I'm not doing too well.
Let me start with that honesty.
I've been getting help and getting by, so don't panic.
But it's really not been an easy ride these last few months with everything going on in my personal life. 2025 really said "I'm going to make you feel pain and do life on extreme difficulty."
But throughout this whole time, I've been functioning.
I guess that's what they mean by functional depression maybe? I feel like shit on most days, but I still get up and do the stuff that has to be done.
I'm still going to the gym, I'm still on my diet, and still building my branding agency alongside my other numerous side gigs and hobbies.
I'm still being a good friend and son. Well, trying to. Being a good partner as well.
There's this unspoken pressure in the entrepreneurial world to always be crushing it.
To be constantly posting about your wins, your productivity hacks, your morning routine that starts at 4:30 am with cold plunges and meditation (Lord knows this can never be me lmaoo).
The perfect life that leads to the perfect business.
But what happens when life isn't perfect? (It isn’t)
When your mind is fighting against you every morning?
When your brand needs to grow but you can barely get out of bed?
According to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health, entrepreneurs are twice as likely to suffer from depression compared to the general population. Twice. Yet we're the group least likely to talk about it openly.
The irony is that in a world obsessed with authenticity, we're still hiding our most authentic struggles.
What I've discovered, though, is that there's a way to build even through the darkest days.
Not by pushing harder or faking it till you make it, but by doing things differently.
By embracing strategies that might seem counterintuitive but actually work when traditional methods feel impossible.
Today, I'm sharing the three main things I've done differently over the last 5 months that have genuinely helped me maintain and even strengthen my brand while navigating some serious mental health challenges.
And I know for damn sure that I'm a very weird person, so these might not be your typical suggestions.
Being Real in the Darkest Times
Here's the thing about building when you're struggling mentally: the standard playbook doesn't work.
The entrepreneurial world has conditioned us to believe that consistency is everything.
That you need to be posting daily, creating content constantly, and always showing up with energy and enthusiasm.
That your personal brand requires perfection.
But what nobody tells you is that sometimes the most powerful brand-building move is to stop, breathe, and be honest about where you are.
I hit my breaking point about five months ago.
I was keeping up appearances, pushing out content for my YouTube channel where I review new music drops, grinding away at client work for my branding agency, and maintaining all the social proof that says "I'm killing it!"
All while feeling completely hollow inside.
Something had to give.
And I made the terrifying decision to step back from some of my content creation and be more selective about where I put my energy. I was genuinely afraid my brand would suffer, that I'd lose momentum, that the algorithms would forget about me.
What happened instead surprised me.
By being more intentional with less output, the quality of what I did share improved.
By occasionally mentioning my struggles (not trauma-dumping, but being honest), my connection with my audience deepened.
People (you guys) started reaching out with messages like "Thank you for saying what I've been feeling" and "It's refreshing to see someone in your position be real about this."
I discovered that authenticity isn't just a buzzword, it's a lifeline when you're struggling.
And paradoxically, the moments when I felt least capable of "building my brand" became the moments that actually strengthened it the most.
The truth is, people don't connect with perfection. They connect with humanity.
And there's nothing more human than struggling, surviving, and finding your way back.
Three Weird-But-Effective Strategies For Building Through The Darkness
When traditional brand-building feels impossible, sometimes you need unconventional approaches.
Here are the three strategies that have kept both me and my brand alive during this challenging period.
1: Stop Creating, Start Consuming
This might sound like terrible advice for someone trying to grow their brand, but hear me out.
For weeks, I stopped creating a lot of content. I have a YouTube channel where I review new music drops and give my honest takes. I was just getting into the flow of it all when I decided to pull the brakes.
Instead, I spent way more time consuming.
Getting inspired.
The time I would have used to create over the past few years, I was meeting and connecting with new creators in different industries.
When I say "connecting," it may sound like I've been reaching out to them.
Nope.
Just connecting with what they share.
Sidebar: I want say that I have absolutely become a Leo Skepi superfan haha. I'll breakdown why in an upcoming newsletter. But I love everything about his podcast and his videos and maybe when you see it, you’ll understand.
I've studied so many different content strategies that now I feel even more inspired to do my own thing.
It's given me new ideas on things to share, new ways to deliver what I teach, and helped me visualize the future I want for myself and my brand.
This period of intentional consumption did something crucial: it refilled my creative well when I felt completely depleted.
It gave me permission to be a student again when being a teacher felt too heavy.
How to make this work for you:
Set intention behind your consumption. I wasn't mindlessly scrolling, I was studying approaches, styles, and strategies that resonated with me.
Keep notes. I created a swipe file of content formats I might want to adapt later.
Allow yourself to be inspired without pressure to implement immediately.
Use this time to clarify your vision. What elements of what you're consuming align with where you want to take your brand?
Remember that input must precede output. You can't pour from an empty cup, and sometimes the most productive thing you can do is refill.
What I found was that giving myself this grace period didn't kill my brand momentum, it actually built potential energy that I'm now ready to release in more meaningful ways.
2: Waffle Wednesday
There was this video on TikTok I saw late last year about some guy who said he and his boys do this thing in the group chat called "Waffle Wednesday."
I wish I could find the original video but I can't.
But here's the concept.
Everyone in the group would just send a video waffling about how their week is going and anything they are working on.
It sounds trivial to most, but I sent that to my boys and we have been super consistent with it.
Hearing what's going on with my guys and having a place to more or less vent/celebrate has done me the world of good and has kept me from going completely under and letting this sad feeling take everything away.
I've started investing more into my friends' lives, and it's been helping me a lot.
This regular connection has become both a lifeline for my mental health and, unexpectedly, a source of brand clarity and inspiration.
Some of my best ideas have come from these casual conversations.
How to implement this in your own life:
Create a structured but informal check-in system with your trusted friends (it doesn't have to be Wednesday, and it doesn't have to be waffling).
Be genuinely interested in their journeys too, this isn't therapy, it's community.
Use these conversations to articulate what you're working on. Sometimes just saying it out loud helps clarify your own thoughts.
Celebrate small wins together. When you're depressed, acknowledging progress is crucial.
Allow these relationships to influence your brand by keeping you connected to real conversations instead of just algorithm-friendly content.
The business world loves to preach hustle culture and grinding alone in your office until 2am.
What they don't tell you is that isolation is terrible for both your mental health and your brand's authenticity.
Your brand exists in a social context, and nurturing those social connections nurtures your brand too.
3: a No-Algorithm Safe Space
This newsletter is step three.
I love that I have a place where I can be real and write how I truly feel about my current situation without feeling any overwhelm to please any algorithms and such.
It feels like I'm journaling sometimes, and with the messages I get back, so many of you have been enjoying these.
I never considered myself a teacher. But I have taught in different workshops over the years, probably over 50 in the last 4 years, personal and virtual.
I've also never considered myself a writer, but this blog has been around for so many years at this point.
As inconsistent as it's been, it's still around.
And that makes me fucking proud of myself.
Having a platform where you can communicate directly with people who have explicitly asked to hear from you is incredibly powerful when you're struggling.
There's no algorithm to please, no viral metrics to chase, just honest communication with people who care about what you have to say.
How to create your own algorithm-free zone:
Choose a medium that feels natural and low-pressure. For me it's this newsletter, but it could be a private podcast, a Discord community, or even a good old-fashioned blog.
Set realistic expectations for frequency. Consistency matters, but consistency might mean "every two weeks" not "three times a week" during tough periods.
Approach it with a journaling mindset first, then edit for audience value before sending.
Celebrate the small victory of each piece you manage to create and share.
Value deeper engagement over mass metrics. Five thoughtful replies mean more than 500 empty likes.
What I've discovered is that this safe space doesn't just help me, it helps my audience too.
In a world full of performative content, people are desperate for something real. By creating content that comes from a place of authentic experience, even when that experience includes struggling, you're providing something increasingly rare and valuable.
I still have days where I feel like absolute shit.
I'm not pretending that these three strategies have magically fixed my mental health. But they have kept me functioning.
They've kept my brand alive and even growing during a period when I thought everything might fall apart.
And maybe most importantly, they've reinforced what I believe is the most powerful truth about personal branding: your brand isn't separate from your humanity.
It's an extension of it.
The more you can find ways to nurture both simultaneously, the more sustainable your success will be, in good times and in bad.
If you're going through your own dark period right now while trying to build something meaningful, I hope these weird, counterintuitive strategies give you permission to find your own path forward.
One that honors both your ambitions and your limitations.
One that recognizes that sometimes the best way to move forward is to move differently.
Good read? Coffee donations appreciated :)
I appreciate all the support!
See you on social
Love, Mike.