Chrissie Ep 43 (Dr. Una)
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Dr. Una: [00:00:00] I cannot tell you how different life will be if you just decide to unsubscribe, defy the status quo, become part of the calvary, as opposed to waiting for the calvary, and then you start retooling yourself doing things differently, seeing yourself differently, seeing opportunities that before didn't exist.
Chrissie: when we defy the status quo, when we shift reality from the inside out, it is actually the inverse of trauma. Because trauma shifts our reality from the outside in, right? Trauma is when our understanding of how things work changes. This is the undoing. It's the patterning of a new and different way, and it is such incredibly powerful medicine.
Dr. Una: We have this whole body of education that we missed out on [00:01:00] completely. And sometimes, you know, doctors will tell me things like, I suck at business. I'm like, no, you're just not exposed to it.
Chrissie: You're listening to Solving for Joy. I'm your host, Dr. Chrissie Ott.
welcome to today's episode of the Solving for Joy podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Chrissie Ott and I am so excited today to be joined by. Dr. Una of Entre md. Dr. Una is a board certified pediatrician, a extremely successful serial entrepreneur and the CEO of her own practice for 14 years. She's the founder of Entre MD Business School, where she helps physicians build profitable businesses so they can enjoy more freedom and joy in how they live and practice medicine. Her work has been featured in Forbes and Entre MD was recently ranked number 315 on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies. [00:02:00] What?! Uh,
Dr. Una would be honored to speak to your audience and would love to bring practical, high value insights. So, um, please know that Dr. Una is a legend in the physician coaching circles. Um, she's, she is laughing, probably blushing and um I'm just so excited to have this conversation with you. Thank you for coming on the podcast, Dr. Una..
Dr. Una: Thank you so much for having me. I've been, I've been looking forward to this conversation 'cause you're amazing.
Chrissie: Oh my gosh. Likewise, likewise. Um, I'm gonna start off by telling you I had this, the same thought with Dr. Erica Bove a few weeks ago. I wish that I had her resource when I was going through fertility challenges. And from 2008 to 2016, I had a tiny little one woman practice called Nano Practice PDX, and it was delightful guys. I had like this beautiful rug and a little red love seat [00:03:00] across from a little brown leather chair, and we would have tea, and then these glass shogi screens would open and there was this gorgeous, big sky lit exam room. I mean, it was. It was so incredible and I would spend 60 to 90 minutes with new patients. I mean, it was really practicing medicine to my own ideal standard, and I had no idea what I was doing.
From a business perspective, I probably made every mistake. And if I could give my past self access to EntreMD Business School and to Dr. Una, you guys, that practice might still be open. So I'm just thrilled to, to be connected and get to explore a little bit about your work and how you got here.
Dr. Una: Thank you so much for, for sharing that. I, I, I think I really, that resonates with me so much because this is the narrative we have as physicians, right? Like we have [00:04:00] the, arguably the best training in the world. Um, we save lives. Um, I like to joke that we bring people back from the dead, which is what we do when we run codes. Like we do amazing things, but we have this whole body of education that we missed out on completely.
And sometimes, you know, doctors will tell me things like, I suck at business. I'm like, no, you're just not exposed to it. Right? Like, 'cause if you can save lives, you can run a business. It's much easier to run a business than it is to save lives. Um, we just didn't get any training, you know? And so to think that while, you know, the practice could still have been, even though, you know, we don't really do regret, right. With what you're doing, you're helping so many physicians thrive and all of those things. And there are many practices that are probably thriving. Um, because of the work you do. So it's like no harm, no foul, you know? Um,
Chrissie: that's right. We don't, we don't argue with our results. We flow with them, we flow. Um, and also that road not taken, it does pull up my heartstrings a little bit. Um, it [00:05:00] really does. It's so true. You know, we, we don't get training in business, and I think that's by design. We, we have a, uh. A system that creates the exact results it was designed to create. It is not advantageous for physicians to also be savvy in business for the healthcare industrial complex.
I don't need to get all like, you know, soap boxy right at the beginning. Um, but I think it's a really powerful insight, especially for female physicians to acknowledge. Yes, because I, I now know what I don't know, so how am I gonna go about knowing it? What's the next step to learn the thing that will empower me instead of disempower me in this relationship? Because we are in relationship to everything. Are we not?
Dr. Una: We absolutely are. We absolutely are. And. You know, you talk about, [00:06:00] especially for, for the female entrepreneurs and you know, I couldn't agree more. Um, and, and I, and I think more so because of the things we need to give up to become physicians, right? Um, maybe it shouldn't be that way, but it's just the way it is. And whether it's our families, whether it's our fitness, whether it's not self care. And you know, we, we have what we do at work and we have a gazillion things like another full business, maybe even two businesses, a KR households.
Chrissie: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Um,
Dr. Una: and so when you stack business on top of that and you're not quite sure what you're doing, it's almost traumatic. You know what I mean? Or maybe I should just say is it is traumatic. It's traumatic, um mm-hmm. But then in my work, it's not by design, but it's just the way it is. 99% of my clients are, are females, and to watch them then build businesses and build their dream lives concurrently, right? Like I'm building the business, which lets me practice medicine the way I want to, [00:07:00] and it lets me live my life the way I want to in ways that we've never had permission to, or we just didn't know we could.
So we can take the time off. We can go have lunch with our kid at their school. Um, we can take a vacation a quarter if we want. We, we we're confident enough to say, yes, that extra thing, no thank you. I'm not gonna do it. As opposed to Yes. Right? And I, I think we can have a very different kind of life and very different experience once we start learning these things that we, we just weren't taught. So I always invite people to unsubscribe from the way, the way physician entrepreneurs interface, physicians in general, interface with the world and the things we've, we've bought into. Like this is the way it should be and I should be this stressed out. I shouldn't have time for myself and I should chart till 10 o'clock every night and every weekend I should be working through stuff. Which all becomes worse when you become an entrepreneur if you don't manage it. 'cause you know, at least your [00:08:00] job has a timeline. The business thing doesn't, you know, so, so yeah,
Chrissie: There's very little leaving work at work when you're an entrepreneur. I mean, good news, bad news. Um, I'm super interested in the moment or the season or the inputs that, um, activated you, radicalized you in the best way. Tell me like, when did you see this light? How did it come about?
Dr. Una: When did I become radicalized? I love that. I'm gonna start using that line. Um, so I would say there were three big moments and I, let me, let me see if I can walk through those. The very first one happened, um, you know, when I started my first job as an attending a fresh out of residency, the very first day on the very first patient I saw. And so subconsciously the entire time you know, I went through med school and I went to med school in Nigeria and [00:09:00] we used the European system, so it's survival of the fittest. There were 420 people in my first year in med school, 120 graduated after six years. That, that's the model, like give as many people the opportunity and may the best man win.
Chrissie: And so going through that, I've never whistled into this microphone before. Sorry, listeners. And it was worth the whistle, you know?
Dr. Una: So, so gone through medical school, then moved over, moved back to the US and then, you know, went through residency and all of that. Subconsciously you're doing all of that, knowing that someday I'll be able to slow down, or someday I'll be able to stop and someday I'll get the reward for whatever it is I'm doing.
And so I remember walking in, seeing my first patient. Um, and I was like, you know, I'm the attending now. I see the patient, the buck stops with me. I write the script and no, you know, nobody's asking me what I'm doing. I'm the boss. And I was done seeing the patient and I walked out of the room and it was the most anti-climatic feeling. [00:10:00] It's almost like you've been running for over a decade to get to a place where this is not really where you're planning to be, because my thought was like, so what I just did in that room, I'm gonna do that 25 times a day till I'm 65. I'm like, this cannot be like. There is something terribly wrong with this picture.
And so I didn't know anything about anything. I didn't know what my options could be. I, I just knew something was wrong. And in that moment I I was like, I don't, I don't know how I'm gonna figure this out, but I'm not gonna give what just happened more than 10 years. And I'm not recommending this. People are different. This was, this was me. I was like, I'm not giving this more than 10 years. There has to be something else. Right? So that was the, that was the first thing that activated me, if you will. And then a series of things happened. I had a mentor who's like, it's time for you guys talking to my husband and I, it's time for you guys to start your business.
And I'm like, start your business. Like, how hilarious is this? Like you [00:11:00] don't start a business 15 months out of residency. What is, what is all this? Um, but a series of things happened and I ultimately, out of pure ignorance um, started a private practice 'cause I was like, you know, I see patients, I'm a good doctor, they will come and it'll be, it will be all magical. And so I started the practice and to my shock and terror, I. They don't come. Right? I hang the shingle. I moved where my job was. I moved an hour away and started a practice because of course, like all good physicians, I was like, I'll study that. The patients will come do good medicine, the money will follow.
Right? So they did not come. I. And it dawned on me I had to learn marketing, which I was like, I'm a professional. But that is, might as well have been a cuss word. Like, we don't market, we don't sell. These are not things we do. And I started just going around in circles, you know, at a complete loss to, to be honest, if, if I could have canceled my lease and cancelled my insurance co contracts [00:12:00] and gotten rid of all those utilities that I signed all these contracts for, I would've shut down the practice. Like, and that's the truth. Like in the first month, I would've been done with it. 'cause I was like, wait, what? Like you mean to have to do, have like, what have I done. Deer caught in a headlight.
And I remember one day I was reading. And this is the second activation. I was reading a, a book by Brian Tracy, it's called Eat That Frog. And in that book he made a statement, he says, all business skills are learnable. I was like, hold on. So you're telling me all these people that have practices that are bigger than mine, that are working on all of that, like they're not better than me. They just know something I don't know yet. I I, I was like, hang on, I may not know everything, but I know how to learn. That one thing I'm a master at. I'm a whole physician. I know how to learn.
And so once I got to that moment, it then dawned on me, every problem you see in your [00:13:00] business is a representation of something you don't know. Go and know it. So I started learning about marketing and started learning about selling and started learning about. Building teams. I was so terrified of hiring people, Dr. Ott, that when I started my practice for the first, it must have been at least six months. For the first six months, I answered my own phones. I checked in my own patients, I did my own vitals. I gave my own shots, and when they left the office, I, I sent the claims to the insurance company because I didn't believe anybody work with me. Yeah,
Chrissie: I did it on purpose for a long, long time, but I'm with you. Like, and also there was value in doing it, but ultimately it was not where the value continued to be.
Dr. Una: No. And and it was pure fear. Right? If I did it strategically, that would be one thing. I did it because I was like, who wanna work with me? I don't even know what I'm doing. Aw. And so those are painful thoughts. They, they are painful thoughts, but you know, I don't think 'em anymore, so I'm, yeah, you don't, I'm pain free as far as that goes. Yeah. You don't. You [00:14:00] know, and so, so that, that was that second activation point.
And so then the practice starts working. Um, you know, the, the revenue is coming in. I have a team. I hired a doc who only wanted to work on Fridays, so I had a four day work week. I had a long weekend every weekend. It was beautiful. Beautiful. And then the, the biggest activation point comes, okay, so this is 2016. I'm in my office, just finished my morning routine, prior meditation, all of that, and I just had this knowing, so this, this is 2016. In that time, what I'm about to tell you didn't make sense at all. It makes sense now. It didn't make sense then, and this was the thought that came to me. Medicine as we know it is gone. And it's never coming back. And if all you know how to do is put hands on patients, you're gonna be out of luck. And it's gonna be a bloodbath, it's gonna be really bad. And so you need to start retooling yourself.
And you start with a question, if I could not touch patients, [00:15:00] how can I have continue to have a profound impact in healthcare? How can I continue to generate the revenue I rev I generate from seeing patients? Like if I couldn't do that, what would I do? And I'm telling you, I didn't know anything about entrepreneurship like in, in that model. So I had to start thinking, I was like, okay, what could I do? I was like, uh, I, well, people speak and they make money speaking. So I, I guess I could be a speaker. Um, like people write, I guess I could be an author. I was like, uh, I have a successful practice. Maybe I can show other people how to do that. Um, and that could be a thing I do. And I was like, even in my practice, I'm the lead pediatrician. I can become the CEO. Like what if I was so good as CEO of my practice that even if I didn't see patients, I could still earn as much as if I did?
And I remember writing these things down and they were all impossible, every single last one of them because at this point I was a super shy, socially awkward, introverted introvert, like speaking on stage. That is like the most hilarious thing I [00:16:00] had ever thought that year. But I'm so grateful that I then started following up with that, right? And so I had this opportunity to go to a speaker's bootcamp. And I was like, well, that's one of the things on my list. Maybe I should go check it out. And I checked it out, and you're gonna get a kick out of this, but you've probably heard it, but you'll get a kick out of it again. And at the end of the Speaker's Bootcamp, it was a three day event. They say okay, so you've seen, you've had this whole experience, you've started speaking, you've learned the speaker's framework and all of these things. You could work with us for 10 months and we will walk you through the business of speaking and all of this stuff. And in that, I mean, like in there, I, I, I learned that
people don't just speak. There's actually a formula. They'd given us stage time. I'd actually spoken on stage, something like in my wildest dreams I never thought I would do, so I'm experiencing transformation in real time, right? And so they talk about this program, I'm loving it. I'm like, this is [00:17:00] amazing. And then they say the investment for this program is $43,000. I got mad because I'm just saying this was my first exposure to anything coaching. I didn't even know coaching was a thing. I was, I was like $43,000. Did they lace it with gold? Like can somebody explain what is going on here? Like, is this medical school, like what? What is happening here?
Chrissie: That is, that is a total reality shifter. I, I was like, uh, you're like, what the happens? Somebody's gonna say yes to this. Hold up.
Dr. Una: I'm like, are people nuts? And I'm looking around the room, I'm like, I'm a whole physician. I'm offended by this. And then regular f when I say regular folk, I don't mean it in a disrespectful way. Well, we have a relatively high earning power, so I'm like, so who's gonna do this? But the, but the problem was for three days I had been changing and I was like, if, if, if I could be this different in three days. What could happen in 10 months and I needed to find out. And that transformation was worth the [00:18:00] investment. It was worth the investment. So even though I was mad, I didn't walk out, even though I was mad, I didn't go like, I'm never doing that. Even though I was mad. I was mad probably 'cause I was gonna do it. And I'm like, yes, this cost too much. Right? I am offended by my transformation. I'm offended by what I have to do for my transformation is.
So I call my husband, I'm like, look at these crazy people. Look what they said. And he was there with me on the first day. So he is like, but I mean like, look at all it's done. Like maybe you should just do it. And it's not, there was no $43,000 anywhere there was, you know what I mean? It's not, like I said, gonna pull it from me.
Chrissie: You weren't such a saver that that was like in your bank account. What?
Dr. Una: Oh, so. But I'm so grateful that I said yes because years later my husband and I still laugh about it and we're like, that is the best $43,000 we have ever spent. Mm-hmm. Because it is that process that made me embrace speaking, embrace entrepreneurship, it introduced me to a world outside, sometimes our narrow world of medicine, and I'm like, oh my goodness. Like [00:19:00] our options are limitless, is what made me realize that I can become the things I've dreamt of becoming. Like you can change, you're not a tree, you're like Play-Doh. You can, you can be different.
You know? And that it was after that we launched Entre MDs. After that, we launched all the companies after that. And I've never not coached and I've never spent 43,000, meaning I've always spent more every year because the return on investment of it is so high and, and the opportunity cost is so high.
The opportunity cost of not investing yourself to become is so high. Oh my gosh. And gosh, the problems you'll never know. It's so true. 'cause there was no entre MD if I hadn't written all these bestselling books, if I didn't have a top 1% podcast, if I hadn't been on the Inc 5,000 list of fastest growing company, I just wouldn't have known. Yeah. You see the how bad the opportunity cost is. Yeah. No,
Chrissie: [00:20:00] you would've been a unknown talented pediatrician with unmet potential for the rest of your career, but that inner voice, I can't help but like reflect back and highlight the two of those activations were you listening to your own inner knowing, your own voice, your own inner wisdom, so crucial.
I think for, you know, anybody listening to this to know that is inside of you. That knowing is actually yours too. It's a matter of listening and having the metacognition and then the craziness to jump on it and be like, yeah, this makes no sense at all. But the answer is clearly yes in my body, and I'm going for it.
Dr. Una: I love that. And, and that's, and that's what it, that's what it is. And mm-hmm. A lot of times I, I try to help people tap into that. You know, sometimes people ask me questions like, what should I do about this or about that? I'm like, but what [00:21:00] do you want? What do you really want? Because we can build a business system around whatever you want, but that's the only way to live a life you truly love. That's the only way to have businesses and they feel like hobbies and you enjoy doing them. I joke like I've never worked in EntreMD. It has never happened because I love it. I'm like, I'm born to do what I'm doing.
But you know, to become the person who can follow the, you know, like follow the yellow brick road and become who you're supposed to be there are other skills required and there's courage required, and it will be a little crazy. It's not insane, but even you'll go like, okay, I am not quite sure about this, but I know this is in alignment with where I'm trying to go. Um, you, you probably get a kick out of this on my birthday, which was, you know, a few months ago.
I remember sitting and I was like, you know, I wanna, I wanna do, I do [00:22:00] a ton of, you know, content and stuff. So I was gonna create a video for my birthday and I was thinking, I was like, what is the, what is the most important thing I've done that has created the life that I have? You know? And I, and it took a few weeks to think about this, you know, 'cause there's so many things I've done over the years. I'm 46, so that's a long time to do a lot of things. But when it came down to it is one thing is, is the process of becoming. That has been the biggest driver since I discovered it, is I'm just becoming more of me. I'm peeling off everything that is not me. I'm being more me.
And the more me I am, the bigger impact I have, the more me I am, the more output in the world, the more me I am, the more revenue I create. And, and the more me I am, the more peace I have. Right? Because I'm not being anybody. I'm not competing with anybody. I'm competing with me and old me loves new me. We all love ourselves, so we're good. [00:23:00] And you know, it's, it's just a beautiful place to be. And so that's what I talked about. It's, it's becoming, that's, that's the big secret, finding who you are and just becoming more of you.
Chrissie: That is, that is why is the title of Michelle Obama's book. It is so true. It is. Um, it just makes me smile so big to to hear you reflect on that 'cause it feels so deeply true and, and resonant. I. You know that our, you know, our take on this podcast is all about solving for joy. And while we have not explicitly said it, um, you know, creating a business around the life you wanna live is solving for freaking joy. Bottom line. Um, also, we alluded to this very early on, but I'd love to hear your take on how. You know, following your passion, solving for joy is also an act of defiance. [00:24:00]
Dr. Una: I love it. So I, I talk about, define the status quo and define like all of, all of those things. So, so, so yes, it is. Um, I think especially, you know, we're, we're physicians, um, the, the norm is terribly abnormal, terribly abnormal if we say it again. Yeah. The, the, the, the norm is, it is terribly, terribly, horribly abnormal. Okay. But it's gone on for so long that it seems normal.
Chrissie: It's gilded cage abnormal. It's golden handcuffs, abnormal. Those are not solid gold handcuffs. Y'all. They're just plated. They're they are plated. They're more handcuffs than gold. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Una: Not even a good imitation. It's like bad. It's a [00:25:00] cheap imitation. Mm-hmm. And so the, the part of what I do. Because joy is a joy and peace. I think peace and joy in that order are like big on me. Like one of my things I declare every day is that I walk in love, joy, and peace daily. It's, it's a thing because that's what I want. I like, I, I don't want, I don't want live a stressed out life. Like life is too short and we only get one of 'em. And when I say too short, even we leave till 120 is too short. So it's a timeline.
So for, for us as physicians. Our goal is really to look at what it is that we truly want and steer away from this is the way it's always been, right? So for instance, private, having a private practice that is not making any money, but you have to go take a locum job to pay the bills. It's considered normal. It is considered normal hiring a [00:26:00] team, and the bigger your team gets, the less profit you make and the more stress you have is considered normal. Being burnt out is normal. Charting till 10 o'clock is normal, like not staying in your lane is normal,
But
think about how we became physicians. We rejected every lane.
Dr. Una: right? Many, many people there may be you're a first generation physician or they told you you couldn't be a physician 'cause you're a woman, or you couldn't be a physician because you failed some tests once upon a time, or you couldn't be a physician because we defi all.
Chrissie: You just come from a family that is like not full of people with advanced education.
Dr. Una: There you go. And so we def define like we are so against the status quo, but then we get into this system and it kind of beats us into shape, right? And then it says, this is your lane. Stay in the lane. There is no lane, right? Like, so that is abnormal. And the, the, the product of that is then the burnout [00:27:00] is the loss of autonomy is being devalued in the healthcare space. It is really having those. Plated look, you know, kind of, sort of look like golden handcuffs on. So you don't have any creativity, you don't have any freedom.
Many of us went into medicine 'cause we wanted to help people. I've talked to doctors like forever. 99% went in because they wanted to help people, but we didn't, we didn't say we wanted to help people in the context of the exam room in this algorithmic way. As directed by the insurance companies. Like that's not what we said. And so we have the goal, we want to help people, but there's so many ways, there's so many expressions of all of that, but they're like, no, this is your lane. This is the cookie cutaway, and this is the only way you're going to do it. Yes. They're like, and so stay small. Yeah, yeah. Stay small. Don't be heard. Like all of that stuff and that 10 especially, especially in
Chrissie: pediatrics, am I right? Like pediatrics is the number one offender for this? Yes. Like, oh no, you need to fit into this square box y'all.
Dr. Una: And don't move and so [00:28:00] beaten pediatricians into this, this narrative. So this is what they say. I'm just a lowly pediatrician. I'm like, they sure do. Oh my goodness. Stop saying that. Don't ever say that. Yeah, stop saying that because mm-hmm. And that's why I love entrepreneurship. 'cause I'm like, entrepreneurship is the great equalizer you can earn as a neurosurgeon if you want. If that's your jam, then go for it. But, but why would I let somebody, because I went to a school and went to a residency program, then make me see myself as lowly. I wasn't lowly before. I, I would never have let someone call me lowly before I went to the training.
And I'm not gonna spend, you know, multiple six figures in debt to get an education that makes me then identify as lowly. Like, I'm not gonna do that. Right. And so we are in a time, and this is gonna change, but we're in a time where. There are not enough examples of what is possible. So this all seems normal and this is the reason why I talk about, you know, like, I'm so [00:29:00] grateful you have your podcast because that's what you're doing. You're showing people, um, we don't, it doesn't have to be this way. We can have a different reality. That's why I have my podcast. That's why I feature my client story so much and all that. I tell them every time we meet that you are the vision boards for the physician community because you are the ones who are gonna show them this is abnormal. Yes.
So there is no pathway to joy, peace, that feeling of significance, not from a prideful standpoint, but my work matters and I'm having a profound impact in the world. There's no path to that without defining the status quo. There just isn't. And nobody is coming to change our perception of the status quo. That's our work. Nobody's coming to say, oh, you're being devalued in the healthcare space. Let's change that. You don't have any autonomy. Let's change that. You're burned out. Oh my goodness. Like nobody's gonna do that. We are the ones who are gonna say, enough is enough.
Chrissie: There is no calvary coming.
Dr. Una: There is no calvary.
Chrissie: Um, this just dropped into my [00:30:00] head. You know, when we defy the status quo, when we shift reality from the inside out, it is actually the inverse of trauma. It is the antit trauma because trauma shifts our reality from the outside in, right? Trauma is when our understanding of how things work changes. We are shocked, right? This is, this is the undoing. It's the patterning of a new and different way, and it is such incredibly powerful medicine. I just keep going back to that moment in 2016 when you got the download. This is over, this is done, and now it's time to respond to that knowing. I mean, that was a divine inspiration.
Dr. Una: Definitely was. Definitely was, and I am so grateful for it because what it did is it prepared me for what is happening now. Yeah. And so with all the craziness going on, I'm just outside of [00:31:00] it. I'm not part of it. And the people, you know, for instance, you know, with, with my clients and stuff like that, they're just not part of it.
Um, so if somebody in the business school, for instance, gets fired, like, oh, we replaced your job with somebody else, or whatever, they come back in the group and post it. Everybody celebrates them like, yes, yes, you, you, you've been prepared for this. You know what to do. The business you wanted to start, go, start it. If you don't wanna start a business, you know how to lean into your Rolodex and get a better position. Like it's not, there's no falling apart. And what, there's none of that. There, there's none of that. You know what I mean? And, and the pediatricians don't identify as lowly pediatricians or anything like that. And it's just a preparation.
And, and, and this would be my invitation to people, right? Because 20 20 16, we're talking nine years ago. Right. And so, so my challenge would be if, if, if I could walk on that knowing and invest in myself and [00:32:00] start changing and start doing things differently and defy the status quo without as much evidence, right? Like, because again, this was nine years ago, then in a day like today. Like, whatever you do, just don't walk away from this podcast and go back to doing things the way you did them because we can't afford that. The time for us to retool ourselves is now, uh, I mean, it was nine years ago, but now, now is the next best time.
Chrissie: The best time to start to plant a tree was a while ago. A while ago, but, but today will Best time is now.
Dr. Una: Yeah, today will do. But. I cannot, I cannot tell you how different life will be if you just decide to unsubscribe, defy the status quo, become part of the calvary, as opposed to waiting for the calvary, and then you start retooling yourself, retooling, doing things differently, seeing yourself differently, seeing opportunities that before didn't [00:33:00] exist. You, you, you will shock your own self, which is where I am now. Totally shocked.
Chrissie: Yes. I am seeing you on horseback with, um, armor and weaponry leading this beautiful calvary of physician entrepreneurs in doing like their individual brilliance in the world. We need the individual unbridled brilliance of every single one of us. Whatever it looks like, no matter how irrational it sounds, if it's alive in you, it's for a purpose.
Dr. Una: That's the truth. That's the truth. Truth.
Chrissie: It's for a purpose. And if we can marry that purpose, that meaning, and alignment with delight, then we are solving for joy at the highest possible order, and that is what I am here to do. That is what I wanna empty myself out in this world for.
Dr. Una: You're getting it done. I don't know if anybody's told you this, [00:34:00] right, but I was listening to your episode with, um, Dr. Shillcut and I was like, she has a podcasting voice. Your voice is so pleasant and it evokes joy. I was just, I was like, I could listen to this all day,
Chrissie: Dr. Una that so, you know, such high praise. Thank you. Thank you. I will share with you that like everybody else, um, well maybe not everybody, but many people who have had a hard time listening to themselves recorded. Um, as a younger person, I had a lot of thoughts about my voice and you know, it's true what they say about speaking too. When you get yourself out of the way, it actually does not matter to me what my brain thinks my voice sounds like anymore because I am here to deliver what I am here to deliver.
You know, and that shows up on a, in, in the moment basis. I just like, I'm here to let it be through me. I. And [00:35:00] then it doesn't matter if I look foolish or sound foolish or stumble over my words. And that is, um, that's a certain kind of freedom that really gets big, um, for, for many of us around the golden age of 50, like zero Fs to give anymore my loves.
Dr. Una: Yeah, so you said something, if I can just piggyback off of it. 'cause it's so profound and so brilliant, right? When you're focused on what you're trying to do and who you're trying to serve and the change you're trying to make in the world then all the fears of imperfections, they really do go away. Right? And it's for speaking, it's for social media. I mean, docs come to me all the, they're like, Dr. Una, I wanna, I wanna work with you, but I think you're gonna make me do social media. So we're not, we're not gonna do that, right? Because I don't wanna be there.
I'm like, yeah, but your people are there. Your people are there and they're hurting, and all of that stuff. And so whatever it is we have to do. Marketing, selling, building a brand, showing [00:36:00] up on YouTube, showing up on a podcast, speaking on stage. Um, you know, you just gave such a powerful nugget. Like one of the things that will make you do that in such a peaceful way is taking your eyes off you and putting your eyes off the person that you're called to serve. And then everything is easier and it's more fun. You know, it's full of joy.
Chrissie: So true. I feel like spaciousness and freedom in my body when you say that, it feels so, so true. Dr. Una, I know that you are a parent. Um, I think of five young humans. Four. Four, four humans. Thank you. Thank you. Precious little humans. Um, tell me about your legacy of joy for them,
Dr. Una: man. Okay, well I'll start off by saying, um, love being a parent. Um, and [00:37:00] it's, it ranks above any business that I would do. I'm very clear what my priorities are, and so in the order of priority, number one for me is, is my relationship with God. And then second is my family. I. And then third is whatever business, whatever I'm doing to touch the world at large and stuff like that.
And so, you know, I've had the privilege of coaching, you know, probably at this point, thousands of physicians and stuff. But to me, I want my best work to have been done with my family, with my kids. I'm like, if I can be a coach out there and people's lives are changing, like, oh my God, what needs to happen at home?
So the way that looks for me, and this is not, it's not a formula, it's a way of thinking. So for me, I'm like, I have, I have four kids and I want to do my best to empower them to succeed. [00:38:00] And success means they become everything they're wired to be. I. Like there's no, which is very, you know, like, you know, I'm ni, I'm Nigerian, right? And so there's this whole thing of there may, you'll be a doctor, you'll be an ex, you know, you'll be a lawyer, you'll be like, you know, stuff like that. Right? And, and you know, I didn't, my, my parents didn't do that with me, so I think I have some privilege there. But for me it's like nobody, like the manufacturer of a microphone had a plan for the microphone before he made the microphone. Right. Like the purpose preceded the product. And so for them, I'm like, you guys are here for a reason and I'm gonna empower you to do what you're here to do. Right. So, you know, so, so that's the way I think about it.
So it made me do a number of things. Um, I homeschool my kids. Um. The, and the reason for that is, you know, I thought about it, I said, I have one of the best educations in the world. I'm a physician, and I [00:39:00] came out and I didn't know anything about leadership, anything about personal finance, anything about business, anything about negotiation, any of those things. So here I am after med school, I had to start learning all these things. And I said, okay, well. I've taken one for the team. They don't need to go through that. And I'm like, y'all gonna learn this stuff as part of your education? So in my mind, what we call the educational system is very incomplete. So I'm like, there's the academics and that's one. But on the other hand, there's leadership, there's character development, there's entrepreneurship, there is faith. And then for me, because I want my house to be clean, there's home management. Okay. Don't tell them. Mm-hmm. But that's why I put that there. Okay.
So, so I'm like, I, if I can train in these core areas. Then I've put you in the best possible position to thrive. It doesn't matter what AI brings, it doesn't matter what the world looks like when you're adult, so that like I have equipped you with [00:40:00] what you need to go out there anywhere and win. So they go to an online school. So I have that. So the academic piece is taken care of. But I train them on business. I bring them into my business. My daughter goes live, she's 17. She goes live in my in, actually, it used to be in the Facebook group on my YouTube channel, right? To promote EntreMD merch, interview doctors from the business school, all because I'm like for the part, first part of business if you learn speaking, selling. Um, and collaboration. Mama's done good by you. You know what I mean?
And so, so I put, so she's done, gone live every week, every week for this is, um, this is June. She's done it since December, so almost six months at this point. And she does that when I have events. Sometimes I'll have them open the event or I have them do the registration. They're involved in it, right? Like, and they, they're involved in it, and I don't. I don't schedule the guest for her. She figures it out and reaches out to them and all that stuff. So I have them learning business, I have them learning, um, leadership. [00:41:00] Um, I have them reading a personal development book a week down to the 9-year-old. She'll be, she'll be 10. She'll be 10 this week. Oh, 9-year-old be, oh my gosh. So I'm doing all of that because again, I'm like, if they have the faith, the academics, the business and leadership. Um, the finance and the, the character development and the home management, they're good. I don't shop, I haven't shopped in years.
Chrissie: Um, Doctor Una can I please send my daughter to your house?
Dr. Una: You have to make sure she'll like it because I had to sell them on all this stuff.
Chrissie: Dude, I am in complete awe of that, um, level of awareness, meta awareness for all of those things. I really am. I like, I'm inspired.
Dr. Una: Yeah. That, that's what, that's what I do with them. So shopping, I'm like, you make the list for the house, and I would st stay in my car in the parking lot. You go in, here's the card, may the force be with you? Like, and, and I've done that with her for years. I think I started doing that when she was, she [00:42:00] may have been 15 or so, yeah. Sorry, I'm, I Go do your thing.
I, I, I don't do it. You know, I don't plan birthday parties. They plan the parties because I'm like, best place to learn is here. Best way place to make all those mistakes is here. And so my thing is, by the time you're 20, you're set, like mama's done her part, and if mama made a mistake, you're still young enough to go figure it out on your own, you know? And, and that's kind of the approach that I've used, um, because I just want to, I, you know, I, I just want to put them in the best possible, best possible position and let them thrive.
Chrissie: I'm gonna be sitting with, with that information for a long time. That feels so profound to me. And I just like bow to that high level of, of thinking and parenting. Such an inspiration. Um, I'm sure that, you know, if, if they're like most kids, they [00:43:00] probably resist some of the things, some of the time. Um, but what a gift.
Dr. Una: But I've, but I, but then again, everything in life is sales. Right? And so I've learned to sell. And you've been selling them their whole life. Yes. I sell them. I sell them on it. Right. And so, for instance, you know, they started off homeschool because they had late, late birthdays and stuff like that. But ultimately we got them into private school. But after COVID, I was like you know, my, my daughter was kind of like me and when I was growing up, I was, I was insecure, I guess that's what it was. And I didn't wanna stand out. So sometimes I'll do things I didn't agree with because, just 'cause I didn't wanna be different and stuff like that. And I could sense she was that way. I was like, eh, in my day was easier to get away with that. In this TikTok generation that's gonna be tough. You know what I mean? And that was one of the reasons I was like, eh, I think I need to.
And, and some other things are happening in school. I think I just need to bring them home and kind of, you know, get them ready [00:44:00] for the world and then release them to the world. I was like, I don't think they're ready for the world yet. And um, so what, what I did is, I know she's competitive, right? I know she's competitive. And we had a friend, um, we, well a friend, we we're acquaintances on, on Facebook, Dr. Taylor, um, and she had her daughter graduate from law school at 19. She was homeschooled. And so, you know, she did stuff early and all of that. And so I showed the story to my daughter and I could see her eyes just dim, like, huh, you, you know what I mean? So that's the thing I do know. And so when I started talking about homeschool, you could go ahead and all of that. They were more with the program, you know what I mean?
Like, she was like, let me at it. But yeah, so, so I would sell them on stuff like that. And. You know, one daughter will say, oh, you know, but what of all my friends, I'm like, yeah, but did they go on this vacation? Because now we can go on vacations, like off peak or whatever. When their classmates are in school, they're Europe. And so it's like, is this really that bad? You know what I mean? And so we absolutely, [00:45:00] we we sell them on it. Yeah.
Chrissie: So, amazing. I could speak with you for hours longer, but I know that our time is coming to a close, so I just wanna give you the, um, the space to kind of share a closing message from your heart about Joy with our listeners. Um, and I'm so grateful that we had this time together.
Dr. Una: Yeah, me too. Me too. Um, I, what I would love to leave, um, leave you leave the listener with is, is this, as a physician, um, as a person, you can have a life that is full of joy and full of impact, and you have financial freedom and you have time freedom. And it may sound like what, but you can, the problem is we haven't had that for so long that the [00:46:00] absence of it seems like the norm. But think about you. Like if you had your way, that's what you would create for your children. That's what you would create for your family. That's what you create for everyone, right? Like, because that's the way it's designed to be.
However, I. In the times we find ourselves in it won't happen by autopilot. There are some things that we need to do, and it starts with retooling ourselves. Um, you, we may, we've said this multiple times on here that, you know, we didn't get an education, but we can. There's a podcast, like this podcast. There's the EntreMD podcast. There are books, their programs, there's the re business school. There are all these things You can learn, business skills, you can learn to negotiate, right?
So if you're employed, because this applies to you, whether you're employed or you have a, have a business. If your employee can negotiate for the time that you want, you can negotiate for the raises you want. You can have intelligent business conversations with the people who are [00:47:00] the decision makers to negotiate for less time and more money. So many people have done it right? You can do your business in such a way that you're not wasting your time doing the things that don't matter, but you spend most of your time doing the most impactful things, so you have such a big impact, even though you're doing it less time. Not more time. Like we can have that.
The starting point for everyone is saying, enough is enough. I'm not gonna accept the way things are. I'm not gonna continue doing it this way and just decide to make a 180. There's so many people who've made that decision and they've turned around and their lives have been dramatically different. And it can be you too. so just unsubscribe. It may look like the majority are there, but the healthcare space and the physician community actually need people to say yes so they can see what's possible. So be the leader, be the be the leader, be the,
Chrissie: be the vision board. I love it. Yeah, the way you said that. Um, big hugs. So much honor, tons [00:48:00] of respect and admiration. Thank you so much Dr. Una.
Dr. Una: Thank you for having me, and thank you for what you do. The, the physician community needs all hands on deck and you're spreading joy. I can't imagine anything more powerful than that. It's amazing.
Chrissie: We, we do what we are called to do. Let us join hands and do it.
Thank you again to Dr. Una for this grounded and generous conversation. I'm still holding onto her phrase, unsubscribe from the status quo. There's something quietly radical and deeply liberating about that. The idea that we don't have to stay small, stay silent, or stay stuck. We can retool. We can rewrite the story, and we can choose to become more fully ourselves.
Next week I'll be joined by Rachel Castillo. Confidence coach with a camera whose work helps people feel seen in the truest sense. We'll talk about healing, visibility and what it means to show up in photos, not just polished but present. [00:49:00] And yes, Rachel will be joining us in person at the Physician Coaching Summit this fall as our official photographer and offering headshots to many of you. I can't wait for you to meet her.
If you are a coach or a physician looking for your people, please come and join us at the Physician Coaching Summit. It is one of the most connected creative gatherings I know. Learn more at the Physician Coaching Summit.
And if you're curious, what coaching could open up for you? Visit Joy Point solutions.com. I'd love to connect, and as a reminder, I'm a doctor, but not your doctor. This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, and not intended as medical advice.
Big love is always to our creative crew, Kelsey Vaughn, Alyssa Wilkes, Shelby Brakken, sweet Sue, and to you, our listeners, thank you for listening. It means so much to share the space with you, whether you're walking, driving, charting, or just catching a breath between things. I'm honored to be in your ears. May you find a new way this week to [00:50:00] unsubscribe from the status quo and solve for joy. We'll see you next time.
