The Scope of Practice Podcast
The Scope of Practice Podcast
How - And Why - To Start Your Entrepreneurial Venture - Dr. Sharon McLaughlin
Episode 94 - Dr Sharon McLaughlin is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of the Female Physician Entrepreneurs Facebook Group, which is a supportive group that brings women physicians together to network and grow. She has built multiple streams of income through courses, affiliate marketing and most recently, passive real estate syndication investing. Dr McLaughlin offers consulting to amplify physician voices. She believes physicians are business savvy and are amazing thought leaders. Dr McLaughlin’s latest interests involve medical policy creation to benefit physicians and digital health startups. She has helped hundreds of physicians around the country pursue their passion, start a business, or develop their entrepreneurial idea. She’s got amazing ideas, and I’m just so excited to have her on the show to share those ideas with you.
Click here to download your free CME credits for listening to the show!
It's time to Residency-Proof Your Marriage!
This online video course will coach you through setting expectations, communicating effectively, getting on the same page with finances, and keeping your relationship thriving during a difficult time. Whether you’re in medical school, residency, or out in clinical practice, Residency-Proof Your Marriage is going to help you build a thriving medical marriage.
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Free Resource: Creating a One-Liner that Will Kickstart Your Business' Growth
The one-liner is the key to getting started with clarifying your marketing message. Here’s my one-liner: "Most physicians and dentists come out of training with a huge amount of personal debt and little to no idea of how to actually start a clinical practice. The Scope of Practice is the place where you can go to get the resources you need to help you learn to manage your business more successfully and master your personal finances so you can have the successful career and financial independence you deserve."
This is a 3 step guide to creating a powerful one-liner for physicians that attracts and retains more customers. You can download it for free by clicking here.
Meet Dr. Sharon McLaughlin
Dr McLaughlin is the founder of the Female Physician Entrepreneurs Facebook Group, which is a supportive group that brings women physicians together to network and grow. She has built multiple streams of income through courses, affiliate marketing and most recently, passive real estate syndication investing.
Dr McLaughlin offers consulting to amplify physician voices. She believes physicians are business savvy and are amazing thought leaders. Dr McLaughlin’s latest interests involve medical policy creation to benefit physicians and digital health startups.
Connect to Dr. Sharon McLaughlin
Join the Business and Personal Finance for Physicians and Dentists Facebook Group!
How - And Why - To Start Your Entrepreneurial Venture
2022, Brent Lacey And The Scope Of Practice Podcast
The Scope of Practice Podcast
Transcript
[0:00] You know what the difference is between try and Triumph a little oomph.
I know it's probably too early in the day for a dad joke but that is one of my all-time favorites and it's a reminder to me about what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur most people who succeed as an entrepreneur are
smarter or more skilled than everyone else most of the time they just outworked out hustled and outlasted everyone else.
[0:25] Sometimes winning is just about getting up one more time that's what today's guests learned in her many entrepreneurial Ventures I'm excited for her to share her perspective on what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur really think you're going to enjoy this one.
Let's go.
[0:40] Music.
[0:47] Welcome to the scope of practice podcast where we help busy Healthcare professionals learn to manage their businesses successfully in master their personal finances now here's your host dr. Brent Lacey.
[1:00] Hey y'all thanks so much for joining me for the scope of practice podcast were using get the knowledge and resources you need to grow your leadership skills your business and your personal finances.
Welcome to episode 94.
[1:11] If you haven't already subscribe to the podcast please be sure to go ahead and hit that subscribe button right now and also hit the button at the top of the podcast player to turn on the automatic downloads so that way you can listen to these episodes anytime anywhere even if you're in a place that doesn't have good service
also don't forget the podcast is now eligible for category 1 CME credits and it's free.
[1:31] Just click the link in the podcast description or go to www.desktoplearn.com / podcasts eme to download your CME credits for free.
[1:42] Our sponsor for today's podcast is Doc to Doc lending if you attended the recent marriage and money MD Summit you'll remember the great presentations we had from dr. Kenton Allen and dr. Josh lemle.
They are leaders of Doc to Doc Lending.
There are Physicians who created this company to facilitate personal loans for Physicians to help them achieve their financial goals like buying into a practice and paying off their student loans.
[2:06] They're not like a traditional bank they take a physician's creditworthiness into account with every loan and they really have the heart of a teacher.
They've never had a default on their loans from their borrowers and I think that's mainly a testament to how they coach their Physicians that are looking to borrow money.
[2:22] They've got a great company doing great work and I'm proud to have them as sponsors.
So if you're looking to borrow money for helping to start or grow your practice or buy a car or pay off your student loans or any other purpose you need to have these guys in your corner.
There are lending company founded by physicians for Physicians just go to www.scopemonth.com dock to dock.
That's www.the scope of practice.com doc the number two dock or just click the link in the podcast.
[2:53] My guest today is dr. Sarah Mclaughlin doctor McLaughlin is a Serial entrepreneur and the founder of the female physician entrepreneurs Facebook.
Which is a very large and growing support of group that brings women Physicians together to network and grow.
She has built multiple streams of income through courses affiliate marketing and most recently passed of real estate syndication.
Dr. McLachlan offers Consulting to amplify physician voices she believes Physicians are business savvy and are amazing thought leaders.
Dr. McLaughlin's latest interest involve medical policy creation to benefit Physicians and digital Health startups she has helped hundreds of Physicians around the country pursue their passion start a business
and develop their entrepreneurial ideas she has got Amazing Ideas and I am just so excited to have her on the show to share those ideas with you so
without further Ado here is my conversation with dr. Sharon.
Hey y'all I am excited to welcome my guests today to the scope of practice podcast the founder of female physician entrepreneurs dr. Sharon McLaughlin dr. McLachlan thank you so much for joining us today.
[4:04] Definitely see thank you very much for having me I appreciate you.
Collaborating and networking and this is something I strongly encourage so I'm looking forward to our conversation and thanks for all the work that you're doing with Physicians and letting them know that there's things that they can do to increase their income and not be in a financial hardship.
[4:22] Well it's one of those things that I think the more we can help each other the better will do because frankly
no one's going to help Physicians except for other Physicians I mean everybody's got their own problems and so we got to be helping each other out.
[4:36] I agree I think one of the reasons we can do that over one of the ways we can do that is by networking.
So having podcast like this where people can listen to and then they can reach out to you and I know that you do physician coaching so thank you for all that you're doing.
Well I've been looking forward to having you on we had you on very briefly about a year ago for just a quick feature to talk about your Facebook group but as we've been getting.
[4:58] Request for more topics about entrepreneurship and business management and
things like that I started thinking okay well who can I get on I thought I oh man I gotta I gotta talk to dr. Mac I gotta call her up
so so I'm glad we were able to get this working so I want to start by just kind of set the framework for people in
the last few years we've seen that more Physicians are employed rather than employers and so there's a big shift towards corporate medicine but at the same time with the burnout epidemic you know raging the way that it has been we also see a lot of Physicians branching out into non-clinical work or other entrepreneurial Ventures so lots of people starting
podcast are starting new businesses or even starting completely like non-medical stuff or non-clinical medical stuff like.
[5:49] You know chart utilization and Expert Medical witness things and so people are branched out into doing stuff all over the place and the gig economy is is Alive and Kicking for sure so
why do you think that there has been such a push towards that in the last few years why is that becoming such a prominent thing is it a cultural shift is it because there's just greater access is it combination what do you thinks the driver there
well combination definitely helps as far as the access goes right but as far as the shift I'd have to say autonomy we've lost our autonomy as Physicians for the most part I think
the hours that we work are a lot I think the expectations are high and I don't think.
[6:29] You know the general public understands that I think what the administration does to Physicians as far as the workload.
[6:36] You know spending 57 minutes with a patient and expecting that to be okay like a good visit that they can bill it's all about the money it's not so much about relationships it's not so much about doing a thorough workup
and so we feel like we're pushed into a corner I think a lot of Physicians feel that way and if that's the case
the nobody likes to be pushed into a corner they're going to be looking for other things so when you mentioned like access I believe there's a lot of access with the internet right now with courses watching other Physicians your podcast there's lots of opportunities for Physicians
to find out about things that they can be doing outside of medicine or conjunction with medicine or even related to medicine that would help with income.
[7:17] The other thing is our school loans are incredible right most of us get out with you know a couple of hundred thousand dollars of school loans.
[7:25] And then you know we're in our 30s by the time that we finish we'd like to buy a house like our friends had already purchased back in their early 20s usually.
So it makes it difficult plus you need a decent car to get around right going from hospital to hospital so the soul and those bills and there's kids and.
All of that you know I think a lot of us reassess exactly what's going on in our life and what we can do to change it I know myself I look back
and I reassess and I said kind of do this for the next 10 years if there's
answer is no and I encourage everyone out there listening to this the answer is no then it's time to reassess and
try different things you may feel like you're not good at anything but I can tell you as a physician
you're good at public speaking you're good at leadership because this is something that you've done even though you feel like you don't have leadership positions as a position you've LED patients you know as far as their overall medical treatment.
[8:17] Into cures and developing treatment plans so there's a lot of things that you can do as a physician that you may feel like you don't have skills to do.
So back to your question I believe it's the access but I believe primarily it's being in a position that.
We didn't set ourselves up to be when we went into medicine we went into medicine to help people
it wasn't even so much the money although that helped you know as far as school loans go we went in to help people and I don't think most of us feel like we can really help people
if Administration is being like look at your numbers you're not seeing enough people your.
How do I say it maybe even the surveys and feedback isn't good but I believe that if you're only seeing someone for 57 minutes because that's the average I believe
then how could the ratings be good nobody wants to be sick nobody wants to wait a half an hour to see a physician to only spend five minutes with them and them kind of feel like they're being rushed because the physician has to see three other people.
[9:13] Yeah I think a lot of people are starting to become disillusioned with the idea of corporate medicine like you said when you start having these giant quotas and all these metrics you have to hit none of which are necessarily.
Evil that they do detract in a significant way a lot of times from the ideal of medicine and certainly take us away from.
Our first love which is really caring for our patients and spending time and so it makes a lot of sense that if people feel like they're losing.
What is core to the idea of being a physician which is helping people they're going to go seek an outlet elsewhere.
I'm on board with that I believe that well so what do you say to people who say okay well dr. Mack I appreciate that that that all sounds great and and all and I agree I'm burnt out and I hate you know my corporate overlords and I wish I had more time but.
[9:59] You know I'm not really an entrepreneur it's just not my thing you know I've been in this job for 7 years and I just.
You know I'm I feel like I've settled into a routine and I don't even know the first thing about entrepreneurship I can't even spell it so where would I even start
all right I'd have to say having a growth mindset.
Is the most important thing that's going to be our mindset and as Physicians we do have growth mindsets right the chances of us getting into Medical School were pretty slim yet we.
We're able to carry through think about you're pre-med years.
The undergraduate years only a certain percentage got in and yet you are able to get in and you didn't save yourself I'm not going to get in like that was that was probably not
the intent of the intention was I'm going to hunker down I'm going to study I'm going to do whatever it takes to do to get through this and so if you find yourself
in a difficult position right now just know that yes you're going to have to hunker down it's going to require some time on your part but there are courses there are podcasts there is conferences there's position coaches such as yourself that you could reach out to I think as Physicians we want to help other positions because we see the burnout rate that's going on we see the suicide rate that's going on we see how incredibly some people
different happy and we want to help others because that's our genuine nature so exactly where to start
everyone's path is going to be different but there are books out there that have been written about intrapreneurship for Physicians there's I like podcast because honestly we're pretty sure they're time.
[11:27] And I actually never listened to a podcast like usually at once one speed I always do like one and a half two is too hot you know fast for me but
think you can take a half an hour podcast and listen to that link 20 minutes not even on a drive from work and you'd be surprised just doing that on a regular basis what I consider self development or puts you into that growth mindset
is really important so I think starting off your day waking up having a good attitude like
you know this is I'm going to make a change I'm not happy and I'm going to make a change and then doing something about it could be on your way to work it could be if you're exercising walking around the block which I always encourage because I'm going to
into Wellness spending some time doing a wrote like whether it's reading or doing the podcast and then making sure that you're actually networking because you could listen and read and do courses but if you're not willing to take action
that's a problem so what are your first actions that you could be is you know may be developing the list of things that you think you're good at or that you see other people doing
could you be doing something like that and then actually have formulating a plan this is where a coach may fall into like may come in to help
you know how do I actually implement this plan I think having a coach is good because it's accountability but you could reach out to a partner as well somebody else that you feel like maybe in the same position
if you think that other people are in the same position you are wrong there's so many people questioning what they're doing those Physicians nowadays that there's plenty of people out there just connecting again.
[12:56] That's why networking is so important so then you know writing up a list kind of formulating a plan how I can do this how can I get from point A to point.
Bit and so whether it's through accountability it was through a coach you can do it may require doing certification in utilization review so one of the first things that I did was
become
certified in coding and billing because I knew that that would be important for the insurance companies and now I'm going to another certification so it's always like trying to advance yourself what else can you do what else would make you more marketable
there's like I said with the access which we go back to there are plenty of things out there it's just you taking action you could say you're physically exhausted.
Maybe so if you're truly physically exhausted there's a few people that come to mind people started meditation people started doing different forms of medicine and now they're actually teaching it and that has
actually increased
their income or even surpass their in common some positions again it's going to be rare that you're going to be able to match your physician income
doing maybe something like meditation or yoga but you'd be surprised there's people out there doing it and if they can do it then why not you but find something that you're passionate about so that if you spend the extra time doing it.
It makes sense to you right and then you're going to learn new skills that you're actually interested in and then you're going to apply it.
[14:19] So what about for people that maybe aren't interested in doing some kind of a side thing are there outlets for entrepreneurial Ventures within the practice of medicine or are we kind of stuck and it's like well you
you pretty much got to keep doing your Daily Grind and then try to go find something else to do on the side.
My specialty is outside side gigs but yes look at yourself and all the work that you're doing and how you're encouraging others and how you're coaching others there's absolutely Adventures within medicine.
You know maybe it's opening up a surgery center are partnering or investing taking the money that you're making
and investing it in other Physicians as startups maybe you're not the one doing the startup
but then you can invest money so you can get into real estate there's lots of doctors doing real estate even though you consider that not a site drop it is a side job you know you want to see where your money is going you can
do the stock market again you can say that's not a side job but it's always to invest take what you have and then invest it and kind of grow it and is it risky absolutely it is
but it's better than just being set and as far as your practice Yeah there's you know adding a medical spa all these are not
it just doesn't happen overnight but yes you can add a medical spa you could add services to your private practice.
[15:38] So yes I believe that you could collaborate with other Physicians you could rent that office space the list goes on and on it depends on.
What you're willing to do and what you feel comfortable with.
[15:49] Well and you kind of did that yourself a little bit right you started a whole skin care line how did you even fall into something like that was it just the right opportunity came along he said I'm just going to try this or was it something that you were actively seeking to do something different.
Yeah I.
The ice first started with a private label I thought private label would be good I was a plastic surgeon and a custom and practice right.
[16:13] Woman would come into me and they wanted just to look better and honestly they really weren't kind of dates for Botox you know small amount not even Fellers I was just the overall maybe the skin looking doll and as I kind of safe you just
worked on your skin you would feel so much better and you don't have to spend a lot of money you know with the injectables and all that night yeah anyway so that's how I got into it and you know any of the Skin Care lines that you can carry they can easily buy it on Amazon when you private label but you're in
name on the label or you know the company's name or however you want to do it or make up a name.
Can't private label it even though it could be the same ingredients so that's what I started doing in my business to start off with and it was such a hit that actually developed my own skincare line so I had that manufactured
again a lot of this is online you could learn about the different ingredients you know and how they affect the skin.
What's good for age spots and I'm not a dermatologist but I was able to develop a skin line and that did well as well it depends on what you want to do.
It's all out there it's just depends on what's going to work for you so that work for me because I had patients that were in coming into the office it would just ordering it online and I was able to make money that way.
That seemed like to fit my schedule you know and what I wanted to do.
[17:27] Can you talk a little bit about those early days with that skincare Venture just as a maybe some examples for us because I can imagine a lot of people thinking about this now they're here in okay all right dr. Mack I'm loving this
I love the idea of autonomy I've got all these different ideas I have passionate about this I know that I could make a difference in this other way but you know.
I just don't have a lot of time if I'm gonna do this I want it to work I don't want to do this if it's not going to work and there's no way to know for sure right and it's at the end of the day at some point you just
got to try something but can you maybe talk about some of those early days for when you were developing the skincare line maybe some of the some of the challenges that you faced and you know how did you overcome that how did you you know how did you break through some of those some of those walls.
I can speak for other people so some people aren't practices right most of them when I was doing this I was by myself so that I didn't have the barrier of you know working for a hospital system or Corporation of being like no you can't do this.
I didn't have Partners saying it's probably not going to work don't do this so it was one myself so those weren't barriers but I know that for other people this is a Mario as far as.
The sales I would say just seeing what your clientele is what your patient population is in this there's an interest you can when you're talking to somebody you could say.
You know what do you think about this so that it doesn't interest.
[18:48] Then you provide a service to them and you give it to them it's always marketing I believe you know you could have the best of product but if you're not able to Market it it's not going to sell.
So definitely testing the market is very early that's should be done early on it could be through product samples like if we're talking skincare line personally.
Where I am now I know I'm jumping around it's all about digital products for me because you could do that anywhere you don't have to worry about shipping and there's so many things that I've gotten away from when you know I had an actual physical product
but testing them the market for sure samples and knowing that this is not your final product that you're going to have to change it very rarely is a product developed
that it's not changed so just being open to change and it's not an all-or-nothing thing definitely testing like I mentioned and just keep on getting feedback
and changing it a little bit more and just going forward.
[19:47] So another thing I worry about with folks is with anything that we're doing as Physicians we tend to go big right it's
how can I help the most number of people I mean how can I do the best job that I can for people and we tend to take too much on ourselves right I think that's one of the things that has led overall to the.
This the general burnout epidemic that we've seen is that people are just.
There's a working too many hours they're working too long they're working too intensely they're they're getting not enough sleep they're getting enough exercise not enough time with their family and so
a lot of times people see the opportunity for entrepreneurial Ventures as not an escape maybe but perhaps an outlet for trying to channel some of that and.
The thing I worry about for folks is becoming burnt out with.
That you're adding another thing right so how do you avoid getting burned out from.
[20:37] The thing that you were using to try to escape your breath.
I've heard plenty of people say that so what you're saying is absolutely makes sense and it goes back my mind to what are you passionate about it is like an entrepreneurship if you're passionate about it what you're doing the service or product or supplying it
makes sense to me because I know it's not going to get burned out because you're passionate about it it also is an outlet for your creativity which you've sort of Lost in medicine because you're being told to do this or that so that's how I look at it I wouldn't look at it like
no go spending a hundred thousand dollars into this project just yet test it see if you like it see how you feel about it if on the weekends you have a couple of hours
would you mind doing that after you need to do something else would you rather do something else if you rather do something else there's a problem this probably is not for you.
[21:25] So does that help I think like this is how I talk to people when I you know when people reach out to me no it definitely does it makes a lot of sense and I think like anything just like with medicine it's.
It's taking some things in moderation and you know just trying to
understand your limits and figure out okay well I'm going to try something and if it doesn't work okay it doesn't work but there's no point in continuing to just hammer and Hammer and hammer on things when you're just adding stress and tension for no ultimate benefit
I always look at those light at the end of the tunnels right and if you feel like you there's not a light at the end of the tunnel
then you need to do something right because I think that's how some Physicians feel that are probably listening to this I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel mentally exhausted well then I don't know you know one of the things that you possibly can do is speak to work.
See if you can get a half an hour afternoon out like I have a day off change this change it a little bit maybe changing your job.
A small amount which can kind of just help you personally if you feel like you're mentally exhausted and then using that time wisely to do something with it or you know we can up early on a Saturday morning I'm a morning person but it could be.
You know going to sleep later on a Saturday night just spending an hour to thinking about you and your time and where do you want to be 10 years from now or even five years from now.
[22:44] If you know you slept with your finances your set in a job that you're not.
Thoroughly happy and you see no light at the end of the tunnel because kind of different extremes there.
Then you need to change it and how you go about changing it will be up to you but I'm telling you there's resources out there to do it and is it guarantee that you're going to make money no but at least it's better than.
[23:04] See not doing anything because you'll never know taking that's really is making a decision you're making a decision not to take any action
you know one of the things that I struggle with just in general and I have since I was a kid is Disappointment I have a pathological need for everyone everywhere to like me so much all the time it's really really bad and so that's something I've had to work with and deal with over the years
but I tell you you know one of the things that I struggle with with entrepreneurship is failure and rejection and
you know it has been helpful for me I think to hear from podcast like yours or other podcasts that I've listened to her read books that all seem to say the same thing which is Embrace failure.
Embrace rejection celebrate when people unsubscribe from your email list because those aren't the people that you were speaking to you anyway and it's
it's hard I think because Italy especially for me you know I'm a you know Enneagram 3 and so for me I want to I want to help people when people too
love me but if I walk into a room in a hundred people are there and 99 of them I'm their best friend and one of them is like you know he's all right but I don't know I don't really have much in common it's the end of the world right so how do we as entrepreneurs then how do we not internalize those failures and rejections how do we
use that to as motivation to keep moving forward.
[24:27] Yeah I think from the start of the get-go you need to know that not everyone is going to be happy with your decision to do anything people always have something to say good bad they always have something to say if you are a physician and you want to dive into a side gig or an entrepreneurship or something else outside of medicine you may get a lot of
Kickback or push back and the reason for that is because I know what happened with my own family and I can tell you it happens with many people that I speak too
people are concerned they're like what's going on you know it's all these years of training and that you want to do something different like I think it comes out of more concern than competitiveness or just being.
Not kind it they may not say the things that you want to hear but they're trying to be honest but this is not just inside the medicine you know if you listen to different podcasts like we can talk about Sara Blakely with her Spanx.
[25:17] There yeah I don't know if you're not familiar with it it's basically undergarments to help tighten everything up she didn't tell anybody
and her family or friends for the first year she only seeked out mentors and she told them she was doing and they helped to grow all this is what I heard wasn't until like a year end when she was pretty you know that the definitive and for the course that she actually shared what she was doing
and the reason for that is because in the past she had had feedback the kind of that could really be an obstacle it's one thing for your family like your parents siblings
it's very difficult if it's your partner right because you live with them and then you know when things don't go
right you know they may then be throw that up so a lot of things that you are going to deal with us that's part of it
the second part is you asked about making everybody happy knowing that you are never going to make everybody happy not everyone's going to like you it's a shame but if you really want to move forward you are going to have so many bumps in the road and they really think it comes down to prioritizing
think about yourself how happy you are
if you really want to change the new going to take action and people not liking you or not liking what you're doing or saying this or that shouldn't be a concern of yours you could take it as feedback
but then put it aside as well and just kind of have the blinders on and go forward.
Because the only way that you're going to know is to go forward and try it and really you know find your support system you're not surrounded by people that are supportive I am telling you even within the physician Community they are our people.
[26:46] You know I always call them like the makers and shakers like they're going forward surround yourself with them.
So if you felt like it's been really important for you to have that support network I mean do you feel like if you feel like having that support network at home.
As well as the the mentors and colleagues and peers is that really important.
For me it is but I can tell you like my own personal I love my husband but he has never been supportive with any of these side the exact just here a doctor just go ahead.
But I don't want to like that doesn't make me as happy from the time I was I think even in medical school I do that I'd be doing things outside because there's so many things that interest me.
So I think that it helps I do believe.
[27:24] Now I could be biased here the people that I see are very successful they seem to have their spouses I'm sorry I should use the word partner on board it makes it easier right it makes sense.
[27:36] But that's not always the case you know you will have it's one of the reasons why I started the group because I truly felt in my own I love I have friends that are Physicians but they weren't interested in doing anything else.
[27:47] My
family was interested in doing anything else just what they were doing my husband wasn't so I found myself very lonely and I wanted to connect with others who were interested in doing this and I thought with a burnout
statistics that we know that exist in position you know medicine that perhaps
having an outlet would be a good thing and since the start of the group seen many people fail but I've also seen many people succeed and it's a great thing either way they're moving forward and they're learning because as we said before you just need to learn how to fail forward
it's important you will learn something by failing you always do but you will never learn anything by not taking action
that is absolutely true I mean there's so many great quotes on that you know the you know the little Wayne Gretzky quote you know you miss 100% of the shots you don't take right and so a lot of it just comes down to just deciding you're going to try something and maybe it's going to work or maybe it's not or maybe it's going to work in a way that you didn't expect or maybe it's going to give you a different idea
for something that is going to work later on so a lot of these early Beginnings that are fraught with failure
it depends on how you Define failure you know one of my favorite quotes I've heard along this subject is the best definition of a winner is a loser who tries just one more time
and I've always liked that because kind of encourages me that anytime something gets messed up I mean the when I first started the scope of practice you know I it took me my first attempt at building a website.
[29:12] Was abysmal it was an abysmal failure I must have watched YouTube tutorials and listen to you know or what read blogs about it for I don't know.
3050 hours something like that it was a lot I spent a lot of time putting this thing together and it was terrible it was so bad
and it was laborious it was tedious and I realized okay this is not my wheelhouse this is a fun and I'm not good at it and I frankly
I can't see myself spending the money and the time that would be required to get good at this.
So I need to find someone that can help me out with that part of things and then let me focus on the stuff that I'm actually good how which is writing and speaking and so I think that was that was very helpful but
it took that spectacular failure which was super frustrating because especially was it was like.
[29:59] Right when I get out the gate right it's the first thing that I tried to do the very one of the very first things that I tried to do with this whole thing was put together this website it was brand new thing it was a new skill set and I completely messed it up and I was like okay well that took a lot of my time and effort
and it was a failure I guess nothing's going to work going forward I guess I might as well give up and then I started listening to other people and reading more and I said you know no
one failure does not does not constitute Eternal failure so all right so pick yourself up do something different and and pivot and move on absolutely agree with this as far as your website goes
you could use that example don't spend the 50 hours that you because you've already done it right but don't spend the 50 hours.
He spent an hour or two and if you're struggling you watch videos you reach out to somebody at that point because there's only so videos only so much videos are going to help you so that's the point to reach out to somebody and start asking for help.
[30:53] This includes Physicians we have to dot our is and cross our T's and if you are in the intrapreneurship outside of medicine they don't do that at all like I work with digital marketers doing websites doing email campaigns and whatnot.
They make mistakes left and right and then just keep on going they put something out there and then two days later they change it
there's no died in there you know yes they have to dot your I's and cross your t's but not to the same extent of Physicians do with Physicians like when you mentioned you spent so much time.
Reading and learning I would say using you as an example just start doing
open up the website start doing and if you're watching a video and you truly don't understand that then you reach out to support where you get yourself on a platform warm only using website and platforms as an example but you reach out and you get help and there at the help is there
and so you've learned that and I'm so glad that you're coaching now because you've been through the hardships and now you can help people
what you're doing and how don't this is not the way to spend the time and that's definitely not the way to give up its you said and I'm glad that you've overcome that and that you've moved on and you're helping people but using an example of a website that's it's good.
This is we do it we know that we're not getting too far it doesn't look good there's something wrong here then you hire a graphic designer you hire some of that this is what they do you know or you get help
you know doing what you're doing when people spend a lot of time what I because I've been there too.
[32:20] It's what I call circling right we just doing circles like kind of chasing our tail because we're not really moved that's not moving forward and even though we're failing that's not a good way to fail forward because when I'm feeling forward when I'm moving forward.
[32:32] How do you know when you've been working on a venture for a while and you know it can be any in blank of time it could be weeks or months or even years.
How do you know when you've gotten to a point where you're kind of stuck and you're not making progress or things just aren't working out the way that you thought they were going to.
How do you know when it's time to double down and you know just do something different pivot work harder try something
new you know and just keep moving forward versus just declaring okay you know what
this is not going to work I do need to give this up because that's a really fine line right I mean I've seen plenty of times where people
would give up on something and it looked like it was just before they were about to turn the corner and then some people that day just
they stick with something for years on end when it's clear that it just isn't going anywhere so how do you how do you make that call
there's never a good call I don't think but it comes from your heart and I believe that if it's not working you have to Pivot somehow whether you pivot within that same business and do things a little bit different there's an expression by Einstein right.
It's crazy to do the same thing over and over again if we're doing over and over again isn't working you need to Pivot.
Do you have to close down completely no but you may want to assess and said you know how much is this taking from me.
Maybe this time to close down but I would suggest pivoting first and trying a different angle I could give you my example right now I do weight loss I've spent a lot of time into this I mean some money but not a lot.
[34:00] I will say this it really irks me that people without any medical background are able to make money you know doing different things especially weight loss
so then I'm like you know is it really weight loss or is it all about wellness and being healthy and nutrition and taking care of ourselves there's so much.
[34:15] The practice of medicine if most of us knew more about nutrition we probably would have the extent of chronic diseases that we do because a lot of them are related to inflammation so I'm thinking about or at Mac thinking about it I'm actually in the process of pivoting more to people who are burnt out.
And I'm sit still the same apply still having to do with mindset and self-care
and nutrition that was what my weight loss program is but I'm changing the target market to go more for people who are experiencing burnout because I just feel like for me the weight loss has not been a dead end.
I'm not happy with the numbers that I'm seeing and the progress that I'm making so I'm going to Pivot whether or not that works out I don't know
but something is telling me it's time to change this up so it makes sense right like if what you're doing isn't working you don't have to stop it completely but at least change angles a little bit and I gave you the example of what's going on with me.
I'd be curious to know from your work that you've done the interaction you've had with.
[35:13] Literally thousands of entrepreneurs over the last you know many many many years do you feel like in the wake of the covid shutdown and the covid crisis and.
All the all the hospitals and all the businesses that closed down last year and they're still struggling now do you.
Foresee in the future that Physicians will be doing more.
Entrepreneurial type Ventures we're going to see a return to private practice or return to you know alternate forms of clinical medicine or do you feel like
over time people will Retreat back to the safety of corporate medicine.
[35:47] I think corporate medicine will Private Practice as we know it is probably no longer right it's theirs
it's I feel like there's a life line there so I don't think it was ever go back to where they were I think it's extremely important to have multiple streams of income whether it's real estate or however you want to do it but my advice on that would be start early
it doesn't matter how much money you're putting away anyway kind of jumping around here but having that in common so I didn't come however you're going to get it is extremely important as far as picking options so that when you're put into a corner when you feel like you're not being treated fairly
that you can do something about it you know recently I can go on and with stories whatever but somebody was in a position recently that they truly said go ahead fire me.
I don't care and they didn't really care if they're actually really good worker they don't care because they have other options financially they're set.
And they know they can their marketable because they've taken this time to learn skill sets you can go out and do other things that's a really good position to be in.
[36:46] And I'd like to hear hear or know that everybody out there is in that same position.
But chances are you're probably not so then what does it take to get in that position well dr. Mack this has been really great conversation I know people are going to be interested to hear more from you because there's.
[37:01] We're barely scratching the surface here I mean there's just so much more that we can dive into but if people want to connect to you want to continue the conversation want to learn more about some of the work that you're doing or just.
You know want to explore some of these entrepreneurial ideas with you how can people connect to you my website is Sharon Mac Consulting is showing Mac Mac K Consulting.
[37:21] Awesome will make sure to have the links to that in the show notes and the podcast description for people so we'll be sure to get those loaded so
I want to say thank you so much for dr. Sharon McLaughlin joining us today on the scope of practice podcast make sure to.
Check our website out connect with their own social media she's very active and it's got a lot of great stuff lot of great communities that she's working with dr. McLaughlin thanks so much for joining us today we really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for having me thanks for the work that.
[37:46] Music.
[37:52] I hope this episode inspires you is you're thinking about starting or growing your clinical practice or your side Hustle.
[37:57] As always I love to combine some philosophical truths and some inspiration but most importantly some practical.
[38:06] I thought this was a fabulous conversation and the principles are broadly applicable across the whole field of medicine so I hope it inspires you.
For today's free resource I've got a great guide called creating a one liner that will kick-start your business's growth it's perfect on the heels of this conversation about entrepreneurship
if you're going to build your brand whether it's your main gig or your side gig you need a great one liner.
The one-liner is also sometimes called an elevator pitch and it's a way of answering the question what do you do or what is your business about in a way that draws The Listener in and makes them interested to hear more.
The one-liner is the key to getting started with clarifying your marketing message I'll give you an example here's my one liner.
[38:48] Most Physicians and dentists come out of training with a huge amount of personal debt and little to no idea of how to actually start a clinical practice.
The scope of practice is the place where you can go to get the resources you need to help you learn to manage your business more successfully and master your personal finances so that you can have a successful career and financial Independence that you deserve.
So this guide is a three step guide to creating a powerful one liner like that for Physicians that attracts and retains more customers.
You can download it for free by clicking on the link in the podcast description or going to the show notes at www.the scope of practice.com / episode 94.
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[39:52] Whether you're in medical school residency or out in clinical practice residency proof your marriage is going to help you build a thriving medical marriage.
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[40:29] The course is also eligible for CME credits so you can use your employer's CME funds to buy it click the link in the podcast description and you can sign up today.
The podcast description will also have all the links to the other resources we mentioned during the show thanks so much for joining me on the scope of practice podcast I'll see you next time.
[40:45] Thanks for listening to the scope of practice podcast at www.viki scope of practice.
[40:53] Music.