Top 10 Fears That Stop Doctors From Starting Businesses

On this episode of the EntreMD Podcast, I’ll discuss 10 fears that stop doctors from starting businesses or stop doctors from scaling their businesses.

I believe entrepreneurship is the answer for burnout, I believe it is the answer for the disillusionment that we face in the medical community: feeling undervalued. Entrepreneurship is a great leveler and takes care of all of that.

I want to see you guys build businesses that are crushing it, so we’re going to be looking at 10 fears that may be holding you back. I want you to thrive in spite of these fears.

Listener Spotlight of the Week!

Excellent podcast by DrGiavonne – Aug 1, 2020 ★★★★★

This podcast is exactly what I need during this time and Dr. Una presents the topics in a wonderfully calm, knowledgeable and steadfast perspective. Love this!!!
 
 Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Have you subscribed to my podcast? If you haven’t, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Great episodes will be coming every week and if you are not subscribed, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those.

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Also, I would really love it if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Your glowing reviews help other people find my podcast and I love reading them. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you.

Join the EntreMD Private Facebook group here. 

Links mentioned in this episode:
 
EntreMD Business School
Join the mailing list here

When you are ready to work with us, here are three ways.

1. EntreMD Business School Accelerator - If you are looking to make a 180 turnaround in your business in 90 days, this is the program for you.
2. EntreMD Business School Grow - This is our year-long program with a track record of producing physician entrepreneurs who are building 6, 7 and 7+ figure businesses. They do this while building their dream lives!
3. EntreMD Business School Scale - This is our high-level mastermind for physicians who have crossed the seven figure milestone and want to build their businesses to be well oiled machines that can run without them.

To get on a call with my team to determine your next best step, go here www.entremd.com/call

Follow Dr. Una here
LinkedIn - www.linkedIn.com/in/druna
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/drunachukwu
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drunachukwu
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DrUnachukwu?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

Hi, Docs! Welcome to the EntreMD Podcast, where it is 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 Docs. Welcome back to another episode of The EntreMD podcast. As always, I am super pumped that you are here. And if you haven't had a moment to yet, I want to ask you, please go write us a review on iTunes. Let us know how amazing this podcast has been, how it's helped you. And you know, that would be super amazing. This is all free. This is my love project to the medical community. And I would love love love if you could make some noise about it. All right. Now today we are going to be looking at something that's really exciting. So EntreMD Facebook group, I had posted a question and I asked what is the number one thought that stops you from starting or scaling your business. And it is an amazing bunch. If you're not part of the group, you definitely want to go check it out on EntreMD.com/join. Or you can go to Facebook and just search for the group. And these doctors were so vulnerable, came up and said, this is the reason why sounds like you know what, if you're going to do that, I'm going to do a whole podcast episode and go over those fears, show you how you can overcome them. So you can start or scale that business because I believe every doctor has invested enough to create the financial freedom that they deserve: to live life and practice medicine on their terms. Okay, and you guys know I'm biased. So I believe entrepreneurship is the answer for burnout, I believe is the answer for the disillusionment that we face in the medical community, feeling undervalued. And all of that I think entrepreneurship is a great leveler, it takes care of all of that. Okay, so I want to see you guys build businesses that are crushing it. Alright, so we're going to be looking at those 10 fears. And the thing about these fears is that whether you're starting your first business or your third business or your scaling up your fourth business, these are the same fears, they creep up, they show their ugly faces, and we just need to know how to thrive in spite of them. Okay, so before we get into the episode, I do want to give a big shout out to the doctors who are in the EntreMD Business School. That is the business school that makes up for the business education you didn't get during your medical training. The doctors in there are absolutely rocking and crushing it. And one of the reasons why I'm so excited is within the first two weeks for all the doctors who came on, and were willing to bet on themselves, they're like, I don't even think I have a business idea. I don't even think I have a business 100% of them have now discovered their profitable business ideas and are actively working on them. I mean, isn't that amazing? So maybe you're here like, I have an idea. I don't know where to start from, or I don't even have an idea. EntreMD Business School is the school for you. And if you're here, there are a number of docs on there who are serial entrepreneurs, and they're like, this is business number three, and they are crushing, crushing, crushing. It's such an amazing group. So check it out on EntreMD.com/business. 

Alright, so let's look at those 10 fears. Okay. Now one doc said, “I'm afraid of putting myself out there.” And I can identify with that because I remember with my very first business, which was a pediatric private practice, I remember people saying, “Well, why don't you go talk to the OB GYN and let them know that you're here?” Do you know I wouldn't even do that? I was like, You mean go up to people and tell them, I have a business, I have a practice. Send your people to me. I don't think I can do that. Right. I was so afraid of putting myself out there, so afraid of what people will say. So afraid of the critics, but most importantly, so insecure because I was like, I'm not even an entrepreneur. I'm not even a real business owner. I just, I don't know, I felt like a fraud. Okay. So I'm afraid of putting myself out there. And over the years, I've overcome that a lot. Sometimes it still rears its ugly head, but let me tell you what helped me overcome that.

It's taking my eyes off of me and putting my eyes on those that I can help.

Think about it.

Okay. So for me, I'm a business coach. I help doctors build profitable businesses. Okay. I've told you the story many times of Dr. Tumor, and she and I had worked together for a year and in that year, her patient volume increased by 467%. And her revenue increased by 613%.

Now, she could have had that massive result, because I stepped out and I promoted what I do. Now, if I didn't promote my services, she could have gone on with a problem she had. I'm not making enough money in my business, and I had the solution. But if I didn't talk about the solution, she didn't get the help that she needed. Do you see what I'm saying? There are people out there who have a problem that your business solves: a business is an entity that solves problems and is financially rewarded for that. When you promote your business. You need to look at it through the right lens. I am putting it out there, so people who have this problem can get a solution. Okay? So take your eyes off you take your eyes of who you can help. There's so many doctors who have listened to this podcast and started businesses, listen to this podcast and they've done their first video, listen to their podcast and said yes to a speaking gig, and it's changed their businesses. So when I promote the podcast, I'm promoting because I know it solves problems. A lot of times what gets in our ways or if I'm promoting myself, it means I'm money hungry. The money is the side effect of your business. The main effect is the victories and the wins that you get people because you solve their problems. So replace that thought of I'm afraid of putting myself out there because it makes it seem like I'm greedy. Makes it seem like I'm all that and replace it with: I put myself out there boldly because there are people who have a problem that I can fix, and they need to know about the fix.

Okay? So don't let the fear of putting yourself out there stop you. Alright, so that's fear number one.

Number two, I am afraid, I will fail. I'm afraid I will feel fear of failure, I'm afraid I will fail. And so, with this one, let me calm your heart, you will fail. You will fail many times, because failure is a requirement for success. Failure is a part of success. You are going to fail. You are going to do things that won't work out right, you are going to slip up, you are going to fail. But having a failed project doesn't mean you're a failure.

Those are two completely different things.

You failing at a project that is a failed project. Very different from you failing. Okay, two completely different things. So, I learned this from Brendon Burchard, okay, I had a project that I was working on and fell flat on my face, completely flat. And I woke up the following morning, I was disappointed. And I was like, Okay, this is wrong. This is the wrong emotion. This is the wrong feeling I'm having. I'm thinking the wrong thoughts. I need to fix this now, because I don't have the time to waste, feeling disappointment and feeling sad and feeling discouraged. Because all the time I spent feeling that, that's time that I could be spending working on my business, but instead I'm like, letting these thoughts paralyze me. So I pulled up a video by Brendon Burchard. And he was talking about how to handle disappointment. I was like, Oh, this is great. I mean, he's a great guy. And this is a great topic. So let's do it. And he shares a concept that has served me well. Okay. He says that why do people get disappointed? He doesn't understand why people get disappointed. Like maybe you did something didn't work out the way you wanted it to work out. But you're focused on the wrong thing. What you should be focused on is, did I grow? Did I learn something? Did I improve? Who did I become in the process of trying to do this thing? Right? Because, but you try things and fail. You're growing, you're growing, you're learning to do new things, you're acquiring new skills, you're trying new things. So you became a different version, a better version of yourself. So if you focus on growth, and not just on results, you have no reason to be disappointed. I was like, that is a brilliant way. I mean, you do focus on results, right, we measure results. So don't get me wrong, we measure results. But put your eye on the process. Keep your eyes on the process. If you're working with process even though the results haven't shown up the way you want them to just yet, they will. They will. So if you're working the process, and you're getting better and you're improving, you're trying bigger things, you're getting better, you're becoming a better version of yourself. So even though you failed at something, even though a project failed, you didn't fail.

So if you're afraid of failing, I would encourage you to embrace failure is a part of success. Think about the one year old that starts walking, right? Think about it.

Think about what we always do. I always use this analogy because it's so powerful. The baby takes the first steps 123 boom face on the floor.

We do not ever talk about the fall, ever. We celebrate the three steps. We celebrate the progress, we celebrate the fact that the baby is working the process because the process of becoming proficient at walking is taking steps and falling. So the process of becoming proficient at entrepreneurship is taking steps and falling. So if you met a one year old who said, I'm not going to walk because I'm afraid of failing, I'm afraid of falling. You tell them stop, don't be silly. Falling is part of the process of learning to walk.

So I'm telling you today, don't be afraid of failing, you're gonna fail. It is part of the process. The only way to not fail at anything is to not try. And then that's the real failure. Right? So don't be afraid of failing. And don't be disappointed when you fail. Just get up like the one year old and do it again. Get up and do it again. And each time you get up and do it again, you will be better. Don't be afraid of failing. Alright, so that's number two. Number three. This thought hiring help is too expensive. And I can't build a solid team. And for many of you who are maybe are in private practice, or you built a business and is busier, you may be You have to get a virtual assistant on board and you're just like, Oh my gosh, I can't do this. You know, it's too expensive and stuff like that. You know what? Let's do some, some math here. So the first thing though, before we do the math is you probably should say this out loud to yourself that one is too small and number to achieve greatness. Okay, I heard this from john Maxwell one is too small number to achieve greatness. So if you're planning to be great, if you're planning to spark off a movement, if you're planning to help a lot of people planning to make a change in the industry, if you're planning to build a practice that would be positioned as the practice in your community. If you're trying to do that, one is to smaller number to achieve greatness. So you might say I'm not good at hiring. I'm not good at figuring out this people thing. But the truth of the matter is that you're going to have to figure it out. And the good thing is that this skill, like all business skills is learnable. You can learn to be great at hiring. You can learn to be great Building a team, it is a skill. Okay, so that's number one come to terms with the fact that I need people. If I'm going to do something great. I need people. I mean, imagine Jeff Bezos of Amazon, right? Imagine trying to build that alone. Imagine Elon Musk, like oh, I'm going to put a rocket in space by myself. Right? I'm going to do by myself, right? Imagine trying to build Tesla by himself. Imagine, you know, Apple, them trying to build that company by themselves. No, greatness is not a solo sport. It's a team sport. Okay, so I need people and I can get good at this because it's a learnable skill. Okay. Now as far as being expensive, I am going to do some math for you. That would probably set you free. Hiring help is not expensive. You doing something that somebody else can do is expensive. Okay, so there is an actual formula to measure how much someone's annual hourly rate is okay from your app. In your salary, we can calculate your annual rate. And what it comes to is whatever you earn per annum divided by 2000. All right, so let's say you make $300,000 a year, it means that your annual rate is $150 an hour. Let's just use that for instance, okay? And I said, you can get a VA, okay? You can get a VA, pay them $1,000 a month. They'll take care of all your social media, they'll take care of your emails, they'll take care of your calendar, they'll manage your database, they'll make your make your appointments, they'll schedule a kid's birthday stuff. And you're like, Oh, that's too expensive. I can't afford it. Okay, well, let's say your VA was going to work for you 10 hours a week. Okay, 10 hours a week. And you do those things by yourself. Those 10 hours at $150 an hour is 1500 a week. Okay, did you guys get the math? That's 1500 a week, that's $6,000 a month. So the question is, rather than you doing it at $6,000 a month, can you hire somebody to do it at $1,000 a month? And the answer is yes.

Okay.

You might go like, but yeah, but that's, I don't have the money to spend. But that's the thing, though, you have a zone of genius, you have the things that only you can do. You have the things that are high value tasks, and you should concentrate all your energy, all your time on doing those high-level tasks. Now, you may have just started off in business and you don't have the bandwidth to do that yet. So please don't look at this, like oh my gosh, I'm doing the wrong thing. No. Okay. You may be putting in sweat equity. But the truth of the matter is the second you are like, I don't have time, you are overdue. You need to get somebody on board, where you can delegate things you shouldn't be doing. So they can do it. Because hiring help is not expensive, you doing the work is expensive because you are a high capacity person. Okay? All right. So that takes care of that. So one is I need people and two is a hiring is actually not expensive. Alright, moving on number four: people expect my services to be free. Like if I do this and you know, I'm doing the videos and I'm doing some conferences and stuff and helping some people, they want it for free, but if I put a price tag, they won't pay for it. Okay. And for the most part that is a limiting belief on our part if we say that because people have always paid for stuff, and people will always pay for stuff. So let me give you a few examples. Okay, Netflix, Netflix, people pay for Netflix. 167 million subscribers worldwide. 167 million, okay. People pay for stuff. I looked at the number of people who shop weekly at Walmart worldwide 265 million people shop at Walmart every week. 265 million. Okay.

I had a lady I met I tell her story all the time, who is a psychic. And she's like, I just want to have 10 clients a year, and she charges them $28,000 a year. And she coaches them. Alright, she teaches them about their astral planes and all of that. And so she makes $280,000 working with 10 clients a year. Okay. And I tell you that to say people pay for stuff, okay? People pay for stuff. People spend money all the time. People will spend money on your stuff. But you have to reframe how you think about it because if you think people won't pay, you won't make offers. If you make them, you won't make them confidently and people will not pay. But it's not because they won't pay is because they won't pay you because you believe they won't pay you. Okay? So you want to reframe that and you want to start thinking differently about it. My ideal clients will pay for my services. Okay? So I want you to think about think about all the things you pay for right and your person, right? Think of all the things: like pull out your statements, your bank statements, your credit card statement and look at it and go like, man, I pay for a lot of stuff. People will pay for my stuff. You want to reframe how you think about that, because that is something you believe, but it's not something that's true.

Okay. All right. So that's number four. Number five, what if I end up wasting all this time and money? Right? When I think about starting a business or scaling a business, what if I end up wasting all this time and money?

Okay, now back to the thing that we learned from Brendon Burchard is, when you change what your focus is on, from 100% your results to looking at the process, right? You realize that you can never, never, ever waste time and money. You can't. The asset in your business that can appreciate the most is you. So any investment that you make in you cannot be wasted money. Like for my people who are in the EntreMD Business School, this is an investment in themselves and they are getting better. Their mindsets are shifting, they are living outside their comfort zone. They are doing things they've never done before. They're owning the fact that they're entrepreneurs. They're getting comfortable. They're going to get comfortable asking people for money, getting comfortable doing calls to action, right. So even if they're at the point where the change hasn't quite reflected in their bank account, as of right now, they are changing, and they're setting themselves up for that. Do you see what I'm saying? So you can't waste the time. And the money. The most profitable asset in your business is you. So if you are appreciating the value of your company's appreciating, it's only a matter of time before it shows up in your bank account. Alright, so you don't waste time. You don't waste money when you're investing in yourself.

Ever, ever. All right, next fear. I'm not ready. I'm afraid I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.

And that is something that we always think when we're about to start something new. or medical school, but what if I'm not ready? What if I'm not ready? Get married? What if I'm not ready? Have

Children? What if I'm not ready? So start a business? What if I'm not ready? But I built the business and now it's a multiple six figure business. I want to scale it to see seven figures.

What if I'm not ready? What if I'm not ready? You'll never be ready. You just do it. I mean, when is the best time to have kids? Who knows? I mean, like, right? You'll never be ready.

You just do it. You just start the process. You just start, you can start if that's your fear, you can start today. You can start today own it: this is my business. Alright, let's start working on it. There's never the time, ever. When I started Ivy League pediatrics, which was my first business, the pediatric practice. I had a: How old was my son? Four months, five months, five month old and a 20 month old. I mean, that wasn't a good time. It wasn't a good time. You will never be ready. Just do it. Okay, all right. Just do it. So fear number seven. I'm afraid I'm not qualified. I'm afraid I'm not qualified. I'm afraid I'm not qualified. Now. This is imposter syndrome at its finest. And I mean think about it, right? I start helping people build their businesses. I am a business coach, but Tony Robbins is a business coach too, though, right, isn't he? And so am I qualified? If I want to look at it that way? Maybe, maybe not. You see what I'm saying? Like it is just imposter syndrome. And the truth of the matter is, you have enough to start making progress now You have enough to start moving now you have enough to start working on that business. Now you have enough to start moving the business to the next level now. You start from where you are the you start from where you are. And for this particular one, my recommendation is you get coaching, so you can get out of your own way and you can start doing things. Okay. I have seen doctors who are like, I'm not qualified to talk about helping people with their health. And I'm like, What? I mean, you spend a decade on this stuff, though. I mean, one more certification is great. But you have enough to start, you have more than enough to start, you have more than most people. So start, you have enough to start right now. Okay, but imposter syndrome is real, and it shows up every time you try to do something new. And, you know, that's one fear I could never get rid of. And, you know, one day I said, You know what, since I can't get rid of you come with me, I can watch me succeed. I'm like, you know, like, Come watch me succeed. But yeah, you definitely want to get coaching on that. But that's imposter syndrome, at it’s finest and it's a lie. It's not true. It is just designed to stop you. Okay, so you want to get rid of that one. All right. Fear number eight, I'm afraid of losing control of my time. Right? Like, what if this business works, then I have to spend all this time working on it and serving my clients or serving my patients and all of that. I'm afraid of losing control of my time. So I want you to look at it this way. Time is a resource time is like money. Okay? The idea as an entrepreneur is for you to invest a lot of it now. So you can have more later, you don't lose time, except you do nothing with it, right? But if you're using the time to build a business, you're not throwing away time, you're not wasting time you're investing time. So the idea is, is like putting money in real estate. I'm pumping money into real estate now so that I can have passive streams of income later. Okay, so I'm pumping time into the business now. And I'm building it as a business not as a job, so that the bigger I get, the more systems I have in place, the more time I have. So bigger impact, bigger revenue and more time. That's what a business is supposed to do for you. Okay, so if you're building it according to a good model, you should be investing a lot of time now. So you have a lot of time later. Alright, so the good investor, quote unquote loses some money now, so you can gain a lot more later. Alright, so the EntreMD business school, we had a really nice way of reframing that and we say, I am making time now. So I will have time later. I am making time now. So I have more time later. So invest your time and build with a good model so that you end up with bigger impact, bigger revenue, and more time. Okay. All right. So that's number eight. Number nine. I love this one fear of creating new problems. So you're like, Oh my gosh, I don't think I can start a private practice. Then you start a private practice, then you have to hire people then you have to deal with HR stuff they have to do with vendors. Then you have to like your growth creates new problems. Okay. And I used to, you know, manage my taxes before and now I have to get an accountant. Now I have, you know, to get a lawyer on board now. I mean, like, it's all this stuff. So this is the secrets of that. You have to remember that you're not static. You're not the same, right? You don't stay the same. The you that is trying to start a business will be so different from the you that started the business, that you can handle the problems of that face. Do you see what I'm saying? It’s kind of like, when you're in high school, then you're afraid of getting into med school, because you're like, I'm gonna have to read all these books. But the you that shows up after pre med can handle reading those books, right? When you're in medical school, you're like, Oh my gosh, I never want to be an attending. Well, you never say I never want to be an attending but you're like oh my gosh. To become an attending, that's going to be a problem. Because now I have to figure out everything I don't get to present to anybody. Nobody says, always fix this, fix this, I'm the boss, the buck stops with me. But the thing is that the US medical student and the US resident may not be able to handle that. But the you that's an attending is very different. And that you can handle that. So, one of the biggest benefits of a business is the person you become in the process of building that business. I think more than the impact more than the revenue is the person you become, you become a totally different person, you become a much better version of yourself, right? So in the process of going from one face to the other, you build yourself such that the problems of that new face, you can handle them. Okay? So don't be afraid of the new problems. Because the person that you’ll be then can handle it. Okay, that is so amazing.

All right. Number 10. I don't know, the next right step to take. I don't know, I don't know what to do.

Okay, I want to do but the reason why I can't start one is because I don't know what to do. And on this one, I'm going to have to say you want to get a business education. Okay? The beautiful thing about being a physician is, you are in a position to be one of the most amazing entrepreneurs on the planet because you have the work ethic, you can follow a blueprint, you're not risk averse, because you went into debt multiple six figures to become a doctor, you're not risk averse. And if you just have the blueprints, if you just have the roadmap, if you just know what to do, and you're in a community with fellow physician entrepreneurs, you can figure this out. You may not know every step but you know the next step to take. So I want to invite you to be part of the EntreMD Business School. Because it is a game changer. I mean it is it is amazing. Okay, and you will have steps to take you will know the next steps to take and you'll find yourself making unbelievable progress. Okay? Now if you're here, you're like, maybe I want to start a business I don't even know where to start from. I don't know if my idea is the right idea. I have a gift for you today. Okay, so as the pre event for EntreMD Live, we did a course it's “unlock your profitable business idea.” Okay, unlock your profitable business idea. And you can get the recording for that so you can study it and find your next steps at EntreMD.com/businessidea.

And you can get the recording and you can see some of the laser coaching I did with some of the docs on there. And you can put yourself in a position where you're like, Okay, this is the next thing I need to do, but you should get a business education. So take a look at the EntreMD Business School, the right school for you. Okay, so those are the top 10 fears based on what the doctors posted in the private EntreMD Facebook group. So I would love to hear what your number one fear is and that you've made the commitment to work on it. Okay, so that's your homework for today. Maybe you have a lot of fears, like I don't know where to start from, pick one, pick the one that bothers you the most and work on it. So think the right things about it, start saying the right things about it and start taking action. Okay, so you can go back you can listen to how we played around with it and prove that these are not facts at all, believe the right thing and start taking action. Okay, start taking action. So thank you so much for listening. I will see you on the next episode. If you found this so helpful go post on social media #EntreMD, share your biggest aha moments. I'll be looking out for it. And I'll see you on the very next episode.

If you love this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe, share and review it on iTunes. As you go about your week, remember, you're not just an MD you're an EntreMD. Don't forget to tune in next week for another great episode. Until next time,