The Heavy Weight of Small Dreams: Navigating Business Ownership in Uncertain Times

Small business ownership is a high-wire act performed without a safety net. Behind every neighborhood café, boutique, or local service company lies an untold story of sleepless nights, maxed-out credit cards, and kitchen tables covered with spreadsheets into the wee hours of the morning.

While entrepreneurship is often glamorized as a path to independence and wealth, the reality for most small business owners involves a relentless cycle of stress that begins well before opening day and intensifies during those critical first years of operation.

The entrepreneurial journey typically starts with excitement and optimism. However, it can quickly devolve into a complex web of challenges that include securing funding, navigating regulatory requirements, building customer bases from scratch, and managing cash flow with razor-thin margins. For many owners, the business becomes an extension of themselves – blurring the lines between personal and professional identities and making every setback feel like a personal failure.

This baseline stress has been significantly amplified in our current economy. With persistent inflation concerns, unpredictable supply chain disruptions, and rising interest rates, today’s small business owners face a particularly hostile environment. The economic uncertainty shows few signs of stabilizing, leaving entrepreneurs to make critical long-term decisions with increasingly unreliable data.

Many of our customers have reported that planning beyond a quarterly horizon feels like pure speculation, adding another layer of anxiety to an already demanding role. As one recently put it, “How am I supposed to focus on my business when it feels like the world is burning down around me?”

To better understand how entrepreneurs can protect their mental health while weathering these challenges, we’ve consulted with leading experts in the field of stress management and sleep science. Eva Leighton, Ph.D. and partner at PPG Psychology Partners Group, Jennifer Fidder, a social psychologist with Jennifer Fidder Coaching, and Monica Le Baron, best-selling author of “Sleep Simplified,” offer practical insights for business owners struggling to find balance amid the global economic and political turbulence.

Their evidence-based approaches address the immediate symptoms of chronic stress and provide sustainable strategies for maintaining resilience in a business climate where the only certainty seems to be uncertainty itself.

This is fine, everything is fine

We’ve probably all seen the animated meme where a dog calmly sits at a table and drinks a cup of coffee while his house burns down around him. That “I’m fine, this is fine, everything is fine” mentality can overwhelm small business owners quickly, especially during turbulent economic times.

Dr. Leighton wasn’t surprised to learn that small business owners are struggling with their anxiety these days. “Money and economic security can be psychologically high-powered stuff,” she said. “For many people, it has to do with self-esteem – whether they view themselves as providers or need to maintain a certain lifestyle. Money and financial matters can have a serious psychological impact above and beyond the real-world budgeting and planning needs.”

Before becoming a psychologist, Dr. Leighton worked for 20 years in the banking industry. Her background provides her with a unique perspective that other psychologists may lack. The fact that people are stressed right now makes perfect sense, she said. “Uncertainty by itself can be very difficult for some people. When the economy feels strong and we feel optimistic, we often have an unrealistic sense that the world is more predictable. When news reports suggest economic uncertainty, we may overestimate how dangerous the world has become.”

Psychologically, the conflict is often between avoidance and catastrophizing. “Avoidance might look like procrastinating on important analyses, conversations, or decisions that would actually reduce the risks you face,” said Dr. Leighton. “Catastrophizing is losing the capacity to imagine anything but the worst-case scenario.” The solution to these two extremes lies in asking oneself what is actually in our control. “For example, shoring up liquidity, reducing inventory, or not taking on higher fixed costs may reduce risk during uncertain times,” suggests Dr. Leighton. “The point is to recognize you do have some control in some aspects of your business. This can make people better.”

Normal anxiety vs. clinical anxiety

Some anxiety as a small business owner is normal – even expected. Dr. Leighton explains that the key difference between normal anxiety and clinical anxiety lies in control and its impact on daily functioning. “With normal anxiety, you have some influence over when you focus on it and when you don’t,” she notes. “You can say to yourself something like ‘You know what, I’m going to go to the movies and have a nice time because I need a little cheering up and R&R, and then tomorrow, I’ll really focus on my problem.’”

Normal anxiety, while difficult and unpleasant, doesn’t incapacitate you. According to Dr. Leighton, occasional symptoms like a single sleepless night or temporarily lost appetite due to stress fall within normal boundaries.

However, when these symptoms persist or escalate, it may indicate clinical anxiety. “Clinical anxiety can involve intense physical agitation, panic attacks, or physical symptoms such as headaches, backaches, muscle tension, or digestive issues,” Dr. Leighton warns. Such manifestations, especially when chronic, suggest that entrepreneurial stress may have crossed into territory that calls for professional intervention.

Know the signs of depression

The prolonged stress of running a business, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty, can potentially lead to clinical depression. “Depression can be viewed as so many different things, but one way it can be viewed is the brain and body’s reaction to overwhelm,” explains Dr. Leighton. “It can be thought of as the nervous system’s way to shut down when overwhelmed by too many stressors.”

Recognizing the transition into depression is important, since seeking help promptly can prevent a lot of suffering and help an entrepreneur return sooner to managing their business effectively. Common warning signs include:

Sleep disturbances (either insomnia or excessive sleeping)
Changes in appetite (either increased or decreased)
Persistent exhaustion that isn’t relieved by rest
Irritability or unusual anger over minor issues
Persistent low mood that doesn’t lift despite positive events
Anhedonia – loss of enjoyment in previously pleasurable activities
Social withdrawal and loss of desire to be with other people
Negative and self-critical thoughts that are difficult to shake
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Rumination – experiencing repetitive negative thoughts without finding solutions
Decreased sex drive
Increased use of alcohol or other substances to cope

Dr. Leighton notes that while occasional feelings of being overwhelmed are normal for small business owners, the persistence of these symptoms over multiple weeks may indicate clinical depression requiring professional help. What distinguishes normal entrepreneurial stress from depression is primarily the duration, pervasiveness, and intensity of symptoms, as well as their resistance to change even when business circumstances improve.

Small business owners should be particularly vigilant about these signs, as the entrepreneurial culture often glorifies pushing through hardship, potentially masking serious emotional health concerns under the guise of dedication to success.

Effective coping strategies for managing anxiety

Dr. Leighton emphasizes that managing anxiety as a small business owner often begins with physical rather than mental interventions. “A lot of it is body-based. Make sure you’re taking care of your physical health,” she explains. This holistic approach recognizes the profound connection between physical well-being and mental resilience.

Sleep hygiene tops the list of priorities. “Getting enough sleep is incredibly important,” stresses Dr. Leighton, noting that sleep deprivation can significantly amplify anxiety symptoms and impair decision-making – a dangerous combination for entrepreneurs facing complex business challenges.

Le Baron agreed, emphasizing that quality sleep is foundational for entrepreneurial success, particularly during periods of uncertainty. “Sleep is so important. It helps when you’re overwhelmed from worry about the future,” Le Baron explains. “One of the main things is that it regulates stress hormones like cortisol. When you don’t get enough rest, your brain goes into survival mode, making it worse.”

This survival mode significantly impairs the very cognitive functions entrepreneurs rely on most: focus, emotional resilience, and creative problem-solving. “When you don’t have that good sleep, then it just grabs that energy from wherever it can,” she said, explaining how sleep deprivation forces the brain to compensate in ways that ultimately compromise performance.

Starting with an honest self-assessment of your sleep routine is the first step toward overcoming anxiety to get a better night’s rest, Le Baron said. “The most important thing is to get clear on the routine you have now. Most people don’t think they have one, but they do. It just might not be a healthy one.”

To determine your sleep routine, Le Baron suggests:

Determining your sleep needs. Rather than following generic advice, identify how many hours of sleep your body truly requires. Once you get a realistic goal, it’s easier to start making a routine because now you know exactly what you want or need.
Setting a bedtime alarm. Create a signal that initiates your wind-down process, not just a wake-up call. For some, that’s setting an alarm on their phone to notify them when it’s time to start their bedtime routine.
Embracing flexibility. Rigid sleep schedules often fail entrepreneurs whose responsibilities vary daily. Building adaptability into your routine increases sustainability.
Allowing sufficient transition time. Le Baron reveals that her routine spans 2 to 3 hours. A common problem is that people rush their bedtime routines, they feel guilty, and then their body doesn’t get that downtime. For busy entrepreneurs, even 30 to 60 minutes of intentional transition can dramatically improve sleep quality.

Once a sleep routine is established, it’s important to recognize the pre-sleep pitfalls that can sabotage a restful night’s sleep. Using electronics and news consumption heightens awareness and alertness during a time when the body needs to relax for sleep. Le Baron recommends avoiding both.

She also recommends avoiding anything that activates your creativity too close to bedtime. “Surprisingly, even creative thinking can activate the brain and get the juices flowing, which can prevent the brain from shutting down and going to sleep.” Instead, she recommends training your brain to talk about the idea in the morning.

Other common pitfalls include:

Eating late can encourage your heart to pump extra blood, disrupting your sleep.
Raising your body temperature might mean avoiding hot showers right before sleep.
Limiting fluids too close to bedtime to decrease sleep-disrupting trips to the bathroom overnight.

Reconnecting body and mind for better business decisions

Le Baron and Dr. Leighton emphasize the critical role of mindfulness and physical movement in helping entrepreneurs navigate the intense pressures of business ownership, particularly when facing difficult financial decisions. Integrating these mindful movement practices into daily routines helps business owners develop better stress management and enhanced decision-making capabilities that directly impact their bottom line.

“As an entrepreneur myself, when I have a hard decision to make – either financial or what path I’m taking – now I have the tools to listen to myself rather than reacting,” Le Baron shares. This ability to pause and observe one’s thoughts rather than immediately acting on them represents a cornerstone of mindfulness practice that can transform decision-making under pressure.

Dr. Leighton reinforced the connection between physical well-being and mental clarity. She specifically recommends integrating movement throughout the workday. “Moving your body – some form of exercise that connects with your physical self – get up and take a 15-minute walk for every 2 to 3 hours you sit for work.”

The regular physical engagement serves multiple purposes for the stressed entrepreneur:

It creates natural breaks in focus, allowing the subconscious mind to process complex problems.
It reduces the physical manifestations of stress that can cloud judgment.
It improves overall energy and cognitive function.

For business owners who feel they lack time for extensive exercise routines, both experts emphasize the effectiveness of brief interventions. Simple practices like deep breathing can be remarkably powerful. “It’s proven to settle that portion of the nervous system that goes into fight or flight,” explains Dr. Leighton. “Even taking 5 to 10 deep, slow breaths calms the nervous system.”

Environmental changes also play a significant role in this body-mind approach to stress management. Dr. Leighton recommends spending time outside and being in the daylight as a natural regulator of mood and sleep cycles, while quick physiological interventions like using something cold – like a cold washcloth on your face or the back of your neck – can rapidly reduce anxiety during particularly stressful moments.

Le Baron notes that these practices build capacity over time. “When you’re sleeping better, you’ll have more capacity to grow because you’ll have more space to grow.” This increased resilience helps entrepreneurs develop greater comfort with uncertainty – a particularly valuable skill in today’s economic climate. “Be OK with the outcome,” advises Le Baron. “Even if we make what might seem like a bad decision.”

Non-traditional approaches to stress management for entrepreneurs

Small business owners often seek effective ways to manage stress without turning to medication. Social psychologist and hypnotist Jennifer Fidder of Jennifer Fidder Coaching offers valuable insights into alternative approaches that can help entrepreneurs regain control of their mental state during turbulent times.

“Unfortunately, we often can’t control what’s happening around us. The only thing we truly have control over is how we react to our circumstances,” Fidder explains. This fundamental principle forms the foundation of her approach to stress management for small business owners.

She notes that many entrepreneurs struggle because “their subconscious mind aims to stay in control of every aspect of their life in order to feel comfortable.” This creates inherent tension, as the reality of business ownership involves countless uncontrollable variables – from market conditions to customer decisions.

“The truth is, we will never be able to control what happens outside of us. What we can control is how we react and manage our own emotions,” Fidder emphasizes. “Recognizing this gives us back some of our power, leading to greater feelings of control and, ultimately, a reduction in anxiety.”

Hypnosis-based coaching for small business stress

Fidder practices what she terms “hypnosis-based coaching,” which differs significantly from stage hypnosis or entertainment hypnosis. Her approach allows entrepreneurs to directly access the subconscious mind where all their fears and anxieties originate.

The advantage of this method, according to Fidder, is efficiency. “With a traditional approach, they try to change something in the subconscious mind with the logic of the conscious mind. These two logics are oftentimes incompatible.” She employs non-trance-based hypnosis where the client is fully awake, allowing for interactive exploration of subconscious responses.

For business owners with specific issues like public speaking anxiety or decision-making under pressure, Fidder notes that results can come relatively quickly. “The more defined the problem is, the faster the transformation,” she explains.

Reframing anxiety as information

Rather than viewing anxiety as something to eliminate, Fidder suggests reframing it entirely. “Anxiety is a natural response of our body. It’s simply our body telling us there’s something important it wants us to pay attention to,” she explains.

The problem occurs when entrepreneurs misinterpret it and let it spiral out of control, and then make decisions out of a place of fear, she said. By understanding anxiety’s purpose as an information system rather than a threat, small business owners can potentially use it to their advantage.

Fidder points out that many physical symptoms of anxiety – racing heartbeat, sweaty hands – are identical to excitement. This cognitive reframing allows entrepreneurs to experience the same physiological responses without stress.

Practical solutions for the always-on entrepreneur

The difficulty of disconnecting from work represents a significant source of stress for small business owners. Fidder recommends a two-pronged approach combining psychological techniques with practical business strategies.

For nighttime rumination that disrupts sleep, she suggests keeping a notepad on your nightstand and a pen, and when something comes to mind, write it down. “Once it’s on paper, your mind doesn’t have a reason to hold onto it anymore,” she said.

She also encourages entrepreneurs to examine their operational approach. “Are there any things in the business that can be delegated?” Her combination of practical business coaching and hypnotherapy addresses both the psychological patterns and the real-world triggers that maintain chronic stress.

Rebuilding natural confidence

Rather than teaching confidence as a new skill, Fidder believes in removing barriers to innate self-assurance. “Confidence is something that we’re born with,” she said. “We don’t have to develop it. However, social conditioning can cause us to lose it.”

Her approach involves identifying how confidence was undermined in specific business contexts and working to remove those barriers to get confidence to return. This perspective shifts the entrepreneur’s focus from acquiring something new to reclaiming something they already possess, she said.

Integrating multiple approaches

Fidder emphasizes that no single method works for everyone. “There’s no one method that’s perfect for everything,” she notes, encouraging clients to combine approaches like mindfulness, meditation, or exercise with hypnosis-based techniques.

This integrated approach recognizes the complex nature of entrepreneurial stress and the need for a personalized toolkit that small business owners can deploy as different challenges arise.

Building a resilient support network for stress management

Dr. Leighton observes that entrepreneurs naturally gravitate toward others in similar situations. “There’s a tendency for some people who are drawn to the company of others who are in similar situations,” she said. While these connections can provide valuable understanding, they come with important caveats.

“The benefit is you might be talking to people trying to solve similar problems,” Dr. Leighton explains. These shared experiences can generate practical solutions and normalize the challenges of small business ownership. However, she warns, “The downside is it can turn into a ‘worry spiral’ where everyone looks at everything through an anxiety-driven lens, making the problems of avoidance and catastrophizing worse for everyone.”

Avoiding this pitfall requires small business owners to carefully curate their support networks. “Be mindful of who you choose to include in your support network and make sure you’re not only talking to amplifiers of your perspective and anxiety,” Dr. Leighton advises. “A truly effective network should include individuals who can provide empathy and balanced perspectives.”

Know when to seek professional help

For entrepreneurs experiencing persistent and intense anxiety or depression symptoms, Dr. Leighton strongly recommends seeking professional help. “If the clinical symptoms get overwhelming, it’s super helpful to talk to a therapist who can help you challenge some of your self-defeating assumptions to help you manage your anxiety and mood,” she explains.

She emphasizes the prevalence of these challenges. “A third of all adults have experienced depression at some point in their lives,” she said. “This normalization is important for entrepreneurs who may view seeking help as a personal failure rather than a strategic decision.” She also acknowledges that some people have been raised to feel that seeking professional help is weak or otherwise stigmatizing.

Dr. Leighton frames professional support in business terms that entrepreneurs can relate to. “Getting help for therapy or medication can make the difference between suffering and not functioning well, or suffering less and functioning better. Consultations with professionals can make a difference to your well-being and to the success of your business. It can be an excellent investment of time and money.”

For those concerned about long-term commitments, she clarifies that help from a professional doesn’t have to last for the rest of your life. “It doesn’t have to be a forever commitment,” she said. “Many entrepreneurs benefit from short-term interventions during particularly challenging periods.”

Addressing the persistent stigma around mental health services, Dr. Leighton offers a powerful reframing. “Depression and anxiety are hard to kick through willpower alone. It’s not about character. It’s about the nervous system.” She encourages business owners to think of it the same way they would of a medical condition that would affect their business – a practical approach to a health challenge with direct impacts on business performance.

Thriving amid uncertainty: the resilient entrepreneur’s path forward

The journey of entrepreneurship has never been for the faint of heart, and in 2025’s volatile economic landscape, the challenges have only intensified. Yet as our experts have illustrated, the tools to navigate this terrain successfully exist at the intersection of physical wellness, psychological awareness, and intentional community building.

The most successful entrepreneurs recognize that managing stress isn’t a luxury or distraction from business priorities. It’s a fundamental business strategy that directly impacts decision-making quality, leadership effectiveness, and ultimately, company performance. Implementing evidence-based approaches to sleep hygiene, anxiety management, and mindfulness helps small business owners transform their relationship with inevitable stressors from debilitating to informative.

Perhaps most importantly, today’s entrepreneurs need not face these challenges alone. Whether through carefully curated peer networks, professional coaching, or therapeutic support, acknowledging the need for connection represents strength rather than weakness. The myth of the solitary, invulnerable founder gives way to a more nuanced reality – true small business strength stems from personal resilience, which is built through self-care and strategic vulnerability.

As economic turbulence continues to reshape the small business landscape, those who thrive will be the ones who recognize that caring for their mental well-being isn’t separate from caring for their business. It’s the foundation upon which sustainable success is built.