The Reality of Loneliness in Entrepreneurship: Building a Community for Mental Health Support

Running your own business can give you freedom, purpose and the chance to build something that reflects who you are. It can also feel incredibly lonely.

That is the part people do not always talk about. We see the new contracts, social media updates, launches and milestones, but we rarely see the quiet decisions behind them. We do not see the evenings spent wondering whether there will be enough work next month, the pressure of being responsible for other people’s wages or the doubt that arrives when something you believed in is not moving as quickly as you hoped.

From the outside, entrepreneurship can look exciting. From the inside, it can feel like carrying a long list of questions that nobody else can answer for you.

I have experienced that loneliness while running an electrical business and again while building Onward Shift. The businesses were very different, but the feeling was familiar. Even when people supported me and believed in what I was doing, the final decisions still came back to me. When things went well, it could be difficult to explain why I was already worrying about the next step. When things felt uncertain, I did not always want to place that weight on the people closest to me.

Loneliness in entrepreneurship does not necessarily mean having nobody around you. You can speak to customers all day, manage a team, attend networking events and still feel that you are carrying the business alone.

What My Own Poll Told Me

When I first wrote about this subject, I had recently asked entrepreneurs in my network whether they had ever felt lonely during their business journey. In that informal poll, 93% of respondents said yes.

That was not a national study, and it should not be treated as though it represents every entrepreneur in the UK. It was a small snapshot of the people who chose to respond. Even so, it stopped me in my tracks. Almost everybody who answered recognised the feeling, yet very few people were speaking about it openly.

More recent national research points in the same direction. A 2025 YouGov survey for the Start Up Loans Company found that 44% of smaller UK business owners had felt lonely or isolated while running their business. Among microbusiness owners, the figure rose to 56%. The same research found that 64% felt the constant mental load of being responsible for the success of their business, while 55% wished they had somebody they could turn to for support.

The percentages differ from my poll because the audiences, questions and methods were different. What matters is the shared message underneath them: loneliness is not a rare personal failing among entrepreneurs. It is a common part of business ownership that deserves a more honest conversation.

Independence Can Slowly Become Isolation

Many entrepreneurs begin because they want more control over their lives. They may want to leave an unhealthy workplace, create a better future for their family, turn a skill into a living or build something they genuinely care about. That independence can be one of the greatest rewards of running a business.

The difficulty is that independence can slowly turn into isolation without you noticing.

At the beginning, you may do everything yourself because there is no budget to bring anybody else in. You answer the phone, prepare quotes, deliver the work, chase invoices, update the website and think about marketing. If you employ people, another layer of responsibility arrives. You are no longer making decisions only for yourself; other households may depend on the choices you make.

Friends and family may care deeply, but they may not understand why one delayed payment affects your whole week or why an unanswered email keeps running through your mind at night. They may tell you to switch off, and they are often right, but switching off is difficult when the business is paying the mortgage and your name is attached to every outcome.

Over time, you can begin to hold more back. You do not want to worry your partner. You do not want employees to lose confidence. You do not want customers to sense uncertainty. You may also feel uncomfortable speaking to other business owners because you assume they are doing better than you.

That is how loneliness grows. It is not always a dramatic separation from the world. Sometimes it is simply the growing belief that there is nowhere you can speak without having to protect somebody, impress somebody or sell something.

You Can Be Surrounded by People and Still Feel Alone

Loneliness is often mistaken for being physically alone. That is only one version of it.

Research into the different forms of entrepreneurial loneliness has described social isolation, physical isolation and a form of cognitive isolation, where entrepreneurs feel that other people do not understand the experience they are having. That final one will make sense to many business owners.

You might spend the day on a busy construction site surrounded by dozens of people, yet nobody there knows that a major invoice is overdue or that you are worried about finding the next project. You can attend a room full of business owners and leave with twenty new contacts but no stronger sense that you were able to be yourself.

Networking and connection are not always the same thing.

Traditional networking often asks us to present the strongest version of the business. We explain what we offer, share recent successes and look for opportunities. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does not always create room for somebody to say, “I am struggling with this,” or, “I have no idea what my next decision should be.”

Real connection begins when there is less pressure to perform. It grows when people can share an unfinished thought, admit a mistake or talk about a difficult week without immediately being given a sales pitch.

Why This Matters in Construction

The word entrepreneur can create an image of technology founders, investors and people building companies from laptops. In construction, entrepreneurship often looks very different.

It can be a self-employed electrician working during the day and completing quotes at night. It can be a builder responsible for several subcontractors, a small contractor waiting to be paid further up the supply chain or a tradesperson trying to grow beyond being the only person in the business. These people may not call themselves entrepreneurs, but they carry many of the same pressures.

Official UK business population estimates for 2025 recorded around 885,000 construction SMEs, more than in any other main industry sector. Across the wider private sector, three quarters of businesses did not employ anybody apart from their owners. That tells us how much business activity depends on people who are working alone or carrying responsibility within very small teams.

Construction can intensify that experience. The work is often project-based, payment can be unpredictable and teams regularly change. Somebody may work beside the same people for months and then move to a completely different site. Business owners can also find themselves caught between clients, main contractors, suppliers, workers and family commitments, trying to keep everybody happy while their own wellbeing moves further down the list.

When I ran my electrical business, there was pride in building something of my own. There was also constant responsibility. The work did not finish when I packed away the tools. There were calls to return, jobs to price, materials to order and decisions waiting at home. Entrepreneurship can remove the manager above you, but it does not remove pressure. In many ways, it brings the pressure closer because there is nobody else to pass it to.

The Business Can Become Your Whole Identity

When you care deeply about a business, it can become difficult to see where the work ends and you begin. A good month can make you feel capable and hopeful. A quiet month can feel like a judgement on your ability, even when wider conditions are responsible.

This is especially common when the business began from a personal skill or a lived experience. Onward Shift is connected to my story, my years in construction and my experience of mental health. That gives the work meaning, but it can also make setbacks feel personal. If an idea is rejected, it takes effort to remember that the decision was about one proposal at one moment, not a rejection of the entire mission or of me as a person.

The same can happen to a tradesperson whose name is on the van. A complaint may feel like an attack on their character rather than feedback about one job. A slow week may make them question years of experience. When work and identity become tightly linked, there is little mental space left when the business becomes difficult.

Connection helps because another person can see what we struggle to see from inside the problem. They may remind us that a bad week is not the whole business, that one mistake can be repaired or that rest is not the same as giving up.

Why I Created a WhatsApp Group

The response to my original poll made me want to do something practical. I created a WhatsApp group where entrepreneurs could speak to one another without the usual pressure attached to business networking.

The idea was simple. It would be open to business owners at different stages, from people starting out to those with years of experience. There would be no fee, advertising or sales pitches. What people shared would be treated with respect and kept within the group. The focus was conversation, mutual support and the chance to realise that somebody else understood.

Those boundaries mattered because business groups can quickly lose their purpose. If every message becomes a promotion, people stop sharing honestly. If members feel they are potential customers, they begin to protect themselves. A group intended to reduce loneliness can become another place where everybody feels they must look successful.

The WhatsApp group was not therapy, and it was never intended to replace professional support. No peer group can promise the same privacy or duty of care as a confidential conversation with a trained professional. Its purpose was more everyday than that: a place to ask a question, share a difficult moment, celebrate progress or speak to people who recognised the mental load of business ownership.

I did not wait until the idea was perfect. I started with a need, a few clear boundaries and a willingness to see what the group could become. That experience taught me that community does not have to begin with a large event, an impressive platform or a detailed strategy. Sometimes it begins with somebody making it easier for the first honest conversation to happen.

What Genuine Business Support Should Feel Like

Support is most useful when it allows people to be honest without taking away their responsibility. A good community does not make every decision for you or tell you that every idea is brilliant. It gives you somewhere to think aloud, hear another perspective and return to the decision with a clearer mind.

It also needs balance. Constantly discussing business problems can create another echo chamber where everybody becomes more anxious. A supportive space should make room for difficult conversations, but also for normality, humour, progress and life outside work. Sometimes the most helpful thing is practical advice. At other times, it is a walk, a coffee or hearing somebody say, “I have felt that too.”

Trust grows slowly. It is built when people listen without immediately fixing, keep private conversations private and show up when there is nothing to gain commercially. It is also built through consistency. One enthusiastic message followed by months of silence will rarely create belonging. Regular contact, even when brief, helps relationships become real.

This does not mean every entrepreneur needs a huge circle. A small, varied network can be more useful than hundreds of contacts. One person may understand the finances, another may know the industry, somebody else may offer emotional support and a professional may provide coaching or counselling when a deeper conversation is needed. Expecting one friend, partner or peer to carry every part of the journey places too much weight on one relationship.

Connection Needs to Exist Away From a Screen

Digital communities are accessible and can be particularly helpful for people working irregular hours or travelling between projects. They allow somebody to reach out when arranging a meeting would feel like one task too many.

They are not the whole answer. Messages can be misread, difficult feelings can be hidden behind emojis and being part of several online groups does not guarantee meaningful connection. Where possible, it helps to combine digital contact with time spent alongside people in the real world.

This is one reason Onward Shift now hosts free monthly construction networking Walk and Talks in Colchester. They are not built around rehearsed pitches or collecting as many business cards as possible. People can walk, speak, listen and meet others connected to construction without being pushed to perform. Movement can also make conversation feel easier because there is less pressure than sitting opposite somebody and being expected to open up immediately.

The purpose is not to force vulnerable conversations. Nobody has to share anything personal. It is simply to create the conditions where connection can grow naturally. One person may discuss work, another may talk about family and somebody else may mostly listen. All of those are valid ways to take part.

Small Changes Can Reduce the Isolation

Reducing loneliness does not require turning every evening into a networking event. For many entrepreneurs, the first change is making regular connection part of the working week instead of leaving it until things become difficult.

That could mean arranging a monthly coffee with another business owner and agreeing that the conversation will go beyond sales. It might mean working from a shared space occasionally, joining a local trade group, finding a mentor or scheduling a regular call with somebody who understands the sector. The right option depends on the person. An introvert may prefer one honest conversation to a room full of people, while somebody else may gain energy from a group.

Boundaries matter too. If work occupies every evening and weekend, friendships and interests outside the business slowly disappear. That can leave the entrepreneur with nowhere to go mentally when work becomes stressful. Protecting time for family, exercise, hobbies or simply being away from the phone is not separate from building a sustainable business. It helps preserve the parts of your identity that existed before the business began.

It is also worth learning to share earlier. Many of us wait until a problem has become overwhelming because we believe we should solve it alone. Speaking when the worry is still manageable gives other people a chance to help, even if that help is simply listening while we organise our thoughts.

What Onward Shift Has Taught Me About Community

The original WhatsApp group was one attempt to answer a problem I could see around me. Since then, the idea of connection has continued to shape Onward Shift through podcasts, newsletters, events, coaching, counselling and free resources.

Each format reaches people differently. Some are ready to speak. Others need to listen to somebody else’s story before they can make sense of their own. One person may join a walk, while another reads a blog quietly at home after a difficult day. Community is not only a room full of people; it is also the experience of recognising yourself in somebody else’s words and realising that your thoughts are not as unusual as they felt.

That is why our aim is not to tell entrepreneurs or construction workers to become more resilient and carry on. Most already carry a great deal. The aim is to make support and honest conversation easier to reach, before isolation convinces somebody that they have to manage everything alone.

You can explore Onward Shift’s free mental health support and resources, join one of our monthly Walk and Talks or learn more about our support for people. There is no single correct route. The important part is finding a form of connection that feels genuine and useful to you.

You Can Lead the Business Without Carrying Everything Alone

Entrepreneurship will always involve responsibility. Building a community does not remove the difficult decisions, guarantee business success or make uncertainty disappear. What it can do is stop responsibility from turning into complete isolation.

If you are running a business and feeling lonely, it does not mean you chose the wrong path or are not strong enough for it. It may simply mean you have been carrying too much without enough space to speak honestly.

There are people who understand the late invoices, the uncertain pipeline, the pride, the doubt and the strange experience of achieving something while already worrying about what comes next. Finding them may take a little effort, and trust may take time, but that connection is worth building.

You may be the person responsible for the business, but you do not have to be the only person holding you up.