I had a business acquaintance who was a financial advisor. She hated dealing with doctors because they never listened to her advice, despite as she put it “they were bad at handling money and suck at business”.
For years, I had the same mindset. What skills did I have as a doctor that would think I knew how to run a business?
Turns out we know a lot.
Doctors DO have the skills needed to build a sustainable business but we often don’t know it or take it for granted.
In this interview, we break down common myths with the amazing Dr. Maiysha Clairborne (aka The Stress Free Mom MD) who excels in business. She helps doctors become entrepreneurial successes by creating businesses that are not only profitable but have purpose.
. She is one of our faculty members at the upcoming BootcampMD, coming on January 26-27, 2019 in San Diego. If you are ready to make a change in 2009, and build more income for you and your family, this is the perfect opportunity to kick off the new year.
TRANSCRIPT
____________________________________________
Hey guys, this is Dr. Mike with BootstrapMD. I’m so excited. Today we’ve got an awesome guest that we’re having on. I’ve actually been following Maiysha for quite some time. And if you’ve been on any of the physician forum you know her face. And she really brings some really good content. She brings the goods.
But I want to talk about her in just a minute. And she’s actually going to be one of the speakers at my upcoming conference, called Bootcamp MD. It’s happening on January 26th and 27th in San Diego. We’ll talk a little bit more about that during our talk.
But Maiysha, before we begin, I just want to give you some credit here, give you a little bit of bio for people who … some of the doctors who may not know who you are. Your training journey began at Emory University, earning your Bachelor’s in Psychology. Completed her medical degree at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Residency at a Florida hospital. She’s a Integrative Family Physician, and founder of … get this, guys … Stress-Free Mom MD. I love it! And the Next Level Physicians Entrepreneurs Institute.
So you’re always leveling up, Maiysha. You’re a down-to-earth personality, and-
Always.
… Always. Even in our conversations that we’ve had, poignant humor and out of the box speaking style, she passionately shares her expertise on career transition, business, and entrepreneurship, ’cause she’s committed to the satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment of her fellow physicians. So that’s a lot on your table, Maiysha! But, welcome to the program today.
How are you doing? Thank you for having me!
Good. We appreciate you coming. So, everybody’s been listening to my programs, you learn really early on that I’m a bit of a nerd, kind of a superhero nerd. And, I’m a big fan of … you know, we got the Aquaman movie coming up, and things like that. I’m always interested in origin stories. Like, how did you get there? How did Peter Parker become Spiderman?
So how did Maiysha become The Stress Free MD?
Yes, yes. Well, first of all, I just want to say, nerd to nerd, I am definitely a Marvel Comic person. I love … okay. So, yeah. So my origin story. As I … the Marvel Comics, I love the movies.
In terms of how I got started, I talk about my experience with … me transitioning, ultimately, and led it to me finding my purpose. But my first experience of burnout was actually in a Residency. And it was before we really had language for that kind of thing. But that experience, it literally took me to the edge of life. And so, it was really back then that I knew that my path would be different. I knew that in order … my career. And so I spent a lot of time building, looking under the hood of other careers. I did locums tenens, and I looked … under the hood, like what is it that they’re doing that’s not working, what do I like, what do I not like? And then I started my own practice.
Now, my background is Integrative Medicine. So, I’m a family doctor by training. And I started my own practice kind of on a whim. I would never recommend people do it the way I did it. But I started it, and it was a great learning experience, a great journey. And being a business owner, as you probably know, is like a whole different animal. And if you don’t set boundaries for yourself, then you can go back into that swirl, into that cycle.
And so that’s for about five years, into owning … and, at that time, I was familiar, and I reached out. And by this time, there was actually language for burnout. And I found me a coach. I found … and when I found that mentor, who happened to be a physician coach, was that existed. And I thought to myself, you know, in the corporate world … why aren’t we doing this more as doctors? And I was already a coach. I was a coach to my patients, coaching them in stress management, and nutrition. Even in … relationship and … realized that my colleagues were sufferings, my colleagues were struggling. And, we hadn’t caught on to this whole idea that you can actually have a coach to help you … transform.
That’s how the idea came to me. Now, the transition itself took time. And, when I became a mom, that was a game-changer for me. So that sort of … probably became the Stress Free Mom MD, because once I … to be a parent, and to be a doctor, like all the hats you must have to wear, and to be a business owner. You have … systems, to be able to have your life be workable. And that is what was most important to me for my clients, is having them have a career that they love … and a life that they design. So that’s sort of how I came to transition to the Stress Free Mom MD.
How important was it for you to have a mentor? I know, as doctors, we tend to be … we have control issues, right? So we don’t like to give anybody else … you know, it’s very difficult for them to find a teacher. Now I know, education is in our blood, right? We go to school, we follow. But, handing it to someone who, in your case, it didn’t happen. You had a physician coach. How difficult was that to make that leap? And, how important was it for you to have that mentor in the success of your business?
Well, you know, honestly, before my … I had had business coaches and marketing coaches, because I said, you know, I started my practice, I didn’t know anything about business. When I first started my practice, way back 11, 12 years ago … I had no idea I’m one of those people that jumps in … and so, I had no clue about business. And I had friends who did. And so, it was recommended to me back then to get a … coach. And, for me, because I was in a place where I knew that I needed that help, it was fairly easy for me to take on a mentor … like that.
However, I think what was important was that I was very coachable. That I’d be coachable. ‘Cause you know, as doctors, we want to do things our way. We … want to … the best. Even though education is in our blood, we don’t want to be told what to do. So, there would be things that I’d be asked to do, that if I didn’t agree with, I’d want to do it my way. And I had to learn to be … was the biggest thing for me. But it was critical to my success to have a coach, to have a mentor along the way. And, I couldn’t have built a recession … proof practice … been through these various types of programs.
Yeah, I’m a big fan of having mentors. And it’s not just … it’s more than that. I think you have to invest in yourselves. I’m calculating now, I probably invested close to $40,000, investing in myself, on courses, or having a coach, and those kinds of things. And you may think like, well, you know, everything is available on the internet. I can watch it on YouTube. You know, you’re not even talking about whether that’s the correct information, the hours and days that you spent finding out that what they’re telling you is exactly wrong. So, it’s important to find a coach like yourself, for a doctor to really go through that transition.
So I want to kind of delve deep … you were going to say something, go ahead.
Well, the big difference between what you were talking about, you know, you can go on and watch videos, and learn, is that, that’s informational. And, coaching is experiential. A lot of times … we need that experientially create the breakthroughs that are transformational in our lives. So, yeah, you could go, and you can watch a video here, and you can watch it there, but you’re piecemealing informations-
Right.
… together, and you might in a system and structure that would work with velocity. But with coaching, you have someone to guide you through the information that you’re learning, and put it in … a system and a structure that … And it’s very experiential, not just informational.
Yeah. I love that, too. It just reminded me, my own coach just reminded me that I’ve got some homework I have to do today as well. So, we’ll kind of keep on going on in here. So, tell me what you … you’ve got your own clients. You’ve got a successful coaching practice. What kind of students do you have? You know, are they different specialties? And, what do they usually get after working with you?
Well, so, my docs … are all specialties … specialties that tend to come to me are the primary care, you know, family doctors, internal medicine. But I get a lot of OB-GYN docs. Anesthesiologists and [inaudible 00:10:34] is becoming a popular specialty. And, they’re wanting to either transition into something that’s more integrative, because that’s my background, or they’re wanting to start their own business, their own coaching or consulting business, as a side gig, and eventually transitioning it to a main gig.
So, what my clients get out of the coaching, number one … besides the fact that they get a business, right? They learn the process of starting a business; the transition, like how to appropriately and safely transition from the employee space to the entrepreneur space … and, learning how to really define their niche, or create their niche, and get to know their market, so their messaging is speaking directly to the client, and they become more attractive. They also learn how to create that offer. Create whatever the product, or the program, or the course, or whatever it is. And they learn all the tools that they need to be able to … be successful in making that new business, and growing it to the point where it eventually will replace their income.
What are kind of the biggest stumbling blocks that you see when you talk to doctors about starting a business? What are like two or three things you see?
Yeah. The biggest thing is just getting over the hump of, can I? Can I do it? … mindset is the most critical piece in supporting the business. So, once I get that that’s over that mindset, the limiting belief that they can’t build a successful business. The limiting belief that they’re … not going to be able to replace their income … I’m a horrible businessperson. But anyone can learn business. You just have to have the right mentor, the right tools and structures, and place. So, that belief that … the belief that I can’t, is probably the biggest hurdle that I see in doctors.
And then, it’s the time. Like, where do I get the time to do this? And, what I help docs do is create the structure, a very workable structure, because we’re obviously working full-time, being full-time parents. How do you then create the structure and the time, not only working, but like communicating those boundaries to the family, and having them be on board and supporting you, in this new venture. So that’s probably the second … hurdle that I see. Once we get over those two hurdles, we’re conditioned to be doers. They get it done.
Oh, that’s great. That’s great. In my experience in working with doctors in the past, is, they have that fear of failure. They have their fear that they are doing something, and that they’ll be embarrassed among their colleagues, or family, or friends. But, in some cases … and not a lot of people that I’ve talked to in your space, talk about this … is actually the fear of success. Where it’s, oh, what if my business gets too big? And, then my colleagues will see this. Have you had any experience dealing with your students on this topic?
You know, that’s interesting. I have not had the fear of success come into play. I definitely had the fear of failure, and I always tell my docs, you know, failure is feedback. I always tell the story of how, the practice that I started in 2007 was actually the second practice that I started. The first one, I failed. I failed flat on my face. And it was the best experience I could have had.
And so, what you do with … you use that as feedback, to look at, well, what was missing? Do you need to put in, where did you not prepare? I always talk about the process of change, and what do you need to put in place? Which structure or system did you not have in place that had that not work … it’s funny, I haven’t had the fear of success come up amongst my clients.
Yeah, it’s not even … that’s what is underlying, is the fear of success. What’s more of the fear of being, know about whatever this topic is. And, oh, if my name is here, I want to write a book, but I want to do it under a pseudonym. Or, I want to be totally rich, but I don’t want anybody else to know about it. I guess that’s more of what [crosstalk 00:15:17] kind of thinking is. And, eventually, what I like to say is, if you’re very passionate about your topic, you need to feel free that you can go onto any stage, in any event, and to talk about this topic. It’s very rare that, you know, a multi-millionaire or someone is working under a pseudonym.
I’m sure there are some cases, but I can’t think of any. But you’re looking to build your name, and build your brand. That’s what actually kind of leads on into my next question here. How important has, let’s say, the internet had been in building your brand, for yourself, and your students?
It’s been critical. You know, it’s like, you have to, first of all, get yourself into the community, that is your potential market. That’s the people who you want to serve, the people who you want to be with. And then, being consistent with your brand, has people immediately identify what, when they see certain things, that this is what you do. It helps them identify you as an expert in that arena.
So, in terms of Stress Free Mom MD, being a person who supports physician moms, in creating a career they love, so they can live a life of their design, if all … place. For, you know, on my website, in my groups. And, when people ask, are there any … or, other physician moms, particularly, ask, who is the coach? Who is the business coach? Who is the entrepreneurship coach, who can help me in the mom groups if my name pops up? I get tagged.
So it’s important to be consistent with your brand, so that people know who you are, and specifically … expert, and your name pops up first in people’s minds, when people are asking for your particular brand of resource.
Now, I’m going to talk about branding. And I want to talk about, we’re going to get a little down deep here, now. You went ahead and you said, I’m going to call myself the Stress Free Mom MD. Was that a calculated decision? Was it something you planned, and you tried all these different variations? Pulling My Hair Out MD, or Stress Free Mom MD But Not if You’ve Got Two Kids? What exactly did you go ahead and think of that? Because that’s a bold statement, you know? I see a lot of stressed out mom MD’s on all the forms, and people that I talk to. But you put yourself out there. Talk about kind of the origins of that [crosstalk 00:17:59].
You know, a lot of my slogans and names of things, come out of conversations. So, my originally, my company was Doc Support MD, right? And, I’m supporting docs, and creating their design. And, you know, it really..
It’s okay, yeah. Right. It’s IT support, what are we talking about, right?
Right.
Life support, who knows?
Bor-ing.
What do you do?
Right! And so, I was in conversation with … actually, this was my transition. And I was sharing with a patient what I was doing, and they were like, yeah, you’re going to be a stress free MD! And I was like, ooh, I like that! Can I use it? And they were like, cool!
But when I decided to niche down to physician moms, then I said, well how can I, how can I keep Stress Free MD, and niche that in? I just put the mom in there. And Stress Free Mom MD just rolled off the tongue. And so, I tested it out with a few people, and they were like, ooh, I like that! So that’s how I came up with it. You know, part of coming up with a name, it’s very important, is to test your market, and see what resonates with your market. A lot of the programs that I create, a lot of the names, the logos, I always go and I test with my market. Because I want to be speaking it to their listening. And it’s a very important principle that I teach, is you always want to be speaking into the listening of the people that you’re serving.
Right, right. I love that. But does it give you, does it even push you even further? I mean, ’cause, you know, when you’re coming up with your programs, and your events. Things happen in life. But you say, you know what? I’m the Stress Free Mom MD. This can’t happen to me. Does it actually kind of motivate you to push your boundaries as well?
Well it definitely motivates me to be my best self. And, part of this Stress Free Mom MD, it doesn’t take away our humanity. But it’s the tools to be a Stress Free Mom MD. So, it’s not necessarily that you’re gonna be, no one’s completely stress free. You’ll be stress free when you’re dead. That’s the bottom line. But it’s something to aspire to. It’s something to envision, like, ooh, what would it be like to be a Stress Free Mom MD? And then you aspire that. And have it happen. Absolutely. But when you have the tools, you bounce back a lot quicker. And you navigate and sidestep those things that would normally freak you out, and have you pulling your hair out. You know what I’m saying?
Yeah, I love that. I also, you know, it shows out, you know, just your personality. You’re a very positive person. I deal with a lot of doctors. And unfortunately, the opposite, negativity, kind of pervades here. What are kind of your … you have role models to help, and push you into this positive outlook? Or is this a complete façade? After this is over, is it like, ahh, grumpy! You know? Grumpy Maiysha.
You know, I really like this.
This is great.
You ask my friends, they will tell you I am totally like this. I am … you know, I think, honestly, I think it’s a family trait. I have a very animated family, I have a very animated dad. I can’t say that I’m on 10 all the time. I have my moments. I’m actually an introvert, would you believe it. So, like I love being with people, and I need my quiet time.
I think the thing that helps to keep me in that positive space is meditation. And, for me, it comes in the form of yoga. Now, people think, they have the myth that, you gotta sit cross-legged for hours, talk about “ohmmmm” … but, you know, you don’t really have to do it that way. You find what that thing is for you. The self care strategy, the self care, I say, rituals. The non-negotiables.
So when I teach my docs about building a business, the first thing … one of the foundational things that we talk about … is, creating your self care strategy … you don’t burn out trying to build a business. So, I have things in my life that are non-negotiable. I am a yogi of 12 years. And, that’s one of my non-negotiables. I get my quiet time, even being a single mom of a four year old boy, I get my quiet time every single day. I get my cuddles in with my son, that’s like a non-negotiable. I love the huggies and kissies for as long as I can get them. You know, ’cause, there’s going to come a point, where he’s going to be …
Yeah. Yeah, I know personally about that.
I have … thing in life that I do to keep myself zen, if you will.
Do you have a morning ritual that you do? Or, that’s part of your life?
Absolutely. Yeah, I have a morning ritual, and I have an evening ritual. My morning ritual is a gratitude list. Every morning, I write a gratitude list. I read my mission statement that I’ve created for myself and my business. And, I get a big hug and kiss from my son.
Awesome!
Yeah … evening, I actually visualize the next day. I visualize the day, exactly how I want it to go. And that sort of helps me to frame how I want the day to go. And, a lot of times, you can create that. People think that’s a little woo-woo. But, that law of attraction is important to me.
No. I am a firm believer of having a morning ritual. Gratitude is so important. You know, it’s just amazing to me, is that we live in a country with so much opportunity, and we gotta stay away from the news, the negativity that’s out there, and just kind of focus on, being the best version of yourself. And I love hearing that you’ve already … I knew that you had some type of morning ritual, because people like yourself that I’ve met, they have that space. But they also have those boundaries. If it’s quiet time, when I’m doing meditation in the morningtime, that’s dad’s time, he’s not to be disturbed. Everything turns off. I assume you have that, too, in your daily life.
Absolutely. Yeah, you know it’s funny because my son is getting to know my rituals very well. So, one of the things … we leave very early in the morning, ’cause that’s sort of when I do my yoga, I go to the studio, and so I have to drop him off early. And I’m not really a morning person, actually. And so, we’re in the car, and I always say, you know, it’s mommy’s quiet time now. And he’s so good about it. And so now sometimes he’ll be in the car and he’ll be like, mommy, I need some quiet time!
Oh, [crosstalk 00:24:46] it out! He’s learning early, that’s great. That’s great.
He’s learning early.
So, this has been great, I love this interview. But for just the final few minutes that we have. One of our esteemed speakers speaking at Boot Camp MD … again, that’s an event happening in January, 26th, 27th, in San Diego. Tell the viewers, what will you be talking about, and what can they expect, at your talk at our conference?
Well, first of all, I’m super-excited to come out and be at the conference with you, and with the audience, people who are going to be there. I’m going to be talking about leveraging your degree with passionate … purpose for profit. So, we’re going to talk about, what it takes to be able to leverage that degree? What is it that you need to know, in order to be able to make a transition. But not just make a transition and start a business, but doing something that you love on your terms, utilizing what you already know as physicians. I think a lot of times, physicians feel like, well this is all I’ve done. I don’t know what else I could do with this expertise.
But, in this workshop, we’re going to talk about all of the things that you could potentially do to leverage your degree, and what it takes to make that transition successfully.
That’s awesome. And I’m going to be taking notes as well. And I think … and, it’s surprising, but I see that a lot. I see docs, you’ve been through the college, you’ve been through the medical school, you’ve been through the Residency. And then say, I don’t know what else I could teach. I don’t know what else I could share on there. And it may not even be in medicine. It may be just your life experiences. Maybe you dabble in real estate, and you’re really good at doing that. Or, maybe you’re great in organization. Who knows?
But, every one of you has something in you that can provide value to the marketplace, society, or whatever you call it, universe. But, this topic you have is going to be so important for attendees to learn. Especially if you’re someone who maybe … don’t know if you always wanted to start a business, but you don’t know which way to go. It sounds like you’ve got the foundation here, because what you’re talking about is so, so important for the attendees to listen to.
Any last minute thoughts before we end the call today? This has been great, Maiysha, by the way.
Well thank you. So I just want to thank you for inviting me to come out, for inviting me to be on this interview today. I just want to empower the physicians who will be coming to the conference, that you are more than just this degree. And, there are many, many things that you can do to leverage this degree. And we’re going to be busting a lot of myths in this talk of, busting the fears, busting the limiting beliefs and the myths, about starting a business. And by the end of the session, you know with certainty that the time is now for you to make that move, and follow your passion. Follow your passion, so that you can leverage your degree.
And, have a committed love, have a life that you design on your terms. So, I just want to empower you that it is possible, it is possible. And I love, Dr. Mike, what you’re doing here, how you’re empowering physicians. And I’m so grateful to be a part of your community.
Well I’m grateful for you accepting my invitation here. So, again guys, it’s happening in San Diego, January 26th and 27th. Somewhere on this video, there’s a link that you can register for that.
I want to thank you again for joining us here on the call. Maiysha. The Stress Free Mom MD. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
All right, guys.
Bye.
And thank you for joining us. And, as always, keep moving forward.
