Taking mental health seriously saved my company
By Kelly Mardis
Becoming a business owner is stressful, especially when you’re new to the industry with
very little guidance, little security, and a big vision. It comes with lots of moving parts
and responsibilities that can take a massive toll on your mental health if not taken
Seriously.
Take it from me, avoiding confronting my mental health and the ways I
manage stress had an awful effect on my business, almost causing me to hit rock
Bottom.
However, after taking my mental health into my own hands, it’s thriving now
more than ever.
The Job
I wasn’t always in the painting industry. My passion for helping others led me to a 15-year career in nursing. After traveling to Arizona as a registered nurse, I decided to launch my painting business.
After a few failed attempts entangled with the wrong business partners, I
returned to nursing very discouraged. I finally decided to take the leap on my own in October,
2008. By April 2009, despite not hitting my target goal, I was able to quit being a nurse and run
my painting company full-time.
My first full year in business, I made nearly $1 million in revenue. Being a successful business owner was everything I ever wanted since I decided to leave nursing. However, I quickly realized I was in way over my head.
My greatest strength was sales, so I quickly built my company to a level that was difficult to manage. As a former nurse, I knew how to handle stress, but this was an entirely different ball game.
I didn’t have experience recruiting, and I hired some of the wrong people. These mistakes lead to jobs being done incorrectly, which meant adjusting my entire schedule to accompany painters to ensure they fix subpar work. All my time was spent overlooking painters, which took me away from finding new clients and added significant stress to me personally.
I initially thought my kind heart and generosity were causing me to ignore obvious patterns and mistakes regarding my employees. I was continually giving people the benefit of the doubt and not holding them accountable, which led to chaos in the workplace and significantly increased my stress levels to a dangerous degree.
I had a fear that if I fired a crew that needed it, I would only find a worse replacement. As long as crews would go back and fix their mistakes, even when it was a pattern, I tolerated it. I had never managed anything before, and my company grew faster than my ability to run it, taking my confidence and mental health with it.
The company started losing so much revenue that I would have to float expenses on my credit cards. I felt like I was hitting rock bottom, and I began to realize that my issues were deeper and more personal than being too kind and generous.
The Turning Point
One day, after months of growing grey hair and living with a stress-induced, painful cramp in my neck, I was walking with my four-year-old son in the park when my vision suddenly got blurry.
Being a former nurse, I knew how to do a neuro check on myself and quickly realized I was having a mild stroke. I slowly walked over and sat on a park bench, trying to relax. I held my son in my arms and tried to focus on my breath and surroundings. Eventually, my vision cleared after about 15 minutes of wondering if it would get worse.
That was the moment I realized I needed to make some changes. The stress this job was giving me was impacting me physically and mentally in ways I couldn’t imagine. I could have died, all because I couldn’t figure out how to handle stress at work. I needed to learn how to control the way things affect me.
For the first time in my life, I went to a therapist and discovered that I had a lot of childhood trauma I needed to work through. These unresolved problems were causing my lack of confidence and allowing people to take advantage of me.
Next, I hired a business coach, and then saw a second therapist. I went as far as hiring a very expensive life coach who administered numerous tests, enabling me to discover strengths, such as good communication skills and the ability to move forward through adversity, in myself that I hadn’t been able to see before.
One of the first things he did was acknowledge the suffering I had been through previously. I asked if he was going to fix what was wrong with me. He said no, we are going to fix what is right with you.
It was like a light bulb went off inside me. I realized suffering was a choice. He gave me the strength and confidence to take my mental health into my own hands. I started listening to a lot of audiobooks on leadership and managing people. I learned meditation, which helped me relax and enhanced self-awareness, calming my mind and rewiring my brain to better cope with stress.
The Outcome
Today, my business is growing, but this time I’m mentally in a position where I can grow with it.
Working on my mental health allowed me to be a lot more positive. Before, I had a very negative mindset, always anticipating a poor outcome. Now, when something goes wrong, I think to myself, “This is an opportunity to make things right and make this person happy.”
Before I decided to take my mental health into my hands, when an issue occurred, I would get a lot of anxiety and lose sleep over it, leading to misery. Sometimes I would survive on two hours of sleep.
Now I have a routine and perspective that keeps me mentally and physically fit. I continue to listen to helpful podcasts and read leadership books daily. I also meditate, lift
weights, and play a lot of tennis. These activities are stimulating and allow me to focus on the joys outside of work.
Reading leadership books, I learned that your free time should be given equal importance to work. If you aren’t refreshed, it can lead to burnout. The constant work I put
into my mental health has allowed me to step back and focus on making my clients happy
without adding more stress. Mistakes will be made that cost the company money, but now I can manage them because I know they are happening less often, and I know fixing them is worthwhile for the long-term reputation of my business.
One example is a condo project I worked on about five years ago. A year after painting the condos, they began to peel. It turns out they weren’t pressure-washed properly, so I spent $15,000 to rectify the issue. Before, I would have freaked out at the thought of spending that much money to fix the problem. However, through therapy and meditation, I learned that treating people the way you want to be treated goes further than saving a buck. You never know the connections a client has; leaving them satisfied can lead to more projects.
When I first started this company, it was difficult to hire good-quality painters. However, once my state of mind changed, good employees began to find me. I used to have to post job listings and go through tens of painters to get one good one, but working on my mental health gave me the time and strength to put effort into being a quality employer who cares about their workers and clients.
Now I find great workers because my employees refer good people to me. Because of my improved reputation, they come to me through word of mouth. In fact, I’m gradually spending less and less money on advertising. Since my attitude towards clients changed, my reputation has soared, making referrals an increasingly popular way of gaining new employees and clients.
Last year, 42 percent of my business came from word of mouth and repeat clients.
A stressful situation is not a life sentence. Years ago, I thought my company was on the verge of collapse; now it regularly hits $2.3 million in revenue. This year, in the second quarter, we already have $3.4 million in signed contracts. Employee retention has improved significantly,
and we’re one of the most trusted painting companies in the Phoenix area.
If you’re battling something similar and thinking of quitting, it is possible to work your way through it. You do this by working on yourself.
Owning a painting contracting company is incredibly challenging, with numerous moving parts and obstacles. If you’re not dealing with stress properly, it’s not a weakness to seek help. Life is too short to be miserable running your business. Invest in yourself and get the mental health care you deserve; it’ll help you more than you can imagine.
