Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I X S TA R T U P S / E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P e Hong Kong native devotes early morn- ings and evenings to running Belle Cove LLC, an exporter of frozen seafood mainly to Asia, from her South Portland home. During regular business hours in Maine, she advises fellow female entre- preneurs, many of whom are immigrants and from diverse backgrounds. "e women we work with all have multiple jobs, and they are still the primary caretaker for their chil- dren. ey wear multiple hats, and that really slows down your progress," she says. "I cannot tell you how often we have to postpone one of our meetings because someone has to take care of a sick child, or has just come back from an overnight shift." While some of the challenges stem from lan- guage and cultural barriers, Mo-Phillips knows from experience that business ownership is stressful to begin with, particularly one-person ventures like Belle Cove that make up close to 80% of Maine's 151,000 small businesses. "It's a very lonely journey to be an entrepreneur," she says. Job-related stress, also very real for those leading a team of employees, is documented in various studies and gained greater attention—and urgency—during the pandemic. A survey of U.K small business own- ers, published by New Zealand-based accounting F O C U S P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Grace Mo-Phillips is a South Portland- based entrepreneur who also serves as program director of the CEI Women's Business Center in Portland. Accepting that I can't be good at everything has been a great way to reduce the stress load. — Kate Beever Maine Music & Health LLC S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 2 2 14 Music therapist Kate Beever of Maine Music & Health LLC finds that outsourcing some tasks reduces her stress load. F I L E P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R B alancing two jobs and multiple time zones, Grace Mo-Phillips often finds it hard to "switch off " from her work as a solo entre- preneur and program director at the CEI Women's Business Center in Portland, one of three in Maine run by Coastal Enterprises Inc. "I work around the world clock, so I don't feel I'm managing it very well," she admits. "e only saving grace is that my kids are getting a little bit older and don't need my constant atten- tion, which allows me to manage both careers simultaneously." Startup Frank talk from Maine entrepreneurs navigating business ownership's mental strains B y R e n e e C o r d e s

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