It’s ok not to be ok - a personal post

April 2024

If you’re an entrepreneur and business leader you have to be resilient and determined. And it’s assumed by those around that you can cope.

But it’s not always the case.

For 22 years, running my own business gave me a sense of purpose and a role - founder, MD, leader, colleague, and more.
My name was on the door and looking after my teams, growing the offices, all that, gave me structure and certainty.
Our success had attracted a buyer for a majority share of the business five years ago.
But last summer, as my ‘golden handcuffs’ to the business started to loosen - that structure and certainty started to vanish amid uncertainty about my role and next steps.
Would I stay with the business? Was I wanted? If not, what would I do? What was I without the business to lead? All these unknowns piled high in front of my mind’s eye. My anchors were no longer secure and all kinds of thoughts raced through my mind.

The situation got to me badly.
My most important relationships were being affected, at work and at home. It was hard.
And it got to the point I realised I needed some professional mental health support. So I went to see a psychologist at The Priory and opened up.
What I learned was that what I was feeling was perfectly ordinary - that countless entrepreneurs in my situation had experienced the same fears, feelings, concerns, and thoughts.
With the psychologist’s guidance, over six sessions, I was able to process and digest what was happening and actually learn to embrace it.
Now, I’m the first to admit I’m in a highly privileged position, with lots of support and resource around me. So many people are far worse off and go through so much more, without the help I could easily get.
But I guess I want to open up and be honest about what happened to me. There’s no stigma involved and nothing to hide - in fact being open about mental health is really important. It’s ok to not be ok.
And there’s going to be other people who go through what I went through.
In fact, it’s been dubbed the ‘Happy Founder Myth’ in an interview (£) I’ve done with Michael Taylor at TheBusinessDesk.com.

So, thanks for reading this and hope you've had a good week.
Please share it if you think it'll help someone else.
And if you feel like I did, or indeed feel worse, you're not alone. There's plenty of people who can help.

Or if you know someone who you think might need to talk, then just ask how they're doing and listen.

Wishing you a happy and healthy bank holiday weekend. Jo.