Self Care is a Business Strategy

Do you have a mental health business strategy in place? Roughly 50% of entrepreneurs will experience:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Chronic stress

Small business owner mental health suffers because everything is on our shoulders.

However, you can begin incorporating mental care into your business to help you stay on top of your game, offer the best product or service and stay mentally sane at the same time. A few things I would like to see owners do, aside from focusing on holistic branding, is to add the following into their business strategy:

4 Key Elements

Mental Health Business Strategy | Schedule in Breaks and Rest

Business owners work a lot. You’re dedicated to helping your business grow and to reaching your goals. But, there’s only so long that you can pull all-nighters or work 14-hour days before you hit burnout. Two main types of burnout will catch up to you, eventually if you don’t schedule your breaks and rest:

• Mental burnout

• Body burnout

And you don’t get to decide when burnout happens. Your body will decide when it’s time to rest, and it will kill your productivity.

Remember: your we have businesses that will help us build the life we want. If you’re not taking breaks or resting, you’re living to work and not working to live.

Mental Health Business Strategy | Let Your Creative Side Shine Outside of Work

Being creative 24/7 is so difficult. You can be creative at work and outside of business, too. One thing that business owners should try doing is:

• Create something outside of their regular 9-5 business

• Find ways to let your creativity shine for personal reasons

Perhaps you’ve always wanted to be a photographer or painter – do it. You can hone these skills for nothing else but your own personal pleasure, or you can make a side business out of them. Being creative can help increase your positivity, reduce stress and help fight back against depression.

Mental Health Business Strategy | Set Boundaries and Priorities

With your newfound desire to care for yourself as a creative entrepreneur, you must consider your:

• Boundaries 

• Priorities

You enter business to help others and be your own boss. However, there’s this fine line between business and personal life that blends together too easily. You need to set boundaries so that your clients know when you’re available and how you’re available.

Maybe you can prioritize being done with work by 5:30 each night to get personal time or spend time with your friends, family. Setting boundaries and priorities will allow you to reach the goals that you wanted to reach when starting your business and keep you mentally sane at the same time.

Mental Health Business Strategy | Show Up as Your True Self

Finally, you need to be your true self. If you’re stuck trying to be someone else with your clients, it may be good for business and bad for your mental health. However, if you’re raw and real, you’ll find that your mental health improves greatly.

It’s exhausting trying to be something you’re not. If you add these elements to your mental health business strategy, I’m confident that you’ll be in a much better mental state at the end of the day. And, most owners also find more success when they put their mental health first.

Check out the latest video covering this topic