Living Healthy As An Entrepreneur

June 30

Living Healthy As An Entrepreneur

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle while building and running a business as well as taking care of family needs can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, can’t it?

Amidst taking care of all of the “to do’s” and life obligations, making sure family is taken care of, business is running smoothly, and that the bills are getting paid are of course of utmost importance. However, all too often the entrepreneur themselves don’t realize that if they neglect their own personal health and well-being then everything else could easily fall apart.

Life is beautiful! But if your health begins to fade it is hard to continue to enjoy life’s beauty.

We reached out to several entrepreneurs who have a passion for teaching others about personal health and wellness and on living a healthy lifestyle.

Meet Angela, Kirsten, Phoenix, and Kathleen. We are hoping their stories and insights will inspire you to be mindful of the importance of personal self-care and staying healthy for those of you who have bravely ventured into entrepreneurship.

Angela Wills

It was a few years after my daughter was born when I realized I had really let my wellness and self-care go.

As a mom who hadn’t gotten ANY uninterrupted sleep in three years I was totally exhausted, burned way past burnout, and existing on the fumes of the little care I could take of myself.

It was not good.

During all this, I was trying to run and grow a business! I had a new baby, a new house, a new blended family, and I was so totally exhausted.

I knew I could not go on like this so I started to truly prioritize my health and wellness for the first time in my life.

I was also aware (although vaguely in my condition) that I could NOT function as a high-level business owner without taking care of myself.

What I’ve learned about living healthy as an entrepreneur is this:

YOU have to be your own hero.

One day I just had had enough, knew I needed to MOVE my body, and decided to just do it. My advice – just do it for 5 or 10 minutes to get you started. Do something. Try to find something fun. Dancing, Walking, Basketball are things that don’t feel like “working out” to me.

Surrounding yourself with people who support you helps!

I found an amazing community of women who teach me so much, support me in my journey, cheer me on, and more. It’s made the journey so much fun and easier!

It’s a long-term commitment and a lifestyle.

I have decided to dedicate myself to changing the internal programming I spent most of my life operating by. Choosing veggies over chips, prioritizing sleep over TV, moving my body over relaxing on the couch are just some of the things that DON’T come easily but I do them because I WANT the amazing benefits I feel when I do them.

Why put in all this effort? Why go for it in terms of living healthier and dedicating to wellness? I’ve experienced how much better I FEEL, THINK, BEHAVE, REACT, and just operate in my business and my life at a much higher level when I make wellness my priority. I’m hooked and obsessed with maxing out the potential. It’s worth the effort. Cheers!

Angela has close to 20 years of experience in raising a business while raising a family. She loves helping other moms by sharing her experiences with parenting while running a business, growing her own veggies indoors, and improving wellness one step at a time.  She helps others in building confidence and direct sales online. Angela LOVES learning and trying new things. You can follow her adventures where she teaches while growing at AngelaWills.com 

Kirsten Womack

As an entrepreneur, you can enjoy the thrills of your business adventure, but if you’re not careful, it can also become all-consuming and exhausting.

Back in 2005 when my first year in business came to an end, I had second thoughts about being able to run a successful Virtual Assistant Business.

Throughout my website and marketing materials, I projected the image of reclaiming time for my clients. It was a total failure on my part to do the same for my personal life and business.

I routinely suffered from sleep deprivation, self-doubt, weight gain, mental fatigue, and fear of complete failure.

Below I am sharing 3 ways you can maintain good health in your personal and entrepreneurial life and avoid burnout and business failure:

Be okay with turning away business.

Yes, I said it. All business that comes your way is not good business.

This is one of the hardest things I had to learn. I was so focused on making money that I ignored the little voice in my head that said, “this is not a good match don’t do it”. Having a stressful relationship with a client is possible if you do not listen to that voice.

Stress is detrimental to your physical and mental health.

Make sure money isn’t the only factor that determines who you do business with. Believe in yourself, listen to your inner voice, and describe clearly who your ideal customer is before you let money determine your fate.

Outsource.

My thought was I could not afford it. What I failed to realize was that I could not afford not to, until I totally crashed. Avoid the crash and bring on help as soon as possible. I was working so many hours and trying to do it all which resulted in substandard marketing materials, tax nightmares, and spending up to 12 hours a day sitting in front of the computer screen, which not only added inches to my waistline, it caused my eyesight to suffer.

Stick to working in your business. If you serve the accounting industry, then that is where you should spend most of your time. Business support activities, such as funnel building, website design, and marketing, should be handled by professionals that specialize in those areas.

You may be thinking, but I can’t afford it. Try hiring an intern if funds are an issue. You may be surprised by how many people are looking for internship opportunities.

Do not let yourself be influenced by thoughts of what you believe you cannot afford.

Outsource!

Create a schedule and commit to it.

This was a big one for me. I remember working for 8-12 hours on client work while eating lunch at my desk and overindulging on coffee and then putting in 4-6 more hours on my substandard marketing materials.

I recommend pitching the to-do list and creating a schedule.

  • In that schedule chart out your to-dos and include time for getting up from your desk to prepare and eat a healthy meal including breakfast. Eating at your desk is bound to result in unhealthy overeating.
  • Incorporate some form of fitness in your schedule be it standing up and walking in place on the hour for 15 minutes, going to the gym, or engaging in a virtual fitness class.
  • Stick to your scheduled daily stop and start work time. This will allow you to have time to spend with family members and/or friends. Studies have shown that having supportive relationships is a strong protective factor against mental illnesses and helps to increase your mental well-being.

I hope you find these 3 tips helpful in maintaining good business and personal health.

The weight of trying to do it all may end up being detrimental to your health in the long run.

Kirsten A. Womack is a Master Certified Health Coach at Move With Mack. Kirsten is living her purpose serving as a guide to women of a “certain age” as they embark on their journey to shed the physical and mental weight that has kept them from living their best healthy life.

Phoenix Grace

“You’ve paid the tuition, now learn the lesson.”

I had been through fire literally and risen from the ashes. I had lost everything and rebuilt everything from the ground up on a firm foundation.

Having given my life to God, I was determined not to go backward but move forward and live the life I was created to live; fulfill my purpose.

I developed a business called Life in Bloom to help women who had been searching for greater freedom and connection in their walk with Christ.

I was working hard, creating, and growing yet the lessons of my past had not been fully integrated. I was filled with grand ideas and spent hours in front of my computer planning and dreaming and creating.

My inner and outer worlds did not match.

Yet the more I created beauty in my products and services the less I seemed to take care of myself. I lived in my head and not my body or spirit.

I would stay in my pajamas and just barely brush my hair (I blamed it on the pandemic). I started cutting corners in my family life. I was not fully present in the moment (either at work or in leisure). I did not have boundaries around my time. I became a workaholic. I was slipping back into old patterns. My life was (way way) out of bloom.

I decided to walk the talk.

It was time to get back in balance physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I found a company that serves up organic, whole-food superfoods and partnered with them. My energy skyrocketed. I started to walk my son to school in the morning rather than drive him and in the evening, we competed in “Just Dance.”

Commitment and balance helped my life bloom.

Committed to daily bible study with my mom and regularly affirming my identity in Christ, I made time for reading, bubble baths, and time with friends. I shut off the computer more often.

Now, my life is more balanced and I am able to fulfill my mission of helping women just like you create a life in bloom.

Phoenix Grace is a mom, a business owner, and most importantly a Child of God and Daughter of the King. As Chief Empowerment Officer at Life in Bloom!  she promotes products and services that empower women to be who they were created to be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Are you living a balanced life?  Get your FREE Life in Bloom! Toolkit at Life In Bloom.

Kathleen Gage

The Connection Between Food Consumption and Emotions

As a writer, entrepreneur, and professional speaker, my health is essential to my success. Yet, at the age of 64, I was feeling older by the day. Inflammation was getting the better of me.

I did a great deal of research on what might minimize my inflammation. Going down the rabbit hole of blog posts, videos, and podcast shows, I discovered plant-based eating may very well be the solution.

On September 16, 2018, I committed to one week of eating plant-based as well as the elimination of all animal and dairy foods. Within 48 hours the inflammation improved, but there were other benefits yet to be revealed. Almost immediately, I experienced a definite increase in energy, a few pounds released, better sleep, and a feeling of emotional well-being.

Even though I gave up all animal and dairy, I was hard-pressed to call myself vegan. I did not want to be known as a “crazy, radical vegan.”
As I move closer to my third year as a “cruelty-free” eater, I realize, I am in fact a vegan. My choice goes beyond the foods I consume, but more of a cruelty-free philosophy.

Energetic Connection

As entrepreneurs, we are always looking for ways to improve performance. Without a doubt, a diet free of all animal and dairy gives you an incredible edge including clearer thinking.

When you live a life void of cruelty to animals, you shift your energy. There is a definite connection between our own energy and what we consume. When we consume foods that involved fear, torture, pain, and suffering to get on our plate, we take that on.

When we are conscious of what we put into our bodies and take full responsibility to not put pain and suffering into our systems, we live a more compassionate life.

My invitation to all entrepreneurs, especially those who understand spiritual energy, is to dig deep into the connection of what you consume and the energy you project.

Kathleen Gage has owned and operated her consulting and speaking business for over 27 years. She is the author of over a dozen books, the host of Vegan Visibility & Plant-Based Eating for Health Podcast shows, the founder of Vegan Visibility Clubhouse Club, and a seasoned digital marketer.
Her passion is teaching vegan and plant-based experts how to effectively gain visibility via speaking, authorship, social media marketing, and hitting #1 on Amazon. Learn more at Vegan Visibility.

Living A Healthy Lifestyle

Are you living your best and healthiest life possible?

Though these individual storylines are different, there is value in knowing that the paths to a healthy lifestyle are available for all who are committed to making healthy choices.

From above we can see that making healthy choices include the foods we consume, a healthy balance between business and family life, and having the support of others.

Healthy Living is about taking responsibility.

Taking care of yourself, your physical and mental well-being helps you stick around a bit longer to enjoy life.

You are needed! Your family needs you. Your community needs you.

Cheers to you for making healthy choices so you can continue to enjoy your beautiful life.

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Angela Wills, Kathleen Gage, Kirsten Womack


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