Being a business owner puts you in an isolated and lonely position, leaving you alone with your thoughts and struggles. Her are some key contributing factors:
High levels of stress
Running a business often involves long hours, financial uncertainty, and high stakes decision-making, which can lead to chronic stress.
Financial pressure
Business owners are responsible for the financial health of their company and their own, which can create significant pressure, especially during economic downturns or when facing cash flow issues.
Isolation
Entrepreneurship is often a lonely journey. Business owners might lack a support network or feel isolated because of the demands of their role and the need to maintain a professional demeanour.
Work-life balance
Many business owners struggle to separate their work and personal lives, leading to burnout and reduced time for relaxation and family.
Uncertainty and risk
The inherent risks of starting and running a business, such as market fluctuations and competitive pressures, contribute to ongoing anxiety and uncertainty about the future.
Responsibility overload
Being responsible for employees, customers, investors, and other stakeholders can be overwhelming, increasing feelings of responsibility and pressure.
Failure and setbacks
The fear of failure, and dealing with setbacks when they occur, can significantly impact mental health. The personal and financial repercussions of a business failing can be severe.
Imposter syndrome
Many business owners, especially new entrepreneurs, may struggle with imposter syndrome, doubting their abilities and feeling undeserving of their success.
Is it any wonder that business owners are overwhelmed and chronically stressed? Being vulnerable and sharing your pain with managers or employees is often not an option. It can be perceived as cracks starting to appear within the organisation, triggering second thoughts about the stability of their workplace. This might encourage employees to at least keep an eye on other opportunities and, if the right one comes along, jump ship. This would only aggravate the problem, leaving the business owner to stand firm and not show any signs of weakness.
At home, your problems and worries might not be understood. If anything, your family might put even more pressure on you to “lighten up” and not bring work problems home.
An option that comes to mind is to talk to other business owners. At the end of the day, they face the same problems as you do and should be the best people to share your pains with. The problem is that being in business is a race in itself, and admitting weakness or failure to another business owner is probably even worse than the alternatives discussed here. It is common practice to overexaggerate our success in front of other business owners. Remind yourself of the hype associated with networking events. Everyone puts a smile on their face and brags about how well their business is going. Everyone’s mission for the event is to get more business out of it, and you won’t get more business by moaning and complaining about your challenges.
Ideally, it would be great to have a friend who is a business owner with whom we can spend leisure time and, once we feel comfortable, talk about our pains. The problem is, while being overwhelmed, it is very difficult to find the time to nurture this kind of relationship.
The solution?
It is understandably difficult to break the mould and open up to employees, family members, or even other business owners. Luckily, there are people who know exactly how you feel, won’t criticise you, and will happily listen to your problems. This person is a business coach or mentor. I had the pleasure to experience firsthand how beneficial having a listening ear can be. When I joined a business growth program in my early years of running a business, I found the initial conversations so interesting, liberating, and above all, relieving. I realised that the topic had nothing to do with business KPIs, financials, strategies, etc., but was focused on me venting and discharging all the pent-up worries and frustrations.
Little did I know, that downloading these challenges was the first necessary step in adopting a growth mindset. It was a turning point for my business and allowed me to embark on a journey of steep growth. Having the comfort of weekly conversations with someone who won’t judge me but might point out various uncomfortable details gave me all the energy needed to build a thriving business.
