Mental Health and Depression: Navigating The Struggles Of Business Ownership | Stacee Goetzinger

In this powerful episode of Small Business Pivots, mental health advocate and nonprofit founder Stacee Goetzinger shares her life journey navigating anxiety, depression, anorexia, self-harm, and borderline personality disorder—while also running a business and helping others do the same.

Forget the polished success stories. Stacee offers something different: raw honesty from the middle of the battle, not just the other side. For small business owners juggling leadership with hidden struggles, this episode sheds light on how embracing vulnerability can lead to stronger leadership, healthier teams, and more connected workplaces.

You’ll learn:

• Why so many entrepreneurs suffer in silence—and how to break that cycle
• How to lead a business without pretending to have it all together
• Why mental health support in the workplace is critical to team performance
• How to turn personal pain into purpose, and lead with authenticity
• Simple first steps business owners can take to protect their mental wellness

Whether you're facing burnout, emotional exhaustion, or just trying to support others better, this conversation is a must-listen.

Stacee Goetzinger: Founder & Director, Speak Out Loud

Website: https://www.speakoutloud.me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakoutloud.me

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/speakoutloud.me

Podcast: https://www.speakoutloud.me/podcast

Books: https://www.speakoutloud.me/books

 #MentalHealthAwareness #DepressionSupport #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #SelfHarm #PersonalityDisorder #EntrepreneurLife #BusinessOwner #BusinessLeadership #MentalHealthMatters #VulnerabilityInLeadership #SmallBusinessOwners #MentalHealthInBusiness #AuthenticLeadership #BurnoutRecovery #BusinessStruggles #StaceeGoetzinger #SpeakOutLoud #SmallBusinessSuccess #MichaelDMorrison #SmallBusinessPivots #BusinessPodcast #Oklahoma 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Mental Health in Business
• 7:40 Stacey's Personal Mental Health Journey
• 18:25 Diagnosis, Breakdown, and Hospitalization
• 29:35 Finding Purpose Through Struggle
• 39:15 Building Support Systems in Business
• 47:20 Speak Out Loud: Resources and Outreach

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, welcome to another Small Business Pivots. Today we're going to go a little bit different direction. We usually hit on topics of marketing, sales, scaling a business, but I really was fascinated with this guest today that I've heard speak before, because a lot of business owners are dealing with things internally that we don't like to share, because we have this persona that we have to carry. We don't want to feel like or look like an imposter syndrome. So today our guest is close within our headquarters in Oklahoma, and so I know that business owners can only say their name like they want it to be said. So I'm going to let you introduce yourself, as I always do, and just tell us a little bit about you. We'll introduce the show and then we'll get into the meat of the subject.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Yes, well, my name is Stacey Getzinger and we get all over the spectrum for that last name. The other day I bet Stacey Gunslinger and I was like, okay, we can go with that, that's not my name, but okay. But I am the co-founder and president of Speak Out Loud and we are a nonprofit organization. We're relatively new to nonprofit, however. We have been a thing for about eight years now. So, anyway, thank you so much for inviting me to be on with you today, michael. This is a privilege.

Speaker 1: 1:23

My pleasure. Well, let's introduce the show and we'll get right back and help our listeners today.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Sounds great.

Speaker 1: 1:32

Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast produced for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom.

Speaker 1: 2:05

All right, welcome back to Small Business Pivot Stacy. We have a lot to talk about. I know a lot of small business owners struggle In fact, the whole population struggles from time to time with depression and mental health. But we're really focused on the small business owners because, like I said, we have this facade that we're trying to live and we have to be this powerful or know what we're doing in business and our team looks up to us. But I know deep inside you know deep inside when we go home at night, we don't feel that part that we are supposed to play during the day, and so I'm hoping to help them today. Is there anywhere particular you just want to dive in that you feel like would help our listeners today?

Speaker 2: 2:48

Absolutely, michael.

Speaker 2: 2:49

I think one of the biggest things is when I go to speak, share a story, anything like that, no matter if it's to executives or to a fraternity sorority or to a church community one-on-one people will, overwhelmingly, when I ask this question, right when I stand up I will say who in here has someone who struggles in their lives with mental illness, whether it be you or someone else.

Speaker 2: 3:15

Usually I keep that broad so that they're not having to feel on the spot in that moment, because usually when people come into that setting they're not expecting to hear someone say anything that is that personal, or to ask that question and hands down. Almost well, I would say 95% of the people raise their hand and they will say they'll kind of go, you know, they'll make a conversation out of it a little bit and say, oh, my nephew, my niece, but the hands go up and people immediately know that this is going to be a different kind of talk at their business or in whoever has been invited to join us that day. So it's we feel like and we've observed and we have stats that say depression, mental illness, mental health has been at the surface for a long time. When COVID came, it exploded, so now the things that were able to be kept at bay are no longer able to be kept at bay. People are swimming in it at this point, and so that's where we have found an audience.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Do you think COVID helped audience? Do you think COVID helped? And what I mean by that is because before it kind of or I guess COVID kind of exposed it, if you will, to kind of make it more okay to talk about it. I mean, what have you seen before COVID and after?

Speaker 2: 4:39

Before people were dealing with it alone. With COVID, people said I have a problem or I know someone who does, because they are not okay, whether it be the isolation, the lack of community, whatever it may have been. That was a huge shift. So many people of course work from you know virtually now, but some people just really have missed going back into the office and being in a setting with other people and that made it kind of pop. So since COVID we have seen that people cannot not talk about it to someone.

Speaker 2: 5:14

Counselors have lines, people who are calling in to say can I get on your list?

Speaker 2: 5:21

Even OU Medical Center for Children this was true at least a year ago they had a waiting list for children, so that starts at about six years old in their children. That was over a year long waiting to get in for mental help, but mostly inpatient. So they have had this responsibility of choosing who might be in more dire need than someone else, and as humans we're not designed to do that. So it's been really toxic, it's really shown up and we're seeing that in suicide rate. We're seeing that in suicide ideation, we're seeing that show in self-harm, false attempts, attempts that weren't supposed to work, that did and people are just crying out and it's really hard to see that happen because it's like if you've ever been with someone who you see that is crying with tears but they can't make a sound. That's almost like what we're dealing with. They are too, it's too deep. They don't know how to express it anymore, other than to just cry out and just say, when they finally can help, just that one word I need help.

Speaker 1: 6:37

I know for a lot of people they're embarrassed and a lot of people hear people give insights or direction or some tips. But you have a story yourself. If you wouldn't mind sharing just a little bit of that so that people can say okay, she understands.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Sure. Well, our mission with Speak Out Loud is this is to speak hope and light into the darkness of mental illness, mental health, and support those who either suffer themselves or who are loving and supporting someone who does struggle. Well, that came out, that was born out of us, my husband and I dealing with mental illness for me for over 35 years now. My story is not one of. This is where I was, and now I'm better, and now we speak out of that better. Honestly, the shame kept us isolated, kept me isolated for about 16 years because I am a Christian and often in the Christian realm, that is not accepted. I think we've come a long way in our churches. Churches are meant to be hospitals, and if you are lonely at church, that's not supposed to happen, but it does, and so what we really want to do is just go. This is where we are. We're going to speak out of the middle, because I still deal with it. Largely, people are like you, don't look like you do, but you have no idea what I go through in order to get to that point, to where I can share our story, because it's still something we are really trying to trudge through. However, we find a lot of hope in it. So, really, where it began my dad was a minister when I was growing up and we had to present in a certain way and that was very, very known at that time. I think things have become more vulnerable, but we've got a long way to go. Same with people who own a business you have a certain way you want to present and when that is not happening, there's a lot of insecurity that can come out and your people can sense that. Well, it's at that point often where the conversation can start, because if the head person is saying this is an issue for me or showing that it's an issue for them, then it becomes like okay, this is a real thing that we're going to have to address in the people in the community that we spend most of our time in. So that's often our work day.

Speaker 2: 9:07

So for me, like I said, minister's family, we presented well, never had a problem. However, behind closed doors we had big problems. So there was a lot of anger. There was a lot of verbal, emotional, mental abuse going on, some physical and when we left our home that was to be left back at home, when we would get around people that was not to show. So we were wounded and we were walking around as if we had it all together. That can only be sustainable for a certain amount of time.

Speaker 2: 9:45

My parents had marital problems. After 25 years of marriage and a lot, a lot of dysfunction, my parents got divorced. So we moved 13 times. When I was growing up People often ask oh, y'all were military. No, we were just disgruntled in the ministry, I feel like the better way for us to describe it. And when my parents got divorced, I had been really an emotional support for my dad and so my dad left. My mom was in, my sister was in college. She had been through it as well.

Speaker 2: 10:22

But when my parents divorced it was my third time to move my senior year, and so I had been an avid tennis player. I had done well in school. Considering we'd moved 13 times, it's kind of hard to not pick up and leave off and not get an education, but I was about to flunk out of high school, quite honestly, so I didn't accept the tennis scholarships that were offered. I knew when my parents got divorced that my mom needed support 24-7. So we moved to Dallas, texas, where we had some family and we leaned into them and we moved into a Section 8 apartment after being in the ministry and not making a lot, but we also had sustainable life for a certain amount of time. So my mom and I moved. She could not hold down a job. Deep, deep depression. Had already had a couple of suicide attempts when I was in high school. And there we were in Dallas and I started getting jobs, working 30, 40 hours a week and going to school.

Speaker 2: 11:28

So school suffered greatly, got into college because I literally went to the college on senior skip day and I went to the college the Dallas Baptist University with a lot of friends for senior skip day got in the door. None of them went to that university but I stayed when they left and I said to the admissions counselor I said I have nothing, I have zero money, but I'm willing to work and I'm willing to do pretty much any job on campus because I didn't have a part. So that work as it began really, other than in sports, it began in my daily life. I worked three jobs and took 18 hours at a time, typically because I didn't want anybody to tell me I had to leave and not have an education.

Speaker 2: 12:16

I, that was where my insecurity came out because I really didn't want, a like I said, for anybody to tell me I needed to move or I couldn't stay at that school, and b I wanted it to be able to be like I am an asset to this university, so please keep me, because this is what I have to offer so that I can get my education, so that I have more to offer beyond university life. So that's kind of what what I did. And, uh, I met my wonderful husband in college and we got married quickly. After marriage, I had a miscarriage that was late. It was late miscarriage, so I had to have two surgeries and that's how we began our marriage. So it's just been. It's been not just a roller coaster.

Speaker 1: 13:04

It's like you're sitting backwards in a roller coaster and just going don't tell me what's next, because I know I can't handle it.

Speaker 2: 13:11

I'm just going to hold on tight for a certain amount of time and then after that we'll have to see what happens. So that was our beginning.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Well, I know we're on about episode 100 of podcast currently and I would say almost two thirds of the business owners we've spoken with because that's who? Because now there's a definite connection of what you have to share next, which is talking about living in our purpose and kind of some things that you can suggest coming from your experience of how you can help people, or how people can at least help themselves and know where to start to help. So can you kind of expand on that a little bit?

Speaker 2: 14:09

Well, for years I didn't think I had one. I thought I was just merely going to be here to exist because of the diagnosis that I'd been given over the years. And when the girls, we had ended up having two beautiful redheaded little girls and we were in the ministry and that was all too familiar to me. So that was about an 11 year journey for us because I got too low, too down. I couldn't. When you're working with that many people, it's really hard to please everybody, and that was my goal, and that can't be your goal in life. It's really hard to please everybody and that was my goal, and that can't be your goal in life. It doesn't work. And so we needed to leave the ministry. But before we did, I had a nervous breakdown. The girls were five and seven and a half eight, and that was very difficult. Working with that many people and all the triggers that were happening that reminded me of my past was only sustainable for a certain amount of time, and so, within the ministry, I did have that nervous breakdown. I needed to go inpatient. I had been mismedicated not an advocate for medication. However, at this point it does help keep me here so that I can take the edge off so that I can even function in life, and we can talk more about that in a little bit, if that's okay.

Speaker 2: 15:26

But really, after that happened, one of my diagnosis is well, let me just tell you what my diagnoses are, so that that way people kind of know what you're dealing with and that way they can pray me through this. Because when I tell you what all of them are, you might go what and why are you here? But one is anxiety. That is a word that can be overused. Now my daughter teaches sixth grade and the kids are like I'm so anxious and she will offer to them what if you're just excited? And so because it's become such a word that can be overused. The second thing would be deep depression. It's deep. We thought maybe this will be just situational, maybe when we get out of the ministry I won't have that deep depression. Maybe it's um seasonal, situational, and we've seen that it is absolutely not those things. I have a lot of joy because of my life, but that depression is always hovering, and sometimes it is an umbrella rather than hovering. And so then the next thing is the next ones are very humbling and a little bit I really struggle with, but I do talk about it, is self-harm. I'm an adult who has struggled with self-harm. I've been asked to go to youth camp with churches and everything in order to help them identify who might be on the edge of suicide. And a lot of times that self-harm can be the scream before the action, the final action. So I've helped identify people with that and just inquired more about that so that that way they can see an LPC, get hospitalized, whatever may be needed. And one is borderline personality disorder and that is being talked about a little bit more.

Speaker 2: 17:17

Along the lines of our story and purpose was that 10 years ago of our story and purpose was that 10 years ago I got too sick after I got out of having being mental in a mental institution when the girls were little like I referred to anorexia that had been underlying in college and in growing up with that being skinny and the persona that we needed to carry really showed up in college. Then with the loss of our son, and then it was waiting for me after the nervous breakdown. Right when I got out it was just like can't eat. I was really struggling with emotions. Yes, I was getting stabilized on medication, but it was right there waiting for me once again. And so 10 years ago I just celebrated 10 years of being home. I went to inpatient. Anorexia is considered to be the final thing that I struggle with, is probably one of the most difficult things, because it's medicine, food is medicine and when you're not medicating yourself with food it's really difficult to deal with the other things, the other diagnoses. So I was in a wheelchair at that point, malnourished, went inpatient.

Speaker 2: 18:35

After taking our oldest daughter to college that same day, that freshman year, where she knew no one, we left her there and all the moms were helping move in and I just sat on the bed because I had no energy. That was a big, big eye opener for me. Then the next day, we took our youngest daughter to being a sophomore in high school, youngest daughter to being a sophomore in high school. And my way to get into inpatient treatment was supposed to be a couple of months and they said you have a couple of days to get here. So said bye to the girls, cried all the way, so did my husband to Tulsa, where I was admitted into Laurier Hospital, thought I was going to be there for six weeks total and I was in ICU for seven weeks before I could even enter the program. So that was hard.

Speaker 2: 19:36

That's where we realized we were more than in a crisis situation and that's really where I got my life. I got my life not back back but start of life, with nutrition and finding my purpose in this life. It was never what I thought. My triple major in college with my three jobs was a secondary education. I wanted to teach inner city and I did for a while there in Dallas. It was secondary education, english and Spanish and so I thought that was going to be me living out my purpose in life and that that was what it was going to look like getting to be with inner city kids and let them find their purpose so that they did not continue in that lifespan of crime, that they didn't continue in that lifespan of drugs and just the legacy that a lot of their parents were living in. We wanted theirs to be different.

Speaker 2: 20:34

And then, when I was too sick, I couldn't continue that. In Laureate it was very much, I don't know. I felt more understood than I ever had in my whole life, but I was missing my family desperately in these new pivots in their life and when you go into a mental hospital. You don't realize it possibly at the beginning, but they take your phone, they take your razor, they take anything that you could. Your shoelaces are out of your shoes and there's, you know, electric tape put on there so that you won't hurt yourself. Because in both of those settings that's mental hospital. And it was very scary for me at first. After I had been there for a little while, I'd earned things back because I was very compliant. And this is why I'd earn things back, because I was very compliant, and this is why One of the biggest parts of this pivot in our life was that my husband and I the divorce rates very high for mental illness. People get scared, they get exhausted and they run out of what they need in order to help support someone, and they're the ones who end up needing the support.

Speaker 2: 21:52

So I enrolled through those doors of the ICU and on the counter there in the nurse's station was a couple of dozen beautiful, beautiful roses in something plastic, because they don't want you to hurt yourself with the glass and that would have been something I would have done, without a doubt. And as I was rolled through, the nurse came over to me and she said these are for you. And I said, really, I just got here, I wasn't expecting anything. And the nurse said I think they're from your husband. And I went and read the little card that it comes from and it was in Doug's handwriting and he said Stacy, you can do this, make this work, we need this to work. And I knew that at that point I wasn't going to give myself an option to not fight. And that's where the journey began really for us, because there were people checking themselves out all the time. I went in willingly. I'm not going to fight my doctors and what I knew I needed. I just thought when I got in there I'm not going to need this as bad as they think I am, so I won't be here long. And I took that as Doug saying we need this to work, we need this to happen. Our family does. We've been through it all.

Speaker 2: 23:13

I was a sick mom raising two daughters. I was sick all three pregnancies with anorexia. That's one of the reasons we lost our son. If you're not nourishing yourself, you can't nourish a baby. By God's grace, we had two redheaded daughters, like I've referred to, and they came out pink and perfect. That's a miracle. Those both, those. Both of those girls are a miracle, but that's who I fought for when I was in there and with anything in life, if it's really going to matter whether it be business, home, community, whatever it's going to look like it's probably going to entail doing hard things that are unnatural for you. The most unnatural thing for me at that point was eating and I ate over 500 meals there and I was there five months instead of six weeks and those women were the biggest fighters and a lot of them now have opened their own businesses because they're alive and they know what it's like to feel dead and it was very motivating to be there.

Speaker 2: 24:19

The rest of the journey began really when I got home, because I didn't have that accountability as much. I had a huge support team, which is so important in anything we do in life. If you don't have a good support team who's going to be around you and provide that accountability for you and speak into your life in business and you feel like you're above that reproach, that's going to take about that long for that to go under in my experience. We need people around us who are going to be honest with us and are going to do the hard things with us that can hold us to the same standard that we are setting for other people. I wanted to be able to leave a legacy and live in a legacy for our daughters. Before I even started non-profit work, that was leading by example and saying you can do hard things and I'm gonna make it because I want you to know that when hard things come up in your life, personal business, anything that you can do it. And this is why I'm gonna lead by example. That's why and there's the hardest things I've ever done in coming home and being home and not having to go back and forth to the hospital has been devastatingly difficult. But here we are. So that's where we are right now.

Speaker 2: 25:39

There have been pivots, there have been reasons why that God wants this to be my purpose and that is because when I speak about it, it reminds me that I have to do this with integrity or I better step aside. So the purpose came out of my verse, psalm 118, 17. I will not die, but live and proclaim what the Lord has done. And I know that is so short, I know that is such a brief verse, but, gosh, it's powerful. It's got a punch that keeps me on my toes all day, every day.

Speaker 2: 26:14

First of all, it says I will not die.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Even as I'm speaking to you right now, michael, my mind is screaming.

Speaker 2: 26:21

What do you possibly have to offer businessmen, businesswomen, people who are doing startups, people who are for non-profits?

Speaker 2: 26:30

I will not die. Well, that's because my identity can't be in what my mind is saying for me to do. My mind says the opposite, so I do the opposite all day, every day, to the best of my ability. Then it says but live, so I'm not just going to exist in my office and hang out in my house and become more and more depressed every day. Choose to self-harm out of that depression. Be anxious, because my husband's going to come home and see the self-harm and the borderline personality disorder. That says do not communicate with people, do not have relationships, because they're going to be profoundly more difficult than it is for other people because they may not have borderline personality disorder and, by the way, eat.

Speaker 2: 27:22

So the final part of that verse is proclaim what the Lord has done. And that's where our nonprofit was birthed, because I thought it's not enough for me to tell myself these things. But when I get on a stage, when I get on a podcast. When I'm doing life with somebody who is desperate, I better know that I'm going to need to talk about where I've been, where we are and the fact that we don't know what the future holds, but we're going to be okay. I have to take that element of possibility out of my life of saying today I'm not going to choose life, because when I don't choose life, my alternative is to take my life with suicide ideation constantly there.

Speaker 1: 28:16

I know a lot of business owners. When they come to us, they ask things like do you hold your clients accountable? We're business coaches and this all makes a little sense now from hearing some of the struggles, trials, tribulations that they've mentioned along the way, because they always say I don't want someone that just agrees with me, I want someone to hold me accountable, which is kind of like what you were referring to, which is a support group. Which is a support group. So how does one find a support group that is struggling?

Speaker 2: 28:59

Because it sounds like that's possibly the key to get started. It really is, I think. Anytime that someone walks into a possible job situation nowadays, I think they really want to hear that we care about you, not just what you have to offer us, but we care about you as a whole person. And when you say that now people get relief instead of fear of when I start to play out my life in front of you, what's that going to look like? Because sometimes I can't hold back the anxiety, sometimes I can't hold back the things that are very, very difficult for me. So to offer space for there to be a counseling counselor or that you know that they may need to take a little time for counseling, immediately lowers that anxiety for the person. So they perform better than ever.

Speaker 2: 29:49

So we have found that when we speak into corporations, when we speak into companies and we say you know what, it's not a weakness to go to see a counselor, it's a strength that their longevity in the person's employment grows because they know that they are not expected to be on constantly. Are you? I'm not, I'm not constantly on. And when we are, a lot of that can come out and it can show itself in many different ways within a setting of a company. So we want there to be less absences or absent days. We want there to be quality when that person does take a personal day. So we open up that door immediately to say we realize we're all people working in this company and, while we don't want you to abuse this situation, we want you to realize that we want to speak into the whole person, because when you're not taking care of yourself, then what productivity are you going to have to offer us? Well, not much. Then what productivity are you going to have to offer us? Well, not much. And if so, it's not going to be a long-term situation for that person.

Speaker 2: 30:56

In the day and time that we now live in, the stress level is off the charts. The world's uncertainty with political things that I will never talk in public about, but just the things that are going on in our world today. We can't walk into our offices and act like and be like that. That is not affecting us all. Does that mean we need to sit with our co-workers and shoot the breeze about this all day? Absolutely not.

Speaker 2: 31:23

We have a purpose in our business. We have a purpose for our company. We have things that we want to show, to bring to that company. But when the company makes it clear that they are going to take care or realize that you're a whole person, that those things need to work together, counseling never needs to be off the table and also just that group work that needs to happen. And there are many, many in Oklahoma, oklahoma City, that are outpatient, that are one hour an evening and they're just excellent so that that way when they're not working they can also be taking care of themselves. And you see the result of that when they do show up for work, because you want that great attendance among your people and not for them to eventually explode and then have to take off three months to get their life back to where they can be someone who is going to add profit and they're going to add their talents and gifts to your office space.

Speaker 1: 32:25

For the business owners who have never reached out for help or mentioned anything to anyone. What would you suggest as kind of a first step and, first of all, kind of diagnosing maybe, what level or what degree of maybe some anxiousness or depression that I have, because I'm sure there's different levels. So where would one start mentally thinking like maybe I should reach out or maybe I can try this? Are there any insights that you can give on that?

Speaker 2: 32:55

Sure, like when you say you are the boss, say that you are the CEO, coo. You are realizing that in this world, in this environment, now that you are beginning to slip and struggle on performance, focus anything like that your leadership skills may be sliding. You yourself can go in and get counseling, and counselors are available after work hours. A lot of them that's their main time to counsel is after six o'clock, seven o'clock. If you sense that in yourself, lead by example, go ahead and get that help that you need and say, hey, you know what? I know people may consider this a weakness, but it's really proven to be a strength in my life for me to get the help that I need to lower that anxiety, lower that stress, so that when I come to you I can offer you my best. But I want you to know how I'm doing that. I am getting that extra help. That has made me stronger as a person and that's why we have Speak Out Loud, as our own nonprofit is just to be able to start that conversation and let you know that it has not been explosive, it's not been self-imploding either. It's been a stepping up to the table and just going. You know what I'm a human being.

Speaker 2: 34:15

There are a lot of cells up here.

Speaker 2: 34:17

I live with a lot of stress, and so I just want you to know, in the most natural way that I can, sometimes I need to seek help outside of these four walls in order to bring my best, in order to be able to be the person that is approachable, the person who isn't scared to death of the future, of what we're looking at and what we could possibly or not, but lead by example in that situation and tell the benefits of it, not just like well, I went to counseling and the first time I went it didn't work.

Speaker 2: 34:51

In businesses, when we are looking for our purpose in that business, the most effective businesses are usually people working in their purpose, and so if you want to really be able to do that and work in that area, then the chances are of you needing to get help yourself are very high, and at first, when you offer it, your people may look at you and just go oh, oh, no, this is our leader, but when they see the benefit of it I've been going for a month what have you noticed in my productivity? My productivity, it's gone up, hasn't it? Because I have someone I can talk to, that is unbiased within this company, and they can pour into my life, so that that way you see the overflow of that instead of me depleting you within these working hours of our day. Lead by example.

Speaker 1: 35:44

Absolutely. I know I've reached out for help many times and I highly encourage every business owner to do that, whether it be a mentor, a coach, a consultant or a therapist or counselor. The list goes on and on. I've reached out to all of them before. So not at the same time, but just throughout the years, and I know that it makes a big difference Not at the same time, but just throughout the years, and I know that it makes a big difference and so I encourage everyone to at least take that first step, even if you're feeling a little self-doubt, because it really does make a difference just to explore with someone that knows how to help you and be a sounding board. What does your organization do so we can let people know how you can help them.

Speaker 2: 36:33

Absolutely so. We offer several things. So something that I always want to emphasize, and my husband and I always want to emphasize, is we are not professional LPCs, we are not counselors. We go to them, but what we do offer is our experience for the last 35 years.

Speaker 2: 36:51

I can remember when I was even a little girl and I would get in bed with my sister because the day had been so overwhelming. And back in the day we would just say you're just a worrywart, you're paranoid. But now what we call it is anxiety, and I was experiencing that as a very little girl and I would get in bed with my sister and I would just say can you help me understand today? Can you help me know what went on today? I'm so scared I would use that word instead of anxious. And so now we see those words more come to fruition as a diagnosis, instead of it being just, like you know, blown off. And so that's also when we started realizing that I had issues with relationships, in that I didn't want to be left in those. So the rejection, the abandonment, which eventually did happen in our lives it was just a slow tick until it did happen are now titled, they now have words to them, and so. So that's what we want to do. We want to always keep that door open and let people know what we do have to offer, michael, to your question, that is, that we want to let people know that we have struggled with since I was a little bitty girl. Then we offer so that's 65 that we offer of the podcast and that's a whole library that you can pull from on Doug saying this is what this looked like from my view, and me speaking into it of this is what my emotions were doing in that situation. So that that way, way you know, as the person who listens that says I'm the one who struggles, I'm the one who's suffering so much, but I don't know how to explain it. What do I need? If I knew, I would tell you. And then Doug speaks into it as someone who has been with me and doesn't call himself a caretaker. He calls himself it's a privilege to be walking this journey with you and that's how we run everything. We run everything, not poor Stacey, but look how we can speak into your life, and I heal a little bit more every time we get to do that. Then the next thing we offer is speaking. Doug speaks, sometimes alone. We speak together. I'm the one who speaks the most because I'm the one who's dealing with it, and then he'll come to the Q&A and swing around and go. This is what we thought we were looking at and this is how wrong we were. So that's kind of how that works with that one.

Speaker 2: 39:31

And then I've written two books. The first book is called you Are Worth Saving, because I was concerned about everybody else and not me, and I was the one who became depleted and a friend said to me on the back porch of a house in Seaside, florida, stacy, you are worth saving. And I was in the hospital within two, three days later because she said those words to me. The second book is called the Boat that Wouldn't Sink and it's a memoir and it comes from a picture that I had in my mind when I was a little girl. That came from a painting that we had hanging on our wall. That basically helped us get through, when my dad made a tornado through the house and gone on to church to be able to minister to other people and we were a wreck. So that's what that book comes from. It's very specific. It tells what other people can do when they're doing life with someone that speaks into my life or people similar to me, and how they can validate that that person should still be here and not hide, and how they can validate that that person should still be here and not hide. It's a book that is.

Speaker 2: 40:39

Neither one of my books are super long, because people who read the books that we have to offer need an answer and they don't want to read something that is fiction for days and days before they can get to a little bit of hope and a little bit of help. People who read these books are people who also are going. Can you just provide even a little bit of what you're thinking so that that way, when I'm asking my son or daughter, that way when I'm asking my spouse if they can support me in any way, they have a clue how? So I do write on cutting I. It's not a how-to within these two books because, um, publishers have dropped me because I wouldn't go deeper into that. But there are dark sides people can go to and I won't want I don't want to be one of them. I want to provide hope in that way and so sometimes people don't like that when they've set offers us a book deal and they'll say, oh, you speak on cutting.

Speaker 2: 41:39

You talk about cutting. I'm like, yeah, but it's not how to. It's what we've done in order to make it to the next step, to the next morning. And then we also write for you version Bible app. I don't know if you've seen that before. You've seen it, michael Good. It's a worldwide app and we write on mental illness. Our plan is actually called hope for those struggling with mental illness. It's that simple so that that way people can just look up hope, mental illness, health, and we'll pop up. And so we write for them.

Speaker 2: 42:18

And our plan has gotten even into China, which is a closed country, and it is spreading. How does that happen? Word of mouth, because you kind of get one shot to get into places like China. We have gotten it translated into several languages. Korean has been the hardest.

Speaker 2: 42:37

They said with our Korean plan that there are cuss words in it, and we don't know how, because the people that we offer we pay people to translate for us. We want it in street language, not only classical language. We don't want people talking to us. That is the Taoist we want. Hey, what's going on? And so that's what we pay for the translation to happen, and so we are in Portuguese, spanish, english, chinese and we're just growing from there and we have been invited to write many more plans with YouVersion. So if you would go on and look up Bible app, youversion Bible app, and search for those words where Doug and Stacey gets in and that pops up, but those are the things that we have to offer people, even in corporate the sector, especially in that sector, but also in churches and just different community groups, where we see the nods and the tears, sometimes even with grown men that are finally feeling heard and they can identify with somebody that is going through it right now, in the here and now. It's all worth it.

Speaker 1: 43:59

It's all worth it well, you're, you're doing amazing things, you and your husband is there a specific place they can go to. I know you mentioned you version, but a website or something to get some more information sure, on youtube.

Speaker 2: 44:15

we've just now started going live with our content. It's every Monday night CT, you know, standard time, or, yeah, central standard time yeah.

Speaker 2: 44:29

We are there every Monday night at seven o'clock live, and we're new and we have already loved it. And we're new and we have already loved it. Then everything else is speakoutloudme, and that's where you can find everything else. Our website has just been updated. We've had a website for a long time and we keep it updated with what's going on, and now I do a video introduction to that so that you can see that I am a person who is going through this, and so that's how you can find us. Those are all of our speakoutloudme. And then I do want to clarify on YouTube. Sorry, michael, at speakoutloudme is YouTube. At speakoutloudme, everything else is the same.

Speaker 1: 45:19

And we'll get all that in the show notes for those searching for it, the you version. You will not have a problem finding that. It is worldwide. So it's the first thing that that is a big honor. So well, you're a blessing to many. But I always ask usually I'll ask do you have any final words of wisdom or something that's applicable to every business owner? But do you have any words of wisdom for anyone? Just what is that?

Speaker 2: 45:52

Yeah. So I want you to know that, no matter what your situation is, whether your business is sinking or swimming, that you are made for a purpose and that if you want to ever know that purpose, just ask God to show you what that is. What do you love doing? What is something that you feel like you can pour into people, even a little bit? And people know when you love your job. People know when you have that you are tuned into what they can do in order to be successful in their job under you a team member, a teammate, anything like that.

Speaker 2: 46:39

I also want to say that just because you are the head of a corporation, just because you are head of a business, no matter what size it is, it does not mean you have to have it all together. That used to be the only way to present, and now I feel like we have come a long way and we have a long way to go, but you do not. One of the most comfortable situations I'm in when it comes to me being with someone that we have hired to be a part of our Speak Out Loud team is when I say I don't know what to do in this situation. Would you please speak into this and let's formulate something together. Of course, I'm going to have the final say in it, but I need the people that I have around me are people who I know will represent, speak Out Loud in the best way, and that they will take it in and learn what we're really about so that that way, when they're not with us, they can represent us well. The other thing I would say is a lot of you who are listening may be at a point where you feel like you are just beat, you are just exhausted, and I want to ask you if you'll do something with me that I have to do every single day, and that is to keep taking one step and then the next, whether it be corporately, in your private life, whatever it may be maybe both to take one step and then the next and just make the next right choice, even if your step looks more like a shuffle. Keep fighting and get up tomorrow and fight again, and I wouldn't ask you to do that with me if that wasn't what my life looks like every single day. You are here for a purpose on purpose, and never we can't stay in that place of doubting that. Get around people who will reinforce that in your life Co-workers, people in your family, people from your church, neighbors, whatever Go to your safe people and keep walking this out. The suicide rate is off the charts.

Speaker 2: 48:46

Let's keep it to where we can live, in, a place where we are choosing life regularly, instead of having ideas that aren't life-giving. Aren't life-giving, I would say those are some big things that can speak into your private life and also into your work life, because those affect one another. When you walk in the house at night, if you live with people, they know how your day's been. They deserve for you to be getting your help that you may need, and they also deserve you deserve to get the help that you need in order to do that. Now. It's a strength, not a weakness. We have definitely turned the page on that. So please know that that is okay and that you're going to be okay. You just got to keep making the next right choice and, by all means, ask God for help if you need it, because my equation in my life is very simple Without God, without his help, I'm not here. I've tried to do business, I've tried to do life, I've tried to walk it out on my own, and it does not work out for me.

Speaker 1: 49:51

Amen. It all starts with purpose. Stacey, God bless you and your husband. Thank you again for your time. You've helped a lot of people today.

Speaker 2: 50:00

Well, thank you so much. It's been my privilege. Thank you, Michael, for inviting me.

Speaker 1: 50:04

My pleasure. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is created and produced by my company, boss. Our business is growing yours. Boss, offers flexible business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. If you need help growing your business, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.