Vanessa Zamy - Toxic Work Environments, Building a Side Hustle, and Being the Core of Your Life

Vanessa Zamy, The Business Defibrillator, is a keynote speaker, business expert, and bestselling author with her own consulting company. Her burnout occurred when she was working in a corporate job for a toxic, narcissistic boss while also trying to support and grow her new business on the side. She tried for months to make things work with her boss all while the universe kept sending her signs that it was time to leave that environment. Vanessa shares her experience with toxic work environments, how she built her side hustle into her dream career, and her tips for being the core of your own life. Tune into this episode to learn more. “That is what kept me going was knowing that, okay, this environment is not the one. But there is hope in this other thing,” explains Vanessa Zamy. After ignoring signs from the universe repeatedly, Vanessa was dealing with severe pain, inflammation, and discoloration in her fingers that no doctor could explain. When her office closed due to the pandemic, her fingers returned to normal and she realized that it had been a physical manifestation of her burnout from working in a toxic environment. Then, Vanessa discovered the path of entrepreneurship and began running her own business on the side. Even though Vanessa was dealing with stress at her job due to a toxic boss, she was able to get through the day because her side hustle was providing her with so much hope for the future. As soon as she learned to treat her 9 to 5 as her side job and her side job as her career, things started to turn around.  Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Vanessa Zamy about handling toxic work environments, starting a side hustle, and centering yourself in your own life. Learn how to listen for signs from the universe and how to put yourself first so that your business can thrive.  Quotes  ∙ “You have these signs, right? The signs that your body is approaching burnout. So then the universe sends you a bigger sign and it’s like wake up and you are like ehh and then they have a bigger sign until eventually, some people, they just end up in the hospital. And that's their wake up call.” (10:02-10:20 | Vanessa)  ∙ “Before I even went to the HR office, I had tried for nine months to do different things.” (19:10-19:15 | Vanessa)  ∙ “I was pretty much the only person on the team who was sharing my grievances with other people. People on the team kind of was doing what you just said where they had the issue, but they were like, I'm just gonna complain about it and just live with it and deal with it and not really trying to fix it’.” (23:36-23:49 | Vanessa)  ∙ “There’s always that beginning stage where you still have that employee mindset, you still have that I work for someone else mindset. But at some point, your business becomes your main priority. And your day job is now treated like your side business.” (25:53-26:06 | Vanessa)  ∙ “If it doesn't work, it just doesn't work.” (28:36-28:37 | Vanessa)  ∙ “That is what kept me going was knowing that, okay, this environment is not the one. But there is hope in this other thing.” (35:55-36:03 | Vanessa)  ∙ “You are the core of your business. And so as the core of your business and the core of your life, as entrepreneurs and business owners, it is important that you take care of you because otherwise, if you don't show up, no one else is going to show up either.” (43:59-44:08 | Vanessa) Links https://yourvisionscatalyst.com/ http://power.vzamy.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/zamyvanessa/ https://www.instagram.com/zamyvanessa/?hl=en https://yourbusinessrevival.com/checklist https://yourbusinessrevival.com/ XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices