Why Entrepreneurs Need A Support System
3 Jun 2023 · 13 min
Dr. Kelly Alhooie (host of the Pelvibiz podcast) explains why entrepreneurs—especially pelvic health professionals—need a support system. Using her own story (investing in coaching despite spouse resistance, quickly replacing income), she argues entrepreneurship is often lonely, not taught in clinical training, and requires mentors, peer groups, and a personal "web" of supports (e.g., trainer, chef, therapist, family, childcare). She invites listeners to join Pelvibiz and book a call for support.
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Welcome to Pelly biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alhui. I've grown my pelvic health practice, orthopelvic physical therapy, and now I'm helping pelvic health professionals do the same. Each week, I give you the knowledge you need to grow your practice. Let's get into today's episode. Today I'm going to talk about how to build a support system, especially for us entrepreneurs. Many people that come into the pelvibiz community say, kelly, I just don't know if my husband's going to be on board. I just don't know how I'm going to get him on board for this. I hear that all the freaking time. And when I first started this journey, my husband wasn't on board. And, you know, everyone asked me, kelly, how do you convince your husband to be honest or your spouse? Like, there is no convincing. The best thing that you can do is show them. Show them why you want this so bad. Show them what you're made of. And I know it sounds like, ah, I got to kind of, like, prove myself as us, as female entrepreneurs. Like, that's the last thing I want to do. I already have so much on my plate. Now I got to prove myself to my spouse. Like, what? Yes. That's what you got to do. When I first started out, I had $800 in my bank account, and I invested in a $3,000 coaching program. And my husband and I got in a massive, massive fight. He was like, don't do it. This person's a scam. They're gonna scam you. This is ridiculous. Why would you even think about investing in these people? You're going to lose any money that you don't already have. Like, I mean, it was bad. The stuff he was saying, like, it was bad. There was no confidence building whatsoever. And, you know, and it's not really his fault. Looking back on it, he was just terrified for me and thought that someone was trying to rip me off. And he knew I couldn't even afford to begin with, so he was like, just don't do it. Basically because he was so scared. So he was putting his fear on me. But my gut was saying, no, I'm going to go for this. I'm just going to do it. I know, I know if I just have guidance that I can actually, like, do the thing. And so I did it. I invested in this program. My husband honestly left the house. He stormed out. I'm bawling, crying. And, you know, finally he came. He came back And I stopped crying, and the rest is history. I started orthopelvic, and within one month, I was able to replace my income. That's how you show them. Okay, well, we couldn't afford $3,000, but in the first month, with guidance, I was able to make $8,000. So if you guys put in $3,000 of any investment and you get $8,000 back, do you guys think that that is a good investment? Heck, yeah, it is. That's an amazing investment. So that's what you. That's what it should be like when you're like, hey, who do I need for support? Okay, this is just one of the ways, like, why do I need support as an entrepreneur? Let me tell you this. Entrepreneurship can be very lonely. Most of us get into this because we actually don't want to be entrepreneurs. But the way the healthcare system is being set up and being, you know, portrayed is we can't continue the way this is going. We can't continue to get our pay decreased. We can't continue to put notes before patients. That's not what's in our, like, soul. It's not. I don't want to sit there and check all the boxes just so you get paid by the insurance company. Why my patients looking at me being like, what the heck? Why aren't you treating me? Meanwhile, I still can't even use the freaking tools that I learned in PT school. And therefore, even after the fact, because I'm trying to click all these boxes in the notes like, no, thank you. No one wants to continue to work like that. They don't. Everyone's over it. So where does that lead us? You either quit your job completely and not get another one, or you decide to become an entrepreneur and start your own practice or start your own online business, whatever it is. And that is the only way that you're going to be able to get ahead. It really is. Especially in today's world. So back to why we need support. We need support because we don't know what the heck we're doing. Because PT school or, you know, OT school or PTA school, they didn't teach us this stuff. They didn't teach us how to even open up a business bank account. They didn't teach us any of this stuff. They just taught us how to use our hands. And the only value that they taught us was our hands. And that if we don't use these things, then we're not valuable. Instead, they should have taught us how to use our mind. And that's what Actually truly makes us valuable is our minds. So you need to be involved with other like minded entrepreneurs so that they can give you that support. Because more than likely this is not for everyone. Because I have met entrepreneurs that their husbands are like gun ho about them starting and it is amazing. Okay, over 50% is the opposite. What I experience is they're not really on board, they're scared for them. So if your spouse is scared for you, then who do you have cheering you on? Who is it? Like? My number one person was my mom. My mom was the only person that believed in orthopelvic and said, go ahead Kelly, start orthopelvic. That was the only person that gave me confidence to say, yes, you should do this. And I said, okay, at least one person believes in me. I'm going to do this, I'm going to start this. In addition to that, like how do you create the support system around you that you really need? You find like minded groups. So Pelvibiz is a group for like minded pelvic health therapists, OTs, PTAs, PTs to come together and collaborate and give each other support in addition to even if your spouse is not supporting you or even if your spouse is supporting you. But truly our spouses truly don't know, no offense to them, they don't truly know what entrepreneurship entails. They may say it from the outside, but they don't really know like everything that goes on. The people in Pelvibe's group, they have a clue. They have more than a clue. They definitely have more than a clue of what is going on because they're living it, they're going through it every single day. They're feeling all the emotions, they the highs, the lows, the problems every single day. How are you going to solve it? Once you solve it, then you come up with another problem. And it sounds like that sounds like, oh my gosh, I can't deal with all these problems. But the problems as you grow, actually start to become better problems to have. But when the beginning, they're harder problems because you really have no clue how to solve them. So that's when you really need a support system and people that actually get it. So finding a mentor, finding a group that are, like I said, all pelvic health therapists said that would be amazing group. I found over this last year when I was having lots of medical issues with this staph infection all over my face, I needed a massive web of support. So I always say you need your web you got to cast your web. You're in the middle of the web and who is around you that's going to actually be supporting you? So this past year, when I was dealing with a fair amount of these health issues, I needed a big wet. I needed a personal trainer to motivate me to get my butt off this desk and out of my bed and go and actually lift weights. I needed a chef. So we hired a chef. I needed food to be ready when I needed it ready so that I can eat consistently and my blood sugar not be all over the place. So we hired a chef. I needed a mental health therapist to help me be able to work stuff out in the fact of. To keep me like feeling like what I was doing was the right direction to go. And I just needed advice. And so she was there to help me. Kind of walk me through that. Any kind of friends as well that you have that you can pull into your web that are actually, you know, really supportive of you, not Debbie Downer friends. Okay. Any hobbies that you have that could, you know, eventually give you some kind of creative side and let that creative side go. That's really good to have in your web. Maybe it's your parents, if your parents are still alive, like maybe you can talk to your parents and that's the support group that you need. My mom is my go to. She is the person I talk to every single day. I talk to her about everything and anything and she helps me, gives me advice. I need her in my web. If you have kids, maybe you have your parents around to help or maybe you hire a nanny or a babysitter to help with the kids. And that's going to give you support. So what around you is going to give you the support that you need so that you can continue to do what you're passionate about without sacrificing other things. And you can have it all. You really can have it all. You just have to have the right support system. And speaking of support system, I mean, this is really, I would say over the last two months is where I really want to drive the Pelvi biz mission forward. And the fact that I want to get a group of us together and really do adventurous things and use those challenges and push past them and then that's going to be able to give us confidence to push past it in business. And so soon I'm looking for a group of people that truly just want to hang out, do something different, that they have an experience that I haven't experienced. And together you know, we travel around the US and we do amazing things and have amazing experiences because that, I know, is only going to help every single person in business, including myself. Because when you're challenged with something different and you have the support system around you, that's like, hey, I'm going to do this with you. I'm going to go through this with you. That's what makes it epic. That's what makes you be able to get through it. If you did this stuff alone, you may get there, but it's going to take you a heck of a lot longer and it's going to be a big headache to you. So support is massive, especially for us females, you know, and our hormones are always changing. So depending on when you're on your cycle, you may need more support than other people. And that's okay. That's a. Okay, you know. So who is in your web? That's what I really want you guys to think about is who is in your web and who's going to support you through this journey. And it's an amazing, amazing journey to be on. I would never go back to working for someone else. I truly will always be an entrepreneur from here on out. I never wanted to be one, but the reason I love it so much is the journey to it and like, can I play the game and can I stay in the game in who wants to be along that journey with us, you know? And if you do, reach out, seriously reach out. If you're someone that's like, hey, I need support, I want support, then please contact me, let me know. I'm always willing to talk, you know, and see what we can do to hang out. So hope you have a great day, guys. I consider myself a business and life coach. Are you ready to live the life of your dreams as an entrepreneur? If so, let's chat. See the episode notes below and go ahead and book a call. See you all next week.

