My Successful Online Course Launch with Dr. Carolynn Francavilla Brown

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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. Unna.

Well, hello. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another amazing episode of the Entre MD Podcast. As always, I'm super excited. And today I have the amazing Dr. Carolyn Francavilla Brown. And she is a family medicine doctor. She owns her own practice. She just launched an online course. So we are going to be talking about a lot of stuff and you're going to get so much out of this. This is one of those episodes that you want to bookmark to go listen to again when you can write. Okay. If you're. If you're listening to this on your drive. So welcome to the show, Doc.

Thanks so much for having me. I am excited to talk with you about this, talk with you about my course. And I love your podcast. I know I have told you that I am not a huge podcast person and I always listen to your podcast. I think it's so important for physicians to hear your message and delighted that I get to be part of it today.

Yeah. Isn't that so cool? And you know, I'm so grateful. I still remember your review. You're like, I listen to podcasts, but I like this podcast. I still remember that. I'm excited you're Here, though, I think the audience has so much to learn from you and from your story. So. So this is gonna be good. So my first question to you would be, at the time when we crossed paths, you were already a very successful physician, a successful practice owner, and then you say, I wanna do an online course. So what's the why behind that?

Yeah, well, this is gonna be a little bit of a long answer, but, you know, I think 2020 was an interesting year for people with COVID And it was a really interesting year for me professionally. I had had my practice about five, six years, had a business partner had already planned to buy him out in this year. And then Covid hit, and the world got very complicated. And as I was going through that transaction, my lawyer, who almost was a coach in and of herself, had me do some activities around what are alternatives? What other things could I do if this business transaction didn't go the way that I was hoping? And it really just opened me up to a bunch of different skills, skill sets and passions and interests I had. And so even though I did end up buying the practice and becoming the sole owner and being able to carry out the wonderful work I think I am doing there, it really got the wheels turning in my head. And at the same time, my husband was also going through some interesting career things, and we decided to start a small business for him. And I kind of sort of just started this business for him, renting out outdoor vehicles and helping him figure out how to do that. And once we had it going, I was like, this is the easiest business. Like, compared to running a medical practice, this is just so easy. And I'd grown up in another business that I think is really hard, which is the restaurant business. And so I was like, wow, you know what business opportunities are out there? So I started thinking. My sister, who is a chiropractor, had launched a successful course the year before. And so I started thinking about. I do a lot of education around obesity, which is my sort of focus in my practice. I am constantly getting. Getting questions and doing lots of free mentoring for people on how to get started in obesity and the importance of treating it, but also kind of trying to make it simpler for people and making it feel like they don't have to know everything or do a fellowship or do a ton of training to feel comfortable with this. And so it started to feel like this natural fit to make a course and do this thing that I already was getting so many questions about and already doing so much free work on, and that I honestly would keep doing for free. Except that. That doesn't make sense at a certain point.

Right.

You know, like, I have other. Other competing interests, like my children and my hobbies and that, you know, at a certain point, I probably should be offering this for. For a fee.

Wow. Now, I hope everybody got this, but literally what you did is you took inventory. You didn't go to look like, where's the business out there? You looked inwards like, this is something I'm already doing. I'm already doing it for free. I get a lot of questions. I'm passionate about it. Well, how about we make it a business? That's. That's so cool. I love that.

I think, you know, the business that you would do for free is kind of the best one. And that's. That's kind of how I felt about family medicine. You know, it's. I enjoy it, and it makes it easier to do if you. If you would do it for free. But I think the important lesson there is that, you know, you probably shouldn't.

You probably shouldn't. Yeah. So you've already given everybody homework. So the thing is, look at your life and look at, you know, take stock of all these things you do for free. You're not going to make all of them businesses, but one of them might be a really great business. Like, what are the things that I like doing that I already do for free? And then you put a question mark like, is this my next business? Okay, all right. So now there's something you did that I find very impressive, and that's the fact that you're a really successful entrepreneur in your own right. You've already built a practice. You actually had a great thing happen. You bought it out, became the sole owner, running it the way you want. And you and your sister has done a course, and you wanted to do a course, and you're like, okay, I need a coach. Why did you do that? Because a lot of people will say, been there, done that, have 10 T shirts. I got everything together. So why did you do that?

Yeah, well, I think there was a few reasons. When I started the practice, I actually started it one year after residency and seven months pregnant, and, oh, my goodness. Give context that, you know, like, you know, this was early in my life, and financially, I didn't have, you know, a lot of room to invest in people to help me with that. So I learned a lot, which was great. But, you know, I've come to realize that, you know, sometimes you make your life a lot more harder by not consulting with an expert or getting help from someone. My biggest struggle when I went to start my practice was I was overwhelmed by the amount of supplies a family medicine clinic would need. And looking back, I'm like, I can't believe that was the thing in residency that kept me from doing it. But I literally was like, I don't know what those wipes you used before a urine test are called. How could I ever figure that out? And my next door neighbor ended up being a rep for a medical supply company and helped me pull together the list. And I was like, oh, well, that was really easy. Cause that's like, you know, that's her area of expertise. She's like, I've done this a thousand times. Like, here's the list. You don't tell me what you want. And so, you know, just an example of when you find that person, when you find that lawyer who just makes everything clear for you. And, you know, it's $500, but they solved your problem that it really can be valuable. And sometimes you can get that advice for free, and sometimes you can't. You need to invest in that. And so the barrier for the course for me in some ways was there was. There was really a couple barriers I'll talk about. Cause I think this is help. The first barrier was time. And so before I decided on a coach, I did that again, that evaluation of, okay, do I really not have time or not? And I think I'd actually started listening to your podcast at the time, and I got really frustrated. And I was like, no, I don't have time. Like, I really don't. Like I'm doing this inventory and I don't. And I was like, okay, what am I going to do about that? So I got a nanny so that I felt like I had some time where I could focus and think. And I cut back a day at work. I cut a little more than a half day off my clinical schedule so that I could focus on this. Because it turns out I wasn't watching a lot of X TV and I wasn't going out a ton. And I really was maximizing my time. And so I had to think of my schedule differently to be able to devote time to making this. The other thing is that starting a practice, you kind of just show up and see patients. And so there's deadlines, but you can build that in the air. And I wanted to create a product that was finished and ready to go. And so I felt like having a coach would help with that accountability. I have coaches other places in my life, I'm a pelotoner, I'm a crossfitter. And accountability is something that I think is really, really huge. And so that was something that I thought would be helpful. And then going back to the story about my biggest worry about the practice was figuring out what supplies to get. The technology can overwhelm me. You just saw this a few minutes ago with me trying to figure out my speakers for this. And so I can spend two hours googling and figure things out and trying to figure out the best technology or I can meet with someone who has done this before and can help guide me towards that. And so I think that's where you have to value your time and your money and figure out, you know, what investments are going to help you get the better results.

What investments are going to help you get the better results. I love that. And it seems like what you're describing is that a coach is kind of like a shortcut, you know, like it can take you 10 years, it can take you two years to figure this out, or you can figure this out in a 60 minute call, like your pick.

Yeah, yeah. I think there's the structure to it and the, you know, you could spend a lot of time to do it for free and how much is your time worth? Right. So could I have figured out a lot of the things I did on my own? Maybe, but like how much longer would it have taken and how much more time that I would have spent on that instead of something I'm really good at? Right. Like I can be seeing a patient and doing that good in the world instead of spending five hours figuring out, you know, what platform or what device to use for something.

I love it. Love, love, love it. Okay, now this is going to be something that our listeners really want to hear and that is how you promoted it. Okay, so we're going to talk about, you know, what happened. Right. So what was your goal for your first launch of your, of your course and what did you do to promote it? Because.

I made a list of 22 goals for this year and one of them was around the course and there was a financial amount I wanted to make. So I'm going to keep that private. That specific number is my individual goal. But I had that goal in mind. Okay, and so sorry, what was your question, doctor?

What was your goal for the, for the launch? Like for the launch?

Okay, yeah, so for the launch. So I had, you know, this is where I think I can be by the end of the year. I'm going to Launch the course mid year. And my goal is to sell 20. And then the longer I started thinking about, like, 25, I wanted to sell 25 courses. So that felt realistic. You know, we have a little more than 1,000 people who are passing the obesity medicine certification process every year. And I was like, you know what? I think there's at least 25 people who need my service and who would use this immediately. And so that felt like a right amount. And that also felt like amount where I would feel enough return on my investment that I would feel successful. So I said, 25. That's my goal.

I love it. So that's my number that gives me a return on my investment. Beautiful. So then what did you do to get the word out there? How did you. And the reason why I'm asking this question is because as doctors, the harder part for us is not creating the course. I mean, there's work to that. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of work to that. But the harder part is how do I tell people about it? How do I find people who say yes, right?

You're 100% right. So the course, you know, actually took less time than. Than the marketing because it was just me talking about what I already did. So, you know, that really, like, that was all there for the most part. It was just making it look a little prettier and organized. But the sort of marketing, the networking, the making people aware of it really is a new. A new skill. So I like to speak. Public speaking is something that is my preferred form of communication. So worked on utilizing that. So did sort of a monthly free masterclass or lecture on a topic and would utilize, particularly in my case, Facebook, because that was where I already had a network to advertise that. And so that was a great way to get my name out there for people to experience my knowledge and to see my presentation style that I think is quite engaging personally. And so that was how I got out there. I started doing Facebook Lives. And so that was just. I picked a dedicated time each week. That. That was my slot when I would do Facebook Lives. That was a fun way to engage with people. And for me is something that doesn't take a lot of prep work. I was just able to go speak. And so those things allowed me to start collecting emails and collecting contacts and then creating some email content that I could send out on sort of a monthly basis. And then as the course launch happened, on a very regular basis, daily, and then very frequently, sort of the last of the launch and so I really utilized in this world, the World Wide Web, and then taking up some speaking opportunities, really kind of going out there and asking for any possible opportunity in my special society to interact with people, which is so much harder in this world where there are no in person meetings. And so utilizing any virtual platform to just interact with people, share my knowledge, share my experience. And then Facebook groups, which I already was very active in another place where I'm like, this is. I'm just working for free. I just enjoy answering questions about how to do what I do and not necessarily advertising there, but just being very thoughtful in my responses and trying to be intentional and regular so that people see my name and think, wow, this person gives really great information and I'd like to learn more. And I want to keep engaging with Dr. Francavilla. So really the Internet was my friend, though I can't wait for in person to start happening because I really feel like that's where I'll really shine, to be honest.

And I agree. You have such a. Such a big, warm, friendly, bubbly personality. Like, you know, it's. And it comes through on video, so you can imagine what it's like in person. So I'm looking forward to it, you know, for you too.

Thanks.

Now, I want to unpack this because I want everybody to hear this. It does take work to put your stuff out there. And if you create something good, you owe it to your ideal clients or your patients to let them know. So she did the monthly webinar, right? Like webinar, livestream, masterclass, whichever version. But she did that monthly, right? And she did the Facebook lives weekly. And she nurtured her email list, right? You heard her talk about that. She asked for talks. And she was active in Facebook groups, not social media. Spamming them, right? Like here by my stuff. Not spamming them, but going to serve. Because when you serve people, people pay attention. And actually, if, you know, think about it, the last time somebody said something really thoughtful in a Facebook group and you're like, wow, this person knows a lot about this. Well, you go click on their name and go look at them and you go look at their website, you know, like, that's. That's what we do. And so these are all the things that she did to promote her own course, you know. Now was there any point in time when you were doing all this that you got discouraged and what did you do about that?

Well, I don't know that I really got discouraged. Sometimes I got tired. I'll be honest. It was A lot of work, but I think that's where we all draw on strengths from other places in our life. So for me, like, drawing on my athletic experience, you know, with sticking with a peloton workout or sticking with a CrossFit workout of, you know, sometimes you feel like you're never going to finish it. It's never going to be over. Everyone else is doing better than you, and you just have to finish because that's what you set out to do. You said you were going to do 100 squats, and you were doing those hundred squats, no matter how long it takes. And so, you know, I was like, this is the plan. My coach helped me come up with it. I trust the process, and I'm just going to do it. And I've done tough things before, and I'm going to make this happen. And so I think just sticking to the plan. And so, you know, there were some webinars where I had, like, a lot of interest, and it's, like, super exciting. And there's some where I was like, well, that's not very many people. But you know what? Maybe it is the 25 people who really need to hear this message, and that's fine. And, you know, I'll say that the interesting thing and part of probably why I got tired is the more I put myself out in the world, the more opportunities started to come to me, and I actually couldn't.

Please say that again. Please say that again.

The more I put myself out in the world, the more opportunities started to come to me, and I really thought I was out in the world, and I pushed even more, and I started having people ask for just individual consults. And so that was easy. I just launched that. And so people just started paying to have individual discussions about how to start their obesity practices. And that was really exciting and really fun. And again, something I had done for free for, like, six years. And now, instead of doing that for free, I am able to monetize that and then can utilize that to invest in other things I want to do for my practice and my business and my personal life. And so that was exciting. And then just lots of people reaching out, you know, for help, for jobs. I got new physicians as patients, and I think just because I kept putting myself out there, physicians were seeing me, and they were like, can you see me? Can you help me? And so it really was amazing that the more I put myself out there, the world just opened up and really fun and exciting ways.

I love it. And so we can see that even Though the purpose behind putting yourself out there was the course. Well, putting yourself out there just became the gift that kept giving because it opened more opportunities to speak. It opened up a consulting vertical to your business that you weren't even thinking about. You know what I mean? And all of that. And that's amazing that that is so good. And that's what happens when you put yourself out there. You don't know what happens. You just roll with it, you know? Yeah. All right, so you did all these things, and your goal was, you know, 20 in the beginning and 25. And then finally you hit launch week. So then what happened? Yes.

So launch week. I felt, you know, fairly confident going into launch week. But you're still a little nervous. You have your price point. You're like, oh, what are people going to think of this? Is it too much? Are, you know, are people going to buy this? It doesn't feel 100% ready. I know that there's, you know, a version two that's going to be even better, but this is what I. And I know it will help people right now. So I had some doubt, you know, a little bit about the content because I, you know, it wasn't perfect. I know there was typos and, you know, I know there was spots that weren't edited perfectly. But I also knew I could spend another six months trying to get it perfect and that people could use it now and that I had enough people messaging me and asking, like, when is the course? When is the course that, you know, that people were ready, people wanted it, and it was going to help them move forward and help more people. So the launch happened. I followed the system. I did, you know, an email every day. I did four emails the last day of the sort of specials, and I had 25. And then I checked, like, a few minutes later, and I was like, okay, the launch is, like, pretty much over, but, you know, maybe, like, there's an hour left and I have 27. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you know, I surpassed my goal. And it was. It was awesome. It was a great feeling. It was like that workout where you're like, I can't do 100 squats or whatever. I can't run my half marathon. And then you finish and you're like, maybe I could do a marathon. I think I could do a marathon now. And so, you know, that feeling of accomplishment and very different from my previous business where, you know, I was seeing people on an individual basis, creating a product and selling it was really, you know, Very rewarding in a different way.

That is so good. So. So tell me how you felt that night. I'm guessing it was night, morning. Who knows when you saw 27, right?

Yeah, yeah, I was. I was thrilled. I was texting my husband, you know, with each additional 1, 26, 27. And so we went out and celebrated. And that was one thing I learned. You know, actually working with, with you as my coach was like, celebrate, celebrate things. And I had done that with my practice. I was so focused on just moving, moving, moving, and never recognized some of the successes I had of, like, oh, my gosh. I had, like, full days with patients, like, pretty much from the beginning of my practice. Like, I should have gone out and had a celebration dinner. So my husband and I went out, we had a celebration dinner. Even though it was actually a very rough time in our personal life that week, we still took that moment to celebrate. And I think that that is really important when we're. When we're running our businesses, because when you're the boss, there's no one else to pat you on the shoulder and say, good job. Right. Hopefully your clients occasionally reach out and give you positive feedback, which I've gotten as well and has been exciting. But, you know, sometimes we have to be our own cheerleaders when we're. When we're the big boss. And so, yeah, we celebrated and it was. It was great.

I love it like that. That is so fast. I remember, you know, when you send the PM, like, 25, I was like, yes. Oh, my gosh, yes. Yes. They're like, 27. I was like, all right, now.

Yeah. And then I sold one. I sold one, I think, this week, too. So it's still, still rolling. You know, the launch is, like, your focus. Right. And so I know I'm going to have other, Other things. I think my next big push is once I have it CME approved, I think that's going to bring in a much wider audience of people who want a need or have a CME budget. But, yeah, it's really exciting to, you know, be at this place where I have this finished product, and there. There really were people there waiting for it.

That is so good. That is so good. I'm going to tell you something, and I'm going to tell you what I admire you about, about you and why I love working with you as a client. And, you know, one of the things is that you really have a growth mindset, you know, like, you were almost never in resistance. Like, almost never. Like, oh, yeah, let's do that. I was like, I know this is a price you're thinking about, but I want you to just sit with this price, right? Which was double the price. And you're like, okay, yeah, we could do that. And you know what I mean? And we're going to do this bigger. Okay. And we can do that. That was your. Your attitude to challenges was like, okay, you know, let's do it. And that is something that I, you know, is served you your entire life, and it will continue to serve you the rest of your life is just such an amazing. An amazing mindset to have to just be open to what is out there. And you were really okay with imperfection, which is amazing. No, which is true. It's amazing because it's one of the things that stops us as entrepreneurs. For a physician, that is great. Like, bring on your A work. But in entrepreneurship, it stops you every time. And you are willing to. To do it because you could have said, I don't have cme. I'm going to wait till I have cme. I have one typo and one spot that's not edited. So I'm going to wait, you know, before I do that, you know, like, this is not the right time in my life to launch this, so I'm going to wait. Like, there are so many reasons why you could have postponed your launch or, you know, just waited on the whole thing, but you just embraced it and you did it. And for everyone listening, you know, I hope that's the way you'll approach your business too, you know, because it. It works. It works. It really does. It does. Yeah.

It's that consistency. And we've done that as physicians, right? Where we show up. We show up for that 5am Surgery rotation, even though we know we're not going to be a surgeon, but we do it. And those. That discipline translates really well to the business world.

See, that's why we make the best entrepreneurs. All right, so where can people find you and this course, and who is this course for?

Yeah, so, you know, this course actually goes back to that concept of sort of imperfection, which, you know, I had so many people who were interested in obesity medicine reaching out to me. Maybe they had taken certification, were in the process, and they just didn't know how to implement it or they hadn't seen it done. You know, there's a couple fellowships for this, but most people haven't had the opportunity to see obesity medicine in practice. So that really is. Who this is for, is anyone who is hoping to incorporate more Obesity medicine into their practice. Whether they've done some training, just a little bit of self education, but really want to see what it looks like. So there are patient videos so you can see what these conversations look like. There is a 60 page document with intake forms, diet plans, exercise counseling, all this sort of information that you could spend seven years like I have creating. Or you could just, you know, print out and state this PDF file and have it available for your patients. And then 13 hours of course lecture to complement that to show you how to do this from start to finish. What a first appointment looks like, what a maintenance appointment looks like, what follow up appointments looks like, how to think about meds, how to help people pick a nutrition plan, how to talk about exercise. It's really like a how to guide how to implement this. So really for anyone who's hoping to add this to their obesity practice or start one. So that's who this course is for and it is available at helpyourpatientsloseweight.com so that was the phrase I kept coming back to, why I'm doing this. I'm trying to help you help your patients lose weight. So help your patients lose weight dot com. That is also my Instagram handle. If you want to see any of the pearls and tips, I post there and then I'm on Facebook at Weight Care Consulting.

Love it. All right, now people listen. The beautiful thing about her course, and I'm not an affiliate of hers and you know, I got no kickbacks for this, but the beautiful thing about her course is that she is a practitioner of what she studies teaching, right? Like, so she's already incorporated this, she's already built a very successful practice. She, you know, she's, she's doing these things and literally she's doing for you what I did for her, which is I gave her shortcuts and this is a shortcut. Like you can go figure this out over years and maybe doesn't even work out, or you can use something that's proven by someone who's actually done it, right? So go check it out. Help help your patients lose weight.com and you know, if, if that's something you want to incorporate and just sign up for it. All right, so I'm going to leave with this. There's somebody who's had a course in them or a business in them, or they've wanted to scale their business and they're listening to this and they're like, wow, this is so inspiring. Right? What will you tell them to do now? Like what do you have for them right now?

Yeah, I think a lot of it comes down to values, right? And so if that's something you want to do, really understanding why you want to do it, is it because you see a problem in the world and you know you're in a unique position to fix it? Okay, fix it. That's what you're here to do, Right. So that was part of this. I'm like, there's all these.

This is.

Obesity is a huge problem. Covid showed that it is, you know, more than ever important for us to treat. And I can help people do that. And I know there are people who want to do it, and they just don't know how. And so I'm going to help them help patients, because I can only see a couple hundred patients a year and help them with this, but if I can help 100 people do this, I can really make a much bigger impact on the world. So that's a part of the why. Maybe it's a financial goal, right? Maybe you're like, I have this dream of being able to work less, and maybe I have to work more for six months, but maybe that's going to mean that long term I can spend more time with my kids or I can go on vacations more often. So figuring out sort of your why, I think will help you continue through the process of continuing to go back to what your goal is. What is going to change for the world, what is going to change in your life if you make the thing, if you scale the thing. And sometimes that's just learning. So I have learned so much in this process that I can translate to other business endeavors. And that in and of itself is a huge value. Right. So maybe you just make the podcast because you want to learn what that's like and see what it's like to have your own thing, and that's okay, too. But that why, why are you doing it? And if you going back to your why, then that will push you forward.

Oh, my goodness. So good. So, so, so good. All right. Thank you for coming to Dr. Brown's TED talk. Okay. This is so good. Now, I want to say thank you so much for coming on and taking us behind the scenes. Right. Because it could have been an Instagram post that said, oh, my goodness, I did. You know, I had my first very successful launch, but you took us behind the scenes to see your why, what challenges were there, the processes used, how you promoted it, the whole nine yards. And this is so helpful and so valuable. So thank you. For coming on and coming to share your story. We, you know, I appreciate it. I'm sure my listeners really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for having me, and thanks so much for doing what you're doing. We need to encourage more physicians that, you know, we can have our own physicians. We really need to change what's happening in medicine and take over. Take back what? What is medicine?

Take it back. I love it. All right, people, so you heard this. What I want you to do is I want you to go share this podcast episode. I want you to go follow her. Okay. I want you to, you know, share it, tag us on it. We will reshare it and all of that, and check out the course if this is something that you want to implement in your practice. And I will see you, my friends, on the very 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 forward/ondemand and I love to have you join us.

So see you on the inside.