The Secrets to Becoming a Tough Entrepreneur (w/ Shara Ruffin, Founder - Journey to Licensure)

And So, She Left: Wisdom from Women Beyond the Corporate World

Do you think of yourself as “tough?” It’s actually a challenging question to answer. We’re certainly eager as entrepreneurs, always ready to tackle the next challenge ahead. But what does toughness actually look like?

Today’s conversation with Shara Ruffin reminds us that true resilience comes from hitting our lowest points. Today, she’s a bestselling author, LinkedIn influencer, and the Founder of Journey to Licensure. Her journey was brutal. She spent years facing every personal problem imaginable, often at the same time. But she still carved out a thriving business to help social workers take control of their careers.

Shara talks about the many overlapping personal challenges she's been through that molded her into a truly resilient entrepreneur like parenting during times of grief, dealing with divorce, and engaging in destructive behavior like alcoholism.

Shara talks about:

• Spreading hope by building a personal brand on LinkedIn
• Feeling financially stuck at a low point, and what she did about it
• Facing medical struggles, marital issues, and work stress head on
• Overcoming maladaptive coping practices and tackling alcoholism
• How sharing a video of her struggles on LinkedIn changed everything
• How she created a business guiding colleagues through their licensing challenges

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Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.

Music by © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).

Songs used in this episode include: "Air Hockey Saloon," "It Takes a Lot to Keep a Figure Like This," "I Refuse to Accept That There's Nothing I Can Do About It," " Is This the Spirit Everybody Keeps Talking About?," "They Call It Nature," "Raise Your Hand If You Think Evil Is Increasing in This World," "Short Song 021523."

Used under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License