Dr. Una is passionate about helping physicians embrace entrepreneurship so they can grow their wealth and win back the freedom to practice medicine on their own terms. Learn more at: https://entremd.com/. Dr. Una helps physicians build and grow their businesses to 7 figures and beyond. Each week, she will share key insights on how you can turn your medical experience into a profitable, passion-based business that gives you time, freedom, and a deep sense of purpose. Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss a new episode!
Think about the things you find yourself saying to your patients or clients. Do you ever tell them to take all the time they need? How about assuring them they can call anytime?
I get it; you want to be always available to everyone for as long as they need because you're a physician with a service-first orientation to the world.
But in actuality, you're just lying to your patients and yourself when you say things like that.
You simply *can't* be available all the time for any amount of time—even if only 10% of your panel take you up on it. It's just not sustainable.
And when you set up your business in a way that's not sustainable, it inevitably leads to the opposite—rather than serving, you're headed toward shutting down one way or another.
Keep your sanity AND keep your doors open by building clear boundaries that allow you to feasibly do your best work for those you serve. It's really a win-win because your people are getting the best you, and you're fulfilled knowing you're giving the best you.
Don't miss today's podcast episode for 5 things you can do to stop the lies.
// COMMUNITY: EntreMD Private Group on Facebook Join a group of physicians who have decided to build profitable businesses, so they have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on their terms. https://www.facebook.com/groups/entremd
When you are ready to work with us, here are three ways:
The Profitable Private Practice Movement - If you want to build a thriving private practice that serves a lot of patients, while creating time and financial freedom for you, come join us here.
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!
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 ...
SPEAKER_00
Hi dogs. Welcome to the Ontree MD Podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. Umna. Well, hello, hello. Welcome back to another episode of the OnTramD podcast. And I am excited today because we are going to talk about something that's going to help you fall in love with your business again. Okay, so this is going to be so amazing. And, you know, I did title it Stop Lying to Your Clients, and I'll tell you why in a second. But if you do this, this is something that will bring back so much peace and joy and love when you think about your business, as opposed to maybe burnout and things like that. And if you are in the earlier stages of your business and you're listening to this, this is wonderful because it will stop you from experiencing all the things. When I talk about, you know, stop lying to your clients, it really is around, you know, telling them about things that you don't really want to do, right? For instance, I would see some people and you know, and they would say, you know, they may be in private practice, for instance, and they constantly tell their patients, call me anytime. Okay. Now, when you say that, do you really mean that? Like, think about it. You have, you know, you have a panel of a thousand patients or two thousand patients or three hundred patients. What if 10% of them took you seriously and called you anytime? Right? It would drive you nuts. So you don't really want that. Right? You don't really want that. You don't want them to call you and like when you come here, we will spend as much time as you want. But you only have 24 hours. And you have work time when there's work time, and you have family time or personal time when there's family time or personal time, you have administrative time, you have all these things. So you actually cannot deliver on that promise. You can't say all the time you want, and you don't even actually mean it, right? Because then you're gonna have the person come and take all the time you want they want, as you said, and then you're gonna come in a Facebook group and say, Oh my goodness, all these people. Right? And same thing with, you know, like you maybe you're not in private practice, maybe you're a coach. Is that what you want? Like, call me whenever. Like, do you actually mean that? Right. And then these things we do to say, I have no boundaries, like just take advantage of me, that we don't really mean. And at the end of the day, they create nothing but burnout, right? Like create nothing but burnout. And so I want to introduce this concept of reverse engineering the way you want your relationship with your clients to be, right? Reverse engineering that. So you can't, you don't want to just randomly say, you know, like take all the time you need, or you can call me any time that you want. And we can have, you know, some people say unlimited email and text, right? Not by your team, but by you, like unlimited. Like, can you actually do that? Do you really want that? Right? Because if you don't, don't say it. Like, don't say it. And the reason why this is so critical is that you can build a business that you love. You can build a business you enjoy working in. You know, when I think about what I do in entree MD, I love what I do in entree MD. I like I say that I've never really worked in entree MD, right? Because I'm doing what I love. But you can create a nightmare by yourself, right? We can say, oh, you know, the system, the way they make us work and all that. And you're like, I'm leaving the system. And then you come on the other side and you create your own personal nightmare. Like, don't do that, right? And so this is an opportunity for us to reflect. I'm gonna give us some pointers. We're gonna reflect, we're gonna reverse engineer, we're gonna think about what we really want, and then we're gonna create what we want. We're gonna create what we love. Now, let me be very clear. I am not talking about not serving your clients. I am not talking about cutting corners. I am not talking of being unavailable. I am talking about building a container that is a win-win situation. So it is a win for your clients or your patients because they get all the help that they need from you. They get the result. It's not about the time, it's about the result. They get the result. And then it's a win for you because you had the opportunity to impact somebody and you had an opportunity to earn, right? You served and earned. Now remember that on trained world, we don't talk about just serving. We don't talk about just earning. We talk about both of them. Now, service leads, but earning is right behind us, like five and six, like right next to right next to it. Okay. So, you know, think about the things in your business, maybe things that you say. Maybe you've never thought about it, right? Like things that you say. And the question then becomes, do you really want it? I have, you know, doctors who have team members. So maybe you have an you know, you you employed another physician. You're like, call me anytime. And they take you up on it. And that's like, see, and you should need to be available to your team, but you want to be available to your team whenever. Do you like, okay, so let's talk about this, right? So you want to think about do I really want it? And you may be a little earlier in your business and you're like, yeah, I really like doing that. Yeah, but you're at 10% of capacity or 30% of capacity. When you're at 100% of capacity, do you want that? Like just multiply it right by three and a half and then decide, is that what I want? Because if it's not, you want to nip that in the bud like now, right? Okay. So there are a few things I'm going to tell you to do. Uh, five things. So the first thing is identify what an ideal relationship with your ideal clients would look like, right? What do you want that to look like? So that may look like, you know, I want them to pay their bills on time, right? Your private practice, I want them to pay their bills when they come. Or you set the boundary. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll say you don't want to pay your co-payer, you do your deductible. That's fine. We'll send you a bill, right? We'll send you a statement in the mail, but that's not what you really want. Like, you don't want to chase after them and spend more dollars to, I mean, like they're right in front of you. They they knew they were coming. They know what they signed up with their insurance company. Like, you see what I'm saying? Like, what do you want? Now, if your thing is no, I want to send them a bill and then they can pay me three months from then, then that's okay. But what do you want? So now notice I'm saying ideal. Okay. Now, of course, nothing is ideal, but we set the ideal. Okay. So what do I want that relationship to be like? So they pay their bills on time, they come for their appointments on time. You know, you have people who keep calling out, you know, maybe you're a coach or a consultant, like, oh, I can't make my call today and all that stuff. And they do this routinely. And you're like, oh, no problem. We'll just reschedule it. If it's a problem, it's a problem. Like, don't say, stop lying. Stop lying, right? Okay. So I want them to, you know, show up on time. I want them to pay their bills. If you're a consultant, maybe you're like, I want them to do the work, you know, so they're committed to their goals. You know what I mean? And I, you know, I want them to, I mean, emergencies are emergencies, but I want them to be respectful of my time. I want them to have access to me in what I've defined as my work hours. And then understand that anything that's not an emergency, like we don't, we can talk about it when our next, you know, block of time or whatever comes in. Identify that. Nobody can do that for you. And it doesn't matter if you're in private practice, like other people's private practice, like, what do you want? Right? You're a coach, what do you want? You're a speaker. What do you want? Right. And and things like that. You're an entrepreneur. And you're like, oh, that committee, you know, that will require eight more hours a week and I won't get paid for. Yeah, you know, I'll do that. Do you want to? Like, you see what I'm saying? Like, do you want to? Like, what do you want that to look like? What do you want your work to look like? Right now, so that's one on one side. You want to identify what that is. This is so important and this is so critical. You cannot go to a place you haven't defined, right? You haven't defined and owned. You want to own that. It's like an art, it's like, you know, building without a building plan, right? Without the drawing. The builder is gonna get the architect first. I want you to be the architect. You are the architect of your career. You're the architect of your business. You're the architect of your work-life balance. You're the architect of the dream life you get to build as you're building your business. You're the architect of it all. So we're gonna draw it out. What does that look like? Please don't skip this step. In fact, you can actually pause this and think for two or three minutes and get at least get the rough draft and think about it. Some of them you know, think about the things that they they just drive you nuts. And a lot of times you're like, why do I keep saying yes to this? Why do I keep putting up with this? Why do I keep doing this? So now we have an opportunity to evaluate so we can stop. Okay. Okay. So the first thing is, you know, identify how you like your clients to interact with you. Okay. And then the second thing is talk about it. Like, don't talk about it. Talk about it, talk about it. And that is, you know, in your content. So even before they start working with you, they have an idea about that in the process of, you know, bringing them in so they know, um, in the process of onboarding, so they know, like this is something you talk about. So, you know, like for instance, you will not see it on my website anywhere. I'm like, call us anytime day of night, day or night, like for my private practice. No, because we we don't want you to call us anytime day or night. We want you to call us during office hours. And if there's an emergency, then you can use the emergency line. But we don't want you to call us whenever, right? Like we don't want that. So we're not gonna say it. We say what we want, you know, and you in UltraMD, you hear me a lot. Like we're perfect for people who are committed to their goals, right? Because if you don't want to accomplish your goals, I know myself and I know why I'm doing what I'm doing. My big why is I want to help doctors build profitable six, seven, and I can't wait to hit eight. Who wants to build an eight-figure business? Come on, let's do it. Okay. So profitable six, seven, and eight-figure businesses. So they have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on their terms. So hashtag, I'm not here to play. I'm not here to take your money and have you sit in a container and do nothing. Like, I'm not here for that. Right? I want to create a win-win. I want you to win. Like my driver is, I want you to win. And so I constantly talk about like you, you're you're committed to it, right? I never sugarcoat the fact that entrepreneurship is hard work because I don't want you to come in and go, like, oh my goodness, I have to work. Like, yes, you have to, you have to do the work, but right? Like there's work. I don't hide the fact that it's going to be uncomfortable. I don't hide the fact that if you're an introvert, well, understand that that doesn't mean you're not gonna speak, you're not gonna network and all those things. Those are skills, has nothing to do with your personality type, right? We talk about that. Talk about being in there in for a year. Uh, you hear me talk a lot about the people who say, oh, I'm EBS for life, because it's that concept of the infinity game, right? Infinity game people are my people, right? Like you understand, continuous improvement, you know, wherever I am right now, it's a stepping stone for where I'm trying to go to, and things like that. And I'm not gonna tell you, we'll hold your hand. I would never use that language because we're because entrepreneurship doesn't work if you want somebody to hold your hand. Now, you will get guidance, you will get support, you will get accountability, we will do things to help you stay motivated. We will do live events for you, we'll come up with special programming, we'll do all of these things, but it's not hand holding. It's not like, oh, if you don't get me up, I can't do that. No, because that doesn't work with entrepreneurs, you're not gonna win. It is impossible to win. You cannot win, right? I just need someone to make me do it. You cannot win. You cannot, right? It requires you saying, I'm in it to win it, and we'll come alongside and we're like, we're here to help you win, right? Like, and so I talk about that because that's who it's for, right? Like that's that's who it's for. And so talk about what it is you want. Talk about what it is you want. If if there are things you don't want, don't say them. Don't say, Oh, unlimited, unlimited text. You can text me as many times. Like, how many pay how many patients or clients can you do that for? Is that what you really want? Now, if that's what you want, do it. Okay. Okay, so the first is identify how you like your clients to interact with you. Number two is talk about it, talk about it, and then never you never say stuff you don't want. Never say stuff you don't want, right? Okay, number three, build boundaries around it. Build boundaries around every every statement you make will be tested. You build boundaries around that, okay? So if you say we don't do texting, for instance, right? And you have a client that keeps texting you, then you build a boundary, which the boundary could look like I don't respond to the text or I respond to it during after hours and say, you know, like we don't respond to text or whatever, but you have to you have to build boundaries. Like, well, let me track back because I want to split this up now. When I talk about building boundaries, it's you saying, This is when I work. I work from nine to five. I only do emergencies, emergency calls in my practice, private practice from here to here. But this is this is when I work. Okay. So, oh, this this mom has you know questions about her specialist appointment and all that. Like, I'm not going to be answering those questions. You have to define what are my boundaries, right? What are my boundaries? I don't do a limited text, I don't do unlimited email. What are your boundaries? I don't work for free. I don't work for free. I do not work for free. That is a boundary. I do not work, but I do not work for free, right? And things like that. And, you know, like I I don't, I don't do that. You define what those are, right? If you're building a program, like, you know, I'm building entre MD and stuff like that. Like, who are your people? Who do you want to have in the school? Who do you do you already know is not a good fit to the for the school? So we'll say, you know, maybe this will be a better fit for you and things like that. Like, define what that is. Define it. So build the boundary. The number four is enforce the boundary. The boundary will be tested, right? The boundary will be tested. I would have people who would say, you know, can I come into the entrepreneurial business school and try it for a few months? I'm like, no. Like I know that if you try to be an entrepreneur, it is not going to work. It's like trying to be a doctor. You don't try to be a doctor. You don't say, oh, I'm just going to try medical school for a few months and see how I like it. Like, no, because it's going to require all your determination, all your grit, all of that for you to come out on the other side. And I'm like, I would rather you stay out there, right? And you make a quality decision. I'm going to do this, right? And you make that decision. Come in, let's do it together. But no, no, that's a boundary. And that's me enforcing my boundary. No, you can't, you, no, we're not going to do that. Right? Come in. Well, would you hold my hand? And no, we're not, no. We will support you. We will get you the roadmaps you need. We will build a community around you. We are always looking for trends. Like, where are people, where are people's hang ups? We come with programming around that. We'll build person, you know, in-person events for you. We'll build special events for you. Like, for instance, in a few weeks, we're doing the 100K boot camp, like for the people in the business school trying to cross their the you know their first 100K. And I'm like, come on, guys, let's do it. Like, we will build stuff for you. We'll do that. We will not hold your hand because that does not work in entrepreneurship. It does not work. It has never worked. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Okay. So it's up for up to me to then enforce the boundary. Right? And it's up to you to enforce your boundary because every boundary will be tested. You're like, I don't know why they keep asking me, because every boundary will be tested. It's up to you to hold up your boundaries. Okay. So that's number, that's number four. So identify how you like them to interact with you, talk about it, build a boundary, enforce the boundary. And then number five is enjoy your work. Enjoy your work because you're working exactly the way you want to. You're working in alignment with who you are. You're working in alignment with your core values. You're working in alignment with your dream. Enjoy it. Enjoy working. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy what I do with my private practice. Even though I'm a sabbatical, I meet with my practice administrator for an hour a week. And, you know, I enjoy that. I enjoy the creative process, what we're doing, what we're creating. I enjoy on-trained. I enjoy, you know, building and fine-tuning the on-trained business school and helping them get bigger and bigger results and all of that stuff. I enjoy what I do on social media. I enjoy all of it, right? Enjoy your work. Okay. So I'm going to recap real quick. Identify how you like them to work with you, talk about it, build boundaries around it, enforce your boundaries, and enjoy your work. Business can be enjoyable. If you're an intrapreneur, being an entrepreneur can be enjoyable. But you have to do some of these things and you really, really, really need to stop lying to your clients and lying to yourself and talking about things that you know you don't want to do. You do them, you smile, you go home, you whine and complain. You come on Facebook in the Facebook groups and you're complaining, but you're allowing them. So I'm inviting you to stop allowing them. Okay, so you can enjoy your life. Okay. So what do I want you to do? I want you to go do this. Okay. I want you to go do this. I want us as physicians to fall in love with what we do again. Whether we're entrepreneurs, we own private practices, we're coaches, we're speakers, we're, you know, we host events, whatever that is. I want us to fall in love with it again. Okay. And it starts with stopping the line. Okay. So let's stop the line. Let's be honest about what we want. Let's be honest about how we want to work. And this is from the foundation of creating a win-win situation. It's a win for your client because you get them the results. It's a win for you because you get to help them get the result and you get to earn. Okay. All right. So that's what I have for you now. This is a really, really, really critical episode that you want to share with the doctors in your life. So pretty pleased with the cherry on top. Okay. 17 cherries on top, actually. Share this episode with another doctor. Share it on your social media. Tell them, oh my goodness, you don't listen to the Untrained D podcast like you need to. And subscribe while you're there. And after the first episode you listen to, leave a review. Like this is unbelievable. Okay. Share it, tag us, hashtag untraemd. I'd love to come shout you out. And thank you for being part of the Calvary who is spreading this movement of change across the physician community. So as always, a thousand percent on your side, rooting for you. And I can't wait to see you on the next episode of the Untrain D podcast. Hey, if you love listening to the OntreeMD podcast, I want to invite you to join OntreeMD On Demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to ontremd.com forward slash on demand, and I'd love to have you join us. See you on the inside.
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