The “Always On” Entrepreneur: How to Build a Business Without Sacrificing Your Mental Health

By Ligaya Lange | Ligaya Wellness

The reality of starting a business, managing financial uncertainty, and learning to take care of yourself while building something you believe in.

When I started Ligaya Wellness just five months ago, I was taking a leap of faith that my passion for mental health, experience in corporate leadership, and ability to build relationships would somehow come together to create a successful business. About six weeks after being laid off by NAMI GLAC (National Alliance on Mental Illness Greater Los Angeles County) due to funding cuts, I was living on a modest severance, unemployment, and prayers. A client from NAMI, a trusted mentor, my partner at the time, and a few other people in my life kept telling me the same thing: “Start your own thing, Ligaya. You can totally do it.” So I did.

With very little money, I registered my LLC (my former partner actually Zelle’d me the money to get the LLC) and began building a workplace mental health consulting business. A web developer I had met through a Chamber of Commerce I had worked with during my NAMI tenure offered to build my website at a discounted rate after hearing I had been laid off. A good friend from high school, now a talented digital brand manager in Los Angeles, listened to my ideas over lunch at the Soho House (her membership, obviously), told me I was “a bit all over the place”, but liked the general idea and wanted to help. What makes that last part especially meaningful is that about 12 years earlier, she had arrived back in Los Angeles from her native Perth, Australia, chasing her dream of working in entertainment. I remember us sitting at a restaurant across from Fox Studios, where I worked, listening to her talk about her aspirations. I helped where I could, making introductions and connecting her with opportunities. I don’t know if any of that helped her land her first job at Sony, but here we were, years later, helping each other again. Today, for a small revenue share, she is my Digital Brand Manager and one of my chief advisors. I trust her implicitly, and man, I love her accent on my podcast episodes!

All that to say, other people’s encouragement, goodwill, relationships, and reciprocity helped get me on my entrepreneurial feet. Sometimes, the people who help you build your business are the same people you once tried to help build theirs. Not long after my website launched, I began relaunching my Let’s Get Mental podcast, creating social media channels, doing a few free events, and joining networking groups. Then my divorce settlement money came in. I decided to save half for a rainy day and put the other half toward starting my business. I guess that was my way of turning some of the grief and trauma of my divorce into something positive for myself and my daughter. I wanted a career I was truly passionate about- one that would allow me to dictate my own schedule, bring my ideas to life, and hopefully never have to rely on someone else for my livelihood. I wanted to pursue my version of the American Dream. My dad thought I was crazy, although he did compare me to his dad, my Pop Pop, whose sales prowess – creating custom merchandise for businesses – helped his family get through the Depression and WWII and eventually afford a comfortable, single-income lifestyle. “A good salesperson is never unemployed,” my dad has told me many times. My mom still doesn’t quite understand what I do, but she prays diligently for me (gotta love that Filipino nurse).

And almost six months in, I can honestly say, I think I’ll make it. I hope! Every day is a hustle. I eat, sleep, and breathe my business. It’s my baby. And my other baby, my daughter Maddie, is my cheerleader. She sees that tree-brain logo and says, “Ligaya Wellness! My mommy’s the boss!” Yep, I certainly am. And therein lies the problem. While I teach and preach workplace mental health and wellness, how do I keep my own mental health and wellness in check when everything having to do with the success or failure of my business literally rests on ME?

The Mental Health Reality of Entrepreneurship: That “Always On” Mentality

Entrepreneurship can be exciting, meaningful, and incredibly rewarding. But behind the excitement of launching a business is a reality we don’t talk about enough: the mental health toll of building something from the ground up.When you’re a startup founder, solo entrepreneur, or small business owner, you’re often the CEO, salesperson, marketer, accountant, and customer service department all at once. You’re trying to build a brand, attract clients, generate revenue, and become profitable before you run out of capital. And there’s always something else to do. Another email, another proposal, another LinkedIn post, another networking event, another AI tool to research, another decision about whether to spend money on advertising, outsource a service, or do everything yourself. I’ve personally spent $0 on advertising, outsourced a few major things (like building the website), and done just about everything else myself.

I am seriously exhausted most of the time. I’ve had weeks when I wondered whether the overwhelm of juggling a new business with single motherhood was going to do me in. And I’ve had those bleak days when a client cancels a meeting I’ve prepared for, or decides not to move forward, and I ask myself, “How much longer? What is it going to take?”But then something happens that encourages me to move forward. Another conversation, a new connection, an opportunity, or a reminder of why I started. So I keep going, keep building, keep hustling. And you know what? I love it. Could I use a vacation? Sure. But I also see this crucial time as an opportunity to build something meaningful- potentially a legacy for my daughter. It’s one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I suspect many entrepreneurs feel the same way. The challenge is that passion can make it easy to justify working more, sleeping less, and putting our own needs last. The research suggests this isn’t just a personal struggle. In a July 2025 survey of 1,510 Canadian small business owners, the Business Development Bank of Canada found that 50% identified maintaining cash flow or profitability as a major source of stress. More than one-third said mental health challenges interfered with their ability to work at least once a week. A separate 2026 Nav survey of more than 1,000 U.S. small business owners found that 48% said their business consumed so much of their attention that it detracted from other areas of their lives, and 48% had not taken a full week off to disconnect in the previous three years.

Sound familiar? For entrepreneurs, stress can become a constant companion- affecting sleep, concentration, relationships, confidence, and decision-making. And in today’s business environment, we’re expected to do more than ever. We must establish our brand ethos, maintain a social media presence, create content, network, sell, and keep up with a rapidly changing AI landscape. Should we pay for advertising? Which software is worth the investment? Are competitors using tools we aren’t? How do we stand out? It’s a whole different world, and for those working alone or with small teams, the pressure can be particularly intense.

B2B Is Different: Relationships Take Time

Building a business-to-business (B2B) consulting or professional services company, like Ligaya Wellness, is different from selling products directly to consumers. With B2B services, a potential client may need to discover your business, build trust in your expertise, identify the right decision-makers, secure budget approval, review proposals, and navigate internal processes before a contract is signed. That can take weeks or months- sometimes longer.I have one potential client I’d love to work with. We’ve been communicating since May, and nothing will likely happen until the first quarter of next year, if then. Nonetheless, I remain hopeful, stay on their radar (while trying not to be too annoying), and know I’ll be ready when that important meeting- or multiple meetings, finally happens. That waiting game has become familiar to me. You can spend an entire week networking and developing relationships without generating immediate revenue. That doesn’t mean the work isn’t valuable. It means you need realistic expectations about your sales cycle and a plan for managing your finances while relationships develop. I believe passion, persistence, and relationship-building are key to success. But persistence doesn’t mean endlessly hustling without a plan. It means consistently pursuing the right opportunities, learning from setbacks, and building relationships based on trust.

California Entrepreneurs Face Additional Pressures

California offers tremendous opportunities, but the cost of doing business can be challenging. Depending on your business, expenses may include taxes, insurance, professional services, licensing, payroll obligations, and the high cost of living. The uncertainty of operating in an expensive market can make every business decision feel consequential. When you’re paying for both personal living expenses and business operations, it’s easy for the pressure to follow you everywhere. And success isn’t guaranteed, even when you work incredibly hard. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, five-year survival rates for new business establishments have varied from approximately 50% to 57% across several historical business cohorts. These figures aren’t a prediction of what will happen to any individual business, but they are a reminder that the early years can be difficult. Closing a business isn’t necessarily a personal failure. Sometimes the market, financial realities, or business model simply don’t support continuing.

Understanding your numbers is essential. Know your operating expenses, cash runway, minimum income requirements, and the revenue you need to become sustainable.I now budget to a tee using Rocket Money, track business expenses and receipts through QuickBooks, and, yes, I had ChatGPT build me a revenue forecast showing how many of each product or service I need to sell each month to break even and eventually turn a profit. Knowing your numbers and having a realistic plan that you believe is doable can protect your sanity. It gives you something concrete to work toward instead of letting every slow week feel like a potential catastrophe.

Grants and Resources for Small Businesses

One of the most stressful things for an entrepreneur is the fear of not turning a profit before running out of capital. I’m facing that fear myself. I have a few more months of runway, but throw Christmas and the holidays into the mix, maybe one little trip away for my daughter and me, and that money can disappear quickly. Sacrifices may need to be made. Or, a new client or two needs to come along.

Thankfully, there are resources worth exploring when you’re looking for funding, guidance, or ways to grow your business.

California Grants Portal: Search state grant opportunities by eligibility and purpose.
California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA): Explore small business support, funding information, and technical assistance resources.
Accelerate California: Explore innovation support and opportunities for eligible businesses connected to participating hubs.
California Small Business Technical Assistance: Find business advising and assistance with planning, financing, and operations.
Federal SBIR/STTR programs: Explore research and development funding for qualifying innovative businesses.

Grants are competitive, eligibility requirements vary, and funding is never guaranteed. Don’t build your financial plan around an award you haven’t received. But research the opportunities that fit your business and apply when you qualify. Another avenue worth exploring is small business certification. Depending on your business and eligibility, California and local agencies offer programs that may help you compete for government and corporate contracting opportunities. Start with the California Office of the Small Business Advocate and your local Chamber of Commerce to learn about available certifications, training, and procurement programs. These opportunities take research and persistence, too, but a longer-term contract can provide more predictable revenue than relying entirely on one-off projects.

Eight Ways to Escape the “Always On” Mentality

Let’s talk about the “always on” mentality our phones, laptops, email, social media, and peer pressure have created. As an entrepreneur, you may feel like turning off your phone or setting boundaries means you’ll miss an opportunity or aren’t being as ambitious as you could be. But protecting your mental health doesn’t mean abandoning ambition. It means creating a way to work that is sustainable.It’s true what they say: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” You need time to replenish yourself and your soul so you can be the best idea machine, strategist, and leader you can be.

Here are some practical suggestions for escaping the always-on pressure cooker.

1. Prioritize revenue-generating activities.

Identify the three most important tasks each week. Focus on qualified sales conversations, client relationships, and delivering excellent work before getting lost in endless administrative tasks. And if you can afford some help, think creatively. Could you bring on a contractor for a specific project, find an intern through an appropriate educational program, or offer a commission to a trusted contact who introduces you to a qualified client? You may have people in your own network who want to help and have the bandwidth to do so. Just be thoughtful about who you bring into your business, protect your intellectual property, and put expectations and compensation in writing. A service such as Rocket Lawyer may help you explore basic contract options, although more complex arrangements may warrant advice from an attorney. You don’t have to do absolutely everything yourself. Sometimes, building a business means learning how to let other people contribute to it.

2. Set working hours.

Even if your schedule is unconventional, establish a stopping point, limit notifications, and protect some evenings and weekends. My notifications automatically turn off when my Apple Watch is in Fitness mode, so working out really is my time. Getting those endorphins is no joke when it comes to helping me feel mentally sharper and more grounded as a business owner.I spent 10 years as one of the captains of the Fox Triathlon Team and was constantly surrounded by VP-level and senior corporate talent. One thing many high achievers have in common is their drive and need to produce. But being productive doesn’t mean being available every waking minute. Exercise is one of the ways I manage my own stress. Research on physical activity and mental health consistently supports its value for psychological well-being, although it isn’t a substitute for professional care when that’s needed. So, if you’re an entrepreneur or executive who isn’t exercising regularly, consider starting small. A walk, a yoga class, a bike ride, or a short strength workout can be a good place to begin.

3. Make decisions based on data, not fear.

Before paying for another AI tool, marketing service, or advertising campaign, identify the problem it solves and set a realistic budget. You don’t have to adopt every new technology. You don’t have to be on every platform. And you don’t have to buy every service that promises to transform your business. Ask yourself: Will this help me save time, reach the right customers, improve my product, or generate revenue? If you can’t identify a clear reason to spend the money, wait. Sometimes the best business decision is the one you don’t make.

4. Simplify your marketing.

Choose the platforms most likely to reach your customers. Batch content, repurpose material, and remember that your follower count doesn’t determine your worth or your business’s potential. This is where having a trusted friend or mentor who understands marketing- especially digital marketing- can be invaluable. You need a strategy, not an endless list of things you’re supposed to be doing. Consistency matters, but so does knowing where your time will have the greatest impact.

5. Build financial clarity.

Forecast cash flow, monitor expenses, and establish decision points for changing your strategy if revenue falls short. A plan can help reduce uncertainty and anxiety because you’re no longer making every decision in the dark. Again, AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can be useful for brainstorming, organizing expenses, building forecasts, and exploring business scenarios. Use them as tools, not as substitutes for checking your numbers or getting professional financial advice when needed. And remember that revenue isn’t the same as profit. Make sure you understand what it actually costs to deliver your services, operate your business, pay taxes, and support yourself.

6. Protect time outside work.

Exercise, rest, hobbies, and time with family and friends are not rewards you must earn after succeeding. They are essential parts of a sustainable life. I can’t stress this enough. I was raised not to play, relax, or rest until I had earned it (sorry, Mom and Dad). Later in life, I realized the toll that mindset had taken- not only on my mental health, but also on my ability to just be with myself, my friends, and my family.I had to develop a sense of play and spontaneity over time, with the help of others. Entrepreneurs need mental breaks, too. Sometimes you need to step away so you can reset, gain a fresh perspective, and come back with new ideas and energy. Rest isn’t always something you do after the work is finished. Sometimes it’s what allows you to do the work well in the first place.

7. Find your people.

Connect with other entrepreneurs, mentors, professional networks, and supportive peers. Consider working with a therapist or qualified business advisor when you need additional support. Even therapists need therapists! Over the past five months of starting my business, I’ve unexpectedly met quite a few new friends and mentors, and I’m incredibly grateful. The best thing about many of these relationships is that people genuinely want to see you succeed. They know what it took to get started. They understand the risks, the sacrifices, and the uncertainty because they’ve walked in your shoes. Your people are the friends and family who encourage you, the mentors who share their wisdom, and the peers who understand what you’re going through. And sometimes, finding your people means recognizing that not everyone is the right person to advise you at every stage of your journey. Recently, I was venting to a friend about possibly running out of capital and having to look for a traditional job again. The friend responded, “Well, you should really start looking for jobs now. The job market is really tough.” I realized that, in that moment, that wasn’t what I wanted or needed to hear. Looking for a job would take time and energy away from what I’m trying to build. I know there may come a point when returning to traditional employment is the right decision, but I don’t want to make that decision out of fear alone. That friend, a W-2 employee his whole life, with a reliable paycheck, company health insurance, and a 401(k)- has been demoted in my life. For now. 😉

Not that I have anything against W-2 employment. It’s just not what I’m pursuing right now, and I need people who can support the goal I’m working toward while still being honest with me. There’s a difference between practical advice and automatically assuming the worst. Starting a business involves risk, and you need people who can help you assess that risk without immediately talking you out of your vision. Recently, a mentor reminded me that I need to be realistic about my finances and the time I have to make this work. Absolutely. I can do that while still pursuing the opportunities in front of me. The goal isn’t to surround yourself with people who tell you only what you want to hear. It’s to build a support system that helps you think clearly, stay grounded, and keep moving forward.

8. Recognize burnout early.

Persistent exhaustion, irritability, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, and losing interest in work you once enjoyed deserve attention. You don’t need to reach a breaking point before asking for help. And asking for help doesn’t mean quitting. It may mean setting boundaries, resting just because, talking to a mentor, coach, or therapist, or reevaluating your priorities. The most basic steps toward protecting your well-being are often free: eat, sleep, move your body, connect with people, and make time for yourself and your hobbies. Be relentless about your drive and ambition, but don’t be relentless with yourself and your physical and emotional health.

OK, Real Talk… When Is It Time to Quit or Change Direction?

One of the hardest questions an entrepreneur can ask is whether to keep going. Passion can keep you moving forward, but it can also make it difficult to recognize when something isn’t working. So ask yourself: Are customers willing to pay for what I offer? Is there evidence my business model can become profitable? Can I afford to continue? Is my strategy producing progress? What is this business costing me emotionally and financially? Consider setting a realistic deadline or measurable milestone to evaluate your progress. If you’re not seeing the results you need, explore alternatives: adjust your pricing, narrow your services, reduce expenses, seek additional income, or change your business model. Sometimes persistence is the answer. Sometimes a change in direction is. And sometimes walking away is the healthiest and most responsible choice.

But don’t get discouraged before getting creative. If a client doesn’t choose Ligaya Wellness, I don’t throw up my hands and say, “Ah! It’s not working!” I look for other potential clients in the same industry, consider what might not have resonated in the previous pitch, and adjust my approach for the next conversation. The key word here is progress. Are you learning? Are you building relationships? Are you getting better at what you do? Are you seeing evidence that your business could become sustainable? Are you making informed decisions about how much more time and money you’re willing to invest? A mentor once told me, “If it’s not working in six months, you should probably quit.” Well, define “working.” At the almost six-month mark, am I fully supporting myself? No. Have I dipped into my rainy-day savings? Not yet. Do I have clients? Yes. Have I gotten paid? Yes. Do I have good clients and promising deals in the pipeline? Absolutely.

Those conversations just take time, as I mentioned earlier, particularly in a B2B business. For me, closing the business at six months would make no sense. I’ve decided to give Ligaya Wellness a full year, and I’m willing to use some of my rainy-day funds if necessary, provided I continue to see a credible opportunity to recoup that investment. That’s the wild west of starting a business. You do what you can, make the best decisions you can with the information you have, and keep reassessing until you reach a point where you simply cannot or should not continue. You alone will know what you’re willing and able to risk. Just make sure you have clear financial limits and an honest way to evaluate your progress. Believing in yourself doesn’t mean ignoring the numbers. And don’t forget: your business is something you build. It is not the entirety of who you are. Closing a business doesn’t erase what you’ve learned, the relationships you’ve developed, or the value you’ve created. You can take that experience into your next entrepreneurial venture or use it to land a role you’re more passionate about. You can still win.

Build a Business That Allows You to Thrive

Entrepreneurship requires hard work. There will be long days, setbacks, difficult decisions, and periods when you need to push yourself. But constant exhaustion is not a business strategy. I believe passion gives us purpose, persistence helps us navigate setbacks, and relationships open doors to opportunities we may never find alone. I also believe we need to make room for rest, connection, and our own well-being along the way. Success doesn’t have to mean rapid growth, a large team, or constant visibility on social media. It might mean a profitable business, meaningful work, loyal clients, and the flexibility to be present for the people you love. The goal isn’t simply to build a business that survives. It’s to build a business that allows you to thrive, too. At Ligaya Wellness, I believe mental health belongs in every conversation about sustainable work, including the conversation entrepreneurs have with themselves. Through workplace mental health consulting, burnout prevention, presentations, and customized programming, we help organizations and leaders create healthier ways of working. Because mental health shouldn’t be something we put off until the work is finished.

When you’re an entrepreneur, the work is never really finished anyway!