Interview with Dr. Nneka Unachukwu
This week Dr. Una returns to teach you how to practice medicine on your own terms. She will also be announcing the release of her new book.
Dr. Nneka Unachukwu is a pediatrician and founder of EntreMD. She received her medical degree from the University of Nigeria College of Medicine and completed her pediatrics residency at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Dr. Una has been coaching, speaking, writing, and helping physicians all over the world. She does this through her podcast and her EntreMD Business School.
The EntreMD Business School is a year-long program designed to make up for the business education you didn’t receive during your medical training. Whether you are employed or own a medical practice or a nonclinical business, this school will give you the tools you need to build a business that helps you serve and earn at the highest level.
Our Sponsor
We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.
The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete.
By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.
Writing Her Book
There are many physicians who really struggled for years. They studied and overcame barriers to get into medical school and the residency they wanted. And after all that struggle and work, they still find themselves unhappy with where they are.
Dr. Una's book, The EntreMD Method: A Proven Roadmap for Doctors who Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Their Own Terms, teaches us how to do more of what we like to do, and less of what we don't want to do. It teaches us how to take back control of our lives and careers.
Practice Medicine on Your Own Terms
Here are some key points to Dr. Una's book:
- Why entrepreneurship is a must for physicians?
“the more you think like an entrepreneur, the more you can connect what you do to the bottom line, the more you can objectively say, this is my value to this institution, the more you can negotiate. If you think like an entrepreneur, you realize, even though I'm employed, I work for Dr. Me incorporated. And the more valuable my company is, the more they'll have to pay me. You build your personal brand… you have people coming to your institution because of you… you become a force. And you become in control and people have to treat you differently because if you leave, they hurt. The end. So that's even for an entrepreneur.”
- Top mindset issues that need to be addressed:
– One-trick pony
– Fear of failure
– “I have to do this perfectly” mindset - Habits and attitudes. Things that we should learn to be successful:
– daily routine
– the habit of “becoming comfortable being uncomfortable”
– love for personal development
Words of Encouragement
“The truth of this is physicians as a community, we are amazing. We have been sold a lie, that we're one-trick ponies, that we should stay in our lane, that we're not good at business. We're not good at investments. And they're all lies. They're all lies.
“And the second thing I will say is explore that for yourself, but explore that for your colleagues as well. There are so many physicians who have never seen anybody succeed as a physician entrepreneur, succeed as a physician, period. And the more we set the example of what is possible, the more we create a tsunami of change.
“My vision is by 2025… we will be calling it the year of the physician. a time when doctors are the leaders in the healthcare space, we have unprecedented levels of career satisfaction, and we have financial freedom. It seems like “how in the world,” but it is going to happen. And it starts with you listening.”
Summary
I always get energized and inspired when I talk with Dr. Una. I’m inspired because she is making it possible for physicians like you to thrive in private practice, or in a nonclinical business as well.
She hit us with so many value bombs today. But one quote I really liked is that to succeed, “we must be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
I’m excited to read her book and share it with you. It’s available the day this podcast is being released. And the best way to find it is to go to her website at Entremd.com. You’ll also find her coaching program, EntreMD Business School, right there too.
NOTE: Look below for a transcript of today's episode.
Links for Today's Episode:
- Dr. Una's Website
- EntreMD Business School
- The EntreMD Method: A Proven Roadmap for Doctors who Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Their Own Terms [Amazon affiliate link].
- How to Be a Successful Physician Entrepreneur – 123
- NewScr!pt
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Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton
Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 237
Do You Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Your Own Terms?
John: I noticed that this former guest has written a book that should be of interest to you, many of you, my listening audience today. So, I can't wait to hear all about it. Hello, Dr. Nneka Unachukwu, otherwise known as Dr. Una.
Dr. Una: Hi, thank you so much for having me on here. I'm so excited to be here again.
John: Well, I'm glad to have you here fellow podcaster and entrepreneur. I think your episode was pretty darn popular when I think back it was about two years ago, and then you came back to interview me for my podcast. That was interesting. So, I love that. I did hear something about a book coming out, but let's bring everybody up to date because not all my listeners now may be the same. So, tell us a little bit about you, a little bit about your background, what you've been doing up to this point, and then we'll get into the whole book thing.
Dr. Una: Yeah. My name's Dr. Una, as you said. I am a pediatrician by training and a serial entrepreneur and a podcaster and an author at this point. Really, what I do is I help doctors learn how to build profitable businesses so they can live life and practice medicine on their terms. So that's at the heart of what I do. That's the heart of what I do.
And John, it's really interesting because I'm like the last time I was on here, I had just started the EntreMD podcast. So, it's a little over two years old now. It's really been a great vehicle for getting the word out there. We've had, I don't know, 186,000 downloads at this point, which I could not have imagined starting to podcasts on my cell phone, in my basement. That's been really great.
I launched a second podcast, called the Doctors Changing Medicine podcast. And I did that because I was really like, there are a lot of examples of physicians who are in control, who are living above burnout, who are starting running profitable businesses, and who are living life on their terms. But I couldn't find a place to find all of them when I started off. I'm like, a Google physician entrepreneur. And I'm like, where are they?
And so that podcast is primarily an interview show just to showcase doctors who are living outside the box and stuff like that. And someone can go there, it's like a buffet, just go through them and like, "Wow, that's interesting. I'd like to do that." That seems like something I would want to do.
I did that, and then started the EntreMD business school, which is a year-long program. And I just walk doctors through all the classic algorithm-proof ways of building profitable businesses. And it's a wonderful community. We have live sessions every week. I mean, it's been so wild. I'm so grateful for the journey. We've had a lot of things go on, live events, all of that. It's been amazing. Really amazing.
John: That's cool. Let me ask you about the business school. It's a year-long thing. Do you only start it once a year or do you have openings? How do you get new people into the business school?
Dr. Una: Yeah, we are open a few times a year. Last year we opened twice, this year we may open three or four times. And so, everybody kind of has their own cohort, if you will. Many people do end up re-enrolling, there was a cohort, it was like a 100% or like, yeah, I'm doing a second year. So, people tend to stay.
John: Yeah. I think I was looking at your website or looking at that, and so basically there's a waiting place for now because it's not open at this moment, but if they're interested in that, they get on that waitlist, they learn more. And then when you open it, they have that opportunity.
Dr. Una: Absolutely.
John: That's pretty cool. That will keep you busy between that and two or three podcasts or whatever. And some speaking and some book writing.
Dr. Una: But it is fun because I'm getting to do what I want. It's like I get to help doctors do that. So, watch someone who's like, "I'm not the kind of person who can run a private practice", go from that to "My first year in private practice, we were completely profitable. I paid off all my loans and all." It's so insanely crazy and rewarding to see somebody like "I negotiated at my job, now I have a scribe. Now I work a four-day workweek. I say no to things that do not serve me." I mean, it's amazing. It's work, but it's work that I love.
John: Now, wait a second. You're saying that I'm a physician. I can start my own practice and be happy and not get crushed by Medicare and all these other things. I think it is coming back. So, what's your experience with that?
Dr. Una: With private practice?
John: Yeah.
Dr. Una: Well, the thing is for a lot of it, it's starting to think of a practice. Physicians as a community, we've thought about a practice like a practice, not a business. "Business destroyed medicine, so I'm not into the business thing." But the second you start applying business principles to it, it's a very different experience. You have more control over how many people you see, have more control over being the sought-after person in the marketplace, you have more control over hiring, firing, culture. Boundaries, all of that. Like saying no to things that don't serve you. If there's an insurance company that pays you below what it costs you to serve the patients, you say no, because you know the numbers.
Learning to run it as a business, which for physicians, I will say, we lead with service. We lead with helping. So, we make the best entrepreneurs. Period. Because we put people before profits, but you have to have both. Once you start thinking in that way, then everything gets better. I'm not trying to say it's not hard work, but it's hard work that's rewarding.
John: It sounds to me like you get to do more of what you like to do or want to do, and less of what you don't want to do because you're in control.
Dr. Una: Yes.
John: Okay. I'm assuming that some of that is going to be addressed in "The EntreMD Method: A Proven Roadmap for Doctors who Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Their Own Terms", which is the book we're here to talk about today. Is that right?
Dr. Una: Yes.
John: Okay. Just tell us a little bit about the process. Let's start with why. Why did you decide you're going to write a book?
Dr. Una: This is the deal. One of my BHAGs, my big hairy audacious goal is that I'm going to help 100,000 doctors learn how to build profitable businesses.
John: I think you mentioned that before. Yes.
Dr. Una: Yeah, right? And when I started talking about it, I was not clear on how, but I was like, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm like, what better way is there to create an avenue for the mass business education of doctors, by then having a book? And so, I have the podcast and there are so many people who listen to it. There are so many people who get so much out of it, but I'm like, "If I have a book I can say, okay, I want to put this book in every final year resident's hands. I want to give this book to anybody who wants to start a business." The thought has been, "I have to go do an MBA", and MBAs are great, but we already have multiple six figures in debt. We're already strapped for time. We're already burned out. We don't have time for another MBA.
And so, I was like, I'm going to put something that is simple enough, a simple enough roadmap that someone who is like, "I don't even know what entrepreneurship is", they can take that roadmap and start their journey and succeed on their journey. And they are timeless principles. So even if you're at a stage where, "Oh, I have a business that's doing well". Well, this book can help you make it so much better. That's my agenda. I want to help physicians get the empowerment they need to practice medicine on their terms and live on their terms. Enough is enough with all the stuff going on.
John: Yeah. I think a lot of us feel like, "Look, we're here to help people, obviously, that's why we went into medicine, but we're not here to kill ourselves. We're not here to be miserable and unhappy the majority of our lives. And we need to just take control and we should get paid for what we do and we should enjoy what we do." So, if this book is going to tell us how to do that, then I'm definitely in on that. We're not going to get an author. We don't let our authors get away without teaching us everything that's in the book before they leave. Well, we'll hit a few of the high points. That's going to be the rest of this conversation if that's okay.
Dr. Una: Yeah, let's do it. I'll give you all the things, John, just for you.
John: Just for me. Yeah. This is just a private podcast today. I'm not really sending this out. I'm just going to ask all the questions I have. First of all, you kind of alluded to this about entrepreneurship. Just tell us, I think in one of the first sections of your book, you're talking about why entrepreneurship is a must for physicians. So, why don't you summarize it kind of, why is that?
Dr. Una: Well, the truth is that we are one skill away from careers or businesses that we enjoy. Because we are super smart. We have that downpack. We have an incredible work ethic. We have the ability to put people before profits. We're experts in this space, but the thing that is missing is the business skill. If you look at it, it doesn't matter whether you're employed or whether you own a business. This is something for every physician.
For instance, the employed physician, well, you're going to learn how to negotiate. People don't pay you what you're worth. Nobody's going to say, "You know what? I think you're worth 30% more. I'm going to pay you 30%." That's not how this works. You're going to negotiate for that. You're the one that's going to say, "I want to scribe." You're the one that's going to say, "I want a four-day workweek."
And the more you think like an entrepreneur, the more you can connect what you do to the bottom line, the more you can objectively say, this is my value to this institution, the more you can negotiate. If you think like an entrepreneur, you realize, even though I'm employed, I work for Dr. Me incorporated. And the more valuable my company is, the more they'll have to pay me. You build your personal brand. You have people coming to your institution because of you. You become a force. And you become in control and people have to treat you differently because if you leave, they hurt. The end. So that's even for an entrepreneur.
If you look at doctors who own private practices, for instance, there are many kinds of businesses we can own, but just that, for instance, I can't be the lead pediatrician in my practice and then make my practice thrive. There's a different skillset that is needed. I need to be the CEO. I need to understand marketing. I need to know how to dominate the market. These are all things I need to learn if my business is going to work.
And if I'm like, well, I want to have an impact outside of the exam room. I want to have a podcast. I want to be a coach. I want to be, whatever that thing is. No margin, no mission. Doctors, we love to help. We come up with all these ideas like, "Oh, I want to do this." But if you can't figure out how to monetize it, then you don't get to do it. Any way you look at it, we are one skill away. It's business skills. Just one. And if we can master that, which by the way is so much easier than anything we've had to do. We've memorized a Krebs cycle. We've learned how to intubate babies. We know how to replace hearts. Entrepreneurship is easier, but we have to learn it.
John: Yeah. We haven't really spent time learning that because we didn't have the time necessarily. I will point out also that if you go back 50 plus years ago, most physicians were in their own practice. I think things were much less complicated. But with the corporate entities taking over, the insurance companies taking over, then obviously we just were overwhelmed, but I'm just happy to see that there's a resurgence of this because I think physicians are much happier when they're in control and they're meeting patient's needs and addressing the entrepreneur side of things as well. So, this is awesome Dr. Una. I love it.
Dr. Una: Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because it's not thinking like an entrepreneur that made us give up a lot of these things. Until today people say, "You can just see the patients. We'll take over your company, we'll put you on a guaranteed salary. Just see the patients, we'll take care of everything else."
The reason why we say yes to those things is we don't evaluate those deals as entrepreneurs. We get the worst of deals. Actually, these deals are called doctor deals. The only people who will accept them will be doctors. Because they don't think that way. And so, the more we can think strategically and like entrepreneurs, the more we're like, "Yeah, you make that sound good. And that's a really pretty brochure, but that does not serve me in any way. That's me signing up for burnout, loss of autonomy, and career dissatisfaction." You're absolutely right. We need to figure this out.
John: Well, the next big section of your book has to do with mindset. Why is that important? What kind of mindset issues have you found that need to be addressed and which are the top ones that I think you talk about in the book?
Dr. Una: Yeah. I think the top of the top of the tops, well, maybe, is we are almost conditioned and I'm not saying this is some conspiracy and it's intentional, but we're almost conditioned to not think like entrepreneurs. Like I'm a one-trick pony. The only thing I can do is doctoring. You're burned out, but we can switch this. This is the only thing I know how to do. This is the only way I know how to do it. And it's not true. It's not true in any way. And if you look at the evidence, okay, this is not a paper, but this is evidence in your life. If you look at the evidence, you've done a lot of things. You've learned a lot of things. You have the capacity to change.
Once upon a time, you were a high schooler who said, "I'm going to be a doctor who transplants hearts." And so, if you could go from a high schooler to that, you can go from that to whatever else you need to go to. We are not one-trick ponies. We can learn what we need to learn and we can thrive everywhere we find ourselves.
There's a lot about the fear of failure. Again, part of it is our education. Nobody wants to do brain surgery and go like "Oopsie. Well, I guess that didn't work. We'll just try the next one." You cannot have that attitude in medicine. You aim for perfection. It's not that there are no errors, but that's what you aim for. Entrepreneurship is the complete opposite. It's like, "Is this B worth it? Amazing. Let's go."
And so, it's a big shift because if we walk in with that doctor "I have to do this perfectly" mindset, we stall as entrepreneurs. We can't make progress. We can't innovate. We can't problem-solve. We can't do anything. So, there are few mindsets that we have that have served us really well as physicians that we have to start thinking another way, if we're going to thrive as entrepreneurs. It's a completely different world.
John: Yeah. Although it's ironic to me that there are many physicians who really struggled for years and studied and had overcome some barriers to get into medical school and to get in the residency they wanted and then to get into the practice they wanted. And so, the fear of failure, it just seems so counterintuitive, I think. But it's just a different entity.
Now, I will say too, while you were talking it occurred to me that there's a lot of reasons why other people don't want us to realize this. There's a lot of reasons why the corporate practice of medicine and the insurance companies and the large systems, they don't want us to realize that this business side is not all that complicated and that people can help you. We've got that going against us, but you've got to break free of that and move forward, like you said.
Dr. Una: Yeah. For those of them who are not serving in integrity and all of that, it is in their best interests that we don't learn any of this because what will happen is, a lot of the lids we experience as physicians are not real. They're make-belief, what we believe they're there. And so, the second we figure out this business thing, the lid disappears. The whole "stay in your lane, do what you're told, this is all you can earn", all of that stuff, all of that disappears because the lid is imaginary. It's not real.
John: I was talking to someone yesterday, she's not a healthcare provider. She's a coach for physicians at a university in the medical school. Not in the med school itself, but in the MBA program. She has a relative who's a physician who is killing himself in an ER and he doesn't feel like he has any options. And it's like, "Are you kidding me?" He's just been so brainwashed and he's so stuck that he really needs to hear what you have to say, I think. I'm going to have to send him to you.
Dr. Una: Yeah. That's the reason why this book exists. The way the students in the business school, the way they describe it's like, this is an alternate reality. Like we're not having the experience our colleagues are having. There's a whole new world out there. And so many doctors have no idea it exists.
John: All right. Now, in the next big section of your book, you're talking about habits and attitudes. Things that we should learn to adapt to be successful. What are some of those?
Dr. Una: Yeah. The first one I talk about is a daily routine. And in a business book, you'll be like, "Well, what does that have to do with business?" But the idea is this. We are busy and we'll get less busy at some point, but the bottom line is we are busy. And part of the dissatisfaction and the trauma and all of that stuff comes from not living in alignment with what we consider our most important goals. Not just in the business, but in every aspect. And so, one of the habits that we have to adopt is a daily routine that makes it possible for us to move in the direction of the most important goals we have every single day.
John: That would help.
Dr. Una: Yeah. That would help. Because it's part of the cure for burnout in a way. Because when you're doing meaningful work, you work hard, but you don't get burned up because you're like, "This is amazing." You know what I mean? I know that's a general statement, but for the most part that's what it is. And so, for instance, for my daily routine, I'm like, "Okay. What's most important with me? My relationship with God, my relationship with my kids, learning and becoming better, being healthy, being okay mentally, and all of that stuff." I have a daily routine where I spend time praying. I literally have on my calendar "Spend meaningful time with kids." Not all of us, on the device in the same space, but meaningful time with kids. Reading, reviewing my goals, listening to a podcast, exercising. And when I do these things every day, what it does is even if it was a bad day, I'm still moving in the direction of my most important goals. I'm somebody who can say "Bring it on world, I can take it because I'm grounded and all of that."
I talk about the habit of becoming comfortable, being uncomfortable. And that's the life of an entrepreneur. It's one challenge after the other. One big thing that you have no idea how to do after the other. And the more you fight to be comfortable, the more you resist moving forward. So, it's like "Give that up, become comfortable, be uncomfortable." This is the way. That's the way we were in med school. Once you get comfortable with one procedure, they throw a new one at you. Once you get comfortable with one specialty, they throw another one at you, and you just roll with it.
Then the third one is that love for personal development. I don't know about you John, but when I was done with residency and all that stuff, I was like, I'll do my CNEs. But I was like, in a way I've arrived. You know what I mean? I don't have to study really hard. I'm done. And the thing is wherever we are at our level of personal development, that's the cap for what we can produce in our lives. That's it.
And so, if we want to be people who would build businesses, businesses that'll be successful, businesses that'll be cutting edge, that'll be innovative, that will help people, that will change our communities, that will be movements, we have to always be improving. Always, always. That's something that we have to fall in love with. So that's a new habit. I'll tell you something funny that happened to me a few years ago. It was November and I had made up my mind I was going to read 52 books. And at the beginning of November, I was at 40. And I was like, oh, well, I mean, November, 40? 40 is not a bad number, but clearly, I can't do 12 books in two months. So, I'll try that goal again next year.
And then I had this thought, I was like, well, what if this was med school, though, you won't say that. You will read those 12 books and go take your exam and do a good job. Is your medical degree more important than your life and your business and all this other stuff? I was like, I guess not. It's like, okay. How you'd have done it at school, do it now. I read 12 books in November. I may or may not have cheated and picked a few small ones, but the bottom line is, I got it done, but it's just that attitude "I need to be better" because when I'm better, everything gets better.
John: And I like the point about it's good to have goals, but if you don't have systems in place that are going to enable you to achieve those goals, they're not going to happen most likely because we're human and we get to push things aside. And so, that's great. You need both really. And building that in, I do that to myself. I actually have a daily note on my phone to talk to my daughter.
Dr. Una: I love that.
John: It's not like I talk to her every day, but it reminds me, "Okay, I'm going to talk to my daughter." It's like, why would you need a reminder for that? Well, because we live in a whirlwind. I mean, that's what it is. And unless we remind ourselves in some way or carve out the time or make it a habit, it won't happen.
Okay. Let's see. We're going to run out of time here pretty soon. What do we get? Then I think the fourth part of the book is talking about getting down to business. That should be a thing, getting down to business. So, what is that about?
Dr. Una: Well, that's about the tactical aspect of it. We took care of the mindset and the habits that would support it. But now what do I need to do? What do I need to do in the simplest ways that any physician can apply this, whether you're a start-up or you have a $5 million business? Any physician.
It's really three core things, I go into the details of it in the book. But the first part is identifying that profitable business idea. Because not every idea is profitable. Not every idea should be a business. How do I even know if I have a business in me? Which almost every physician does, but how do I know and how do I know that this will be profitable? I talk about that.
And then I talk about how I get clear in how I communicate about it? And sometimes when it comes to messaging, people are like, "Hey, I don't really need that." But the better you are at it, the better your people can find you. They know exactly what you do. Exactly the problem you solve. They know you're the guide, you're the man or woman for the job.
And the third thing is how do I amplify that message and put it everywhere? How do I go from best-kept secret to household name? This is where a lot of doctors are like, "I don't like promoting myself. I don't like selling. I don't like marketing" and all of that. I'm an introverted introvert so I totally feel your pain. But there's a way to do it that's professional, that's classy, and where people are actually inspired just watching you market. So how do you do that?
Because doctors, again, we're people, people. We know how to serve people. We know how to help people, but then we're best-kept secrets. Nobody knows. And if nobody knows, you cannot have a profitable business. And so, this takes care of that, where you have all the people you consult, looking out for you. And are like, "Can I work with you? Can you help me?"
John: Nice. Well, at some level you're doing your potential patients, customers, clients a disservice if you don't do the right kind of marketing because you are just keeping them from you. They don't even know that you exist or that you have these skills or that you have this service or product. You're not like a snake oil salesman or something. You're just trying to get the word out that here's something that you might really need and want. Something like if you were to do an educational session for a group of seniors somewhere, that's marketing. You're not selling anything there. You're just there and, "Oh, wow. He or she knows a lot about this thing and I need it." So yeah, that makes sense.
Dr. Una: And we sell. It gets a little weird when money is involved. I'm a pediatrician. I sell parents on giving their kids vaccines all the time. Even though vaccines will make their kids cry and all that stuff. I tell them. An oncologist is like, "Yes, you're going to lose your hair and all this stuff, but you absolutely need this chemo." We're great at selling. We just don't know what good selling is.
John: Okay. Well, I need to know where we can get your book and where we can find you. My audience may know that entremd.com is your website, correct?
Dr. Una: Yes. Yes. Entremd.com is where it will be. And then from there, if you want to go to Amazon or wherever, all the links, everything will be there.
John: Okay. And there's also information about the business school. And of course, the podcast, they can look up on any smartphone, but there's information there about the podcast too. And about the book The EntreMD Method. And you can learn more about the things we just touched on today for sure. And that will be coming out the day that this episode is released. Great timing.
Dr. Una: It's so amazing. So amazing.
John: Isn't that crazy? How did we plan that so well? Okay, well, before we go, though, last words of encouragement just from what you know stops people and what they need. Tell them something that'll be helpful to get them started.
Dr. Una: Yeah. The truth of this is physicians as a community are amazing. We have been sold a lie, that we're one-trick ponies, that we should stay in our lane, that we're not good at business. We're not good at investments. And they're all lies. They're all lies. I want to invite you to embrace the possibility that the things you've always dreamed of, that you can actually do them. The career you dreamed of having, you can actually have it. The business, the level of impact and revenue that you've wondered, could I do this? I want to invite you to explore that, to really explore that.
And the second thing I will say is to explore that for yourself, but explore that for your colleagues as well. There are so many physicians who have never seen anybody succeed as a physician entrepreneur, succeed as a physician, period. And the more we set the example of what is possible, the more we create a tsunami of change.
John, I don't think I've told you this yet, but my vision is by 2025, we keep pushing at this by 2025, we will be calling it the year of the physician. At a time when doctors are the leaders in the healthcare space, we have unprecedented levels of career satisfaction and we have financial freedom. It seems like "how" in the world, but it is going to happen. And it starts with you listening.
John: Very nice. We're shooting for 2025 to be the year of the physician. If we all do this affirmation every day for the next three years, it'll happen.
Dr. Una: It'll happen.
John: So, this is the year we get past COVID. 2025 is the year of the physician.
Dr. Una: Yes. The tides would've turned, the tides would've turned.
John: All right. That is awesome. Dr. Una. I've learned a lot today and I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us. I'll have to have you come back in another couple of years, maybe you'll be running for president or something then, I don't know. You keep busy. You never know what you can accomplish.
Now this has been great. I always like to talk to you. And I hope listeners, you just really take to heart what Nneka is telling you today. We should be happy. If you're in bliss, doing whatever you're doing clinically now, then just keep doing it obviously. But if you're not happy, then something has to change. And what we've talked about today is something that you can do. All right. Well, I guess I have to say goodbye then to you now, and thanks again, and we'll be talking to you in the future.
Dr. Una: Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you.
John: Okay. You're welcome. Bye-bye.
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Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 237
Do You Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Your Own Terms?
John: I noticed that this former guest has written a book that should be of interest to you, many of you, my listening audience today. So, I can't wait to hear all about it. Hello, Dr. Nneka Unachukwu, otherwise known as Dr. Una.
Dr. Una: Hi, thank you so much for having me on here. I'm so excited to be here again.
John: Well, I'm glad to have you here fellow podcaster and entrepreneur. I think your episode was pretty darn popular when I think back it was about two years ago, and then you came back to interview me for my podcast. That was interesting. So, I love that. I did hear something about a book coming out, but let's bring everybody up to date because not all my listeners now may be the same. So, tell us a little bit about you, a little bit about your background, what you've been doing up to this point, and then we'll get into the whole book thing.
Dr. Una: Yeah. My name's Dr. Una, as you said. I am a pediatrician by training and a serial entrepreneur and a podcaster and an author at this point. Really, what I do is I help doctors learn how to build profitable businesses so they can live life and practice medicine on their terms. So that's at the heart of what I do. That's the heart of what I do.
And John, it's really interesting because I'm like the last time I was on here, I had just started the EntreMD podcast. So, it's a little over two years old now. It's really been a great vehicle for getting the word out there. We've had, I don't know, 186,000 downloads at this point, which I could not have imagined starting to podcasts on my cell phone, in my basement. That's been really great.
I launched a second podcast, called the Doctors Changing Medicine podcast. And I did that because I was really like, there are a lot of examples of physicians who are in control, who are living above burnout, who are starting running profitable businesses, and who are living life on their terms. But I couldn't find a place to find all of them when I started off. I'm like, a Google physician entrepreneur. And I'm like, where are they?
And so that podcast is primarily an interview show just to showcase doctors who are living outside the box and stuff like that. And someone can go there, it's like a buffet, just go through them and like, "Wow, that's interesting. I'd like to do that." That seems like something I would want to do.
I did that, and then started the EntreMD business school, which is a year-long program. And I just walk doctors through all the classic algorithm-proof ways of building profitable businesses. And it's a wonderful community. We have live sessions every week. I mean, it's been so wild. I'm so grateful for the journey. We've had a lot of things go on, live events, all of that. It's been amazing. Really amazing.
John: That's cool. Let me ask you about the business school. It's a year-long thing. Do you only start it once a year or do you have openings? How do you get new people into the business school?
Dr. Una: Yeah, we are open a few times a year. Last year we opened twice, this year we may open three or four times. And so, everybody kind of has their own cohort, if you will. Many people do end up re-enrolling, there was a cohort, it was like a 100% or like, yeah, I'm doing a second year. So, people tend to stay.
John: Yeah. I think I was looking at your website or looking at that, and so basically there's a waiting place for now because it's not open at this moment, but if they're interested in that, they get on that waitlist, they learn more. And then when you open it, they have that opportunity.
Dr. Una: Absolutely.
John: That's pretty cool. That will keep you busy between that and two or three podcasts or whatever. And some speaking and some book writing.
Dr. Una: But it is fun because I'm getting to do what I want. It's like I get to help doctors do that. So, watch someone who's like, "I'm not the kind of person who can run a private practice", go from that to "My first year in private practice, we were completely profitable. I paid off all my loans and all." It's so insanely crazy and rewarding to see somebody like "I negotiated at my job, now I have a scribe. Now I work a four-day workweek. I say no to things that do not serve me." I mean, it's amazing. It's work, but it's work that I love.
John: Now, wait a second. You're saying that I'm a physician. I can start my own practice and be happy and not get crushed by Medicare and all these other things. I think it is coming back. So, what's your experience with that?
Dr. Una: With private practice?
John: Yeah.
Dr. Una: Well, the thing is for a lot of it, it's starting to think of a practice. Physicians as a community, we've thought about a practice like a practice, not a business. "Business destroyed medicine, so I'm not into the business thing." But the second you start applying business principles to it, it's a very different experience. You have more control over how many people you see, have more control over being the sought-after person in the marketplace, you have more control over hiring, firing, culture. Boundaries, all of that. Like saying no to things that don't serve you. If there's an insurance company that pays you below what it costs you to serve the patients, you say no, because you know the numbers.
Learning to run it as a business, which for physicians, I will say, we lead with service. We lead with helping. So, we make the best entrepreneurs. Period. Because we put people before profits, but you have to have both. Once you start thinking in that way, then everything gets better. I'm not trying to say it's not hard work, but it's hard work that's rewarding.
John: It sounds to me like you get to do more of what you like to do or want to do, and less of what you don't want to do because you're in control.
Dr. Una: Yes.
John: Okay. I'm assuming that some of that is going to be addressed in "The EntreMD Method: A Proven Roadmap for Doctors who Want to Live Life and Practice Medicine on Their Own Terms", which is the book we're here to talk about today. Is that right?
Dr. Una: Yes.
John: Okay. Just tell us a little bit about the process. Let's start with why. Why did you decide you're going to write a book?
Dr. Una: This is the deal. One of my BHAGs, my big hairy audacious goal is that I'm going to help 100,000 doctors learn how to build profitable businesses.
John: I think you mentioned that before. Yes.
Dr. Una: Yeah, right? And when I started talking about it, I was not clear on how, but I was like, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm like, what better way is there to create an avenue for the mass business education of doctors, by then having a book? And so, I have the podcast and there are so many people who listen to it. There are so many people who get so much out of it, but I'm like, "If I have a book I can say, okay, I want to put this book in every final year resident's hands. I want to give this book to anybody who wants to start a business." The thought has been, "I have to go do an MBA", and MBAs are great, but we already have multiple six figures in debt. We're already strapped for time. We're already burned out. We don't have time for another MBA.
And so, I was like, I'm going to put something that is simple enough, a simple enough roadmap that someone who is like, "I don't even know what entrepreneurship is", they can take that roadmap and start their journey and succeed on their journey. And they are timeless principles. So even if you're at a stage where, "Oh, I have a business that's doing well". Well, this book can help you make it so much better. That's my agenda. I want to help physicians get the empowerment they need to practice medicine on their terms and live on their terms. Enough is enough with all the stuff going on.
John: Yeah. I think a lot of us feel like, "Look, we're here to help people, obviously, that's why we went into medicine, but we're not here to kill ourselves. We're not here to be miserable and unhappy the majority of our lives. And we need to just take control and we should get paid for what we do and we should enjoy what we do." So, if this book is going to tell us how to do that, then I'm definitely in on that. We're not going to get an author. We don't let our authors get away without teaching us everything that's in the book before they leave. Well, we'll hit a few of the high points. That's going to be the rest of this conversation if that's okay.
Dr. Una: Yeah, let's do it. I'll give you all the things, John, just for you.
John: Just for me. Yeah. This is just a private podcast today. I'm not really sending this out. I'm just going to ask all the questions I have. First of all, you kind of alluded to this about entrepreneurship. Just tell us, I think in one of the first sections of your book, you're talking about why entrepreneurship is a must for physicians. So, why don't you summarize it kind of, why is that?
Dr. Una: Well, the truth is that we are one skill away from careers or businesses that we enjoy. Because we are super smart. We have that downpack. We have an incredible work ethic. We have the ability to put people before profits. We're experts in this space, but the thing that is missing is the business skill. If you look at it, it doesn't matter whether you're employed or whether you own a business. This is something for every physician.
For instance, the employed physician, well, you're going to learn how to negotiate. People don't pay you what you're worth. Nobody's going to say, "You know what? I think you're worth 30% more. I'm going to pay you 30%." That's not how this works. You're going to negotiate for that. You're the one that's going to say, "I want to scribe." You're the one that's going to say, "I want a four-day workweek."
And the more you think like an entrepreneur, the more you can connect what you do to the bottom line, the more you can objectively say, this is my value to this institution, the more you can negotiate. If you think like an entrepreneur, you realize, even though I'm employed, I work for Dr. Me incorporated. And the more valuable my company is, the more they'll have to pay me. You build your personal brand. You have people coming to your institution because of you. You become a force. And you become in control and people have to treat you differently because if you leave, they hurt. The end. So that's even for an entrepreneur.
If you look at doctors who own private practices, for instance, there are many kinds of businesses we can own, but just that, for instance, I can't be the lead pediatrician in my practice and then make my practice thrive. There's a different skillset that is needed. I need to be the CEO. I need to understand marketing. I need to know how to dominate the market. These are all things I need to learn if my business is going to work.
And if I'm like, well, I want to have an impact outside of the exam room. I want to have a podcast. I want to be a coach. I want to be, whatever that thing is. No margin, no mission. Doctors, we love to help. We come up with all these ideas like, "Oh, I want to do this." But if you can't figure out how to monetize it, then you don't get to do it. Any way you look at it, we are one skill away. It's business skills. Just one. And if we can master that, which by the way is so much easier than anything we've had to do. We've memorized a Krebs cycle. We've learned how to intubate babies. We know how to replace hearts. Entrepreneurship is easier, but we have to learn it.
John: Yeah. We haven't really spent time learning that because we didn't have the time necessarily. I will point out also that if you go back 50 plus years ago, most physicians were in their own practice. I think things were much less complicated. But with the corporate entities taking over, the insurance companies taking over, then obviously we just were overwhelmed, but I'm just happy to see that there's a resurgence of this because I think physicians are much happier when they're in control and they're meeting patient's needs and addressing the entrepreneur side of things as well. So, this is awesome Dr. Una. I love it.
Dr. Una: Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because it's not thinking like an entrepreneur that made us give up a lot of these things. Until today people say, "You can just see the patients. We'll take over your company, we'll put you on a guaranteed salary. Just see the patients, we'll take care of everything else."
The reason why we say yes to those things is we don't evaluate those deals as entrepreneurs. We get the worst of deals. Actually, these deals are called doctor deals. The only people who will accept them will be doctors. Because they don't think that way. And so, the more we can think strategically and like entrepreneurs, the more we're like, "Yeah, you make that sound good. And that's a really pretty brochure, but that does not serve me in any way. That's me signing up for burnout, loss of autonomy, and career dissatisfaction." You're absolutely right. We need to figure this out.
John: Well, the next big section of your book has to do with mindset. Why is that important? What kind of mindset issues have you found that need to be addressed and which are the top ones that I think you talk about in the book?
Dr. Una: Yeah. I think the top of the top of the tops, well, maybe, is we are almost conditioned and I'm not saying this is some conspiracy and it's intentional, but we're almost conditioned to not think like entrepreneurs. Like I'm a one-trick pony. The only thing I can do is doctoring. You're burned out, but we can switch this. This is the only thing I know how to do. This is the only way I know how to do it. And it's not true. It's not true in any way. And if you look at the evidence, okay, this is not a paper, but this is evidence in your life. If you look at the evidence, you've done a lot of things. You've learned a lot of things. You have the capacity to change.
Once upon a time, you were a high schooler who said, "I'm going to be a doctor who transplants hearts." And so, if you could go from a high schooler to that, you can go from that to whatever else you need to go to. We are not one-trick ponies. We can learn what we need to learn and we can thrive everywhere we find ourselves.
There's a lot about the fear of failure. Again, part of it is our education. Nobody wants to do brain surgery and go like "Oopsie. Well, I guess that didn't work. We'll just try the next one." You cannot have that attitude in medicine. You aim for perfection. It's not that there are no errors, but that's what you aim for. Entrepreneurship is the complete opposite. It's like, "Is this B worth it? Amazing. Let's go."
And so, it's a big shift because if we walk in with that doctor "I have to do this perfectly" mindset, we stall as entrepreneurs. We can't make progress. We can't innovate. We can't problem-solve. We can't do anything. So, there are few mindsets that we have that have served us really well as physicians that we have to start thinking another way, if we're going to thrive as entrepreneurs. It's a completely different world.
John: Yeah. Although it's ironic to me that there are many physicians who really struggled for years and studied and had overcome some barriers to get into medical school and to get in the residency they wanted and then to get into the practice they wanted. And so, the fear of failure, it just seems so counterintuitive, I think. But it's just a different entity.
Now, I will say too, while you were talking it occurred to me that there's a lot of reasons why other people don't want us to realize this. There's a lot of reasons why the corporate practice of medicine and the insurance companies and the large systems, they don't want us to realize that this business side is not all that complicated and that people can help you. We've got that going against us, but you've got to break free of that and move forward, like you said.
Dr. Una: Yeah. For those of them who are not serving in integrity and all of that, it is in their best interests that we don't learn any of this because what will happen is, a lot of the lids we experience as physicians are not real. They're make-belief, what we believe they're there. And so, the second we figure out this business thing, the lid disappears. The whole "stay in your lane, do what you're told, this is all you can earn", all of that stuff, all of that disappears because the lid is imaginary. It's not real.
John: I was talking to someone yesterday, she's not a healthcare provider. She's a coach for physicians at a university in the medical school. Not in the med school itself, but in the MBA program. She has a relative who's a physician who is killing himself in an ER and he doesn't feel like he has any options. And it's like, "Are you kidding me?" He's just been so brainwashed and he's so stuck that he really needs to hear what you have to say, I think. I'm going to have to send him to you.
Dr. Una: Yeah. That's the reason why this book exists. The way the students in the business school, the way they describe it's like, this is an alternate reality. Like we're not having the experience our colleagues are having. There's a whole new world out there. And so many doctors have no idea it exists.
John: All right. Now, in the next big section of your book, you're talking about habits and attitudes. Things that we should learn to adapt to be successful. What are some of those?
Dr. Una: Yeah. The first one I talk about is a daily routine. And in a business book, you'll be like, "Well, what does that have to do with business?" But the idea is this. We are busy and we'll get less busy at some point, but the bottom line is we are busy. And part of the dissatisfaction and the trauma and all of that stuff comes from not living in alignment with what we consider our most important goals. Not just in the business, but in every aspect. And so, one of the habits that we have to adopt is a daily routine that makes it possible for us to move in the direction of the most important goals we have every single day.
John: That would help.
Dr. Una: Yeah. That would help. Because it's part of the cure for burnout in a way. Because when you're doing meaningful work, you work hard, but you don't get burned up because you're like, "This is amazing." You know what I mean? I know that's a general statement, but for the most part that's what it is. And so, for instance, for my daily routine, I'm like, "Okay. What's most important with me? My relationship with God, my relationship with my kids, learning and becoming better, being healthy, being okay mentally, and all of that stuff." I have a daily routine where I spend time praying. I literally have on my calendar "Spend meaningful time with kids." Not all of us, on the device in the same space, but meaningful time with kids. Reading, reviewing my goals, listening to a podcast, exercising. And when I do these things every day, what it does is even if it was a bad day, I'm still moving in the direction of my most important goals. I'm somebody who can say "Bring it on world, I can take it because I'm grounded and all of that."
I talk about the habit of becoming comfortable, being uncomfortable. And that's the life of an entrepreneur. It's one challenge after the other. One big thing that you have no idea how to do after the other. And the more you fight to be comfortable, the more you resist moving forward. So, it's like "Give that up, become comfortable, be uncomfortable." This is the way. That's the way we were in med school. Once you get comfortable with one procedure, they throw a new one at you. Once you get comfortable with one specialty, they throw another one at you, and you just roll with it.
Then the third one is that love for personal development. I don't know about you John, but when I was done with residency and all that stuff, I was like, I'll do my CNEs. But I was like, in a way I've arrived. You know what I mean? I don't have to study really hard. I'm done. And the thing is wherever we are at our level of personal development, that's the cap for what we can produce in our lives. That's it.
And so, if we want to be people who would build businesses, businesses that'll be successful, businesses that'll be cutting edge, that'll be innovative, that will help people, that will change our communities, that will be movements, we have to always be improving. Always, always. That's something that we have to fall in love with. So that's a new habit. I'll tell you something funny that happened to me a few years ago. It was November and I had made up my mind I was going to read 52 books. And at the beginning of November, I was at 40. And I was like, oh, well, I mean, November, 40? 40 is not a bad number, but clearly, I can't do 12 books in two months. So, I'll try that goal again next year.
And then I had this thought, I was like, well, what if this was med school, though, you won't say that. You will read those 12 books and go take your exam and do a good job. Is your medical degree more important than your life and your business and all this other stuff? I was like, I guess not. It's like, okay. How you'd have done it at school, do it now. I read 12 books in November. I may or may not have cheated and picked a few small ones, but the bottom line is, I got it done, but it's just that attitude "I need to be better" because when I'm better, everything gets better.
John: And I like the point about it's good to have goals, but if you don't have systems in place that are going to enable you to achieve those goals, they're not going to happen most likely because we're human and we get to push things aside. And so, that's great. You need both really. And building that in, I do that to myself. I actually have a daily note on my phone to talk to my daughter.
Dr. Una: I love that.
John: It's not like I talk to her every day, but it reminds me, "Okay, I'm going to talk to my daughter." It's like, why would you need a reminder for that? Well, because we live in a whirlwind. I mean, that's what it is. And unless we remind ourselves in some way or carve out the time or make it a habit, it won't happen.
Okay. Let's see. We're going to run out of time here pretty soon. What do we get? Then I think the fourth part of the book is talking about getting down to business. That should be a thing, getting down to business. So, what is that about?
Dr. Una: Well, that's about the tactical aspect of it. We took care of the mindset and the habits that would support it. But now what do I need to do? What do I need to do in the simplest ways that any physician can apply this, whether you're a start-up or you have a $5 million business? Any physician.
It's really three core things, I go into the details of it in the book. But the first part is identifying that profitable business idea. Because not every idea is profitable. Not every idea should be a business. How do I even know if I have a business in me? Which almost every physician does, but how do I know and how do I know that this will be profitable? I talk about that.
And then I talk about how I get clear in how I communicate about it? And sometimes when it comes to messaging, people are like, "Hey, I don't really need that." But the better you are at it, the better your people can find you. They know exactly what you do. Exactly the problem you solve. They know you're the guide, you're the man or woman for the job.
And the third thing is how do I amplify that message and put it everywhere? How do I go from best-kept secret to household name? This is where a lot of doctors are like, "I don't like promoting myself. I don't like selling. I don't like marketing" and all of that. I'm an introverted introvert so I totally feel your pain. But there's a way to do it that's professional, that's classy, and where people are actually inspired just watching you market. So how do you do that?
Because doctors, again, we're people, people. We know how to serve people. We know how to help people, but then we're best-kept secrets. Nobody knows. And if nobody knows, you cannot have a profitable business. And so, this takes care of that, where you have all the people you consult, looking out for you. And are like, "Can I work with you? Can you help me?"
John: Nice. Well, at some level you're doing your potential patients, customers, clients a disservice if you don't do the right kind of marketing because you are just keeping them from you. They don't even know that you exist or that you have these skills or that you have this service or product. You're not like a snake oil salesman or something. You're just trying to get the word out that here's something that you might really need and want. Something like if you were to do an educational session for a group of seniors somewhere, that's marketing. You're not selling anything there. You're just there and, "Oh, wow. He or she knows a lot about this thing and I need it." So yeah, that makes sense.
Dr. Una: And we sell. It gets a little weird when money is involved. I'm a pediatrician. I sell parents on giving their kids vaccines all the time. Even though vaccines will make their kids cry and all that stuff. I tell them. An oncologist is like, "Yes, you're going to lose your hair and all this stuff, but you absolutely need this chemo." We're great at selling. We just don't know what good selling is.
John: Okay. Well, I need to know where we can get your book and where we can find you. My audience may know that entremd.com is your website, correct?
Dr. Una: Yes. Yes. Entremd.com is where it will be. And then from there, if you want to go to Amazon or wherever, all the links, everything will be there.
John: Okay. And there's also information about the business school. And of course, the podcast, they can look up on any smartphone, but there's information there about the podcast too. And about the book The EntreMD Method. And you can learn more about the things we just touched on today for sure. And that will be coming out the day that this episode is released. Great timing.
Dr. Una: It's so amazing. So amazing.
John: Isn't that crazy? How did we plan that so well? Okay, well, before we go, though, last words of encouragement just from what you know stops people and what they need. Tell them something that'll be helpful to get them started.
Dr. Una: Yeah. The truth of this is physicians as a community are amazing. We have been sold a lie, that we're one-trick ponies, that we should stay in our lane, that we're not good at business. We're not good at investments. And they're all lies. They're all lies. I want to invite you to embrace the possibility that the things you've always dreamed of, that you can actually do them. The career you dreamed of having, you can actually have it. The business, the level of impact and revenue that you've wondered, could I do this? I want to invite you to explore that, to really explore that.
And the second thing I will say is to explore that for yourself, but explore that for your colleagues as well. There are so many physicians who have never seen anybody succeed as a physician entrepreneur, succeed as a physician, period. And the more we set the example of what is possible, the more we create a tsunami of change.
John, I don't think I've told you this yet, but my vision is by 2025, we keep pushing at this by 2025, we will be calling it the year of the physician. At a time when doctors are the leaders in the healthcare space, we have unprecedented levels of career satisfaction and we have financial freedom. It seems like "how" in the world, but it is going to happen. And it starts with you listening.
John: Very nice. We're shooting for 2025 to be the year of the physician. If we all do this affirmation every day for the next three years, it'll happen.
Dr. Una: It'll happen.
John: So, this is the year we get past COVID. 2025 is the year of the physician.
Dr. Una: Yes. The tides would've turned, the tides would've turned.
John: All right. That is awesome. Dr. Una. I've learned a lot today and I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us. I'll have to have you come back in another couple of years, maybe you'll be running for president or something then, I don't know. You keep busy. You never know what you can accomplish.
Now this has been great. I always like to talk to you. And I hope listeners, you just really take to heart what Nneka is telling you today. We should be happy. If you're in bliss, doing whatever you're doing clinically now, then just keep doing it obviously. But if you're not happy, then something has to change. And what we've talked about today is something that you can do. All right. Well, I guess I have to say goodbye then to you now, and thanks again, and we'll be talking to you in the future.
Dr. Una: Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you.
John: Okay. You're welcome. Bye-bye.
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