Running a Business with a Serious Health Condition

Running a business is intractably difficult, even for experienced entrepreneurs. On any given day, you’ll likely be juggling multiple diverse responsibilities and working long hours. You’ll have the entirety of the business depending on your leadership and your decision-making. It’s a stressful and challenging position to be in. Moreover, if you have a debilitating health condition, everything becomes much harder to manage. So how can you do it?

Featured image by Dragana Gordic

The Impact of a Serious Health Condition

The effects of your health condition will depend heavily on the medical condition itself and your personal response to that condition, as well as how you’ve structured your business. Some illnesses will inevitably be more debilitating than others.

For example, let’s say you’ve developed mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a relatively rare form of cancer, but it’s a devastating and aggressive one. While there are some treatments that may help manage the symptoms of mesothelioma, this is almost always a deadly disease—and it’s going to make it substantially more difficult to handle any professional responsibilities.

These are just some of the effects this type of medical issue might have:

Physical Stamina

Many health conditions have the potential to sap your physical stamina. For example, chronic pain, ongoing discomfort, and sleep deprivation are just a few of the issues you may face. It’s hard to work effectively with these lingering physical detriments.

Mental Stamina and Your Health Condition

You may also feel mentally or intellectually compromised by your condition. Some conditions can directly affect the way you think and feel, compromising your judgment and cognitive abilities. Even if they don’t, you may be chronically distracted by thoughts related to your condition and situation.

Appointments and Treatments for Your Health Condition

You may have ongoing appointments, follow-ups, and treatments for your condition. Ostensibly, these may assist your recovery or mitigate some of your symptoms, but no matter what, they’re going to take time and eat up your schedule.

How Your Medical Condition Could Affect Your Demeanor

Despite your best efforts, your medical condition may affect how you look to others. What’s more, if you seem even slightly less confident or motivated, it could affect the morale of your team or put you in a worse negotiating position.

Energy and Stress

Excessive stress can make almost any ailment worse. For instance, spending too much time or effort in your business could disrupt your path to recovery or even make some of your symptoms worse.

How to Run a Business with a Serious Medical Condition

What strategies can you use to keep managing a business successfully, in spite of your health condition?

Be honest with yourself. Entrepreneurs are ambitious and driven people, but this sometimes imposes blind spots. Therefore, it’s important that you’re consistently honest with yourself about your condition, your stamina, your abilities, and how those might change. Otherwise, you won’t be able to make effective decisions in your business or even in your personal life. Consider getting neutral outside opinions if you need to get a closer grasp on the truth.

Put together a succession plan. If your health condition poses some kind of existential risk, or if it possibly could in the future, it’s a good idea to proactively work on a succession plan. If you pass away or are somehow incapacitated, the business will need someone to step up and take the reins. Who on your team would be qualified and interested in stepping in as an executive decision maker? How would that transition go? Be as detailed as possible in your planning so you can tap into it at a moment’s notice.

Trust delegates and partners. As your health declines and your abilities change, you’re going to become increasingly reliant on partners, employees, and other parties to whom you can delegate. Start educating, training, and conditioning the most valuable members of your team to be prepared for those responsibilities. This will likely be an ongoing process.

Make treatments and follow-ups your priorities. It’s natural to care about the success and longevity of your business, but the condition of your health should still be your number one priority. It’s vital for your health and your business acumen to attend all your medical appointments and undergo any treatments that can improve your health.

Be transparent (if possible). Transparency is hugely beneficial in business. It helps build trust, break down barriers, and encourage more productive conversation. It’s not always comfortable, or even possible, to disclose your medical condition, but being open and honest about your struggles could make it easier to facilitate effective collaboration around it.

Don’t hesitate to step away. Take plenty of time to rest, recover, and put yourself in a better position to succeed.

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Conclusion

Running a business with a detrimental health condition isn’t always possible or advisable. But with the right strategies and ample time to prepare the business, you can develop and implement mitigative strategies to keep the business afloat even in these circumstances.