Some expenses are to be expected when you’re running a business: the rent for your office space, your employee’s salaries, the cost of equipment, and so on. But over time, less noticeable, smaller expenses can also add up, quietly sabotaging the financial well-being of your company if you’re not careful.

Society teaches us that wanting lots of money is bad. Think of old Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, for example. He certainly isn’t viewed favorably as he greedily counts and hoards all of his riches, refusing to help those less fortunate than him. Indeed, being a miser at the expense of others is not at all good. But ensuring that your business is profitable so you can consistently pay your employees what they’re worth? This is what the Profit First methodology is all about – creating sustainable businesses that put their people first.

It might be tempting to count yourself out as you’re first getting your company off the ground. You might think when my business gets bigger, I’ll get some real accounting software or once my company grows, it’ll be time to automate that process. But, in fact, even a company in its nascent stage can benefit from automating many of its processes. And there are many free and low-fee automation options available – you just need to look for them.

There are lots of small business owners out there who have reached a certain level of success. We can point to them as examples and say that they are clearly operating successful businesses. And that success can be defined in many different ways. Perhaps they’re making a ton in revenue, they’re simply happy, or their team is strong and capable. The meaning of success is naturally open to interpretation.

Everyone gets stressed, no matter who they are or what type of job they have. Small business owners, however, share many of the same stressors. The good news is if you can identify the sources of your stress, you can alleviate and ideally eliminate it – stopping the stress right in its tracks. So if you’re losing sleep, money, or even friends because you’re so high-strung and anxious all the time, keep reading for more information about the eight most common sources of SMB stress and learn how to get it under control.