From Passion Project to Thriving Business With Dr. Michelle Quirk

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. Umna. Well, hello. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Entre MD podcast. Today I have a special guest for you. I have Dr. Michelle Quirk. Here, she is a pediatrician and she is a run coach. And if you read the Entremde method book, then you would have heard quite a bit of her story. But we're going to dig deeper into it. You're going to get a lot of gems from this. And as I always say on the podcast, it doesn't matter if you are in private practice, if you are an employed physician, if you are a coach, if you're starting, if you're scaling, there's so much to be learned from this. I want you to lean in and get all you can out of it. So, Dr. Michelle, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure to be here. I'm excited.

I am, too. I've been looking forward to this. So I am going to give you a moment to introduce yourself to the listeners. They want to know who the amazing Dr. Kirk is. Yeah.

So I'm a pediatrician and a run coach and I'm the founder of Mindful Marathon, which is my Run coaching business where I help make running easy and fun for busy professionals like ourselves. And I was not always a runner. So if you're out there listening and you're thinking, like, I just don't know, well, don't worry, because I wasn't a runner either.

And I think you telling that was what made me really attracted to your story. If I remember correctly, we ran in the same circles on Facebook for quite a while, and then we both ended up in the. On trendy business school. That's kind of how that played out. But the fact that you're like, I'm not a runner and I run marathons and you can too, I was like, wait a minute. It resonated so deeply with me because I've always secretly wanted to be a runner. I've been running from mailbox to mailbox. I learned that from you. So I'm doing that. Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm working on my. On a, on a 5k with you. So this is going to be. This is going to be amazing. So tell us about your journey as an entrepreneur. Because there are people who are like, well, you know, I was not a runner. I learned all these things. I fell in love with running. I want to help other people, but maybe stayed as an idea for 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, and they haven't really done anything about it. Right. And so. And please, if that's you, I don't want you to feel like, yeah, that's me. I suck. That's not the point of this. This is. This is to help us see that that's normal. Right. And then how do we move forward? So walk us through. You know, you're a pediatrician, then you could run, then you could, you could run. And then you started a business. Like, what in the world? You fill in the gap. Fill in the business gap here for us.

Yes. Yes. I started my first, you know, employed pediatric hospitalist job about 10 years ago. And I went through what I know now as periods of burnout throughout the last 10 years. But at the time, especially back then, I didn't know that that's what it was. But I picked up running during that kind of first period of time. It was a tough time. Newly married, a lot of stressors, moving to a new place, started the new job. My dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away later that year. So just lots going on, and that's how I started running and I fell in love with the sport. And fast forward five, six years, I found myself kind of at a crossroads in My employed position. I knew that something had to change. Like, I was really not finding the enjoyment there at work that I had before. I was tired all of the time, switching back and forth, day shifts, night shifts, just really. I felt really. I described it. I felt like I was on a treadmill but not going anywhere. And I didn't really know how to step off, but I knew that something had to change. And so what happened at the time? I ran my first marathon in January of 2018. And I think all of that time spent with myself on the road and on the trail really helped me sort out a way forward. And I had one friend at the time who was probably one of the only physician entrepreneurs I knew, Allie Novitsky. Shout out to her. She and I worked at the same hospital and I had coffee with her one day. I just wanted to kind of pick her brain about how she started her business and kind of tell her what was going on with me. And she was really the one who. Who said after I was chit chatting away for 45 minutes, like, you know, Michelle, you've been. I could talk to you about burnout, but you've been talking about running and coaching your friends and family. You're writing these training plans for people you want to volunteer with. Girls on the run, like, you clearly love this. Have you thought about becoming a coach? And I just sat back in the chair like, no, hadn't crossed my mind. I think it's funny because sometimes we just can't see it. I mean, of course, when she pointed it out, I sat back and said, huh, yeah, you're right. That would be a great merge of what I love to do and sort of a way forward out of here. So that's how the business started. It's a crazy story.

I was like, huh, Yeah, I hadn't quite thought about that. I heard a quote fairly recently that is kind of stuck in my brain as, like, a giant doesn't see himself, right? So you're there, your giant. Everyone's like, oh, my God, big amazing. But you don't see it, you know? And so it's always nice to have somebody be a mirror. Okay, so now you get this idea. You're like, huh, I could totally do that. Then what happens?

Oh, boy. The next year was something else. So this was probably before I met you, or it was definitely before the business school. And I was struggling away. I didn't quite know what I was doing. I was doing it all very messy. But I was writing training plans for people. So I took the roadrunners course to have an official certification. Like, hey, I took a class, and I studied to be able to write these training plans, so it's not just coming out of my head. So I did that. And, you know, at the beginning, I was really, you know, tinkering with my website, trying to figure out, like, how do I charge people for this? Do I send invoices? Like, very, very basic. Basic business 101. Right. And I was struggling along, and I think I had a feeling. I knew that it was more of a hobby than it was a business. And that's really what made me want to join the business school, because I was loving it. It's not that I didn't enjoy doing it, but it certainly wasn't profitable. And I really didn't know how to get the word out there about who I was, what I did, and if find more people besides my friends and family who wanted to work with me.

And that's actually good that you leverage friends and family, because sometimes we're even like, I don't want anybody to know what I do. And then we just work on the website. Right. So you start with friends and family, which is great. Okay. So you're like, I'm doing this. I love it. And I think it's important that you said that, because as physicians, a lot of times we have no problem serving and not earning. We have no problem because we're wired to help people. We're wired to serve. We're wired to make a difference. But as you would have noticed, you're on the other side of this now. Is that the more profitable you are, the more people you can help. No margin, no mission. Right. And so serving and earning sets you up to serve a lot more. And so I'm glad that you said that. So if there's someone here and you're like, oh, I thought I was running a business, but actually I've had a hobby, then I want you to pay attention to what comes next, because you can convert that hobby into a profitable business, and you'll still do what you love, which is serving people. But you serve so many more people, and you earn so much more. Okay, so. So you made a decision. This is a hobby, and now I want to convert this to a business. All right, so walk us through what happened next.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm enjoying it.

Oh, of course. Yeah. And I want to also say, for anyone out there listening, if you do right now have a hobby, it's okay. But just be clear about what it is right. And so I think, yeah, like, there's nothing wrong with having hobbies and loving it, but if. If your intent is to have a business. And I think there's a bit of a mindset shift there, and it will also. Yeah, you know, we could talk about this, too. Like, the mission part of this. I know Dr. Una always tells me, like, you're a movement. You're starting a mission, you're on a. You know, you're on a mission, you have a movement. And I think never really saw it that way until more recently. And so at that point, I joined the business school. That was the fall of 2020, so about a year and a half ago. And I think the biggest shift for me was having to put myself out there. Like, I really hadn't. I'd been on a couple of podcasts as a guest, but hadn't been really doing much of that. I. I'd been posting on my blog, but again, my readers were mostly friends and family, and I just didn't know how to reach more people. And it was sort of like this pivotal mindset shift. Like, hey, you actually have to go and find the people. Like, they're out there, but they don't know about you. And so that first year in the business school was really a game changer for me as an introvert and putting myself out there. I mean, it was very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.

It was uncomfortable. No, let me emphasize the very here. Very uncomfortable. What helped you continue? Because you were one of the people in the business school who. And many people did this, but you embraced the discomfort. Like, you acknowledged the discomfort, but you still did. Was almost like you had a checklist you were working from. And you did, right. You had the Ontario, MD Business school success path. And you're like, okay, I need to do this. So uncomfortable, but I'm going to do it. Check. Like, that was your attitude, right? And so what helped you embrace discomfort?

I think that probably my run training helped with that. There were a lot of uncomfortable things that I did to train for that marathon and, you know, shout out, I have a run coach to my coach, Billy. You know, there were many times where I said, like, I just don't. I don't think I can do this. Like, that's going to be an uncomfortable workout.

And you said, oh, yeah, take the day off. You know, I feel your pain.

But I think, you know, all of that, recognizing that all of that work really did prepare me to take the start line of that race. And even at the start line of the race, I had a lot of doubts about my ability to get to the finish line, like, even as late as the start line. And so that whole experience, like, okay, you can do hard things. I mean, first of all, everyone listening to this, we've gone through medical school and residency, most of us, and that's not easy. That's a huge challenge. And so we've done hard things before and know, lumping in training for that marathon, I think this is just another. Another way to flex a different muscle. And I treated it like I do my training plan, where I laid it out. And you're right, I was kind of following this plan and checking off as I went. And what made it easier, too, I think, is I made it. I celebrated the small wins. Like, for example, being a guest on a podcast. I can talk one on one to someone that doesn't feel so bad. So just a mindset shift, right? I just forget about all of the other people listening. So I'm just talking to you right now, Dr. Unan. This works.

And this is. And the listeners. Thank you. How about that?

Yeah, yeah. So you can make it work, even if you're an introvert, even if you're afraid to put yourself out there in the form of telling your story, videos and things like that. I also learned along the way that you don't have to share everything about your life. Like, it seems sometimes on social media that people overshare, maybe, or they want to share a lot more about their personal life, but you don't have to. So you can share just enough to get your message out and find your people. And that's, I think, a big mindset shift for me, because when I started all of these things that, you know, our assignments in the business school at first were very, very scary.

And they. And they still are. And it's okay. We embrace them all. Well, and I'm grateful that you said what you said about you don't have to put your personal life out there, because that's a challenge for a lot of people. Right? Like, I'm a private person. I don't want to be on social media. And I'm like, I'm a private person, too. Like, if you actually take a look at what I post, you realize that my family is not really there. My kids don't feature. Maybe they feature on a birthday or something. If that. They don't feature because I'm a private person. I just don't want to put them on there. If I'm having a bad day, I have people to reach out To, I don't put that on social media. Right. Like, I have, I have my own community for my personal support and you know, where I get to show that personal side of me. So it doesn't mean I'm inauthentic. It's just that everybody gets to see the business side of me. That's an aspect of my life and then my personal life, because I'm a private person, I still keep it private. And so people are like, you're everywhere. I'm like, yeah, but my business Persona is everywhere. My personal life is still very personal. So thank you for saying that because that, that is, that is a hold up for many people. So now that you've done this and you stopped being the world's best kept secret and you know, you're everywhere, have people started telling you that you're everywhere?

Yeah, yeah. And I will say with the social media, friends have said like, oh, you're, you know, on social media, you're Coach Michelle. And I was like, yeah, that, that's right. Like, that's.

Oh, that is so good. They identify what.

Yeah, identify. Yeah. And so that's the Persona. Like you said, you know, sometimes my husband will show up there, but aside.

From almost always in races too.

Yeah, right.

Like, so again, it's, it's the, is the business part. So if you're, if you're the kind of person, you like sharing your person that we're not judging, we're just saying if you're hearing you, you're not showing up at all on social media because you, you feel like I want to be private. You can be on social media a lot and be private. Yeah. So that's so good. So now talk to me like highlights. You've done this for a while. What are some of the highlights, like wins you've had as an entrepreneur that you look back, you're like, that's amazing. Either I don't believe I did that or, you know, like, this is so surreal. What are some of those things?

I can think of two right away. So one is that when I started coaching, I couldn't see a way to really scale beyond one on one coaching and giving personalized customized training plans. And I just, I really had a tough time. I tried some different group programs and hadn't had much. I shouldn't say I shouldn't have much success, but they were stepping stones for what came later. And so this past year, we're right in the middle of a group program for beginners called Ready, Set, Run. And it's Been really wonderful to see the transformation here in this 10 week program. And we're working toward a 5K. So that, that was sort of the run goal there. But lots of mindset shifts in the groups. So I can see a way forward with both, with multiple models, business models, which is great because at the beginning I thought, I don't know how I'm going to move away from this one on one coaching, and I love that. But there's a way to help more people. So that's one and then two last year, really, I credit the business school and my friends and colleagues in there with all of this, but I had a virtual race. So I had this idea when I became a run coach that someday I would like to maybe have a road race, become a race director. And then the pandemic hit and I sort of forgot about it. I just put, put that completely aside, worked on other things. And I'm not sure when the idea came back, but sometime in the early part of last year, I thought, you know what? All of these races have gone virtual. That would be something that I can do. It would reach a wider audience, help a lot of people who are struggling right now, keep us motivated to run. So we had the virtual race in the fall. And I remember with the metal company, they told me, our minimum order is 100. Do you think you can get 100 runners? And I thought, I don't know, I don't know, but we'll try. And it sold out. That was a huge win. And just, yeah, proof of concept and another arm of Mindful Marathon. And the best part about this, I can now see that mission piece. It's connected to a charity, a local charity here in Philadelphia called the Students Run Philly Style. And so there's that, that sense, that of giving back. And that's what I wanted when I started the business. And again, at the beginning, I couldn't see how that was going to pan out, but. But now I can see that. So those are two really big ones.

I love it. I love it. So. And you know, I hope everybody's listening because you said, you said a lot of things that people who are rock star entrepreneurs understand, right? You're like, okay, so I did a group program that failed. No, it didn't really. It was just a stepping stone to what I have now. You see what I'm saying? Like, it seems like it was a little shift, but that's the way entrepreneurs think. Because someone else would go like I did. It didn't work. Pam fall out. I quit. Right. But you're like, no, that's the stepping stone, you know, to all of this. And. Oh, get 100 medals. Can you get 100 people register? I don't know, but I guess we'll try, like, you know, and I remember waiting. I was just like, I'm just waiting. I think I told you this, too. I'm just waiting for the graphic that says sold out on it so I can share it on Instagram. That's all I want. Like, have fun promoting it. That is all I want from you. And I remember when you said, it's sold out. I'm like, yes. It's like more people are trying to register and I had to throw them away. I'm like, yes. So do you still have a hobby or. We. Are we business mode now? Is this profitable? Where are you?

You. Yeah, yeah. No, we're out of hobby mode. It's definitely this past year. It is profitable. So we're. Yeah, yeah. And I can see now, you know, there's a good balance right now between. I'm still. I should probably say I'm still a pediatrician, right. I'm still an employed physician, but I also have mindful marathons, so it's a bit more of a balance that I was looking for. And. Yeah. And so now I do have hobbies, but. But this isn't one of them.

I love. I love it. I have hobbies. This is not. I'm clear. My hobbies are my hobbies, and my business is my business. I love it. Okay, so now there are. For instance, you made a critical decision, right? You said, I have a hobby and I want this to become a business. So I joined a business school, right? Like, this is what will get me there. But I'm sure you had. Well, I don't know. I'm thinking you may have had some mind drama around that. Like, I have to pay for that. I have to commit. What if I don't do it? What if it doesn't work for me? What if it's not the right time? What if I don't have time? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And there are many people who are there either they want to start, they want to scale, and they know there's this. This. There's this defining moment. There's this decision you need to make, right? Which is what you did. Which when I talk to a lot doctors, that's what happened. What do you tell that person who's thinking, I don't have the time. I don't have the money. I don't Know if it worked for me. I don't know if I'm even an entrepreneur, right? Like, I'm a physician. I'm not an entrepreneur.

I had all of those thoughts, I think, especially the. I am not an entrepreneur, and I don't know if I belong in a group of entrepreneurs. But I think the same is true with running. So you can. Like, I ran on my own without a coach for probably about four or five years, and I was making progress. But when I started working with my coach, and by the way, I had the same mind drama when I reached out to him. I was like, I think only, you know, very elite runners, very fast runners, need a coach. People trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, like, what am I doing getting a run coach? And I made more progress with him in the first year working with him than I had in the previous four or five years plugging away by myself. And that was a really good lesson for me. So I think having a coach and having a group that is going in the direction you want to go, it is just going to launch you forward a lot faster than you could do by yourself. And I viewed it as an investment in myself. I think that was the same when I hired my run coach, too. Anytime I've invested in a coach, whatever that was for run coaching, I had a triathlon coach who, like, basically taught me how to swim and ride a bike over again for the purposes of racing. But anytime I've invested in a coach, I received so many rewards on the other side of that. And so part of it is a little bit of a leap of faith because our mind gives us all of these doubts. But you know that once you're in there, you'll make forward progress. And there are some months, I think it's important to say, where I'm not as active in the business school. Like, there are seasons of life, and sometimes it's. It's harder to take part in the challenges. But I just recognize, like, okay, you know, this month I might need to take a step back, but that means that I do a little bit more in the month following. So there's a balance. But I think, you know, I'm in it for the long run, so to speak.

No pun intended.

No pun intended. And so, yeah, I think viewing it as an investment and you'll find the time, you, you know, my. My big thing is small steps consistently. And so not every day is the same. Not every day you can take 10 steps forward, but just one is okay and you're still moving forward.

I Love it. And thank you so much for taking. What I didn't want to have is, like, super polished stories of no challenges. Thank you for taking us behind the scene to see the real journey of an entrepreneur. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. I mean, the sum total is very positive. Right. But we can look at all of it, and it just helps validate for other people that you're not abnormal. Like, if you're feeling that you're not abnormal, if you're struggling with making this decision, you're not abnormal. We all do this, but the thing is, we continue moving forward, so thank you for that. I am so excited about all your wins. I cannot wait, like, for when you are, you know, when you talk about your virtual races and we're talking about people in the thousands, because that's where you're going, really. You know, it is a movement. I've said that from day one because people want community and people want to run, and people want to run on a schedule. Like, I run with Dr. Michelle twice a year. Okay. For spring or for fall. Right. People want to do that, and you're providing that, and you're very easy to follow. So I have no doubts. So I love watching. I've loved watching your journey, and I can't wait to see what this year brings, but it's going to be pretty amazing.

Me, too.

All right, so where do people find you? They're like, where do we find this person? Where do they find you?

I think probably the easiest place is on my website and it's mindful-marathon.com and I have a free gift for you. If you're out there listening and you are a beginner runner or a newer runner or maybe a runner who hasn't run in a while and you want to get back into it. There is a workshop there. It's about 15 minutes. And it's sort of all of the basics to getting started. It's really fun and it's. And it's free, so you can download that from the website. And I'm on Instagram Indful Marathon.

All right, well, so follow her on the place in all the places, especially if you're a runner. All right. And if you're not as an entrepreneur, follow her. So you can kind of say, oh, that's how they do that. All right. And if you have been thinking about starting or growing your business or you're like, oh, it's so lonely being an entrepreneur. Nobody believes in me or I don't have support or I don't have the accountability, any of those things, or I don't know what to do. I don't know what my steps are. The entrepreneur business school is where you get the coaching, you get the accountability, and you get the community. You get it. All the things you need to thrive as an entrepreneur. So go put in your application entre md.com forward/business and the team will reach out to you, and if you're a great fit, we'll be happy to welcome you in. So, Dr. Michelle Quirk, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh, thank you for having me.

Absolutely. And guys, this story was so fascinating. There's so many gems here. So remember, Entre MD is a movement. So you don't want to just listen to this and say fantastic and walk away. You want to share this episode on your social media with the doctors in your life. Tell them you have to listen to this. You know someone who's discouraged as an entrepreneur, share this with them and I will see you on the next episode of the entrembie podcast.