Stress preys on entrepreneurs – these insights help reduce harmful stress

At its best, entrepreneurship means realising your passion projects, using your unique skills, having the freedom to decide how you want to work and, of course, taking responsibility for results. However, there are also flipsides to the freedom and responsibility. The entrepreneur is often an irreplaceable part of their own company. It is easy for workdays become too long and for the line between work and free time to blur. Stress often follows entrepreneurs wherever they go.

According to the Menesty yrittäjänä (“Successful Entrepreneurship”) survey conducted by Elo and the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, up to 40% of entrepreneurs experience long-term harmful stress quite extensively or very much. Elo has tracked the development of entrepreneurs’ work ability since 2014, and each time entrepreneurs have been asked to evaluate it, the results have been worse. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the survey’s results, but it was not the only factor that contributed to increased stress levels.

“The environment that companies and entrepreneurs operate in is changing rapidly, even outside the effects of COVID-19. Companies must quickly incorporate new things and skills, and they must even think about new directions to take their entire business in. Keeping up with the times is surely stressful,” says Katja Ekman, Development Manager of work ability management at Elo.

Recognise the difference between positive and harmful stress

Every entrepreneur knows that feeling stress from time to time is part of an entrepreneur’s life. In fact, not all stress is harmful. Short-term, temporary stress can be a positive force that helps you stay alert and achieve good results. Long-terms stress, however, is harmful for the entrepreneur’s health and business.

But where is the line between good stress that keeps you alert and stress that hurts you? According to Ekman, stress becomes harmful when the feeling does not pass but persists.

“I would say that the most significant warning signs are exhaustion and a loss of passion towards your work. The positive feelings are replaced by cynicism and an unwillingness to work. The things that have previously felt meaningful and brought energy to working no longer excite you.”

Work engagement is very important for entrepreneurs, because it protects us from stress and safeguards our work ability. In Elo’s survey results, the amount of experienced stress was strongly linked to work engagement.

“A sign of temporary and manageable stress is that you maintain your work engagement. There is a positive atmosphere around work, and the entrepreneur sees opportunities despite the stress and challenging times,” Ekman says.

How to avoid harmful stress – five insights

1. Work-life balance is an important resource

Start with the basics: enough sleep, food, exercise and time to recover. You should also make sure that there are other meaningful things besides business in your life to keep you energised throughout the week. Taking time for yourself and doing things you enjoy are important balancers for entrepreneurship, which help you avoid stress.

2. Work engagement protects from harmful stress

Work engagement means that you are excited about your work, energised by it and immersed in it. It also means that your work feels meaningful. It is good to occasionally stop and think about whether you still enjoy entrepreneurship and working. If you have lost your work engagement, you should think about how you could make entrepreneurship more meaningful. Read more about increasing work engagement here (in Finnish).

3. Resilience helps you to keep going and succeed in a changing world

The operating environment of companies is changing and becoming more complicated. More than ever, entrepreneurs require resilience, the ability to change. It is good to sometimes ask yourself whether your company is reactive and flexible enough to operate in a changing world. If you can cope with uncertainty and learn to see more opportunities around you, you will also be better prepared to deal with a changing operating environment without overexerting yourself. Read more tips about developing your company’s resilience here.

4. You do not need to do everything yourself

It is important to remember that entrepreneurs do not need to be superhuman and do everything themselves. Making use of networks and partnerships and outsourcing tasks is reasonable when you do not have the time or skills to do something. You should especially get help for tasks that are important for business but not your strongest areas of expertise. These kinds of tasks often include financial management and marketing, for example.

5. Ask for help

If you cannot overcome stress on your own, seek help from a source like occupational health care. Other entrepreneurs can also provide valuable collegial support. Another good way to stay energised and maintain your skills is mentoring.


The tips were provided by Katja Ekman, Development Manager of work ability management at Elo.

Read more about the well-being of entrepreneurs (in Finnish) >