The EntreMD Podcast

Stop Wasting Time: How I Pick Events That Pay Off Big

• Dr. Una • Episode 469

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Struggling to figure out which events are truly worth your time?

I feel you. After traveling internationally three times in just two months, I knew something had to change. I was wasting my time and money, and the ROI just wasn’t there. I needed to be more intentional, so I created a simple but powerful 3-filter framework to evaluate every event I consider.

Learn why not all events are worth your time, how to calculate the real opportunity cost of attending, and how to make event decisions that serve your long-term vision.

Tune in!

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Key Takeaways: 

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 03:17 My default answer 
  • 05:19 The host 
  • 09:01 The attendees 
  • 11:45 The content 
  • 14:45 EntreMD Live 
  • 19:59 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:

It will change your world. You put yourself in the room with the right host, the right attendees and the right content. You cannot tell what happens. I've had conversations that I can trace a million dollars to a conversation. Actually, one of them was not even a conversation. I just heard somebody asking a question and I was like huh, and that led to a million dollars in revenue. Hi docs, welcome to the EntreMD podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, dr Imna.

Speaker 1:

Last year, I had a two-month period where I took six six trips, and three of them were international, and that put me in a position where I was like there are very few events that I'm going to attend, and I came up with specific criteria that will let me know which event to attend and which not to, and I want to share those criteria with you. Maybe those will be the only kind of events you will attend from 2025 onwards. Okay, all right. So when you're growing your business and you haven't had a certain number of opportunities whether that's speaking or attending certain types of events or things like that it can sneak up on you, and so for me, last year was one of those years. I did a lot of travel last year and you know, when we got to September October, it was complete nuts. So September October, it's a two month period, but I traveled six times, right. So if you think about it, I was just gone period, right? I traveled six times, and three of those trips were international. So one of them we went to Europe, and in that trip actually it was a number of countries. We did France, we did Italy and multiple cities in Italy, and then after that I went to the Bahamas and after that I went to Cancun. Okay, so these are the international ones, and there are three local ones as well, and so at the end of that month, oh my goodness, I was so exhausted.

Speaker 1:

I wasn't a fan, because I'm a homebody. I love being at home, I love my family, I love being with my family, and so being away from my family that much was just was just not fun, right For me, and so I didn't like that piece either. I don't like sleeping in hotel rooms, like I don't, and when I'm away from my family it feels like there's a hole in the room, so it's harder for me to sleep. So I dealt with quite a bit of insomnia with that and so for me I just decided, like the opportunity cost of the travel was just not worth it to me. And they were all great trips and I had a great time and I had a great ROI. And you're like Dr Uno, you say you weren't happy about that and you had a great time. Like both can be true at the same time.

Speaker 1:

Okay, you know, like one of my ways of approaching things is I can't change what is and I'm not going to go back on my commitments. If I told somebody I was going to be there, right, but I can still, in the moment, go, okay, I'm not going to cry over spilled milk, we're already here. But knowing what I now know, what do I do so I don't find myself in this spot again? And once I make that decision, I can then choose to be happy, right, like even though I'm still in the midst of it, because by trip number two I was like, oh, this is, I don't know what I was thinking, okay, but I still had a number of trips to go, and so I was able to still enjoy them because I'd made a decision that this is not ideal, but this is not going to happen again, not in this way, right? So it put me in this position where I sat down and said, okay, I'm going to be. My default answer to will you is just no, and I'm not recommending this. You know, I just don't want to make up stuff. I just want to tell you exactly what happened. I was like so I'm going to start with no and then work my way back to why should I? Right, and you know it made me come up with this way of filtering events and this events to attend. Okay, so I'm again.

Speaker 1:

I'm big on, you know, personal development and stuff like that. I recognize, you know, as a leader in the physician space. One of the worst things I can do is I can stop growing right, because, whether I mean to be or not, I'm a lid of sorts, right, I kind of show people oh, you can come this far, but that's it, right, and so someone can look at me as an introvert and they're like oh, I guess we can be great at speaking. You know, we can have podcasts, we can speak at events, we could rock networking and stuff like that. A pediatrician could look at me and say, wait, I thought we were all lowly pediatricians. I guess you know we can chart our own path. Someone could say I have a bunch of kids and I thought that was the reason why I couldn't do X, y, z. But apparently we could.

Speaker 1:

That's my life and that's why I share a lot of my stories, so people can find themselves in and say, oh, clearly I can overcome this or clearly I can have a different story. That's the whole purpose. And if there's ever a story I've told that has made a difference for you, maybe you can send me a PM or DM and say, hey, dr Una, you told this story and because of that a story, there's a purpose behind it, right? Okay, so I started choosing. I was like what kind of events would I go for? Right, because I can't say yes to all of them and I will tell you what they are and you don't have to adopt mine, but you can adopt whatever works for you. But this is what I chose. And so I had three things. I look at you will see how I have never lost money on an event, never. It has never happened Like. I think about a certain way and I'm very intentional about how I approach it. Okay, so the first thing I look at is the host. Okay, I look at the host.

Speaker 1:

Now, one of my mentors told me this you know, man, this must have been like either a final year in med school or, you know, the first year after med school. And he said I do not read books, I do not read titles, I read authors. And I'm going to break that down right I don't read titles, I read authors. And so what does that mean? That can be a book like how to make your first million in revenue. And so what does that mean? That can be a book like how to make your first million in revenue, and it was written by someone who hasn't hit that first million in revenue. And this happens all the time. There's so many things you see on Instagram, like some of them, people I know and I'm like there is nothing true, there's nothing factual about what is happening here.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the person who hasn't made the million, they can write whatever they want, they could chat, gpt, they could do all of that stuff, but they can't actually transfer the know-how to you because they haven't done it, they don't have the experience, they can only give what they have, period. So I'm not necessarily looking at the title, I'm looking at who wrote the book and I'm making the decision to buy the book based on the author, not on the title, okay. And so there are people that are mentors in my world that if they write it, I'm going to read it. Right, because everybody's secrets and strategies and methods and all that is found in their words, it's found in their books, it's found in their podcasts and stuff, right. And so you're trying to find, like, what is it that makes this person tick? What made this work for this person? Right, it's in their book. So, not titles, but authors, okay. When I go to events, I'm also looking at the host. Does this person have what I want? Has this person helped other people get what I want? And so if that person fits the bill and especially in the times we find ourselves in, okay.

Speaker 1:

So at the time of this recording, this is 2025. And one of the things about 2025 is many things are in flux, right. Things that used to work before that are not working anymore, or the things that were fads and the fads have fallen apart, that I've seen people with eight figure businesses like just right Because their strategies were based on fads and the fad doesn't work anymore. So I'm also looking for is this person leading in this time? Right, is this person leading? So, are they still at the forefront? Are they still showing up? Are they still making progress? Are they still like, where are they? Do they have what I want? Have they helped other people get what I want, and are they leading in this time?

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I'm looking for that and one of the things I you know I didn't used to look for this in the very beginning, but I have looked at it for at least six years at this point, I'm also looking at the relationship between them and work and their lives and their health and all of those things. So I'm at a stage in my business where, if someone is trying to their strategies work, but it's at the expense of your health, or the strategies work but it's the expense of your family, like what's family, like this is, you're doing the work for them anywhere Grind, grind, grind, all that Like, if it's not congruent with the life I'm trying to live, I don't do it either. I'm just like, nah, okay. So I'm looking at the host. Do I want to be in this room? Do I want to be in this room put together by this host? And if the answer is not yes, if I look at, have they done it? No, have they helped other people do it? No. Their work life you know all areas of their lives Is it in alignment the way I want mine to be? No, are they leading? No, they're hiding. No, I'm not going for that event Like, I'm just not going to do it.

Speaker 1:

The opportunity cost like it's expensive. Not the price of the event, or the price of the flight, or the price of the hotel room, the price of being away from my family, the price of I mean, when I did those trips I I'm tired all the time because I'm sitting so much. The opportunity and the cost of attending an event is expensive For me it's expensive, and so if I'm going to do it, then I have to be sure of the ROI, okay. So the first thing I look at is the host okay. The second thing I look at is the attendees Okay. So you guys have heard me talk about preparing to show up at events. I've done multiple podcast episodes about them, but this is the deal. Okay, podcast episodes about them, but this is the deal. Okay.

Speaker 1:

There is a think of it like a vertical ROI, like what you get from the host, what you get from stage, what you get from their team, all of that stuff. So the vertical ROI, and then there's this horizontal ROI, and the horizontal ROI is the when I say ROI is return on investment. The horizontal ROI is what you get from your peers that you came to the event with, right. And so I ask myself for the people who are going to be in the room, are these people I can learn from? Are their connections that open doors for me? Are these people who were just on our way to the bathroom and we have a conversation? In that conversation, I can download a $250,000 million idea or I can have this big shift, something that has been a big obstacle in my business. It could just flip.

Speaker 1:

And so I ask myself, like, who's going to be in the room? Because if those people are going to be in the room, let me tell you something about me. Even if the speakers didn't say anything, I will walk away with a huge ROI because I know how to tap into the horizontal ROI. I'm like I'm good at it, right, ok. So I asked myself who's going to be in the room, right, and so I went to an event recently and it's an event where there are entrepreneurs. They are running six, seven and eight figure businesses and I'm like, yep, I know what to do in that room. Right, I know what to do in that room.

Speaker 1:

At the time of this recording, we're getting ready for our events at the Entrepreneur MD Business School, business Makeover Mastermind. So we have an event every April where we do a deep dive in their businesses, right? So we optimize the four big pillars and so that would be the seven figure mindset. We're optimizing their revenue generation framework, we're optimizing their team and something else I can't say because they may be listening. Okay, so we show up, but guess who's going to be in the room? We're going to have businesses all the way from startup to multimillion, right, and it's not like 7,000 people in the room. We're probably going to be 45, 50 max in the room. And man, we're going to workshop, we're going to do deep dives, but they're going to be in the room with these phenomenal physicians and some of the.

Speaker 1:

I mean, if you've attended any of our workshops, you get to hear them tell their stories, right, and it's just mind boggling. It's just mind boggling to hear them, and they get to be in the room with them, right, and that's done on purpose, because now in this environment there's so much that can happen, I mean, and it doesn't take much. It could be during lunch, it could be during a break, it could be during a session. You hear somebody else's story, something clicks. All of that stuff. It's amazing. So I asked myself you know who's going to be in the room, who's going to be in the room? And if it's a great room, then okay, great host, great room, two for two, okay, like the host, like the attendees.

Speaker 1:

The third thing I look out for is the content. Okay, now, here we can differ. I will tell you what I do and I'll tell you why I do it, and then you can choose. It's not about taking mine hook like line of center is just you choosing how to think about yours. And so, for the content, I'm looking for a few things.

Speaker 1:

I am not a fan of very broad conferences, and there's nothing wrong with it. Please don't misunderstand me, but here I'm picking, right. I'm picking the ones I choose to go to In my stage as an entrepreneur. The narrower it is, the better, right, like I don't want something that will talk about business or talk about health or talk about family and all that stuff. I'm like, no, I don't want to go to the ones where it's multiple speakers and every speaker has an offer, and so it feels like a pitch fest the entire time. Which there's nothing wrong with selling I talk about selling all the time and I sell all the time, right, there's nothing wrong with that. But to be in a room where 12 people are selling over two days, I don't want to listen to 12 pitches. I don't even mind listening to one pitch from one company 12 times, but I don't want to be pitched by 12 different people. So narrow focus, right.

Speaker 1:

So I've gone to businesses. I've gone to events where it's all business or it's all one part of business, where it could be sales or it could be speaking, or it could be building your team or whatever. Right Now. Of course it could be broader within the context of business. I'll take that, but I just don't want, oh yeah, like I'm super inspired and this would change my life. I don't want that, right, okay. So something narrow, something. That is, it lends itself to a workshop style feel, which means that I'm not just listening, I'm not just getting inspired, but I can start working on this stuff right away, right, so it's either they're giving me really practical tips or we have time for co-working sessions, like working sessions right in the moment, so we start creating wins while we're still at the event. I love those.

Speaker 1:

Right, I'm looking for content that's results oriented. I do want to be inspired and if you listen to the Ontario Beat Podcast or you've been to any of my events, you know that we are going to inspire you. But, by goodness, we want you inspired and empowered to take action. Right, like to have the strategies and all of those things. And so I don't want it raw, I want it to be result oriented. Right, that's the way I think about it and I do that intentionally. So if there's the events, I don't check the boxes. I'm just like, yeah, I don't, I'm not going, right, and these are events where for my personal development, right, and I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to do that. Okay, so you can pick what your three are. But I think the important thing is to kind of think, like there is an opportunity cost to traveling, okay, like when I do my events.

Speaker 1:

I just talked about the EBS business makeover mastermind. Oh my goodness, do we put a lot of time, effort, focus into that? Because I want P and I tell them, I'm like, whatever it costs you to be here, whatever the investment was for you to be here, I want you to walk away with a minimum of a hundred X minimum, like you're walking away, like Dr Unai, I still owe you money. I know I paid for this, but shoot, I should have paid more. That's what I want you to walk away with. That's my driver, right? Okay? Now some may say, oh, man, I'm not in the business school yet, right, I'm not in the business school yet.

Speaker 1:

So let me use a different event. Okay, so, we have EntreeMD Live. That's coming up June the 7th, 2025. And, oh my goodness, this is our annual event. The first one we did was in 2019. And then, after COVID, we did it virtually a number of times. Last year we did a hybrid and this year we're doing in-person only, going to be absolutely good.

Speaker 1:

But I want you to understand that I use the same things that I use to pick what kind of events I would use to create this experience as well. Okay, so, let's look at a few things. So I talked about the host. Okay, so who's the host? I'm the host for EntreMD Live. Now, if you want to grab your tickets, it's entremdcom forward slash live. You definitely want to be in the room. I mean like it'll be in Atlanta, it'll be amazing, no-transcript.

Speaker 1:

So your results are my result. That's it. And you're talking about somebody who's run multiple very successful businesses, who has a business that's been on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies for two years in a row. You're the Ontario MD Business School. Hundreds and hundreds of physicians and thousands of them through our workshops and all of that, and I've done this for the last seven years, right, and so this is something that I've done. If you look, you'll see the track record of results that we've created, and so this is something that is proven. Our integrity is proven, our authenticity is proven, our methods are proven, right, and so that's the whole stat of that meeting, right? And when I think about, you know, last year, oh my goodness, like you know, the people who came into the room just to watch, you know, like this year, the theme is the seven figure entrepreneur. And we did something similar last year, not the same, but the same theme, right, but the content is going to be completely different this year upgraded, because that's how we roll and to see the light bulbs go off and to watch them.

Speaker 1:

Because some of the doctors after the event did come to join us in the Ontario Business School. And there are three that come to mind immediately. Right, we had a Dr Angelise and we just interviewed her in one of our workshops and she's like man, my revenue has been up 20%. She hasn't even been in the school for up to a year. She was like I've never been able to take two weeks off, but I've built my team. I took two weeks off for spring break. I think she said this has never happened before and just the level of peace and confidence. And she has a whole network of physicians as opposed to when she fought by herself, and all of that.

Speaker 1:

We have Dr Lucy Mitchell. I think Dr Lucy Mitchell was in school for 90 days and already done $60,000 in revenue. We're like who are you Like? Who are you and stuff like that, and she's amazing. She's an artist and she did the official art for National Private Practice Physicians Day. She's just absolutely amazing. And then we had Dr Makedja I think her first quarter in the school. Her business grew by 122% and she's like, whoa, right, and so to see real life change happen. That's what we're here for. We're here to help people get results. Right.

Speaker 1:

When we did that event in real time, we couldn't even get the people to leave. They're like, oh my goodness, like I can have a different reality. Not their words, not in those words, right, cause that's kind of weird, that's what I would say. But you know, they're like, I have not met a community like this, right, like you know, let's connect, let's, you know, share our information and stay connected and all of that stuff. It was just beautiful, okay. So who are the people attending? The people are attending are physician entrepreneurs and from startup to multimillion in revenue, and there are people who've raised their hands, right. There are people who've raised their hands and say I want to make this better.

Speaker 1:

Your theme is the seven figure entrepreneur. I want to be that. And so talk about a room full of like-minded individuals, right, and just to be in that room is so powerful. And again, one conversation, one conversation can completely rock your world, okay. Third thing content. And what is our content? A seven-figure entrepreneur. We're going to go through the mindset of a seven-figure entrepreneur, the strategies that they use, the kind of teams that they use and other things I cannot tell you about because I do not spill all my beans. Okay, I love surprises, okay, but that's what we're going to be talking about. So, if you're thinking like I want to get to my first million, or I want to get to my first million, or I want to add a million in revenue, then there's a spot for you in the room. So, seriously, go save your ticket.

Speaker 1:

Entremdcom forward slash live is going to be June the 7th in Atlanta. Going to be absolutely amazing. I would love to see you in the room. The reason I'm sharing all of this with you so it'll make it even easier for you to make a decision. Like I want to be in the room because I'm choosing what events to attend. I want you to choose what events to attend, but I want to show you why on-training day life fits the bill right. Okay? So this is the deal. Events are great game changers. It will change your world.

Speaker 1:

You put yourself in the room with the right host, the right attendees and the right content.

Speaker 1:

You cannot tell what happens. You will not be able to tell what happens, like I was saying earlier, like I've had conversations that I can trace a million dollars to a conversation. Actually, one of them was not even a conversation. I just heard somebody you know asking a question, sharing her story and asking a question, and I was like huh, and that led to a million dollars in revenue in that year. Okay, so I'm not going to promise you a million, but I'm going to promise you that if you embrace this and put yourself in the right room, that in 90 days from the event, you'll go like wait, what what just happened here? And I want that for you. Okay, so I want you to imagine that, because that is something that is possible for you, I want you to go save your tickets on tramdcom forward slash live. I cannot wait to see in Atlanta June the 7th 2025. In the meantime, just keep crushing it. This is our time, this is the year of the physician and we're going to win this thing.