving deadlines and sent smoke signals to everyone, why not indulge in some passion (sounds more exciting than professional) development? Depending on how fuzzy your mind is you may feel a little useless laying about (I know I feel useless when sick!) and want to exercise your skillset to learn more about your industry or the latest trends. Do it! Take an hour a day to work-out your brain. If you’re like me, you’ll feel productive! I personally love taking small courses on content calendaring, Trello or organization. 

Self-Care 

This one is pretty straightforward! Braindump in your journal. Try that new nail color you’ve been eyeing in your polish collection. Relax with face, hair and eye masks. Spending quality time with yourself is key- always. Even when you’re not sick, you have to schedule time for yourself. Sadly, not many people realize this when healthy and are forced to face the music when ill. So take advantage of this time, but also remember to make it part of your regular schedule. 

I also like to take this time to do some self-care maintenance on my clients! Thinking of new ways to help them, identifying holes in processes and evaluating how to create a better working relationship with them. This could literally be in the form of taking them out for a spa day! Who knows? There’s always a way to show some love to your clients.

Rest

This one is particularly easy! Listen to your body! If it wants to eat, grab some food. If it’s thirsty, chug some water. If it wants to sleep, SLEEP. You get the point. Don’t be afraid to close the laptop and just lay down. Rest, medicine and water will you get back to work in no time. One of the interesting things I notice when resting is that I get great ideas! When this happens, I make sure to take advantage of Siri, Trello and Gmail so I know my ideas are recorded and stored in a safe place until I can revisit them when feeling 100% again. 

Becoming sick is inevitable! It happens to most of us 1 to 2 times a year collectively resulting in a week or two off from work. But what happens when we’re the only person who can get work done? We’re solopreneurs with small teams, we have no choice but to think strategically, be transparent, rearrange and get the rest we need. Take this time to focus your mind on professional development while treating yourself with a home spa day. Every entrepreneur falls sick- use these tips to do it successfully!

What are some of your sick tips, entrepreneurs?