On this episode of The Prosperous Empath®, I’m thrilled to sit down with Saleema Vellani, an accomplished 9x founder (3 exits) and award-winning author of the bestselling book, Innovation Starts with I. She’s the founder and CEO of Ripple Impact, which helps seasoned professionals and corporate exiters build profitable, purpose-driven portfolio career businesses and pursue their dreams. She invests in women-owned early-stage startups, sits on the National Speakers Association DC Chapter board, and teaches Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University. Saleema also speaks five languages and has traveled to 100+ countries. But what many people don’t know about her is that Saleema experienced profound burnout as she was scaling her business. As part of her recovery process, Saleema had to accept the realization that entrepreneurship is, first and foremost, a personal growth journey. She had to dig deep into herself to uncover what it means to truly invest in your well-being, come out of crisis mode, and build a business strategy that was aligned with her values. Listen to our conversation to learn more about burnout recovery and the valuable lessons Saleema discovered along the way. 

Topics:

• Saleema’s entrepreneurship story, how building a 7-figure business led her down the path of burnout, and what she did to start making more aligned decisions 
• The importance of knowing what you can and can’t tolerate to proactively avoid physical and mental burnout
• Recognizing empathic tendencies that often contribute to burnout, such as people-pleasing and not being able to say no 
• Managing your generosity as an entrepreneur as you scale your business
• How to leverage your gifts, make aligned decisions, and serve people without running yourself dry in the process
  

Episode Resources:

• Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You by Frances Frei 
• Innovation Starts with I: Increase Your Influence. Ignite Your Impact by Saleema Vellani 

Connect with Saleema:

• Ripple Impact 
• Saleema's Website 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram: @saleemavellani 
• Facebook 

Connect with Catherine:

• Apply to join the free Unbounded community, a vibrant group of empathpreneurs who are passionate about supporting each other on our entrepreneurial journeys. 
• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Sign up to receive my weekly digest on empathic entrepreneurship and hear from voices committed to spreading this message, sent straight to your inbox every Friday since 2016, here. 

Work with Catherine:

• Interested in working 1:1 with a certified coach on Catherine’s team, or joining her in one of her premium mastermind programs? Schedule a low-pressure call to begin the conversation here.

Visit this episode's full show notes page here.

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The Prosperous Empath® Podcast is produced by Heart Centered Podcasting.