Dear Employed Physician

If your business isn't working the way you expected, it's not because you're bad at business. It's because no one ever taught you how it actually works.

We were trained to master algorithms in medicine, but when it comes to revenue teams and growth, we were never taught anything. We weren't even told to figure it out. We just assumed somehow we'd know. Like it would magically make sense.

But it doesn't.

The era of the seven Figure Physician CEO is here. And it's not about working harder. It's about learning entrepreneurship as a system. The same way you mastered ACLs and pals, you can master the algorithm of building a profitable scalable business. That's why I recorded the seven Figure Physician CEO audiobook. Whether you're building a medical or non medical business, and whether your goal is your first million, first 2 million, first 5 million, first 10 million, this is where the journey starts. There is no Calvary coming to save us. We are the Calvary.

So.

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. Unna. Well, hello. Hello, my friend. Welcome back to another episode of the ontremity podcast. Want to say a big thank you for coming back, for listening. I really am coming here with something that is a gift to the entire physician community. So sometimes there are podcast episodes that we do that are really tactical how to do certain things in your business. Sometimes they're things that are mindset, sometimes they're things that are industry specific. Maybe with like, for private practice, maybe we have a thing like how to turn your payroll into an investment instead of an expense and things like that. And there are some that are really all about the Entre MD movement. Okay, so I'm going to be specifically talking to physicians who are employed. But if you're not employed, you run your own business. You. I mean, you've been running it for years. It's a multimillion dollar operation. I still want you to lean into this because for the physician community, we're the Calvary, right? Nobody's coming to save us. And it really does take all hands on deck to get this job done. So I want you to kind of take a listen to this. It will be so important for some conversations that you'll need to have with your colleagues or with your friends. And this is definitely an episode that you want to share with every physician that you know. You want to share it on social media. Please tag us ontremd. I'd love to give you a big shout out. Thank you for it. And this really came out from. In the Facebook groups that I'm a part of. I was probably two to three times a week at this point where I'd see a post about someone saying they just got terminated. And it's happened so often that I wonder if we're a little desensitized to it. But if you think about it, pre2016, this was not really something that you heard. I mean, if you had a job as a physician, chances are you kept the job. And now the lack of job security is so unbelievable. And I don't want any physician to be in a position where if you know, that happens and you don't have anything to do, you don't have a response. I don't want you to be in a position where it's something that you're afraid of, Right? I want you to be in a position where you are in control. And so that's the reason why I decided to record this podcast episode, because this is not going to get any better. This is what I started talking about in 2016, that there was a bloodbath coming. And those were the words I used to describe it then, because I knew it was going to be really, really, really bad. And I remember I talk about it or I'd post about it, and lots of people come out and they're like, what are you even talking about? We will always have job security. And here we are, right? So this is seven years later at this point. And so if it was true then, it's really true now. And I don't want you to be afraid at all. I want to equip you on this podcast episode to know exactly what to do and to be in control for somebody, some reason, somebody said, you're terminated. You already have plan B, plan C, plan D. You're not even bothered by it, okay? And so, I mean, you may be bothered by it, right? Like, maybe it's a place you've worked at for a long time. You really love your coworkers. You love the patients that you have. So I don't mean in that way. I just mean, like, you've taken care of yourself. Okay, all right, so let's look into this. I mean, to start with the overarching theme here, Is I want to invite you to do something that is so unbelievably radical, but is very simple and, like, you can do it, and that is to quit your job, okay? It is to quit your job, and somebody might be going, like, you know, maybe you just looked at your phone like, wait a minute, am I listening to the right podcast? Like, what did she say? Okay, it's not a complete sentence. I want you to quit your job and become an intrapreneur. Okay? So let's say you. You work for a hospital system, okay? Let us say the Southeast Hospital system. Totally making this up. I'm not saying this is a hospital. Whatever. That's where you've worked, okay? From this moment, I want you to quit your job at Southeast Medical center or a hospital system. I want you to quit your job there, and I want you to take up employment in a new company. And that company is called Dr. U Incorporated. Okay? So your boss will never know you did this. Your bank account will never know you did this. But this is a shift, and this is the shift that makes all the difference. This is the starting point of you having working a job, and you love it and you're cool. And if for any reason they terminated you, you're not bothered, okay? So you're going to quit Southeast Medical center and you're going to start Dr. U Incorporated, okay? That means you are a corporate entity. You hire yourself and you have this eight hours a day that you give services to the hospital or the medical system where you work. Again, this is nothing. You're not doing anything. You're not incorporating anything. You're. You're not telling your boss I quit. That's not what I'm referring to. This is a mindset shift, okay? I don't work for this hospital. I work for my company. My company is Dr. M.E. incorporated. For right now. I am the solo employee of this company. So when they're. When I have a deal, a gig, which is what I have there, I go there, give them services. But I work for me. And to make that simple shift. But it's what changes everything. Okay? So that's the over. That's the overarching thing. Because once you do that, guess what? You just put yourself back in the driver's seat. That's what you just did. I'm in control. I work for me. And what that means is now I can start saying, huh, how can I earn better? How can I have better work conditions? How could I. Like, there are all these other things that can happen, but the Starting point is that. Okay. All right. Now, as somebody who is an entrepreneur, I want to give you only three things to work on. And it puts you in a position where you have a really solid company. And if for somebody, this. For some reason, this company says, oh, we can't have you here anymore. Your company has taken care of business, so your options are, like, limitless. Okay? So the first thing I want you to. I want to invite you to do. Now, before I even go there, I want to say this. I am a big believer in win, win situations. I'm not a fan of hurting a job or hurting a place where you're, you know, your privilege to work or being a thorn in the flesh at work on your way out. Okay? That's. I just don't subscribe to that philosophy. And so when I say this, I'm not saying the level of your work is different because you're like, I don't care about. No, I mean, now your boss is your client. I want you to think about how revolutionary this is, right? Your boss is no longer a boss. Your boss is a client, right? You got their business. You want to keep their business. You can decide, like, if this business deal works for me or not, I need to go somewhere else. But that's your client. So it doesn't mean you treat them. It doesn't mean you show up at work less. It means you show up at work even stronger. Right? And so we're not talking about sabotage here. We're not talking about being a nightmare at work. And I'm sure you weren't thinking that, but I just want to clarify what I'm saying. Okay, so let's talk about those three things. The first thing. The first thing is you want to build a dominant brand. Your brand is your business. Your brand, Dr. U Incorporated, is a business. Your brand. Brand is so powerful. In fact, I was listening to Alex Hormozy, who is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time as far as marketing, sales, offers, all of these things. And he exited a company, sold it for 46.2 million. I want you to think about that, right? And after doing all of that, after doing all of that, he made a statement. He said, my personal brand is my biggest asset. I want to think about that. He has a portfolio of companies. He has millions. I mean, like, millions and millions of views on YouTube, has over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. All of this. And he builds companies, and he's like, my biggest asset is my personal brand. Your personal brand is so powerful. You build A dominant brand. If, if, if you get terminated, right? You have people literally waiting. I would love to have you on their teams. Why? You built a brand. They know you, they like you, they trust you. They would think, they would think it's an honor to work with you, right? You may decide, you know what? I don't want to work another job. And I think I'm ready to start my own business. Guess what? With that brand, you already have an audience. You already have people who know like, and trust you. You just have never made them an offer. So you have set the stage for you to go, like, yeah, I have what it takes to start my business, right? With that, you may even not. You may not be terminated, you may not leave. You may use it to negotiate for promotions, for raises, for better work conditions. Like, all of these kind of things because of that brand and what comes with your brand. Okay, I've told this story a lot of times on the podcast. Dr. Barbara Joy, phenomenal family medicine physician out of Atlanta, who I get to have had the privilege of working with for a few years at this point. She built a rock solid brand. Rock solid, right. And because she did that, there are so many opportunities that have come her way, whether it's a job, whether it's a business deal, whether, like, all kinds of things, paid speaking gigs, all of that. As an employed physician, she was getting all of these. Why? Because of the brand she built. Okay, so you want to take the time to build a dominant brand, and that is kind of your insurance policy. That is what gives you unlimited options. That is what sets the stage for what comes next. Next you can leverage that to do whatever you want your next thing to be, Build a dominant brand. And so there's so many avenues to do that. Whether you're doing that on social, social media, whether you're building an email list that could be, whether you're speaking on stage. There's so many ways to do that. But the era of hiding, don't want anybody to know me just doing my work and disappearing. You own a company now. You don't do that. Okay, okay. So the first thing is you want to build that dominant brand. The second thing you want to do, and these are all kind of intertwined in a way. The second thing you want to do is you want to build your network. Okay. If you are an introvert like I am, you're probably like, oh, no, Dr. Una. Right? But I, I am here. I am on your side. I am rooting for you. I'm an introvert too. You've heard my story. I started off as a socially awkward, super shy, introverted introvert. Networking is not a personality type. It is a skill and you can learn it. But let me play this picture here, right? Let's say you built this really solid network, okay? And what that means is you have all these relationships with people who own private practices, people who are in positions of authority in hospitals and in medical centers. You build all these relationships with referral sources, with people who fall in the category of your clients, right? Work with vendors with all these kind of people. If someone tells you you're terminated, I mean, you just have to send some text messages and you could end up with a brand new job like the same day. Do you see what I'm saying? Your network matters because people know people who know people who know people. That's the way the world works, right? And so the bigger your network, the more high quality your network is, the more access to opportunities you, they are literally limitless. So you don't wait for something to happen for you to start building your network. You start now, you start building it. You start interacting with people. You start talking to people who could, who are like referral sources or people who are what we call centers of influence. So they have a lot of people who could be your audience, your clients and things like that. People matter. And the truth of the matter is there are doors that people will open for you, that money will never open for you. So your social wealth, your social capital, your relationships are actually more valuable than money. So you want to build that network. If you're like me and you're an introvert, just remember that it's a skill. You're going to put yourself out there, you're going to meet people, you're going to look them in the eye, you're going to shake their hands with a firm grip. You're going to ask them about themselves. People like to talk about themselves. You're going to start practicing building. It may feel weird, that's okay. But if you'll do it long enough, you'll feel more normal, okay? So build that dominant brand. Build your network. Build your network. Build relationships. This is one of the things that I see in the entremdib business school a lot. And I really am so, so, so, so grateful. It's really so inspiring to see it because this is a community of people, different stages of business, different kinds of businesses. So private practice, coaches and consultants, speakers, people who host events, people who have products, people who are entrepreneurs, like so the employed physicians who are building brands and all of those things, and all over the country, all stages of life. And it's amazing how somebody will come in and ask a question and there's all these experiences, right? Or they'll come in and there's a kind of. They said, oh, this is who I am and this is what I do. And people are like, oh, I can connect you with this group, and they will be per. Their perfect ideal clients for you. And things like that. People. People will get speaking gigs and pass them off to others. Like, all kinds of connections and networks are happening and people are opening doors for each other. It's just about who you know, right? So build your network. Build your network. This is capital. Your brand is capital. Your network is capital. Okay? And so you don't have to be afraid of being terminated, because I can reach out to my network and people know somebody who's looking. Okay, all right. The third thing is, if I could say there's a skill that I would really love to see us master as physicians is negotiation. Especially if you're an employed physician, because guess what? You own a company now, right? You don't. You don't work for your boss anymore. You work for Dr. U Incorporated, and your boss is not your client.

Right?

And there are times that as business owners, we would walk up and say, hey, things have happened. Prices have changed, or things have happened, and these are the new conditions or whatever that is. Right? And so what that means is, for instance, even if you're staying in the job, salaries always something to negotiate. And if you don't know how to negotiate, you're not going to really. You may not have the salary that you want, right? Maybe there are work conditions. Maybe you have, like, too many patients per session or you have. You have a bunch of committees that you've been invited to be on, and they're like, oh, but we don't have a budget for this. But it's going to cost you 10 more hours of your time every two weeks. Weeks and things like that. You have to learn how to negotiate salary, work conditions, right? You need to learn how to talk about the bottom line like an entrepreneur, because that's who you are. Remember, you work for a company called Dr. U Incorporated, right? And so, for instance, you want to negotiate for a scribe. You don't just go and say, oh, I'm burned out. I need a scribe, right? You're. You're an entrepreneur now, and you're like, you know what? I was talking with the biller. This is how much revenue I'M bringing in per patient. And I know that this company, they have a scribing service. This is how much comes to. And the truth of the matter is, if we can bring on a scribe, I can add two extra patients to or even an extra patient per day. And what that will do is that it will create even more revenue for the company, so the bottom line will be better and the risk of burnout becomes a lot lower for the doctors. And so this is a complete win win situation. How can we work this out? How can we make this possible? Right? That is a very different conversation from, oh my goodness, I hate it here. And again, I'm not saying you do that. I'm just trying to give an examp. So work conditions, salary, promotions, maybe you've always even wanted to go more to the admin side. Maybe you wanted to be a chief medical officer or anything like that. Negotiation, having those conversations. You're an entrepreneur now. You make deals. That's what you do, right? And if for any reason you get terminated or whatever, you can take your stuff somewhere else and go negotiate there and create a dream job for yourself, right? I'm saying all of this to say, please don't not have a plan. Please stop working for your boss. Become an intrapreneur, build a dominant brand, build your network, learn to negotiate. And so that if anything happens, you're ready, and if nothing happens, you're better positioned in your company to bring them more value and create a job that you love. So it works for you whether you stay, it works for you. Whether you're terminated, it works for you. Whether you decide, I want to go on and start my own business, these are things that will serve you. Please don't roll over. Please don't play dead. Please don't stay in the fear of, oh, what if this happens? And don't wait the time to start doing this now. I want to invite you, maybe this is your first time of listening to this podcast. I want you to start listening to it like the entrepreneur you are. Like, My name is Dr. Ann Smith and I am the CEO of Dr. Ann Smith Incorporated. And you show, this is my company, this is who my client is. I want you to listen to the episodes. I want you to embrace that identity as an intrapreneur and entrepreneur. I want you to learn the skills, I want you to start applying them, start practicing them, practice the negotiation, practice the brand building, practice the networking, practice all of those things. And you will be a different, more evolved version of yourself. I mean, there's so Many doctors in the entrepreneur business school who have done this, they have negotiations for coaching for, for all the, the docs in the hospital, they have negotiated for scribes and got them. For all the doctors in the hospital, they've negotiated for raises, they've negotiated for four day work weeks. All kinds of things, all kinds, okay? So, yes, this is fascinating times for physicians, but I want to invite you to not despair because of it, okay? You're, you can still be in control and this is how you take back control. So what I want you to do now, well, if you're an employed physician, I want you to do exactly this, right? And for you and for everybody else, I want you to take this episode, I want you to take a screenshot of it and I want you to put a little blurb on social media. Like, this is the reason, if you're a physician and you're employed, this is the reason why you must listen to this episode. Okay? Tag us, hashtag ontremd. I would love to reshare and all of those things, but I would love for this message to go out because as physicians, we cannot afford to not know this, okay? What is coming is a time when doctors are confident in their spaces. They're not afraid of termination because you can't really. It's not termination that way because they already terminated themselves, okay? They work for them. They work for themselves. They work for the doctor, Them Incorporated. We work for ourselves, okay? And we're just. We have this client and if the client decides I'm not being a client anymore, you just go find another client, right? But there's nobody coming to save us. There's nobody coming to make this better. We have to take back control ourselves and this is how we do it. So do this for yourself. Share this with another doc. Share this on social media, entremd, and I will see you, my friend, on the next episode of the ontremd podcast. Hey, if you love listening to the ontremd podcast, I wanna 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 entrend.com forward/ondemand and I'd love to have you join us. See you on the inside.