How to Stay Positive in the Face of Challenges

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.

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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 my friends, and welcome to another episode of the Entre MD podcast. As always, I'm always excited to be in your ears. Thank you so much for listening. And I want to start us off by reading an amazing review by one of our listeners. I love shouting you guys out. Okay. I love doctors. I love supporting doctors. I love radio raving about doctors. I love promoting doctors. I love all of it. Okay, so this is Dr. Ryan and he says, Amazing podcast. And again, those five lovely stars that I really, really love. And it goes on to say the Entre MD podcast and Dr. Una are amazing. I have been so encouraged to listen and be inspired and equipped to go out and do amazing things. From discovering the podcast in March to starting my own podcast on Physician Wellness in July. Think about it. Four months. I have benefited greatly from her wisdom and experience. Thanks, Dr. Oona, for being willing to put yourself out there and equip other physicians, even as an introvert. And he says I am too. To all those physicians looking for encouragement to start or scale a business and be part of changing the culture of medicine. Look no further. Subscribe to the Entremd podcast today. Okay, now, this is Dr. Ryan he is the host of the Med Ed well podcast. I want you to check him out. I want you to write him a review after you listen to a few episodes and share his podcast as well. Okay. The world is a better place when physicians rise. All right? So thank you so much for that, Ryan. I really appreciate it. And thank you for what you do, and thank you for taking the steps and starting your own podcast and owning your voice and being part of the change. Right? Being a doctor, changing medicine. And I can't wait to see where this takes you. That's the beauty of beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur. You never really know where this journey leads you, but it's all good. Okay? So today I want to acknowledge the times that we live in and the journey of an entrepreneur. So the times we live in are challenging, and the journey of an entrepreneur is challenging. And if anybody has sold you some goods that no, you know, if you have the right formula, then everything's just a bed of roses. They lie to you. Oh, okay. Entrepreneurship is something that is full of challenges. It's part of the journey, but it's an amazing journey. Wouldn't trade it for anything. And there's so much fun to be had as well, right? So it's not like it's bad. It's just challenging, and that's what it is. And I want to talk about how to stay positive in the face of challenges. And I think what really triggered me wanting to record this episode is that yesterday I had a live session with the students in the Entre MD Business School, and it was so wild and exciting, and everybody left, encouraged, people came in encouraged, and people couldn't wait to share their wins and all of those things. But that doesn't mean there are no challenges. It was just such a positive, uplifting, inspiring experience, even though everyone had challenges. You know what I mean? And so I thought about it, and I was like, you know what? Let me come talk about what you can do to stay positive in the face of challenges. Now, this is not about pretending the challenges are not there. We don't pretend they are there there, and they are challenging. But you can still enjoy your journey, because if you think about it, the journey is never going to end, right? Like, we don't arrive. That's the thing about being a human, is that you are becoming, right? You. You don't become. You're becoming every day. You're becoming a better version of yourself, an upgraded version of yourself, and you just keep going, right? And so you. If you're going to Be on that journey of striving to become all you can be. Then there's going to be challenges. And so what are we going to do? Wait till the afterlife to celebrate? No, we're not going to do that. Okay, so I'm going to tell you three things. Three of my best things. How about that? And so the first is pretty obvious, if you know me. The first is celebrate your wins. Okay? And you might say, I've heard that before. Okay, but are you doing it right? And when I talk about celebrating your wins, you are celebrating everything. Okay, I celebrate. And now let me. Let me backtrack, though. In the beginning, as an entrepreneur, I didn't celebrate, okay? I had so many milestones that went by. I don't have any pictures of them. I don't have. I have to go back and think, like, oh, when did this happen? I didn't acknowledge any of it. And there were so many amazing things that happened. But guess what I was doing? I was focusing on all the things that weren't working or all the ways other businesses were better than mine and all of that kind of stuff. And. And it just made it the journey a little more sucky, Right? Like, now I'm in a position where I'm loving all of it, right? There are challenges, but I have the ability to choose what I want to focus on. Right? Okay. So you can celebrate your wins, and you can celebrate all your wins in the face of adversity. So in the group yesterday in the entrepreneur business school, there were wins. Like, oh, my goodness, I did my first Facebook Live. And the crowd went wild. Right? And because we celebrate all of it. And then we had one doc who was like, oh, I just. I did my last day as an employed physician and I'm ready to launch my practice, which was so crazy. And we celebrated that, right? We celebrated that. You might be like, well, she hasn't started the practice yet. She hasn't made her first a hundred K or whatever. But we celebrate that. Why? Because that's what's coming next. And we're going to celebrate that, too. And then as if that was not enough, another doc says, well, I'm going to follow up with her. Tomorrow is my last day, right? And we celebrated that. And we had a doc who was like, you know, I, you know, I've been stalling on launching. Launching my business and all of that. And this is the date I'm going to launch it. Well, so we celebrate that, too. What? We are celebrating a decision, right? A decision, you might say that's just a decision. Yeah. But do you know most humans haven't made that decision to start, right? So we acknowledge it and we celebrate it. We had another doc who's like, oh, my gosh, I crossed my first hundred K and the crowd went wild. I mean, like, I'm telling you, this is like the first 10 minutes of our session. And the thing is, that was just so crazy to celebrate all of that, right? And so to see them come up to own it and celebrate it by themselves, it was just too good. Too, too good.

Right?

And the reason why I'm pausing to say this is if you become a person who celebrates, you will enjoy your journey as an entrepreneur. There's going to be challenges, but you'll enjoy it. So I want you to stop, maybe even pause this, you know, And I want you to look back the last week, the last two weeks, the last three weeks, the last quarter this year, what has worked. And I want you to own that. Don't say it is just xyz. There's nothing just about it. Right? Because there are many people who haven't done what you did and you before now haven't done what you did. So celebrate it all, okay? So that's the first thing. The first thing is celebrating all your wins. Celebrate all of them. The second is, you know, really closely knit. But the second is stay in the right community. Stay in the right community. My husband describes it this way. He says, if you're going to be a big dreamer, don't be friends with people who are fire extinguishers, right? Like, so here you are celebrating, or here you are owning your dream, or here you are owning your voice. And you're around people who are not doing the same thing, who are very critical, who think physicians shouldn't be entrepreneurs, who think that making money is just a demonstration of greed. And nobody should be doing that. We should just be helping people, you know, people who are like, yeah, it's not that serious. We shouldn't be celebrating that. Then those are fire extinguishers, right? Because you're going to be at home, you're going to journal and you're going to write all your wins and you're going to go talk to one person who's just going to put out all the fire, who's going to flatten your tire, you know what I'm saying? And so you have to be in the right community. And you might say, well, the community is not there. Well, first of all, it is. Listen, if you are a physician, if you are a Physician and you want to start a business or you want to grow a business, or you're a physician who's frustrated with the process of being an entrepreneur. Or you say things like entrepreneurship is too, is too lonely. There is a place for you. It is called the entremd Business School. Now granted is not open year round, but it is open twice a year. And there is a wait list. Entremd.com entre md.com business go get on the wait list. So when it does open up, you would be the first to know. But I am telling you, that is the most positive place for physician entrepreneurs, period. Period. Like I get inspired when I go in there. Okay, so there is a place for you. I'll just throw that out there. To start with, when you say there's no place, there's a place. There's a place where we celebrate our journey, where we learn to do the hard things, when we cheer each other on, when we go and do scary things, where we take on big challenges. Whether those are speaking challenges or whether it's a challenge to write a book or whatever it is, right? A challenge to hit a certain revenue number in your business. We take all the challenges and we do all the celebration. So we're getting massive results, but we're enjoying the journey. Next week, we are going next week as at the time of this recording, but next week we are going to Hilton Head for our first in person retreat. I need you to imagine over 50 doctors in one space dreaming up the next 12 months, getting laser coaching, networking, doing the formal dinner, the whole nine yards. There is a place. Okay, okay. So that was my little. There is a place. And secondly, if you don't have access to that place right now, then create it. Find people who are like you. Find people who are developing the habits that you're. You're developing. Find that and create that community. But you cannot be in relationships with fire extinguishers and expect to stay positive in the face of challenges. This is not a business example, but I want to throw out this story real quick. When I was pregnant with my first child, when I was 21 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. And the initial thing was, you know, the, the OB was like, okay, you need to go see the maternal fetal people and children's in Philadelphia. That's where they sent me to. They sent me to Children's Health Care of Philadelphia. So chop. And when I got there, they're like, listen, this is really bad. You guys are young, just abort the baby and start over. And, you know, my husband and I had made a decision that, you know, we're not going to do that. We're going to go the course. And they're like, okay, it's going to be a long course. She's going to have to be in the ICU for, you know, nine to 12 months and all this stuff and all that stuff. And I had decided, well, I'm going to go through this. I'm going to do my part, I'm going to hold on to my faith and. And all of that. And that's what I did. Okay. Now, because I was a resident at the time and I was working 80 hour work weeks, I was doing NICU calls and all these things. I had to be away a lot, right, Because I had to. I had to go to Philly for all my, you know, prenatal appointments and stuff like that. And I lived in New Jersey at the time, so we're talking a two to a half hour ride. And I told one person because I needed this person to cover for me. I told this one person I. You told. I was like, oh, look at what's going on. So I'm going to need to be gone, you know, a bit. And some places I'll need coverage, you know, maybe you cover some of my stuff. I'll, you know, I'll do it afterwards. And she was like, what are you doing? Like, go aboard the baby already. And I realized that I was going to have to quarantine. What? I was going to have to quarantine my dream, right? I was going to have to quarantine my dream, which means I was going to put people around me when who were able to stand with me or encourage me or show me things that I can do and stuff like that. Your relationships matter. So she was the. After her. I had one friend who was on the same page with me that knew. Other than that, no other person in my hospital, nobody knew. Nobody. What was I doing? I was quarantining my dream. And in the same way your business dreams, you're going to have to quarantine your dreams. I can almost hear people going like, oh, wait, wait, wait. So what happened to her? So, yeah, I had her. I had her at 38 weeks and she had surgery on the day of life. We got discharged from the hospital on day nine, which is a total miracle. Like, we call her miracle baby and we named her Cheta, Cheta Chukwu, which means remember God and his mighty acts. She's 13 years old. Today. She's never had any complications. She's just amazing. Okay, so that's my. That's my dream child. And you have a dream business. I had to quarantine my dream. And you're gonna have to quarantine yours because you already have the self doubt that you're working through. You already have the insecurities you're working through. You already have the challenges. The last thing you need is somebody else coming up to tell you, oh, this is not going to work. Like, you don't need that, okay? So you need people that you can run with, okay? People who inspire you, people who will motivate you. People who just by being. Just by them doing what they do on a daily basis, you are inspired to go the extra mile. People who can be there when you're discouraged and say, listen, this is the path of an entrepreneur. It's not a bed of roses. But you got this right. People who remind you of the obstacles that you've already overcome, and they're like, listen, this is just gonna be one of those, right? So you surround yourself with those people and you quarantine, okay? So if someone has the sniffles and a fever and. And a cough in the middle of COVID you don't bring them in to be your roommates, right? You place some separation in the same way when people have business, Covid, you need some separation, all right? So stay in the right community. That's the second thing. Then the third thing is recruit your habits to help you. All right? And I'll tell you what I mean. Recruit your habits to help you. There are some things, some basic things that really help your mood and help you to stay centered and help you to stay positive. And those are things that you should just continue to do, right? And, you know, it's different for different people. But think about it. When you are sleep deprived, you're cranky. If you're cranky, it's hard to be positive in the face of a challenge, right? If you, you know, ate in a way that, you know is not good for you, maybe ate a lot of, you know, junk or you drank a lot of coffee or whatever, and you're snapping at people like, you know, that happens on a good day, then that's not something that helps you to be battle ready when the challenge shows up in your business, right? So recruit your habits. So if meditation is something you do that is very calming for you and helps you, it's almost like it fills up your tank so that when the challenges come, you're In a position to handle them, then that's something you want to build a habit around. That's not something you want to do when. When the challenge shows up. That's just something you want to do, period. Right. If you're a person of faith and prayer is a thing that you do, again, you don't want it to be something that you do once in a while. You want this to be a habit. Why? You know that when the challenges come, you need the strong faith, right? So you can weather that storm. Sleeping, you know? Right. They say seven to nine hours. Dr. Funke Afalabi Brown is our sleep expert. She's the founder of Restful Sleep md. You can check her out. She's all about sleep. I did an episode with her on sleep. The link to it will be in the show notes. But sleep, seven to nine hours. Okay? What? You eat a lot of junk, a lot of coffee, all that. Do you want to take that out and eat cleaner? Walking. Oh, my goodness. If you're like me, like, it is so inspiring for me to be walking. It is so refreshing. It is so. It gives me such mental clarity. I do not know how to explain. I've tried to figure out, like, why am I, am. Am I like that? And then I stopped asking the question. Like, I just am, okay? So I'm going to take advantage of something that's, you know, that's a thing for me. So walking, right. Journaling. Now that one is not for me.

Right.

There are many people who journal. I've tried it for all 42 years that I've been alive. Well, you know, since I've been an older teen. And I've just not been able to do it consistently. So if you have a secret, you can DM me and let me know, but it's just not my thing. But for people, that's so, so relaxing. Right? And so those habits, you, you build up those habits and, and what, what happens is when the challenges come is meeting somebody who is whole, somebody who has a full tank, somebody who has the ability to weather storms, right. When you're sleep deprived and your diet is upside down and you're very. Your mind is cluttered, right? Because you're not journaling or walking or taking the time to think or meditate and all of that. When a challenge hits you, I mean, it's like everything falls apart, right? So recruit your habits to help you. One of the things, you know, I, I take the time to study successful people. I do that a lot. And one of the things I've noticed is they all have habits. They have morning routines and stuff like that. The thing about morning routines is that they're easy to do, they're easy not to do. You don't see the results right away. So it's kind of like, why am I doing this? But if you will take the time to look at your life over the years, you'll find out that these habits have really changed mind. You guys have heard me talk about my daily five my habits. I talk about that a lot. And those habits, Those, you know, five or six habits, depending on the year, have absolutely 100% changed my life. The fact that I would take the time to pray and meditate every day. I would do the me tweak, which is meaningful time with kids. I would read, I would review my goals. I would listen to a podcast. I would exercise. And I'm doing this. I mean, sometimes it falls apart, especially if I travel and things like that. But. But I'm doing this five to seven days a week. It has changed my life completely. Okay? And so recruit your habits. All right, so what do you need to do so that you can be an entrepreneur even in the midst of a pandemic or any other crisis or recession or whatever, and you can stay positive. You can weather the storm, you can manage the challenges. You need to be that person who celebrates wins. You need to be that person who stays in the right community. And I feel like I need to emphasize this again. Your community will make or break you. You have to be in the right community. And you cannot let people choose you. You choose who is in your community. Okay? And then the third one is recruit your habits to help you. So I want you to get off this with a commitment. I'm going to celebrate my wins. I'm going to stay in the right community. And for you, that may mean take one friend off, Bring one friend in. Bring someone who's inspiring, who's on a journey just like you in. You may be getting on the wait list, signing up for the entremd business school, Right? It may look like that. And I want you to recruit your habits. So look at a habit that maybe you thought that you didn't realize that you'd let go of. You thought you. You're still doing it. But if you look, you're like, wait a minute, I'm not doing that anymore. Right? So look at your habits. Look at what fell off. Look at what you haven't been able to do consistently. Make a new commitment, get a new accountability buddy and get this done. It will change your life, okay? We're going through life. We're becoming. And there's nothing better than being able to enjoy the ride, okay? You have the challenges, but you focus on the wins. You focus on what is working. You enjoy your journey, okay? And that's what I want for you. You don't. This doesn't have to be depressing. This doesn't have to be terribly sad. It can be hard and great. All right? So, as always, I'm rooting for you. Thank you for listening. This will be so helpful. I cannot tell you how many entrepreneurs quit, okay? And it's because they don't realize that, listen, you can go through this in a. In a different way. You can go through this, and it can be fun, for want of a better word, right? So I want you to share this with the doctors in your life. Tag me on it. Hashtag ontremd. And I will see you, my friends, on the next episode of the ontremd 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/on demand, and I love to have you join us. See you on the inside, Sam.