This is a big time of year with lots going on. Reflecting on the year passed, catching up with those near and dear and perhaps setting some goals for the year ahead.

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For small business owners, it can be a particularly important time. This festive and summer season can be make or break for viability. While many customers are in holiday mode, business owners can be flat out, making a go of it and gearing up for another year and wave of new regulations and compliance burdens.

When you own a small business, it is just as important to spend time working on your business as it is to spend time working in your business.

Some owners do this by taking some time to do a health check on the business and to consider how it is travelling and could be improved. Too few take the time to check in on themselves.

Too often the daily quest to keep the doors open and manage the many immediate demands prevents time being spent thinking about the health, future and goals of your business. And for that matter, your own health.

For small and family business owners, their identities are interwoven into their business and the stakes are so much higher than just a job. Many people have invested a lifetime - and put their family home on the line - to build up their business, which amplifies the emotional challenges.

Small business owners point to the difficult economy, modest (if any) returns and heavy compliance burdens as draining the "joy" of small business ownership.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data show one-third of business owners experience moderate or higher levels of psychological distress.

Forty per cent of business owners have experienced a mental health condition with 17 per cent saying this has occurred in the past 12........

© Canberra Times