About Mike McDonnell

I'm a business owner, mental health advocate, author, and speaker based in Chelmsford, Essex. I run Glide Marketing, a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO, web design, and conversion rate optimisation. And I talk openly about living with bipolar disorder.

My Story

The Breaking Point (2019)

In 2019, everything changed. I experienced a full psychotic episode. I lost touch with reality completely — delusions, paranoia, hallucinations. I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and spent time in a psychiatric hospital. It was, without question, the most terrifying experience of my life.

I had no idea what was happening to me. Nobody tells you what psychosis actually feels like. That's part of why I wrote my book — so that others don't have to go through it feeling as alone and confused as I did.

Recovery & Rebuilding

Recovery wasn't a straight line. It took months to even feel like myself again. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which explained a lot about what had happened. Medication, therapy, and a stubborn refusal to give up got me through.

But here's the thing nobody talks about: what do you do after? How do you rebuild a life, a career, a sense of self after your mind has completely fallen apart? That's the question I had to answer. And I did — by building a business.

Building a Business While Managing Bipolar

I founded Glide Marketing in 2021. Not in spite of my mental health challenges — but with full awareness of them. I built systems that work when I can't. I set boundaries that most business gurus would laugh at. And the business thrived anyway.

I've learned that entrepreneurship and mental illness aren't incompatible. You just need different strategies than the ones most people teach. That's what I share — on this site, on YouTube, and in my coaching work.

Mike McDonnell holding his book Psychosis: How I Escaped My Mind's Darkest Reality

Why I Speak Out

I talk about my mental health publicly because the alternative is silence. And silence around psychosis and bipolar disorder is dangerous. When I was going through it, I couldn't find anyone who spoke about it honestly — without the clinical jargon, without the toxic positivity, without making it sound like some inspiring Hollywood story.

So I became that person. I wrote the book I needed. I make the content I wish existed. And I work with entrepreneurs and corporates who want real insight into mental health — not a sanitised version of it.