In an era when so many physicians are feeling helpless and powerless, being able to find their voice is a key step for physicians to start daring to dream their most fulfilling life. Meet Dr. Nneka Unachukwu in this week's episode. Dr. Una is a pediatrician, founder and CEO of a successful private practice Ivy League Pediatrics in Georgia, and also founder and CEO of EntreMD Business School. She is also a prolific content creator, host of the EntreMd Podcast and the Doctors Changing Medicine Podcast.
Dr. Una explains:
This episode is packed full of gold, you won't want to miss...
Resources for Dr. Una:
EntreMD Podcast
https://entremd.buzzsprout.com/
Doctors Changing Medicine Podcast
https://www.doctorschangingmedicine.com/
EntreMD Business School
Dare to Dream Physician Resources:
Dare to Dream Physician, Life Planning for Physicians https://daretodreamphysician.com
Dare to Dream Physician on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/daretodreamphysician/
@DreamPhysician on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dreamphysician/
*** Are you a physician who would like to discover and live your best life now through travel? ***
Join the Dare to Dream Physician Travel Facebook Community! https://www.facebook.com/groups/878895016552178/
In an era when so many physicians are feeling helpless and powerless, being able to find their voice is a key step for physicians to start daring to dream their most fulfilling life. Meet Dr. Nneka Unachukwu in this week's episode. Dr. Una is a pediatrician, founder and CEO of a successful private practice Ivy League Pediatrics in Georgia, and also founder and CEO of EntreMD Business School. She is also a prolific content creator, host of the EntreMd Podcast and the Doctors Changing Medicine Podcast.
Dr. Una explains:
This episode is packed full of gold, you won't want to miss...
Resources for Dr. Una:
EntreMD Podcast
https://entremd.buzzsprout.com/
Doctors Changing Medicine Podcast
https://www.doctorschangingmedicine.com/
EntreMD Business School
Dare to Dream Physician Resources:
Dare to Dream Physician, Life Planning for Physicians https://daretodreamphysician.com
Dare to Dream Physician on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/daretodreamphysician/
@DreamPhysician on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dreamphysician/
*** Are you a physician who would like to discover and live your best life now through travel? ***
Join the Dare to Dream Physician Travel Facebook Community! https://www.facebook.com/groups/878895016552178/
Note this document may have human or computer-generated errors in transcription. Refer to the audio file for the actual conversation.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Una, Dr. Gray, Host
Dr. Gray, Host 00:00
This is the Dare to Dream Physician podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Weili Gray. Many physicians today are feeling overwhelmed and unfulfilled living a busy life based on someone else's terms and expectations. My mission is to help physicians figure out what they really want out of life, and how to make their dream life come true sooner than they ever imagined.
Dr. Gray, Host 00:31
My fellow physicians, your time to live your only life is now become a Dare to Dream Physician. Great things are going to happen. Make sure you hit subscribe and share this podcast with another physician you care about.
Dr. Gray, Host 00:48
Welcome back, everybody to another episode of The Dare to Dream Physician Podcast. I am so so excited today because we have an extremely special guest Her name is Dr. Nneka Unachukwu, also affectionately known by all those around her as Dr. Una, and Dr. Una is a pediatrician, She is the founder and CEO of an extremely successful pediatrics practice Ivy League Pediatrics in Georgia. She is also the founder and CEO of EntreMD Business School. She's my teacher, mentor, and coach. And in the past, I've talked about how I am an avid podcast listener, and believe that listening to podcasts can change lives. And she has two of them. So she hosts the EntreMD podcast two weekly episodes. And that podcast is just pure gold, pure pure gold. And I'm not the only one. But when I found the podcast, I just binge Listen, I mean, at that point, I think there were over 100 episodes, and I just thought how I'm going to get through the all these episodes, and it wasn't a matter of not having the time to do it. It was more, I actually needed time for my brain to process all the amazing content. And then more recently, she started a second podcast called Doctors Changing Medicine, another inspirational podcast where she interviews other physicians who are making an impact in medicine. And this podcast, the Dare to Dream Physician Podcast would not even be in existence today. If it were not for Dr. Una, because I was listening to one of her EntreMD podcast episodes, and she encouraged physicians to start speaking, to start having their own platform, whether that's a podcast or YouTube channel. And she said that there are different people out there. But if you're listening to this, you know who you are, you know that you have to start a podcast, and if you know that, then just go and do it go and don't wait, just go and do it. And I had this moment where I felt like I was one of the patients that I met when I was rotating in my psychiatry rotation in medical school, where they claim that they were listening to the radio or TV, and they felt that the speaker was speaking directly to them. Okay, I She's right, I felt that and I went and started planning starting this podcast. And so as a life planner, and in this podcast, I want to make space for physicians to figure out what they really want out of life, and then to go and pursue that because we may not have 20 years to wait and live our dream life. We may not even have tomorrow. And so today is the most important time to start and being able to find our voice. In an era where so many physicians are feeling like victims are feeling like we're helpless. We're not in control of what's going on. But being able to find our voice is so empowering. And it's the beginning of the step in pursuing our dreams. So I was so excited that Dr. Una agreed to come on the podcast. And she has many many amazing stories. But she also has an amazing story in regards to finding her own voice and now inspiring other physicians to do so. That was a really long introduction. But thank you so much for coming on.
Dr. Una 04:18
Thank you so much for having me. That was a really beautiful, beautiful introduction. And while we are at it, I do want to say this I am so grateful that you are someone who says yes, because you said yes to the podcast, you said yes to helping doctors, serving them so they can dare to dream. They can plan out their lives live intentionally. And sometimes when we're doing it, we don't realize the power of what we're doing. So I just want to let you know that what you do is so important. It's so helpful is changing lives. I think I talked to your client today actually. And it's just it's just amazing. And five years from now you're gonna look back and you're gonna go like how did I get here? All right, that's gonna be the experience. So thank you so much for what you do.
Dr. Gray, Host 05:04
Thank you, thank you for those words of encouragement, you have a gift at doing that, by the way. So I don't even know where to start. It's funny because one of the reasons I haven't asked you to be on my podcast earlier is because you put out all this amazing content every week, and I'm thinking, what can I have her talk about on my podcast? She's already shared so many gems, and I'm sure many of my listeners already know you. But tell us a little bit about yourself and your story and just, and how things got started for you?
Dr. Una 05:34
Well, I have so many stories in one story, but I think I'm gonna start from 2016 I think most physicians can relate to that. And you know, 2016, I remember just sitting in my home office in the morning, and I just had this awareness, it was like aha moment that medicine as we know it is gone. And it's never coming back. Right. There were some things that were happening to CVS's minute clinics has started creeping up. And a lot of mid levels were getting independent practice in different states and doctors are losing their jobs. It was a few incidences, but they were kind of isolated. Nobody could really see what was going on. But I was like, this has changed. And it's changed fundamentally. And it's not going back to the way it was. And so the question is not how do I take things back? The question is, then, how do I adapt? So that I'm okay, so I can still practice medicine. So I can still live life on my own terms, right? Doctors had lost autonomy, burnout was at an all time high, and all of these and at that time, we're talking five years ago, I was aware that our job security was at risk. So I remember thinking that and then I was like, Okay, so what if I couldn't practice medicine the way it is? Now? What if it came to a point where they're like, we don't want you to practice anymore? We're hiring other kinds of people. And so how do I still have an impact as a physician? How do I still generate revenue after I spent all this money all this time getting this education in the first place? And I started thinking about speaking. And now this is a very odd thought, because at that time, I was the socially awkward, super shy, introverted introvert. So why I would think about speaking, but it's like, you know, people make money as speakers. And I can then go to one too many, right? If you think about what we do in the exam room, sometimes we say the same thing. 200 times, like a pediatrician, a common cold, or the diarrhea or when there's an outbreak of ham for the mouth, you know what I mean? Like, but knife can do one too many. So I looked at speaking, I still remember where I wrote it down. So I wrote about speaking, I wrote about consulting, because I didn't even know that coaching was the thing. I mean, I know basketball players, how coaches, but I didn't know about the coaching industry, right? But I was like, there are many things I've learned, I can help other people do. I've started a practice, I've started a business, I can help people do that. I couldn't define where I was going. But I knew I had to start working on that, you know, so So I wrote that down, I wrote down author. And then even for my practice, I wrote CEO, so not lead pediatrician, right? But CEO, can I have such an impact on my practice, as the CEO, that I should still earn what I earn as a practicing clinician, you see what I'm saying? Like, so I wrote those four things, and I was like, it's gone. It's not like it's going, it's gone. It's just that it's not obvious. So what I need to do is go to work on these four things, and start morphing, start becoming this person. And I always like to take people for the ride. Like whenever I'm making transitions, you may have noticed this in the business school, when when I start making transitions and discovering new things. I would also turn around, I want to take other people to experience the same thing that I'm experiencing, that's what I would do. So I didn't wait to start talking about this, right? And then saw start telling people like, hey, let's pretend Let's play a game. Let's say it's 2023. And you're no longer able to practice medicine as you are now, what would you do to still have an impact and generate revenue, and then people come out of the Woodworks, we'll always have job security, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And some other people will will be like, well, I got replaced, and I'm a pediatrician, well, your primary care, I'm emergency medicine that will never happen in emergency medicine. And all these things. I've been like, Oh, my God, they don't get it. And so I started talking about it. I was posting about it on social media. I was doing YouTube videos about I didn't have a podcast at the time. And I started talking, and then I started really getting training, right. So I started training as a speaker, because I was not a speaker. I was not anything close to Speaker then if he had invited me to come on your podcast, my answer would have been a very polite, no, I would not come on your podcast, right. And so I started developing all those things. And that was five years ago. And now we're at a point where it's obvious like COVID exposed what has been going all along. And so you see a time where doctors collect unemployment checks. Doctors have been replaced regularly. Loss of autonomy at an all time high burnout at an all time high. Physician suicide at an all time high. And it's like what we've done before is not working. We have to embrace entrepreneurship, we have to embrace owning our own voices, we have to take back our careers we let go of so much control, it's time to take it back. So everything you see the podcast on EntreMd Business School, the second podcast is all born out of me owning my voice letting doctors know that you are one skill away from the career that you want, from the time freedom you want, from the money freedom that you want. And we can't wait for anybody. There's no Calvary coming. They're not coming. But we can do this. And even in my business, when I try to hit bigger goals or crush more milestones is only to be an example. Like, guys, this is possible. So if you say your primary care, I'm like, I'm a pediatrician. If you say I have a lot of Medicaid patients, so do I, if you say I'm very shy, I'm an introvert. So am I I'm just trying to show that it doesn't have to be the way it is. That's, that's kind of my story.
Dr. Gray, Host 11:16
That is amazing, and so much to unpack there. I love all those examples that you gave just really illustrates that there's so many possibilities that things are possible that when we, as physicians sit there with their head down, tired, sleep deprived, maybe even depressed and thinking, ahh there's no way out, maybe they have a lot of student loans. And I will confess that there was one point in my medical training where I thought anything is better than what I'm doing right now. And I was coming from a really burned out place. If you look at it objectively, I actually had a great residency program at the time, but I thought, can I just be a cafeteria worker, I think my life will be better. That was sort of the down place that I was in. But yet I said, Oh, no, but I'm stuck because I have a quarter million dollar in student loan debt. And I have no way of paying that back. And so I love that all these examples that you give, just really shows that we as physicians, we do have the power, we do have a way. But that being said, and I'm just trying to picture our listeners, as they hear this, they're thinking, she sounds really impressive. First of all, she's doing YouTube, and she's talking and she sounds like she knows what she wants. So she just sounds way above my league. And I know you said that, well, I'm a pediatrician. I didn't know how to run a business until I learned I know you said these things. But I'm not sure how believable you know, I want you to break that down. And because you mentioned that you were an introvert and I'm an introvert to actually this podcast was a huge stretch, because speaking was the scariest thing ever. So tell us more. Because I'm not convinced as I'm listening to you that you were an introvert that you weren't just ready to speak your mind in front of a big stage. Because that's what it sounds like as you're talking about it.
Dr. Una 13:07
Yeah. So I love something you said, which is starting this podcast was a stretch for me. See what you what you just said, is literally what I've done all these years. And that's how I got here. Like, I could not even dream of where I am now. Right? So let me let me take you all the way back. So now so 2016 I'm like, Well, I have to be a speaker and I have to do all this stuff. Right? And I was terrified of talking to people one on one I did not network. I did not speak. Umm, my favorite answer to new opportunities was no, right, like, it, you know that that's that's where I was at that point. But I think I, I was very clear that the option of staying the same was not an option. Right? Like that is the option of just going and seeing what will happen because I could literally see the healthcare industry is going to be less and less and less favorable to doctors. And there's nobody to stop it. You know what I mean? I'm gonna have to put my foot down. And so I think the appreciation of the future I did want to have was a big motivator, right? And that's what made me embrace my fear. So everything I've done, I've done it afraid I've stretched, just think about what you did with this podcast. There are many people who now you're going to tell you're an introvert and they're like, you have a podcast. You're not an introvert, right? But you know that you did it afraid. You didn't become bold and then do it. You did it afraid. And by the time you hit Episode 100 you won't be afraid. Do you see what I'm saying? You're not going to be afraid anymore. You're going to show up. And if someone says hey, come talk at my conference. Well, you're going to have jitters the first time, but guess what you've built this speaking muscle and so once you get into it, you're rocking the stage, right? And people are like, you're not an introvert, you've always been good at speaking and all that. And you'll be laughing because you're like, you should see what's going on the inside of me. That's kind of how this is playing out. Right. So when I started embracing, speaking, and I was so I'll give you the example videos, I was so terrified, right? I started doing videos two years after I knew I should do videos. Because I was thinking, I'm in private practice. I'm here, how do I get my name out there? Nobody's doing videos. So if I do videos, I'm the only pediatrician doing videos. So guess what it does, it positions my practice as The practice. And then people come to me because people know I can trust people they see on video. That's just the way it is. I knew this. It still took me two years, two whole years before I did my first video. And even at that, I don't know if you've heard me told tell the story. But I'm on Instagram, right? This is me this I am not doing videos like my face on the World Wide Web. Not happening. Okay, so I'm on Instagram. I see this lady that I follow. She has 60,000 people on her Instagram Live. And so I'm like, I'm, like, this is such a crappy video. The lighting was awful. There's background noise, somewhere in the middle of it she's holding the phone talking. Her son walks behind the phone, and she stops her Facebook, like she stops talking to her people. And she's like, what are you doing? Are you supposed to be doing your homework? And the guy says whatever he says is that what? Yeah, okay, all right. Okay, my people, and she continues talking to them. And I'm like, this is a horrible video. She's not even speaking nicely. I mean, this is crazy. And this thought just came to me well she's doing her video, and she has 60,000 people watching it. And you are not putting out your perfect video. And nobody's watching that. And that was my turnaround moment where I was like, You know what? I'm chasing perfection. I need to stop all this nonsense. I'm gonna do it afraid I'm gonna get messy. So I literally got off the bed, pulled up a chair, put it by the wall call my daughter, who was eight at the time said this is a phone hit the red button record me. I did the video, I talked about screen time and all that stuff for my pediatric practice she's done with the video. I uploaded it to Facebook. I was like, there you go. The worst video ever is done. And we can only go up from here. And that attitude is what I use with speaking. It's what I use with a podcast. Can I tell you something? When I started the second podcast, the Doctors Changing Medicine podcast. I was nervous. I was afraid. And you might be like, No, you already have a podcast. I do. But it's not an interview show. Right? I go on and I do my thing. I tell people, the United fire them. I give them you know, action steps, all the stuff. I do some interviews, but most of them are people I know maybe people from the business school that are people who are friends. But this is me reaching out to doctors, I don't know, to say come on my podcast. And in 30 minutes, I'm supposed to pull out a golden story. I was nervous. I was like, Oh my gosh, I hope I don't mess this up. And this is my story. I don't let that stop me. So someone may see Oh, she has a second podcast, she did all this amazing stuff, did it afraid. So I did the first round of interviews, then I got better a second round, and then third round. And now it's a lot more comfortable. But that's how I did everything. So I'm not I really am not different from anybody else. Truthfully, I'm not. I just don't let my fear stop me. And if you can do that over time, when you don't feel fear, not in a bad pathological way. But when you don't feel fear, you recognize Wait, I'm too comfortable, it means I'm not striving for anything, I need to go set a bigger goal. Like you start looking to live in that zone.
Dr. Gray, Host 18:40
Hmm. That was the mind blowing point when I first heard that concept, and you teach this to the business school students that your danger zone is your comfort zone. And so that's completely counterintuitive, because I think naturally as human beings, our tendency is to just run towards comfort. It's like, Oh, that's uncomfortable, like, why would I do that? Yet, that is such a an amazing personal growth concept that I actually should be concerned if everything I'm doing in the day to day, I am comfortable. And I think for me an example would be it's very comfortable for me to talk to my patients every day. And I'm an introvert and if you tell me to just get in front of the stage or get on YouTube and start even talking about sleep medicine, to me, it feels a little awkward because I can be very eloquent in front of one patient because I talk to them every day. But to do that in front of a bigger audience is scary. I can hear our listeners thinking okay, well, that's great. She did this and she succeeded. she overcame her fears. But can you maybe speak to did that bring fulfillment to you? You were an introvert. I don't know if you're unhappy as an introvert. What is life like now and would you do it again?
Dr. Una 19:52
I would do it over again just faster. I would decide to do it even quicker. And this is what it is. I don't know if I was unhappy as an introvert, but I was held back, because I, I did not understand what being an introvert meant, right? So for me, that meant I couldn't show up powerfully on stage, it meant I couldn't network and it meant all those things. And you know, I've grown to find out that's not true. If I'm an introvert, what that really means is, I love hanging out with myself. I thrive in solitude, I recharge in solitude, or in really small group settings. Umm, but it doesn't mean I can't show up powerfully on stage, It doesn't mean any of that. So if anything has set me free, to really rock being an introvert, because I used to say, like, was a bad thing, right? Like, I'm an introvert. So that means I have this limitation, I have this handicap, I don't see it that way anymore. being an introvert is my superpower. Because now I'm set free to go do all these things that I, I said, only extroverts could do like the speaking and the networking, and all of that. But at the same time, I recognize because I love solitude, it's a superpower because I can get an idea. And I can go take a one hour walk in a quiet part of my subdivision. And I can take that idea and make it into a whole talk, I can milk it, I can take a problem that my clients are facing. And I could come up with all kinds of solution, because I can just sit with myself and think I'm a deep, deep, deep, deep thinker. And so it's not a bad thing anymore. It's a superpower. And the thing about is everybody has this sense, it may not be fully developed of purpose, because it pulls out every one of us, we're called to live meaningful lives, we're supposed to make a change in the world, we're supposed to do something. And what leaving the negative definition of the introvert has done for me, it's it's freed me to do what I feel like I was born to do. And so I am living my best, like I get to, quote unquote, work in EntreMd, and help doctors build profitable businesses, I help them own their voices, and help them get through all these barriers that have held them back. And I call that work. Like I have never worked at EntreMD. Do you know what I mean? And this is not a new thing. This is me. Even when I was much younger, I could meet people richer than me, older than me bigger than me the whole nine yards. And when they talk, I can still call like, oh, man, that's amazing. But if you change these three things, or you do these three things, everything can change for you. I always thought like that. I thought it was a problem. I thought I was proud. I thought I wasn't a good listener, I was always looking for something to tell people. I used to stifle that. And then now I realized, no, that's your superpower. Right. And so now I can build a business system around it. And my business is my purpose. I love what I do for physicians. So I would say, life on the other side of embracing your fears is so beautiful that you will do it over, and over, and over, and over again. And for every physician listening, your fear is not, I used to interpret as an indication to stop, like, if I'm afraid of something that I don't do it. And now I see it differently by fear means I'm right at the edge of my comfort zone. And if I can just do this thing, that magical things can happen. That's really the way I see it. So come on the other side is so much fun on the other side.
Dr. Gray, Host 23:34
Wow, I love that there were so many pearls there. And one of the things one of the themes that I was trying out from what you said is you actually become closer to your authentic self, you notice that there talents of yours that wouldn't necessarily be used as a pediatrician. Now, that being said, I think I mentioned before how you were the encourager, and I mean your your practice is called Ivy League pediatrics, you are inspiring those patients of yours to their own greatness. So you sprinkle that in to everything that you do, but to make that one of your main pursuits and to create your own business, create a whole space for other physicians based on your zone is genius that that's so amazing. And you're making an impact, certainly on me and I know many, many people who feel as excited as I am about what EntreMD is doing for them.
Dr. Una 24:27
I'm happy to hear that. And someone maybe listening going like well, I wouldn't know how to set up a business and, and to be honest with you the business comes after the service, right. And it's freeing, that I think that's why I'm saying it to know that I don't have to have the main perfect I don't have to have all the systems perfect. I just have to start on my journey of helping people. Right? So whatever that way is for you. Like you know, Dr. Gray, you started and you're doing life planning for physicians. And the thing is you start that and you get better at it and you keep getting better at it and better at it. And then somebody is like, how did you build this million dollar company, and you're like, it didn't start like that. My heart's desire was to help people. And I just kept doing it and kept getting better at it. And here we are. So don't even feel under pressure. Like, I'm not the kind of person who can build that kind of company, because that's how I felt, when I saw practices that are bigger than mine. I was like, I can't do that kind of stuff, or so who built a big company, I can't do that kind of stuff. But my, my priority has been helping, right? And that's not to say you don't talk about the revenue, right? Because you know, we talked about serving and earning, you have to do both. But you don't put the money before the service. If you can be curious, and you just want to help people and just want to get better at helping people in giving them results, you will grow. And you will grow in ways that you could not have imagined.
Dr. Gray, Host 25:53
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And and so the space I have here is not necessarily to tell people to become entrepreneurs. But I think when people figure out what's really important to them, what if they die tomorrow? Or what if in 40 years, they die, what would have been their regrets for not pursuing. And if maybe one of those, one of the purposes that they have that they know they have, perhaps that can't be achieved through an employed position. That's where the entrepreneurship comes in is that is for people to think outside the box. And for people who say, Wait, I see this problem here. And I can look for a job that maybe solves this problem. But maybe there isn't one out there. Or maybe there isn't one that's available where you can work on the terms are acceptable to you. And so I love that you were also bringing that part in of Okay, yes, one embrace your fears, you know, go out, find your voice, if you feel like you got something to say if you see a problem, and you want to help others solve that problem, then speak, speak up. Most physicians probably at this point are scared of the word business. It's like, you know, what is that? It's Yeah, so I love that you're also introducing that concept to physicians.
Dr. Una 27:11
Yeah, and the truth of the matter is, every physician in the truest sense of it is an entrepreneur. And that's the truth. And an entrepreneur doesn't mean that you own a coaching business, for instance, entrepreneur means that you help people in a profitable way, that that's that that's what an entrepreneur does. That's what the business does. And even if you don't have a brick and mortar practice, or you don't have a coach, or you don't have a product, you have your brand. You are Dr. You Incorporated. That is your business, right? So you're not excluded from this conversation. If you don't have a private practice, right? Because guess what, you can still build your brand, you can still monetize your brand, even if you don't want to monetize your brand, you can learn to negotiate, you can negotiate and you can get the job you want at the price you want. You can get a scribe for yourself, you can do so many things. But as physicians, we do need to recognize that we're not worker bees. We're not we have brands, and those brands are businesses, and if we can treat those brands as businesses, then everything changes. And you can still find purpose, I like to tell the story of me and my dad, because we're so opposite, opposite ends of the spectrum. But we're both physicians. So I always had a plan of retiring at 40. And I don't ask anybody to do that. You've listened to the podcast long enough, you know, I've never recommended that. That's what I wanted to do. And that's the beautiful thing about entrepreneurship, you build a system around what you do, you can do whatever you want to do. So that was what I wanted to do, right. And so since I turned 40, um 2 years ago, I seen patients one day a week, and that's just like, I can't give up my stethoscope. It's my you know, so I work one day a week. So technically, I am retired. And now my dad, my dad lived to be 84 he read medical books till the day he died. Okay, he's trying to have all this conversation about surgical procedures and anatomy with me. I'm like, dude, I don't I don't talk about that. Right. And he's the kind of person if he passed out, you can tell him about a patient who wake up like, he was so passionate. He was like a calling. And, and I say that to say we were both right. We just wanted to do things differently. But you don't have to quit your job. If you love your job. You don't have to do anything. Like in our medical training, we had to do things right. You had to do the high school and get the high grades and get into college, you had to get the great MCAT score so you could get into med school and then follow the prescribed way for residency. Once you're done. And you have the entrepreneurship. Now you can do whatever you want. So what what is your purpose? What do you think you should be doing? Do that. But you have to add a business system to it, whichever one it is, whether you're working a job, whether you're doing part time, whether you're a full on entrepreneur, whether you develop a product, whether you want to change a system, right? What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to change the experience for physicians, I'm doing it outside of the system, some people are doing it within the system. We just need to build business systems, whatever we want to do. And everybody should own that.
Dr. Gray, Host 30:25
So there's a couple of things there I wanted to tease out. So one is you said, what you can, you know, be the CEO of YOU,. Incorporated, and that every physician has a brand. It can you maybe say that in more non business terms for my listeners who you know, like, they're like, oh, what does that mean?
Dr. Una 30:43
How about a few stories? Let's do it that way. Right? Okay. So I have a client, and she works her job. She worked for the hospital. But she loved being on media, that that was her thing. And then so she started going on CNN, and she started going on HLN and local news. That was her thing. And so she was doing it. And then should also mention that this was the hospital that she worked with, what was she doing, she was building her brand. And she built a strong referral network. So in the hospital, where she worked outpatient, she had a lot of patients that came in they came because of her. Because they found her on social media and all of that. And it was a documented fact, because she had them add to the intake form. How did you hear about us, right? And then so it's like I found her on social media. I found her when she was speaking all of that stuff. Now, because she did that. When it was time to negotiate. She was able to say, listen, it is not to your advantage that I'm here on Fridays, I could be out speaking for the hospital, I could be out doing all these things I knew would bring more revenue for you and affect your bottom line positively. So I need to be off on Fridays. Because she had a brand, and she treated her brand like a business. Their answer was yes. So she ended up with long weekends, every weekend. An employed physician, right, that owned her brand. I had another one who started she's in pain management started working in a group practice. And same thing, she built a referral network, right. And your network is yours to keep that's part of your brand. And so people are coming because of you. And so she got busy quickly, very quickly, because she had a lot of people sending her patients. And then when it was time for a six months review, she's like, I'm gonna need a scribe. And guess what they did, they gave her scribe, but they see that is because she was treating her brand as a business is she's just showing up to work and whatever, or maybe even doing all these things, but not building a brand. You know what I mean? Like it's just there. It's kind of happening, but I'm not owning the value that I'm bringing. I'm not negotiating LIKE A BOSS because I don't recognize I'm a boss, then none of these things would have happened. Right? So even if you're employed, you need to see your brand. You need to see your brand as a business.
Dr. Gray, Host 33:03
Wow. So that was the first half of my interview with Dr. Una there were so many gems in there. And I know that I'll be listening to this episode multiple times, to be able to process all of it. I can't wait to share next week's episode with you. She'll be continuing to speak about the magic that happens when physicians take ownership of their brand. When physicians take ownership of their purpose and take ownership of their life. It will be inspiring, beautiful, and practical, all at the same time. So if you want to hear the second part of this conversation, make sure you hit subscribe and come back to listen next week. I also want to share with you my experiences with being in the EntreMD Business School. Nine months ago, if you had asked me I would not have positioned myself in the same sentence as the word business. I thought business was for other people, not me, not as a doctor who find the most joy in connecting with patients on a human level. I thought that I just wanted to stay pure to the art and science of medicine. See business conjured up images of businessmen in suits, chasing profits and seeking easy money, people who were looking to cheat others or make a profit at the disadvantage of somebody else, and to win at the cost of putting other people down. But as you heard on today's episode, Dr. Una is teaching physicians about business in a framework that physicians can relate to, because we want to amplify all the intentions that we had when we applied for medical school. We want to help people, we want to honor the physician patient relationship, we hold the physician patient relationship as sacred. We want to see the humanity in our patients and for our patients to see the humanity in us. We want to honor the privilege of being entrusted with a human life. We want to do right by our profession. And yet at the same time, we cannot continue to reminisce of the good old golden days of medicine, because they are long gone. But the need for patients to get humane and quality health care remains. And we as physicians need to get ourselves to the forefront of the disruption that's happening in medicine right now. And that may look like finding creative ways of delivering healthcare, that may be finding ways to serve other physicians in order to help them thrive in their careers. And that may be helping physicians understand and figure out business in simple and practical ways so that they could continue to practice medicine on the terms they want, whether as an employee, what Dr. Una calls intrapreneur, or an entrepreneur in their own businesses. You will find strategies for these and so much more via the EntreMD podcast and in the EntreMD Business School. I'll link all the ways you can find Dr. Una and her resources in the show notes. If you have a quiet voice whispering, maybe this type of business framework is for me, go and subscribe to her podcast. Listen to the content that's just pure gold and get on her waitlist for the EntreMD business school when it opens up next year. You'll also be notified when she has live events which she holds at least once a year. And those events are always packed with so much value. If this conversation made an impact on you in any way, whatever that may be. please reach out to me and let me know about it. Share this episode on social media and tag me or the Dare to Dream Physician on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. keep spreading the word.
Dr. Gray, Host 36:49
Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss another episode. If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend and give us a five star review so we can help more physicians dare to dream and create their most abundant lives. There is also exciting news at the dare to dream physician. For those of you who wish to get clarity on your own why and get energized as you explore, envision and create your dream life. I'm so excited to announce that I'm taking on a limited number of one on one clients for life planning. To get the complete details and sign up for an expiration meeting. Go to my website daretodreamphysician.com. I really look forward to working with you. And it would be such an honor and privilege for me to be able to help you create your life plan. I truly believe that life planning will transform your life and will give you that energy to pursue your dream life sooner than you ever imagine. See you next week.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
physicians, people, podcast, patients, speaking, business, introvert, thought, talking, medicine, life, doctors, practice, Dr. Una, listening, brand, superpower, dream, pediatrician, build