Ep #123: Step Into Your Zone of Genius

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. Welcome back to another episode of The EntreMD Podcast. I am so excited to be talking to you today. I’m so happy to be in your ears. We are going to have a great time with this episode.

Before we do that, I want to read a review on our podcast. And if you haven’t written us a review, please subscribe, please write us a review. Let us know how you love the podcast. If there’s something you want to see more of, something you’re like, “Maybe you should switch this up a little,” send me an email, druna@entremd.com.

Okay, here’s the review. This is from Dr. Catrice. She says, “Just awesome. I’ve been listening to the podcast for about two months. So much value here that I decided to join Dr. Una in her business school. I’d been looking for someone who understands us introverts. I’m a person who likes to stay in the background, but she has made me believe in myself more and to just do it #AutomobileUniversity. Subscribe to the podcast. You will be happy you did!”

Thank you so much for this amazing review, Catrice. I love it. And you know that I love introverts. I believe that it’s a superpower at the end of the day and we can make it work for us. And I’m so happy for all that you’re doing. And I can’t wait to celebrate all your success. I’m up for all celebrations. So, thank you so much for that review. I truly appreciate it.

And everybody listening, you heard her. Subscribe to the podcast. And listen, this is life-changing.

So, today was a really interesting day. Once a week, I meet with a group. I’m part of a group. It’s called the Kingmakers. And this is a group of women who are married and we come to talk about navigating marriage and kids and personal development and all of that.

And we came up with this system. Because I was like, “You know what, this is amazing. But I would also like for everyone here to also be developed.” So, we started toying with the idea of having everybody do a presentation. And so, we started that a few weeks ago, and today, one of the people in the group presented.

Her area of expertise, it turns out, is home management. Now, you might be like, “Home management?” But hear me.

Now, for me, I am many things. And home management is not one of my strengths. That is something I am really good at delegating because it is not my area of strength.

And she runs a really, really tight ship. She has a really well-run home. She has built systems in her home where it’s almost like she is the CEO of her house. She has systems. She has processes. Everything runs like clockwork. It is amazing.

So, she starts talking about simple things that we can do. She talks about how to systematically declutter your whole house. She talks about how to build systems around laundry, systems around shopping. She shops once a month. She does laundry once a month. She has three kids. And they’re little. And she went through all the things.

And I was like, “This is so amazing. So amazing.” But you know, I’m Dr. Una, and my zone of genius is building businesses. So, when she was done talking, I was like, “This is so insane.” And I was thinking, like, “While she’s here talking, I’ve already seen her YouTube channel, I’ve seen the first 40 videos that go on her YouTube channel, I’ve seen how she monetizes this and all of that…” And I was like, “It is so amazing that we are all really gifted.”

If you’re listening to me, you are really gifted. But sometimes, a lot of times, we’re blind to it because, this is something I always do. I have always helped people become better versions of themselves, always. I have always done it. I have always believed in people. I have always seen further than they see for themselves. I have always done that. I did that as a kid.

And I just did some certain things so that I can do that on a really large scale. And you might be going like, “Why is she talking to us about home management?”

Well, this is the deal. It’s not so much the home management as it is we all have our zones of genius. What is your zone of genius? What is it that you’re great at and you just take for granted?

Now, the lady who was doing this, she’s a fashion designer. So, this is not what she does for a living. This is just something she has a knack for and she’s developed it. So, what is your zone of genius? What is the thing that your friends always come to you for if they have a problem in that specific area? What is that thing? What is that thing people always reach out to you for? What is that thing you can do in your sleep?

My brother plays the keyboard. He’s a keyboardist. And he is so good at it. I mean, he can just be in his house and just be thinking and just write a song. I mean, he’s so good at it that he doesn’t see it as something big because he just does it.

Like I say I’ve never worked for a day in my life in EntreMD because I love this stuff. I’d do it regardless. I mean, here I am in a Kingmaker meeting coming up with a whole business idea because somebody’s making a presentation.

But anyway, so I thought about it and I was like, you know what? There are certain things we need to do with the things we’re really good at so that we can serve a lot of people with it. And if we choose to, we can earn a lot with it. So, I decided, “Hey, let’s talk about that.”

Now, if you’re here and you’ve been thinking of starting a business, well maybe this is how you find your first business idea. Or maybe you already have a business. Maybe this is the next vertical. Maybe there’s a next stage, there’s an upper-offer that you can come up with and it’s just something that’s right there.

Or maybe you have a business but you don’t recognize your zone of genius so you don’t really show up confidently and you’re terrified of selling. You feel like you’re manipulating people, you feel inauthentic. Well, this episode is for you.

Okay, so what are the three things? What do we need to do? Well, the first thing clearly is to identify. What is my zone of genius? What am I good at? What do I do without even thinking that hard about it? What would I do in my sleep? What would I do for free? What are those things?

It’s time to take inventory of them and realize that you never know. One of them could be a seven-figure thing. One of them could be the thing that creates the biggest financial breakthrough in your life. We don’t know. But you need to take stock. You need to take inventory.

So, in her case, I need you to imagine the number of people that are frustrated by the clutter in their house. They’re frustrated because they need to go shop every day. They’re frustrated because their house is always dirty. But she has this down to a science. If she identifies this, that this is a thing that people need, “This is a thing that I can use to serve my world…”

I’ll tell you something else about her. She came to visit me on Sunday. So, this is what, three days ago? So, hear me. I had a number of cousins come over. So, one comes into the house, dumps his shoes by the staircase, takes off to go play with the kids.

Now, this lady who taught us about home management today, her two-year-old walks into the house, sees the shoes, not his shoes, by the staircase, picks them up, and takes them to the door where all the other shoes are arranged neatly and puts them there and continues moving on. He’s two years old.

So, not only has she done this for her home. She’s reproducing it in her children. She has reproduced it in her two-year-old. But she can have that and not recognize the power of it.

So, what are you good at? Identify it. And I’ve given a number of pointers. Another thing you can do is text 10 of your closest friends and you’re like, “What am I really good at? What is my superpower?” And what ends up happening is that you’re going to notice a theme. You’re going to notice some commonality and you’re going to like, “Wow, I didn’t even recognize that.”

I asked my husband this question not too long ago, I was like, “What is my superpower.” And he’s like – I texted him, so he’s like, “Consistency, consistency, consistency.” I’m like, okay.

And then later on, we were in the car together and he’s like, “I said consistency because I was texting, but there’s another thing.” So, I’m like, “What is it?” And he says, “When people think about their businesses or their lives and all this stuff, a lot of times they see all chaos, like this is not working, this is out of whack, it’s so complex, everything is just upside down. You have an ability, while they’re talking about it, to identify the gems in the midst of that chaos and you’re able to tell them, if you can do, this is what is possible, and if you can do one, two, and three, you can have it.”

I was like, “What?” I’ve never thought of it that way. And then I started replaying coaching sessions that I’ve done, I started replaying live sessions in the EntreMD Business School and I was like, “Well that’s actually true.”

So, I say that to say, you may not be able to see it because it’s so normal to you. It’s the things that when people do, you’re like, “Well that’s just common sense. Why would they do that?” It’s common sense to you because it’s your area, it’s your zone of genius.

So, I want you to identify it. Realize that it’s gold. Realize that that’s what you use to serve your world. Realize that that could be the start of a movement. Realize that there’s value in it.

So, after this episode, I want you to take time and take stock and identify what is my zone of genus? So, that’s number one. Number two, you’re going to need to learn to package your zone of genius.

So, she’s doing this stuff and it’s like, “This is how you do that. This is how you do that.” Okay, I need you to imagine that she takes what she does and she makes it into a signature talk, a keynote that people will pay for. And people will pay for it. If she takes it and she structures it into a workshop, like, “Let me show you how to get your house ordered, fix your house in 30 days,” that’s a workshop.

And if she did that, people would pay for it. It could be a book. If she did that, people would pay for it. If it was a YouTube channel, people will subscribe to it. Do you see what I mean? Nobody’s going to come in your mind and take your idea and pay for it. So, you’re going to need to package it. You’re going to need to package it.

So, what have I done? Like, I know I can help people build profitable businesses. I know I can take all that complexity and narrow it down to these are the things you need to do to build a successful business. So, I have this podcast, I have the EntreMD Business School. I’m working on a book. Well, guess what, this is the first time I ever said anything about it, but I’m working on a book and all of these things.

And I’ve packaged it and it gives me the opportunity to serve you. So, your zone of genius, you have to package it. Those things of value that you’re walking around with, you need to learn to package it.

The third thing is you need to learn how to sell it confidently. Why? Why do you need to learn how to do this? Because people need it. People will pay for it. So let me tell you what happened. When she started talking about all the things, guess what? They’re the mommies there whose laundry is driving them crazy. They’re the mommies there who keeping their house clean is driving them crazy. There are mommies there who had given up on ever having a house with any sense of normalcy because they have a number of young kids. There are mommies there drooling at the thought of only doing laundry once a month.

And she gave all the things, like, “These are where you go to get your containers. You can get them for cheap…” She even went so far as, “This is how you stop your mail from taking over your house. Like I go to the mailbox, I have a box here, all the ones that are junk, I put them here. The other ones, they go into their folders, blah, blah, blah…” it was so amazing.

Would we have paid for that? Yes, the answer is 1000 times yes, we would have paid for it. If she was coming to tell us, “I have this new system that will show you how to stop your mail from overtaking your house,” we would raise our hands. We would have been so happy to pay. Let me show you how to declutter your house in 30 days, we would have been so happy to pay.

We would not have looked at her like, “You’re bothering us. Stop telling us about your course. Stop telling us about your YouTube channel.” Never. We would have been like, “Wow, this is amazing. Can you make another video on this?”

So, I want you to think about it. That is what your ideal client is thinking when you are selling. They’re not thinking, “Oh, you’re bothering me. All you want is the money.” They’re like, “No, I have had this pain. I have had this pain since I’ve been a grownup. I look at the houses on Instagram, I’m like, I don’t know how you can have a house like that. I go visit people with children, I look at their houses I’m like, I can’t have a house like this. This is crazy. And here you are, telling me you’ll show me how to do this and you’ll do it and your two-year-old is picking up from you. I want your stuff. And make more stuff because I want to buy it too.”

Your ideal client is wishing you would sell them your stuff. Think about it right now. There is some problem you are facing in your life right now that you would pay serious money to make it go away. Well, somebody should sell the answer to you. In the same way, what you do, there are people that are waiting. They’re tired of the pain, with money in hand. Like, “Who can find me somebody who can do X, Y, Z?”

So, you’re going to learn to sell confidently because there are people in pain waiting for you to tell them, “This is what I do.”

So, if you listen to this and you’re like, “Man, I’ve had that idea. Are you saying I can actually package it and sell it confidently? That it’s a thing?” Yes, it’s a thing. That’s exactly what I’m trying to say.

And if you have been, like, “Wow, I’m ready to do this.” Well, luckily for you, the EntreMD Business School is open for enrolment and we would love to have you because this is what we do there. we help you identify your profitable business idea. For some of you, it will be private practice. For some of you, you’re employed, it will be your personal physician brand, for some of you it will be a coaching business, for some of you it will be a product line, some it’s a non-profit.

The bottom line is, whichever one it is, we’ll help you identify. We’ll help you package it. We’ll help you tell the world about it. So, come join us, entremd.com/business. It will be open for about two weeks or so, and then it will be closed and it will be closed until 2022, so that I can do what I love to do, which is serve the people in the business school.

But I want you to imagine never having to sell, like the sleazy sale, because you’re out there to help people. I need you to imagine only what you do and recognizing it for what it is. It is something amazing that will change my world. Just imagine that. Imagine never having to quote unquote work another day in your life.

She was having a blast making that presentation. She loves that stuff. She does it for fun. Now, imagine being able to monetize something you do for fun. Isn’t that so cool? Well, that can be you too. You just need to learn the process. But in the meantime, you have three things to do; identify it, package it, and learn to sell it confidently.

So, that’s what I have for you. Go do it. And listen, when you start doing these things, I need you to send me an email druna@entremd.com. Let me know. Share your wins with me. I want to celebrate you all the way. We are physicians and you’ve always wanted to own a business, and of course you can. They’ve told you you’re not a suit, that you’re just a doctor. You’re not an MBA.

But the truth of the matter is, we learn Krebs cycle, we can learn all the business skills. Alright, so that’s what I have for you and I will see you, my friend, on the very next episode of The EntreMD Podcast.

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.