How to Run Your Business When Life Happens

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 sevenfigurebook 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. Umn. So, hello. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of the entremd podcast. As always, super pumped to be in your ears. And today we're going to be talking about something that is really, really critical because it's going to happen to everybody. When I was younger, as an entrepreneur, I was of the impression that if I was doing things right, then everything will go the way it's supposed to. If things went wrong, it's because I was doing something wrong and things like that. But I'm much older, much wiser now, and I realized that being an entrepreneur is not a. It's not a linear path. It really is filled with ups and downs. And it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter your demographic, it doesn't matter your socioeconomic status, like none of them matters. It doesn't matter how, how smart you as an entrepreneur, everybody's going to hit those ups and downs. And so the thing is, the better you are at managing the ups and downs, especially the downs, the more you'll enjoy your journey as an entrepreneur, the more you make progress, like in spite of the challenges and all of those things. And so I think it's something that's really important to talk about. And the doubts are not necessarily all bad things, right? So you're running a business and you know, you have a baby. It's not a down, but it's a different phase of business, and it's going to present its own unique challenges. And there may be a bit of a struggle because you may not be able to do you not may not. You won't be able to do business the way you've always done it. There are changes that need to happen there. It could be be a move. It could be an actual challenge, maybe something with your health or things like that, right? Or some relationship, some upsetting your family. Like, there's so many things that can happen. And it brings you to this point where you're no longer as free as you were to face your business or is it's just too hard on you as an individual. And these things happen, okay? And they will happen to all of us at some point. And so I've thought about it on my journey. I've thought about the very successful, successful entrepreneurs that I have, either as mentors or friends, colleagues and things like that. And I'm like, how are they navigating this stuff? Right? And I came up with seven things that I want to share with you. These are really practical things. And my trust is that it will make your journey as an entrepreneur so much easier. Okay? So our journey, our journeys are not easy, but they can be easier, right? And that's, that's, that's part of what we're here for. So the first thing, when I think about it, so you find yourself, it's really challenging. You maybe even feel like quitting or like it's just hard. The first thing is to recognize that it's a phase, right? There are ups and downs of business. And when you're in a down moment, it's really important that you recognize that there's an up after that, right? Like, this is not going to last forever. This is not the way it's always going to be. This is a season in my journey. And it's so much easier to deal with seasons than it is to deal with something that seems like it's going to be there for eternity, right? So think about all the challenges you've had in the past. They last for seasons. And some of them in the moment, they seem so bad, it seems like you're never going to get out of it and all of those things. But when you look back, you can't even remember the pain of it you can remember it was a difficult time, but it was just a difficult time. You can't get back into the pain of it and, and all of that. So recognize that. Be whatever it is. This is a phase, right? This is a phase and it will pass. So my job is, okay, how do I navigate this, right? In the most painless way. How do I navigate this with the most amount of support. How do I navigate this and still give my business the opportunity to thrive? How do I go through that, right? So it's recognizing this is not forever. This is a phase. This is going to pass. So that, so that's the first thing. The second thing is to recognize what phase you're in, right? And this is really important because it's really hard to compare. And I'm not saying in the moment you'll be trying to compare yourself, but it's really hard to compare your journey with somebody else's journey because you may both be at the beginning of something or in the middle of something, but then your phases may be different. So for instance, when I started my private practice, which was my first business, I already had two kids. I had a two, a two year old. So she had literally turned to the same the day after we signed the lease for the practice, right? So a two year old and a four month old. And in that stage, it was up to me to realize I'm in this phase. I have little kids and so my journey is going to look different. People are going to be able to maybe travel in ways that I can't or I refuse to travel. People are going to be able to go so hard in their business. But when I look at them, they have like all college kids. Like we're in different phases. Do you see what I'm saying? Like recognize the phase you're in and recognize that there are certain phases where things will take longer. Well, you will go slower. And you going slower is progress. It's like huge progress, right? We need to recognize that. So you're in a phase where you have little kids, you're in a phase where there's an illness in the family. You're in a phase where you did, you just did this big move and stuff like that, right? Like those are phases where you may have to go a little slower and that's okay, right? Like, so just recognize, you know, where you are at this stage. With what I'm doing with Entre md, I've put myself in a position where with my, with my private practice, I'm not actually clinically Seeing patients, which frees up so much time for me to put a lot of effort if I want to, into entremd in a different way where somebody else probably couldn't. And my kids are older. My first two are teenagers and they're fairly independent and they help so much with their younger siblings and all. So it's a very different phase, right? So the first is recognize that whatever is going on, it's a season, all that. Second, recognize what phase you're in and so that you can go at it. In the entrepreneur world, the way we like to describe it is the pace of growth, Grace, right? Like go at the pace that is it. It matches the phase that you're in, right? So, so that's the second thing. The third thing is to prioritize yourself. This is not selfish. This is not you not looking out for other people. But the point is you, you are this, you are the center. You're at the center of your world, and everything on the outside flows out of you. If you're not okay, there is a serious problem, right? And so when you see all, it seems like all hell is let loose and all of that stuff, you still need to come back. You see, I haven't even started talking about any real strategies or anything. Like, the first strategy is to make sure you're okay. And so what that looks like, what do you do to take care of your mind? And for you, like, for me, that would be prayer, that would be meditation, like sitting on scripture, like, what did God say? Like, things like that, right? For you, it may be meditation. You want, this is the time to dig even deeper into those habits. Like, I can't control everything going on in my world, but I can control these three things. I'm going to meditate every day, I'm going to sleep well every night, and I'm going to exercise. I'm just giving examples like that, right? Like, what do you do to take care of you, right? So for me, prayer meditation will be. There is something used to take care of my mind. Exercise will be there because again, I exercise for my mental health, if you will. It gives me that space to be outside, to be in nature, to think, right? And give me just the space to think. So it's something that is. Is really helpful for me, right? And so that may be you too. Maybe it's you taking a walk and things like that. Maybe that's you hanging out with one person and just doing lunch or something. You just need that time. And that person is someone who's not an entrepreneur, not a physician. So if you bring up any of those two things, they don't know what you're talking about. They just want to talk about the weather in the mall. And you need that kind of break. I don't know what it is for you, but you want to prioritize you. Like what are the things you do to take care of you as a person, right? So the sleeping well, the eating well, making sure that you're well hydrated. All of those things you need to take care of of you. The better, the better you are, the better you feel, the stronger you are, the more you can weather storms. You're the one who's going to need to weather this storm, right? So you need to be, you need to be like top shape. So you need to take care of you. And in all fairness, this doesn't take forever. It's just, is just the awareness of it. Like if I have an hour to myself every day, this is what I can use it to do. And if I get this hour right, everything else seems to be better, right? So, so that's the third thing, is take care of you. Okay? The fourth thing again comes before any strategy. Like this is what you need to do, it comes before that. And the fourth thing is enlist help. Okay? I, I struggled a lot with delegation, okay. I was the person who wanted to do the cooking, do the, if you can imagine that, do the cleaning, do the business stuff, do like all of these things, take care of the kids and that fortunate to have a husband.

Who was really big on delegation, right?

So even when I didn't know I was getting full on lessons in delegation, I was. But you know, the thing was I, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I kept adding on new responsibilities. Like we do this and now we're going to have a private practice and now we're going to start this mentorship group and now we're going to do this. I kept piling on the same plate. And the thing is, if you're going into a storm, you're going into a challenge already stretched, it makes it even that more difficult, right? And so it was Winston Churchill who said, never waste a crisis, right? And so in the middle of that storm, maybe you didn't do that. This is a time to say, what can I get off my plate? Like, what can I get off my plate? And please understand me when I say this, I'm talking about personal help and professional help. Okay? So you have kids, can we get somebody to watch them? We have A home, can somebody clean that? Can somebody do the laundry? Can somebody do the meal prep? Can somebody do the entire cooking? Right? Like you have all these tasks that you have to run all over the place. Can I get a VA to do that? Please hear me and hear me well. As a physician, one of the gifts you have is the ability to earn a higher salary. Like, even as an employed physician, right? One of the things you have, you, you just a high income earner. And one of the things you can do with that gift is to buy the time of others, right? Like I want us to look at it as a gift. You might say, well, I'm not being paid what I'm worth, okay? And in my business, I'm not getting what I'm worth, okay? But in the meantime, you have enough to recruit the help of others, right? And so get these things, get these things off. So personally and in your business or professionally, right, you want to have these two teams running. This is a time to look for, what can I get off? What can I get off? What can I get off my plate? And if you do this, chances are you'll look back at this time and be like, oh, my goodness, I never want to go through that again. But this is one great thing that came out of it, right? I was able to reclaim 5 hours, 10 hours, 20 hours a week. Okay? So start looking. And really, a lot of times you're like, yeah, yeah, but I have a team and they're doing things, right. But you want to do the discipline of actually taking the time, like think through a week, what are all the things that I do? Write them down. And then you can then ask yourself, is there nobody on my team who can do this? Can I get somebody to do this? Right? How can I get this off my plate? How can I? For each thing, how can I get this? Should this be on my plate? How should I? How can I get this off my plate? How can I get this off my plate? That exercise alone will save you so many hours. We're talking of what will be hundreds of hours at the end of a year. Okay? So it's personal and professional, right? And it's also paid and unpaid, right? Like there are people, there are family members who will help you. The problem is they don't read minds. And so if you don't tell them, they're not going to help you. Right? So we want to become really good at articulating the help that we need. There'll be people right beside you who will go to war for you. But if you don't talk about it, and if you don't, you're not talking about the stress while talking about how you need to be supported. And if you can tell them how you need to be supported, then they'll support you. And so think of it. Paid, unpaid. These are family members, mentees, all kind of people. Like, look at all the people in your world. They're part of your tribe. Like, how can these people support me while I am going through this phase that is going to pass? Right? Remember that was number one. Okay, so enlist help. Enlist all kinds of help. Paid, unpaid, personal, professional, like all the things. All right, number five. Number five is stay in your community. Okay, so like in the entremd business school, I'll tell you something funny. I have thought, it's a random thought that I don't know I'm going to do anything about, but I was like, you know what we call the entre MD Business school. Business school. But I think it kind of like doesn't represent what really happens behind closed doors in the ontarimity business school. One of the biggest things we have, I mean, we have many aspects that are just gold, but one of the things we have is a community. And it's a community of people who will fight for you, a community of people who will be there when you have challenges. And it's such a rich community. We call it the EBS Commonwealth. And we call it the Commonwealth because there's such a wide variety of experiences, a wide variety of competencies, a wide variety of connections that people have that when you are going through a phase, there are people who are like, and I was, that was me a month ago. That was me five years ago. That was me. And these are the things you can do and this is who you can talk to. And all of those kind of things. Your community is a gift. And your community is a gift in the good times. But my goodness, it's so much more a gift in the harder times, right? And so you may, you may have a community business school, right? But you may have a community you want to stay in community, especially in the good times. Because the time to build that community is not in the harder times, right? You want to lead with service and you have created the platform for reciprocity. So when you need, it's like, of course, like ask, right? And that's not to say don't ask because you haven't done that.

Right?

But you want to set that up. You want to build those relationships, you want to do all of those things in the good times, quote, unquote. And so when the challenging times come, there are people already there, already on standby, already rooting for you who are like, chop, chop, I got you. So for instance, in the Entre MD business school today, somebody posted about a challenge and there are people like, oh, you're going to need this kind of support and stuff like that. DM me, oh, I. You got this. This is what this is. I went through it at this time, this is what I did to handle it. And you have these resources, let's go. And it's like comment after comment after comment, people coming out. And I know that person is going to get phone calls and I know they're going to get DMs and I know they're going to get so much support. Is there community, right? And so you're listening to this. You have a community, stay in community. You're in the entremd business school, stay in community. Right? Because we need that for those kind of times, right? And so in these times when there are these phases, stay in community. The next thing, the six things right next to it, which is. But I separated them because I don't want us to miss them. They're two fundamentally different things. Like one is don't stay in your community. Like don't give up on your community, right? The next is lean on your community. And we have this. I can do everything. I can weather all storms type of thing. We do as physicians. Doesn't work for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is life. Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is, is a, it is a hard thing. It can be done and it can be enjoyed but is not lost on me or anybody that it's, it's a, it's a hard thing to do and you need help and you need help if you're going to enjoy the journey, right? Like when I think about it, I've been. I got into medical school at the age of 16. I turned 17. Now I went to medical school in the Nigerian, the European system where you go from high school to, to med school. And so think about it. So I started this whole thing of wanting to become a physician from the age of 16, then became the physician, then did residency and all these things and then it did entrepreneurship. Imagine if I'm waiting to, to get to some level of entrepreneurship before I enjoy my life. Like I came to the conclusion that we have to figure out how to enjoy this stuff while we're doing it, right? Because I mean I built the first business, then second, then third. I mean like we're on this. So we might as well. We might as well figure out how to enjoy it. And one of the things that will help you enjoy it is to become this person who can lean on others. It is not a sign of weakness. It is not a sign that you don't know what you're doing. It is a requirement. If you are going to live a huge life and have a huge impact and disrupt industries and build companies, one is not the number that does that, right? And so in community, ask for help in community, share your struggles. This is why you have safe communities where you can do that in community.

Reach out.

Because it's possible to stay in community, but lurk in the community. It's possible to stay in community and not articulate where you're having a challenge and there are no mind readers. Nobody's going to be able to help you. And so it puts you in this position where even though you're in community, it's as though you're not getting the benefit of being in community, right? And so lean in in those moments, lean in. I even had a time when I came to this conclusion where it's like, if I'm having a bad day, I know who I can get on the phone with. And this bad day will have a lifespan of five minutes. You know what I mean? I'm like, I can. I know someone in my community I can talk to right now and they'll talk me off this ledge that I'm on so I don't waste this gift called 24 hours that I have, right? And so in that phase when times are, like, more difficult and you're trying to go through it and you're trying to figure out things, ask questions, reach out for help when you feel like, man, I'm struggling here, Sher. It doesn't think about if a friend of yours said, hey, I'm going through this and I'm struggling here, you would jump up to help them, to connect them with people, to do all the things. Well, guess what? There are people who want to do the exact same thing for you. So lean into your community. The seventh thing is really to celebrate the wins in the middle of that phase. And I bring this up because it can be. When you're going through, it can be very overwhelming. It can be. And then it looks like nothing is working. Like nothing is working is never true. You know what I mean? Like, it's never true. And so you want to be good at, like, in the midst of that spot, like, wow. But this has happened. And wow. This is my life. And wow. In the, in the middle of this, I got to go on this vacation and. Oh, in the middle of this, I just hired this new staff member. Oh, in the middle of it, like, you want to be able to recognize the winds in the midst of the storm. That's what helps you go through the storm, right? You want to be able to recognize the winds in it, and you want to be able to recognize the light at the end of the tunnel, right? So for instance, let's say you have, you have kids, you're home with them all the time, you're working the business with them, and all this and all that you're like, is driving you crazy. But you know that in two weeks you get a nanny, right? So that's not a win yet. But there's light at the end of the tunnel, right? So, you know, two weeks. Yes, right. You want to celebrate that or you're in this phase in your business where there's some things that happen. Maybe just change your EMR and you change your practice management system. And so because of that, you have to hold claims. Claims. And because you held the claims, the cash flow in the practice is kind of weird, right? But you know that, okay, all the claims are going to be sent out in, in, in the next two days. And then two weeks after that, you should start, you should start getting cash flow back in. You can start celebrating that, right? You can celebrate that life light at the end of the tunnel and celebrate the winds you're in now, which is like, oh, now I have this really good EMR that's going to be great for my practice. It's going to make our processes more efficient. And with the, with the practice management system we got in it, it also means that we're not going to be losing money like we were losing with our old system. Like, do you see what I'm saying? Like, he's still a storm, but you want to celebrate the winds in it. You want to celebrate the light at the end of the tunnel, right? Because you want to be celebrating in the middle of it so you can go through it. Because this is something we say in the ontrainity business school all the time. It's always working. Like, it's always working. And sometimes it just doesn't feel like it, right? So the sun is always shining, but sometimes there are clouds over it, their clouds obscuring it, but it's there, you know what I mean? So it's always working. This helps you kind of keep that narrative that it's it's always working, right? So celebrate those. Celebrate those. In the middle of it. You may have things that are not direct wins, but the thing about challenges is that they make you tougher. They make you tougher, they give you more faith in your vision. They give you this stability that comes with having been through storms. When things happen and you're not as moved because you're like, been there, done that, have 17 T shirts. Don't even worry about it. And so those are also gifts. Those are also wins in the midst of a storm. You see what I'm saying? And so those are. Those are some of the things that, that you would. You would do. I would, I would throw in a bonus one, which is number eight, which is really be in tune with what your 20% activities are. So in the midst of a storm, a lot of times it's like, there's so going on and I don't know how to start handling it. And this is all overwhelming, and you're not going to be able to do everything. And so the question is, can you identify the things that must be done? There are things we can. Like, that's something that needs to be handled, but I can handle it in six weeks. That's something that needs to be handled by. Can handle that a year from now. But right now, the core thing I need to focus on is step one, step two, step three. And so that in the midst of all those things, you can really zero in on four things or three things. And you're very clear what they are. You're very clear. These are the things that will move the needle. And so in the midst of everything, you can just focus on those. And that will put you in a position where you could be relaxed in the midst of chaos. Right? You put in. So. So those are eight things that you can. You can do. Of course there are more, but I figured this would be a. A great place to start. And before I let you go, I do want to talk a little bit about pre. Not prevention, because you can't stop this. But I want to show you something I think about, and it's my wish and desire for every entrepreneur is at every point in time, you want to recognize that I am not building a job. I am building a business asset. I am building something that can work without me. Whether you haven't started your business at all or you're at multiple seven figures. Please, please hear me when I say this, because sometimes we build things like, I will, I will, I will. But what if you cannot what if there's a storm and you cannot? What if there's something going on and you cannot? Right. You want to be building in such a way that it can work without you. Doesn't mean that you're walking away. It doesn't mean that you're leaving. What it does mean is you're building something that if a storm were to come, you can say, you guys, team, I've trained. You guys have this. I need you guys to handle this. I need to turn around and squash this thing over here. Right? You want to put yourself in a position where you can do that. And it's not only for that, but that's a good reason. It could just be you just want to take time off. There's so many reasons you want to do that. But one of the reasons is so when there are storms, you can give yourself the space to do what you need to do, to take care of you, to take care of your family, to take care of stuff. Right? So that's something to think about at all times. I am building a business asset. In the entremd business school. I'm always thinking of frameworks and blueprints and ways of building companies. So from the beginning, people are building companies that ultimately they'll go like, oh, I have built this in a way that I can change two or three or four things here and it'll be able to run without me. You see what I'm saying? Like from the beginning, that is my desire for everybody because our lives are more important than our businesses. Our families are more important than our businesses. And when those things call, we want to be able to answer. Now, this is not something you can say, I got it in 30 days, I'm going to build a self love company. No, this is something that takes years to do. But the important thing is to adopt the mindset of. That is what I am doing right from the beginning. Yeah. Okay, so this is one of those episodes that is really you, you kind of want to keep it close, you want to listen to it a few times. You may even want to grab a few friends and, and work this out together, like workshop it, if you will. But I, I, I, I want you to, I want you to do that. I want you to make some decisions and I, I want you to be ready. And so if life were to show up, it doesn't mean it's not gonna, it's not gonna knock yourself like you, you still be shocked by things that happen and all, but at least you're better prepared to handle it, right? And this way, when the storms come, you're like, yeah, doctor, you. And I'm ready. And it doesn't mean it won't hurt. It doesn't mean that you won't cry. Maybe you will. But at least you know, this is a phase, and I'm going to get through it. And I know some things to do to get through it, which is really, really, really important. Okay, so this is one of those. I mean, anyone who's a physician has a lot to get out of this episode. And so I would love for you to share this with another doc in your world, and they will thank you. What you're doing is you're helping somebod who's gonna go through a challenge, but go through it very differently because now they are better equipped to handle it. Right? And they'll thank you forever. So go share, and I'll see you on the next episode of the EntreMD 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 entreand. Com ondemand, and I'd love to have you join us. See you on the inside.