#167 How I Created a Plush Toy Company to Educate & Inspire

Hey everyone. There's so many amazing physicians out there doing really cool things and I feel like it's part of my mission to bring those stories to you. This next interview is Dr. Ronak Mehta. She's the brains behind this company called Nerdbugs. They're these adorable plush stuffies that my kids absolutely love. They're educational, they're so cute. We have so many of them around our house. You have to hear about the story of how she created these things and has built up an amazing business around this. She obviously thinks that if she can do it, any of you can do it. I know you're going to enjoy her story, so stay tuned. Enjoy. Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe. Now let's get on with the show. Hey everyone, this is going to be a fun interview. We're going to be talking to Dr. Ronak Mehta. I'm super excited to talk to her because I've heard about her story for a while and it's great to connect. She's a board certified family physician and the founder and CEO of company called nerdbugs. You might have met, you know, heard about her. You might have seen her products out there. She's currently a clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She's Also one of NPR's How I Built this Fellows and her company, Nerd Bugs, it's a plush toy company. We're going to learn all about it. It was a finalist for Amazon's Women Owned Small Business of the Year. She launched it back in 2018 and she's built this incredible international presence with Nerd Bugs. She's been featured in forbes, Business Insider, NPR, you know, Wisconsin's top 40 under 40. She's been featured on numerous TV channels all over the place. And I feel so lucky that we're going to be able to talk to her today, find out about her story and learn more about Nerd Bugs. How you doing, Ronak? How you doing?

I'm doing great. Thank you so much for the warm introduction. That was lovely.

That's awesome. Well, I'm excited to have you here. I know I didn't do Nerd Bugs justice, so you might just quickly telling everyone out there who's watching this what Nerd Bugs is. And I think I asked you if you could show one of those as well, let people know what it's for and the purpose of it.

Yeah. So as you mentioned, I am a family medicine physician at the University of Wisconsin. And then on the side, I've also created Nerd Bugs, which are a line of plush toys that are used to help educate around health and wellness and raise awareness about different kinds of medical conditions and with the hopes of ultimately creating a healthier world. So, yeah, I do have a few of them that I would love to show you. Here's our part, which is each of them has a little pun that goes with it. So this one is, I ordered, tell you how much I love you. And then we have the lungs. They're super, super adorable. And the little pun that goes with them is we belong together. And then I have one of the kidneys here too.

That's amazing. Whenever anybody sees these, like, I've show my kids these, they go crazy for them. And I'm sure that's the reception you're getting everywhere. Now I have a question for you. We're going to go back a little bit. Is this like, you know, did you always think about, you know, you know, starting a business? Was that always part of your plan as you came up through your medical career?

No, it wasn't. You know, throughout med school, I thought it would be really neat to have like this creative outlet to create an educational piece that could possibly reach people outside, outside, just like the smaller community that I was serving. And so I thought it would be really neat to create something, whether it was a book series or something like that, to help teach people about different types of medical concerns and, you know, like about the human body and try to destigmatize some of these medical conditions. I didn't really know how. How to really go about doing it. So initially I did start with like releasing a children's book that I wrote back in 2018 or it was earlier than 2018. I'm sorry, it was while I was still in medical school, so I don't want to age myself, but yeah, so when I was a third or fourth year medical student, I thought, hey, let me write this thing. I'm kind of quirky. It'll be great. And so I wrote it and then it was like crickets. Nothing came out of it. But it was still really neat to create something that was like, uniquely my own and, and have that avenue to be creative outside of just like going into work every day.

I mean, that's cool. So how did you know at that time how to even put a book together? Did it end up out there? I'm just curious where that project ultimately ended up.

Yeah, so that is an awesome question. That book ended up being, like, the brainchild for what nerd bugs ended up transitioning into. So once I created the book, and, you know, like, once you kind of get started on a project, I'm sure, you know, Peter, that, like, it starts to morph into something else, and then it can morph into something else, and you get these, like, flood of ideas, like, okay, well, it would be really neat to, like, create this and transition it into this someday. And so at that point, after I had written the book, I did end up finding an illustrator to, like, bring that vision into life. But my thought was, how neat would it be to take the characters from the book and then turn them into plush toys that could be used as a comforting memento for people that are undergoing medical conditions or just as a teaching tool for kids and adults about, here's what your heart actually looks like, and this is what it does. This is what happens when you have heart disease or, like, asthma or when you undergo dialysis. So that was my vision at the time. But, you know, like, I didn't know how to start a business or run a business or anything like that. And I was still in medical school, and so a lot of that sort of got sidetracked, and it was like, well, I don't really have the confidence to do it right now, so just. Let's just pump the brakes.

All right, so when did that actually then actually become a reality? Because I know you. You're in family medicine, so I'm sure you went to residency there. When did you actually pick up the project again? And I want to kind of get to that point when that. When you started thinking about it and figuring out how I'm going to put, you know, energy towards this and make it happen.

Yeah. So I was in medical school. I graduated med school around 2012. Ish, I believe. Yeah, that's when I started residency. And so then it wasn't until 20, like, late 2018 or. Yeah, about 2018, that I decided, you know, this idea has just kind of been nagging at me since I was in med school. Maybe I should really try to figure this out. You know, people that are not in medicine, that haven't gone through, like, all of this education have been able to, like, bootstrap things and Google it and figure out how to do it. I. I'm pretty sure if I just put a little bit more, like, time and effort and dedication into this that I. I can also figure out, like, how to launch A business and you know, but at the same time also realizing if nothing comes out of it, that's okay. At least I, at least I made the effort and I, I, I tried. And 10 years from now, I won't be also thinking like, oh, wonder what would have happened if I, if I didn't, you know, just let that idea simmer this whole time and, and not make anything of it.

Yeah, okay, so that, I mean, I think that's great. I mean, I think that, you know, you looked at the other side of regret, right? Regret of like, you know, there's fear of failure and then there's a regret of not doing something. And I think it is awesome how you took that to drive you and motivate you. Now, what was the first step then, then you took and you're like, okay, I want to do this, I want to get this project going. What was that very first step for you? Because I think that's where a lot of people get stuck.

I think I was a little bit uniquely positioned because I had had all the drawings from like almost 10 years before, you know, and I had, I had that clear vision of like, okay, if I am going to pivot and try to like turn these into actual physical products, like, I already know what I want them to look like. I had an Illustra make them in the book a while ago. So what I decided was, you know, okay, I'm just going to do some so aggressive Googling and I can figure out how do I make plush choice. And so it was really, you know, a lot of late nights of how to launch an E commerce business. Step one, get a domain. Step two, find out, like, make a prototype. And so during that process, when I made the decision in early 2018, I just started to put together a bullet pointed list of a. I need a product and I need a platform where it can be visible. So those two things. And then from there you just do a lot of Googling and figure out, okay, well, I all need a web designer. I need to figure out how to like create an Instagram page. And it sounds so simplistic, but once you actually make that decision, you'd be so surprised at how things just start to flow.

I mean, that's so cool. I mean, because you were, I'm assuming you're working at that time too, as an attending, right?

Yes, and I still am.

I know you're still working. So how are you able to kind of like doing, you know, you're doing your work, you know, start to fit all these Ideas in. Where were you doing all this, you know, Googling and setting up all this, you know, you know, setting up prototypes. And how are you able to do all that?

I think a lot of it, again, Peter, is like, and I'm sure you've sort of faced this, like, when you start to get all these ideas and pursue these creative endeavors that you're doing as well, is that like, what it's really like? Once you make that decision, once you make the decision and commit to it and commit to yourself, I think that that truly is the biggest piece of it. You find the time, like, you will make the time to make it happen. And what I did was I started so small that it was easier to do, like, do it than not do it. So when I initially started, I told myself, no matter what, seven days a week, I'm going to carve 10 to 15 minutes out of my schedule at some point during the day, and I will make the time to do the research. And, you know, obviously I spend more than 10 to 15 minutes now, but. But it was just that habit of like, creating the 10 to 15 minutes of like, research. And maybe one day all as. As far as I got was like, figuring out how to, like, buy a domain. And that's all I did. But it was, it was something or like, you know, create an email template to reach out to, like, a bunch of like, custom toy manufacturers and then mass email them. You know, like each day it was just like one little puzzle piece that slowly just builds up your confidence and the next day you're like, okay, well, I did that. I think I can do this next thing.

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Yeah. So I decided one of the big things that I decided early on with my now husband is a budget that I would be comfortable losing if I never saw that money again. Because you know, when you start to take risks on yourself, you have to realize that it might not always work out. And it was a level of money at that time that it was like it would be painful to lose. But at the same time I would. I also realized that again, if I didn't take this chance on myself, then maybe I'll always wonder, what if? So creating that budget was really important. And then I just did a lot of research on what would be if I was a patient, what would be maybe the top five products that I would use day in and day out or I would see in a clinical setting, whether it was to educate people about certain disease, illness, or like post surgical conditions and so on and so forth. So I launched with five products and I made the. I made, I think I only ordered like 200 of each because I didn't know if anything would sell and I would just have like a bunch of inventory while I was working with the manufacturer to get the product revised and revised again until I was like happy with the color scheme and the fabrics that they used and how soft it was and all of those things while that was going on and they were still creating them. On the other end. I had hired and I found a web designer and then I had found a photographer and I found a social media person that could help me and like strategize with me. So there was a lot of like stuff on the other end while the products were being made. I didn't want to like end up sitting and wasting time while they were being produced.

Okay. I mean, you put all that stuff together, you do all that and then you have it produced and you figure out all those things. And so did you just launch it on your own website? Do you use another platform? Like what was that?

Yeah, so I did two things. I launched on my own website and I launched on Amazon at the same time. And the reason why I did that was because as a consumer, I mean, I'm sure, you know, Amazon's the convenience of that two day shipping. I think people expect that and I think people, people want that. Amazon is like very easily searchable for hundreds of thousands of products. But I also wanted people, since I was new, I wanted people who were like, oh, this is like a no name brand. I've never heard of this. This is, you know, to be able to Google it and find a legitimate website so they wouldn't feel like, oh, this person's like scamming me or like a new product doesn't have any reviews yet. Is this like a legitimate thing? So yeah, I ended up launching on both at the same time. I didn't anticipate any orders really coming into the website because, you know, as far as SEO and things like that, that takes a while to build up that traffic.

Did it all take off though, right off the bat? Was it a slower simmer? What happened when you open up store on Amazon?

It did end up taking off. I remember the first day I launched, I got one sale and I was super. I was like beyond the moon excited. I was like, who is this lady that purchased a kidney? And then me and my husband went out and got ice cream and celebrated that. I was like, oh my go. Like, it's just really exciting to see something that you had as like a vision come to fruition and then see someone else kind of like get joy from it, you know, I think that was like super exciting. So yeah, when we first launched on Amazon, the orders came in, but it was like a very slow trickle. It would be like one order on day one and maybe like, you know, one or two on like day three or four. It wasn't like, oh my gosh, I had a lunch party and like we popped bottles and it was great.

So then when did it actually start to pick up? Because now you have all these accolades, like, you know, I mentioned that you're a finalist for Amazon's Women Owned Small Business of the Year. How did all that, you know, again, all that press and all that stuff happen?

One of the things that I really took time, a lot of time doing in the beginning was trying to build up my like self confidence. It sounds really weird, it sounds really cheesy, but I think it had taken me a really long time, you know, like, as I sort of mentioned, like, about 10 years to even have. Have the confidence to, like, go for it and really, like, put myself out there. That once I started gaining that momentum, what I also was doing on the back end was, like, trying to immerse myself in things like, you know, like this conference or like, reading a lot of books, listening to audiobooks, podcasts, anything that would really put me in the right mindset to believe in myself. And so when things like this Amazon Small Business of the Year contest came to my inbox, I would just approach it with like, well, I've only been in business for like, six months, but, like, why not? You know, like, why couldn't I have a chance to be a finalist? I think I have a great product. I think we have a great mission behind, behind it. And I think it really, like, if people knew about it, I think it would really resonate with people. And so I would. And whenever these opportunities sort of like, came to me, I would just say, you know, say a little prayer, put it out there, apply, do the best I could, and then. And then have no expectations. If it worked out, great. If it didn't, then try again and maybe someone would get it the next time. And it's totally okay. But once that. Once I ended up applying for the Amazon Women's Own Small Business of the Year and I was chosen as a finalist, it gave me confidence to apply for the NPR one, and then I was chosen as a fellow. And all of these things then ended up resulting in downstream press. People really like a really good, heartwarming story, especially these days. Those are so few and far between.

I mean, that's amazing. So what does the business look like today in terms of where you're at, in terms of how you're running your business? How much time are you putting towards it and still balancing in your clinical duties? And I'm just curious what your life looks like for you today.

Yeah, that's an awesome question. So I still work at the University of Wisconsin as a clinician and I still run nerd bugs, but my time is a little bit more evenly split. So I'm about part time and my clinical duties and I'm part time and. Well, it's part. It's technically part time on both, but I'm sure, as you know, in medicine and when you're in primary care, part time is still like full time because you're, like, answering.

And in business, too.

And in business, you know, you. You Find creative ways to wake up early, stay up late, and like, you know, get things done during your lunch hour. But, you know, since. Since I've launched in 2018, I think the biggest thing is finding great team members. I have a small team now. They help with a lot of the customer service and social media stuff. I can take a step back and focus on the big picture of where do I want this to go, what do I want this to look like? Not just today, but a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now. Some of the things that, on the nerd bug side of things that we're working on are like, expanding to new plushies each year. And then the other big piece that I really wanted to focus on was doubling down on that educational piece. And so I had written that children's book, and then I ended up taking the book down because there was more plushies than there was organs in the book. And so I've been in the process of, like, rewriting that book, and I'm hoping to, like, launch that. And the other thing that, you know, I have really wanted to do is to try to create like an educational series, whether it's like short video clips. And one of my big dreams would be to, you know, launch into retail and then create like an online educational series where it would be on something like Netflix or Disney or something like that. Like, it sounds like, very wild and super out there, but I. I truly think that, you know, it's okay to dream big. I never thought I would make it even this far. And so, you know, why not?

Your story's so awesome. I mean, it comes from, you know, humble beginnings, from starting in med school to growing it. And people might just see you now, and they see you on NPR is how I built this as a fellow, and they see all these type of things now. You kind of were. I mean, it was great. You shared some of your experiences before about how it took you a while to grow and this sort of thing. But there had to have been some other challenges that you face. Maybe looking back, you're like, oh, I wish, or somebody wants, you know, following your footsteps. You're like, oh, I wish I knew this, or I would have done this, or, you know, somehow there's a challenge that you got through. Do you mind sharing some of those things with us?

Yeah, I think some of the biggest challenges, I'll just focus on the two biggest ones. And I sort of alluded to one of them, which was a lot of self doubt. And I think a lot of People faced it. Even as physicians, you're highly educated, you've gone through all this training, you've kind of been through the wringer. But when it's something that you don't know how to do and that you've never tried before, I think it is so easy to kind of talk yourself out of it. And that narrative really stayed with me for such a long time. Who am I to start a business? Like, I've never had any formal business training. I don't know the first thing about hiring someone or launching a product or anything around business. So I think a lot of that self doubt can play a big, big, big factor in holding you back. And so I would really encourage people to start before you're ready and then work on yourself throughout the process and try to chip away at those, those like negative internal conversations that you have with yourself and try to catch yourself when, when you say that you don't know how to do something or you can't do something or you've never done something. So like, who are you to be the person to like, you know, be so gutsy to try? And then the other thing is, I think that we've all sort of learned in the last few years is, is burnout, not only being a physician, but also an entrepreneur. I think within the last few years when you're trying to launch something that's that either has never been done before or trying to launch something of your own, obviously it's going to require a time commitment. And so trying to find that balance of like, how can I still. If you plan on being, continuing to be a clinician, how can I still keep that peace and balance it with like pursuing these like creative endeavors and then at the same time like having enough time for the people that you love, like your family and friends. It's definitely super challenging and very tricky. But I think in a big picture sense of things, those are the biggest challenges I think that I've faced.

And thanks for sharing those with us. I mean, I know that you now have this life though where you've, you know, you're trying to balance your clinical stuff, you're trying to balance, you know, the business. How is like having this business change your perspective or on medicine and how do you look at medicine now, you know, versus before you had this business?

I think the biggest thing is that it has provided me with freedom, like more of like financial freedom, like time affluence or you know, like that freedom. And it sounds kind of weird to say out loud, but I'm at the point where if I decided to quick quit my clinical job, I wouldn't have to financially worry about, you know, paying our bills. And I think that's, it's, I think that's a really nice feeling to have because, you know, based on, like my values, one of the big reasons that I wanted to have like a creative endeavor and have multiple streams of income was to be able to have that flexibility that if I wanted to, like, if we're growing a family or something happens to a family member and I wanted to take time off or I wanted to work part time, I didn't want it to be a financial strain on our life, you know, and I wanted it to be something that I didn't, I didn't want to think about. Like, if I wanted to just work two days a week in clinic and not work the other days for like a month of the year or two months of the year and just spend time with my family, not feel like, okay, well we can't do that because that's just finding it not financially possible. So sort of answer your question.

Yeah, yeah. No, it's amazing what you've, what you built. I mean, not only do you impact people on a, like a local level at clinical medicine, now you impact level, you know, people on a, I would say like a global scale. So that's awesome. I congratulate you for that. It's fun to watch your journey. I know that some people are going to listen to this. They're going to hear this read, you know, see this, and they're going to want to connect with you. What's the best way that people can do that? Obviously your website let people know what that is.

So, yes, you could find me@nerd bugs.com. you could also reach out to me at my email and@infoerdbugs.com and then I also have a LinkedIn, so it's LinkedIn.com backslash in backslash. Ronick Metamd.

Okay, that's awesome. We're going to put that also in the notes so people can find you. And I'm sure people are going to reach out to you and want to find out more. You know, you've been amazing resource so far. You've shared so much information as well as wisdom. But before we let you go, we always ask people what's like, one more tip that you have for someone who might want to follow in your footsteps?

The one tip I would say is to believe in yourself because you really don't know where that will end. Up. Taking you and having that spark of belief in yourself can change the world. So why not take that approach?

Well, that's awesome. It's evident that it's helped you get where you're at today. So again, I want to thank you for the time today. I want to thank you for all the amazing things that you do and keep up the amazing work and let's keep in touch.

Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me. This was a lot of fun.

All right, thanks. Ready to level up your real estate, investing and entrepreneurship game? Well, join us at pimdcon, the Physician Real Estate and entrepreneurship conference happening live in Los Angeles on September 21st through 23rd. By attending in person, you're going to get exclusive access to expert speakers, panel discussion discussions and the opportunity to connect with like minded high achieving professionals like yourself. This engaging event, it's packed with amazing content, workshops and networking opportunities. Now this year you're gonna have the opportunity to choose from two different tracks focused on real estate, investing or entrepreneurship, or do both and learn from seasoned professionals through mastermind sessions and coaching opportunities. Now you'll gain valuable insights on how to achieve financial freedom freedom and walk away with actionable plans to help you achieve your goals. So don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to level up your financial future. Register now at PIMDCON. That's P-I-M-C-O-N.com for your in person ticket and let's take your real estate, investing and entrepreneurship game to the next level. Thanks so much. Bye. RA.