Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in mental wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kerry Martin, CEO of Accelerating Social Good, located in San Diego, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Accelerating Social Good is a B2B consultancy providing marketing consulting services to nonprofits and social enterprises in the mental health and suicide prevention space. Primarily staffed by those with a mental illness, our unique ability to empathetically connect with client target audiences and our interdisciplinary teams’ wealth of experience in strategic marketing, content creation, and social media sets us apart. As a social good company, we also provide pro bono consulting services to nonprofits as well as advocate for causes near and dear to our hearts, collaborating with other leading mental health advocates to amplify our voice.
Tell us about yourself
Our mental health care system is broken and underfunded, and we simply are not doing enough to help those who feel hopeless, a state of being which is the leading predictor of suicide. As someone with a mental (read physical) illness, bipolar disorder, and as a suicide survivor, I am driven by a purpose to ensure that no one goes through what I did and to do all we can to replace hopelessness with hopefulness.
COVID has unquestionably taken an enormous toll on our collective mental health, one that will reverberate for years to come. The long tail of this pandemic is mental illness. If we do not immediately come together to affect meaningful social change, the lack of mental health services to treat those in crisis will feel like its own pandemic.
For every 100 children in crisis, there is one trained child psychologist. Emergency room boarding of psych patients has increased by 400% in some states. According to the CDC, suicide attempts are up 51%. There are long lines for residential and outpatient care. There is a stunning and appalling lack of awareness on the part of policymakers as well as our business leaders regarding this tsunami of human suffering and not enough being done by employees to provide psychologically safe workplaces where everyone feels seen and heard.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our “We Are All Worthy” social change campaign to encourage workplaces to rebuild corporate cultures on a foundation of empathy and psychological safety with needed mental health programs and needed supports in place. Whilst we have yet to hit all of our initial goals on this campaign and have pivoted slightly since launching, it’s important to keep in mind that not all of your accomplishments need to be resounding victories. That is one of the things I’ve learned as a business owner: sometimes, you need to redefine what success looks like, particularly when doing mental health advocacy/social good work. For example, how many lives do you have to impact to be successful?
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Keeping the faith that you are on the right track whilst also being brave and having the foresight to acknowledge if you’re going off the rails, you need to course correct. It’s not always easy to back up the train once it’s left the station and the team is excited. But, in some cases, it’s necessary to do so, even if it means going back to the drawing board, putting in the additional hours needed to reassess, and starting anew with renewed faith and hope!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
First, find your authentic purpose that drives you. For me, it’s that one thing that I would most like to change in the world - ensuring the mental health care system doesn’t let anyone down so that we all can flourish.
Second, surround yourself with people who have the passion as you but keep top of mind; you also need those with different skill sets than you do so you can build an interdisciplinary, well-rounded, diverse team.
Third, always ensure your messaging across all your content marketing channels is authentic. People hire people, not a company.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.acceleratingsocialgood.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acceleratingsocialgood/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acceleratingsocialgood/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AccelSocialGood
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/acceleratingsocialgood/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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