E195: Mental health and entrepreneurship with Ben Marcel

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Ben Marcel is the CEO of Torapath Technologies, consisting of two divisions, an MSP and digital marketing agency, serving the SMB professional services market in Baton Rouge. He is also the franchise location owner of Code Ninjas, teaching future web developers and agency owners how to code by building video games. Ben is a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses graduate and a recent Baton Rouge Business Report Forty under 40 honoree. 

Episode highlights:

• What Ben’s agency is like right now.
• What made Ben decide to start thinking about his mental health.
• How to identify potential trigger moments.
• What your business’s greatest asset is.
• How Ben found himself relating to Tony Soprano.
• Ways to keep your mental health in check.
• The curse of a competitive mind and what happens when you hit a goal.
• Best advice: Help others. It’s all about reciprocity. 
• Habit that contributes to success: Drive and motivation, being inspirational to the team.
• Recommended tools: BenMarcel.com
• Recommended book: Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Run time: 46:07

Links:

• BenMarcel.com
• UACADEMY
• Gary Vaynerchuk’s It’s lonely at the top (explicit)
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Big Orange Heart – for mental health support of remote workers
• National Institute of Mental Health – see below

Quotes:

• “It was about how to sell smarter, not harder.”
• “What are these trigger moments?”
• “When was the last time I took a vacation?”
• “I should talk to somebody…and there are different paths you can take.”
• “The goal isn’t to get rid of problems. The goal is to develop better tools and systems to solve problems.”
• “Everything’s okay, but I need to make sure it stays okay.”
• “Nowhere in there did anyone talk about that.”
• “You almost made me a real firefighter today.”
• “It wasn’t even productive – I just felt like I had to work.”
• “I’m just gonna build some ramps.”

Takeaways:

• When was the last time you took a full week off from work?
• Put a process in place for when your employees are absent.
• Develop a mental health regimen. Think, therapy, time off, avoid “stress working”, find immersive distractions, and goals outside of work.

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If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. 

You can use these NIMH resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.

Call 911 if you or someone you know is in immediate danger or go to the nearest emergency room.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255); En Español 1-888-628-9454

The Lifeline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Lifeline connects callers to the nearest crisis center in the Lifeline national network. These centers provide crisis counseling and mental health referrals. People who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have hearing loss can contact the Lifeline via TTY at 1-800-799-4889.

Crisis Text Line

Text “HELLO” to 741741

The Crisis Text hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the U.S. The Crisis Text Line serves anyone, in any type of crisis, connecting them with a crisis counselor who can provide support and information.