The Truth About Mental Health in Entrepreneurship

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As an entrepreneur, you started your business to be "doing what you love" -- so it can feel isolating when you do struggle, especially when everyone around you is in a traditional 9-5 role. Join digital agency founder Sarah Lempa and your host Katrina Widener as they discuss the unique mental health effects entrepreneurs face and how you can feel less alone.

Sarah Lempa is the founder of Dang Fine Creative, a digital content agency providing social media, copywriting, content, and email marketing to businesses and entrepreneurs who are down to be bold.

Website // Instagram

The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Badass Business Squad podcast. My name is Katrina and I'm your host. I'm here today with Sarah Lempa who is one of my clients. And so I'm like especially excited to have her here today, but she is also just an absolutely amazing entrepreneur. Super, super cool. Doing really, really cool things. So thank you so much, Sarah, for being here today.

Sarah Lempa: Thank you Katrina for having me, I'm thrilled to be on the infamous podcast.

Katrina Widener: So Sarah before we dive into today's topic, which I think all of our listeners are going to be really excited about, would you mind quickly telling everyone who is listening, who you are and what you do?

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, absolutely. So I founded a digital content agency called Dang Fine Creative. We offer social media management and strategy, copywriting, email marketing, general creative advice, and a whole lot of other fun things. So we are primarily based out of Minneapolis, although I'm typically all over the world a lot of the time, and our clients are all across the US.

Katrina Widener: Yeah, Sarah is coming to you all right now from Bali. Which is super amazing, and I will one day get there.

So today we're going to be really diving into mental health as entrepreneurs and the way that entrepreneurship can almost affect people differently than regular mental health issues, right? There are some unique things that we experience that those who have never run a business, have never been in this industry, just don't really know what it might feel like. So I think that this is something that everyone's going to connect to, and I'm really excited that we're talking about this today. So just to start off with, Sarah, would you mind telling everybody exactly what we're talking about here. Some of the issues that maybe we deal with, that not everyone might experience.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, definitely. The first thing that comes to my mind when you ask that question is basically, nobody really tells you how hard it is to be an entrepreneur. We get this romanticized version of it from social media, movies, books, you know all these inspirational quotes that you see left and right. So I think a lot of what people don't realize is what it actually takes to get there. And it is simultaneously euphoric, but it can also be terrifying. Which Katrina and I actually have talked about this week. So yeah, I think it's just that aspect of uncovering that side of it that people don't really talk about.

Katrina Widener: I think that's an excellent place to start, too. Because I know when I started my business, I was like, "I'm doing this because I want to do what I love. I want to do things that make me feel free and I feel confined in my nine to five job." I know Sarah, you immediately left college and jumped right into your business and there are a lot of goals that we all have by starting our businesses that are really freeing in nature, right? It's that idea of, "I'm not beholden to someone else. I'm able to make decisions for myself. I'm in control of things." But people don't always realize there's that flip side where it's like, "I'm in control of everything." Right? It's like everything is my responsibility. I was having a conversation with someone about this just yesterday, where it's like, "If I take an hour off, that is an hour where I'm not generating income. Or I could possibly not be generating income."

And with all of that freedom that we talk about, there's that other flip side, right? There's that, "Oh my gosh. Am I making the right decision?" For us, you and I, we have members on our team now. "Am I doing the best by them that I could possibly be doing. Am I booking the right clients?" There are so many questions that we have, and we are the people who have to hold all of the answers.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah.

Katrina Widener: So would you mind like sharing kind of a little bit of your own experience with these situations and how your experience as an entrepreneur has really just been different from maybe what you expected immediately.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, for sure. It really makes me think about how our entire lives, we are born into these structures, right? So whether that's school or work, et cetera, usually you're going to have some type of job before you're a full-blown entrepreneur. So most of us grow up in structure of some sort. And then for me graduating college, I just took my laptop and kind of got to it. And it was this brand new world of not having any structure, or structure could be whatever I wanted it to be, you know? And, and at first it was this incredible feeling of freedom at its finest. Just wildly like, "Okay, I want to wake up and do this? Cool. Or I don't want to do that. I can climb a mountain on Tuesday. It doesn't matter." Going from those opposite extremes where okay, I was in college and I was going to lecture and I had a restaurant job to then becoming this digital nomad /traveling solopreneur at the time before I had the agency. It started off amazing. But then once reality caught up with me kind of that like, "Oh wait this is. This is. This isn't stopping. This is actually my life now."

It was that unfathomable amount of change that really hit me like a brick. And even though it was good change, it was just so much for me to get used to because never ever in my life did I imagine that I would be there, to be honest. So I think that massive adjustment and having the full autonomy, it can be really overwhelming. Especially because for most of us it's something that we're not used to. It's certainly not a normal path, so to speak. I think it's becoming more normal. But nobody teaches you how to be an entrepreneur. It is truly a figure it out yourself, choose your own adventure type of novel. And that's why we love it so much, right? But it's also just like, "Wow, I'm really out here a lot of the time alone." So yeah I could rattle on, but for starters.

Katrina Widener: I really appreciate you brought that up too because when we cannot imagine how something looks, it's way harder to imagine ourselves within that, right? So this is why people who have been maybe low income their entire lives, they can't even imagine what it would feel like to have millions of dollars. And when our society is modeling this nine to five world, right? You go to high school, you get a degree, you go to college, you get a degree, you get a job, you grow your career within this pre-set out societal norm. When you say, "Hey, I'm going to step away from that," whether it is starting your own business or doing literally anything else that is not the norm, it is overwhelming and terrifying. Because our brains on a very basic scientific level are like, "I cannot imagine that. So I can't imagine myself in it. So this change is disregulating, right?"

Sarah and I were recently talking about how that happens with your body. When your body is taken out of the place that it perceives as comfortable and safe and secure and gets dropped into a new situation, even if it's a good situation, it still gets disregulation. And our world is set up in a way that we don't get that model of what it feels like to be an entrepreneur or what it looks like to be an entrepreneur in a day-to-day basis outside of maybe like this white man on the television is doing his thing and making millions of dollars, right?

Everyone assumes that if you're an entrepreneur, you don't work at all and you make a lot of money. And the truth is when you first start your business it's hard and it's an adjustment period. And it's figuring it out as you go, just like you said.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah. Yeah it is huge. All of that, I have lived it and completely agree with it. Very shared experience.

It also makes me think how, not only is that a whole profusion of change to deal with, but when you think of your traditional support systems, right? When you're in college you have your classmates, you have your professors. Same with living at home or when you were in elementary school. Take it back through your whole life, you know hopefully you had these support systems. But once you're an entrepreneur, it's kind of like, "All right, go on. Sink or swim. It's you and you." And when you're getting started, before you're building a team, or even when you do have a team, your team is going to support you. But at the same time, if you're the captain of the ship it's still very lonely sometimes.

Katrina Widener: Yeah. It's like what we were saying. Every single decision you're in control of. And while that's the thing that drove us to entrepreneurship and it felt really cool at the beginning, it's also the thing that is like, "Oh all right. It's all on me. I have no meeting to collaborate and discuss this with someone else. I have no boss to run this past or colleague." And that's why I talk about community all the time. Is because you get that water cooler moment of, "Oh, I've been thinking about doing this. What are your ideas?"

That's why having a business coach is great. That's why going to networking events is great. That's why I have a couple business best friends. Even though I hate the term "business besties". Because I can have a standing meeting with them every Friday morning and say, "Hey, this is what I'm thinking about in my business. What are you thinking about in your business? Cool. Let's collaborate. Let's think this through." But when you're first starting out, you often also don't know a ton of those people. But finding them is key. It's so clutch.

Sarah Lempa: It's so clutch. And honestly once you do find it, you realize how clutch it is. Cause there's just something about everybody who's kind of carving this path. We've all kind of been through some shit at one point or another, you know? So once you find that community, it's like everybody is so richly their own individual in personality.

Katrina Widener: I think it's also important because when you find that right community, it makes the big difference. You can find community and it can be the wrong community. And so it's like finding that community where you get each other first and foremost. But also you can collaborate with one another. They can push you a little bit, encourage you, give you inspiration. Because otherwise it's very isolating. It's very much, "I am a sole person sitting in my house at my desk and that is it."

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, that is huge. And also depending on what city you're in and what a lot of your friends are doing, if you're the only entrepreneur and all your friends are doing nine to fives, if they're happy that's amazing for them. But as well, that can feel isolating in and of itself. Because it's like, "Oh, I'm just here doing my own thing. And everybody else is in this sort of environment. And I'm the odd one out." So finding those commonalities. Even if you're not meeting up every day, just knowing that you have people embarking on a similar path just in your vicinity, can be instantly comforting.

Katrina Widener: Definitely. Definitely. It's one of those things where it's that idea of a shared experience. And that makes you feel less isolated because you know other people are going through the same thing that you are. Even if that's the base level of the community, is being able to say, "Oh we're in this together. Even if you're doing you and I'm doing me. We can share that experience and know we're not alone."

I'm also putting this caveat out there for anyone listening, neither of us are therapists so don't sue us. But Sarah, what are some ways that you have personally been able to kind of combat any mental health issues that overwhelm any anxiety that might come up and really keep yourself on track when you are in those moments when you're struggling? Because we know literally every single entrepreneur has those moments, right? Every single entrepreneur I've ever met despite their level of expertise or income or where they're at in their business, has these moments and has these moments semi-regularly.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah! Yeah absolutely. Oh, it's a combination of things. I mean honestly therapy is my bread and butter. I absolutely love having one space where I can just explore everything. Whether that's something in my personal life or something going on in business. As many of us know they're just completely intertwined, even if you have the best work-life balance in the world. Because most of us are doing something that's just direct, straight up unadulterated passion, it's kind of one in the same. So having that space has been so, so useful. And just knowing that you have somebody totally unrelated to your business person is really helpful.

And then honestly, it's just a lot of trial and error. I won't even make it sound glamorous. I mean I've had really bad experiences in a lot of different places of the world, dealing with my mental health as an entrepreneur. And that is actually just the reality of it is that you're going to fall on your ass sometimes and I have many a times. But the thing is I've always gotten back up and I learned something from it. A really big takeaway for me in the past two years was that I actually need to have a community, which we just talked about. So we kind of did that part already. But I used to travel full time. And so then I realized being an entrepreneur as somebody who works alone, I need a bit of stability. I need more stability in my social life, because I'm always working alone. So for me having that support system is just everything. And being able to blow off steam after work and just go and talk to some friends who really, really know me and just take my mind off of things? That is everything. So I feel like finding your balance. And it's different for everybody, but how are you going to have life after work with your work-life balance? If that makes sense.

Katrina Widener: Yes, definitely. And I think kind of that combination too of that shared experience, and then what you were just talking about. Those people that know and trust you, and you can kind of get out of that realm of just that business mindset of, "I'm thinking about my business all the time. And am I going to do this? Am I going to do this? Is this the right decision? I don't know. Ahh!"

But I think that's even why us coming on here today and saying, "Hey, we've had these feelings in our business." I've definitely had moments when I've woke up the first thing in the morning and been like, "Oh my gosh, I need to book this client tomorrow otherwise... am I a failure? Or why is this person not hiring me?" Right? Everybody has these things that go through our minds and it's knowing ourselves and knowing our worth. And I don't mean knowing your worth in terms of "charge your worth." I mean knowing you're good at your job. Being sold on your own value, being sold on what you do.

But also just normalizing it and saying we all have different struggles within our mental health when it comes to having a business. There's different anxieties that people have. There are different ways that you might get overwhelmed or feel isolated or anything that we haven't covered on today's podcast episode. And being vulnerable and being willing to share that with other people is also huge, right? Having a close business colleague is only helpful if you're honest with them about where you're at and what you're feeling stressed out by. Having close friends in a deep community is only going to be as beneficial as how honest you are and how willing you are to say, "This is exactly where I'm at." Because if they're not able to meet you at where you're at, it's not actually going to be helpful either. Right?

Sarah Lempa: Such a good point.

Katrina Widener: Especially if you have a business coach and you're like, "Oh, I'm making more than I'm making." Or, "Oh no, this thing doesn't stress me out." And then they can't figure out why you're not doing the thing that you say you want to do.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah.

Katrina Widener: Having that open dialogue is so important.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah you have to be honest. It also makes me think of how personal work, working on yourself, that is business work. Because everything that you do to improve yourself just as a human being, completely independent of your business, healing yourself in whatever way, XYZ, that is going to reflect in your business. I truly believe it will reflect in your bottom line. The more that you put into yourself, it just improves every area of your life. So if that means taking a break? Jeez, take a break. Can we talk about hustle culture and how toxic that is?

Katrina Widener: Yes.

Sarah Lempa: We have to deal with that? I want to take those expectations and throw them out the window because it's just so not good for any of us.

Katrina Widener: Oh my gosh if you guys are listening to me and Sarah, you know me. Argh hustle culture. Literally I'm physically cringing, like my body tenses up when I think about hustle culture because it is so toxic. But also I want to again normalize for people, I hate hustle culture.

I talk about hustle culture all the time. I still can get caught up in the ideals of hustle culture. Mental health and working on yourself and personal development? In the business coaching industry, at least the business coaching industry part that I'm in, we say mental work is 80% of what you're doing. It's 80% of your success. That business strategy, that newsletter is 20% of the work. Right? But doing that mental work is really what's gonna move you forward, especially as a solopreneur or someone who is on the smaller end of a business. Because you're so closely tied to what is happening in your business.

But it's also like, I can say that and then that doesn't mean that I don't get caught up in hustle culture sometimes. It doesn't mean that you don't learn something. It's a journey. It's figuring things out as you go. And they say that it takes seven years to fully decondition something that's stored in your body. And so if you have hustle culture stored in your body and you're like, "I totally believe in this and it's been two years and I still sometimes get caught up into it." It's like, "Well that's okay." Like you're saying, it's okay to take a rest. It's okay to give yourself grace in these moments. Because it is a journey and we're all figuring out as we go. And that's also just the way the brain works and that's the way your subconscious works. That's the way your body works. And there's science behind this too. And getting down on yourself and being hard on yourself doesn't solve the problem.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, exactly. I saw this absolutely ridiculous Instagram post that was like, "Oh rich people only sleep like six hours a day." And I was just like, "Can we, can we just not?"

Katrina Widener: Right?

Sarah Lempa: It's wild the things that we are bombarded with. So I think another big thing with being an entrepreneur is learning to protect yourself and have those boundaries. Which is a whole other topic as well. Boundaries in general. But boundaries from expectations because we all move on our own pace. And we have to move on our own pace because if you're moving on somebody else's pace, you're probably not going to get anywhere.

Katrina Widener: Exactly, exactly. I mean we started out being like, "Let's talk about mental health with entrepreneurs." But also there are just so many different aspects and areas of mental health, right? Having boundaries with your clients is a huge one. Or having boundaries with the people around you is another huge one. There's so many different ways that we can share about it. But I think if overall the goal is like, you're not alone, right? Like we are all going through this. You're not doing it by yourself.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, everybody's going through it.

Katrina Widener: Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you so much Sarah for coming on. This has been hopefully a great conversation for people listen to, and kind of get a little bit more normalization, feel a little bit more like, "All right I'm not alone." And the thing is yes, there are so many different ways that our mental health can be tested as entrepreneurs, but that's what that perseverance is. Perseverance is less of, "I'm going to work really, really hard and push, push, push." But it's more of, "I'm going to keep trying, even when it feels difficult." So I really appreciate our conversation today.

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, me too. Thanks for having me on.

Katrina Widener: Yeah. Okay. Before we end the episode, would you mind also sharing with everyone where they can find you?

Sarah Lempa: Yeah, absolutely. You can find me on Instagram. The agency is @dangfinecreative. And if you are interested in me, you just look up my name on Instagram. I'm one of a few Sarah Lempa's so you'll probably find me.

Katrina Widener: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on!

Sarah Lempa: Yeah thank you.