You Don't Need Permission From Anybody But You
30 Jan 2026 · 6 min
Dr. Nneka Unachukwu coaches physician-entrepreneurs on building scalable, profitable practices without waiting for external approval. She covers systems, teams, revenue growth, and the mindset shifts required to become a seven-figure physician CEO, emphasizing that the only permission you need is your own.
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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. Unna. Well, hello. Hello my friend. Welcome back to another episode of the Entre MD Podcast. Today we are going to have a spin off of a conversation that I was actually having with my mother. And I was telling her that I'm grateful for some really bold decisions that I've made over the last decade and half. And I had no idea it would bring me to where I am right now. But I am happy that I took them. And by bold, I don't mean no fear. I mean feeling the fear and deciding to. Deciding to do it anyway. And so I think about it, 14 years ago I was, I mean, I was just fresh out of residency really. And there was this thing, you can start a practice. And I was really ignorant. I didn't know anything about anything at that time. If I did, I probably wouldn't have started a practice. Cause I would have talked myself out of it. But I, for some reason, my husband and I, we just made this bold, audacious decision that we're gonna start a practice. And maybe not conventional, maybe people don't do it that soon out of residency, but we decided we were going to do it. We didn't have the funds to do it, and I mean, like, it was so much. But we decided to. And I can look back now and go, that was a fantastic decision. And then when I started my practice, I remember, I mean, first of all, I just had this thought, I want to work till I'm 40, I want to do the. See the patients till I'm 40, and I want to retire at 40. Which is a crazy thought. I mean, I still think it's crazy, but it's a crazy thought because I was like, I know that I have nine lives in me and I want to live them all out. I didn't know what they were. I had no idea, just knew there was more. And I remember that kind of drove me to try to build my business very early on. My practice as a business that could work without me. Meaning I was big on training my team. I was big on bringing on other doctors as soon as I could. I mean, my first hire literally worked one day a week. She worked on Fridays, which means I had a long weekend every weekend. But it also meant that if I needed to be away, I had somebody that I could pull on things like that. But. And I started thinking about systems. How do you put this in a box? I would read the E. Myth Physician and I was like, huh, how can I apply that? So I started thinking in terms of teams and systems, which if you don't have those, you, you, you do have a job and you can never really separate yourself from it. And I thought about when it came time where I was like, I really need to go in all in on, on Tram D. I really need to chase down this mission of helping a hundred thousand physicians. I need to build out the business school, write books, go all in on the podcast, serve people at the highest capacity, speak on stages, do all of these things. And I made that decision like I was going to take a sabbatical from my practice and really go in. And the, I mean, it's. The growth has been explosive, the impact has been explosive. The. It's just been, it's, it's, it's mind blowing, right? And I'm like, wow, what if I didn't make that decision? And there's a current project that we're working on and the boldness to say I'm going to do it. And it's just been one thing after the other. And even like the decision pull my kids out of private school and homeschool them. And the level we're at the two and a half year mark now, but the level of change that they have Experienced and the things they've learned, the skills they've acquired, the character they've built, the faith they've built. I mean, I'm like, that is one of the best decisions I made. Even though it was a decision that was really hard to make at the time, but I'm so grateful that I did. And so I'm thinking about all these really bold decisions, and they're not necessarily conventional. There are many reasons why it was not the right time. I mean, when I started my private practice, I had two kids under the age of two, you know what I mean? So I. I mean, that was not the right time. I. We didn't have the resources to pull it off. We had to get resourceful. There's so many what ifs right along the way. Just so many what ifs. And. But I can look back and, you know, in hindsight and say, I am so grateful for those bold decisions. And if any, it puts me in a position where I am committed to making more bold decisions. Because I'm like, wow, if I continue along this path, then what could happen?
Right?
And so it made me think, I don't need permission. I don't need for somebody to say, it's okay for you to do this. I don't need somebody to tell me, fine, go for it. You're going to succeed at this. I have the opportunity of taking my life into my hands and building what is a masterpiece according to my standards, right? And today I want to extend that thought to you. To, like, you don't. You don't need permission. You may be like, can I. Can I start a practice? Can I take my practice to seven figures? Can I hire this kind of team member? Can I? Can I? Can I? And what if you didn't need permission? What if you could just do it? You know what I mean? Like, what, what if you could just take it? What if you could just make your dreams a reality? The things you've thought about and thought about and wished about and wished about. What if you could just make it your reality? You don't need permission. Nobody's going to give you permission. Nobody's going to call you and say, yeah, I think you can. You can do this. And if we wait, when do we stop waiting, Right? So I want you to think about this. I'm going to bring this all the way, all the way home. I want to look at seven areas where you don't need permission. If this is what you want to do, then go for it, right? If you. This is what you want to do and you're committed. And I'll tell you what commitment means once I'm done with this, then go for it. Right? So for instance, you decided, I'm building my business and I want to make it a seven figure business, or I want to cross the multiple seven figure mark, or I want to cross the eight figure mark. Well, why not? Why not? Like you don't need permission. If that's what you want to do, you can do it. When I started off on Tram D, I said, Hey, I wanted to help 100,000 physicians and build profitable businesses so they can live life and practice medicine on their terms. And I've been going at it for five years and we are well on our way. We're not quite there yet, but we're well on our way. And you may have some kind of impact that you want to have. I have clients who have told me, big shout out to Dr. Dada. She is a rheumatologist in Seattle and she's, I want to build a center of excellence for rheumatology in the greater Seattle area. That's the impact she wants to have. And I say go for it. You don't need permission, right? You don't need permission. So revenue, what is that impact? What is that for your team? What kind of team do you want to build? So maybe you have a team of producers, you have five people and you know, it's time to bring in a manager or it's time to bring in an executive or any of those. And you're like, I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I can lead that kind of person. People like me, you don't do things like that. And what, you don't need permission? You can build that. You can build that, right? When it comes to service delivery, there's a type of service you want to give. There's a, there's a way you want your clients to feel and all of that. You don't need permission. You can do this, right? When I started my private practice, I was like, I don't want my people to be a number. I want it to be warm and friendly. I want people to feel like, oh, I came to see my cousins who happen to be medical clinical staff, and I wanted them to be in and out within an hour. I wanted the turnaround times to be an hour. That is what I wanted. I don't need permission. I can build that. Maybe there are new verticals that you want to create in your business, right? So Maybe you're a coach and you've decided, I want to build this app. You're in private practice and you decide, there are these other ancillary things I want to build that could be a seven figure stream. Maybe you want to acquire another company and all of those things and you've thought about it and you want to go for it, but you're waiting. You're waiting. Stop waiting. Stop waiting for permission. You are the one who's going to create your masterpiece business. You're the one who's going to do that. Maybe it has to do with quality of life. You want to work three days a week, you don't want to work five days a week. Nobody's going to give you permission. You're going to decide, this is what I want to do, what needs to happen for this to be possible and then go after it and get it done right. Like you can decide. I said I wanted to go on a sabbatical and I've been on a sabbatical for I think 22 months at this time. And that's my call. That's, that's what I want to do. And you can create that. You may decide, I want to take a one month vacation. In fact, in EBS scale, which is the tier of the ontrem D business school for doctors who are running businesses, over a million dollars in revenue. Our very first, I think it was our first few meetings, I was like, okay, how much time did you take off last year? And some are like two weeks, some are like no weeks, and then five weeks and stuff like that. I'm like, okay, well how about over the next 12 months you're going to double that. And I could see everybody's eyes go, what are you talking about? I'm like, and then somebody asked a question which I gu. Was Is on most people's minds. Well, the impact is going to have on my revenue. I'm like, yeah, but what if you could take off, you could double your time off and you can increase your revenue. And they stopped and thought for a moment, that's what we're going to work on. Because that's what you want. That's what we're going to. That's what we're going to create. And for almost every last one of them, as I think about it, they have actually done that, grown their revenue, increased the inc doubled. Like some of them have taken vacations every quarter. Like it's a standing joke. Okay, where's this call going to be from? Because everybody is always somewhere Somebody's in Jamaica, someone's in Cancun, someone is in Scotland. And because that you can create your masterpiece business and your masterpiece life, right? Okay. So maybe it has to do with collaborative relationships. Like, what kind of people do you want in your circle? What kind of people do you want in your network? You don't need permission. You can insert yourself into their circles. Like, you can make this happen and that can be your reality, right? And so if you think about these seven areas, So I had revenue impact, team service delivery, every new verticals, quality of life, collaborative relationships. You can pick, you can choose. You don't need permission. You can create it. We are entrepreneurs. We are literally making something out of nothing. You're a creator, right? Now, I do want to stop here and I want to talk about, I want you to see, because I don't want this to be a thing about wishful thinking. This is what I want. And then it's going to magically manifest and things like that. I would really want you to think this works if you decide on it and you're committed. And I want us to look at, you know, what is the evidence that I'm committed, okay? Because I want to make sure you have that piece so you can decide, this is a masterpiece life I'm going to create. And then you go on to create it. Like, you bring your commitment to the table. Commitment is a requirement, okay? Commitment is a requirement. There's no way around that.
All right?
Now, evidence of your commitment, number one, you are willing to evolve in your identity. Okay? So if you decide, I am going to build a $10 million business, before the $10 million business comes, the person who builds a $10 million business. And that means that you're going to change the way you think. That means you're going to go head on and attack limiting beliefs that you have. That means you're going to expand your expectation. That means you're going to work on all of those work to do that. But it is beautiful work. Like the version of you that will show up on the other side of that, you will absolutely adore. Okay? And so that means you're somebody who does that. You do the mindset work, you do the shifts. In the entre business school, we work on this a lot. Getting you to shift that identity, getting you to make those mindset shifts, getting you to identify what those obstacles are, your mind are, and facing them head on, right? Because you're not going anywhere on the outside that you haven't been to on the inside. Like, it Just doesn't work. Okay? So that's the first evidence of your. Evidence of your commitment. You're going to do that work. And the second thing is that you're going to take the corresponding action. The person who is building a $10 million business, how do they show up? How do they go after marketing, how do they go after sales? What is their brand? Like, what kind of service delivery do they have? Like, what is that? And you start taking those actions even before you get there, because it's the actions that will get there will get you there. Right? And so you have the evolution in your identity. You have the corresponding action. So you cannot refuse to do the work that's going to get you to 10 million and sit and wish and vision board out 10 million. Like, it doesn't work that way. Okay, all right. And the corresponding action, you're going to do it, and you're going to do it long enough, right? And so saying, oh, I hired. I had one bad hire an executive. It didn't work out. I got burned. I don't do that anymore. No, if you didn't, you're gonna go do it again. Okay? And listen, especially when it comes to hiring, because at this level of business, a lot of the issues around team and all of those things. I had the privilege of being in a room listening to a speaker who was running a $500 million business. And somebody asked her a question about. The person said, you have so many amazing people on your team. Like, how did you find these unicorns? And I was so excited somebody asked that question. I leaned forward. I was like, she's going to tell me all the things. I'm going to go back. I'm going to change my company. It's going to be so amazing. And she said, it really is trial and error. Now, first of all, I was upset. I was like, wait a minute. At 500 million, are we still talking about trial and error? She says, it's trial and error. You're probably going to kiss three or four frogs before you hit Prince Charming. And so my conclusion at the end of that meeting was, you know what? Since this is trial and error, since it may take me three to four hires to get to the person who is the person, then I guess I best get to it, right? And so you're gonna have to do this stuff long enough. You're. I mean, like, it is what it is. And the reason why that happens, if I may digress a little bit, is because, I mean, in the beginning, you don't really know what you want, right? And so maybe the first hire is even figuring out what do I want for this role. Right? And you don't know how to lead that kind of. So you're going to have to grow in that. You're like, it's all, it's all of that, right? So it's a two way street, right? It's not just the people, it's the people and the leader. And so you have to do this long enough to get good enough to get the person you need. But anyway, so that's the second thing, the corresponding action and long enough. And then the third thing is you have to be able to weather storms. Your commitments, when things are all rosy, doesn't mean anything. We don't know you're committed till the storms show up. And in entrepreneurship, things are going to go down in your life. Things are going to go like that, Things are going to happen. It's not going to be a bed of roses. Your ability to say no retreat, no surrender in the midst of a storm is what will put you in a position where you can make your dream life your reality, where you can make this masterpiece business according to your standards, a reality. Right? And so that's the evidence of the commitments. If those three things are not there. Like you may be saying it, but it really is wishful thinking, right? And so especially as physicians, I mean, we are in this space where it really is fascinating what is happening in the healthcare space. It doesn't matter what kind of entrepreneur you are, whether you're an intrapreneur or you're running a practice, or you're a coach, or you're a speaker, or you run events, or you have a product. It's interesting times, but I'm here to tell you that we are the first generation of physicians who are gonna be like MD 2.0 entre M where your empty is just no longer enough, right? Like you have it and you have all these business skills and all of this. And we are rewriting what a physician looks like. Like a physician before just means clinical skills. But we are rewriting that we have the clinical skills. We understand how to negotiate in boardrooms. We are building seven eight figure businesses. We are leading initiatives in the healthcare space. We are the ones who are influential with the loudest voices, like we're a new crop of physicians. And I am telling you, nobody's going to give you permission and you don't need anybody's permission. I want to invite you to give yourself permission today to go all in on what Your dream business is go all in on what your dream life is. And I would love to watch you celebrate and celebrate and celebrate the life you go on to create. When I was talking with my mother, she was like, there's no way you could have imagined that you'd be where you are right now. And I'm giving that comment to you as a gift. You cannot imagine where you will be if you just give yourself permission to go ahead and build what you've been dreaming of. Take that dream, add commitment to it, and go for it. I'm rooting for you, and the physician space is waiting on you. I'll leave you with this. I had the opportunity to. To be in a. In a group with a number of entrepreneurs. These are people running multiple eight, Multiple eight, multiple seven figure businesses. And I got to introduce my children to them, and I got to bring my children into the room. And they sat there while these people are talking about their businesses and talking about the challenges they're facing, and someone's talking about how he's on track for his first $10 million year and somebody else is. We hit our first $300,000 month and all of that. And my kids, I'm thinking that what it did for them is it wasn't an overt message, but it was this thing of, you belong in the room. This is a big room, but there's a spot for you in this room. And they got to see things that maybe before they didn't quite know was as possible, but these are real people that they're talking to. Some of them got auntie and uncle status. The power of an example, right? And they saw people of all races, all gender, like all of this stuff, and they're like, wow. The healthcare space, the physician community, is desperately looking for examples. And you're listening to this podcast. I want to challenge you. Do this for yourself and do this for the physician community. Because everybody who sees you cannot unsee what they just saw. And it drives them to say, wait, then maybe I don't need permission and I can go do this. And your life begins to trigger this ripple effect all through the physician community just by being. Just by you being. So I'm inviting you, do it for you. Do it for the physician community. We are the calvary. We are the first generation. We are the first crop, and we're going to get this done. All right? So I'm rooting for you, and I want you to embrace this concept that you don't need permission and go all in. Create your masterpiece. Business and your masterpiece, life. And I will see you on the next episode of the EntreMD podcast. Hey, if you love listening to the Entre MD podcast, I want to invite you to join Entre MD on demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to onchand.com forward/on demand and I'd love to have you join us. See you on the inside.
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