Business Lessons From My Dad, Dr. Chineme Part 3

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So go get your audiobook now. Www.entremd.com 7Figurebook. And let's rewrite the narrative for physicians starting today. Hi, docs. Welcome to the Entre MD Podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you. Embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. Una. Well, hello. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of the ontremd podcast. And today we are doing part three in our legacy series, business lessons from my dad, Dr. Cheneme. And if you haven't listened to the first two parts and I wanted to go back and listen to them, just packed with so much wisdom and so much yumminess. All right. And so, you know, my dad talked about it. He died five days ago at the time of this recording. And I thought one of the things I could do is I could share from his life and pull out some lessons that would be so valuable. He lived to be 85, and so I could see the things that he did that brought really great results in his life. And I was like, this is his legacy. Somebody's going to go off and make some really big changes in their lives just because of what they, they got from his. So his life is the gift that keeps giving. So thank you for coming back to listen. I really appreciate you sharing these episodes and honoring his legacy really means a whole, whole, whole lot to me. So. So we're going back to the stories of his life. You know, I've shared a number of, a number of them that I think are really phenomenal. And I want to talk a little bit about something. And it's a power, It's a power trait. And by the time we're done, this is going to be something that, that you do. Okay, so now my dad, you know, I told the story of how he started off. You know, he was. He grew up in a mud hut. His parents were both farmers. And, you know, he started off going to school, then got the scholars ultimately to go study zoology in University of California, Berkeley. And so before he left Nigeria to go to the U.S. this was in 1962, he made three decisions. He made three decisions. His first decision, his first decision was, I will return to Nigeria after my medical training. He had no intentions of living in the US Per se. His intention was always to go back to Nigeria. His second decision, I will not get married until I'm done with my studies. And he came from a generation where for the men, the idea is you've developed yourself, you've worked on your earning power and all that stuff. So when you, you get married, you're in a position to take care of your family, right? So they didn't do the whole I marry you for your potential type of thing. So, you know, so I not get married till I'm done with my studies. And number three, I will marry a Nigerian. It would be really lovely if I could figure out why he made those decisions. But I don't know and I can't ask him, but those are the decisions he made. I know that he wanted us to grow up in Nigeria. I know he wanted us to have the culture, know our roots. I was not particularly happy about it at all. In fact, I think he knew we would try to escape, so they hid our passports and all this kind of stuff. But I didn't understand it then. I do now, in a way. So I don't know the full reason why he made these decisions. Okay, but those are three distinct decisions that he made. And he made those three decisions prior. I want you to notice the timing. So he made the decision prior to starting a new phase and moving to a country that was so different. He was. He made the decision prior to embracing the unknown. Now, remember, at this time there's no Internet, there's barely any phones, so he didn't have a reference. Like he didn't know what he was getting himself into. He didn't know. Right. It's very different now. I mean, just Google stuff, but he didn't know. So before stepping on into the unknown, he's already Decided this is going to be my outcome, right? I'm going to complete my medical training, I'm going to return when I'm done. I'm not going to get married until I'm done. And I don't know who I'm going to meet there, but I am going to marry a Nigerian. Okay? And it wasn't a time like now where you can hop on a plane and 12 hours later you're in Nigeria. He literally went by ship from Nigeria to France and then got in a flight from France to New York. So it's not like you're just going to meet somebody, like you're going to go on vacation. Just go meet somebody. So that was the decision he made. So then what happened? Well, he didn't get married till he was done, and I don't know what he meant by done, but he didn't get married till he was done with his surgery residency. Right? So he made that decision in 1962, and he didn't graduate from surgery till 1974. And then he got married to my mom in 1977. So 1977 he gets married and then 1985, he returns to Nigeria and he never, never came back to the States. I wanted him to come, but he didn't. So he made those decisions. He worked on them, and he made them. His reality now, number one is that that's fascinating. But number two is, okay, what does this mean for me? What does this mean for me? Well, for many of us, starting a business feels like the great unknown. Scaling a business feels like a great unknown. But one of the best things you can do is make some decisions. Before you start, before you scale, before you launch the podcast, before you hire the team, there are decisions you can make. And those decisions will help you navigate the unknown and come out on the other end with the result you wanted in the first place, right? So I'm going to give you an example. With me, when I started Entre md, it was unknown. Okay? You guys have heard me talk about this. How. How did we get to Entre md? Well, I was like, I want to help entrepreneurs. That's what I want to do. Okay? I want to help entrepreneurs. And I started trying to do that and I hosted my first event. And at that event I had all entrepreneurs and something really amazing happened, right? So I talked to people. The event itself was amazing. People were like, oh, my goodness, this is, this is so cool. And the engagement was at an all time high. And I know people left with really great stuff, really great content. They could do things with. And then I started talking to people one on one after the conference. And what I found out was for everyone who was there who was not a doctor, they're kind of like, yeah, that was really great. But I don't really know if it applies to me because, you know, it's different for you guys. You guys have money, you have access to capital. You're really smart, you know. You know a lot of influential people. I was like, wait a minute. And I talked to the doctors, and they're like, yeah, that was so good. But, you know, that's for entrepreneurs, not people like us. You know, we're doctors. And that was when I knew I had to make a decision, like, who are you going to serve? You cannot serve these two groups in the same room. It's not going to work. And that's how I pick doctors, and that's how Entre MD was born. So I'm saying that to say it's not like there was all this clarity on how exactly it'll play out. There wasn't. When I started ontarim d, there was no thought of a podcast. There was no thought of a business school. There's no thought of hosting a retreat. You know, like we're hosting a retreat for the students in the. In the business school. There was none of that. It was the unknown. All I knew was I wanted to help doctors figure out how they can build profitable businesses. But I did make a few decisions. And in reflecting on my dad's life, I realized, wait a minute, you did? For instance, one of the decisions I made was the decision that this business is going to help 50,000 doctors build profitable businesses. You guys have heard me talk about it a lot. That's my b hack. Help 80,000 people. I didn't know 80,000 people. I didn'T know how I would find 80,000 people. None of that. But I was like, this is my decision, and I'm going to work at it until I can say I did it right. The second decision I made is I am willing to learn all the skills and do all the uncomfortable things to make this succeed, because I knew that they're going to be. There's going to be a lot of stuff I don't know, and I'm willing to learn. I know that there are many things I'm going to do that are going to be uncomfortable, but I'm willing to do them. I made this decision before. Before starting. Right. The third decision I made was I'm going to make Entre MD a Seven figure business so other doctors can see what is possible. Because a lot of times I'll hear, well, the reason why I am in such a toxic workplace and I am not going to move is because the only way we can make money is as physicians. And I'm going to build this so doctors can see you can make money any way you want. There are so many ways you can do it as an employed physician who has a personal brand. You can do it with, with a coaching practice, you can do it with a private practice, you can do it with a product line. Whatever you want, whatever you want. If you build a business system around it, it will work. So that was my decision. At the time I made this decision. I could not imagine charging people money for coaching. That's where I was. I made this decision prior. The fourth decision I made and this decision, I made it at the onset. The business goal was three months old. Three months old. Because I still remember this very vividly. Three months old. I'm taking a walk. We had gone to see my in laws in North Carolina. So I woke up, you know, kind of early, before everybody put my sneakers on. You know, walking is my thing. And I was just playing. I was thinking, five years from now, what does my life look like? And I'm just rolling with all those pictures. And then I come to the Ontram D business school and I'm like, the OntramD business school will be the business school for physician entrepreneurs producing more six and seven figure entrepreneurs than any other business school. And I was like, ooh, that's so good. I'm going to write it down. And then I made a decision. I'm going to build it that way. I'm going to build it. I'm going to work at it. I made that decision when I couldn't see how. So let me tell you what I do now. I work on these four things every single day. I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way. And I'm willing to put in the work, I'm willing to put in the time so I can come back and tell you. Remember when I said all those things? It's a reality now. They're all checked off, all of them. Right. But it's all tied to decisions, decisions. So what do I want you to do today? I want you to take a moment. This is not something that you don't take the time to do. This is something you do. This is something that changes everything. This is something that helps you go through challenges. And even though it's challenging. You can weather it because you're going somewhere. These are the decisions that will guide you. So no shiny object takes you off course. These are the decisions that will make sure that your business serves you and not the other way around. You need to make some quality decisions. So what decision do you need to make? For some of you, it may be, oh, I'm going to build a business that will replace my physician income. That's what I'm going to do. For you, it may be I'm going to scale my business and make it work without me. That was actually a decision I made for my private practice. I made a decision, I was like, I am going to retire at 40. I called the preparation for it the great divorce. I was like, this practice is going to work without me. If I choose to see patients, that's on me. But it's going to work whether I see patients or not. That was a decision and I built it that way. And for the last two years, I've seen patients once a week because I want to. Decisions, right? So what is your decision? I'm going to build a YouTube channel with 100,000 subscribers and monetize it. Hey, I'm going to launch that. What is it? Make the decision. There's so much power in making a decision. What is the thing you're scared of? Make a decision around it. You may not know, but I've just given you two examples. My dad did not know. I did not know. But you can make the decision. You can chase after it. So think about it. If a boy who grew up in a mud hut could become a US trained surgeon because he decided to and put the work into it, then your dreams can come true too. You need to start by making some decisions you're willing to work on. Chase down. Put in the time and the energy and the money for the next few years. It may take one year, it may take six months, it may take a decade. It doesn't matter. Make the decision and stick to it. Make the decision and stick to it. Now, if you do this, then you get to live a storybook type life, which is what my dad lived. He didn't know. He couldn't have known that his life will turn out the way it did. He couldn't have known that I would be here recording four episodes to honor his life. He couldn't have known that in 2021, the story of his life will inspire thousands of doctors. Thousands. You couldn't have known that. What will your life look like if you make those decisions and you do the work. So I want to challenge you. Don't roll with the flow. Don't do that. Grab the steering wheel when you make decisions, that's what you're doing. Grab the steering wheel of your life and push your life in a specific direction. Take back control. Make some decisions. Make some decisions. It will change your life. It will change your outlook on life. It will change your business. It will change. It will change everything. So this is something to do, okay? And like we're doing for the Legacy series, the fastest way, the best way to learn is by teaching. So what I want you to do is I want you to go on social media. I want you to take a screenshot of this episode. I want you to post it. I want you to say what your biggest aha moment was, the thing you learned, the thing you're committing to do. And I want you to tag me, okay? Hashtag on trendy. Hashtag on trend. Legacy. All right. This is our legacy series, and I can't wait. When those wins start coming in, I want you to share them with me. Okay? But thank you so much for sharing. This is me honoring my dad's legacy and all the things that, you know, he did. And you sharing this and you putting the word out there is really so meaningful and so helpful for me, and it just helps me in this season to. To celebrate his life. There is the sadness from I'm going to miss him. But to celebrate the amazing life that he did live, that's just so rewarding. So thank you so much. I truly, truly appreciate you and I will see you on the next episode of the OnTream D podcast. Hey, if you love listening to the Entre MD podcast, I want to invite you to join Entre MD on demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to entremd.com forward/ondemand and I love to have you join us. See you on the inside.