How Do You Start a Business and Protect Your Health After a Brain Aneurysm? A Live Coaching Session with Erin Dohan

From The UpLevel Podcast · 44:42

Show by Christie Mann

Send us Fan MailStarting a business can bring excitement, freedom, and a fresh sense of possibility. It can also bring self-doubt, pressure, and the temptation to prove yourself by doing more than your energy allows.This week on The UpLevel Podcast, join us for a live coaching conversation as Christie Mann works with Erin Dohan, a financial strategy leader, entrepreneur, writer, and brain aneurysm survivor, as she navigates a new chapter in her life and leadership.After years of significant medical challenges following a ruptured brain aneurysm at age 27, Erin has learned that she cannot keep measuring herself against the person she was before. She’s since co-founded an accounting and outsourced CFO advisory firm and published her debut memoir, I Think I'm Ready To Talk. Now she’s working out how to grow her business, continue her advocacy, care for her family, and honor the health needs that are part of her life today.During the coaching session, Erin identifies an anxious inner voice she names “Furby.” It shows up through questions like, “What are you missing?” and “Are you sure?" That voice can send her into hours of unnecessary research, make her question years of professional experience, and pull her away from the time and rest she needs.With Christie’s guidance, Erin begins to recognize the difference between responsible diligence and self-doubt that keeps her stuck. She reconnects with her values of integrity, honesty, understanding, and empathy and creates practical ways to make space for herself while staying connected to the reasons she started her business.This conversation offers a meaningful look at imposter syndrome, leadership, health, work-life balance, and what it takes to build a business that reflects the person you are today.In this episode, we’ll explore:How to recognize imposter syndrome and the internal voice that makes you question your expertiseWhy experienced professionals can still struggle with self-doubt when they start their own businessHow to distinguish careful research from unproductive overthinkingWhat it means to accept who you are now after a major health challengeHow to make room for rest without feeling guilty about unfinished tasksWhy your personal values matter when making business decisionsHow to create practical habits that protect your health, family time, and professional ambitionsHow coaching can help people access their own answers, awareness, and resourcefulnessSome of the strongest leaders we work with still carry self-doubt. What sets them apart is learning to recognize it, name it, and keep moving anyway. If you want help building that same skill for yourself, the Coachability Blueprint walks through exactly how to start. You can download it here: https://uplevelproductions.com/freeresources-1#coachability-blueprintAbout Erin:Erin Dohan is an accounting controller, writer, wife, and mother based in the western suburbs of Chicago. At 27, on May 29, 2019, she survived a ruptured brain aneurysm — an event that fundamentally transformed her life trajectory. What followed were five years of relentless medical crises: miscarriage, emergency abortion, infertility, complicated pregnancy, postpartum complications, ovarian torsion, and the removal of both ovaries.Through it all, Erin did what many women are quietly taught to do: she kept going. She managed a career, built a family, and showed up for everyone around her. What she didn't do — until she finally couldn't not — was talk about it.Her debut memoir, I Think I'm Ready to Talk, is what happened when she stopped minimizing. It's a raw, honest account of surviving not just illness, but the medical system, the silence, and the long middle years that nobody celebrates. Written with clarity, dark humor, and deep compassion, it's the book Erin needed to find during the hardest years of her life—and couldn't.Professionally, Erin is a financial strategy leader for startup companies and a mentor to women in leadership. She lives outside Chicago with her husband, their son, and a goldendoodle. She is a champion for brain aneurysm awareness and advocates openly for better listening in women's healthcare.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-dohan-6883509a/Website: https://erindohan.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erindohanthings/🎉 The UpLevel Podcast was listed as #3 among the Top 7 Best Coaching Culture Podcasts!!! https://podcasts.feedspot.com/coaching_culture_podcasts🎉 It was also ranked #16 among the Top 49 Best Workplace Mental Health Podcasts! https://podcast.feedspot.com/workplace_mental_health_podcasts🎉 It was also ranked #10 among the Top 23 Best Conscious Leadership Podcasts! https://podcast.feedspot.com/conscious_leadership_podcastswww.uplevelproductions.comhttps://www.instagram.com/uplevelproductions/https://www.linkedin.com/company/uplevelproductionscompanyhttps://www.facebook.com/uplevelproductionscompany

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