Reduce Stress and Worry During COVID-19 as an Online Entrepreneur

By Jen & Elke Clarke

Reduce Stress and Worry During COVID-19 as an Online Entrepreneur

Stress and worry are crippling online entrepreneurs during COVID-19. A year has passed since the first lockdown was announced and the world was forever changed. People are still dealing with the changes in their lives and uncertainty of their future in all aspects of our lives, personal and business.

If you are an online entrepreneur, like we, you also have the added stress of being responsible for creating your income. The irony is that if we don’t take care of our mental health, the health of our online business will suffer. That is why in this article we give you the tips that worked for us to reduce our stress and worry over the past year, so that you can reduce your stress and worry during these uncertain times.

“You can profit from weddings in 2021 by creating the right products needed by couples who are still going through with their wedding and others who are postponing it. You just need to know what products they need so that you can provide them in your Zazzle store.“

Who are we, Jen and Elke Clarke, and how can we help you?

But before we dive right in, let us introduce ourselves in case this is your first visit. Welcome to The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur blog. We’re Jen and Elke Clarke. We are a mother and daughter team that started Zazzle e-commerce businesses over 10 years ago and have sold over 15 million dollars-worth and counting of products on Zazzle.

The Creative and Ambitious Entrepreneur blog is for you, the creative. We share actionable steps that you can take to make money in your e-commerce business. In each article, we will take you one step closer to achieving freedom with your time, location, and finances.

We believe that a profitable e-commerce business is what opens the doors for you to start living your dream life if you work smarter, not harder, use the right tools and follow the proven roadmap. We’re here to give you the tools you need to make your dream life happen. Let’s get started!

Reduce Stress and Worry: Tip 1 - Reduce the Feeling of Overwhelm and Panic

The past year (2020) has definitely not been “normal”. You probably felt overwhelmed and even panicky at times over the past year because of the events that happened and the uncertainty you have faced.

Now that we are in 2021 and still dealing with COVID-19, you may have tapped out your reserve of calm and are now wondering “Is this ever going to end?”.

We know it is easier said than done, but the key to reducing overwhelm and panic is to not worry. It is unhealthy mentally and physiologically to stay in a worried state.

Ways to reduce the stress and worry caused by overwhelm that have worked for us include:

Be fully in the present

Meditate

Daily journaling

Choose to be in a state of mindfulness daily

Ask yourself if your fear is truly real

Take targeted actions that will get you to your goals

You might be thinking, these sound too easy. We thought so too at first. But they work because they keep us, grounded, centered, and stay in the moment, which is key to reducing stress and worry.

Reduce Stress and Worry: Tip 2 - Stop Playing the Victim Role

Whether times are tough or you feel like situations are not in your control, you still have control. You have a choice as to how you think and act in any situation.

If you choose to let things happen to you, you will feel like a helpless victim. But no matter what the circumstance, you do have a choice. You have the choice to take action (or inaction) and the choice to perceive a situation negatively or positively.

The reason we stay in victim mode is because we can’t see ourselves in any other way and we don’t know how to get from victim to controlling our destiny.

So ask yourself, “If I knew how to get out of a bad situation would I take action?” If you said “yes”, then you are on your way to shedding your victim’s cloak and reducing stress and worry.

If you said “no”, then believe that even in someone’s darkest hour, there is a pinhole of light that they can follow to get to a better place. Look for the light. Believe in a better future and trust yourself that you can get there because you have the strength and deserve it.

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Reduce Stress and Worry: Tip 3 - Consider How Things in Nature Persevere

In this picture, we are standing in front of #thatWanakaTree in Wanaka, New Zealand. We love traveling and were in New Zealand, just before COVID-19 broke out in 2020. ⁣⁣It is a full grown willow tree in the middle of the lake. ⁣⁣Someone, in 1939, stuck several willow branches in the ground to create a fence and this one branch started to grow.

Now, years later, the tree is a symbol of determination, hope and perseverance. It beat all odds to adapt to its environment. People come from all over the world to photograph this tree and be inspired to persevere.

What we learned from being there and seeing this small but significant sight was that things in nature always persevere. There is no worry about what can or can’t happen based on “standards”. Things in nature just do their thing through instinct and drive. We realized we were putting restrictions on what we could or could not do and were giving up way too quickly based on other people’s standards and expectations.

We realized we can do hard things through perseverance. This reduced our stress and worry about failure and allowed us to take the action required to achieve our goals.

Reduce Stress and Worry: Tip 4 - Choose an eCommerce Business That Has Proven Success, During Recessions, COVID-19 and Booming Times

As an online entrepreneur, you have probably tried many ways to create a 6- or 7-figure online business in the past. Jen and I have been down this path many times before. We did affiliate marketing, sold our physical creations (jewelry, home decor, clothing, paintings, photography etc.) online on Etsy and online art sites (most of which are no longer around) to name a few. None of these lasted and never made more than a few thousand dollars. Can you relate?

It was only after we discovered Zazzle, a Print on Demand company (POD), that we realized the other ways to sell online were not as profitable or sustainable during good and uncertain times as Zazzle was (and still is).

We started our Zazzle businesses in the 2008-2009 recession. Despite the recession, we were growing our Zazzle businesses with huge increases every year. Soon I, Elke, was selling over 1 million dollars-worth of Zazzle products per year, year after year.

To date, we, Jen and Elke, have now sold over $15 million dollars-worth of Zazzle products.

Even during these uncertain times, using our 5 Strategies, and Zazzle as the e-commerce platform, one of our top students sold 1 million dollars-worth of Zazzle products in 2020.

Reduce Stress and Worry: Tip 5 - Follow a Proven Plan to Achieve What You Want

When we first started on Zazzle we failed miserably. Each of us only made about $90. That was embarrassing, disheartening, and we thought we were not good enough to earn using our creativity on Zazzle. We were so wrong!!!

We needed a proven plan. We had the chops, what it took. We also had the drive, but without a proven plan, you never get there fast or do as well. That’s why it took us several years to get the hang of how Zazzle works and how we can profit. Back then there were no mentors, coaches or courses on how to make money on Zazzle

We had to figure it out the hard way. But now that we became successful, we figured out that our 5 Strategies, are the key to success on Zazzle. That is why we now teach and show you how to implement The 5 Strategies™ into your Zazzle store through our signature course, The Profit by Design Academy™ . We show Zazzle Designers how to turn their hobby into a profitable 6- and 7-figure businesses through our course and coaching programs.

If you want to achieve anything (lose weight, drive a car, learn how to cook, play the piano etc), you get the help and training from someone who has already done the work, figured out the proven plan or steps to get there AND accomplished what you want to achieve.

The proven plan is how you reduce stress and worry as an e-commerce online entrepreneur during this crazy time we face in 2021. People are still making lots of money through e-commerce on Zazzle. It’s up to you if you want a piece of the pie. Reduce the stress and worry. Take the path of least resistance to succeed even during uncertain and stressful times with a proven plan.

Reduce Stress and Worry Tips: Summary

In 2021, after 2020, the stress and worry can be brimming over in your cup of life. Instead of falling into stress and worry, use these tips that have helped us continue to be successful million dollar e-commerce online business owners using Zazzle.

Tips to reduce stress and worry for online entrepreneurs:

1. Reduce the feeling of overwhelm and panic

2. Stop playing the victim role

3. Consider how things in nature persevere

4. Choose an eCommerce business that has proven success, during recessions, COVID-19 and booming times

5. Follow a proven plan to achieve what you want

Tell us in the comments, how many of these tips will you use to help you reduce stress and worry.

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About the authors

Jen and Elke Clarke are a mother-daughter duo that empowers women entrepreneurs to make money online. Through courses and coaching, Jen and Elke help women (and men) become successful creative entrepreneurs on Zazzle and e-commerce. Combined Jen and Elke have earned over $1.5 million combined through their businesses on Zazzle. Jen and Elke have influenced and transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with their free content, paid and private coaching.

They are international, award-winning authors. Click the links to purchase their books through Amazon: Earn Around The World and Create Online and Grow Rich.

Jen and Elke Clarke have been featured in Yahoo Finance as TOP 5 e-commerce coaches in 2020 (June 2020).

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