By all appearances, Kim Rippy has it figured out. She’s a trauma specialist running her own practice, Keystone Therapy Group, and someone whose work doesn’t depend on social media. Yet when it comes to sharing her mental health struggles, she hesitates.
Practitioners like her, she says, are often expected to “have it all together.”
“I certainly don’t,” Rippy admits. “I’m a human with my own experiences and stressors, just like my clients.”
It’s a tension many founders and professionals quietly wrestle with.
A 2024 New Zealand study of 1,678 suicides over five years found that about 12% of cases—meaning 1 out of 8 suicides—were linked to work-related stress. A 2021 study conducted in Canada revealed that 56% of entrepreneurs reported weekly mental health concerns, while 3 of 5 said depression disrupted their ability to work every week.
The figures tell a dark story. There is a growing strain that endangers not only the well-being of entrepreneurs but also the stability of the economy they help sustain.
This September, during National Suicide Prevention Month, we hope to shine a light on the challenges entrepreneurs face and the urgent need to address them.
Why entrepreneurship feeds stress
Financial stress is a recurring pain point for many entrepreneurs.
A 2021 FreshBooks report found that 44% of participants identified financial stress as one of the biggest challenges of being self-employed.
Dan Fabrizi experienced this firsthand, when he left the safety net of a salaried senior vice president role to set up his real estate company Burgh2Bay Partners.
The CEO recalls his early days: “I had to relearn how to manage my money and make sure that funds were available not only now but for months in advance because of how fluid the real estate market can be.”
Financial strain rarely disappears, and the market can flip without warning. But over time, Fabrizi learned to manage anxiety by communicating candidly with his investors at every stage and showing he’s doing his utmost.
For business owners wearing the legal hat themselves, regulatory hurdles can be a headache.
Jennifer Street, founder of the ornament company Forged Flare, often finds herself grappling with cross-state regulations and fending off copycats.
“There are so many regulations that it makes it hard to stay compliant and meet all the various states’ demands and requirements,” she says.
Street’s struggle reflects a broader trend. In a 2024 Small Business Index survey, 47% of small businesses said they spent too much time navigating legal requirements, while 51% reported that regulatory compliance hindered their growth.
For Karen Hastie, who has weathered plenty as a founder with thriving ventures spanning fitness and tech, her heaviest burden is the one she says many downplay as manageable—identity.
Being a woman in male-dominated industries means facing constant stereotypes around gender and age and carrying extra weight just to stand on level ground, says the founder of the Chamber Perks app. As a single mom, Hastie also feels compelled to be a role model for her daughter and a trusted presence in her community.
Hastie’s experience is shared by many others in the field. A 2025 study published in Small Business Economics showed that female entrepreneurs often face self-doubt, social pressure and even discrimination from investors.
In the startup world, pressures look different for different business owners, but their toll is the same: constant stressors put the mind and body in survival mode for long stretches.
Therapist Shantalea Johns, Ed.D., explains that when the nervous system reads a situation as a threat, it activates the sympathetic response—fight, flight, freeze or fawn.
“In this state, your heart rate can increase, cortisol levels can elevate and alertness can heighten,” she explains. “When the nervous system stays dysregulated, the risk of developing anxiety disorders, depression and burnout increases.”
Stress is inevitable, says psychotherapist Nicole Issa from PVD Psychological Associates, and while we can’t remove all the triggers, we need to seek help when we’re stressed to the point that even simple tasks feel overwhelming.
But the hardest part isn’t always finding the help—it’s acknowledging we need it.
Confronting the image trap
That was the dilemma Jensen Savage faced in the early days of her startup. Fearing her honesty might undermine her professional standing, the CEO of business growth agency Savage Growth Partners decided to show only her best self—a “self-imposed narrative,” as she later realized.
The award-winning marketer acknowledges: “That mindset can make it hard to admit when you’re stressed out, because you don’t want to be perceived as weak.”
Her outlook wasn’t unique. Startup Snapshot’s April 2023 report showed 72% of founders report mental health issues—44% tied to high stress—yet 81% mostly keep their fears and struggles to themselves.
Also, few can afford to be seen as weak, especially in today’s algorithm-driven marketplace where the feed favors polished personas.
“Social media is a highlight reel, and for business owners, it’s also a storefront,” says Francheska Stone, creator of 9 to 5 Mom With a Pod, a coaching platform that helps working mothers build their own businesses.
As a Latina mom in the public eye, the podcaster often feels compelled to share inspiring content to stay on-brand while feeling the opposite. Stone tries to balance professionalism and transparency by opening up about her struggles without oversharing.
According to therapist Margaret Gaddis from Key Counseling Group, although it can be seen as a career and a worthy pursuit, performing success online isn’t healthy mentally, as it fuels a culture of living in performance gear. Lasting success, she says, depends on rest and recovery, and entrepreneurs need to start talking about the importance of dialing down the digital noise once in a while.
Echoing the sentiment, biosocial scientist and Purdue University professor Scott Hutcheson, Ph.D., says projecting success nonstop is stress-inducing at the biological level. The brain reads the gap between outward image and inner state as a social danger and can trigger a stress response that erode motivation and resilience.
“My advice is to create intentional ‘offline’ zones in your week where you aren’t performing for an audience,” says Hutcheson. “Let those moments be about genuine connection, not content production.”
When burnout hits
Stressors are like bricks in a backpack—each adds weight until they break you.
For Street, her breaking point last year was the culmination of years of work-related strain, compounded by a bumpy post-surgery recovery that collided with her company’s busiest time of year. “I couldn’t give it my all physically or emotionally, and that was crushing,” she recalls. Drained by a disappointing sales season, Street wrestled with staying the course.
What Street experienced is a typical case of burnout, which, Johns explains, sets in when you feel emotionally drained, fatigued and a loss of purpose. It can also show up as procrastination, disengagement and, in some cases, suicidal thoughts.
Burnout can also show up in subtler biological signals.
Hutcheson observes that burnout often first appears in subtle shifts in everyday patterns, like disrupted sleep, appetite changes or social withdrawal.
Noting that these signs can pass unnoticed and worsen over time, Hutcheson advises: “A helpful prevention tactic is what I call a ‘biological baseline.’ Keep a personal record of what normal feels like for you in energy, mood and focus, so you can spot deviations early.”
“If things are trending downward,” he adds, “treat it as a signal to slow down and seek support before it becomes a crisis.”
Spotting burnout early is just step one; the real work is knowing how to manage the symptoms.
Managing burnout
In a 2024 doctoral study, Shanna A. Jefferson identified five strategies that support mental health and boost business outcomes: self-care, boundaries, exercise, mentorship and personal development. Applying these strategies—according to the study—can help entrepreneurs achieve greater work-life balance.
For Street, who experienced a health scare amid business challenges, self-care became the turning point toward recovery. She learned to slow down and manage her medical conditions proactively, add mindfulness breaks and home-cooked meals to her daily routine, reduce screen distractions and record small daily wins.
She’s also exercising again. “My husband and I renewed our Peloton subscription and added a vibration platform to our routine,” says Street. “Even 20 minutes of cardio each morning has made a huge difference.”
Street’s approach mirrors the very strategy Hutcheson highlights as essential for staying grounded in a stressful environment. That is: to build tiny daily rituals that foster a sense of safety and remind you that you’re not in immediate danger.
“Second, create a trusted circle where you can speak without self-censorship,” adds Hutcheson. “The nervous system calms when it feels socially anchored.”
Having a support system—in Issa’s view—is vital for founders’ well-being since entrepreneurship could be an immersive, often messy lifestyle. That has been incredibly true for Street and Stone, who credit their resilience to the enduring support of their husbands.
Beyond immediate family, entrepreneurs can also turn to peers, business coaches or therapists for mentorship and guidance. Seeking therapy, for instance, allows entrepreneurs a safe setting to address their emotional struggles, says Johns. “True resilience is not about doing it all alone; it is about knowing when to bring in support so you can keep moving forward,” she says.
Another key consideration is setting boundaries, which, according to research, are a frontline defense against burnout. Applied to Jensen’s lens, boundaries can look like maintaining a sense of self that isn’t tied to your business, but building routines and setting guardrails early on.
Healthy routines, in Hastie’s view, mean “building in breaks, delegating when possible, having honest conversations with your team and recognizing when you need help.”
Building on this, Issa advises carving out time to rest properly, including occasional long weekends. Getting sufficient sleep daily, she notes, is essential for helping the mind reset and for the body to better handle stress.
In closing, it helps to step back and consider the bigger picture—entrepreneurship is a worthy pursuit, but it’s not a universal fit.
Hutcheson observes that some people thrive in high-stakes environments while, for others, the toll is biologically unsustainable. Your fit for entrepreneurship hinges on how you respond to prolonged uncertainty and irregularity, he notes, and it pays to be honest with yourself about your limitations. Remember: Your business will never outweigh your well-being.
“I’ve seen owners choose to step away, not because they failed, but because the toll on their well-being was too great,” says Hutcheson. “That can be the healthiest choice they ever make.”
And choosing what’s best for your well-being also means knowing where to turn when you need help. Here’s a roundup of trusted hotlines and organizations offering mental health and professional support to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Phone numbers for round-the-clock support
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: text or call 988, or chat online at 988lifeline.org.
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): offers a HelpLine at 1-800-950-6264
The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline: Call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA
Support resources for business owners
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): a government agency offering support to small businesses, from affordable loan connections to business development training.
SCORE: a nonprofit that matches entrepreneurs with volunteer mentors for free, industry-specific advice.
Small Business Brief Advice Legal Clinic: offers in-person free legal counseling sessions with volunteer attorneys for entrepreneurs with limited resources.
IRS Small Business & Self-Employed Tax Center: a centralized hub for small-business and self-employed tax guidance.
National APEX Accelerator Alliance: connects small businesses with government contracts through 90+ programs and 300+ offices nationwide.
Amazon Small Business Academy: offers free educational resources including on-demand classes, peer networks and step-by-step guides for starting or growing a business, including specific tools for selling on Amazon.
Photo by David Gyung/Shutterstock
