Ep #231: The Stories of Physicians Who Are Examples of What Is Possible

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.

Well hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. As always I am super pumped that I get to be in your ears. And today we’re going to have an episode like we’ve never had before, okay?

If you’ve read the EntreMD Method book you know that I said that I would have times where I’d go Google physician entrepreneur because I’m like, where are the physician entrepreneurs? Where are the examples of what is possible? Who are the people I’m supposed to be emulating, like modeling and pasting what they do? And I couldn’t find them, right?

This was pre Facebook groups. At that point, truthfully, I was such a super shy, socially awkward introverted introvert that I really couldn’t build those relationships if I wanted, but I couldn’t find them. And so because of that I’m really big on showcasing physicians who are really doing well as physician entrepreneurs. And not the highlight reel, like just the things that are working, but also featuring their challenges, the things that made them nervous, the triumphs they had, but the trials as well.

And we had a bonus session of EntreMD Live and we got to interview seven doctors from the EntreMD Business School and I really want to share their stories with you because you will get to hear about doctors who, you know, they wanted to start a business and they thought they couldn’t pull it off, or they wanted to grow a business and they didn’t think it was possible.

You will hear from doctors who are in private practice, doctors who are coaches, you’ll hear from startups, you’ll hear from veterans and it’s such a fantastic conversation. And so I want you to listen into it. I want you to hear the stories. I want you to find yourself in the stories. I want you to get a different perspective on what is possible for you and for the physicians in your world.

And I want you to really take the time, not only to listen to this and let it change your world, but I also want you to share it with another physician. I say this because there is so much pain in the physician space. There is so much people feeling like they’re stuck, they don’t have options, they don’t have a way out.

And that is just a terrible place for someone to be, someone who’s invested over a decade of their lives in getting training so they can help people and investing multiple six figures to get that education. And so I’m all about the emancipation, if you will, of physicians. I’m all about us finding what is possible and leaning into it and creating careers that we love and creating businesses that we love. So share this with another doctor, okay, and lean in.

And you may be thinking, well, that’s them. That’s not possible for me. But I want you to listen to this with a sense of possibility. Like what is possible, right? And let this just open up something brand new for you. And I can’t wait to celebrate the wins that you’ll create because you listened to this episode.

So let’s lean in and share it when you’re done. Okay?

Makeda: So again, I just want to welcome everyone to the bonus session. And Dr. Una, hopefully she’ll be able to come on today, she is at Emory University. You know, during the EntreMD Live 2022 she talked about that we are the cavalry, right?

So she’s at Emory University speaking to the residents there, the psychiatry residents there. She got a special invitation there. And she’s also going to give them copies of the EntreMD Method book. So she is on the road being the cavalry, you know, bringing that change in medicine that we all want to see.

Tonight’s session is going to be incredible. We have some of the most amazing doctors in this country and they all happen to also be members of the business school. So it’s really fantastic. And they are here with us to share their stories.

And I love stories because you can always see yourself in stories, right? Stories are great because you can see, you know, sometimes you have your own fears, you have your own reflections, and to see someone else that’s doing so well express the same things is always great. So we’re going to go ahead and get started. And we’re going to start with Dr. Khanna.

Dr. Khanna: Hello.

Makeda: How are you? It’s so good to see you. Welcome.

Dr. Khanna: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Makeda: So tell us a little bit about your story. You’re haven’t been in the business school a year yet, so tell us a little bit about your story. Tell us what was life like before the business school? What is it now? And I think it’s just impressive that you’re already making so many strides after only being in the school for a few months. So we are excited to hear about it.

Dr. Khanna: Sure. So my name is Malini Khanna, I’m in the Philadelphia area. I started the business school January 2022, so this year. And prior to the business school I had been contemplating starting my own private practice. And it just so happened that, I believe it was the day before our cohort actually started is the day I resigned from my position.

So I kind of knew I had this business school to look forward to. It was just kind of something that was going to happen eventually, and then it just all kind of came, almost it like fit into a puzzle. It just happened almost like poetically that I resigned the day before and then the day after we started the business school. So I had a lot of fear. I had a lot, a lot of fear. I was just kind of in shock that I actually resigned. It was just a lot of feelings going on.

So when I first came into the business school I was, you know, I’ve told other people this, that I was a little skeptical of what I was going to get out of the business school because it was, I was just in a very strange state of mind. It wasn’t anything that the business school didn’t offer, it was just my state of mind wasn’t, it was different. It was just really just jumping off the cliff and not knowing if there was water under me kind of thing.

So that’s kind of how I started, is just scared. So the biggest things pre EBS was just not even knowing how to be an entrepreneur. I have started two other businesses prior to starting my own practice. However, they weren’t on a large scale, they were more like side gigs. So this was like the real business, this was the real deal. So I had to get everything together and just make it happen.

So some of my tangible wins that have happened since I have become in the business school is that I have a physical location. And that was with the help of the business school because I was questioning where I should practice, I was dealing with some non-compete issues with my current practice. So again, I was just all over the place of what I should do. And it was just the community that I had the support is backing me up decision. But it was just nice to have support, so that’s a huge tangible win.

The other win I can say that I’ve had is that I’ve hired some staff. And then one of the biggest biggest wins, and this kind of crosses between tangible and non-tangible, is that I’ve just come out of my shell. I have been, you know, Dr. Una will always talk about how she’s an introvert. What does she call it? An introvert introvert.

Makeda: Introverted introvert, like I’m even more introverted.

Dr. Khanna: Yeah. So I would say I’m an introverted extrovert.

Makeda: Okay.

Dr. Khanna: So I actually like to be out and about and networking and get to meet people, but I’m nervous and I’m scared to do it. So this business school kind of like pushed me, kind of like gave me the nudge to be like, be who you are. Like go back out there, you like networking, you like meeting people, you like conferences. You like all that stuff, what are you hiding from?

So I was hiding for the last, I don’t know, four or five years because I was just in a comfortable position. And I was just making a salary and I was doing very well financially. But I wasn’t happy. So another tangible/nontangible win is that I kind of came out of my shell and I am on fire, I love it.

Makeda: That’s awesome.

Dr. Khanna: You know, and a lot of it is social media. So one thing the business school will teach you is how social media, how to be present on social media. The challenges kind of nudge you to learn it. No one’s going to sit there and teach you how to go on TikTok or how to go on LinkedIn, but it nudged me to figure it out. Like, okay, I’ve got this because if I figured it out, anyone can figure it out.

It’s just sitting down and just committing to it saying, okay, I’m going to figure out how to do LinkedIn. Okay, I’m going to figure out TikTok. Okay, I’m going to ask my 13 year old daughter how to do TikTok. You know, like it’s just I’m going to ask my young cousins how to do Instagram. It was just kind of putting myself in those positions where I was willing to learn, and that’s one of the biggest things we do as doctors, is we love to learn.

So I was back into learning. Even though it’s not medicine, I’m back into loving to learn again. So I would say those are my biggest wins as far as tangible.

And then nontangible wins, the biggest one is who I’m becoming in this process. I’m becoming just a person that I can’t even put into words. I’m becoming a very confident professional, which I would say wasn’t there when I was employed. I was confident in medicine, but now I’m more a confident professional entrepreneur, if that makes sense.

So those are the biggest things. And just understanding that it’s okay that it’s not perfect. That’s another thing, a non-tangible win is that I think we all as physicians are perfectionists and we want things to be perfect. And I think it’s having to let go. That it’s not going to be perfect, it’s going to be messy and you’re going to make mistakes. And I’ve already made mistakes. I’ve made some big ones.

Makeda: But it’s okay.

Dr. Khanna: And it’s okay. I pivot, that’s what you also learn. You learn to pivot.

Makeda: Exactly.

Dr. Khanna: You make a mistake and you pivot. And then you have that community backing you up, saying it’s okay, you made a mistake. And you see somebody else making the mistake or you see someone else pivoting. You just know that it’s normal, it’s like normalizing the entrepreneurial world, the entrepreneurial life.

Makeda: Thank you so much, Dr. Khanna, that is amazing. And I really, I didn’t know you had any part of introvertism in you because you’re so well spoken. You know, that’s wonderful. And you appear very confident. And like you said, it’s some of that confidence, you were confident in medicine but not confident as an entrepreneur. And the process of being in the business school has brought that out.

One thing that you said that, so many things were great, but one thing that you said that really stuck with me is how you joined the school at such a scary time. Oh my goodness, like you just resigned, you know, now you have to figure out finances, you have to figure out your business, you have to figure out what you’re going to do next. And then you jump into the school.

So that’s a really scary time, so I wonder how much the support of the community, you know, how much of a role it played in helping you to navigate that.

Dr. Khanna: Yeah, the community is priceless. There is no way to put a price on the people that you meet in this world. Dr. Una has put together just like, you know, all these wonderful physicians that are looking out for each other. To get into medicine we were so competitive. To be in residency we’re so competitive. To get into fellowship it’s so competitive. And it’s just one thing after another.

And then when you’re out in practice you’re competing to get patients. It’s just this was the first time I just felt accepted. And I felt like brought up, like people want to see me win. And I want to see people win. I mean, I’ve always done my own thing from day one. I’ve never had that competitive, like I compete against myself kind of competition.

But now it’s like I want everyone to win and everyone wants me to win. And that feeling is absolutely priceless. It’s just, I’ve made lifelong friends. I know it’s cliché, but it’s true.

Makeda: I know. And then you know the funny thing, and I think other people in the business school can attest to this, some people when they hear us talking about the school, they’re like that just sounds too good to be true. But it really is true, isn’t it?

Dr. Khanna: It is and it’s subtle.

Makeda: Yeah.

Dr. Khanna: And I think that that’s something you can’t expect like day one, and I wanted it day one. And I had to kind of sit back a little bit and observe. And that would be my biggest advice for everyone that, you know, everyone should get into the business school, but whoever does start it is to sit back and kind of observe.

And one thing that Dr. Una says to me, said to us, not to meet specifically but I keep it as it was directed towards me, is that Rome wasn’t built in a day. So I keep that saying over and over again. Because I’m trying to start this massive practice, I want it to be like multiple offices in multiple cities. And I’m just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, I have to slow down.

Makeda: That is so awesome. Let’s give jazzy hands for Dr. Khanna. I mean, she’s already got her building in six months, less than six months. She’s already got her building, she’s already got her staff. This is unbelievable. We are just so proud of you and thank you so much for coming on. Do you have any last words you wanted to say?

Dr. Khanna: No, just thank you. Also to you as well, I know you’re behind the scenes a lot, but I think having you by our side is also very helpful. So thank you to you too.

Makeda: Thank you. That is wonderful. Thank you so much. So it is so amazing when you hear about the business school, because it’s just like, okay, can it really be this great? Can it really be this amazing? And it really is.

So for those of you who are wondering should I make the move? And I’ve had some people ask me, you know, I’m thinking about doing a private practice, I’m thinking about starting fresh, I’m thinking about leaving medicine or I’m thinking about making a big transition, is now the right time?

And Dr. Khanna, in her story she let you know that it’s the right time. When is the right time to start your dreams? When is the right time to move forward? When is the right time to change your life? When is the right time to get the things that you want?

And I love how she spoke about finding herself in entrepreneurship. And I think a lot of people find that as well. You know, you didn’t even realize that you had it in you to do certain things, so it’s really great.

So the Business School is open, the link is in the comments. Apply. Even if you’re not sure, apply. If you’re thinking about it, apply and we will get back with you and we’ll have a conversation and we’ll discover together.

And now we have the amazing Dr. Toomer who is going to tell us about her wonderful story. I think Dr. Toomer is getting younger. Anybody else feel that way? It’s like what do I need to do? Dr. Beckford agrees, Dr. Brown agrees. I think maybe she needs to change her practice to get younger. You need to add that in somewhere.

Dr. Toomer: Well, one of the wonderful things that has come out of EntreMD is my moniker now is the amazing Dr. Toomer, which on of the other members of EntreMD Business School said once and it stuck.

Well, just so I can introduce myself, my name is Catherine Toomer and I’m a family medicine physician who is the CEO and founder of Health Wellness and Weight Loss Centers. And one of the things that I did was take a program that I used to lose 100 pounds to then apply it to my client.

However, when I was working for other people, I could not use it. I wanted to use it and I was getting frustrated. And so that’s what drove me into entrepreneurship. At first I didn’t even call myself an entrepreneur. I started my own practice, I started my own consultancy, but I didn’t have a business mind. In fact, I didn’t even consider it a business, I was considering it a service and that was it.

And then I met Dr. Una at a conference for another physician businessperson, but the person I was most impressed by was her. And I wanted to do what she was doing because she had a very successful, more than one successful business. And so she was a physician with multiple businesses that were successful, so that’s who I wanted to talk to.

And we started working together and immediately I noticed a change in my mindset, my revenue, in everything. So we worked together first one on one, but the real change happened when I joined the Business School. And mainly what changed was I had this community that I could ask any question, anytime and there was always someone who knew the answer.

And being in the business school I met people who were where I was. And so it gave me a clear picture of how far I’d come. But then there were also people who were beyond me who gave me inspiration to know where I could go.

And then I watched people just grow within the school who were doing some of the tasks, you know, some of the challenges we were given. Who were taking steps that we were offered and the guidance that we were given. And they were just blowing up in their area.

And so it helped me, one, trust the process. But it also took away my fear and it helped me do things scared. I was very confident in my information, very confident in my ability to help people. I was very confident, but I was not confident in getting my name out there. I wasn’t confident in even asking for money. I didn’t want to charge people for what I did. But the reason I wanted to do this was so that I could free up my time.

I needed flexibility for my family, for health reasons, for lots of reasons. And so what I did reflected the value of what I was doing, the more time and more freedom I had. And so that is really what EBS has done for me, it’s given me so much freedom. And so now I can take a week off if I feel like it, anytime I feel like it. Which I’m doing next week, I’m going to go to the beach for a week.

If I am particularly tired, I have flexibility in when I see clients and when I don’t. I have Mondays and Fridays are my learning days and my processing days. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I take four to five hours a day and fit clients in that time.

And then something else that happened is I went into areas that I had no idea I was going to. So now I have a group program, which I’d never even considered before. And it’s wonderful because it’s made me even more confident in business, it’s made me more confident in my helping the people that I’d like to help.

It made me more connected to others instead of one on one and you have 25 people or 28 people that you’re talking to on a regular basis. You just learn so much about their process, you learn a lot about yourself. And I would say I’m not an introvert, I am an extroverted loner.

So when I have to be around people, I’m fine. But my natural inclination is to stay by myself. But then I got help pulling me out of that because what that did, also it made it difficult for me to delegate, which I learned a lot about. It made it difficult for me to hire people because I like being by myself and working by myself.

And so those were things that I’ve gotten over that have made a huge difference in just the fulfillment of what I’m doing. It’s just really hard to explain, but the level of fulfillment and completeness that I feel now that I didn’t even realize I was missing before because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And now that I see it, I’ll never give it back.

Makeda: Yes.

Dr. Toomer. Ever. And I have made lifelong friends. I’ve made sisters, not just friends, I’ve made family in this process. And that is huge. And the amount of knowledge is just incredible. I’m just floored by the caliber of who are now my colleagues, which I didn’t have access to before in all these different fields, and many of them in fields that we’re in the same field.

And that’s one thing I love, is that we support each other. Even if we’re doing the exact same thing, we’re not doing the exact same thing because we all have our own magic that we add to what we do and we see that in one another and we support one another. And so there’s just no competition and that really, not only is there not competition, there’s a lot of support.

And so, earlier when it was mentioned, you know, not knowing how to do LinkedIn or TikTok, I didn’t have to learn it on my own. I actually put it in the group and went on Zoom calls with people. And I’ve done them with other people because I do a lot of LinkedIn. So I’ve actually done Zoom calls with other members saying, okay, this is where you put your name, this is where you say… And then I’ve had people show me how to do TikTok or show me how to do YouTube.

And so it’s just amazing that a level of support. And so now I just feel like no matter what I need, I have a place to go to ask for it. And if I feel like I’m faltering in any way, which does happen, I get a big boost. I mean, it’s a place to be vulnerable it’s a place to be supportive. It’s just a place to be all the best of who you are in a space where everyone celebrates every part of that.

Makeda: Wow, that’s so amazing. Can we clap, give jazzy hands for Dr. Toomer? Thank you so much for sharing all of that with us. And what Dr. Toomer did not say is that she’s done a TED talk, I think you’ve increased your revenue by so many hundreds percent.

Dr. Toomer: Within the first two months it was 600 and something plus percent. Yeah, which surprised me. Which I had a little system that would tell me, but I was really surprised.

But I did do a TED talk and that was directly related to one of the exercises. You know, it was just we’re encouraged to get ourselves out there because if people don’t know who you are or where you are, then the service that you have to offer is being kept from them. And so I started doing Facebook Live, which I thought I was going to die.

Makeda: But you didn’t die.

Dr. Toomer: But now I’m sitting here thinking, okay, I’ve got makeup on, as soon as this is over I’m going to get on a Facebook Live, I’m not going to waste this face. Which I never would have done before.

The other is that because of doing Facebook Lives, and then I take my Facebook Lives and repurpose them through YouTube. And then I was asked if I had ever considered doing a TED talk. Which I had, it was on my vision board.

And so when I was asked I jumped at the opportunity and did a TED talk on impostor syndrome. Which if everyone knows, my pet peeve is that imposter syndrome isn’t real. It’s really bravery. It’s really bravery. But that has opened up a lot of opportunities for me, I now have speaking engagements.

I do paid speaking engagements, which I hadn’t planned on doing this soon. I thought that was going to be down the road. But these opportunities keep coming up and I just keep saying yes.

Makeda: That’s amazing. And it’s wonderful how one thing leads to another in business. And I love that you brought up the fact that you just wanted to help people. And I think physicians as a whole love serving and they love helping people. I’ve met almost, I don’t think I’ve ever met a physician who didn’t.

And I think that once they make that transition to entrepreneurship, that’s one of the hardest things like, you know, is giving away services for free. Dr. Dewey mentioned that in the comments, you know, feeling like can I charge? Should I charge? How much should I charge? All of that. But I’m so glad we are able to work through that in the school.

And you brought up another really good point that I love. Sometimes when people think about coming to the business school, and I get this question a lot, they say I’m at one level, will it make sense for me to join when people are all at different levels?

And you brought up, I love what you said, you said I’m able to look back at where I used to be from people who are starting, but I also have people ahead of me so I’m able to be inspired by them. And then I also have people who are, you know, we’re at the same page so we’re able to feed off of each other and learn from each other. And everyone learns from everyone, basically. So I really love that.

Dr. Toomer: Can I just add one more thing?

Makeda: Sure.

Dr. Toomer: My biggest obstacle in starting my business was thinking I was too old to do it. And I was 51 when I started my business six years ago.

Makeda: Wow.

Dr. Toomer: Well, seven years ago, I’ll be 58. No, I’ll be 57,57 in August. So yeah, so six years ago I started my business. And so I hear that a lot. It’s too late. And the jump was the best thing I’ve ever done. And I had no way of knowing where I was going to land. That was the other, it was a leap of faith. A true leap of faith.

But with the way the structure is, the way the business school is structured, it’s not a leap and then flounder. It’s a leap with lots of hands, and lots of minds, and lots of parachutes, and trampolines and other things right below you so that you just float down to where, or float up and float out to where it is that you’re going to go. It’s not like you’re flailing.

And that was actually probably the biggest comfort of, well it was the comfort of the business school because I was scared. And everyone kept telling me I was old. So I’m not old. But I mean that’s just to show what a difference six years makes. I could have just not done it and then where would I be now if I hadn’t?

Makeda: Yeah, and the schedule you have now, if you hadn’t done it there’s no way you would have had it. Who else wants Dr. Toomer’s schedule? I was like, “I can take a week off any time?” That’s fantastic.

Dr. Toomer: I took a month off when my father passed away in 2020. And just one last thing and I’ll let somebody else take over. But my father passed away on March 13, 2020. We had a Covid shutdown five days later. My office shut down five days after that.

Makeda: Wow.

Dr. Toomer: And so I just shut down and I just said, you know what? I need this time to recover. And fortunately, I had everything digitized and online so that I could pivot with the help, again, of Dr. Una and the school. And so I was able to pivot and maintain my business even though I stopped working for a month.

Makeda: Oh wow, isn’t that amazing? That is amazing, jazzy hand for Dr. Toomer.

Dr. Toomer: So that’s my biggest win, that will always be my biggest win.

Makeda: To be able to pivot and still flourish during Covid and then after everything that you experienced, that’s powerful. That is so good. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you for being with us tonight.

Dr. Toomer: Thank you.

Makeda: And we’re going to look for you more, we’re going to look for you more because we know we’re going to see more of Dr. Toomer. Thank you so much.

Dr. Toomer: You’re welcome.

Makeda: Okay, Dr. Brown, are you here? And you know, we have some new EntreMD Business School students that have joined. I want to welcome all the new students that are watching with us tonight. Welcome to all of you. And we have the amazing Dr. Brown, who’s going to share with us tonight her EntreMD story.

Dr. Brown: Awesome. Hi, everyone, this is the best room to be in as a physician. So for me, I would say before EBS I think one of the things I felt was there was more. And I’m sure many of us kind of know that feeling like, you know, I had worked really hard to be where I was. I just really had this sense of this is not just right, it’s not, there’s much more.

And one of the things I really wanted to do was have impact that exceeded the exam room. I saw myself as someone who sort of inspires and encourages people. And so I had this gift that I knew I had, but really had a hard time figuring out how to channel it.

And so one of the things I had to do was some work in me, which was okay, what can I do with what I have right now? And finding my zone of genius, which is I can talk about sleep all day every day. So if any one of you wants to do me the pleasure of falling asleep as I’m speaking, I will be honored because I just did my job.

And then, of course, like most people, stumbled upon Dr. Una through a friend actually, Dr. [inaudible], and then started bingeing on her work. And I said, okay, this person will take me there. I just kind of knew because of her philosophy, it wasn’t like pushy overwhelming. And so I joined the school, you know, I went from just saying there’s more to now starting my own business as, you know, pretty much close to being full time.

So I know there was a question about being a full time employee, but still able to build something of my own, being able to put myself out there, you know, being able to own my message. And I’m really getting a chance to just play around with things because I feel like there are no rules in that sense.

We’ve heard that word pivot quite a number of times. Like, okay, you know what? Let me give expression to this yearning I’m having and if I go down that route and it doesn’t work I get to say, okay, at least I tried.

And I would say maybe to backtrack, one of the things because initially I was struggling with that decision. I really didn’t see myself as an entrepreneur. I saw myself as, okay, I would work for these people and they will take care of me, you know? But then I knew with that restlessness, I had to look ahead and say, okay, six months from now if I still have this restlessness and I’ve not done anything about it, I’m not going to be very happy with myself.

So I think regardless, if you’re on the fence, the thing about it is time will pass. And so whatever decision you make, you have to make sure that in that future, your future self will be okay with where you are at that point. Especially if even if all you have is an idea.

And another thing that I was hesitant about was there are people doing so many things. People that are building 6, 7, 8 figure businesses and here I am, you know. And then there are people who have been entrepreneurs for a while and here I am. But the beauty of the school is that there are just so many levels, and that person or those people that seem to you to be way, way ahead are also dealing with struggles similar to yours.

And just the vulnerability we share, the ability to just come and say, “Guys, I’m tired. I don’t even know what I’m doing.” Or, “Guys, I made my first million.” You know, like it’s so bizarre and that space is safe and everybody is cheering you on. And so that was one community that I felt like, okay, this is the place to be for someone who’s looking for that next level.

And so, some of my wins in addition to just even launching, calling myself an entrepreneur to start with and launching my own business, figuring out LLC, you know, business account, like things I never. My husband was like, “Okay, this has changed you.” And even the change that people have seen about me, I’ve had opportunities to speak on so many platforms, I think I’ve done up to like probably close to 50 podcasts.

And then also now having opportunities for paid speaking, which was something that I really wanted to do. And as an educator, as someone who likes to teach, being able to help launch courses. One of the biggest was been on Baby Center, and so that’s been incredible. And then back again, being able to share all that with EBS and my classmates are just excited. Even more excited for me than I am, you know?

And really I think that’s just been, that’s just been phenomenal. I actually just got a call about them wanting to pitch me on TV, and so they’re asking if that’s okay. So I know where I’m going to go, I’m going to go to EBS and say, okay, guys, what do you think? What should I do? How does that work with being employed? But really having that space to do that, I think has been incredible.

So again, if you’re on the fence I would say just do it.

Makeda: Thank you so much. You said so many wonderful things. And I like the way Dr. Brown says, so you know, Baby Center that national brand, actually international brand.

Dr. Brown: Yeah, they just called me and now we’re even talking TV. Who knows, you know?

Makeda: That’s wonderful. From just feeling restless, knowing that you wanted to change, to now actually actualizing your change. Not just in your world, in your business, even your husband sees the change, but also within yourself. You’re feeling more confident, you’re feeling like you know what? I have a purpose, I have things in me that the world needs to see.

I love the fact that you said I have gifts that need expression and my impact has to exceed the exam room. That’s just beautiful and thank you so much for sharing your story with us. And I love that you said if you’re on the fence, just do it.

Because the price for inaction is actually greater than the price of action. Because Dr. Brown brought up a great thing, the price for inaction means that if you don’t do the business school, if you don’t invest in yourself, if you don’t invest in your growth, if you don’t invest in knowledge, where will you be a year from now? So that’s the question you have to ask yourself.

So the link to join is in the comments. And, Dr. Brown, we are so proud of you. Every time I go on Baby Center I’m going to be like, “Well, I kind of know somebody higher up.” So I’m going to feel really special. Thank you

Dr. Abe is here with us. Now Dr. Abe is just so amazing, she is joining us live all the way from Japan. We need to all stop what we’re doing and give her jazzy hands. Everyone please, if your camera is on, please. She’s joining us all the way from Japan and she has been doing this for a year. She’s on so many of the live calls all the way from – So when you join the live calls, what time is it in Japan?

Dr. Abe: So when I join the live, hello everyone. I’m Minako Abe and yeah, I’m joining you guys from Tokyo, Japan. It was eight o’clock in the morning when we started here, so it’s actually not terrible. And this was a way that I just started my mornings. So in the EBS school it was Thursday mornings at 8am for me. So I just came into the office a little bit early. And then sometimes I would get pulled away and stuff like that. But it actually worked out really great.

So I would say to anybody who’s considering joining, EBS is the place for radical transformation. And I look at myself a year ago and I look at myself now and I am a completely different person. I totally resonated with Dr. Una, it’s like I’m an introverted introvert. But if you don’t put yourself out there, then you can’t be of service to anyone, right?

And same with Dr. Toomer, like she was saying, “Well, I didn’t want to charge.” And I’m like that too. It’s like I want to serve and not charge. I feel so uncomfortable when it comes to business and money and all these things.

And my background is I was an ER doctor in New York City for 15 years before I moved back to Japan where my father has his private practice. And he’s getting older, he’s 83 years old and he wanted some help back here. So that’s why I moved.

But I was perfectly happy in ER world. I’m sure there was burnout and all that stuff too, but I was happy being like a worker bee. And I figured I could spend my whole life, you know, I go in, I do my shift, I get paid for the work I do and I go home. And I was totally comfortable with that.

And then eight years ago when my father needed help and I moved back to Japan to help him with his practice, I was completely lost. I had no idea how to run a private practice. And what he actually does is we have a regenerative medicine practice, it’s called Tokyo Cancer Clinic. And we do cellular immunotherapy treatments for patients.

So completely different, something that’s not even available in the states, right? And so I’m running a lab here, which is, you know, we take blood from our patients, we isolate out the immune cells and we grow them out. And then we re-transfuse them into patients bodies. Completely out of my field, and everything’s in Japanese, right?

And I’ve lived for 30 years in the United States, my primary language is English so I had to relearn Japanese from scratch. So between that, between the culture shock, between having to manage people, I was completely out of my element.

And then after that, Covid hit. And especially in the private practice here, a lot of our patients were flying in from Korea, from China, from other countries to get this treatment because it’s only available here. And with the shutdown, Japan’s completely locked down, it’s still locked down to tourists. So two and a half years of complete shutdown, our patient population here dropped like 80%. And we have been really, really, really, to this day we’re still struggling to keep our doors open.

And it was at this point I was starting to listen to Dr. Una’s podcast. And then I thought this is what I need. I mean I am clueless when it comes to business, I’m clueless when it comes to asking for money and I need to make this work. So that was the thing that really pushed me to join EBS.

And then I was worried that, you know, being in Japan will this really be applicable to me? And it really has because it’s not just about like, you know, there are different rules and regulations in different countries, but people are the same, right? Patients are the same, they want what you have, and if you don’t put yourself out there to be able to clearly own your message and explain with clarity, like this is their pain point and we can help you.

And it’s not sleazy, and I always hated talking and marketing because I felt like it was sleazy, it’s so against our nature as doctors. You know, we’re just here to help, and the money part management takes care of that, right? But it is all integrated. And just to be able to say, no, this is me, I have a service, I can help you. And that all ties into it. So then you can actually really own who you are, have complete clarity of your message.

And then this community, the EBS community, they’re so supportive, right? There’s not a more supportive space that I think you can be in as a doctor because they know what it’s like and you’re not alone. So I think this is what was so, so valuable for me.

That and just embracing the discomfort, right? I was already in a timezone and an environment that was completely uncomfortable and it was really hard, for sure. But EBS has also helped me just to embrace it. Embrace the discomfort.

So when I’m out there talking, I do a lot of talking to patients, trying to bring them the message and just being okay with being uncomfortable. And then eventually you kind of get used to being uncomfortable. And then you realize that if you’re not uncomfortable, then you’re not doing enough.

So these are just some of the things, and I’ve done so much in this past year that I just never would have if I hadn’t joined. In addition to helping manage the lab and the clinic and being a better boss, being able to talk to people, you know, I’m being better at talking for sure.

I think when I first started I totally bombed this talk on stage where I was speaking in Japanese and I got a lot of negative criticism and I would have just crawled into a hole. But instead I came to EBS and everybody was so supportive. They said, no, you pick yourself back up and you go back out there and you do it better, you learn from your mistakes. And there’s no one nowhere that you can be that was more supportive for that.

So I’m much more confident in speaking. I started one on one coaching for clients who are suffering from cancer. And I actually started a live course, which is something that, you know, I did a 12 week course with one cohort in the United States, one cohort in Japan and that’s something I wouldn’t have even thought of doing before. And then now what I’m doing is I’m consolidating it and creating an online course.

So like really starting from zero, starting my own website, starting my own blog. I always hated recordings of me or just hearing my own voice, but being comfortable going on as a podcast guest, live recordings like the Facebook Lives and doing recordings and putting myself out there, it was so uncomfortable.

But I’m so glad I did because now I am more, you know, in my community becoming sort of more of a household name. Moving from obscurity to becoming a household name and that is the goal for us to get ourselves known, get our businesses out there so people know. People can’t come to you if they don’t know about you.

So I just wanted to thank everyone here and for my wonderful classmates, for Makeda and Dr. Una because it’s truly, truly been transformational.

Makeda: That is so amazing. Oh my goodness, you said so much. I mean, the personal growth and doing things afraid, all of the things that you never would have seen yourself doing, you’re doing it. Even how you pivoted your business.

That word keeps coming up tonight, doesn’t it? The pivot, how you’re able to pivot your business with Covid shutting down and, you know, Tokyo still being close to tourists, but all of these wonderful ideas came. And I love that you talked about the marketing aspect because most people, not just doctors, but most people feel like selling is sleazy. It’s kind of like, oh, I don’t want to bother people.

But you’re actually helping people, they’re looking for what you have to offer. And like you said, what you’re offering is not even offered in the US, so you have that gold mine there. Imagine if you didn’t go out and tell them. So I love that you’ve been able to do that. That’s wonderful. You should be so proud. I mean, we’re proud. That’s great, thank you so much.

And I think one of the things that is so great about you, Dr. Abe, is that you kind of pushed through a lot. You know, like each barrier you just pushed through, then you got another barrier and you pushed through it, then you got another barrier then you pushed through. But you also mentioned the support of the community. And I think that that had something to do with that as well, if I’m not mistaken, right?

Dr. Abe: Yeah, for sure. The community has been really beautiful and really wonderful and inspirational. Like some of my classmates have said, everybody’s at a different level and you just learn to go at your own pace. Sometimes you might feel like, oh my gosh, I’m so far behind, this person is doing so great. But just compare yourself to yourself. Like where are you now and where are you going?

But it’s great to see people who are ahead of you because then you can look up to them and follow in their footsteps, right? And then you can see people who are just starting out and it feels good to give back, right? So it helps if you can be kind of a big brother or big sister to somebody else, and then you’ve got big brothers and big sisters who are also ahead of you. So I think that’s another beautiful thing about the community.

Makeda: It really is. Thank you so much, Dr. Abe. Thank you for joining us so early in the morning. And thank you for inspiring us, you really inspired us all. Thank you.

Dr. Abe: Thank you so much.

Makeda: Okay, so now, we’ve heard this word support over and over again about the community. So one of the things that makes entrepreneurship so, I don’t want to use the word scary, but one of the things that makes it scary is that it’s kind of an alienating thing because you can’t really talk about your business and your business ideas all the time, can you?

I mean, can you talk about it with everybody? No, I mean, even your spouse, even your friends, even your family may get tired of hearing about it. But in this community, you’re able to express, you’re able to be vulnerable, you’re able to really literally, you know, what’s on your mind you can post all the time.

And I just want anyone that is out there feeling like, you know, will I be supported in this? What if I don’t know what to do? What if things don’t work out? What if I fail? I spoke with someone today and they’re like, “What if I have a financial loss?” That was their fear, of having a financial loss in their business. Their fear was failing in the business.

But when you have this level of support, and Dr. Toomer gave a very poetic picture of falling, but you’re not just falling off the cliff into an abyss. You’re falling into hands, you’re falling into parachutes, you’re falling into mattresses. She didn’t say that, she said it more poetic than that. But you’re falling into care, so that’s really powerful.

Business School is open, the link is in the comments. If you’re thinking about it, go ahead and apply.

I’m going to go ahead to Dr. Anyoku

Dr. Anyoku: Hello, hello. Hello.

Makeda: Hello. This is our sage, this is our powerhouse. When she enters a room, you notice.

Dr. Anyoku: This is why I come to EBS, because they make me feel like I’m 10 feet tall. I’m so excited to be part of this conversation. Why am I the sage? I’m so grateful to have Dr. Toomer represent those of us who’ve been on this journey for a little bit longer. So thinking about it, I actually interviewed Dr. Una when she applied to residency, so I’m kind of long in the tooth and super, super, super proud of that opportunity.

I first encountered EBS when I was invited to be a speaker to the class early on in the first group. And I’m a pediatrician by training, I have my MD, I have an MPH, I also have an MBA. So I actually have a full on $100,000 business degree, but I am a student of EBS.

And so I came to the group the first time to share some of the journey that I’ve been on. I’ve been faculty, I’ve been in academic medicine, I am what is called an intrapreneur where I have been able to grow in employed medicine for almost 30 years and been able to thrive in that space, which is a challenge to a lot of people. And what I’ve done over the years is really give people tools to navigate that space, much like I have.

So I haven’t really been in the entrepreneurship space per se, I’ve been more in the how do you capture the value of doctor you incorporated, right? You’re the CEO of your brand and how do you make your brand such that you understand the value and you project that value so that those who you work with, either they employ you or you are offering a service as an entrepreneur, they understand what value you bring.

And that’s a conversation that’s going to be very important as you embark on this journey because we challenge with oh my goodness, can I pay? Can I charge people? And you’ve heard that mentioned by some of the doctors who’ve already spoken today. And the thing that you talk about is not about your hourly rate because we’re like, well, if I was seeing you for an hour I would charge you X amount of dollars.

No, you have to think about the transformation that you bring to people’s lives. And that’s the what I want to talk about, the journey of being at EBS, that it brings transformation as you’ve already heard.

Why did I decide to sign up after having been a teacher? I thought, a word that has also been talked about today, I have been doing this stuff for a while. You know, I do it for free, I do it for work for the people that employ me, but can I encapsulate that value and have it bear my name and my brand, right? Because I have been supporting people, I have been guiding and coaching physicians for years and years. But I was just like, well, that’s just what I do, right?

And the question is, is there a way to distill that into a business, right? That it’s something that I own and I put my brand on and I can hold on to it regardless of what happens in the organization. And I thought, you know, I had gone to business school, I know the language of business. But that didn’t tell me how to capture this, right? Because I thought there was medicine and then there was business, right?

So now I’m in the C suite, so I’m part of the P&L and the strategy meetings, that’s what I got from business school. Well, how does that advance me? How does that secure me going forward? So everybody, you know, there are people who work in an institution and will continue to do so. Dr. Funke has done amazing things with a .8FTE, right? So she’s still bringing value to her institution, but she’s also creating and establishing her brand which she can take going into the future.

And that’s what I wanted for myself. And I want accountability partners. And I wanted a space where I could just share the things, I was like “I do this, but…” And they’ll say, “Yeah, you know that’s a business, right? You know there are people out there who need that.” I’m like, oh, yeah, I guess I could do that as a business, right? Because I just do it, you know, doesn’t everybody do that? No, apparently not, everybody does not do that, right?

So being in this space helped me to have that conversation in a way that was encapsulated. I’m like I speak, I’ve been speaking for years. You Google me I’m on CNN, BBC, all over the place. And I’ve been doing that for many, many years, but could I be a speaker? Could I get paid for doing that? And I just hadn’t thought about it. It’s just a thing I do.

So you call me to speak, I’ll be up there speaking and telling you what’s my jam and how can I help you? But I came to EBS and in that space, just in the space, right, the osmosis of the space, you start to think, well, you know that can do this a different way.

So I went to the last retreat, and I’ll just tell you this story of my big win. And I’m sitting there and I’d been invited to speak, to be a graduation speaker for the master’s in medical management Program at Carnegie Mellon University. First of all, mind blown, like really? You want me? Okay, yeah, let’s do that.

And they’re like can you tell us what your fee is? And I was thinking I don’t want them to withdraw this opportunity. I’m sitting at the EBS retreat and I said, “Shoot I’m going to tell them what I want.” And I told them what I wanted and about five minutes later they’re like, “We will make sure you got it.” And I’m thinking, this is a thing, right?

The mindset shift that you experience, and I’ve been doing this, I’ve been coaching people, I’ve been doing that. But I hadn’t actually thought about how do I codify this for myself, right? How do I make this in a way that captures my essence, brings my authentic self to service in a way that is sustainable? Because if you serve and you don’t earn, eventually you burn out and you let it go.

But one of the things we say a lot at EBS is you want to earn, serve and earn. Because if you keep calling me to speak and you’re not paying me, I’d be like, listen, I got swimming, my nails have to be done. But if I’ve figured out how to get paid for it, then I’m more willing and more able to make space in my calendar to serve a bigger population.

So I’m a speaker now, a paid speaker to my own amazement. I wanted to be a, I’ve been a coach because I’ve always coached people, but now people are like, I want to pay you to be my coach. I’m like, really? I don’t even have time for that. No, I want to. So I have people reaching out to me because I’ve been on all these podcasts. And they’re like, you are the coach I want because you know the space I’m in and you know what my pain points are.

And so I have at least three people who are telling me I need you to be my coach. And I’m saying do I have time? Okay, yes, I have time, I can make this time because I can put other things aside. That’s the magic of the community.

And I just want to close by saying I do one on one coaching because I coach people who are employed and so there are answers that are different. But if you want to be an entrepreneur, the lessons are universal. And being in a group like this where you can learn other people’s lessons, you don’t have to make all the same mistakes yourself. You can learn from other people’s experiences, you can learn that pivot looks like this, you can learn that falling into supporting hands looks like this.

So I’m not afraid to come out and say, okay, people, this is what I’m doing. And I don’t know what it’s going to look like. But so and so said something, and I’m just going to take the chance that my sharing, and somebody in there will be like, hey, have you thought about this? And that’s that key that you were missing. And so there’s a difference, it actually has a different power, having the group.

And so thank you for letting me share my story. If you’re thinking about it, just do it because you’re going to be six months older, you’re going to be one year older anyway. And if you don’t, what are you going to do instead?

Makeda: Wow, now we all see why she’s a paid speaker, right? That was amazing. Thank you so much, Dr. Anyoku it was powerful. And I just love the transition that you spoke about because you said that you had an MBA, and a $100,000 MBA not just any MBA. But you still came to the Business School. Can you expand on that a little bit more? What made you still choose the business school, even though you had an MBA?

Dr. Anyoku: I think really it’s the energy of the business school. We call it a marketing stew, when you think about all the different ways you market yourself. But the entrepreneurship stew of being in this place with everybody who are physicians, who have come through the same path that you have, right, we learned things similarly and we have a focus on serving patients.

But in this space, this particular space, everybody is navigating this path together in business school and with people who’ve been MBAs since they were 21, right? And they’ve been doing spreadsheets and all of that. But how do I learn to hire people, because I’ve been employed, right? How do I learn to build a team? How do I learn the systems that I need?

The MBA doesn’t teach you that. They assume you know that because everybody else knows it and you’re just kind of like, oh, yeah, yeah, that sounds right. But mostly what it helped me do was that I could have different level of conversation in my organization.

And I’ll tell you my MBA, University of Washington, has a focus on entrepreneurship. It does have that focus, but it doesn’t have focus on entrepreneurship as a physician because there is a physician mindset that you have to navigate to get across this different mindset.

And what the EBS does is that it speaks specifically to this physician mindset. And so that’s why it was valuable for me despite the fact that I already made the other investment. This other investment actually added the icing on the cake and helped me to propel, and helped give me accountability partners, and most of all supportive partners.

Makeda: That is so amazing. Accountability is everything in entrepreneurship, isn’t it? And one thing that I love about the business school is that we’re a school of action. It’s not all about theory and courses and you know what I mean? You know, because at the end of the day it’s the action that’s going to make the difference. But how easy is it to act when you don’t have accountability? You need the accountability to be able to do all of those things.

So I see in the comments that you’re an inspiration, and you definitely are. We’re so proud of everything that’s going on. We’re so proud of, we can’t wait to see you more, you know, doing your international speaking. And now you get to say, well, how much is my time worth? You need me, how much is my time worth?

And I like Dr. Khanna said you’re supposed to ask them what’s their budget first. So their budget may be even higher than what you want.

Dr. Anyoku: I did, their budget was lower than what I wanted. I asked for what I wanted anyway.

Makeda: And she asked for what she wanted, and she got it. That is powerful. Thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your story.

All right, so like I said this is just the tip of the iceberg, the accountability is just the tip of the iceberg. Learning from one another is just the tip of the iceberg. Learning to navigate sales, learning all the nuances of business, all of the things that is involved is just the tip of the iceberg. So any questions that you may have, please apply to the business school and we will get in touch with you.

Now we have the wonderful Dr. Szabo. Dr. Szabo, we’re so glad to have you here, tell us more about yourself.

Dr. Szabo: Thank you so much for having me. I definitely feel honored that I’ve been asked to kind of share my story. You know, after all the wonderful speakers tonight I don’t know if I can tell you anything new. Because they have summarized the essence of what I love about the school. But I guess everyone’s story is a little bit different.

I come from a background of dermatology, I actually have owned my practice for 12 years. And you would say that actually I’m very humbled, but we are very successful. I started with two part time and one full time employee and now we have 40 full time employees 12 years later. So I mean, it’s very humbling. It’s wonderful.

But I actually, for the past two to three years, it was before the pandemic that I started to feel burnt out and I felt that I had to work really hard to still like my job. And we were growing and we were adding on more providers. But honestly I really actually just was thinking about selling my practice.

The reason why I was thinking to find some alternative options, because I really love what I do. But honestly, I couldn’t really share my experiences, I couldn’t really ask anybody around me the questions I had or even just to discuss problems I was having as an entrepreneur. And in my practice, although I do have another physician, he has no desire to be the entrepreneur. He just wants to come to work and he loves what he does.

And so I kind of felt alone, and I felt that the things I wanted to do was really odd. I wanted to grow my practice, I wanted to figure out better ways to do things. I wanted to kind of make it more effective. I wanted to be more helpful for my employees.

I mean, I wanted to do so many things and people kept asking, why are you trying to do this? You’re already successful, why are you still trying to grow? It’s a pain. And I feel like there is a need in the area where we live at and I still want it to continue to practice, but I just didn’t see a way to actually continue.

And then the pandemic hit and we had a few months at home because they wouldn’t allow us to practice. And so I started to look more into different options, coaching and I did join a coaching group where I felt that that was not what I actually was looking for. It was more of a personal coaching, which I think is really, really important. But it was not something that I thought that as an entrepreneur was very helpful for me. It was not what actually I found in EntreMD that it was offering.

So I kept looking, kept searching and I did bump into Dr. Una in one of the groups and I kept reading her comments. And then I started to listen to her podcast and binge listened to her podcast and I thought that she is a person who thinks like I do and I want to follow her footsteps, see where it leads.

And then so I did her EntreMD Live actually exactly a year ago and then there was no question for me after that that I needed to join this group of physicians who think the same way I do. All of a sudden I didn’t feel the oddball, I didn’t feel like the outlier. And so that was my number one reason why actually I joined.

But in the journey, of course, I benefited so much more from the school. And the community, of course, everyone talks about it, it is absolutely unparalleled. It’s not only when we go in person mastermind or retreat is absolutely wonderful and it fills you up. But we do different level of mastermind, right? We have the entry level, we have the people who have owned their practices for a long time. So we break it down for everyone’s personal needs.

Initially, I was a little bit hesitant about the group format, I wanted Dr. Una all for myself. And then I actually learned over the months, as we do meet once a week and I learned very quickly that in fact I get multiple Dr. Unas because everyone’s input comes from their own personal experiences. So you can’t really replace that.

And although, of course, Dr. Una’s experience and her expertise is amazing, but the way she leads people and the way she coaches on a weekly basis, you can learn so much from it.

And I thought I’d talk a little bit about my other personal situation, I do have four kids. And I thought that well, a program like this is just going to be super overwhelming and there is no way that with practicing medicine and managing kids’ lives at home, that I can actually pitch in to this program. And lo and behold your classmates push you through, you really feel like that you can do this.

And so that accountability is really, really strong. And I am that kind of a person, if my girlfriend is going to the yoga class at 5am, I’ll go, I will not let her down. So it’s the same idea, you don’t want to let your classmates down and you want to keep up.

And to tell you the truth, there is no way to do everything because the program is very rich, but you get out a lot. You want to tell yourself, okay, well, this is what I can do at this situation. But a few months later you’ll remember what that was and then you kind of step by step, you push yourself forward in the path of improvement and scaling no matter where you start.

Even if you’re still employed somewhere else, or if you want to stay employed somewhere else, or if you have a business idea that is just at the seed level. No matter where it is at in its development, it is very helpful.

Makeda: Thank you so much, Dr. Szabo I love that, can we give jazzy hands for her? Thank you so much. I love the fact that you brought up that you already had a successful business. If I’m not mistaken, I think your business was already a seven figure business when you came into the business school.

But she had a desire for more, she had a desire to learn better ways of operating, she had a desire to learn how to be more effective, and she had a desire to grow, and I love that. So if there’s anyone that’s contemplating the business school but they’re already in the seven figure mark, already has a certain level of success, I’m glad that your story lets them know that there’s more and there’s always more.

Dr. Szabo: Yeah, the way Dr. Una moderates the sessions is really, she so beautifully, so elegantly provides for everyone nuggets and homework so you feel like you are benefiting, not only the person who’s just about to start out.

And I do think because I have 12 years under my belt in this practice, I feel like that, you know, when you are in the daily grind and you’re going through seeing patients and doing your entrepreneurial things, to have a group of people who think the same way and you can actually throw out questions to them and you get all sorts of suggestions, all sorts of opinions that you didn’t even think about. I think that’s actually priceless.

Makeda: Yeah, and that priceless word has just been coming up over and over again when you talk about the business school and especially the community. Priceless, unparalleled. can’t find it anywhere else. Can you find other business schools? Absolutely. But the community, Dr. Una and all of those components that make on EntreMD Business School are priceless. Thank you so much, Dr. Szabo.

Dr. Szabo: Very unique.

Makeda: Thank you.

Dr. Szabo: My pleasure, thank you.

Makeda:  Have a great day. Thank you. Now, I am going to bring on EBS Oprah. If you don’t know who EBS Oprah is, then you would have seen her at EntreMD Live. She so beautifully did the graduation, she kept us entertained, she kept us captivated, we were engaged. You know, she did such a wonderful, wonderful job and she is a wonderful physician.

We are so blessed, I think I can use that word, to have her in the school. And I just want to know, as I’m bringing her on, if there’s anyone that has questions about the school. Maybe you’re watching and you’re like, man, this sounds great, but you have a question. Go ahead and post your questions in the comments. I’d love to answer whatever I can.

But I want you to know that this is a safe place. I want you to know that this is a place where we are going to help you build your dreams, even the dreams that you’re not aware that you have. Even the ones that are still under development.

Between the weekly sessions with Dr. Una, the private Facebook group, the live events, all of those are geared towards helping you build your dreams. We are committed to that. So all we’re looking for is people who are committed to themselves. Just have confidence in yourself, bet on yourself that you know what, I’m going to make this happen for myself. I’m going to try, I’m going to take a chance.

Dr. Una often talks about her 90 year old self. What would your 90 year old self, you don’t want to be in regret at 90 wondering what if I had tried? What if I had done this? How would it have been?

Now we are going to bring on our wonderful, amazing EBS Oprah. I have to tell you something funny, every time Dr. Una is like, “Oh, Makeda, can you moderate this?” I’m like, “Why can’t EBS Oprah do it?” I don’t say that Dr. Una, but I think to myself she’s so good at it. So great to see you Dr. Beckford.

Dr. Beckford: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Makeda. Thank you to all who are on today. Makeda just basically in her last few statements just talked about all my points.

So I’m Dr. Tamara Beckford. I’m an ER doctor by training and as someone was asking, can you still work full time and still do this? Yes, because I am going into the ER tonight to take care of the people in Houston, Texas. And I am a proud student of the EntreMD Business School. I am entering into yours three on the 27th. Is that the 27? Yes, entering into year three, and I’m happily doing so.

So I’ll tell you my story. So I’m the Founder CEO of Your Caring Docs, I am a speaker.

Makeda: Paid speaker.

Dr. Beckford: Paid speaker, and I am also the host of the Dr. Tamara Beckford show. All of this started here at EBS. So none of this happened prior to EBS. And with my show I get to highlight a lot of you all, my colleagues who are doing amazing things inside and outside of clinical medicine.

So backtracking now to EntreMD Live 2020. So prior to that I had been practicing for over 10 years and was just in a fog. I know a lot of you guys know that feeling where you’re doing, you’ve already gotten your degree, and you’re doing the daily grind. But you know, as Dr. Funke also mentioned that there’s more, you’re destined for more, you just need to kind of know how. And you’re looking around and not sure how to do this.

And then entrepreneurship is one of the thought processed that came to my mind. But I’m like, I don’t know if I’m an entrepreneur. I don’t know if I can do entrepreneurship. So I think one of my friends told me about this EntreMD Live and I said okay, I signed up for it.

Now at this stage I do not want you guys to be jealous, because I’m going to show you guys this right here. So this is what we got when we went to EntreMD Live 2020. So this is my EntreMD cup, do not be jealous. Yes, it says we get bigger cups in EntreMD.

So I was a proud, proud attendee of the EntreMD Live in 2020. And Dr. Toomer was there and Dr. Toomer gave us this powerful message too. And she says progress over perfection and we were all like, whoa. Because one of the things about being a physician is that we have this air of perfectionism with us, right? I want to do this, but it needs to be correct before I launch, before I did anything.

So once she started mentioning the progress over perfection and that yearning that I had inside, another thing I had to do, I don’t know if you guys also listened to Dr. Alicia Shelly when she was at the graduation, she said that, and also Dr. [inaudible] I had to invest in myself, right?

So a lot of times we want to be better, we want to do better, but then we don’t want to invest to become better so we keep looking and say, I’ll just tinker around and continue. Now, a lot of people who have done that, unfortunately, have stayed either where they are the year after once they did not invest in themselves, or they just decided not to do anything overall.

So that was one of the first things that I had to open up one of the barriers to entrepreneurship, which is what? Investing in yourself. So I was excited to pay my money. That was not like a part of my mindset at that, you know, but I was actually excited.

So excited that I filled out my application. I mean, I know how to spell my name, I do. Really I do, I’m telling you guys, I do. But that day, and I know my email address too, by heart, but I screwed it up on the application and I was freaking out. And I’m like, how do I get in contact with these people? And you know how Dr. Una is, she’s like, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you. We’ll get it figured out.” Already I’m already high strung, freaking out.

So that investment started, started with the school, knowing that there’s growth that’s going to occur, right? We have different periods in our lives where we grow, right? You got into med school and you grew and you became a doctor. And then the years where you’re working. And then you have other parts in your life too, right, marriage and maybe starting a family, you know that there’s a change that goes on.

But that change when you’re investing in yourself is a different change, like Dr. Serralto said, it’s like an unparalleled change within yourself. So I was super excited. And then Dr. Una says, now you got to go out there and speak. Okay. But not only that, I need you to go and make a video. I’m like, all right. It’s only a three minute video. I mean, I can make a three minute video talking to the camera.

Nice, but now I need you to post it on Facebook. I said what? Is she crazy? Post it on Facebook? I’ve been hiding on Facebook. Let me tell you, I had wiped out my entire internet presence up to that point. I paid a company to wipe out my internet presence.

I was one of those people that hid, hid, hid, hid, you will not find anything about me. And she wants me to go and put my video of me talking on Facebook where people that I went to school with, people that I work with are on? Is this woman crazy? Oh my gosh.

So I did the video and this is August of 2020. Now you’re not supposed to be able to hold your breath for three minutes, but I did. I don’t know how I got that video done and I placed it up there on Facebook and I ran. And that video, I still keep it up there because it shows me where I was to where I am now.

Now from that time on, she said go out and start looking for speaking opportunities on podcasts. And as we talked about, I mean, I’m pretty sure that when it comes to speaking opportunities and even podcasts, with the podcast that I even started, I’ve done over 150 episodes. And that’s talking to you guys. 150 of my colleagues, sharing your stories and your amazingness, right? And then the podcasts, I’ve probably been on over 50 podcasts myself, so now that’s almost over 200 podcasts.

And then I started putting out information because as we said, we are the ones that we have the info, so we need to put it out there. So all people who are given this false information, they aren’t the ones with the expertise. We’re the ones with expertise, right? We’re the ones with the training. So let’s flood the market with that information.

I mean, I don’t think Dr. Una meant to tell me to flood the market because I surely did. I put out stuff all the time. And I’m speaking all the time to the point that, you know, we talk about some of the wins that we have in EntreMD and one of the wins is me finding my voice. I did not know that this is something that I could do because this crazy woman was there telling me to put videos out on the internet. Is she crazy?

If you go back and look at the, we have our recordings of all our classes, look at my face when she said that. And then I’m smiling but that smile is not because I thought it was funny. And then I have continued doing so. Now I get to do, like we said, paid speaking. I am putting myself out there and then I’m being connected.

So this is something, this is brand new so you guys are the first hearing it. So I got contacted by LinkedIn as their creator. LinkedIn is like, we would like you to be part of our launch, our creators program because you’re doing so many great things on LinkedIn. So we’re giving you any of the new access to anything that they now will put out.

For example, if they have a new platform, product type thing, then I will get access to it first on how to use it to continue creating programs because LinkedIn is just happy with all the content and so on. So LinkedIn gave me access in October of last year, and since then almost every week done a Live.

And that’s why I get to highlight you guys on the Dr. Tamara Beckford Show. So a lot of things are happening just for me, one. Investing in myself, taking that step, filling out the application, almost incorrectly but I finally got that part figured out, and just really putting myself out there.

Now, there are so many wins and a lot of it, we have a lot of tangible wins. I mean this month alone I have four speaking engagements, that’s just this month alone. And one of the things that EBS does is that it keeps you in action. And how does it keep you in action? With the challenges. And sometimes you are doing your challenges now, along with your colleagues, but you might not see the fruits bearing from your challenges immediately.

When you think that, I don’t know if this is for me, then you start to see the fruits that bear from the challenges that you did 30 days ago. So we’ll have like 30 day challenges like ask, speak, speak, ask. Speak? You want me to ask?

And then we have to get through that mindset that asking is begging. We’re not begging, we’re asking. When someone wants to take advantage of your service, if they don’t know, like we said, that you exist, you have to ask them. Let them know, by the way, my service exists, would you like to try it? And those are some of the mindset shifts that we get over here.

And then one of the points that I also want to make is about the community that you’ve been hearing. Now, our classes are held on Wednesdays. So one of the things about Wednesdays, right? Wednesdays are considered the hump day.

If you think about it, like why is it Wednesday the time when we’re just like slumping, I can barely make it through. I can barely make it through to get to the end of the week. One of the beauty about our classes being on Wednesdays is that you get powered through. So you already done half of the week, you get powered through to the second half.

So while others are looking forward like, “Oh, I can’t stand this. I can’t wait until Friday.” We’re like, “Oh my gosh, there’s so much more I can get done between now and Friday.” It really pushes you. It energizes you to get a lot done. And the support from the, as we said, the support from all your colleagues, it is amazing.

Right now the wealth of info that’s in that Facebook group, it’s unparalleled we’ve been saying. But it truly is on unparalleled. I mean, that group is gold, it is absolute gold. And I think that there were times, I’m just going to address this one thing and then I’ll go.

I remember someone asking while we were in the EntreMD Live, they were asking in the comments about like well, are you going to learn about like, I guess maybe finances and they’re talking about like the standard book like Dr. Anyoku talked about earlier. Like you’re not going to get that here is your profit and loss statements, and I need you to figure that out and bring it back next week.

No, but you have the benefit of having doctors who have entrepreneurship and businesses from so many levels that yes, you can learn that. Because I’m pretty sure if you ask Dr. Szabo, hey I’m not sure how to go about this, she has 12 years of experience of running her business. She will try and figure out away.

As Dr. Toomer said, there are a lot colleagues that jump on one on one Zoom calls and went over techniques with each other, let me show you. I’ve personally had a couple of my colleagues do that, how do I do this? How do I do that? And one of the additional benefits of being there is that you have colleagues who see in you way more than you see in yourself. And that is amazing.

I have made such friendships here. The Dr. Tamara Beckford Show is named it because of my colleague right here. She told me this months ago, she said, you need to change the name. And I’m like I don’t know, you know, you feel very insecure. But she says you need to change the name.

And you find and you learn how to own the things that others see in you right here in this business school. The growth is amazing. And even if you go and you listen to some of the, we have on the YouTube channel I think Dr. Una has the EBS, just listen to just some of the videos there. They’re just probably 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes of people who’ve been in the school for just maybe even three months and you’ll see the amount of growth that can occur in just three months.

So should you join the business school? It depends, what is it that you want for yourself? What do you see you doing? Do you have that yearning? Is there more? Do you want more? Or do you want to stay the same? I know for me, I want more and therefore I’m doing year three.

Makeda: Thank you so much, Dr. Tamara Beckford. Did she just say LinkedIn like it’s Johnny from down the street? She said, “Oh, well LinkedIn reached out to me.” Like LinkedIn reached out to her. Like, hello, hi, this is LinkedIn. So you know, the beauty of this, Dr. Beckford is that you don’t know where it’s going to lead. You know, LinkedIn might have you become an ambassador, a brand Ambassador.

I mean for you to have so much content that they notice you, it’s amazing. And then that content came as a result of your involvement in the business school, doing those challenges. That’s one of the things I didn’t mention, anytime there’s a challenge everyone is like, “Oh God, what is she going to have us do? Are we going to eat frog?” You don’t know what it’s going to be but you know that if it’s eating frogs, eating those frogs is going to grow my business.

We’re at the point that whatever Dr. Una says to do, we’re going to do. And it has just been phenomenal, and it’s been phenomenal to see your growth, and everything that you’re doing.

But tonight’s been amazing, thank you for everyone that came on. Thank you for all our wonderful speakers, you all were so amazing. Thank you for sharing your stories. Thank you for your vulnerability. Thank you for inspiring us. I’m like, hey, I need to do more with my business now that I’m hearing all of you speaking. It’s been amazing.

And I want to challenge anyone listening, take a chance on yourself. Take a chance on yourself. You have no idea what the next six months can be. What if? Take a chance on yourself and see what can happen. The possibilities are endless.

How many times tonight did you hear someone say I didn’t even know that was going to happen? I didn’t even know that was going to happen. So many times. You know, Dr. Tamara Beckford didn’t know that she was going to be paid speaker, she didn’t know that LinkedIn was going to contact her. Wait, did I say paid speaker? Sorry, international paid speaker. She has international speaking gigs out of the country, I mean, just amazing. Dr. Beckford, do you have any closing words for us?

Dr. Beckford: Sure. I will say to you that there are a lot of people who are, well, I don’t have a business. I don’t know if this is for me. As Dr. Funke said, if you have something inside of you that you know that it’s more, and that’s something that you would like to grow, the Business School is also for you because it can help to pull that out of you.

And if you are like the pivot, the word pivot, you’ve heard it a couple of times. It’s real. A lot of times in medicine we get stuck because we are trained to have all the answers before we make the decision. And with business it’s different, you have to really unlearn a lot of what we are, I was going to say forced, but I mean that’s just what has been ingrained in us for the 10 years of training. You know, in order to do this, then you can’t take a leap of faith, you know, you have to be exact.

The Business School allows that ability to do those leaps of faith. And then you find out during that time all the talents that you have within you. I didn’t come into business school as a speaker. I didn’t come in saying, well, I’m going to be a speaker. I came in here thinking that I was going to do a telemedicine business, honestly. But I recognized during the time, you know, what is it that I want? What is it that I want from my family? What is it that I want for my life?

And during that process, this is what emerged. I did not think that I would have been good at speaking. No. But here I am. And guess what? You’re not stopping me. It’s just going to continue growing and growing. As we’ve been saying, and this is my motto now, the best is yet to come. And I feel like it’s the same for you all, the best is yet to come.

So let’s help you pull out all that’s in you and then bring that greatness to light, whatever it is. If it’s in your entrepreneur or whatever business it is, the best is yet to come. All right.

Makeda: Wonderful. Thank you so, so much, Dr. Beckford. That is a wonderful, wonderful way to end it. And the best is yet to come for everyone here, everyone listening to me, everyone seeing me, the best is yet to come for you. So make the decision and make the decision well, like Dr. Una would say.

And that’s another thing that Dr. Una says, how do you know EBS is right for you? If you’re thinking about it. If you’re thinking about it, at least apply and then we’ll go into the details of that.

So thank you everyone for coming in. If you’re watching us live, please let us know. And I am looking forward to meeting all of you, I’m looking forward to answering any questions, hello@entremd.com is how you reach me if you have any other questions after tonight.

And Dr. Una sends her love, she sends her congratulations to all of the speakers. I think we need to do these often because when we do them we hear all kinds of things that we didn’t know before. Like this is my first time hearing about LinkedIn, Dr. Toomer had surprised us, Dr. Abe, we didn’t know you were doing all this pivoting. We need to do this more often.

All right, thank you everyone. Thank you for our amazing speakers and y’all have a wonderful, wonderful night.

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.