Valuing Your Health In Business

Heather McLellan joins Joanne Lockwood to explore what happens when health and business collide, and why many entrepreneurs overlook planning for the one risk that can stop everything: their own capacity to work.

Drawing on Heather’s background in occupational health and her personal experience of a rare stroke and a blood cancer diagnosis, they discuss the practical and emotional realities of being unable to work. The conversation covers financial vulnerability for solopreneurs, the confidence hit that can follow extended absence, and why self-employed people often return too fast and push too hard.

They move into prevention and preparedness: delegating key tasks, ensuring others can access business-critical systems, considering legal and financial safeguards such as power of attorney, and having contingency plans that extend beyond IT disaster recovery. Joanne also shares how caring responsibilities for parents can create major business disruption even when the business owner isn’t the one who is ill.

Finally, Heather outlines how a graded, phased return to work can reduce boom-and-bust cycles and support long-term sustainability, alongside foundational self-care practices like sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The episode leaves listeners with a clear message: valuing health is both a wellbeing priority and a business strategy.