How Women Entrepreneurs Protect Their Mental Health While Building Brilliant Businesses
A recent Psychology Today article highlighted the alarming toll entrepreneurship can take on women’s mental health—and it’s a truth many high-achieving women already know: the mental load of building a business is real, and it’s rising.
Written by licensed psychotherapist Joyce Marter, The Unique Mental Health Stressors of Women Entrepreneurs outlines a sobering reality: women business owners face more stressors, less support, and fewer systemic advantages than their male counterparts.
From wage gaps and people-pleasing tendencies to isolation and lack of representation, the unique pressures women face are contributing to heightened rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and even suicidal ideation.
It’s not just business, it’s personal.
And it’s time for a new approach.
Redefining Success: How We Can Protect Our Mental Health as Women Entrepreneurs
At The Dames, we believe it’s not enough to name the problem—we must reshape how we lead, grow, and support one another.
Our founder, Meghann Conter, puts it this way:
“Humans are wired to help each other, and women are wired to be in community. Once we feel the safety of belonging, we help each other endlessly, and mental health becomes less of a challenge.”
Meghann shared some favorite powerful strategies that she and our community of over 500 women entrepreneurs use to protect their mental health while scaling, without sacrificing their lives in the process.
Uncover Your Guiding Decision Makers
The foundation on which you build your business makes all the difference.
You wouldn’t build a home on shifting sand without concrete to hold the pipes in place. And even if you did, it’s never too late to lift the structure, reframe the walls, and reinforce the ground beneath it.
The same goes for your business.
- Stand in your why. Anchor every part of your business to your deeper sense of purpose—in life and in work.
- Paint your vision. Dust off the colors you’ve tucked away in the corners of your creative mind, and paint a vivid masterpiece of the world you want to help shape.
- Align with your mission. Use your unique brilliance to serve a meaningful need. When your mission matters to you, so does your ability to sustain it.
- Let your core values lead. Your values are your north star—let them guide decisions, protect your energy, and keep you aligned with what really matters.
One-Size-Fits-All Strategies Don’t Work
Here’s something we’re rarely taught to question in business: whether the model we’re following actually works for us.
Even companies that preach wellness often glorify overwork behind the scenes. Many of us have been there, watching leaders advocate for time off while quietly shaming those who take it.
If your business model works against your energy, your body, or your lifestyle, you’ll eventually feel like you’re wearing someone else’s skeleton.
Your business doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s to be successful. It just has to feel right in your bones.
Even the most well-built systems can become prisons if they’re not built for you.
We Were Never Meant to Be Alone at the Top
Hire help as soon as you can, even if it’s part-time, freelance, or fractional support.
For many women, learning to delegate is the first step to healing a lifetime of over-responsibility.
Mental health for women entrepreneurs improves dramatically when we stop trying to do it all alone. The right team not only lifts the pressure, but it also frees you to lead from your zone of genius… the space where your brilliance thrives.
There’s so much room at the top that we don’t have to climb alone.
Find a Community Where Vulnerability Blossoms
Women are tired of cauterizing themselves down the middle, pretending their personal and professional lives aren’t deeply intertwined. That split is why burnout can sneak in and linger too long.
That’s why we believe in building reflective communities where strategy and self-awareness coexist, and where growth is measured in revenue and resilience.
Surround yourself with women who are navigating the same challenges and celebrating the same wins. And when you find that kind of space…
Participate.
Don’t just sit on the sidelines.
Give.
Receive.
Let your guard down.
Watch what grows.
Women love helping each other. If we drop our barriers just a bit, we can see how beautiful the meadow is beyond the walls.
Want to dive deeper into the research that inspired this post?
Read Joyce Marter’s full article in Psychology Today:
๐ The Unique Mental Health Stressors of Women Entrepreneurs
The Dames: Where Strategy Meets Sanity
At The Dames, we’re building more than businesses; we’re building a world where women scale with ease, clarity, and joy. Our business accelerator isn’t just about hitting goals; it’s about doing so in a way that fuels growth instead of fracturing it.
Through curated connections, collaborative strategy, and unapologetic community, we help women entrepreneurs grow without burning out. Because success without wellness isn’t success at all.
Ready to lead from alignment and build without burnout?
