The Most Important Reason Not to Quit on Your Business

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 my friend. Welcome back to another episode of the entremd podcast. This episode is just gonna be one like we have never had before because I just got in from Fort Lauderdale. We had the Entre MD Business School Vision Retreat, which is a three day event that we have really to set the tone for the following year. So if you've listened to the podcast for any amount of time, you know that I start my year in October. And so Q4 is really my Q1. And so we have the event in October to set the stage for the following year. And then we use that quarter to kind of practice what we decided to do for the next year. So Q4 of 2023, October, November, December, we're going to be showing up as the version of us who gets whatever it is that we decided we wanted in 2024. And so that way we start 2024 with a bang. Like, we're not. I mean, by the time people are celebrating January 1st, we're like, been there, done that, tested it out, worked out the kinks, and I'm here to kill it. That's kind of the attitude we show up with. And so in October, we Just hold that. We set what the goals are and we allow ourselves to dream and we reconnect with our whys and we look at the things that didn't work and the fears that have stopped, the strategies that work, the ones that didn't like all of that stuff. And in the midst of it, we get to network in this unbelievably amazing community of doctors who are daring their fears and doing big things and they're leaders of industry and they're doing things that really people aren't doing and they're crushing goals and all of that. And very supportive, very vulnerable. Lots of laughing, lots of crying, lots of come to Jesus moments. And it's just phenomenal. So I just literally got back from that and there's so many powerful moments that happened and I'm going to be sharing a lot of them with you. But one of the moments is one that I figured is the most important one to share today. And so I got back home, I went with my mom who got to really see this version of me for the first time. And it was such a great experience that I could share it with her and share my people with her. And they loved her, she loved them. It was just so good. And my kids went as well. And so we just got back about 45 minutes ago, but I wanted to come talk about this. And you know, somewhere along the line during the event, we were talking about the things that kind of get in the way of us really enjoying what we do or staying on track and things like that. And somebody got up to talk about not quitting. She was like, I've been in here and I'm growing, but some people are growing faster than me. And I sometimes wonder about it and. But when the thought comes of quitting, I'm like, but I won't quit. I will never quit. What is the alternative? I will never ever quit. And I have a very soft spot for people who are either in the earlier stages of entrepreneurship or the, they're in the earlier stages of a big transition. So for instance, somebody who's working on their first hundred thousand dollars, I know what that's like. Or somebody who's built a successful business business, for instance, but they're trying to, you know, build a team so this, and you know, build their processes so this is a well oiled machine so that they can go to another phase of their business right where, where this is working on its own. And they're like a true founder. And both of those, there's a lot of vulnerability and There's a lot of evolution required and there's a lot of work. It's literally like getting a plane off the ground, right? That's when the plane is noisy, is shaking, there's turbulence, there's all of these things going on. But if you can get through that, you're going to get to where you're at the cruising altitude and kind of cruising and things are lighter and easier, even though you're doing bigger things. And so I have a very soft spot because I know if you don't go through that, you're not going to come out on the other side. And so many people quit there because it's like a lot of work. You're working the Runway, the plane is shaking, you're burning the gas, but you're not flying. You're still on the ground. I get it, I get it. And so when she said that, I said I was like, I want to talk about that some. You know, I was like, let me take you back to my journey. Because there are people who start off as entrepreneurs and they just crush it. Like in the entrepreneur business school, we have people like that. They start a private practice first year, you know, they're doing a million dollars. We have people who are doing direct specialty care, and within 14 months they've crossed the million dollar mark, or people who come in, I don't want to add an extra million this year. And they do it like, we have people like that. But I'm like, I wasn't one of those people. I mean, like, I started off, I, I started off slow because let, I'm like, let's look at the trajectory. I started thinking about the fact that as a physician, if all I know how to do is doctor, I'll be out of luck. This, I've told this many times, but that was in 2016 and 2016. I'm like, I, I didn't even know coaching was a thing. I did not know that you can get into a program and learn and be in community so you can fast track this. I didn' know any of that. I didn't even know they were podcasts. I started listening to podcasts a month before I started my podcast. I didn't even know there were podcasts. And so I had these books and I'd read some Brian Tracy books, John Maxwell books, things like that, whatever I could get my hands on, and Grant Cardone books. I'd do stuff like that. I did that for 2016. I did that for almost all of 2017. It wasn't till the end of 2017, I found this speakers boot camp. And I was like, oh, well, I mean, doctors can be speakers, right? That's one of the things that was on my list that I could do, right? Since I want to stack skills over just doctoring. And so I went for the boot camp. And I'm thinking, this is a three day boot camp. I'm like, this is fantastic. And at the end of the boot camp, then they say, well, we have the speaker's mastermind. I'm like, that's cool. I mean, that might be nice. And it's. There's 10 months. I'm like, okay, I can do that. They're like, and it's $43,000. And I'm like, you guys must have lost your ever loving mind. What? Because remember, I'm going from books to 43 grand. I'm going till $20 on Amazon to 43 grand. Like, this is a little bit of a jump here. And I remember. I am so grateful. I am so grateful that I did that. Right? Okay. So I did that. And that was the end. This is like either end of November or early December or something like that of 2017. So understand this. I have decided that I'm going to build this business right? That's separate from what I'm doing. I made that decision in 2016, and I couldn't even get the direction right. And then I said, okay. And then 2017, still nothing had happened. But at the very end of it, I found this speaker's mastermind. Okay, So I signed up for it. Then it didn't start till the following year, which was 2018 and 2018. I did the speaker's mastermind. I tried doing a Facebook, doing Facebook lives. I started a Facebook Live series. I'm not, of course, I'm not necessarily making money from the Facebook Live, but yeah, I got patience and stuff like that. So indirectly. But it wasn't for the business I was trying to work on, right? This was for my private practice. And. And I'm still going. And there's. There's nothing, there's. There's nothing like revenue to chauffeur it. But I was changing. I was evolving. I was becoming an entrepreneur at that stage. I didn't even have my ideal client. I'm like, I want to help everybody. I want to help everybody. I want to help everybody become an entrepreneur or do better as an entrepreneur. And I started hosting these events. I mean, the biggest thing I did was I had an event. I had about, I mean, maybe 80 people in there. And I charged them 50 bucks per ticket. That was my big thing, right? That's like my really big thing that I did in 2018. So 2018, maybe I made six grand or seven grand. There was nothing happening. So I want you to think 2016, 2017, 2018, right? And 2019 was, end of 2018 was when I was like, okay, fine, I think I need to talk to doctors. Because I'm like, I have the doctors. When I talk to everybody, they don't listen to me because they're like, we're doctors. We don't do stuff like that. And then I have the people who are not doctors. And when I talk to everybody, they don't listen to me either because they're like, clearly you're talking to doctors who have the capacity, the capability, the smarts to do what you're talking about. And so I was like, I got. I have to pick somebody. And so 2018 in September was when I picked physicians. And that's when Entremd was born. So again, this is three years later, because we're talking September 2018. This is the end of 2018. Okay? So three years I've been doing all this work. Nothing to show for it. Now I will say I did not have the entrepreneur business school and I did not have the entrepreneur podcast, okay? Because it should not take this long to figure, like, to figure all of that out, like in the way that I was doing it. But it can and it's okay. So it was not till 2019 that I had the very first ontrem d live. We had 47 doctors flying from, from nine different states. We had a great, amazing, amazing meeting. And I launched my very first program, which was the Freedom Formula Masterclass. It was a 12 week program to help physician entrepreneurs. And I mean, it was unbelievable. And after that, we did a second program. And so that was the year that we crossed $100,000 mark. So 2016, nothing to show. 2017, nothing to show. 2018, nothing to show. And quote, unquote, nothing to show. Right? Because I was changing. I was learning to be a speaker. I was learning to make offers from stage. I was learning to do all of these things. 2019, hundred thousand dollars. Okay, now 2019 hundred thousand dollars. 2020, 260 thousand dollars. 2021amillion. 2022, two million. And we have the on trendy podcast that has helped tens of thousands of doctors, right? Because we are at a point where we have almost 600,000 downloads at this point. So that, that came out of all of that the EntreMD method book, being on the Inc 5000, the thousands of doctors that we've put through our events, like the entremd Business School that has helped hundreds of physicians. Right. The event we just went for, we have about 19% of the people who are in the room were running businesses between a million and 3 million. I want you to think about the power of that. Right. And a lot of them are newer entrepreneurs. Okay. So when you think about that, it's crazy what can happen. And some may say, oh, my goodness, that was a quick rise. Yeah. But there was three years of nothing, quote, unquote. And so I told this story to the doctors, and I said, this is why it makes me. It breaks my heart when people quit, because I have this gift when I talk to somebody who is starting a business or who is ready to take their business to the next level. Like, you're. You're like, you know, I want to. I want to have a leadership team. I want to do all of these things. I'm able to see five years, 10 years down the line. Like, while you're talking to me, I'm like, this is exciting. Look at what we can do. And that's why I'm able to celebrate what people consider little wins. This is why I. It doesn't matter the challenge you're going through. I'm like, okay, let's get through this, because we're going somewhere. So I told them, I'm like, this is the reason why we don't quit. The opportunity cost of quitting is so high, because think about it. There will be no entrepreneur podcast. There will be no entrepreneur method book. There will be no entrepreneur business school. Like, none of these things would exist. None. And I'm like, so that's why we don't. And I'm telling you this because you may not be able to see the outcome of what you're working on now. You may be at a stage where you took your business to seven figures, and you know you're not going any further until you build a solid team. And building a team is hard work. It is hard work, but the return on investment is so amazing. Your team is your ticket to freedom. And when I say freedom, I mean big impact. Living life on your terms, big building what you originally set out to build. You need a team. But when you go to do that work, it's like being in a construction site. It's hard. It's hard work. And part of it being hard is you're going to need to evolve. There was you, the producer who can make all these results happen, and now there's you, the leader who gets results to happen through people. They're two completely different skills. But when you go through it, there will be that temptation to quit, to go back to your comfort zone, to default to what is familiar. And I'm inviting you, if you can just go through it, what is on the other side is beautiful. It is so good. So I told them this story, I gave them the timeline, and I'm like, don't quit if you need help, right? So I'm talking to the doctors and entrepreneurs business school. I'm like, if you need help, you have this community. We may not always be in person, but we have the really active Facebook community reach out. We have success groups for you, we have the Wednesday calls for you. We have all of these things for you so that you can get the support you need. Need to keep going, don't quit. And it was so. It was such a beautiful moment because another doc got up and said, like, when you talked about quitting, I almost got mad at you. What? Don't quit. Like, where would I be if you quit? Like, why would you do that? And I'm like, yeah, that's the point. Like, why would you do that? Right? Why would you do that? That's my question to you now. Like, why you would. Why would you do that? And you might say, I'm not quitting. I'm not talking. This may not be quitting your business. This may be quitting. You start, you're like, I'm going to work my processes in my systems so that our systems are more efficient and this can work where we're producing the same level of care or service delivery in my business, whether I'm there or not. And you started doing it and you're like, this is work. I don't want to do it. And you quit. So of course you didn't quit on your business. Somebody who doesn't have a savvy, I won't know because you're still bringing in the revenue, you're still servicing people. But you know you quit, right? You quit. You said, okay, I'm going to evolve to be the kind of person who can lead a high capacity team. And then you have somebody who quit on you and you have somebody who betrayed you and you have somebody who worked so hard to train and they left. And you're like, I quit. Like, I'm just going to do this myself. I'm inviting you. What is on the other side is so beautiful. And it is so worth it. Don't quit. There is a version on the other side that is yours. It's not going to be the ontremd podcast. It's not going to be books. It's not going to be the Ontario Business School. It's literally changing the physician community because we are touching people. We're touching people who are touching people. It may not be that, but your thing is as powerful, your thing is as transformational. Don't quit. And so if you're like, fine, I've been treating my business like it's a hobby. I'm going to own it. I'm going to go all in. I'm going to make this a business. I'm going to make it profitable. I'm going to replace my physician salary with this. I'm going to do all of those things. Don't quit if your things. I'm going to build this business so it works without me. Don't quit. If your thing is like, I am building the center of Excellence for Rheumatology, shout out to Dr. Dada in the Greater Seattle area. Don't quit. And she's not quitting. She's such a rock star. Right? Whatever that is. What is on the other side is so good. Don't quit. Okay, so that's what I'm inviting you to do today. And I just want you, like, whenever you feel like quitting, just remember, like, I'm an example for you. I could have quit, but look at all the beautiful things happening because I didn't. And think about all the beautiful things which you can never predict. You can try, but it's always so much better than you thought. Think of all the beautiful things that could happen if you don't keep that top of mind. Now, what I want you to do with this episode is I want you to take it and share it with the physicians in your world, especially the physicians who are entrepreneurs. Because entrepreneurship is challenging. It is so worth it. But it is challenging. But the things about the challenges is designed to make us better. And we're supposed to go through them, not stop. Right? Go through them. Yes, you may need support. Yes, you may need encouragement. Yes, you may need mentorship so that you understand how to do these things properly and with fewer trials. But it is challenging, but we can do this. And if you're in this time, embracing entrepreneurship as a physician, even beyond what the business does for you. Right. Is going to make you so much better, because you will evolve. You have the opportunity to help so many people, which will really enrich your life. Like the life change that will happen, it will just mean the world to you beyond the time freedom, beyond the financial freedom. The physician community is in desperate need of examples of what is possible. And we are the people writing history. We are the people rewriting the culture and the narrative for the physician community. So even above everything that your business will do for your clients and will do for you and will do for your family is that you'll be a gift to a million physicians who need examples of what is possible. So I invite you to be one who's gonna inspire so many to get out of all the things we see, the burnout, the loss of autonomy, the depression, the hopelessness, the feelings of being stuck believing, buying into this lie that we can't build great businesses. You're one of the people that the physician community is waiting on. Okay? So I'm calling you to embrace your call and go share this with another doctor. I'll see you on the next episode of the ontremity podcast. If you enjoy listening to the ontarimity podc, you have to check out the on trendy business school. It's the number one business school for physicians who want to build six, seven and multiple seven figure businesses. You get the coaching, the accountability and the community you need to do the work so you can thrive. To find out if this is your best next step, book a call with my team. Entre MD.com call that's Entre MD.com call. I can't wait to celebrate the all all the wins we can create together.