Protect Your Peace: Why Mental Health Is Your Business’s Competitive Advantage w/LaKisha Mosley

Is "success" costing you your sanity, your health or your joy?

In this powerful episode, I sit down with mental health advocate and entrepreneur LaKisha Mosley for a raw, real, and refreshingly honest conversation about what it actually looks like to prioritize your wellbeing while building a business. 

LaKisha knows firsthand what happens when we ignore the warning signs — because she’s been there: running a business, raising a family, checking all the boxes… and silently unraveling behind the scenes.

Now, she’s on a mission to help other women entrepreneurs stop “swapping their sanity for success.” This conversation is your permission slip to do things differently - and your roadmap for how.

In this episode, we cover:

• The difference between mental health and mental illness (and why both matter in business)
• Why women entrepreneurs are especially vulnerable to high-functioning depression and burnout
• How protecting your peace gives you a strategic edge in business
• How to normalize asking for help - especially if you’ve been conditioned not to
• Why rest isn’t lazy, and slowing down isn’t quitting

If you’ve ever felt like the weight of your business is crushing you, this episode is a reminder that your wellbeing is not optional. It's foundational. And as LaKisha says, "Protect your peace like it's your profit — because it is."

Links and References:

If you want to grow your business in a way that feels good (and doesn't cause burnout!) join us at our next PWR Virtual Speed Networking Event!

For even deeper connections, better support and faster business growth, check out the  Powerful Women Rising Business Growth Community!

If you're ready to prioritize your wellbeing as a business investment, follow Lakisha on Instagram @LakishaMMosley or visit her website to download her mental health crisis plan.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Mental Health Advocacy
• 2:47 Mental Health Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs
• 5:38 The Stigma of Vulnerability in Business
• 8:57 Asking for Help: Overcoming Resistance
• 16:46 Mental Health as a Competitive Advantage
• 19:18 Real Self-Care vs. Spa Days
• 25:32 Setting Boundaries and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Melissa: 0:02

Hello Lakeisha, welcome to the podcast Hi.

Melissa: 0:05

Melissa Thank you for the invite. I'm excited. Yes, I'm so excited to have you. This is I am notorious for reaching out to like famous people on Instagram. Like I've invited Jennifer Lopez to my podcast like five times. I don't know why she's never responded, but sometimes I find famous people in other ways. I just decided that you're famous today and so I found you on a summit, on Liz Wilcox's summit. I listened to your presentation on that and I just like I loved your personality so much but also what you were talking about, and I was like I got to have this lady on my podcast. So thank you so much for responding to my DM unlike Jennifer Lopez and thank you for being here. I'm so excited to talk to you.

LaKisha: 0:51

Thank you, I'm excited as well.

Melissa: 0:53

Yeah, so before we dive in, tell everybody a little bit about you, what you do, how you got here.

LaKisha: 0:59

Well, I'm Lakeisha Mosley. I am a mental health advocate and disruptor. I am here to disrupt your status quo about what mental health is and isn't. I actually got here being someone who actually suffered a breakdown. As a woman in business, as a mom, I actually hit overload and was diagnosed with high functioning depression, and from that moment I decided that no other women would be in silence. No one else had to struggle in silence to figure out those pieces, to pick up their life as an entrepreneur. It's a lot different than if you work a job. You just take time off, but what do you do as an entrepreneur? It's not like you can just shut down your business and keep going. So I want to help women learn how to stop swapping their sanity for success.

Melissa: 1:53

I love that, yeah, yeah, it's a revolutionary concept that we can have both. And then you throw in being a mom and it's like no way. And they grow, melissa, but they still are men. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, even if they're 50, they're still a mess. Yes, well, I love this topic because I think that mental health, I mean it's an important topic for us to talk about anyway. Right, it's something that we don't talk about enough in our society. It's something that we don't talk about enough as women, but it's definitely something that I rarely hear talked about in the entrepreneurial space, and that was one of the reasons that I wanted to have you on the show. So tell me, what have you noticed in the time, either your own experience or working with other entrepreneurs? What are some of the mental health challenges that you've seen that are kind of unique to women entrepreneurs?

LaKisha: 2:47

I will say, first and foremost, because women we as women are nurturers. A unique piece is trying to nurture yourself. In this space, we know how to take care of other folks. We want to take care of us. That's a challenge of I got to keep going. I need to keep going. I got to get this done. My family got to, you know, my family got to eat. I got to create a legacy. I got to do this Like girl sit down, because if you're not good, nothing else is going to come up.

LaKisha: 3:25

Come right, you know we'll be well. I know that's a huge challenge for women. Also, we don't like to be very vulnerable or transparent in this space. We don't know how to ask for help. We feel like we should have the answers figured out as the nurturers, as the person who brings it all together, whether you are single or you are married, a lot of times you're carrying the weight of your household, you're carrying the weight of your family, and so we don't know how to say I don't have it, I ain't got it, I ain't got it, I don't have it. That's a huge challenge because in a space where we have to be not only competitive with men, we're competing with each other. We don't want to say we don't have it or we don't know. So I feel like that's a really big challenge for us and it keeps us in this space where it's just a spiral, it's just a cycle of not matter.

Melissa: 4:27

Yeah, and I think too, as entrepreneurs, no matter who you are, I think you still have this need to appear a certain way to everybody else. Right, we all have some degree of imposter syndrome, and so we want to make sure that people are taking us seriously, that people see us as successful. You know, you and I were talking before we started recording.

Melissa: 4:47

I recently started working a part-time job at Starbucks and I had so much mind drama about that and, like, what if people find out and if this is so embarrassing, I have a part-time job? Right, like, who's ever going to take my advice now on how to build a successful business when I'm working at Starbucks? Also, right, like we have all of these unrealistic expectations of ourselves. And also, we worry, like no one's going to take me seriously if they find out I haven't showered in the last three days because I've been so deep in depression. Right, like, who's going to want to work with me as a coach or trust me to design their website or whatever it is, when they know that I am sometimes suffering from debilitating anxiety? So we worry so much about, like, how we appear to other people, and I think that's a huge part of it too, don't you think? Yes, it's absolutely.

LaKisha: 5:40

It's probably one of the biggest pieces in this whole journey, because I hate to say struggle, but in this whole journey of how we move about just in our place like girl me too, I didn't know that that was okay, or I didn't know that that was real. I'll get that all the time Like dang, I didn't know that was real. Like you'll see me post like I'm in crises right now and they're like, oh, you're smiling and grinning on Instagram. Yeah, but deep down inside, honey, I am really going through whatever it is. So appearances yeah, we got to be together, Melissa, we have to, you know.

Melissa: 6:29

Yeah, and what's so crazy is that I ended up posting on Facebook about getting a job and about this stigma that we have as entrepreneurs about like, oh, if I have to get a job, I failed right and nobody's going to take me seriously. And I probably have 200 comments on that post from women that are like, oh my God, me too. Thank you so much for saying this. I've been thinking about getting a job, but I'm really struggling with these same things. It's like something very magical and empowering happens when we're willing to show up authentically Right, Like nobody commented on that. I was like, oh my God, what a loser. I can't believe you have a job.

LaKisha: 7:07

Right, it's the stories we tell ourselves, it's the narratives that we painted in our head, because that's how we're judging ourselves. It's not necessarily how someone else is judging us, it's how we we are judging ourselves. Anybody who hears me talk about my job. I'm like, I'm not ever leaving, I'm not quitting, I will work that job and I'm going to work this business. Yeah, I'm leaving, honey.

LaKisha: 7:32

I love my job. Yeah, I absolutely love it, and I have a lot of flexibility and I feel like, if the business, not if, when the business blows up and gets really big, I am going to find a way to still work part-time because I love what I do. So for me, I feel like it's the best thing to do, because you know, with entrepreneurship it ebbs and flows so much. But this is a constant that I will always have and I think it helps me with the cognitive pieces, because your business is one thing and you know, but listen, when you think about it, we do this. It's rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Sometimes with the job it's not so much that, because there are different nuances, that kind of show up in different spaces. So I think it's admirable of you to do that. I think it teaches people that you don't have to stay stuck in this mindset of oh, if I don't get a job, I fail. No, I think that's smart for you to do that, especially if you know what your situation is.

Melissa: 8:36

Yeah, yeah, I think we just love this Like I think we're, I think we're coming off of it. I think there was a big swing of like all of these business coaches and life coaches and online marketers that were like, look at me on my private jet and I barely work and I'm so happy and my life is so perfect and I sit on the beach and make millions and millions of dollars. And I think we're now coming to a new place where it's like okay, let's all be real, and I appreciate that so much. So one of the things that you talked about early on is how it's a lot harder as an entrepreneur because you can't just take a day off, or at least you feel like you can't take a day off. So what are some of the suggestions that you have for people who may be struggling with mental health issues and are also trying to run a business, and how can they take care of themselves without also compromising their business goals?

LaKisha: 9:29

I would say first, just breathe, number one, and recognize that you are not alone. There are many of us, even if you feel it that you're alone. There are many of us who are on this journey of oh my gosh, I'm in this really bad place or I'm really, really struggling through some stuff. Just breathe and recognize that you're not alone, even if it feels like that. And the first step is not to fix everything. It is simply to acknowledge that you need support and that you need to reach out for it, because a lot of people feel like, oh my gosh, let me go fix it. I need to figure it out.

LaKisha: 10:10

First thing, you need to recognize that there is a problem and that you need support in fixing that problem. Now, that could mean, you know, calling a friend, reaching out to a therapist they are, that is always an option or really just saying to yourself I can't carry this by myself anymore. It's really just being real with you. I feel like women, especially entrepreneurs we are taught to push through pain, like it's admirable to push through pain, but really healing starts with pausing and asking for help. We don't need the whole road mapped out, we don't need to see so far ahead, we just need to take one step, you know, at a time, and sometimes, like you just shared, is giving yourself permission to just be okay with whatever it is at that moment, being okay with the decision that I have to make and not in truth, and not choosing to stay there. I think that's, that's very key.

Melissa: 11:18

Yeah, what advice do you have for people who struggle with asking for help?

LaKisha: 11:26

I really want people to dig deep and figure out why do you have an issue asking for help? What has happened to you to where you struggle with asking for help? A lot of times it's really in our childhood trauma. I grew up with a mother who was very independent, taught me to be very independent Even when it came to men. You don't need a man when it came to men, you don't need a man. Like all these things which really really put you in bad places when you have to engage with other people. It really puts you in bad spaces.

LaKisha: 12:06

So I would say first figure out why you are adverse to asking for help, and that means that's some introspective work. Like what do I feel when I ask for help? Why am I bothered by asking for help and then taking a step from whatever that is? So, for instance, if you're like well, I feel like a loser when I ask for help. I feel so unqualified when I ask for help, sometimes that may be saying okay, girl, what you got going on, I got this degree, I got that degree, I made this accomplishment, I got that accomplishment, I'm connected to these people, I got this group of great friends. Sometimes it takes a get a girl boost Like this is you, you are that chick, you are that chick, you are that girl. And then from there, look at what's one thing I can do today that I can possibly ask for help in, and it's something that's going to move the needle. Not, hey, can you help me figure out something small? Like think of something that will move the needle for you If you're working on a project and you don't know how to do funnels.

LaKisha: 13:13

I got a friend right now that's like I have no idea about funnels and I'm like you're talking to someone who knows I'm not an expert in it, but I know how to do them. And so she's like oh, I didn't even think to ask you why not? We talk like every other day, why not? And so for her just sitting with her 30 minutes and saying let's map out what you want this funnel to look like. And when we mapped it out, she's like, oh my gosh, I do this already. Yeah, cause that's what a funnel is. You know she's already doing automation in her newsletter. When people join her email list. She has a workflow. Same thing.

Melissa: 14:08

Yeah, and sometimes that's all we need when it comes to help, right? Sometimes we just need somebody to sit down with us and be like look, you already have it and you're like oh, why did I make so much drama about this?

Melissa: 14:16

And I think we have to remember too, like two things can be true at the same time. Right, it can be that you are incredibly smart, you are a brilliant life coach, you are a fantastic mom, you have two degrees, you have all these accomplishments and you don't know how to build a funnel, like one doesn't cancel all the other ones out. And I think sometimes in our mind we think it does right, like I can't be all of these things and also have to ask for help with this Right, which is completely unrealistic but it makes complete sense in our mind at the time. Exactly Right Asking for a friend.

LaKisha: 14:54

Exactly, and I mean, I look at that for myself too. You know it's a daily struggle sometimes, especially when you're high functioning, because high functioning you have to keep work drives you. When you're not working, that's when sometimes the pressure set in. It's really weird y'all. But you look at the pieces and you're like I literally sat on this For what, when all I had to do was this and yes, I'm accomplished. I have awards in these things, but I don't know how to build a website. Does that cancel out the fact that I'm still that girl?

Melissa: 15:34

Right, yeah, and there's no award for like. Did it the hardest way, right? I was thinking that when you were talking about how we're taught to like, push through pain and how there's this big thing with women who have babies, that's like. Oh, I did it without an epidural Like, why, why?

LaKisha: 15:50

would you girl Give me mine? I, why, why would you girl Give me mine? I had both times Hurry up.

Melissa: 15:54

Right, because there's no award for like. Survived the most pain. Right, built the funnel in the hardest way possible, took 15 weeks to build your own website when you could have hired somebody. Like. There's no award for that and it's also not going on your website, right? Like people aren't. Like oh, should I hire her? No, she didn't take 15 weeks to build her own website. Right? Like no one cares except you. So one of the things that I've heard you say before is that mental health is a competitive advantage, and along those same lines, I've also heard you say like self-care is a business investment. So can you talk to us a little bit about that and what that means?

LaKisha: 16:39

So I think people are confused about what mental health is to begin with. And it's really being well emotionally, spiritually, emotionally, you know, physically, financially, like it's everything Mental health we all have, but some of us live with a mental illness. So there's the difference in that being mentally well is strategically an advantage to you, because now you know how to manage a lot of pieces in your life. Think about as an entrepreneur. You know I have a daily schedule when it's entrepreneur day or time, but I can get one email that can throw that entire schedule off If I am not mentally well. It could throw me into a spiral.

LaKisha: 17:29

Ask someone who's high functioning who is rigid with the schedule. Ask someone who's high functioning who is rigid with the schedule. Like, rigid with the schedule, but I have to be emotionally healthy to be able to say, oh so I can't do that at this moment. Let me pivot here. Whereas I could email that person back and be like, oh no, I can't get this done, I'm sorry, I've already got my schedule for the day. Ok, now what? Now you're, you're not really acting in the best interest of your company. It's almost, melissa, I think in a way you can say, being able to pivot, just very strategically be able to pivot. It's very advantageous to be mentally well and I'm not saying to not struggle at all, but I'm saying to be mentally well that when those things come up and those feelings come up, you have tips, tools and strategies that say okay, lakeisha, this isn't in your schedule, this could throw this off, you may have to put something over, but if this is more important, let's get to it.

LaKisha: 18:29

I think that is what makes you, as a business owner, super, super competitive as it relates to other people, because think about who else you're working with. They may have said that to three people and you were the only one that said give me to end of day, I got this. Or hey, I can figure this, I'll give me till tomorrow, where somebody else may be like, oh my gosh, I'm just not going to respond at all, or someone has responded negatively to whatever that may be. So I think when, holistically, you are well and you can run your business, from that standpoint you are such a superpower. As, related to everything else, I think how you get there is the practice of self-care. I think how you get there is the practice of self-care and self-care. I hate to be negative on this it's not spa days. I knew that was coming it is not a spa day.

LaKisha: 19:26

It is not getting your hair done, it is not getting okay. For me it is not those things. Those things enhance my self-care. So if I go to the nail salon and I only get like pedicures y'all, I don't get nails done. But I am not at ease because I am watching her the whole time so she doesn't cut my darn cuticles or the water's not too hot, like I can't really relax.

Melissa: 19:56

No, you're doing it wrong.

LaKisha: 19:57

Lakisha, I don't want to judge your pedicure, but you're doing it wrong I that to me is not a part of self-care, um, because I'm I gotta answer you every five minutes. Yeah, about something um the chair, the massage pieces. It's just not it for me.

Melissa: 20:18

The lady next to you is talking on speakerphone so loud about something that's going on with their booty that we don't all need to hear about yes, it's bad, you already know.

LaKisha: 20:28

And then you want me to make decisions. What color do I want on my toes? I mean, yeah. So for me, real self-care is really more so about boundaries and discipline. It's saying no to a client that drains your energy. It's going to therapy. It's setting office hours. It is eating or drinking something they coffee and vibes Like it's giving yourself permission, Melissa, to rest without guilt.

LaKisha: 21:00

It is really about that Again. It's looking at and asking questions. We don't question ourselves enough. We question everybody else sometimes, but we don't question ourselves enough what the heck is sucking the life out of me or what is serving me. We're not asking those questions because you know both of us they're cute, but if you get out the tub and you still feel like you drowning in your own schedule or in your own email, that wasn't self-care. Yeah, that was just an intermission to what you got to get back to. I just feel like you know, real self-care is probably unsexy to some people. It's not very glamorous. It's really having these hard conversations with yourself and the people who may be affecting that. It's also protecting your peace like it's your profit, Like it's really about being intentional being intentional on how you spend your energy, because energy is currency. It's currency Especially for an entrepreneur.

Melissa: 22:06

Yeah, yeah, it brings me back to like I know this is a very cliche, overused phrase, but like the whole idea of put your own oxygen mask on first, right, or you can't pour from an empty cup, or whatever the saying is. I think it's very true. As moms, we struggle with that a lot. We will give our last bit of oxygen to everyone else before we're even like, oh, I can't breathe, or same for business owners, right. Especially when we feel like we have something to prove or we're in that like holy shit, I need to make money right now. Space or whatever it is right. It's like shit, I need to make money right now. Space or whatever it is Right. It's like I. So much of it is being able to say like, yes, I can rearrange things to accommodate this and also knowing when it's okay to say I actually can't rearrange things, you'll have to find someone else. Absolutely.

LaKisha: 22:58

Yeah, absolutely. We have to be okay with that. And now that everybody's not going to like us or even cut for that, one of the first things I did after being diagnosed and going to therapy and my business was one of those things that was sapping the energy out of it, out of me. I was working with people, um, that I didn't even like, like why we own this business. It's not like when you go to work, like you got to work with these people. You know you got to work with the clients or customers that come in the door. You got to.

LaKisha: 23:29

But if I own a business and I provide a service and or a product, I don't necessarily have to work with you if I don't want to work with you. And that was one of the first things. My therapist was like I know you love events, you love this piece, but you love events, you love this piece, but why are you working with people you don't like? And I was like and it was about the money. But when I really clear and started x-ing out the people, my clientele list, that just was not good. The money came up because then I started attracting the right people.

Melissa: 24:04

Yeah, I started, yeah, and right people. Yeah, I started and you were showing up a different way. You were probably a lot more creative. Your content was probably a lot different. The way that you were connecting with people was a lot different, because you weren't always in this space of like, oh, but yes, got really clear, and then I think that's what intentionality comes in when you are no-transcript.

Melissa: 24:47

Yeah, yeah. Is there anything else? Before we wrap up, I feel like we've covered a lot of different things and I really really like the distinction that you made about mental health and mental illness, cause I think sometimes people think I don't, I don't need to listen to this podcast about mental health, I'm not depressed, I don't have anxiety whatever. I don't need to listen to this podcast about mental health. I'm not depressed, I don't have anxiety whatever, and really mental health affects all of us, so is there anything?

LaKisha: 25:17

that we haven't touched on, that you feel like is really important, that you want to share. I think the main thing, especially now we hear a lot about you know the hustle culture, hustle, hustle, like we wear busy as a badge of honor. Stop it, stop it. There's no badge of honor. If you pass out today, these folks gonna keep kicking. And now you're over here like feeling bad about whatever. We carry a lot of guilt because I feel like we're such nurturers and givers we overgive and when you look at your mental health, you give just enough. We talk about the cup being full. We can't pour it from an empty cup. Start filling your cup and your cup will overflow.

LaKisha: 26:04

I think a lot of female founders specifically confused success with suffering. We think the harder that we struggle, the more invalidates what we're doing. It is not like it's not y'all. I really feel like we can't run our businesses. Like it's the emergency room you know how a triage looks. We're triaging all day long. Like that doesn't make sense to me. I really feel like we need to really tap into ourselves and sometimes, melissa, that's sitting with yourself and asking these really hard questions what brings me joy? What doesn't bring me joy? What things sap the energy. Who, what, where, what brings saps the energy out of me and I need to figure out how to eliminate those things. But how do I get back to happy? When was the last time I was happy? When was the last time I did something I enjoyed? And sometimes we don't want to, you know, dive deep, but it's really great for your mental health to be able to do those things.

Melissa: 27:05

Yeah, those are really really good questions. This is all so good. It's funny because I make graphics from these podcasts with, like quotes from the guests and you keep saying things that I'm like, oh, that's going to be a good quote, oh, that's going to be, but I just found my my the best one is going to be stop it. That's going to be your whole quote. Stop it, lakeisha Mosley. It's going to go viral. I already know. Thank you so much for being a guest. This has been so good. If people want to stay connected with you, I don't know why they wouldn't, because you are amazing but what is the best way for them to learn more about you, what you do and be in your world?

LaKisha: 27:44

Well, my playground is Instagram. I don't fool with that TikTok too much. And you would think, because I gravitate toward women entrepreneurs, I'm on LinkedIn a lot. I am not. It's so boring, it's very boring. I hate it. I can't.

Melissa: 28:01

Sorry, LinkedIn lovers.

LaKisha: 28:03

Yeah, ig is my playground and I am DM friendly. You can jump in my DMs. I will respond to you now. It may take me a day, but I'm going to respond to you so you can follow me at Lakeisha M Mosley on all platforms. I do have TikTok, I do have LinkedIn, I do have Facebook, but IG is where you can find me, or on my website at wwwlakeshamosleycom.

Melissa: 28:29

Awesome. I will put the links for both of those in the show notes. And I think you mentioned you have a mental health crisis plan, right? Yes, can you tell us a little bit?

LaKisha: 28:39

about that. Yes, I love this plan y'all, because a lot of times people don't know what to do for us when we are in a bad space and anything can trigger us. So, as someone who is a high functioning depressant, this is on my phone, I have it on my refrigerator and my closest tribe has it with them. It's really a plan to write out what happens if, if you see me do this, then this is what you do for me. And then at the bottom it has some important numbers like to 988, to NAMI and some other places, but sometimes it can literally be call my daughter, call my husband, call my friend. But it really gives people a plan of how to bet, how to take care of me, without me having to tell you anything, cause if I'm really triggered I won't be able to communicate with you how you can take care of me in that moment.

Melissa: 29:38

Yeah, that's brilliant. So people can get their hands on that on your website as well.

LaKisha: 29:44

Yes, awesome.

Melissa: 29:46

That's so good. Thank you so much for sharing that. I will put all those links in the show notes and I appreciate you so much.

LaKisha: 29:53

Thank you.