Mental health and micro business.

How small & micro business owners are managing their mental health & ways we can all help.

As part of Mental Health Awareness month and the start of Mental Health Awareness week, I want to explore and share the realities for micro business owners across the UK and how we can all help each other.

There is no doubt that running your own small, micro business (those small businesses with 0-9 employees) was never about an easy life or one that simply avoided the pressures and stresses of the employed world. However, recent years and even months have been a perfect storm of challenges that are really beginning to show in the mental health of the micro owner community.

Latest figures conclude that about 95% of all privately owned businesses in the UK are micro businesses and of those, about 75% don't employ anyone, equalling about 4.3 million. Although micro business owners aren't unique in their isolated position of leading a business (many business leaders of all sizes of business experience this), the very fact of being the only person to make all the decisions and often complete the majority of tasks, does create real challenge.

Difficult enough in 'normal' times for sure, but when was the last time life felt normal? The pandemic really highlighted the level of invisibility of millions of micro businesses, who didn't experience some of the financial safety nets of others, and like all businesses, required new levels of creativity, speedy pivoting, not to mention sheer grit to keep going. The pandemic 'hangover' for many micros is still very much a thing. Business may have steadied since the worst days and certainly they may have survived. But survival mode is still how many of the business owners I speak to are feeling. A sense that long term plans, creative innovation and confidence in the future still feel out of reach. So many of the micros I work with are very much 'in it' each to day, managing a constant low (or high) grade anxiety about survival, where plans for the future often feel like a luxury.

Consider the compounding factors of geo-politics creating a new layer of pressure that many a micro has little capacity to manage. Increased NI and the cost of hiring has undoubtedly both added financial pressure to those trying to keep going, and constricted the plans of those who planned to grow or get help. The reality for many that I speak with is to simply manage with less help, with all the consequences that has on their own work load and the experiences they're trying to create, not to mention any plans for innovation or growth. In addition, rising costs of goods, services and fuel, mean that there's a very common feeling among those I work with of feeling under siege, which is never conducive to the kind of growth mindset we want our small, micro business community to have for the benefit of us all. The toll on personal resilience is very real.

Along side the perhaps obvious factors of a post pandemic hangover, the issue of often being solo and the more recent additional layers of challenge that all businesses are experiencing, there's also issue of a lack of visibility that results, at best, in more low grade confidence issues and at worst, a sense of the hopeless that no one is there to offer support or a safety net. At a personal level, this doesn't provide a recipe for burgeoning mental health, but at a community and national level, it can even build a spiral of decline that none of us want.

Having outlined some of the most prominent challenges faced by micro business owners, which is undoubtedly taking a personal and collective toll on levels of positivity and hope, perhaps it's helpful to explore ways that we can all help and engage.

It goes without saying that a comprehensive national strategy for business support that clearly caters to the specific needs of micro businesses is an essential if we are to ever fully benefit from the micro magic that is only just surviving around the country. But let's also consider the more person centred efforts we can make to support the health & mental health of 5.4 million business owners in the UK.

1. Prioritising - the themes of 'shop small' and 'shop local' may feel like an unobtainable luxury when purses are emptier than ever, however consumers and businesses alike can build micros into their daily lives to create a national boost to business & business owners. Building more micros into your supply chain, choosing one more micro for a weekend coffee, sharing a micro with your friends and networks is much more powerful than these simple activities might suggest.

2. Visibility - in the absence of a clear national narrative about the impact of micros on all our communities and national economy (micros contribute about 24% of UK annual turnover) it's on all of us to shine a light on how micros that we work with and buy from, make a difference. From artisan skills to reliable human service, we can all do more to support the glue they create across Britain. The ripple effect of increased confidence and hope would be palpable.

3. Support - I've already highlighted the need for a national micro business strategy, but at a local level, we can all reach out to offer feedback, help and support to the micros we know. Offering mentoring, sharing skills, providing contracts, paying on time, committing to longer term working relationships will create the sense of recognition and hope that many micros need.

4. Community - micro business owners need each other. Peer support is universally seen as a benefit, even an essential to the likelihood of success, innovative thinking and personal resilience in business. The opportunity to share challenges, lived wisdom and experiences is an invaluable factor to support individuals who are trying to lead businesses alone and something we can all try to engage in ourselves (find your tribe) or offer space to facilitate.

If you're a micro business owner feeling the stress and challenges that running a business in the UK right now is creating, then here are some options for you:

Simply Club - we provide a 24/7 platform of support, community and expert resources to any micro business in the UK, so that you feel you have a team with you in good times and bad.

Mind UK - a fabulous national charity with a website packed full of resources and ideas to support you and your mental health at any time.

Samaritans - if you're feeling dreadful, The Samaritans continue to offer world class, gold standard support immediately. You're not alone.