The Difference Six Months Can Make with Dr. Arinola Dada

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. Una. Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the On Tremd podcast. I have an amazing guest for us today. Her name is Dr. Dada. She is a rheumatologist out of Seattle, and we're going to have a really great conversation that's going to take you behind the scenes of the journey of an entrepreneur. And for those of you who are thinking about it, it'll make you go like, you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and do it. And if you're already in it, but maybe you're aware you're doing cruise control and you know, you should be scaling, you know that it's time for you to reach for more. This is gonna be that thing that pushes you to go ahead and reach for more. So this is gonna be a really good episode. So I want you to, you know, lean in, get everything you can get out of it. I'm going to ask Dr. Datta all the questions in the world so I can get all the yumminess out of her. So welcome to the show, Dr. Dada.

Una. I am so excited. Thank you so much for having me. I just love you and I think you know that. I just love You. I can't say enough good things about you. So thank you so much for having me though.

You're going to make me try to cry like right from the get go. Well, I love you right back. I love it. All right, so I want you to introduce yourself to the audience so they know who you are.

So. My name is Dr. Arinola Dada and I am double boarded in rheumatology and clinical densitometry. I am also an entrepreneur. I have worked in the Bellevue and Greater Seattle area for the past 18 years. I am the managing partner of my rheumatology practice and director at Eastside TMS and Wellness center in Seattle. I am the mother of two beautiful, amazing, talented girls. I'm a teacher, a mentor, a speaker, and in my past I was clinical faculty at the University of Washington. I'm also a student at Ontree MD Business School. In my rheumatology practice, I help people with autoimmune diseases preserve their immune function so they can live an active life. My rheumatology practice at this time is expanding to create a center for excellence in autoimmune disorders in the greater Seattle area. And at my TMS and Wellness center, I help people with depression and chronic fatigue who have had trouble responding to the typical antidepressants get their lives back using tms, which is transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy. And essentially it's using electromagnetic fields to stimulate the areas of the brain associated with chronic mood disorders and fatigue.

Wow, that is impressive. That's a lot of stuff that you do. Okay, so guys, you see why I asked her to introduce herself by herself? I couldn't have done that better. All right, so when we met, you were already a successful entrepreneur, right? You had these businesses going and all of that. So tell us about your businesses at the time.

Okay, so I'm going to back it up a little bit. So. So my story starts in Nigeria. I attended the prestigious University of Lagos which really formed the core of my resilience. Medical school was a battle for me, but it molded me into the survivor that I am today. I left medical school with an understanding of myself and that I can do hard things. I moved to the United States, started residency at University of Pittsburgh Mercy Hospital with a six month old baby toe and subsequently fellowship at University of Washington. I had the best experiences during my time in my fellowship program. It was a very welcoming and nurturing environment despite the fact that all the attendings were so highly accomplished. In my two years in rheumatology fellowship program, I was pushed Outside my comfort zone, I had to work with mice. I do not like rodents. I love the way you say, like, listen, I don't like rodents because somebody else may think, oh, it's not a big deal to work with mice. What might say, I don't like it. So my first day in the lab, I had to pick up this mouse. I picked him up, he squelched, I screamed, I threw him in the air, and I headed in one direction, he headed in the other. That shut down the lab for three hours while everybody was looking for the mouse that Dada threw into the lab. So over the next 34 weeks in Mouse research, I went from novice to basic science researcher with publications that I presented on a live stage. So. So again, I was able to reaffirm that I can do hard things. So after fellowship, I was offered several positions, but I selected a small practice. I was close to my home, so I could pick up the kids and kind of focus on family. Blessed with an amazing boss. I still love him till date. Who, after two years, offered me partnership. And I had another blessing. I had another baby. So although I was partner, I really wasn't primarily responsible. Responsible for the business operations of the practice. My partner managed the core of the practice. And I'll take on small tasks. I'll do a little bit of a HIPAA project here, OSHA project there, employee improvement there, coding classes, giving advice on just how to manage the practice management when required. So I worked about four days a week. I was chilling. I would volunteer at the University of Washington about half a day, focus on my amazing kids. I had fun. I loved my patients. I enjoyed the opportunity of teaching medical students and residents and fellows. And life was good. Or so I thought, right? And then my life changed. I was facing multiple crisis. I had to go through divorce. And then my business partner let me know that, yes, he's going to be retiring by his next birthday. Okay, so get it together. Go. So under pressure from the prospect of helming this practice by myself, I started interviewing a new physician to eventually become my partner. And the truth of the matter is that I was just looking for someone to manage his practice, just take this trouble off my hands. So eventually, I found someone. And he was expensive. I was like, okay, well, I can't afford him, but I will. I will work. I'll stop this volunteering at the University of Washington. I'll start working five days a week. I'll extend my hours, maybe think about weekends. I'll bring the kids to the office, you know. But he turned Me down. And so for a year and a half, I was just running this practice alone. I was running it scared. I thought of myself as just a placeholder till some real business person comes along. All the while I was cross training my staff. I discovered multiple issues within the practice that I corrected. And then I implemented some drastic changes. So finally, my night in Shania Amo arrived. I got an offer. Someone wanted to buy the practice and have me join this large multispecialty group. You don't have to worry about running the business. We'll take care of everything. So I asked, well, what's going to happen to my staff? And they told me, oh yeah, those ones, they'll be let go. I was like, okay, now. So that was the last straw. That was when I stopped looking for an out. I realized that I'd been running this practice for over a year by myself, and apparently I was running it well enough that someone wanted to buy it. Right. So I didn't know it at the time, but what was limiting me was really not my ability, but just this belief I had that I could not success run a business and that I was a physician. I wasn't an entrepreneur. I wasn't. I wasn't a business person. And so I finally needed to shift that mindset that I am and I will continue to be a successful business owner with employees that are flourishing under my leadership.

Yes. Oh, this is so good. Okay. I just had to let that out. Keep going.

So at that time, I was focused on my two kids. As a single mom, having private practice really allowed me a lot of flexibility with my kids schedule. And that's something I would always be grateful for. So, Dr. Una, by the time I started listening to your podcast, I was running a successful practice. I was cruising. I wasn't focused on growth. I was just thinking like most rheumatologists do. It's not a stressful specialty. Rheumatologists don't burn out. We can work forever. In fact, this is something that I said frequently in the rheumatology community, that we have a long shelf life. We can just keep working.

Wow. Okay. So our first contact was the podcast. How did you find the podcast?

I. I don't remember. I don't know if I was just, you know, wasting my life on Facebook and then found something useful. Probably how I found you.

Oh, my goodness. Okay, I'm going to write that somewhere. Okay. Now you said so many good things, I had to take notes and I'm going to refer to a few of them. Because I want to make sure nobody missed them. Right. You said, I just wanted someone to take the headache of running this place away from me. Right. And a lot of times as doctors, when we find ourselves in private practice and things like that, we've been conditioned to say, I'm just going to see the patient. Somebody else is going to take care of all the stuff. Right? And then you went on to say, I thought of myself as a placeholder until the real entrepreneur comes. And now you can look back and think like, so how did that make me show up? Right? Because you don't throw yourself at growth. You don't throw yourself at, you know, making the business work. When you're a placeholder, you just stop it from dying. Right? It's a completely different paradigm. And I found this so interesting that you would say that. And, you know, you said my belief was limiting me. I'm a physician, not an entrepreneur. And that is huge because doctors either say that a lot or they act that way a lot. Right? Like, I'm not really. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm a physician. And this is the whole reason why ENTREMD exists, because we can thrive as entrepreneurs. We can figure this stuff out. And like you said, we can do hard things. Okay, so no mice for you. All right. Okay.

No, no, no, no. We're done.

No mice for you. So what triggered your desire to scale? Right? Because like you said, you're in a specialty where it's like, we have a long shelf life. It's easy. We don't burn out. So I'm just going to, you know, do my nine to five in my private practice till I retire.

Yeah, that. That was. Certainly was my. Was my mindset then. So I think my circumstances changed. I wish I could just say I woke up one day on SNAP and then I came to my senses. But no, my circumstances change. So my kids were more independent. So prior to that, I really spent a lot of my energy focused on getting them academically excellent. Right. I'm a mom of two girls, and I needed to make sure that they'll be financially independent in life. At least they'll have the basics to set them up for success because there certainly wasn't going to be any inheritance. Right? So my older daughter got into her dream school and she's now heading to law school. But my younger daughter is very independent. She loves robots. She doesn't want me micromanaging her. In fact, she wants a helicopter mom off her back. And I also met the man of my dreams, and I Have a sense of calm. So I decided, okay, it's time to focus your attention, girl, on your own development. Because no one is really. Nobody around me was really interested in being the target of my focus. And I think another thing that happened is I went to Nigeria December 2019. I met a number of my friends and colleagues, and these guys are hitting it out of the park. They are running mobile businesses like nothing. So when I got back, I'll tell you, I sat up a little straighter.

Right.

And then finally, your podcast, Dr. Una. Your podcast. So by the time I joined Entre md, I hadn't decided what to do with my rheumatology practice. Right. I thought I should do something, but I had a number of things going on then. One is that I was struggling with growing this second practice inside TMS and Wellness Center. I formed this with a dear friend of mine, and my contribution was to be the business mastermind. And after a year and a half of struggling, I was beginning to think that maybe this girl had made a mistake. She needs to find a real business mastermind somewhere. So I also then met colleagues at Entre MD and I was inspired by people just doing amazing things. From physicians just starting out as running coaches, experts, helping women in academics with negotiations and getting their voices heard, to docs like empowering women with skin care and nutrition, to specialists in dry eyes, to urologists, empowering minorities in their field. And I was like, okay, girls, what are we doing with this tiny little practice? So this really helped me work on the idea of expanding my practice to better serve my community and becoming financially independent, giving me just more flexibility with my time and increasing number of goals that I could strive for and not just narrowing myself to just being this rheumatologist in this nine to five. Yes. I love my staff. And that's the end of my story. I felt after coming to Entre md, I felt there was much more out there, and it really helped me to be able to articulate those things.

Wow. Okay, so by the time you joined the business school, you didn't even necessarily have the plan of scaling.

No, I did not.

You're just like, I need to be here. I need to do more. I'm not sure what more is, but we are doing more. That is so good. So good. Okay. All right. Now, so you joined the business school in June of 2020, right in the middle of a pandemic. This is why I call entrepreneurs crazy people. All right, so how did you change? And what did you start doing differently in your business?

So I changed Dr. Una. And you probably wouldn't even know this because we didn't talk about this exact thing, but when you dig deep on some of the things that you taught in class, one of them was delegation and examining areas in your life that you can delegate. So, Dr. Una, I got a scribe. And this has dramatically changed my life. After work, I'd be at work, either bringing work home for three hours a day, and then into the weekend. And then people, my kids and my significant other will ask, so you're working again. And I start getting a little annoyed. Right, of course I'm working. Of course I'm a doctor. This is what we do with this. Describe my documentation. Time has been cut by 70%.

Wow. 707 0.

You know, the first I trained out for like a month and then boom, we started. So it actually is in the last one, so I'm like, so excited. But in the last one week, I'm like, I was done. My last patient went left at 5 and 5:25. I looked at the time, I was like, my notes are done.

I love it. Okay, now you said something that's liquid gold. So let me just pull that out real quick. You said, I trained her for a month. So we're not talking about delegation per se today. But people listen, if you. A lot of times what frustrates us about delegation is we find a person, we delegate, we don't train, and they can't do what we didn't train them to do. And then we're like, why can't they do it? Why can't they read my mind? Why can't they just do what I want? But you did the right thing of onboarding the person properly. And then now you have 70% less work. That is so good. Okay, go ahead. I just wanted to make sure people didn't miss that.

So. And then my communication skills have improved, even when talking to patients. So in class, we kind of talked about this. I help statements. Right. And which is, you know, what do you do and how do you make sure that your clients understands what it is that you are offering? So this really allowed me to be more in tune with what my patient's pain point is and adjust my delivery of information in a fashion that really resonates with the patient.

Yes.

So it gives the patient the opportunity to buy into the process. And so it improves compliance. So everybody's a win win. Right. And so rather than what I was used to, which was kind of this top down approach, I know what's best for you. Approach. So now we're kind of more of a partner. And in the final analysis, I want them to feel like they are part of the process. And I think that communication skill, tweaking with that I help statements really helped me to achieve that. And then I started this pod, I started these videos on Facebook and I'll tell you that it gets better and easier, but you have a framework and I refer to it each time and it really just makes it easier rather than just getting on there and really not knowing how you should deliver your statements. So I think the framework makes a big difference. And I'll tell you this fun fact. So I have this patient of mine with osteoporosis and apparently in her home she had her Facebook just streaming in the background and then suddenly she had my voice and she's like, oh my God, Dr. Dada is here. Dr. Dada came to my house. She did. She's like I better take do my exercise and take my calcium supplements. And so she told me and I had a great laugh and she told me, she was like, yeah. And that the video was actually so helpful with all her friends. So I thought okay, wahaha. I'm everywhere. And so with my assistant now we're also so. Oh, I didn't mention that. Yes. So I have the. I'm becoming a delegation queen. So I have the scribe and I have a virtual assistant. So my virtual assistant has started repurposing my videos and she's turning them into blogs for the My practices website. So. So that's a huge difference for us.

Yeah. Yeah. Doing a lot more by doing a lot less. That's exactly what you're doing. I love it.

And then finally meeting a tribe of just like minded and supportive physicians who care about each other and are constantly just celebrating each other's wins. So one of the things that happened within to me or for me@entre MD is that I met another physician who had a TMS class clinic. Remember I had the second clinic I'm struggling with and so you'd broken us up into these mastermind groups and this allowed us to kind of get to know each other in the small space. So this doctor had some advice from in the clinic. So he called me on a Saturday and just walked me through the process. And this has just been a game changer for the clinic. So it has allowed us to cut our overhead by about 70%. So I do have to just give a shout out to Dr. Effosa 7070 what?

I'm giving a shout out to Dr. Efosa as well. That is amazing.

Yes.

Oh, my goodness. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry.

So I just love the fact that we care about each other, we celebrate, we encourage, and we're inspired by each other.

Wow, that is so good. You know, I'm glad you bring this up, because one of the more common objections when we talk about the business school is people are like, well, I need one on one. Right. Like, my case is different. I don't want a group. And I keep telling people, I'm like, you have no idea how good the group is. Like, there's the benefit to what I do, but there's an enormous benefit to what you get from the group. Being in a group of physicians who've made the decision, like, I'm going to build my business and I'm going to do that in community. Right. That is so. I mean, 70%. And it had nothing to do with me. I wasn't part of the conversation. You see what I'm saying?

I was not.

I was not. So. That is so good.

I will tell you. Remember that when we talked about class, I also wanted one. I'm special. I have special problems. Okay, that's true. I wanted one. About that, I wanted one on one. I was like, class, my issues are special, unique.

So. So what do you think now?

I am so glad because, honestly, I think we would have still been struggling with our second practice. Definitely without. Without his advice and, you know, and his mentorship. Yeah. We would not be where. Maybe I'll be here maybe five years from now, but not now.

I love it. I love it. That's a. That's a power of a group. That's so good now. So you've been in the business school for maybe six months and two weeks. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it hasn't been that long. And these are all the changes you've made. Isn't that wild?

So it's crazy.

If you did that in 2020. Let's talk wins. So your practice before the business school and where you ended up at the end of 2020. Tell me about that.

Well, you know, 2020 started off just with a blast. You know, I had my New Year's resolutions. They were set. I had scheduled. I was giving life talks to the community for this second practice because I was determined that, you know what, 2020, it is going to thrive. So I had dates on my calendars for more talks and dinner programs for marketing. And then the pandemic hit. The gym closed. I changed my schedule to start work at 9:30 in the morning. I was sleeping in late. And then, Dr. Una, you may not remember this podcast of yours, but you were like, you are not on vacation.

I remember it.

I was going, I was going for my leisurely stroll. I usually am on the StairMaster at 5:00am, right. But you know, now the pandemic hits. It's 9:00 clock in the morning. I'm like, yo, leisurely. Me and the 70 year olds were going for leisurely stroll. Right? You're like, you're not on vacation. Every single point you hit on that podcast was just. It was me. You're like, are you sleeping in? I was like, yes. So I just, I decided that, okay, it's time to get back into, into action. So the wins I had for 2020 is starting with my staff. Right. So my amazing medical assistant passed her nursing exams and we're going to support her to become a nurse practitioner.

Yeah.

And I have another MA who also worked her way up and has been taking over a number of responsibilities to become like the real practice manager. And that means less of, less of me working in the practice and working now having more time to work on the practice. So my rheumatology practice has grown during the pandemic to the point that we're offering some services on Saturdays.

Wow. Okay.

I've also started with my. This may sound familiar, Dr. Una. Big, hairy, big audacious goal. Yes. Of creating a center of excellence for patients with autoimmune diseases. I'm purchasing a new building for the practice and we're doubling the space. There's a need for excellent care for a growing number of patients with autoimmune diseases. And we have an attached infusion center that will provide a much needed service for the community. I've increased my presence in the public stage as an authority figure on autoimmune diseases by being on podcasts and video creation.

This is so good.

It's been a good 2020, despite this, this terrible pandemic, I think, at least professionally.

So. Wow. Okay. So because I don't know if you know this, right, but your growth professionally is like on every side, Right? So one is that you have a better team. Right. Because you up leveled your staff. And then two is that your volumes as far as patient encounters increased. Three is that you now have a new vision. So when you came into the business school, it was just, I want more. And then after a while in the business school, you're like, I want to scale. And then now you're like, I want to create a center of excellence that is growing in vision, like, and dramatic. We're talking six months here.

Yeah. I remember the day I thought about. I was in my kitchen, and this thing just popped into my head. Now, I've been carrying this same head for quite a while, and this idea never popped into my head.

I've been carrying the same head for quite some while.

It just popped into my head, and I said, you know what? Yes. We are going to create a center of excellence in rheumatology in the greater Seattle area.

That is so good. That is giving me chills. That is so, so good. And the beautiful thing about it is this. That's the beauty of taking action, right? So the reason why you're thinking these thoughts is because you took action on some other things, and you're like, okay, so I'm. I've conquered this. I'm conquering this. And then it opens a whole new level of possibility. And that's why in the business school, I throw challenge after challenge after you guys. Because I'm like, if you will do this, you will get results that will one make you rewire the way you think. Like, wait a minute. I can do hard things. I can be great on video. I can. Because it took you a while to do your first video, right, if I.

Remember correctly, because I'm a perfectionist, and everything has to be just so. Yeah, yeah.

You know, so here you go, taking those steps, doing that, right? And then now you come to the point where you're like, I'm going to build a center for excellence. So I'm almost going like, oh, my gosh, what is she going to think about next? And the beautiful thing about that is it takes your business out of the realm of being only transaction. And I'm not saying transactional like you don't help people, but you understand what I mean. Transactional to where it becomes a mission.

Right.

And the money is a good side effect, but it's a mission. Like, I want to provide this for Seattle. I want to. It's so different. I'm so. And I'm so happy to hear that. Like, so when I talk about helping 80,000 doctors build profitable businesses, it's a mission. And you. It gives you the drive to do whatever needs to be done to get it done. And you love every minute of it because it's purpose, you know, this is so good.

It does so good. It just changes. It changes everything.

Yeah, yeah. And now you have, you know, in addition to all that, then you delve into real estate. Right. Because you're purchasing a bigger. A bigger property, which is like two different businesses, you know, and you said the way you're positioned. So you're not just this doc who's a rheumatologist seeing patients in the greater Seattle area. You are the doc.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This is.

This is so good. So, so, so good. All right, so what has all of this, then made possible for you? Because for me, I believe in balance, right? Meaning that all aspects of our lives are working together. I don't believe in being. Building businesses at the expense of our families. I don't believe in any of that. I'm like, we should have it all. We may not have it all at the exact same time, but we should have it all. So business is a means to an end. So in your life, what has this made possible for you? All these things that you've accomplished in your business?

You know, I think that the two. The two things. One is one of those things that we discussed during class is to have this framework for your life, right? Which is looking at the big picture of things and thinking what's important to you. So we went through things legacy, health, professional development, your friends, your family, quality relationships, spirituality, fun, finances, business. I think the other way I like to look at this is a long time ago. One older mentor told me, probably when I was having a lot of drama in my life, that you want to have many legs to your table of happiness. So I think of this table with, like, 14 legs. And so one of those legs is my legacy. One is my health, one is my kids, one is my significant other. One is my. My friends, my professional friends, my personal friends, my relationships, my mom. So all those things make my table of happiness. And so I think what this has done for me also is allow me to think beyond just being reactive. And so I started to think about things like legacy. Yeah, right. And so I was going to talk about this later when it comes to when, you know, later on, some other ideas that I was thinking about. But I think the other thing is just all this. And I think even the entre MD business school has just allowed me to have this mindset change. Because now I'm not afraid of success. If I'm successful at something, I don't think, oh, that's enough. Like, I'm scared. Like, oh, I start thinking about, well, how can this process be improved? Well, this is good. Hey, we did X and we did it successfully. Well, can we improve it? Is there any way we can tweak it can we make it more efficient? So I'm no longer ashamed or afraid of marketing my business. It's something that I rarely did. I would always have to drum up the enthusiasm. I remember one time, this orthopedic group in my area, and there were like 12 of them, and they had this open house, and I really had to do a lot of mental work to drum it up to go there. And when I did, I tell you, I met them one time. This is years ago, and it was just a gift that kept giving. They all will refer their patients to me. And they met me this one time. It was after work. I went to work, I came home, talked in the kids, went back and had that meeting. And that one meeting was just a gift I kept giving. So I think what I've done now is just do more of that. Right? So I created this WhatsApp group called Fabulous east side Female Physicians. And we have zoom meetings. And the idea is to network and post pandemic to socialize and become a referral base for its members.

What? Wow, that is. Okay. Was networking something you liked back in the day?

No, no, no. I don't like. No.

She's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So. So you didn't like that because you said it's the. Is the Fabulous Physicians of East side.

Yes. So Fabulous Eastside Female Physicians.

Okay. So not only have you embraced networking, you've created a female physician network that you're championing and which is a win win, because all these other people have an environment to come in, and you have an endless stream of referrals because everybody knows you. This is genius. Okay?

I always said that the boys play golf and we and the girls are running home, right? Because you have to take care of kids for dinner and all this. But the guys are out there playing golf and networking. And so as women, we need to find avenues in which. Which work for us.

I love it. I love it. I mean, like, someone says the difference a year can make, but with you, I'm like, the difference six months can make. And. Yes. And it's not that you weren't successful before. This is embracing possibility, you know, and one of my beliefs is, you know, I think it's Jim Rohn that says it a lot, is the goal is not the goal. Right? The main goal is what you become because you try to accomplish the goal. And so look how different you are. You're an upgraded version of yourself. If you. It's you 2.0. Just because you decide to take on These talents, like, look at all these ideas. Look at all the stuff you're doing. It is. I'm like, goosebumpy here.

I'm having the time of my life.

I am happy you're having the time of your life. I didn't know the half of this. This is so good. And you're just starting. That's the quote, unquote scary part, is that this is about to snowball. You haven't even snowballed.

Amen to that.

Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Okay, so what would you say to the doctor who's thinking of starting or scaling a business, but they're holding back, Maybe they're afraid and all the what ifs and stuff like that, or, you know, this is not a great time to grow. Like, I should just be grateful that I'm successful at all. What would you say to someone thinking of starting or scaling?

I think you need to do a little bit of just kind of understanding yourself. Right. And so. So for me, one of the things that work that we did in class that kind of helped me to figure this out was when I identified what I wanted my legacy to be and kind of linked it to my passion. So one of my passions is education, is educating children and empowering women. And I just feel like the obvious thing is when you educate children, you change just their whole trajectory. So an example of this is, so in 2020, I started by sponsoring two kids in Nigeria because went to Nigeria, I met some families and I kind of made some connections. I hired somebody who helps me scout out kind of families. And so I found a girl. She's beautiful. She's going to need to have some eye surgery, but she's a beautiful girl and she's 10 years old. And so I was going to sponsor her because her mom was taking her out of school to go become a seamstress. So I sponsored her. But I found out that she has a brother. So I said, well, that doesn't make any sense, just sponsoring one of them, right? So, okay, well, sponsor two of them. And so their mom wrote me a letter. And in that letter, she said, thank you so much. And she went on to say that when the school bus came to pick up my children, the people who had not greeted me or said hi to me for years, thinking that I was a quote, unquote, useless woman, said hello to me when my kids were picked up by the school bus.

Oh, my goodness.

So every time I remember her letter, I just have a little more pep to my step. Right. I know why I'm doing this. I want to make a positive change in the lives of children. So this year, I'm planning to sponsor another four kids. So I think it's important to know why you want to do it. And I think then on days when you don't feel like getting out of bed, on days when you're like, you know what? There's enough money in the bank to retire, why are we doing this? Why am I doing this? You think about the reason. And I think when that reason resonates with you, then I think you are unstoppable. I could give you ideas of things that you can Google, you know, how to scale your business. I think it's really because we're smart. We can do this right? So it's really just having that inner conviction that this is what I want to do, and then I think nothing's going to stop you.

That is so. That is so profound, and it's so true. And everybody's gonna have a different why, but the more you connect to that, the more unstoppable and limitless you become. And that is really, really, really so good. I mean, for me, personally, I think I have a number of whys. One of the biggest ones is I truly want to die empty. I have no idea who I can become. Right? Like, I don't have the full picture, but I know there's so much more to me than what I've. I've experienced. There's so much more I can do. And so it's like the race against myself, you know, like a race against who I can be. And I'm like, I just want to be that person. It's exciting to see what will happen if I just keep saying yes. If I just keep embracing challenge after challenge. You know what I mean?

Like, yeah, I do.

And that's the drive because I get out of bed. It's not because, you know, I don't have money in the bank. It's not because I can't say I have a successful business. It's not because of any of that. It's like, I want to do this. You know, I want to. I want to help people. I want to grow in my capacity to help other people. So what you said is so profound, because it's exactly what I do, you know, that is so good.

It is. So I think. I think one of the things I also think about, which, you know, hopefully resonates with somebody, is, you know, if we want to scale, then you should actually just do it, because you don't want to be 90 years old and be like, well, coulda, woulda, shoulda, you know? So I think it's that same idea of you want to make sure when you go to that grave, there's nothing left.

There's nothing. You see, you're just like, I did it all. Here's. Here's just the body. You can have it. I'm out.

Peace.

I love it. I love it. And, you know, I went to Washington D.C. in September, and we were driving through and looking at all the monuments and all these things, and I'm like, I wonder if they live life on purpose. Like, I wanted to be this person. Right. Or if it's something that just happened. Because they kept saying yes. But I'm like, this is available to everybody. Everybody can live a life worth having a monument to you. And it's not because I'm not looking for a monument in Washington, D.C. that's not what I'm looking for. But I'm saying we can live. We can live full lives. We can live lives of impact. And I believe that business is one of the best ways to get to do that. Right. Because it creates the financial freedom for you to have the time to do it. It creates the. The money that you need to pull it off. Right. Like, because you.

Yeah.

You're not sending paper to these people to sponsor the kids. Right. You're sending, like, real money.

You know what I'm saying? Ideas and wishes. I dime a dozen. Exactly.

You have to be able to fund it.

Yeah, I would love to help you.

Yeah.

I would love to. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm sorry, I can't. And they're like, okay, well, crime river.

You know, so, you know, so you need to be able to fund it, and you need to grow into the person who has the capacity to dream up big things to do. You know what I'm saying? Like, and that takes growth. And where do you. Where do you grow nonstop is in entrepreneurship. And now the same way your dream is center of excellence, you keep at this. Who knows what you're going to dream, right? I know you're already dreaming it. I'll just, you know.

Yeah, I know. I already have a plan. I already have a plan.

I know.

For my little rascal to go to college.

And then you start implementing phase two.

Yes, yes. I love the rotary. We're going to make a bigger impact. You know, I heard one of the docs, I haven't spoken to her about it yet, but when she talked to me, we talked about kind of our legacies and what was important to her and to us. And she said, education and empowering women in Africa. And I was like, you're like, what? I'm like, we are getting together, girl.

This is so. See? And that's it. Entrepreneurs change the world. And this is why I advocate for physicians being entrepreneurs, whether they work for themselves or they're building businesses from the ground up. Because most of us went into medicine to help people in our own way to change the world. And this gives you the vehicle to do that, right? Because we were thinking, the health care system will give us a vehicle or somebody will give us a vehicle. They are not giving us a vehicle. This is the vehicle to do this. I'm so, you know, I love celebrating success and, you know, wins and all of that. This is. This has made my day. Like, I'm like someone that drank, you know, five cans of Red Bull here. Okay, so what would you say to the doctor who's thinking about starting business on trendy business school, and they're thinking, well, I don't know if I have the time. I've tried something like this before, and it didn't work. I don't know if a group is for me. I don't even really have a business idea. Like, I don't even really know what I want. Or it's expensive. I hope nobody thinks that. But what would you say to that doctor?

Let me. Let me hit the this is expensive part. So I would say that one of the things we talked about is, what would you pay for your pain to go away? And six months ago, if anybody asked me what my pain points are like, you know, life is fine. It's great. Everything's fine. I have no issues. No, you. I don't have any pain. Go elsewhere. But I did have a pain. One of the things that I had was just the amount of time that I was spending documenting. And although I already knew that scribes exist, in fact, I remember going to a rheumatology meeting where I met a rheumatologist who. Who had a scribe. But I didn't take action because I thought, well, my notes have to be a reflection of me and nobody can write with me. And everything I have to say is so important that, you know, how could anybody even just transcribe that? No, And I always said this. I said, when I write my notes is when I think about the patient. So that was another excuse for me not to change anything, because a lot of thinking is going on when I'm doing my assessment and plan. So there's just no way I could use a scribe. So I think that the ability to make that pain go away. I would have paid anything, Dr. Una, if you had said, Arinola, join Entre MD and I'm going to cut your documentation time by 70% and I'll actually just give you a check and just write what you want, honestly, because it's changed my life.

I get a blank check.

It has just changed my life. Right. And so. And Dr. Una, you didn't come in saying, hey, I mean, Allah, get a scribe. No. You opened up my mind to thinking about what my issues were and armed me with tools that I could then use to address them. Right. Because I already knew scribes existed. Right.

Yeah.

So I would say, right. For a doctor thinking about untrained, I think an example is that I have this, you know, Facebook. Wonderful. So I have this private practice rheumatology group, and there was a post from a member a few weeks ago, and she was contemplating starting private practice. And most of the responses were really kind of pessimistic. Well, if you do it, don't expect to make any money in six to 12 months, you're going to need to work as a hospitalist on the side. Don't give up. See if you can continue working for your current boss and maybe start a clinic on Saturdays. That kind of advice. And I started to type and I started to say, well, you can do this. Get in front of your audience. The biggest problem your business will have is obscurity. Your clients need to know you exist. Don't be the world's best kept secret. Take action. Your clients are there. They're waiting for you. There's a shortage of rheumatologists. Start speaking. What will your revenue generating activity be?

Oh, my goodness. Hashtag ontrampd.

Yes. Thank you. So I realized that. Wait a minute, Arinola, in this one post, there is no way you can convince or really successfully help this person. Right. So I deleted my paragraphs of encouragement and I wrote. I said, join Entree MD Business school. Okay. In fact, one step. Just do that. Just do that one step. And then, in fact, one of my classmates, an allergist, has a waiting list of over 100 people before she even opened the doors.

300. Her practice opened today. 300. On her waiting list. Over 300.

She had about 16 patients on day one.

Yes.

So I'm like. I'm like, doctor is amazing. Better go and find her. But I couldn't put all. I couldn't put my accent in There for her to be like.

I love.

Ignore all these pessimists because, you know, people are telling you all this stuff, you know, like, I just. They'll just not enough hours in the day. I don't have that skill set that's got the udler space.

Right.

And I said, you know, that is what you should do. Join Entre MD Business School. And you'll be surprised at how my life has changed. I didn't expect it to. I was really just hoping I'll get a few hints about this second practice of mine and keep it moving. But my life has changed.

This is liquid gold. This is so, so good. So good. Now I can imagine a doctor going like, wow, that's great. So Amtrandi Business school is great for private practice, but I'm a coach or I developed a product or something like that. What would you tell that person? Tell them, go away. This is for the private practice folks.

Actually, the private practice practice folks make a smaller percentage of the Entre MD Business School. Actually, when I get there, I kind of feel like I'm boring, to be honest, because people are thinking out of the box. Like I said earlier, there's someone who's a physician, who's a running coach, there's someone on there who is doing a direct, I think direct fee for service to somebody on there who has like a cosmetic skin care brand.

Yeah.

And there's someone on there who is like a coach and there's someone else who kind of mentors like academics. That one just blows my mind. She mentors academic women and gives them a voice so that they can negotiate themselves better contracts and just, you know, because the boys get paid more than the girls still.

Yeah.

Right. So actually private practice is a small percentage of the people in Entre MD Business School. So I think you actually, if you have. If you have other ideas that are not just mainstream medicine, I think you actually probably even get more out of it than people who have kind of just the bread and butter. But I think every single person that joins Entre MD Business School will tell you that they're thriving.

I love it. I love it. And Dr. Dada, you're going to have a really hard time convincing people that you're boring because they can hear you. Right. Like, if this was a blog, maybe you would get away with it it. But no, there's no way. Like, you walk in and light up the room. So I'm sorry, boring is not. It's not part of your. It's not your thing. It's not your thing at all. I think this, like I knew we were going to have a good conversation. I didn't know it was going to be this good. I am so happy for the personal transformation you've experienced. I'm so happy for the wins in your business and I'm so happy that you're embracing legacy and all that. This is a full, full, full, full package. And thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing the behind the scenes, the good, the bad, the ugly. And you have a lot of good that makes up for any bad or ugly. You know, it really is so good. And you know, for, for those of you who you know are doctors and maybe this is the first time you've actually thought of a business or you have been thinking about one and you haven't started or you wanted to scale the entremde. Business school is a place, there's not a community like it. It is a place where physicians can come and grow together and work hard together and embrace uncomfortable things together, do hard things together and thrive. She's talking about thriving. These things happened in 2020. 2020 has arguably been the worst year in most people's history, right? Like we haven't seen a pandemic before. We have shutdowns before. Like we had none of that. But still. And the mental health part of it, right? Because even though there's all this going on, you have a safe place to come where it's normal to be an entrepreneur, it's normal to dream, it's normal to want big things, it's normal to do these things. And it's a place for you, right? So you should check it out. You should come join us. If you're a doc who's like, I'm ready. I don't have all the details but I'm ready and I'm ready to do the work. I'm ready to embrace it. I'm ready to do it messy. Then it's the place for you. You should really check it out. It's entre md.com business and I mean it's amazing. It really is.

You know, I think the big thing also is just kind of, you know, you may think, oh, they're going to be a bunch of high powered docs and how do I physicians, how do I fit in there? It is really a self safe. There is no silly question.

Nope.

Right. Even people I remember that I think there's someone, there is someone in class who is just actually forming that idea of her business and I just look at her in admiration and she's like, website up today. Spoke to the vendors today, and I'm like, you go, girl. You go. Because actually had to start something too, right? Yeah. So, I mean, she's like, hey, I'm just starting. We are all so supportive and encouraging, and every time she has a win, I just want to like, hey, good girl. You go. You know, So I think that, you know, it's really just a safe place. So that may be a limiting thought for people. And I think Dr. Una, although she gives us these projects to do, she arms us with the tools, like the framework for the Facebook videos so that we're successful. Because she wants us to be successful.

Yes.

When we thrive. Well, when we thrive, then, you know, it's a happier class.

Yeah. And that's my legacy. You know what I mean? That's being able to help us. Because I understand the handicap of it all. Like, here I am, this very smart person. I spent all my time developing these skills. I'm finally clinician. But it's almost like I had one leg that grew and one didn't. You know what I mean? Because to make this work and for me to practice medicine the way I want, I have to be in charge. I have to have a seat at the table. I have to own the table. Right? So to be in a position where I can't negotiate, I can't monetize my dreams and convert them into something that. That's a disadvantage, you know, and to realize that it's a set of business skills that we can learn. We learn the Krebs cycle. We can learn this, right?

We can learn it the Krebs cycle, by the way. But. Yes, but we learned it because you can't pass goal. You can't come.

Like, 200.

Cycle. You embrace it. Right, exactly. So we can do that.

We can do these things. And, you know, and so for me, it's almost like watching something go from X to 10X. It's all, you know, like, I'm a physician, all that, but there's just this missing thing. And once you add that, it's boom, Teddy. Because that's what. That's what's going on with you. You know what I mean? It's amazing. It's so good to watch. Okay, apparently we can go on and on about this, but if people are like, this is so intriguing. I want to find out more about this fabulous Dr. Aranola. Dada. Where do they find you?

Okay, so we'll start with my clinic website, which is overlakearthritis.com. and then LinkedIn, doctorarinoladatta, and then Instagram, Dr. Arinoladata.

Awesome. And I'm going to put all these links in the show notes. So if you guys have people in the Seattle area that have any kind of autoimmune anything, arthritis, the whole nine yards, there is a center of excellence in the making.

There is a center for excellence. Yeah. So.

So send them to her. Okay. Dr. Arnola, thank you so much for coming on here and sharing all of this. This was really so good. So, so, so good.

It's my pleasure. And I'm so happy. And I'm also happy to have this one on one time with you, too. Yeah.

So in the Entremde business school, there is one on one time. There you go.

There is. But you'll be asking me what I do last.

Of course. This always happens. This is so good. So everybody listening. I hope you got as much out of this as I did. I mean, I took copious notes here. It was just really so good and so inspiring. And this is just evidence of what is possible. And there's so much possible for us as physicians. I know we've been devalued. I know we were kicked out of the table. I know that, you know, we're not trained as entrepreneurs. I can understand that feeling. Like, I'm just a clinician. I'm not. I want someone else to take the headache of this away. But this is to show you that you can do this. You can. And my hope is that you embrace all of this and that you go check out the business school and come join us. We will be excited to have you. I mean, you get classmates like Dr. Aranola, if for nothing else. Okay.

So come join us. Come join us for sure.

All righty. So I will see you guys on the very next episode of the entremd podcast. If you loved this, I want you to go share it with another doctor. Okay? Pay it forward. Don't let it stop with you. I'll see you on the next episode. 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.

It.