How Connection Cures Entrepreneurial Loneliness and Fuels Growth

By Anne-Wallis Droter, EO Staff Writer

Loneliness is a natural human emotion. We all feel lonely at times — a fact that entrepreneurs know all too well. Running a company can be a lonely endeavor: You find yourself forging a new path in a challenging role where no one else truly understands what you’re going through or the level of stress you face.  

“Entrepreneurship can be both lonely and depressing; sometimes at the same time,” said Raymond Chou, an EO Malaysia chapter member. “It is lonely because 95 percent of the population will never understand why we do it given all the pressures and stress that comes with it.”

As we acknowledge Loneliness Awareness Week, EO members shared their journeys through loneliness and the solutions they found to resolve it.

Alone With Your Vision

As the founder of your organization, you alone have the vision for what the company will become. You alone shoulder that pressure plus the stress of making tough decisions to achieve your vision. Your employees and their families count on you to navigate changing market landscapes to stay successful and meet payroll. Nobody in your company can comprehend the full weight of that hefty responsibility. When you go home to friends and loved ones, they support you but don’t have first-hand experience in your personal pressure cooker.

“The feeling of loneliness has appeared multiple times along my journey, especially during very stressful times in business where I felt I had no one to lean on,” confirmed Ron Lovett, an EO Atlantic Canada chapter member.

Why Loneliness Hits Entrepreneurs So Hard

Entrepreneurial life has its freedoms and rewards, but those benefits are accompanied by a taxing combination of demands:

• Physical exhaustion from long hours and sometimes sleepless nights
• Mental strain and overwork
• Psychological pressure
• Emotional whiplash from toggling between wins and setbacks

Considering that, is it surprising that many find entrepreneurship so lonely?

“The first 15 years of entrepreneurship were incredibly isolating,” said Keith Roberts of EO Colorado. “Not only did the struggles of entrepreneurship take away almost all of my free time, the stress I felt amplified to the point that I could no longer laugh.”

How did Roberts find his laugh again?

“Finding EO, my Forum, and a global village of other entrepreneurs changed my life. Focusing intentionality on the type of life I want to experience has changed my path from one of loneliness to one of connection and joy,” he explained.

Roberts is living proof that community is the remedy for entrepreneurial loneliness.

Founders who join EO plug into a network of nearly 20,000 entrepreneurs worldwide, many of whom have gone through the specific facets of loneliness you may be experiencing in your company.

Connection and Community Thwart Loneliness

Finding and connecting with someone who is in your same shoes is a strong antidote to loneliness.

“Becoming part of EO was one of the best decisions that I have ever made to make sure that I wasn’t alone,” said Andrea Grisdale, an EO Italy chapter member.

“The opportunity to meet with a group of trusted entrepreneurs who run a variety of businesses, share experiences, and learn from each other in a safe and trusted environment is second-to-none,” Grisdale continued. “EO has given me so many educational opportunities that have been both worth their weight in gold and perfect for spending time with people who are in the same boat.”

EO isn’t just a network—it’s a lifeline. Through Forum, learning events, plus local, regional, and global connections, EO gives entrepreneurs exactly what most are missing in their lives: A community of other founders who get what they’re going through at a deep level.

EO Forum: A Safe Harbor for Real Conversations

As humans, we’re not meant to live in isolation. We thrive in groups. As a business owner, you need to be among other business owners to learn.

“Look around. Do you have six or seven friends who run a business that’s about the same size as yours that you meet with monthly? If you don’t, then you definitely should join EO,” said Sara Baldwin of EO Southeast Virginia, who shared that her only regret was not joining EO sooner along her entrepreneurial journey.

EO Forum is a perk of membership. Forum is a small, tight-knit group of six to ten other EO members who meet monthly to share experiences, discuss challenges, and support each other to overcome obstacles, grow both personally and professionally, and achieve their goals. The cornerstone of Forum is confidentiality, so members can dig deep and share authentically without fear of judgment.

Here’s how members describe Forum:

• “Forum helps me feel a sense of belonging and relieves the bite of feeling lonely—entrepreneurship is a lonely space without the support of peers. Having a regular check-in with Forum supported the mental and emotional strength it takes to survive growing pains.” —Rachel Zillner, EO Sacramento
• “Having a solid EO Forum, a group of people who listen to my challenges, genuinely care about my issues, and share relevant and useful experiences that help me make better decisions to move the business forward and grow. You just can’t have the same depth of conversations or get the support you need from friends and family who aren’t entrepreneurial, nor on the same path or facing the same challenges and stress levels. Forum helps me feel understood.” —Jaime Nacach, EO San Diego
• “Having access to like-minded entrepreneurs who have either already faced similar challenges or are facing similar challenges, provided me with invaluable insights. My Forum mates are constantly pushing me to level up—both personally and professionally—and I do feel accountable to them.”  —Noelle McInerney, EO Chicago
• “EO Forum provides insights on what to do—and, just as importantly, what not to do—based on the experiences of others in similar situations.” —Thomas Aronica, EO South Florida

In Forum, vulnerability becomes strength. The inner fight—that endless self-talk and pressure you experience in your head—can only be resolved when it is shared and voiced. In Forum, by sharing your inner fight, it gets transformed into insights that provide mental clarity and result in business growth.

Don’t Go It Alone

Your entrepreneurial journey doesn’t need to be lonely, but when you push yourself internally and micromanage your team, working nights and weekends without a break, it can certainly feel isolating.

Other founders have felt that way, too. And they’ve found community, courage, and clarity through entrepreneurial communities, including EO.

You’re not meant to go it alone. In EO, we don’t:

“In 2007, I came across EO. Immediately after joining, I felt a sense of belonging. To be immersed, locally and internationally, with other business owners from different businesses, cultures, races, beliefs and experiences provided me with the support and push to learn and grow. I haven’t felt lonely since!” -- Ron Lovett, EO Atlantic Canada

“I have told many people that we wouldn’t be where we are without EO,” said Joshua Tarbutton, an EO Charlotte member. “In EO, I get continuous exposure and access to the right information or right person at the right time.”

And that access adds up to success.

If you’re a founder struggling with loneliness and isolation, reach out to EO and get to know us!