#143 My Entrepreneurial Journey From Clinic To Helping Women Grow Their Wealth, ft. Bonnie Koo, MD

Foreign. Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. I'm your host, Peter Kim. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe so I can bring it to you every week. Now let's get on with the show, Everyone. Hope you've had another great week. This week my voice has been a little shot. I don't know if you've been dealing with that kind of stuff too. Family at home, sickness, this never ending cycle. Stay strong. You're going to get through it. We're going to get through it. But I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite interviews with a good friend. So, one of the most fascinating women in medicine and Finance, Dr. Bonnie Koo. She's a dermatologist, She's a certified life coach, passionate about helping type A successful women with personal finance strategies. But this stuff can apply to everybody. Listening to this, she talks about her financial struggles, what it took to get past that. Now she educates others. If that story sounds at all familiar, it kind of mirrors my own journey to talking about passive income and finances, especially in the physician world. Now she hosts a successful podcast, she has workshops, she has retreats, all these amazing things. This interview first aired at one of our leverage and growth summits. She was one of 30 plus physicians who shared their stories, their entrepreneurial journeys to inspire other physicians to leverage their ideas to create passive income. I love sharing these stories with you. We'd have our next summit March 15th through 19th, 2023. I hope you're a part of it. You're going to really like this interview. Hope you enjoy. I'm now excited to be talking to Dr. Bonnie Koo. She's a certified life coach, a physician, and founder of Wealthy Mom, MD. Her mission is to help women create wealth and and rewrite history. She's the host of the Wealthy Mom MD podcast and an author now of this book called Defining wealth for Women. Peace, purpose and plenty of cash. Here's a copy of it right here. I don't know, I think it's kind of whited out, but there it is right there. Bonnie, how you doing?

Doing great.

Yeah. Every time I talk to you like you've got something new going on, we're gonna start talking about it. Tell us a little bit about just in the beginning, just right off the bat, like what is this book about?

Yeah, so the title I think is pretty self explanatory. So it's called Defining wealth for Women and it says Peace Purpose and plenty of cash. Because I think it's really easy to get sucked into. Like, I want to have more money, like, kind of really focusing on them. And money's great. And it's super fun to have, right? It, like, I think it makes life more enjoyable in many ways. Right? But I think if you forget that, like, having, like, purpose, like, I think that's what really makes humans happy, right? Like, when you have a sense of purpose and then having, like, peace, like, peace of mind. So it's like bringing all three together, right? It's not just about the money. Money is great. It's great to have a lot of it. But, like, if you don't have the other two, it's like, it's kind of. I feel like life is kind of empty and meaningless.

So that's awesome. I mean, is that kind of what your brand is about? Can you tell people what is wealthy mom md? What do you particularly do with that brand? And what is the focus?

Yeah, so this is a great question. And so I know many of the people watching, they might have an idea of starting a business or they might have started in the early on. And the one thing I want to say is, like, my brand has evolved over time, and so I think we just have to be okay with that, you know, and that, that's just. That's how you grow, right? Because as you get more information, your brand is going to morph. And so I started out as purely financial education. Like, I was educating myself about money. And then I realized it was something a lot of women physicians in particular, because I was in these, you know, physician mom groups. None of us knew anything about money, right? And so I just started answering everyone's questions. And then I started a blog. And it's funny, right, because I think it's so important who you end up meeting and talking to along the way, Right. It's not like this happened in a vacuum. Like, I had a friend suggest, like, hey, you should start a blog. And then actually, like, you, a year later, you're like, hey, you should get going on the business. You know, it's like these, you know, these seemingly like, you know, random sentences and words, but they all helped sort of push me along. And so, yeah, I started as a, like, purely, like, just teaching people, like, hey, this is a Roth ira or, hey, this is how you should invest. Hey, you should get this life insurance. And that's how I got started. And then I started working with a coach who, you know, Sunny Smith. And there's different types of Coaching. So the type of coaching that she did with me was really working on our limiting beliefs, right? Because I think every business owner or just anyone who's trying to do big things in life, you're going to have that, like, inner critic, that negative self talk, like, well, you really can't do this. Why don't you be realistic? You're going to have friends say the same thing. Like, you're a doctor. You should just, you know, stay there. It's good money, it's secure. Like, why would you want to do this? Like, you're going to hear it from other people and then obviously yourself. And so I think a coach can really help you really go after your dreams, right? And so then I realized that was kind of the missing piece with money, right? Because doctors are like, obviously we're smart. When I say smart, I mean, like, we have this ability to, like, inhale a lot of information, make sense out of it, right? And then we have to, like, use it in our daily, you know, to diagnose and treat patients, but then also be able to, like, explain things. You know, hopefully as a doctor, you explain things in layman language, right? And. And so I realized this was the missing piece of money. It's like, okay, women physicians or any smart, successful woman, like, they don't have a learning problem, right? And money itself, as a skill set or as a knowledge base isn't actually that hard. But we have so many limiting beliefs in the way from a. From like, doing, you know, getting to where we want. And so I basically, I think of it as, like, I just added more tools to my kit of helping women with money. You know, at first it was like, hey, this is information. Because even that was hard to come by in, like, a succinct way. And then I added another tool to my, like, box, so to speak, where now I help women, well, do both. I still help with the financial strategy piece, but now I'm helping them actually implement it. Right. Because that's all mind stuff, basically.

I mean, people see you now and you are this trusted resource when it comes to talking about money. And you have this, you know, amazing brand. But you mentioned that, you know, it started from pretty humble beginnings, I think, where you just kind of started talking about it. I mean, was money always a kind of like something that you focused on early on and something that you always felt you were good at, even throughout, like, training in medical school?

Not at all. And I think that's actually, you know, I think when you think of, well, I can only speak for myself and maybe some of my other friends who are entrepreneurs is like, a lot of times it ends up being something that we used to struggle with ourselves, and then we sort of overcame it, and then we help other people with the same struggles. Right. I know that's kind of like, part of your story too. And so no money. It's funny. Cause I used to work at Morgan Stanley, but I worked in it. But a lot of people will hear Morgan Stanley, like, oh, you worked in finance? I'm like, no, I worked on the computer side, but I didn't learn about money until my last year of residency. And then I'm one of those people that once I get into something, if I enjoy it, that is, I, like, just consume everything. And then I didn't realize. I mean, I guess I knew that it wasn't something people really knew, but I didn't know that it was something that a lot of people had trouble with. You know what I mean? Cause I just didn't really think about it. And when I was in these Facebook groups, that's when I realized that there is, like, this hole, you know, this, like, need for someone to help them. Obviously, there are other people doing the same thing. But I think this is what I love about entrepreneurship is like. Because I'm sure a lot of people have limited beliefs, like, well, someone's already doing that. Right. There's already so many coaches, just to give coaching example. But I think what we have to remember is, like, not everyone's gonna resonate with this person or that person. And so I almost feel like there really can never be enough unless everyone has financial literacy, which we know is not the case. Right?

Yeah. Then when you started learning and doing all this stuff, you said you started a blog. I know you started some courses. You started all that. Like, how did you learn how to start that in the beginning? And what were some of the resources you used to get you where you're at today?

Yeah, so the blog thing, that was completely like, do it yourself. But I think having that IT background help. Like, to me, tech is not hard at all. I know that's something a lot of people have trouble with, like, tech. You know, they get really stuck in that. But, you know, I used to code, right. So not hardcore coding, but, you know, more than the average person. And so back then. But WordPress was around back then, so that. That makes things easy. You have to really know. But if I had. If I want to tweak something, I knew how to massage the code, and I still do that. Today, because I. I know a little bit, you know, about web development. So that was just like. And I just use, like a template. And it's funny, I wish I had a screenshot of the old website. Not that it was ugly, but it's different than what I have today. And then what I ended up doing is educating myself. Because the thing is, like, I didn't know anything about an online business. Marketing. Like funnels, right? Like, people hear funnels are like, what the heck is a funnel? Right? Or what's a CRM or what these acronyms we use. An online business. So I took courses on all of this stuff. So I took Marie Forleo's B School, which is kind of like an overview of online business. Like, how to think about. For marketing, how to think about your customers, how to, like, deliver your content. Right. And then I took Amy Porterfields. I took, like, all of her courses. Basically, I took Stuba. I just did, like, I think of it as my internship. It was like, all in the same year. I just, like, went all in. To learn it all.

Yeah. And then basically you're just able to take those and apply it and create your own courses. And how long did that take to happen?

Yeah. So the first time I did a course, it's interesting because I see a lot of people get stuck with their first course because a lot of us struggle with perfectionism, Right. And so what I end up doing is I did something called pre selling. And so what that means is you sell the course before it's like, ready, right? Because you only have to do it one module or one lesson at a time, depending, Right. Because some people have courses where you get everything at once. Kind of like Netflix or you can, like, drip it out like a lesson at a time. So I did, like, a lesson at a time. And so I just had to be ahead a week. Right. And so that's something I tell a lot of, like, new course creators is like, you know, don't put so much pressure on yourself to have this perfectly polished course. Like, do you remember when you made your first version of Passive Real Estate Academy?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a mess. I'm kind of like, you never want to even look at it again. Right. So.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think one thing I've learned is, like, you just want to get it out there, and it's in the getting out there that you make it better. Right. That's how you evolve. That's how. Actually, I remember Brendan Burchard. I went to a conference with him it was the Kajabi summit. And he said, like, if you think about the word perfect as a verb, you can't perfect something unless it's already out there. You put it out there and then you perfect it. And so that really, like, stuck with me when I heard that. So it's like, okay, I gotta get version one out. I know version one can help people. Like, that's something I really had to tell myself, because you can. Otherwise you're really stuck in, like, it's not perfect, it's blah, blah, blah, Right? But that's like being self focused, right? Like worried about how you're going to look. But if you focus on, like, I know I can help someone. And even version one is going to help someone, of course it's going to get better. But I used to have like really negative self talk about if it's not perfect, it's not going to really help as many people as possible. But I think we have to realize, like, you know, version one can help a lot of people.

And you were doing all this stuff while still practicing medicine. I know you're a dermatologist by training. Can you tell a little bit people a little bit about how you were able to balance or marry both of those things together?

Yeah. So I was. When I started working on the course, I remember this was like summer of 2019 and I was working in a private practice and I ended up switching to Locums that summer. And so I think I sold the course right when I was making that transition. And so the Locums job I had, there's obviously different permutations, but it was like two weeks on, two weeks off. And so it was kind of like perfect, right? I have two weeks off to like work on it. Although I think we ended up traveling a lot. But I definitely remember, like working all day, coming home, and then like recording, like planning and recording content. And so it was definitely a bit of a grind, you know, that summer. And then, well, 2020 hit, right? The pandemic. So I finished up a Locums job the end of February 2020. And then like, looking back, I mean, it's like, it's just crazy how everything happened, you know, And I wasn't planning to stop practicing medicine. Like maybe it was like a distant plan, right? But I wasn't actively thinking, like, I'm going to quit. But I think the pandemic kind of expedited that. Like, basically I couldn't get a job. Like, the goal was to come back from Locums, get a part Time job locally, like two to three days a week and continue working on my business. But then everything shut down and I couldn't, you know, get work. And then even when things opened up in terms of job markets, this was pre vaccine right? In 2020. And so I wasn't excited about working and exposing myself, my family. And you know, the best part, you know, Peter, is I didn't have to, right? I was in a position where I didn't have to do that. And there's so much freedom in that. And what's funny is because people, I think people assume that I must have millions of dollars saved up in order to do that, but I really don't. And that's one thing that I really teach my class. The message I want to give is like, you don't have to be a gazillionaire or like have your retirement money or retirement number because people talk about this like a magical number. Once you reach, then you can retire. Like, you don't have to have that in order to, you know, carve out the type of life you want. Like, you can start making changes a lot earlier than you think.

I mean, when did you actually transition it from like actually to a business and what, what was behind that decision? Because, you know, you could just work as a dermatologist. You could, you know, you like talking about this stuff and you could just talk about it online, but why actually take it to the next step and decide that this is going to be some sort of either money making venture, but also create a business and a system around this?

Yeah, it's. That's a good question. You know, I, I wish, sometimes I think people want to hear, like, I don't know, one day God gave me this message that I should do this, right? But it really comes just down to like deciding to do it. I know it sounds kind of like maybe mundane, but I think I just decided like, hey, why not? Like, why not? Like, why not go all in? And the worst that could happen is it fails and I go back to being a doctor full time. Like, it didn't seem like a bad plan B, so to speak, right. And, and then intentionally surrounding myself with people who are doing the same thing. Right? Because if I, I think when you don't do that, it's really easy to kind of like. And then you're just running by naysayers kind of. Right? Because that's kind of like what most people, they're like, be realistic and you know, stay in your lane or whatever they say. So.

All right, let's talk a little bit about the book real quick in terms of the process of writing the book. And I love grabbing it here because it's. It's really nice color. It's very nice, and it's nice on our coffee table. But why did you decide to even go about writing a book? I know that a lot of people, when they're doing them, they're going to different ventures, they probably go through that same process of, should I write a book? What's that look like? And what's the purpose of it? So I'd love to kind of dive into that a little bit for you, with you. So, I mean, what made you decide to actually go through the process of writing a book? Because I know can be difficult.

So it's funny, like, even when I had the blog back in the day, because now I have a. Now it's a podcast. It's been a podcast for a little over a year now. I actually want to write a book from the very, very beginning. And it was different at the time, right? Because I remember, like, looking into the whole book thing because I didn't know anything about publishing. I never considered myself a writer. And I was like, oh, I need to write like a book proposal. That's what people do with a nonfiction thing, right? And so I remember I actually started writing it and I actually kind of like mapped out a table of contents and this is going to be more of a financial how to book strategy. But then I kind of like put it down. I was like, basically, I'm like, this sounds like a lot of work, right? And I actually, at fincon a few years ago, I think you were at that fincon. I, you know, met with a company that like helps you publish it, right? They like, really, you know, take you step by step through the process and actually signed on with them. I think you signed on with them too. And I did it for two months and then I quit. And so I think it's to say that it's. I wouldn't say it's hard to write a book, but it's not just something you just whip out in a day, right? The whole process. And so just to give you that background, because it's not like I just decided one day and it's. And the book is here, right? Like, there's a lot of trial and error and like, putting it away, like, oh, I'll get to this. Because I think it's really easy to be like, I'll deal with this later with the book.

And.

And I guess what finally did it is actually I think you recommended Scribe Media to me. I thought it was you, but maybe it wasn't. And I think I just felt like I'd gotten to a place and this is what I want to say before about what I was saying about businesses evolving over time. Like your message becomes clearer and clear. But one thing that I love to think about it, and this is for everyone who's new, is like when you're starting out, I feel like sometimes it's a little vague and maybe cloudy of what you want to do. Like you might be clear on who you want to help and what you want to teach, but. But it still might seem kind of vague, but it's in the doing, right? In the like making offers. Making offers meaning like just, you know, offering a product, whatever that is, right? Digital or whatever, physical or retreat and doing it, executing it, having people go through whatever your content is. That's when you really learn and evolve. And so I definitely couldn't have written this book if I started it back in 2018 or 2019. It would have been a complete different book, which would have been fine. Like, right? I just would have maybe more than one book. And that's kind of a long story. But I think what the reason why I wrote it is, I think a few things, right? It's to make the message accessible, right? Because you know, book is like what, less than 20 bucks, right? Extremely accessible, financially wise. Because, you know, my coaching programs are they start at a few thousand dollars, right? And so that's not necessarily accessible to everyone. Like when I'm thinking of medical students, residents or you know, that sort of thing. So. And also it's like a form of legacy. Like that's something I didn't think about until after the book was published. But one of the things I've been thinking about as, you know, the I'm planning the book launch is like it's something that's going to live beyond me. And so that might seem kind of like, you know, self centered. I mean it probably is a little bit, but it's also like it's something that I think is really cool. Like, because it would suck to like have this, you know, business where I'm trying to help women and then to have a die with me, you know what I mean? And so it kind of leaves a legacy of my ideas on how, you know, how I want to help people. So that's how I think about it. And then also it's great, like it's like a really amazing business Card.

Right?

Like, instead of, like. Well, first of all, I feel like people don't really do business card. It's like, hey, I wrote a book, and I feel like it gives you instant, like, street cred. If you're an author and you have a book, it's like, people are like, oh, you're an author, right? And it's a great way to, like, organize your ideas. So it's like, I think it checks a lot of boxes, basically.

All right. I mean, I know it sounds like when people again see you, they see you built this brand, they see your journey. And honestly, it seems like you've done really well in a short period of time. I know there have to have been some challenges along the way or some kind of things you would have done differently if you went back. Do you mind sharing a few of those things with us? Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's really easy to look at successful people and think, like, they didn't have any trouble with it. Right. Because I think this is what I see a lot of business owners or entrepreneurs struggle with is like, they have. They hit a roadblock, or they feel terrible, they're disappointed. Like, something. You know, they try to sell something and no one bought it. Right. And then they just feel so down on themselves. But I think what they don't realize is that that happens to all of us. Right. We've all had to deal with that, and I think it's how you react to it that determines whether you move forward or not. But, yeah, I've had. I remember, like, yeah, someone who went through my first version of the program basically told me she hated it and thought it sucked. Like, that happened. And I remember it, like, just deflated me. Like, I took it so hard. I took it so personally. And I remember, like, I felt like it, like, affected me for weeks. You know, I don't think it was months, but I think it was several weeks. Right. And so. And. And I think this is a lot of doctors, like, we feel this way when we get a bad patient review. Like, we just take it so personally. And so I remember that happening. And then, yeah, I've definitely, like, had launches, more than one launch, where I didn't get the number. I didn't hit my goal, for example, or refund requests. Like, it's all that stuff has happened. Right. Or. Or, like, I remember I actually wrote an email that a lot of people found offensive. And so, like, I remember, like, feeling so much shame around that. And so, yeah, there I can. I can keep going on, on and.

On, Yeah, I think we can all relate. I mean, anybody who's run a business, run a practice, anything like that, there's always setbacks. And sometimes we tend to focus on the negatives, right? It could be 99 positive, one thing negative, and that's just the thing that we take home with us. But I think you've been a great example of kind of just showing people you just keep moving, right? You just keep growing, you keep inventing yourself, reinventing yourself and, you know, evolving. And I think you've done a great job at that. I mean, what does your life look like today now in terms of, you know, medicine, your business, kind of your whole life? I'd love to hear more about it, like what it looks like.

Yeah. So, yeah, I had, I. I stopped. I stopped seeing patients, basically. So that locum's job ended, like I said, in February 2020. And I actually ended up doing some tele dermatology for most of 2020. And I, I quit that about a year ago when we're recording this. And I haven't, you know, I haven't closed the door, but I stopped doing the maintenance of certification. I don't know if you have that for your specialty, but they started doing this, you know, every year. I kind of stopped doing that. I stopped paying it. So I don't know. I mean. And we have to recertify every 10 years, which for me will be in 2025. And so I've already decided I'm not going to, you know, recertify for my boards, but one, I mean, like I said, but I'm not closing the door. And the way I think of it, right? Because I know a lot of doctors have, they feel a lot of guilt. I know they have a lot of trouble about making decision to either leave or even like cutting back, right. And the way. And I think it's because, well, a lot of people, including other doctors in society, like, why would you spend all this time become a doctor if you're not going to do it? But which is so silly, right? Because so many other people, they reinvent themselves and no one says the same thing to them, right? And plus, I also feel like I wouldn't have been able to do what I do if I wasn't a doctor first, right? And so I always think that, like, I don't think it was wasted time or effort at all. Like, I don't, I don't have any thoughts about that. So the way my way my life looks now is like, I make my own schedule. I work from home, which is, like, good. And there's, like, positive and negatives, right? The negative is, like, I'm, like, by myself all the time. I don't interact with a lot of people. And so I definitely make the effort to travel a lot to. I mean, pandemic has obviously slowed that down. But, you know, going to conferences or just meeting people in real life and, you know, make and doing that. But what's great about making my own schedule is, like, I can travel whenever I want to. Like, I don't have to, like, ask for permission to go somewhere. My kid is young enough that taking on a school to travel is, like, doesn't matter. And one thing I just started, Peter, is I actually now work three days a week, so I take Mondays and Fridays off. It's not fully there, but I'm slowly making my way there. Because I used to work four days a week as a dermatologist. I never worked five days a week, to be honest. And so going from four to three, I was like, that makes sense.

Yeah. There's something you mentioned that I. I mean, um. It sounds like you really built an intentional life, which I think is really powerful. And one thing you did mention is that you don't think you would've actually been able to create this business or get where you're at without having gone through all the training and being a doctor. And so I think that, you know, I'd love to hear more about, like, what you think, like, you know, in terms of your training and being a doctor, like, allows you to be successful and allows you to be where you're at today. Because I think a lot of people think about that, right? They're doctors, and, you know, maybe they think they're. I don't know. You know, they just haven't had the opportunity, you know, to study these things in the past. So they cannot be successful at that in the future. But, I mean, you're an example of somebody who has done that, and in fact, you think it's actually helped you. Do you mind talking about that a little bit?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think we can all agree as physicians that we're really, like I said, really good at learning, right? So, like, why couldn't we learn something new? You know? But I think it's really easy to. You know, we're kind of in this, like, medicine bubble, right? You know, it's like, that's all we know, and, like, we forget there's other things out there. But I think we have to remember, like, we're really good at learning. So like learning a new skill, like learning about how to start a business, like it's, it's learnable. Right. And we're really good at learning. So just like keeping that in mind. And then in terms of think another way I think about it is, you know, I kind of got started by being in a physician only group and you know, in terms of like how this business even started. Right. And so just like being in that community.

Yeah. I mean that can be really powerful because again, we, you know, like you mentioned before, like you having your voice, having been there. I think that's why so many people relate to you and it's relevant stuff for them. I think that people are going to listen to this and they're going to want to know how they can at least get your book. They're going to want to want to find out more about you and what you do and they might want to reach out to you. Where are the best places for people to reach you?

Yeah, so my website, wealthymomandy.com, we have a book website which is the, the book title, Defining wealth for Women dot com. And when you go to the book website, you can actually download a preview of the book so you can get the introduction and the first chapter. And so it's a great way to get a taste of it before you buy it. So.

All right, that's awesome. Check it out. Defining wealth for Women dot com. Her website is wealthymom md. And so the way we leave everybody on all these interviews, there are gonna be some people who want to do what you do. What is the number one tip for you you have for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Yeah, I think, you know, I've been thinking about this. I think it's, if there's any nudge whether it's like a little whisper. Right. Because I think for a lot of people it's not just like a little whisper like, oh, I want to do that, or it might just they feel inspired. And I want to say if you're feeling inspired by any of these talks, it's because there's a part of you that like wants to do that. And it's like. So I guess my advice is to listen to that, you know, don't ignore it. Because I think when we ignore our dreams, like a part of us kind of dies, so to speak. Right. And so listen to that whisper and just like start taking steps. And if you're watching this, you're already taking that step, I think so well.

This has been awesome. Thanks so much for all the amazing advice. Your story is amazing. I love all the contribution you're doing to our community, which I feel like you're helping so many people out there. People should check out your website, check out your book, and keep up the amazing work and let's talk again soon.

Bye. Thank you.

Okay, bye. Enjoy the show. Let me know by dropping a review in the podcast app you're listening to us in. And if you haven't already, make sure to hit subscribe. Are you a part of our community yet? Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. You can join us on our Facebook group Passive Income Docs and you can always learn more at our website passiveincomemd.com thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey. See you next time.