{"id":145,"date":"2025-08-19T14:24:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/?p=145"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:03:10","slug":"beyond-the-spreadsheet-why-founders-need-to-budget-for-their-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/beyond-the-spreadsheet-why-founders-need-to-budget-for-their-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Spreadsheet \u2013 Why Founders Need To Budget For Their Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Rebecca Sutherland, investor, mentor, and founder of HarbarSix Ltd\u00a0<\/a><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Entrepreneurship demands balance. You have so many responsibilities to juggle, and often in the beginning, all the decisions fall on you. Spending hours trying to make sense of the numbers accumulated on a boring spreadsheet can cause any founder to doubt themselves and create unrealistic expectations.<\/p>\n

Budgeting for your business shouldn\u2019t just centre around scaling and reaching that next big milestone; it should be about alleviating unnecessary stresses and developing a plan that your brain can handle. There is so much potential you can tap into, but if your mental wellbeing is neglected, things can quickly spiral. I have broken down why it\u2019s important to budget for your mental health and the key strategies to adopt so you can plan hassle-free.<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca
Rebecca Sutherland, CEO & Founder, HarbarSix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Treat Mental Health Like a Business Expense<\/b><\/h3>\n

When I launched my first startup, I built the budget like most founders do: line items for product development, marketing, payroll, and legal fees. Everything was meticulously accounted for\u2014except me. My mind, my energy, my health? No pound sign next to those. Not even a footnote.<\/p>\n

Mental health isn’t a soft topic. It’s operational infrastructure. If your mind isn’t working, neither is your business. Yet most founders treat their own mental bandwidth as infinite. It\u2019s not. If a key machine in your startup broke down, you’d fix it immediately, no questions asked. But when you, the founder, start showing signs of burnout or decision fatigue, you push through and call it hustle. You wouldn\u2019t expect a product to scale on a server with no bandwidth. So why expect your business to grow when your brain is overloaded?<\/p>\n

Start by setting a real budget. Not just time, but money. Include costs like therapy, coaching, gym memberships, and even digital detox retreats. These aren\u2019t luxuries, they\u2019re the equivalent of server maintenance.<\/p>\n

Reframe \u201cTime Off\u201d as Strategic Planning<\/b><\/h3>\n

Founders tend to treat rest like a reward for hitting goals. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s a prerequisite for making good decisions.<\/p>\n

Take this in: Some of the worst decisions I\u2019ve made \u2013 overhiring, bad partnerships, product pivots happened when I was too tired to think straight. Not because the ideas were terrible, but because my brain was.<\/p>\n

Block non-negotiable recovery time into your schedule like you would investor calls or product sprints. That means at least one day off per week, regular phone-free hours, and a hard stop in the evening. You\u2019re not lazy for resting. You\u2019re responsible.<\/p>\n

Recognise the Hidden Costs of Isolation<\/b><\/h3>\n

Startup life is lonely. Even if you have co-founders, there\u2019s pressure to \u201chave it all together.\u201d But no one does. And pretending you do only makes it worse. To avoid imposter syndrome and establish confidence in yourself, I suggest joining a founder group, talking to a mentor, or starting therapy. Real conversations save you from the mental spiral that comes from thinking you\u2019re the only one struggling. Isolation isn\u2019t a badge of honour, it\u2019s a risk factor.<\/p>\n

Be Honest About What\u2019s Sustainable<\/b><\/h3>\n

Forget the stories of founders sleeping in their office and living on protein bars. That might get you a headline, but it won\u2019t get you to year five.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself: Can I keep doing this for the next two years? If the answer is no, change the pace before it forces you to. Delegate. Delay. Trim the roadmap. Sustainability isn\u2019t about going slow; it\u2019s about staying in the game long enough to win.<\/p>\n

Promote Mental Health in Your Company Culture<\/b><\/h3>\n

Your habits as a founder set the tone. If you glorify overwork, your team will follow. If you prioritise mental health, they\u2019ll feel safe doing the same. Make it clear that wellbeing isn\u2019t optional. Offer mental health benefits. Talk openly about burnout and recovery. Show your team that rest is part of the strategy, not an exception.<\/p>\n

Building a startup is hard enough when you’re operating at 100%. Doing it at 50% because you didn\u2019t take care of your mind? That\u2019s how businesses and people break. Mental health isn\u2019t an extra line on your spreadsheet. It\u2019s the foundation under all of it. Budget for it like your company depends on it, because it does.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Sutherland Bio<\/b><\/h3>\n

CEO & Founder, HarbarSix<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Rebecca Sutherland is the visionary force behind HarbarSix, a hybrid investment fund and business accelerator designed to power up high-potential founders with more than just capital. At the heart of her mission is a belief that exceptional businesses are built not only with smart strategy but with empowered leaders and the right ecosystem of support.<\/p>\n

With over 20 years of experience in scaling small businesses and transforming overlooked ventures into sustainable success stories, Rebecca brings a unique blend of commercial acumen, leadership insight, and emotional intelligence to the table. She has a sharp eye for spotting potential where others see obstacles, and she\u2019s on a mission to make sure bold ideas don\u2019t fall through the cracks simply because they don\u2019t fit the traditional startup mould.<\/p>\n

Through HarbarSix, Rebecca leads a highly selective programme investing in six standout businesses every six months. But this isn\u2019t your average accelerator. HarbarSix offers deep partnership, one-on-one coaching, access to expert networks, and a shared toolkit that founders can use. It\u2019s a growth ecosystem built for those who are ready to do the work and scale with integrity.<\/p>\n

Rebecca\u2019s approach is grounded in the belief that mindset drives results. She champions founders who lead from within, and she\u2019s known for combining big-picture strategy with the kind of practical, hands-on support that truly moves the needle. Whether guiding a business through a make-or-break quarter or helping a founder breathe through a boardroom curveball, her leadership is clear, calm and unapologetically committed.<\/p>\n

At HarbarSix, Rebecca isn\u2019t just investing in businesses, she\u2019s backing people, because she knows that when founders grow, their companies follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The post Beyond the Spreadsheet – Why Founders Need To Budget For Their Mental Health<\/a> appeared first on Real Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rebecca Sutherland, investor, mentor, and founder of HarbarSix Ltd\u00a0 Entrepreneurship demands balance. You have so many responsibilities to juggle, and often in the beginning, all the decisions fall on you. Spending hours trying to make sense of the numbers accumulated on a boring spreadsheet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ccsbinc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}