{"id":101402,"date":"2025-08-27T18:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101402\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:24:09","slug":"stressed-as-an-entrepreneur-create-a-plan-to-protect-your-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101402\/","title":{"rendered":"Stressed as an entrepreneur? Create a plan to protect your mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Being an entrepreneur and running your own business is a challenge. To keep from getting overwhelmed, experts suggest laying out a plan to help you reduce stress and protect your mental health.GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Kennedy Hardinge always knew she wanted to work for herself. In 2017, she opened her dog grooming business, Kenny\u2019s K9<\/a>, which now has two Manitoba locations. She also co-founded Kenny\u2019s Comfort Pet Sitting<\/a> three years ago.<\/p>\n

A few years into running her business, Ms. Hardinge says she noticed a shift. \u201cI realized there were things going on that didn\u2019t feel like me. Once I started talking about it, I realized I was struggling with depression and anxiety, which started from challenges that happened in my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Hardinge is not alone.<\/p>\n

Thirty-six per cent of Canadian entrepreneurs feel that mental health challenges interfere with their ability to work at least once a week, according to the Business Development Bank of Canada\u2019s 7th annual report<\/a> on the mental health of Canadian entrepreneurs. The report also found that 35 per cent of entrepreneurs sought professional help to address a mental health concern in the last year.<\/p>\n

Founders\u2019 biggest stressors include managing cash flow and profitability, economic and political uncertainty, as well as work-life balance, high self-expectations and fear of failure, the report found.<\/p>\n

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Lauren Legere, founder of Vancouver-based Latitude Counselling, says there are four key contributors to mental health challenges for entrepreneurs: financial uncertainty, difficulty differentiating yourself from your business, trouble clocking out at the end of the day, and a lack of funds and support to get help.SUPPLIED<\/p>\n

Lauren Legere, who left corporate sales after 10 years due to burnout, is now a registered clinical counsellor and a Canadian certified counsellor. She founded Vancouver-based Latitude Counselling<\/a> in 2020, where one of her specialties is professional burnout. She recognized four key contributors to mental health challenges in herself and her clients:<\/p>\n

Uncertainty about finances and the future of the business, even for a successful company. Difficulty differentiating from their business, leading them to take setbacks personally and feel shame or guilt.Struggling to clock out each day, especially early on when growing their business or if responsible for numerous roles.No access to extended health benefits, which can complicate situations where an entrepreneur is not coping well.<\/p>\n

For Ms. Hardinge, compassion fatigue also played a role. \u201cWhen you put your heart and soul into customers or your product or employees and you don\u2019t get that respect back, it gets exhausting,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Ms. Hardinge says what helped the most was finally recognizing her struggle. \u201cFor a while, I thought how I was feeling was just normal as a business owner. I felt like if I admitted I was struggling, I would look like a bad business owner or if customers found out, they would not want to support me. But when I started talking about it and realized that is not true and I\u2019m not alone, that was huge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daryl Sherman is a resident entrepreneur<\/a> at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. He serves as an advisor to McMaster-affiliated entrepreneurs through workshops, one-on-one mentorship and collaborative projects. Mr. Sherman, who has founded numerous companies, says it is important for entrepreneurs to make time to do activities they love, even if they feel like they don\u2019t have enough time. Personally, he enjoys golfing and playing hockey. <\/p>\n

He also recommends that entrepreneurs build up a support network with people they can talk to openly and bounce around ideas. This network can come from another founder or by joining a local small business group, he says. Incubators like The Forge at McMaster, where Mr. Sherman is a mentor, also provide co-working spaces and meetups, which help founders feel less isolated.<\/p>\n

When Ms. Hardinge searched online for resources specific to entrepreneurs, she could not find much. So, in 2023, she founded the Entrepreneur Mental Health Association, which provides resources and an opportunity to connect with others.<\/p>\n

Shulamit Ber Levtov also wanted to expand support for entrepreneur mental health. A registered social worker in Merrickville, Ont., she left her successful group practice due to its impact on her mental health. From speaking to other business owners, she discovered she was not the only one struggling. So, she became The Entrepreneur\u2019s Therapist<\/a>, to support other business owners in working through the emotional toll of leadership and burnout and improve their well-being.<\/p>\n

One of the first strategies she recommends to entrepreneurs is to have a mental health plan. \u201cMost of us know we should have a business plan. But you should also have a mental health plan,\u201d she says. \u201cUnderstand your KPIs (key performance indicators) for your mental and emotional well-being and check in with them on a regular basis, just like you do with your other business KPIs. When the impact of your stressors pile up, you are not always able to problem solve. Having that plan will help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Entrepreneur Mental Health Association<\/a> also helps members devise a plan with items such as: What supports your mental health and what detracts from it? Who is in your support system? What is your work-life balance going to be? The association also provides self-assessments for weekly or monthly check-ins.<\/p>\n

Ms. Legere of Latitude Counselling says if entrepreneurs are having trouble sleeping, feeling irritable, or experience chest tightness, headaches or gastrointestinal upset, or an increase in alcohol or cannabis use, these may be signs to seek professional help. She recognizes that without health benefits, accessing therapy can be difficult. She suggests services like BounceBack<\/a>, a free program from the Canadian Mental Health Association designed to help manage low mood, depression, anxiety, stress or worry. It is delivered over the phone with a coach and through online videos.<\/p>\n

Ms. Ber Levtov says if long-term therapy is not an option, a one-time consultation may help identify strategies to help alleviate stress. She also recommends hiring professionals to handle certain business aspects, such as a website designer, assistant or bookkeeper so you can focus on your strengths. <\/p>\n

Most importantly, she says entrepreneurs should know that some degree of high stress or burnout may not always be avoidable. \u201cIt\u2019s high demand, high stakes work,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople come to my office and think it\u2019s their fault. But it has nothing to do with the individual, and everything to do with entrepreneurship itself. It\u2019s really important that entrepreneurs don\u2019t blame themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tips for handling stress<\/p>\n

Lauren Legere of Latitude Counselling in Vancouver offers these strategies:<\/p>\n

3-5-1 rule<\/p>\n

Set three priorities at the beginning of the day.<\/p>\n

Have five micro breaks each day to stretch, to drink water, step outside or do deep breathing.<\/p>\n

Have one protected block of time, maybe 60 to 90 minutes, to do deep work.<\/p>\n

Debrief Fridays<\/p>\n

Take 10 minutes each week to review: What was successful? What did you feel drained by? Can anything be delegated? <\/p>\n

Commute to nowhere<\/p>\n

If you work from home, at the end of the workday, take a 10-minute walk that creates a boundary between the office and home. <\/p>\n

Decision journal<\/p>\n

Set up two columns to write assumptions about a decision and its eventual outcome. This can reduce rumination and demonstrate what worked and what you can learn from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Being an entrepreneur and running your own business is a challenge. To keep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394,27694],"class_list":{"0":"post-101402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth","13":"tag-ordid3766241683ce"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}