#222 How This Radiologist Became a Health Media Expert and Reality TV Star

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Hope you're having another great week. I just want to say thank you for tuning in each and every week. There are so many loyal listeners who tune in every week to get a little bit of value in a short period of time. Whether you're listening in between cases, in your car, wherever it might be, we hope that in a short period of time, we bring you enough value that you can do something with it. Actionable tips to change your lives. To help you get where you want to be.

I just want to let you know.

There are going to be some exciting things that are happening with the podcast over the next few months. We'll be diving into different topics, different material, actionable tips, and again, some great interviews with people who are doing some extraordinary things inside and outside of medicine to shape their lives and take control. This week you're going to hear an interview that I had with a good friend of mine, and many of you may have seen him actually on tv. He's a reality TV star. He's been all over reality TV and has a medical media personality. We talk all about his story, which is incredible, but also about branding. And this can be useful for all physicians out there. No matter where you're at, we're where you want to be. I know you're going to enjoy this, so stay tuned.

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We're going to be talking to Dr. Kien Vu, otherwise known to many people out there as Dr. V. He's created a wellness and longevity empire merging with the the entertainment world. And that's where you've probably seen him. He's been on prominent platforms and tv. TV channels like Bravo, Access Hollywood, the Doctors, and most recently, probably you've seen him on Netflix's really hit show Squid Game the Challenge. And the cool thing is he's wearing his jacket. He's number 330. We're gonna talk about that. He's harnessed all these platforms to build a brand leveraging his medical degrees. Just a great example of somebody that who's figured out how to take that and just build and create and do really amazing things in and out of medicine. So I'm excited to talk to him today. Dr. V. Kian, how you doing, brother?

It is great to see you. I hope to see you in real life real soon, man.

Yeah, it's been too long. I Mean, last time I saw you, you didn't have this green jacket. Tell us a little bit about this green jacket. What's that about?

Well, you know, once you start building a brand, once you just start getting your voice out there, we'll talk about branding in a second. But when you're able to express who you are and just start sharing with the world in more and more platforms, you, you, you begin to be known and opportunities like Squid Game will come out. A friend of mine told me about it, actually signed me up, had me do a video. And then a couple months later, as I was doing a keynote, I get a call from England saying, hey, we really want you to be on the show. And that started it off there. And after Squid Game, actually, as this summit is going on, there'll be a episode of Vanderpump Rules. I'll be on. That will be really fun as well.

Yeah, we're going to talk about all these things. I mean, you find yourself all over. I just happen to sometimes be on some random channels and I've seen you on Access Hollywood and things like that. So it's really cool to see how you built it and how you grew it. Let me ask you, though. I mean, your background, let's talk about it. Your medical training, your education, you always have a plan to be in entertainment, build this brand. Was that something that was really intentional from the beginning? Yeah.

I gotta say this. As a kid, I wanted to do entertainment, like some sort of acting or media. And so I felt like there was something in my soul that wanted to do this. And when I first chose a medical specialty, I was thinking, all right, what will allow me to do that later on? And so, you know, and that was lucrative. And I got in everyone's mind, let's pick the road specialties. And I picked the first one, radiology. And as I was training in diagnostic radiology, I realized this, that I can't sit in a dark room. I need to be out there. And so I became an interventional radiologist. So I trained UC San Diego undergrad, med school, did some time at the nih, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, my residency at UCLA, and my fellowship in ir, also at ucla. Started off my first job, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Medical center, doing a lot of tertiary work over there, then went into private practice doing ir. And then it just started to hit me that the more I was chasing that, the more success I got. You know, that was where I was rewarded of speaking nationally, writing up papers, going around the world, speaking on IR at That point in my life almost eight years ago now, I was overweight, diabetic, had high blood pressure on prescription medications, and I just felt like I was burnt out. And so that was a big turning point in just starting to reflect. How did life go awry? How did this child that had the zest for maybe doing entertainment fall to the wayside? What type of life was I living in? What type of culture did you and I get trained in the medical field where we start to forget ourselves? And so that really started the process of relearning who I am, relearning my passions and showing up in a different way. And certainly entertainment had a piece to do with that.

Well, let's talk about those first steps because I think a lot of people can relate to that idea of kind of going down the road trying to be successful. You knock down the next wall and then sometime somewhere in the future, you're like, what's next? Or what am I doing here? And you were able to take that and, and you're able to transition somehow. But let's talk about how that transition occurred when you decided, I want to be in entertainment or I want to do something different or I want to break out from what I'm doing now. What were some of those first steps that you took?

Yeah, so that's a great question. One it was, and for, for some people, it's just really scary to like completely leave where you're at. But I had, you know, for people who worked in managed healthcare and a system like Kaiser, it could be like golden handcuffs because the 401k was, you had all these benefits and it was a really coveted job. It was a lot of security. But me just showing up as myself, my high energy self and all that bureaucracy just didn't feel right. And so the first step is to sometimes just step away from something that didn't feel right. So I tried private practice and I thought I was going to do so much better in private practice because, hey, I became chief of interventional radiology at my hospital, but I was also working for this big group, but also didn't feel like I was able to express who I was and myself. I still felt a little constrained. Then I took another step and I said, you know what? I'm gonna step out of this full time. And that was scary to do. There's a lot of locum opportunities. I actually took a job doing part time at UCLA at the time and then used the spare time to discover myself. So I did a lot of personal development at the time went to mindvalley courses like a fest, did landmark, did Tony Robbins and things like that and just push myself out. I also knew that longevity was a really, really hot topic that people were listening to. And so I did a fellowship from the American Board of Anti Aging Medicine. And. And I did that as well. So the first step is just to say. The first step is awareness. Asking yourself, are you at a point in your life where you. You feel like there's a tug and life should be better lived?

If you're not. You're.

If you're not waking up or have a sense that you're beaming with life, then that should be a clue and having the awareness there. And then the first step is it might be different. Look, who I want to be is this platform that blends medicine, wellness with entertainment. I see myself as the next version of a Dr. Oz in New platforms later on. Am I there yet? No. And have I gone through and it's not a straight line? Oh, my God, how much money have I lost? How much money did I give away to other people saying they could do my marketing and pr? You're going to learn all these things along the way, and it's going to be messy and scary, but it's a part of you that's also going to die. That's going to be beautiful. Because the part of me that went into medicine and listened to all my attendings at the time, the other people in training all the time, that said this is how life should be. And then as you're trying something new, you're saying no to that life that was apparently very secure. So one is having awareness, two is taking the next steps. And then three, recognizing man. I might not be making as much income initially as I'm making that security. Part of that retirement fund that that place was offering isn't being offered anymore. And it's that internal struggle that might make you want to go back. But I'm always saying listen to. Listen to what's going on inside and then be aware also of the things that got programmed to give us security and to take the small little steps away and start breaking off from it, because it will take a little bit of momentum to remember who you are and to live as who you are. You know, I'm going to talk about branding a little bit today and what is brand anyway? But just the way we express ourselves. And even if you don't have a platform right now, like Instagram, like LinkedIn, like your own website, you're still a brand. If you're working still for a hospital system or working in a clinic, You've got a brand. You got a brand for your patients. You got a brand of the people working with you. It's how they feel about you. And you're either living that brand authentically or inauthentically. And who I was when I was in the hospital, when I was first breaking out and trying to do entertainment, there was a inauthentic part of me. I try to show what other people wanted to see me to be. And you're growing that brand. And if you're growing that blend on platforms, that is not sustainable. Trying to present yourself as someone you're not is never sustainable. And if you start doing it on platforms, it starts to get really, really hard. And so when I first did that in entertainment, I realized that I wasn't. I was living a mask all the time. So part of this, you know, personal development and journey process is just remembering who you are. And, yes, you'll slip up, but as you slip up and as you get those ouch and struggle moments, you ask yourself the deep questions of, like, oh, why am I feeling this way? And who do I really want to be? And if you start to step into yourself and remember who you are and start to create that, and when you create that, on top of all these different platforms that we have, that has been my major leverage points in being able to get high fees on keynotes like concierge clients that pay me over six figures a year, brand deals of people saying, hey, will you endorse my brand? Going on Netflix, going on Bravo. That's what happens when, one, you step into who you are and you just start to share it with more and more people.

I mean, how do you get over the fear? As a physician, there are certain element of, like, you know, we take care of our patients, but I think when it comes to putting yourself out there a little more, and you talked about being authentic and doing that, especially in your brand, but definitely there's that feeling of like, I don't want to do that, or I'm worried about how my colleagues will see me or how serious I'm taking in the medical community and things like that. How do you get over the fear? And how did you get over that fear initially?

Well, initially for me, it was like, one, my relationships weren't working out at the time. You know, a woman I thought I was going to marry left me for another person because all I was was just trying to hustle and do as many, you know, surgeries as many diagnostic images as I could. Hustle, hustle, hustle. And I wasn't there. My health suffered. My mental health, emotional health, physical health, all suffered. So I was at a point in my life and this is what's going to happen to you. So it might just start off as burnout, which just means, like, you have lower energy, you're not feeling as vibrant anymore. That's the early signs. But it'll hit you mentally, physically, it'll go into your relationships. And for me, it was like a big cosmic two by four saying something better change. And yes, there is a fear of doing something different, but life is already telling me that, that if I continue down that road, the fear of dying, unhappy, unhealthy, and having low energy, you know, just allowed me to take those first initial steps of doing something different.

Hmm. I think that's so great and that's so well said. Now you said that at some point you start to gain momentum and you start to feel like, okay, I'm doing these things, I'm changing, and things are actually moving in my favor. What was that moment for you when you felt like all the, you know, all the going past all that fear, changing direction, taking all those risks. When did it start to feel like it actually, actually start to pay off for you?

Maybe now. No, seriously. So I, when I initially started doing content, I hired, you know, lots of PR firms saying, we can make you famous. And I, I didn't even know what, what I wanted to create yet out in the world. So I wasted so much money and who I was, being in the news and in the other places was this really stiff person and it just wasn't me. Wasted a lot of money there. And I thought maybe I wanted to do a concierge practice to get, you know, just because maybe I didn't want to do clinical IR anymore. So I chose this thing when really, what was that part of me as a kid, long ago that wanted to speak and to have fun and all these things. And so I really tapped into a place when, as I started to just remember the things that brought me joy, that lifted me up as I connected with people, as I connected with the tribe, I started to just feel more alive. And as I started to do that, I reversed my diabetes, got off all the prescription medications, and there are these epigenetic tests now that shows that I've biologically aged backwards as well. So all those things are a byproduct. But I wanted to just say that I chose something that I thought would light me up and be something that was an alternative to interventional radiology, which is concierge medicine. But the more I started to do that and work with people, yes, I put them on hormone optimization, peptides, and some things that we don't learn in conventional medicine. But the biggest thing that I started to notice, really move the needle, is just remembering who they are. So many of us, particularly doctors, the type A personality that goes into med school, the type A personality that wants to shine during our rotations, the type of personality that tries to shoot for the breast residency program, that puts you in a narrow box of just trying to be somebody that you might not want to be. And I could only speak for myself, but I've heard from colleagues that they have a very, very similar feeling. And when I coach people now and when I consult with individuals, it's really remembering that. Can we quiet down? Part of my work is talking about our default mode network and the nervous system in our body that we actually inherit as kids with all this programming from our parents, from culture, from society, from our training, all these things that are not us, how do we start to quiet that down and start to remember who you are and start acting as that? So that's step one in building a brand, is living the brand and living the authentic you. Anyway, I forget the question, and I digress, but I'll let you take over the conversation from there.

No, no, we'll talk about when you start to feel that momentum. And you said right now, because you're doing all of these really cool things, and now I'm really starting to see you everywhere. I mean, which is amazing. And I know you still got along like you have other dreams, you're still building stuff. What else are you working on next? I'm just curious.

Yeah. So I just put together an online mental health summit that's going to be helping tons of people work on their mental health. And this year it's really doing more work with corporations. Corporations are bringing me in to talk about human potential and human performance. So I've got a keynote business, and then that goes into precision corporate wellness business that I have. I work with brands all the time. I love talking about human potential, performance, longevity, things that maybe conventional medicine doesn't really talk about much. Conventional medicine, unfortunately, is just, you know, putting band aids on problems that I think can be solved if people start really living a beautiful life, you know, And I want to share more of that message. And so I've been doing that with, again, corporate brand work consulting. And then, you know, because People have seen the success, you know, the success with Squid Game and some of the stuff I'm doing on tv, they're like, how do we do that too? And so I'm starting coaching one on one people doing that and potentially later this year opening up a mastermind. If you're a medical professional or health professional that is starting to feel a little burnt out and wondering what life can be like on the other side. How. How living your life more authentically and passionately if shared across platforms, can increase your income, your influence and your ability to have more impact all over the world.

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I mean, tell me about some of the things you said. It's not a straight journey. So again, people see you now and sometimes people say I could never do that or how do I get there? Or it's just too difficult. You went from starting the brand, you know, changing it around a little bit. Now getting here, what were some of those other things that you had to deal with besides, you know, the brand issues, but maybe some challenges along the.

Way that you can share with people 100%. So I started to do some YouTube stuff and I thought, hey, I'm going to be the guy in the performance longevity space. And I started to do some, some, some content there. Then I opened up a concierge practice. I was fortunate because I was working at Hollywood Gym and so I had, you know, a lot of high level people reaching out to me, working on stuff. And I said, okay, that's it. And so I tried to hustle as an entrepreneur doing these high level, you know, CEOs and celebrities and working on their health there. And that was burning me out because I was doing it as a solopreneur. I don't learn how to be an entrepreneur. So I was just hustling, learning how to set up, you know, you know, relationships with, with pharmacies. How do I show up myself working on the back end system of all these things and marketing to these clients. I was so burnt out doing the business part, which didn't like light me up. To me hiring a CEO, paid them all up front and lost nearly half a million dollars with the stuff that he did with the company. So that was a huge, you know, and you know, I, when I was an attending at, you know, chief of interventional radiology, I bought fancy house, fancy car, you know, the house like looked over, you know, the Silver Lake reservoir, you know, the Hollywood sign. But I knew things weren't working. And so right around that time I, you know, sold the house and you know, I moved into my parents house. And so that, that was a big ego shock. And then going from someone who had so much security about money, then hiring this person that ended up being a snake. Me dropping all my funds and needing to take out loans, man, that was, that was, that was a huge struggle. But I think every, every moment, I mean, I'm thinking about another struggle right now. The birth of my daughter. You know, the only daughter I have in my life. I was going to be a first time dad. And she was born with a cord wrapped around her neck in the, and her ankle and spent a couple of days in the ICU afterwards. But all these things at each moment had just asked me the question, how am I living life? What drives my happiness and what is this here to teach me? And I've been talking about forgiveness in my concierge practice, in my content for, for a really long time in terms of, you know, what anger and resentment does to the human body. But like with, with, with that gentleman that, that kind of screwed me over in my business. Like it was like the universe said, you talk about forgiveness, all right, show me. Boom. And it was all these different things that, you know, struggle along the way. But I can guarantee anyone that starts to do something new, you're going to have you in the face that makes you doubt that what you're doing is right. But if you get past it, I'm telling you that struggle and that obstacle and those down moments are your gifts to rediscover something within yourself. And when you get that, you're really getting back to that remembering Process of who you are and who I believe we are as souls, as individuals are love, we are safe, and we are connected. And those are the three things that we forget. Growing up when our parents might tell us, don't do this, do that. This is the way you should be living life. We think we lose safety and love and connection, which is what we really are. And we adopt these behaviors of not being ourselves. And that actually drives burnout and stress and inauthentic ways of being. And if you build a brand platform on that, you're going to get burnt out. But if you can just follow the whisper of, like, man, this isn't right. I'm going to try something new and be driven by just what your soul wants to do. You're going to be on a path that's going to be up and down, but you're going to find the strength of who you are during that process. So applaud anyone who says yes to entrepreneurship, yes to the passion that they want to live in their lives. It's not an easy road, but I mean, it's the road we must follow. It's almost the hero's journey to remember who we are. And when we get to that place, we. Man, the amount of impact we get to have is awesome. And again, I can't stress enough that this authentic brand platform has been the best leverage point for me to be able to increase my income, my ability to land deals and things like that so much more. But it takes some time to get there, and I could definitely share with people all the mistakes they shouldn't make along the way if they want that to happen.

I mean, you were able to do all that. Like I said, being your brand, being your authentic self. Yeah. Somehow it did lead you to this amazing show, Squid Games. I feel like people are gonna get on me if I don't ask you a little bit about your experience there. A little bit. So we only see a little part of it. But just tell me, was that as fun as it looked? Was it as difficult as it looked? Just give us some insight into what it was like behind the scenes. I mean, you were shown as, you know, trying to make the peace for a lot of people and be this leader and all of this stuff again. I don't want to spoil it for anybody else out there, but I'm sure people want to see it. We've already seen it, but share a little bit about your experience. Like, how was that for you? And, you know, what did you take from it?

Well, man, it was a really surreal experience. They really. This is the largest reality show cast in history. 456 people they brought in. The sets that they built were magical. And in fact, some of the actors from the original squid game went on set and said, man, this set was even better than our set. And so that was pretty magical. And then being in a room of 456 people, that is. That's something else. All vibing to kind of eliminate each other to get to this master prize. So it really sort of tested the human spirit and what people would do under times of, you know, elevated stress. And I think one of the fortunate things is I'm really glad. I don't want to give away how I got off the show, but they actually had to build a storyline about me while I was there. And the storyline, fortunately for me, talked about me being a longevity and performance expert, me doing breath work and leading people out of this stress state and doing the stuff that I do. So I think it was a great opportunity for that type of exposure. But it really kind of shows people's human tendencies and behavior when they're under extreme stress and pressure. What I wanted to do on the show is really demonstrate. Look, yes, you can have one resource out there. You could have one prize out there. And in the world today, when we have limited resources and one prize, people will kill each other for that, damage each other along the way. Yes, one person might win it, but everybody else who does survive is actually weakened. I'm like, look, the best resource we have is human potential and human energy. And if we, yes, there's one prize that's there, but if we can uplift everybody along the way, if we uplift their potential along the way, we're creating more energy and resources and collaboration that can eventually be worth Even that 4.5, $6 million. I wish they actually would have highlighted that a little bit more. But it does show that there is still a primitive part of our brain and nervous system that just fears other people. And we need to be doing better as a culture, as a society to recognize that I am you, you are me, that you and I are actually just individual cells in the body that is our families, our teams, our organizations, and humanity itself.

I mean, it was so fun to see you on it, obviously, as your friend and somebody who's known you. And I was, you know, you never know how they're going to put it together, but it was an amazing chance for you. They really highlighted you. There's so many people there, and for people have not checked it out. You definitely got to check it out. You'll see Dr. V plastered all over this thing. Now I have a question for you. So you talked about branding and as we wrap this up, like, what is the, what are some of, like the opportunities for people and doctors in particular once they built a personal brand, like, what does that look like for them? Because people are like, so what, I build a brand? Like, what else can I, what can.

I do with that?

I mean, do you mind just sharing a few things that maybe you've done? I mean, you talked about it, but what are you doing? What are the potential, what's the potential for people once they built that brand?

Yeah. So again, it's going to, it has to be an authentic personal brand that's going to really give you what you want because then you could just be you and just you amplified. And it's more important now to do it than ever. Why? Because there's this AI revolution and everybody beyond doctors is using AI to create so much content. And so, you know, if you don't get in now, there's going to be flooded with so much noise that's out there, it's going to be hard to stand out. But you mentioned the opportunity as doctors, I want everybody to know that as a doctor with an MD or a do, that this is the highest degree in the land. I mean, people still look at that. And so you have automatic credibility. And if you don't already know, you already kind of have a brand. People that say yes to you, your patients, people that you do other business with knows you as this brand. And so every opportunity you get for wanting to grow your income, you know, happens because there's a connection with another person. And so anything that has to do with money, with growing anything business wise, you'll need a brand. And the brand that you create actually creates a sense of safety that people already know you. So when you're having conversations, you know, whether you have, you know, a business deal come in, they kind of already know who you are. You've already weeded out the people that don't resonate with you and it's much easier to say yes. And once you start building a celebrity band, people start seeing you out there with other people. Look, I just put on a summit, but we got people like Meryl Hemingway, Vishen Lakhiani, Jim Quick, Naveen Jain, all these top level people said yes to me and they probably would have like shooed me away if I didn't actually have a brand. So your brand is really that key point that allows you to leverage your time. Like, my Keynote fees are 25k and up and my workshop fees are that only because I've created a brand and I put myself out there. My concierge clients, why I was getting over six figures a year was like I started to build a brand and they started to know and trust me as that brand that you're able to charge that much. So a personal brand is really the secret weapon that you need to again, elevate your income, your impact, your influence. But I'm going to go back to this again. It has to be you. It has to be the authentic version of you. So that's the first step is the awareness of are you living your life and expressing yourself as the authentic you? Now, if not, when I do my work, one on one, personal clients, we don't go into, you know, Instagram, social media, building a funnel, any of that stuff. Until we figure that out first, let's find out who you are, step into that direction, and then start implementing the other pieces.

I mean, thanks for your transparency, your vulnerability. I know that you've been sitting here teaching us so many good things. I know this is going to resonate with a lot of people. They're going to want to find out more about you, what else you're doing, find out how else they can get plugged in. Where's a great place for people to do that?

Yeah, they could just go to my website, kienvu.com you could see, you know, how I'm out there in the world as, you know, a brand endorser, a keynote speaker. And then we're also building a community now that focuses on health, happiness and human potential. That's something in the wellness space. You guys as MDs can really leverage your time once you start building a brand, building digital assets, building a community that can, you know, have you not trade your time for dollars or at least trade your time for a lot more dollars for the work that you're doing.

All right, so everyone can check you out right there. We put it down below@drvmd kienfu.com you've already laid us, you laid so much knowledge on us. You spend so much time just teaching us. I really appreciate it. Again, you're a great example of somebody who's built something, really had a mindset of, I'm going to do it first, and then you, you made it actually happen. Now, before we let you go, we want to just leave people with a one tip for somebody who wants to fall in your footsteps. You are so given so much. Is there anything else in there for a tip or piece of advice for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Yeah. You know, so much of my time being in that medical space and striving for success, I was really just thinking about me. And when the focus is. When the focus was on me, I was more stressed than anything else. And so my tip is this. Just remember to live life, love fully. Connect with the people in your life. Your friends, your family, your loved ones, your children, and really just do that. And when you serve, you're giving your body and nervous system a really important thing. You're basically turning off the fear of not being enough. You're turning off all these signals of not being worthy. And you know you're safe, you're loved, and you're connected when you serve. So just connect with people and just. Just serve without expecting anything in return. And I guarantee you, life will reward you very, very handsomely.

Can't beat that. Thanks for those final words. Again, congrats on all your success. People haven't checked out the show. They definitely should check Dr. V out wherever you can find him. I'm sure he's all over the place. Really appreciate your time. I mean, honestly, the. The amount of knowledge you shared with us today is. I know it's going to impact people in a big way. So thanks for all you do for our community. Take care and let's talk again soon.

All right, thanks for having me, Peter.

All right, thanks.

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. Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. Learn more at our website, passive passiveincomemd.com thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey.

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