The EntreMD Podcast

The Secret to Shattering Self-Imposed Glass Ceilings as a Physician Entrepreneur

• Dr. Una • Episode 439

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There are no limits to success. 

There are only self-imposed glass ceilings. 

Are you ready to shatter and overcome them?

You’re in the right place! 

Today, I will share some stories of million-dollar physician entrepreneurs who have broken through these glass ceilings and explain how you can do the same. 

Tune in. 


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Key Takeaways: 

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 02:30 My philosophy
  • 07:08 Sharing some big wins
  • 15:26 Why am I telling you this?
  • 17:49 Final thoughts and outro

Additional Resources:


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

  • 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.
  • 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 1:

If you want to build an asset, you can build an asset. If you want to build a great team, you can build a team. If you want to set the stage so you can work two days a week without sacrificing profits, without sacrificing revenue, you can choose to do that and you can do that. Whatever that is, I am trying to tell you that it's time to get your hopes up. It's time to dream again. It's time to own that vision, whatever it is that is tugging at your heart. It's time to own it and say, okay, I'm ready to do it. Hi dogs, welcome to the EntreMD podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, dr Una. Medicine on your terms. I'm your host, dr Imna.

Speaker 1:

One of the best things that will happen in your business is that your business will succeed. One of the most challenging things that will happen in your business is that your business will succeed. When I think about it, amongst you know physician business owners, entrepreneurs, you know sometimes we think well, I just want to take my business to six figures, or I just want to take my business to a point where it replaces my physician's salary. Or I want to take my business to seven figures, multiple seven figures, all of that. But the thing is, once we hit what it is that we wanted to hit, sometimes there's this boredom that creeps in because you're like, okay, then what? Do I? Just sit around and do nothing and not continue to advance, and stuff like that. And sometimes it makes us stall, it makes us sabotage, it makes us go backwards, it makes us get so barred with our business that we follow some shiny object, some distraction, and actually almost destroy the business that's taken us so long to create and to build up to its level. And today I want to paint a picture of the kinds of things that are possible. There are bigger things that are out there and I just want you to have that picture in front of you, because if you are a visionary, if you are a serial entrepreneur, if you're someone who wants to disrupt an industry, if you're someone who wants to change the narrative for a particular group of people, chances are that drive to keep going is going to be there and you kind of want to know which way to go. So I'm just going to throw some stories in front of you because I want you to see this and I want you to honor who you are and get ready to shatter some more glass ceilings. So I'm going to start off by talking a little bit about my philosophy as someone who supports physician entrepreneurs. So you've heard my story. So you know that I started off as a super shy, socially awkward, introverted, introvert and a very private person, and I still am a very private person, like left to me.

Speaker 1:

I will not talk about the inner workings of my business. I will not talk about my results. I definitely will not talk about any revenue numbers. I wouldn't talk about any of that. However, there is a reason I talk about it. There is a reason why I would come out and say you know, we crossed a million in revenue. We cost 2 million in revenue. I'm leading multiple seven-figure businesses. There's a reason why I'll say well, we hit the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the United States two years in a row.

Speaker 1:

There's a reason why I would share that, and the reason why I share that is I understand that in my role as somebody who supports physician entrepreneurs, I get to teach the mindset, I get to teach the strategy. I get to coach the people through it, I get to give them the gift of accountability. But I also hold up almost like a vision board in front of the people to say this is what is possible, you can and you know, especially because I'm female, I am a person of color because I have four children, because I trained, you know, I'm an IMG or FMG. I trained in another country, I trained in Nigeria and all of these things and I'm saying, okay, guys, and I'm peds, where people say, oh, peds is the lowest paying specialty, and people are like I am a lowly pediatrician, which I would never describe myself that way. And if you're a pediatrician, go peds. Please never describe yourself that way.

Speaker 1:

Entrepreneurship is a great equalizer. Okay, so we don't, we don't have to identify with that at all. Okay. So then to say, and yes, you can build a six figure, seven figure, multiple, seven figure business. Yes, you can build a practice as an asset that can work without you. And to say, yes, you can own your dreams of what you feel like. Your calling is like what I do with EntreeMD. That is my calling. It is my calling to help physicians build profitable seven and multiple seven figure businesses so they have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on their terms, like you can do this.

Speaker 1:

You want to homeschool your kids? You can homeschool your kids. Why am I doing all of that? Because the vision board. So if you want that, you can say oh my goodness, I want that and apparently people can do that and I want to do that too. Right. So that is the reason why I share all of that. That's the reason why I give all that information. I want you to know what is possible. I want you to know that you can rise above the system. I want you to understand that you can leverage entrepreneurship.

Speaker 1:

Entrepreneurship is a tool. It is a gift. It is a system that you can use to create your own pathway, create your own autonomy, create your own way out of burnout, create your own financial freedom. Create your own pathway, create your own autonomy, create your own way out of burnouts, create your own financial freedom, create your own pay scale. Like they can pay anybody whatever they want to pay up. You can choose what you want to earn right, and I want to show you that you can do this. Show you that you can be a serial entrepreneur, if that's the thing you've been thinking about. It doesn't make you crazy. You're not crazy. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. You can do that if that's what you want to do. You are not a one trick pony. You are not like I'm a physician, that's all I am. No, no, you can stack whatever skill, whatever expertise you want to stack on top of it and, in addition to all of this, you can live your dream life, whatever that is to you.

Speaker 1:

For me, a huge part of my dream is I want to homeschool my kids. That's what I wanted to do. I want to be available to transfer all of the wisdom, the insight and all of these things have made me who. I am into them, and I don't want them to do it as adults. I want them to do it as kids, right and so that I would have given them such a powerful starting point and then they can do whatever is authentic to them and whatever they want to do with it.

Speaker 1:

I've been talking about this in EntreeMD for the last six years. I've been talking about this in the EntreeMD Business School for the last four years Like we just clocked four years a few months ago and I have been talking about this in the tier of the EntreeMD Business School called scale, and this is for physicians who are doing a million or over in revenue and still interested in hyper growth and want to build companies that are team-led, that can work without them. So I've been doing this and something happened on the last call with EBS SCALE that made me go like my goodness, like now I get to watch this playing out, okay, so I'm going to give you a couple of these stories Now, before we start. Whatever strategy or whatever it is that we need to do, people would share their wins and, as they shared their wins, I was like this is my dream, Like the things I've been talking about are now reality, not just not in my life, not in my business, but in the lives and the businesses of others. So this is just a regular Thursday. We have our sessions on Thursday and they're sharing their wins and I want you to listen to this. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1:

So, first of all, a doc comes up and she says that she's been in practice for a little over three years at this point and she has had a new doctor that is starting in her practice and you might go like, okay, new doctor, whatever, but I need you to understand this. There are many people who go years and years and years a decade. They don't hire another physician because they can't find the physician. They feel they can't afford the physician. There's so much mind drama against another physician's salary and she's three years in practice and so she's like she has a part-time doctor, she has a part-time nurse practitioner and now she's bringing on a full-time doc. So she comes to share her win and she's like the full-time doc is here filling up his schedule. You know, team is working great with him. He's having a great experience. The onboarding is going really well. This is just amazing. And I'm looking at her and she's built her systems, her processes, she's bringing in the team and this is like a well-oiled machine and when she needs to step away from the practice for a week, two weeks or whatever, it runs so smoothly without her. It's like so fantastic, three years in practice, three years. And then at the same time she's like can we sign the contract? We're switching EHRs and we're getting a new EHR. We've signed the contract with them. We have a new location because of the expansion, we're moving to that new location and so many good things happening.

Speaker 1:

Just another Thursday, and so you may be here and you're like how do I hire? How do I find the right person to hire? Can I find that person? Can my practice work without me for any length of time? Can we find that new location? I'm trying to tell you they're doing it. It's within reach. This is not me, this is not a theory. This is not me. This is another doc and I'm saying a little over three years in practice. Okay, so that's the first doc.

Speaker 1:

The second doc is like I just finished my meeting with my accountant and it's been so amazing that I've been working less, I have been putting in less hours, I've been putting in less clinical days and my revenue grew. Now, not that her revenue went down, but it was proportional. So it's okay. Not that her revenue stayed the same, no, her revenue grew. I want you to think about it. Working less, making more, working less, making more Is it an impossible thing? No, but there's strategies around it. I just want to show you if you've been thinking of this. It is within the realm of possibility. Okay, so that's the second doc.

Speaker 1:

The third doc comes up and is like you know, business is going well and all of that, and I just had someone to reach out to me for an opportunity to do another TED Talk and I'm like, well, that's fantastic, that's fantastic. And this is somebody who, ted Talks, has worked amazing for her business model and has created so many opportunities she's done one time for a second one Unbelievable, amazing, okay. Third doc gets up and I mean, when she was done, I was like, okay, fine. Now this person has been trying to hire someone and in the beginning she's like nobody will want to come here. You know where my practice is. I don't know if I can find somebody. I don't know if I can match what other people are offering, and this is something we talk about a lot. Like you know, like your offer is so much better than you know and you want to pay attention, you know, to not just the traditional offer but what makes your offer unique, why your practice is the best place to work. But anyway, she had been looking for someone, she had found somebody that didn't quite work out and all of that, and I was like you'll find what you're looking for.

Speaker 1:

So here she comes and she says you know, I was talking to a hospital that I could work with and the hospital decided that they would hire me somebody, they would do the income guarantee and they would give me a new location. What? And so here I am going, like I'm 45 years old man, otherwise I would do cartwheels. This is so insane. I want you to think about this, going from I don't know if I can get a doc to I'm getting a doc. They have their whole recruiting team that's what it's going to be behind me working on that. They're going to get me a doc. They're going to do the income guarantee for a year and they're going to get me a doc. They're going to do the income guarantee for a year and they're going to give me a new location. They're going to pay for that. That is insane. Okay, that is called hashtag insane.

Speaker 1:

So that's the fourth doc. Now, remember, this is not the call, this is just them sharing the wins. Before we start the call, okay, the fifth doctor. She's just amazing. And so she says you know, I had a Reuters journalist come to my office for the day to come, interview, follow us around whatever journalists do when they go into people's private practices and that person was there for a day, totally blown away, flew in from LA, spent the whole day there. It's like I've not seen a practice like yours, like all the things you do, you know, to help your patients get the result that you want them to get, and all of that so amazing. Okay, so that's number one. Now, remember this was a private practice. Then I'm like, oh yeah, and I saw you post this stuff about you know, vacation you're taking with your family, so she's going to be gone for two weeks.

Speaker 1:

Now I want you to understand this person's practice is less than two years old, okay, but she has built the systems and processes and all of those things and built the team that less than two years. Her practice is not two years old. She gets to walk away for two weeks, just have a great time with her family, and she's looking forward to it, right, she's looking forward to it, okay. And, as if that's not enough, she says, oh, and then I had a meeting with my team and come January I'm going to be able to drop to two clinical days a week. At that point I was like, okay, woman, okay, stop, right there, stop. And I said in January, when you will go to two days a week, how old will your practice be? 21 months. Her practice will be 21 months old, when she would have done the work to build the systems, build the processes, build the team, and she can drop to two clinical days a week.

Speaker 1:

Now are we saying everybody should drop to two clinical days a week? Now are we saying everybody should drop to two clinical days a week? No, but entrepreneurship is about building what you want so you can live the way you want, and this is what she wants to do. Right, and I'm like this is phenomenal. Now there are more wins. I just can't go through all of them. Okay, and this is just another Thursday.

Speaker 1:

If I could go into their plans. These are people building multiple verticals. These are people who are going to exit their practices to go on to do other things. These are people who are building practices that work without them. So they can choose. I want to work four days a week, five days a week, two days a week, no day a week, like. Whatever it is they want to do, they are not done.

Speaker 1:

One of the things I've said a lot since we started. Well, I didn't say it in the beginning, when we started the Entrepreneurial Business School, because I didn't think people were ready for it. I don't even think people are ready for it now. But I say it, they can handle it, and that is. Many of you are going to go on to be serial entrepreneurs. Many of you are going to go on to do things that will absolutely blow your mind, because in the Entrepreneurial Business School, we don't just say here are the frameworks, here's the manual, here's all the things you need to start a practice. Go away. What we do is a harder job, and the harder job is to take a great clinician and make them a great clinician and a savvy entrepreneur.

Speaker 1:

And once you're an entrepreneur, you're a person who entrepreneurs. You're a person who builds businesses. You're a person who sees solutions where people see problems. You're a person who sees opportunities when people see locked doors. That's just who you are, and because you have a heart to solve problems, you're just going to keep solving problems, but anyway they're not done. And why am I telling you this? I am telling you this because I want you to unlock the glass ceiling that you've accepted. I want you to look at the obstacles in front of you and say, apparently, I can knock this out of the park. Apparently, I can handle this. Apparently, this is not the end.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you've arrived and you're like I don't want to grow anymore, I don't want to do anything. I'm not growing anymore because I don't want the pain of it, but this is just what I want. That's fine. That's fine. I hope you're inspired by this and it helps you innovate with what you're doing and keep it at that level. But you're here and you're like okay, hang on, hang on. I want to have a team. I want to have a team that can run my business when I'm not there. I want to build my business such that if I wanted to sell it, I could actually sell it.

Speaker 1:

People say something all the time, which is private practice are worthless, like you can't sell them right Now. If you own your job, that statement is true, but if you build a business asset, it is not true. I have not stepped foot in my private practice in the last two and a half years. We're going on three years, and so there is documented evidence that the practice can work with me, that it can bring in over seven figures every year without me. There is documented evidence. So guess what? It is worth something. It's worth a whole lot because it is not an entity where, if I walk away, it falls apart because I'm not there. And so if you want to build an asset, you can build an asset. If you want to build a great team, you can build a team. If you want to set the stage so you can work two days a week without sacrificing profits, without sacrificing revenue, you can choose to do that and you can do that you decide.

Speaker 1:

I want to create more revenue? I haven't hit the seven-figure mark, I want to do it. I haven't hit the multiple seven-fig figure mark. I want to do it. I haven't hit the multiple seven figure mark, I want to do it. Like, whatever that is, I am trying to tell you that it's time to get your hopes up. It's time to dream again. It's time to own that vision, whatever it is that is tugging at your heart. It's time to own it and say, okay, I'm ready to do it, I'm ready to do it, I'm ready to do the work, I'm ready to invest in myself, I'm ready to get this stuff done. But I cannot tell you how proud I am of these physicians and how excited I am for them, because I know there's so much more to come. I don't think they even know how much more there is to come, but there's so much more to come.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, of course, if you're like what, there's a room like that, there's a room like that, well, I want to invite you to come check out the room. Okay, so, entremedycom forward slash call. You can talk with my team and say I heard Dr Una talk about a scale EBS scale, entremedy Business School scale what is that? I want to be in that room, okay, and my team will take care of you. Okay, but I want you to get your hopes up and I want you to not accept any glass ceiling, except you intentionally built it, so that means it's a roof like you built a roof. But I don't want you to accept any glass ceilings. We need to shatter them and just the way, I'm a vision board for you, vision board for the people in the Entremet Business School. You have your call to be a vision board for the people behind you, for the people who are looking up to you. So shatter some glass ceilings already.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but I want to leave you with this, and I will tell you this because this is something that I say to the students in the Entremet Business School at the end of every call. I say this to them and I want you to kind of piggyback off of that and hear it for yourself. I say to them I want to remind you of who you are. You are EBS. You are the doctors who are building the most innovative, most impactful and most profitable businesses inside and outside of healthcare. You are the literal vision boards for the physician community and it's one of my life's greatest honors to work alongside you. So I'm leaving you with that. This is what is possible for you. You can be that person who is building one of the most impactful, innovative and profitable businesses inside and outside of healthcare. You can be the person who's a vision board for physicians everywhere.

Speaker 1:

And I want to invite you to say yes to the call and don't hold back. Don't let obstacles stop you. Don't let fear stop you. Don't let what if? Stop you. Don't let mistakes from the past stop you. It's time to move forward. It's time to forge ahead. Healthcare is waiting on you. Your patients are waiting on you. Your team is waiting on you. Your family is waiting on you. You are waiting on you. You deserve to see who you can become when you say yes to your dreams. Okay, so if you're saying yes to your dreams, you can send me a private message and say oh, my goodness, dr Una, that is me. I'm saying yes, I am rooting for you. I'm absolutely rooting for you. Take this episode, take the link, share with another doctor in your world. Tell them you just need to go listen to this and I'll see you on the next episode of the Entrepreneur Podcast.