Do It Afraid: entrepreneurial depression
Lashay Lewis spent a decade tying her self-worth to whatever business she was running. She has a name for it: entrepreneurial depression.
From fifteen to her late twenties, Lashay cycled through MLM, day trading, Amazon FBA, affiliate marketing, and her self-worth went up and down with every single one. She calls it entrepreneurial depression. She didn't even know she was depressed until TikTok described it to her, which is both funny and not.
Her way out was to run at the scary thing. She niched into B2B content and picked guest podcasting as her growth lever specifically because her voice and being on camera terrified her. Exposure therapy, but make it marketing.
The ending is a full-circle moment I couldn't have scripted: an old employer wrote her up for “training on company time” (podcast training) right before letting her go. Two weeks later she landed her first podcast appearance, and it changed the whole trajectory of the consultancy she runs now.
“You cannot fail if you do not give up.”
Notes
- A decade of ventures (MLM, day trading, Amazon FBA, affiliate marketing) with self-worth fused to each outcome.
- She recognized her own depression only after seeing it described on TikTok.
- She picked podcast guesting as her growth lever because it scared her, then used exposure to get over it.
- Written up for podcast training days before being let go; her first guest spot came two weeks later.