Success Story: How Dr. Isabelle Amigues Launched Her Dream Direct Care Rheumatology Practice

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. Welcome back to another episode of the Entre MD podcast. Today is an absolute treat because I have the amazing Dr. Isabel. Amiga. Did I say that right? I've been practicing. Yeah. And she's a rheumatologist. She's an amazing doc in the Entre business school. And we are going to have a fascinating conversation. She's going to take us behind the scenes the journey of an entrepreneur, which is going to be amazing. So, Dr. Isabelle, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. Hi.

Hi. Okay, so I am going to give you a moment to introduce yourself to the audience so they get to know who you are.

Okay. So, yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me. And you know, like, you're a role model to. To me for sure. I really look towards you, but. So I'm Dr. Amig. I'm a rheumatologist. I did rheumatology in France, so that's why you have the accent. I cannot get rid of it. And I moved in New York City and I did my residency again and fellowship again in rheumatology again because I love it at Columbia University. And then I moved to Denver, Colorado. And I was in a wonderful institution, National Jewish Health, which is really remarkable for the past five years. And I just launched my direct care rheumatology practice. And technically today is the first day, so yeah, that's me.

I mean, I feel special. I get to be talking to you on the first day of your practice. This is, this is so cool. Okay, so I haven't heard all of your stories. I'm actually very. I'm so excited about this interview. So talk to me before. Before the Entre MD Business School. Right. Where were you with what you wanted to do with your career, work, all of that stuff? Like, at that point, were you already thinking about starting practice? What was going on then?

Okay, yeah, so I think I had a, you know, life altering moment. I got diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. When was that? Now? Almost four years ago. So, yeah. And I. It was actually, it went well. It wasn't, it was scary, of course, but it wasn't awful. It just, it just happened to be sort of my midlife crisis at 40. And so that's what I had to deal with. But the really cool thing in having this is that I had to pause and to look at where I was going, what I was doing with my life. And you know, I love being a rheumatologist so much. And I was doing a. I was on the path of doing research before I got diagnosed and I just realized that I was only doing research. I mean, not only, but like one of the main reasons to want to do research was because I couldn't handle, you know, full time clinics. And I needed time for me and the time for me was doing research. And when I got this diagnosis, I basically cut back and I kept some clinical work because I love it. And suddenly I'm realizing, wait, hold on. The reason I'm doing research is mostly because I cannot do full time rheumatology with insurance and so on, and dealing with prior art and so on. So all of those things. And so once, you know, as I was getting out of the treatment for cancer and so on, and then I was getting back to a more of a normal life, I would say I just realized I was like, hold on. Like, I don't want to go back to being burnt out again because I think that that was part of me being burnt out. And I want to really do life like the life that I'm supposed to be. Like, I really want to be where I want to be, truly. And that it's not the ego, it's really what do I want like, what's my purpose? What do I want? What do I. I get this second chance of being here and doing what I love, which is rheumatology. How does it have to look? And I listened to your podcast, and I'm not one of those binge listeners, so I just listened here and there, and it kept coming back, coming back. And then your name again popped up in one of the rheumatology Facebook group. And I was like, okay, I need to look even more into. And I think you had a workshop or something. And. And I was just like, okay, I'm just going to go all in and figure this out. Like, is there, like, can I potentially create something that looks like me? Can I create this holistic practice? And I remember super clearly the first talk that I had with you. I was like, I have this beautiful vision of this holistic medicine where there's like, a ton of specialty and a ton of things that we're offering. And they were like, nope. My hosts were crushed that day. Like, no, first you do one thing, then you become really good at that one thing, and then we'll move on. And I will tell you, I was very. I was sad for a little bit. I think it took me, like, one or two weeks to be like, I know she's right. But I have to, you know, I have to agree with this. And then I can finally go on. And. And I think literally a week or two after, after I was in the ebs, I gave my notice because I was like, that's it. That's what I want to do. And there was a lot of conflict internally of. And especially. Right. Like, with this history of cancer, like, doing my own business. That's so scary. I mean, it's like, oh, what happened? Like, if anything happens? And then I was like, okay, what if anything happens? Those are all of the things that I'm going to do. And I started looking at locoms, so this is what I'm going to do. And so I started just looking at plan A, B, C, D, E, just so that I have this vision, I have this path forward. But even if it doesn't work, it's okay. Like, I'm a physician. It's fine. And it's funny, because I think I do this with the cancer. I'm like, I really want a life without recurrence. But it's the same thing in rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. I mean, we have other treatments. I have to kind of just think, how do I talk to my patients? And I'M like, super optimistic when it comes to my patients. I was like, I'm going to be the same person that I am when I'm the doctor to my patients. So. And, yeah, I give my doctors six months. I give them seven months. I give it my best that I absolutely adore my institution. It just wasn't working for me. And I felt that I wanted to offer something more to my patients. So this holistic practice and the direct care allows me to do this because I don't have to deal with insurance and I don't have to deal with this headache, so I can offer the best of me. And I'm so excited that there are some patients that were like, we don't want to lose you, so we want to come with you. Because I didn't tell them. I said, like, hey, I have this podcast. Can look into this. And they were like, please tell us you're not leaving Denver. And I was like, well, no, I'm not, but you should stay here because you're doing so well. But, yeah, so some patients are. I've already reached out, and they are new, and some of our patients are, you know, old patients. But, you know, I'm not feeling. They decide whatever they want to do, and they have choices, and I think that that's what it's all about. But choices, having choices and having hope for the future, that's really. That's what I've learned, right? Like, having hope for the future. And, like, never crush the hope of anyone and always bring hope. And that's my motto, actually. Hope driven by science. That's important.

Okay. I mean, it's going to take us a whole podcast episode to download and offload all the things that you just said. I mean, okay, first of all, you're brilliant. Like, I love the way you think. I love the way you process things, right? So here are a few things that stood out to me, right? You're like, what do I want? And I. And I think, as you know, as humans in general, but I think physicians. I think that's the question we need to start asking. Like, you took one for the team, right? So everybody doesn't have to have, like, a moment, right? And I'm so glad you're doing so well. But everyone can then ask themselves, like, okay, Dr. Isabella has given me the gift of her experience, so what do I really want? Right? And it's like, well, I can't really have what I want. No, that's not the. We do the how later. But what do I want? And what if we could think about that? What would practicing medicine on my terms look like? What would living life on my terms look like? You know. You know what I mean? So that was so powerful. And you're like, can I create something that looks like me? Right? Like my own thing. So good. And then one of the things, you know, I've started doing a lot of studying. Like, there are many people who could be in the same situation, but some people thrive and some people don't. What's the difference? And one of the things I found is commitment to their results. Because some. Sometimes we can delegate the commitment. Like, if this person does what they're supposed to do, I'll get the result. But when you find someone who is like, I am committed to my results, it's amazing what they can create. And that's exactly. You're like, I was just like, I'm going to go all in. Right? You. You've only been in EBS for two seconds, but you're like, yeah, I'm going to go all in. I'm going to. I'm going to join ebs. I'm going to do all these things. I'm going to figure it out. And this scary unknown comes. What if. What if. What if? You're like, okay, well, if this happens, I will do abcde. If that happens, I'll do abcde, which takes away the fear, right? Because it's like, I already planned for that. There's no surprise. There's no, you know, I mean, like, this is so good, leaving on the right terms. And I want to say that to everyone who's listening, who's going to go from a job to their own business. You heard her. You don't want to burn bridges, because there are people at the old institution who could be referral sources. There are people from the old institution who could open doors for you somewhere else, and you're going to have somebody you work with, and the last thing you want to do is reap a nasty, you know, like a nasty departure or anything like that. So, I mean, this is. This is so good. Okay, so. So now you're like, this is scary. Oh, my goodness. But you said yes. And you're talking about seeing patients today, and you're talking about some new patients. Some old patients. So is marketing something you like to do? How are you finding these people? Like, what's going on?

No, I just, you know, I had faith. Okay, so this is. This is really cool. I usually go with my guts, and there was a gut feeling. I remember, okay, so, number one, my commitment, my investment to EBS was 10% of my yearly salary. So it was. It was significant. Right? But I remember, and you said, like, you have. I can't remember. You have. You have incredible words for everything you said. I wish I was as good. But you said something along the line of, like, go in. Go full. Right. Like, to the full cohort that. The new cohort that was there. And I was like, you're right. I'm here. I'm going to. I'm committed. And I remember I created my podcast the first week. The first week I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to start. And I just had faith that whatever you were telling us to do was, like, will work. And I was like, there's like, what's the risk of me going fully in and everything that you're telling us to do? I mean, like, literally. Yeah, I have a podcast out there. It's not great. Maybe one person has listened to it. Who cares? Like, my ego might be hurt, but that's okay. And then I started also looking at, you know, this. The community that you've created. And I keep telling you how amazed I am because especially in medicine, coming from France, where everything is ranked, so you're constantly having this idea that you're competing against each other, and suddenly you're like, you're in a medicine, like, doctors group that is not competing with each other. And you keep telling us, don't do comparison, because that's comparitis. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is what I've been doing my whole life. I compare myself all of the time, and suddenly I don't have to. And I just have to commit to doing what my leader, really, like you, is telling me to do. And it's not like, oh, I'm blindsided, but it's just like, it makes sense I'm going to do it. And the podcast makes sense. Sense. And creating this sort of movement because I wanted to help also, right? So I was like, if I can help before I'm even opening my practice, that's a win. Win for everyone, right? So it's a win for my practice, it's a win for my patients, and it's a win even for the people who I'm like, you know, for the institution I'm at, because, like, it's still a big deal for them, all right? Like, the CEO talked to me and he was like, oh, you Created your podcast, liked it. And I was like, okay, that's great. But, yeah, I think having faith, seeing what other people in this community were doing, and also seeing their doubts, and they share their doubt, they share their struggles, and then you're like, oh, well, now I can compare myself, because I am going through all of this, and I'm learning just as much from the successes, then I'm learning from all those troubles and being like, oh, wow, I'm having this doubt. And you know what's funny is when you're coaching someone else, you're actually coaching you. So when someone else on the EBS has, like, a rough day and you're like, hey, don't worry. No, no, no, no, no. Like, do this or do that or what? Have you considered this? Or have you considered that you're actually coaching yourself? And that was huge. And I will tell you, like, the first week of ebs, I had made my money back. I remember telling this to my partner. I was like, john, I made my body back. I've never, ever, like, this is the best thing I've ever done in medicine since going to medicine. So, yeah, no, I'm so glad I'm here.

Wow, that's amazing. First week, huh?

Yes, first week.

Okay. All right, so talk to us about your first patient is this afternoon. So talk to us about your plans for your practice, what. What you see about it, maybe some of even some of the challenges as you're setting it up and how you overcame that. Just give us the spill.

Yeah, absolutely. So the first thing was to create this podcast, right? So creating this podcast just to put myself out there, and then creating a mailing list so that I would, you know, I would have people that I knew were at least interested in my podcast or, you know, the social media I was creating. And so I was like, oh, okay, so they are interested in this. And so then once you're on the verge of opening, I finished on December 31st at my institution, previous institution, I could send an email to all of those people who were interested on day one on January 1st. Right? So that's what I did, actually. And then there's quite a bit that actually reached out and said, hey, we are interested. We want to move forward. And it's really interesting because there were some people who had no idea because they were new, Right. And my website was about the podcast. It wasn't about the practice. And so there were people who were waiting, and I think I disappointed them by not taking insurance. But then I remember, like, after the fourth No, I was, like, a little bit, like, ooh, did I do the right move? And I remember I have, like, my goals for this year that are, like, literally next to my computer, and I started just looking at those, and I was like, no, I'm committed to this. I'm not going to start worrying. I will just figure out if maybe the way I'm expressing what I want, like, you know what? This is maybe is not right. And I'm working on this, like, currently, but I'm not going to worry about this. And I've got it. Like, I'm going to get it. I'm just going to pivot, like, if I need to. But yeah, so the social media podcast, then the people interested with this emailing list, and I think I have about 100 people now, which is amazing. I remember, like, starting. I think I started in June. It looks like a lifetime. So in June, I had, like, one person the first month, and now I have, like, 100. And I.

That's amazing.

Yeah. Thanks to you. Thanks to ubs. So, yeah. But. So doing that and then sending calls to action. Like, work with me, Work with me. I'm here, and I'm not sending calls to action because I want to make money. I'm not sending calls to action because. But it's really. Because it's like, hey, this is what I'm offering. If you're interested, I'm here. Like, I created this for you and not for my ego. Because if it was for my ego, I would stay and I would write, research and look at my name on a first, like, you know, first author on a paper. But no, like, I know I'm good. I can range, you know, the Eastern principle and always take Western medicine. And I can, you know, all the things that I've learned in my own journey for cancer, I can teach that to my patients and take the time. So it's like serving. And you keep saying this, right? Serve and earn. And I'm like, yeah, I'm serving. But the truth is that I want it to be successful because to me, it would be a success for my patients, but also for doctors, because I'm hearing so many of them feeling burnt out or on the verge of depressed, sad, angry. And I'm like, if I can show that this is working, even if they don't jump and they don't do it, they know that they have the possibility that they have this option. And that's huge to me, right? I'm like, yeah, this is just one for the team. Like, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna do it.

Oh, man, you are speaking my language, right? Cause there's one thing about serving and earning, but there's the other thing, because what this means is you're part of the calvary, right? You see that there's a problem in medicine. You're seeing what doctors are going through, and you're like, you know what? I'm going to take one for the team. I'm going to go all in. I'm going to make this work. And then now they have options, right? You talked about that, that earlier. Now you have options, right? Like you. So you can choose what is going on now, or you can choose this new way. You know what I mean? And when you're living to be an example, there's just something so special about it. It's harder to burn out. It's harder to quit, right? Because it's not. It's. It's about. No, like, I'm, like, there are thousands of people behind me. And not in a. In a legalistic bad I'm stuck kind of way, but it's like, no, I. If. Because if I can get this right, they can get it. Kind of like what a parent would do for their kids is so amazing. I'm happy that you're there. That's. That's a fun place to be. Okay, so you've given us so much gold, Right. And I'm going to ask the community, right? So a doc that's listening. You may live in Colorado or you. You may be a primary care doc in Colorado. You know, a primary care doc in Colorado. Colorado. And I would love for us to collectively support Dr. Isabel. Right. And so, Dr. Isabelle, where can people find you? Where can they find your podcast if they want to send patients who have these conditions there, you know, social media, all of that. Where can we find you?

Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for doing this. Yeah. So I'm unabridged MD because it's the full version of the patient and the full version of the physician. So onabridgemd.com is the website and then you can actually, there is a way to refer patients from there that's going to be put very soon. So in the next week there will be a way to refer onabridgemd.com and the podcast is onabridgemd. It's on all the regular platform. You can also find it on YouTube. And yeah, I think if you look at Isabel, Direct care, rheumatology or on average MD in Colorado, and that I would be easily findable there. Yeah.

Oh, I love it. I love it. I want to tell you thank you for. Because we could have come on and we could just say, oh, you know, I decided I'll quit, and they started my job, blah, blah, blah. But you really took us behind the scenes, gave us, like, the way you were thinking about things, the decisions you made, what the challenges were, how you overcome, you know, like, all of that. And I really want to thank you for that, because that is. People can find themselves in that. People can learn lessons from that, and it's really, really powerful. Stories are powerful. There's somebody listening right now who, you know, maybe has thought about the business school, but it's kind of where you were. And they're like, is 10% of. I've never actually heard someone articulate it that way. So I'm like, I'm going to borrow that line. It's 10% of my annual salary, you know, like, so I don't know. I don't know if it'll work for me. I don't know if I can make that investment. I don't know if I can pull it off or if it'll be a waste of time and money. What would you tell that person?

I think you have to go with your guts. If you feel like, you know, seeing all of those students of UBS thriving, like, literally thriving, I think to me, that spoke to me and I was like, I want to be one of them. So that's. To me, that was it. And honestly, like, best investment I've done, like, I'm actually one of. My colleague is starting. I'm so excited for her. And she does. Yeah, and she doesn't. I don't even think she has the idea. Or maybe she has the beginning of an idea, but she's like, no, I know that there's more, and I want to be part of this timeline. Right. She hasn't put it into those words, but she's like, I'm seeing you, Isabel, and I know that this is going to be good for me. And I'm like, yeah, you see me know that it's going to be good for you. So, yeah, I'm like a big advertiser for eds because it's just. It's life changing. It's like in this era where everything seems so gloom and, you know, so sad about medicine, it's like, no, you don't have to be sad. You don't have to be beaten up, and you don't have to think that you have no autonomy or no say in what's happening. No, just take back control of your life and autonomy and hope. And I think that that's what you bring us. You bring us hope. And you're not saying it's going to be easy, you're not saying it's going to happen without work, but like, you're giving us hope. And to me, that is what life is all about. Like, just hope. So I'm so grateful for ebs. You have no idea.

Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so, and I'm so grateful you're in the community because, you know, there is, you know, what we call in ebs, we call it the Commonwealth. Right? Like, so it's not, it's what everybody brings to the table. And it just creates this really rich place that no matter what you're looking for, it's a, you know, like, it's a, it's a Facebook post away, you know? You know, you know what I mean? Such a rich community. So thank you for being a part of it. Thank you for sharing your story. If you've been thinking this is not a pitch, this is just what it is. So, you know, turning your application, it's application only on trendy.com forward/business. And we don't try to convince anybody to join the school. Like when you put in your application, get on a, on a phone call with you and if we just, if we look at it, we're like, yeah, what you're looking for is not really something we do. We're going to tell you that's not something we do. Like, we're very open with it. We've told people this is not a good fit for you. We've done that before, many times before, actually. But if it's like, this is what, you know, this is what I want to do and we're perfect at solving that problem. I mean, like, like she said, it's, it's a game changer. It really is. So Dr. Isabella is, you know, done a really great job here sharing her story. And I want you to take the time to share this episode with another doctor because like, she alluded to loss of gloom, loss of, you know, gloom and doom and, and all of that. But the truth of the matter is, while this is a really, quote unquote bad time in the physician community, it is also one of the best times because everything is about to change. Right? So I just want to invite you to, to, to share this and be someone who's spreading change to other physicians. Be part of the calvary. And Dr. Isabel, thank you again so much for coming on the show.

Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Una.

Yay. Okay, people, go share the episode. I'll see you on the next one. 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 entre md.comondemand and I love to have you join us. See you on the inside.