#150 How I Founded a High-Performance Medical Apparel Brand, ft. Neela Sethi Young, MD

Hi everyone. You're now going to hear an interview that I had with Dr. Neela Sethi. She's a pediatrician, an entrepreneur and amazing founder of a company called Janu. You may know it as a medical apparel company. They do scrubs and other things. Obviously during the pandemic they absolutely blew up their masks, ended up on the face of a lot of famous people. You're going to hear her journey of how she went from working clinically to building this, this multi, multi million dollar business. And such a fascinating story. I know you get a lot out of it, so enjoy. Thanks. 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. Hi everyone. I am extremely excited to now talk to Dr. Neela Sethi. She's a pediatrician and she's the co founder of a very well known medical apparel company, Janu. You probably know exactly what I'm talking about. I feel super honored to be talking to her this morning. We're going to talk all about her journey, how she got to where she's at today and she's just an awesome person, so. Hi, Neela, how you doing?

I'm good, how are you? Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thank you for giving us your time. I mean, obviously you are extremely busy. I mean, I think everyone is as a physician, but you're not just a physician. You've got a lot of slash, slash, slash in your title.

I do, I do have a lot of slash, slash, yes. And I'm working on more slashes so, you know, that's just kind of how I go. That's how I was. That's how I do it.

I love talking to that type of person. I mean, the one company that I definitely do know you for is for Johnnu. Can you tell people quickly what that is?

Yeah. So Johnnu is my baby. It was my baby really when I was having babies. It's a, what we call it as a performance based medical apparel line, it's fashion forward scrubs with performance based fabric meant to move with you, meant to complement your body, meant to have all the right accessories so that you can kind of run through your day and feel supported by your clothes. And especially for women, feel empowered when you're wearing your scrubs instead of feeling like, you know, the scrubs weigh you down. Like the old scrubs used to.

Now we're going to talk about how you got there. Was being an entrepreneur always part of your plan early on?

You know, I've always, I, I came from two, you know, immigrant Indian parents. My dad was a refugee. My mother came here after an arranged marriage at 19 years old. We didn't grow up with a lot of money. We came from honest backgrounds and then have since. My dad really was an entrepreneur and I learned that from him. He got into the real estate market in the 80s, which was the boom of his growth. And I just watched him hustle. He was an engineer by day and then this real estate mogul by night. And I thought I could do that. And so I started working young. I was the 13 year old that was doing swim classes. I was the 16 year old that was doing SAT preps for health to give help. I was teaching, doing swim lessons. So I've always sort of had an entrepreneurial spirit. It wasn't until med school where I stepped into my first, well, as you know, the first two years of medical school, you know, you're in a classroom and I was the, you know, high heel wearing med student and everybody would sort of laugh and joke about it. And then third year we went into the operating room for my ENT rotation and they handed me these scrubs and I said, you know, naively, well, I think these are men's. And they all laughed and they said, there's no men's or women's scrubs, it's just scrubs. And something about that really bothered me. I was, you know, you know, 19 or no, actually, let's see, I was probably 22 years old. I was a baby. I was deep into the Carrie Bradshaw age of Sex and the City. I was all about female empowerment. And I was like, this is wrong. I put those scrubs on and I was like trying to tuck them and trying to make them high waisted and I'm like, this is not right. I actually went to admin and said, hey, can I make my own scrubs? My best friend was and is a clothing designer and we went to downtown and picked out scrubs material. We designed them off a like joie top I had and some theory pants I loved and she sewed them for me. We even went as far as having them monogrammed. I had a giant N on the front like Carrie Bradshawn and giant N on the pocket in the back. And it started with, where'd you get those? Where'd you get those? Where'd you get those? And the Rest is kind of history.

I want to talk about that history because that's the part that's really fascinating because obviously this was built out of a need for you or just it sounded like, you know, in some ways you were doing this for fun or for function or this sort of thing. And you mentioned that other people started coming up to you and saying, hey, where are you getting those things? When did the idea of that becoming like a business come about?

So, you know, the idea of form fitting scrubs was very novel in the hospital. Same with the idea of, you know, scrubs following, you know, common trends that we see on the Runway. That was just a concept that nobody had ever even really thought of. And so that's when the idea was born of, okay, well, why does this not exist? Why is it that women in medicine and women and men in medicine are all treated the same when there are women like me that, you know, want to feel empowered when they put our scripts on, versus feeling frumpy and losing my identity? Here we're supposed to be giving back and here we're supposed to be these empowered females where we're running through these, you know, this, you know, somewhat male dominated profession and yet were made to feel small. So that's. That became sort of just the catalyst to, okay, what can we do next? My brother, who's my best friend, always have been, we're less than two years apart and he had just graduated and gotten his mba. He was working in finance and he was at a point where he was like, I want. It's not about money. It's about how can we give back and how can we leave a legacy in some way and how can we use our brains together and launch this kind of scrub idea? Because frankly, the scrub idea was an idea. I had a pattern, I had some prints that I liked. But, you know, I was in residency, I was working 100 hour work weeks. I soon after residency moved to Cleveland with my husband, who was doing his fellowship, then immediately after got pregnant, had. My daughter was working in private practice. So there was very little time for me to do anything, let alone pump and sleep and answer calls. So he really spearheaded the. He kind of lit the fire and said, this is a great idea and the world needs more of that, and the world needs more of you of that just sort of empowering sort of mentality that's not very existent. So we started the process together. We had no money in the company. We used whatever we had. We picked. We picked patterns and prints that were form fitting. We did the first skinny scrub that had never existed because skinny jeans were all the rage. And I never wore wide leg. Now wide leg's coming back, who knew? But then it was all about skinny pants and skinny jeans. And so we did a pair of skinnies. We did printed bottoms which had never been done before. It was when floral jeans were really big and I was wearing those all the time. So we did floral bottoms and we did peplum tops which, you know, that just the whole idea of that never even existed. And it's funny, since then we've been copied like over and over and over by many people. We were the first people to do a jogger type pant. So we started small, it was just me and my brother. And then we call her our work wife, Olivia. And she did all of the sort of. I helped with all the design and she helped, you know, just make it come to life. And we paid models per hour out of a kitchen, out of my kitchen. And we literally just put ourselves out there.

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We literally, it was brick and mortar. We had a friend print a little card that said who we were and had a picture of one of our models on it that we walk through doctor's offices. We literally just tried to use our connections. I wore the scrubs every day in hopes that people would take note of them. It was just grassroots, just grassroot. We were hoping that the idea was going to be so good and that the scrubs were going to speak for themselves. And it was a lot of hustling a lot of favors, a lot of LinkedIn, a lot of. A lot of cold calls to offices. I mean, we were literally on our days off going to dental offices, saying, hey, can we. Can we make scrubs for you? And people were rolling their eyes at us saying, who are these people and what are these scrubs? But slowly and steadily, it just sort of gained traction and just became bigger and bigger. And then when Covid hit, it really kind of catapulted us in a way that we'd never seen before. And that was. That's been kind of a joy to watch, and that's been really a joy ride. And something that I've never imagined would happen. And it was in my dreams. And now we're living this reality, and it's pretty fantastic.

So you said that things have really taken off from COVID and that sort of, I mean, again, beyond your dreams, like, what was it that actually created was a catalyst for that?

So, funny enough, when Covid hit, my brother and I, we've always been really into giving back. We're both, you know, raised Hindu. We were really raised with this idea of karma that, you know, you do good and good things will happen. And my parents were both very sort of charity driven. So when Covid hit, my brother called me and said, what can we do? We are. We're a medical company. The world needs us. What can we do? How about if we take our fabric? Because we had our factories up and running. We actually had antimicrobial fabric. And that's the other thing. Just scooching back a little bit. We really picked performance based fabrics that had had an antimicrobial component to it, which is something that the market had never seen. And that is all kudos to my brother. He was like, how can we make this better? How can we protect you out on the field? So we already had our antimicrobial fabric. And he said, why don't we just do masks? We'll do a gift with purchase, so that with everybody that buys a pair of scrubs, who knows if they'll even want them, but we'll just give them a mask for free. And maybe that will help decrease Covid numbers in general. And remember, this was before masks were a thing. We were just starting to talk about masks. We were just starting to even. Just even kind of embrace the concept of masks. So he said, okay, let's order 60,000 and see what happens. We launched Masks. I remember bright and early on a Saturday morning, and we sold those 60,000 about an hour. We Crashed our site for the first time in history. And we called each other crying. And he said, we, we're on to something here. And, you know, we got, we got really lucky. We, we lined our masks with this mesh that's antimicrobial as well, that's very breathable. We picked this really nice fabric behind the ears that people find very comfortable. And truth be told, the masks went viral. Within a few months, we had sold a million and we actually donated million. We did a 1 for 1 and 1 million was our cap. And, you know, our PR said, that's a lot of masks and we sold them and we did it. And so that gave the company the revenue to then say, what are we going to do with this? How can. Because we can't do masks forever. And that's something I've learned being an entrepreneur and not just a physician, is you can't stop. You never stop. As soon as you hit a big idea, then it's what's the next big idea? Which can be frustrating at some point and not for everyone, but also very empowering. So we actually relaunched and rebranded our entire line. We started way more technologically sort of savvy fabric that's much more performance based, that washes and wears well, still has that antimicrobial sort of quality. We launched for all different shapes and sizes. Before that, we had launched men's, but we did men's better. We came out with fleece tech fabric for people doing in the COVID ward that we knew weren't going to take breaks, that needed police jackets. We made everything very sort of empowering for someone that was working on a Covid unit so they could snap their ID in and not get it dirty. They had places and pockets for their phones when they needed to reach their family and everything was very streamlined. And it became less about fashion and it became more about treating the healthcare professional as an athlete and as. As a warrior and as a fighter going out on the front lines. And instead of making our scrubs just cute, which we were sort of known for before as being fashion forward, we catapulted into this. No, we want you to be cute. Obviously, that's a given. We wouldn't ever let you not be cute. But how can we take you to the next level to have you perform at your best when you're out there fighting this global pandemic with all your might?

I have to ask you, are you still working clinically at this point?

I am, I am. And I said from the beginning that I would never leave My job. And it's funny. As passionate as I am about business and johnnu, being a doctor is my heart and soul. I'm a pediatrician. I'm the least paid, the lowest paid specialty that exists. I've never done it for the money. I've done it for the love of pediatrics. I absolutely adore my job. You know, seeing babies and seeing babies being born gives me hope, and it gives me that feeling that the world is still moving forward and that good things are happening and that new life is being brought into this earth, and it makes it not sad. I mean, that's the reason that I really got through Covid, apart from John, who was seeing babies being born. And I want my daughter and my son to see that it's not just about the hustle and the financial gain. You know, it's about leaving a mark and having a legacy and giving back in some way. And I said from the beginning, and I'll say it to the end, I will never leave my private practice. I worked so hard to make partner, and I love my partners, and I'm really blessed to be in a great group with, you know, my medical family, and they are my family. And they've been nothing but supportive with johnnu. I mean, there's times that I'm doing this or, you know, I've done a bunch of medical expert stuff, you know, rushing to go to be interviewed at CNN and then running back after lunch and, you know, they'll cover me and they'll support me and they'll be a cheerleading squad. So, yes, the long answer to that is I still am working in private practice, and it's been a joy. And I love my patients so much. And I live in a small town, to be completely honest. I live in a suburban community outside of LA that's small. And so, you know, everywhere we go, kids are coming up and saying, hi, Dr. Sethi. And, you know, I'm feeling better and my cast is off, or, you know, I went to soccer practice, and there's something very joyous and something very real and raw and that I. That I just love. And it really does keep me grounded, for sure.

I mean, it's great that you have that in your business and how important it is. How important is it to you that you have both? And how has that changed your perspective on your clinical career?

It really has given me great perspective for both, because to be completely honest, being in business can be overwhelming, too. And it's zoom call after zoom call and meeting these people and meeting those Other people. And, you know, designs change. And, you know, it's hats off to my brother who does it, you know, 150% time. The company wouldn't be where it is without him. But I love dabbling in that. And it's funny, you know, when I'm on my Johnnu days, which are my days off, I. By the end of the day, I'm excited to go back to my practice. And then when I'm in my practice and it's getting hairy and it's the middle of winter and I'm seeing, like, you know, 15 cases of RSV in a row, I'm happily taking a zoom call, talking about design and talking about PR and how we can progress. So I think it's a good balance, and it keeps me. I think it just keeps me grounded in both directions. I can truly say that I don't think I would do either one full time because I love both and both motivate me in some way. And to be completely honest, being a pediatrician, I understand the joys and the importance of being a mother and being present with my kids. And I don't want to be that woman that's zooming all day and then taking calls all night for call and on my phone all the time and not being with my kids, because I don't want to live with regrets in that way either. I know too much about how to raise kids well that I can't not practice what I preach to my patients.

That's so cool. I mean, when people see you now and they see this business that's just booming, they see you able to obviously balance your home life, your pediatric life. There have to have been some challenges along the way. I'm sure there are. What were some of the big ones that you can share with us.

I think mom guilt is a huge one for me and something that I'm still working on. Just as we're kind of touching on and feeling like, am I here enough? Am I present enough? Am I off my phone enough? Am I giving my kids everything they deserve and more and also showing them and teaching them that the world is your oyster and that you don't settle and that you can hustle and that you can always do more? And again, that comes from that sort of immigrant mentality of, you know, this was the land of opportunity for my parents, and it really did give them the. The. The dream life that they wanted, that they would never have been able to have it. That wouldn't have happened in India. So I want to kind of carry on that spirit with them, but also be very present. So I think that's. That's my biggest one. I think I was really lucky. I married my med school sweetheart. I met him the first year of medical school. He's an orthopedic surgeon. And I've been very, very, very blessed that he has supported my journey. And he, you know, he's my voice of reason to say, babe, do you really need to take that on? Is this something that, you know is something you need? Is this something that you want? You know, because I'm always picking up new things. I'm like, oh, I'll try medical expert. I'll try medical correspondent. I'll try giving these zoom talks. I'll try, you know, wellness. Wellness talks. Why not? So he's my voice of reason to say, is that really worth it? So I think the other thing would be when to say no. Like, I just can't, you know, I have to spend time with my family. Even though maybe there is a financial benefit or maybe my name would get out there more, or maybe it would lead to more opportunity, I have to say no. I think trying to prioritize your marriage, you know, we've been together 20 years and making sure that he gets the attention that everyone else does, because the kids are naturally going to get the attention because of the way that they operate. They're kids. The patients are going to get attention no matter what because they were standing right in front of you. But is your soulmate, who is the reason for your being getting that when they don't ask for it? Because not all the time. We don't always do that as spouses. So being very conscientious about saying, okay, we're having a date night, like this weekend, we got away. We never do that. We left the kids with my parents now that my parents were vaccinated and got away for the weekend. And we always come back refreshed and revived and so happy that we did that. So things like that sort of balancing really spending good quality time with my family. My parents are, you know, they're older now, so making sure that I'm giving them the time that they need. My friendships, my lifelong friendships that I've been blessed to have, you know, watering the garden with those friendships and making sure I don't lose those in the midst of all this craziness because, you know, when John, who goes and the practice goes, who's going to be there are those friends. And so making sure that I'm prioritizing them as well, and giving them the time that they deserve, because all those people are giving back to me in some way.

Yeah. I mean, that's so great. I think those are. Obviously, it seems like you have your priorities straight, and I think that a lot of people that are watching this, I mean, they're dealing with the same things, and so it definitely resonates with them. I mean, we talked about all the slashes that you have and the two big ones that you have. I mean, of course, there's mother and wife that you mentioned, but doctor and entrepreneur. So now that you're in this thing, you know, we're talking to a lot of physicians here, right? How well poised do you think physicians are to succeed in that entrepreneurial business world?

Oh, my gosh. I mean, physicians are the most brightest, driven, multitasking. And in a way, we are entrepreneurs. If you think about it, we weren't taught business in medical school, but we were forced to learn. I mean, how many times in medicine have you been thrown into a situation with no, no, no prep? You know, how many times have you walked into a room saying, I don't know what this is, or walked into, you know, as a medical student, walk into an operating room, and you're like, hold this, cut this, and you've never done it before. So we have this entrepreneurial spirit, and we know a lot. We see so many people in a day. I mean, how many people in the world can say that in one day? They've talked to 30 people. I mean, very few. You know, most people in their world, yeah, they talk to their, like, office cohorts or, you know, they run into people at the grocery store. But in a given day, especially in winter, I can see 35, maybe even 40 patients on a busy day. And that's 40 people's lives, 40 people's stories, 40 people's backgrounds, 40 people's religion and history. So it makes us very worldly in a way. It makes us able to kind of look around and say, what do people need? Because people are talking about the intimate parts of their life with us. So we're already equipped with this sort of human. This human interaction. And that's what business is all about, is figuring out what we need and what's not there. So that, I think, helps a lot. And then, like I said, we're hustlers. We're used to sleep deprivation. We're used to, like, the phone ringing and the text going and the typing all at once. We're used to getting paged and having to write Doses while the, while the baby's being delivered. So that makes us very well equipped with the business world. When things are coming at us, 10 things at once, we can say, okay, hold up, let's just deal with the issue at hand. We're naturally, for the most part people people, we're personable, we know how to be malleable in situations. When you have an angry patient, when you have a happy patient, we can change and move with our patients personalities in order to, you know, sort of get our point across. That's very helpful in business. You know, I can't tell you how many times personalities in, you know, at johnnu have sometimes clicked and sometimes not clicked. And I can help smooth things over if need be. And you know, because generally we do well financially, which is a blessing. We have a little bit of that, like extra funds to say, okay, I have X, Y and Z and getting rid of this is not going to make or break me. Right. Like there are not many professions where you can say, okay, I have a little nest egg and I have an idea and if I lose that money I can still go and make it again, but I can take a chance. And so there's very few things I think as a physician stopping us from dreaming big. I will say I wish that I could see more physician to physician support. Like things like this that you're doing I think is amazing. And the more that women can help women and physicians can help physicians. I feel like we have such an amazing network of people that we could really catapult this any business idea to the next level. I'm sure you've heard about physician moms group or PMG from your wife. And this is a group of women that I feel connected to and I have never met most of them and just them have helped me launch my johnnu career. Just these little subgroups and Facebook have helped me and supported me because I'm physician don't and women don't. I think coming together in a way that we can support each other is the way that we're really going to be able to take it to the next level. And sort of, you know, Covid has brought out this idea that we're important. You know, I think physicians were in the, you know, we were sort of on, on the side stage for a long time. You know, people took us for granted. Nurses as well, all healthcare professionals really. I mean we, we hustled and people just said, oh yeah, okay, there's always a doctor available. But it wasn't until a global pandemic where people said, wait, we literally can't function without doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists and everybody else in the hospital. We're finally getting that recognition that we deserve that I'd love to see now in the next 10 years what that's going to do for physician run businesses and physician run ideas and physician run entrepreneurship and physician run camaraderie that I think could really change the world. I was asked about two weeks ago in an interview similar to this for a magazine and they said, what's next for you? Where to from here? Where do you go from here? And I said, now it's not about a product, it's not about a business, it's not about a business idea. In my mind. It's about a movement. I'd like to see a shift and a movement of female driven anything because that is a passion of mine. Position driven anything because that's a passion of mine and equality for all, you know, and allowing many people of many races and many religions and many backgrounds have a voice and have be able to start a business that I could support or have a voice that I could support and using my platform for good to sort of make the world better so that when I leave I can look back and say, I did something, I did something awesome. And my kids can say, wow, my mom was part of this. And so that's where I'm headed now. I'm thinking more bigger and more mindful versus just the number. Because as we all know, money doesn't buy happiness. I mean it buys a nice handbag, which does bring me joy and I'm not going to lie about that. But it doesn't bring you happiness. What brings you happiness is what you give and how you can help and how you can help empower others.

I mean this has been so great. I'm sure that people are going to want to connect with you. Where's the best place for people to do that and also find out more about what you're doing.

Yes. So my, my personal Instagram is @doctor Neela and it's spelled out D O C T O R N E E L A and then johnnu my our scrub site is just johnu.com j a n u.com and then anybody can is welcome to DM me on Instagram. I get those all day. So it's way for me to connect. It's almost like another email for me now.

I feel like, hey everyone, join me for our annual leverage and growth summit which is happening on March 15th through 19th 2023. This virtual summit is for physicians and it's one of my favorite events of the year. And the reason I love it is that it's all about stories. It's stories of physicians doing really amazing things outside of medicine, leveraging their medical degrees and all their ambition and skills that they've grown and cultivated throughout their medical training and then using it for some other venture. Now, these stories are of doctors creating their ideal lives. It's such a cool experience and there are tens of thousands of people who have participated in it and have been a part of this. I think you're really going to enjoy this. The best part, it's a free summit, so make sure you head on over to leveraging growth.com and sign up. You can join our exclusive Facebook group where you can meet some amazing people and really connect to get some really cool things done. This year we're offering free coaching. It's a great opportunity. If you're interested in something and maybe you just don't know how to take action or where to get started, that coaching will happen every single day of the conference and help you leverage and really grow your big idea. So I'm excited about it. I hope you're excited about it, too. So go and secure your seat and I'll see you there. Thanks, everyone. I mean, I'm sure people are going to hear this and they're going to want to do what you do and you've inspired them. What's the number one tip that you would give people who want to follow in your footsteps?

Do it. Just do it. Don't think about it. Don't get caught up in the perfection of it. Don't think, oh, I don't have enough money. There's plenty of excuses as to why. I mean, I had every excuse in the book to not do this. Just do it. Take a leap. Have faith in yourself. If it fails, guess what? At least you tried. You'll learn something from the experience. If it doesn't work the first time, try again. Pivot, change. Grow with your business. When you are passionate about your idea and you're not doing it for money, and you're doing it because it resonates in your heart and soul, it will be successful. Do not give up. Do not let anyone dim your light. You be your best advocate and just try. Start today and do a little bit every day until something really grand happens. Because the only way to take that leap is to start. You just, you have to. And that honestly is the biggest hurdle out there, is just starting and saying, I want to start a business. This is my idea. Who do I talk to about this? Use your. Use your. Use your. Sort of your contacts. You know, go out and talk to people. You'd be surprised how many times we've hit a roadblock, and someone will say, oh, I know someone that does that. Oh, I have a guy that does pr. Oh, I know this person who does fabric. Oh, I mean, we've even had people help us get contacts in Vietnam. Like, insane things like that, where they're like, oh, we know the guys in Vietnam. So things like that, where you never could have imagined. The world is very small once you put yourself out there. It seems very vast and large when you're just one sole person, but it really isn't. And generally speaking, the world is good. I have seen that over and over. More. More with COVID than anything else. The world is good, and the world is. The world wants to help, and it's filled with really amazing people who want to see you succeed. So align yourself with those people and just take a leap.

That's such great advice. Thank you for your time. I mean, thank you for the mission and the work that you're doing to empower other physicians, female physicians also, as well. And congrats on all your success. And let's talk again soon.

Absolutely. Such a pleasure.

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.