PP104: Coming Full Circle with Dr. Liana Rodriguez and Sachin Patel

Hey, Satchin. And welcome to the Perfect Practice Podcast. It's my mission to use this podcast as a platform to help holistic, heart centered practitioners transform the world. I think we can all agree that the world needs more of what we have to offer now than ever before. And I want to take all the information and all the knowledge and experience that I've gained over the years and leverage the community and the contacts and the mentors that I've had over the years and, and share some of the most valuable nuggets that I've picked up over those years. I also want to bring special guests on so that they can share their valuable wisdom and knowledge with you as well. Each episode is going to be packed with valuable nuggets of information to help you grow, both personally and professionally, all while moving you towards more impact and more freedom. I'm excited that you're here. I'm excited that you want to grow and learn. So let's jump right in. Well, my friends, and welcome to Perfect Practice. Today I'm excited because I get to speak to somebody who I've known for many years and somebody who's become a great friend, a mentor to me in many ways, and also somebody who is a great contributor to our community. And this is Dr. Liana Rodriguez. Liana, thank you for joining me today.

Thank you, Satchin. So excited.

Me too. I'm thrilled to have this conversation and dive a little bit deeper into your story and your journey. And I know this is what you described as a full circle moment for you because you started off listening to this podcast, as you mentioned, just before we started recording, and now here you are on the other side, delivering value to our listeners today. So super cool and so grateful to be able to share this experience with you.

Yeah, likewise. Absolutely.

Well, I don't want to miss anything, so I'm actually going to read your bio, which I don't normally do, but there's so much value and so much character and so many stories that we can dissect from your bio and your journey thus far that I don't want to miss anything. So Here we go. Dr. Liana Rodriguez is an osteopathic physician certified by the Institute of Functional Medicine. She is an entrepreneur and a US Air Force veteran. I did not know that. After experiencing trauma and severe burnout from the conventional system, Liana immersed herself on a personal development journey to learn how to rejuvenate herself from within. This led to her practice, which is called Rejuvenista Health. Rejuvenist Health, Sorry. And she is now currently building a second practice called Peak Integrative Medicine, in which she is a partner, helping build a clinic model that will disrupt healthcare as we know it. It's about time. I love it. Lastly, she is one of the practice success coaches inside the Perfect Practice mentorship and now paying it forward with all of her lessons she's learned in her personal and entrepreneurial journey. So there's lots to pull from there. Where I'd love to start, Leanna, is tell me more about your service. So I'd love to know what you learned in your Air Force service that you apply in your business today.

Wow. Well, a lot, A lot. And I learned, yeah, I learned what I, I learned the kind of life I don't want to have. Right. I think that's just as important. And then I learned the kind of life that I do want to have. So it was really a double edged sword. I really don't speak about it a whole lot because it, they were really some of the hardest years of my life. And what's really interesting about it is for me, there are no accidents and things happen in divine order. Now looking back, I realize why I went through it and it was to understand myself on a deeper level where I finally understood where so much anxiety came from in my past. I understood how I function and, you know, what I, how I need my environment to be in order for me to be at my best, right. And be at my kind of, you know, be at my potential. And it was, it was funny because the biggest thing I got out of it, and a lot of people don't really like to hear this, but the biggest thing I got out of it was that it's not for me. And 9 to 5, right, was not for me. The, you know, Monday through Friday, that lifestyle that it just didn't, it just really didn't jive with my character. And I went through a lot of pain and figuring that out. But once I like, allowed it, I like allowed that journey, that self, you know, that journey within, to figure out why is this not working out for me. Like, although I met the best people I know right along that journey and I made so many friends and I learned a lot of good things. But the biggest thing I learned was meeting myself at a deeper level and realizing, okay, I've got to get crystal clear and laser focused on the kind of life I do want to have. And now I know exactly what I don't want to have. Right? So, you know, that was the biggest lesson for me. Other than that, like you know, obviously the Air Force core values of excellence and integrity. Right. Which I feel like I had already had, but now they're, you know, after. After being in the Air Force, they're like, I practice them on a, you know, at a deeper level.

So. So I love that. And then. And then. Did you go to osteopathic school after that? I would imagine.

No, I went before. So I did the Air Force medical school scholarship, so I actually joined in school. I did, you know, all civilian rotations, and then my. My resident. My internship and residency were active duty, so I practiced, you know, I practiced medicine on base, like in active duty hospitals and also in civilian hospitals, too, because they mix it up for you. So. Yeah, it was a really interesting residency. Not your typical.

Yeah, I would imagine there's probably lots that you learned, some amazing technology I'm sure you witnessed and were able to provide to your clients, and, of course, lessons along the way. I know veterans have some very unique experiences and, you know, sometimes very challenging stories and, you know, parts of them that they carry with them or experiences they carry with them for the rest of their life. You mentioned that you experience trauma and burnout. Tell us a little bit more about that.

So that really came just from the overall conventional medical system in general. And before I even dive into that, I just want to say that veterans actually introduced me to functional medicine, which is so interesting because I was practicing internal medicine on base, and. And it was in Tampa, Florida, and I had a huge geriatric population, right. And they would bring me all their supplements because there's, like, a large functional medicine base in Sarasota and Tampa Bay area, and I was at a loss. And so I had to start Googling all these drug supplement interactions. And that's how I stumbled on functional medicine, which is so interesting. But it's funny because in the midst of my burnout, like, in the midst of me just being in the conventional system, you know, and realizing that I had gone through so much trauma and having that come up for me after residency, I found functional medicine. So it was like all these things happening at once. But I, you know, I realized that I had so much. I underwent a lot of beratement in residency, and I'm from the old school. Like, I'm an OG. Like, I had Q3 call, like I was, you know, doing. And at the time, like, there were out, you know, regular people regulating the hours, but a lot of the time, people didn't care about that. So I was doing, like, ICU rotations for, like, 36 hours, you know, on call, like that sort of thing. And it really burned out my adrenals. It. You know, being berated when you literally can't function after 30 hours to me is traumatic. And it really took. I took a beating, right? I took a big beating on my. Just on my, you know, my self esteem, right? And like, here I am, like, I made it so far, and here I am being berated because I literally physically and mentally couldn't function. So I went through a lot of that, but then also after that, too, just the demands of the hours, you know, just never really worked with me like that, 9 to 5. And I still kept pushing myself through it, into it, and I realized, like, what am I doing to my body, right? And I had even colleagues, you know, I was in a big group at one time, and I even had colleagues tell me, like, you know, this is the norm. Like, you should be okay, you need antidepressants. Let's give you, you know, something to get you through. They put me on call. I was on. I took call for five days in a row for the whole group. And I needed prednisone to get me through, to literally just boost my energy. And so I just. I had, like. It was just so much conflict, right? Like this dissonance going on. Like, I know that I'm capable of so much more, but here I have the system and colleagues and people telling me that I'm not performing and, like, what's going on here? And, you know, obviously I finally realized I'm an entrepreneur at heart, right? I've got to make my own hours, and I'm a disruptor, right? I don't just go along with what everyone says to do. Like, I like to trailblaze. And so that's kind of how I found my way out and started to pave my own way.

So when would you say the entrepreneur in you was ignited? Was there a specific event or something that happened that made you say that?

That is hilarious that you asked me that, because, yes, I don't know how this works for other people, but before I opened my first medical practice, I was the person always saying, I hate business. I don't like the business side of medicine. And I didn't. I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't also fully understand it. Also, when you're in the. When you're in the military, you're very shielded from the business side of things. I remember I had maybe one or two attendings who were like, you need to learn coding no matter what Even if the system is going to do it for you, trust me. And I thank God for them because I needed it. But, like, you know, it was interesting that I totally had this pivot moment of going from, I'm burned out, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life to, oh, I know exactly what I have to do. And it was obviously a plant medicine journey. So for me, I had a big calling, and I feel personally that kind of the medicine calls you, like, you kind of know like something's brewing inside of you that you need a really big shift, right? And then it finds you, the opportunity finds you, and you're like, boom, that's it. That's what I've got to do, right, to get some answers or to move forward. And so that I literally quit my job. I had. I was part of a group practice, and I quit my job with no plan. And I took a trip with my coach, who's also a shaman. She leads retreats to Peru. I took a trip to Peru, did some plant medicine, and we did a vortex activation. I remember the night we did this, we went to Machu Picchu afterwards and did this meditation and vortex activation there, because energy there is so powerful. And that night I was. I don't know, just like, something unlocked in my brain. Something just clicked, and I was writing notes all night. I built the whole business model. I had no clue where it came from. I just knew what I wanted it to look like. And I didn't go into, like, details, details, but it was all there, everything I needed, the structure, the backbone. And I came home from that trip so pumped. And. And when I told, like, family and my friends, like, my plans, they were like, you're going to do what? And I was like, yes, and it's going to be amazing. And I know this is what I have to do. So that. That's my story. So that's interesting that you bring that up.

Well, it's amazing. And as a. As a fellow plant medicine journey or myself, I know you get some amazing downloads when you tap into the medicine. And it doesn't always tell you what you want to hear, but it tells you what you need to hear. Many times it gives you the high level, and then life fills in the details. So that brings me to my next question, which is how did you fill in those details? So you got the outline of what you needed to do, but then you probably had to start coloring in those details. So what was your next step after that?

So next steps after that. Were going to conferences. I was going to IFM conferences. Networking, meeting people and getting out of my comfort zone and actually asking for help, which is something I never used to do before. Like, I would. I started asking people who had practices about, what do you do for this, what do you do for that? And if you can't help me, who can? Right. Can you point me in that direction? So I started doing that and also, you know, mentorship. So, you know, I had joined Dr. Peter Osborne's mentorship, and it was amazing because it helped me get started with a brick and mortar. Right. And so I was able to network with a lot of people. I know I networked with you there, and it was fantastic. It was like just, you know, having someone guide you is, you know, everything when you need the details. Right. Because you. In. In general, it's nice to have the big picture, but, you know, if you're not going to, like, hire consultants, right. And you're going to kind of try to, like, do a lot of it on your own, you do need guidance.

Yeah. I think, you know, having mentorship is probably one of the most important tools. And Dr. Peter mentored both of us, and just amazing to learn from people who've been there, done that, who are also willing to share and pay it forward in their special way and empower practitioners like yourself and I to find our footing and find how we can align with our passion and step into it. And mentorship's like a time machine, Right. So you basically learn on other people's time and other people's dime so that you're not spending as much time and money to achieve success. That's where we met. And since then, we've become great friends, and you've been part of our group and community and you've been paying it forward. So it's been amazing to kind of see you blossom and find your footing as well. What I'd love to know is more about the next steps that you're taking. So you're on a mission to. To create peak health, and I love to hear what you're doing to disrupt healthcare.

Well, it's a lot. It's a lot, and it's so amazing and exciting. We're just so excited. I have three amazing partners, and we all have different. We're all going to really kind of head different aspects of the business. And the lead partner who is also on our council, Dr. Buddy Chachinsky, we're just, you know, it's. It works well because we've been part of the mentorship together. And so we, you know, because we've learned from you, we have a lot of the same ideals and beliefs and values. Right. So we already know that, you know, out the gate, we knew it would be a good fit. Right. And what I even love about it more is we're creating a system that's not just sustainable for people who don't have insurance, but it's also going to be sustainable for the practice, practitioners. So we're building it in a way that we're all doing what we love and it's not a time for dollars situation. Right. And also for the further our way. Well, we're calling them our members, right? Our patients who are our members, who we're going to partner with in their health. Their socks are going to be knocked off because we're going to be offering, first of all, it's direct primary care. So we're doing all of our due diligence into making sure that pricing for everything that they spend on in their is affordable. And not just affordable, but like they're getting like next level, top notch things. Right. So whether it comes to labs, supplements, referrals, right. Even that, like we're building relationships with local people. You know, there's going to be mental health and counseling involved. There's, you know, as part of their membership, there's going to be coaching, high performance coaching. There's going to be, there's so many opportunities for them to up level their life for themselves and their family. And that's, we're just so excited for that. Like we're, it's literally like a canvas and we're like, okay, like how much can we do? Like how much are we allowed to do? And we just like it's, you know, the sky is the limit. So we're so excited. It's, it, there's not going to be just primary care, but it's also functional medicine. So that's where I come in and I'm just so excited because we're utilizing group programs, you know, the group programs that we learned in imperfect practice, right. That you, that you helped us launch that we've been running independently and now because you know, it's in a different setting, we're going to take the group programs to a next level and there's going to be so much data collected which is going to be amazing, like people are going to be blown away by the amount of change that you know, they're just going to be like, why hasn't this happened before? That's the thought I want to cross people's minds is, why haven't my doctors done this for me before? And we want to show them this is what's possible in healthcare. And it doesn't have to be, you know, thousands of dollars a month. You know what I mean? It doesn't have to be super expensive or bespoke even. Right. It doesn't have to entail all these, you know, tiny little, you know, details of the testing and 30 supplements at a time. We, we're. We're teaching them, like, the basics, the lifestyle, all the lifestyle, you know, things that people normally implement when, after they get, you know, functional lab testing. And it's so, we're just so excited. I can go on and on, leave it at that. I'm like, totally stealing Buddy's thunder here.

Well, what it reminds me of is kind of this. This adage where they say that the master acupuncturist uses as few needles as possible, whereas the rookie or the, you know, or the beginner uses as as many needles as they possibly can because they don't want to miss something.

Yeah.

And so that's kind of the ev finding for a lot of practitioners is they're starting off. Initially, I know I was guilty of this, and I'm not going to speak for you, but I was guilty of order wanting to order. You go to a conference and you're like, oh, my God, I got to order this test and this test and this test, and oh, my God, I just learned about this supplement. And this is going to solve so many problems for people. And then once you start compiling that list, you start realizing that this may not be practical, it may not be affordable, and it may not be scalable, and it may be difficult to understand how all of these things are going to interact. And then the psychology of that is also important, too. Am I hindering this person's own personal possibilities by putting all of their faith in these supplements and the lab testing? Because I can't give them everything and I can't test for everything. So a better place for me to start is to do the exact opposite, which is now it's like, how do we test as few things as possible, and how do we give them as few supplements as possible? Because we're asking the right questions. Because we're also realizing that there's certain behaviors that you can't test for, and there's certain behaviors you can't supplement for. And if people don't do those things, then giving them this false hope through testing and supplements is unfortunately going to, you know, Jade their experience working in any practice. So I love that you're starting with the foundations, you're starting with the principles, you're starting with the groundwork that we all need to do that strong foundation, those roots that we need to, you know, put into the ground first before we can start growing our tree. And I'm curious what you think. I know you've witnessed some of this in your own practice right now, but I'm curious what you think is going to be some of the outcomes that you're going to be able to achieve for people using this process.

Oh, I mean it's next level. I can't even imagine right now. I know that people, what's going to come of it are obviously our members are going to have lower rates of obesity, improved metabolic health. Our goal is to get people off of as many pharmaceuticals as possible. That's our goal for them. So this is what we foresee happening is, you know, and there's, I didn't even mention we have chiropractic built into it. So this is an overall holistic, you know, holistic regimen that I feel like is necessary for everyone. And so we're going to see people actually up leveling their life, stepping into their power. I foresee a lot of changes in the community around the clinic because, you know, when you change someone's health at this level and they see what's possible for them and they start feeling better, then they'll start changing how they behave, right? Like they'll behave differently at their job. They might quit their job, right? They might be like, you know what? I feel so great and I have so much power, like what can I do? What can I not do, right? So people might start businesses. I just feel like the community that we're building for the members is a high vibe community where people are a players and they want to perform at the next level. This is what I foresee happening. It's not just what's happening on the physical level with lab labs and people not being as sick and all that. It's going to be something way deeper than that, I believe.

No, I think a big thing for us to remind people of who are listening to this is that people are comprised of two aspects, right? There is hardware, which medicine is really great at. Lab testing is really great at identifying issues with hardware, with scans and labs and imaging and things like that. But where there's massive opportunity, which I love why that you're, I love that you're incorporating the personal development and high performance aspect of this because that addresses the software and that's often not discussed in healthcare. Right. We think of healthcare and it's really about dysfunction, disease, identifying a growth or a mass or some sort of dysfunction in a physical plane, not realizing or recognizing fully that there's an entire new world in a more powerful world, in my opinion, that we have under leveraged in health care. So I'm curious how you, how you plan on incorporating the personal development, high performance side of things.

Well, we have, well, there's, there's counseling, but there's also a health coach and then there's Buddy and myself. And we plan on incorporating some like, speakers. Right. Bringing outside speakers for our members as well to do some, you know, speaking and talks and whatnot. But, you know, it's going to come from all of us because we're, we've all been swimming in that pool. Right. I don't know a better way to say that, you know, and, you know, Buddy and I too, have really been into, you know, high performance. We've been through high performance coaching, each of us, and through personal development. So we both understand how far it's brought us and we want people to understand that. And also too, you know, when you're a leader in health, you walk the, you should walk the talk, right? So if here, you know, I just feel like it would not be an integrity if I were just to, you know, pop in the exam room and say, okay, this is what you have going on and this is what we need to do and then leave. And then that's it. I want them to see that I'm also doing these things and I want them to hear from me how to make these behavior changes and how what I've been through and, you know, like, really connect with them on a personal level and share with them, you know, all the things that I've kind of learned up until this point because I've spent, I've spent thousands of dollars on personal development. It would be, I'd be amiss if I didn't share that with my patients.

Yeah, that's. So I don't know why it's overlooked in health care. And I'm glad that you're doing something about it and the team is doing something about it. And even bringing this level of awareness to practitioners themselves changes how they show up. You know, there is so many practitioners this day and age, and you described it as, you know, early on in your career that are experiencing burnout, that are so tired and fatigued that when their patients come in sometimes their patients are probably healthier than the practitioner. Right. And that isn't a shot at practitioners. They're just put under so much stress, there's so much trauma. The insurance companies are giving them a hard time. They can't fully immerse themselves in a client's case because their time is so restricted. There's really very little fulfillment that they can experience if they know that there's more that they can do for someone, but they just simply can't because they've got the golden handcuffs on. It's going to be interesting to see these outcomes. Now, you mentioned something about measuring outcomes. How do you plan on doing that?

Well, we're going to be using some lab testing, pretty minimal lab testing though we're really streamlining it to the important things to. One of the reasons we decided to do that was to have some proof, some social proof. And for also the people who are the Cs and the Ss on the disc score who need to go through those kinds of details and see those results. And I believe some people are really outcome driven. So if they know that it's a good motivator. So we plan on using some lab testing. So bio. So depending on the program we're running, right, Depending then, you know, like, if it's obviously gut program, we're going to run a gut test. So, you know, for a cardiometabolic program, we're running cardio, you know, cardiac biomarkers. So we're going to do that. But we're also going to be using a lot of just assessments as well. So the naq, the nutritional, you know, assessment questionnaire, which we love, is going to be one of those. I know, I like the IFM MSQ as well. So that's another measure. And then I think Buddy mentioned that we could probably use the PROMISE score. Right. So there's tons of ways that people can look at, you know, before and after, you know, and not just weight. Right. So not just anthropometric, you know, markers, but also, you know, heart rate variability. Right. Things like that. Oura ring scores like, you know, how's your sleep improved? You know, like looking at real time information. And we also plan on making wearable technology affordable and accessible. So this is something we're also going to incorporate into programs, but also for any member who like, just wants to measure. Right. And get real time information.

Yeah, I think that real time information is so important because it shortens the feedback loop that people are getting, especially practitioners. Right. You want to know if your Recommendations are working not six months from now or a year from now, but you want to know if your recommendations are working within days now. And so we love it because it gives us valuable insights. Gives a client valuable insights. They know when they're not sleeping well. They know when they're not sleeping on time. They know when they're not breathing right, or they know how stress is affecting them. And even things like alcohol and late meals and staying up, you know, too late, you know, these are the things that are going to affect them and even guide them, too. Like, I love how wearable tech can be very valuable as a coaching tool. So from a customer service standpoint, you're getting the message across, but you're not having, you know, you're not having a lot of confused clients that are unsure why things may not be moving as quickly as they'd like them to. Now they know. And now you know as well to help coach them and guide them. Which brings me to my next question. Are you going to be incorporating coaches into this new platform as well?

Yeah, we'll have coaches. Yeah, for sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

Sounds amazing. So you've got the physical aspect covered with chiropractic. You've got the biological and lifestyle aspects covered with the functional medicine. And of course, you've got the lifestyle design and the implementation and the behavior change with the coaching. So this seems like a very foolproof system. So I'm excited to see how that comes together.

We're so excited. We're just over the moon. We can't wait to launch. It's going to be so good.

Amazing. Amazing. So in addition to this, one of the roles that you play is within our mentorship program, and you've been with us for several years now. So I'd love to hear you share a little bit more about what your experience has been like and the inspiration that you've received and what it's been like coaching others as well.

Well, I first, every time we talk about this or some aspect of. Of the mentorship, even our meetings, I just. I always have to stop and say thank you. I want to honor you for trusting me and for guiding me and telling me all the things that I may have not wanted to hear that I needed to hear at the time. So, yeah, so I'm grateful to be in this position, to even be in a coaching position, paying it forward. So, so grateful to you for that. Because this. It feels like home to me. The mentorship just always has felt like home.

And.

And it's funny because I remember Binging this podcast three years ago in my car and thinking, okay, well, I shut down my brick and mortar, so what's next for me, right? You know, my time and other mentorships were done and it was like, all right, I got a time for me to move on. And I was binging the podcast and I was like, okay, this is it. Like, it just. Something hit me in my heart, right? Something just spoke to me and I've always felt at home since then. And what I love about it is such a and beautiful and amazing community of heart centered people. Like, we can't say that enough, right? And what I, you know, what I love the best about it is the, the just in time information so you, you can't find. You know, we just have such a wealth of resources that you can always find what you need at the right time, right? Like there's nothing like that, right? Versus waiting to get on a phone call with someone to ask them questions or sending an email, not knowing when you're going to get a response, right? So we just have. You've curated this place where everyone is so loving and giving and we've all been there, done that, right? Where we're in a pinch and we need answers. So it's like this really beautiful container where people hold each other. And what I love about the coaching is it holds me to a higher standard too, right? So, so, you know, and I, I'm fine with that. Like, I'm cool with that. But what it's helped me to see is the next level is there's always a next level. And now I'm at this, what's the next iteration of me and my entrepreneurial journey, right? As I'm sharing what I went through before with all the mentees and yeah, I just, I love it. I don't hold back. Like, I just, you know, I, I just feel like I just want to give as much as I can on the calls. And the accountability groups that we have have been like, amazing. It's just an amazing personal container of, you know, the small amount of people on Thursdays and the feedback that I've gotten is pretty phenomenal. And you know, people are vulnerable and they allow themselves to be vulnerable and they're making strides, they're making progress, right? So that's. I love how far people come in such a short period of time, right? So I know, I know, I know the African proverb that you say, if you want to go, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together. But, like, here we are going together, going far, but we're also, like, it's. There's some kind of momentum going on, and I don't know if it's the collective energy of the world right now, but, like, things are speeding up and people are, you know, making progress at hyperspeed.

I love that. Yeah, you can go faster and you can go together. Right. When you have the right community. And it's not just having a community. Right. Because we all know how important community is, but the right community and a community that's collaborative and willing to share and not looking at each other as competition, but looking at each other as comrades and people who are going to support one another's growth. Realizing that there is, unfortunately, an abundance of people who are sick and unwell, and fortunately, there is an abundance of those people who are looking for answers. And it is great to be able to lift each other up.

Absolutely.

Through your coaching, what have you identified? I know it is probably like deja vu when you are coaching people now, Right. Because you are listening to some of the challenges that you probably faced when you started, as I'm sure I faced as well. What are some of the biggest challenges that you're encountering that practitioners are encountering that you're helping them coach through right now?

The. Well, the diy, for me, it became a disease. I am a DIY queen, and I just didn't let it go fast enough. So I see that coming up a lot, people wanting to diy, asking how, not who, when. They should be asking who, not how. Right. Like you taught us. And that's. It's hard to make that shift. And when, you know, when you start as a solopreneur and I got stuck in that trap, you know, when you start as a solopreneur and you're here, you are just trying to grow the business and build it. And then at the same time, you know, if you're new to it now, it's like, oh, you got to grow a team. Right. So. Or how do you piece that together? Right. If you're not going to go, like, full whammy, full, full speed ahead with it. So that's what I see coming up is not letting go of the diying. And also, yeah. Asking they should be asking who, not how. And also, you know, I see a lot of the. I see a lot of, like, the personal development come up and, like, you know, like, if I. The niching. Right. That's a big thing. The niching, like, oh, if I niche. But I'm going to miss out is all these people, it's like, trust me, they're going to find, they're going to email you anyway. Even I've, my website at one point has said I like only help people with metabolic issues and I've got people with like Crohn's disease emailing me. Can you help me? Right, like there are people, there's, like you said, there's a plethora unfortunately of people to help and when you're good, right? And honestly, my, my, for the, since I started, since I did a lot of public talks, all my, all my, most of my clients are word of mouth referrals. When you're good, people don't care that you're niching for your marketing. They just heard that you helped so and so solve this one problem they've had for years and they're like, yep, that's my girl. That's who I need to talk to. Right. So that's, that's like the biggest thing I think in people's minds. And because you know, as a practitioner, we didn't go to marketing school, right? We go to business school. We don't, you know, we don't understand the ins and outs of if you're just starting out, right, In a business, you don't, you don't know and you're not sure how it's going to pan out and it's the unknown. So it's uncomfortable, you know, it's scary.

Well said, you know, you know, we want to help everybody, right? And even still, like, I know you want to help as many people as you can and if you're a good fit to help that person, you're not going to turn them down. And as you mentioned, we can help so many people. We just can't market to all of them because if you're trying to market to everybody, you're marketing to nobody. And so, you know, our outward facing marketing materials should obviously represent the ideal customer avatar that we want to work with. However, we don't turn down people who we can actually help. And yeah, for those people that we can't help, it's good to have a network of practitioners that we can refer them to.

Yeah, yeah. And you know, with the perfect practice community, like there's no shortage of amazing people, right. That you can literally call. I mean, that's for the, I mean, since I've been in the mentorship, that's who I refer to. And you know, I've never had someone say no, maybe only if, you know, like State regulation, you know, regulatory bodies, like, forbid them from seeing them. Telehealth.

Right.

But even still, if someone says, oh, I can't see that patient, why don't we just get on a phone call and I'll talk you through, like, their labs or like, we'll just brainstorm. And it's like, wow, that's the level of, you know, friendship. Yeah, it's friendship, it's community, it's love that we have. So, yeah, it's amazing.

Yeah, it's always great. As somebody who's helping facilitate this, you know, I can only take partial credit because there's so many people involved in making this happen and making it available to our functional medicine community. So thank you for being part of that team and thank you for doing your work in the world and spreading your love and light and helping, you know, people all over the world, but especially now within your local community, experience better health. What's your favorite part of marketing? What's your favorite tool that you like for marketing?

I have to say Canva. I'm the Canva queen. I'm the Canva queen. I love graphic design. So I love, you know, as kind of a brainiac that I am, I have a creative side that I'm starting to unleash part of my, you know, my functional medicine regimen. Right. Like honoring that for myself. And I'm very creative. And so I love curating art and photography in a certain way. And so I love using the images to speak to people. You know, the images and the color imagery, all that. That's my favorite part. And yeah, along with that, it's. Sorry, I have to say two things. Copy. So now writing copy is my jam. I love it. So, you know, ever since being in Jennifer Hoodie's container, it's contagious. I just, Yeah, I just, like, will whip up an email and it's so easy for me now, and I just can speak my heart without sounding salesy and icky, you know, and that's a good feeling.

Yeah. So big shout out to Jennifer Hoodie, who's helped us all in our mentorship group make our message more effective and land better with people. Shout out to Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy for sharing their concept, especially Dan Sullivan, who not how. Because many of us get stuck in that, how am I going to do this? And sometimes that kills our dream. It actually kills our vision because we assume that we're not capable. However, we forget that there is somebody that is capable. One of my favorite quotes from Dan Sullivan is that if you have enough money to solve a problem. You don't have that problem. You choose to have that problem. And I know as entrepreneurs and as practitioners, especially when we're just starting out, sometimes it's hard to let go and pay someone because we're holding on so tightly to each and every single dollar bill. So what advice would you give someone as a recovering do it yourselfer? What was the mental game that you had to work through, the high performance, you know, breakthrough that you had to have to start letting go of some of those things?

So I have to be. I have to be honest and vulnerable here when I answer this, because what came first, actually was not the mental game. It was a physical breakdown for me. And the physical breakdown led to some real serious, you know, soul searching, right? Some real serious deep work where I had to really come to terms with the old self dying away and the way I was thinking about things. And, you know, the whole. And really, it was the go fast, right? You want to. If you want to go alone, go fast. But if you want to go far, you know, you go together. And I realized, you know, this is not a sprint. This is the long. This is a marathon, right? Entrepreneurial journey is a marathon. And I'm not going back to nine to five. That's the last thing I'm doing. So what do I need to change to make sure that my health is the most sustainable and the number one timeless principle that I have in all my businesses, because now I have multiple. And so I really got to be on my game physically. And so the mental thing that happened for me was, okay, I need to build a team and I can piece it together, right? It's all possible. And I don't. I need to. If I want to make space, if I want to bring in energy, I have to make space for that energy to come in. So that means, you know, and this is obviously like, how I'm talking myself in it, doing myself through it in my brain is I have to like, maybe let someone do what they love and put that money out there for more money to come in. So it was like making this energetic space. And when I finally started doing that and letting go, you know, it was. Things started, like, rolling for me. Like, you know, when I had my branding done, right? And I finally stopped doing my branding in Canva and I had. It was next level. And I just. I always get so many compliments on my branding. So I could not have done a better job, right? Because it's not my wheelhouse and it's like, you know what, I don't have to do everything. So that those were, the two things was okay. There's energetically, there's a big shift that has, that has to happen and also I'm not responsible for everything and it's okay, you know.

Yeah, you know, you know, shout out to Nicole Harlow from Brand Gutter for working with yourself and many people in our community, including us. It's great to have, you know, vetted vendors that are helping you who understand this industry and can understand the vision that you have in your mind and then help you visually articulate that so that you're getting all the compliments that you are getting. And you do have beautiful branding. So I love what you've done with the company. So congrats on that.

Thank you. And you know, it's, it's, I'm sorry to interject, but you know, it's funny, in the beginning you said rejuvenista health. Right. And that's how sticky my branding is because it's rejuvenous health. But I call people in my, my community rejuvenistas. So it's like I am just. That branding really took me to the next level. Definitely.

I think that's why my brain slipped because I've seen that before. Right. So my brain went back to a, you know, a previous conversation. So, yeah, I mean, it's so catchy. It's got a super nice ring to it and I love, I love that. It's almost like I love it better than the word diva because the word diva has like a kind of a strange connotation to it. But it's, but it has that feeling, you know, that, that self care, goddess type of feeling to it. So it's such a wonderful self care.

Can be, you know, luxurious and it doesn't have to be a spa day. Right. But it can also be from within. That's the kind of feel I was going for. So, yeah, that when you stop diying, like it just something, something shifts and it's not, it's you telling the universe that you're ready. Right. It's also you telling your subconscious that you're ready for bigger things to come in and you're willing to let go of control of so many little things and you're ready for expansion.

Yeah. Like, you know, I want to, I want to be vulnerable for a second here as well on the topic of diy, Right. So, you know, as a creative myself and you're a self, you claim, claim to be a creative yourself. So there are times when we can still put our hands on our work. Right. And today, for example, I wrote an email that was going out to our list inviting them to a masterclass that I'm doing. And I did the graphic work as well, because I enjoy doing that. I love seeing the fruits of my labor. In fact, we had a major renovation take place at our house, and I ended up putting the flooring down. I ended up doing all the painting and the drywalling and stuff like that that needed to be repaired. Because every time I walk by that wall and I stare at it, I'm like, wow, I did such a great job. So it's okay to do some things yourself. Right. We're not saying to delegate everything off to somebody else. If you have that creative bug in you, you can still have your fingers in your business. You don't have to have your whole arm in there. You can still do some of the work and have some fun with it and have a great creative outlet. So I want to invite everyone to do that, because some of the people, the creatives like myself who might be listening in might be like, well, I can't give it all away. I like doing it. So we're not suggesting that the things you love doing and the things that you're great at doing, you never do those again. It's taking the things off your plate that are not in your zone of genius. The things that when you stare at the computer, you'd rather be poking your eyeballs out than doing that task. Because you're never going to do a good job. You're never going to put the right intention, the right energy, which never creates the right outcome. So I just wanted to put that out there as well, because I know you'll still work on a few things. You'll probably still write a ton of your copy.

Oh, yeah.

It's about finding that balance.

Yep. Yeah. But, you know, yeah, for me, it was, I need templates. How do I. Okay. I do love, you know, being in Canva. I do love copywriting, but I need someone to give me the structure. So when I sit down to do it, I'm not reinventing the entire wheel. Right. That's the. I think that's the key. And then you can keep creative a little creative control Right. Over what goes out and how your branding is. And you're not letting go of total control, where you're putting yourself in a tailspin of, oh, my gosh, I hope this ad agency doesn't, like, ruin me. Right.

Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you Liana, this has been such a wonderful conversation. Thank you for being vulnerable and thank you for sharing. And so grateful to have this full circle opportunity for us to share. And now you're officially a guest on the podcast. Super thrilled for that. And, and here's to an amazing 2022 and some awesome growth, not only personally, but professionally and of course, in the new practice that you're building. Congratulations. And anything else you want to leave our listeners with.

Cheers to that. Thank you. I would love to let people know that. Yeah, choose faith over fear. Investing in yourself, having faith in yourself over fear will always give you the best return on investment every time.

Amazing, beautiful words. Thank you, Leanna. Have an awesome rest of your day.

Thank you.

Lots of love. And here's to your continued growth.

Cheers. Thank you.

Bye bye. Sam.