Feeling Blue? Simple Strategies for Overcoming Depression as an Entrepreneur
By: Michael Leonard
Tags: Mindfulness, Life, Entrepreneurship, Mental Health, Business

Feeling Blue? Simple Strategies for Overcoming Depression as an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs suffer from 4.5x more depression and mental health issues than most people.

Growing up, becoming an entrepreneur had always been my dream. When I finally quit my six-figure job and took the leap in 2017, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. It quickly became a living nightmare.

At the time, I had earned $200 from my blog (total), but I figured if other people were making money as a blogger, then I could too. I was confident in my abilities, and since I had done well for myself working for other companies, I thought I’d do even better when I was steering my own ship.

But that’s not what happened. After 18 months as a writer and side-hustler, I hit rock bottom. As I headed into 2019, I was in a dark place.

My brand and other online businesses were failing. I was around $30,000 in credit card debt and I felt like I was drowning. I wasn’t going on benders or hitting the casino either—that debt came from trying to make my business dream a reality.

I over-invested in coaching and masterminds and made a handful of other bad choices. I was doing way too much and it became very clear that running 4–5 side hustles wasn’t working.

To make matters worse, I didn’t tell anyone what I was going through, not even my parents or girlfriend. I felt like since I had put myself into this mess, I would have to figure out how to get myself out of it.

I was scared. I was embarrassed. I was sad. And these feelings dominated my self-talk 24 hours a day.

In a matter of months, I developed a depression so deep that I had to give myself a serious pep talk each morning just to get out of bed. I put on weight, made almost no money, and hated myself for not being a millionaire entrepreneur success story. As a personal development writer, I knew what I needed to do, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

But I stuck with it. I kept forcing myself to get out of bed each morning and told myself that I would make a comeback.

Finally, after almost two years of struggling, I hit my stride halfway through 2019. Shortly after, I doubled my yearly revenues. More importantly, I developed a positive mindset.

Here, some of the steps I took to create this positive change in both my life and my business.

1. I hired a transformational coach

Prior to entrepreneurship, I was the last person who would write this article or talk about things like meditation or hypnosis. I was the anti “woo-woo” guy. I thought that stuff was total nonsense and didn’t work.

But at the end of 2018, I heard a podcast with Jim Fortin, an NLP(Neuro Linguistic Programming) practitioner, hypnotherapist, and the leader in subconscious reprogramming.

As I listened to the episode, I felt like he was talking directly to me. It was as if he was inside my mind.

Jim’s words really resonated with me. He repeated things like,

“If you’re like most people, you go to all the events and do all the things that motivational speakers say but you still don’t get results in your life.”

It was exactly what I was doing. I would wake up at 4 am, work until my eyeballs bled, try every new habit, but I still wasn’t finding much success.

So after listening to everything I could find out about Jim Fortin, I was sold. I joined his three-month program, TCP (Transformational Life Coaching). I figured, what’s $3,000 more on the credit card at this point?

I’m so glad I made this investment. For the past year or more, Jim has helped me so much in my life and business.

In the program, he taught about:

Identity / self-image

How the brain works

The BE-DO-HAVE model

Subconscious reprogramming

Getting over your past fears and old stories

This was the first step to conquer entrepreneur depression. It helped me to begin to change my life from the inside out.

2. I began doing hypnotherapy

I still remember the date: February 28, 2019. It was just a few short months before my two-year entrepreneur anniversary and it marked my first hypnotherapy session.

After learning about the power of hypnosis from my coach Jim Fortin, I figured why not give it a shot. I found an NGH (National Guild of Hypnotherapists) certified practitioner and booked a session where I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.

When I got there, I was nervous. Even though I had learned about the amazing benefits beforehand, I was still unsure about what to think. But as soon as we started talking, we instantly had a rapport.

I told her what I had been dealing with and what I was hoping to achieve. After nearly three hours of talking, she started hypnosis and put me into a trance-like state. It lasted about 30-minutes and felt like an unbelievable power nap.

She sent me the recording and told me to listen to it as I went to sleep over the next week. I hadn’t noticed any specific results until about six days later.

I remember this so vividly. It was like any other morning; I parked my car and was walking into the gym.

I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, it’s really quiet today.” I even heard birds chirping.

Then it hit me. It wasn’t any quieter than normal; it was my mind that was quiet. I could finally hear what was going on in the world.

Hypnotherapy has been a game-changer for me and so many people I know. It’s helped me with anxiety, business, and even golf. I still visit my hypnotherapist from time to time and have also learned how to do self-hypnosis to continue my practice.

3. I became a student of the mind

While entrepreneurship hasn’t been easy, it’s given me something that I never would’ve had in the corporate world. After working with Jim Fortin, learning about the power of hypnotherapy, and doing a lot of research for my personal development clients, I’ve learned a lot about the mind. Specifically, more about the conscious vs. unconscious mind.

This helped me realize that anxiety and depression start with your thinking. If you can learn to change your thoughts, you can change your life.

The more you know how your supercomputer brain works, the more you can monitor your thoughts and start to create lasting change.

I suggest studying people like Bruce Lipton and reading books like Psycho-Cybernetics. These have been game-changers in learning more about the power of the mind.

Photo provided by agsandrew on Deposit Photos

4. I quit hustling

As I mentioned, the first 18 months of my entrepreneurship journey, I did what all the motivational speakers tell you to do. I would regularly wake up at 4 am, work 12–18 hours, and focus on doing more.

I would take caffeine pills and down energy drinks like they were good for me. I thought being busy was the way to become successful, and I wore my busyness as a badge of honor.

Hustling worked for me in the corporate world, so I figured it would work as an entrepreneur too. But it didn’t — it led to burn out, anxiety, and barely making any money.

So in 2019, I focused on doing less instead of more. I stopped blogging, quit my e-commerce business, hit pause on my podcast, and hired virtual assistants. All of this led to making more money, having more free time, and improving my mental health.

Now, I no longer hustle. In fact, I actively don’t hustle. Instead, I use the mantra from my coach James Wedmore:

“The less I do, the more I make.”

Instead of spending more hours in front of my computer, I now work smarter. In 2019, I doubled my revenue while working at least 30% less than I did in 2018. Not to mention, my work has impacted more people, and my personal sanity is a million times better.

5. I quit comparing myself to others

If used incorrectly and excessively, social media is toxic. New research from Healthline shows that social media can increase depression and loneliness.

But I didn’t need a study to learn this. Throughout 2018, I lived this. I got in the habit of comparing myself to everyone else online. I would constantly compare myself to others, even if they were in a different industry or had started a decade before me.

Now, I only compare myself to the previous version of myself.

It’s not fair to yourself to compare your journey vs. anyone else’s. Each person has a different starting point, different belief systems, different values, and different karma — so why compare yourself to anyone else?

A game-changer for me was hiring a virtual assistant to take care of 90% of my social media work, allowing me to focus on my area of expertise.

Remember, only look at how far you’ve come, never compare yourself to others.

6. I began self-care rituals

I never did any self-care rituals before entrepreneurship.

Now, I’m a huge fan of anything that helps me feel better mentally, which helps me show up better in the world. I finally understand how positive habits can reprogram our minds for success.

Some of my favorite self-care rituals are:

Yoga

Journaling

Meditation

Float tanks

Taking digital detoxes

Hypnotherapy/self-hypnosis

Remember, it’s not selfish to take care of yourself. The better you feel, the better you will show up in all areas of your life and business.

7. I learned to love myself

The final way I beat “entrepreneur depression” was by learning to love myself. During my entrepreneurial journey, I hated myself at times. I got down on myself for not being where I wanted to be, despite trying my hardest.

But if I’ve learned one thing in my journey, it’s that entrepreneurship is an inside game.

Your business and results are a direct reflection of how well you treat yourself. The more you grow, the more your business will as well.

This self-reflection isn’t easy. It might require you to face the person you’ve been running from your entire life. It will take more courage than you can imagine.

But once you learn to love yourself and forgive yourself for the past, then you can achieve greatness. So, wherever you’re at right now, just remember you’re supposed to be there.

Learn your lessons and keep chasing your dreams. Once you learn to love and accept yourself, the best is yet to come.