Coping with investor pressure amidst Covid
I have a direct to consumer business that just launched in 2 new states in April at the beginning Covid. This is 1/3 of the business and is doing well. However the other 2/3 is not yet functioning due to Covid disruptions. My investors have not pivoted their expectations and want me to triple business in the next 6 weeks to stay on course (per our pre-pandemic plan). This is not feasible. I spend my weekends anxiously watching sales and worrying that we won’t have a big enough uptick to report to investors on Monday Wondering what/how I could haven possibly done more during the week (much of this is outside my control due to odd pandemic consumer behavior). It’s taking a toll on me emotionally. I’m unable to recharge for the next week, I dread Monday, and I’m getting sucked into a toxic anxious mind loop. Any suggestions on how to separate myself from these emotions?
Try to get funds from somewhere else to ease the situation. The EU gives away money to everything that has the name "Covid" in the business plan. I know some Asian countries do that too and I´m certain there are similar schemes in the USA as well. Try reach to your states economy board, your local city board and every kind of support scheme provider you could possible find. You won´t get the results your investors wants, but you will survive even if he decides to no longer support you.
I know what you mean about anxiety like this. I had a ton of it in the first 6 months of working on my startup. The technique that stopped it for me is just thinking: "What's the worst that can happen?" Once I realized I'm not going to die and I won't end up on the street, my anxiety faded away.
We have some sort of primal instinct in the back of our brain that perceives risk like we're still the homo sapiens of the savanna and are trying to avoid death. But it's nowhere that bad.
If your anxiety is more about what others think, I would recommend this WaitButWhy post titled "Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think": https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/06/taming-mammoth-let-peoples-opinions-run-life.html
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