Ep #213: The Pathway to Greatness

Hi docs, welcome to The EntreMD Podcast, where it’s all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I’m your host, Dr. Una.

Hello, hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of The EntreMD Podcast. As always, super pumped that you are listening. Thank you so much for being a listener. I truly am honored that you come back week after week and you share the podcast and spread the word about it. I really, really appreciate it.

Today we’re going to be talking about the pathway to greatness. And this is one of the episodes that you’re going to come back to again and again and again. It’s a very simple concept, but it has the potential to dramatically change your life, change your business, not just for now, but for decades. Okay, so the pathway to greatness.

Now, before we do that I do want to read a review for The EntreMD Method book. And this review is particularly special to me because this was review number 100. Okay, so we’ve crossed 100 reviews of The EntreMD Method book. I’m so grateful, thank you to everyone who has left a review.

And this is Dr. Kara Simonson and she says, “My go to gift for med student grads.” Okay, so pay attention to this. She says, “This book is a phenomenal resource for anyone, but especially physicians looking to break the mold. I am in medical education and plan on gifting this to my graduating students/mentee cohort. The book is chock full of lessons that will serve them well, no matter the path each takes.”

And so Dr. Kara, thank you so much for leaving this review. Thank you so much for buying copies for the graduating med students in that cohort. I truly appreciate it and I want to acknowledge you because you are the cavalry, right? This is what it’s all about.

We have complained about the system enough, we have worried about it enough, we have waited for someone to save us enough. Now it is time for us to do it ourselves. And that is exactly what you did, you took copies and you gave to them. So thank you so much for doing that.

Actually, I had copies sent to the residency program I graduated from, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. I’m like, “Here, how many residents are there?” 32. I’m like, “Here, here are 32 books, put them in their hands.” And I did that because that’s the book I wish I had when I was graduating from residency, and the healthcare space was nothing like what it is today.

So they are graduating to a world that they really will not know how to navigate. And so this is a good way to kind of get them ready for the real world, open their eyes to new level of possibilities, right? And so thank you, thank you, thank you so much for that review. Love it.

Okay, so let’s talk about the pathway to greatness. And this came out of a conversation that I had recently. I have a group of mentees that I met with, we had a dinner. And I love doing that because I was like, I just want to give back to these people. I want to take them behind the scene of some of the successes that I’ve had and tell them what exactly happened, what I did, and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

These are young women, they’re not physicians. These are young women, and I’m like this one conversation, this one dinner can change their lives forever. And so I thought of the stories to tell them. I said, you know what? I’m going to talk to them about my journey to a million. So we ended up calling it a journey to a million.

And I was like, I’m just going to walk them from the first time I had the idea, the doubts around the idea, the things that I did, how I found the strategies, the waiting periods, all of it. I shared all of it, right? And then after I was done with it, I opened it up for questions. I was like, ask me whatever. Open book, let’s do it.

And then so one of the amazing ladies, I really, really love her. She’s amazing and she has a British accent. You guys know, if you don’t know, you know that I love that accent, right? And so she asked a question, I’m not going to use her specific words because this was not recorded, so I’m kind of paraphrasing here.

And she was like, you know, you had talked about constantly being in rooms where everybody’s like smarter than you or wealthier than you and stuff like that. And she’s like, how do you deal with constantly having to level up? Right, like so you show up in a room like that, you level up, and then you find yourself in another room where you’re at “the bottom of the pack,” and then you have to start leveling up again. Like it’s like I’m constantly needing to level up.

And when she said that I almost got out of my seat and did cartwheels because I’m like this is a brilliant question. Right? It’s a brilliant question. So she’s like, how do you deal with that? I said, well, the first thing you do is that you reframe that because to you, it seems like a problem, right? It’s like, oh, I’m constantly needing to level up, I find myself constantly at the bottom of the pack and all of that.

But I was like, the truth of the matter is, it’s not a problem. It’s a great thing. Like for you to be this young and you’re already having this experience, it’s amazing, right? Because what that means is, you are constantly in the right room. You never want to be in the room where you’re the smartest. I know that’s something that is said a lot. But you also have to look at your life and say, okay, but is that my reality? Or am I in rooms where I’m the smartest, right?

Because think about it, if you’re a physician and you’re a successful entrepreneur, and maybe you have a podcast or YouTube and that’s doing well, you have all these things going for you. And if you’re not careful, you’ll start finding that you are the smartest in the room, right? You’re investing in real estate, you’re doing this, you have the highest net worth and all of that. But you want to intentionally be in rooms where you’re challenged, right?

And I said, so the fact that you are finding yourself leveling up and then finding yourself at the bottom of the pack, and that’s in quotations, right? She understands her value. But you’re leveling up and you’re finding yourself constantly leveling up, I mean, it’s the best. So I wanted to share my thoughts around that and why I was so excited about that. And if that’s not your experience, after this podcast episode my hope is that you make it your experience, right?

Okay, so a few thoughts, I’ll give you three of them. So the first thing is, you always, always want to be in rooms where you’re slightly intimidated, right? And when I say that, I don’t mean you get in there and you’re like, “Woe is me,” and you don’t speak up or anything like that. But it’s almost like you have to catch yourself, right? Like you have to go like, oh, wait a minute.

You have to remind yourself of your value, right? Because there’s that distance, like they’ve done all these things that some of them you haven’t even dreamed of doing, right? Like, it’s just out there, you want to be in rooms like that. And the reason for that is you become your environment. You become your environment, you become like those who are around you, right?

If you stand underneath a vent and the air is on high, you are going to get cold. You become your environment, right? They say that if you hang out with five millionaires, you become the sixth. If you hang out with five people that successful marriages, you become the sixth. You become your environment. Okay?

And so the thing is, who do I want to become? Then where are those people? And you go insert yourself with them, right? There’s an old proverb that says, walk with the wise and become wise, the end. Like just walk with the wise, become wise. Right? So what is it that you want to accomplish? Who is it that you want to be? Like in your dreams who do you see? Find where those people are gathered and join the gathering, right?

You want to be in rooms where you are slightly intimidated, okay. And by that, you know what I mean. I don’t mean you walk in there and you are intimidated, but you have to catch yourself so you aren’t. And some of those rooms, you may just find a lot of those rooms, especially at the higher levels, you will have to pay to play. And you have to be willing to pay to play. Your relationships are more valuable than money.

Relationships are more valuable than money because relationships can open doors for you that money will never open doors for, right? And each person you come in contact with, you know, let’s look at it this way. here’s someone you can come in contact with, who decides, you know, what? I have all these people in my audience I work with, and you work with people in my audience but you do for them something that I don’t do. I’m going to send all my people to you. That one relationship can give you millions and millions of dollars. One, okay?

There may be another person who maybe they don’t have millions of dollars, but they’re connected. And they mention your name once in the right room and that could create for you millions and millions of dollars, right? There could be another person who doesn’t look like much, is not well connected, doesn’t have a big audience, but they have information, right? And that person can give you one piece of information that can become millions and millions of dollars.

The room matters. The relationships matter more than money, okay? So if you have to pay to play in some of these instances, don’t get offended by it. Don’t get mad at it, like why can’t they just let anybody in? It doesn’t work that way. That’s just not the way it works, okay? All right, so if you need to pay to play, you can do that. All right?

That is also what we created in the EntreMD Business School, where you have a community of physician entrepreneurs. You have some people who you know, are doing a million in revenue. You have some people who are experiencing rapid growth, who started off with a bang, who are dominating on social media, who have connections that will blow your mind. Like connections to Miss Universe, connections to Hal Rod, connections to owners of companies and investors.

When you trace it, the power of that room is unbelievable. Unbelievable, right? And so we intentionally made it that way. Because the room you’re in matters. The community is almost as powerful, if not more powerful than the coaching. The Business School is built that way, okay? All right.

So that’s the first thought I have about that. And if you do that, wow, okay, I’ll tell you what happens afterwards. So the second thought, the second thought is you always want to be chasing a dream outside of your comfort zone. Right? You always want to have a dream that’s outside of your comfort zone, something that keeps you on your toes, something that makes you do some things afraid, and all of that.

You always want to have that kind of dream there. Why? Because the comfort zone is where good things go to die, you don’t want to be there. Being outside your comfort zone is what forces you to grow. It’s what forces you to take on new things. It’s what forces you to stay cutting edge. It’s staying outside your comfort zone. So you want to chase dreams outside of your comfort zone.

And one of the things that will help you do that is being in the right room. Because, I tell the story a lot, I was at a mastermind and somebody got up and she’s like, yeah, I’m thinking about selling my company. Somebody has approached me, they’re offering eight figures or nine figures, I don’t remember what it was. And I’m like, Wow, that’s amazing. And she’s like, at this stage in our business we’re doing an easy million a month.

I’m like easy million a month? Right? And I had multiple businesses at the time. But I had a business that wasn’t doing a million a year. And I was like if she’s doing an easy million a month, I should be able to do an easy million a year. And this is not from a place of comparison, or a place of feeling inadequate if I don’t have that kind of business. It’s not from that.

But the thing is this, I want to live out my full potential. When I die, I want to go like I did it all. And when I say did it all, like all the things that matter to me, the things I feel like I’m wired to do, right? I want to say I did it all, I did my part, boom, I’m done. I’m out of here, right?

And so I was like, so that’s a stretch for me, but I’m going to embrace that stretch, right? And so when you’re in those kinds of rooms, there may be dreams you’ve had, but you were too afraid to own them or something. But when you hear somebody else doing like 10, 20, 30 times that you’re like, “Okay, girl, come on, it’s not that serious. Say yes to the goal.” Okay, say yes to the goal. So that’s my second thought.

The third one is, you always want to be taking actions outside your comfort zone. I almost feel like I should sit here and talk about this quite a bit. So we’ll see how it goes, but not doing this is what kills so many dreams, right? Because now you’re in the right room, now you’re willing to accept a dream that is outside of your comfort zone. But if you will not also accept actions, accept to do actions, take actions that are outside of your comfort zone, then that creates frustration because you will know what is possible, but you won’t see it, right?

And so things like marketing your business on a whole new level. Doctors, unfortunately, we have a disadvantage. And that disadvantage is we do not see the connection between money and the mechanisms of creating money. Okay? Because historically what has happened is we’re super smart, we went to school, we did the work, we got good grades, we graduated, we got a job, we did our job well and we got paid, right?

And so we think if we do good work, we will get money. And that is not how this happens at all. If you got paid, you got paid because somebody marketed on your behalf, somebody sold on your behalf, somebody managed the money on your behalf, and they gave you a fraction of that. Okay? That’s the way that works.

And so because of that, when we go into businesses, whether we have private practices or we’re coaches or whatever, we come up with this conclusion that if we do a good job with our clients, then the money will take care of itself. That is not the way this works.

And so if you’re going to be a person who is going to be rooms where you’re slightly intimidated, you’re going to chase down dreams that are outside of your comfort zone, you’re also going to be a person who takes action. Especially those actions that you do not like around marketing and selling. Okay, you’re going to take those actions.

And so what that means is you’re like, I don’t like being on social media. The question is why? Sometimes people will say I’m a private person. Well, you don’t have to feature on there, your business persona can. I challenge you to go look at my social media, you see very well about my family and very little about me personally, or what I ate and all that stuff because I’m a private person.

I’m a very private person, but there’s a business part of me. There’s a business part of my life and that is plastered everywhere on social media. Why? Because I’m chasing my own impossible dream. I’m chasing my own dream that’s outside my comfort zone. Okay? So social media, why not? Facebook Lives, why not? Videos, why not? Being a guest on podcasts, why not? Right? Why are you not doing that, right?

Selling, like the actual art of selling, the actual art of telling people come work with me and this is what the investment is, like embracing that. It’s uncomfortable, yes, but that’s the pathway. That’s the pathway. If you want to have clients, that is the pathway, you got to get comfortable selling, right?

You got to get comfortable charging what your product or your service is worth, okay? You got to get comfortable putting yourself out there and serving your people at a high capacity. You have to get comfortable building referral sources. And so most of these things are uncomfortable for most people. And that’s okay, but you still have to do it.

Like when you were going through your medical training there were so many things that were so uncomfortable, but you did them, right? There was no talk of let me get comfortable with this, let me think about it, let me work on my mind about that. No, you did it, right? And for your business, you’re going to need to do that well, if you want to chase down greatness.

Now, if you want to be mediocre, it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to do any of this. But if you want to be great, and the definition of great to me is becoming everything you can be. It’s not becoming anybody else, it’s becoming who you can be. There are things I’m wired to do, I become excellent at that, that’s greatness, right?

So those are my thoughts. This is a reason why in the EntreMD Business School we have a challenge every month. And we have a challenge every month so you stay challenged, right? So you embrace things that you typically run away from. And I always warn them, I say at some point during this month you’re going to feel challenged. And when you do, remember that this is a challenge. It’s going to feel difficult, it’s going to feel uncomfortable. But remember, it’s a challenge. It’s called a challenge because it’s challenging.

Now, why? Why should I be in rooms where I’m slightly intimidated? Why should I chase dreams that are outside my comfort zone? Why should I take actions that are outside my comfort zone? Because if you do this, it means that you’re in constant evolution. Constant evolution. It means every day you’re getting better, every month you’re getting better, right? And the more you do it, the more the snowball effect kicks in where even now for a smaller effort, you’re getting much bigger transformations.

The thing about this evolution is you don’t see it day to day, you don’t see it week to week, right? But if you do this and you look back at your life after a quarter, and you look back at your life after a year, it will blow your mind. You’ll start saying things like, “I love who I’m becoming.” And not in a way like I know my value as an individual.

This is like I’m taking on this challenge, I’m building muscle, the things that I’m able to accomplish, the impact I’m able to have in the world, the revenue I’m able to generate, the free time I’m able to create for myself, the impact this is having on my family. You’re just like I love all of this.

And if you will stay on it, the difference it will make over a decade, and a decade will be here before you know it, right? The difference it will make, like I am telling you that you would go like, “Well, I had big dreams for my life, but I did not believe my life could look the way it looks.” That’s how good it will be. That’s how good.

So my challenge to you today is to find those rooms. And when you find them, take a seat and engage. My challenge to you is find those dreams that you kind of put pause on because you don’t think you can accomplish it and it’s really out of reach. And maybe it’s not even real, maybe it’s not valid. And I want you to own them.

And those actions you’ve been procrastinating on, those actions that you know you should take but you just pretend you don’t know because it’s intimidating, I want you to embrace them. And make these three things your habits. And if you do, I am telling you at the end of a quarter, at the end of the year, at the end of the decade you’ll be shocked at who you become. But you will love who you’ve become. Okay?

And if you’re like wow, I really need to embrace this entrepreneur thing. I really need to embrace these big dreams. I really need to do this. And you want to do it in community, then one of the best rooms out there is the EntreMD Business School and you should come join us. It’s entremd.com/business. You should come check it out and you should come join us, okay? Engage these three processes and it will change your life.

And so a big shout out to the lady who asked the question that provoked this episode. And if you’re here and you feel like you’re constantly chasing, you’re constantly needed to up-level, just remember it’s an amazing thing. You are constantly becoming more of who you’re wired to be every single day.

So that’s what I have for you, the path to greatness. And if you’re listening to this, greatness is an option for you. It’s an option for you and it is within reach. You start with these three things and you’re well on your way. And I would love nothing more than to celebrate you a quarter from now, a year from now a decade from now because of who you’ve become. So go do it. And don’t forget to share this with another doctor in your life.

Hey, if you love listening to The EntreMD Podcast I want to invite you to join EntreMD On Demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to entremd.com/ondemand and I’d love to have you join us. See you on the inside.