Arky Soft

Gradually, mental health awareness is moving from the sidelines to the forefront of our well-being. Addressing it is slowly transitioning from taboo to normal. However, maintaining our mental health is not always smooth. Just like our physical health, it can fluctuate, too. This can be due to internal factors like being physically ill. But most of the time, mental health disorders are due to external factors.

Racial discrimination and violence continue to prevail in society. In the United States alone, some laws and policies are not in favor of the black community. There are differences in education and healthcare for white and black people as well. All these can harm mental health. It can lead to serious implications if not addressed sooner. 

Being a black business owner can be challenging. Pursuing your passion in business will be tough. This is more true if you’re starting from the ground up. You may take on several roles at once. Late nights and early mornings can become an everyday occurrence. You may skip meals in favor of responding to inquiries. Marketing your business takes top priority. So you may think that doing all these can help speed up your success. However, it can take a serious toll on your mental health. 

Therapists play a big role in promoting mental wellness for the black community. They can help heal people from trauma. Dealing with stress from work and peers can become easier. Even more, they can lead their clients to find strength and mental fortitude. We are still on the way to fully breaking the stigma on mental health. But, this doesn’t mean that we should not take care of our mental health now. We cannot help how other people will treat us all the time. However, we can be in control of the way we respond. 

Read on to find more about the impact of therapy on black business marketers.

Learn The Importance Of Work And Life Balance

In the United States, depression is found to be the most common mental health disorder. Depression for business owners can lead to lost productivity and increased absences. Even if the cause is outside of work, it can affect your business. This is because your mental health will also affect your job performance. It can also influence the way you communicate with your clients and employees.

We all aspire to have a healthy workplace. As a business owner, it is your duty to promote such. Fostering an inclusive workplace includes promoting work-life balance. When running your business, you need to be in a healthy state of mind. However, working all the time is not sustainable. The same applies to taking too many vacations. You need to find the harmony between work and personal life. If you’re having trouble achieving this, you can consult your therapist for aid.

Promote Workplace Wellness With A Healthy State Of Mind

The impact of discrimination among the black community extends to the workplace. We all have tough times. It is normal to feel sad, down or stressed at times. These feelings usually pass. However, when they don’t, it can lead to anxiety and depression. When left untreated, it can seriously affect the wellness of your workplace. When you feel like your negative emotions won’t stop, remember that therapy is here to help.

Success at work can be measured in many ways. It can be through high productivity levels. For others, it is accomplishing financial goals. It can also be achieved by finishing projects on time. Many of these measures are accomplished together with your employees. This is why workplace wellness is necessary. As their leader, you should promote mental well-being in your team. But this can only be achieved when you take care of yourself first.

Boost Productivity And Motivation

Statistics show that working hours are wasted due to mental health issues. This shows that mental well-being can affect you and the things around you. Not taking care of yourself mentally can be detrimental to your business. It can affect your capability to lead your venture and your people consistently. When we feel good, we feel that we have a sense of purpose. We are confident that we can take on all the lemons life will give us. So taking care of our mental well-being is a must.

Just as there is physical variety, there is also mental diversity. We are all unique beings. This is why mental health is a difficult matter to navigate most of the time. Luckily, there are many skilled therapists out there to help you. Some may even specialize in promoting mental well-being for black business owners.

Make Better Business Decisions

Mental well-being is crucial in keeping a business afloat. Mental illnesses can affect your performance as an employer.  Running a business also means managing people. These people rely on your business to support themselves and their families. Having a black-owned business usually means supporting black communities, too. Taking on this purpose means that you have to make the best business decisions. Your actions will not only affect you. It will also affect the people who are the pillars of your business.

At the start of your venture, it is normal to expect little to no return on investment. However, this can be mentally taxing. Combined with external issues, it can stress you out. This is why many business owners are now regularly seeking therapy. It helps you be a better stress manager. Being a better employer entails being a better stress manager. 

Wrapping Up

Running a venture will always include stress. Yet, we will always prefer to have good days. However, bad days are unavoidable. Each of us will have a different way of dealing with bad times. So it is important to be patient in finding your harmony as a black business marketer. Therapy can help in the entire process of taking care of your mental well-being and your business. But remember that therapy is not a one-time solution. It takes time and consistency to witness results.

Now, more business owners are turning to therapists to help them manage their stress. Effective therapy will not only help you as a black business marketer. It can also help you foster more meaningful connections in your life. Ultimately, this can lead you to a successful personal and professional life.

Allow me to tell you a story of a girl who wanted to break the mold. She had been trying to blend with the crowd her entire life. She never wanted to stand out or be the center of attention. But then, that same girl grew a backbone years later and wanted to do everything in her power to ensure that everyone knew what she had to offer.

Life Before Counseling

In case you have not figured it out yet, I was talking about me in that intro.

When I was nine years old, my parents had a bad breakup. That was an understatement, given that my mother urged me to testify in court against my father regarding his abusive behavior towards both of us. I did not want to do that for obvious reasons, but I felt the need to do so in the end. Otherwise, the judge would have sided with my father, who filed for joint custody. That would give him a chance to beat me up again.

Since we came from a small town, though, everyone knew about the court proceedings. I guess it only needed a speck of ember in the form of a court marshal to talk about what went down there to his wife for the gossips to spread. When I went to school the next day, most kids looked at me weirdly, while the teachers pitied their eyes whenever they looked at me. I only understood what their looks meant once my best friend hugged me and told me that everything would be okay from now on and that everyone knew what I was going through.

I would not say that I became reclusive after that, but I honestly preferred to stay away from crowds. That was especially true when news came around about my father getting raided in his house during a drug bust operation. He chose to open fire at the policemen who turned up instead of turning himself in, so they had no choice but to take him down. By that, I meant they shot him.

The buzz grew louder a few days later when my father died at the hospital. People were not just contented with looking at me from a distance anymore. This time, many of them would come up to me, offer their condolences, and ask how I felt.

The unwanted attention that I had been getting became too much for me one day. I eventually begged my mother to relocate somewhere where no one knew about our family history. Unfortunately, she did not understand why I felt so frazzled, especially now that my father could not bother us in his grave. I had no choice but to keep to myself most of the time until I finished high school.

Finding Counseling

 After high school, I initially had no plans of going to college. My only goal was to get out of that small town because everyone still remembered me as that little girl who testified against her father, who later died during a drug bust operation. That was too much for me to handle, so I needed to make a quick escape.

One day, though, I picked up a leaflet on the restaurant floor where I was waitressing. I was about to throw it in the trash when I saw a university brochure containing a list of programs that they offered. As I read it out of curiosity, my eyes widened in mild surprise when I found out that they offered a degree in psychology and counseling.

Back then, the judge who handled my parents’ divorce did not suggest counseling to them or me. Perhaps he did not know that it existed, or he did not believe in it. However, things might have gone differently for me if there was a mental health professional that I could turn to while dealing with confusion, frustration, and other emotions. Thus, I set aside my plans of leaving town and decided to enroll in the university.

Life As A Licensed Psychologist And Counselor

Many years passed since the day I picked up that university brochure. I worked at night and studied during the day to afford my education. After getting my licenses, I chose not to join an established mental facility but to open my clinic.

I know what you might think. It’s a bold move, right? Doing so meant that I had to have the mind of a businesswoman to ensure that the clinic was always full. But I wanted to do it because I knew that I could help more people in distress this way.

I did not account for in the beginning, though, that I had to be a marketer on top of being a businesswoman. Still, I did not allow that to overwhelm me. I took a crash course in marketing and learned that social media marketing could work for all business types, including counseling. I had a business account set up on various platforms in no time; I even hired a social media specialist to handle all the posts and comments masterfully.

My efforts paid off. When I started, I only saw two or three clients every day. Once the clinic’s online presence bloomed, I had to hire another psychologist/counselor to accommodate everyone.

My life is far from what it used to be, and I am genuinely happy about coming out of my shell and healing while helping others.

My parents allowed me to believe that everything I dreamed of was within reach if I strived hard for it. After all, neither of them came from money. The riches that I grew up seeing and experiencing were fruits of their combined labor, especially since my parents barely slept before my arrival. Because of that, once I came to the world, their business was already stable, and all we needed to do was reap the benefits of their hard work.

Had I always had it easy since birth then? Of course not. My parents were self-made individuals; they were not born into old money. The difference between the two was that the latter would be cool even if their kids did not work hard, while the former would make sure the kids knew what hard work felt like and meant. Thus, I had chores at home for as long as I could remember, although each one came with corresponding payment.

Nevertheless, I would still admit to having it easy in terms of getting the capital I need for my dream business.

Right before college graduation, my parents asked me what I wanted to do with my life. They said that I could take a year off and travel the world or do whatever young adults did. The thing was, I was aware that most young adults did not have the luxury to do that. Even my friends were sending their resumes to various companies at that point, hoping to start earning money as soon as possible. I somewhat felt the same way, but I did not want to have a boss other than myself, so I asked my parents to give me capital for the coffee shop that I had in mind.

Kicking Off At A Chill Start

My parents gave me the money readily as a graduation gift. I used it to buy a small property downtown and converted it into a cozy café. Several months after getting my diploma, I officially became an entrepreneur.

When you talk about cafés, you may think that the shop itself is the only marketing tool you need. Add cute tables and chairs, some incredible artworks, and a wide variety of coffee, and you will be fine. That’s what I thought of as well. But it became apparent too soon that it was not that easy.

I set up wreaths and balloon arcs in front of the door on my launch, thinking that it was enough to attract customers. I had a few customers, but they mainly consisted of my friends and family who came to support me. Still, I said, “That’s cool – it was just the first day. Perhaps the coffee lovers were still feeling it out.”

After the next few days, I could count how many people walked through the door with my ten fingers. I knew that I needed a different game plan, so I commissioned a friend to create signage for me on a chalkboard and placed it near the sidewalk. It seemed like a fabulous idea initially, considering the downtown was full of curious young people. The signage served its purpose for a week, but it ended up being useless after that.

When I voiced out my concerns to my parents, they offered to give me money to create commercials and jingles and even buy radio slots to promote my café. I accepted it, but only after I made them agree that it was a loan this time, not a gift. After all, spending $10,000 on promotional ads was a lot, and they should not be burdened by it.

Losing Hope

Despite the financial backing and the new jingle playing on the radio and blasting through the speakers in the café, the business was still slow. Six months already passed, and I could not see it picking up anytime soon.

It upset me so much that I considered giving up and putting the property on lease. That way, I could still get some of my money back and pay my parents. But before I could do that, I was surprised when my parents told me that they signed me up for counseling that weekend in hopes of changing my decision to let go of my dream.

Getting Counseling

What can I say about my counseling experience?

It has been an absolute lifesaver for me. I merely went to the counselor’s office as a courtesy to my parents, but I was planning on how to cut the meeting short on the way. Once the counselor got me talking, though, I could not stop. All my frustrations and embarrassments over the last few months bubbled over. It was only the first session. That was how badly I needed mental help.

I went through six sessions before I found the courage to keep my café open. The counselor even went above and beyond and shared a few marketing strategies she found helpful for her business. (More on that on the next blog.)

Once counseling was over, I decided to hire a web designer and social media manager to build my café’s online presence. I learned that that’s the most practical marketing tool to reach more potential customers than simple signage or radio ads could. And no surprises there – the business finally picked up.

It was a few months too late, but once the café became a hit, I got to pay my loan and start gaining profits in less than a year. I genuinely had more to thank my parents for than they were willing to take credit for.

When we are scrolling through our phones or watching videos online, whatever it is that we may do these days, an ad will pop up for something that our phone might have heard from one of our conversations of the day. Maybe you see a promo or a sale from your favorite brand. Maybe that phased out a snack from your favorite fast-food restaurant is back. When you think about it, all of this is eye-catching, and it basically reaches out to a brand’s target market or maybe a newer market.

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COVID-19 has come into the world bearing economic downfall and a pandemic across the globe. A lot will need to change for the economy and its people to go back to how it used to be. This involves a lot of research and market studying on the business side of things, and this change will not only be on how the business should operate but also how business is sustained and how a company can grow and be known by a broader market.

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