The success of your company, your products, your people—it all rests on your shoulders. If you don’t already have a plan to ease the pressure, you need one.

It can be stressful and lonely at the top. What’s a business owner to do when the pressure of running a company seems too much to bear? We asked a few members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization for their best coping strategies.

Develop guidelines for stress relief.
“After two startup failures, we built a successful template that we went on to use in all of our future ventures. Our stress-relief template includes quiet rooms for staff to relax and recharge, flexible hours, unlimited vacation, and a no-internal-email policy between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m.”
–Bill Faeth, EO Nashville, Co-founder and CEO, Inbound Marketing Agents

Solidify a shared vision.
“I genuinely believe that everyone at Punchkick wants to help us grow and achieve success. But in order to allow that to happen, I’ve worked hard to ensure we have a shared vision. Transparency in the good times and bad has helped me align myself with my team and vice versa. Dinners with my co-workers, weekend brunches, and late-night work sessions have all united us in ways I can’t describe.”
–Zak Dabbas, EO Chicago, President, Punchkick Interactive

Share and distribute.
“The best way I’ve found to effectively manage the stress of entrepreneurship is to share it. As a first step, hiring amazing people and empowering them to take ownership of goals is a great mechanism. However, at the end of the day, I know it comes down to me.”
–Pavel Sokolovsky, EO Chicago, President, Ecomfort Holdings

In response to our partnership with Inc. magazine, EO members are pleased to collaborate by offering these tips about leading from the top. Continue reading the latest Inc. article by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization…