The Medical Strategist: Recent Episodes

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• Dr. Barbara Hales explains why video is a powerful way for physicians to connect with future patients where they already are—on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
• Dr. Barbara Hales shows that physicians already have endless video topics by turning common patient questions into short, helpful content.
• Dr. Barbara Hales warns against waiting for perfection and urges doctors to start recording imperfect but useful videos instead of obsessing over equipment or appearance.
• Dr. Barbara Hales emphasizes speaking in simple, patient-friendly language (not like a medical lecture) and getting to the point quickly to keep viewers from scrolling away.
• Dr. Barbara Hales highlights the importance of focusing on the patient (not the doctor’s credentials) and using strong visuals and demonstrations so videos build trust and are memorable.

Key Takeaways:

“Video works for physicians not because it’s perfectly produced, but because it quickly, simply, and visually answers the patient’s real questions in a way that feels personal, trustworthy, and focused on them.”

Connect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
• Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
• Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
• Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com
• YouTube:@barbarahales
• LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahalesBooks:
  • Content Copy Made Easy
  • 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  • Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION

Chapter 1: Why Video Matters for Physicians

[0:00:02 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we are going to be discussing something that has become one of the most powerful marketing tools available to physicians: Video, but ask yourself why your medical videos aren’t working. Today, we’ll discuss the first five mistakes most physicians make.

[0:00:38 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Before you think, I don’t have professional cameras. I don’t know how to edit. I don’t have enough time, or I hate seeing myself on camera. I want to tell you a little story, because over the last few weeks, I’ve been learning something completely new, not medicine, not practice management, not marketing strategy. I’ve been learning how to create short-form videos, and let me tell you, it has been humbling. I honestly thought the difficult part would be coming up with ideas. It wasn’t. The difficult part was editing. One afternoon, I spent hours trying to edit what should have been a very simple product video. Hours. I watched tutorials. I clicked the wrong buttons.

[0:01:45 – Dr. Barbara Hales] I undid things I had just done. At one point, I honestly wondered if I was ever going to finish. Then I had a realization: I don’t need to become a professional video editor. I don’t need to look like it was made by a professional. I need to become a better communicator.

[0:02:14 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Those are two completely different skills. Technology can help me edit. Only I can communicate with authenticity, and I realize something else. If I felt overwhelmed, imagine how many positions feel exactly the same way. So, if you’ve been putting off video because it seems complicated. This episode is for you. Why now? Let’s start with a simple question: Why should physicians even bother making videos? Because that’s where your future patients are. Years ago, people searched Google. Today, they search Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, even LinkedIn.

[0:03:15 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Patients don’t just want information anymore; they want connection. They want to know what kind of doctor you are. Will you explain things clearly? Will you listen? Will you make them feel comfortable? Video answers all of those questions before they ever schedule an appointment. Here’s another reason: you already have an unlimited supply of content. Every single day, patients ask you questions-questions you’ve answered hundreds of times, questions that seem routine to you-but those same questions are brand new to someone hearing the answer for the first time.

[0:04:06 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Should I worry about this symptom? Why do I need this medication? How long will recovery take? Can I exercise after surgery? What’s normal? What isn’t? Those aren’t just questions. Those are videos. Seasonal illnesses, flu season, travel medicine, heat exhaustion, spring allergies, sports physicals, Heart Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Diabetes Awareness Month. The ideas are endless, which brings me to what I think may be the most important sentence in today’s episode. Every question you answer in the exam room today. Is probably being typed into Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok by hundreds, if not 1000s, of people tonight. Then think about it.

[0:05:16 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Those questions, the ones that have become second nature to you, they’re exactly what people are searching for. They’re looking for answers. They’re looking for reassurance, and perhaps most importantly, they’re looking for someone they can trust.

Chapter 2: Mistake 1 – Waiting for Perfection

[0:05:35 – Dr. Barbara Hales] If you’re the physician consistently providing those answers, you’re not just creating videos; you are building relationships before the first appointment ever happens. Now, let’s talk about the first five mistakes I see physicians make with video marketing. Mistake one: waiting for perfection. Let’s start with the biggest mistake of all: waiting until everything is perfect. I understand why physicians do this.

[0:06:15 – Dr. Barbara Hales] We’ve trained to strive for precision. In medicine, details matter, accuracy matters, getting it right matters. So naturally, we carry the same mindset into marketing. We think, I’ll record a video after I buy a better camera. I’ll start once my office is renovated. I’ll wait until I learn how to edit. I’ll do it when I lose a few pounds. I’ll do it when I feel more comfortable on camera.

[0:06:52 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Can I tell you something? Your future patients aren’t waiting for perfection. They’re waiting for someone who can answer their questions. Patients don’t expect Hollywood. They expect honesty. They expect clarity. They expect someone who feels genuine. Ironically, sometimes the videos that perform the best are the ones that feel the least polished. Why? Because they feel real. People connect with people, not perfection.

[0:07:37 – Dr. Barbara Hales] If you keep waiting until every detail is perfect, you’ll still be waiting a year from now. Instead, record one helpful video, learn from it. Record another. Your first video isn’t supposed to be your best video. It’s simply supposed to be your first. Mistake two: talking like you’re giving a medical lecture. Once physicians finally press record, many make the same mistake. They forget who they’re talking to. You aren’t speaking to your colleagues. You’re speaking to Patients; patients don’t want to feel like they’re sitting through grand rounds. They want someone who can explain complicated information in a way that’s reassuring and easy to understand.

Chapter 3: Mistakes 2 & 3 – Overly Technical and Too Slow to the Point

[0:08:36 – Dr. Barbara Hales] One of my favorite communication tests is this: Could a high school student understand what you’re saying? If the answer is yes, you’re probably communicating well. Simple doesn’t mean you’re dumbing things down. Simple means you’re making knowledge accessible, and that’s one of the greatest gifts a physician can offer. Mistake three: taking too long to get to the point. You know this is something that we’ve all done at one point or another.

[0:09:12 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Now let’s talk about attention. Years ago, people would patiently watch an introduction. Not anymore. Today you’re competing with 1000s of videos. If your opening doesn’t answer one question, why should I keep watching? People simply scroll instead of beginning with “Hello everyone, I’m Dr. Smith.

[0:09:40 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Try beginning with three reasons your blood pressure medication may not be enough, or the biggest mistake I see after knee replacement surgery, or if you wake up with headaches every morning, don’t ignore the. Lead with the problem. Curiosity is one of the most powerful marketing tools you’ll ever use. Mistake number four: making the video about you instead of the patient.

Chapter 4: Mistake 4 – Making the Video About You, Not the Patient

[0:10:20 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Here’s another trap physicians fall into. They spend the first minute talking about themselves, where they trained, how many years they practiced, their credentials. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Credentials matter, but not in the first 30 seconds. Patients are thinking about one thing: themselves, their symptoms, their concerns, their questions. Meet them where they are, instead of saying, “I’ve been practicing medicine for 25 years. Try saying, “Here’s something every patient should know before. See the difference. The first sentence is about you.

[0:11:13 – Dr. Barbara Hales] The second sentence is about them, and that’s where trust begins. Let me tell you something I’ve observed over the years. I’ve worked with physicians who had nearly identical credentials, excellent schools, board certifications, years of experience. Yet one physician always seemed to have a waiting room full of new patients, while another struggled.

[0:11:44 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Why? Because patients don’t choose the doctor with the longest resume; they choose the doctor they feel they already know. Video creates familiarity. It lets patients experience your personality, your communication style, your compassion before they ever walk into your office. By the time they arrive for that first appointment, it doesn’t feel like they’re meeting a stranger. It feels like they’re meeting someone they’ve already come to trust-that’s the real power of video. It isn’t views. It isn’t likes. It isn’t algorithms. It’s trust.

Chapter 5: Mistake 5 – Not Using Visuals and Overcomplicating Production

[0:12:34 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Now, let’s talk about something I learned myself over the last few weeks. Video isn’t just about talking; it’s about showing. As physicians, we’re comfortable explaining things, but sometimes a simple visual explains more than a five-minute conversation. If you’re talking about knee pain, show a model of the knee. If you’re discussing skin cancer, show videos or diagrams when appropriate. If you’re explaining how to use an inhaler, you guessed it. Demonstrate it.

[0:13:18 – Dr. Barbara Hales] People remember what they see, not just what they hear. I’ll give you a personal example. Recently, I was creating a short product video. The first version, honestly, it wasn’t very good. I simply filmed the product and started talking. It looked flat, so I stopped and asked myself, “How can I tell the story before I even say a word? The product happened to contain coconut, lime, and verbena. Instead of just placing the bottle on a table, I got a coconut.

[0:14:01 – Dr. Barbara Hales] I cut it in half so you could see the inside. I placed fresh limes around the bottle. I put the bottle on a large natural rack, and I positioned everything beside a small palm tree. Suddenly, the video had a completely different feeling. Before I ever opened my mouth, the viewer already understood the product’s tropical theme. That experience reminded me of something we sometimes forget: video is visual. Every image should reinforce your message.

[0:14:45 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Now, here’s the funny part. I actually drove around my neighborhood looking for the perfect little palm tree. After all that searching, I came home, walked into my backyard, and realized I. I already had the perfect palm tree growing there.

[0:15:03 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Sometimes marketing is like that. We spend so much time looking for complicated solutions that we overlook the resources we already have. The same thing happens in medicine. Physicians often think they need expensive cameras, a professional studio, or a production company.

[0:15:26 – Dr. Barbara Hales] Most of the time, what they already have is enough. One of these: a smartphone, good lighting, knowledge that helps people, and the willingness to press record-that’s where great video marketing begins. Not with expensive equipment, but with thoughtful communication.

[0:15:51 – Dr. Barbara Hales] So today we’ve covered the first five mistakes that keep physicians from creating videos that connect with patients. Next week, we’re going to explore five more mistakes that can quietly destroy even a great video. We’ll talk about captions, why many viewers never hear a word you say, how to keep people from scrolling away, and the simple changes that can dramatically increase engagement. I think you’ll be surprised by how much difference those small details can make. So for this week, I’d like you to find one video you’d like to make and put it in the comments below. Okay, see you next week.

The post 5 Video Mistakes You Make first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Neil discussed the following:

1. Neil explains his255 method for Facebook and Instagram ads: two campaigns (warm and cold), five audiences, and five ads to systematically find winning combinations and scale.
2. They discuss how Facebook charges per 1,000 views(CPM) rather than per click, and what that means for setting and spending a daily budget.
3. Neil shares the story of launching Scotland’s biggest health and fitness exhibition, nearly failing, and then saving and scaling it purely through Facebook ads.
4. They compare Google Ads vs. Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads for physicians, recommending Google for high-intent cold traffic and Meta primarily for remarketing, then broader cold traffic once scale is needed.
5. They cover practical advertising guidance for doctors—starting around $20/day, using metrics like link click-through rate, balancing warm vs. cold campaigns, and choosing a proven ads expert with a strong track record and longevity in the field.

Key Takeaways:

“Facebook and Instagram and Google, TikTok, LinkedIn ads, all the ad platforms they learn really really quickly, and where the the best leads are, and if you spend $20 per day for five to seven days, you’ll have really good data as to which audiences are working well, which ads are working well, which ones are not, and you can start to make adjustments from there.” – Neil Shoney

Connect with Neil Shoney:

• Instagram: neilshoneymac
• Facebook:  www.facebook.com/neilshoneymac
• Business website: neil-maclean-marketing.mykajabi.com
• Show website:   www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
• Spotify:  The Shoney show
• Apple Podcasts: The Shoney show
• YouTube: Neil ‘Shoney’ Mac
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/neilshoneymac

Connect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
• Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
• Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
• Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com
• YouTube:@barbarahales
• LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahalesBooks:
  • Content Copy Made Easy
  • 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  • Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPT (242)

Chapter 1: Introducing Neil Shoney and the Promise of Scalable Ads

0:00 | Dr. Barbara Hales

[0:00:01] Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us a very interesting character by the name of Neil Shoney.

Neil is an ad strategist and go-to expert for service-based businesses that want a simple, proven, scalable Facebook ad system that consistently brings in premium clients. With 13 years of running ads and over 3,000 service providers helped, Neil is known for turning complicated advertising into clear, repeatable frameworks that work across different service industries. Because, unlike almost everywhere else you turn, Neil does not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. After managing high-spend campaigns in the UK and US, Neil shifted into coaching full-time and created a library of 36 proprietary frameworks, including his 25-5 method, that helps service providers install a functioning, profitable ad system in days, not months, that they can turn on or off like a tap, whenever they want new leads. His clients span over 62 niches, with 21 of those niches hitting six-figure months through ads. Welcome to the show, Neil.

[0:01:44] Neil Shoney: Thanks much for having me, Barbara. Appreciate you.

[0:01:47] Dr. Barbara Hales: Could you explain the 255 method?

Chapter 2: The 255 Method—Two Campaigns, Five Audiences, Five Ads

1:51 | Neil Shoney

[0:01:51] Neil Shoney: Sure. The 255 method is at the heart of it, just a testing method for running advertising. So the majority of the time when a practice runs advertising through Facebook and Instagram or any other ad platform for that matter, they typically run what I call a one-one-one method. That is one campaign going to one audience with one ad, and there’ll definitely be people listening right now who are just like nodding along with bigger eyes, going, “That is exactly what I’m doing right now. I see it all the time, and what you have in that situation is you’ve basically taken your best guess at every single step of creating that campaign. So you’ve written the ad copy, and you’ve hoped that it’s going to be great.

You’ve chosen your image or your video, and you hope that it’s going to be great. You’ve chosen your audience, and you hope that it’s going to be the right one. But with the Shony 255 method, we do it this way: first, we run two campaigns rather than one. First of all, you’ve already doubled your chance of finding a winner because not both of them have to be winners. You can find a winner and a loser, and then put all your eggs into one winning basket. Those two campaigns that we split out-one is for warm, and one is for cold. That’s people who know who you are and people who don’t know who you are. That’s the first step that a lot of practices get wrong. They only target people who have never heard of them before, who may not even be in the market, and yet you could put a very small amount of ad spend behind people who have already visited your social media pages, your website, etc., and simply get back in front of those people and have really, really high conversion rates.

The first step there is two campaigns rather than one. The second step of the 255 method is where the first five comes in, and that’s five audiences rather than one. And so, quite simply, instead of, you know, saying people interested in this one thing and taking your best guess, you get the great opportunity to choose five different interests that somebody might have, or five different demographic targeting tools that we can choose from, and you don’t have to be right 100% of the time. You actually only need to be right once out of the five. Now, when we set this up, we hope that all five are fantastic. That’s great for scale. But if four of them are, you know, they just don’t work. That’s absolutely fine. We can turn off those audiences. We found our winner, and we can push all the budget towards the winner. And then the final step of the 255 method is the final five: having five ads rather than just one. And there are two reasons for this.

Number one is it’s also great to find winners and losers inside your ads, and you know the things that don’t work. You can turn them off. People never have to see them ever again, and you can push all the budget towards the winners. But there’s a second reason as well, and you’ve probably experienced this yourself, Barbara, and so will so many people who are listening right now. Is that you show any level of interest in something that you see via an ad? You might not even click through to the website, but if you stop scrolling, you hit the see more button, you read it, or you watch the video, and then you start seeing the ad over and over and over again. That’s Facebook basically saying this person is interested in this, but they didn’t take the action that the advertiser wanted them to take, which is to click through, request a callback, book an appointment, whatever it may be. Now, if you set up your ads the way that 98% of people do, a 111 campaign, then Facebook’s only option is to show the same ad to the same person over and over and over again, but if you have five ads, they’ll show them ad number two, then ad number three, then ad number four, and it helps to re-engage people and get more people to take action.

[0:05:53] Neil Shoney: So it’s a testing method to find winners and losers, and rather than just, you know, throwing something against the wall, and it’s either going to stick or it’s not. It gives you a much higher probability of running a successful campaign. Mathematically, there are 50 variations there, so there’s 50 chances to find a winning variation, and it allows for a lot of scalability because if you have multiple audiences that become successful and multiple ads that are successful, then there’s a lot of opportunity to increase the spend on the front end to get much more out the other side.

[0:06:27] Dr. Barbara Hales: What a great idea! So, do the clients get charged by Facebook for someone clicking on View More, or only if they click through?

Chapter 3: How Facebook Bills and Neil’s Origin Story with Ads

6:45 | Neil Shoney

[0:06:45] Neil Shoney: Actually, with Facebook and Instagram, the way that it works is you’re charged per 1000 views, so it’s not charged based upon clicks and not clicks and things like that. As Google says, they are cost per click, and you know you’re charged whenever somebody clicks on the ad; technically, Google is still doing cost per 1000 views. They’re just choosing to send the billing notification once somebody has clicked. So it’s smart marketing on their side because they get to say You only pay if somebody clicks. People are going to click, so you’re going to pay anyway. But with Facebook, they have a cost per 1000 views, which is different for everybody. It depends on the ad, how many people you’re targeting, and who’s inside those audiences. But technically, you know, you set a daily budget, so it could be $10 a day, it could be $100 a day, it could be $1,000 a day, depend upon the size of the business, and you’re going to most likely spend what you set as a budget, as long as there’s a big enough audience there for Facebook to target.

[0:07:47] Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you get into this originally?

[0:07:50] Neil Shoney: Well, I actually 1314 years ago, something like that. I started Scotland’s biggest ever health and fitness exhibition, and I came straight out of university. I’d studied sport and exercise science. I always knew I was going to be entrepreneurial, and I just thought everybody would buy into my idea: a huge event at Scotland’s biggest venue, with a break-even of about 4,000 tickets needing to be sold for the weekend. I just thought that everybody would hear about it and think it would be incredible, and I ended up signing my life away with no money in the bank, hundreds of 1000s of pounds, or hundreds of 1000s of dollars, I should say, of contracts to be able to put on this massive show. And about five months into advertising, we’d sold around, you know, 50 tickets at $12.50

[0:08:48] Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s pretty scary.

[0:08:50] Neil Shoney: Yeah, it was pretty scary. We were about four and a half months out from the show itself, and everybody was knocking their doors down for outstanding invoices and different things, and to be honest, going to Facebook ads was like a last roll of the dice. I’d already done everything that everybody does in the marketing space when they’re bootstrapping, which is posting lots on social media, cold outreach, finding email addresses on Google, sending emails to personal trainers and all sorts. No matter how hard I worked, nothing was clicking. And when I ran Facebook ads, I ended up doing something very similar to the Shony 255 method. And I think it was just a bit of luck that I went down that route of being like, “Oh, I can test out different audiences.

I can test out different ads. That’s how that feels safer. So I just did that. That was the way that I set them up in the first place, and I ended up spending. I think it was around, you know, like $50 or something in the first few days, and I had returned somewhere in the region of I think it was 150 Or $250 something like that, in sales, and it was just this like penny drop moment where I was like, “Wow, I can track how much money I put into this thing, how much money comes out the other side, and if I know how much I need to put in to get something out, something specific out the other side, I can basically choose how many tickets I want to sell, as long as I have the cash flow, of course, to be able to reinvest into the ads, and that’s what we did. And we ended up not just selling, you know, more tickets, but we ended up almost hitting our target for tickets sold four and a half months later. The show was a big success. We ended up scaling it over the next four years, and then selling it to the country’s biggest event organizers. And we never ran TV ads, billboards, or radio advertising, as all of these big exhibitions do. We just ran Facebook ads, and that was it. So I never planned to teach anybody Facebook ads. I just tried to use it to save myself from a terrible situation.

[0:11:05] Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, what a great story that was. Thank

[0:11:09] Neil Shoney: you.

Chapter 4: Google vs. Meta Ads and Leveraging Instagram Targeting

11:09 | Dr. Barbara Hales

[0:11:09] Dr. Barbara Hales: When it comes to physicians, is it better for doctors to use Google Ads, Meta Ads, or both?

[0:11:18] Neil Shoney: I would always lean into Google first if you’re doing cold prospecting. People who don’t know who you are, because of course people are going to go to Google or AI now as well. But Google’s still the frontrunner by a long shot. People are going to go to Google to find the providers that are close to them for the specific problems that they have, and so albeit that Google Ads cost significantly more to get in front of 1000 people, it’s so high intent that if it’s set up correctly, then you end up getting a very high percentage of people who click on your ads going all the way through to creating a booking with Facebook, the the next best step, or Facebook and Instagram, we should probably talk about them collectively because it’s the same ad platform. The best thing you can do if you’re on a low budget and you’re sort of just starting out with advertising for your practice is use it first and foremost for remarketing, so you can take your Facebook pixel and drop it onto your website.

You can also create audiences of anybody that visits your Facebook or Instagram page, which some people may do before deciding to book with you as well. And we can create these audiences of people that already know who you are, and we can advertise to those people. And so, if you wanted to make the best use of your ad dollars, it would be Google first. It would be Facebook remarketing second, and then I would use Facebook and Instagram more broadly for cold traffic as your third step. So that would be once you already feel that you’ve already significantly scaled the first two; that’s where you go to find more customers at scale.

[0:13:12] Dr. Barbara Hales: When someone advertises on Facebook, does it automatically go to Instagram as well, or do you have to request that? No,

[0:13:20] Neil Shoney: No, automatically. You would actually have to uncheck some boxes to stop it happening.

[0:13:26] Dr. Barbara Hales: Why would you want to?

[0:13:27] Neil Shoney: No, you wouldn’t.

[0:13:31] Dr. Barbara Hales: And people on Instagram would see the ads even if they don’t follow you.

[0:13:36] Neil Shoney: Yes, absolutely. So anybody who is within your targeting can see your ads, so you can target people based upon, of course, age, gender, location. Which, of course, location is going to be very important for local practices. But you can also do some targeting based around certain things like their interests, and you know some things as well, like you can target people based upon not just whether they’re a parent or not. You can target them based upon how old their kids are. Like Facebook has a lot of data, and it feels accurate, and there’s a lot that you can do with the targeting tools.

Chapter 5: Budgets, Metrics, and Warm vs. Cold Campaign Strategy

14:19 | Dr. Barbara Hales

[0:14:19] Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s a great idea. When a physician is considering ads, let’s say it’s a new practice, or he is providing a new service or a product that he didn’t have before, what do you advise them to spend on a daily basis for their budget?

[0:14:39] Neil Shoney: So I actually suggest that everybody starts at just around $20 per day with any campaign, and that may sound to some people like, oh, it’s just plain small. The reason I say $20 per day is because Facebook, Instagram, Google-they learn so quickly. If you’ve ever been told by an agency the reason.

The reason that you’re not getting results is that you’ve not spent enough, or because Facebook and Instagram take a really long time to learn. It’s actually their calling card: they don’t know how to get you results. Facebook and Instagram and Google, TikTok, LinkedIn ads, all the ad platforms they learn really really quickly, and where the the best leads are, and if you spend $20 per day for five to seven days, you’ll have really good data as to which audiences are working well, which ads are working well, which ones are not, and you can start to make adjustments from there. As soon as you have a positive ROI, that is the point at which we start the scaling process. So we don’t go with the mindset of your budget for the month is you know $2,000 So let’s figure out how much we need to spend per day to spend $2,000 The target’s not to spend $2,000 The target’s to find winners that bring in more revenue than you spend, and then you can start to scale towards spending $2,000 and that that’s the safest way to do

[0:16:08] Dr. Barbara Hales: it. How can you differentiate between not getting responses because people aren’t interested in you versus it just not being a good ad that needs to be changed?

[0:16:19] Neil Shoney: Yeah, well, there’s a couple of things. There, there’s a million different stats on the Facebook Ads dashboard, but there’s one that most people don’t even know exists. But it’s actually almost the tell-all of whether the ad is resonating with people or if it’s a landing page issue, like getting people to take action when they actually get to your website, and that is link click-through rate. So there are two.

There’s one that’s just click-through rate, and there’s one that’s link click-through rate. That one is what percentage of the people who see your ads actually click the button to go to your website, right? So it’s not, you know, hitting the like button, commenting, or seeing more. That’s click-through rate. Link click-through rate, however, is people actually clicking to leave Facebook after they’ve read your ad. Now, if it’s over 1%, we typically say there’s nothing wrong with the ads. The ads are doing their job. It’s getting people to stop scrolling, to read, and to leave Facebook. If you’re not getting inquiries on the next page, we then focus on the page and how do we get more people to take action there? If, on the other hand, you’ve got an ad that is, you know, 0.5%, then we’re quite far off where we need to be in terms of the link click-through rate. Then that’s when I would look at the advert itself and say, how do we get more people’s attention? How do we get more people to take action from the ad?

[0:17:53] Dr. Barbara Hales: Are ads best for cold prospecting or remarketing to people who hit my website? If both, how can this be maximized for the biggest ROIs?

[0:18:07] Neil Shoney: Well, both of them have their place in terms of what we would want anybody to be running. You know, like one month after working with us, for instance, we would want everybody to be running both, because there’s your warm campaign, your remarketing, which is fantastic for a small spend and a high ROI. That’s amazing, but there’s only so many people in there, so there’s only so far you can scale with that. And once you’ve kind of maximized that side of things, if you want to grow faster and acquire clients faster, you have to go out into the cold market. You have to go out and find more customers that may be out there. So, in terms of what’s more important, I suppose to start off, if you’re not advertising at all right now, I would say the warm side of things, the remarketing. But if you’re really serious about scaling, then both of them are very important to make scale happen as quickly as possible.

Chapter 6: Small Budgets, Getting Help, and Choosing the Right Ads Expert

19:12 | Dr. Barbara Hales

[0:19:12] Dr. Barbara Hales: What would you say to someone who says to you, you know, I don’t really have a budget, you know, so I haven’t been advertising, and you know, is it worth it? You know, is it definitely going to work, or am I just going to be throwing money in the air?

[0:19:28] Neil Shoney: Well, a couple of things. The first thing is, you don’t have to start off with a high budget, like I was saying. You can start at a small budget. You can see what happens with the ads. Just like my story with the events business 14 years ago: if it hadn’t worked, if I hadn’t sold tickets in that first week or a week or two weeks, I wouldn’t have continued spending money on it. But because I spent a small amount of money and made significantly more back, it gave me the opportunity to scale into that thing. The second thing is don’t go into it without some sort of guidance. And I don’t even mean that you need to work with somebody like me. Like you can go onto YouTube. Like you can go onto YouTube and at least get some tips and direction around how to do certain things, like for instance, some people right now will be going.

How do I set up warm retargeting? How do I set up these warm audiences? I’ve literally got a YouTube video inside the ads dashboard where I set them all up. So, like you, you don’t have to go into this completely blindly, even if you don’t want to invest in, you know, courses and agencies and things like that. So do some research. Don’t just throw something against the wall and then determine that it doesn’t work. There are things that need to happen to make advertising successful, but a lot of it’s out there on YouTube.

[0:20:56] Dr. Barbara Hales: As a doctor, if I was looking for somebody to just do it, I didn’t want to get involved. I just want them to do it. How? What criteria do I use to pick the right one? How do I recognize who is you know going to do it for me versus someone who you know read a course last weekend and doesn’t really keep doing?

[0:21:18] Neil Shoney: Well, track records are really a really big thing. How long have they been doing it? It’s a massive one. So I mean, we have just an absolute crazy amount of testimonial videos, and if anybody ever goes through, like, my Instagram or whatever, every few days it’s another testimonial video or something that a client sent us or whatever it may be, and we’ve done that for like 10 years here, just like churning it out. So when you go on our landing pages, it’s sometimes like 120 videos that are on that page. So, like, what type of results have they got for clients is number one, but the second one is how long have they been doing this for? And the reason why that’s so important is Facebook and Instagram are changing all the time, and so if they only had the ability to be able to run advertising successfully in a pocket of time, when they had a system that worked with the Facebook algorithm today, for instance, as soon as Facebook announces two months from now that they’ve changed the algorithm, are they going to be savvy enough to be able to do the appropriate testing to figure out how to continue having their clients win in the new environment? So time in the game is also as important as the results that they’ve been getting most recently.

[0:22:37] Dr. Barbara Hales: It does seem so unfair, though, that you know, like if we catch your game, you’re going to change it.

Chapter 7: Regaining Targeting Control, Video Tips, and How to Reach Neil

22:41 | Neil Shoney

[0:22:41] Neil Shoney: Yeah, they do it all the time, and they’ll always tell you that it’s because they want to help you. They don’t. They want to find plenty of ways to get you to spend more money. So that’s what the most recent algorithm update was all about. It was, hey, you don’t need to think about targeting anymore. Just let us choose the targeting, and we’ll find the right people for you, and that’s going to really help you get results. It hasn’t played out like that at all. What it turns out is that Facebook has lots of inventory for people you’re not trying to get in front of, and now they have permission from you to spend all of your ad dollars on those inverted commas, low-quality leads, if you will. So there are ways that you can take back control of your ads. There’s a button. This is probably one of the best tips I can give anybody on this podcast, by the way, because a lot of you are running localized businesses. So there are two big reasons.

[0:23:42] Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, because the next question I have for you, so you could put it in there, is for someone that is, you know, has heard you and said, okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m going to dip my toe in the waters. What are two helpful tips that you could give to our listeners that they could implement right away?

[0:24:04] Neil Shoney: So this is the biggest one for anybody that runs a localized business in general, which is when you’re setting up your adverts, and you get to the second step. There are only three steps: campaign, ad set, and, for ease of understanding, that’s your audience who is going to get to see your ad. And then there’s a third step, which is setting up the ad itself. That’s the thing people are going to see. That middle step, right now, it looks like there’s not too much that you can do there. You set a minimum age. You don’t set too much targeting in terms of locations; you can technically set a locational target in there, but it feels like you are being relatively pinpoint about who is going to get to see your ads. But you’re not.

What is actually happening there is you are giving face. A suggestion, and that is very dangerous for a local business, because when you say I specifically work with women between the ages of 30-five and 50-five in this 10-mile radius, they can show 20% of your your ads to men, and they can show another 20% of your ads to 18-year-olds and 70-two year olds, and they can also show your ads outside of that 10-mile radius. But there’s one button at the bottom of the page that you’ll see, which says “Further limit the reach of my ads.

The wording is almost comical because it’s like, how much do they not want you to hit that button, right? So that they just can spend your ad dollars however they wish, right? But if you click on that button, it gives you the ability to go into everything I just said there: gender, location, age, and uncheck a box that says “use as a suggestion. When you do that, you take back pinpoint control over who can see your ads, and for local businesses, you might even find that it raises your cost per lead. Right, that’s not a bad thing, because what is the point in having low-cost leads if there are a bunch of people who can never work with you, who can never walk through your doors? So it’s not always that it’s more expensive. I’m just saying that technically it could happen, but I would rather have great leads, great quality, my target demographic, than a whole bunch of leads that would never buy from me. So that’s really important. The second thing is for these types of businesses, video is really powerful, and it doesn’t even need to be, you know, really high-quality video with transitions and a filming crew. I mean, it can just quite simply be a little bit of B-roll of, you know, somebody in the practice, which can obviously be set up. It’s not like you have to start recording your sessions, but just having that type of B-roll catches people’s attention. There is a great place for images inside your five ads, but videos work really, really well for localized businesses and service-based businesses.

[0:27:21] Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, those are really both great bits of advice. The next question I have is for someone that wants to take a course from you or get advice from you. How can they reach you?

[0:27:34] Neil Shoney: Well, there are a couple of ways. The first way is to quite simply go to Instagram and go to Neil Shoney Ads. So it looks like “Neil’s Honey Ads,” unfortunately, the way it sounds. But it’s Neil Shoni ads, all one word. And you can get loads of tips there and different things via the link in my bio. There’s a five-minute video that walks you through our whole system and how we work with clients. Or you could just send me a message there directly, or you can email me at neil@neilshone.com or neil@neilshoney.com if you want to sign up that way, and yeah, we can have a quick conversation from there.

[0:28:17] Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, thank you so much for being on the show. I really found this, you know, very educational. I’ve learned a lot. I feel like I know more, and I’m sure other listeners feel that same way. Thank you so much.

[0:28:31] Neil Shoney: Appreciate you. Thank you, Barbara.

[0:28:33] Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Before You Buy Medical Ads first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Dr. Corey Malnikof discusses:

• Scaling from one clinic to 24 locations
• Building a patient-focused clinic culture
• Marketing strategies that work for doctors
• AI, SEO, and social media marketing
• Advice for growing a successful practice

Key Takeaways:

“Marketing works best when it comes from authenticity. If you truly love helping people, then marketing simply becomes sharing that passion with your community.” – Dr. Corey Malnikof

“Scaling a practice requires systems, leadership, and the willingness to step into uncertainty before growth happens.” – Dr. Corey Melnikov

“Doctors don’t always need bigger budgets to grow. Many of the best patient acquisition strategies are free and relationship-driven.” – Dr. Corey Malnikof

Connect with Corey Malnikof

Email: drcorey@palmercare.comBusiness: palmercaregroup.comTwitter: @palmercaregroup @coreymalnikofConnect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
  Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
  Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
  Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com YouTube:@barbarahales LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahalesBooks:
  • Content Copy Made Easy
  • 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  • Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (241)

Building a Patient-Focused Chiropractic Brand

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, you’re in for a rare treat. We have Dr. Corey Malnikov here with us. He is the CEO of Palmer Care Group, a healthcare organization operating 24 chiropractic clinics across the whole United States. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and leader known for building high performing teams, scalable systems, and world class patient experiences. Today we’re going to dive into what actually works when it comes to marketing for doctors, how to attract the right patients, grow your practice, and build something that truly scales. Welcome to the show.”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Thank you for the introduction. Always fun to hear all of that in 111 share. Thank you.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“When you first started out, did you see patients at that time?”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, no, I was a.. I’ve been in practice for 21 years. I saw patients probably up to about seven or eight years ago, I had about 10 clinics at the time, and so I was a full-time guy. I loved seeing patients that they literally had to kind of rip it out of my hands for me to stop, but I kept cutting back. I kept.. I went from full-time to Monday, Wednesdays, and then just Mondays, and then I think I got to the point where I had a patient laying down, I was listening to what my doctors were saying, I was listening to the front desk, I was thinking about the other clinics, and I just felt bad for not being there 100% for the patients, and so, yeah, it’s been probably seven eight years, and I’ve been running the clinics instead of in it, but is there a long time?”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“What made your practice unique in compared to other chiropractic offices around? Did you have multiple streams of income? Where were there additional services that others didn’t provide? Were there products that you felt your patients could use? Like, what is it that made you different,”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“yeah. And I will say, you know, with 24 clinics, you know, when doctors are into different things, we do have all sorts of different techniques and instruments and things that we use on patients, but really, what makes us different is I always tried to create this atmosphere, you know, I was a big Starbucks junkie in the beginning, you know, and I was trying to open a practice, and you know, I thought I’d graduate, put a shingle up, you know, the Red Sea would part, patients would line up, I’d take care of them, and the reality, like most, most entrepreneurs find out, is you open up, and then you know nothing. So I studied a lot, I studied Amazon, I studied Nordstrom, I studied the Ritz, I studied Disney, and I studied Starbucks, and Starbucks talked about how Starbucks was meant to be the third home, right? You had home, you had work, and then Starbucks,”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“but no, I thought no drive-through, right?”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Right, exactly, no drive-thru, but I thought, you know, a chiropractic clinic, a wellness clinic, should be the third home, not Starbucks. And so I kind of wanted to create this atmosphere, and I was always really big into personal and professional development for my doctors, for my staff, and even for my patients. So we tried to build a place, and we always talked about when patients come into our place, if their anxiety is high, we’re going to lower their anxiety to peace, and if their energy is low, we’re going to bring their energy up. And so for us, it was all about the experience, the second you walked through the door, the way you were greeted, the way you were treated, the way your case was managed, and how we kind of had an impact on every aspect of your life, emotional, physical, chemical, and treatment. And so that was the goal, and for me, that’s what’s made us different. It’s just the culture and the place we created,”

Scaling From One Clinic to 24 Locations

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“that’s wonderful. Now, before you had your first offshoot, you must have been a little bit nervous about doing that. Would opening up another location divide my patients, or would I succeed? You know, walk me through that, and how, and how you did succeed.”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, I had no intentions of having 24 clinics. I had every intention of opening one clinic and trying to make it as successful as humanly possible, being a big part of the community and making that who I was. The reality was I opened a clinic, didn’t know what I was doing, figured out what I was doing, and then very fast grew it. I had been renting a room while I was waiting for my clinic to get built with from another chiropractor, and when he kind of saw how fast I built it, he said, “You know, my friend is selling a practice, I’ll go buy it, I just need you, you can be 5050 partners, no money, and you just fix it, and so that second clinic. Was just kind of like I couldn’t do anything else in my current clinic. My wife was about to join me, so we couldn’t, we couldn’t fit any more patients there. So the second clinic was like literally completely unpredicted, but man, it was fun.

You know, I got to drive down, I was about 45 minutes away, go to this clinic that was, you know, pretty much failing, and then take it from where it was and grow it up, and so, yes, it was scary, but I’ll tell you, the scarier step wasn’t that second one, because the first one was successful, the second one was just fixing, but I went from two clinics to four clinics in a blink, and the scary part of that was, you know, I had no money, and then I started to make a little bit of money. Then we got the second clinic, and then I started to make a little bit more money, and I got four clinics, and I have negative money. So that was where I learned about the scariness of expansion. You know, when you, when you want to expand and you want to scale, you just, you have to be willing to step into this world of fear, where you’re going to take a few steps backwards before you step forwards, and that’s kind of been not to go off subject, but that’s been the whole thing, right? I went from money to no money, and then from four clinics to 10 clinics, where I went way backwards, and then got caught up, and then from 10 clinics to 20 clinics, and every time we make a massive growth, now I have to expect that fear and expect that, and just be willing to make that jump and be prepared.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“What’s really interesting is, I think many people hearing your story would think, well, by the time you got to the second or third one, you had, you had it down, and it was just going to be gravy after that.”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, yeah. No, you know, it changes, you know. Five clinics is you right? I can see patients full time and still have my fingers on everything, but it’s not me anymore, right? There has to be a C suite. There has to be an infrastructure that I built and pay for for people to run our systems and run our marketing and run our HR and to run our everything, so with every clinic you add, you are limiting your ability to accomplish the job that you would normally do, and now you have to replace yourself with somebody who is paid and trained by you, so it’s a learning curve, because none of us, you know, on this podcast, I think your listeners, the doctors, none of us are trained entrepreneurs, trained businessmen, trained business women, we just have to learn as we go and study as hard as we can, and all of it’s a learning curve, but it’s a fun ride if you take”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“it, when you started realizing that other people would be taking over the roles that you once were actively doing. Did you feel bad about it, or were you just so excited that it didn’t matter?”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“No, no, you know, you don’t want to let go of those. You grip them, death grip those. Not only do you not want to give them up, but then you know you have to learn very quickly that you can’t micromanage, right? So, like, I’m going to allow you to do second interviews and decide if this person has the ability to do the job, and I have to be able to, like, not give my approval on every employee that gets hired, and that is a very difficult thing to do, so no, every step along the way, every time you hand something off, you know, yes, you watch it a bit in the beginning, but you have to have the ability to not watch it if you want to grow, and that’s very difficult.”

Marketing Strategies That Actually Work for Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“So, what would you say to them about that?”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, so there’s so much, it’s never ending. I mean, you know this with all the people that are on this podcast, there’s just so much great stuff out there, but it really, for me, becomes very dependent on geography, because digital marketing is absolutely amazing, and it is so deep now. I mean, yes, you can do Instagram posts, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, Twitter posts, YouTube posts, there’s Google post, there’s Google ads, and all that stuff works amazingly. You’ve got to learn all of that and use all of that, but there’s some geographies, like I have some geographies in Texas, that are, have such a congested digital footprint, like so many people in that congestion, that the ROI and the responses for that, you know there’s no way I could scale clinics there if that was what we did, so like in Northern Virginia, I’ll spend a lot of money on Google Local and Google Ads, and on boosts on some of our social media, so that would become very well known in the, in the neighborhoods, versus you know, in Texas, what works very well is being out in the community, meeting all the professionals that I can refer to, and that can refer to me, that are doing health screenings at different health fairs, that are doing lunch and learns in different companies, and so we use all kinds of tactics. Now, do I also do some digital marketing in Texas? Of course, but I don’t spend a lot, and do I also do all the other things in Northern Virginia? Yes, but I don’t push it a lot, you know. You’ve got to figure out what’s working. I think you know when I talk to people on the phone and they’re trying to get their marketing to work. I think part of the problem is they’ve got 15 different things going, and then these don’t work, so they try this and this doesn’t work, so they try this. You know, you got to focus in, and if, if, if somebody else can get this marketing to work in your area, so can you. So, instead of quitting it, dive into it, you know, learn why, why it’s not working, what you can do to make it work.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“Absolutely, and you know people are, so you know, scrambling for AI in their practice, without realizing that some of the old school techniques really work the best, and that it’s not something that they should forget about. People, after all, want to have a relationship with you, they want to actually see you, talk to you and hear what your views are, so you know, getting out there and introducing yourselves to people, both you know, prospective patients, but also to physicians in the area that can refer to you.”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, doctors and professional referrals. I mean, we talked to this about our doctors all the time, if the only thing you did was have two lunches a week with referral partners, and you did that every week, you’d have 104 lunches a month, and if 10% of those people like you, that’d be 10 people sending you patients every month. So there’s professional referrals, is one of the most amazing things. I will say old school is kind of funny, because we just started doing some postcards again. Now that’s from like a decade ago. I’m going to tell you, the response, the response in some of our areas on like these postcards is insane. So, there is some old school stuff.”

AI, Social Media, and Modern Healthcare Marketing

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“And AI, I right now, by the way, also, I mean, I know everybody wants to dive into it, and I think they should. AI, right now, is the wild wild west, because there’s nobody knows for sure, but we do know that feeding it, and doing, you know, AI, oh, doing, doing the search engine optimization, which is now for AI, is absolutely amazing. I think if I can give one piece of advice on something like AI, and even, you know, social media marketing, and things like that, I think that doctors, because we were, we want to be doctors, and that we don’t want to be the professional marketer. Too many times, doctors will go out and find this is the best company to do AI marketing for me. This is the best company to do lead generation for me, and they like hand it off and forget it. So, the one thing I would say is you’ve got to learn it right, and it’s not that hard. You can jump on YouTube and say, you know, put in a video, teach me how to do AI SEO, you can go into Chat GPT and just say, “Tell me the top 100 things I need to know. You really have to learn how to do it. So, I always like lead generation AI. I learn how to do it to the point that I’m dangerous enough that I could do it, and then I don’t. And then I hire a company, because then I can watch what they’re doing, and I can make pivots, and I can give suggestions, and I don’t just take the results for what they are. So, so get into AI marketing, get into all this stuff, but for the love of God, know what you’re doing first.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“Absolutely. How actively involved are you in creating videos for your patients on the sites”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“I I’m actively involved in, and by that I mean like maybe twice a month I get with our social media people, and they shoot videos with me, so that’s about as active as I am. And then they do all the editing and posting and everything for group, which is kind of the umbrella. The individual clinics is me giving them what I want them to record and do right, and then I have a separate crew that then edits and posts those, but at the end of the day I’m really just looking at how many posts are we doing, when are they going up, what are the statistics, what are the results. So I’m all KPI driven.”

Advice for Doctors Growing Their Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“That’s great, so what advice would you give to our, you know, physicians and chiropractors that are listening today? You know, like two pieces of advice that they could implement right away.”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, well, number one, you know, when I talk to chiropractors and they’re like, I don’t have enough new patients, or I talked to functional medicine, I talked to any of these guys, and I don’t have enough new patients, right. And then it’s, I don’t have the budget for it, because there’s, there’s so much stuff that’s free. You can right now shoot videos and post it on six different platforms. You can right now go stop by an office and drop your cards and meet a professional. You can right now go bring bagels and coffee to a bank before they open. Introduce yourself and tell them about your clinic. There’s so many free things you can do right now. If you don’t have enough new patients, it is just because you are not trying hard enough. It exists. You just have to do it, and no one can make you do it. But you could post 50 posts on social media right now, if you wanted to, right, and talk about who you are, you know, talk about what you do, and your community will absolutely love it. And then, you know, the only other thing I would tell you is, you know, have a goal, like, okay, I don’t have enough new patients for the love, like, what is enough new patients, and why did you pick that number, like, and if that’s your number, give me the action steps of how you’re going to get it. So, there’s a million ways to get new patients, right? If you, if you’re stuck and your brain is like, I can’t come up with one, then go on Chat GPT, Chat GPT, and say, give me 25 ways to get new patients right now that cost me nothing, and then you can do it, but work towards a goal, right? Say, I want 27 new patients this month, and here’s the action steps I’m going to do. You do those two things. I just don’t know how you can’t have enough new patients.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“Do you have a program yet on how to instruct physicians to follow in your footsteps?”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Yeah, that’s good question. No, right. So we have all the programs for all of our doctors and CAS, you know. For me, right now, it’s just that there’s so many people that reach out about what we’re doing. My thought process was, let me just give it out for free, let me answer any questions. There’s really nothing for me to gain from this, except for, hey, doctors are helping a whole lot of people. I want you to help a lot of people. I want you to do more, and if I can be of any help for you to do that, then do it. Use me.”

Dr. Barbara Hales:

“That’s wonderful. So, what else would you like to tell our listening audience that maybe I haven’t touched upon lately, you know? Yet,”

Dr. Corey Melnikov:

“Well, you know, your podcast is marketing. You know, the only, the only other thing I’ll say about. Marketing is this. I’ve always looked at marketing is, you know, if you love what you do, if you absolutely love what you do, then marketing is just your extension of your love for what you do out into the community. And how many different ways can you come up with doing that? And if that’s what you’re doing, if the only thing you’re really doing is sharing what you love with the community, because you know it will make an impact. Then all of the negative things that we think of when it comes to marketing, the sales process, the I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do that, all that goes away because the second you are locked in to all I want to do is help, then that’s all you’re ever doing, you’re just offering your value, and because it’s coming from such an authentic place, it works. It just works, you know. I used to go out to health screenings, and my goal was I wanted to meet one person that I could show them an alternative to maybe a surgery they were doing, and because the only thing I was doing, they were sitting there talking to people about health and wellness. I ended up with all these new patients. It just has to be authentic. You just have to figure out why this means so much to you, and then all you have to do is share that, and that’s all marketing is. It’s just you sharing who you are with the world.”

Dr. Barbara Hales

“That is wonderful advice. And with that, I would like to thank you for coming here. And listeners, this is, you know, a great guy, as you have seen and heard, and his company is called Palmer Care Group, and you can reach out to him at Palmer Care group.com We’ll also have that in the show notes, in case you don’t know how to spell it, or you probably forget it, as I have said it, but you know this guy has some great moves, and you need to see what he’s done and follow along. If you do that, you’re sure you’re sure there’ll be bumps, but you know what, you’re sure to meet with success. So, thank you so much for being on the show today with us, Corey”

Dr. Corey Melnikov

“Thanks for having me.”

Dr. Barbara Hales 22:10

“This has been another episode of Marketing Tips with the Doctors, with your host Dr. Barbara Hales and Dr. Corey Malnikof. Till next time,”

The post Scaling the Patient Experience first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• Why video creates deeper patient trust than traditional advertising and why trust is the real currency in medicine.
• How simple, authentic smartphone videos outperform expensive, polished productions in attracting the right patients.
• How familiarity bias makes patients feel like they already know you before the first appointment.

Key Takeaways:

“The future belongs to physicians who learn how to combine technology with humanity, not one or the other.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
  Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
  Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
  Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com YouTube:@barbarahales LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahalesBooks:
  • Content Copy Made Easy
  • 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  • Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (240)

Introduction: Can Doctors Survive This?

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:02

Hey, welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host. Dr. Barbara Hales, today, we’re talking about something that many physicians are quietly asking themselves right now: Can doctors survive this? And when I say this, I mean the exhaustion, the bureaucracy, the endless charting, the emotional depletion, the inbox overload, the pressure to see more patients in less time, and now, artificial intelligence entering medicine at lightning speed. Some doctors are excited about AI. Some are terrified of it, and many are simply too burnt out to even think about it. But today, I want to talk about AI differently, not as a threat, not as science fiction, but as a tool that may actually help restore some of the humanity medicine has been losing for years, because, let’s be honest, most physicians are not burned out because they stopped caring. They’re burnt out because they care deeply inside a system that often makes caring harder and harder to sustain. And I think that distinction matters. So today we’re going to talk honestly about physician burnout. What AI is actually doing right now, what concerns me, what gives me hope, and why the future may belong to physicians who combine humanity with technology instead of fearing one or the other.

The Real Problem: The Machinery of Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales 3:24

The real problem, you know, when people outside medicine imagine physician burnout, they often assume doctors are exhausted because medicine itself is emotionally difficult. And yes, of course it is. We deliver bad news. We carry enormous responsibility. We witness suffering. But strangely enough, that’s usually not the part physicians complain about most. What many doctors are truly exhausted by is everything surrounding medicine, the machinery of medicine, the clicks, the forms, the documentation, the prior authorization, the inbox messages, and the constant interruption of human connection by administrative overload. I’ve heard physicians say I spend more time talking to my computer than my patients, and honestly, that’s heartbreaking, because medicine was never supposed to feel like data entry with a stethoscope.

I once spoke with a physician who told me something that stayed with me for a very long time. He said I realized one day that I barely look patients in the eyes anymore, not because he didn’t care, not because he was cold, but because he was trying to survive the pace, typing, clicking, documenting, trying not to fall Behind, trying not to drown, and he said the moment that really shook him happened when a patient stopped talking in the middle of a visit and finally said, Doctor, are you listening? That hit him hard because he was listening, but the patient couldn’t feel it. And honestly, I think that’s one of the great tragedies of modern medicine, not that doctors stopped caring, but that the system slowly began interfering with the visible expression of caring. The eye contact, the stillness, the presence, the humanity.

AI as a Tool to Replace Friction, Not Physicians

Now here’s where things get interesting, because the same technology many physicians fear may actually help restore some of what we lost and before anyone panics, no, I do not believe AI is replacing physicians, at least not good physicians, not thoughtful physicians, not emotionally intelligent physicians, not doctors capable of judgment, ethics, intuition, empathy and trust building, but AI is beginning to replace friction, and that matters Right now. AI is helping physicians with charting documentation. Note, generation, administrative tasks, patient education, marketing, scheduling, and communication. And if that sounds small, you haven’t been in medicine lately, this is all administrative work, because reducing just one hour of nightly charting can feel life changing to an exhausted position.

AI Scribes and the End of “Pajama Charting”

One of the most promising uses of AI in medicine is the AI scribe: instead of physicians spending hours typing notes and navigating electronic medical records, AI can now listen during patient visits and generate documentation in real time. That means doctors can maintain eye contact, focus on the patient instead of the screen, and often finish charting before they even leave the office. Miracle of miracles for many physicians, this could dramatically reduce the exhausting pajama charting that steals evenings, weekends, and personal time. AI isn’t replacing the physician’s judgment. It’s removing the administrative friction that has slowly drained energy and humanity from medical practice.

I recently heard about a physician who started using an AI documentation tool during patient visits. At first, she resisted it. She thought, I don’t want a robot in the exam room. Fair concern. But after a few weeks, she noticed something surprising. She was finishing notes before leaving the office for the first time in years. No more logging back in at 10 pm, no more pajama charting, no more sitting in bed, exhausted with a laptop, balanced on her knees, trying to finish documentation before midnight. And what struck me most was not what she said about productivity, but about her family. She said my children stopped asking me why I was always working. That’s not a technology story. That’s a humanity, a humanity story. And I think we need to start looking at AI through that lens. Not only can it replace us, but it can also help us reclaim our lives.

AI for Content Creation and Online Presence

Now, let’s talk about something many physicians know they should be doing, but often don’t have time for, content creation, patient education, social media, videos, blogs, newsletters, most doctors are already overwhelmed just trying to survive the work day. The idea of consistently posting online can feel impossible, but AI is beginning to change that, too. AI tools can now help physicians generate post ideas, create captions, organize educational content, and repurpose long videos into short. Clips, draft newsletters, and simplify medical information into patient-friendly language, and honestly, this matters more than many doctors realize, because patients today are searching online long before they ever schedule an appointment, and the physicians who communicate clearly online are often the physicians patients trust first.

AI-Enabled Patient Education and Teaching Videos

AI is also transforming patient education itself, with past educational videos often requiring expensive equipment, editors, designers, lighting scripts, and hours of production time. Now, AI can help physicians create teaching videos quickly and efficiently. Imagine a cardiologist creating a simple animated explanation of high blood pressure, a pediatrician generating a short video on fever management for anxious patients, or a gastroenterologist sending a post-procedure recovery video for patients to watch at home. These tools allow physicians to educate patients at scale while still maintaining their own voice and expertise, and better education often leads to better compliance, less confusion, less anxiety, and stronger patient Trust.

Let’s look at the patient who finally understood. I heard about a physician who kept running into the same problem. He would spend 15 or 20 minutes carefully explaining diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, and lifestyle changes to patients, and by the next visit, many still felt confused or overwhelmed, not because they weren’t intelligent, but because patients are often anxious during appointments. They forget details, they mishear, and they leave things emotionally overloaded. So this physician started experimenting with short AI-assisted educational videos. After each visit, patients would receive a brief, two or three-minute video explaining their condition in simple, easy-to-understand language; some included animations, and some reviewed medications. Others explained symptoms to watch out for or how lifestyle changes could improve outcomes. And something remarkable happened. Patients became more engaged, more compliant, and less anxious. Staff phone calls decreased because many common questions had already been answered. But what really struck him was when an elderly patient said, “Doctor, this is the first time I actually understood what’s happening in my body.” That was powerful because AI didn’t replace the physician in that story; it amplified the physician’s ability to educate, reassure, and connect.

Automated Patient Communication and Self-Scheduling

Another area where AI may significantly improve both efficiency and patient satisfaction is in automated. Patient communication, AI-powered chatbots can already answer many simple, repetitive questions that flood medical offices every day, such as office hours, refills, policies, insurance participation, directions, pre-visit instructions, Portal, access, and follow-up information. And at the same time, many patient portals now allow patients to schedule their own appointments online without waiting on hold or speaking to front desk staff. That’s huge for me. I remember waiting a good 20 to 25 minutes before I got someone in the office who could actually give me an appointment. This doesn’t replace staff. It frees staff to focus on more complex patient needs and higher-level personal interactions. When used correctly, technology can reduce frustration on both sides of health care.

The Danger Zone: Protecting Humanity in Medicine

Let’s take a look at the danger zone now, with all that said, there are legitimate concerns and positions should absolutely be thoughtful and cautious, because medicine cannot become emotionally automated. There are things AI cannot replicate: compassion, intuition, emotional nuance, trust, moral judgment, and human presence. Patients do not heal simply because information was delivered correctly. Patients heal through connection, through reassurance, through feeling seen, and my concern is not that AI will replace good physicians. My concern is that systems may try to use AI to strip medicine down to efficiency alone and medicine without humanity becomes cold, mechanical, transactional, forgettable, we cannot allow that to happen.

The Future: Human-First, Technology-Assisted Care

I truly believe the future belongs to physicians who learn how to combine technology with humanity, not one or the other. Moving forward, the smartest doctors will not be blindly anti-AI, nor will they be blindly dependent on it. They will be balanced, curious, intentional, human-first, technology-assisted. And honestly, I think that’s where medicine is heading, not physician versus machine, but physician plus machine, with the physician remaining the center of trust, judgment, empathy, wisdom, and healing.

And if this conversation resonates with you, whether you’re a physician, health care leader, or someone simply trying to understand where medicine is heading. I’d love for you to subscribe, share this episode, and join our growing community here on marketing tips for doctors, because these Conversations Matter, and the more honestly we talk about burnout, technology, humanity and the future of healthcare, the better chance we have of building a medical system that works not only for patients, but for the people caring for them. Thank you so much for being here today. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales, see you next time. Thanks.

The post Can Doctors Survive This first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• How the podcast grew from frustration and concern about confusion, mistrust, and misinformation in healthcare
• Why does authenticity, clear language, and hearing a doctor’s tone and compassion help rebuild trust
• How patient education lowers fear and helps people ask better questions and participate in their care
• How podcasting lets doctors reconnect with their purpose beyond rushed, transactional visits
• How to approach conflicting health advice online without panic or blind trust
• A success story where awareness from a podcast led to timely, life-saving heart disease treatment
• A cautionary story showing how stopping medication based on online voices can cause serious harm
• Why medical podcasts should promote critical thinking, not fear, and support partnership with doctors

Key Takeaways:

“Responsible medical podcasts don’t ask for blind belief; they give people the clarity and context to think critically and make wiser health decisions.”

Connect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
  Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
  Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
  Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com YouTube:@barbarahales LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

+ Content Copy Made Easy
+ 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
+ Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (239)

Introduction & Why This Podcast Exists

[0:00:02] Dr. Barbara Hales

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. We are going to discuss why medical podcasts matter more than ever. You know, one of the questions I get asked a lot is, ” Why did you even start a podcast? And honestly, the answer has very little to do with marketing. This podcast was born out of frustration, concern, and ultimately hope, because over the years, I noticed something happening in healthcare that became impossible to ignore. Patients had more access to information than ever before, but somehow, they were becoming more confused. Doctors were exhausted. Patients felt rushed. Trust was slipping, and meaningful communication in medicine was quietly disappearing.

People were turning to the internet for answers about their health, and instead of clarity, they found fear, misinformation, extreme opinions, miracle cures, and influencers posing as medical experts. At the same time, many physicians had tremendous knowledge and experience, but no real platform to explain things calmly, clearly, and humanely, and I realized something very important: education has become part of healthcare itself. That’s where this podcast came from, not from ego, not from wanting attention, but from wanting to help people think more clearly about their health, because here’s the truth: most healthcare decisions are no longer made only in the exam room. They’re being influenced on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook groups, Google searches, and yes, podcasts, which means the quality of medical communication matters enormously now, and that’s why these conversations are important.

Authenticity, Trust & How Podcasts Connect

[0:03:00] Dr. Barbara Hales

People often ask why podcasts connect so deeply with audiences. And I think the answer is simple. People are starving for authenticity. They don’t want to be talked down to. They don’t want complicated medical jargon designed to impress other doctors, and they don’t want constant fear-based headlines screaming everything you’re doing is killing you. People want honesty. They want clarity. They want someone who can explain complicated things in a calm, intelligent, understandable way. And podcasts do something unique. They allow people to hear your tone, your compassion, your thoughtful process, and your humanity, which builds trust. Sometimes, patients feel like they already know a doctor after listening to several episodes; that connection matters because medicine works best when trust exists. How do podcasts help both doctors and patients?

For patients, education reduces fear when they understand their conditions, medications, risk factors, options, and the reasoning behind medical decisions; they feel empowered instead of helpless. Educated patients ask better questions. They participate more actively in their care, and in many cases, outcomes improve. But podcasts also help doctors. And I think this is something people don’t talk about enough. Many physicians went into medicine because they genuinely wanted to help people. But modern medicine can become incredibly transactional, with 15-minute appointments, endless documentation, insurance battles, burnout, and teaching. Reconnects doctors to purpose. It reminds physicians that communication itself can be healing, and honestly, sometimes one thoughtful conversation can help more people than an entire week of rushed office visits when podcasts disagree, then what?

When Podcasts Disagree & How Patients Should Respond

[0:07:00] Dr. Barbara Hales

Well, here’s where things get interesting. Patients will often hear two podcasts with opposite opinions. One says, Never eat carbohydrates. Another says plant-based nutrition is the answer. One says, Take this supplement. Another says that the supplement is useless. So how is the average person supposed to know who’s right first? Don’t panic. Different opinions in medicine do not automatically mean someone is evil or incompetent. Medicine is not mathematics. It involves science, clinical judgment, individual differences, risk-versus-benefit decisions, and evolving research. Reasonable experts can disagree, but patients need a framework for evaluating what they hear. So what should patients do? First? Never make major health decisions based on one podcast episode. A podcast should educate you. It should not replace personalized medical care. Second, be cautious of people who sound certain about everything. Real medicine usually contains nuance. If someone says this works for everyone, doctors are hiding the truth, or this cures everything, that should raise concern. Good Medicine acknowledges limitations, exceptions, uncertainty, and individuality. The third look at motivation is the person educating you or selling fear, because fear has become a business model online, and frightened people click very quickly. Now, let me tell you a story that beautifully shows how Podcasts can actually help patients when handled thoughtfully.

Success Story: Awareness, Not Self‑Diagnosis

[0:11:00] Dr. Barbara Hales

A woman in her late 50s had been listening to several health podcasts to improve her overall wellness. One episode discussed early warning signs of heart disease in women, not dramatic movie style, symptoms, subtle ones, fatigue, shortness of breath, jaw discomfort, exercise intolerance, and she realized she had quietly been experiencing several of those symptoms for months now. Here’s the important part: she didn’t panic. She didn’t diagnose herself online. She didn’t start taking random supplements. Instead, she used the information intelligently. She scheduled an appointment with her physician and said I heard a discussion that made me wonder if I should get evaluated. Her doctor took it seriously. Testing eventually revealed significant coronary artery disease. She needed intervention, and afterward, she said something incredibly powerful. The podcast didn’t save my life because it gave me treatment. It saved my life because it gave me awareness. That’s exactly what responsible medical education should do, not replace doctors, not create fear, but encourage thoughtful action.

Cautionary Tale, Confidence vs. Credibility & The True Purpose

[0:15:00] Dr. Barbara Hales

But now let me tell you the other side: a younger woman became convinced by several online personalities that all prescription medications were toxic. One podcast after another reinforced the same message: natural healing, only doctors overprescribe. You don’t need medication. So, without consulting her physician, she abruptly stopped her blood pressure medication. She felt proud, at first, empowered, like she had taken control, but several weeks later, her blood pressure skyrocketed, she developed severe headaches, dizziness, and eventually ended up in the emergency room with dangerously elevated blood pressure. Thankfully, she recovered. Others who do that wind up stroking out. But afterward, she admitted. Something important, I confused confidence with credibility, and that sentence stuck with me because sounding confident online does not automatically mean someone is correct. What is the real purpose of medical podcasts? The best medical podcasts do not demand blind trust. They encourage critical thinking. A good podcast should help patients ask better questions, recognize misinformation, feel calmer, and become partners in their health care. The goal should never be, believe me, blindly. The goal should be to become informed enough to make wiser decisions. That’s a very different mission.

So, if today’s conversation helped you see healthcare a little more clearly, share this episode with someone who may need it too, because informed patients and connected doctors create better medicine for everyone, and honestly, that’s exactly why this podcast exists. I’ll see you next time. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Restoring Trust in Medicine first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales interviews Bret Gregory, founder of DrTalks :

• Bret shares how his decade of running a marketing agency for doctors showed that virtual summits and podcasts are the strongest long-term patient-acquisition strategies, with summits often generating 20,000+ email leads and significant new-patient revenue.
• He recounts his entrepreneurial path, including selling a corporate wellness business after his brother’s terminal cancer diagnosis, attempting an eco-wellness community in Costa Rica, and learning online marketing to survive the 2008 downturn. Brett explains why doctors make in-demand podcast guests, how DrTalks helps doctors get booked for free using AI, and why nurturing an email list with a weekly newsletter is more valuable than social followers.

Connect with Bret Gregory:

• sign in/up https://drtalks.com/
• LinkedIn Bret Gregory

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube:@barbarahales

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPT. (238)

Dr. Barbara Hales 00:02

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have a very interesting person with us by the name of Bret. Gregory

Dr. Barbara Hales 00:19

Bret was giving that little pause there for excitement. What I wanted to tell you about him, which makes him so interesting, is that he is a healthcare investor and has invested in several health and wellness startups. So I’d like to say that over his 30-year career, he’s founded and built not one but four successful startups in the health and wellness sector, two of which empower doctors to build their brands and businesses through innovative approaches. His most recent one is called Doctor Talks. You can reach that through drtalks.com.

Bret Gregory 01:11

Thanks so much. Barbara, I really appreciate you having me, and it’s wonderful to have a physician who is helping other doctors. It’s really exciting for me to have a conversation with you. I founded drtalks.com about six years ago, right when the pandemic started. And prior to that, I had a marketing agency for doctors for about a decade. And that entire time, while we were helping doctors, we were doing all sorts of marketing strategies, lots of social media. We were doing campaigns, emails, webinars, you name it. And then what I noticed is, over that decade, the marketing that worked the best, the long-term marketing that worked the best for doctors was very consistently virtual summits and podcasts and putting on a virtual summit where one doctor might interview 20 or 30 other doctors, and then we would launch that summit virtually. And every time we did that, they would grow a 20,000-plus-patient email list and convert it into a million dollars in new-patient revenue per year. And the only thing was, it was very hard. Took a lot of work. It was a lot of effort. And the same thing with podcasts. Podcasts took, they took a while to get going, but once they got going, they ended up being some of the best long term marketing strategies for doctors. Well over that decade, I was wondering, how come no one has ever created an entire platform dedicated to this? It’s kind of like YouTube for doctors. And after asking myself that for over five years, I finally said, Well, you know what? I’ll create it. And so I went out, maxed out my credit cards, borrowed $50,000, hired a few employees overseas, found my first 10 customers, and we launched in March of 2020, right when the pandemic started. I didn’t know what was going to happen. No one did, of course, but it turned out helping doctors with their online businesses was perfect timing. The pandemic gave us a tailwind, and now, six years later, we’ve grown into the world’s largest streaming platform for integrative and functional medicine doctors who want to reach our 11 million patient web visitors. And so we’re really on a mission now to democratize the Creator economy for doctors. What that means is we want to help you, doctors, make money off your information. I believe that doctors have been squeezed from so many different places, and now it’s time for doctors to monetize, to be able to get paid for their information while they’re helping people with their knowledge. So that’s the mission of doctor talks.

Dr. Barbara Hales 04:04

That’s really great. But before we continue on this topic that you are clearly passionate about, what I would like to do is to turn the dial and go back to the beginning, because and you know other doctors and other you know, possible entrepreneurs here that you are an investor, that is something, I think, that you know, other than being envious, strike strikes the the question or fear in people. Well, isn’t it scary to start with something like that from the beginning, you know, and worry whether it’s going to fail and is going to lose all his money, or, you know, like, like, how that works. So take me back to the beginning and say, you know, most people would take the safe route. So, you know, they. Start a business, or they would, you know, work in a, you know, in a business that was either, you know, like, joint-vented with someone else. So let’s, let’s start from the beginning, because I know there are people here listening to this saying, like, what you know, like, how does this happen? So tell me how it happened. Like, why is it that you had all the confidence to, you know, be an investor and, you know, like, how that all came about?

Bret Gregory 05:33

Sure. Well, I started out as an entrepreneur. Very early in college. I started my first business, started a painting company, and then right out of college, I went into the Employee Benefits business, and I started my own company there, and that was from about 1996 to 2006 I did corporate wellness programs, and I also started a radio show at that time. And what I accidentally discovered is that by interviewing real prospective customers, I was interviewing CEOs of companies in San Diego and interviewing people who could refer us prospective customers, we ended up building a really significant business in the corporate wellness sector over a 10 year period, and that was my my first business, sadly, in 2006 my 34 year old brother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, stage four non small cell carcino carcinoma, and he ended up passing away nine months after that, And that just changed the trajectory of my life completely.

Bret Gregory 06:44

Thank you. I appreciate that. But I tore off my suit and tie. I sold my business. I had about $3 million I moved to Costa Rica. I purchased a 164-acre property to develop an eco-friendly wellness community that helps as many people as possible change their lifestyle habits and heal from within, to the best of their bodies’ abilities. Now, I’m not a doctor. I know nothing about I don’t pretend to be one. I do understand marketing and sales. That’s really where my experience lies, but I was really focused on helping as many people as I possibly could, and I wanted to use that as my brother’s legacy. Well, I went and purchased this great piece of property down in Costa Rica, right across the street from the beach, and a new hospital is under construction. Now it was a great time to sell my corporate wellness programs business, but it was a terrible time to invest in a speculative real estate development because we closed in 2007, right before the 2008 global financial crisis, and I was really worried. I thought I was going to go bankrupt. I very quickly learned online marketing. I learned how to build websites, drive traffic, build lead magnets, grow an email list, and in just about 12 months, we were able to do about $1.4 million in sales to customers we met on Facebook, and this was now in 2009 2010 it was just enough to avoid going bankrupt, but it wasn’t enough to raise the money that we needed to raise to develop a large eco friendly wellness community. So I had to put that project on hold, move back to San Diego, and that’s when I started. It was called “attract customers now,” where I helped doctors grow their practices. And I did that from 2010 to 2020, and that’s when I learned about the different techniques that can help doctors grow their practices and attract patients online.

Dr. Barbara Hales 08:54

Did you use that property for wellness retreats?

Bret Gregory 08:58

That was the goal. Unfortunately, we were never able to really recover from the global financial crisis, and that was the whole idea and goal. We wanted to build a wellness community for retreats. We just weren’t able to do it.

Dr. Barbara Hales 09:14

And that’s unfortunate, because it seems like such an absolutely beautiful place.

Bret Gregory 09:19

It is truly, truly beautiful. Feels very magical, feels very nurturing and healing, and that was the idea.

Dr. Barbara Hales 09:29

So I understand that one of the ways you recommend physicians, you know, become visible to their prospective patients is by putting out podcasts. Do you recommend they guest-podcast on other sites before considering creating their own?

Bret Gregory 09:51

Yeah, well, guesting on podcasts has become the hottest new way to attract patients online right now. Wow. And one thing: since I started drtalks.com about six years ago, I’ve worked with 1000s of doctors. There are probably 3000 doctors on the platform today. We’ve got lots and lots of Doctor-hosted podcasts, and I’ve coached. We’ve produced over 7500 podcast interviews on doctor talks. And one thing that I see very consistently is that doctors don’t always realize that they make fantastic podcast guests, and that podcast hosts love to interview doctors, and you don’t need to pay anybody or anything to be booked on a podcast as a doctor. As a doctor, your information is valuable to podcast hosts. You’re a sought-after expert, key opinion leader, and the podcast hosts want to interview you, so we’ve made it really easy to help doctors get booked on a podcast. And yes, I definitely recommend guesting first before you just run out and start your own podcast. What the doctors I’ve worked with find is that when they become guests on a podcast, they love it. They usually, you know, it’s unexpected how much fun it is that they really enjoy it. And then, of course, the side benefit is that they get the word out and educate the public, which is something that pretty much every doctor I know wants to do, and they can attract new patients online, as well as new clients and customers for their business.

Dr. Barbara Hales 11:40

So, as a representative of drtalks.com, do you have all the podcasts on the doctor talk site, or are you helping doctors get onto other people’s podcasts?

Bret Gregory 11:55

Both? Yeah. So think of doctor talks as YouTube, but with all the content creators being doctors. So, when I say YouTube, it’s the world’s largest podcast platform. So YouTube is far larger for podcast consumption than Spotify. It’s far larger than Apple Podcasts. And so a lot of people who have podcasts, almost everybody that has a podcast puts their podcast on YouTube, and 1000s and 1000s of doctors that have podcasts also put their podcast on Doctor. Talks: It’s free to have a channel on doctor talks, just as it is on YouTube. So there are so many podcasts out there that doctors can get booked on really easily. And we’ve created a system that lets them set up a free expert account and start messaging and connecting. We have an AI that connects them directly with podcast hosts, and they can start pitching themselves. And we’ve made it really easy for them to pitch themselves and get booked on a podcast. It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s a lot of fun.

Dr. Barbara Hales 13:08

That’s great, and certainly financially, it beats paying for ads and hoping that people will see those ads

Bret Gregory 13:16

much it’s much better than paying for ads. It’s much better. There are podcast booking companies and agencies out there that charge, you know, 2000 to $5,000 a month to book people on podcasts. Well, we can do that for free. And like I said, we’ve got hundreds and even 1000s of podcasts. If you’re a doctor, it’s free. You can create a free expert account on drtalks.com and start getting booked right away. And the one question that you know some of your listeners may have, because I’ve heard this from many, many doctors, when I am always encouraging doctors to be a guest on podcast, is sometimes they say, why would anyone want to listen to me and aren’t there already so many experts talking about menopause or hormones or peptides or whatever, whatever your expertise is in. And let me tell you, you are still that key opinion leader. You’re still that sought-after expert that the podcast host wants. You still have so much to offer. If you can help one patient, you can be a great guest on a podcast, and I just want to encourage you to give it a try, because you’re not only probably going to love it, you’re going to help people, and you’re probably going to start to attract new patients, clients, and customers

Dr. Barbara Hales 14:39

are physicians who are functional into functional medicine, or maybe non-traditional medical care. Welcome to your show as well.

Bret Gregory 14:50

100% yes, so any doctor can make a free expert channel on doctor talks. Uh, the great thing about doctor talks is that there are 11 million patients visiting the web. Most patient web visitors come to look for alternative treatments. They, you know, usually want to figure out, how can I use diet, lifestyle, exercise, and how can I work with a doctor that’s going to, you know, work with me. Listen to me. A lot of cash-paying patients on drtalks.com, and so it can be great for integrative Functional Medicine and even traditional doctors.

Dr. Barbara Hales 15:30

That’s great. Now, I did notice when I looked at the site that in addition to podcasts and videos, you also have summits. So maybe you could tell the audience here the difference between a podcast and a virtual Summit?

Bret Gregory 15:46

Sure. So, virtual summits and podcasts are similar in many ways: there’s usually one host, or a host and a co-host, who interview other doctors. But the summits tend to focus on one subject. So we just recently completed the Reversing Heart Disease Naturally Summit, hosted by Dr. Joel Kahn, a cardiologist, and Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a nine-time New York Times bestseller. They interviewed approximately, I want to say it was maybe, I think they did 20 interviews each. So they did approximately 40 interviews, and almost everyone they interviewed was also a doctor, but it was all about how to reverse heart disease naturally. And so they record all those interviews, and then we do a summit launch. And so, usually, all the experts on the summit will send an email to their patient email lists, inviting them to watch the summit for free. So the summits are free to register for and attend. And our summits usually have between 20,000 and 40,000 attendees, and they’re all virtual. They’re launched over approximately a five-day period, during which everybody comes together to watch the summit for free. And we have summits on lots of different topics. We’ve done summits on Alzheimer’s and diabetes and Hashimoto’s, and we’ve produced over 100 summits in the past six years, at doctor talks,

Dr. Barbara Hales 17:25

When a person is having a podcast, versus, you know, being head of a summit or leading a summit in a particular group, is the one leading the summit considered, you know, prospectively, a higher authority than someone that just has a podcast?

Bret Gregory 17:47

Well, I wouldn’t necessarily compare it to having a higher authority than someone with a podcast, but certainly, hosting a podcast can help you raise your authority and become that key opinion leader. Definitely, hosting a summit can also help you raise your authority and be a key opinion leader. I think one of the main differences is that if you’re hosting a summit, you’re going to grow an email list that should be highly valuable and profitable to your practice, and so in both cases, you will be able to elevate your key opinion leadership.

Dr. Barbara Hales 18:22

So, with a virtual Summit, you can grow your email list faster.

Bret Gregory 18:33

Definitely, yeah, usually, again, when we have the host, we will get a copy of the email list that we can produce with the summit. That email list should be worth half a million to a million dollars a year to a doctor who has a practice. You know, whether it’s even if it’s a brick and mortar practice or even if it’s a virtual practice, the it’s you know, think about an email list of 20,000 prospective patients, you’re going to have a lot of you know, great value in that, and that’s something that the summit does. Now, summits are they’re considerably harder than a podcast. Podcast is a much easier place to start. But I would also suggest, again, if you’re really starting out from scratch, start out as a guest with one podcast interview, and we can help you get booked for free on drtalks.com.

Dr. Barbara Hales 19:30

Well, one of the great benefits of having a summit is that, for whatever topic this summit is highlighting, the people who have signed up for it are the ones who are raising their hand, saying, ” You know, this is a topic that I’m interested in,

Dr. Barbara Hales 19:59

when a person. And signs up. Is there a little blurb at the bottom saying, “By signing up, you give permission to receive information,” or is that the first email you send after you get the email list? Would you like to keep getting information?

Bret Gregory 20:17

Yeah, it’s the first part. So they have to acknowledge that they’ll be on the host’s email list. And that’s why they have to check a box to agree to it in order to register. So it’s very clearly labeled up front that you’ll be joining the doctor’s email list. And then, of course, like with any email system, you should be able to easily subscribe with one unsubscribe with one click. Should you choose to do so?

Dr. Barbara Hales 20:47

Surely. Now, do these people who sign up get any kind of lead magnet, or is the Summit and the summit information enough of a draw that nothing else needs to be sent to them?

Bret Gregory 21:00

Usually, we’ll have four to five ebooks, and, as you said, you can refer to them as lead magnets, but they’re typically high-value. Many times they’re authored by the host; sometimes they’re authored by premium guests who have, you know, really high-quality information aligned with the topics. So, for example, on the reversing heart disease naturally Summit, there were, I think, about four or five ebooks that were all related to reversing heart disease naturally. And they’re very, very high-quality ebooks,

Dr. Barbara Hales 21:40

which is a very important topic these days.

Bret Gregory 21:43

Yes, absolutely agreed.

Dr. Barbara Hales 21:46

So when a doctor gets an email list, well, I think first of all, we can all agree that one of the most valuable assets a doctor or any businessperson has is that email list, right? So once the doctor gets the new email list, what do they do with it?

Bret Gregory 22:06

Great question. Yeah, this is one of the most important things for a doctor, and really for any business, is your email list. And the email list should be far more valuable. And let me just help give some perspective here. Would you rather have 10,000 Instagram subscribers or a 10,000-person email list? You would much rather have the email list. You could likely turn a 10,000-person email list into hundreds of 1000s of dollars of revenue, where you could almost never do that with 10,000 Instagram subscribers. So if you ever hear this phrase from people who teach marketing, “the money’s in the list,” it is absolutely true. So you want to really focus on building your email list. That can be done with a newsletter. It could be done by hosting a summit. There are many ways to do that; we won’t get into it right now, but the most important thing is to nurture your list. So you want to send, ideally, a weekly email newsletter that drives traffic back to your website.

This is one of the most valuable things we can help doctors with who have podcasts: many doctors forget that if they have their own podcast, they should send out a weekly email as part of their newsletter. And it’s really this. This last part is really important in the if you’re going to release a weekly podcast episode instead of driving traffic to Spotify or Apple or your YouTube channel, you drive them back to your website so you can put your podcast on your website, and whenever a new episode comes out, you would send that email in your newsletter once a week and send traffic back to your website that right there could be worth six figures a year in driving traffic from your existing patient email list you don’t need, you don’t need a giant list. You could have a 1000-patient email list, and that would generate, you know, probably six figures per year. So what do they do with the email list that you want to nurture it? The best way to nurture it is with a newsletter. The easiest way to do it is news. To populate your newsletter is like having a weekly podcast.

Dr. Barbara Hales 24:32

When a person signs up to the website, of course, they’re seeing everything that you are. You know, believe everything that you believe in, everything that you teach. But you know, when people look to see how many subscribers you have, obviously, if they’re going to the website as the primary exposure. Or that there is no, you know, subscribing button. So do you say, well, it’s more important that they see your web list than a subscriber number.

Bret Gregory 25:13

Well, great question. So the subscriber number that you see, whether it’s on YouTube or your Spotify followers, I like to refer to as social proof. Often, those are vanity metrics. So you might see a lot of people with hundreds or 1000s of followers on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok; those tend to be what I refer to as vanity metrics. The exception is YouTube. If you have YouTube subscribers, those tend to be a lot more valuable than, say, Facebook subscribers. That all being said, I would still rather have the email list and when you drive traffic, if you’re going to drive traffic somewhere, you always want to drive traffic to your website, and when, for anybody that is, you know, if you’re just getting started out, one of the things that you would do is make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter, and so you just Have a form on your homepage where it’s very easy for people to sign up for your newsletter, and then you send them a weekly newsletter. That’s the nurturing that we were talking about earlier. And if you do it once a week, you can send people traffic to your website, whether it’s reading a new blog post or perhaps seeing your latest podcast interview. Anytime you can get your patients back to your website, you have the opportunity to let them book a consultation or purchase anything else you might offer.

Dr. Barbara Hales 26:54

Well, that’s really great advice. So, at this point in the podcast, I like to ask my guest: What are two tips you would give to the listening audience? So let’s say a person you know is not just starting out in the practice, but is not, you know, towards the end of their practice, either they’re you know, like midway, they’d like to, you know, they’d like to improve the numbers, or if they’ve decided recently, which is even more important, if they’ve decided to transition away from an insurance dependent model to a concierge now, it’s as though they are starting from scratch, because now they need to let people know that that’s what’s going to be happening. They need to attract new people and convince existing ones that paying for something is worth it. So, absolutely like, what tips would you give?

Bret Gregory 27:58

So my biggest tip, and you know, I’m certainly biased, is that I think doctors should be a guest on a podcast, but because it’s free, it’s easy. And, you know, we have a way to make it really easy for you to get booked on podcasts. My tips would be to get booked on a podcast, and one of the easiest ways to do that for any of you, if you use any kind of AI out there, if you like ChatGPT or Claude, whatever you use, go and open up a window and type in this prompt. Help me come up with a catchy podcast title. And here’s where you fill in the blank that might be, wherever your area of expertise is, peptides, menopause, heart disease, diabetes, whatever your specialty is or area of expertise, and then let it run, and it’ll come up with a bunch of really catchy podcast titles. Find the one that resonates with you, and it just hooks you. That’s the key. Find the one that just really hooks you. Go, ooh, that one would be great. Use that when you approach other doctors who have podcasts. So again, on doctor talks, you create a free expert profile. You can quickly start messaging our AI, which will match you with other podcast hosts. You could start messaging those doctors and say, “I would love to be on your podcast.” Here is my and you can call it your signature talk. Here is my signature talk. Copy and paste that catchy podcast title, and that’s going to hook them into wanting to interview you. It’s totally free, and it’ll give you a really great opportunity: once the last step is taken, you can ask your favorite AI chatbot to help you come up with great interview questions. And have come up with approximately 10 questions that should be good for about a 25-minute interview. Try to keep your interviews to approximately 25 minutes. It’s just a good rule of thumb. You don’t want them to go. Too long, and those are my tips that can really help you.

Dr. Barbara Hales 30:04

Those are great tips. And if I might just throw one in, following up on what you said is, you know, when you find that title or that hook that you think is wonderful, the thing is, someone else might have thought it’s wonderful first. So, before you actually make that your podcast, get the URL. If the URL is not available, then think again, because sure, you don’t really want to be promoting someone else’s podcast.

Bret Gregory 30:41

Yeah, I was referring to if they were going to be a guest, as opposed to hosting their own podcast, you’re 100% correct. If they’re going to host their own podcast, you need to put a lot more thought into the title, the name of the show, but I was thinking more of a catchy podcast, title of an episode, of an episode, then in that case, you’re absolutely right, yeah.

Dr. Barbara Hales 31:05

Well, you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with you today, as I’m sure the listeners are, you know, interested in what you have to say. They’ve, I’m sure, gotten a lot of value out of it. So I just want to remind listeners that you can visit drtalks.com, browse the site, and sign up. It’s free. You are getting nurtured by one of the best. Yeah.

Bret Gregory 31:39

Thank you so much. Well, yeah, for anybody who’s listening, you can create your free account. If you’re a doctor, go to doctor talks.com that’s D, R, T, a, l, K, s.com, forward slash, connect. Then you can sign up, create your expert profile, and get started. Our AI will connect you with podcast hosts, and you can start getting connected. And our team will be happy to assist you if you need any help

Dr. Barbara Hales 32:01

well. Thank you so much. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors, till next time.

The post Attract Patients Forever first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales breaks down why video is becoming the most powerful trust-building tool in modern medicine. While traditional advertising may create visibility, it often fails to build the one thing patients value most—trust.
• Dr. Hales explains how simple, authentic videos recorded on a smartphone can outperform high-budget productions by creating a sense of familiarity and human connection. Patients aren’t just looking for credentials—they’re looking for a doctor they feel comfortable with before they even walk into the clinic.
• You’ll also learn why perfection is actually hurting your visibility, how familiarity bias influences patient decisions, and how even camera-shy physicians can start building authority and attracting better patients with short, consistent videos.
• If you’re a physician (or any professional) looking to grow your practice, build credibility, and connect with your audience on a deeper level—this episode is a must-listen.

Key Takeaways:

“Stop chasing perfection and start showing up. Patients don’t need a cinematic ad—they need a real doctor speaking clearly and calmly on camera.” -Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube:@barbarahales

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPT (237)

Introduction: The Power of Video for Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:02

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr Barbara Hales, today, we are going to talk about why doctors should speak on camera. Let me start with a question: if you needed surgery tomorrow and had to choose between two surgeons, one had a beautiful website and glossy ads; the other had a simple website but dozens of short videos where you could see them explaining things calmly, intelligently, and clearly. Which doctor would you trust? Most people choose the second one, not because the ads were bad, but because video creates trust, and trust is the real currency in medicine. Today, we’re going to talk about something many physicians avoid speaking on camera, and here’s the truth: you do not need a studio, you do not need expensive equipment. You do not need to become an influencer. What you need is something far more powerful. You need to let patients see who you are, because when patients feel like they already know you, they walk into the office trusting you, and that changes everything. Today, I’ll show you why video builds trust faster than ads, why authenticity beats production quality, why doctors who speak on camera attract better patients, and how to start doing this, even if you hate being on camera, and along the way, I’ll share a few stories, because this shift is happening everywhere in medicine right now. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Patients don’t trust the medical system the way they used to, not because physicians are less competent, but because the system feels impersonal. Patients feel like numbers. Appointments are rushed, and doctors are overworked. Everything feels transactional, so patients go online looking for answers, and when they do, they’re looking for a human being, and They’re not looking for a brochure, not a marketing campaign, just a real person, someone who explains things clearly, someone who seems thoughtful, someone who actually cares.

The Trust Gap in Modern Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales 3:24

Video does that instantly: when a patient watches you speak for two minutes, they subconsciously evaluate things like, “Does this doctor seem calm?” Do they explain things well? Do they seem rushed? Do they seem arrogant? Do they seem compassionate, and do they make a decision, not consciously, but emotionally? I once worked with two cardiologists in the same city, both excellent physicians, both highly trained, both board-certified. Dr. A had a massive marketing budget, Billboards, radio ads, and print ads. Dr. B did something simple. He started recording two-minute educational videos, nothing fancy, just his smartphone, talking about time. Topics like what chest pain actually feels like, when to worry about palpitations, and what a stress test really means. Within a year, patients were walking into his office saying something fascinating. I feel like I already know you think about that before the first appointment even started, the relationship already had trust, and that trust started with a video on his iPhone. If your physician is listening to this and thinking, I probably should be doing this. You’re right, and here’s the simplest place to start.

Record one short video answering a question patients ask every day. That’s it, not perfect, just helpful, because education builds trust faster than advertising ever will. Why video works so perfectly, so powerfully, you think video communicates things that text never can: your tone, your pacing, your expressions, your calmness. Patients don’t just hear information; they experience your presence. And presence is powerful. There’s also something else happening psychologically. When patients repeatedly watch your videos, they experience a phenomenon called familiarity bias. The Brain prefers what feels familiar, which means when patients finally meet you in person, you already feel like the safe choice, and that’s incredibly powerful in medicine. I worked with a dermatologist who absolutely hated being on camera. She told me I went to medical school, not broadcasting School, which is fair, but she agreed to try something simple, one video per week, two minutes. That’s it. The first few were awkward. She was stiff. She looked nervous. But something interesting happened. Patients loved them. Why? Because she was authentic. Six months later, her new patient visits increased significantly, but the bigger change was this. Patients arrived educated. They already understood basic concepts. The visits became more efficient, with better conversations and better relationships, and she later told me something funny. I still hate being on camera, but I love what it does.

Case Studies: Video vs. Traditional Marketing

Many doctors delay video because they think it needs to look perfect, studio, lighting, professional editing, expensive equipment, but the truth is almost the opposite. Patients trust authenticity more than polish. In fact, overly produced content can feel like advertising, and patients are skeptical of advertising, but a doctor speaking calmly in their office that feels real, that feels human, and patients trust humans. An orthopedic surgeon once hired a production company. This was the $40,000 video that didn’t work. They created a beautiful promotional video, drone shots, cinematic music, and perfect lighting. It cost nearly $40,000, think of that. They spent $40,000 on these videos, and it looked amazing, but it didn’t move the needle. Why? Because it felt like marketing. Later, he started recording simple, one-minute educational clips, just explaining common injuries. ACL, tears, shoulder pain, and knee arthritis. Those videos started getting shared by patients, and suddenly, new patients were saying, I saw your video explaining knee pain. Not the $40,000 production, it was the 62nd explanation, because education builds trust. Advertising rarely does something interesting happen.

Why Video Works: Presence, Familiarity, and Psychology

When doctors start speaking publicly, they begin clarifying their thinking. Teaching forces clarity. Explaining medicine simply is a skill, and when physicians develop that skill, their authority increases. Patients see them as leaders. Colleagues see them as experts. Opportunities appear. Speaking leads to visibility. Visibility leads to authority. Authority leads to opportunity, and it often starts with something incredibly simple, a two-minute video. An internist started making short videos during COVID. He simply explained complex medical topics calmly, no drama, no politics, just clarity. People share them because they feel trustworthy. Within two years, he had a national following. He was invited to conferences, media interviews, and educational panels, and none of that was the goal. The goal was simply to help patients better understand medicine, but clarity and credibility have a way of spreading.

Overcoming Fear and Perfectionism on Camera

If you’re a physician considering this, here’s the good news. It’s much easier than you think. Start with simple topics that patients ask about every day. Examples: What causes fatigue? When should you worry about chest pain? What does high cholesterol actually mean? Keep videos short. One idea per video. Two Minutes is perfect. You don’t need perfection. You need sincerity and consistency; one video per week is enough, because over a year, that becomes 52 moments of trust.

Practical Tips for Physicians

If you are a physician who wants to build trust with patients, start speaking, not because you want to become famous, but because patients need doctors who explain things clearly. And if you’d like more ideas like this on how physicians can grow their practices, communicate better with patients and build more sustainable careers. Be sure to subscribe to marketing tips for doctors. And if you know a colleague who’s struggling with practice growth or patient engagement, share this episode with them, because sometimes one small idea, like recording a simple video, can completely change how a practice grows. Thanks for listening till next time.

The post Smartphone Videos Beat Ads first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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“The art of being a great speaker is when sharing your story, the audience hears you telling theirs” highlights the real power of authentic communication. The most memorable speakers aren’t the ones who simply deliver information—they are the ones who create connection. When you share your experiences honestly, people recognize pieces of their own lives in your story. Your challenges, lessons, and victories become a mirror for the audience’s own journey. That connection is what transforms a talk from something people hear into something they truly feel and remember.

If you have a story, insight, or lesson that has shaped your life, don’t keep it to yourself. Someone out there may need to hear exactly what you’ve learned. Take a moment today to reflect on one experience that taught you something meaningful, and consider how sharing it might help someone else. If you enjoy messages like this and want more insights on communication, leadership, and personal growth, visit my site and explore the ideas that can help you share your voice with confidence and impact.

The post Share Your Story first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• Why video builds stronger patient trust than traditional marketing and why trust drives patient decisions in healthcare.
• Why simple smartphone videos often outperform high-budget productions in attracting and retaining patients.
• How familiarity bias makes patients feel comfortable with a doctor before the first appointment even happens.

Key Takeaways:

“Stop chasing perfection and start showing up. Patients don’t need a cinematic ad they need a real doctor speaking clearly and calmly on camera.” -Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube:@barbarahales

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPT (236)

Introduction: Why Video Matters in Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:02

Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we talk about why doctors should speak on camera. Think about this. If you needed surgery tomorrow, you choose between two doctors. One has polished ads and a perfect website. The other has simple videos explaining conditions clearly and calmly.

Most people choose the second doctor. Not because the ads are bad, but because video builds trust. And trust drives decisions in healthcare. Many physicians avoid video. They think they need a studio or professional gear. That is not true.

What matters is letting patients see you, hear you, and understand how you think. When patients feel like they already know you, everything changes.

The Trust Gap in Modern Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales 3:24

Patients no longer trust systems automatically. They look for people. They want someone calm. Someone clear. Someone who explains things without rushing. Video shows that instantly.

When patients watch a short video, they judge:

• clarity
• tone
• calmness
• empathy
• confidence

These judgments happen fast and emotionally. A cardiologist once shared educational videos from his phone. No production team. No ads. He explained simple topics like chest pain and palpitations. Patients later said, “I feel like I already know you.” Trust is formed before the first visit. Start simple. Answer one common patient question. Keep it short. Keep it clear.

Case Studies: Video vs. Traditional Marketing

A major insight here: production quality does not guarantee trust. One orthopedic surgeon spent around $40,000 on a polished promotional video. It looked professional but performed poorly.

Why? It felt like advertising. Later, he switched to short, simple videos explaining injuries. Those videos got shared. Patients referenced them. New bookings followed. A dermatologist who disliked being on camera started with one short video per week. She stayed consistent. Her patients responded positively.

Her visits improved because patients arrived informed. Conversations became easier. Authenticity performed better than polish.

Why Video Works: Presence, Familiarity, and Psychology

Video creates three things:

Presence

Patients experience how you think and speak.

Familiarity

Repeated exposure builds comfort before the first visit.

Clarity

Teaching forces simple explanations, which builds authority.

There is also familiarity bias. People prefer what feels known. When patients meet you after watching your videos, they feel familiar with you. That reduces hesitation.

Overcoming Fear and Perfectionism

Start small.

Pick topics patients already ask:

• fatigue
• chest pain
• cholesterol
• common symptoms

Keep each video focused on one idea. Around two minutes works well. Do not aim for perfect delivery. Aim for clarity. One video per week is enough. Over time, that becomes consistent trust-building.

Practical Guidance

Video is not about visibility. It is about clarity. Doctors who explain things well build stronger practices over time. Start with simple explanations. Stay consistent. Improve as you go. If you want growth in your practice, communication is part of it. One clear video can change how patients see you before they ever meet you.

The post How to Start a Telehealth Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales discusses:

• How physician burnout is a systems problem, not a personal weakness.
• How AI scribes reduce documentation friction, giving doctors more mental space and presence with patients.
• How small changes telehealth, better communication, and workflow redesign can reclaim control and improve care.
• How redesigning your practice allows for hybrid concierge models, fewer patients, and better patient relationships.

Key Takeaways:

“Less friction is more presence. More presence is better care. Better care is better practice.” Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube:@barbarahales

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPT (235)

Introduction: Redefining Physician Burnout

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:02

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. Today we discuss the Freedom Stack for physicians. Burnout isn’t because you’re weak. It’s a systems problem 21st-century medicine trapped in outdated workflows. AI and process redesign can restore presence, reduce cognitive load, and improve patient care.

AI Scribes: Reducing Documentation Friction

Dr. Barbara Hales 6:34

AI scribes listen, structure, and summarize patient encounters into notes. They don’t replace judgment they reduce friction, giving you mental space and emotional presence. Physicians using AI scribes report better focus, more family time, and improved decision-making.

Telehealth and Communication: Optionality and Control

Dr. Barbara Hales 11:36

Telehealth expands reach and flexibility. Efficient messaging reduces phone tag and builds trust with patients. These tools give doctors control over their time and improve patient experience.

Attracting the Right Patients Through Trust

Dr. Barbara Hales 11:36

Small marketing changes like sharing educational videos attract patients who already trust you. Trust improves conversations, care, and practice efficiency.

The Concierge Shift: Rebuilding Your Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales 11:36

Physicians who implement small changes AI scribes, telehealth, better communication often transition to hybrid concierge models: fewer patients, more time, better care. Doctors reclaim why they chose medicine without leaving the profession.

Practical Tips for Physicians

Dr. Barbara Hales 16:08

Start with one change. Download tools like AI scribes, improve communication, and leverage telehealth. Change begins with awareness and one actionable step.

The post How to Work Less, and Take Back Control of Your Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Are you spending hours every night buried in patient charts long after the last appointment? You’re not alone. The average doctor now spends nearly 2 hours on documentation for every hour of patient care — fueling burnout, frustration, and even early retirements.

But what if you could reclaim 2–3 hours every day without sacrificing patient care? What if technology could help you finish your notes before leaving the office — and let you be home for dinner again?

In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare documentation. Through real stories and case studies, she shows how physicians are reducing charting time by up to 70%, improving patient satisfaction, and rediscovering the joy of medicine.

Whether you’re skeptical about AI or already curious about integrating it into your practice, this episode will give you practical steps to get started — and proof that AI won’t replace doctors… but doctors who use AI well will thrive.

Key Takeaways:   

“AI won’t replace doctors — but doctors who use AI will reclaim time, reduce burnout, and reconnect with their purpose.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:  

• • Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
  • Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
  • Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
  • Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
  • Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
  • YouTube: barbarahalesmd

  • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbarahalesBooks: 

  • Content Copy Made Easy

  • 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  • Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION:    (216)

[00:11] Opening: The documentation dilemma in medicine
Barbara sets the stage by addressing one of the biggest pain points in healthcare today — overwhelming documentation demands. She highlights how physicians spend more time typing than talking to patients and how this imbalance fuels burnout. The question she poses: What if you could get that time back?

[01:20] AI is transforming healthcare workflows
Barbara explains how AI is no longer a futuristic idea — it’s already being used to transcribe patient visits, summarize notes, and organize information. This isn’t about replacing doctors; it’s about empowering them. With AI handling routine tasks, physicians can reclaim hours every day and focus on patient care.

[02:05] Case study: Dr. Patel reclaims her evenings
Barbara shares the story of Dr. Patel, a pediatrician who used to spend three extra hours each night finishing charts. After integrating an AI scribe tool, her notes were completed before she left the clinic. One patient even remarked, “It’s so nice to see you looking at me instead of the computer,” illustrating how AI enhances both efficiency and patient relationships.

[03:10] How AI works: Four key ways it saves time
Barbara breaks down how AI streamlines workflows: it transcribes patient conversations, summarizes complex histories, suggests smart templates for plans, and automates follow-ups and refills. Instead of typing everything, doctors simply review and approve — reducing documentation time by 50–70%.

[04:20] Case study: Dr. Rodriguez wins back family time
Dr. Rodriguez spent late nights charting — until his teenage daughter told him he was “always at work.” After implementing AI tools, he set a new rule: no unfinished charts leave the clinic. The result? He now spends dinners with his family instead of his laptop. AI gave him more than just hours — it gave him moments that matter.

[05:20] Practice-wide results: A clinic transforms with AI
Barbara highlights a multi-physician practice that adopted AI and saw documentation time drop by 60%. After-hours charting fell from 2.5 hours to just 20 minutes, burnout decreased, and patient satisfaction soared. As one director put it: “This technology didn’t just save us time — it saved our practice.”

[06:33] Case study: Dr. Lee rediscovers the joy of medicine
A surgeon on the brink of quitting rediscovered his passion after implementing AI note-taking. Freed from tedious paperwork, Dr. Lee spent more time mentoring and connecting with patients. One patient told him, “You’re the first doctor who sat with me and explained things slowly.” AI didn’t create distance — it created deeper human connection.

[07:30] Five action steps to reclaim 2–3 hours a day
Barbara shares a simple plan to integrate AI into your workflow:

1. Test one transcription tool on five patients.
2. Batch-edit notes instead of typing from scratch.
3. Use smart templates for frequent conditions.
4. Let AI draft responses to routine messages.
5. Finish notes before leaving the clinic.
   These small shifts can reclaim 10–15 hours per week.

[08:31] Medicine without sacrifice: Why AI matters now
Barbara emphasizes that physicians no longer have to choose between quality care and personal time. With AI handling the repetitive work, doctors can deliver better care while protecting their well-being. It’s not about doing more — it’s about doing what matters most.

[09:14] How to get started: Choosing the right AI tools
Barbara advises listeners to start by exploring whether their current EHR already includes AI features. If not, third-party options are widely available. She also offers guidance on evaluating these tools and integrating them seamlessly into existing workflows without disruption.

The post AI-Saving time, Reclaiming Lives first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Barbara sits down with Chris Pantel, co-founder of Linkify, a digital PR and link-building agency that specializes in helping health brands and clinicians secure editorial features in some of the world’s top publications. Chris went from running a family fish & chip shop to landing clients backlinks in outlets like Forbes, BBC, and New York Times. His unique journey, paired with his deep SEO and PR expertise, makes him the perfect guide for doctors who want to grow patient numbers while boosting credibility and search rankings.

In today’s digital-first world, patients aren’t just searching for doctors—they’re searching for trust. How can medical professionals cut through the noise of AI search engines, online directories, and countless clinics competing for attention? How do you build authority online when your expertise isn’t always visible?

If you’ve ever wondered how media mentions drive real patient growth, why being “featured in” major outlets is worth its weight in gold, and how to start pitching journalists effectively—this episode is packed with insights you can apply right away.

Key Takeaway:

“Being quoted in WebMD or Healthline is the digital equivalent of a Shark Tank badge—its instant trust for your patients.”– Chris Pantel

Connect with Chris Pantel:

• Website: https://www.linkifi.io/
• X: https://x.com/Linkifi_

Connect with Barbara Hales: 

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
• Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
• Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
• Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
• Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
• YouTube: barbarahalesmd
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books: 

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (215)

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us Chris Pantel, co-founder of Linkify, a digital PR and link-building agency that helps brands secure high-quality editorial backlinks. With a background in SEO and digital marketing, Chris has built a reputation for creating innovative campaigns that drive visibility and growth, while also exploring the role of AI in shaping the future of online marketing. Welcome to the show, Chris.

Chris Pantel (00:33) Thank you, Barbara. It’s a pleasure to be here.

From Fish & Chips to Forbes

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:00): Your path into digital PR is quite unique. How did you get started?

Chris Pantel (01:14) I actually started out running my family’s fish and chip shop. After reading about bloggers making money online, I launched a personal finance blog. That’s when I discovered backlinks and began pitching journalists through HARO. Soon, I was winning links from outlets like BBC, Forbes, and New York Times. When my now business partner saw what I was doing, Linkify was born organically from there.

Why Doctors Have an Edge in PR

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:03) What does digital PR mean for doctors, clinics, and health brands?

Chris Pantel (03:21) Doctors and clinicians are in a wonderfully unique position. They’re credentialed experts, and journalists actively seek them out to add credibility to their articles. By responding to media requests with thoughtful commentary, doctors can land powerful backlinks, elevate their authority, and grow their patient base.

The ROI of Media Mentions

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:44) What’s the value of being featured in outlets like Healthline or WebMD?

Chris Pantel (05:00) It’s twofold. First, you get the SEO benefit of quality backlinks. Second, you gain instant credibility with patients. Think of it like the “Shark Tank effect”—brands proudly display ‘As Featured In’ badges. For doctors, being quoted in WebMD or Healthline builds trust before patients even step into your office.

How to Start Pitching Journalists

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:37) HARO used to be the primary source. What’s the landscape now?

Chris Pantel (07:01) HARO is still active and unrestricted, and so is SOS (Source of Sources). Both deliver journalist requests straight to your inbox three times a day. If you’re a qualified expert, you can pitch directly. The key is to provide precisely what they ask for—short, precise, and valuable answers. That’s how you get noticed.

Inbound vs. Outbound PR

Dr. Barbara Hales (07:30) Can doctors pitch their own story ideas, too?

Chris Pantel (07:52) There are two types of digital PR: inbound and outbound. Inbound is when you respond to journalists’ requests—that’s the best place to start. Outbound is when you pitch your own ideas. But my advice is: nail inbound first, build relationships, and once you’ve gained trust, then you can pitch original stories.

Journalists’ Needs and AI Search

Dr. Barbara Hales (09:52) What do journalists really want from health experts?

Chris Pantel (10:00) They’re usually not after groundbreaking discoveries. They want qualified experts to validate points or dispel myths. And with AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity, this has never been more important. Mentions in authoritative outlets are now trust signals that help both patients and algorithms decide who to recommend.

Two Tips to Implement Right Away

Dr. Barbara Hales (10:44) What practical advice can our listeners apply today?

Chris Pantel (11:00) First, get PR ready—make sure your website clearly shows who you are, your qualifications, and why you’re credible. Second, don’t get discouraged. You won’t win every pitch, but persistence pays off. That first media feature is the hardest—after that, momentum builds.

Closing Thoughts

Dr. Barbara Hales (12:20), Chris, thank you for sharing these valuable insights. Where can our listeners connect with you?

Chris Pantel (12:29) You can visit my website at www.linkify.agency or connect with me on LinkedIn. We share a ton of resources, frameworks, and practical tips to help doctors and health brands grow through digital PR.

Dr. Barbara Hales (12:50) Fantastic. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with our guest, Chris Pantel. Until next time—bye!

The post How Media drives Rankings first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales dives deep into the power of branding for chiropractors. With her trademark clarity and passion for helping practices grow, Barbara unpacks why branding matters, how to define your specialty, and how to use stories—not just services—to create a thriving and memorable practice.

When most people hear “chiropractor,” they instantly think of back pain. But modern chiropractic care goes far beyond that—pediatrics, sports, fertility, neurology, geriatrics, even animal care. The problem? Without a clear brand, patients see you as just another option in a crowded field.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• Why do some chiropractors attract loyal referrals while others blend into the background?
• How can you position your practice so patients instantly know you’re the right doctor for them?
• What stories and strategies actually make a chiropractic brand unforgettable?

Key Takeaways: 

“Your brand is the promise you make. It’s the feeling patients get when they think about you.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales: 

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
• Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
• Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
• Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
• Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
• YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books: 

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION:  (213)

[00:11] Opening: The power of video for doctors
Barbara sets the stage by introducing the importance of video and community-driven content. She emphasizes how patients are craving authentic connection from their doctors and how video builds trust before the first appointment.

[01:20] Why video matters more than ever
Backed by statistics from HubSpot, Barbara explains that 91% of consumers want more video content, and videos on landing pages can boost conversions by 86%. For doctors, this means video is no longer optional—it’s the format patients trust most.

[02:45] Case study: Dr. Sarah’s Mom Talk Mondays
Barbara shares how a pediatrician used short weekly videos to connect with moms in her town. After six months, her patient volume grew by 38%, and moms felt like they already “knew” her. This demonstrates how simple, relatable video builds both trust and patient loyalty.

[04:01] Six proven video formats for doctors
Barbara outlines practical video styles that work without high production costs: patient education, behind-the-scenes day-in-the-life clips, myth-busting shorts, FAQ series, patient testimonials, and seasonal health tips. She notes that hosting videos on your website also boosts SEO authority.

[06:10] What is community-driven content?
Community-driven content involves shaping your content around your audience—through Q&As, polls, comment-reply videos, and social media Lives. Barbara explains how this builds “psychological proximity,” making patients feel closer to you, which drives trust and referrals.

[07:45] Case study: Dr. Lin’s Skin School
Barbara highlights Dr. Lin, a dermatologist who created a weekly video series called Skin School. By answering patient questions and offering holistic insights, she grew her Instagram following to 15,000, built a three-month waitlist, and expanded her practice—all without ads.

[09:10] Case study: Dr. Ahmed’s family connection
A cardiologist posted a video about heart-healthy diets, which inspired a patient’s grandson to create a thank-you video. It went viral, generating 3,000+ shares and reinforcing that authentic, relatable content goes beyond medicine—it creates community and transformation.

[10:40] Overcoming common objections to video
Barbara tackles excuses like “I don’t have time,” “I’m not techy,” or “I’m camera shy.” She provides practical fixes—recording short clips on your phone, using simple apps like Canva, or imagining you’re just talking to one patient. The key: done is better than perfect.

[12:25] How to get started today
She gives a step-by-step starter plan: choose three topics you already discuss daily, record a 60-second video on one, post it to your platform of choice, and end by asking a question. Repeat weekly to build consistency, trust, and visibility.

[13:20] Closing: Building trust with video
Barbara reminds listeners that video isn’t about becoming a social media celebrity—it’s about becoming the doctor your community knows, trusts, and recommends. By showing up consistently, doctors showcase the human side of healing and grow stronger patient relationships.

The post Podcast Branding for Chiropractors first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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You don’t need more podcast listeners. You need to know your listeners.What makes them hit play? When do they tune out? Advanced podcast stats can tell you exactly that—and more.

Unlock Real Audience Insights with Advanced Podcast AnalyticsIf you’ve been in the podcast game for a while, you already know: bigger download numbers aren’t the whole picture. True growth is about knowing your listeners on a deeper level—understanding what they respond to, when they stop listening, and what makes them stay.

If you’re hosting with Blubrry on an Advanced or Professional plan, you already have access to tools that go far beyond surface-level stats. These analytics offer a strategic lens into what’s working, what’s not, and where you can optimize to keep your show fresh and relevant.

Downloads Are Just the BeginningDownloads tell you how many people accessed your content. But what happened after they hit “play”? That’s where Blubrry’s IAB Tech Lab–certified advanced metrics come in.

With these tools, you can track:

• Listener Loyalty: See how long people stick with each episode—and where attention starts to drop.
• Content Performance Over Time: Spot the themes and formats that keep listeners engaged, week after week.
• Global & Local Reach: Understand where your audience is growing, so you can tailor content or promotions by region.

Success Story #1:
“We used to think our audience was mostly local. But once we reviewed the geographic data, we found a big chunk of listeners in Australia! We ended up creating a special episode series just for them—and it doubled our retention for those users.”
— Alex, Co-host of “The Creative Edit”

Find Out What Content Truly ResonatesAdvanced statistics help you zero in on the episodes that keep listeners glued to their earbuds. Instead of relying on feedback or intuition, you’ll get retention graphs that tell you exactly when people start tuning out—or stick around.

If people consistently leave halfway through, it might be time to restructure your episode flow. On the flip side, episodes with high retention from start to finish can help you replicate successful patterns—whether it’s your format, guest, or topic.

Spot Trends and Make Smarter DecisionsOne of the standout features of Blubrry’s analytics is the ability to compare performance across episodes. This lets you track:

• Which release days lead to longer listens
• Whether shorter or longer episodes hold attention better
• How changes to your intro, format, or tone impact engagement

And because you have access to historical data, you can clearly see the effects of your strategic changes over time.

Success Story #2:

“When we shortened our intro from 90 seconds to 30, we saw a 15% boost in average listen time. That’s all thanks to Blubrry’s retention charts. We’ve been optimizing ever since.”
— Dina, Host of “The Minimal Hustle”

Dive Deeper into Audience SegmentsYour listeners aren’t all the same—and your content shouldn’t be either. With Blubrry’s advanced stats, you can break your audience down by:

• Location
• Listening app
• Playback device

This allows for more targeted content creation and smarter promotion strategies. If Spotify dominates your listener base, you can optimize descriptions and calls to action specifically for that platform. Or if you notice a spike in listeners from a new city, you can create content that speaks directly to their interests or culture.

Make Every Insight CountAdvanced statistics are only as valuable as the actions you take from them. Use your analytics to:

• Restructure episodes for better pacing
• Double down on high-performing content themes
• Adjust your release schedule to match listener behavior
• Create targeted promotional campaigns based on regional data

By responding to the story your data is telling, you can transform your podcast from a content stream into a growth engine.

Final Thought: Turn Analytics Into Audience ConnectionThe more you understand your listeners, the more you can create episodes that resonate, build loyalty, and keep your podcast thriving in a competitive space. Let’s make them binge-worthy!

The post Know your listeners. first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Are you tired of spending money on marketing that never seems to turn into patients? Many doctors and practice owners waste thousands of dollars chasing vanity metrics—like impressions, clicks, and reach—only to end up frustrated, broke, and no closer to filling their schedules. What if you could finally run ads that actually convert into appointments?

In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales sits down with John Sanders, founder of RevKey, who has helped hundreds of medical professionals—from therapists to dentists—transform their marketing by focusing on conversions that count. Blunt, transparent, and refreshingly honest, John has spent over 7 years building systems that help doctors stop wasting money and start growing sustainable practices with Google Ads.

If you’ve ever wondered why your ads aren’t working, how much you should really budget, or how to avoid Google’s costly “suggestions,” this episode will change how you look at digital advertising for your practice.

He highlights several common areas that often undermine marketing success for medical practices:

• Lack of Patience with Campaigns: Many doctors expect instant results from Google Ads, but real data and optimization require 3–6 months before clear ROI can be measured.
• Unprepared Websites and Intake Systems: Sending traffic to poorly designed service pages or weak onboarding processes leads to wasted ad spend, even if the ads themselves are effective.
• Blindly Following Google’s Suggestions: Google prioritizes its revenue over your success. Accepting automated recommendations—especially in regulated medical fields—can create compliance risks and irrelevant traffic.
• Unrealistic Budgeting: Doctors often underestimate the monthly investment required. In competitive cities, $1,500+ per month is the baseline, and failing to budget properly means campaigns fizzle before gaining traction.

Key Takeaway:

“Even the best ads can’t fix a broken intake system. If calls aren’t answered, your marketing dollars are wasted.” – John Sanders

Connect with John Sanders:

Website: https://www.revkey.com/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (212)Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02): Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us John Sanders. If you’re tired of agencies that talk metrics but don’t deliver patients, John can change that. As the founder of RevKey, he has helped hundreds of practice owners move beyond vanity metrics and focus on what matters most—conversions that count. Specializing in healthcare marketing, particularly for therapists, dentists, and chiropractors, John brings blunt transparency and proven systems to turn ad spend into real appointments.

John Sanders (00:22): Thanks for having me, Barbara.

Getting Started in Google Ads

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:18): How did you get started in this?
John Sanders: With a background in marketing, John first worked in dental-focused advertising before launching RevKey. Over the past seven years, he’s built a reputation for helping medical professionals grow sustainable practices with Google Ads, particularly in mental health.

Why Google Ads for Doctors?

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:54): Why Google Ads over other ad types?
John Sanders: Google Ads meet patients where they’re searching—on Google, YouTube, and Gmail—making them ideal for new practices without strong SEO. Unlike social media ads, which interrupt people during leisure time, Google captures patients with intent, ready to book.

Common Mistakes in Google Ads

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:47): What are common mistakes people make?
John Sanders: He highlights three:

1. Impatience—expecting instant results before enough data is collected.
2. Unprepared websites and intake systems often result in traffic being sent to generic service pages or hindered onboarding.
3. Blindly following Google’s suggestions—which may lead to compliance issues, wasted spend, or inaccurate claims in ads.

Budgeting for Results

Dr. Barbara Hales (07:30): What should doctors expect to spend?
John Sanders: Costs vary by market. Clicks typically range from $3 to $15, meaning budgets in competitive areas like New York start around $1,500/month. Smaller markets may spend less, but practices must plan realistically for sustained campaigns.

Measuring Conversions

Dr. Barbara Hales (09:17): How do you measure results?
John Sanders: Success isn’t traffic—it’s leads. His baseline metric: 5% of ad clicks should become conversions, whether that’s form fills, calls, or scheduled appointments. Tracking these actions ensures ad dollars translate into patients.

Importance of Onboarding

Dr. Barbara Hales (10:34): How important is onboarding?
John Sanders: Extremely. Even strong campaigns can collapse if staff fail to answer calls or follow up with leads. He sometimes audits client intake spreadsheets to pinpoint where potential patients drop off.

AI in Patient Communication

Dr. Barbara Hales (12:59): Can AI help with intake gaps?
John Sanders: Yes. AI bots are increasingly capable of handling simple tasks like scheduling dental cleanings, though complex medical conversations still require human empathy.

Rules for Medical Ads

Dr. Barbara Hales (13:36): What special rules apply to healthcare ads?
John Sanders: HIPAA compliance limits remarketing and restricts certain personalized ads. While Google was once stricter, it has relaxed some guidelines in recent years. Still, practices must tread carefully.

Tips for New Practices

Dr. Barbara Hales (15:00): What if a doctor is new in town?
John Sanders: Launch Google Ads immediately to generate patients while SEO builds over time. At the same time, prioritize community networking and referrals, especially for services that patients rarely self-search (like immigration or bariatric psychological evaluations).

Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

Dr. Barbara Hales (18:25): Are Google Ads more effective than Facebook Ads?
John Sanders: Yes. Google captures intent—patients searching “therapy near me” are ready to book. Facebook can help with brand awareness, but often fails to generate meaningful conversions for small practices.

Closing Remarks

Dr. Barbara Hales (19:34): Thank you for joining us today.
John Sanders: Practices should remember: Google Ads drive 75% of Google’s revenue, and with 35 searches on Google for every one done in AI, search engines aren’t going away. Doctors who master ads today will thrive in the years ahead.

The post From Clicks to Dr. appointments first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this inspiring episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales explores how video and community-driven content are transforming the way physicians attract, engage, and retain patients. If you’ve ever felt invisible online, frustrated by cancellations, or worried that your practice blends into the crowd, this episode shows you how to stand out.

You’ll hear three powerful case studies—including a small-town pediatrician who grew her patient volume by 38%, a dermatologist who built a three-month waitlist without paid ads, and a cardiologist whose content sparked lifestyle changes across generations. Along the way, Dr. Hales breaks down six proven video formats, strategies for creating authentic patient connections, and practical solutions to overcome objections like time, tech, and camera shyness.

If you’ve ever wondered whether showing up on video as your authentic self could really make a difference for your practice, this episode is your guide.

Key Takeaways:

“Video is not about becoming a social media star—it’s about becoming the doctor your community trusts and recommends.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

• Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
  Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
  Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
  Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.comYouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahalesBooks:
  Content Copy Made Easy
  14 Tactics to Triple Sales
  Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (211)

[00:11] Dr. Barbara Hales (Opening)
Sarah, welcome to Marketing Tips for Doctors, the podcast where we explore the tools, strategies, and stories that help you attract more patients, improve your visibility, and grow a thriving practice. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales—a physician, marketer, and lifelong advocate for private practice success.

Today’s topic is incredibly powerful and timely: video and community-driven content. We’ll explore how to build trust, grow visibility, and attract loyal patients using video. If you’ve ever wondered whether showing up on camera as your authentic self actually makes a difference, this episode is for you.

[01:20] Why Video Matters
Let’s begin with the facts. Video isn’t just a trend—it’s the most consumed and most trusted content format online. According to HubSpot, 91% of consumers want to see more video from brands. Videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%, and 72% of people say they’d rather learn about a service via video than text.

For doctors, this means patients want to see your face, hear your voice, and feel your empathy—not just your credentials.

[02:45] Case Study: Dr. Sarah’s Mom Talk Mondays
Take the example of Dr. Sarah, a pediatrician in a small Midwestern town. She began recording short weekly videos called “Mom Talk Mondays.” They weren’t flashy—no studio, just her phone, a warm smile, and relatable topics like soothing teething pain, the truth about fevers, and when not to rush to urgent care.

After six months, her patient volume grew by 38%. New moms came in saying, “I feel like I already know you.” More importantly, the tone of her visits changed—patients were calmer, more trusting, and more open. Dr. Sarah didn’t just attract patients; she created community.

[04:01] Six Proven Video Formats for Doctors
You don’t need Hollywood-level production. What you need is clarity over complexity, consistency over perfection, and connection over production. Here are six proven formats for your videos:

1. Patient education—explains symptoms, treatments, and preventive care.
2. Day in the life—show behind-the-scenes glimpses of your practice.
3. Myth-busting shorts—dispel common misconceptions.
4. FAQ series—answer the questions you hear daily.
5. Testimonials—with permission, share brief patient success stories.
6. Seasonal tips—cover timely health advice, such as flu shot myths or summer safety.

Bonus tip: Hosting videos on your website also boosts SEO authority.

[06:10] Community-Driven Content Explained
Now let’s move into community-driven content—content shaped by your audience and made for them. Examples include Q&As, polls, staff shoutouts, comment-reply videos, and live streams on Instagram or Facebook.

This builds what marketers call psychological proximity: patients feel close to you even if they’ve never met you. And when patients feel that closeness, they’re more likely to trust you, keep appointments, and recommend you to others.

[07:45] Case Study: Dr. Lin’s “Skin School” Series
Consider Dr. Lin, an integrative dermatologist in Florida. She struggled to differentiate her holistic dermatology practice. So she began posting weekly videos called Skin School. Her topics included “Why your acne might not be hormonal”, “Five foods that make rosacea worse”, and “What your skin says about your gut.”

At the end of each video, she invited questions: “Got a question? Leave it in the comments. I’ll answer one every Friday.”

Within a year, she gained over 15,000 Instagram followers, built a three-month waitlist, and even hired a part-time nurse practitioner—all without paid ads.

[09:10] Case Study: Dr. Ahmed’s Community Story
Here’s another powerful story. Dr. Ahmed, a cardiologist in New Jersey, posted a video about heart-healthy diets. A patient’s grandson responded with a thank-you video, saying, “Dr. Ahmed, thank you for helping my grandpa. He stopped eating salty chips after we watched your video together. Now he even walks with me, and we both feel stronger.”

That single video was shared over 3,000 times. It wasn’t just medical advice—it was family, community, and transformation in action.

[10:40] Overcoming Common Objections
Many doctors tell me why they “can’t” do video. Here’s how to overcome the most common objections:

• I don’t have time. → Record short, two-minute videos while walking to your car.
• I’m not techy. → Use your phone and simple apps like Canva, or outsource editing.
• I’m camera-shy. → Imagine you’re talking to just one patient, or start with audio and slides.
• I’m worried about HIPAA. → Never share patient details unless you have written consent. Keep it general.

Done is always better than perfect.

[12:25] Getting Started Today
Here’s how you can begin right now:

• Pick three video topics you already discuss daily with patients.
• Record a short, 60-second video on one of them.
• Post it on one platform—Instagram, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, wherever you’re comfortable.
• End the video by asking a question to encourage engagement.

Repeat weekly and you’ll start building trust and community with every post.

[13:20] Dr. Barbara Hales (Closing)
If you want to build trust before your patient even walks through the door…if you want to stop relying only on insurance directories…if you want your name to be remembered…then start showing up.

Video and community-driven content aren’t about becoming a social media star. They’re about becoming the doctor your community knows, trusts, and recommends.

Until next time—keep connecting, keep sharing, and keep showing the human side of healing. I’m Dr. Barbara Hales, and this has been Marketing Tips for Doctors.

The post How Doctors Win With Video first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this powerful episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales explores how AI is transforming the healthcare landscape in practical, life-changing ways. From improving patient education and optimizing hospital operations to empowering small clinics with cost-effective tools, Barbara breaks down what AI can do for your practice today.

You’ll hear two heartwarming stories and two real-world case studies—including Cleveland Clinic’s 30% organic traffic boost and Mayo Clinic’s dramatic scheduling improvement—plus actionable strategies for integrating AI responsibly. If you’ve ever wondered how to harness AI without losing the human touch, this episode is your guide

Key Takeaways.

Use AI to improve—not replace—human connection: Focus on tools that make content more patient-centered and processes more efficient.

Connect with Jeff Greenfields:

Website: https://provalytics.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/provalytics/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/provalytics/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@provalytics

Twitter: https://x.com/provalytics

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provalytics

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

Transcription (210)Timestamps & Detailed Talking Points

[00:02] Why AI in healthcare isn’t about replacing people—but partnering with them:
Barbara opens by addressing the big fear: Will AI take over healthcare jobs? She reassures listeners that AI’s true role is as a supportive partner, not a replacement. Instead of removing the human touch, AI can actually make care more human by eliminating inefficiencies, freeing up time, and enabling better communication. This sets the tone for an episode focused on empowerment rather than fear.

[01:01] Three major ways AI is changing healthcare:
Now, I know AI can sound intimidating. Some people imagine robots taking over or computers replacing doctors and staff, but that’s not the reality. What’s really happening is much more exciting. AI is becoming a partner—helping us to be more efficient, more creative, and even more compassionate in the way we serve patients.

In this episode, we’ll look at three areas:

• How AI is transforming content creation
• How AI is reshaping teamwork and collaboration
• How AI is empowering decision-making

Along the way, I’ll share two heartwarming stories and two real-world case studies that bring this transformation to life. So, let’s jump in.

[01:31] How AI is transforming content creation:

In the past, content creation in healthcare was slow, manual, and often didn’t match what patients were actually searching for. A writer would draft an article, a doctor would approve it, a marketer would polish it—and by the time it went live, the topic might already be outdated.

With AI, that’s changing. AI can generate first drafts in seconds, suggest SEO-friendly keywords patients are already typing into Google, personalize messages for different patient segments, and even translate into multiple languages instantly. Think about that for a second—AI isn’t just making content faster, it’s making it smarter and more human-centered.

[02:40] Cleveland Clinic case study: Improving patient trust through AI-driven content:

One great example is the Cleveland Clinic. They realized patients were Googling symptoms and health information long before setting foot in the hospital. However, their educational materials weren’t appearing in searches because they didn’t align with how people actually asked questions.

So they turned to AI-driven content optimization. The system analyzed what patients were searching for—phrases like “Why am I so tired?” or “How to tell if chest pain is serious?” Then their writers used those insights to create content that answered those exact questions.

Within a year, the Cleveland Clinic saw a 30% increase in organic traffic to its health library pages. But more importantly, patients began to say:
“I trust Cleveland Clinic because when I search online, they give me answers I can actually understand.”

This is where AI shines—it’s not about replacing medical expertise. It’s about making that expertise accessible and discoverable to the people who need it most.

[04:12] Heartwarming story: A grandmother, her diabetic grandson, and AI-powered education:

Here’s a story that shows just how personal AI-driven content can be. A small clinic in rural Tennessee didn’t have big budgets or large staff—just three providers and a few nurses serving their community.

One of their patients, Maria, was a grandmother raising her 10-year-old grandson. He had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Maria cared deeply for him, but she admitted to the doctor:
“I don’t understand these instructions. I’m scared I’ll mess this up.”

The clinic had just adopted an AI-powered patient education tool. Instead of handing her a dense pamphlet full of medical jargon, they used AI to instantly create a clear, easy-to-read plan in both English and Spanish. It included pictures of simple meals—foods her family actually cooked at home.

Two months later, Maria returned with her grandson, smiling. She said:
“I finally understand what he can and cannot eat. We’re cooking differently now, and he’s feeling better. His sugars are coming down.”

AI didn’t feel like technology to her—it felt like someone finally listened. It turned medical instructions into something she could act on with love.

[06:04] How AI is reshaping teamwork and breaking silos:

Traditionally, healthcare teams were siloed—marketing in one corner, clinicians in another, operations in yet another. Coordination was slow and often frustrating. AI is changing that.

With shared dashboards, predictive analytics, and automated workflows, AI gives everyone access to the same insights. Marketers and analysts can collaborate on patient engagement campaigns. Physicians and educators can co-create patient materials with AI support. Managers can see staffing needs in real time and adjust accordingly.

Instead of teams fighting over resources or duplicating work, AI provides a neutral data source that everyone can trust.

[07:14] Mayo Clinic case study: How AI revolutionized scheduling and reduced stress:

Take Mayo Clinic as an example. Their scheduling system used to be a nightmare—overbooking cardiology, under-booking dermatology, and patients waited weeks for appointments.

They introduced an AI-powered operations platform that unified their teams. The AI predicted patient flow, flagged bottlenecks, and suggested staff adjustments. The results were dramatic:

• 22% improvement in scheduling
• Patients were seen sooner
• Staff stress dropped significantly

Perhaps most importantly, AI gave teams a shared language of truth. Instead of debating who was right, they could look at the data together and make decisions faster. That’s a cultural shift AI made possible.

[08:40] The acne story: How a small practice used AI to change a teenager’s life:

Now let’s talk about a small dermatology practice in Florida. They didn’t have a budget for a big marketing team, so they turned to an AI social media assistant. One of the first posts it suggested was a friendly carousel: “5 Myths About Teen Acne.”

A few weeks later, a mother brought her 15-year-old daughter to the clinic. She quietly told the receptionist:
“We came because of that acne post. My daughter has been so embarrassed about her skin that she wouldn’t even look in the mirror. But when she read your post that said acne isn’t her fault, she finally felt brave enough to come in.”

The dermatologist treated her, and within months, her skin improved dramatically. At her follow-up visit, the girl smiled and said:
“I’m not scared to go to the school dance anymore.”

Think about that—a simple AI-generated post changed not just her skin, but her confidence, her social life, and her self-esteem.

[10:00] AI-powered decision-making: Turning guesswork into clarity:

In the past, decisions were often based on gut instinct or outdated reports. AI is rewriting the playbook. Leaders can now:

• Forecast patient flow and staffing needs with predictive analytics
• Run “what-if” scenarios for marketing campaigns or operational changes
• Analyze patient sentiment in real time through surveys and online feedback

This doesn’t mean leaders stop using their judgment. It means they can combine experience with AI-powered foresight. Decisions become clearer, faster, and less risky. And when teams trust the data, it reduces conflict and builds alignment.

[11:20] The limitations: Why AI still needs human oversight:

Of course, AI isn’t a magic wand. There are challenges:

• Bias in AI models can unintentionally exclude certain groups
• Teams need training to use AI responsibly and effectively
• Transparency is critical—decisions can’t just be because “the algorithm said so”

That’s why AI must always be paired with human oversight and compassion.

Recap: Making Healthcare More Human
AI is transforming content—making it faster, smarter, and more personal. It’s reshaping teams—breaking down silos and creating collaboration built on data. And it’s enhancing decision-making—turning guesswork into clarity.

As we’ve heard in these stories and case studies, AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about empowering them. It’s about a grandmother who finally understood how to care for her grandson, a teenager who gained confidence, a hospital that reached more patients, a clinic that scheduled care more efficiently.

When done right, AI makes healthcare more human, not less.

Closing Thoughts
So, I want to leave you with this question:
How could AI help you deliver better care, clearer communication, or stronger teamwork in your practice?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories. Reach out to me—I may feature your experience in a future episode. Put it in the comments, and remember this:
AI is not the future replacing us. AI is the future partnering with us, helping us serve smarter, faster, and with more compassion.

Thank you for tuning in to Marketing Tips for Doctors. Until next time—stay visible, stay connected, and keep putting the human touch at the center of everything you do.

The post How AI Changes Medicine first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales and Jessica Jones discuss:

• Strategic Focus for Practice Growth: Jessica emphasized the importance of evaluating daily problems to focus on high-level issues that drive practice growth, rather than getting caught up in minutiae.
• Common Marketing Mistakes: The discussion highlighted frequent marketing errors made by medical practices, such as switching marketing strategies too quickly, not following up on leads, and spreading themselves too thin across multiple platforms instead of focusing on what works best.
• Diversifying Revenue Streams and Financial Planning: Jessica discusses the need for practices to have multiple offerings (not relying on a single service or device), maintain at least six months of cash flow, and carefully evaluate investments in expensive equipment.

Key Takeaways:

“For medical practices to achieve sustainable growth, practitioners should focus on high-level strategic issues rather than getting bogged down in daily minutiae, diversify their revenue streams, and consistently evaluate both internal operations and external opportunities. Making time to step outside the business and observe broader trends is crucial for long-term success.” – Jessica Jones

Connect with Jessica JonesWebsite: www.buildyourcashmedicalpractice.com

Email: jessica@buildyourcashmedicalpractice.com

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (209)

Dr. Barbara Hales 00:02

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr Barbara Hales, and today we have with us Jessica Jones. Jessica has assisted her clients open medical clinics and reach millionaire status using her unique ability to analyze challenges and consult on methods needed to start and scale a cash medical practice, this includes help to add revenue streams, scale back to grow, do a better job of converting calls to appointments and sales and review organizational structure and overall systems for the function of the practice.

Jessica knows what it takes to open successful practices achieve your financial and growth goals, all while enjoying the ever meaningful work life balance her award winning work in advertising sales, as an advertising agency owner, medical clinic owner, and as the primary bread winner for her family, has prepared Jessica to be the greatest guide and accountability partner you could have Jessica to be, to be one with you, and as you leave frustrated and move towards a clinic, You can feel passionate about Jessica has more than 25 years of experience as both an entrepreneur and in the corporate world, leading teams of hundreds, and a master’s degree in communications With a focus on organizational development and conflict management. Welcome to the show, Jessica.

Jessica Jones 02:04

Thank you so much for having me. Wow, that’s quite an introduction. Thank you. I’m delighted to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales 02:13

When you started in business, it was in organizational development and conflict management. How did you or why did you transition over to medical practices?

Jessica Jones 02:26

Sure. So actually, in my very young days, I worked in a large national marketing corporation where we represented media outlets, broadcast outlets, and by the time I was 24, I was their youngest executive vice president. They saw an entrepreneurial spirit, and when they when the owner, I was very lucky, when the owner of comp, the company, saw that in in an employee that he valued, he built ways to retain the employee. So I actually got that master’s degree while I was working in that area, conflict management, and organizational development. I was already by 24, I was leading the largest firm under an umbrella of seven, and then shortly thereafter, I became the manager over all of the seven divisions in the region. And so we were a company, it’s hard to understand, but we were a team, but we also competed with one another, so conflict management seemed reasonable, and organizational development is also imperative for really a number of reasons, but that’s why that focus was there, and it’s helped me throughout my life, and then later at that same organization, I was so lucky. They sent me to a program at the University of North Carolina with Dr Gerald Bell, and he’s a leadership expert, and he teaches leadership, and I attended a master’s round table with him, which was going every month for a year. And while I was there, the owner of Radio Flyer was in the mastermind, debating moving manufacturing to China and his family and everything else. And that’s a generational company.

The owner of the Biltmore was there trying to figure out how to get school districts in North Carolina to focus on serving food raised and grown in the state, to help the farmers, and also the health of the communities, and all of these other things. So it was a very diverse group of people, and also an education that, unfortunately, most people never get in their lives, and I was lucky to have it at that time in my life, because when people do get that leadership training, it’s usually, you know, you’re to get into the program you need to be a C level executive. So most people aren’t getting that education until they’re in their late 40s or early 50s. So I got it when I was 2829, so it was really special. And how. I am in all facets of my life, but that’s why that degree and then, you know, living in Philadelphia, I was working with pharmaceutical companies to help them fill clinical studies.

The company I was working with went chapter seven, as many companies did in 2008, so I was there from 94 to 2008, and so when it went chapter seven, I was very lucky, because I had no problems. And so the I continued working for the pharmaceutical companies to fill these studies, but I was working directly with the clinical study sites, and it wasn’t just a lead generator I was hired for, like, to get patients into the study, but I was working with the study sites to determine, well, what is the issue? Because I could see the leads coming in. So then I started digging into why the leads aren’t enrolling. Like, what’s happening with these patients? And then I would start to solve problems within the practice that were outside of the role that I was playing doctors, started referring me to doctors, and I built a very strong business of helping struggling practices turn into a successful practice and scale. And so then in 2012, one of the physicians that I had helped grow from, again, he had a struggling practice, and grew to, you know, 15 locations, and he was starting a new venture, and he said, You’re the business side of things. I’m the medical side of things. I know I need you. Why don’t you be my partner in this next thing? So we grew our own chain of clinics. And so from 2012 to 2015, we built our own 15 locations across the country, and we sold those. And then after we sold those, I started six of my own practices. And in 2017, I said I never wanted to own practices, not you know, I’ve always wanted to help practitioners, and so I sold my practices and went back to consulting, and have been doing that ever since. Thank thankfully.

Dr. Barbara Hales 07:10

Do you have any medical experience or background at all?

Jessica Jones 07:16

I don’t. Of course, you know, as part of what I do, I need to have some level of expertise and knowledge in what the bulk of my clients are interested in. So I do do a lot of training, but I don’t have a medical degree, and I always defer to the practitioner, but I have been able to help. You know, from 2017 to 2020, it was, you know, diabetes reversal, weight loss, men’s sexual health, female sexual health wasn’t really yet the focus, IV therapy had just started. Then 2020 hit, and I helped practices that weren’t considered essential. Switch from brick and mortar to virtual and build virtual programs. And once things started freeing up, of course, in late 2020, is when I started working with GLP one practitioners, and I have helped many, many people implement GLP ones into their practice. And then also, you know, I’d say in 2021 late 2021, mobile wound care became a high focus. So I’ve studied that and have a significant expertise in helping people work within the mobile wound care space. And so what I do, like, for example, I attend weekly compliance calls with a compliance expert to talk about what’s changing in compliance.

I get all of the puzzle pieces together that a practice would need so that I can introduce them to all the facets that they’ll need to add something to the practice, and then how to implement it, and I’ll work with the entire staff. And then, of course, how to market it, which varies based on what the offer is. But in addition to, you know, mobile wound care, the other thing is, you know, for example, for you know, I consistently get a lot of like chiropractors or mental health practitioners, and I’m willing I have the connection base at this point so that if, like, a mental health provider says to me, I want to add something, I take insurance, but I want to add something that can be cash pay, and I’ll, I’ll find The right revenue stream for them to add that fits their passion. One of the things I say to all of my clients is, if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, it’s never going to work, because people will see that you don’t believe in what you’re trying to offer them. So you’ve I’ve got to always put people together with what they’re really going to you.

Dr. Barbara Hales 10:01

What type of secondary incomes do the mental health physicians typically add to the practice?

Jessica Jones 10:11

So it depends on the practice and where they are, but you can generate, you know, anywhere from an additional $8,000 a month to 10s of 1000s. It just depends on you, right? You know the truth? The truth is, you know, practitioners often really struggle with asking for money. It’s, I and I understand, and I think it’s great, but that’s one of the things we work on, which is really pricing and building packages and feeling good about your solving a big problem that isn’t being solved elsewhere in our insurance-based or healthcare universe in this country. So this is something that’s very much needed and very much desired, and can draw from a radius because it’s not available. It’s not widely available.

There’s one device that’s very low, low cost that I really have found has been something that a lot of practitioners have found great success with. It’s called ISS micro, current neurofeedback. It’s different than than neurofeedback in that it requires fewer sessions to achieve success and things like that, but it’s a low cost of entry and a high value to patients, because most patients notice a difference in 1233 treatments. So it’s an immediate benefit that the patients notice, and it helps depression, ASD, and anxiety. It’s a brain-based system, so it really helps any issue that starts in the brain, such as insomnia, depression, PTSD, or suicidal ideation. So it’s a great it’s a great device. So if you’ve got patient revenues, if you’ve got a patient base, of course, you know who your patients are, and you know how to reach out to those patients to either reactivate them or explain what you now have available and why it would benefit them and have them come in for an offer. But, you know, sometimes I’m working with a practice that’s just brand new and just getting started, and in that case, you do need to do, you know, certainly some you know, pay per click so that people see you in searches.

You need to do some, you know, other types of marketing. And it really, again, it depends on where you are. Certainly, social media is an important piece of the puzzle for most practices today. But don’t discount a lot of people just either forget about or they don’t like the boots on the ground, type of things where they’re out reaching to other practitioners that might have a patient who would benefit from the protocol, or other thing, you know, other types of boots on the ground outreach, like there’s a chiropractor that I work with, and they’re going out to golf, golf outings and pickleball courts and running stores and doing, you know, presentations, and, you know, I also recommended high schools, because it’s a great it’s a great way to reach out.

Dr. Barbara Hales 13:39

Well, that’s very good. When converting practices to a concierge model, are you primarily working with new practices or those that have not been operational for long?

Jessica Jones 13:57

It really, it really does vary. I genuinely have practices. I’m working with a practice right now that’s been around 35 years, and they’re implementing a new revenue stream, and that’s an insurance, but I know it. I know my company is called Build Your Crash Medical Practice, but it started as Practice Builder, and that term was patented. So, my name grew over time. But I also help insurance-based systems. So that practice is implementing wound care, which is, of course, a Medicare and insurance-based program, but it’ve been around for 35 years.

I have a chiropractor I’m working with who has been around for several decades. And I have many, many startups. I also have, for example, a solo practitioner I’m working with who specializes in vein care. He’s been around for a long time, and I’m helping him learn how to add some of the additional wound care. Are protocols in his practice. So it does vary. And then, of course, you know, I also there’s another consultant that I work with, and we’re teaming up to do a med spa makeover, because so many nurse practitioners and functional medicine practitioners really brought in GLP ones, and unfortunately, they made it their sole focus, or they brought in these very high ticket devices six figures that they’re now like struggling to sell a package on Groupon. We’re hosting a med spa makeover event to help these practices see, as many are giving up and saying, “I don’t know what to do.” I can’t survive, and so we’re doing an event that’s virtual or in person for them to say, We can rebrand you and help you thrive.

Dr. Barbara Hales 15:52

Why do medical professionals struggle with business growth?

Jessica Jones 15:57

I think a lot of the reason they struggle with business growth, some of the common mistakes I made, say, say, we have them doing marketing in either pay per click or social media, they don’t see immediate results, and they abandon ship and go to another company, and then they go to another company, and then they Go to another company. Well, these things take time to grow.

There are algorithms involved they and it takes time for the systems to trust you as an advertiser and trust that you’re real, because there are actually fake advertisers out there. So there are algorithms that take time. So every time you’re switching, you’re really harming your potential, because you’ve got to give something at least three months, in my opinion, as it pertains to pay-per-click and social media. But it’s on the ground, same thing. I see a lot of people say, Oh, well, I went and dropped off business cards, and I dropped off one sheet, and nothing’s happening. I said, Well, did you follow up? Have you called them? Just like advertising to the consumer? You know, it can take eight times, 10 times, or 12 times for someone to hear your message and respond. Just because you knocked on the door and dropped off some pamphlets doesn’t mean that you’ll suddenly get a call and all these referrals from that business. So excuse me, you’ve got to be tenacious, and you’ve got to stick with what you’re doing for a bit. Excuse me, I’m sorry. And then, of course, we can develop specific ways to evaluate if something’s working and when to abandon it.

Certainly, there are ROI calculations with everything you’re doing based on what the cost-benefit is, and when we genuinely don’t see progress. The other thing is, we know statistically that when somebody reaches out to your practice, if you don’t answer the the call, respond to the text right away, get in contact with them, and even, like, less than five minutes, you’re, like, very unlikely to reach that person, because they’ve kind of like everybody wants immediate response these days, right? So certainly, automation and AI have come so far, and a lot of practices are using this and thriving. But depending on what you’re doing, it’s still very important to have that personal communication and touch to connect with people. There are definitely virtual programs that are making it, but I see a lot of high-touch one-on-one practices that offer that connection, having patients come over to them because, at the end of the day, when it comes to your health, people want to know they’re in good hands. They’re in the hands of somebody who cares about them, is listening to them, and can help them.

Dr. Barbara Hales 19:10

Yes, absolutely. What are some marketing mistakes that you see medical practices making?

Jessica Jones 19:17

Sure, so I re-took on switching, switching marketing every month is a big one, not following up on the leads. And also, I see a lot of people doing too much, if that makes sense. They’re trying to be everywhere. They’re doing these videos and these stories and these TikToks and Facebook and Instagram, and they’re spending so much time doing all the things that they’re not focusing on the work of building the patient list and working with the patients; they’re too busy doing all the things. So I strongly recommend that when somebody’s doing. Doing too much. I call it scaling back to grow. You can do less. Focus on what’s working best, get a handle on it, master that, and then expand. Ideally, this expansion happens when you’re ready to hire a trusted team to support you. Because the other, I mean, this isn’t so this is and is not marketing. So many practices are built on one person, like everybody wants to see the doctor, everybody wants to see the practitioner, everybody wants to see the chiropractor. That you can’t expand because you are the business, and you are everything. So you’re running the business, you’re seeing all the patients. So you’ve gotta build a practice that’s not solely based around you in order to be able to scale

Dr. Barbara Hales 20:52

What is it that you wish practices knew about that would help grow their practice?

Jessica Jones 20:59

So what do I wish practices knew about? Oh, that’s a really good one.

Jessica Jones 21:11

I would say I wish practices knew how to get into it. Number one, you cannot build a strong practice around the latest greatest thing, and not have multiple offerings for patients in the path to the wellness that you’re trying to build. You’ve gotta have a lot of things in your bag, so to speak. So I see a lot of practices that build a business on just one thing, another thing I wish practices knew, and I work with really strongly, is that you should have at least six months of cash flow available, because you’re going to have ups and downs. And a lot of practices fail to thrive because they just don’t have the funding to get through in the startup period, lot of medical practices, unlike other businesses, can be profitable almost immediately, but you’ve gotta have the money to put into the practice to build it, and you’ve gotta have a comfort level so that you’re not afraid to spend money on marketing and hiring and learning. I’ll always be learning, going to conferences, what’s new, what’s happening. Hire a consultant to help you.

Hire a consultant that you click with, who you can work well with, as you know, I also talk to a lot of practices that start working with me. They’re like, Oh, I was working with this other consultant for years. I hated them. I never did anything they told me to do, because they only did it one way. So find the consultant that matches your personality and what you want for your practice, and somebody that you can listen to and work with. Well, that’s important. And then the other thing I wish they knew is before you buy a very high-priced machine, because there’s always going to be people knocking on your door saying, Oh, look, you can buy this. And with just two patients a month, you’ll pay for the mortgage. That is this device. I want you to really evaluate how many people are offering it in your area. What’s the likelihood that you’ll be able to sell packages at the price you’re being quoted, and go to Groupon? Are people selling it cheaply on Groupon? Probably not what you want to be buying a six figure device if people are trying to bargain it out, right? That’s a big one. I see so many practices that were thriving, and they come to me because they’ve hit a turmoil, because they’ve brought in this device, and it’s sucking, sucking all the profit out of their business. And so then I’m helping them to offload a device. And another thing is, if you see people selling the device on eBay, I would say, Run, you know.

Dr. Barbara Hales 23:59

It’s a surprise to hear this. I have never heard of doctors selling equipment on eBay. Oh boy!

Jessica Jones 24:05

My gosh, yes, they do. Just look up used whatever, and you’ll see it’s there are medical device reselling sites. But if you know, people do sell these things on eBay, it’s kind of interesting. But if you see that, I would say run. If you’re really set on having that device, consider buying a used one, but ensure it’s in full working condition and that you have access to all necessary features. But, you know, yeah, I recommend run. But some people are really set, and in that instance, I say, don’t, don’t, don’t pay the full price for it, because look at all of these red flags. And then the other thing you know I really talk to people about is they’ll bring in this device that they’re excited about without considering, how does this affect my space? How. Does it affect my how does it affect my workflow?

Right? So like, now you’ve got a GOP one clinic that’s humming along like this, and you bring in this sculpting device, or red light therapy, or whatever it is, that’s now a 60 minute thing where you’re going in, you’re setting it up, you’re getting the patient set up, then you’re coming out, then you’re going back in, and you’re cleaning it for the next patient. And there’s a lot of time deficit involved, in addition to the space that’s taking up, where you are no longer able to see, see patients, or have somebody waiting in the room. And so that’s, you know, that’s a big that’s a big thing that a lot of people just don’t think about before they take the leap. And so yeah,

Dr. Barbara Hales 25:48

At this point, what I would like to ask is, what is one tip that you could give our listeners that they could implement right away?

Jessica Jones 25:57

So I’m going to say my tip, and actually, you and I discussed this, that every single person has 100 problems a day, and so when you own a business, it is designed to keep you down in the minutia. And I want to encourage everybody to look at everything that’s happening and evaluate it. Is this a high-level problem that I’ve got to focus on right now that’s going to help my business grow, or is this something that’s not a problem at all? I can let the staff handle it. I can let this deal handle itself, so I can focus on the bigger things that will help my patients grow my practice and give me more time in my schedule. So when you look at it that way, and you start to think about, you know, even my family jokes around with me, they’re like, you know, if I’m usually saying to them, is that really going to be one of your 100 problems? So I love it when they turn it around on me, when I’m talking about something silly, and they’re like, Mom, is that one of your 100 problems today? I’m like, You’re right. It’s not a good point. Thank you for straightening me out, you know. But it really does.

When you start to reframe the way you look at everything happening around you and realize, like, this is really just me being caught up in the day-to-day. You want to get out of that and get into the big picture. And I also know this is two things, but I strongly recommend you make an appointment to be outside of your business and just be away from it and spend some time focusing on it when you’re not in the actual space. And the reason I say that is because, again, getting caught up in the minutia, but also, when you’re only in your business, there’s a lot of external things that impact your business that you might be missing, not just regulatory, things happening with foot traffic, things being built around you, changes to retail spaces and other things in your area, changes to things coming in and leaving the area. And a lot of times, I find practitioners being so caught up in their business, they haven’t stepped outside and seen Oh, whoa. This is something I could take advantage of. This is somebody I could go to and we could do like an open house together that would merge our patients and benefit one another. Those types of things get missed if you’re not looking around outside of the business.

Dr. Barbara Hales 28:28

Well, you have brought about some very interesting ideas, and I’m sure that it’s food for thought for a lot of people that have been listening today. Thank you so much for being with us on our show today.

Jessica Jones 28:43

Thank You so much for having me. It’s really been an honor and a pleasure. I appreciate it.

Dr. Barbara Hales 28:47

This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales. Have a great day. Til’ next time!

The post Clinic to Cashflow Scaling Smart first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Jeff discuss:

• Why marketing is about building awareness- impressions matter more than just clicks.
• How privacy changes like the cookie collapse are forcing marketers to focus on broader targeting and reach.
• How AI tools like Provalytics use predictive modeling to prove campaign impact and optimize marketing spend.

Key Takeaways:

“Stop chasing clicks and start buying attention. Marketing wins by building awareness through impressions, not instant conversions.” –Jeff Greenfield

Connect with Jeff Greenfields:

Website: https://provalytics.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/provalytics/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/provalytics/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@provalytics

Twitter: https://x.com/provalytics

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provalytics

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (208)

Dr. Barbara Hales

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host. Dr Barbara Hales, today we have with us Jeff Greenfield. He is an entrepreneur with 30 years of strategy growth and marketing leadership. He is building the next generation AI driven, and the system that he calls it is provolytics. It has no cookies and measures solutions that allow marketers to prove the impact of their strategies. Welcome to the show, Jeff.

Jeff Greenfield

Thank you so much, Barbara, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Marketing Math Dr. Barbara Hales

How did you get interested in marketing analytics?

Jeff Greenfield

That’s a great question, because marketing analytics is not something that most people say, Oh, my God, that sounds so exciting, wow. And it’s not something like at a cocktail party. You can say, hey, I do marketing analytics, and people say, Wow, that sounds like a sexy profession

Dr. Barbara Hales

You can say that you run a numbers game.

Jeff Greenfield

That’s right, I do run a numbers game, exactly. But the way I got here is, you know, through the lens of trying to deal with very complicated and complex marketing campaigns, I happen to be buying media for a publicly traded weight loss company. This was the 2006 2007 and we ran into this issue where the numbers didn’t add up. And what I mean by that is we would have, like, 100 new customers per day. We were buying media across about 10 different vendors, and when we went we could see in our system that we had 100 new customers. But we went into the vendor systems and added up all of the numbers.

It said that we had 1000 new customers. So there was all this double counting and triple counting that was going on, and that became a problem, because we were paying out each of those vendors essentially a commission. And so, you know, we were paying out a lot of money, and so we needed to kind of fix this problem. And it was back then. It was like 2007 there was nothing available to do this. It was kind of the early days of digital, the wild wild west, if you would. And so I created one of the first, what we would call back then, multi touch attribution platforms. A early digital measurement platform was called c3 metrics, and it solved that duplication issue. It solved trying to figure out who was actually building awareness versus kind of jumping in at the end to capture that last minute sale. So solved a lot of problems for advertisers, and that then became kind of the new business. So that’s how I got into this. I got into this to solve the problem that I was having as a marketer myself.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Sure, well of course, it’s important not to have to pay for something that you’re not getting. But the true beauty of it was really that when you ran your various campaigns, you could see what worked and what didn’t, what people were, you know, eager to get or receptive to, versus total duds.

Jeff Greenfield

That’s right, and that’s that we call that these days, based upon a old time marketer from the Midwest. It’s the John Wanamaker type problem. John Wanamaker is credited in saying half the money I spend in advertising is wasted. The only problem is I don’t know which half, and that was back when there was before there was even TV. It was just mainly print, and that was a big problem. But today’s world, things have gotten very complicated. Let me just give you just a small example. So let’s say you’re like most practitioners. You’re running some campaigns on Facebook, which is now meta, so when you run on Facebook, you’re typically both on Facebook and Instagram, and then you also have ads running on Google, so that when people type in your name or type in the name of your practice, they’re able to find you and get right to you and not go to a competitor.

So let’s assume someone is on on Facebook. They’re scrolling around, and they happen to see like, maybe there’s like, a video there. It captures their attention, but they don’t click on it. They don’t even watch it. They just hover over it for a minute or so. Now Facebook knows that when they hover over it, they don’t really tell you. But now maybe two or three hours later, when you’re on Instagram, you actually see it again, and you actually spend time watching it. You don’t click on it, but you make a note, you know, hey, you know, my shoulders have been bothering me a bit. Maybe, maybe I should go check out that PT practice and and get this finally worked on, get that, you know, frozen shoulder, figured out. And then you kind of forget about it.

By the third video, you’ve made the appointment, right? But you haven’t made the appointment yet, because of what happens with us in today’s world. We get distracted, but we put a mental note in our head, and then you’re out doing some gardening work, and you’re like, Oh,Yeah, this shoulder is killing me, and you’re like, oh, yeah, what was the name of that practice? You take your phone out, you Google it, and you find the ad there, you click on it, and you book an appointment online.

So from the marketers perspective, the one who’s running the marketing at the practice, they would go into their analytics at the end of the month, which is predominantly GA for Google Analytics four, and they would see, my God, Google is killing it. And as a smart, data driven marketer, they would see that Facebook meta isn’t working well, so they would spend less on meta and try to spend more on Google. But we know, just because we went through that, that it was actually meta, the facebook, instagram combination, that built the awareness so that you knew the name of the practice, and all Google did was jump in there and so what? But there’s a time delay, and because of that time delay, when that marketer makes that change and cuts down Facebook, it doesn’t happen right away. It could take because think about this healthcare and taking care of yourself, and self care is, for a lot of people, is a considered purchase. So that journey, that time to conversion, could be 3060, maybe even 90 days.

You could make those changes, and you wouldn’t notice anything for maybe two more months, and then all of a sudden, you’re like, Oh my God, what’s going on? What’s happening, and what happened is you cut off that awareness part of the funnel. So multiply that across a much larger campaign where you’re advertising, maybe connected television, you’re doing some coupons, you’re doing some print, maybe some other things as well, too, direct mail. And now it’s almost impossible to figure out what’s working and what’s not working.

Dr. Barbara Hales

So does your system differentiate between what they saw, where they got the exposure and where they saw it?

Jeff Greenfield

We’re living in a world today where we don’t know exactly who saw what, and that’s because of all the privacy changes that have happened in the digital world. We used to be able to track all of this, and my former company did that, and I left that company in 2019 thinking I was done in this business. When covid hit, all of the tracking that used to go on, all got pulled back. It started with Apple making some updates, and all of the different companies making updates, but no one knows who actually saw what. So in order to get to that actual answer, you have to use some really high level math and statistics. And luckily, before there was digital marketing, we used to do stuff like this all the time, a practice called Marketing Mix modeling that would look at the relationship between how many ads were out there and how your sales were, but it was a project. It wasn’t like an ongoing thing. It wasn’t like Google Analytics four that’s always up and running, but because of today, with the high speed computers and the combinations of

AI we can now get that almost near real time effect that marketers really want. And that’s what prolytics does, is that it provides marketers, primarily larger scale brands, the ability to know, essentially find wanna makers missing half the stuff that wasn’t working and tells you where to redeploy those dollars to a place where you’ll get better return on your marketing investment.

Dr. Barbara Hales

I can see where the latter half of the word comes from. Analytics. But where does the Provo court come from?

Jeff Greenfield

Great question. Provo is an Italian word that means proof. And this is the problem that most marketers have, is they may see that a competitor is advertising on TV, and they’re like, Wow, they’ve been running ads for a long time. It must be working for them. I’ll test it. And they test it, and what ends up happening. They look in their analytics, their GA four, and there’s no tab in there for connected television, because when you run a TV ad, there’s nothing for anyone to click on. And so what ends up happening is that builds awareness, and then over time, those people will come in through Google, or they’ll just show up. And so you get this lift, but it’s impossible to prove where it came from. And so what our platform does is actually give marketers the proof so they can actually go to finance to get more money to take these small tests that they’re doing and turn them into regular, ongoing campaigns.

Dr. Barbara Hales

That’s so important. You know, a lot of advertising companies create for the Clio award so that they could get the best advertisement. But when they say the best, they are not talking about what brings in revenue and what is attracting clients. The Cleo awards is simply what looks the prettiest? And so there is a big shift between what they want and what we want. It’s wonderful that your system is able to differentiate that well.

Marketing Proof Jeff Greenfield

Thank you. Thank you. And I’ll let you in on a little secret, because what we’re able to do, and the reason we’re able to do this is because we’re able to find a unifying metric where we’re able to unify all these different forms of digital marketing with traditional marketing and bring them together. And the reality is, is that even for like a solo practitioner who’s only spending, let’s say, just $1,000 a month, or even $500 a month, they can do this same type of stuff on their own, a DIY approach, but it takes a little bit of a shift in understanding how marketing works.

Most marketers believe that what we do is invest our marketing dollars to buy clicks, clicks clicks lead to leads, and leads lead to new patients. And so the goal is to buy clicks. But that’s not how marketing works. The way marketing actually works is we invest marketing dollars to buy attention. We want people’s attention, and with that attention, we want to build awareness. And when awareness is built up to a certain level, a percentage of people will come and visit your practice. And if you have a website online, that is translated into clicks, and then those clicks will then lead to new patients. So it starts with that attention and most practitioners have a Google Sheet sitting on their on their desktop or their laptop, and it has a list of every day how much money they spent. It has a list of how many clicks they have. Their cost per click off figured out, their cost per lead, their cost per new patient. They have it all figured out, but that’s all at the bottom.

They’re missing that attention metric. And the reality is, is that when they downloaded that data, that attention metric was there, but they didn’t know what to do with it, so they ignored that column. And that attention metric is called impressions. Impressions are how many impressions are you? Are you actually putting out there? How many people are you attempting to reach? It doesn’t mean you reach them. It just means that you attempted to get to them. And so what I encourage everyone who’s listening to do so they can kind of do this on their own and gain some insight from this is that if you take that sheet that you have, and go back a year, re download all of your reports and include those impressions. And then what you want to do is you want to graph your impressions by day, and you surprised how they change day over day. And then you want to overlay that with your clicks, and then overlay that with your your new patient appointments, and then your new patients. And then you want to kind of go backwards.

You want to look when you had a lot of new patients in a week, look back to the clicks, because there’s obviously that were clicks that were there, and then go back to look and see when the impressions were up. And what you’ll notice is it wasn’t, in most cases, it wasn’t that same day. It may not even been that same week or same month, and you want to start to see the relationship between that increase in impressions and or certain types of campaigns that you’re running. And then you want to dig into those days, and whatever you were doing on those days, that and your estimation led to those new patients. It’s real simple do more of that. That’s what you want to do. So you want to focus on that versus the clicks.

The clicks are the end result of the marketing. It’s not what you’re getting, because most of your marketing is going to lead to things like referrals, someone picking up the phone and calling someone just walking in. We’ve all had that experience before, so the key is, it’s all about those impressions. And let’s say, Hey, you’re sponsoring like a little league team. Well, guess what? Go online and see where your sign is and start doing some research. You can probably get an estimation of how many cars drive by per day. And what I would do is I would put into my thing for every day. I would put down little league banner, how many impressions each day. And there’s lots of things that that solo practitioners and even larger practices do that are out in the community, that are reaching people that are generating impressions. So you want to try to track all those so that you’ll know what to do more of versus what to do less of.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Absolutely. Now you can’t turn to any business nowadays without hearing we are incorporating AI. Everybody has AI in their pocket, and you know, it makes you think that if you don’t, then you’re behind the eight ball. So you have AI, and it’s in your platform. Tell us about that.

Jeff Greenfield

When we first designed the platform back in 2022, it was a series of a multitude of different steps, because this is pretty complicated math, and you have to make sure that everything lines up. And so the process would stop, and then a human would have to evaluate to determine what is the next step. So once we had enough test data to go through, we could then automate that process and have aI manage that entire process. That’s the first part that we do. The second part that we do is that our models are predictive models. And what I mean by that is that not only are they telling our marketers what happened yesterday or what happened last month, but they’re also able to tell you, if you spend this much here, you will get this many new patients, if you will, or new patient leads. So in order to do that, we need to be able to demonstrate and prove that our models can do that.

The way we use AI is to take the clients data and train the model with the marketing data, and then for each day during that training period, we say, essentially, hey, this is how many new patients came in for this many marketing impressions. Then we go to the model. We say, now you have to guess and predict. And then we look at what the model says versus what actually happened, and that helps us see how well the model is actually predicting. So those are the two ways that we use AI here at provalytics, kind of on our roadmap, in terms of what we’re doing, is that our data then gets put into dashboards for our clients, where they can visually see things. But our clients do have a lot of requests like, Hey, I have a meeting with my boss later this week. It would be great if I could get some insight on what’s actually happening on this date. Can you give me your opinion on it?

Obviously, most of our client customers want to come to me, because I’ve been doing this for so long now, but there’s only so much of me to go around. Well, we’re in the process now of training individual AI bots, what we’re calling like real time AI analyst with clients data, and it’s completely restricted. So this is not something that would be available inside of chat GPT, because it’s within, it’s within our own environment. And our clients, when we talk to them, what they seem to like is they like the process of texting for information. So each of our clients are going to have their own phone number that they can text the AI analyst. 24/7, ask it questions, even ask it to draw pictures and charts and PowerPoint slides for them, stuff like that. That’s kind of our next level, and that’s a huge value for folks, because to hire a full time analyst is a couple $100,000 a year, and now having one that works weekends and nights is pretty, pretty great,

Dr. Barbara Hales

Although your AI is probably going around hungry because you have no cookies in your system. (LOL)

Jeff Greenfield

That’s right. That’s absolutely right.

Attention Shift Dr. Barbara Hales

What does a cookie collapse refer to and what does this mean for everyone? Why is it significant?

Jeff Greenfield

It’s significant because there’s been this massive shift in terms of how the advertising ecosystem is operating. You know, the internet is essentially free, powered by advertising, and it used to be that third party cookies. So there’s the cookies are little pieces of code on your machine that have information in them. It’s usually encrypted data, little, tiny pieces of data that mean nothing to you, but means something to whoever can retrieve it. So a great example is you go to your laptop and you type in amazon.com and you’re automatically logged in. That’s a cookie. That’s a first party cookie only Amazon can read that.

Let’s say you go to the New York Times and you see an ad for Volvo. Now, Volvo is advertising a new car, and they think Barbara that you’re going to buy one, or you’re in their demographic to buy a Volvo, but they also know that if you see 100 of their ads per day that will turn you off to Volvo, you will immediately get very upset. So they want to limit it to maybe five per day. So the way they do that is that they would drop a cookie onto your machine, so that as you go from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to another publication, it’s just a counter once that number gets to five, when you load the page, they’re not going to they’re not going to buy any more ads for you to show you Volvo ads for today, and it’ll get restarted every single day. So those cookies allow people advertisers to improve the experience, but they also allowed companies, like my former company, to be able to try. Track and determine effectiveness across the web. And it also allowed companies to create profiles of you so that they know you would like a Volvo and maybe know what types of restaurants you dine at, and things like that. When covid came around and we had the pandemic and everyone was spending so much more time online, a lot of companies made a more of a push towards a privacy type world. And Apple made a big update.

They got rid of all the cookies and the tracking that was there. And then Google was going to get rid of these tracking cookies, and they said they were going to do it, and then they said they weren’t. They said they were going to do it. Then they said they weren’t. They now say they won’t, but we’re starting to see some shifts that it will but the reality is, yeah, but the reality is right now. What’s happened, though, is that the way people traverse the digital world is so different now than it was 10 years ago. It used to be we would spend most of our time on websites like news sites, but now we spend all of our time in these apps, and these app worlds don’t allow cookies at all. So the ability to track people and build up profiles that you can go across these different ecosystems, you can’t do it anymore. So now, from a marketer’s perspective, where you could buy very granular you could, you know, they talk about user level targeting. You can’t do user level anymore. It’s a little bit broader. So we’re kind of going back to the future, if you will. We’re back to the days before digital, and I think that’s better for most marketers and advertisers. We got too into the weeds. We literally couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Well, how could it be better for marketers or advertisers if they can track who’s actually getting their ads?

Jeff Greenfield

Well, that’s a great point. You can track, but you have to do it from a broader perspective. The reason it’s better for advertisers is because what happened is, is that you know, for for advertisers and marketers, when you tell someone, hey, you can target the people that your precise customers, and to a marketer that’s like, crack, that’s like, unbelievable, like, I gotta have it. And so what happened is, is that marketers started taking all of these branding dollars where they’re saying, hey, feel good about my brand. You know, we’re i We’re a family company.

We care about our employees. So because remember, most of marketing and advertising is really unconscious. It’s very emotional. People still don’t understand why they buy, but they moved those messages and those dollars over to buy. Now here’s a special offer, and what they did is is that when you think about marketing, is like a sales funnel, they took those dollars that were at the top of the funnel, that were reaching lots of people, and they put it down to this highly targeted number, and so they violated this one rule in advertising, which is reach, which is attention. You want your dollars to get as much attention as possible. So they were getting attention for only people that were in market to buy today. And what that meant is they were always chasing their tail, and they’re down at the bottom, which is 100% auction type environment. And what I mean by that is that their competitors are there too.

So instead of buying a TV spot, and the cost of the TV spot, you know, like Super Bowl ad, it’s $8 million that’s the price. And when they’re sold out, they’re sold out. Well, all of these digital ads are the highest bidder wins, and what ends up happening is that they constantly get bid up. That’s why the profits for both Google and meta continue to rise. So now marketers are spending most of their dollars and an auction environment where the prices are continuously rising and they’re reaching a fewer number of people, so the ad effectiveness, how well their ads are performing, are going down. So yes, it is more difficult to measure, but it can be done, and you can even do the DIY method that we talked about earlier; you just have to find that awareness metric of impressions.

Advice for Beginners Dr. Barbara Hales

What advice would you give our listeners who are just starting to navigate the terrain?

Jeff Greenfield

What I would say is to get that Google Sheet going and make sure that you are looking through the lens of awareness, not of clicks. You want to drop the click, yes, the click is important, but it is not an indication of how well your marketing is performing at all. You want to look at awareness, and then you want to look at outcomes and understand that that takes time, and it all depends upon. On what it is you’re selling, what type of practice you have. For some practices, it’s, you know, it’s injuries that bring people in. So it’s an immediate type thing. For others, it’s a considered purchase. You know, it depends what type of practice you’re in in terms of how long that time to conversion is going to take. But you always want to start at the beginning, which is that attention metric.

Dr. Barbara Hales

What I suggest strongly is, unless you’re really, really into tech, that you outsource it. Let your favorite marketer/ tech person, do all of that and compile the lists and compile the data while you do what you do best.

Jeff Greenfield

Yes, I would agree with that 1,000% . If you’re a solo practitioner and you think you can handle all of the marketing and all the analytics, you’re not going to have much time for patients.

Dr. Barbara Hales

No, you can’t do everything. That’s right. That’s where provalytics comes in.

Jeff Greenfield

That’s exactly right. Yeah, you know you went to school because you wanted to take care of people and help them focus on that. Outsource to the experts that can help you, without a doubt.

Dr. Barbara Hales

If people are interested in reaching you, how do they do so?

Jeff Greenfield

Barbara, the best way is to go to the website. It’s provalytics.com or getprova.com, to check out the site. You can also check me out on LinkedIn as well.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Well, in case that just ran by you, it will be in the show notes so that you could look at it.

Jeff Greenfield

Awesome. Thank you, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Thanks so much for being with us today. It was really a fascinating episode, and thank you listeners for being here today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales and Jeff Greenfield. Til’ next time!

The post AI vs. Cookies Next in Marketing first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales interviews Justin Allan Montgomery, a nurse practitioner turned successful course creator. Justin shares his journey from starting multiple telemedicine practices to building an eight-figure course business. Now, he helps other professionals transition from trading time for money to creating passive income through online education.

Justin talks about his experience launching a men’s health clinic course that generated $50,000 in just a few weeks. He explains how he scaled this into a seven-figure business by creating courses on various healthcare topics, specifically targeting nurse practitioners. He offers valuable insights into the course creation process, marketing strategies, and the importance of building an audience through valuable content.

Key Takeaway:
“Marketing isn’t about being salesy. It’s about helping someone understand how you can help them.” – Justin Allan Montgomery

Connect with Justin Allan Montgomery:

• Website: www.procoursestart.com
• Email: justin@procoursestart.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/1932580250844631

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (207)

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us Justin Allan Montgomery. Justin is a nurse practitioner who transitioned to building a highly successful eight-figure course business. He’s the founder of Pro Course Start, a platform helping professionals create their own educational businesses. Welcome to the show, Justin.

Justin Allan Montgomery (01:21) Thanks for having me, Barbara. Appreciate it.

Getting Started in Course Creation

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:29) Justin, can you tell us how you got started with creating courses and building your business?

Justin Allan Montgomery (01:44) Sure! In 2019, I was working as a nurse practitioner and started to feel frustrated by the traditional work setup. I knew I was worth more, and after scaling a couple of men’s health clinics and telemedicine practices, I realized I had some unique skills. I started a blog, The Elite Nurse Practitioner, to share my experiences and knowledge, and people started asking me how they could do what I did. That’s when I decided to create a course on how to start a men’s health practice, which ended up making $50,000 in a few weeks with zero marketing. That’s when I knew I was onto something.

Scaling the Business

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:44) That’s impressive! So, after that success, what happened next?

Justin Allan Montgomery (03:49) From there, I started creating more courses on various topics like telemedicine, cannabis clinics, women’s health integration, and weight loss. I kept the focus on nurse practitioners. It didn’t take long for the business to grow into a seven-figure business in the first year, and eventually into an eight-figure business. All this happened in just a couple of years.

Challenges in Starting a Course Business

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:12) What are some common challenges or pitfalls people face when starting their own educational business?

Justin Allan Montgomery (06:36) One of the biggest pitfalls is underestimating the time and effort needed to get started. People think it’s a quick process, but creating quality courses that appeal to professionals takes time. You’ll need about 120 hours of focused work to launch your first course. Another challenge is shifting your mindset from being a professional to becoming a digital creator and marketer. This shift is crucial for success.

Creating Passive Income through Online Courses

Dr. Barbara Hales (09:10) What advice would you give to doctors looking to create their own passive income through courses?

Justin Allan Montgomery (09:18) My biggest piece of advice is to focus on delivering real value and be authentic in your marketing. People are looking for personalized care and knowledge, and they’ll pay for it. A key is to believe in your expertise and know that you can offer something valuable that others are willing to pay for.

Marketing Strategy and Building an Audience

Dr. Barbara Hales (12:04) What are some key marketing strategies that worked well for your course business?

Justin Allan Montgomery (12:15) The key is building an audience. You can’t just sell a course; you need an audience that trusts you. The best strategy is creating valuable, free content that resonates with your target audience. I recommend creating content at least two times a week and then promoting it on social media. This helps you build organic reach. Once you’ve built your audience, you can start selling through your email list. That’s where the magic happens.

Overcoming Common Obstacles

Dr. Barbara Hales (17:12) What’s one major mistake that doctors should avoid when marketing their own courses?

Justin Allan Montgomery (17:21) The biggest mistake is trying to sell without truly believing in the product. If you’re not authentic, people will sense that. It’s crucial to market what you believe in and focus on helping people, not just making sales. When you genuinely solve a problem, that’s when the marketing clicks.

Social Media and Content Creation

Dr. Barbara Hales (20:29) If a doctor is new to marketing and content creation, where should they start?

Justin Allan Montgomery (20:36) Start with content creation. Create authentic content that speaks directly to your ideal clients. Whether it’s blog posts, podcasts, or videos, the content should solve problems and build trust. This positions you as a thought leader and keeps your audience coming back for more.

Scaling Your Course Business

Dr. Barbara Hales (23:23) Where can our listeners learn more about you and your course creation program?

Justin Allan Montgomery (23:31) You can visit Pro Course Start for all the resources. You can also email me directly at justin@procoursestart.com for any questions. I’d be happy to help.

Webinars as a Marketing Tool

Dr. Barbara Hales (25:37) Do you think webinars are an important tool for course creators?

Justin Allan Montgomery (25:45) Yes, but I also think it depends on your business model. Webinars are excellent for lead generation, but they aren’t as scalable as pre-recorded courses. You need to find a balance. If you’re using webinars, they can help you build your email list and engage with your audience, but ultimately you should focus on evergreen content that generates income 24/7.

Closing Thoughts on Transitioning to Online Education

Dr. Barbara Hales (30:40) For professionals who are considering transitioning to creating educational content and courses, what’s your final piece of advice?

Justin Allan Montgomery (30:50) Take the leap and start building your course business with a solid foundation of value. Don’t worry about having everything figured out from the start. You’ll learn as you go. Trust in your knowledge and believe that there’s an audience out there who needs what you have to offer. It’s a mindset shift from being an employee to being an entrepreneur.

Conclusion

Dr. Barbara Hales (33:01) Thank you, Justin, for sharing your insights today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with Justin Allan Montgomery. We hope you’re feeling inspired to create your own course business. Until next time, goodbye!

The post Creating Courses for Passive Income first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales dives into one of the most talked-about topics in healthcare today—Artificial Intelligence in Medical Practice. Rather than stoking fears of robotic replacements, Dr. Hales presents AI as a powerful ally, helping doctors reclaim their time, reduce burnout, and enhance patient care.

Through real-life stories, Dr. Hales demonstrates how AI is already subtly integrated into everyday tools such as EHRs, billing software, voice dictation apps, and chatbots. But the heart of the episode focuses on the human side of AI. From a rural pediatrician who finally had time to tuck her kids in at night thanks to an AI scribe, to a patient who credited early kidney disease detection to an AI alert system, this episode celebrates how technology can extend—not replace—the compassion in healthcare.

Dr. Hales breaks down the myths, addresses common fears about AI depersonalizing care, and encourages providers to view AI not as a threat but as a time-saving partner that allows them to focus more on listening, connecting, and building trust. She also provides quick wins for getting started with AI in your practice—no tech degree required.

Key Takeaway:
“Let AI handle the data. You handle the heart.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com

Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:03) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we will be talking about a topic that’s been buzzing in both tech and medical circles alike. Artificial Intelligence in the world of healthcare, so the human touch in an AI world, how artificial intelligence is shaping medical practice. Now, before you roll your eyes, think, great, another robot takeover story. Hold on. Today’s episode isn’t about replacing you, it’s about empowering you. And I’ve got three heart-warming stories that might just shift your perspective. We’ll cover what AI actually means for private practice, how it’s being used right now, in ways you might already be benefiting from the emotional, human side of AI. Yes, it exists. And finally, how you can prepare without losing your personal touch, let’s begin.

What is AI in Healthcare

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:45) When we say AI, most people think of robots during surgery or chat, GPT writing patient notes, and while those headlines get clicks, AI in medical practice is often far simpler and more practical. AI includes algorithms that scan radiology images faster than humans do, tools that suggest diagnoses based on EMR patterns, chatbots for patient intake and FAQs, and predictive tools for identifying patients at risk for hospitalization. But here’s the key. AI augments care. It doesn’t replace it. It’s like having a really smart assistant who never sleeps, never gets tired, and can remember every case file instantly. Now that sounds helpful, doesn’t it?

Real Story: Dr. Patel and AI Documentation

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:28) Let me tell you about Dr. Patel, a solo pediatrician in a small rural town. Her biggest challenge wasn’t just treating kids, it was the administrative overload. She was spending three hours every evening catching up on notes. She decided to try an AI documentation tool that listened to her during exams and summarized everything for the EMR, “I felt like I had a life again.” She told me, “I made dinner, I tucked my kids into bed, and I didn’t feel like I was drowning.” That’s the kind of impact AI can have. It’s not flashy, it’s freedom.

Everyday AI Tools You May Already Use

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:10) You may not realize it, but if you’re using any of the following, you are already using AI, EHRs with predictive alerts, voice dictation tools, appointment scheduling systems that optimize slots, billing software that flags anomalies, and chatbots on your website. The point isn’t to adopt AI for the sake of trendiness; it’s to solve problems you already have to reduce burnout, streamline workflows, improve patient satisfaction, and enhance diagnostic accuracy.

Real Story: Predictive Alert Saves Patient

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:46) One of my colleagues shared a case involving a 57-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes. His numbers were slowly declining, but not alarmingly, so the clinic had implemented an AI system that scanned lab results against historical trends. It flagged a subtle but dangerous pattern in his hemoglobin A1C and renal function. The system sent an alert. The doctor brought him in for a deeper evaluation, and they caught early-stage kidney disease before symptoms appeared. He looked at me and said, “You just gave me 10 more years with my granddaughter.” That’s AI and the human connection working in tandem.

Addressing Doctors’ Fears About AI

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:28) Let’s address the elephant in the room. Doctors often fear that AI will replace jobs, depersonalize care, erode trust between provider and patient. But here’s the truth: AI can do tasks, not build relationships. AI can remember data, not read emotions. AI can streamline workflow, but it will never offer empathy after a bad diagnosis. Think of it like this. You don’t need to be the person manually filling every paper chart anymore. What a relief. AI can give you back the time to be more human.

Real Story: OB-GYN and the AI Chatbot

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:04) Here’s an OB GYN, unexpected bond, a physician friend, an OB-GYN was nervous when her group added an AI chatbot to handle pre-visit, education, and FAQs. She was afraid it would feel cold, but what she found was the opposite. One patient came in and said, “Thank you for answering my questions at 2 am I was freaking out.” It wasn’t her, but the patient felt comforted because the information was personalized and timely, and that built more trust. When the OB finally walked into the room, the doctor said, “For the first time in a while, I didn’t start the visit by explaining something. I started by connecting.”

Quick Wins to Start with AI

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:47) You don’t need a tech degree to start integrating AI into your practice. Start small. Quick wins include using voice-to-text tools like Dragon or Suki, implementing an appointment bot to reduce phone calls. Try an AI triage assistant on your website and use ChatGPT, yes, ChatGPT, to help write content, social posts, or scripts. Always ask, Will this tool save me time or make my patients feel more heard? If the answer is yes, give it a try.

The Increasing Value of Human Skills

Dr. Barbara Hales (05:22) Here’s the irony: the more efficient AI becomes, the more valuable your human skills are, including empathy, nuance, listening, and advocacy. These cannot be replicated. The future isn’t man or machine, it’s man with machine. Use AI to reduce the noise so you can lean into the relationship part of medicine, the reason most of us went into healthcare in the first place.

Closing and Call to Action

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:05) I hope today’s episode gave you both hope and clarity. AI isn’t the enemy, it’s an ally. And here’s your takeaway for today: let AI handle the data. You handle the heart. If you want to learn how to start integrating smart tools into your private practice without losing your authenticity. Let’s talk. Book a free discovery. Call me at the Medical the medical strategist.com, forward slash, contact. Also, if you found today’s episode helpful, please share it with a colleague. The more we talk about this, the more empowered we all become. Until next time, stay human, stay curious, and remember your care is irreplaceable. This has been your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, until next time.

The post AI and the Future of Medical Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, host Dr. Barbara Hales speaks with Morgan Hamon, CPA and partner at EisnerAmper, about the financial health of dental practices and how professionals can gain control over their profitability. With over two decades of experience helping more than 900 dental practices, Morgan shares actionable financial strategies that dentists can use to build stronger and more sustainable businesses.

Morgan shares his expertise by outlining practical and strategic approaches that dental professionals can adopt to take greater control over their finances. Rather than simply focusing on cutting costs, he emphasizes the need for a comprehensive understanding of a practice’s financial health. This means recognizing where profits are being lost and addressing the underlying issues that often go unnoticed. Whether it’s inefficient billing, aging receivables, or overspending on supplies, Morgan encourages practice owners to act like CEOs and approach their finances with discipline and strategy.

He highlights several common areas that often undermine profitability:

• Uncollected Revenue: Aging patient and insurance receivables can silently drain profits if left unmanaged. Practices must regularly review and follow up on balances, especially those that are 60–90+ days past due.
• Broken Billing and Collection Systems: Many practices fail to consistently charge, bill, and collect—missing even one step can jeopardize the entire cash flow.
• Over-delegated Expense Management: Allowing staff to make unchecked purchases, particularly through platforms like Amazon, can dramatically inflate costs without the owner’s awareness.
• Lack of Financial Oversight: Without a consistent system to monitor income and expenses, doctors may be unaware of critical trends or errors that impact profitability.

By addressing these areas and taking a proactive approach to their business operations, dental professionals can establish more efficient, profitable, and sustainable practices, providing them with both financial peace of mind and greater professional freedom.

Key Takeaway:
“Running a practice means wearing two hats: clinician and CEO. If you don’t lead the business, the business will lead you.” – Morgan Hamon

Connect with Morgan Hamon:

Website: https://www.eisneramper.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-hamon-cpa-0a9156153/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com

Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us Morgan Hamon. Morgan Hamon is very interesting person. He is one where most dentists focus on patient care, but running a profitable practice is a different challenge entirely. I’m sure you all agree. Morgan is a CPA and partner at Eisner Amber, and he has spent over 20 years helping dental practice owners take control of their finances. You know, whether it’s dentistry or chiropractic or traditional medicine, you know, we all know how to take care of our patients from the perspective of our specialty, but very few of us trained in business, and that tends to be our failing, especially when we finally get the hang of it. You know, bureaucracy like moves the bar. So this is where Morgan helps us out. He takes control of their finances, increases profitability and navigate complex tax strategies. And I’d love to propose Morgan as a guest on not only my podcast, but if you guys have another podcast, and it would be a value to your listeners, you know you might want to drop him a line as the former president of HDA accounting group. He built a firm that grew to serve 900 plus dental practices across all 50 states, and now, following a merger with one of the top 20 accounting firms in the industry, he’s continuing to help practice owners make smarter financial decisions, ready to share practical, real world financial insights for dental practice owners, Morgan will break down profitability, taxes and leadership in a way that’s easy to understand, helping dentists build stronger, more financially sustainable businesses. Welcome to the show.

Morgan Hamon (02:28) Thank you, Barbara, it’s very nice to be here. Thank you for having me on your podcast.

Diagnosing Profitability Problems

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:33) Morgan, you normally talk about how to increase profitability by improving cash flow and reducing financial waste. How do you recommend doing that? How to achieve that?

Morgan Hamon (02:48) Well, our approach is to really, for starters, look at the profit margin. You know what? What is that financial reward that the doctors is realizing from their from their practice? And once we know that number, then we have to set the goal post, if you will, and decide if that’s if that’s appropriate, if the doctors happy with it, we definitely have some opinions on what’s possible for for dental practice, and we’ll, we’ll visit with the doctor. Sometimes more money isn’t always their objective. Sometimes it’s more time. But then once we decide, look, you know, for for the given the size of this practice. You know, once we know that profit margin, we can then decide, look, is it? Is it above average? Is it right where we need to be? Or maybe it’s just lower than everyone would like to see it. If it’s in that final category, you know, that’s where we begin to diagnose. And there’s, from a financial point of view, there’s two factors that impact profit. There’s your expense structure, and then there’s revenue, right? So it’s, if we’re diagnosing, it’s one of those two, the go to first place to look always is expenses, if someone’s profits not where they want it. It’s like, where am I overspending? Or, I think more often than not, it’s more related to the revenue side of the profit equation. And if we’re talking marketing, that could certainly be a factor there too. You know, is there enough money in the first place coming in to realize an adequate profit margin? Or maybe it seems like there should be, but maybe that, maybe that production’s not being collected. Maybe we have some collection issues. We’re not charging billing or collecting appropriately. So it’s really important to diagnose which one it is. You know, if there’s a if there’s a revenue issue, a collection problem, well then we don’t need to go, you know, get give our supply representatives a hard time. You. If that’s not, if that’s not where our attention should be. So that’s, that’s the overall process. Barbara’s, you know, let’s just decide where are we, and if some things needed attention, then we have to diagnose and really decide where our limited time as the CEO of our business, you know, where should we spend that time to have the best effect?

Common Financial Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Dr. Barbara Hales (05:20) What are some costly mistakes that health professionals make? And like pointing out, I’m sure is helpful, but how do you help them overcome that?

Morgan Hamon (05:30) So first is to really identify what, what the issue is. So let’s, let’s, we’ll continue on with our with my example here, let’s say we decide, look, it’s, you know, the expense structure looks okay. Profit Margin is low. So we diagnose that. I diagnose that by looking at receivables. You know, are there? You know, in generally, if we have a low margin, that’ll, that’ll often coincide with a large amount of receivables, particularly a large amount of receivables that are aging out. And so we, once we diagnose that, then we can come up with some action items. Some of those action items will be in my lane, the CPA lane, and sometimes they veer over into like a practice consultant lane. If receivables are the likely culprit, I often advise the doctors say, look, we’ve got a large amount of receivables, if we’re going to quantify that, in my opinion, in the dental world, if total patient insurance receivables, the complete total, if those exceed one month of average production, I think that’s high when we peel back the onion, if you will. And we see a large amount of those receivables over 60 days, over 90 days, I advise look, go to your practice software, print out every patient balance that is currently 61 to 90 as of today, right? The reason I picked 61 to 90 is that that’s recent. That means we saw that patient between two and three months ago. This is happening right now. If somebody’s had their practice 15 years and we go looking over 90 plus, there could be stuff in there from 15 years ago. But if we look at 60 to 90 now we isolate that this is activity that happened within the last two or three months. And the question you’re asking yourself, you go one by one, why is this here? Was the insurance claim not filed correctly? You know, should the patient have received a statement? I’ve heard stories of where, you know, maybe it’s a small town, and the staff knows everybody. They know the patients, and they feel they feel bad with them, or bad for them, so they let them leave with maybe without paying. Maybe they’re supposed to pay before they go. So you just have to look for anything systemic and hopefully identify a common cause. And once you know that, then we can go to work on it. And this is where it might veer off into the consultant lane. We can diagnose as the CPA and the accountant. I can diagnose if I can’t operate on the practice so if insurance claims just aren’t being filed correctly, well, I’ve never done that. We’re gonna have to get some help to solve that, but it’s really important just to find out where, where should we spend that limited time we have?

How Morgan Got Started in Dental Finance

Dr. Barbara Hales (08:31) How did you get into this to begin with?

Morgan Hamon (08:34) Luck and opportunity. One of our very first clients was was a dentist that not only owned several dental practices, but also, you know, did had a seminar for dentists to help them, because he was fabulously successful. And so it just ended up being just a good relationship where we got into that, that dental, the dental field, just for me personally, it was just a really, really good fit with dentists. I’ve always enjoyed working with, with business owners, professionals and dentists in particular. So we just realized there’s a lot of value you can add as an as a very niche specialist, laser focused on one industry. And it just so happened that we found our way to the dental space and stayed there, never looked back.

Dr. Barbara Hales (09:25) okay? But when you were a child, you know, maybe say, I want to be a policeman or a fireman, you know. I mean, like the average child doesn’t say, Well, you know, exciting, you know, I think I’d like to be a CPA. It has a good ring to it, yeah. So it’s like, what happened?

Morgan Hamon (09:44) Yeah. Well, so being a CPA was the last thing I ever wanted to be as a child. I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I wanted and so my family’s all CPAs, my dad, brother, cousins. I mean, definitely in our DNA, I was no choice. I. Is the rebel. All right, so I, I went to college. The Navy paid for my college, university of Arizona, and then the day I graduated college, I was commissioned as an officer. I went right into the Navy. So I spent 11 years in the Navy, flying F eighteens. I was a West Coast guy. It was, it was a lot of fun and but, but most of them did most, most my navy buddies now are pretty senior captains with United and Southwest and because I it just didn’t feel like a good fit for me. I love flying, but I just felt private industry was, for me, a better fit for myself. So I left the Navy, and that’s what I did, and I ended up going back to school, got a master’s degree in accounting, sat for the CPA exam along that time in there, my dad, career, CPA, we were both honestly needing a job, needing something to do. So we, we basically did a startup, which turned into HD accounting group, and so it, you know, life, life takes you places, and you just, you never, never pass up a life changing opportunity. It was very clear when this all came to fruition, that, look, if we, if we apply ourselves, give it everything we have, this could be really special, and that’s ultimately what happened so But to answer your question, yeah, going from being a fighter pilot to CPA, pretty unusual career track there. But I, you know, I enjoy I took accounting classes in my undergrad. I enjoyed it. I have an aptitude for it. And so, you know, do really well at it. It’s a different challenge. But, you know, as a kid, to your point, Barbara, I said, if you looked ahead, I’m 54 here in a couple of weeks. Oh, thanks in advance there. But if you’d asked me as a teenager, hey, you know, when you’re 54 you’re going to be a CPA, and you know, you know, work for this big, big firm, I would have said, No, that’s not what I want to do. But you know, what do you know? What do you know when you’re 15.

Bloom Where You’re Planted

Dr. Barbara Hales (12:18) Are you down? It’s, you know, a lot of careers, or just things that people just fall into from exposure.

Morgan Hamon (12:25) Well,There’s a saying I’ve heard, you know, over the over the years, including in the Navy, because even in the Navy, you don’t quite know where you’re going to end up. I mean, you go, you go to to on a navy scholarship. There was no guarantee. I was going to be a pilot. That’s what I wanted. There’s little risk involved. You know, you had to get good grades, work hard, hopefully get what you want. And then when and then when you become a pilot and go into flight training, there’s no guarantee you’re gonna fly F 18. It’s like you got to be do a good job and have aptitude. So there was a saying that the Navy told us, listen, you’re going to go. Needs of the Navy is kind of where, ultimately, where you’re going to end up. You got to bloom where you’re planted, alright? And so I’ve always thought of that like wherever, wherever you’re planted, you gotta bloom where you’re planted, right? And then, you know, if you work hard and maybe want to go different direction, then you have that, that that flexibility and opportunity.

Financial Blind Spots and Their Costs

Dr. Barbara Hales (13:12) What financial blind spots in health practices that could cause owners thousands, you know, what are some of them? And, you know, how do you address them?

Morgan Hamon (13:25) I think, I think the most common is, you know, our in our world, so, private, private dental, you know, these doctors receive an incredible, incredible amount of education and training and clinical skills. What they’re not taught is how to run businesses, and so if they you know, they could be the most amazing clinician. And now they’re owning a practice because they want. They want what everybody wants when you own a business, right? You want to you want to make a nice living. You want to have some control over your life. I want to be working towards something that’s going to have value in the future, but nobody really teaches you how to do that, and unless you identify that as the separate skill set that you need to invest in and develop, you know, you could struggle. We work with a lot of startup practices, and over the years, we’ve had some really dig a hole early on because they don’t understand the fundamentals of billing and collecting, and if that process is broken, and here’s, here’s, like, a practical example, they’re starting the practice up. We need somebody to bill insurance and make sure that’s happening. So we’re going to hire a billing insurance coordinator. I’m going to read the resumes, and, like, we’re going to hire this person. This is it. Boy, they they know it, but the doctor doesn’t really understand it. They’re hoping that employee understands it, and that that employee really doesn’t know, like, maybe they’re really good at interviewing, they got a really nice resume, and they sure look busy at work, but it’s just not happening. I mean, I’ve had, I’ve had difficult conversations with doctors where this is exactly what happened, and then three months into their startup, there’s no money. In the bank, because that person is not is incompetent, but the doctor doesn’t really fully understand that process to supervise them correctly. So I, you know, I think it is and it’s complex. I mean, the insurance world, you know that many of our clients could tell you it’s like, not their favorite aspect of the business, but you really have to understand it. So if there is, I went to a business seminar a long, long time ago, Barbara, and there was a saying I remembered very, very carefully, very well a seminar. And it said, Look, when you own a business, you have to charge bill and collect. Two out of three. Doesn’t cut it. Think about that. You gotta charge bill and collect. There’s no partial credit for two out of three. You got to do you got to it’s got to do all of them. And so the doctors, where they just, they don’t have that established as well as they should in their practice, are going to suffer financially. So that’s one aspect where I think it’s a real kind of a hazardous area, particularly for new practice owners. The other area, and we’ve talked a lot about the revenue side of the profit equation. The other side is the expense side. If you over delegate that I’ve seen that get some doctors into trouble, too specific to a dental practice, if we just consider office supplies, which not a huge line item on the P and L, generally, those office supplies should be less than 1% of Total practice collections. We’ve seen practices where it’s running like 4% Wow. And you consider, you know, if it’s a million, you know, a million dollar product, $1.5 million practice, that that turns up being a large amount of money, and the doctor has no idea, because they just say, hey, my my people are going to order what they need. And then, if that’s the case. I’ve seen this so many times. I can tell you right now, we dive in Amazon every day ever. It’s like an addiction, hey? But it’s only 60–70 bucks, yeah. But when you’re doing it three, four times a day, that adds, I mean, we’ve seen we’ve got dug into it, and it is like the Amazon list is just unbelievable. So we have to tell the doctor, they gotta get a hold of this. It should not be a free for all, for the staff to just get on an order. You know, should not be ordering box of gloves if you got a crate in the back room that under a bunch of stuff that nobody’s seen.

Controlling Inventory and Preventing Overspending

Dr. Barbara Hales (17:13) That people get boxes of gloves from Amazon.

Morgan Hamon (17:17) Yeah, well, they get supply. You gotta control your inventory. You don’t want to buy things you don’t need. I’m just using that as an example. You don’t want to you don’t want to order, order supplies. And actually, I was kind of an incorrect example, because that’s dental supplies, probably. But the point being is you got to control your inventory. You don’t want to be buying things you don’t need, just because people are used to buying them, or, you know what, maybe they like getting on Amazon. But you got to control that on the expense side, same thing with clinical supplies, although I will tell you, that is a benchmark we closely track, incidentally, that’s been going down over the years, not up. I don’t know about medical, medicals, that’s not our world, but dental certainly is our world. But those have come down quite a bit and continue to go down, just as a side note. But I think, I think dentists are pretty attuned to monitor that one. But there’s some other, there’s some other line items that can quickly get out of control.

Scam Invoices and Financial Oversight

Dr. Barbara Hales (18:12) You really have to, you really have to keep a very strict eye on it. I have a story that I’d like to relate here, and that is well for me, you know, I had nurses that were placing orders when our supplies were down. They knew what we needed, but I was the only one that had control over the checkbook and and consequently, the bills, because if you have the manager in your office, you know, write the checks bills. Bills come in, they write, they write the check for it. What do they care? It’s not their money. They’re not really looking or they’re not aware of whether this is the correct invoice or not, because somebody else placed the order, and they’re just writing the check for it, and it’s not their money. So you know, that really is a recipe for disaster. And I would, I would get these pills, and I would look at the surgical supply place that, you know, said we got this amount of boxes for surgical gloves and gauze and whatever else. And I’d look at the name, and then the name didn’t mean anything to me. It wasn’t the vendor that we normally used. And so I would ask, you know, one of the people that placed the order, and she go, No, I never dealt with them. The thing is, this that we would get, you know, like scammers, even then, like, at least once a month, and you’d get a bill, and everything looked like it was a bona fide bill, but it was a scam. And, you know, I would call them up and I’d go like, hey, you know, like, I got this bill from you. So, you know, for the surgical supplies. And they’d go, yeah, and I’d go, so do you mind telling me who you are? Because you are my vendor. And they’d say, Oh, you don’t have to pay that. This is just an advertisement. I said, you know, like, I don’t really see anywhere on here, right? Says advertisement, so you know, if they could collect, you know, two out of 10, they’re still making quite a handsome [profit].

Accounts Payable Systems

Morgan Hamon (20:52) You know, what you just described is a professionalized accounts payable process in a business where you know you should be paying off the invoice rather than the statement. You get an invoice, you pair that with a purchase order. Is this what we ordered? Did we actually get it? Is it an acceptable condition? Yes, yes, yes. Clear to pay. Most and our clientele are private dental practice owners. They don’t they don’t have accounts to payable, accounts payable department. So you’re hoping you have a sharp office manager or administrative employees to have to be heads up. Many of our clients have their vendors on just auto pay on the credit card too. So, but that you raise a very good point. I think it’s prevalent in just in the accounting world, you know, we get all kinds of fictitious bills from saying, Hey, this is Intuit, and you’re about to expire, and we’re going to take everything away. And, yeah, you just, you have to, it’s all nonsense. Of course, you have to be very

Dr. Barbara Hales (21:56) Yeah, parts in your mouth, and you want to take action, riight?

Morgan Hamon (21:59) But you you raise a very good point is that those types of scams are private, prevalent in every every industry, and continue to be very creative. And the point is that you really have to to scrutinize every bill, like you said, and not just be in a hurry and just pay because they’re counting on, you know that 10–20% of people to fall for that scam. That’s a really, really good point.

Leadership and Practice Success

Dr. Barbara Hales (22:24) Yeah, so you know, you you have a lot of experience and exposure to a lot of different practices. What would you say makes the difference between the successful practices and the rest?

Morgan Hamon (22:37) I think it all comes down to the doctor and how well they run their practice, how effective they are as a business leader. It is a separate skill, and I think this applies to any small business, whether you’re an accountant, an attorney, a doctor, your success is your your technical skill, which like for for my world, that’s a practitioner, and in your world, our dentist world, that’s as a clinician, those skills are important, but it’s your skill set as a business leader, where we see the most successful clients, we know who they are, we can see it again. And it’s not always the dollars Barbara. Sometimes it’s, it’s the whole package, you know, like, if I, if I, I’ll just, I think of a close friend of mine, longtime client. Does very well, very successful, very good dentist. He works 28 precisely. It’s very 28 hours per week. That’s very important to him. And so more money, although, you know, he does very well, more money isn’t the sole objective. Protecting that lifestyle is also objective. And he’s in a position where he’s got the full package, and he get he can have it all, and it’s because he’s an effective business leader. He inspires his employees. He creates an environment people want to be. The patients feel comfortable. It’s a great patient experience. He runs a good ship. Has everything’s very well designed. He invests in the practice everything state of the art. The employees look up to him. He leads from the front. He treats people well. Those are the those are the doctors that have the most successful practices, in my opinion, is they’re really good at leading their practice. The dot the clients that struggle. I think they, they, they are very likely, I shouldn’t say very likely. I think it’s they may be a great clinician, but the business side is just maybe not their passion. You know, sometimes people buy a practice and they think, Gosh, this just isn’t what I thought it would be. I’d rather. Or go back to being an associate, that that’s that can happen. Those are the practices that struggle, not because the person isn’t smart and capable. It’s just, you know, that skill set, either they don’t have an interest in it, they didn’t acquire those skills, because you do have to acquire those skills. You’re not born with them. You’re not being a good clinician or being a good practitioner. Doesn’t mean you’re a good manager, good leader.

Motivating the Team

Dr. Barbara Hales (25:21) Well, though, you know, I really melted it down to the most simplest, you know, ways to look at it. I called my staff in. We’re all together, and I go, so, so we’re just going to say it like it is, the more money I make, the more money you make, right? Make no money. You make no money. See how that works.

Morgan Hamon (25:49) Yes, you have to have profit to in order to share the profit.

One Actionable Tip

Dr. Barbara Hales (25:55) So for our listeners, what is one tip that you could tell them that they could implement right away?

Morgan Hamon (26:03) Right away, I would say, unique to our world, private dental practice owners make sure you have an effective end of day close out to ensure that what was posted as collected in your practice management software is actually what happened. There should be a segregation of duties so one person isn’t responsible for the whole thing, and they should present that to you every day. This is what was posted in the practice software. And this ties directly to, let’s say, the batch deposit slip from your credit card terminal. You know you need to be checking those numbers every day. Have the staff prepare it for you. You look at it. It will only take five or 10 minutes of your day. But when you do that, you set the proper control environment in your practice. It sets that tone at the top that we take this serious. This is professional business, and this is important. It needs to tie out. So if, if the practice owner is is just busy and just assuming there aren’t managers, it’s all going to work out somehow. I would say, let’s not do that. Develop an effective end of day. Close out. Check it every day. Have it be very conspicuous that you’re checking it every day. You’ll sleep better at night, your practice will run tighter, and you’ll have the right tone at the top for your office.

Closing Remarks

Dr. Barbara Hales (27:21) Well, I think that that’s a good tip. This is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. You have been listening to your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, with Mark Hamon, and the way in which you can reach him will be in our show notes. It’s been a pleasure to have you here today. Till next time.

The post The Business of Smiles first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales, host of the Marketing Tips for Doctors podcast, invites Callum Laing to discuss the value of securing a board seat and how it can enhance professional growth, especially for doctors and other technical professionals.

Callum highlights how board involvement offers a unique opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of businesses, moving beyond technical expertise. He encourages professionals to explore board opportunities outside of their fields to gain fresh insights and avoid becoming unpaid consultants.Callum outlines several key strategies for securing a board seat:

• Start Small with Advisory Boards: For newcomers, joining advisory boards of small businesses or startups provides valuable experience and credibility, which can serve as a stepping stone to larger board roles.
• Holistic Business Understanding: Serving on a board enables professionals to gain a comprehensive understanding of how a business operates as a whole, beyond their specialized field, ultimately making them more effective in their own roles.
• Asking the Right Questions: By joining boards outside one’s industry, professionals are encouraged to ask smarter, more insightful questions that challenge assumptions and drive better decision-making.
• Building a Network of Investors: Callum emphasizes the importance of developing a robust investor network, which is crucial for raising capital and connecting businesses to potential funding opportunities.
• Advisory Boards as Business Tools: Even small businesses can benefit from creating advisory boards to gain valuable insights, establish credibility, and unlock growth opportunities, as these boards can provide a competitive edge.

Callum also explains the legal responsibilities of becoming a board member and advises aspiring board directors to start with advisory roles to build experience before taking on the full legal responsibilities of being a director.

Key Takeaway:
“Joining a board forces you to look at the business as a whole, ask smart questions, and become a more valuable professional in any field.” – Callum Laing.

Connect with Callum Laing:
Website: boardroom-blueprint.com

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (202)

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and we’re really fortunate today, because today we have none other than Callum Laing. He is a renowned entrepreneur, a board director, investor, and best-selling author with a passion for helping individuals reach their full potential. With a stellar record of building and scaling businesses across diverse industries, Callum brings a wealth of real-world directorship experience to the summit. His infectious enthusiasm, combined with a knack for simplifying complex concepts, ensures that attendees leave with actionable insights and strategies they can implement immediately. As a prolific author and thought leader, Callum’s wisdom has been regularly featured in the media and is sought out by business leaders around the world. Welcome to the show, Callum.

Callum’s Journey into Boardrooms

Callum Laing (01:09) Thank you, Barbara. Feel like I could have written that intro myself.

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:15) The first thing I wanted to know is, how did you get involved with boards? How did that become an interest for you?

Callum Laing (01:24) So it started off when I was a young entrepreneur, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and I was not very good at it. I just wanted to learn, and I figured one great way to learn would be to sit on the board of other people’s companies so I could see what they were doing right and what they were doing wrong, and I could meet other smart people. The problem was, I didn’t know. I didn’t even know what a board was at that point. I just thought it would be something cool to get on and learn from. So I didn’t know what a board was. I didn’t really have the knowledge. I didn’t really have the people in my network who could help me get on that. And so I didn’t get onto boards until many years later. And then, when I got on lots of boards… So what happened was, my main business is mergers and acquisitions and taking companies public, and so I was sitting on a lot of the boards from companies that we were taking public. And I guess a lot of my… I had been when I wasn’t sitting on boards, I was quite enamored with boards.

When I sat on boards, I got quite frustrated with boards, and I saw a lot of challenges. I saw a lot of people on boards for the wrong reasons, just looking after their own self-interests, rather than all the stakeholders. And I saw a lot of very talented people not being able to get onto boards because they didn’t look the right way, the wrong gender, they didn’t have the right background, hadn’t gone to the right schools, didn’t know the right people, and so you just had a lot of talent missing from that pool, and that was very frustrating. And so as a member of several boards, I started implementing solutions to get more new people into that fold. And ultimately that became the business of the Veblen Director Program, which is training women, minorities, and first-timers on how to get their first board seats. And because once you’re on the board ladder, it’s actually relatively easy to move up the board ladder. It’s just getting on there in the first place, which is the challenge.

Why Professionals Should Consider Joining Boards

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:45) I do want to just stick in that. You know, I myself became involved with your program because I just found the whole idea of it very fascinating, and I am now sitting on a board. So, yeah, thank you. So I just wanted to let listeners know it does work. Why should doctors and health professionals consider going on boards? You know, they have their practice, they’re busy with what they’re doing. Why should they look outside their world and think, “Sitting on a board might make sense for me?” Why would it make sense?

Callum Laing (04:28) So, look, I don’t think it’s just the medical profession. I think lots of us, as we go through our careers, we get very insular and focused on just one narrow expert topic of expertise. And sort of the conventional wisdom is you just learn more and more about that piece, and I think some people, a lot of us, kind of have this idea that when we get older, and maybe when we near retirement, we’ll go and sit on a few boards. Yeah. And it’s a secondary income and a chance to have a bigger impact. I just encourage people to start that journey a lot sooner. And I think for any technical profession, sitting on the board of a company forces you to look holistically at how businesses work. And I think, you know, oftentimes as employees, we’re very focused on what we’re technically good at, like helping a patient get better, but we don’t necessarily understand the way that fits into the business. What is the business that we’re in? And I think when you sit on a board, you’re forced to have to understand a business from, you know, where’s the income coming in, where’s it going out? How does the flow work, rather than just being super focused on the individual technical elements. And I think that’s very useful.

I think you actually become much better at your job, whatever your job is, when you understand the business side of it. So I think from that perspective, it’s very good. We all say, one of the things you’ve heard me say many times is we encourage people to join boards of companies outside of their field of expertise. So if you’re a doctor, go and join the board of an IT company, or a food and beverage company, or something completely outside of it. Now that seems very counterintuitive, but there’s a couple of reasons for it. The first is that it forces you to ask more questions, and the best board directors are the ones that ask the smartest questions. And so oftentimes, when it’s in our industry, we sort of jump to assumptions. We know how we think it should be done, and we know how we’ve seen it be done. And so we just jump to those assumptions, whereas in a different industry, you kind of ask, “Well, why is it being done that way? That doesn’t make any sense to me,” and that can be quite useful. The other thing is that it stops you from being dragged in as a consultant.

So a director’s job, or whether that’s an advisory board position or an actual non-executive director, is to think about the business in a holistic manner and think about all the stakeholders, which can be the shareholders, the clients, the staff. But if you know that industry and that company is facing a problem, because we’re generally all nice people, it’s very easy for us to say, “Well, hang on, look, I know how to fix this. Let me come in tomorrow and I can work with your team and fix it.” And suddenly, you’ve gone from being a non-executive director to being an employee or an unpaid consultant, often. And when you’re in an industry you don’t know, you can’t do that, and so it wouldn’t occur to you to do that. It would occur to you to say, “Well, who do we know between us that would be great to come in and solve that problem?” which is a much more constructive way of looking at it, rather than being an unpaid consultant, which is so common.

Advisory Board vs. Full Director Role

Dr. Barbara Hales (08:21) Sorry about that. Let me just turn that off.

Callum Laing (08:27) Is it doctors ringing in already to say, “Yeah, I want to join?”

Dr. Barbara Hales (08:32) Yeah. People weighing in now. What you said makes so much sense. Also, because I know doctors tend to be very nurturing, and they probably want to say, “Hang on. If I can help you, I will.” So having the advice where you’re in a board where you know you can’t do that helps everyone, really. For our listeners, could you explain the difference between an advisory board and being part of the board of directors? You know, what’s the difference, and when should someone want one over the other?

Callum Laing (09:19) Let me give some context. I think a lot of people, when they think about boards, they’re used to thinking about the boards of big companies. And if you look at traditional… this is something you’ve thought about in the past. If you looked at traditional training, it would all be about good corporate governance for an S&P 500 company, which is fascinating, but it’s completely irrelevant to 99.9% of all companies out there. Most companies in the world are small businesses, and so… and the majority of companies in the world don’t actually have a board. And yet, every successful company you can think of does have a board. So there’s a disconnect going on there. And I think, so a lot of people think they should apply for these big companies that have boards, but if you imagine, everyone that wants a board seat is all applying for the same very few jobs. And quite frankly, these companies never actually hire a random stranger, and it’s always people that they know, like, and trust. So the way that we work with the Veblen Director Program is you say, “Look, we need to get you on the board ladder.” And the way we do that is we’re going to start with something super low-key, super easy. You’re just going to find a small business, a startup, an early-stage business, could be a local pizzeria, it doesn’t really matter, and you’re going to create an advisory board, and we take the pressure right off. We say, basically, the way you position it to the founder is that myself and four or five other professionals from different industries, different countries will just have a virtual coffee with you once a month, chat about your business, hopefully introduce you to some interesting people, see if we can give you some ideas, see if we can stop you making some mistakes that we’ve done in the past. And that’s it. A couple of hours a month, maximum. And for individuals that are thinking about it, so for yourself, being able to say that you’re sitting on that advisory board is a great stepping stone. You can update your LinkedIn profile. Suddenly, your network is now looking at you in a completely different light than they were before. And that’s really important, because oftentimes your second and third board seat are going to come from people in your network, you just didn’t know that you’re now looking for those opportunities.

The Benefits of Advisory Boards for Small Businesses

Callum Laing (10:44) But for the companies, it’s really useful as well, because apart from, obviously, the knowledge and experience that you’ve got now, they’re learning how to think in terms of, “How do I answer to a board?” which, for entrepreneurs, especially young entrepreneurs, we’re not used to that. We don’t have that accountability, and so it’s quite valuable to have that accountability. It also makes us look as a business more mature. So clients would rather go and work with a company that has a board of advisors, so you kind of get the credibility that comes with that board of advisors. Investors would definitely prefer that there was a board of advisors, even staff as well. So yeah, for it’s really kind of a stepping stone, and then once you’re on it, there’s various other steps that you can take to get up to a full director. Now, a full director is where you do take on some legal responsibility. So we start with an advisory position. There’s no legal worries. If the company goes bust, it goes bust, you’re not responsible. When you’re a director, you do have a fiduciary duty, and so you want to get some practice. You want to have those training wheels of being a board member before you actually agree to take on the legal responsibilities. And normally there’s DNO insurance, which is directors and officers insurance, you should also be quite well compensated at that point for taking on that risk. But yeah, I tend to avoid it as even if you could, I wouldn’t make it my first board seat because it’s quite a big step up in terms of responsibilities and legal potential threats, especially in the U.S., which is more litigious than the rest of the world.

Starting with Advisory Boards for Small Businesses

Dr. Barbara Hales (13:39) Well, some people might think, you know, like, “I only have a small business,” but like, “Hang on here, if I had an advisory board, I can get somebody to come in. I don’t have to pay them. And they could tell me how to take the next step forward, what I’m doing wrong, what I’m doing right, and help me about that.” Does a business have to be a certain size before it makes sense to have an advisory board?

Callum Laing (14:06) No, so. And this is one of the things that we encourage all businesses. And this is even before I kind of… because I’m thinking about this as a business model, it was always my first bit of advice to entrepreneurs, is even before you get your first client, build an advisory board around you. So if I launch a new business, and I have a very unhealthy habit of launching new businesses when I get bored, the first thing that I do is I build an advisory board around me, and that advisory board saves me so much time and effort and energy because I bring in people that have experience in that industry, or that have experience with the clients that I want to get, and I can just bounce ideas off them. I say, “Look, hey, if I pitch this idea, what works, what doesn’t work?” So whatever size you’re at, even if you haven’t got your first customer. I think an advisory board is a useful tool to have, and I think it’s also good for business owners. If you’re ambitious and you want to grow your business, at some point, you’re going to have a board anyway. So learning how to regularly report to a board, learning how to utilize a board. And I think often people have this idea that board members are there to ruin their fun, and I think that’s born out of kind of the where boards originated conceptually was, if I’m a successful entrepreneur and I get to the end, or I want to step back from the day-to-day running of it, and I put an executive in charge to be the new CEO. I spent my life building this business. I’m terrified that CEO is going to make a stupid decision and destroy my life’s work, and so I put a board in to be a sounding board, and to kind of do some checks and balances and just make sure nothing bad happens. So that’s what happens in big companies, and that’s why a board… and I’ve been invited onto boards to maintain the status quo, which personally doesn’t interest me at all. When you’re starting out, you’re joining companies that are growing, and at that point, you don’t want to be a board member stopping them growing. You want to be helping them and helping the entrepreneur and making introductions and connecting them to potential partners and saying, “Hey, look, have you thought about this? And look, one of the companies I’m working with is doing this. I think you could apply that to yours,” and really helping that founder to grow, and that’s where you become super, super valuable. And, yeah, and ultimately, basically, as the size of the company grows, as the market cap goes, your compensation grows, grows with it, and it can be super lucrative as well.

How Advisory Boards Help with Fundraising

Dr. Barbara Hales (17:06) Let’s say I’m a small business. I have essentially no clientele, or maybe just like one or two. So I’m really hoping that my new advisory board is going to take me to that level. But if I were to look at people that have a tremendous amount of experience in all the facets that I need help with, but, you know, I really essentially have no return on investment, I’m just like fledgling, why would these people be interested in sitting on a board to a business that’s not really successful?

Callum Laing (17:49) Yeah, so it’s, there’s an element of managing expectations on both sides. So as an individual, if you decide that you want to be a board manager, a board director, you’re not going to go and join the board of Microsoft as your first role and earn millions of dollars. That’s not going to be the first step. You need to start lower down and get that experience and build up. On the flip side of that, if you’re a small business owner, you’re not going to be able to bring in Elon Musk and Richard Branson to sit on your advisory board. Doesn’t matter how nicely you ask, it’s just not going to happen. So on both sides, you’ve got people that want what they want out of the relationship, and so if you look at the Veblen Director Program, we’ve got these incredible people, and you’ve met lots of them. And so I think we’ve got nearly 300 people sitting on nearly 400 boards now. So, and they’re all driven, they’re ambitious, and yeah, a couple of years from now, they’re going to be sitting on much bigger boards, and so that’s an amazing network, but, but they’re looking for these opportunities, and I think Never underestimate why people will do this.

So when I was starting out, I had a tech startup, and I was trying to raise capital, and I knew the value of getting this advisory board around me, and so I went to middle managers in highly respected brands, so Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and what you just discover is that these companies are full of middle managers that are bored out of their minds during the day, like they’re very good at what they do, they’re very well paid, but they’re kind of, they’re all looking at entrepreneurs and wishing they could live their lives vicariously through you. And so when you say to them, “Hey, look, would you be interested in joining my advisory board?” It’s going to be like, “I’ll buy you a coffee once a month.” That’s all. For them, for you, you would think they would say no, but actually, to them, they can now update their LinkedIn profile and say, “Hey, I’m sitting on the board of such and such company.” They’ve now got something really interesting to talk about at the dinner parties, rather than project management software that they’ve got to upgrade. And so it suddenly becomes interesting, and when, as a small company, when you say you’ve got somebody from Microsoft, not me, from Yahoo, and somebody from Google on your board, the credibility you get from that, even if they were the janitors that I had, nobody asked me what roles they were in, it was just like, “Wow, you got Google on your board. Wow, that’s pretty impressive.” And I was actually able to raise capital at a 10x, so I was, I had been struggling to raise money at a million-dollar valuation. Once I had these board members on, nothing changed with the business, but I was able to raise money at a $10 million valuation just because I had the credibility of these, these big company brands around me.

Conclusion

Dr. Barbara Hales (21:03) I think that that whole suggestion is brilliant. I do. It’s not something that I might have considered. But you know, that is brilliant. So that segues to the next question. I see that you have a lot of experience in getting investors. How do you get investors?

Callum Laing (21:27) Yes, one of the things when we set up the Veblen Director Program, what I teach our members is how to get a board seat. But what I don’t want is to have added to the ineffective board members that are out there. There’s already plenty of those. So we want great board members. We want people that really know how to add value. But one of the things that happens, especially with smaller businesses, is they’re looking to raise capital, and very few people have experience of looking to raise capital. So I ended up launching another program called Guild Members, which is all about how you raise capital, and specifically how you build networks of investors. Because what most businesses do is they kind of go at it back to front, they build the business, and then they go out trying to find that one-in-a-million investor that is looking for a business like theirs. And so what we say to the Veblen members is start building a network of investors and figure out what investors are looking for, and then go and find that company. And that’s a much, much easier way to do it than the other way around. And so what happens is you kind of end up basically, for our Veblen members, they’re obviously connected to all the other Veblen members. They’re also connected to this network of capital raises, which means that when you’re talking to these bigger companies that will eventually want to talk to you, because you’ve now sitting on three or four boards, and you’re doing great stuff, and then you can say to them, “Well, look, I’m plugged in to directors on hundreds of boards all around the world. I’m also plugged into this capital-raising network.” So regardless of your background, you’re going to be of value to them just because of the connections that you have. And then everything else is a bonus on top of that.

Dr. Barbara Hales (23:34) Well, you have really opened up people’s eyes that may not have even considered this route, or they may have thought about it but thought, “I don’t know anything about this,” so you being the expert could take their hand and guide them through. How can people reach you?

Callum Laing (24:01) So I’m always around on LinkedIn as probably the easiest place, but for any of your listeners, if they go to boardroom-blueprint.com, they can download a free copy of my book. You can buy it on Amazon, but I don’t think Jeff needs any more money, so I’ll give you a free copy if you go to boardroom-blueprint.com, and you’ll get the audio and the digital book for free.

Dr. Barbara Hales (24:30) Excellent. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. This has really been a very exciting episode, and I’m sure others will find that to be the case too. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and Callum Laing. Thank you very much.

The post Boards Aren’t Just for CEOs: Why Every Doctor Should Consider a Seat first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Hales and Allen Freeman discuss:

• Financial planning for physicians
• Tax Strategies for high earners
• Retirement income and wealth preservation

Key Takeaways:

“Have a good, strong tax strategy plan, regardless of your career level as a physician. Because it’s not about how much you make—it’s about how much you keep.” – Allen Freeman.

Connect with Allen Freeman:

Website: https://www.golifepathadvisors.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenfreemancfp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allen.freeman1/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allenfreemanjr/p/DFIdJTkJy_H/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (201)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us Allen Freeman. He is a certified financial planner and Founder and Managing Partner of LifePath Advisors, a firm built to help physicians and high-income professionals align their wealth with what matters most, family, vision and a purpose driven life.

Allen comes from a medical family. His father was a plastic surgeon, his mother a nurse, and his brother a family physician that background gives him a rare real world understanding of the financial pressures, time constraints and career demands that doctors face. It’s this personal insight that allows Allen to connect deeply with the physicians he serves and why so many choose life path over large, impersonal firms.

Allen leads LifePath Advisors with values, first, client centered approach. His firm acts as a personal CFO for physicians, offering truly comprehensive planning that covers everything from tax strategy and investment design to retirement optimization, legacy planning, risk management and more. Welcome to the show, Allen!

Allen Freeman: Good, thank you, Barbara! I appreciate being here.

Choosing Business Over Family Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so your mom, your dad and your brother are in medicine. Why did you not follow suit?

Allen Freeman: I get asked that question a lot. People kind of find early in their life of how they want to help people, and they chose medicine as that avenue to express themselves and helping people. For me, it was always about business, how things worked in the in the business setting, and that kind of led me. I started in commercial real estate in Atlanta and then got led into doing financial planning.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And how did you come to decide that money is where you wanted to help people instead of, you know, any facet of, you know, being a health professional?

Allen Freeman: Well, it’s two different paths early on, either so liberal arts, or like my daughter’s in law school now. So it was very much of a liberal arts or reading or writing, and then it was more of, not necessarily the math and the science, but more of how business I was. I was attracted to business books more than I was novels or the kind of reading that I think physicians go down or attorneys go down, as far as just an interest level,

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so you said, you know, medicine is okay, but I’m interested in making money.

Allen Freeman: Well, making money and also helping people, because I also saw the pitfalls, you know, with a lot of my doctors, my dad’s friends that were doctors. And you learn a lot sitting around the dining room table, and some of the mistakes that that he made, that we all had consequences of like buying an apartment building and not realizing that the tenant quality isn’t good, and all of a sudden, you’re having to feed the note until you can sell the property and that hurts lifestyle for the whole family for a while.

So those kinds of bad investments that I’ve seen him do from bad advice, that I would look at it differently and say, gosh, you know, maybe we wouldn’t have done that deal at all. Or, you know, what is the structure of the tenant base that we know you’ve got guaranteed cash flows. So that was that dinner table talk kind of led me in the direction of business.

Financial Habits for Young Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales: What should early career doctors focus on financially?

Allen Freeman: Well, start early in building good habits and start with building with intention. My daughter’s just finished her second year of law school, and her husband, they just got married, is finishing dental school, so but it’s starting in habits, because once you get out and you start making some money, and you’ve got some prestige, you’ve got some accomplishment, you tend to kind of lose track of what’s important and building a foundation for yourself and for your family.

So it’s starting with that intention. You know, start saving early, start paying attention to taxes early, because taxes will be the largest expense for high-income earners like physicians and start setting dollars aside, getting a good advisor so that you’re doing the right things early on and not playing catch up mid-career.

Mid-Career Doctors’ Financial Pitfalls

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are mid-career doctors most often doing wrong financially?

Allen Freeman: Well, a lot of it is they get caught up in, I guess, what I call lifestyle creep. They’re made they’re making more money, and that’s a double edged sword. Things can get dangerous because they are making a lot of money. They’re extended a lot of credit. They can go out and get things on future income, but their plan typically hasn’t evolved. They’ve been practicing for 10 or 15 years, but they’re but all of their accounts are scattered, all of their accounts and even their insurance is outdated, because they get started early on, they need some insurance, they need some disability, and they take this they tend to stay with that particular person or firm, and just set it and forget it, and start continuing to grow their practice and build. And they get outdated very, very quickly, with their investments scattered all over the place, and they’re in silos with different people not coordinating their entire financial lifestyle that they’re building.

Retirement Tax Strategy for Physicians

Dr. Barbara Hales: What should late career positions be doing differently as they approach retirement?

Allen Freeman: Well, this is when the stakes are the highest. They should be shifting from accumulation to preservation, and many of them still don’t have a tax plan strategy, they could be losing hundreds of 1000s of dollars or more and millions actually over a lifetime by not employing a tax strategy before they are actually required to take RMDs.

So there was one client that had about $3 million close to retirement, 2.8 million was in a 401(k). There’s not a lot of tax planning you can do with that, because it’s all pretax dollars and for them to maintain lifestyle, many of them believe that their tax structure is going to be lower, their marginal tax rates going to be lower.

But for high income earners, it’s not so. Therefore, they have to pull out a larger percent of their retirement savings to maintain that lifestyle. And they don’t really realize that going in, and many of them rely on a CPA that does nothing but just record the past. They go, oh, look what we saved you in taxes this year. And they didn’t really save any taxes. They just deferred them down the road, because eventually they’re going to have to pay taxes later on.

So the idea of having a CPA that’s not forward looking, that says we need to plan, how do we mitigate taxes for your life, as opposed to, how do we save taxes on this last year’s tax return is, is a totally a misnomer, because they’re not saving taxes, they’re just deferring them and have to pay them later on.

Offshore Investments and Doctors Shifting to Other Ventures

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is your feeling about offshore investments, or, you know, bank accounts in other countries where they may have great interest and are not reporting it.

Allen Freeman: I really can’t speak to that. As far as not reporting income and offshore accounts, I don’t think, for the average physician, that anything offshore is going to be that much of an advantage as to just starting early and planning here in the United States under our tax law. And that’s the only, that’s only the laws that I can speak to, is the is the US tax law,

Dr. Barbara Hales: Right. What is your feeling about a doctor thinking about retiring from the particular specialty that they’re in opening up esthetic spas, and, you know, different specialties that are bringing money in for, you know, with vanity sake, or, you know, like appearance sake, as opposed to the specialty they may have been practicing in.

Allen Freeman: We see a lot of that is popping up. I mean, I live in a kind of a retirement area, and there’s a lot of these luxury spas that are popping up that do facial peels and do Botox and do some light surgery, augmentation and things like that. I think it’s a good thing. I think they’re speaking to a market that is that likes the vanity side of it. They’ve got the income to spend. We’re living longer.

And they say, why don’t I go ahead and do this? Because I, you know, potentially, I’m going to live, you know, another 20 plus years, and. And even when it goes into cosmetic dentistry later on in life, I think it’s a good thing, but it also has them savvy enough to realize that I can use my skills and my namesake and open something and have other people create revenue for me, as opposed to a doctor, in a specialist, they make very good money, but they’re still swapping time for dollars, even if it’s $1,000 an hour, they’re still swapping time for dollars, and they only get paid when they have a scalpel in their hand. So operating a business of using all of their skill level, I think, is a good thing.

Work Smarter: Tax & Business Tips

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, yeah, I would tend to agree. So what would be two tips that you would give our listeners where they could, you know, like, make more money legally, and, like, without, you know, just from investments without having to work harder to get the money

Allen Freeman: So they can. You mean, choosing investments that would help them make more money without working harder. Is that the question?

Dr. Barbara Hales: I mean, it doesn’t really have to be investments, but what would your tips be to someone who would like to work smarter, rather than harder, to not only maintain and preserve their, you know, their assets, but you know, make more.

Allen Freeman: Okay, I would say one is early on start with a good tax strategy, because high-income earners are going to pay the most taxes in their lifetime. And the IRS was designed, the retirement plans that were designed the 401(k)s and things of that nature were not designed for high income earners and that’s what’s touted as being the best place for physicians to put money away. Maximize those plans, especially on a pretax basis, and that’s what most CPAs say, put your wife on the payroll and maximize your deferred account in your 401(k), and that way you can save taxes today as your as your income is high.

So I would suggest that, because we’re in the lowest tax bracket, we’ve been in our last history, since World War Two, that first have a good, strong tax strategy plan, regardless of what level of career you are, as a physician, that’s number one, because it’s not you know how much you make, it’s how much you keep, and If you’re having to peel off an extra 30% for the rest of your life just to maintain a lifestyle, you could actually if every if you took that bulk of money and say, let’s magically make every bit of that two and a half million dollars tax free coming out, you could actually retire early and live on the same lifestyle, because you’re not having to worry about taxes, just having to come out and pay so that’s one way that you can do it.

Another way is treat yourself like a business, not like a sole practitioner that’s very good at doing a job like surgery or something like that, that look at it as creating a business around you so that you have a unique ability to do what you do, but you’ve got other people that have their unique ability around them that can also be generating income, like a dentist, the hygienist actually, or revenue generators, so the dentist can actually take a vacation, they can still have dental cleanings while he’s not there, and actually generate revenue for the company. I know, like my dad, when, when he was in private practice, he still had all this overhead, and he was the breadwinner for the practice, being a plastic surgeon. Well, when he took a two-week vacation and spent X number of dollars on vacation, he still had to cover all of his overhead. So we didn’t take many vacations, because it was very, very expensive for him to take time off.

Advanced Tax Strategies for Retirement

Dr. Barbara Hales: You mentioned that people should have, you know, like, better tax strategies. So like, what are we actually talking about?

Allen Freeman: Many people believe that a 401(k) is the best way to save for retirement, and it should be balanced with other vehicles. One being taxable accounts that are tax efficient. Another word is permanent life insurance. Leveraged permanent life insurance that actually is built around providing tax free retirement income, not necessarily built around providing a death benefit. We do a lot of that.

So imagine, somebody goes to buy a house, and they can either pay cash for a house, but most of them go out to the bank and they get a mortgage. Why do they do that? Because they can buy a bigger house, and it’s the same thing in retirement. Why don’t why don’t you use other people’s money, borrowing it and leverage your retirement just like you leverage to get a bigger house.

So that’s a concept that most don’t know about and that that’s a very good strategy, because the cost of insurance is less than the cost of taxes. So when you’re able to put a lot of money into a permanent policy and use leverage like a mortgage, and then you withdraw that out through loans in the future, the numbers work very, very well, especially if you start early, and there’s no cap to how much you can put in, like in government plans like 401(k), there’s not a cap.

So you’re making half a million dollars a year. You can do, you can do a, you know, a program where you’re putting in $100,000 a year for five years, and you’re done, and then the lender matches the other, the other 10 years of $200,000 so there’s there in the numbers that come out on the tax-free income are phenomenal. With it does wonders for your estate, because you’re able to spend other dollars that you’re not having to quote, save for a legacy, because you’ve already got that piece taken care of.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Interesting. Well, this has been very informative, and I appreciate you coming on the show, Allen. I’m sure our listeners, you know, will take some of your tips to heart. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time!

Allen Freeman: Good, thank you.

The post Financial Strategies for Doctors first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales dives into the evolving landscape of medical marketing, emphasizing how digital strategies are transforming healthcare. Dr. Hales explains that successful marketing today is about creating genuine, human connections through empathy, trust, and emotional storytelling rather than focusing on products or services. She highlights the shift toward using licensed medical influencers on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where patients are more likely to engage with real stories from credible professionals rather than traditional brand ads.

Dr. Hales outlines five key medical marketing strategies for 2025:

1. Influencer-led Education: Leveraging trusted medical influencers, including those with smaller followings, to educate patients and drive engagement.
2. Empathy-based Storytelling: Connecting with patients through shared experiences and personal stories, moving beyond medical jargon.
3. Short-form, Multi-channel Video: Quick, authentic videos on platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts are used to demystify healthcare.
4. Voice and Audio as Brand Assets: Building trust with patients by using warm, conversational tones in podcasts, videos, or even voicemail messages.
5. Collaborative Care Content: Promoting cross-provider collaborations, such as joint webinars and co-hosted videos, to show patients the holistic care they receive.

Dr. Hales also discusses the growing issue of health misinformation and how Ogilvy’s verified creator network combats it by ensuring that real medical professionals create content. This effort has proven highly successful, as such content receives significantly more engagement.

Key Takeaway:
“Medical marketing today is about showing your human side, telling better stories, and using your voice to comfort, not just convince.” – Dr. Barbara Hales.

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (200)

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today, we’re discussing how trust, empathy, and digital strategy can come together to not just attract more patients, but save lives.

Authentic Health Influence in 2025

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:35) In early 2025, Ogilvy launched its Health Influence Unit, marking a new frontier in marketing where health trust and community intersect. According to Ogilvy, 70% of patients now turn to social media before calling a doctor’s office. But here’s the twist: patients trust peers and professionals on platforms like TikTok and Instagram more than brand ads.

Licensed Medical Influencers: The New Wave

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:00) Ogilvy is now connecting healthcare brands with licensed medical influencers—doctors, nurses, and therapists with loyal followings. The goal isn’t just visibility—it’s behavior change. Patients seek someone they relate to, someone who understands their struggles.

Emma’s Wake-Up Call

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:40) Take Emma’s story. A 34-year-old mom who’d been feeling exhausted for years, attributing it to motherhood. But one night, she saw a video from a rheumatologist explaining autoimmune fatigue. She got diagnosed early, avoiding serious damage. That one post didn’t just educate her; it saved her future.

Top Medical Marketing Trends for 2025

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:10) Here are the top five medical marketing strategies for 2025:

Influencer-Led Education – Even smaller practices can build trust on platforms like TikTok.

Empathy-Based Storytelling – Patients want connection, not jargon.

Short-Form Video – Raw, authentic videos are the new norm.

Voice as a Brand Asset – Patients hear you before they see you—use your voice to build trust.

Collaborative Care Content – Cross-promotion between providers is on the rise.

Carlos’ Confidence Boost

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:40) Carlos, a 16-year-old struggling with acne and anxiety, saw a TikTok video from a dermatologist debunking skin care myths. Three months later, not only was his skin clearer, but he also gave a speech in front of his class. His mom wrote the dermatologist, saying, “You didn’t just treat his skin; you helped him see himself again.”

Fighting Health Misinformation

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:10) Ogilvy’s bold move was launching a Verified Creator Network. Content from real medical professionals gets three times more engagement than unverified sources. It’s time for doctors to share their expertise and combat misinformation with trust and compassion.

Lena’s Lifeline

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:40) Lena, a breast cancer survivor, found comfort in a YouTube channel from another survivor. She joined a Facebook group and later shared her own recovery updates. The community grew, and hope spread. Marketing didn’t just inform—it became a lifeline.

Bringing It Home: The Future of Medical Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:10) Medical marketing today isn’t just about SEO or paid ads. It’s about showing your human side and connecting with patients where they already are. Agencies like Ogilvy are raising the bar for everyone.

Closing Remarks

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:40)

If this episode has inspired you, share it with a colleague. Remember, your voice heals, your story matters, and your marketing can make a real difference. If you need help telling your brand’s story, let’s connect. Until next time, I’m Dr. Barbara Hales—stay visible, stay valuable, and stay human.

The post Healing Through Influence first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Your Voice is Your Brand: Why Speaking Up is the Smartest Marketing Tool for Doctors TodayIn today’s noisy, oversaturated healthcare market, doctors often feel invisible. You may have spent years building your practice, yet one negative review or a competitor’s flashy social media ad seems to dominate the digital landscape. Meanwhile, patients are Googling symptoms, trusting strangers on YouTube, and following wellness influencers with no credentials.

So how do you stand out?
You don’t shout.
You speak clearly.
You use your voice.

Your voice is more than the sound that comes out when you talk to a patient—it’s your tone, your perspective, your values, and your authority. In a world driven by connection, your voice is your brand.

Let’s explore why that’s more than just a catchy phrase—and how you can use it to attract more patients, grow trust, and reclaim your influence.

The Trust Crisis in HealthcareToday’s patients crave connection. They don’t just want an expert; they want someone they can trust, understand, and relate to.

That’s why influencer marketing has exploded. It’s why Ogilvy recently launched a Health Influencer Unit—to humanize health messaging using real people with real voices. But here’s the thing: no influencer is more qualified than you.

You already have:

• Years of clinical experience
• A license to practice
• Real patient stories that show results
• A voice patients want to hear

What you need now is a platform—and the confidence to use it.

What Your Voice CommunicatesWhen you speak—not just in the exam room, but online or on air—you communicate:

• Authority: You’re the real expert in a sea of pseudo-health advice.
• Personality: Patients want to know who you are, not just what you know.
• Empathy: Your voice can show you care more powerfully than any brochure.
• Consistency: A regular podcast or short video series builds familiarity—and that breeds trust.

And that trust? It’s what brings new patients in the door.

Real-Life Impact: A Small Voice, Big ResultsTake Dr. Rivera, a small-town family physician. She felt invisible, lost among larger practices and hospital groups. She launched a simple podcast answering questions she heard from patients every day—things like “What’s the best sleep routine for kids?” or “How do I improve my energy levels naturally?”

One episode helped a mom named Susan get her son’s insomnia under control. That mom drove 45 minutes to become Dr. Rivera’s patient—and brought her entire family.

That’s not just marketing. That’s human connection with clinical results.

Why Your Voice is the Best Marketing Tool You Already HaveYou don’t need to become a full-time content creator. But when you leverage your voice intentionally, you create:

1. VisibilityYour voice gives people a reason to pay attention. Whether it’s on a podcast, YouTube short, or even an Instagram reel, it’s a low-barrier way to build brand awareness.

2. ClarityYou get to explain your approach, values, and philosophy in your own words—not filtered through insurance directories or online review platforms.

3. ScalabilityA five-minute audio recording or video can be repurposed into:

4. A blog post

5. A newsletter
6. Social media content
7. Patient handouts

That’s efficient marketing without more work.

How to Start Using Your Voice to Build Your BrandIf you’re ready to use your voice as a brand-builder, here are some first steps:

1. Start With What You KnowRecord a short episode or video answering a question you hear every week. Keep it simple and patient-friendly.

2. Be Consistent, Not ConstantYou don’t need to post daily. But showing up consistently—even biweekly—helps build momentum.

3. Share Stories, Not Just StatsStories resonate. Share a moment you helped a patient, a challenge you overcame in your own career, or why you chose your specialty.

4. Don’t Overthink the TechUse free tools like your phone, Zoom, or platforms like Riverside.fm or Podbean. You can outsource editing or repurposing later.

5. Ask for FeedbackInvite your audience—patients, colleagues, or friends—to let you know what they want to hear more about. That turns passive listeners into engaged followers.

From Voice to Visibility to ValueUsing your voice might feel uncomfortable at first. But here’s what’s more uncomfortable: watching less qualified people dominate conversations you should be leading.

Patients are listening. They’re scrolling. They’re searching for someone they trust.

You already have the trust. Now you just need the voice—and the strategy—to scale it.

So here’s your next move:

Pick up the mic.
Hit record.
Let the world hear the heart behind your healing.

Because in 2025 and beyond, your voice is more than part of your practice—it is your brand.

Do you have a brand? Is your mission statement, colors and efforts in sync with your practice and brand?

Let’s discuss your needs and how to best get your brand established and out there.

Go to https://TheMedicalStrategist.com/contact

The post Your Best Brand Tool first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales talks with Jane Atkinson about scaling a speaking career using tested strategies from decades in the industry.

• Jane Atkinson, founder of The Wealthy Speaker School, shares how she’s helped countless speakers—from newcomers to $30K-per-gig pros—grow their careers through innovative coaching, strategic branding, and consistent content marketing.
• She recounts her journey from an inspired 25-year-old who saw Les Brown on TV to becoming a speaker agent and then a top-tier coach in the speaking industry.
• Jane explains how free speaking engagements, layered marketing, and powerful lead magnets like quizzes and downloadable guides have been essential in growing visibility and trust.
• She emphasizes the value of “promise statements,” niche positioning, and testimonials that reflect real, outcome-based transformations—not just charisma.
• Jane also highlights the importance of personal branding, clear messaging, and reputation management (via reviews or LinkedIn testimonials) for long-term success.
• Her advice applies beyond speakers, helping professionals like doctors stand out by narrowing their focus, marketing with purpose, and building strong follow-up systems.

Key Takeaway: “Pick a lane and stand tall in your expertise. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Clarity and focus make you the go-to expert.” – Jane Atkinson

Connect with Jane Atkinson: Website: www.SpeakerLauncher.com
Podcast: The Wealthy Speaker Podcast
Contact: Via website contact form
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/speakerlauncher

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (199)

Introduction to the Episode

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02)Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host. Dr. Barbara Hales, today we have with us Jane Atkinson, very interesting and well-accomplished person. Jane has been helping speakers catapult their careers for more than 30 years. She’s the author of The Wealthy Speaker 3.0, The Epic Keynote, The Wealthy Speaker Daily Success Planner and Journal, and Scaling Your Speaking Business. So she has been busy prior to coaching. Jane worked as an agent for several speakers whose careers skyrocketed. She also served as vice president of a speakers’ bureau in Dallas, where she represented several celebrities, bestselling authors, and business experts. Jane is the founder of The Wealthy Speaker School, which helps speakers build the businesses of their dreams through their course community masterminds and private coaching. Welcome to the show, Jane.

Jane Atkinson (01:09) Thank you, Barbara, thank you so much for having me.

How Jane Got Started in the Speaking Industry

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:13) How did this all get started for you? How did you decide to become a speaker?

Jane Atkinson (01:19) Well, I was 25 years old and just—and I’m 61 now, so that gives you a little bit of time frame. And I was just trying to figure out where I what I wanted to do next. I had had, I was the queen of jobs. I’d had all kinds of jobs, and I was working on a contract for 3M and I saw a motivational speaker on TV, Les Brown. He did his Live Your Dreams keynote, and I was hooked. I recorded it on VHS, and I watched it over and over and over again, and I thought that’s what I want to do next. I want to go and work for a motivational speaker. And just by nature of kind of putting it out there, I ended up, I told somebody at 3M that that was my—oh, my best friend who used to work at 3M as a VP just left and has become a professional speaker. You should go work for her, and that’s what ended up happening. And the rest is kind of history. I was an agent for the first half of my career, and I’ve been a coach for the second half, which is over 30 years.

Challenges Faced When Starting Out in the Industry

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:07) What were the biggest challenges you faced when starting out, and how did you overcome them?

Jane Atkinson (03:13) Well, my first job as an agent, my boss, who was the former 3M person, had written a book and gone out and done a whole bunch of free speaking, and then she got this big contract to go and work for Chrysler. So she handed me a stack of business cards and said, I’ll be back in six weeks. Here you go. So it was kind of sink or swim, and it was just at that time, I would pick up the phone and kind of make 30, 40, 50 calls a day and just see if I could get my speaker booked. And of course, I wasn’t very good in the beginning. That was certainly a challenge not having that skill and expertise to smoothly conduct myself. But I did exactly what Les Brown had said. I kind of sat at the feet of the masters of the industry, and I really learned from them, and that was a game changer, and that whole continuous improvement idea has served me quite well over the last 35 years.

Turning Point for Jane in Her Coaching Career

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:30) What was the turning point or pitfall moment that helped you transition from startup to success? How did you seize that opportunity?

Jane Atkinson (04:42) Well, if we fast forward to when I started out as a coach on my own, so I worked for other people for the first 15 years, and when I started out as a coach on my own, I think my mind. That was probably even beyond my level of skill. So when I was getting trained as a coach at CTI, which is Coaches Training Institute, I remember asking the instructor how much he charged as a coach, and he told me, I don’t know, 300, 350 dollars an hour, or something like that. And I thought, Okay, well, I’m gonna blow that away. And so I was quite confident in my skills because so many people had already come to me and asked me for advice on how to get booked as a speaker. And so I immediately started charging more, and I have continued to, you know, grow and evolve. But I would say it was probably my, my confidence, that served me quite well in the beginning.

Promoting Yourself and Gaining Visibility

Dr. Barbara Hales (05:54) What are the—you know, even though you may have been wonderful, you know, very few people probably knew about you when you first started out, right? How did you promote yourself so that you increase visibility? And had people say, yeah, she’s great. She’s the one I want?

Jane Atkinson (06:14) In the early days, I went out and this is so applicable for your audience. I went out and spoke for free. So from all of this places where speakers gathered, I did Toastmasters, audiences. I did every National Speakers Association, state audience, state chapter here in Canada, I did the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, chapter after chapter. I’ve been almost, you know, to, let’s say, 50 different chapters. And that was a really good business builder for many, many years. But my marketing strategy has always been layered. It’s never been just one thing for so for many years, I spoke for free, social media kicked in that has become something that is just an ongoing thing. We do reels every week. We do posts every week. I have given away a university’s worth of content through my blog, through my own podcast. I have a podcast called The Wealthy Speaker Podcast, and I have been doing that for over a decade, and just giving away interviewing people, drawing out the nuggets and giving it away for free. That has always been a part of my strategy.

Back-End Business and Lead Magnets

Dr. Barbara Hales (07:49) So for our listeners, I’d like to point out that free is not actually free for a number of reasons, for all the things that you could get from, you know, engaging the audience with your free talk, one of which, of course, is if you’re trying to build up your practice, people are listening to you and saying, Wow, this is an authority, like in his or her field, and this is someone that, you know, I would feel very comfortable with, and that I would like to seek out, that they have the answers. But listen to that. They also do like back end business. Can you tell them about that?

Jane Atkinson (08:33) Lots of people will speak for back end. But in my world, lots of people also, just to clarify, lots of people also speak for fees. I have speakers who are charging $500 and I have speakers who are charging $30,000 per speech. Okay, so just know that that’s pretty varied. People who have a set of offerings. Can go out and speak to an audience. So I would prefer people to be quite strategic about it. So let’s say that you’re trying to build a chiropractic office. You want to maybe you have a group of insurance, local insurance agents or people who could maybe refer to you, physical therapists, whatever it might be, and you could go and speak to them, and the back end would be that they would come and use your services. I have had a lot of back end products for my speaking. I have a school that people can join. We have a mastermind that we run a lot of classes and things on every month, and I have books and other things so lots of people will do it for back of room. Room. We call it that’s when you’re selling books and products back of room. But then there’s also follow-ons from there. Did I answer that question?

Dr. Barbara Hales (10:09) Yes, you did. But okay, to just make it a little more clear. Okay, you know, if a doctor had, you know, like additional products or services to their office, like, let’s say they also had an esthetic spa, or they had white label, you know, skin creams, or they had additional products that were in sync with their services. The back end would be where people listening get to know about it and maybe try it out, or, you know, a way for them to additionally purchase those products and services.

Personal Branding and Testimonials

Jane Atkinson (12:56) Well, reputation is really everything in your industry and my industry, and I think getting testimonials and other people to say it for you. So if you’re doing a marketing piece, you say it and then you back it up with a testimonial that kind of says what it is. Now, in my world, we’ll massage this. You can help me massage this. In my world, we don’t necessarily want testimonials that say this person is a good speaker. What we’re looking for are kind of outcome-oriented testimonials. I went to this doctor and I became—not, not were they a nice doctor, great bedside manner, but they fixed my problem, absolutely, my pain. And so figure out what the pain points are, and then get testimonials that will allow people to see that you can fix their problems.

Dr. Barbara Hales (14:05) Right for many doctors, the testimonial, it actually comes down to rankings and reviews, because even if you are referred to a doctor by your family or by doctors that you’re currently going to by your like nail salon people, nobody actually goes to the doctor that they get a referral from unless they’ve gone online first and looked at the rankings and reviews. If someone has none, it’s very unlikely that an appointment will be made for that doctor. So, yeah, more than just like a testimonial, like rankings and reviews are so important for doctors to have.

Strategy for Doctors Looking to Improve Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales (15:19) If a doctor wanted to improve their marketing today, what is one quick and impactful strategy they can implement immediately?

Jane Atkinson (15:19) Well, we have this thing called a promise statement that I think crosses over nicely into your industry. And when I come to see about you, whether it be on LinkedIn or whether it be on your website, I want to see immediately, kind of what your secret sauce is, what is your specialty? And I actually think doctors probably are a little reluctant to go more narrow on that. But when I know that this doctor is perfect for, you know, pregnant women having this problem, they’re going to have a sea of pregnant women in their waiting room because they have specified that. And so I would say, be clear on the promise is, and how narrow you go is going to be completely up to you and your fearlessness. But, yeah, be clear on the promise.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales (16:23) I think that that’s an excellent suggestion. What’s a common mistake professionals make when trying to market themselves, and how can doctors avoid it in their practice?

Jane Atkinson (16:37) What is a mistake a lack of clarity and trying to be all things to all people. So in my world, if I look at a speaker’s website and they have 10 speeches that they could offer, I will think to myself, This person is a jack of all trades and a master of none. If they have three offerings, boom, boom, boom, that all kind of fall under the same umbrella, maybe, like it’s, oh, they’re all related to leadership, or they’re all related to communication, or whatever it might be, then I will come to see that person as an expert. And so I think being standing tall in your expertise and picking a lane is probably the best suggestion that I have.

Closing and Contact Information

Dr. Barbara Hales (17:38) Oh, absolutely, if someone hearing you today says, you know, I could really use some coaching lessons, or, you know, I’d like to check out the school that she has. How would people reach you?

Jane Atkinson (17:54) They can come to me at SpeakerLauncher.com, they can write to me from there, they can get a whole bunch of goodies. Our blog is there with lots of topics, our podcast is there, and just let us know what you’re after, and we’ll book a call and see what’s a fit.

Dr. Barbara Hales (18:16) And no worries if you didn’t catch it from the podcast, because we do have that URL in our show notes. Great. Well, Jane, it has been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today, and you know, I hope to speak with you again in the near future.

Jane Atkinson (18:39) Thank you so much. Thank you.

Dr. Barbara Hales (18:39)

This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales, please subscribe so that you can join our growing community and get to hear more tips as time goes on, please like and share as well till next time you.

The post Scale Your Speaking Career first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Why Your Medical Practice Needs a PPC Specialist: 10 Reasons That MatterIn today’s digital-first world, word-of-mouth and physician referrals aren’t enough to keep your medical practice thriving. Patients are searching online—on Google, social media, and review sites—to find the right provider for their needs. If your practice isn’t showing up where they’re looking, you’re invisible. That’s where PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising comes in.

While setting up a few Google Ads may sound simple, making those ads actually work—bringing in qualified leads at the right cost—requires expertise. That’s why hiring a PPC specialist is one of the smartest investments you can make in the health of your practice.

Here are ten key reasons why:

1. Reach Patients Actively Searching for Your ServicesA PPC expert knows how to target keywords like “pediatrician near me,” “same-day dermatology appointment,” or “menopause doctor Boynton Beach.” These are search terms used by patients who are ready to book now. With the right strategy, your ad appears at the top of their results—before your competitors.

1. Stretch Every Dollar with Smarter BudgetingAd spend can add up fast, especially if you’re targeting broad or irrelevant terms. A PPC specialist uses keyword match types, negative keywords, bid strategies, and time/day scheduling to make sure your ad budget is focused on the most profitable clicks—not just the most clicks.

1. Avoid Costly Compliance MistakesHealthcare ads are regulated. Making a claim like “cure,” mentioning prescription drugs, or improperly targeting can get your ad disapproved—or worse, your account suspended. A healthcare-savvy PPC expert understands Google’s ad policies and HIPAA-sensitive areas to keep your campaigns compliant and running smoothly.

1. Precisely Target Your Local Patient BaseIf your practice is in Fort Lauderdale, you don’t want clicks from someone in Chicago. A PPC specialist can geo-target ads by zip code, city radius, or even a drive-time radius—ensuring only local, relevant patients see your ads.

1. Create Messaging that Resonates with PatientsMedical marketing isn’t just about features—it’s about empathy. A skilled PPC expert writes ad copy that speaks to patients’ concerns: “Struggling with chronic fatigue?” or “Need birth control options you can trust?” This builds connection, which leads to conversions.

1. Fill Appointment Slots for Key ServicesWhether you’re launching a new service line like IV hydration therapy or want to boost seasonal visits for flu shots or physicals, a PPC campaign can quickly drive targeted traffic to a booking page. You can even promote telehealth services to reach a broader audience.

1. Ensure a Seamless Patient ExperienceClicks are only part of the equation. A PPC specialist works hand-in-hand with your web designer or EMR provider to make sure patients who click your ad land on a page that’s mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, and encourages them to book. This reduces bounce rates and boosts conversion.

1. Use Data to Improve Results Every WeekThe beauty of PPC is that it’s measurable. You’ll know exactly how many people saw your ad, clicked, and booked. A specialist constantly reviews this data to tweak your campaigns—cutting underperforming ads and doubling down on what’s working.

1. Reduce Your Dependence on Insurance or Physician ReferralsIf your practice relies heavily on insurance referrals or hospital networks, you’re vulnerable to outside changes. PPC puts you in control of patient acquisition—letting you attract more cash-pay, private-pay, or concierge patients directly through your own marketing.

1. Free Up Your Time to Focus on PatientsLet’s face it: you didn’t go to medical school to manage Google Ads. Running a high-performing campaign takes time, testing, and technical know-how. Hiring a PPC expert gives you peace of mind—and better results—while you do what you do best: care for your patients.

Final ThoughtsHiring a PPC specialist isn’t just about running ads—it’s about creating a system to generate patient leads, build your brand visibility, and grow your revenue. Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a small group practice, a smart PPC strategy can be the difference between an empty waiting room and a thriving one.

If you’ve tried online ads before and didn’t see results, it’s likely because they weren’t set up or managed properly. A certified PPC expert with experience in healthcare marketing can help you avoid the pitfalls, make your campaigns profitable, and turn your online presence into a patient-generating machine.

Want to see what a tailored PPC strategy can do for your practice? Let’s talk. https://TheMedicalStrategist.com/contact

From attracting the right patients to making the most of your budget, the right help can take your practice from invisible to indispensable.

The post Why You Need a PPC Specialist first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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“If I Had My Time Again: The One Thing I’d Do Differently as a Physician and Strategist”

If I had my time again, I wouldn’t change my decision to become a physician. I wouldn’t change the long nights, the patient breakthroughs, or the steep learning curve that taught me compassion, discipline, and grace under pressure.

But there’s one thing I would do differently—something I now encourage every medical professional, entrepreneur, and changemaker to do.

I would have built my personal brand much earlier.

For years, I believed the myth many in healthcare cling to: “If I work hard and serve well, people will notice.” I thought clinical excellence would speak for itself. That word-of-mouth would carry me. That patients, opportunities, and recognition would come organically.

And yes, to some extent they did.

But I now know that even the best work—the most meaningful, transformative work—can remain invisible if you don’t share it. And that invisibility doesn’t just affect you. It affects the people who need your help, your insight, or your perspective and never find it because it’s buried beneath silence.

Had I embraced storytelling, video, or podcasting earlier…
Had I understood that content isn’t bragging—it’s serving…
Had I realized that clarity and visibility amplify trust, not diminish it…

I could’ve made a bigger impact sooner.

This isn’t about ego. It’s about reach. And the sooner you realize that your story, your knowledge, and your presence can educate and empower others, the sooner you stop playing small.

In today’s digital world, visibility is not optional—it’s a responsibility.

Patients want to know who you are before they ever walk into your office. Colleagues want to learn from your experience. Aspiring professionals need role models who are real, not polished. And communities crave leaders who speak up, especially in medicine where trust is fragile.

So if I had my time again, I would have started writing earlier.
I would have turned lessons into newsletters.
I would have said yes to the podcast mic.
I would have looked into the camera and said, “Here’s what I believe—and here’s how I can help.”

Now I do those things—and teach others to do the same. Because your voice is your most powerful tool, and it’s never too late to use it. Contact me at https://TheMedicalStrategist.com/contact and we can discuss your branding needs.

The post What is Your Most Powerful Tool? first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales discusses how AI transforms how doctors connect with their patients to work smarter, not harder. Dr. Hales explains that AI is not about replacing human interaction but enhancing it by automating administrative tasks, enabling doctors to focus more on patient care. She outlines how AI can personalize patient outreach, send timely reminders, and target communications based on patient behaviors, health history, and preferences.

Dr. Hales highlights three powerful use cases for AI:

• Personalized outreach: Sending customized messages to patients, such as appointment reminders or health tips based on their needs.
• Smarter email targeting: Automating email campaigns tailored to different patient segments (e.g., young moms, seniors, diabetics), leading to higher engagement and more bookings.
• Social listening: Monitoring online conversations about the practice to spot concerns, amplify positive feedback, and address trending topics, like launching guides based on patient discussions.

With AI tools like MailChimp, Active Campaign, and Hootsuite Insights, doctors can improve their patient communications without needing to be tech experts. Dr. Hales emphasizes that these tools are easy to implement and immediately impact patient engagement and retention.

Key Takeaway:
“AI is here to make healthcare more human by automating the busy work and giving doctors more time to connect with their patients in meaningful ways.” – Dr. Barbara Hales.

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (198)

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:02) Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we are talking about how you can work smarter, not harder, when it comes to getting new patients, and also attracting your current patients with your new partner, AI.

AI: Revolutionizing Medical Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:35) This topic is revolutionizing how doctors are operating their medical practice and connecting with their patients. Now, before you imagine robots taking over your front desk, let me stop you right there.

Dr. Barbara Hales (00:46) AI isn’t here to replace the human side of medication and medicines. It’s here to make your outreach smarter, more targeted, and more personal, without burning you or your staff out.

Smarter, Not Harder: How AI Helps Connect with Patients

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:09) Today’s episode is smarter, not harder. How AI helps you connect with patients? Let’s get into it. Let’s start with the basic truth: Your patients want to feel seen, heard, and remembered. That’s the foundation of great care and great marketing.

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:23) But as your schedule fills and your admin team juggles tasks, it becomes harder to give every patient that personal touch. That’s where AI comes in. AI doesn’t make healthcare colder. It can actually make it more human by automating the busy work that keeps us from real connection.

What is AI in Healthcare Marketing?

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:39) So what is AI in this context? It’s software that uses data to send the right message to the right patient at the right time based on their behavior, needs, and preferences.

Dr. Barbara Hales (01:53) Let me break that into three powerful use cases: personalized outreach, smarter email targeting, and social listening.

Use Case 1: Personalized Outreach

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:10) Imagine this: A 58-year-old patient with high cholesterol hasn’t booked a follow-up appointment in nine months. Your AI system flags it and sends a gentle email. “Hi, David. It’s time to check in on your heart health. Book your next appointment today.” That’s not a mass blast, that’s automated personalization.

Dr. Barbara Hales (02:28) Real-world examples: patients with asthma get reminders before pollen season. Women over 40 get mammography nudges near their birthday, and diabetics get tips on managing blood sugar during the holidays. You’re nurturing your patient relationships without lifting a finger and with better timing than most humans can deliver.

Use Case 2: Smarter Email Targeting

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:23) We’ve all sent out newsletters or updates and heard crickets. AI takes email marketing from shotgun blasts to laser-focused conversations.

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:30) What does it do? Segments your patient lists automatically by age, health history, appointment behavior, or interest. It predicts when each person is most likely to open your message, and it optimizes subject lines and content based on past engagement.

Dr. Barbara Hales (03:47) Example: Instead of sending the same email to 1,000 patients, you send a wellness checklist to young moms, a Joint Health Guide to active seniors, or a diet guide for diabetic patients. The result: higher open rates, more bookings, and patients who feel like you’re speaking directly to them.

Use Case 3: Social Listening

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:30) Here’s the truth: Patients are talking about your practice online, but are you hearing them?

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:39) AI-powered social listening tools scan social media, review sites, and health forums to pick up on patterns, sentiment, and concerns in real time.

Dr. Barbara Hales (04:56) It spots complaints early, like long wait times or phone service, it identifies patient praise to amplify on your website or testimonials, and it notices rising interest in services you provide, like hormone therapy or allergy testing.

Dr. Barbara Hales (05:09) One pediatric clinic noticed a spike in online chatter about RSV. They quickly launched an RSV prevention guide and posted tips online. It positioned them as proactive and responsive, which patients loved.

Entry-Level AI Tools for Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:01) If you’re interested but not sure where to start, you don’t need to invest in some million-dollar system. Here are a few entry-level AI tools you can try.

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:04)

• Solution Reach
• Well Health
• Patient Pop

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:10) Tools for smarter email include:

• MailChimp with AI subject line optimizer
• Active Campaign for behavior-based triggers
• Constant Contact with predictive send time

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:27) Tools for social listening include:

• Hootsuite Insights
• Brand 24
• Sprout Social

Closing Remarks: You Don’t Need to Be a Tech Expert

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:45) You don’t need to be techie. You just need to be curious and willing to experiment. These tools will change how your practice performs and how receptive your current patients and prospective patients will be.

Dr. Barbara Hales (06:55) The tools mentioned will be in the show notes, so you can check each one at your leisure. You don’t have to be a Silicon Valley startup to deliver 21st-century care. You just need the right mindset and the right partner.

Conclusion

Dr. Barbara Hales (07:05) If this episode opens your eyes to how AI can make your patient communication smarter, not harder, I’d love to hear from you. Send me your questions, share this episode with a colleague, and don’t forget to subscribe to Marketing Tips for Doctors for more strategies to grow your practice without losing your soul in the process.

Dr. Barbara Hales (07:23) Until next time, I’m Dr. Barbara Hales. Stay visible, stay valuable, and stay human.

The post How AI Helps You Connect with Patients first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales and Katherine Knapp discuss:How early intervention can improve patient outcomes and increase revenue for healthcare practices.
The importance of education in preventing diseases and improving patient health.
How science-based nutrition and lifestyle changes can help slow or reverse negative health trends.

Key Takeaways: “Education is key. An educated patient is a more motivated patient.” – Katherine Knapp

Connect with Katherine Knapp: http://www.improvedpatientoutcomes.com/

Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTIONIntroduction and Katherine Knapp’s JourneyDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us a very interesting guest, Katherine Knapp. Her journey toward improving patient outcomes began years ago when her mother died of lung cancer at the age of only 57. She later lost her three siblings at young ages due to various cancer deaths. Katherine is on a mission to teach others how to prevent diseases before they take hold of us and those we love. After years of personal research on the proven link between diet, lifestyle, health, and longevity, Katherine became certified to work with doctors to help families avoid the heartache of losing loved ones to preventable diseases. As she continues her work with practices nationwide, providing science-based healthy diet and lifestyle education and nutrition, she extends her guidance to individuals and families on their journeys toward improved health and well-being. Welcome to the show, Katherine.

Katherine Knapp: Thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s so nice to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: It’s nice to have you. You know, I’m sorry that your mission was born out of such sadness and sorrow. I’m sorry about your siblings and your mom. That must have been extremely tough. So, for you to emerge from the ashes and say, “I’m going to do something positive,” is really very commendable.

Katherine Knapp: Thank you. It really just evolved by natural causes. It was something so blatantly important to me after losing my mom at such a young age. There were so many lessons learned in that because she was young, and she had put off a lot of things that she wanted to do until later in her life. Then tragically, her life was cut short. So, there was a lot of that lost opportunity for her, and it taught me many lessons.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, you’ve been trying to accomplish her bucket list for her?

Katherine Knapp: I’d say I’ve already accomplished her bucket list. My parents were married in the 50s, and back then, all she really wanted was a good, happy family. Unfortunately, my parents got divorced when I was eight, and she missed out on that. I’ve been married to my husband for 37 years next month. I feel like I’ve broken the mold. I have a happy family, and now I’m at a point where my kids are older, and I can focus on my career and on giving back to others.

The Link Between Lifestyle, Diet, and HealthDr. Barbara Hales: There are many studies that show our resistance toward fighting cancer comes from managing stress. Do you recommend that people practice meditation or other relaxation techniques to prevent diseases like cancer?

Katherine Knapp: 100%! I believe stress is like a perfect storm. I work with health professionals all across the country, and we talk about prevention all day long. When it comes to prevention, we focus on factors like diet, lifestyle, stress levels, and the feeling of belonging to a community. These are the modifiable factors we can control to play the game with the hand we’ve been dealt genetically. When we throw in environmental factors like pollution and toxins, it becomes a perfect storm. Managing stress is crucial because no one is going to be completely stress-free, but it’s how you handle it that matters.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. How do you help health professionals improve their patient outcomes?

Turnkey Solutions for Health ProfessionalsKatherine Knapp: We have turnkey solutions that we integrate into medical practices. At the foundation of it all is education. We educate the patients on how what they put into their bodies through food and environmental exposure affects their overall health. We also educate health professionals about scientifically proven ingredients that can slow or reverse negative health trends. For example, when a patient’s blood pressure starts creeping up, instead of waiting for full-blown disease, we intervene early with science-based targeted nutrition. Through lab results, blood tests, and hormone testing, we marry the results with proven ingredients to improve outcomes.

Early Intervention and Preventive CareDr. Barbara Hales: Can you explain how you work with doctors to test patients and provide nutritional advice?

Katherine Knapp: We work with doctors of various specialties. Cardiologists, for example, focus on heart health, blood sugar management, and cardiovascular health. Across all specialties, inflammation is the root cause of many health issues. Whether inflammation manifests as heart disease for cardiologists or joint pain for orthopedists, the goal is to address the underlying causes of disease progression. We aim to support the body’s systems to prevent disease from taking hold.

Building a Loyal Patient Base While Increasing RevenueDr. Barbara Hales: Tell us about the systems you have in place to create a more loyal patient base while increasing revenue.

Katherine Knapp: Patient loyalty is critical for growing a practice. We provide customized websites for practices with science-based nutritional formulas. We use name-brand ingredients at therapeutic levels proven in scientific studies to produce the desired result in patients. With our patented delivery system, which provides 95% bioavailability, patients feel the difference quickly. This improves loyalty, and patients are excited to share their experience with friends. This word of mouth can also grow the practice’s referral base.

Isotonic Nutraceutical Delivery SystemDr. Barbara Hales: Your delivery system enables fast absorption in the body, right?

Katherine Knapp: Yes! Our formulas are in isotonic form, meaning they are absorbed very quickly into the small intestine without digestive deterioration. Within five minutes, patients experience 95% bioavailability—similar to the effects of an IV.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is there any special water needed for this, like distilled water?

Katherine Knapp: No, you can use any water, though we recommend avoiding tap water in cities. Distilled or filtered water is best.

Recommended Foods and Avoiding Processed ItemsDr. Barbara Hales: What foods do you recommend people avoid, aside from the obvious?

Katherine Knapp: I recommend eating as close to nature as possible. Organic options are always better, whether it’s grass-fed meats, free-range eggs, or fresh vegetables. The goal is to avoid processed foods that are loaded with hydrogenated oils, preservatives, and extra sodium. Shop around the edges of the grocery store, where all the good stuff is—fresh produce, meats, and dairy.

Educational Programs for Health ProfessionalsDr. Barbara Hales: What tips can you give our audience to not only help their patients become healthier but also increase revenue?

Katherine Knapp: Education is key. We are not just a supplement company; we are an education company. We offer CME and CU credits through the American Medical Association, teaching doctors the science behind specific ingredients and how they support various body systems. By educating patients on how nutrition affects everything from energy levels to stress and fat storage, doctors can improve patient outcomes and increase revenue through supplement sales. We make it seamless by offering a website for doctors to refer patients to, where supplements can be drop-shipped directly to the patient’s home. The doctor receives the profit without the hassle of stocking inventory.

Closing RemarksDr. Barbara Hales: Thank you so much for joining us today, Katherine. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.

Katherine Knapp: Thank you so much for having me!

The post How to improve patient outcome while increasing revenue? first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales and James Bond discuss:• How powerful brand names and slogans can stick in people’s minds
• The importance of emotional selling using metaphors, alliteration, and rhyme
• How well-crafted slogans like “No More Tears” and catchy names like “Squatty Potty” can drive massive success

Key Takeaways:“It’s not just logic that sells—it’s emotion that makes things stick.” – James Bond

Connect with James Bond:Website: www.BrainGlueBook.com
LinkedIn: James Bond on LinkedIn

Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (169)Introduction: The Power of Emotional SellingDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us James Bond, one of America’s leading behavioral management specialists and author of the award-winning book Brain Glue. This book is blowing people’s minds and changing how they sell their ideas, products, and businesses. For 13 years, James ran one of Southern California’s leading behavioral management firms and has worked with a ‘who’s who’ of American business. Early in his career, he ran an advertising agency in Montreal. Welcome to the show, James.

James Bond: Hi Barbara, thank you for having me. Your show is awesome, and I’m just privileged to be here.

Branding and Memory: The Impact of a NameDr. Barbara Hales: You must get this all the time, but how does it feel to have the name James Bond?

James Bond: (laughs) Well, my parents had a sense of humor. I was born after the books and before the movies, so it wasn’t until the movies came out that people started noticing. But yes, it sticks—just like Brain Glue! I find it fascinating how certain names, like James Bond, are easy to remember, and how powerful that can be in branding. People don’t forget my name, and that ties into what I talk about in Brain Glue—how certain names and slogans just stick in people’s minds.

The Importance of Memorable Brand Names and SlogansJames Bond: When you’re selling a product, an idea, or even yourself, having a name that sticks is crucial. Think of the slogan “Blue Emu: It works fast, and you won’t stink.” When you hear that, your brain latches on, and you remember it. It’s not just about having a good product; it’s about making people notice and remember it.

Why Certain Words Stick in the BrainDr. Barbara Hales: So, what is it about certain words or phrases that make them so sticky?
James Bond: Great question! Words like “dirty” can have a strange power. Think of Dirty Dancing or Dirty Harry. The word itself grabs attention. Or take something like The Vagina Monologues—it’s unexpected, and it makes you curious. That’s part of why it works. Using the right words can wake up the brain and get people to take notice.

Using Emotional Triggers in MarketingJames Bond: In Brain Glue, I explain how tools like alliteration, rhyme, and metaphors activate the brain and make messages memorable. For example, Johnson’s Baby Shampoo’s slogan “No More Tears” is brilliant. It directly connects with parents’ emotions and creates a bond with the product. Similarly, the Morton Salt slogan “When it rains, it pours” is another example of a simple, powerful message that sticks.

Why Rhyme is a Powerful ToolDr. Barbara Hales: You mention rhyme as one of the key elements. Why is rhyme so powerful?

James Bond: Rhyme is incredibly powerful because it’s easy for the brain to retain. Think about “Jack and Jill went up the hill.” You probably learned it as a child, but you still remember it. Rhyme helps phrases stick in our minds long after we hear them, and this tool is often used in marketing. Remember, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”? That stuck with the jury during the O.J. Simpson trial, and it’s a perfect example of how rhyme can drive a message home.

Metaphors and Analogies in BrandingJames Bond: Another powerful tool is the use of metaphors or analogies. For example, John Gray originally wrote a book called Men, Women, and Relationships, but it wasn’t selling well. One day, during a seminar, a woman said, “It’s like men are from a different planet!” And that’s when it clicked—Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus was born, and the book became a bestseller. The metaphor made it relatable and easy to remember.

Case Study: The Success of Squatty PottyJames Bond: Let’s take the example of Squatty Potty. Originally, it was just a toilet stool. Not a very exciting name, right? But the creator thought, “What’s another word for toilet? Potty. And what are you doing? You’re squatting.” And so, the name Squatty Potty was born. It’s catchy, almost rhymes, and sales skyrocketed—over $100 million in a few years, all because of the power of a name.

The Psychology of Attention-Grabbing PhrasesJames Bond: When creating a brand or slogan, you want to grab attention. For instance, Brain Glue sticks to the brain like glue. The key is to make sure your message stands out from the crowd. If you’re using rhyme or alliteration, your brain engages differently. That’s why brands like Coca-Cola, Best Buy, and PayPal are so memorable—they’re using repetition of sound to stick in people’s minds.

How Famous Figures Use These ToolsDr. Barbara Hales: How have public figures like U.S. presidents or civil rights activists used these techniques?

James Bond: Great question! John F. Kennedy’s famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” uses a technique called chiasmus—reversing the structure of a sentence. Malcolm X also used powerful metaphors, like “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us.” These tools resonate because they engage the brain in a memorable way.

Conclusion: Applying Emotional Tools to MarketingDr. Barbara Hales: So, what final tips can you give to our listeners about using Brain Glue in their own marketing efforts?

James Bond: Start by using metaphors and analogies to make your product or service relatable. Then, play with rhyme or alliteration to make it stick. You want to create an emotional trigger that makes people remember your message. And remember, as Zig Ziglar said, “Selling is nothing more than the transference of passion.” If you’re passionate, that emotion will connect with your audience.

Closing RemarksDr. Barbara Hales: James, thank you so much for sharing these insights today. I’m definitely running out to get your book!

James Bond: Thank you, Barbara! It’s been a pleasure to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You’ve been listening to Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and James Bond, author of Brain Glue. Until next time!

The post Brain Glue: How to Sell Better first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Barbara Hales and Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett discuss:

Why professional women struggle to find balance between their careers and personal lives
How to practice self-care in a way that is customized to your own needs and priorities
The transformative impact of “A Weekend for Me” retreats
How to give yourself permission to make changes in your career and life

Key Takeaways:

“Self-care is anything you do intentionally to make things better for your mind, body, or spirit.” – Dr. Sherita Gaskins-Tillett
“You are never stuck. There is always something else you can do.” – Dr. Sherita Gaskins-Tillett
“Morning routines help set the tone for your day, so the day doesn’t take control of you.” – Dr. Sherita Gaskins-Tillett

Connect with Dr. Sherita Gaskins-Tillett:
Website: www.awfmgrandcayman.com
Facebook: Boss Lady Dream Builders Facebook Group

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (168)Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host. Dr Barbara Hales. Today we have Sherita Gaskins–Tillett with us. She is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, a mother, a wife, a wellness enthusiast, and an event planner; I’m just exhausted saying all of that. After several years of trying to meet the demands of Family, Career, and Community, she found herself exhausted with all that, no surprise, and lost in her own life. Fortunately, a well-timed vacation provided the awakening she needed to realize that her life was not sustainable. She returned home on a journey of self-discovery that resulted in a reordering of her priorities and a complete overhaul of her professional life. She is now able to show up as the wife, mother, physician, and friend she wants to be, and that her tribe deserves in conversations with colleagues and friends, and through social media musings, she realized that she was not the only professional woman feeling tired, lost and less than.

Doctor Sherita is on a mission to empower women to create lives that they love. Recognizing that there is strength in community and desiring to normalize the struggle, she founded the Boss Lady Dream Builders Facebook group where she helps professional women who want more connect with like-minded sisters, rediscover their priorities, reclaim the reins of their lives and find a balance so they can live with more joy, authenticity, and purpose.

She’s also the host of- “She built it, Boss Lady Chronicles”, a weekly show that features the stories of women who own the power to build the life of their dreams. Dr. Sherita also hosts virtual and live events for professional women. Her signature event, a weekend for me, is a three-day cocoon for busy women to indulge in radical self-care, rediscover their bliss, and be inspired to chart a course to their ideal future. Welcome to the show, Sherita.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: Thank you so much, Dr. Barbara. Thank you for having me.

Defining Self-CareDr. Barbara Hales: The question I have for you that other people might want to know is, what do you mean by self-care?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: Self-care is anything that you do intentionally to make things better for your mind, your body, or your spirit. So, it’s taking care of yourself. It’s things that feed your soul. And when I think about self-care, I think it is very individualized. So, my self-care is not necessarily your self-care. There are some people I love spa days and massages. Other people don’t like to be touched, so that would be stressful to them. That wouldn’t be self-care. So, it’s really whatever feeds your soul and your spirit.

Transformative Impact of “A Weekend for Me” RetreatsDr. Barbara Hales: Well, you know, I certainly look forward to that myself, so I can’t imagine that. Not everybody does. How are the women different after attending “A Weekend for Me”?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: You know, it varies, but I think with many women, it’s an awakening. We do sessions to get in touch with who you are, your core values, and your priorities. And often, the women say they haven’t thought about those things ever, or if they have thought about them. They haven’t been in a long time. So, I think they go home with a deeper awareness of who they are, what they want, and why they want it.

We also do vision casting while we’re there. So, we look at the future. You know, what is your ideal future? I asked them if there were no red lights, only green lights, no restrictions, no certifications, nothing that you have to have standing between you and your dreams. What would they look like? And you know, many people have never thought about that because even when we dream, we put limitations, you know, we say, well that, you know, we might have a thought, I’d like to be an astronaut? Well, I don’t have the qualifications to be an astronaut, you know but, but to dream, like to just dream wildly, and then to begin to chart, to set goals, to chart a course toward those dreams.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How many people generally attend these sessions?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: Well, it’s been bearable. But the last one was in a small villa, which was limited. There were six women there. The largest was 19.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And, I’m assuming they feel great after, but do they, you know, how did they present themselves after this is done?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: They say they are different like I said. It’s like an awakening. They have a deeper connection to themselves. They institute some new practices. Because we also talk about habits. Because, you know, in this, people want to have a different life, and the reality is, you can’t have a different life unless you do different things. So, we talk about establishing a morning routine, writing and reviewing goals regularly, and, you know, revising those goals and checking in with yourself regularly, maybe instituting a regular self-care plan. So, you know, they go home equipped to do things differently so that they can have a different outcome.

The Personal Growth from Hosting RetreatsDr. Barbara Hales: How have you been changed by seeing these people’s participation?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins–Tillett: Oh, my goodness, I can’t even, I can’t really articulate it. It’s been amazing. You know, this is my calling. It truly is. And to see something that I’ve conceived of for a long time in my head, to see it in living color, has been so gratifying for me, and humbling. You know, just the response that the women have to the retreat, it really is humbling for me, and I’m gratified to know that I’m making a difference in their lives.

The Genesis of “A Weekend for Me”Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you originally come up with this idea?

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Well as you mentioned in my bio, I’m an event planner of sorts. So, before I went to medical school, I actually worked for the government, and in my capacity in that employment, I planned conferences and meetings and events, and I actually loved it. And I, you know, plan parties for friends and other things. So, I’m an event planner at heart. And if I weren’t a physician, I’d be an event planner. And so, you know, having gone through my own epiphany, actually, on a beach, unsimilar to that which is behind you, for those who are watching.

After having that epiphany, I, you know, started a personal development and self-discovery journey. And then I was I was better. I had made some pivots and done some things that helped my life. And then I realized that other women were suffering too. Because I think when we’re suffering a lot of times, we think we’re the only one. And so, I would see these Facebook posts, and these women would say, you know, I’m not keeping up as a wife, I’m not keeping up as a mother, I’m not keeping up as a doctor. Please tell me I’m not the only one. And so that’s when I said, well, you know what? We need some time together so that people can see that they’re not alone, that to kind of normalize the struggle that we’re all having this experience, and, you know, everybody’s kind of siloed off, but it helps to know that you’re not an outlier and it also helps to know that there are options, there are things that you can do to make things better. And so that’s when I decided to marry my two things, my event planning and personal development into a weekend for me and a weekend for me, because it’s time for you, just to get away. You know, sometimes I’ll have women ask me. Can I bring my spouse? Can I bring my children? And I say, that defeats the purpose.

It’s a weekend for you, not a weekend for them. So, you know, but it really is time just to be a way and to connect with yourself, but also just to be pampered. And, you know, I’m very much about making the women feel seen, heard, appreciated and loved. Because, you know, we’re the caregivers here most of the time, and oftentimes we are not poured into we’re doing the pouring. And so, I make a very conscious effort to pour into the women while they’re there, and to make sure that they know how special they are.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, this is something that I would have sorely needed and jumped at immediately had it been available when I was first starting practice, because there were so few women in those days. You didn’t want to just act like a man. You wanted to bring your femininity to it. But by the same token, by doing so, you were additionally ostracized. So, you know, like it was a fine line that we traveled, and I’m so happy that things have really evolved to the point that women can appreciate themselves for who they are, and still, you know, process all of their other hats.

The Role of Social Media in Connecting WomenDr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Yeah, and I think a lot of what’s happened to is social media. Because when I first, you know, when I first finished a residency social media, it was just in its infancy, and so I was not much of a social media person, so I didn’t know, and I think I would not have been aware of the commonality, had I not if it wasn’t for social media. So, I think the advent of social media too has helped to make the world a little smaller and to connect us to people that we wouldn’t otherwise be connected to.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah absolutely. And then we find out, you know, what, we all have the same process and the same goals and the same things, you know, really take us from being burned out and, you know, make us feel more like a human being again, despite all of our responsibilities.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Yes, yes. And really, for me, it’s about helping women to figure out what their priorities are today. Because what I figured out for myself was that I had designed my life as a single OB GYN, and then I married, and then I had a child, but my schedule still remained that of a single OB GYN, and it’s like we don’t give ourselves permission to make those changes. We try to make our lives fit into medicine, rather than making medicine fit into our life. And so, once I realized that I my priorities had changed significantly from the time I designed that original schedule, then I gave myself permission to start to make changes to the professional schedule.

Recognizing the Need for Lifestyle ChangesDr. Barbara Hales: And that’s so important, and it’s so great that you recognize the need for that, and, you know, and acted upon that.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Well, I honestly, Barbara, I didn’t have any choice. I was drowning. I was miserable. I was drowning. I, you know, was an older mother. I realized I was only seeing my baby about two hours a day. And I was thinking, you know what, these sucks. I don’t know how to make this better. It sucks. And, like I said, you know, just kind of, you know, going through the personal development paces, and, you know, learning more things about myself kind of empowered me to do things differently. And so, I started small, you know, I started by asking for a shift in my hours, you know, to start a little later, so just things like that, to honor the priorities that I have. I wanted to be able to be at home a little longer in the morning, so maybe I could see my daughter wake up, you know, and then I’d like to think that I was, you know, brilliant enough to say, Okay, now it’s time to do something completely different. But I can’t take credit for that. I was in a practice that had some administrative changes, and it became obvious that I was going to need to make a shift. And honestly, I had always thought that I would retire from that practice, because that’s what people had done, you know, it was one of those kind of, you know, institution type practices.

When I realized that I couldn’t stay, I looked around, and I started looking for jobs that were pretty similar to what I’d already been doing. And then I thought, well, why don’t I see what else is out there? Because I had been telling myself the story that there were no other jobs that were going to pay enough for me to pay my student loans. So, I graduated with a significant amount of student loan debt, but that was a story I was telling myself. I hadn’t done any investigation. And so, when I actually investigated, I found that there were other opportunities that were comparable in salary, but also gave me more, you know, better quality of life for me. So, I actually pivoted from full time, full spectrum OBGYN to hospitalists at that point.

Actionable Tips for Immediate ImprovementDr. Barbara Hales: Well, that was great for you. At this point in the broadcast, I have the next phase where I ask you to give us two tips that our listeners could use, you know, and implement right now to make their life better.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: So, one thing that has been a huge game changer for me is a morning routine. And so, it helps to set the tone for your day. And it can be really small. People get overwhelmed. They think, well, the morning is such a rush time, I don’t have time to do extra things, but it can be small, but it’s just some time for you, and it’s whatever. Again, it’s things that feed you, and so my morning routine is comprised of drinking water, praying, reading and exercise, you know. But again, it can be done in 10 minutes, but it just helps to set the tone for your day, so that it’s almost like you’re taking control of the day instead of the day taking control of you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah. I think great advice, yeah.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: So, morning routine, and then the second thing would be a gratitude practice. So, you know, because we to bend toward negativity, just it’s just the way our brains are set up. Up, and so we remember the negative, but not the positive so much. And it helps to write down the good things that are happening in your life, to make a record of them so that you can go back and you know when you’re telling yourself, nothing is working, everything is bad, you actually have written proof in your handwriting that things are actually not as bad as they might seem at that moment.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s such great advice. And I think that we all should, you know, take heed and follow your example. I think that’s great,

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Yeah, yeah. And then also, I’m sorry, Barbara, one second, I’m gonna something just crashed in my house. I apologize. Okay, I’m sorry. My daughter’s home sick today, and so I just wanted to make sure that she was okay. Okay, yeah. One other thing that I would say, too, is to give yourself permission to make changes. You know, the world wants to put you in a box. Put us all in a box, but you don’t have to stay in the box. You have a choice. There are always options. What I like to tell women is you are never stuck. There is always something else you can do. I think part of the problem is that we think that the decisions we make are permanent. I was talking with someone yesterday, and she’s kind of in this state of inertia. And I was explaining that, you know, nothing changes unless you do something. So, you feel like things are not moving. You know, you want things to be different.

You don’t want what you have, so you have to do something else. And I told her to just try something. Like putting on clothes. Try something different. If it doesn’t fit, take it off and put on something else. But we think, okay, I’m going to make this decision, and it’s going to ruin my life. There are very few decisions that you make that are permanent, or that have to be permanent. So, you know, if you like, you know, for instance, decide to pivot in your career. You want to try a different track; you can always go back to what you’ve been doing. There’s nothing to hinder that.

Empowering Women to Make ChangesDr. Barbara Hales: That’s also good advice, because so many, so many people, not just women, but people in general, feel that they are stuck, that they’ve made a decision, that they’re walking along, you know, a path in their journey, and you know they’re committed, whereas they don’t realize that on any given day, you could analyze the path that you’re on, and yeah, no, change it if it’s not working for you anymore.

Dr. Sherita Gaskins – Tillett: Right and that’s actually, you know, what we do at the what we do at the retreats as well. We look at what’s working because, you know, I’m not encouraging my path is my path, and that’s what worked for me and for my family. But I’m not encouraging people to leave medicine. I’m encouraging people to take control of their lives, which means, you know, make it, make the schedule work for you, make the work, work for you so that and give yourself permission to ask for what you’re looking for. Because, again, we will tell ourselves that this isn’t available. There’s nothing like this out there. But there are people who are doing all sorts of things now. There are practices that hire people for one day a week, a half-day a week. You know, there’s all sorts of different things. You just have to look for it and ask for it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, that’s great advice. Well, at this point, I’m going to say thank you very much for being with us today. You have been listening to Sherita Gaskins – Tillett and you can reach her from our show notes. You’ll find out where she can be reached. And think about taking a retreat, because I think that could really just alter your life for the better. This has been Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr Barbara Hales, till next time.

The post Creating the Life that You Love first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Hales and Myles discuss:1. The importance of online branding for doctors 2. Strategies for establishing a strong brand identity 3. Leveraging social media platforms to reach patients

Takeaways:“People are getting younger and younger on social media, meaning that it is so important to have that online brand to stay on top of mind.” – Myles Youngblood.

Connect with Myles Youngblood:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myles-youngblood-916469123/
X: https://x.com/m_youngbloodtv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mylesyoungbloodtv/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mylesayoungblood

Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION (167)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another show of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we have with us Myles Youngblood. Myles is a very interesting guy. He is, well, you know what, I’m going to tell you a little bit about his story. He owns his own digital marketing agency that helps YouTubers and content creators grow their following and communities online. He primarily does this with a short-form content strategy. He also hosts his own podcast. The show is called Beyond Ordinary. This show highlights the different facets of entrepreneurship. The aim of the show is to connect with great people doing great things to inspire others to do the same. Welcome to the show, Myles.

Myles Youngblood: Thank you so much, Barbara, for that intro. I greatly appreciate you having me on.

Importance of Online BrandingDr. Barbara Hales: Why is having an online brand important?

Myles Youngblood: Oh, man, an online brand… Why is that important? I could talk for days about this. So, right now, we are in a digital era, right, where a lot of people are on their phones a lot. That’s how a lot of people get their news, right? I remember when I was growing up, and I got my first iPhone when I was, I think, in high school. But my sister, when she was growing up, got her first—her first phone was an iPhone. Mine was not, right?

And so that just goes to show you that people are just always on their phones. They’re always using social media. People are getting younger and younger on social media, meaning that it is so important to have that online brand to stay top of mind. When people think about, “Oh, what do I want to go eat?” people are like, “Scroll through TikTok and figure it out.” I’ve literally had this happen to me—you know, scroll through TikTok and figure it out. So, that being said, having an online brand and constantly being in people’s faces is just so important, especially if you are an entrepreneur.

Establishing a BrandDr. Barbara Hales: How does one decide on what their brand is or how they could establish their brand?

Myles Youngblood: Good question. How to establish what they want their brand to be… Honestly, I would say just do a brain dump. Like, where do you see yourself in five years? What do you want to be known for? And kind of reverse engineer. What does that ideal avatar look like? And kind of cultivate your brand and your style around that. That’s what I would say.

Understanding the Avatar ConceptDr. Barbara Hales: Okay, and so for our listeners that are not into marketing, could you tell them what an avatar is?

Myles Youngblood: An avatar? An avatar is really just… How do I describe it—an avatar?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, it’s a symbol of your target market.

Myles Youngblood: Right, exactly. So, do you mean like a personal avatar, or like your target market—like, what?

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, if I had an avatar, it would be somebody that I made up to look like the people that I was trying to market to.

Myles Youngblood: Right, right. So, can you repeat the question one more time? You said, what?

Dr. Barbara Hales: I don’t have these questions written down.

Myles Youngblood: No, no, it’s okay. I remember your question. You said, “What is an avatar?” Honestly, if you… This is a show about doctors, right? And I’ve been thinking about, before I came on here, I was like, “Man, if I was a doctor, what would I do, right? How would I market myself to reach my ideal avatar?” And honestly, I would really just make short-form content. And I know I feel biased saying that because that’s what I do for my clients, but I have just seen so much growth from not only doing it for me personally but doing it for my clients.

My clients are on YouTube, and they’re a little older, and I’ve just been able to take their long-form content, batch it up into shorts, and post it every day. Now, granted, I know everybody doesn’t have an online brand to just cut up their long-form content. But if I was a doctor, I would just do either day-in-the-life videos, vlog videos—people like just having that authentic person. Because you have to think about, if you did an email campaign and you sent out just a bunch of emails trying to be like, “Hey, are you looking for a free consultation?” compared to somebody who is, you know, just being a regular person doing everyday stuff on Instagram—who are they going to more likely step into the office with? So that’s what I like to think about.

Myles’ Journey into PodcastingDr. Barbara Hales: So, Myles, how did you get into this? What brought you to that point where you said, “Hey, this is me. This is what I want to do, and this is what I want to represent?”

Myles Youngblood: That’s actually a good question. So, I started my podcast relatively recently, right? I started about three months ago.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Congratulations, by the way.

Myles Youngblood: Thank you so much. And so, before I was doing the podcast, I was doing some… I was trying to pivot my business into some consulting—some consulting. I bought a consulting program and everything, and I was going to utilize… I wasn’t going to do… I was targeting, like, accountants. I was pivoting completely out of the way, right? And I remember I was watching Alex Hormozi one day, and he said, “Hey, if the best thing happens, happens, then what?” Right? So, I sat back, and I was like, “Okay.” I closed my eyes and was like, “Okay, I’ll be making, let’s say, six figures a month, but I’d be doing this accounting stuff. I’d be talking about accountants.” And then I was like, “I’d be making content for accountants. Is that something that I want to do?” And my answer was no. And so…

Transition to Short-Form ContentDr. Barbara Hales: Why did you even choose accountants? Do you have any relationship to them other than tax time?

Myles Youngblood: Yeah, exactly. I really don’t know how I came to accountants. I think I was just like, “I think accountants struggle to get clients outside of tax season, so let me try and help them.” So that’s pretty much how I landed on it. There was really no methodology, if I’m being honest. But actually, shout out to that program that I bought, because how I came into podcasting is what they told me to do. They wanted me to, like, make content and run ads to the content, and I told them about my clients for the short form, and they said, “Hey, use podcast interviews with your clients and utilize that content for social proof.” So I did that, and I did my first episode, and I was like, “You know what? I actually like this, and I could actually see myself doing this long term.” And so, I kept doing it ever since.

So, to bring it back to answer your question, really just ask yourself that question, like, “Is what you’re doing really what you want to do? Is it something that you can see yourself doing 5, 10 years from now? If the best-case scenario happens, would you be happy doing that?” And that’s what I did. In terms of short form, how I came into doing that—because I have a business and a podcast—how I did that is I just saw that a lot of long-form creators were not utilizing short form, right? Short form was relatively new, and I know TikTok, I believe, has been around since 2016, and it really blew up over the pandemic. When you see that there are these billion-dollar companies like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube—all of them literally scrambled to make their own version of that in 2021.

So, if these billion-dollar companies are literally changing the way they are doing things to compete with TikTok, then obviously it’s something to look into. /So I did, and I just started reaching out to different creators and letting them know that, “Hey, I can cut up your short form, post it on all platforms for you, and then you can skyrocket your growth.” And it’s been up ever since. I’ve been doing this for several years. I’m actually going to meet up with some of my clients next week at a conference for content creators. So, it’s been really great being in the content creation space, for sure.

Future of TikTok and Content StrategyDr. Barbara Hales: From the business side, what do you think is the future for TikTok? Because, you know, you can’t really go on the news without hearing that Congress wants to ban TikTok unless an American firm buys it out, which we haven’t heard anybody coming forward to do. And for people saying, “Well, if TikTok’s future is in doubt, why would I spend all this time and effort to do content on it?” What are your feelings about that?

Myles Youngblood: Yeah, that’s a great point. So what I would say to that is, part of what I do for my business is we post on all platforms. The reason why we do that is exactly what you just said. I don’t want my clients to be pigeonholed onto one platform. A lot of my clients were only on YouTube, and that’s not really good because, especially in cancel culture nowadays, it only takes a click of a button—YouTube takes you down, and you’re done, right? So that’s why it’s good to be on TikTok, it’s good to be on YouTube, it’s good to be on Facebook—all these different places. And I would say, not just on social media but just in general, I don’t think it’s good to rely on one source. So, say you don’t have an online presence, but you just rely on email marketing or something like that, or you rely on your email list—that’s not really good. You want to always have some sort of backup, some place where you can always tap into, like, “Okay, if this goes down, at least I have this as a back end to kind of funnel people to.” So that’s what I would say.

Optimizing Social Media ProfilesDr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, what I tell people is, even if they are not going to be on a particular platform, or they’re not going to be active on it, it pays to go on every single platform, just to be able to put your profile on. There is no limitation for that. And this way, every platform profile will be directing any traffic that you get from your keywords back to your website.

Myles Youngblood: Exactly, exactly. I want to piggyback off of that point. Oh my, it infuriates me so much whenever I see people who have an Instagram bio or something, and they have a Linktree with like five links in it—it’s literally a no. So what I do, and I always tell my clients this, and I do this for myself, is: one link, one funnel. So whatever you’re trying to promote, if you want people to go to your website, just have the website, right? So, like on my Instagram, for example, even though I have a TikTok, I have Facebook, I have YouTube, I have all that—I don’t have a Linktree that has all of them because I know that if someone clicks on that and they see five links, they’re going to click off. I just want to make sure that they go to that one thing. So that’s what I tell people—just promote whatever is most important in your bios and your social profiles.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So you’re referring to calls to action?

Myles Youngblood: Exactly. Call it whatever—call to action. Make sure to optimize your profile so that when people land on your page, they see, “Okay, this person has this expertise, and this link that I’m about to click is going to take me to wherever.”

Call to Action and Lead MagnetsDr. Barbara Hales: What call to action do you recommend for your clients?

Myles Youngblood: Call to action. So that’s a good one because I’ve been kind of testing to not always, because it’s not… what I’ve seen is you don’t always want to just always show people. It’s like a kind of a ratio that you want to figure out, whether it’s 80/20—sometimes you have a call to action, sometimes you don’t, right? So sometimes I’ll have my clients, for example, a lot of my clients, they are in the finance YouTube space, and they teach people how to trade stocks, and they have Discord. So sometimes they’ll talk about their Discord in a video, and in the actual video, we’ll put like, “Link to Discord in the description,” right? But every video isn’t like that. Some videos are literally just educational—”Hey, this is a stock pick that I’m looking at,” and that’s it. I don’t think that you should always have a call to action because if you always have a call to action, then people are going to be numb to it, and then they’re just not going to even take action to begin with.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, do you recommend lead magnets for your clients?

Myles Youngblood: Lead magnets? A lot of them don’t really have lead magnets. What I would say about a lead magnet—well, at least for them—is that they already make content that’s pretty much… they’re making free content on YouTube, and it’s like, okay, they get to see all the free game that they’re giving. And if somebody, you know, follows them and they make some money with their thing on, with whatever stock pick on YouTube, then obviously, they’re more than likely going to opt into their Discord. So, they don’t really have lead magnets; they have pretty much a natural lead magnet.

Batching Content and Scheduling ToolsDr. Barbara Hales: What are two tips that you could give our listeners that they could implement right now to be more successful in their brand establishment?

Myles Youngblood: Two tips… um, I’ll probably say two things. I’d make an Instagram if you don’t have one. And then second, I would… well, be active on Instagram—at least post. I post probably like once, at least once a day. But I know everybody isn’t savvy like that, so maybe do once every other day—story posts, maybe an Instagram reel here and there, something like that. And then two, I’d probably build an email list, if I’m being honest. I know that’s something that I’m looking towards—being able to just have a massive email list so you could literally just have people’s data. I think data is just so important, which is why these phones are always listening to you, and they have all these updates because data is so important. So if you could build an email list, I think that’s probably like, like, top of the top. Because it doesn’t matter what social media tries to cancel you; if you have an email list of 10,000 people, you’ll be able to start over like that. So that’s what I would say.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is your feeling about a company like Hootsuite, where you just get to a weekend, you sit, and you knock out like four hours’ worth of content, you give it to Hootsuite, and then they drip it out over the next week or two?

Myles Youngblood: Oh yeah, that’s—I would 100% recommend that. Like, batch—what you call batch—recording your content. Like, take a day to record everything, and then take another, you know, day or two to, you know, edit it, and then just distribute it. Then utilize different third-party applications to be able to distribute it on all platforms. I would 100% recommend doing that because trying to wake up every single day, script, record, edit, and then you do that every single day… like, you’re not going to want to do that. So I would definitely recommend trying to, you know, block out certain days or weekends or whatever to get your content out for, you know, the coming weeks or months, for sure.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is there a particular company that you like to work with?

Myles Youngblood: Oh, I use Metrical. That’s what I use for scheduling content for not only me but my clients.

Conclusion and Final ThoughtsDr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. Well, we’ve really enjoyed having you here today with some very interesting content. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and you have been listening with myself and with Myles Youngblood. Well, that’s it for today, and till next time.

Myles Youngblood: Thank you.

The post Unlock the Power of Online Branding first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Dr. Frendhel Fejeran discuss:What’s the root cause of having low team morale in the medical field?
How can you face challenges and be more optimistic about it?
*How can you avoid burnout in the workplace?

Key Takeaways:“Every day, you’ll come across challenges, but it’s to prepare you for tomorrow. So if you look at every day as a training day to prepare you for a brighter tomorrow, that should keep you going.”

Connect with Dr. Frendhel FejeranFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/frendhel.fejeran/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myfitmind_for_balance/

Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION: (166)Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, and today we have with us a very interesting person by the name of Frendhel Fejeran. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Thank you so much, Dr. Barbara, I’m so excited to be here. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Friendhel helps dental employers who struggle with sustaining high team morale, positive culture and energy with tired, exhausted employees. We certainly know how that goes. What solutions do you have to resolve this struggle?

Understanding the Root Cause of Low Team MoraleDr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes, I love it. Thank you so much for asking. And there’s so many parts to this answer. One, you definitely have to understand where it’s coming from, like, what is the cause of this type of energy, you know? And sometimes it could be a collective thing, or it could be a team-related thing, or it could even be something that’s individually related. So we have to get to the bottom of it. And so you need to find out what is causing it.

Secondly, once you have all that information, you be able to sit down, assess and really look at each employee that you have. Really see what is going on in their personal life. Maybe it’s something at work that is causing them to feel exhausted, overwhelmed. What is it? And then create a devisive plan, custom made, I like to say, towards each individual, and cater to it. And so by doing that, that will help alleviate the stress levels, it will bring up the team morale. That’s definitely the first part, right?

Also, what’s really important to some of the causes of feeling stress or having a bad energy in the office and low team morale is coming from the top, from the doctors, you know, like, what is it that they’re doing that or they’re not doing that may have caused it? Are you guys having team huddles, are we doing anything to show our team that we appreciate them? Are we listening to them when they bring up their issues and challenges? Are we listening to them, but not only listening to them, are we really trying to make a change? And so those are some of the things I want to help teams do.

Help doctors do that because doctors, they’re patient forward, right? They are occupied helping patients from beginning to end. So you need that person, that extra help to tell the doctors, have a bird’s eye view of the entire practice. See the need, be a coach, right? Be a coach to all the team, to all the employees. And so by having that type of service, by the time to see what’s going on and to develop a plan that will work for the Office, for the individual, that will definitely help keep things, help keep the team morale up. So that’s some of the solutions. I know that was a very loaded question. I could probably talk for hours on how to do each of those things, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you do site visits to speak to them on a personal level?

Building TrustDr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes. So we would just, I would do site visits, but mostly virtual. So I would make appointments, get online, just like we’re doing right now on Zoom, and really building the rapport first, talk about work, talk about personal goals, and just really get to the bottom of it, ask them the questions that will empower them to get answers for them, to find the answers for themselves.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are they honest with you, or is it hard for them to open up?

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: You know, I’ve been blessed. I thank God for the type of energy that I have, and I’ve been able to help people open up, and if they’re not ready during that first meet with me, it’s all good. Then we’ll keep things more surface level, keep questions surface level, and then we just continue to build. I’m not here to force anything out of anyone, and until an individual is ready to open up, and until they admit and realize that they do want the help, that is the time where they’re going to get it, get the things that they need, the strategies that they need, the concepts and methods that they need, and really apply it. So it does take time. That’s why it can’t be done in one session or one sitting. It’s a continuous basis. So every couple of weeks we touch base.

Dr. Barbara Hales: When you take the job on, how long is it for?

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: It really depends on the the employer. I am not huge yet. That’s the goal here is to help more teams. So I work with two offices, and I’m glad that with one of them, I get to meet them on first, it’s like three months with the team. First it’s like once every month with the team, like a collective and then individually, a couple times a month.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you start with this? I mean, how did you get involved in this? What is your backstory?

Background and Passion for PositivityDr. Frendhel Fejeran: I’ve been in the dental field, next year will be 20 years. I’ve started off as a dental assistant for 15 years, and the last 4 years, I’ve been helping out with management for an office. And what I’ve learned by working with doctors from different upbringing, different understandings and perspective, working with them, working with women, providers, assistants, doctors, hygienists, people, because we see people all day, it just really gave me the love to bring positivity to the workplace, to the people that I encounter. And so, because that’s always been my life mission is just to be a lighter energy. I demand it actually in a team that I work with, especially that I’m older now in my career, I want to make sure that my work environment is going to bring peace to my team.

And so because of that passion, I find myself always, when I see a team in need, team member in need, I make myself available. See what’s going on, check in. They tend to come to me for advice, and I’m always there to teach them what I’ve learned, right? It’s all what I’ve learned, and I’m just paying it forward. And by doing this on my own personal level, and at my work, I’m like, I can help many more people. And so I saw the need for it. And so that’s what made me develop this and hopefully more practices will see the need, more doctors will see the need for it. I know that there are a lot of marketing companies out there, not marketing companies by itself, but consulting companies. If you were to look at the breakdown of what they do offer, which is all wonderful things, how to build your business, how to get more patients or clients, how to do your practice management, how to market your office, but nothing solely devoted to the individual, and if the individual can find a sense of accomplishment in their personal life, they will be able to bring their best performance to work.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Did you find that when you were working in the doctor’s office that you or the people around you were disrespected?

Challenges and Solutions in the Dental FieldDr. Frendhel Fejeran: In the beginning of my career, so as I was new, because I went through different offices, not too many, the only reason why I would leave is because I relocated. But I’ve encountered team. Like when I was a dental assistant, I felt like I was in, like when I was a brand new dental assistant in a brand new office, helping a brand new dentist, no one was there to help me. I did not feel any kind of team work at all. I felt like I was in boot camp for like months. I would cry every day. And that is not a place where people need to be at work. That is not the type of workplace that we need. And so I felt it firsthand. I’ve had patients that can be rude. So I’ve learned a lot from them.

I’ve worked with individuals that didn’t want to be at work, so they always brought this energy that was toxic to a workplace. And so I’ve seen it, I feel like I’ve seen it all like in the matter of 20 years. And I know what I want. And I know there are bosses out there, managers out there that know what they want, to help their team thrive, and what they don’t want is for people to feel burnt out, overwhelmed, a bad energy, low team morale. That’s what we don’t want.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Of course. The fact of the matter is that health professionals really are working this on the same side as you are. Because with unhappy professionals, you are going to have a big problem with retention for staff, and you don’t want to have people constantly swinging through the door and having to find new people to work as your employees and have to then go over your routines and your systems, and have to constantly be training new people. If you can retain the people that you have and everybody is happy, it just makes for a much more successful practice.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Yes, I couldn’t agree more, Dr. Barbara. 100% yes. I’m working with an office right now that has had quite the turnover, but it’s all circumstantial. However, couple of the reasons why people will leave is because feeling overwhelmed. But then they come to find out it’s because they are not managing the stress in their mind when it comes to their personal life. So if people can just learn how to manage stress, find the coping mechanism, like mechanisms to whatever it is that they need help with, that will help them feel confident in the job that they have. Help them manage the work you stress, right? Will help with the retention. And when they believe in themselves, they’ll stick around. There are some instances where they are like, this is not for me, like, I’m trying, but did you really try? Or are you really giving up? You know what I mean. So, yeah, it’s definitely important to keep people. It helps.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, do you suggest meditation or yoga, pilates? What is it that you suggest to get them to de-stress?

Implementing Stress Management TechniquesDr. Frendhel Fejeran: One, we have to talk about it. What is it that’s really stressing you out? Do you have a goal? So let’s say there’s a goal, right? And then, okay, so this is your goal. We’ll make it a SMART goal, right? I don’t know if our listeners are, I think everyone knows what a SMART goal is, right? It’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. So we sit and make a goal, and then we look at what’s happening in your day. How can we manage your tasks in such a way that will lead you and align you to your goal? Because sometimes, oftentimes, people will have something in their mind to reach, and then if things are coming their way, like curveballs, and they don’t know how to manage it, that would bring stress to your day. So it’s like, how do you manage curveballs in line with your agenda? Like, how can we integrate it into your agenda in helping you reach these goals? And a lot of it is perspective too.

Another way too, it’s really a mental game, Dr. Barbara. One of the things I really stress on is really having a fit mind is with that mental toughness, it comes perspective, right? A growth mindset is understanding that everything that you encounter, everyone you meet, everything that you experience is for your benefit. There’s so many lessons to be learned. So if you keep that in mind, no matter what kind of energy comes your way, you’re going to say to yourself, you know what? What am I going to learn from this person? What am I going to learn by this like, you know, energy? How can it serve me the best me possible? So it’s really just, that would be the first thing, Dr. Barbara. That’s the first thing that I would always touch on is your mental gain and how you perceive things.

Dr. Barbara Hales: At this point, I would like to ask you to give us two tips for our listeners that they could implement right away to keep from getting burnt out or reverse that process, to get them happier and feel more adjusted in and looking forward to going to work.

Practical Tips for Avoiding BurnoutDr. Frendhel Fejeran: So first tip is to find someone that you trust and talk about work with the intent of gaining something positive from this talk. Sometimes you just have to de-stress and vent it out. And then secondly, know that every day is training day. Again, it’s a mental game. Every day, you’re going to come across challenges, but it’s to prepare you for tomorrow. So if you look at every day as a training day, to prepare you for a brighter tomorrow, that should keep you going, and you need to believe in that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I think those are two good tips and listeners, I hope that you can implement them if you find yourself in this rough patch now. Thank you so much for being with us today, and you know I will let our listeners know that someone like you can help them.

Dr. Frendhel Fejeran: Appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Barbara. I really appreciate your podcast. Thank you so much.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, this has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post How to Boost Morale with Staff first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Dr. Kiprono discuss:Why resilience is important to overcome challenges in lifeHow women’s empowerment has a great impact on those who have been struggling to pursue their passionHow to start small and transition to a new endeavorKey Takeaways:“My life taught me resilience, but also showed me how values, passion, and purpose, if aligned, how much we can accomplish in life.” – Dr. Luissa KipronoConnect with Luissa Kiprono:Website: https://drluissak.com/https://telemedmfm.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-luissa-k-mfm-author-leader/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrLuissaKConnect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHalesFacebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategistBusiness website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.comShow website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.comEmail: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.comBooks:Content Copy Made Easy14 Tactics to Triple SalesPower to the Patient: The Medical StrategistYouTube: TheMedicalStrategistLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahalesTRANSCRIPTIONDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Dr. Kiprono. She’s the founder and CEO of World Gateway Perinatal Consultants and TelemedMFM. She is a maternal-fetal medicine physician specialist who works with health organizations to improve equal delivery of high-risk pregnancy care locally, regionally and nationally using telehealth, clinical consulting, and developing partnerships.Through the years, Dr. Kiprono has emerged as a strong advocate for women in medicine and leadership. In 2023 she launched Dr. Luissa K, the platform for women empowerment. She authored her first non-fiction book, PUSH, THEN BREATHE, trauma, triumph and the making of an American doctor released in the spring of 2024. She achieved entrepreneurship and professional success based on simple actionable points that will serve anyone who has the determination to thrive in life, not only survive. Welcome to the show.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you, Barbara, and honored and thrilled to be in your show today.Push, Then Breathe BookDr. Barbara Hales: Well, I see that your book is just fresh on the market, and I’m sure you’ve had some great reviews. Your book is available on Amazon.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It is. It’s on all platforms. It’s on hardcover, ebook or Kindle, and also audiobook and so it can be accessed anywhere in audible and Spotify, Apple podcasts. It’s actually achieved best seller before it launch. It did that on February 12, which was very unexpected. Was very exciting to hear from a publisher. So very, very pleased to survive with how it’s coming along.Dr. Barbara Hales: Excellent. Congratulations.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you.Path to MedicineDr. Barbara Hales: So how did you decide to take the path that you’re on? And like, how did that this happen?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Well, I will take you on a brief journey that kind of get to give the audience a little bit of my very non-traditional 37 years in the United States. I want to start by saying that I always, always wanted to become a physician, not necessarily a woman’s doctor, but a physician since I was a fifth grader.I was born and raised in communist Romania, and I lived in Romania until I was 18 years old. That spring in 1987 I came, I was invited here on a two-month visit to get to meet and to know my father, who himself, was a former Political resident from communist Romania. And I came here to United States to visit, to see America, right, and all its glory.But due to a very unfortunate set of circumstances, I was coerced into staying in America. My passport was taken away. And by my father, and shortly afterward, I became dependent financially and socially fully defense. I could not leave the country. I didn’t speak the language. I had no family. Since then, I did not considered having a family anymore. There was a lot of mental, sexual and physical abuse, and that lasted for about six years and eight months.At the end of those long years, I succeeded in escaping, getting my American citizenship, joining the Air Force, and becoming a physician seven years later. So, a total of 15 years. It was a very, very long journey. And that is really the story of my book: how I started my journey and culminated with my graduation from medical school.But you know, going through all these trials and tribulations that my life happened to take me in this very, very unfortunate journey, taught me a lot of things. Taught me resilience. And you know, I hear that word thrown around a lot. Resilience is, you’re not born with, as we all know, and building it takes a lot of courage, a lot of practice, so to speak, and self-discipline. When I hear you speak in New York, you know, with your guests and your own podcast, I cannot help but mirror what do I have gone through and like you said, when you applied to medical school, it almost had to be a fight to be a woman physician, okay. It was like, I have to apologize for how dare I become a woman physician against the Lord.Being an immigrant and a woman physician, it actually gets worse, and I cannot but smile when I was doing my medical school rotations, Just finished my first rotation, it was in general surgery. And the medical director, it was in New Jersey and the Medical Director sits me down to give me the exit evaluation and Barbara, he said this. He said, student Doctor, you are a great, great professional and medical student. I just wanted to tell you that he was just a little too aggressive for a woman. And I was shocked, because my mind went like, how exactly should I behave? Should I be subservient? Should I start bowing down? I’m not sure what is this coming from. So when I heard you, I heard your story, it just made me chuckle. I’m like, wait until I tell her my story. I’m sure we we know a lot of people have their stories, but you know that what doesn’t really kill us, makes us stronger. And that is very, very true. My life taught me resilience but also showed me how values, passion and purpose, if they are aligned, how much we can accomplish in life.Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s absolutely true. Years ago, and really it hasn’t changed till quite recently. Surgery, of all the specialties, was traditionally a very chauvinistic specialty. And so if a woman wanted to actually become a surgeon, that really was very difficult, in addition to trying to overcome hurdles, that was like Mount Everest, because of all of the images that we had to overcome, it’s fortunate that now for many women, that has changed a bit, and certainly we can see now why you have women empowerment as a theme for yourself.It is so admirable for everything that you have gone through. Another woman might have like, laid down and said, there’s nothing I can do. And this is a great motivation to say, look at her, like she made it, and you can too. So, I really applaud you for everything that you’ve gone through and come out to the other side.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: That was the main purpose. Five years ago, I decided to open up and write this book, this story about a Woman’s Journey about vulnerability, about how I refuse to become a statistic, and instead I become a success. It’s interesting because it’s morphing now Barbara to something bigger than me, bigger than what I started with. I’m a physician who I always, always wanted to help people, get their health, right? Their most prized gift, it’s their health. Because if we don’t have a health, really, it doesn’t really matter how rich we are, right?Dr. Barbara Hales: You don’t have your health, you have nothing.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Nothing. So that’s one. But then, as I’m writing this book, I started writing it as, yeah, I’m going to write a book and sell books, and a cheap start of them.Dr. Barbara Hales: But it’s not about selling the book.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So as I am going through this journey, a transformation happened, and I realized that the message is so much more powerful because I am sharing it with my fellow humans how can you achieve, or always wanted to achieve? How can you embrace the possibilities? How can you take on hardship and turn it around? And instead of saying, Why me? Then you say, Try me or do it. And it’s okay to pause. It’s okay to, because you’re going to get kicked out. Okay, let’s just say it kicked around. You’re going to be dejected. People are going to second-guess you. You’re going to second-guess yourself, and it’s okay to pause where you are, kind of pick up the pieces. The next day or the following day, it’s time to get up and it’s time to try again. Because frankly speaking, you cannot be the person that doesn’t give up.Joining the Air ForceDr. Barbara Hales: This is true. So since you started medicine with the Air Force, did you remain for any length of time in the Air Force?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So no. The reason I joined the Air Force is after I got my citizenship, is because I was, I applied and I received the HPSP Scholarship Program, which is the health professional scholarship program. The Air Force paid for my medical education in return for my payback to the military as a veteran and recipient of the HBSP program. But also, I have to tell you that I count them my first accomplishment in this country was to become an American citizen. My second accomplishment was to get into medical school and complete medical school and the Air Force made this happen, and I cannot think and be grateful enough for that.This country offered me so much to help me succeed. And it turned all that trauma and all that negativity into a huge triumph. Of course, I had to work hard and do my part, but it is value of the communities, the value that all the few very strong people who understood, and even though they didn’t know my past, they believed in me and having that one, two people, persons who I call them lighthouses, who I can turn my eyes to and say, you know, I just need a break here. Or can you help me? Then they say, Yes, I believe in you. I will help you. I will spot you when you need it without asking any questions. That means a lot to me.I have to answer your question, I have separated in 2010 so I did my payback to the military. I also did a military residency which was not required to but I did it because I really believed in their programs and I separated after 12 years, went on to do my fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine in Mississippi.Medical Career, Entrepreneurship, and TelemedicineDr. Barbara Hales: So a little bit about the two enterprises that you have launched. What is that all about and what is the take-home message to your audience from your enterprises?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So in 2022, right at the tail end of COVID, I was the corporate director for a large private organization. At that time, due to financial considerations after the pandemic, they decided to close my practice. And you know, I didn’t take it very well. Let’s say it that way.Dr. Barbara Hales: Oh, I wouldn’t think so.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It’s like that practice became, you know, it defined me. I worked so, so hard to put it together, to keep it going through the pandemic, to make it grow. And then this happened. So here I was September 2022 and I was like, Well, first I had a really big bout of, you know what I’m done. Done with medicine. You remember that pausing thing I was telling you about, that lasted about six weeks.And then one day, I said, you know, it’s just part of me, but I do not want to be employed again so I could open my own practice, but because I had a lot of experience during the pandemic, within my own practice to do telemedicine and to offer telemedicine both inpatient and outpatient as consultative practice, I said, I’m going to open a telemedicine practice.So TelemedMFM was born. It was created in mind that it is created to help bridge this gap, the gap that of distances, of borders, of state territories, and reach out to patients regardless of what were they are as women, pregnancy, high-risk pregnancies are very, very challenging to all women. Even those patients close to their families, close to their OB providers as long as possible, and sometimes throughout the whole pregnancy. Not every patient needs to be delivered in an urban area. There are many, many patients who, if they are taken care of properly and continuously, can deliver in their local area and do very, very well, both maternal and neonatal. So that is how telemedicine was born. With that in mind, I have a website, and I do network. I did a lot of networking to make the practice known to people, and published in social media. I’m very active in LinkedIn.And then I decided to open a foundation. But before that, about three years before that, I opened the parent company, which is World Gateway Perinatal Consultants. So World Gateway Perinatal Consultants, it was born with a medical mission, or medical missionary trips in mind. I do medical missions. I serve as a missionary physician. Couple of weeks, every one to two years as my practice allows me, but I have a great deal of joy when I take care of patients. I teach residents in Africa, in South America in residency programs and in MFM, and I tremendously enjoy that. So here I have my humanitarian part. Then I have my teaching part. Then is my telemedicine practice that I work full time in it and I manage and I work clinical medicine every day.And then is the book and the platform, and the platform is the second business that I have. It’s about women empowerment. It is about the mental wellness that we all need because we can be healthy physically, but really, I’m not a whole person unless we are mentally also healthy. And a lot of us, a great lot of us, have a lot of trauma or just trials and tribulations in life that we are scarred. We are scarred from and we need to get out of it. We need to heal and overcome it, because that is the only way we can move forward. I always say is that, instead of looking at your shortcomings, look at your abilities, because our abilities are so much stronger than our shortcomings.Dr. Barbara Hales: And that’s so absolutely true and eloquently put. So many people might say, well, how does one do obstetrics through telehealth? Do you have people that have signed on to partner with you to deliver the baby? How does that work?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So about 15 years ago, slowly but progressively mature female medicine or Perinatology or high risk pregnancy position will go by all those names became a consultative practice or consultative field. So the vast majority of MFMs do not do deliveries at this time in the United States. There are some in the academic institutions, but those are the 100% brick and mortar. So my practice is 100% consultative. The contractual agreements that I have with organizations, pretty much everything practice-wise or clinic wise is on the ground. Okay? So all the staff, all the equipment, consultation rooms, sonographers, you name it. Since, of course, they have to come in into the clinic to be evaluated and have the ultrasounds for their babies. They all come. They are all in person, except for one, me. I am the one that comes on virtually through the video feed. It’s a HIPAA compliant video feed then provided by the organizations and they come. I counsel my patients. I conduct a consultation. I discuss the ultrasound findings. I reviewed ultrasound findings, and that’s, I render assessment plans, I write orders. That’s how I do my business.Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that certainly sounds like you have the best of both worlds. Are you able to accept insurance or is this strictly concierge?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It’s actually strictly concierge, but it’s all taken care of by the organizational level. So we do get reimbursed. You know, a fee, a daily fee.Words of Advice for the DoctorsDr. Barbara Hales: That really sounds ideal. What are two tips that you could give our doctors who are listening in on the way to the way to do their practice in the future, or just bits of advice that you’d like to help them with, since so many doctors are struggling financially, worried about where their next dollar is going to come from, or worried about bureaucracy, telling them how they should be practicing medicine? What are some words of advice that you would give them?Dr. Luissa Kiprono: I have to say that it saddens me to see how many physicians are leaving the private practice to go into corporate medicine and be employed. I have done it. And like them, I was burnt out, and it felt like nothing that I’ve done was just enough. It is just never enough. And you’re right. We lose autonomy. We lose autonomy and how we practice the insurance companies, we need the pre-authorization pretty much for everything. So it’s going to be the Tylenol too. So, I mean, it’s just a sad reality, but I tell you that no matter what, and I say that whether you are a physician or not, if when you wake up in the morning and you do something that, or you think of something that brings joy to your Heart and brings sparkles in your eyes. I would say, consider doing it. Just leave behind anything that you are doing so far that is not bringing you the joy that you want to do to have from and just pick that endeavor up. Because when your heart is in it, and if you enjoy and love your newfound passion, it’s no longer work. It’s just amazing. You know, you just do it because you love it. You don’t have to think like, oh my god, I have to go to work because I have to pay my bills. You still work. But it’s just, it’s a beautiful thing to do what you enjoy and what you love, because life is so short.Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. And just looking at you and listening to you, I think a great message is that just because you have been on one path, it doesn’t mean that every once in a while you should pause, see if the path you’re on still serves you, and there’s nothing wrong with changing your path to something that will now serve you better.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: And the second thing is, you may say, Well, what am I going to do just tomorrow? Go and start my new endeavor? No, what I’m saying is, you remember this life is a marathon. So pace yourself. It’s an endurance event. So start small and grow. Instead of working six days a week, you say, You know what? I’m just going to cut scale down to four days a week. And those two are the days I’m going to have Sunday or Saturday, depending on your preference, you’re going to have your rest day, and the other two days, I’m gradually going to open this other endeavor and start working towards it. And as you scale up one, you scale down the other, until you’re ready financially to let go of the one that no longer serves you.Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, I think that that is great advice. And you know, I feel as my listeners will, that you are such a remarkable woman and I think that everyone should run out and get your book because it is very inspirational. And thank you for being on the show with us today.Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you so much, Barbara. If you would like to add that to your show notes, they can find me at telemedmfm.com, and drluissak.com. My book Push Then Breathe, it’s everywhere. But more importantly, just enjoy life and just remember that nothing gets lost if something doesn’t work out today, because it will work out tomorrow. And thank you so much for having me in your show.Dr. Barbara Hales: You have been listening to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.The post From Abuse to Advocacy: Dr. Luissa Kiprono’s Inspiring Journey first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Hales and Chuck discuss:The role of AI in content creation and its assistive capabilities
Using AI to create content from interviews and establish topical authority
Leveraging AI for content analysis, optimization, and adapting content for different formats

Key Takeaways:“AI is a buzzword, but the way I think about AI for marketing is that it helps us do marketing smarter and faster. It’s an assistant to help us.” – Chuck Aikens.

Connect with Chuck Aikens:Website: https://chuckaikens.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckaikens/
X: https://x.com/chuckaikens/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chuckisaacaikens/

Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTIONDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we have with us Chuck Aikens, founder of Tymoo and a seasoned expert in content marketing and leveraging AI. For those who may not know, AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, a buzzword nowadays. With over two decades of experience in website development, search engine optimization, and digital marketing, Chuck brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in creating impactful branded content that connects with your target audience.

In this episode, he’ll share his innovative approach to content strategy and reveal how entrepreneurs and marketers can harness the power of AI to elevate their brand presence and connect more effectively with their target audience. Chuck will also introduce his Tidal Wave Content platform, a comprehensive suite of training, coaching, and processes that help brands create consistent, engaging content across multiple channels using AI-assisted tools. Welcome to the show, Chuck.

Chuck Aikens: Well, thank you, Barbara. What a great intro.

Integration of AIDr. Barbara Hales: Well, there’s a lot to be impressed by. You’ve done quite a lot. Chuck, you’ve been in the digital marketing space for over 20 years. How has the integration of AI changed the landscape of content creation? Because that’s all we seem to hear about now. Nowadays, instead of creativity, it’s like the computer is assisting us in doing everything for us. What is your feeling about that?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so, you know, 18 months ago when OpenAI released ChatGPT, it did change the landscape. AI was around before that, and I had been using AI products in content development and marketing, but ChatGPT opened it up to everybody. It got everybody thinking about how they can prompt AI, how they can get rid of some of the work they don’t like doing, how they can plan their vacation, how they can find a recipe. So, yes, AI is a buzzword, but the way I think about AI for marketing is that it helps us do marketing smarter and faster. It’s an assistant to help us. It should not replace creativity. It should not replace the human element. At best, even years from now, I hope that we maintain a balance of no more than half marketer, half machine. We need to stay in control of marketing our businesses, brands, facilities, and practices.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely, but it does give us some good ideas. I’m waiting for the time when it does the dishes and vacuums the floor.

Chuck Aikens: Yes, it needs to put the laundry from the washer into the dryer and go to the grocery store for me. Then we’re onto something.

Foundational Work Before Using AIDr. Barbara Hales: Many people jump straight into using AI for content creation. Why do you emphasize the importance of foundational work before leveraging AI tools?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so all of us have probably tried it. We’ve said something like, not “Hey Siri,” but you know, “Hey Claude, hey ChatGPT, make me a blog post, write an email,” whatever it might be. And you know, when you access a large language model in generative AI, you’re accessing everything that has ever been written or thought about. Billions and billions of parameters in a large language model just put words together. The reason you need foundational documents, which for me include things like: Who is your target audience? (There might be multiple personas.) What is your brand promise to them? What are the pain points and value propositions? What’s your tone and voice? What about your practice or what you do as a doctor? All these inputs are built into foundational documents before I ever start prompting. Then, when I prompt the large language model or ChatGPT, it has a direction to go. It knows what I’m trying to do and doesn’t run off in different directions. It stays on-brand, on-message, on-point because you’ve taken the time to document that.

You do the same thing with an employee. If you hired a consultant or talked to your lawyer, you wouldn’t let them just do whatever. You tell them what you want, you write it down, you send an email. You have to instruct and interact with the large language models and ChatGPT the same way. So the real work is before the prompt, and by the time you get to the prompt, you’ll get better outputs if you’ve taken the time to put together a strategy, voice and tone, target audience, and personas. I work with businesses, brands, and people. The first step is to identify your audience. From there, we can do different things with your content marketing.

AI NamingDr. Barbara Hales: Okay, let’s be honest here for a moment. Have you named your AI?

Chuck Aikens: I have. I have a piece of AI that I’m working on. It’s actually called CMO Charlie. CMO Charlie can send some emails, and there’s a little chatbot. But yeah, I’ve named my AI. I also have personas for myself that I use in my marketing and with clients. Naming and avatars and personas are a big part of marketing and should be a big part of content marketing. It should be something that you can give to AI.

Micro-Segmenting Using AIDr. Barbara Hales: You mentioned the importance of micro-segmenting your audience. Can you elaborate on this and explain how AI can help in this process?

Chuck Aikens: In that realm of personas, you could have a lot of different personas. It could be patients, for instance. That would be a persona. You could also have a persona for a front desk person or an admin if you’re putting out a wanted ad. This idea of looking at the different folks you want to interact with, whether you micro-segment your clients, your patients, or different people you might be interacting with, thinking about who is receiving your communication is key. You can’t do enough work with this.

Tidal Wave Content ConceptDr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s very good to know. Can you explain your tidal wave content concept and how it helps brands create more effective content strategies?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so the idea is that if you’re going to become an expert in your particular space, whether it be knee replacement or, let’s say, dentistry, you need to be seen as an expert and someone that’s helpful. To do that, I teach a concept of having a wave of content that is informational, answers all the questions, and explains how you’re different. It also lets people experience you, whether that’s via video or other produced content, so they can have that human connection.

What I’m actually doing is the classic marketing funnel: awareness, consideration, and conversion. People go to the internet looking for the remedy or treatment for their pain. They have a lot of choices, so it’s about awareness of your services and ultimately deciding to visit you. This wave of content that needs to be produced includes search, website, social media, video, audio, and photography. It’s not just one prompt or one email; it’s all got to work together. That’s the approach the tidal wave takes in helping people market themselves.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Why is each content wave important in and of itself?

Chuck Aikens: So what I just explained involves three waves. There’s the awareness informational wave, which is usually simple things like FAQs or symptoms and treatments. It’s very informational, low effort but high frequency. The next wave is a bit harder; it’s about differentiating yourself and showing how you specifically solve pain points and why someone would choose you. This requires more effort and is less frequent. The last wave, which is a lot of effort but low frequency, might be a video of you talking or a Q&A with a patient. That human connection is why people would choose to reach out to you or become a patient. These waves have different goals—awareness, consideration, and conversion—and you need to think about each one differently and how you produce and market them.

AI Processing for ContentDr. Barbara Hales: Can you walk us through your process of using AI to turn a simple interview or conversation into a full content strategy?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, no, this is one of my favorite techniques. And it starts at that connection level, often through a 45-minute interview. By me just asking some simple questions and you answering them, hopefully with good answers and verbose, but coming from you, we can transcribe it and develop content that comes right from your voice and thoughts into video clips, social media posts, blog posts, or articles. When you combine the words, knowledge, and expertise that come directly from you via an interview with the informational content that can be somewhat built through large language models and good prompting, the combination of these two types of waves goes a long way. It introduces people to you through a query that maybe they read something, but then they get to experience you, which is just something that has to happen. They need to know who you are. So that’s how I would start with an interview and then use that to create ideas. Instead of doing keyword research or topical selection, let’s figure out what you’re truly passionate and expert about and let’s go talk about that because that resonates with folks depending on what their particular situation is.

CompetitionDr. Barbara Hales: How can small businesses and solopreneurs use AI to compete with larger companies in terms of content production? You would think with their large staff that smaller companies and smaller businesses just would not be able to compete with them.

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so just using even the interview example, a large company has a hard time getting their CEO or visionary on video and then turning that into content. As a solopreneur or as a single practitioner or if you have a small practice, you can be more nimble. What used to take five or ten hours with AI can be done in an hour or two. So this ability to leverage AI to come up with ideas and give you some base copy or use it to write transcripts and extract ideas means you can be much more nimble and not need all the coordinators, staff, and fancy tools that larger content providers, like WebMD or Healthgrades, or even hospitals, use. You can compete if you niche down and have a voice, talking about what you can truly be an authority on. If you micro-segment your audience, the way you compete is by being nimble but also having a smaller target and then being the best in that pond. That’s a way you can compete and rise above the noise on the internet.

Topical AuthorityDr. Barbara Hales:
Well, that certainly seems like the way to go. How do you approach creating content silos or topic clusters to establish topical authority in Google’s eyes?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, it’s going to be similar to how you need to be relevant or resonate with someone who has a particular ailment or situation. You’re going to do the same thing with Google. All Google wants to do is put who it thinks is the best person, doctor, or practice at the top of the results. The way to do that is to show them that you know the most about a particular subject matter. So creating a content silo, which could be a set of five or ten pages or blog posts, starts to establish that you are helpful in your content production and comprehensive, making you a great resource. Google uses a concept called E-A-T: expertise, authority, trust, and experience. I got those out of order, but it’s trying to find real people who have real experience and expertise that it can trust as an authority. The algorithm is looking for this. If you can put that out there as a doctor or as a small practice, you can be rewarded with search visibility on Google as a topical expert.

Leveraging AI For OpportunitiesDr. Barbara Hales: How do you leverage AI to analyze competitors’ content and identify gaps or opportunities in your own content strategy?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, the easiest hack to do is, whatever the topic or specialty you’re in, go look and see who’s at the top of Google and see what they’re covering. See the words and topics they use. It won’t help you find a gap, but it will establish table stakes. If you look at the top ten results, which is where all the traffic from Google comes from, you’re going to have to replace one of these guys to be in the top ten. So you need to gather an understanding of how other websites, brands, practices, and doctors are covering the topic. You can either do the same thing or, more importantly, do it a little better or fill in a gap that’s not being covered. AI can help you analyze that. There are a lot of tools and technologies that will process large amounts of data quickly. With the right prompt or tool, you can find these gaps rather fast.

Chuck’s StrategyDr. Barbara Hales: Can you walk us through your process of using AI to turn a simple interview or conversation into a full content strategy?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so specifically, I got watched you through it a little generically a minute ago, but yeah, just yesterday or in the last week, there was someone I was helping. They have a dog training business and are always outside training the dogs or the dogs are going in the kennel, whatever it might be. So I got him on the phone and said, just talk to me about the types of dog behaviors you are working on in adult dogs. He started rattling off all the things he does every day, everything he’s passionate about. Out of that came five blog posts and three video clips because I had him on Zoom just like we are right now. Social media posts, this content silo around adult dog behaviors that a professional dog trainer can help with. One interview, 45 minutes of content, just little sound bites here and there led to blog posts where the owner and trainer was quoted, video clips, and different things. AI was able to read the transcripts, come up with the ideas, help me understand the timestamps for me to send to the video editor quickly, just help me work through it. It’s the same thing I used to do, but to do an interview to build that wave of content in the old days when I had the agency or if I did it by myself, you might be talking about ten hours of work. It now can be done in 90 minutes. That’s how AI can help you get more done. As an assistant, it does the same thing that we used to do, but it just took a lot more copying, pasting, and typing.

AI and PersonalitiesDr. Barbara Hales: How do you get your AI to speak in your voice and know your personality?

Chuck Aikens: There are a couple of ways. I’ve played with having AI do some of my work for me, like answering emails and stuff. In the email example, what a piece of AI software would do is go back and read the emails that I’ve written for the last two years. That’s one example. The other example, and they call it RAG, is the equivalent of having a knowledge base. If I want AI to write and sound like me, I can give it all kinds of examples. Right now, with Claude projects, you can load like 5,200 documents in this knowledge base written by you or examples of how you talk. I’m a pretty formal, structured talker, right? You would be surprised if you know, like you would know if something’s coming from me, very linear, right? It would pick up on that. I can also give it instructions on how to write. Whether it is actual guidelines, voice, and tone that you can create, like writing this way, writing in second person, writing structured, whatever it might be. It can also just analyze things that you’ve already done to arrive at that. You’re not trying to trick AI or make people think that it’s you. It’s just easier to enrich and edit the copy if it starts out in your voice because it should always be behind you as an assistant. You should be reviewing, adding to, and taking things out of anything that gets produced. But man, it’s easier if you have a good starting point.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Have you ever heard your AI laugh at a joke?

Chuck Aikens: I have not. I’m not that funny.

Using AI for HeadlinesDr. Barbara Hales: How do you use AI to craft compelling headlines that capture both the essence of the content and entice readers to click? You know, how do you get that hook?

Chuck Aikens:
Yeah, hooks are hard, but AI can be clever. If I have the copy all done and I might take it to social media or I’m looking for an email subject line or maybe it’s a LinkedIn headline, whatever it might be, what I tend to do is ask AI to brainstorm between seven and nine. If we have to pick a number, let’s go with nine. Look at nine hooks for me. Then I look at them and pick three of them and say, “Okay, I like these three. Now write the one for me.” This process of having it brainstorm and then telling it what you like a little bit to make a final selection is a good process to go through to arrive at the hooks. Only you are going to have that intuition as to what might creatively hook somebody. AI can take direction and be creative and try to do a hook, but you’re going to know a good joke, a good hook when you see it. Even if you don’t pick the best one, you pick the second-best one. If you start with nine, get down to three, and pick one of them, it’s probably going to be a better hook than if you just randomly thought of something and didn’t go through the thought process real quick.

Strategies for Adapting ContentDr. Barbara Hales: Can you share some strategies for adapting content for different formats like blog posts, social media, or email newsletters using AI tools?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah, so I have prompts for, and there’s prompts out there that, once you have something that’s long format, by using prompts. You can produce an excerpt for your newsletter, a LinkedIn post, Facebook post, or even a tweet. This ability to take a large format piece of content and then shrink it down to different formats is something that AI does really well. You can even say, like, “write me a 75-second video script so I can do a talking head about the blog post concept.” So you have the ability to take long form down to short using prompts and tools. But in the interview process or a quick sound bite or video clip, I can also expand. If we’ve talked about something like a wave of content, I could take 30 seconds of a video clip, feed it into AI and have it write a blog post around the concept that I was talking about for review. This ability to compress or condense and also expand out concepts is something that AI does really well when prompted.

Chuck’s AI TipsDr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so our listeners may be saying, I have no experience with AI. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know how to use it. Do I actually need it? I’m at a loss here. So for those people, could you give us two tips that they could implement right away to bring them up to speed?

Chuck Aikens: Yeah. So first you got to use it. Go to OpenAI, go to Claude, set up an account. I would even encourage you to spend the $20 a month because that is cheap for what you’re accessing, but start out with a free account. First, just do it. Now, where I tell most people to start is not in their business, it’s in their personal life. Just take something from your personal life, or even something you don’t like doing in your email or answering somebody. Take these real simple use cases and try to plan a vacation, build a shopping list, just learn how to talk with it. Like, you know, how I had to learn how to talk to my teenage daughter. You just need to learn how to interact. There’s no right or wrong way. Just understand how the interaction takes place. When social media first came out, we all had to figure out what is Facebook? What is IG? What is TikTok? You have to understand the ecosystem. Just interact with it, and then pick simple use cases. I encourage people, don’t start with trying to grow your business. Start with getting rid of the things you hate. We all hate different things. Some of us hate creative work, some of us hate vacuuming, some of us hate planning a dinner party, whatever it might be. If you can start to use AI for things that you’re trying to solve, things you’re trying to get rid of, you’ll eventually be able to understand how it works and then move over into making it an agent of change, something that can make your business and your life better. But it often starts with just solving simple problems.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And the second tip?

Chuck Aikens: The second tip would be, if you’re more advanced and you are ready to start thinking about this from a business application, start with the foundational documents. A little bit of a pitch here, but there’s no money involved. I’ve built free tools on TidalWaveContent.com. If you sign up and go to tools, you can build a persona. I ask you 10 questions. You answer them, and you have a persona. If you want a voice and tone, I take you through some word choices and some pictures, and then you have a voice and tone. I believe that having these helps you start interacting with AI. So I’ve provided those tools free of charge, and just by signing up on the website, you can get access to them.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Which is easier? AI or teen talk?

Chuck Aikens: Oh, boy. Actually, for me, AI is easier, but I’ve learned a lot. She’s 17 now, and I’ve had a couple of years of practice, so I’m doing pretty good at the teen talk too.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, this has been thoroughly fun and interesting speaking with you today. This is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. We’ve been speaking with Chuck Aikens. Thank you so much for being here with us today and till next time.

Chuck Aikens: Alright. Thank you, pleasure. Bye.

The post Leveraging AI For Content Marketing first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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News of Medicare cuts have been spreading like wildfire amongst physicians, from Medicare news, Doximity and Medcentral along with many others. Physicians are up in arms.

Excerpts of this news can be found below from Medcentral, written by Marcia Frellick.

Physicians Blast Medicare’s Proposed 2.8% Pay Cuts for 2025Under the proposed 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), physicians’ base-rate pay would decrease by 2.8%, according to an announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week.

Backlash from medical groups came quickly.“It’s really just totally devastating,” Steven P. Furr, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), told MedCentral. “Many practices are struggling to survive. Not only do we not get an inflationary update, but we get a cut on top of that.”

Additionally, without paying family physicians more, “they can’t afford to invest in newer systems and better technologies,” Dr. Furr said. He said an annual inflationary update to keep up with practice costs must be the immediate first action.

Physicians Have to Make a “Really Difficult Choice”The cuts would affect specialties in different ways. Many rheumatologists, for instance, survive on their (evaluation and management) coding and “they don’t have hospital procedures they can rely on,” said Christina Downey, MD, chair of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) government affairs committee, in an interview with MedCentral. “This means they may have to make a really difficult choice and decide not to accept Medicare patients anymore. This is not a sustainable situation.”

“Since 2001, the practice cost inflation (the Medicare Economic Index or MEI) has gone up over 50% and yet we keep taking these cuts,” she explained.

Dr. Downey noted that ACR is pushing first for passage of H.R.2474Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act. While she says that is a huge step in the right direction, “having complete Medicare reform” is the ultimate goal.

AMA Cites a 29% Drop in Pay Since 2001The American Medical Association (AMA) noted in a statement that the Medicare physician payment effectively dropped 29% from 2001 to 2024 “even before accounting for the newly proposed cut.”

“Physician practices cannot continue to absorb rising costs while their payment rates dwindle,” said AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, in the statement. “Rural physicians and those treating underserved populations see this CMS warning as another reminder of the painful challenges they face in keeping their practices open.”

Medicare Reimbursement Has Some Benefits for Primary CareThough the proposed pay cut drew widespread negative reaction, the proposed rule also includes provisions to ease telemedicine communications, including payment for two-way, audio-only communication in certain situations.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) included in its statement support for the CMS change to the rules surrounding the new G2211 add-on code – which reflects the time, intensity, and practice expense resources involved during office visits that build longitudinal relationships with patients – that would allow it to be billed on the same day as an annual wellness visit, vaccine administration, and any Medicare Part B preventive service. ACP said the change will make visits more comprehensive in addition to reducing billing confusion.

_________________________This threat or fear for most physicians accepting Medicare, this is not actually news out of the blue. Back in 2012, I warned about it in a blog post https://www.themedicalstrategist.com/health/speaking-of-health-count-down-til-the-ball-drops/where I stated”As of now, we are looking at a 26.5% pay cut in accordance with the sustainable greowth rate formula for Medicare and another 2% reduction for a budget deal failure of the last year.”Ironic that this comes on the heels of President Obama announcing a pay raise for members of Congress and himself!

If Congress does not have a “doctor fix” again to thwart a slash in Medicare reimbursement, countless doctors will quit participating in the program leaving both seniors and military families to have less coverage or scrounge to find a doctor that both accepts Medicare and new patients for the Medicare participation.

The American College of Physicians has suggested 3 coping techniques for the decrease in revenue:

*Postpone routine appointments of Medicare patients until a decision has been made and the crisis is averted

*Decrease staff and office hours on a temporary basis

*Apply for a line of credit to tie you over any fiscal hump

Doctors may decide to opt out of participation in Medicare and bill patients directly but if so, must wait two years before rejoining.

These are tough decisions and tough times. The questions are:

• Will Doctors dependent on Medicare, just retire, sell their practice to hospitals or turn the key in the lock and walk away?
• Will Doctors give up on insurance and convert to a concierge model?
• Will this be the end of private practice as we know it? The answer may be to have passive streams of income to make up the loss without becoming a slave to the practice to compensate for the fees.My forthcoming book “Side Hustles for Doctors: Passive Streams of Income details various options that you can choose.If you’re interested in getting this book, let me know. No money down. Just ask for it in https://TheMedicalStrategist.com/contactThe post Doctors Are In Trouble! first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Dr. David discuss:
Why performance anxiety is the most common fear among people
The 5-Day STAGE FRIGHT Solution—a book written by Dr. David Lee Fish
Why there is no one-and-done cure for stage fright

Key Takeaways:“Experiencing stage fright or speech fright makes you perfectly human.” – Dr. David Lee Fish.

Connect with Dr. David Lee Fish:Website: https://speechfrightsolution.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-lee-fish/Connect with Barbara Hales:Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTIONDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host Dr. Barbara Hales Today we’re lucky to have David Fish join us as we delve into the world of performance anxiety with veteran educator Dr. David Lee Fish the creator of the Five-Day Stage and Speech Fright Solution. You may be wondering why I would have an episode like this. The reason is, as we promote ourselves and try to attract prospective patients, we need to get up on that stage and talk. As you may have heard in the past, people view talking on stage as more deadly than death itself.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Absolutely. It’s the irony.

Dr. Barbara Hales: David Fish explains the science behind stage and speech fright, provides an overview of the course, and offers actionable advice for those struggling with anxiety. No matter who you are, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you take control of your presence in front of others. Welcome to the show, David.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Thank you so much, Barbara. You know, this is fascinating for me. I’ve been working with my students on performance anxiety, speech fright, stage fright, and the anxiety that athletes experience. It’s essentially the same thing. It’s all performance anxiety, right? And it strikes in so many different ways.

It’s absolutely the most common fear among people; something like 75% of people suffer from performance anxiety to the extent that it mars what they do to a certain extent. You gave an example, the sort of traditional example of speech fright, being in front of an audience, maybe at a lectern or something like that. But it can be anything, like me right now in front of the camera, and you’re not even in the room with me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You know the true secret is to write everything down and practice, practice, practice, just like you’re going to Carnegie Hall. Otherwise, if you think that you’re going to just wing it, you will just be a deer in headlights and you’ll get up on that stage and all of a sudden you look out at the sea and you lose your voice.

Performance Anxiety

Dr. David Lee Fish: Absolutely. You know, I think it’s a little bit more than that. I’ve come to the realization that there are three factors that play whenever anyone experiences performance anxiety. The first one is you do something in front of others. The second one is that you feel like you’re being judged.

You are being judged, or you feel like you’re being judged, right? It could be something as formal as an audition or a job interview, where you are definitely being judged. But even if you only feel like you’re being judged, it still factors into this. The third one is if that judgment of the people or person is negative, it would constitute some type of threat to you. You don’t get the job. You lose the respect of the people that you’re speaking to.

And frankly, all the preparation in the world will help, but it’s not going to get at that root cause of performance anxiety, that at some level you’re fearful of being judged. And if that judgment is negative in one way or another, it’s going to be a threat to you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can you walk us through the five-day solution course that you have and tell us what participants who sign up can expect to learn?

The Five-Day Solution Course

Dr. David Lee Fish: Sure. I call it the Five-Day Solution because of the book that I wrote about five years ago. Now we’re launching an online course, and it’s still called the Five-Day Solution, but it’s one day a week. When I do this, I also lead live workshops, and we can actually do it in five hours. I want to make it clear that it’s not necessarily five days in a row. The normal way that I offer it in my online class is one day a week, so that would be over six weeks, I guess.

Dr. David Lee Fish: The first thing I should emphasize is that at the center of what I do with the Five-Day Solution is mindfulness. Mindfulness has become very popular over the past five or ten years, maybe too popular. It’s maybe suffered from its own success.

But there’s something very simple, effective, and scientifically proven about the benefits of mindfulness. The Five-Day Solution teaches students over those five days to learn what mindfulness is, develop their mindfulness skills, and then begin to apply it to speaking or performance.

Personal Experience with Stage Fright

Dr. Barbara Hales: What inspired you to create this program? Did you suffer from stage fright?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Oh yeah. In fact, in the recorded webinar for one version of this, which is more for performers, I tell about the very first time I performed when I was in high school. I got a chance to play in the band backing Sonny and Cher when they came through Tucson, Arizona. That really tells you how you can do the math and figure out how old I am from that, right?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Okay, so I’m in high school. This is my first gig ever, Barbara. And I’m in front of thousands of people before Sonny and Cher come on stage. The spotlights are turned on and in our faces, and we start playing. The band starts playing, the rhythm section starts playing, and I play saxophone.

The rhythm section starts playing, “down bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom,” which is the vamp from one of their songs, “And the Beat Goes On.” So I’m just nervous too. We call it fight or flight, right? There’s the third part of it, which you probably know, freeze.

So with all of this happening, I froze. The rest of the band starts playing, and I am just holding my saxophone. The only thing that snapped me out of it was the director of the band saying, “David!” So yeah, I’ve known about stage fright from my very first time on stage.

Dr. David Lee Fish: I became a professor of popular music at Catawba College in North Carolina. I started a program of study for students of popular music. Many, if not most of them, suffered from stage fright as well. And you know, nobody does anything about stage fright, the most ubiquitous fear. Most people think there’s nothing that can really be done.

So with my students, I wanted to do something because I saw them suffering like I suffered. So being the savvy guy that I am, I thought, “Well, I’m going to write a book about it.” Problem was, I didn’t know anything. So I decided I better find out something. My way of doing that was to partner with a therapist to co-author a book.

Dr. David Lee Fish: So we started writing sessions once a week. About a month into it, she said, “Well, what do you do about your stage fright?” I said, “Well, it’s kind of quirky, but I studied Zen when I was very young. When I was 20, I actually lived in a Zen Center for a year in California.

The Zen master taught us about detachment. That was the best way to handle your fears, anxieties, doubts, whatever—just detach yourself from them. They don’t go away, but they fade into the background.”

Dr. David Lee Fish: I’ve used that approach all my life since those days, and she said, “Well, that sounds like mindfulness, this new form of therapy that’s coming along. You don’t need me to co-author anything; just teach them this.”

So I started looking into it. Here’s the remarkable thing, Barbara, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the developer of mindfulness, studied with the same Zen master I did. So I thought, “Well, I actually do know something about helping others with performance anxiety.”

That’s how I got started helping my own students, my music students, the students in the acting program at my school, and then other students, like those giving reports in my classes, and then beyond that, the professors and so forth.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I know for me, not that I suffered from stage fright, but what helped me tremendously in my skill as a speaker was getting out of my own head. I stopped thinking of myself and how I was being perceived and judged.

I was told, “Listen, it’s not about you at all, it’s about them, your audience. You are there to teach them something, to give them valuable advice, to speak to them like friends, like you speak to people every day.” Taking that approach really helped me tremendously.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Oh, that’s absolutely wonderful. Absolutely great words of wisdom. When you do get, and I like how you put that, just getting out of your head, it often leads to something called peak performance or psychological flow. You find that it’s almost like an out-of-body experience as you’re speaking. It can just be the message and the audience, and you all become this sort of one thing.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What role does mindfulness play in the Five-Day Solution?

Dr. David Lee Fish: It’s absolutely the central role. The wonderful thing is that mindfulness is now being found to be so beneficial for other issues that plague people, from overeating to ADHD, you name it. It’s being proven that it’s beneficial. The great thing is that it doesn’t take long to learn. That’s why it’s a Five-Day Solution.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Mindfulness is a skill. Like any skill, the more you practice it, and I give students ways to practice their mindfulness and then apply it to their speaking, the stronger your mindfulness will be. The more you can rely on it to be there when you need it. After all these years, it’s my old friend. Whenever I get nervous, I just call on it, just rely on the mindfulness. So it’s the central aspect of the course, for sure.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are some of the most common misconceptions about stage and speech fright that you address in the course?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Yeah, a wonderful big one is that there is a one-and-done cure for speech fright. You may know this, but it’s known as the dead man’s school. It’s like anger or sadness, saying, “I’m going to find a cure, I’ll never be angry again, I’ll never be sad again.”

That’s the dead man’s school because only a dead man can achieve that. The same thing with stage fright. Even politicians, actors—one of my friends, a well-known Hollywood actor who has appeared in hundreds of movies, still talks about getting stage fright.

Dr. David Lee Fish: So, the first thing is to stop trying to conquer it, stop trying to look for some elusive one-shot cure. The second thing is, we touched upon this earlier, 75% of people get stage fright or speech fright when the conditions are right. That makes it look much more like a natural human condition rather than a phobia.

It’s not a phobia for most people. In fact, experiencing stage fright or speech fright makes you perfectly human. Those are the two big ones: you’re not broken if you experience speech fright or stage fright, and there’s no one-and-done cure for it.

Challenges and Approach

Dr. Barbara Hales: What challenges have you faced in your career with performance anxiety, and how has that shaped your approach to helping others overcome it?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Yeah, well, you know, a wonderful question. I face it almost every day in one way or another, given all the different situations where speech fright can rear its ugly head, from talking on the phone to someone you don’t know, to doing an interview over Zoom, to all sorts of formal and informal situations. It does all the time for me, and I think it does for most people, or at least for the 75% of us who experience it. There is that 25% who don’t. It keeps me humble.

I am always challenged to deal with my stage fright and speech fright. But thanks to my mindfulness training with the Korean Zen master, I’ve learned how to set that aside and, as you said, get out of your own mind, get out of your own head.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is flow, and how does your course help participants achieve this?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Yeah, I think given your audience, they will appreciate this. This comes from the psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow came around at a time that was a little bit later than Freud, but he thought, “Why are we looking at people who are abnormal and trying to figure out why they’re not normal? Why aren’t we looking at people who are super normal and figuring out what’s their secret?”

He found out that the one thing they share is this ability to have psychological flow. Meaning, we all experience it in one way or another, whether it’s reading an engrossing book, watching a movie that absorbs you, skiing if you’re an avid skier, or maybe jogging.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Paul Simon had a line in one of his songs where he said, “Have you ever experienced a period of grace when your mind takes a seat behind your face?” That’s kind of it. What song was that? Oh, I think it’s called “Think Too Much.”

And the point being, there are times when the thinking mind melts away, and we become absorbed in what we’re doing to the point we lose track of time, we forget to eat, whatever it might be. That’s flow. The more you can tap into that as a speaker or performer, it typically leads to peak performance. So, that’s what it’s all about.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can flow lead to rambling?

Dr. David Lee Fish: We see that with some politicians. Sometimes they flow so much that they don’t stick to the message they’re supposed to be delivering, and they begin speaking about Hannibal Lecter or something. It’s wonderful to watch, but it can be counterproductive.

Dr. Barbara Hales: For our listening audience out here today, can you please give us two tips that the listener can implement right now, even before taking your course?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I sometimes kid and say that the Five-Day Solution could be a five-hour solution or a five-minute solution. I can tell it to you right now. What my course does is help a student activate that. But simply stop trying to—when you have negative thoughts, fearful thoughts, and nervous thoughts when you perform or give a speech—stop trying to fight them.

Let’s start with stop thinking there’s something wrong with you. There isn’t. There’s some type of threat, and there’s a legitimate reason you’re nervous. Sometimes that threat is very obvious, other times it’s very subtle and buried down.

Dr. David Lee Fish: In therapy, they have a thing called the downward arrow. To give you a quick example, if we have time, I had a student who was a very talented singer-songwriter, but got really nervous during performances. I asked him, “Why?” He said, “Because I’m afraid my voice is going to crack.” I said, “Well, big deal. That’s not the end of the world as a performer, a singer-songwriter.” He said, “There’s got to be something deeper than that.” He said, “Well, if my voice cracked, maybe it would happen again.”

I asked, “And if that happened, then what?” He said, “Well, then maybe people wouldn’t want to come hear me anymore.” I asked, “And if that happened, then what?” He said, “Well, I’d have to give up my dream of being a singer-songwriter.” And then, “Well, I’d have to give up on something very important to me.”

Dr. David Lee Fish: So there’s often a legitimate reason for why you’re nervous, even if it’s not on the surface. Sometimes it’s very obvious, like auditioning for Juilliard School of Music, an important job interview, or asking a boss for a raise. Other times, it’s there, it’s just buried.

So, first of all, stop thinking there’s something wrong with you and stop thinking you’re getting nervous over nothing. You are getting nervous for something. Give yourself a break.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is the second tip?

Dr. David Lee Fish: The second tip is to stop trying to combat that fear. Just when it comes to your mind as you prepare, perform, or speak, just bring your mind back to the job at hand, speaking or performing. Just bring it back, just bring it back, even if you need to do that over and over. Just keep bringing your attention back to what you’re doing.

I know that seems simple, but that’s the idea. You want it to be simple. When you’re in the heat of battle, when you’re nervous, you don’t want some complicated regimen that’s going to desert you. You want something simple. Just keep bringing your mind back to what you’re doing. That’s number two.

Connect with Jonathan

Dr. Barbara Hales: For those people who may be saying, “Man, this course was just made for me. This is something I could really benefit from,” how would they sign up for this course?

Dr. David Lee Fish: Yeah, I like everybody to start with a recorded webinar that I offer on my website. I spoke about there being parallel universes. One is the Stage Fright Solution, the other is the Speech Fright Solution.

So for those listening and watching this, you would want to go to speechfrightsolution.com. On that homepage is the link to the webinar. That’ll talk you through in more detail some of the things we’ve discussed today and more about what the course is about. Then they can sign up from there.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Now, I’m happy—this is the middle of July here, and people may be watching this five months from now, so it won’t apply anymore—but I’m actually offering an early bird special through the end of July because we’re just rolling out the course. So it’s a good time for them. If you’re watching this in the middle of July 2024, hop on it because we’re offering a significant discount.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s great to hear. I found this episode to be quite interesting. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Dr. David Lee Fish: Oh, well, thank you for the opportunity, Barbara. It just goes to show you how ubiquitous this problem of speech fright is if doctors who are interested in finding ways to market themselves see a connection between that and speech fright. I’m not surprised anymore, but it is remarkable, isn’t it?

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host Dr. Barbara Hales Till next time.

The post The Solution to Conquer Stage Fright first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Andrew discuss:What are the key legal considerations for doctors when marketing their medical practices?
Why is it crucial for medical professionals to carefully review marketing contracts and ensure ownership of their content?
What recent legal changes should medical practice owners be aware of regarding business regulations?

Key Takeaways:“You don’t go to the doctor after you have the heart attack. You go to the doctor so you don’t get the heart attack. That’s why you come to me – come to your lawyer first, so you don’t have a heart attack.” – Andrew Contiguglia

Connect with Andrew Contiguglia:

Website: https://dontskipthelegal.com/
https://contiguglia.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajcesq1/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajcesq/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnxsh9iFFEdwjIwMNEM_eXg
Twitter: https://x.com/AJCEsq
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contiguglialawfirm/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (160)Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Andrew Contiguglia. And he is a seasoned business attorney and founder of the Contiguglia Law Firm. That’s right. With nearly 30 years of legal experience his business focuses on business law, corporate law, complex litigation, and risk and crisis management. He and his team are dedicated to assisting startups, entrepreneurs, and established businesses navigating legal challenges, and ensuring their success and compliance with the law and brand management.

He is the author of Don’t Skip the Legal: The Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners and host of the Don’t Skip the Legal podcast and YouTube channel. For more insights and comprehensive legal solutions tailored to your needs, visit the Contiguglia. We’ll get back to that letter. I think that trying to pronounce it is just going to make you, as well as me, remember the name all the more.

Andrew Contiguglia: I know. And listen, you are in a hefty group of really great people who couldn’t pronounce my name. But now that you know and you see it and you put your eyes on it, you’re like, oh, yeah, now Contiguglia once you learn it it’s easy.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah. I’m just going to practice its night when I’m when I’m going to sleep.

Andrew Contiguglia: That’s right.

Key Legal Considerations for Doctors Marketing Their PracticesDr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so the overview of key legal considerations doctors must be aware of when marketing their practices must be pretty hefty. What is it that you see in that?

Andrew Contiguglia: That’s a great question. And I’m glad you brought it up. Because the industry for doctors, I think is a lot like the industry for lawyers. And we were kind of talking about this before we started recording, we’ve got those client confidentiality, or in your case, patient confidentiality issues that you need to manage and deal with. There are ethical, other ethical considerations. And you know, the hardest part about being a doctor or lawyer, I think is you’ve got these governing bodies, who really like to toy with you, and play with whether they’re going to take your license to be a doctor away, and you get a grievance or something in that respect, you have to defend that. So, I find myself as a lawyer really tiptoeing a lot in in certain areas. And I can imagine that your listeners and doctors are in a similar situation when it comes to, you know, managing their practices and trying to, you know, promote their businesses all at the same time.

I grew up a doctor son, so I’m familiar with the way it was my father was a nephrologist, and owned a kidney dialysis unit here in Colorado for, you know, decades. And I remember growing up and going on rounds with him and meeting his, you know, patients and stuff like that. I don’t think he could do that today; I think with some of the requirements, you know, that were there.

But I also know that they never did any marketing. It was always like, people show up, they go to their general practitioner and they get a referral, go see Dr. Contiguglia , my father, not me, for you know, you got kidney problems, go do that kind of thing. And so, I never really saw that in the buildup of his business over the years that, you know, I sort of watched him do that. But over the years as a lawyer doing this now 30 years, I love the marketing space, and it’s given me this opportunity to work with companies, I’ve worked with dentists, I’ve worked with medical doctors, I’ve worked with other law firms, to really help them navigate some of the issues that come up in the marketing space.

Now, you’re niched in real deep when it comes to doctors, but some of these issues when it comes to the legal issues of marketing, I think could extend anybody. But I’ll you know, but as we discuss this in the, in the form of, you know, how we’re doctors are going to need to manage this. I think it’ll be applicable to pretty much anybody who is looking at marketing and, you know, working with their business. So, I think the first thing really is issues of with like copyright and trademark and that’s a big, a big piece of what we do in marketing. Here you are at, you know, looking at your copyright. Imagine you created some really cool brand or logo or drawing some.

Don’t worry if you’re blogging, and you want to make sure that this creation of yours is not used without your permission. So, all of these doctor offices, these doctors, they might want to protect it legally. You know, we’re getting away from this idea of building businesses around our own name. Now, I’ll tell you I’m old school, and consequently, a law firm. Come on, in my own name. But as we all know, in the advertising and the marketing business, our life in terms of succession, like what comes after contact, Lilia, we need to think about the next person.

And so, in the medical field, I’ve noticed you get like North Denver radiology. And so, there’s these real generic names that sort of come up for the doctors to sort of consider what’s going to happen when I sell my practice later on down the line, what branding or what, you know, intellectual property, can I create as a business owner outside of being a doctor can I create because I’m trying to build a business, in addition to saving lives? So, looking at, go ahead.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you find that artificial intelligence is now a threat to trademarking?

Andrew Contiguglia: I don’t think it is. And I’ll tell you why. The interesting thing about the Copyright Office and the trademark office is, you know, when it comes to copy copywriting things, it we’re talking about creations of creative creations of creative works, things that like books, stories, music, songs, TV shows, paintings, drawings, you know, that kind of thing. The Copyright Office now has a component when you apply for a copyright, about whether you use artificial intelligence in the creation of the item. And if you have, you won’t get a copyright on it. So, one of the requirements under the copyright laws is that the items that you are looking to copyright must be human-generated.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How can they tell?

Andrew Contiguglia: You’re right. Somebody could lie. Somebody could certainly lie under the penalties of perjury when they apply for a copyright and say that they created this. If it turns out later on to prove that, that it’s proven that they didn’t really create it, that it was a work of artificial intelligence, they would not have the copyright protections. They’re hoping to protect and so they don’t have enforceability. They don’t have the opportunity for fines and costs and attorney’s fees when it comes to enforcing those things.

Now, my personal opinion on that subject is going to be I think the Copyright Office is going to have to, you know, change the way it evaluates copyrights, we don’t have a lot of litigation in the area. We don’t have the copyright office, rejecting people for artificially made logos and things like that, yet, they haven’t gotten to the court system to be litigated about how much effort did Barbara Hales put into the creation of the prompt that would then create the image that you are now seeing today because there is a bit of human interaction when it comes to artificial intelligence and the creation of creative items, whatever it might be.

So, I think we’re going to see some transition from a legal standpoint in looking at it in that standpoint. So, we’ve got that when it comes to trademark, you know, trademarking is a little bit different. Think of a trademark as your badge of identity for your brand. You know, hails marketing may create enough of notoriety and have enough you know, foundation in the marketing community that you have developed your own identity think Michael Kors, in the fashion industry, somebody’s name that has been into that, but you’re looking when it comes to trademarking, things like company names, logos, slogans, product names, those types of things, you still have to argue, are your brand identity before the trademark office, which is different than the Copyright Office is going to issue you that trademark.

So, creating a logo for your business and coming up with a catchy slogan, a trademark is going to ensure that you can use that logo you can use that slogan in the marketplace. So, think of trademarking as your brand identity versus a copyright as sort of your shield or the protection of the things that you create.
Trademark Protection For Medical Practices

Dr. Barbara Hales: What steps do you recommend for physicians to register and protects the trademarks for medical practices, ensuring the practice name, logo, and the slogan and that they’re legally secured?

Andrew Contiguglia: Yeah, that’s a great question. And a lot of it comes down to how much have you used those items that intellectual property in your community as a business? So, when you file for a trademark, you can take one of two approaches to it. You can take what’s referred to as a usage trademark, meaning I’m applying for my trademark today, because I am using it today, I have you know, use it in the community, it is a component of my brand identity. And then it’s up to you to prove to the trademark office that you actually have the brand identity that you’re looking to trademark, it has to be unique. It has to be authoritative in your industry, there’s a number of different factors to be considered when it comes to your trademark. So that’s the first way of doing it, establish it first, then trademark it second, that’s number one.

Number two is you can file what’s called an intent to use a trademark. So maybe you come up with an idea of like hails marketing, it’s the sky’s the limit, and you want to go ahead and identify that as your trademark slogan, but you just came up with it today, you want to make sure nobody out else out there named hails is going to, you know, take your slogan, so you might file what’s called an intent to use with the trademark office to sort of hold your place in line. And then over the next six months, you’ll be allowed to develop your trademark and your brand around that slogan into the future. And then you could submit it after six months to say, hey, trademark office, we’ve done it. And they’ll make a decision based on what you’ve done. If you haven’t done it by that point, you can extend it an additional six months. And you can do that up to three years. So, you’ll get 246 extensions of an intent to use before the trademark office is going to say, Yeah, we’re not going to hold this spot for you any longer you got to go.

Now that seems like it might be an easy thing to do. But every time you ask for that extension, it’s going to cost you I think the filing fee for that is $375. But don’t quote me on that. So, you’re doing that six times that can be expensive.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What happens if you’ve gotten the trademark, but you don’t renew it through a lack of being aware? Like five or six years?

Andrew Contiguglia: Yeah, so that’s a good question. So, your trademark is going to be valid, and you have and you have an obligation to enforce it. So, when you are using it, if you see anybody infringing on it, you have an obligation to actually go and tell people you can’t use it, you have an obligation to bring lawsuits against them or apply cease and desist. Because if you don’t do those things, you’re going to lose your brand identity. And that’s the thing. And the nice thing is with the trademark office, they tell you when your mark is starting to expire and give you an opportunity to renew it and things like that. So that’s always a good opportunity.

Difference Between Trademarking And RegisteringDr. Barbara Hales: What’s the difference between trademarking and registering?

Andrew Contiguglia: For a copyright?

Dr Barbara Hales: Yeah.

Andrew Contiguglia: Okay. So that’s a great question. So, think of a copyright being for creative works, things like artwork, writing, a logo that you create for yourself something artistic, the blogs, you write, excuse me, the content up on your website, that’s going to be covered by copyright. Trademarks, on the other hand, are going to be things that are brand identifiers, things like your logo, or name, product names as it comes to your particular industry. Duration, also, I think, is a big difference. Copyright protection is for a set period of time. And it’s usually the life of the creators. Plus, if I remember correctly, it’s 75 years. And with a trademark, you can really that can last forever with proper use and renewal requirements going on. If you remember, there’s a few things that are coming up.

So out of copyright protection, you have Winnie the Pooh, came out of copyright protection and so now it’s going to be part of you know, everybody can go and make whatever kind of Winnie the Pooh this or Winnie the Pooh that you want Disney that’s gone. Same thing with Mickey Mouse that is coming out and coming into the public domain, too. So, you’re going to see some very interesting, creative works now coming out with these new ideas with that.

The last thing also I think is between the two is really the purpose. Copyright stops people from copying your creative works without your permission. And trademarks prevent other people from using your brand’s identity so your name or your logo in a way that could confuse customers. So, think of trademarks as a way to identify and brand yourself independently from everyone else to make sure that nobody else can be confused with you. Versus copyright, which is you want to protect the things that you have created.

Legal Do’s And Don’ts For Doctors Using Social Media

Dr. Barbara Hales: Let’s move over for a moment to social media. And it’s something that we’re all on, some more than others, to try to get our name out and get name recognition. What are some legal do’s and don’ts for doctors using social media to market their services, including patient privacy and ad Advertising guidelines, as long as you’re not using patient name, and what you do are the other things that we should be looking out for? Absolutely.

Andrew Contiguglia: And I want to caveat this response with everything, everybody is different, every case is going to be different. So, what one doctor does is not going to be dispositive of what another doctor does in the same lane. You know, I think nowadays with advertising regulations, the Federal Trade Commission really governs what people put out there into the world. And they are starting to crack down on social media influencers and people in the social media space about how those individuals are advertising their services or advertising products.

So, I could certainly see a situation with a doctor being sponsored by I’m using that term loosely, by a company that wants to promote a stethoscope, let’s say, and so the doctor is going to go, I can hear everything with my, over the ear stethoscope, and you know, here you go, everybody should go out and buy one, the link is in my bio. And yes, I get a $25 commission for every time you buy one of those, I could totally see a doctor wanting to get into sort of that brand identity and use things in the areas of nutrition.

Nowadays, I get a lot of that with supplements, there’s a lot going on with that. I have yet to see it in the area of pharmaceuticals and things like that. But I certainly see that that could be something down there in the future. So the reality here is in when it comes to the Federal Trade Commission, and when you are promoting a product of somebody else’s, you have an obligation, a legal obligation, not an ethical one, but a legal one, to notify your consumers or the people who are observing your broadcast, that you have a stake in what you are promoting, whether you’re going to get a kickback from a sale, whether it was given to you for free, whether you have a stake in the company that is trying to promote those things. That I think is something that the FTC is going to come down and really crack down on you in that process.

There have been some really high-level influencers, who have been busted by the FTC for promoting brands and not telling people that they are affiliated with that brand in some form or fashion that they’re either getting a kickback or royalty or something like that. So, I think it’s really important, any doctor who is advertising for somebody else, to promote a product, absolutely, you gotta give that up and say, Listen, I have a stake in what I’m selling you. Because the concept of truth and advertising really needs to be pushed on the end consumer, they need to know that you’re biased in what you are promoting to me. And so, as a result of that, I need to know that I could be buying something that could help you.

Now the opposite of that, I don’t think it’s true. Now there’s sort of a divided lawyer, you know, opinion about this, which is, if I’m not getting paid, if I’m not getting endorsed, it just so happens, hey, I went to the store today and I picked up this thermometer, I have to tell you, this is the most accurate thermometer I’ve ever used in my medical practice, it doesn’t matter what hole you stick it in, you’re gonna get the best, you’re gonna get the best reading of the body temperature no matter what. Now, if I’m not getting paid by that thermometer company, but I’m telling you what I like about it, I don’t think I have an obligation to say, I’m not getting paid.

But if the thermometer company comes to me and says we’d really like you to promote this, and we’ll give you a penny for every one of these that gets sold. Now I’ve got an obligation to do that. So, I think that space is really the big, the big piece of that. And also, you got truthfulness, I think that’s a huge part of it. Every advertisement that you’re bringing up must be truthful, shouldn’t be misleading, that is not only akin to the products that you’re promoting, but it’s also about you’re the nature of your business. I don’t think, you know, doctors may be a little bit different like but in the legal community, unless I’m in a jurisdiction that allows for me to say that I quote unquote, specialize in business law, I’m not allowed to promote that. I’m not allowed to say I’m a specialist, maybe different in the medical field as the specialists around all the time.

So, I think every state is going to have a different requirement about what you can and cannot do to tell people about your specialty, or whether you just say I’m an orthopedic surgeon, or I’m an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hip replacements. That would be something you know, a little bit different. I think testimonials creates some issues. I think we’ve got patients, you know, telling people about their experience with you. And I think that it’s very important when a doctor uses testimonials from one of their patients that they get their consent and a waiver of any confidentiality and the process of doing that I think you need to put a limitation on what you can and cannot use any of those testimonials for, hey, Barbara, I would love it, if you would give me a testimonial about the, you know, the cast I put on your arm the other day, that would be awesome.

Understand, I’m only going to use it on my website in this section called testimonials, I’m not going to use it anywhere else, because you want to make sure that the relationship with your patient is protected. Because the last thing that you want to see is that I’ve now taken that interview, I’ve spliced it up. And now I’ve put it into different areas, and it’s now on a YouTube channel for something completely unrelated. And it’s just you as a soundbite with, you know, Best Cast ever, whatever that is, that does or doesn’t necessarily agree with what you consented for me to use your imagery for.

So I think you need to really play that one, you know, on a case-by-case basis, when it comes to, you know, your patients and that comparative advertising, I think that many instances when you’re trying to compare yourself to, you know, Dr. Jones down the street, you know, when Dr. Hills is the best tip, Doctor, you gotta be careful about bad mouthing, you know, Dr. Jones down the street, for botching you know, a hip replacement at some point, if there’s any Dr. Jones out there, I completely made this up. This is not about you at all.

You touched I don’t, I don’t want to upset anybody. I’m making names up and I’m pulling them off my screen as I’m sort of going through my notes. I think you and I touched briefly on patient privacy, HIPAA compliance, I think that’s pretty much a no brainer when it comes to that kind of thing. I do also think that nowadays where doctors can really kind of see themselves into the Dr. Oz Dr. Phil celebrity space, which I can’t imagine any doctor isn’t hoping they get into, you know, you’re looking at your likeness and the things that are important to you and your business and being able to present their qualifications and credentials to other people. So, you need to make sure that you’re properly licensed, if you have a certain brand that you’re sharing licenses appropriately.

If you’re using content from someplace else, that you’ll that you’re properly licensed. I’ll tell you a horror story about that in a minute. So, remind me in about two minutes about a stock about stock photos and things like that on websites, I think that’s a big piece of it. I think, you know, accurate representations of your qualifications, making sure that your information on your website is up to date those things credentials, keeping up to date, if you’ve lost a credential somewhere or acquired new ones, making sure that any of those changes are properly reflected in your marketing materials. Again, this all comes down to truth in advertising, the last thing you want is somebody you know, a patient coming to you because they expected that you were still doing hip surgeries, because that’s up on your website, as some of you do. But the last one you did was 25 years ago. And here we are the complete, you know, methodology and process of doing a hip replacement is different than it was 25 years ago.

So, you need to sort of evaluate those. And I think also the scope of your practice accurately representing the scope of your services, and what you’re legally allowed to provide, making sure that you’re niche down and not breaking anything in that respect, when it comes to doctors utilizing marketing services, so I’m going to throw you into the mix on this. I did some research on you, you’re a content creator. So, you like to help create, you know, content for doctors and Misumi. But you create things they put on their blog, they put on their website, you help them create, you know, dialog that they’re promoting out there. I haven’t reviewed your contract, but I at some point might want to, because I’m curious about after you create it, who owns it. Because this gets back to that copyright question we brought up at the very beginning, where the copyright stands with the person who created it.

So, Barbara, if I hire you to create the best medical blog in the world, and you’ve written some great stuff that I put up on my website, and I go to try and copyright it, it that doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to you. And you have given me, you know, a limited opportunity to use it on my website. So that really depends on the nature of your contract with me and what services you’re providing to me. And I think that doctors really need to be careful about how much authority they want to give to marketing individuals about how much stays in the hands of the marketing professional. I have run into problems with other lawyers who hire marketing groups that say, hey, we’ve got this best personal injury denver.com that we’d love to, you know, put all your stuff on, and they and you go great. And you use their services, they take everything that you have, and they build this beautiful website of your best personal injury lawyer denver.com. And now all your stuff is there, and you’re doing it, you’re doing it you’re doing everything’s great, all of this brand, you’re getting calls and calls and calls and then all of a sudden, you say, great. I added the personal injury, amount of the personal injury business or something else comes up, you get in a fight with your marketer, because guy that never happens, does it. And now the marketing company has gone. And now you want all this content that you created, and the marketing company is gonna go, no, it belongs to us, that was all proprietary from what we had created on your behalf.

And that belongs to us, you don’t get it. And now I have had calls from other lawyers, other business owners who are like, well, what happened? I mean, those images are of Me, the content we created as of my practice area, and all these things, what am I going to do? And I’m like, well, let’s look at the contract. And unfortunately, these aren’t work for hire contracts. Because when I hire you, I want to make sure that I maintain the ownership of the things that you create on my behalf. That’s the whole concept of work for hire contracts. But if that’s not there, guess what, you’ve lost all of that. And in many instances, you see these web designers or other marketing companies holding your content hostage until you either pay them a fee, pay them, well, we’d created it’s $25,000 worth of stuff that we created. So, pay us $25,000. And we’ll give it all to you. And now you got to decide, well, what’s my brand worth? And what was their what’s really, there. So, like, if you look at my website at Contiguglia.com, everything in there is original, with the exception of the things on the blogs, which we get through stock services, but all my photos and everything I take, I want to make sure that I have ownership in everything that I create. So, when I use marketing companies, and I do I use content creation companies, I use people who help edit my podcast, I have people who help write my blogs, and do web design and things like that.

And every one of those contracts, I make sure it says that I am accountability and accountability law firm owed anything that you create, at the end of the day. I have yet to really get any pushback from anybody on that. But when marketers say no, this is mine, I’m going to create I’m like, Great goodbye. You’re not the right person for me. So, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter under those circumstances. So, I think that is that’s an important piece. Got I’ve covered a lot in this. I haven’t stopped talking. So, I’ll give you an opportunity to ask some more questions and follow up from all of this. I could talk for hours on this stuff. Clearly, I like it right?

Dr. Barbara Hales: It’s kind of amazing that lawyers themselves get caught. And in that quagmire, you would think of different specialties. But you wouldn’t think that lawyers themselves would not check more into that.

Andrew Contiguglia: It’s funny because I represent a lawyer marketing company. And in my discussions with the owner of that company, we talk all the time, because they also run a podcast and one of the episodes of their podcast was those types of horror stories about companies holding the lawyers content hostage to either get paid or elbow out the lawyer out of that stuff. And I mean, think about all the energy and the time and everything that you put into building your brand. Think back to copyright and trademark from the very beginning. And now it’s being thrown out the window and in the hands of somebody who you are in a legal dispute over. And sometimes you have to sort of sit back and go, well, what’s it going to cost me to recreate everything that I’ve just now created over the last five years. And that can be expensive. And it may be enough where you could say Alright, here’s what we’ll do, let’s offer, and you can do this.

I’ve gotten to marketing companies and said listen; I will get in a legal argument with you. I will sue you over this. Let’s avoid it. My clients willing to pay you $10,000 for all this content. What the hell is it from you for you? Why do you care? Give me the content. What? You can’t use it for anything else. Barbara, if you’re putting Andrew Contiguglia for the Contiguglia Law Firm up in your marketing stuff, you can’t use Andrew Contiguglia, his face when you’re doing John Doe’s website on the exact same stuff. So, the fact that you have all of Andrew Contiguglia as mug and content and videos and everything in your possession has zero marketability for you unless you’re going to try to general realize it but then you always do have this opportunity to say, well, you don’t have my, you don’t have my permission to use my likeness in that context as whatever you’re doing. So, there are ways that you can protect yourself. Another one, I’m going to give you another horror story. God, I hate being the bearer of doom and gloom, I feel like a doctor.

But let’s, but here’s this, I have seen situations. And this happened, I had an in-house marketer for a while. She was great. I had to teach her about the legal issues when it came to marketing. And so, she put together some great marketing material, and she presented it to me. And she goes, well, what do you think of this? I said, Listen, it’s beautiful. I think it looks great. Like, but where did you get those images? Oh, I got them from Google image search. And I’m like, okay, you need to go find other images. I’m like, we are subscribed to Adobe Stock go to Adobe stock images from there. Well, why? Why? Why? Because we don’t own the rights to that. We don’t have licensing to use those images. And I think people have this tendency, Barbara, to think just because they can find it on the internet. Or if they type it into Google, and it shows up in an image bank, that they have the right to use that. I have clients who got sued over it, and it’s expensive. It’s like $7,500 a violation. And if you’re making money off of those, you have a responsibility then in a successful lawsuit against you to pay anything that you might have received as a result of that.

So, copyright infringement can be a huge, huge problem for you if you’re being dinged for that. So, I always make sure that if I’m hiring a marketing company, and they’re creating content for me, and they are going to pick your stock source for materials, that they’re promising that they have the right to use it, that they’re not, that they’re not stealing it from somebody who’s later going to come back, that happened to me, I had, we call them copyright trolls. They’re lawyers out there who love to go around and find people who are infringing on other people’s trademarks. And they go around and they shake him down, they shake them down for, 10s of 1000s of dollars, because they know because they’re gonna come to you Barbara, they’re gonna go, hey, Barbara, I went on your website, and you have this image from my client, it’s of a plant. This is based on a true story, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You have this plant on your website, and my client took a picture of that plant, that picture is copyrighted, you owe us for this.

And we had to literally, they’re like, so they walk through and they go, here’s, you know, it’s been up on your website from our math 18 months. So that could be one infringement 7500 bucks, it could be multiple infringements, depending on how it is operated. It was also to promote a product that my client was selling. So, then there was revenue generated as a result of that image. And so, you add all these up, and these lawyers are very creative in the way that they you know, Max everything out, and they say, hey, if we have to sue you, we’re coming after you for $350,000. And you’re going you look at your clinic goes; I can’t afford this $350,000 What should I do? We write back and we say, Yep, here we go. What do you want? They go, Yeah, well, we would be happy to settle this for $7,500. You go to your client, you go pay this $7,500 buck, like what are you talking about? They have a claim, you didn’t do what you’re supposed to do. And by the way, that $7,500 is a fraction of what you’re going to pay me to litigate this for you. So now you decide what the business and these lawyers coming in there, they will file hundreds of these. And if they’re getting $7,500 bucks per pop on each of these, and they’re filing 100 of them a year, do the math that’s 750k of like, low hanging fruit in legal fees that you can get on these things. And they do that.

So, you know, in the case, I had somebody reached out to me for a picture I had up on my website. Now I’m smart enough because I know that I go to a stock service and I am licensed for those images. And so, they tried to shake me down. I said, I’m sorry, but I have a licensing for this. They’re like, well, we need you to prove it. My great. Here you go. So, I went through the process with Adobe. I am not a paid advertiser of Adobe. I use Adobe and I love it and their stock services are awesome. I get no kickback from this see FTC now rolling back around. But we’ve got now I had to prove to them like, here you go. Here’s the licensing and everything. They’re like, Great, thank you. We appreciate it. Have a good day. And they were gone. That was it just proved it. And I think that becomes I think the most dangerous atmosphere for doctors to be playing in when they’re not using their own original content. And then when they want to create their own content, they need to make sure that they retain ownership in that content. And after the photographer, the videographer, the blog writer, the content creator, has produced it, I think those are the biggest pieces of it.

Beware of Using Royalty-Free ImagesDr. Barbara Hales: I think that’s so true. And, in speaking about that, I just want to point out to the listeners that when you see that an image is royalty-free, sometimes it can be royalty-free for personal use and not commercial use.

Andrew Contiguglia: Absolutely.

Dr. Barbara Hales: They are all different ways that something is royalty-free, and you have to make sure that you’re getting it for the purpose that you are using it.

Andrew Contiguglia: Absolutely. And I think that that’s a really good distinction. Also, if I am putting up, you know, a video that I created on YouTube, for my own personal use, I can use YouTube’s you know, laundry list of songs and you know, sound bites and things like that, that they have available to me as a creator. However, if I’m creating things for Barbara hills, and Barbara Hills marketing world, I may not be the license may not allow me to use the license from YouTube that I created for you. It would be your license that you would have to go get independently for me.

Not only that, but I see people, you know, marketing companies using the same image in more than one publication. I think that creates a problem. I think, depending on the license that could create a licensing violation that you know, the creator that content could come after you for. And I think you think that anybody who is using a company needs to make sure that they are indemnified, meaning that in the event, I’m sued, and I have to pay something out that I can get paid back by you for violating the law that I got blamed for. I think those indemnification provisions are important in every one of those contracts. So, we want to make sure that the doctors are protected in that respect, as they build that out.

Proper Structuring For Contract AgreementsDr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Tell me how does one structure agreements to ensure clarity on deliverables? Which is something that we’re we’ve been talking about, as well as confidentiality and dispute resolution?

Andrew Contiguglia: Absolutely, I think those are. That’s great. And getting back to the marketing company that I represent our legal marketing company; we have been working on their master services agreement for months now. And it has gone through a number of different variations. And I think the perspective of the information I’m about to give really depends on whether I’m representing you as the marketer and the creator versus the doctor who’s entering into the agreement. It is my belief that, Barbara, if you’re providing a marketing service to Me, you should be providing the contract to me for my review, and that you should stand fast on the terms that you want, hey, if you want to Barbara hills, to do your creative marketing and do your content marketing, you got to agree to my terms. Hey, when people hire me, they have to agree to my terms. I’m sure every one of these doctors that listens to this podcast, every patient that comes in through the door has to agree to do things the way the doctor says. That’s just the world we live in. I think it would be different if I’m providing you Well, yeah, Barbara here, I’ll provide you my marketing contract. And then you’ve got to agree to my terms. That doesn’t always work out that way.

So, I think, you know, I have seen horrible marketing contracts. I’ve seen ones that last forever, I see ones that you can’t terminate. And I will say these bad contracts are still binding. And without somebody going through your agreement with you, like I don’t mind if you enter into a bad agreement, Barbara, but let’s sit down and let me go through it with you. So, you know what you’re getting yourself into. And at least we can discuss your though any way that you might be able to get out of this contract under, under what circumstances because I you know, you see these things where marketers hold websites hostage, they hold branding hostage, they hold images that they create hostage, all of these things, and you want to make sure like, Listen, you want to agree to this stuff, great. But understand what you’re getting yourself into. And I think we’re explaining it and walking through it with somebody who has the background in it, I think is going to be imperative and really helpful in the way that you look at hiring a marketing company. So, I think that’s the first thing.

What other terms should be in there? I think you need a term like how are you going to get out of this? I think every contract should have a form of termination. Because, Barbara, I love you. You’re great, but I might not want to work with you forever. There might be somebody else that I want to go work with, or here’s something that happens a lot and I’ve run into this, representing other marketing companies that have gone out and purchase bought smaller marketing agencies in order to grow their companies. I’ve seen it where, you know, company A says we’re gonna go acquire company Z, and they go and they acquire company Z. And all the people who are working with companies Z hate Company A. And so, somebody comes in Barbara, I have a contract with you Company A comes in and buys your company. I mean, I like working with those people. No, I am a true bar believer. I’m working with Barbara and nobody else. How dare you do that. Now, of course, from a customer service standpoint, hope you would talk to me about it before selling it. But it doesn’t always work that way, especially in the marketing industry, when you see transition after transition after transition, where you want to retire, and your associate is now running your company. So, we want to see those things. But I may not want to be around for that long. And I might want to get out. So, termination clauses.

Dr. Barbara Hales: But an interesting thought, though, because if a contract is with a certain company, then is it you know, if the company changes, or the people that signed the contract change? Doesn’t that, in and of itself, make it less legally binding,

Andrew Contiguglia: It doesn’t change the legally binding nature of the agreement. So, let’s it really depends on the nature of the contract, and the nature of the acquisition that happened. So let me walk through a situation with you. So, let’s say you want to buy marketing, company B. And your part of what you’re buying are all the contracts that marketing company B has. So, you’re buying Marketing Company B, you know, you work in Florida and East Coast marketing, company B is all California doctors, you’re like what a great market for me to get into, I’m going to buy this agency up. Perfect.

Now one of the things that you need to look into when buying that other company is, are you buying just the assets of that company? Or are you also buying the stock of that company, because if you’re buying the stock of the company, nothing underneath that company changes because you’re buying the ownership interest in the company. However, when you’re buying just the assets of the company, its customers, its intellectual property, its products, its, you know, know-how and other foundational requirements, that may not be it. So, when you’re buying somebody’s contracts, you need to make sure that the contract you’re buying can be transferred to you. So, we call that assignability. So is the contract assignable. If the contract is assignable, you don’t have an issue with it, because the owner is just going to transfer it to you, they’re going to assign it, we do that through what’s called an assignment and assumption agreement. And any contract, any cut, let me rephrase that any contract is transferable unless the contract prohibits transfer.

So, what that means is I can contract I can transfer any contract I have to you so long as the contract doesn’t prohibit me from doing so. But you’ll see that many lawyers are smart. might not think that but we are sometimes and we put in these non-assignability clauses for exactly this. Because we want to make sure that you can’t transfer your duties and your responsibilities to somebody else. And as a result of that, we want to make sure that we have an anti-assignment provision in there.
So now Barbara, if we’re gonna go buy all these contracts, guess what I have to do? I have to go to every one of those customers. And I have to say, hey, Barbara is buying companies a, she would love to continue to work with you let’s meet, will you agree to have her take over your contract? And most of the time, they’re like, Yeah, that sounds great. I don’t care. I just want marketing services. But sometimes you may say, no, we’re not going to do that. And so, you know, I’ve seen people get, you know, not pay enough attention to that.

And get dinged by that later on where the clients like, yeah, and now, you know, you went out and you bought, I mean, imagine this, you buy this company out in California, they have 1000 customers that they’re dealing with, and you’re thinking to yourself, I’m buying all I’m buying 1000 $100,000 contracts, because each one of these contracts is $100,000 deal for me. And every one of these now is like Yeah, guess what? No, we don’t agree to the assignment. And we’re out and you’ve just now paid all of this money for a marketing company that now you can’t use those contracts. I’m gonna make it even worse. I represented. It’s funny. I represented somebody and this was actually in the medical area.
He was a locum tenens guy and he was buying up other local companies around the country and the different companies that he was talking about, I was giving you Yeah, I’m you know, as I was saying earlier, you know, I represented a company that was going out and buying other locum tenens companies and one of the companies that he was purchasing had a number of different locum contracts in varying states around the country.
And also, like in the Bahamas and Virgin Islands and things like that. And so, he’s, my client was buying all of these other contracts that this other locum’s company had. And so, I’m like, I will, let’s take a look at the contracts that you’re buying, because we need to know what we’re buying.

That’s the asset you’re buying is all those contracts with all those other doctors and he’s like, Alright, so we started getting copies of all the contracts, that there’s other that this other locum’s company was utilizing with all of its locums doctors. And every one of those contracts I kid you not, there was probably about 15, or 16 of them was different. Oh, my, some of them had mandatory arbitration. Some of them had venue in California, meaning that’s where you’re going to sue.
Some of them had, you know, Virgin Islands. law being applicable. Others had, you know, Delaware law being applicable, it was a mess. Some of the contracts allowed for assignment, some of the contracts did not allow for assignment. And so, we were in this difficult position. I’m like, advising my clients, like, do you really want to do this? I’m like, this is not, I don’t think this is worth it.

This is going to create more headaches for you later on down the line. And ultimately, my clients like, yeah, you’re right, I don’t want to do this, this is not worth it to me. So, we end up backing out of the deal. But that’s part of you know, what we do in due diligence when it comes to buying other companies, which, you know, it’s not a marketing issue for doctors, but I’ve represented a ton of doctors and selling their businesses and buying other businesses, I think it’s a great way to, you know, when you’re coming out of med school, and your residency and fellowship and all and you’re looking to jump into, you know, building a company, there you go. And that was my dad’s exit plan, he sold his nephrology practice and his dialysis unit to a very large health one company, and retired very happily from that.

Book PromotionDr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. Let’s shift our conversation a little bit to your book, which has a very catchy title. If I were to buy your book, what kinds of things would I find in it?

Andrew Contiguglia: Oh, it’s a guide book so there’s nothing real fancy about it. And it really walks you through how to start and set up your business for success. Or if you are current business owner, the book has in it like things that you could think about whether you should be hiring employees or what or your workers should be classified as employees or independent contractors, walking you through some of those legal issues.
So, the way it’s designed, it literally is from Hey, what choice of entity should I be LLC, corporation, partnership, you pick it all the way to the end of that journey of selling your business. There have been some changes in the law. That is going to go into my next addition here shortly.

With beneficial ownership interests. In companies you’ve probably heard about that you have now the financial crime Enforcement Network(FINCEN), requiring owners of businesses must register with FINCEN anybody who has a beneficial ownership interest in their company, meaning if they own 20% or more in a company, you have an obligation to put FinCEN on notice of your ownership interest in that company.
Now, businesses that were in existence prior to January 1 2024, have until December 31 2024 to get this done. Businesses that were created after January 1 2024, have to get that done within 90 days of registering their business with their local Secretary of State’s office. So that’s a big one.
The next big one is the Federal Trade Commission coming out and outlying non-compete agreements pretty much across the board with very few exceptions. The one of the exceptions being if I have a partner in my business, and I buy you out, Barbara, I can put a non-compete on you to not compete because you’re at the ownership or high-level managerial level, but your typical employees, you can’t, people who lower-level managers, you’re not allowed to put non-compete.

So, if you had a sales rep working for you, who was awesome, and you fire, you can’t prevent that person from going across the street to an accountability as marketing agency and competing against Barbara Hills marketing agencies can’t do that anymore. So, this whole prohibition on non-competes I think is really important. so, it doesn’t prohibit people from putting nonsolicitation agreements in place so you can’t call my clients you can’t work with my clients, you can’t call my employees that kind of thing that you can still be protected.

So those two big changes I think within the last year or so have really come down and it just becomes one more box we have to check as we start helping people with the startup of their businesses or running an operating their companies down the line. And also making sure that those things have been done when they look to succeed from their business whether it’s selling it or transferring it to another person.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I assume that we could buy your book on Amazon.

Andrew Contiguglia: That’s right. You can find it on Amazon. Yep.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is it available in the audio file as well?

Andrew Contiguglia: Not yet. That is something I’m in the works but you can it’s on Kindle I think you can even maybe Kindle read it your computer might read it to you might be boring. You don’t get this much entertainment with a computer. But you can buy it you can buy it in hardback or sorry paperback and on Kindle. Also, if you go to Dontskipthelegal.com, you can find you can get access to my podcast, which is the Don’t skip the legal podcast. See how we’re working on the trademarking in the branding. That’s how this all fits it. You’ll see my logos which would be copyrighted. Also, you can check out any of the videos that I’ve done on YouTube I put a lot of those out too over the years and been working on that so that’s where you can find me and if you want to find me on any of the socials, it you can find me @AJCEsq. So, @AJCEsq so find me at Twitter, Instagram. Pick it, I’ll be there.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so we’re going to give our listeners two tips that you can implement right away.

Andrew Contiguglia: All right.

Last Pieces of AdviceDr. Barbara Hales: What two tips would you like to leave them with?

Andrew Contiguglia: That’s a great question. I think the first tip would be to pull your contracts and review them. Because what I have found is, many of these individuals sign these contracts, they don’t know what they mean, or now that they’ve here we are, we’ve been chatting for about an hour or so. Now they have all this new insight and knowledge as to how to approach and view some of these things. But I think that they should look at the contracts now with this new light, and sort of critically evaluate whether these are the right deals for them to be in. That would be the very first thing.

The second thing would be, I would make sure that you have ownership of every image that you have on your website that you use in your marketing protocol. I would do as much as you can to steer away from using any of the stores, or your stock photos and things like that. And I would create all original content. So, hire somebody, make sure you retain the ownership interest and create all new content. From the beginning. It sounds like it’s an ordeal but break down into time. Over time, you’ll get it done pretty quickly.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I think that the thought that would go through every listener’s mind after listening to this podcast is I need a lawyer.

Andrew Contiguglia: What’s funny, you should say it’s actually the very first chapter in my book is why you need a lawyer as part of your business team. I mean, everybody has, everybody has an accountant, right? Like you need you need a lawyer like a PC like your primary care doctor, right? You don’t go to the doctor after you have a heart attack, you go to the doctor so you don’t get a heart attack. That’s why you come to me, come to your lawyer first so you don’t have a heart attack. That’s really what it comes down to.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I think that you have really encouraged us all to run out and give you a call.

Andrew Contiguglia: That’d be great. I’d love to work with people.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Thank you so much for being on the show today, listening to another episode of marketing tips for doctors, till next time.

Andrew Contiguglia: Excellent. Thanks, Barb.

The post Top Legal Considerations to Market Your Medical Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Andrew Contiguglia shares with Dr. Barbara Hales and you the listener, the legal constraints within marketing yourself ad your businessl He is a seasoned business attorney and founder of The Contiguglia Law Firm, P.C., with nearly 30 years of legal experience. Click on the url below to hear as:

Andrew Contiguglia shares with Dr. Barbara Hales and you the listener, the legal constraints within marketing yourself ad your businessl He is a seasoned business attorney and founder of The Contiguglia Law Firm, P.C., with nearly 30 years of legal experience. You will hear 2 tips that you can implement right away!https://youtu.be/oWOCSwjNDnoThe post Don’t Stop the Legal first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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2. Access to Expertise: Webinars often feature industry experts and thought leaders who share their insights, providing valuable knowledge and the latest trends in the field.
3. Cost-Effective: Many webinars are free or less expensive compared to in-person conferences and seminars, making them a cost-effective way to gain knowledge and professional development.
4. Networking Opportunities: Webinars usually include interactive elements such as Q&A sessions, polls, and chat functions, allowing you to engage with the presenter and other participants, which can help build professional connections.
5. Learning at Your Own Pace: Since webinars are often recorded, you can pause, rewind, and rewatch sections to fully understand the material, catering to your learning pace.
6. Access to Resources: Presenters often share valuable resources such as slides, articles, and tools, providing additional learning materials.
7. Interactive Learning: Features like live Q&A, polls, and chat functions enable interactive learning, making the experience more engaging and personalized.
8. Professional Development: Attending webinars can contribute to your continuing education and professional development, often providing certificates of attendance or participation.
9. Timely and Relevant Content: Webinars can be quickly organized, making them an excellent way to receive timely information on current events, emerging trends, and new technologies.
10. Global Reach: Webinars can connect participants globally, offering diverse perspectives and the opportunity to learn from experts around the world that you might not have access to.

The webinar you are attending, may not be live but that does not prevent you from learning all it has to offer. This type of webinar is called evergreen.

An evergreen webinar is a pre-recorded webinar designed to be accessible and relevant over an extended period, rather than being tied to a specific date or event. Unlike live webinars, scheduled for a particular time and date, evergreen webinars are available on demand, allowing viewers to watch them at their convenience.

Here are some key features and benefits of evergreen webinars:

1. On-Demand Accessibility: Participants can access the content anytime, making it convenient for those with busy schedules or different time zones.
2. Consistent Quality: Since the webinar is pre-recorded, the content and delivery are consistent for every viewer, ensuring a polished and professional presentation.
3. Automated Engagement: Evergreen webinars can include automated features such as pre-set Q&A sessions, polls, and interactive elements that simulate a live experience.
4. Scalability: They can reach a large audience without the limitations of a live event’s capacity, making them ideal for scaling up outreach and education efforts.
5. Lead Generation and Nurturing: Evergreen webinars are often used in marketing strategies to capture leads and nurture potential customers through automated follow-ups and personalized content.
6. Cost-Effective: Once created, evergreen webinars require minimal ongoing effort, reducing the cost and resources needed for repeated live presentations.
7. Timeless Content: The information presented in evergreen webinars is typically designed to remain relevant over time, covering foundational topics or evergreen subjects that don’t require frequent updates.
8. Data and Analytics: They provide opportunities to gather data and insights on viewer behavior, engagement, and conversion rates, which can inform future content and marketing strategies.

9. Flexibility for Updates: While the core content remains the same, evergreen webinars can be periodically updated with new information or additional resources to maintain relevance. Most webinars are free to attend. Perhaps you might consider creating a webinar of your own.Creating Your WebinarCreating a webinar involves several steps, from planning and preparation to execution and follow-up. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you create a successful webinar:

10. Define Your Goals* Determine the purpose of your webinar (e.g., education, lead generation, product demonstration).

11. Identify your target audience and their needs.

12. Choose a Relevant Topic* Select a topic that aligns with your goals and interests your target audience.

13. Ensure the content is valuable and provides clear takeaways for participants.

14. Plan the Content* Outline the key points and structure of your presentation.

15. Prepare slides or other visual aids to support your message.

16. Include interactive elements like polls, Q&A sessions, and chat functions to engage your audience.

17. Select a Webinar Platform* Choose a reliable webinar platform that meets your needs (e.g., Zoom, GoToWebinar, WebinarJam).

18. Ensure the platform supports the features you need, such as screen sharing, recording, and attendee interaction.

19. Schedule the Webinar* Pick a date and time that works for your audience.

20. Consider time zones and schedule accordingly to maximize attendance.

21. Promote the Webinar* Create a landing page with a registration form.

22. Promote the webinar through email marketing, social media, your website, and other channels.

23. Send reminder emails to registered attendees leading up to the event.

24. Prepare and Test Equipment* Ensure you have a good quality microphone, camera, and stable internet connection.

25. Test your equipment and software beforehand to avoid technical issues during the live event.

26. Rehearse Your Presentation* Practice delivering your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and timing.

27. Familiarize yourself with the webinar platform and its features.

28. Host the Webinar* Start the webinar on time and welcome attendees.

29. Follow your planned content, but be flexible to adjust based on audience engagement.

30. Encourage interaction through Q&A, polls, and chat.

31. Record the Webinar* Record the webinar for future use and to share with those who couldn’t attend live.

32. Follow Up* Send a thank-you email to attendees with a link to the recording and any additional resources.

33. Provide a feedback survey to gather insights on how to improve future webinars.

34. Follow up with leads generated from the webinar for further engagement.

35. Analyze Performance* Review attendance statistics, engagement levels, and feedback.

36. Use this data to refine your approach and improve future webinars.

By following these steps, you can create an engaging and effective webinar that meets your goals and provides value to your audience.

Need help creating your webinar? Let’s Chat:https://TheMedicalStrategist.com/contactThe post Why You Should Attend Webinars first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Hales discusses:
How to transition to a concierge medical practice
Benefits of a concierge model
Key considerations for adopting a concierge model

Key Takeaway:
“Transitioning to a concierge medical practice offers practitioners and patients a unique opportunity to redefine the healthcare experience.” – Barbara Hales.

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTIONDr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we will explore innovative solutions in the healthcare industry as we delve into the journey of transitioning from a traditional medical practice with third-party payers and insurance reimbursement to a concierge model. We’ll uncover the benefits, challenges, and key considerations for physicians and healthcare providers looking to adopt this patient-focused approach.

Benefits of Transitioning to a Concierge Medical Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales: Transitioning to a concierge medical practice represents a significant shift in healthcare delivery, as it places emphasis on personalized care, enhanced patient experiences, and sustainable practice models. A huge benefit is not having to rely on insurance reimbursements, which are not only beyond our control but may decrease over time. I had a wall in my office where Medicare and third-party payer checks were taped. The value on the checks ranged from $1.38 to $2.50. It was more meaningful to me to have patients see this for visits that I had spent almost an hour on. I couldn’t believe the value, and I knew my patients couldn’t believe it either.

The shift in transitioning to a concierge model requires careful consideration of patient communication, financial structures, and navigating regulatory requirements. What are the key strategies for communicating this change to existing patients and attracting new clientele? It’s essential to establish clear communication channels to educate patients about the enhanced services and benefits offered through the concierge model. Focus on building strong patient provider relationships, prioritizing continuity of care, and ensuring transparency throughout the transition process and transitioning to a concierge model.

Key Considerations for TransitioningDr. Barbara Hales: Several considerations are vital for success: tailoring patient communication and engagement strategies to convey the value of personalized care and the extended services offered, implementing a sustainable and ethical pricing structure that aligns with the practice’s value proposition and the needs of the patient population, embracing innovative technology solutions to streamline administrative tasks, enhance communication, and uphold data privacy and security standards, establishing collaborative care networks and partnerships to provide comprehensive, coordinated care for patients and meet evolving healthcare needs.

The key takeaway here is transitioning to a concierge medical practice offers practitioners and patients a unique opportunity to redefine the healthcare experience. This transformation requires careful planning, open communication, and a commitment to patient-centered care. By embracing this model, healthcare providers can strengthen their connection with patients, promote wellness-focused care, and build sustainable practice models rooted in a foundation of trust and collaboration.

Mitigating Patient Loss During TransitionDr. Barbara Hales: How do you keep from losing patience when going to a concierge model? This is something that I think many doctors worry about. And the fear of this is what keeps them from changing over to the concierge model. Transitioning to a concierge medical practice involves a significant shift in the way healthcare services are delivered, which can understandably raise concerns about patient retention during the transition. To address this, it’s important to implement clear communication strategies and transparent processes To minimize patient attrition and strengthen trust, here are eight effective approaches to help mitigate patient loss when transitioning to a concierge model.

First, clear communication. Communicate the transition to a concierge model well in advance to provide patients with ample time to understand the changes and ask questions. Secondly, we need transparency. This is a key in addressing patient concerns and building trust during this period of transformation. Next value proposition clearly articulates the enhanced value and benefits that patients will receive through the concierge models such as extended appointment times, proactive wellness programs 24/7 access to the physician and personalized care plans, emphasize the added value and improved patient experience that the concierge model offers. Let’s face it, what patient doesn’t want to have a lot of time addressing their concerns with their doctor as opposed to the five minutes face time that many patients get in their doctor’s offices now.

Next, we have education and engagement, host informal sessions, open forums or webinars to educate patients about the concierge model and its advantages. provide a platform for patients to voice their concerns, share feedback, and engage in open dialogue regarding the transition. Customized outreach, tailor your communication to address specific patient concerns and preferences, provide personalized information, answer individual questions and offer one on one consultations to discuss how the transition will affect each patient’s care. Options for existing patients offer flexible options for existing patients who may have concerns about the financial implications of the concierge model. Consider offering reduced rates or extended payment plans for a transitional period to ease the financial burden for loyal patients. Continuity of Care emphasizes the commitment to continuity of care and the ongoing relationship with existing patients. Assure them that their medical history, treatment plans and ongoing care will be seamlessly transitioned to the concierge model without disruption.

transparent pricing and services clearly outline the pricing structure. Services and additional benefits associated with the concierge model provide detailed information about how the new model aligns with patient needs and contributes to improved health care outcomes. Finally, highlight the patient focused nature of the concierge model underscoring the increased attention, time and personalized care their patients will receive emphasize the provider patient relationship at the core of the concierge model and its positive impact on overall wellness.

By implementing these structures and these strategies, healthcare providers can effectively navigate the transition to a concierge model while minimizing patient attrition. Open communication. Personalized and engagement and a steadfast commitment to patient centered care are fundamental in assuring patients of the ongoing value and benefits of their health care experience within the concierge model.

Insurance Acceptance for Surgery vs. Office HoursDr. Barbara Hales: You may be wondering now, can doctors accept insurance for surgery but not for office hours? The answer is yes. Doctors can choose to accept insurance for surgical procedures while not accepting it for office visits. This approach is commonly seen in practices that operate on a concierge or direct primary A care model. In this scenario, the physician or practice may opt to accept insurance for specific medical sir services, such as surgeries, hospital admission or complex treatments, while providing primary care services, routine office visits and preventive care through a membership based or fee for service structure. This answers the fear that patients may have, saying: “Okay, well, I’m willing to pay for office visits, but what happens if I need an expensive surgery? I don’t want to negate my insurance and have to pay for that also out of pocket.”

The decision to segment insurance acceptance in this manner is often driven by the desire to maintain a greater degree of control over the patient care experience, optimize administrative efficiency, and enhance the quality of primary care services. By not relying on insurance for routine office visits, providers can reduce administrative burdens, streamline patient interactions, and focus on delivering personalized comprehensive care without the constraint of insurance, billing and reimbursement complexities.

It’s important for health care providers considering this approach to clearly communicate to patients how their services are structured, transparent communication about insurance acceptance, out of pocket costs, and the scope of services covered under various payment models is essential to ensure that patients understand their healthcare options and financial responsibilities. Physicians and practices should also be aware of the regulatory and compliance considerations when structuring their practice in this manner, it’s advisable to seek legal and regulatory guidance to ensure that the practice model complies with applicable laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines.

Ultimately, the decision to accept insurance for specific medical services while not doing so for office visits is a strategic choice that should align with the practices overall goals, patient population, and commitment to delivering high quality personalized care. It is important to look into what regulatory laws apply to accepting insurance for surgery but not office hours.

Regulatory Considerations for Hybrid Practice ModelsDr. Barbara Hales: The regulatory landscape surrounding the acceptance of insurance for surgical procedures, while not accepting it for office visits, is multifaceted. And it’s vital for healthcare providers to navigate this territory with a clear understanding of the relevant laws and regulations. Here are the key regulatory considerations that may apply to this practice model.

First, we have the insurance contractual obligations. Healthcare providers who choose to accept insurance for surgical procedures must understand their contractual obligations with insurance companies. Providers need to review their participating provider agreements and contracts to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions stipulated by insurers. Secondly, we have state insurance regulations. healthcare practices operating within the United States are subject to state specific insurance regulations. It’s essential for providers to be knowledgeable about state laws governing insurance reimbursement, provider network participation, patient billing practices and any restrictions or obligations related to the scope of covered services.

Next, we have the scope of practice regulations. state licensing boards and professional regulatory bodies define the scope of practice for healthcare providers. It’s important for physicians to ensure that their practice model aligns with relevant laws and regulations pertaining to the performance of surgical procedures, office consultations and the delivery of medical care in various settings. Next, we have fraud and abuse laws. Providers must adhere to anti-fraud and abuse laws, such as the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark law, which govern financial relationships and arrangements in healthcare. These laws are designed to prevent improper inducements, kickbacks, and improper financial incentives in relation to patient referrals and services reimbursed by federal health care programs. patient protection and informed consent is next. Regardless of the practices reimbursement structure, healthcare providers must uphold patient rights, confidentiality, and informed consent practices, compliance with patient private laws and regulations, as well as ethical standards for patient communication and informed decision making remain essential in all aspects of care delivery.

Lastly, we have billing and reimbursement compliance, providers must adhere to billing and coding regulations, including accurate reporting and documentation of services provided compliant coding practices, and transparent patient billing practices. This includes adherence to coding standards set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and private insurers. Given the complex regulatory landscape, healthcare providers considering this practice model should seek legal counsel and regulatory guidance to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and ethical standards. Additionally, ongoing vigilance and proactive monitoring of regulatory developments at both the state and federal law levels are essential to stay abreast of any changes that may impact the practices operational and billing practices. The thing also now is that if you are using an electronic health record system, the coding and the coding in relation to your procedures are built right into the software.

Prevalence of Hybrid Practice ModelsDr. Barbara Hales: How common is a hybrid model of medical practice with accepting insurance for surgery, but not for office visits. The practice of accepting insurance for surgical procedures while not accepting it office visits, often seen in hybrid medical models such as concierge medicine or direct primary care is a relatively uncommon, but emerging trend within the healthcare industry. So if at this point you are considering transitioning from an insurance payer model to a concierge model, you are trending.

While traditional fees for service and insurance-based models have historically been predominant. There is a growing interest among healthcare providers in exploring alternative practice models that emphasize patient centered care, enhanced access and personalized services. The hybrid model where insurance is accepted for specific medical service services such as surgeries, hospital admissions, or complex treatments, while primary care services and routine office visits are provided through a membership-based model, or fee for service basis, represents a departure from the traditional practice of relying solely on insurance billing for all medical services.

Although the adoption of this hybrid approach is not yet widespread, it has gained traction in certain segments of the healthcare landscape. Its appeal lies in the potential to offer a more personalized and comprehensive care experience for patients freed from the constraints of insurance driven administrative burdens and billing complexities. An increased number of health care providers are exploring innovative practice models that prioritize meaningful patient provider relationships, proactive wellness initiatives and streamlined care deliveries by leveraging a hybrid model that combines insurance excepted services with membership based or direct payment options for primary care providers aim to create a more patient centric and sustainable practice framework.

As the medical industry continues to evolve, it is anticipated that the adoption of hybrid practice models that incorporate a blend of insurance accepted and direct payment services may become more prevalent, particularly as providers seek to address patient demands for enhanced access, continuity of care, and personalized health care experiences.

ConclusionDr. Barbara Hales: As we conclude today’s episode, we extend our gratitude to those colleagues who have shared their experiences and transitioning to a new model and guiding our audience through the transformative journey of transitioning to concierge medical practice. We hope that this episode has provided valuable insights and inspiration for healthcare providers seeking to embrace innovative care delivery models. Stay tuned and remember to prioritize wellness, innovation and patient centered care in your practice. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time

The post Concierge Medicine: Key Strategies for Successful Practice Transformation first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Click on the blue hyperlink below to hear this podcast on Apple iTunes. Subscribe, like, and reviewHow Doctors Can Decrease TaxesMarketing Tips for Doctors The post How Doctors Can Decrease Taxes first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Jonathan discuss:
What Is The Importance Of Understanding Patient Needs And Providing Personalized Care
Marketing Services And Managing Their Online Reputation
Key Factors Contributing To Building A Successful Medical Practice, Including Clarity, Consistency, And Creating A Positive Patient Experience

Key Takeaways:
“I think pulling in a coach to do an assessment from outside that’s not tied down with your paradigms, your rules, your way of thinking, is the best thing.” – Kevin D. St.Clergy

Connect with Kevin D. St.Clergy:
Website: https://www.medpb.com/

Home

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinstclergy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinstclergy?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.stclergy
Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales
TRANSCRIPTION

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara house. Today it’s an honor to introduce Kevin, a luminary in the field of medical marketing, whose contributions over the past two decades have reshaped the landscape of medical practices nationwide. Kevin’s dedication transcends the accolades. His true fulfillment lies in enhancing the professional and personal lives of his physicians. And to them 1005 Kevin founded a pioneering online marketing consultancy that now boasts a clientele of over 2000 locations across various medical specialties. Despite the successes and the scale of his impact, Kevin finds the greatest joy in witnessing the transformative power of simple, yet profound changes and how medical practices operate, ensuring they serve not just as a livelihood, but as a gateway to a fulfilling life. Join us as we delve into Kevin’s insights and experiences charting the path to a thriving medical practice. Welcome to the show, Kevin.

Kevin St.Clergy: Thanks, Barbara. Appreciate you having me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is your actual agency called for our listeners?

Kevin’s Online Marketing Agency

Kevin St.Clergy: We have two names depending on the river multi-specialty group, which is for small and medium sized physician offices called Practis. Practis.com. Spelled a little differently. We’re also an audiology hearing aids and ear, nose and throat doctors’ offices through a name called MedPB which stands for Medical Practice Builders and MedPB for short medpb.com. And then for our 50-60 physician groups and larger or major and minor or smaller hospital systems. We own a company called Dobies Marketing. So, we acquired digital marketing agencies to bring them all together. So now we can service a small practice with just one physician, one front desk or a very large hospital system with their strategies and what they’re trying to do to get more new patients through the door.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How many people work for your agency?

Kevin St.Clergy: We have I think right now we’re at what 107. We’re about to bring on another company which will bring us to 129, I believe.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What inspired you to pursue a career in medical marketing?

Kevin St.Clergy: Well, I started as an audiologist Believe it or not, my I come from a family of audiologists and audiology is this hearing and balance. My aunt was an audiologist, my cousin was an audiologist, my brother’s worn hearing aids. I’m 51. Chris is 49 for 48 years, and I got in and I ran a clinic successfully took it from a struggling clinic to being very successful, I think we were doing about $5,000 a month when I took over the clinic. And we grew it to over $650,000 plus within the first year. And then I had another clinic and then I started working with ear nose and throat surgeons for referral basis. And we ended up getting some contracts there so made a pretty good name for myself and ability to grow a practice in a private practice setting. And then they said, you know, you’re really good at this business stuff, we’d love for you to go out and just consult the physician offices that we work with and go in and help them grow their businesses.
And we did a good job with that the territory we had, we took it from about half a million dollars in business to 5.5 million in four years, me and another assistant that I had, and it was mainly just going into physician offices and saying, look, let’s go through this assessment, find out where there’s some holes in the bucket, let me see if I can plug the holes. And at the time, it was everything soup to nuts, recruiting training. And then I just got to where I love the marketing aspect of it no five, I started a marketing agency.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s really very impressive. How would you say that you got past the gatekeeper to let the physicians know you were available.

Kevin St.Clergy: Relationships. I was big on that. So, once I had a core group of customers, at first, it was cold calling and just trying to get on the phone with them to let them know what we could do, but already had some relationships in the profession. So, manufacturers that were looking to help with medical device sales for themselves, but also for the physicians, especially private pay money that a lot of physicians were after at that time and still are. Many of them. We’re looking to grow and I had some success stories early on. And the manufacturers would refer me to certain clinics and then once I had a certain base of clinics then I got a lot of referrals from physicians and then I learned a valuable lesson because I wrote a book on digital marketing.

And once you write a book and I usually encourage whether you’re a physician or an agency owner Two things these days one does a TED talk, I don’t think it hurts even a physician who’s trying to brand themselves in a local market. A TED talk will give you instant credibility and lead to other opportunities for growth. And also writing a book because it’s an instant expert on whatever it is that you do. And well that I’ve written six. So, the first one that I was in audiology space was called the death of Audiology. At the time, there was a lot of changes going through the industry and the profession at the time. So, it got people’s attention.

It was my first experience with sometimes bad press is good press. Because people didn’t like the title. But a lot of people once they read the book, and they read the messaging, and we’re working on other things to have my next book is coming out is called Blind blaming. And that is going to be my TED talk that’s coming up here very shortly. We’re sometimes we don’t always see the problem. But we start blaming other things that aren’t the actual problem and focusing too many, too much energy in places that aren’t going to fix the problem you have.

Cold Calling Marketing Strategy

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, when you’re doing cold calling, did you find a lot of physicians just didn’t get it in terms of the need for marketing?

Kevin St.Clergy: I did? Well, first, it was hard to get through the gatekeepers. I found that very difficult. But once I had found a way to get through, and it was for my book, writing the book and getting the books, I would send the book and then follow up with a phone call. And the book was a motivator to get the physicians to call and say, Listen, I don’t want to be the doctor in that story, because it was a business fable. I don’t know if anybody’s ever read a book by Patrick Lencioni. It’s called Death by meeting one of my favorites. But he writes his he writes his books and a fable format. And mine was a story of a private practice Doctor who was struggling with her business for practice, and she met somebody to help her turn it around.

So that’s how I got around the cold calling. But I think the biggest challenge was a lot of doctors didn’t feel they needed to market or back then the fascinating thing back then is nobody felt like their patients were online in their market. Because audiologists deal with older people, nobody thought old people would ever use the internet, obviously wrong. But now everybody uses the internet, and it’s getting more and more prevalent.

Challenges In Growing A Medical Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, this is absolutely true. What were your biggest challenges as your agency grew?

Kevin St.Clergy: That’s a good one, I’d say people, I learned very quickly to hire slow and fire fast. I learned that it’s very important to align the people that you’re trying to bring onto your team. And we teach this to physician groups as well. It’s really important to find people with similar core values. But finding the best people was probably the most difficult challenge that I had. But once we figured out how to attract and retain the best employees with similar core values, a different interviewing process, we would do several things with them, we know they can answer the traditional interview. And if they did well on that, we’d simply take them to lunch, and see how they did in a social environment if they were fun to hang out with. And they did a good job. And they seem interested in other people. And they were nice to the waitress and had to seem to have good core values. We’ve had much more success doing things like that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You still take them out to lunch?

Kevin St.Clergy: Still outside my company anymore. I did sell. So, I worked for the folks I do. I’m part of the company now. But I do work for the folks that I sold to. But yeah, if it’s somebody that I’m interviewing for other projects that I’m involved in, absolutely, always do. Because I’m a big believer that whether you’re a physician in private practice, or whether you’re an agency doing medical marketing, the biggest competitive advantage that you have is the quality and quantity of the personal relationships you build. And if you’ve got somebody on your team that doesn’t fall in those lines, it’s not going to build relationships and get people to the point where they know you love you and trust you. I think you’re doing yourself and your customers a disservice.

Dr. Barbara Hales: No, I agree with you completely. What do you think is the hardest part about growing a practice in 2024?

Kevin St.Clergy: Oh, well, the new axis of evil are now insurance companies. So, I think that’s the biggest challenge that we have. Figuring out some ways to get private pay cash through the door. I’ve always admired my primary care physician; she is doing a great job with say buy IoT with some cash base stuff that I’m actually a patient of that because I’m getting older and things happen. But you know, talking to her and her staff, she’s like, you know, we really liked the cash side of the business. It’s a lot easier when we get our money up front, things like that. I’ve seen a lot of physicians who have told me that they’re struggling because of insurance company reducing their fees and they’re now having to see two to three times as many people to make the same amount of money that they were before not that money is their primary driver. 99% of the time, but I think with what they went through and the education they have, they deserve to make a decent living. So that’s what I’m seeing.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I don’t really think it’s a question of feeling that they deserve it or that they like want to get rich, I think it’s a question of wanting to pay the bills.

Kevin St.Clergy: And true and pay their staff who needs to feed their families as well. So yeah, I don’t think keep doing that. But that’s where I think our national organizations need to get a little bit more involved and, and helping us negotiate and do things like that, which we’re not there yet. Interestingly enough, though, when I was in Canada, because we do have some customers in Canada, they are doing a pretty good job of protecting some of their private pay fees, and stopping some internet, you know, people that are doing some things, they shouldn’t be doing that or they’re allowed to do in the United States. They’re not necessarily that do in Canada and different professions. So, I thought that was interesting. But they when I asked him about it, they’re like, Yeah, that’s one thing. I’ll give credit to our national organization. They lobbied and fought really hard to make sure these companies can’t do business up here like they do in the States. I thought that was an interesting comment.

Growing A Medical Practice Through Clear Values, Coaching, And Excellent Patient Care

Dr. Barbara Hales: But on the other hand, if there is elective surgery that needs to be done, like a hip replacement, for instance, patients have the choice of waiting a few years or coming down to the states.

Kevin St.Clergy: Oh, yes, no, it can be argued both ways. This was just one situation where there are organizations that protected them from an insurance company that was doing something in the states from doing the same thing in Canada, that’s all I met. So not saying I agree with their healthcare model at all. I like ours. That’s why I live here. But that’s what I think the biggest challenge is

Kevin St.Clergy: And also, people, I’m hearing that over and over again. And that’s where I encourage physicians as we get into some of their digital marketing, and we’re helping them get more new patients to the door, improving their web presence, helping them get more reviews, we always ask, you know, how’s everything else going, because for some value, add services that are to make our company more attractive, we’ll help them with all aspects of their practice, we’ve got a lot of what we call success tools and things like that, and just teaching them how to create an environment that people actually want to come work in and being honest and upfront with them, helping them get the right people on board. That’s the second biggest challenge that I see that I hear often from physicians, so we try to help them with their recruiting, with how they’re writing job descriptions, all of that goes into a play or goes into the big equation. But the biggest thing is, do people align with your core values? And have you sat down and actually outlined your core values in writing so that you can share that with other people and find the best folks?

Dr. Barbara Hales: In your experience? What key factors contribute to building a successful practice?

Kevin St.Clergy: Well, I think getting very clear, I’d say clarity, making sure that you’re very clear on what you want the type of practice that you want to build. I do think it’s critically to have a coach what I always tell physicians is, or ask physicians is how many Olympic athletes won a gold medal Do you know of one that didn’t have a coach. And a lot of times we get on this island and use your background a little bit we get on this tropical island, we don’t want to ask for help. And I don’t know many very ultra successful people that don’t have a coach. I’ve had a coach for many years at least 20. Some of the most successful people that I work with have coaches, my coaches have coaches.

Next, I would say consistency with actions, meaning if I don’t think a lot of physicians are paying much attention these days, to the patient experience, or the patient pathway, as I like to call it that’s where you look at every aspect of a patient’s experience with your office and you need to make sure that it’s consistent. Are they getting the best care? Are we building relationships? Are we showing them that we really do care about them and their health and who they are. And so, marketing’s job is to make the phone ring after the phone ring. It’s the physician’s job to convert that patient into an appointment for revenue generating appointment. After that it’s important for our staff to give them a great experience so that they leave a positive review. And that positive review can lead to more referrals from family members and friends and people who don’t even know us because people trust reviews a great deal.

And then finally getting a community together that’s looking at other successful physicians that you can be around and share ideas and bounce ideas off. We have a mastermind group that we’ve created for physicians where we have one coming up here. Oddly enough in May in my house, we have about 55 physicians coming down. And we have them get up in front of the room and they share their biggest give which is their best idea that they’ve done to grow their practice. And they also asked the group one question to for them to help them have something they’re struggling with. And when you get several million dollars plus practices in a room and you start sharing ideas, it’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever part of so community is the next one or not all that leads to confidence in what you’re doing. So that’s my five-step process for growing a practice and it works well.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, sounds good. How do you approach patient care and customer service when coaching practice to build strong, long-lasting relationships with patients.

Kevin St.Clergy: It goes back to what I call creating a great experience. And this goes back to what I said just few minutes ago that I think we forget, sometimes we get so bogged down with insurance and we’re having to see 50-60 people a day, sometimes in certain practices, the sitting down and saying, Okay, guys, what are we doing to give them a great experience, for example, when a lot of our clients we work with, we have some marketing automation in place when a patient schedules an appointment, and they show up, they get a personalized handwritten thank you note from the physician in their handwriting. The physician never touched it. But you can’t I can’t tell you how many doctors are calling me saying, well, I think I can learn a lot from you guys. Because I’m blown away with how many patients said thank you for the thank you notes, you’re the only one that I got this year. Or when we’re we have other things that we do like we have some marketing automation, where on their birthday, the office gets together and records a recording that we use for everyone. And they’re delivered a voicemail that skips the phone call goes right to their voicemail of the physician’s office singing that patient Happy Birthday, on their cell phone.

So, there’s little things you can do to make deposits into what I call an emotional bank account. So, when the topic of your practice or what you’re doing comes up, people immediately think of you because I don’t think our I know that our patients don’t have the technical know-how to judge the success of their appointment. If they feel better, I get it. But a lot of times they’ll revert back to feeling instead of results. And if they don’t feel like the doctor talked to them or spent enough time with them, or they were mistreated by the front desk, or they didn’t get a handwritten thank you note or the personal phone call like my physician did after she heard something happened to me and I unfortunately go to the hospital. Those are the types of things that I think it takes to build really good quality relationships that are gonna get you the referrals that we all want, and need.

Growing A Successful Medical Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. Before you start marketing for a client, is there anything that makes you unique in this approach?

Kevin St.Clergy: I say results, we try to find out, we interview the client to make sure they’re going to be a good fit for our values, and that they actually want to grow? Are they going to make time to show up for the call? So there’s an interview that we take our physicians through to say, Okay, can you make this a priority, or at least have somebody on your team that can take charge of this, to make sure that you’re very clear on the results, you’re getting the return on investment that you’re getting, and we like to meet with our clients live on the telephone, once a month, preferably once a quarter at a minimum so that we can convey those results that they’re getting?

And there’s also things that we find when we’re starting to work with a physician group, for example. I had somebody last week that said, you know, I’m not really impressed with your marketing. And I said, really? Well, let’s go look at the results. I’m showing 22 new patient calls from your tracking numbers online. Yeah, but we only scheduled two new patients. I’m like, well, wait a minute, let’s talk about responsibilities here. My responsibility is to make the phone ring generate a text message; a form fills your team’s responsibility is to convert that lead into an appointment. So, we try to go through and make sure that we’re working with somebody with a growth mindset, meaning they’re not suffering from what my TED talk will be about. Paradigm paralysis or paradigm blindness, that’s where your way of doing something becomes the only way of doing something and you become uncoachable. And things are changing, and the patients are changing and their expectations are changing. If we don’t change with them, then the practice is going to go away.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you ever have an initial assessment in person or is there really?

Kevin St.Clergy: Not this day and age, if they’re on some of our advanced coaching programs, some people just pay us for digital marketing. Other physicians pay us to work with their entire practice. If they’re paying us and one of those higher end coaching models, we do try to go out to their office at least once, preferably twice a year. In fact, I’ve got to go to a team retreat in Long Island. In June, for a very large client where we twice a year I fly in, we get their team off site, we close the office for a day, which freaks a lot of physicians out. But it’s so addictive. Once you start doing and you start developing your team, they actually start to look forward to it. And it’s not a bad thing we meet from 9am until 2pm. We do some team building exercises, we look at some challenges, we get some goals of what we need to do better or differently. We look at habits that we’ve got and each position in the practice to see if there’s some things that we can do to develop the team as well. And we provide training. So yes, I absolutely try to get out there as much as I can. If they’re on that particular package with the digital marketing. Usually, a zoom calls each month is plenty or once a quarter if that’s what they prefer.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What advice would you give a physician that is struggling to grow their practice?

Kevin St.Clergy: I would advise them to get somebody who’s outside of their organization. Sometimes there’s a book called The Structure of Scientific Revolution. And in that book, it talks about scientists and when they’re doing studies and the reason Also those studies fit into what they expected to happen, their paradigm, their way of thinking their set of rules, everything was fine. But when the results started looking differently than what they expected, it was almost like the data didn’t exist, they were incapable of seeing that this was real, and what the solution was or what the solution wasn’t to run the run the test over and over again, definition of insanity. But I think the same thing holds true with physicians, if you’re struggling with growing your practice. Sometimes, as that book proved, it’s physically impossible for us to see the solution without bringing an outside perspective.

That’s why I’m number two on growing a successful practice, I use coaching. Because if you can bring in a professional coach who can pull you out of what you’re doing, make an accurate assessment of what’s going on be honest and upfront with you. Sometimes employees want to keep their job, they’re a little shaky to rock the boat, which is another discussion, another call someday, having feeling good enough to where you can be honest in your organization about what’s going wrong. But I think pulling in a coach to do an assessment from outside that’s not tied down with your paradigms, your rules, your way of thinking, is the best thing. I can know how or join a mastermind group where other successful physicians can help you step out of the box and take a look at the way you’re running things too.

The Importance Of Online Reviews For Medical Practices

Dr. Barbara Hales: I think that’s good. Now what I’d like to ask you, which is what I ask everybody that I’m interviewing is, could you at this point, give us two tips for our listeners so they can then implement right away to help them be more successful?

Kevin St.Clergy: Oh, yes, I’d say the first tip, and this is something that a lot of physicians don’t pay attention to that I’m finding, and that’s get online reviews. And I would automate the process, which is the second tip is use marketing automation. A lot of people don’t know what that is. And I’ll go into it briefly. But if you look at one thing, a litmus test for your practice, I always ask physicians, I just did a talk at an academy meeting last week, and I just asked the entire group, you know, how many of you have looked at a review in the last 30 days and 100% of the room raise their hand. And then when I asked, well, how many of you have looked at your reviews, and about half the room, raise their hand.

And so, get as many as reviews as you can, Google is looking for the quality and quantity of the reviews that you get, and also the percentage of reviews that you respond to. And depending on who you look at there’s HIPAA compliance issues. A good way a bad way. Wouldn’t be careful with that. But I see it time and time again, when a physician contacts us and says yes, a little slower than it has been before. And we just Google their practice and their town or their what they do their specialty. So, urology, St. Louis. And we can see that first of all, sometimes they’re nowhere to be found. That’s a whole another issue. But when we do find their reviews, and they’ve got a 4.5 rating, and there’s other with 20 Reviews, and they’ve got other physicians that have 200 reviews, with a 4.8 rating, which physician are you going to click on first, which one I would choose.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What I what I have always found surprising is that, you know, if I go for manicure, and I leave the salon, within an hour of leaving the salon, I get a text message from a service asking me to rate how many stores and Anna review from a salon. And the same goes for when my dog goes for a spa treatment or any other like ancillary program, you would think that, if so many other avenues of our life are taken up with, you know, this automated review request that, you know, professionals would jump on board. And certainly time.

Kevin St.Clergy: Yeah, I’d save some time. And I’m telling you, this is one of the few services I’ve ever offered in 20 years I’ve been doing this where we guarantee results, we have a HIPAA compliant solution that hooks it to EMRs. And it works 100% of the time, if they don’t get more new reviews in 90 days with using the system. Because what we do is when we automate things, it completely eliminates the human element. When people are trying to do it manually. People forget we get busy. There’s 15 People in the waiting room, there’s 510 calls coming in every minute for busy practices, they don’t have time and when we automate it, but also write the emails in a way that sounds like they’re actually coming from a human being.

It’s pretty amazing what can happen. I mean, we have the graphs that can show the dinking along few reviews here and there. But when they start to market automation, and they just ask it goes up. But what I’m finding is a lot of physicians are scared to ask Do you know why? They’re scared they’re gonna get a bad review. And I think what they need to understand is that it’s not a matter of if you’re going to get a bad review. It’s a matter of when and if you don’t have a process in place to get the patients that know you trust you love you. To leave you a good Review you run the risk of only having the bad people tell their opinions of your practice.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s for sure. Now, do you recommend that patients go to Yelp? Or are there other sites that you would also recommend?

Kevin St.Clergy: Without getting in trouble? I don’t, I don’t really like Yelp, because it’s a pay to play model. And they can argue with me all they want. But I don’t think Google is a big fan of Yelp, either, because they’re not showing them in the searches as much. I could be totally wrong. But I’d say Google is your best bet. They do a good job of monitoring the reviews, they’re starting to pull reviews that they feel are fake or not real off. They’re catching people that are doing some shady things. So, I find that Google is the best place to focus on and I think for patients too. It’s a great place to go.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, well, that’s great. This has been very interesting. Interview. I’ve really enjoyed it. And I’m sure our listeners have also, thank you very much for being with us today.

Kevin St.Clergy: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your hosts, Dr. Barbara Hales. Til next time!

The post Contributing To Building A Successful Medical Practice And Creating A Positive Patient Experience first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Once upon a time in a small village, there was a little boy named Eli who was eagerly looking forward to Passover. The entire village was abuzz with preparations, and Eli’s excitement grew as he watched his family and neighbors get ready for the big celebration.

Eli’s favorite part of Passover preparations was helping his grandmother bake matzah in their old stone oven. She would tell him stories of Passover from when she was a little girl, and the lessons of freedom and hope that the holiday brought. This year, Eli had a special wish: he wanted to make the Passover even more memorable by inviting someone who had never experienced a Seder before.

As Passover approached, Eli thought of his new friend, Tom, who had recently moved to the village from far away. Tom had never heard of Passover, and Eli was excited to share the traditions and stories with him. With his parents’ approval, Eli invited Tom and his family to join their Seder.

The night of the Seder arrived, and Eli’s house was filled with laughter and the delicious smells of his grandmother’s recipes. As the Seder began, Eli took it upon himself to explain each part of the Seder plate and the meaning behind the various rituals. Tom listened intently, fascinated by the rich traditions and the story of the Exodus.

During the meal, Eli and Tom took turns reading from the Haggadah, and Tom even learned to sing “Dayenu” with the family. Eli’s family welcomed Tom’s questions and shared their own thoughts and interpretations, which made the evening feel even more inclusive and special.

The highlight of the evening was when Eli and Tom, along with the other children, searched for the afikomen. The search was filled with giggles and light-hearted competition. When Tom found the hidden piece of matzah, everyone cheered, and he felt a warm sense of belonging.

As the night came to a close, Tom expressed his gratitude for being part of such a unique and welcoming celebration. He shared that he felt honored to learn about Passover and the values it represented. Eli felt proud and happy; his Passover wish had come true.

That night, under the stars of the spring sky, Eli and Tom made a promise to remain good friends and to continue sharing their traditions and festivals with each other. For many years to come, they kept this promise, enriching each other’s lives with the beauty of their cultures.

And so, Passover in the village was not just about remembering the past but about creating new memories and friendships, teaching lessons of freedom, hope, and friendship that would last a lifetime.

This is what Passover feels like to me. Have a happy holiday with good health and joyously sharing with your friends and family.

The post Have a Joyous Passover first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Kevin discuss:
Why you should gain help in setting up a cyber security?
How can a medical practice market its cybersecurity capabilities and use them as a competitive advantage?
*What steps small businesses should take to ensure it is protecting sensitive data and meeting compliance requirements?

Key Takeaways:
“Encryption is the only safe harbor for a data breach. Everybody should write that down.” – Kevin Fream

Connect with Kevin Fream:
Website: https://www.matrixforce.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinfream/
Instagram:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kevinfream
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinfream?lang=en

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (154)

Dr. Barbara Hales 00:00
Well, welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara’s house. And today we have with us, Kevin Fream. He’s an interesting guy who states most people don’t understand the game they’re playing and get frustrated in business, cyberspace, and life. He says “I help you streamline your technology and have greater peace of mind. And let’s face it, that’s something we could all use.”

Kevin Frame is CEO of Matrix Force and creator of the patent-pending delta method, saving clients billions with eBay. He is the author of the number one bestselling book, Easy Prey, Streamlining Technology, and Changing Your Game, along with featuring a featured speaker at Harvard, NASDAQ, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Kevin also appears frequently on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox News and on an ongoing nationwide tour to warn the public about the perils of cybercrime, and ransomware.

Most business owners are just trying to go the distance, but they have IT support motivated to work against them. That’s why Kevin enjoys working with business leaders who understand cybersecurity can be a competitive advantage. We are most fortunate to have Kevin with us today. Welcome to the show, Kevin.

Kevin Fream 01:50
Barbara, thank you so much. You know, that’s really humbling coming from a poor handicap kid in rural Oklahoma. But this is such an important topic for your audience that I really do believe cybersecurity should be part of your competitive advantage and be used as part of your marketing, especially in medicine.

Dr. Barbara Hales 02:13
Now, nobody says when they’re little children, I”‘m going to grow up to do cybersecurity”. So how did this happen?

Kevin’s Cyber Security Journey

Kevin Fream 02:26
Well, I had really poor vision and had coke bottle glasses, and, you know, a huge overbite, and I was one of the really special 5% that was born without all my fingers. So, one of the things that my parents did is say, well, our son’s not gonna be left behind. And they gave me all kinds of things to read and to look at. And one of those was, you know, some first gaming systems and the very first computers, and I really love strategy. I love creating things. And, you know, that was something where you really didn’t have to look like everybody else to be really successful on the computer. And, you know, the rest is history.

Dr. Barbara Hales 03:22
Yeah, look at you handsome devil now.

Kevin Fream 03:28
Well, that’s been a long story as well, you know, tons of glasses, and then you know, contacts and then even laser eye surgery. And two years ago, I had a full facial reconstructive surgery with double jaw surgery. And so quite literally, I died to get this face. I went in for the surgery, and they did have to revive me. It was, you know, a four-hour surgery. And then I had eight weeks on a liquid diet, or I had to get any sustenance through a syringe and couldn’t blow my nose. So, it’s, it really made me a change expert. And, of course, that’s my new number-one bestselling book has changed your game. One of the things I do around help people, like your audience, pick those examples and experiences and utilize them in their own lives.

Fighting Ransomware

Dr. Barbara Hales 04:33
You know, several years ago, there was something that came out called ransomware that nobody had ever heard of before, but it certainly made every hospital in the country and every healthcare professional shake in their boots when they were told that the computer information session was being stolen and that the only way to get it back would be to pay millions of dollars. And that essentially, it was being, you know, like hijacked and being held for ransom, which nobody had ever heard of before. And, you know, something that we all worry about now. So, if something like that were to happen, you know, I mean, like, especially for a hospital that has millions and millions of charts, do you recommend that they pay the perpetrator? Or do you recommend that they steal them while they try to do something? I mean, what is the approach that you recommend?

Kevin Fream 05:53
Well, you have to be ready for it. And you’re exactly right. Still the day a lot of people don’t know what ransomware is. And I like to say it’s the worst thing that can happen to you on the computer; basically, bad guys encrypt all of your files, so the computer won’t be started up, right, and you have no access to your data. So basically, you’re dead in the water no internet, no email, no data whatsoever. And what you have to do is you have actually to disconnect from the internet. And then you have to look at your options. And really, your only option is to quickly eradicate things.

So, you’d have to format everything and then restore and restore from backup. And that’s, you know, that’s a really painful process. If you do have a backup, you still lose all that time. And in Oklahoma, where I’m from, in 2016, it was really common for over 1000 companies to be infected with ransomware every month, and that was about average across the nation. And that’s where I said, wait a minute, I can’t be doing this, we could get people up and running. But they would lose two weeks, and we would lose a massive amount of time and lose ourselves. So, I got together with 20 other cybersecurity experts from all around the world. And we wrote easy prey. And that’s what really got me invited to Harvard and the NASDAQ and then going around and doing a ransomware quiz on national TV. And the short of it is No, you shouldn’t pay the ransom because you have little or no expectation of getting your data back. And even if you do pay the ransom, there’s no assurance that you’re actually going to get all your systems up.

Generally, if you do get a key from the bad guys, and you have no idea of when they’re going to come and give you the information, then if you get access to the systems, it’s usually a one-time shot because the first time you try to restart the systems, they usually won’t start up again, and then you’re back to the same place.

Dr. Barbara Hales 08:21
Did these guys ever get caught?

Kevin Fream 08:26
Very rarely, almost never. And that’s the other part of it is that it is paid in Bitcoin. So, you have to be prepared ahead of time with all the contingencies. And that’s what I like to, you know, get people in the position of is, do you have a ransomware drill that you run through? And here’s all the things that we do? Do you already have an incident response page on your website that’s already there? And all you have to do is upload a PDF, rather than having to think about all this kind of stuff, and who do I contact and who’s on the list and what’s the most important system, all that stuff should be covered in regular incident response that you can do ahead of time. And then you practice that.

If the worst happens, you’re ready. And you already have things in place and know what to do and you don’t get stuck having to pay the ransom. Because that’s the flip side, right, Barbara is generally if someone penetrates your system and axon, they’re there for more than 45 days. And the average actually in the industry is 123. And then all that time, they will usually go and manipulate your backup. So, it looks like it’s running but it’s not. And so, you really don’t have a backup and that’s why so many organizations get stuck because they don’t have any contingencies in place, or even gone to the next level. To be able to look out for the stuff. So, it’s a huge deal and continues to be.

Dr. Barbara Hales 10:05
So, if a group is fastidious about doing a backup every day, and the backup is not infected, can they be reassured that they can disengage from the bad guys and then just put back the backup that they had?

Kevin Fream 10:31
Oh, absolutely not, as we saw with the MGM breach earlier this year. And that’s a big point. Most people don’t know the difference between a breach and a hack. A breach is an unintended disclosure of confidential information. A hack is when a bad perpetrator actually takes advantage of the vulnerability and gets into his system with MGM, just like almost all breaches, because generally, everything is called a breach.

It was somebody who called the helpdesk and said they were a new exec with MGM. And I need an account setup. And people are people. All this makes common sense. And after you’ve heard it once, but to help desk operators set up an account for someone who didn’t know, who obviously just looked on LinkedIn and made up a LinkedIn profile. And from there, since I had an account, they could start off and get access to the systems and download their malicious code. They encrypted over 16 Major properties for MGM, and all the associated Bally’s, all of those associated casinos, and any subsidiaries, and they were there a long time. And they ended up having to pay the ransom. And that’s where none of your clients want to be.

Dr. Barbara Hales 12:07
Oh, I should think not. I mean, this is really, really scary stuff. So, do they hire you to come in and do a drill with them and a checklist? Or do you teach people how to avoid having ransomware attack your system as it works with you?

The Matrix Force

Kevin Fream 12:34
Exactly the difference that we come in with the delta method is we invert everything. And you take any kind of evidence and you prepare that right up front. So why not do a regular HIPAA risk exam, and then, just like some of the kids that you went to school with who did their homework but never turned it in?

Why don’t you take the next step and publish your executive summary of your HIPAA risk exam on your website, or even things like a HIPAA compliance form that says we do these top 10 things for HIPAA, and it’s signed off by the office administrator or the main doctor? And then, oh, by the way, we already have an incident response page if something happens here, and if something does happen, we’re going to upload a PDF of exactly what happened, but it explains what our process is for handling it. And then, if you do an actual drill, you’ll find lots of holes really quickly, and you have a work plan. And each year, you start eliminating some holes, and the first few years are some big ones. And then it gets less and less. Most medical practices don’t have any kind of alerting or management in place to even notice if something’s going wrong. So, there’s it by the time you wait for backup, it’s too late.

Dr. Barbara Hales 14:11
Yeah, absolutely not. And to tell you, as a patient, I would feel really very comfortable knowing that anything that was secure about my personal data was not going to be out there on the dark, dark web.

Dark Web

Kevin Fream 14:30
Wouldn’t that be great if you went to look up a doctor’s office or medical practice and not only did they do really good stuff with patients, but they also were in line with HIPAA and they had never been on the HIPAA wall of shame at the Office of Civil Rights that you can never get off of. And, and that’s the other thing is you can look up by state in C.

You can never get off that list. You can go back by time, and maybe time heals all wounds, maybe. But you could still be found out there. And the average HIPAA fine is $1.5 million average, even, even for small practices, and so it could break the bank. And, you know, a lot of doctors, I think, are a little bit naive in also don’t believe this happens. I don’t know if you get that feedback at all.

Dr. Barbara Hales 15:34
Well, you know, I’m sure that the whole idea that it was really just a foreign language—I don’t think that with all of the fears and worries that are going on a daily basis—the fears that you’re talking about really don’t even come into play.

Kevin Fream 15:56
Right, I get that as well. I have some doctors that look under the table and then look at me and go, Kevin, I don’t see any HIPAA police around here. Or whoever is not coming after me. And that’s, that’s when I have to explain is no, there, they’re not actually going to show up at your door and say we’re going to come in and do an audit, there’s going to be some kind of breach or some kind of complaint from a competitor or from a disgruntled patient. And do you know what, Barbara, do you know what a whistleblower gets for turning an organization into the Office of Civil Rights for HIPAA violation, take a guess?

Dr. Barbara Hales 16:42
1.5 million?

Kevin Fream 16:43
they get 25%. of whatever the fines are. So do you think in a disgruntled employee or disgruntled patient or, you know, a vendor working with you is, hey, you’re not doing general business practices for HIPAA? You? Do you think they would be kind of motivated to do that? It’s a huge deal. And, you know, even the flip side of that is, a lot of people will say, well, Barbara, I have cyber liability insurance.

Dr. Barbara Hales 17:25
I mean, do most doctors have that?

Null and Void Insurance

Kevin Fream 17:28
They’re starting to, and it’s the same thing. There’s no silver bullet. And what’s misunderstood is if you’re not doing the basics for HIPAA, then there’s a specific section that’s buried in all these policies that are client responsibilities there, you’re doing all these things. And they actually have a questionnaire that’s getting to be about 100 questions now, that’s really specific

Dr. Barbara Hales 17:56
If doctors go through that, then the insurance is null and void.

Kevin Fream 18:00
Exactly. Because you’re if you’re just going down the list and say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Then it’s fraud. Right. And and the flip side of that is, insurers, insurance companies, obviously don’t like to pay. And they’re coming to organizations like matrix horse and saying, can you run some external scans to see if they’re doing the minimal stuff that we’ve said on the questionnaire? And when people don’t, they’re denied getting insurance right up front? Or it’s three times the fee for the premium?

Dr. Barbara Hales 18:41
Do you have this checklist, or does this checklist vary depending on the insurance company?

Cyber Risk Prevention

Kevin Fream 18:47
On our website, we have cyber risk. If you go to matrix force.com/cyber risk, there’s an example traveler’s insurance questionnaire, for instance, that shows that. The reality is that part of what you’re required to do is have an annual vulnerability scan. That’s a small part of just having a risk exam. So, Barbara, as a former doctor, I bet you encourage your patients to have an annual physical.

Dr. Barbara Hales 19:21
Of course.

Kevin Fream 19:23
And as part of that, then you looked at the chart, and there were certain things that you had to explain that maybe I didn’t understand. This is the same kind of thing that doctors need to think about for their practice of only blue scans does just that. There are certain things that maybe you don’t want to eat all your vegetables or whatever the other things are, are there certain, certain things that this is the way we do business, I’m going to accept the risk well, at least you know, and that’s the whole thing around this and instead of just a cost of doing business, and here’s some report some more There, let’s actually use this to improve our practice.

Dr. Barbara Hales 20:05
Yeah, absolutely. So, this would be our final exam.

Kevin Fream 20:10
Exactly, exactly.

Dr. Barbara Hales 20:13
Yeah, certainly for marketing purposes, as we talked about before the show,certainly this would be great marketing, point to show on a website to say, as opposed to all of my competitors, we actually show that we are not only HIPAA compliant, but we are protected. And that your information is not going to be, you know, out there because we are not going to be breached.

Kevin Fream 20:53
Well, you can never say never, but you can definitely put your best foot forward and say, Hey, we’re doing all these things, and have it regularly. Check. And that’s, you know, even for cybersecurity, do you know how many cybersecurity firms actually publish their own third-party risk exams and third-party vulnerability scans and their own compliance forms? Almost none? And then how do you look them up at Microsoft, or wherever they’re at? Less than less than 3% of our industry is vetted.

But HIPAA has been around since 2013. Why doesn’t every medical practice have things like that? Here’s our executive summary of our risk. Here’s a summary of the vulnerability scan. Here’s a link to our vetted it support that does the same thing. Out of all of the HIPAA violations on the 8020 rule, 80% are not covered entities, they’re not a medical practice, it is their electronic medical records platform, or it is their IT vendor that’s not vetted since 97% of them aren’t. And not a they are not according to the IRS and the FTC, only 3% of IT firms in the US are vetted by government and industry authorities. Wow. So, it’s not only if you’re a doctor, it’s not only your medical practice, it’s all your business associates that you are responsible for. And if you’re not doing your risk exam and asking, asking business associates, where’s your where’s your risk exam? And where’s your business compliance form? Then you’re violating a, a big part of HIPAA, and you’re responsible for knowing that.

Electronic Health Record System

Dr. Barbara Hales 22:54
So, when you are shopping around for the best electronic health record system for your practice, you should be saying to them, are you vetted by the government?

Kevin Fream 23:10
You should be saying there are two things. It used to be in the old days, you know, oh, do you have a business associates’ agreement? And people will say, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’s like, no, today, you need to have evidence, and that evidence is you have a third party that does a risk exam. And they should be able to provide an executive version of that.

So, there’s not a lot of privacy details in it. And then secondly, they there, there is a HIPAA compliance form to fill out, like I mentioned before, that the top 10 things of yes, we do data breach training. And yes, we do, you know, have these policies and procedures. And, yes, we do a disaster drill, all those kinds of things, those 10, top 10 A, an officer in that organization signs off on that, and puts their money where their mouth is. Because otherwise, the practice is totally liable. If the practice is doing what it’s saying. And there’s fraud from a business associate, or if they’re not doing what they’re saying, then guess who’s going to bear the brunt of the fine, it’s going to be the business associate. And you have some capability for the practice, then to recoup some of their loss.

Dr. Barbara Hales 24:32
Scary stuff. So, let’s say as a doctor, I am your client. Do you come to my premises or do you just scan everything virtually?

Kevin Fream 24:47
No, it’s twofold. We do an onsite analysis and then create a system plan from that and then we have a risk exam that we run through that questionnaire and we help and develop the evidence for those. And then thirdly, we do a vulnerability scan and go over all that with you. And you come out with those really five deliverables, you end up with a risk exam, the executive summary, the business clients form, your top 10 policies and procedures, you got a system plan now, so you’re independent of it, and you have a work plan for next year.

Computer Hardware

Dr. Barbara Hales 25:26
Okay, which is all great. But the next question I have for you is that, well, the computer hardware is not only generated from the office itself, we have hookups from hospitals and laboratories. Do you check those out as well? Or do you recommend that we don’t connect with them? I mean, how do we handle that?

Kevin Fream 26:00
In the old days, and people still think this way, I used to have to send the team and special pieces of equipment and ask for all kinds of accounts and authorization and credentials. And then we’ll take a week or so to run. And we’d be disrupting the practice and then come back and have the results in a couple of weeks. The technology today is literally that I can send an email to three or four people in your organization; it will scan external, as well as internal, of your network and tell you the vulnerabilities in your cloud, in your remote, and in your office all at the same time. And it gives you an idea, it starts answering those questions of maybe we shouldn’t be connecting some of these things remotely, or these are some things we need to turn off.

Dr. Barbara Hales 26:50
So, is it possible to just connect to get lab results and then when we’re not actually searching for lab results to keep it disconnected?

Kevin Fream 27:03
Correct. Everything today encryption is the only safe harbor for a data breach. Everybody should write that down. And you should have an encrypted connection to everything you do through a VPN. And then yes, when you’re disconnected, there shouldn’t be any kind of attack plane for that, and actually should actually be blocked.

Dr. Barbara Hales 27:33
And to you also set up encryption for our cell phones for text messages, as well.

Kevin Fream 27:43
Its insurance companies will ask you, that’ll be one of the big questions is do you have encryption? And people will say, well, I think so. I think Microsoft has it. And they’ll say yes, they are talking about E to have encryption on any servers and the workstations, and any of your smartphone devices or tablets. And any systems that you connect with. Oh, send that’s hard. That’s hard. What’s that?

Dr. Barbara Hales 28:15
So, it’s automatic now for the for the iPhone?

Kevin Fream 28:19
it is automatic; you need to have software that actually can prove that and show that the setting was in place. Just like Windows BitLocker is included. Very few people turn that on, or and they don’t have a system that shows that yeah, here’s a list of machines, and all these drives are encrypted, you have to have all of that.

Dr. Barbara Hales 28:43
Okay, so yet a few more things to stay awake nights worrying about?

Kevin Fream 28:52
Well, I’m the market. That’s why you start out with the risk exam, because then you have all that evidence and you have a peace of mind. And you guys say hey, there’s a piece of software that’s actually monitoring this and spit out a report at any time. And some doctors like to go and look at it because they liked data and they like shiny things and seeing the different objects; some don’t and just want to have the peace of mind for that. And that’s what good cybersecurity does because it’s also lowering your cyber liability insurance when you have all these things. Okay,

Cyber Attacks and CyberCrime

Dr. Barbara Hales 29:32
Let’s say I’m the type of doctor that says okay, I’m now your client. And I’m also not interested in checking up every day to see like, what’s going on with that I have the other stuff that I want to do. So, I’m relying on you as me as my boll to should be monitoring that for me. And that if there’s a breach you’ll be able to detect it right away and take care of it or let me know. And so, is that correct? Am I thinking?

Kevin Fream 30:15
I wonder? You know, it’s like when I interviewed Dr. Oz, one of the things that I asked him is, you know, as he was running for Senate is, you know, what do you think? And how do we step up to prevent what Warren Buffett calls the biggest threat than nuclear war, which is cyber terrorism, cyber-attacks and cybercrime? And he, he had an it really interesting answer for me, that I use regularly said, you know, I had dinner with some prominent cybersecurity people, and they said, definitely don’t pay the ransom. And, you know, get prepared right up front.

But the biggest thing he said is 97% of all breaches are from the person who’s at the keyboard, and everybody has to be responsible for their own use on a computer. And that’s exactly right, is I can’t protect you from yourself on the computer because you’re making all the decisions, and you’re pressing all the buttons, but I can help you avoid loss and improve your operations. And yes, we’re looking out if something does happen. But you know, it’s you’re just not off and off the risk scale. And you’re responsible, regardless. And, you know, that’s coming full circle is we’re now seeing CIO of Casaya, for instance, you know, is, or excuse me, the CIO of SolarWinds, is now being federally prosecuted for fraud, for not filling out a risk exam properly. So, it’s a huge deal.

Dr. Barbara Hales 32:09
Well, this has been an absolutely fascinating episode, can you give us two tips that our listeners can implement right away to protect themselves or to see about their system now to show that they are woefully in need of correction?

Kevin Fream 32:36
Well, one tip is if you’re a medical firm with 25 users or more, then we have a free vulnerability scan and penetration tests, it’s usually $10,000, that we’re able to run to be able to protect organizations like that and give them an idea that that will be one thing. And that’s matrixforce.com/cyberrisk. That isn’t for every year so much for every user. It’s called multifactor authentication or two-factor authentication, all it means is password protection. If you’ll go to Security and settings in any app, including all your social media, it needs to be turned on, because generally, password hacks are the biggest way that people are attacked. And still, less than 65% of online accounts have two-factor authentication turned on.

Protect Yourself In The Online World

Dr. Barbara Hales 33:41
Right. Wouldn’t you recommend that any social media not be done in in a medical practice anyway, that if you’re going to be using social media that it should just be home and not have anything to do with the actual practice?

Kevin Fream 33:56
It’s exactly what you definitely need to get with your attorney, and anything should be really vanilla for events and those kinds of things. Because if you expose a patient, an image name, or anything else in social media, then it’s a violation, and you start the whole investigation of what else are you doing.

Dr. Barbara Hales 34:20
Sure. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. We’ve been listening to Kevin Fream, and he has been an absolutely absolutely absolutely fascinating person in cybersecurity his Delta Force and Matrix Force have been really helpful and really fascinating. So, you have been listening to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time

The post How to Avoid Cybersecurity Breaches first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Samara discuss:What changes in rules and regulations have impacted event planningHow can doctors effectively host educational eventsWhy collaboration with other professionals is importantKey Takeaways:“It really is about recognizing potential and seizing the opportunities that come your way” – Samara Beth.Connect with Samara Beth:Website: https://samarabethandco.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samarahurley/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samarabethandco
YouTube:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samarabethandco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samarabethandcompany?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (153)

Welcome to the Marketing Tips for Doctors podcast, where you’ll discover the secrets to attracting more patients ready to schedule their first appointments to grow your practice, without spending hours and hours away from your practice or home. Hear how to boost your online presence, and develop a strong rapport with each one to increase patient compliance, while adding value and growing revenue. Now, here’s your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, America’s leading medical strategist.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Samara Beth. She is a luminary in the realms of event planning, destination management, networking, and public relations, celebrated not only for her exceptional talents but for embodying excellence in every facet of her professional journey. With a career adorned with accolades such as two prestigious NACE Best Team Awards that over $100,000, and the Crystal Icon Award for best social event under $50,000, Samara’s dedication to creating unforgettable experiences has solidified her status as one of Houston’s top event planners, a title awarded by the Houston Business Journal after three years of owning Celebrations by Samara. Her innovative spirit and meticulous attention to detail have enabled her to leave an indelible mark on both the industry and the hearts of those who experience her events. This, combined with her robust background in public relations, marketing, destination management, and event production, has facilitated fruitful collaborations with numerous Fortune 500 clients when working with a top New York City event production company, as well as a strong network of professional relationships across the globe. Beyond her tangible achievements, Samara’s influence extends into the media, where her insights and wisdom have been featured in Ciao Bella Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, Herald Voice, Modern Luxury, and more. She has also shared her expertise through experiences and appearances on ESPN Radio and various podcasts, offering invaluable advice on sales, networking, and proactive engagement, illuminating the path for aspiring professionals. A champion of community service, Samara’s leadership and commitment to giving back have been recognized with the Volunteer Spirit Award from her religious community, where she has led initiatives to foster community engagement and fundraising as vice president of the sisterhood. Her ethos of excellence, which she describes as not just a goal but a way of life, underscores her commitment to surpassing expectations and making a lasting impact. Samara’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of passion, dedication, and the pursuit of excellence. As she continues to pioneer within the event planning and public relations domains, she remains a beacon of inspiration, guiding both colleagues and clients towards achieving their own pinnacle of success. Welcome to the show.

Samara Beth: Thank you. Thank you. Wow, I think I gave you my long bio.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, very impressive. Tell me, how did you get into that? Not everybody grows up as a child saying, you know, this is what I want to do with my life. So, how did this happen?

Samara Beth: So, I kind of grew up that way because my mom plans conferences, actually for near-death studies. And so, I was very organized. I was the girl whose sock drawer was color-coordinated her whole life. I was very much OCD, type A personality. So, my mom had me helping organize her files or office. I was selling books and tapes back then, for the conferences, and then we always entertained—we entertained a great deal. I was very active in doing events, from proms to ski trips to all kinds of organizational events, and was always very active in that, even back in high school. So, it really is who I am and has always been who I am. My big start was in New York City in the ’90s for an event production destination management company. Name’s Empire Force Events; still, they’re going strong. Shout out to Jacqueline Bernstein and Robert Housemeyer, who gave me a chance before I even graduated from the University of Maryland. I was a senior. And they gave me a chance when everyone else closed the door on me because I didn’t have three years of experience. So, the key is to find somebody who will give you a chance because they recognize the potential. And then you just jump in and you work a lot.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What was your experience working with the medical community?

Samara Beth: So it’s interesting because the medical community was a big part of my clientele in New York. And then that continued throughout my career journey. So many of my clients, not most but many, were pharmaceutical companies and medical companies, insurance companies. And so, we would do their meetings, whether it’s shareholders’ meetings or pharmaceutical rep education or doctors’ meetings for certifications, where they have to keep updating with their certifications annually, or however it works. So, we were there to help along the way. Now, when I started out working with doctors and pharmaceutical industries, they didn’t have all the rules they have now. So, it has changed a great deal. We used to have a lot of fun with it. Now, it’s definitely changed a lot, financially.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So it’s not as fun anymore?

Samara Beth: It’s not as fun. Anyone who has been around that long will tell you it’s not as fun as it used to be. They’ve got a lot of caps, a lot of things you’re not allowed to do—more things you’re not allowed to do than what you are allowed to do. And a lot of that is for reasons, of course. Some people take advantage. It was considered bribery, I guess, back then. So, yeah, that’s how it is. But the thing is, if you’re a doctor—not a pharmaceutical rep, but if you’re a doctor—you might have different rules to follow. So, you just have to research that, look it up online, see what your state laws are, what your federal laws are, and just abide by those. And know that it might be a $125 cap for a dinner for a presentation with the venue, or it might be $150. You might be allowed alcohol; you may not be allowed alcohol. There are a lot of different rules.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What types of events can doctors themselves host?

Samara Beth: Doctors can host educational events. Depending on their specialty, retreats really tie into what they’re doing. When you hear the word “retreat,” you might immediately think of wellness retreats, as that’s where most people’s minds go. But now there are business retreats, networking retreats, and experiential retreats. What it boils down to is creating a memorable experience. You’re not just bonding and networking; you’re also learning together.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Does it involve girls?

Samara Beth: With doctors, yes. Many times it involves golf because their tennis arm isn’t what it used to be. So, there are a lot of golfing events tied to nonprofits. And that’s where some tricks of the trade come in for all companies when you’re working with businesses. They have safety budgets, networking budgets, and budgets for education and professional development—whatever they call it. There are many different budgets you can tap into. Additionally, a lot of companies require philanthropic tie-ins throughout the year, especially towards the end. So, I find that we organize many of those types of events, like team-building or charity events, towards the end of the year or throughout it. And when you’re incorporating this into your retreat as a doctor, there are so many creative ways to help children, the elderly, or those who are homeless. The possibilities are endless. The need is everywhere.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are the best tips for medical professionals to host successful retreats that you could give?

Samara Beth: So, some of the tips I actually teach in my course, called Paid to Vacation. I present it as a blueprint, making it easy for people to follow. It’s known as the TRIPS retreat blueprint. It offers insights into what you need for a successful retreat. The “T” stands for transforming. You’re transforming your business, but you’re also transforming other people and their businesses as well. This usually applies to B2B. However, it could also be B2C, where you have customers or clients attending a retreat. So, it depends on your target audience. But transforming them is incredibly important.

And then, recharging those guests is key. You want to ensure they have time for downtime and networking, to recharge, and to find charging stations. You don’t want them running to their room to grab chargers or losing their phone. And to ensure they’re having bonding experiences too. For example, when recharging, you could organize spa treatments together or do meditations or yoga. Instead of saying, “Oh, it’s at six o’clock, if you want to go, show up at the gym,” make it a group activity where it’s all in one place.
Also, especially important in marketing, is identifying your key clientele. You really need to know what your value proposition is. Understand the value you bring to the table. Creating your value proposition also helps identify your target audience. This is crucial because you wouldn’t want to target married couples going through marriage challenges if your target is single people. And for mental health, you wouldn’t want to target individuals who are suicidal if those people are on certain medications but not because they’re suicidal. So, you really need to be very conscientious about that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Thank you for joining us today. I’d love to give you a free checklist of side hustles that are available to you. Simply request it at themedicalstrategist.as.me. A copy of this domain will be listed in the show notes. Now, back to our regularly scheduled show. So, would you say that retreats are a good way to introduce services and products that you may have as a sideline in your medical field?

Samara Beth: Absolutely. And so, when you’re planning your schedule for your retreat, you want to ensure that you’re marketing so people can possibly use it, especially if it’s medical equipment or something new and helpful, like a medical app. Then, have people use it throughout the experience. This way, you’re transforming them, and they’ll remember it. Plus, they’ll know how to use it. You know, how many apps have we downloaded only to never use them because no one really showed us how? So, if you have medical professionals utilizing different apps, structures, components, equipment, or whatever, really make that a part of your retreat. Do this instead of just handing it out as people leave.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, you mentioned that you offer a course on this topic. Can you tell us a little bit about your course?

Samara Beth: Yes, indeed. “Paid to Vacation” was designed to assist primarily two types of people: those who may not be able to afford an event planner for every occasion, and those who already have a list, a lead generation system set in their CRM, and the people they want to invite, but just don’t know what to do next. They’re eager to learn how to manage it because they aim to cross-market themselves and want to do this on their own schedule. So it’s called “Paid to Vacation” because it literally teaches you how to get paid to go on vacation. The great thing about producing your own retreats is that you get to choose the destination. Then, you can involve your family by having them work the event. After the hard work, you spend the rest of the week vacationing in that spot. So we work hard, and then we play hard. We’re at Samar, Banco. And, not to worry—it’s not a downside at all. It’s a six-week course to launching your own retreat. That means we meet every week, and there’s one starting in April when I return from GrowthCon. What happens is we meet weekly, and there is some one-on-one time where we strategize to talk about what the client is looking to achieve. This allows me to have a better understanding of where they’re coming from during the course. Although I might teach similar content to everyone, it’s very personalized and customized when I’m speaking with the clients. They learn how to produce these retreats and take it from there themselves. So by the end of the six weeks, they will have a concrete retreat plan. They might need to work out more details, like the itinerary, but at least they have a foundation. They might even change the dates; that’s okay too. They know what they’re doing, have the resources, budget, spreadsheets, and all. So, we’re really in this together, and then they can always opt for more one-on-one time if they need it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This course is conducted virtually. It’s a virtual course.

Samara Beth: So, it’s international. It’s via Zoom. And there are a lot of bonuses, like extra benefits to doing these types of programs. First of all, I want the people in my programs to know how it works. So, what happens is, let’s say we have a lot of people from wellness or doctors who sign up from this interview today, and I have a special discount link, by the way, just for your listeners. So, don’t let me finish without telling you that at the end here. But you might have a bunch of doctors who decide, you know what, this is more than I want to do on my own? Do you want to collaborate with me, Rachel, hey, Joe, you have a great practice, you’re a chiropractor, you’re a Pilates instructor, you’re an occupational therapist, whatever, let’s get together, let’s do a retreat together and target similar audiences that have back problems, neck problems, whatever. And then kind of come together and do a one-on-one retreat, where they’re getting some of the services. They’re learning how to live with it. They’re practicing with the tools, and they’re getting to meet other people. It’s almost like a group mental health circle because people can say, “Oh, God, when I moved my neck, if that it didn’t…” They can talk to each other. And, as we say in Yiddish, “video each other’s heads with it.”

Dr. Barbara Hales: But you know, it’s a really great idea because it really takes the pressure off trying to fill up the events.

Samara Beth: That’s exactly right, Barbara. Cross-marketing and collaborating are huge with lead gen. So when you’re doing lead generation with less, it’s about bringing more people into each other’s email lists and newsletter lists. It’s also about connecting with people you wouldn’t have known otherwise. You could have someone from South Africa collaborating with someone from London and someone from New York, and you all meet in Italy. It’s about building a community of people who can rely on one another and share the same experiences. You might go on a retreat with them and they become your best friends, business partners, or you continue collaborating for the rest of your career. Or maybe you just become travel buddies. So a lot can come out of it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Of course, the number would tremendously vary by location. But know what, what’s the typical range of people one would need to make an event viable?

Samara Beth: That is so dependent on the location and the dates, it’s impossible for me to say what it would cost because it’s something. I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you’re in Scottsdale, Arizona, in April, and you’re doing a retreat, you could pay $800 to $900 for a sleeping room a night. But if you do it in the summer when it’s like 100 degrees, as long as there’s a pool that pulls have cooling elements. So if you’re in an offseason at a location, you could get a really great rate for the room. And when you’re working with a resort or a hotel or a hall that has sleeping rooms, in addition to restaurants and many breakout meeting rooms and ballrooms, and you’re doing it as a full package, you’re going to get a better rate than if you’re doing a little bit at this place and a little bit of that place. They will negotiate; there’s room for negotiation. If you’re offseason, you will get a much better deal. So if you’re starting out and you’re really hesitant with the budget, you don’t want to pick New York City, you know, Times Square New York City as your first retreat. You might want to choose, right? Like you could do an Airbnb; there are mansions and Airbnbs that have sleeping rooms and all that. Just make sure you get there further in advance. You don’t want to just wing it when you get there and show up the day the guests come; there’s way too much prep that is required for these.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I would imagine so. Alright, you’ve worked really hard. You’ve organized everything, you’ve got these eager beavers ready to chime in, and hey, count me in! Now, how do you market? How do you get the word out about your event so people not only know about it but also want to be there?

Samara Beth: Well, I guess I can say, Barbara, we’re doing it today right now. So, the joy of podcasting, the repurposing of podcasting, and there’s so much marketing out there. There’s so much that can be done, much of it is free or inexpensive. You don’t need to put an ad out in a luxury magazine and wait for it to print in three months. What you can do is get on the podcast, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. If you’re in coaching programs like I am and you, we met in a coaching program when you’re in coaching programs, you’re not usually allowed to promote who you are in many of them, so just find out first if it’s okay. But you can go offline and build a relationship with that person, and then you can market your services. You just don’t spam a chat or talk about it so much when you’re in a coaching program.

The other thing that you can do is ads on social media. My main social media with my new brand, Samara Beth and Co, is Instagram and LinkedIn, so I will be using them more frequently and doing paid ads on those platforms. Paid ads are whatever you want to budget. You just set that up. And here’s the joy of this, Barbara, as an extra bonus, I throw in my marketing tips and tricks, and I have learned from my coaches, Grant Cardone, Elena Cardone, and Cana Alesia Minkus, John Lee. These are lead geniuses. These are marketing geniuses, and I’ve learned so much from them. You get to learn what I’ve learned; I share that with you. I’m also a 10x business coach for Cardone Ventures. I have all the training through Cardone as well in marketing and sales. So that all gets integrated because it’s in my head, and I help everyone else use that. And you guys don’t have to pay the money that I pay for my coaches; you get me. So that’s one other way of doing it.
And getting the word out there, writing articles is good. You know, doctors love writing articles, right? Writing articles for your medical publications, magazines, blogs, vlogs. It’s really endless. And as you know, Barbara, we’re doing a YouTube video. YouTube. Here I am in Mexico at one of my retreat locations at the Four Seasons. And you can see the photo of my actual space; you’ve got an ocean and a palm tree behind you. So I know that you’re going to repurpose this on YouTube. And people might be thinking, “Wow, I really think I need to be there right now. I need a break. But I need to make money, I need a tax deduction.” How can I go about doing that? Okay, let’s go, we’re going to go to Mexico. And we’re going to do this, this, this, and this. And we’re going to work on this program for three days. And then the week after that, we’re going to do our vacation. My family is going to get to reap the benefits of me working hard or then working hard with you. And so, and those are all tax write-offs.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Great advice! It really is food for thought, and it’s something that is going to be very thought-provoking for our listeners out there. We’ll also be putting your bonuses in the show notes for all of you, our listeners, to check out. Thank you very much for being with us today. This has been another episode of “Marketing Tips for Doctors” with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

23:12
Thanks for listening to “Marketing Tips for Doctors.” If you liked the podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review. Press the subscribe button so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about the show. Join us on marketingtipsfordoctors.com for replays and more resources to help grow your practice, strengthen your brand, and dominate your field. Remember, you’re one tweet away from greatness.

The post Expert Tips for Hosting Successful Medical Retreats: Insights from Top Event Planner Samara Beth first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Alexis discuss:
Why proactive tax planning throughout the year is more beneficial than reactive approaches.
How utilizing health savings accounts can provide tax benefits
*The advantages of shifting income to rental LLCs for minimizing taxes.

Key Takeaways:
“Leaving a legacy as well as helps save taxes on your part.” – Alexis Gallati.

Connect with Alexis Gallati:
Website: https://www.cerebraltaxadvisors.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-gallati/
Instagram:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ-pRbWDIlMckci5KZpsX0Q
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CerebralTax
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cerebraltax

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (152)Welcome to the Marketing Tips for Doctors podcast, where you’ll discover the secrets to attracting more patients ready to schedule their first appointments and grow your practice, without spending hours away from your practice or home. Learn how to boost your online presence, and develop a strong rapport with each patient to increase compliance, while adding value and growing revenue.

Here’s your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, America’s leading medical strategist.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I’m so happy to welcome you back from hiatus. After a brief time away, we’ve diligently worked on new episodes for you. And so we start with today, and we plan on having some great episodes for you in the future and struggling with this one. So, we welcome you back today. Thank you.

Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.

Today we have with us Alexis Gallati. She’s the founder and lead tax strategist at Cerebral Tax Advisors, Cerebral Wealth Academy, and the author of the book Advanced Tax Planning for Medical Professionals. She has over 20 years of experience in high-level strategic tax planning and multi-state tax preparation and has trained at the highest level, holding two master’s degrees. Alexis grew up in a family of physicians and is married to a private practice physician. That’s why she understands how hard medical professionals work to get where they are, and why she provides simple and accessible tax solutions tailored to busy physicians.

Welcome to the show, Alexis.

Alexis Gallati: Thank you, Barbara. I’m excited to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What inspired you to focus on tax planning specifically for medical professionals?

Alexis Gallati: Yeah, well, as you mentioned in your intro, my husband is a physician, and we met the second week of college. When he went to medical school, I went to graduate school. And, of course, his schooling—between medical school and residency—is much longer than mine. So, when I saw the writing on the wall as he was finishing up his residency in Rochester, New York, as a neurosurgeon, I saw that would be hitting a really big tax bracket. And so, I wanted to know why Warren Buffett and the Bill Gates of the world were in that lower tax bracket. Like, why couldn’t it be us?

That’s when I went out after working for local and regional CPA firms for 12-13 years. So, I’ve been focused on tax planning. And, since we have the same situation as a lot of our clients—who are healthcare professionals—it was very natural for us to work with other healthcare professionals. And that’s where it came from necessity in our case, and loving to teach others how to save.

Dr. Barbara Hales: The question about lower taxes is something I’m sure we will, you know, wonder about. In what ways do you see positions being different from other types of clients?

Alexis Gallati: Yeah, so a lot of it comes down to, mainly, the pay structure. I mean, depending on whether you’re a W-2 or you’re a 1099. You know, if you’re part of a group, different groups have different ways their employees, or the doctors, are paid. And so, having that understanding of the various types of payments doctors receive is very beneficial. Because depending on the type of income you have, whether it’s ordinary income or if it’s capital gains, maybe from something like the sale of an office building, you know, there can be different tax strategies. And that’s important to grasp. Not just how their income is being taxed, but also, you know, the way they work and the long hours. So, having that, let’s say, more specific knowledge of how a practice is run, or even just how a physician is paid, is very beneficial overall to be able to provide pinpointed advice.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Not always is proactive tax planning different from what most tax professionals do.

Alexis Gallati: So, most physicians, when they go to hire a tax professional or an accountant, find that most of these accountants are very reactive. Essentially, they’re preparing the tax return and maybe offering a bit of advice after the fact. However, most effective planning needs to be proactive throughout the year, because many of the strategies you can implement have to be executed in the year you want them to count. That’s where Cerebral is markedly different.

The way I built Cerebral was to be proactive. We not only prepare the tax return in the spring; we also conduct a mid-year tax projection around May or June, and then a year-end projection around October or November. This approach allows us to continually tweak and modify our clients’ tax plans as their situations change or as tax laws change, optimizing their taxes throughout the year and helping to eliminate surprises. We do cash flow planning as well, such as mapping out upcoming quarterly estimates or retirement payments, things like that. This way, you can actually plan your cash flow, especially for those trying to save up for a new house, pay off student loans, or perhaps get into real estate and start that as an alternative investment. Being proactive comes with a multitude of benefits, not only from a financial standpoint but also in terms of preventing mental burnout.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What’s your favorite tech strategy for medical professionals who own their private practice?

Alexis Gallati: Yeah, well, one of my favorites — and there are so many of them because they’re so easy to implement once you know you qualify for it, and so on — is hiring your children. I think it’s an amazing way, if you have children, to shift income from your higher tax bracket to their potentially zero tax bracket. This allows you to save money because your business gets a deduction for their salary. But you’re also able to put that money into, you know, a Roth IRA for them or even save for their school as well.

Another strategy that I love is the health savings account. This can be done by someone who has a business or doesn’t have a business, as long as they have a high deductible health insurance plan. And those, I love because they’re triple tax-advantaged: the money goes in tax-free, it grows tax-free, and then it comes out tax-free, as long as it’s used for qualified medical expenses.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, if you’re hiring your children, do they have to do something?

Alexis Gallati: Yes, yes, they do need to have a legitimate job within the business. I’m not in favor of hiring your children as models, you know. The courts have tested this with children as young as seven. That’s typically what I advise my clients: “Hey if maybe they do a one-time modeling gig for the website or something, it’s hard to justify, you know, a $7,000 salary.”

For instance, if they’re trying to maximize their Roth contribution for 2020, where the maximum is $7,000. So, it’s difficult to justify that for like one or two pictures on your website. But if you have a child that’s seven years old, they can be performing many administrative tasks, like going in, shredding paper, stuffing envelopes, and helping with filing things. And then, as they get older, they can do even more work for you. So, as long as you have clear job roles for them, you’re keeping timesheets, and you treat them as employees, then it’s a completely legitimate deduction and a wonderful way to build their wealth. So, it’s about leaving a legacy as well as helping save on taxes on your part.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Gee, I never thought of having children, you know, being paid as models for a doctor’s office. That’s interesting. So, do you also recommend that doctors, you know, buy the building where they have their offices to get additional tax benefits?

Alexis Gallati: Potentially, it depends on the area, obviously, and whether you can afford the office building you’re in. So, like in California, for instance, that’s a very expensive purchase, but there are tax benefits to it. Namely, you’re able to shift income from your business, which would normally be taxed at your higher tax rate, over to the rental income in your building’s LLC. Then, you use the expenses of that LLC, including depreciation, to help offset the income you’re bringing over. So, it’s really about shifting the income and then using the expenses in the building’s LLC to maximize those savings.

Dr. Barbara Hales: There are many different models for income that doctors can have. Some rely on insurance, while others operate on a concierge model or a concierge hybrid model. How does the tax structure work? If someone has a concierge hybrid, is it any different? It’s essentially about the money coming in, regardless of their pay model.

Alexis Gallati: Yes, if this is a private practice, whether they’re doing concierge or insurance-based services, it’s all the same type of income—it’s ordinary income. Therefore, it’s taxed in the same manner.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Um, tell us an interesting or funny story that you have regarding a doctor starting and, you know, trying to set up a tax structure for themselves and a partner they’re bringing in.

Alexis Gallati: Oh, sure. So, I can think of many instances where my clients didn’t choose the proper structure. They might not even set up a proper LLC, especially when they have someone coming in as a partner. And so, if they’re setting it up without an LLC, a PC, or, you know, a PLLC, as well as the proper structure, they might be setting themselves up for additional liability. The LLC, for example, protects against the actions of a partner. Fortunately, I haven’t had any clients where something bad happened in that regard. But we went on to discuss some of the legalities of wanting to have that structure in place. This way, from a legal standpoint, they’re covered, because there are some things you could still be liable for, even with malpractice insurance.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so the last part of our interview is where we ask our interviewee to give us two tips for our listeners that would help them—something they could implement right away that would be helpful. Do you have some tips for our listening audience?

Alexis Gallati: Definitely. So, the first tip, let’s say you’re your only W-2. And, you know, this is a very common scenario for some docs. So, if you’re only a W-2, the number of strategies is a bit fewer for you than if you have your own 1099 income. But you want to make sure that you are maximizing your retirement and taking advantage of any sort of benefits your employer provides. So, maybe you have children, and they offer a dependent care benefit, or, you know, they provide a high deductible plan. And so, you can do an HSA—going and maximizing those benefits is super beneficial.

Then, look at more investment-type strategies like real estate or oil and gas that can provide you with some diversification in your portfolio as well as a tax benefit. If you have your own business, there are, like I said, so many different strategies out there. But what you can start implementing right away is the setup of an accountable plan. So, if you have an S corp or a C corp, the accountable plan allows you to properly reimburse yourself for business expenses paid with personal funds, and without this document, the IRS can technically deny any of those reimbursed deductions. So, if you go onto your unit… So, Google “accountable plan template.” We also provide a template through our Cerebral Wealth Academy course as well. But that—those sorts of things allow you to make sure you’re keeping the IRS happy and with the documentation you need.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s one thing we all want to do. We want to stay under the radar and keep the IRS happy. Yes, definitely. Okay, we certainly enjoyed having you here with us today. And we’re going to certainly think about the tips that you have given us and, you know, start implementing them right away to make more money and not lose it.

Alexis Gallati: Keep more of what you earn.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Well, thank you for being with us on the show today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time.

Thanks for listening to Marketing Tips for Doctors. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review. Press the subscribe button so you never miss an episode, and tell your friends about the show. Join us at marketingtipsfordoctors.com for replays and more resources to help grow your practice, strengthen your brand, and dominate your field. Remember, you’re one tweet away from greatness.

The post How Doctors Can Decrease Taxes first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Dr. Hales discusses:
-The meaning of content curation
-Intricacies of copyright
-Identifying the lines between copyright and curation

Key Takeaways:
“Transform and add value to the content you curate; provide commentary, analysis, or context to make it unique.” – Barbara Hales.

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (152)

Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.

Today, we will be discussing content curation versus copyright infringement, and understanding the difference so that you don’t get a cease-and-desist order or fall into more serious legal action.

So, in this episode, we will explore a crucial topic in the digital age: content curation versus copyright infringement. Let’s start by defining content curation.

Content Curation

Content curation is discovering, selecting, organizing, and sharing valuable content from various sources with your audience. The goal is to provide your audience with relevant and valuable information, insight, or entertainment. Content curation involves selection — carefully choosing content that aligns with your niche, theme, or your audience’s interests — organization, and presentation of the curated content in a structured and meaningful manner. Attribution is crucial — properly credit the original creators and sources of the content you create and curate. Additionally, when talking about valuable additions, add your insights, comments, or context to the curated content to enhance its relevance. In other words, you’re not just copying from articles that you’ve read or various resources; you’re taking that information from various sources, digesting it, and making it your own by adding your comments, ideas, and views on the topic.

Copyright Infringement

Now, let’s talk about copyright infringement. Copyright infringement occurs when someone uses, reproduces, or distributes copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder. This can include text, images, videos, music, and more. I know when you see a picture that seems so appropriate to what you want to get across to your viewers, that you’re just going to pop it into your article, without realizing that you have to go and get permission from the person who created that image.

The key points regarding copyright infringement to keep in mind are first, exclusive rights. Copyright holders have exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display their work unless, of course, they have a caption or description on their work to say that they are making it free to everyone who wants to use it. But you must check to see whether they have maintained their exclusive rights or have relinquished them. Secondly, fair use. There is a concept called fair use that allows limited use of copyrighted material for purposes like criticism, commentary, news reporting, and education. It has specific criteria and limitations.

Just think if you would join an editorial on something that you read or a comment about something that somebody was discussing; you could give a limited clip, followed by your comment on it, that would be fair use there. Thirdly, permission. To use copyrighted material, you typically need permission from the copyright owner, or the content must fall within the boundaries of fair use. And lastly, the consequences. Copyright infringement can result in legal actions, including fines and the removal of infringing content. Now, your hands can be more than just slapped; you can be removed from social media sites, and you may or may not ever get them back, which can be extremely harmful if you are using social media to attract prospective patients, and clients, or increase your visibility. So this is something that you want to keep your eye on.

The Difference

Now in terms of the line between curation and infringement, where is it? It’s essential to tread carefully and to stay on the right side of the law. So, to recap on that, first, you need permission — seek permission from content creators or publishers, when necessary, especially if you plan to use copyrighted material extensively. Secondly, attribution — always give proper credit to the original creators or sources when curating content. Thirdly, fair use — familiarize yourself with fair use guidelines and make sure your use of copyrighted material falls within these bounds. And lastly, transformative use — transform and add value to the content you curate; provide commentary, analysis, or context to make it unique.

Conclusion

In conclusion, content curation is a legitimate and valuable practice when performed responsibly, ethically, and within legal boundaries. Copyright infringement, on the other hand, involves an unauthorized use of copyrighted material and can lead to legal consequences. By understanding these differences and practicing ethical content curation, you can create engaging and informative content while respecting the rights of content creators.

That’s all for today regarding this episode on content curation versus copyright infringement. But at this point, I do want to discuss the fact that there are certain things as a healthcare provider that you can include in your publications and articles online and certain things that you cannot do as a physician or a healthcare professional. It is within your restricted from saying certain things like, for instance, something cures a medical illness, or a supplement is better than the average medication.

If you would like to have proper health content written for your website, newsletters, published articles, or social media, please feel free to contact me so we can discuss it further. Get a 30-minute free consultation so we can discuss your needs at the medical strategist.as.me to schedule a consultation so that we can get you started. Well, this has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Curation vs. Copyright Infringement first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Micah discuss:
-What are the signs that indicate inefficiencies in business operations?
-The Blueprint, Optimized, And Position method to solve business issues
-Benefits of implementing effective systems to the company’s culture, employee satisfaction, and long-term vision

Key Takeaways:
“A good system and process helps to keep employees happy and less frustrated. It helps to chart the course of the business and errors. And It also helps to promote a consistent response to issues when they come up.” – Micah Logan

Connect with Micah Logan:
Website: https://www.meldfitness.com/
https://www.hushframe.com/
https://www.micah-logan.com/common-cents-university
LinkedIn: https://www.link edin.com/in/micahlogan/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micahlogan1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecommoncentsshow/featured
Twitter: https://twitter.com/realmicahlogan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micahloganboston

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (151)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we have with us Micah Logan. Blending the dynamics of an entrepreneur with the strategic acumen of an executive. Mica stands as a beacon in the world of business, boasting over 16 years of Transformative Leadership and Innovation. His journey is marked by awards and notable achievements, patterns of a vivid picture of a trailblazer dedicated to pushing boundaries.

Micah has demonstrated mastery of the multifaceted realms of market dynamics, strategic negotiations, and organizational leadership. As the driving entrepreneurial force behind MELD fitness and wellness, Mike’s vision took root. Under his guidance, what began as a single retail outlet burgeoned into a network of four thriving locations, strategic initiatives for fruit in the form of a remarkable result of 5% over 1212 years, and an on-wavering customer retention rate between 94 and 96.5%, which is quite remarkable. I don’t know that I’ve heard of a retention rate like that, with anybody in any field. As a strategic advisor and executive for Hush Frame, Micah showed a different side of his expertise.

Helping launch a go-to-market product his strategic interventions catalyzed a staggering 812% revenue spike over just 36 months. His strategic prowess did not stop there, securing pivotal national and international distribution deals. Micah has formed impactful partnerships, including collaboration with a Fortune 50 big box retailer yet Mike has influenced permeates beyond his ventures. His role is to converge to form a leader deeply embedded in growth, change, and relentless innovation. Micah Logan’s B O P method standing for a blueprint, optimize, and position is a revolutionary business coaching framework that distills the essence of large firms’ success into actionable steps for small businesses. Welcome to the show, Micah.

Micah Logan: Glad to be here. Thank you so much, Barbara, for having me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you get involved in this, to begin with, Micah?

Micah Logan: The coaching? Specifically?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes.

Business Coaching Career

Micah Logan: Yeah. So, over the years, while running my companies, I’ve had people come, and reach out to me from around the country and ask for advice. You know, I used to travel to conferences, speak at conferences, business conferences, and in my industry and, and others. People would always ask me about certain business topics and action items strategic operations, questions, and just things generally, to help their small business. And so one of the things that I did was, I decided to, you know, start maybe kind of like helping when I could, at the time, a few businesses, and I started seeing that with the businesses would implement some of the advice that we give them, they will see success, and they will come back, and then I would give them some more advice, and then they will see success again. And it was kind of like one of those was like a tennis match, right, it would kind of go back and forth. And so ultimately, I decided that I wanted to create a framework. I identified that small businesses in general needed a specific framework to operate in.

So based on all of my previous experience, both in business and of course, traveling the country, learning from experts and going to conferences, and just developing and listening to frameworks that have worked and that have made millions of dollars and firms that these small businesses needed to think about problems in a specific way. create solutions, learn how to understand how to create solutions for those problems, and then how to implement those problems readily, either that same day or the next day.

Business Operations Inefficiencies

Dr. Barbara Hales: When a business owner first approaches you with concerns about their operations, what are some immediate signs you look for that indicate inefficiencies?

Micah Logan: That’s a great question. So one of the first signs that indicate efficiencies is, how their website looks, and how it’s presented to the public. And believe it or not, I’ll ask a business what they do. And then I’ll look at their website to see if the brand promise matches what they say they do. And if it’s disjointed, then I tell them Well, we have a messaging, we have a messaging problem here. You know, you say that you deliver this, but your website communicates completely differently. That’s, that’s broken. So typically, believe it or not, as simple as that is, it typically signals an issue, for me that there are bigger problems in the business.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can you give us an example of a company you’ve worked with where identifying and addressing inefficiencies led to significant growth or transformation?

Micah Logan: I can. So one example that comes to mind, you know, very quickly is the company that I worked with Hush Frame before I was brought in, one of the things was that they had no process for financial reporting, everything was scattered at random. There was no process for bringing online district distribution, there was no going to market, and the product existed in the marketplace, but there was no real specific direction on how to market the product and who to go to that made sense to market it. There were there was no structure with how the company operated by fulfilling orders, no inventory, there was no there was no, there was no fully intact supply chain, and there were a lot of issues that were kind of scattered.

So the first thing that we did was we created an outline of what the company said that they were going to do in the marketplace what they wanted it to be, why they thought that people hired their product, and what they what their product was hired for in the marketplace. And then we started working backward. So how do we deliver what the product hires your company to do? So your company is hired to provide this product to builders so that they can build businesses that are built quiet buildings? Okay, so how do we make sure that we deliver on this every single time? And how do we get it into their hands? So we reverse engineer that. And then one of the things I did was I started putting together the framework using DLP on every single issue in the business, and then that kind of led to some of that substantial 812% growth or going from about $30,000 to almost $400,000 in 36 months.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can you refresh your memory on what B.O.P. stands for and what that method is all about? And also how businesses can benefit from it?

Blueprint, Optimized, And Position

Micah Logan: Yeah, so BOP stands for blueprint, optimized, and position. The BOP method is a framework that small businesses use or can use to help solve issues from ideation to actual implementation. One of the things that my coaching is all about is actual implementation and not kind of implementing, and not sort of implementing, and not the theories of implementation and how they should work with the business. So blueprint optimized position. So it starts with the blueprint, which lays the foundation of whatever the problem set is. Whatever the challenge is the business needs to understand and understand what the problem is, and then optimize that problem.

Once you understand and brainstorm the ideas of what the problems are, then you don’t have to optimize solutions for those problems, you have to identify gaps that your firm has in between what it could be and how it’s supposed to deliver from where it currently is right now. And then you optimize solutions within that framework. And, of course, depending on the problem set, there are my courses that have guidance on how to do that, whether it’s goal setting, whether it’s sales or marketing. And then the position is the last part of the BOP, which is when you take those optimized solutions and start building them into the business. And you help to train people who will implement the solutions for the problem. So that could be employees. That could be the customers. It could be logistics, it could be operations, it could be sales, it could be training, whatever your staff is deficient in position helps to put it into force in the business kind of.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are the most common pitfalls small businesses fall into that hinder their ability to grow? And how can these be preemptively addressed?

Preemptive Measures To Avoid Business Failures

Micah Logan: So that’s a good question. So one of the most common things that are common reasons why businesses don’t grow in my opinion, is because they don’t know why people hire them. They don’t know what job people hire them to do. And they don’t have systems of backup But they promised the public that they will do. So let me just give you an example. There was a professor at Harvard Business School who’s now passed named Clayton Christensen, Clayton Christensen came up with the essential marketing topic, the job that needs to be done in a white paper that was entitled marketing malpractice. And in that paper, what he mentioned was that businesses need to understand why people hire them, and what job they hire them for. Now, whether you’re a product or a service, your company can be hired to do a specific job.

Let me give you an example. One example is that if you are an ice cream shop, you may say, Well, why did people come and buy ice cream? Is it just because they like ice cream? Well, maybe some people just like ice cream. But if you’re an ice cream shop and a community, you’re providing ice cream to kids and their families, you are providing ice cream for first dates, you’re providing ice cream for schools and their ballgames and supporting the PTO. So really, what you’re doing is your ice cream is a way to connect the community to life events, or memories. And so why do people get ice cream, because they never forget what was like to get ice cream. They remember getting the ice cream floats with their fathers or their mothers, they remember what it’s like when they had ice cream on a hot summer day. And it’s nothing like it, it sticks in their memory. So one of the issues that small businesses have is they don’t understand the job that people hire them to do, they believe sometimes it’s just them providing the service, or the product is enough. But that’s not near enough for them to move the needle. Not in my opinion.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I never really thought of a delicious commodity like ice cream and why we all love to get it has a deep philosophical meaning behind it. That’s a new way of looking at it. I don’t think I’ll ever take a look at my mint chocolate chip the same way again.

Micah Logan: Well, you know, it’s funny because if I say to you, Barbara, maybe a time when you got mad at someone when you were young at school, you may not remember it. But if I said Barbara Namie a time when you had ice cream, and what the ice cream was centered around, you’ll probably be able to do it, you probably be able to say mica, I remember I was eating ice cream. But here are the events surrounding this moment of eating ice cream. That is the job that the ice cream shop essentially people are hiring them for. And that’s what businesses need to focus on. And so because they don’t understand what job they need to be done, they don’t communicate their branding message to say the correct way. And then they don’t implement systems to support that brand message.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well beyond just financial success, how can implementing effective systems impact the culture, employee satisfaction, and long-term vision of a company?

Benefits of Effective Systems To Company’s Culture, Employee Satisfaction, And Long-Term Vision

Micah Logan: So in my opinion, one of the main reasons why employees leave a company is because they don’t see a path for growth. And they’re not being rewarded for what they do. Or they’re frustrated with how the company is being run. So systems help an employee to mitigate frustration because they always know what to do for the most part and a good company has a good small business can balance two things, ownership of an issue that employees can manage with the guidelines for how they manage this issue, and letting them use their discernment with how to handle this issue. And couple that with giving them the ownership of doing it.

A good system and process allow for guidelines but also allow the flexibility for employees to be able to kind of deal with those issues. However, having systems and processes in the business helps to promote good training among the employees and also to help the managers to help chart the course for the employees in the future. How can I get okay, you make $50,000 Right now, you want to get the 75? How do I get the 75? Well, let me show you.
So this system or process helps to outline how a person can go from 50 to 75. Let me show you what you have to do to get there. There are two ways you either get another certification, you get more education so that you can bring your period up. And these are the jobs that you can get once you have those things. These are the things that you need to do in your job to become more efficient so that you earn more money, increasing your bonuses so that you also can earn more money to get to that, but a good system and process helps to keep employees happy and less frustrated. It also helps to chart the course of the business and errors.

It helps to promote a consistent response to issues when they come up. Things like the Public are unhappy with the choice that was made. Because there’s a shift in the marketplace. There’s a shift in marketing taste in messaging. How do you deal with those shifts in the business landscape? Well, systems and processes help guide that ship to success, and they help you to implement tested ideas, and to make them scalable, across the board.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I help professional listeners out there who have seen drastically reduced reimbursement rates, while escalating expenses have well thought about what else they could sell in terms of products or services beyond their, like medical help that they’re providing for their patients. And what is the single most important piece of advice you’d give them regarding setting up the business side of their medical practice for success?

Tips For Successful Medical Business

Micah Logan: Yeah, so that’s an excellent question. And this one is closer to me because I was in the health and wellness industry for a couple of decades before I sold my firm last month. One of the things in the medical industry that we don’t see enough of is we see discussions around the margins about preventative medicine, preventative health, and how you can kind of mitigate some issues. But we know statistically that something like 80% of diseases out there a lifestyle diseases, and then 80% of those are preventable.

So there is a big market for medical professionals to be involved. And taking the lead and or working with health and wellness professionals to get this done. I think that the future of integrative medicine, will you bring someone in the wellness space to the medical space, and delivering a higher level patient experience is going to be a game changer for the future. So medical professionals who have, for instance, the stomach work with wellness professionals and package it together to form a service that speaks to preventative medicine and maintenance medicine.

Then, of course, some things come up, that have to be addressed by the medical professional. But having the foresight to be able to future-proof your business by offering services, Recovery Services, people like hydration, they like drip therapy, franchises are being made. But these are easy things that independent medical businesses could implement in their businesses to make more money in the membership base. For instance, membership-based IV drip therapy with nutrients is something that is a fairly easy way for them to kind of supply stock, and provide services as a preventative service for their patients. And they can build membership packages around that to keep their customers coming back. Yeah, so that’s, that’s an idea, I believe, for the medical professionals.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, that’s a very good idea. There are several plastic surgeons, or dermatologists that are doing it now setting up packages where people can choose within a package, how many times they’re going to come in for a Botox, how many times they’re going to come in for lip fillers, and other anti-aging processes or within the same packages. So you know, there’s a lot, a lot of options to choose from, and you’re giving the patient you know, the decision as to which ones they’re going to take so that they can feel that they’re in control. And it’s, you know, it’s a lot more alluring.

Micah Logan: Yeah, for sure. And I think that this is kind of out of the box. But like think about this, you know, medical professionals often say to their patients, with whom they have issues with with nutrition compliance, things like, hey, well, I think that you should see a dietitian and you should, you know, try to change your diet so that you could bring your, you know, a one C. And like, you know, they try to try to get the patient to come into physical compliance. But if they, for instance, were to have readily available smoothies if they were to partner with meal planning companies that have these, these meal plans, and they can sell them to their patients if they had a smoothie station at their office, and then they can package these things into product or service based offerings.

Again, bring in maybe personal trainers, who have another suite with their trainer who can operate and work with these individuals, the more you can get away from relying on insurance companies and you can create a boutique experience that that people will pay cash for. I think that you can drive you know millions more dollars into your practice. Absolutely.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And I love the idea of having shakes in the office, which is something that I probably would want to taste.

Micah Logan: Yeah, no. I mean, look, there are firms out there who will build these, they’ll build these smoothies offerings for these medical facilities, you know, you get your health license from the local municipality, which doesn’t take that long. And then once you do, this, firms that will come out, show you how to operate it, they’ll, they’ll get it set up for you, they’ll ensure that your staff and everyone that you hire gets ServSafe certified so that they know how to deliver it in a way that’s effective for the patients, but then, again, regular recurring memberships that they can sell, if they can, if they can kind of start thinking about recurring revenue and cash getting deposit regularly, they’re gonna be on the right track. Of course, implementing that is you have to think outside the box to implement it, but you can do it.

Common Cents University

Dr. Barbara Hales: I understand that you have something called Common Cents University. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Micah Logan: Yeah, sure. So Common Cents University is my flagship small business education platform. And what I do there is I teach courses like the Bob implementer course and the Bob Linde would implement a course, say that 10 times fast is what I was just talking about earlier, with a blueprint optimized position. But I teach broadly, that’s one course and a competent university. But I teach broadly, different aspects of small business, and how small business owners whether they’re medical professionals, whether they are service providers, or in-home services, how run their businesses, effectively, by implementing systems processes, how to create a brand promise, how to create a mission and value, how to create systems behind those to deliver it. And so one of the courses, for instance, in Common Sense University is the Bob implementer as we talked about.

The other course that I’m building right now is called Pitch Perfect. So that a business owner can learn how to create an elevator pitch for their business, they can speak about it, it’s almost like public speaking. So they can learn how to present it publicly to investors, and to people who want to hear more about their business, I’m going to be building a course on cash flow management. And every course that I put in there is vetted by an industry professional, who has an experience in this particular realm. So I had a global risk expert, for instance, and the Bob implemented course, approve the risk management strategies that we have in that course. And the cash flow management course, I’ll be working with cash flow management experts to put that in there.

And so there’ll be different kinds of courses that business owners can get for a lower cost and hiring someone who is, you know, 3040 50 $60,000 a month, some kind of consultant to implement in their business. The big gap between large businesses and small businesses or their large businesses tend to hire people like me to come in and do this stuff for about $100,000 a month, I wanted to say 99.9% of small businesses in the US are small businesses,

I wanted to provide a solution for small businesses to be able to grow and build and scale, but based on having rock-solid fundamentals, so that they can turn their businesses into income-producing assets. A business should be an asset, it shouldn’t be a job. And I teach small and commonsense University, small businesses how to turn their businesses into income-producing assets.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So on the pitch-perfect course, you don’t have anybody who needs to sing.

Micah Logan: You don’t have to. So you don’t have to be Pitch Perfect, but your pitch has to hit just right for people who are listening to it. That’s all. That’s right.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. Well, I’ve enjoyed our session today. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time.

The post BOP Your Medical Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Tamara discuss:
-What Is The Practical Pregnancy Company Goals
-How Tamara Can Find Relevant Clients For Her Business
-How To Create An Idea To Build A Business And Set Up A Plan And Strategy

Key Takeaways:
“And really, fear has no place in the birthing room. Even though you might feel a bit fearful about the process, we want to equip women to be able to overcome that fear and birth of confidence and peace.” – Tamara Youngberg.

Connect with Tamara Youngberg:
Website: https://www.accessmidwives.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-youngberg-006982203/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/access_midwives/?hl=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@accessmidwives7030/featured
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accessmidwives/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (150)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips For Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Tamara Youngberg. She’s a dedicated midwife with 26 years of experience in providing full-scope midwifery care in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With a passion for empowering expectant parents. Now she specializes in effective communication, ensuring her clients are fully informed, feminine evidence-based viewpoints. Her commitment goes well beyond delivering babies. She comes alongside her clients, supporting and guiding them to achieve their pregnancy and birthing goals, marriage work experience and compassionate approach make her an invaluable partner on the incredible journey of pregnancy and birth. Welcome to the show Tamara.

Tamara Youngberg: Thanks, Barbara. It’s a really great opportunity and pleasure for me to be here.

The Practical Pregnancy Company

Dr. Barbara Hales: Tamara over the course of more than two decades, has been working in the Canadian national health. But something very exciting has come out of her experience. She has started entrepreneurially she has started a new company. And could you tell us the name of the company and what that’s all about?

Tamara Youngberg: Sure Barbara. So my colleague and I, Sandy Knight, started something called the practical pregnancy company. And our goal with this company is to provide evidence-based fear-free information to pregnant women and their families. So that they can really hone in on having a reliable source of information from women whom they can trust. One of our flagship offerings through the practical pregnancy company is a course called Birth Unafraid, where we teach and empower women to kick fear to the curb and wait for permanent. And we give them the tools they need to birth with peace and confidence, no matter what happens.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are you still working in the national health service as well?

Tamara Youngberg: Yes, I am. So I’m still working as a primary care health provider. So in Ontario, it’s called the Ministry of Health. And we are what’s considered a managed program under the funding through the Ministry of Health. So midwifery in Ontario is a little bit different than it is in some of the United States. But we are full-service primary care providers who work within the hospital system, but also in the community.

We do homebirths and community visits, and we have a clinic in the community, just like you would go to see your family physician or an OBGYN, you would come to see midwives because we’re experts in low-risk obstetrics. So Sandy’s experience over the last couple of decades, has led us to this point where we really wanted to provide something in an online more accessible format for pregnant women to be able to access good quality information, because we’ve seen so many people over the years, be filled with fear. And really fear has no place in the birthing room, even though you might feel a bit fearful about the process. We want to equip women to be able to overcome that fear and birth confidence and peace.

Everyone Can Join

Dr. Barbara Hales: What our listeners would like to know is where you’re going to get your clients from, are you able to shift them over from patients that you’ve seen over the years? Or are you going about it in a different way?

Tamara Youngberg: That’s a really good question. So certainly, we want our information to be available to anybody who’s interested to anyone who could benefit from that anyone who’s fearful, anyone who just wants to have some real concrete tested and tried tools in their tool belt, to be able to go into their pregnancy and their birthing experience and beyond from a place of confidence and empowerment. So people, certainly our own demographic within the midwifery community would benefit from having these tools, but we really want to go broader to anyone, whether you choose to go with a physician, whether you choose to have a traditional birth attendant, whether you choose to have a midwife, whatever your care choice is, we want to be able to offer this and that’s why we’ve gone on to an online platform where we hope to reach a broader number of people with, you know what we have to offer them.

Marketing Through Ads And Social Media

Dr. Barbara Hales: So again, where are you going to be getting your prospective clients? Is it going to be from ads on social media? Or is it going to be in a different way?

Tamara Youngberg: Yeah, so that’s the plan. We are just about ready to launch we are just fine-tuning our tunnel and our funnel, and then you’ll be seeing ads hopefully about us. You can also reach us organically just by Googling us and finding us that way. Word of note though. If you look up the practical pregnancy company, we are not quite launched with their landing page.

So give us give us another little time before, that will definitely be up and running by the new year, probably mid-December will be fully done and out. But you can still access our old site if you were to look us up. But yeah, that’s the goal is to try and get the information out there through ads, through organic marketing, really focusing on the ads, and also we’re going to be using some AI to help get that message out. So trying to adapt to the new technology, is totally foreign. For me as a midwife. I’m a midwife, not a Czech note, you know, person. But learning the new technology has been really interesting, and challenging, but super exciting to be able to see how we can use that, to really help get our message out faster.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So two or three-minute videos on Instagram and TikTok would be, you know, really engaging and interesting for your prospective clients, I would imagine.

Tamara Youngberg: Yeah, so the strategy I think will be to actually hit TikTok first, which I have to confess, I don’t really go on social media, I don’t have a TikTok account. But we all have professional accounts. Social media is not something I myself gravitate towards, although I do use some of it, but not every day. So this is a real leap for us. So the plan is to start out on tick tock, and then the same message in different formats will be disseminated down into the various other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and probably even Pinterest. So that we can hit our demographic and really speak to a wide variety of people. Because it doesn’t matter where you come from. Everybody’s accessing technology, somehow, in some way in some format. And we want to be able to utilize that to the maximum benefit for the demographic that we’re trying to reach.

Press Release–Grand Opening

Dr. Barbara Hales: And I imagine you will be putting out a press release on opening day.

Tamara Youngberg: Yes, we’ll definitely do that, too. So getting just getting the right message in, we have the right message. But getting that in place on the right platforms has been a real learning curve. But I’d like to encourage any of your listeners that it’s completely possible. And if I can do it, trust me, I barely know how to turn my phone off. And on some days, if I can do it, anybody in your listening audience can do it too. And the tools are getting easier and easier to use.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so what this call really brings out is that while you have been engaged in health, providing services, over the extent of your career, you are still able to come up with a great idea for a business, to bring in additional income for yourself and your partner. And, you know, have a business plan and a strategy. And there you go, go forward.

Tamara Youngberg: Yeah, it really is quiet. It’s not necessarily easy to come up with an idea. But what really started resonating with me, and then I approached my colleague, Sandy, who has now become my business partner, is just recognizing a common theme throughout the clients that I was serving through my patients that I was serving a common thread of fear. So if you can, as a healthcare practitioner identify sort of a need within your niche, what aren’t people being serviced, like, where’s that gap and their service, and it may not necessarily be part of the medical service that they’re getting. But it might be a small little niche that you just sort of noticed a common thread. And then really lean into that with your expertise. And it’s easy to develop a core, especially with some of the tools out there, like chat and some of the other tools, you can really get your ideas out in a concise form and a good course format or short course format, or even just informational videos that you put out on the various social media platforms can really be a great way to get your message across and benefit your customers, your clients, and your patients.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, we welcome, we certainly enjoyed having you here. And we wish you the best of luck.

Tamara Youngberg: Thanks so much for having me, Barbara. It’s been a pleasure.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time!

The post The Practical Pregnancy Company first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Dr. Hales and Caitlin discuss:
-How to overcome improv fear.
-The principles of improv
-Approaching Improv’

Key Takeaways:
” As a facilitator, when I work with the whole team at once, it starts with modeling that behavior yourself as a leader.” – Caitlin Drago.

Connect with Caitlin Drago:

Website: https://www.inspireimprov.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlindrago
X: https://twitter.com/caitlindrago
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InspireImprov

Get the new book, “Approaching Improv, Communication and Connection in Business and Beyond” https://www.inspireimprov.com/approaching-improv

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (149)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

Today, we have with us Caitlin Drago. Her mission is to create cultures of empathy, creativity, and trust, beginning with how people communicate and connect. She is an LA-based actor turned upstate New York-based certified leadership coach, trainer, and facilitator. Acting taught her to be present, self-aware, empathic, and to connect with others. Improv taught her to listen, trust your gut, and deal with the unexpected in a positive and creative way. She now works with leaders and teams to help them listen to one another, communicate, and connect, using improvisation as a platform for interactive learning. Welcome to the show, Caitlin!

Caitlin Drago: Thanks for having me, Barbara!

From LA to Improv

Dr. Barbara Hales: The first thing that crossed my mind, Caitlin, is that there is a world of difference between LA and upstate New York, as well as the career shift. How did all this happen?

Caitlin Drago: So, I grew up in upstate New York, went to college there, and I went to school for acting. When I graduated, it was a question of New York or LA. I had visited LA while I was in college, really fell in love with it, and was intrigued by the TV and film industry. With that being the case, that’s how I managed to get myself out to California. As I got into my late 20s and wasn’t progressing in my career as I hoped, and being far away from family, I decided it was time to move on and have my next adventure. Coming back to upstate New York, I knew that companies in New York, LA, and Chicago used improv for communication building team building, and some interpersonal skills. However, there didn’t seem to be anyone in the Rochester area, where I live now, at the time. So, I saw an opportunity, saw a place where I could serve, build a skill, and use what I already had in a different way. That’s the very short version.

Improv Presence in Healthcare

Dr. Barbara Hales: Thanks. So I could definitely see how doctors’ offices, and health professionals in general, need to have their staff a little bit more connected and engaged with the patients, as well as be more empathetic especially when there is one patient after another after another, and being bombarded with questions that can be very harrowing. Being connected to the people that are asking these questions may not be their forte. So, hence, I think that even in the health professional world, you really perform a very helpful function. What do you think is the most important rule in improv?

Caitlin Drago: I think it gets to what you’re mentioning of being able to be present. Improv is all about listening. The number one rule is that we always say ‘yes, and.’ That means whatever our partner throws out there as the idea, we accept that as the idea of the moment, and then we add on to that idea. I always say you can’t add on to something you didn’t hear. So, it really forces you to be present in the moment and listen to the person in front of you so that you can add on to what they said, instead of pushing through the idea that you came into the conversation with or thinking more about your response versus really being present and listening to that person.

When I think about doctors and people in the medical field in general, I think about how I feel as a patient or as the mom of a patient sometimes coming in. Sometimes it’s, everything’s fine; it’s just annual. Many times it’s not. There’s something wrong, something that I’m worried about, or something that I’m worried about for the young person who I’m accompanying. So, I’m already in a state of survival mode, fight or flight. I’m not able to think 100% clearly. And so, I understand on the other side, to your point that you said before, that you’ve got patient after patient after patient, and it’s hard to be present with each and every one of those people.

But when you are coming from a place of also being stressed out, in fight or flight too. So, you’ve got two people in a room who are not operating from their best brain function. And, gosh, what a gift it is when you do have a doctor come in and be present with you and let you know that you have been heard. It helps to bring down those cortisol levels so that as a patient, I can actually hear what you’re trying to tell me as a physician. All of that to say, the biggest rule is to say ‘yes, and,’ and that forces us to be present with that other person. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they’re saying. It can be, ‘Yes, I am here. Yes, I’m listening. Yes, I’m with you. And we are on the same team.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s good. And, of course, when you say ‘yes,’ they may not realize you’re not agreeing with them, so it takes them out of combat mode.

Caitlin Drago: Exactly. You take yourself out of being one of those potential threats.

Improv Principles

Dr. Barbara Hales: Especially when you were in the room alone. How do improv principles translate to the workplace, besides what we just discussed?

Caitlin Drago: Well, I think there are many ripple effects from this, yes-and principle. I’ll add to that. Another significant rule I focus on with clients is the idea of always looking to make each other look good. As an improviser, it’s not about finding the brilliant thing I’m going to say to make everyone laugh and think I’m great. Instead, it’s about setting up my teammates for a laugh. We translate this by understanding that if we have something we’re working on, or someone we’re working with, we don’t have to do it all ourselves. There’s likely a team of people around us willing to help or eager for a learning opportunity. It might be something we’re struggling with, and there’s someone nearby with the specific skill to assist.

Understanding the strengths and passions of those around us allows us to work together more effectively. If we all try to make each other look good, we all end up looking great in the end. This mindset challenges us to seek the good in others, find what is right or true, and identify that little piece we can agree on, even in high-tension situations. It doesn’t have to be two people battling; it can be acknowledging agreement and building on that in a more productive way.

By adopting the ‘Yes, And’ mindset, we encourage others to come to us with their ideas, whether great or awful and, most importantly, when there’s a problem. Creating an environment where people feel comfortable approaching you builds trust. Instead of a group of people afraid of how you might react, you foster a culture where addressing problems is welcomed and solutions can be collaboratively found.

Overcoming Improv Fear

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, I think what you said is absolutely key. So, would you say that teaching that statement, emphasizing that it’s about them and not about you, enables them to overcome the fear of doing improv?

Caitlin Drago: Absolutely. When I work with a team and let them know we’re doing improv together, they’re usually not super excited about it right off the bat because it does sound scary. What I like to remind people is that it’s something they’re already doing. No one got a script this morning when they woke up. So, we’re sharpening a skill we already have.

I think about the first event I attended when things started opening up a bit after COVID. I was really out of practice just talking to other people in person. In that moment, I made a commitment to myself to just listen, be there, and not feel the need to be the smartest person in the room or contribute something brilliant to the conversation. Just focus on the other people, and listen, and when we do that, they feel more valued. Oddly enough, we bring our more authentic selves because we’re not trying to be something we think we’re supposed to be in that moment. We experience that with a little less fear because we’re focusing on something outside of ourselves.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Exactly right. What I tell physicians and health professionals I’m coaching is that you don’t have to prove how great you are; they already think you’re great. That’s why they’re at your office instead of going to somebody else’s. Now, it’s about them, not you. They already know you’re great; you don’t have to prove it.

Leadership and Modeling Collaboration

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, what advice do you have for a leader who wants their team to listen and collaborate? Sometimes there’s backstabbing in the office, people feel they wouldn’t do things the same way as others, or they seek recognition they’re not getting, leading to jealousy. How do you eliminate all that and get everybody to work as a team moving forward?

Caitlin Drago: As a facilitator, when I work with the whole team at once, it really starts with modeling that behavior yourself as a leader. Be the person who says ‘yes, and,’ be the one people can listen to, and show others that you’re there to set them up for success. Demonstrate that you can step out of the spotlight of leading something and let somebody else have a go at it for their own growth. It really starts with modeling.

Effective Listening

Dr. Barbara Hales: What would you say to an office or health professionals in the office who express concerns, saying, ‘This sounds great, but I’m inviting them to spend a long time talking to me, and I don’t really have that type of time designated for the appointment. Theoretically, it may sound great, and I want them to know that I’m listening, but I really can’t perform that way for an extended length of time, given that the appointment isn’t scheduled for an extended period, right?

Caitlin Drago: Yeah, you can only listen to so much. I would say to that, at least again, just bring your presence. Even if it’s a small amount of time, let them share what’s going on, and maybe reflect back for a better understanding, so you can gain clarity and use that time more effectively. Then, you can always bring it back to the mutual goal, that we’re here to help with XYZ. I understand what’s happening, and then move the conversation forward in the way you need to.

Approaching Improv

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s a great tip, and my listeners would appreciate it. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing all of this too. Now, I want to divert a little bit towards something I recommend for health professionals, and that is writing a book. Your colleagues are undoubtedly as knowledgeable in the topics as you are, but there’s a perception that if you write a book on a topic, you’re the authority in the field. Being perceived as an authority can bring a level of semi-celebrity, and people would prefer to seek consultation with you over your colleagues. I understand you have a program about book launching for those who have written books or something to that effect.

Caitlin Drago: I don’t have a program about book launching, but I did recently write a book called ‘Approaching Improv: Communication and Connection in Business and Beyond.’ For those considering writing a book or experiencing some blockage, I can share my own experience, and perhaps it will resonate with others. I had wanted to write a book for a while; it was an overall goal of mine for all the reasons you laid out.

However, I put pressure on myself to make it something completely new, mind-blowing, never said before. A colleague who had written a few books told me, ‘Yes, everything’s been written, but what you bring to it is your perspective and experience. The way you communicate with your audience, the people drawn to you as a professional, this book is for that small group of people. It doesn’t have to be for everyone, and it doesn’t have to contain completely new information.’ If this is holding you back, I encourage you to go ahead, maybe get a book about reading books (that’s what I did first), and then go for it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: But of course, what you may not be viewing it as—essentially, it is for some people—is information about how you present a book to those interested in your topic and rid yourself of the blocks you have. In a sense, you are giving keys to other people with other books. I’m sure everyone would really love to read about it. Is this book out yet?

Caitlin Drago: Yeah, it comes out on November 14, which is when we’re recording it next Tuesday. It covers what I’m calling the improv approach, combining the idea of saying ‘yes, and’ with making each other look good. I go through all of that, and the ripple effects it can have. Then, it delves into different communication skills where you likely already have some base knowledge, whether that’s giving and receiving feedback or having difficult conversations. It takes those skills and explores how we can make these conversations even more effective by infusing the improv approach. I understand that the idea of doing improv isn’t super exciting for everybody, and one thing I pride myself on is making improv approachable—something that anyone can do. That’s why the book is called ‘Approaching Improv.’

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so I assume that it is available as a Kindle book.

Caitlin Drago: Yes, it is. It’s available as a Kindle book and in paperback.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Will you consider an audiobook in the future as well?

Caitlin Drago: Absolutely. That’s one of the goals for next year, for the new year.

Final Word

Dr. Barbara Hales: Great. Well, I suggest everyone listening run out and get this book next week, hot off the press. I believe the information can translate to all walks of life and will help you move forward. Thank you so much for being with us today on the show, Caitlin.

Caitlin Drago: Thank you for having me!

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of ‘Marketing Tips for Doctors’ with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time!

The post How To Overcome Improv Fear first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Eunicia discuss:
-What strategies can you use to build your wealth
-How to empower the growth of your business
-The importance of collaboration

Key Takeaways:
” We need to look for activity, we need to look for action, and we need to know that that action is taking place.” – Eunicia Peret.

Connect with Eunicia Peret:
Website: https://www.podcast.excelstra.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/euniciaperet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/efp_official_team_page
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ExcelstraOfficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredfinancialplanner

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (148)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. And today, we have with us a very special person, and her name is Eunicia Peret.

Are you worried that you are not building wealth fast enough? Or that your financial plan may not be enough to secure your future? Perhaps you hear the same strategies year after year when you file your taxes and wonder, how do the ultra-wealthy pay so little in taxes? I’m still trying to figure that out.

Eunicia Peret brings to awareness the power of leveraging your financial team to maximize your income streams and pay fewer taxes. I’m all for that. She has seen enough to know that without the proper strategies, everything else is just tactics in motion. Welcome to the show!

Eunicia Peret: It’s such a pleasure to be here with you!

Wealth Preservation Insights

Dr. Barbara Hales: I’m sure there are a lot of listeners that are saying, yeah, how do I pay less taxes? So first of all, aside from the fact that we all want to do that, how did you get involved in this to begin with?

Eunicia Peret: That’s a great question. I got involved in the whole strategy of how we create and maintain wealth, how we preserve it, and how we pass it on to future generations. I was forced to take a deep look into what was happening with our portfolio because my husband and I enjoy real estate and different types of asset classes.

As you can imagine, our financial advisors or experts were not exactly thrilled when we asked questions about investments outside of what they could handle for us. Consequently, we realized that, due to our substantial incomes, we were in the top-level tax categories. We weren’t receiving advice or support on how we could minimize our tax burden.

When I discovered numerous strategies and options available to reduce our tax burden based on the tax code, I was in shock. As I delved further, I wanted to understand if this was a unique situation or if other high-income and high-net-worth individuals were experiencing the same. What we found was astonishing – we were not alone. Many individuals in the higher income bracket also found themselves in the top tax brackets without a choice.

Wealth-Building Strategies

Dr. Barbara Hales: Why do business owners not know that there is so much more that they could achieve when it comes to keeping more of what they earn?

Eunicia Peret: That’s a great question. And the question I would pose back to you if you’re listening, is: Have you ever considered, for example, having your hiring, your structure, or your own family office? Oftentimes, individuals will ask us, “What is a family office?” Well, a family office, if we take a moment to explain, is the epitome of having a financial team on your side, helping implement tech strategies, assisting with investment strategies, and determining the trajectory for estate planning, legacy planning, and deciding the future of our businesses when we choose to exit the business world or take a different path.

Often, what we hear is that individuals cannot hire such a family office because it’s cost-prohibitive and institutionally focused. These teams are experts, but they focus on a very small pool of people. As a result, others often dismiss it, opting to work with a CPA or financial planner who addresses more common concerns like 401ks, IRAs, the Augusta rule, and other easily accessible strategies found through a quick online search on how to, for example, minimize taxes.

Consequently, we end up following the same path as everyone else in the general population, rather than thinking like the uber-rich. We often think like the lower-left percentile of the population because we don’t realize there’s an in-between. So, what if we were to say, let’s focus on a fractional family office? What would that look like? Now, we can bring some of those institutional-level strategies down to the individual business owner or the struggling family paying too much in taxes, trying to understand what’s missing in their overall wealth-building efforts, and grappling with leaving a legacy behind.

The decision is still ours: will we build wealth or save taxes? How do we pay taxes? Do we continue with the status quo, or do we adopt these strategies now that we know there’s a solution for that?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, let me make it clear when we’re talking about a family office. We’re not talking about your son and daughter vying with you in the same room for your computer time.

Eunicia Peret: Thank you so much for that, Barbara. Not. A family office is focused on individuals, business owners, and businesses that are generally going to be $50 million and above in net worth. So oftentimes, it’s because of that that people don’t even know what a family office is. Our job is to decipher that idea of what it is.

But more importantly, what are the things that we can take and implement to our advantage by leveraging a simpler model that is decentralized, in such a way that individuals at lower levels of net worth can benefit from those strategies?

Aligning Financial Teams

Dr. Barbara Hales: What happens when the client’s team is not actively working together towards their goals? I can imagine that friction between everyone leads to a bad taste and nothing getting accomplished.

Eunicia Peret: 100%. In the happiest of cases, it’s the friction—I will take the friction over no communication anytime. Fortunately, what we’re seeing is that it’s a lack of communication between the different teams. If, at least, there’s friction, we can get to the bottom of whether we have the right people on the bus or not. Can we bring them up to speed with the different strategies and mindsets that consumers are grappling with when deciding the path to take? The answer is obvious; either they are or they aren’t. If they aren’t, then we know that we need to do something about it.

However, the challenge arises when the teams aren’t communicating. Most teams aren’t communicating because they’re not incentivized. In many cases, the strategies that a financial planner versus a CPA might share with the client can potentially go head-to-head or contradict each other. Because of that, oftentimes, everybody prefers to stay in their box and their area of expertise. Unfortunately, not transcending the different areas across the financial services industry ends up leaving cracks that ultimately allow money to get siphoned through, oftentimes without knowing.

Empowering Business Growth

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are some immediate steps that business owners can take to have a sense of power over how they grow?

Eunicia Peret: Well, one of the most immediate steps that folks can take is, if you’re listening to this and you have that nagging feeling of “I need to do something, I know something’s not sitting right. I feel like maybe I’m paying too much in taxes. Every time I meet with my CPA or my financial team, whoever they may be, they’re providing the same guidance over and over again,” it’s time to ask the question of, “Okay, how do we take it to the next step?” That’s where you would want to get in touch with someone like Excelstra to say, “Here’s my situation, what are the different things that can be done?” and figure out what the next steps are from there.

Incentivizing Financial Collaboration

Dr. Barbara Hales: Very interesting. How can financial teams be incentivized to work together in an industry that is not designed for transparency and collaboration?

Eunicia Peret: It’s a hard one because if they’re not already incentivized financially, think about it, right? When a patient shows up at a physician’s office, what motivates the physician to see the patient? Of course, we want to ensure that the folks we work with are well taken care of, but everything is contract costs or contract time. So oftentimes, it breaks down to the financial incentive for those individuals to actually take their time to speak with the other person.

The other thing and this kind of dovetails more on the side of who they are as individuals, oftentimes, if you’re working with a really good team, they will at least want to introduce themselves to meet the other team members. Oftentimes, you’ll hear that, “Oh, that’s a great idea. Just observe and see what happens.” And if you don’t actually see activity happening, because everybody’s words are very cheap, as I’m finding, everybody will say, “That’s a great idea. Absolutely, let’s put some time on the calendar.” And what happens? Here’s another January first.

And when we look in retrospect, what we realize is that there could have been so many things that we probably could have done last year that could have impacted how much money we pay on taxes or truly our bottom line. But because it’s now past the year, we can do it retrospectively. So, again, words can be cheap. We need to look for activity, we need to look for action, and we need to know that that action is taking place.

Financial Team Synergy Impact

Dr. Barbara Hales: Why do you feel so strongly about seeing the client’s financial team collaborate?

Eunicia Peret: The reason I feel so strongly is that I see the impact on the clients we have served in the past. The benefits of keeping more of the money they make allow them to invest more in the future, in their businesses, and in their children. It also gives them a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they are doing something that most people do not have the access or the opportunity to take on under their wing. When they see the results, we have had clients in my office with tears in their eyes. Seeing the value that those clients get is what makes me joyful in what we do, despite the hard work we undertake to ensure that our client’s financial teams talk and that actions are not just words.

Reaching Eunicia

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, Eunicia, I understand that you have something in writing that people could get to get a better sense of what you’re all about and how they should proceed to protect themselves.

Eunicia Peret: Absolutely, they can visit our website to get what I call the five financial pitfalls to avoid. Those are things we have seen throughout the years, helping individuals to step out of the norm and step into the uniqueness of what they can achieve. You can find that on our website at www.podcast.excelstra.com. It’ll be right at the bottom of the page on the left-hand side. You can’t miss it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, great. Now, listeners, I think that’s worth checking out and reading more about so that not only are you more educated, but by hearing about the five steps, you too can save some more money. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. Until next time!

The post How to Secure Your Financial Future first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Colin discuss:
-What is Colin’s advice that contributes to startup success
-Why is Market Research vital to businesses
-How to utilize marketing strategies and visibility tactics

Key Takeaway:
“If you do have a good product, and you believe in it, you do need to put some marketing into it, you need to make that investment to get that product out there.” – Colin C. Campbell.

Connect with Colin C. Campbell:
Website: https://colinccampbell.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinccampbell/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupclub_hq/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@startup_club
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColinDotClub
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startupclubofficial

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (147)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Colin C. Campbell, a serial entrepreneur for over 30 years and the author of “Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat: Serial Entrepreneurs Secrets Revealed.” He has founded and scaled various internet companies that collectively have reached a valuation of almost $1 billion. Certainly, this is someone to listen to. Having successfully navigated the exits of companies like Tacos, Interactive Internet, Direct Canada, Gigs for Less, and many more, he has not only cemented his name as a startup expert but also collected an array of accolades, including spots on Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 rosters for several years in a row. A sought-after speaker in the world of entrepreneurship, Campbell has spoken at several high-profile universities and events. He also leads Startup Club, with almost 1 million members, continuing to share his experiences as he interviews experts, authors, and serial entrepreneurs. Welcome to the show, Colin.

Colin Campbell: Well, thank you for having me on.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What would you say are the main points for entrepreneurs looking to start their own business?

Colin Campbell: The main points are really about trying to solve a problem. If you’re in a particular industry or in life, you see different things that are problems and need to be solved. That’s an opportunity to start a business. Ideas are everywhere, especially now in an AI-driven world, which is shaping many new startups. So if you can solve that problem, you can launch a startup.

Dr. Barbara Hales: For someone interested in starting a business but unsure about the best fit for their target market, do you help brainstorm and advise them on the best approach?

Colin Campbell: Yes, it’s all about identifying the problem, solving it, and understanding the purpose. You also need to have a genuine passion for the industry because the startup journey is a roller coaster with many ups and downs. Loving what you do is crucial to getting through the tough times. For example, one of my companies is paw.com, focuses on designing dog products for all animals. I had three aging King Charles Spaniels, and our passion for animals, especially dogs, led to the success of the business.

There are other important factors when launching a business. We have a chapter in the book titled “The Four Sticky Note Business Plan.” I teach this to cohorts at universities for startups, and anyone can join these cohorts. They’re free and incredibly helpful. The “Four Sticky Note Business Plan” is designed to simplify the strategic planning process. In just 30 minutes, you can create a strategic plan for your business using sticky notes for a clear and concise approach.

The first sticky note is about the story: What’s the purpose and what makes you unique? The second note is about setting a specific and measurable stage gate in the near future, like 90 or 120 days, where you deliver results, possibly a minimum viable product or your first 10 customers. The third note is for identifying the funding required to reach that stage gate, and the fourth note is about the necessary resources and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track.

This exercise can significantly increase your chances of success. Joining an incubator or finding a mentor is another valuable step. For instance, we interviewed the leader of Score, an organization run by the SBA with over 10,000 volunteers, which can triple the chances of startup success according to studies. Many of your listeners have mastered their specific trades, but entrepreneurship is a skill that can be learned and mastered like any other. It’s critical for the success of any startup.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you recommend that there be some type of no research or polls or surveys to your target market so that you could hone in on what they are looking for?

Colin Campbell: Yeah, once you have your idea, let’s try to take your idea. The first thing I do, actually, is try to find a group of people I can vet the idea with. It should be a group of trusted people. They shouldn’t be the naysayers. You know, you don’t take it to your mom. It shouldn’t be the naysayers. You know, you don’t take it to the ones who are always saying, “that’ll never work, that’ll never work.” But what you do want to do is find a group of trusted people that you can first vet it with, and keep vetting and making it better and better and better. I’m a big believer in market research and data and understanding. If you can add those elements into your planning process before you pull the trigger, that’s ideal. Also, that will help you with investors because if you have data that can back up a particular concept or idea, that can help you with your investors as well.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s really a good idea. Now you have had the opportunity to interview a lot of experts. What are some of the tips that they’ve given you?

Colin Campbell: Well, I think this one would be interesting for your listeners. I had the opportunity to interview an 88-year-old founder of a company called Reebok. It was fascinating, absolutely fascinating. I’ve interviewed him about three or four times for the book. He’s in a chapter in the book and a couple of other spots throughout the book. His story was that in 1979, his company hit $9 million in sales. He decided to go to the United States, thinking it was a big market. In the United States, he applied for some awards to get a five-star rating for shoes. Well, guess what? He came back; they wanted three categories on his shoes and five-star ratings. Isn’t it interesting how important reviews were in 1979? I know a number of your listeners also find reviews absolutely critical for their livelihood.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What’s really amazing is that he was able to get them when nobody was on the internet.

Colin Campbell: Well, this was reviews from a magazine, not on the internet, not on the computer. It was Runners Daily, a magazine that printed once a year, like a consumer’s report for running shoes. By getting those reviews, he secured a distributor in the United States. The next turning point was when someone wore the shoes on television, and that someone happened to be Jane Fonda. She wore their shoes on national television. Now, it’s old again as new again.

He never knew that she was going to wear the shoes, and he never paid her to wear them. She just wore the shoes, and the company went from $9 million to $900 million. The way he caught that break by positioning himself to seize it is very interesting. One thing he did well was going into “the white space,” as he calls it – a space where no one was playing at the time. When we’ve gone into product development, like the company I mentioned earlier, par.com, where we’ve copied others, I’ll tell you right now, we have a 100-year supply of shampoo at the company. It’s the same old, same old – just dog shampoo. While it’s a nice shampoo, it’s nothing different. However, when we went into a white space, a space that no one was in, like aerobics was for Reebok, Joe Foster went into that space, and yes, he caught a break. Jane Fonda wore those shoes, and she was the influencer.

Is influencer marketing important today? Absolutely. All our customers can be influencers, they can be super fans. I love that story about Joe Foster, and we have many more throughout the book. It really is a trade, entrepreneurship, starting a business. You can do it on your own by instinct, or you can try to learn from others and apply theories. The book has a lot of stories, including my successes and failures, drawing conclusions. If you can apply these theories, you can increase your chances of success. Serial entrepreneurs have about a 38% chance of success, whereas first-time entrepreneurs have about half that. 38% may not sound perfect, but in life, even if you have one company, you’ll have multiple products – some will fail, and some will succeed. So you need to mitigate those failures and focus on scaling the winners.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Your story really highlights the importance of having a plan to gain visibility, and that’s everything. It reminds me of a story that Jack Canfield shared when he first tried to get his Chicken Soup for the Soul book out, and nobody was buying it. He was in debt from publishing, and over 40 publishers had rejected it. So he and his partner were trying to figure out how to increase visibility. Just at that time, the trial for OJ Simpson was ongoing, and the jury was sequestered, unable to read or bring anything to court, watch TV, or listen to the radio. They wondered how the jury would spend their time outside the court. What they did was they sent a book to each jury member and the judge. The following day, when people came to court, each one had that book under their arm. Of course, the public wanted to know what they were carrying and reading. The rest, as they say, is history.

Colin Campbell: I’ve never heard that story. That’s absolutely fascinating. In our book, we talk about something called newsjacking. They essentially jury-jacked the news, and it’s fascinating. We do that all the time; we try to identify opportunities. Two weeks ago, I was asked to comment on an entrepreneur who had launched a festival. It turned out to be a disaster – the fire festival, if you’ve heard of it. I was asked to comment on it, and this happened because my PR agent sent a notice that I could provide insights from our book, “Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat,” which has a formula that could help this individual improve their chances of success if they attempt to launch it again. It’s interesting how newsjacking can be done on both a local and national basis. That story, I think, really broke some records.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This just goes to show, everybody, listen, if you’re trying to get something out and increase your visibility, why not think of how you can do that? How you could, like Jack Canfield or like the stories you mentioned, be seen. Because a lot has to do with that. Now, what are the success rates of people who had a product or a book that came out maybe five or six years ago, it didn’t really do particularly well, or it did well and then declined, and they would like to bring it out again? Can they launch it in its original fashion, or do they need a second edition, or do they need to modify it in some way before they can go ahead and relaunch it?

Colin Campbell: I’m not an expert on book launches. This is actually my first book, and this one took 10 years to write, so I’m not certain I am the most productive when it comes to this kind of stuff. But thankfully, yeah.

Dr. Barbara Hales: The next one goes much faster.

Colin Campbell: Oh, does it. Okay. Very, very good. But thankfully, it was a best seller when it debuted. So we’re happy happy about that. Now, I would say don’t, obviously, they have to change what they’re doing. And there is a system, a methodology that you can use for launching your product, your idea, your book, whatever that is. And we talk about that meticulously throughout the book. I actually give some examples. I say, you know, there’s sort of four scenarios. You either have – and I use these movie examples – you know, Bad Girl, for instance, they spent $90 million making this movie and they killed it. So you can have a product that just doesn’t work. That doesn’t mean, just at a certain point, you might have to kill it. Right? And then you had a – I don’t know if you remember this movie Waterworld. I mean, it was a blockbuster in the wrong direction. They spent millions advertising it, and it was a dud. The Rotten Tomatoes num score on that is very low. And then you have something like Hugo, which I absolutely loved. My kids loved it, with a Rotten Tomatoes of 93%. But it was marketed horribly, it was marketed very poorly. It was done by Martin Scorsese. And he sort of used his – they used sort of his brand, which wasn’t associated with that kind of movie. And then you got the nexus of a high Rotten Tomato score with great marketing. And I think last year, we saw that with Top Gun.

So if you really do have a good product, you really believe in it, you do need to put some marketing into it. You need to make that investment to get that product out there. And you can learn pretty quickly through different tests and, you know, in advertising, whether it’s Facebook or Amazon, whatever it is, you can learn pretty quickly whether or not you have a product that can sell. If your ROA is your return on ad spend is X amount, that’s going to drive growth going forward that you have something on your hands. And I do encourage entrepreneurs that have these 93% Rotten Tomato scores to go out and raise money. Because that’s when you can scale your company. We had a company here called Dot Club in 2012. Dot Club was an alternative to .com, .net, and .org. And we knew it was going to be big. We have done studies on it. As you had said earlier, we had hired a company to do a study.

Well, I was at a Fortune 500 company, and they never decided to launch it. So I said, well, I’ll launch it myself, we raised $12 million, we launched the company, and we sold almost a million domain names, eventually selling it to GoDaddy Registry. But we did believe in it, we knew it was a good product, we went to market with it, and we were able to back that up. And when you believe you have a great product, don’t let it just sit on the shelf, right? People do. Right, and but right up that four sticky note business plan, we’ve put together just basic thoughts and plans around this launch. And if you think it’s the right product, get to a certain stage, and get started proving your concept. This is the key that all startups need to do. They need to prove a concept. Once the concept’s proven, it’s easy to raise money, you know, it’s a lot easier to raise money at a much higher valuation, and much more money than it is in the early stages. There are very few investors who really like investing in startup ideas because of the failure rate, it’s like going to the casino. Do you put your number, you know, on the roulette table? Do you put it on one number? Or do you break it up into like thirds or red or black or, you know, if I double my money, I’m happy with that. But if I lose all my money, I’m not so happy with that. So because of that high-risk profile, if we want to attract investors, we really want to focus on proving our concept and not just being the first product or the first 100 customers. It may mean if you think about the way Facebook has grown, it started with Harvard, one college, and then it went to two and then 10 and then 100 and then broke out of colleges, and as you know, it’s become what it is today. But you really have to focus on winning and proving in one market and then replicate that in so many other markets.

Dr. Barbara Hales: When would you say that the ads that you put out were most successful?

Colin Campbell: So that really is dependent on the products. We have many different companies here. We have a real estate business, technology businesses, and an AI platform coming out this week. So it really depends. I think to find your target market, who, on that first sticky note, I also talked about adding a persona or a who, who is the individual that is going to consume this product. We want to understand that person. And if we understand that person, we can target them. So for instance, in B2B, we had a company in the 2000s, which was a hosting and email platform company sold to telecoms. So you get your email and your website from AT&T, Vodafone, and British Telecom, all those companies use the company that we founded. In that case, our customer was a mid-level executive. Their number one concern at a telecom was getting fired. So once we understand who our customer is, not the telecom, but the mid-level executive who makes the decision, we can figure out how to reach them.

One trick I use, and I think all your listeners can use, is to become the expert in your industry. With AI, it can be a lot easier to do a blog now, for a doctor’s office, or a school. My wife and I own a school. Two weeks ago, I said to her, “You haven’t updated your blog since 2021.” And she goes, “It takes a lot of time.” I said, “Alright, you ate articles in the next 10 minutes.” All I did was go to Chat GPT, and type in, “What are the training qualifications for an AMI teacher?” It gave me eight, I would say, or gave me 10, gave me 12 training qualifications, and it spits them out instantly. Within 10 minutes, I had eight articles. I sent her all of the articles. Now she looked at these articles, and they were very good. Of course, we’re going to review and check them, especially with your particular listeners, but sometimes it’s easier to edit than create. I was shocked at how these articles sounded. They were amazing. They were spot on.

Using AI for your startup or your practice, adopting and embracing AI, you can either hide from it or embrace it. Those who embrace it will benefit. It’s a huge opportunity for anyone in the 2020s. This is a historical opportunity, a paradigm shift. The opportunities in paradigm shifts are huge for those who know how to navigate the tornado, as Jeffrey Moore calls it. He wrote “Crossing the Chasm.” If you know how to navigate the tornado, you can do very well. So I highly recommend everyone become an expert in their space and publish a blog. It can take you five minutes or work to do now. It’s unbelievable. If you put a little more effort in, it can help.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This is true. Now let’s turn our attention to your book. Is your book in ebook form as well?

Colin Campbell: Yes, it’s in every format, including audible which has not come out yet. We submitted it three weeks ago. We had a young gentleman read the book who did an amazing job. It’s published by Forbes and it’s available on every platform from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, up in Canada, Indigo, or whatever store you normally buy books. You can buy “Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat.” It has the Kindle version and a hard copy. I know most of your viewers are listening, but we invested a lot in the hard copy book. It might be one of the few hard-copy books you would pick up and hold. It has 53 chapters, 200 call-outs, 30 original illustrations. It was a massive project, and we tried to make it a fun read. Now, I should warn you, that Forbes initially printed 1500 copies. They told us yesterday there are only about two or three days of inventory left. But they’re restocking 2000 more copies by the end of the month, October 31. So if you don’t get it right away and you want a hard copy, it might take a few extra days. The audible version will be out next week.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are you going to do a book tour?

Colin Campbell: A traditional book tour, I don’t know about that. I booked a number of speeches at universities and conferences. I’ll do that for a few months. I have about 30 podcasts this month, so I’m working on that too. So I’d call that a tour. But we are doing a book signing in Fort Lauderdale, where I’m from, and in Toronto, my hometown.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. For our listeners interested in getting the book, where did you say?
Colin Campbell: Anywhere, just go to Amazon, anywhere you buy books. “Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat.” You can type it in and get it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Great. Thank you for all the tips. I’m sure our listeners are thinking, “Gosh, I haven’t done this before, but I should try it out.” I’ll get the book and see what tips it offers, besides the ones you gave today.

Colin Campbell: Oh, yeah. It’s not just my information. We interviewed about 200 people, but only about 50 made the cut for the book. We took the best ideas and put those in. It’s written in a conversational way, all about sharing stories and coming to conclusions. It can be quite interesting, reading all the stories in the book.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Thank you for being on the show today. This has been another episode of “Marketing Tips for Doctors” with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time. Thank you.

The post Entrepreneur’s Secret to Success first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Jeff discuss:

• How to create an autonomous business
• What is “Fire Yourself First” about—a book written by Jeff Russell
• How and where to find extenders

Key Takeaways:

“Don’t feel overwhelmed. There’s a better way and a different way to practice medicine.” – Jeff Russell.

Connect with Jeff Russell:

Website: https://www.fireyourselffirst.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejeffrussell/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fireyourselffirst/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffrussellsays

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fireyourselffirst

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (146)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Jeff Russell. He is a best-selling author, renowned speaker, and accomplished entrepreneur. As the founder of many successful businesses and the author of his latest book, “Fire Yourself First,” Jeff is an expert in helping business owners break free from the daily grind. What I’d like to point out at this time is that even if you have a very busy, successful medical practice or alternative healthcare practice, many people are now going into what we call a side hustle, another business affiliated or associated with that, to bring in additional income. Jeff doesn’t come by marketing alone lightly. He has been associated with the healthcare field for over 20 years, was involved with the International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine, and had an aesthetic medical spa. Welcome to the show, Jeff.

Jeff Russell: Thank you, Barbara.

Writing the Book “Fire Yourself First”

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, what our listeners would first like to know is what was the inspiration for writing your latest book?

Jeff Russell: You know, what’s interesting is it was almost by accident. I had, by design or I guess by need, 11 years ago when I opened up my medical practice with my partner. We both had full-time jobs. She was an OBGYN delivering babies, and I had a full-time business as well. I founded the International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine. So, we were teaching Botox and fillers, aesthetic procedures that many physicians add to their existing practice, or as you mentioned, now do as a side hustle if you don’t have a practice. So, it’s an easy start. We both had full-time jobs, and we couldn’t really be in the business or practice every day, all day week. So, we thought, how are we going to do this?

We actually created, or I created, systems and processes, SOPs, so that people, we could hire someone. Our first hire was a nurse, and we gave her the instruction manual on how to open, how to close, how to do patient consultations, how to do the procedures, and then we let her run it. When she got too busy, we hired another nurse. When they got too busy, we hired another nurse. Now we have five nurses working in that clinic. My partner, the OB-GYN, only works for about two to three hours a month, and I work about an hour a month in it. So, the practice really ran itself. What I realized was you don’t need to be a key part of the practice. What’s amazing about medical esthetics is the provider doesn’t even have to be on-site; you just have to be able to delegate to the proper scope of practice person. So, with nurses, they can pretty much do all aesthetic procedures. When you have estheticians or laser technicians, their scope is a bit more narrow. So, when I looked back 11 years, I thought, “Wow, here’s a practice I work two to three hours a month in, and it’s just running itself.” So, I actually fired myself from my practice before I even knew I had done it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, did you have new employees and nurses work on you first?

Jeff Russell: That is one of the side benefits of the practice. Absolutely. I’m always there as a patient. So, absolutely. And probably, I buy equipment that could benefit me as well. Being in my 50s, I’m like, “Okay, this is the time things start to go sideways or downwards.” So, absolutely.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, no wrinkles for you.

Jeff Russell: Not unless I want them.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And you would want them because?

Jeff Russell: You know, you can’t look… There’s that LA look where you get the frozen face. That’s just not for me. I just want to look like I’m relaxed. Like I just came back from a family vacation for two weeks and looking relaxed and not too angry or anything.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, of course, working two to three hours a month or a week, whatever it was that you said, is enough to make you look very relaxed.

Jeff Russell: Yeah, when I was looking back, I decided two years ago I would only work 10 days a month in all my six businesses. So in order to do that, they had to be running very well. The four steps of the “Fire Yourself First” book are really: first, you’ve got to have a purpose bigger than you. It’s not your practice, it’s not your business; your purpose has to be much bigger than that. The second one is you have to have a team in place to do all the procedures so you don’t have to. Hiring the right team was a very important second step. That’s sometimes the most difficult part for a physician, especially giving up control, right? As you guys know so much. I want you to maintain your clinical knowledge, but hiring people, and ordering supplies, is stuff you do not need to do. One of my nurses in a previous life was like a store manager at a retail operation. So she was perfect to handle clinic practice operations as well. I pay her an extra couple of dollars an hour, and that’s way cheaper than me doing it because I make more than a couple of dollars an hour.

Always look at how you can offload things. Then the numbers are important, right? How much do you spend on marketing? And how much do you get back? I know for aesthetic practices, the number one ROI is Google Pay-Per-Click advertising. People, when they want aesthetic procedures and many cash-based procedures, will type in the procedure and the city name. So I’m in Scottsdale, Arizona. “Botox Scottsdale” – when that comes up, I need to be showing up there. So you’ve got to have a good website that showcases what you do, before and after photos, and a good Google Pay-Per-Click campaign so that when people type in the procedures you offer, you come up. That’s one of my key numbers. I spend $5,000 a month on Google advertising, and I make $120, so that’s a good return on my investment. I’ll do that investment all day long. The last thing is, what are you going to do next? So if you go to 10 days a month and you have 20 days a month available, now you get to choose your life, which is so much more fun than grinding it out. You’ve all ground it out for your last 5, 10, 20, or 40 years. So now’s the time for you. Get off the grind.

Successful Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely, that sounds very envious. On your ads, where did you find them to be most successful? Was it social media? Where was it?

Jeff Russell: I don’t have a lot of budget to build my brand. When I do my marketing, it’s lead generation marketing or patient generation marketing. I need to capture somebody who’s looking for my procedure now. With Google, you can choose the words they type in and when you come up. So for us, do I choose the words “Does Botox work?” No, not at all. That’s somebody in a research frame of mind, not ready to buy. But if they type in the procedure in your city, they’re ready to buy. So I want to come up. We tried marketing with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I do spend money on that, but it’s a very small percentage, probably 2%. That is more for brand recognition. Even though people on Facebook fit my exact demographic, women 45 to 60, which is what I’m looking for, they use Facebook more for communication than buying services. So a better strategy for social media is to show before and after photos and be very educational about the procedures and services you offer.

One tip we did was one afternoon when we didn’t have any patients booked, the nurses did procedures on each other. While doing them, they took photos and videos. After about two hours of procedures, they had about 80 videos and 300 photos. We could repurpose those for social media. They’re not as valuable for Pay-Per-Click advertising because you can’t use images and videos, but for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, our website, and our YouTube page as well. Remember, YouTube is the second largest search engine, so anything like that is great. You don’t need a video camera crew; people want authenticity. Even with your iPhone or Samsung Android camera, that’s good quality to show what you do. You can use it in multiple places, not only on your Facebook, which connects to Instagram and TikTok, but also on your website and your YouTube page.

Autonomous Business

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s very helpful to know. Tell me how entrepreneurs create an autonomous business.

Jeff Russell: The key is it’s gotta be able to run without you. If your business or your practice is critical for you to be there, then you have a job. You may be paid by insurance or directly by your patients, or the hospital may be paying if you’re working through a hospital, but you actually just have a job. What we need to do is have a practice where you don’t have to be there and can delegate to extenders. An extender can be a nurse, LPN, RN, PA, esthetician, licensed laser technician, or medical assistant, depending on the procedures and what’s within their scope of practice in your state. You delegate those tasks, and that’s why it’s tough. For example, in a family practice, you only get paid when you see the patient. But in aesthetics, if someone’s having a chemical peel for melasma or rosacea, your esthetician, nurse, or medical assistant can perform it. When you’re not required to be there and have a team of extenders doing those procedures, that’s your first step to an autonomous practice. One of the benefits is that when you go to sell your practice, it’s worth more because you’re not critical of it. That really shows when you have that autonomous practice that runs without you. For all intents and purposes, our aesthetic practice is an ATM for us; it generates cash. We work when we want to work. If my partner wants to take a month off and go to Italy, she can do that, and the practice runs just fine without her.

What Makes the Book Unique

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, those are really very helpful for us all. What makes this book different from other books on the same topic?

Jeff Russell: What I tried to do is, when I turned 50, I discovered I can’t handle as many topics as I used to. I like to simplify things and find that first domino that knocks all the others down. So I’m always trying to find what’s the easiest thing. This book, available in print as well as on Audible, “Fire Yourself First,” is all about four simple steps to starting this. You don’t have to start them all at once; you can slowly, depending on your situation, start instituting them. As I mentioned, the first one is really what’s your personal “why”? What do you want to do? If you didn’t have your practice, what would you do? The second one is, you’re going to need a team. It may be you, you may be doing the side hustle, and you’re the first and only employee. But you always want to think about who, not you. Who’s going to do these procedures, not you? Depending on the procedure, you may have to hire a mid-level nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant. But you may also be able to hire someone a little bit below that, like an RN or an LPN. So you have to know the scope. Who can do what, not you? The third thing is you have to know two or three numbers so you know whether your business is growing and successful. I have a whole section on creating dashboards and scorecards for you and your staff. The last thing is, what’s next? When you have a future in your mind, even if it has nothing to do with your practice today, it’ll actually start readjusting your decisions on what you need to do today to get there in five years. So I always like that big outside picture. You may hire an NP first because you want to be out of the country six months of the year, and that’s fine, but let’s just know what’s required.

Extenders to Hire

Dr. Barbara Hales: Listeners may be saying, “This sounds great, but where do I find these extenders to hire?”

Jeff Russell: So extenders are actually a great question. In aesthetics, I find the easiest and best extenders are licensed practical nurses (LPNs). Many of them work in old folks’ homes, doing what they do but not necessarily loving it. So when they come to work in an aesthetic or private clinic environment, they get very excited. LPN schools and recent graduates can be good sources. I can train them clinically, but I can’t train their attitude. I want someone with a positive outlook who enjoys doing procedures, which is crucial because most aesthetics and even weight loss involve procedures like body contouring, injecting Botox, micro-needling with PRP, and more. Look for candidates on platforms like Indeed, but the most important thing is referrals. Let your friends, family, and colleagues know you’re looking for someone, and they might recommend someone from their network.

Last Piece of Advice

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s a great idea. Well, you’ve certainly given us a lot of tips. To end the session, I usually ask, “Are there one or two tips you’d like to give our listening audience?” But it sounds like you’ve covered many already. Are there any additional tips we haven’t touched upon?

Jeff Russell: Yes, one thing I’ve been hearing recently, especially since COVID, is that medicine is no longer fun. It’s become a grind, exhausting both mentally and physically. I want you to know that there is another way. By utilizing extenders in your medical practice, you can find relief and time to breathe. Don’t feel overwhelmed; there’s a better and different way to practice medicine. The biggest takeaway is that, don’t think you have to grind it out in the ER for 20 years. If you’re done, consider expanding and incorporating some more enjoyable aspects of medicine.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been a really engaging episode today. Thank you so much. This is another episode of “Marketing Tips for Doctors,” and you’ve been listening to me, the host, Dr. Barbara Hales, with Jeff Russell. Until next time.

The post “Fire Yourself First” first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• How to avoid getting overwhelmed.
• The importance of taking a break.
• Why should you follow your passion?

Key Takeaways:

“ Don’t take your work thoughts with you!” – Barbara Hales.

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com

Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION (145)Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors! I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. We have been on hiatus since the last episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. These last 12 months have been a world when, in addition to business obligations, I’ve had the wedding of both of my children, renovated three locations, tended to damaged and broken air conditioners, and had the birth of a beautiful, sweet grandbaby. But I’m back now!

Avoiding Burnout and Getting Overwhelmed

I’m sure that there are times when you have felt overwhelmed as well, where it can interfere with life and make you feel anxious. Do you feel that you are sacrificing other passions or family life for work obligations? The demands on physicians make it hard to exercise, eat sensibly, manage stress, and socialize. These contribute greatly to physician burnout. You may have heard that before, or you may be experiencing it yourself. Research shows that this affects 66% of the population in the United States, even more so for physicians and health professionals, confirmed by a study done by the AMA. The key is to achieve work-life balance. It is the secret to avoiding burnout when working in the health field. Here are five steps for a strategic plan to get more “me” time.

Scheduling

First, make a schedule with the family. Meet with everyone and have each of them fill in school, work, and social meetings using different colored pens on a large calendar so that when you look at the calendar, you know who each one stands for. Post it where it’s easily seen, whether it’s the den, the kitchen, or a room that everybody goes to, and the calendar is accessible. Don’t forget to plan time for yourself, not just the rest of the family, whether it is going to a spa, getting a haircut, having a date night with the spouse, or having coffee with a friend.

Now, guard your time. This is the holy grail for you now, before taking on any additional responsibilities or saying yes to others asking for your time, consult with your family schedule. Treat it as though it was the most essential thing in life because those who are important to you are counting on your word and your commitment. Don’t get into the mindset that they will be disappointed, but they’ll understand because it is you that will be disappointed in the end. Learn to say no when necessary. You may have to practice that by coming up with an acceptable way like, “Gee, thanks for thinking of me, but now there are other things that I’m committed to at that time.” Practice in the mirror if you find it awkward.

Set Boundaries

Next, set limits or demarcation lines between work and personal life. Doing so protects your time or needs, whether they be physical, emotional, or mental so that you can stay productive, represent your best selves, and remain energetic when it is time to relax or be with family. Don’t take your work thoughts with you.

Take Time Off

Thirdly, plan vacations and take them. Figure out what span of time works best in working and when you would need a break. Because my husband and I both practiced medicine and had grueling schedules, we figured that a week every three months was necessary for us so that the kids got quality home and parent time. It needn’t be that you have to constantly travel; staycations work well too. Just forward the business calls to whomever is watching your practice for you. But that doesn’t mean that this is the schedule I’m recommending for you. That’s what worked for us. You have to figure that out for yourselves.

Outsourcing

Fourthly, outsource the mundane or important work that best serves you by hiring others who are skilled in those tasks to perform them for you. Perhaps you’ve added new services or products to your practice, or maybe you have decided to convert your practice to a concierge model. If patients don’t know about it, you are doomed to failure. Outsource your marketing so that the marketing strategist can promote you and get you the business you want.

Follow Your Passion

The last step is to spend 20% of your time doing something that you’re passionate about. Studies show that if this is not thought of, burnout is inevitable. You can follow a skill that you have or dream of, such as playing a musical instrument or painting. Or you can plan a side job that brings you in more money and relieves some of your financial burdens. Or maybe the money is for you to pursue charitable endeavors. You will feel better, and your patients will enjoy spending time with you because you’ll be giving more of yourself.

Final Word

These are not steps that may come easily, but doing so will make you more eager to work, enjoy your practice and patients more, and garner more love from your family as well. Take this to heart. I’m certainly saying this in a very sincere fashion, and I think that it will help you and do you well. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time!

The post Stop the Overwhelm first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Danijela discuss:

• Why use Feng Shui for business success and growth
• How Danijela discovered the power of Feng Shui
• How to use Feng Shui to attract clients

Key Takeaways:

“ I love to go out and really teach people what’s hidden behind Feng Shui because I feel there is so much misconception behind it.” – Danijela Saponjic.

Connect with Danijela Saponjic:

Website: https://unfolding-space.com/en/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danijela-saponjic-06ba85b

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unfolding_space

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC45dv3NK-fZd5-MIt1RhrNA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hausdesfengshui?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danijela.saponjic.10

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (144)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have a very exciting episode. We have Danijela Saponjic, an esteemed Feng Shui and space healing master. With over 20 years of experience as the founder and CEO of Unfolding Space and the Space Healing Method in her School of Spiritual Design, she teaches aspiring practitioners to tap into their intuitive abilities and create balanced spaces. This is a really exciting episode for me today because it’s not something that you hear very frequently. With a little bit of effort, it could really change things around.

Welcome to the show, Daniela.

Danijela Saponjic: Thank you so much for having me, Barbara.

Feng Shui for Business Success and Growth

Dr. Barbara Hales: Tell us, how can you create a space for business success and business growth using Feng Shui?

Danijela Saponjic: Well, as you know, Feng Shui has been around for over 5000 years. The principles are very powerful, even when used in small doses. It’s about paying attention to how the life force energy, or Chi, is flowing through your space and focusing on harmonizing the Chi to be calm and balanced. You don’t need to know much about Feng Shui, it’s more about taking a moment to tune into the energy of the space. Take a few deep breaths, then you’ll feel in your body, whether the energy is calm or if it’s flowing too fast. You’ll feel how your body reacts to it. In accordance with that, you can open your eyes and really look at the space to see what could be affecting the energy, whether it’s speeding up or if it’s unclear or not harmonious. In fact, it’s usually the small steps that can bring you success in Feng Shui.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can you give us a story of how you went into an office that was really failing to attract a large number of patients and clients, and after using Feng Shui in the office, you were able to turn things around?

Danijela Saponjic: Yes, some years ago, I had a dentist, a lady who approached me. She moved into a new office and didn’t have appointments booked, which was very unusual for a dentist in her area of work. So we went there. The first thing I noticed was that the entrance was not very clear; people didn’t know where to enter. Although it seems logical to us, from a Feng Shui view, it’s not because it works with our subconscious mind. So, the first steps we took were to really mark the entrance for the patients and create a calming energy in the waiting room where people could relax. Especially in the field of dentistry, patients are often excited or even fearful, and these emotions can accumulate.

However, after the changes, patients started returning because they felt calm when they entered the office. This, in turn, sparked word-of-mouth referrals about how calming the dentist’s office was. It wasn’t just about the dentist visits itself, but about the overall experience – from entering the office to spending time there, and then leaving. That’s the emotion that stuck with them. Of course, we also focused on different team-building aspects and took care of any emotions that got stuck in the space with space healing methods, transforming them into a positive experience. It was an overall experience that we created with Feng Shui.

Unlocking Feng Shui

Dr. Barbara Hales: That is a real bonus, to be able to go to the dentist and feel calm, that’s not something many can claim. Often, when people think of Feng Shui, they associate it with interior decorating for a home, or something related to decor. How did you discover or get into the use of Feng Shui for professional use?

Danijela Saponjic: The interesting thing is, it’s not just about the layout of the furniture. It’s so much more than moving furniture around. I don’t know if you have ever had the experience of moving a desk a little bit to the left or the right, and all of a sudden, it feels like there is a click in the energy of the space, making the whole space look different. That’s the magic of Feng Shui you can experience. It’s so much more than just putting up some decoration, it’s really about finding that special click in the energy field so that everything brightens up and shines.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Interesting, and something that most of us should consider looking into. Now, you say that harnessing the power of Feng Shui is the ultimate tool and the game-changing USP. Could you tell us about that?

Danijela Saponjic: Yes, because I feel that, especially in the field of spirituality, we have made so much progress in the areas of mindfulness and calmness. We work so much on the personal level, on the mind and body, but what about the space? There is so much potential we are not using to create mindfulness and relaxation in our lives. I see a huge gap there, there’s still a vast potential not being tapped into, to create and harness this power. This is the special, game-changing aspect that is still missing in many lives and businesses.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Would you suggest that if a doctor is looking to purchase or rent a space, even before they establish their office location, they should hire a Feng Shui expert as a consultant to consider which location would work best for them in terms of Feng Shui? Or would it be too late to start Feng Shui after the location is selected? Do you think doctors and other professionals should start with a Feng Shui expert even before they select their office space?

Danijela Saponjic: Yes, the earlier you start, the better. I always say when you start looking for a space, involve a Feng Shui consultant. Then you can rule out some spaces which might not be auspicious. For example, if an office’s entrance is not visible or it’s behind a corner, it might not be the right one because patients won’t find you easily. The Chi won’t find you, and Chi brings patients, wealth, and abundance to your space. Once you have the right office, why not arrange the furniture in the Feng Shui way, which is very natural? It won’t be something impractical or outlandish. I often hear from businesses, “What if I implement Feng Shui, and it’s just not practical?” I always take this into consideration. I ask them how they work, what’s important to them, how the offices need to be arranged, and so on. When I get this information, that’s when I start weaving in Feng Shui so that we can get the best of both worlds. This is where the magic happens.

The Beginning of a Journey

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that sounds pretty exciting. How did you got involved in Feng Shui, to begin with?

Danijela Saponjic: This is a very interesting story. When I was 24, I had just finished studying economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. I was young, eager, and keen on entering the field of marketing. However, because I was young and had a child, I found it difficult to find a job. Then, quite coincidentally, I read about how decluttering your space could change your life. At first, I dismissed this idea, thinking that changes in your environment could not possibly lead to life changes. However, when nothing seemed to improve in my situation, I remembered this concept.

Dr. Barbara Hales: By the way, I find it extremely unusual when a mom with a young child can actually declutter their place with everything going on. So decluttering in that situation really requires extra superpowers.

Danijela Saponjic: Absolutely, but it was worth it. My husband and I decluttered our small apartment over the weekend. On Monday and Tuesday, we received the news we had been waiting for half a year. At that moment, I saw a connection and my curiosity was piqued. That was in early spring, and by autumn, I started my Feng Shui training. That was 20 years ago.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Since you have become somewhat of a master of Feng Shui and specialized in working with professional offices, how do you personally get the word out? How do you market yourself so that other people get to know you and you increase your visibility?

Danijela Saponjic: I’m also a teacher, and I love educating people about the depths of Feng Shui as there are many misconceptions surrounding it. It’s not merely about placing something in a corner, Feng Shui is much more in-depth. My marketing focus is on teaching and creating curiosity about this topic. To build deep connections with my audience, I use email marketing. This way, they get to learn from me, connect with me, and eventually book consultations or enroll in my certifications.

A Glimpse into Danijela’s Books

Dr. Barbara Hales: Has your book been published yet?

Danijela Saponjic: Yes, I have written four books, but they are currently only available in German. I am working on my English book at the moment.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I guess we can look forward to that coming out next.

Danijela Saponjic: Absolutely.

Dr. Barbara Hales: In German, what are the books?

Danijela Saponjic: I have two books on Feng Shui for offices, a card deck on how to declutter with joy, and another book about creating spaces where your visions can become reality. This last one is my signature book.

Dr. Barbara Hales: We certainly need that information. I suggest you get a translator so that we in the English-speaking world can get our hands on it.

Danijela Saponjic: Oh, thank you so much. Absolutely.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been a wonderful learning experience. Thank you so much for being with us today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time.

The post Feng Shui For Practice Success first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses: Why do doctors need to blog How can blogging establish professional authority and attract patients Who can help with creating effective blog content and titles Key Takeaways: "Respect your readers' time by writing headlines that promise content you can substantiate." – Dr. Barbara Hales. Connect with Barbara Hales: Twitter:   @DrBarbaraHales

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In this episode, Barbara discusses: What are Advertorials? What is the process of creating an advertorial? Important Considerations When Creating an Advertorial Key Takeaways: "An advertorial is an ad that's written to look and sound like an editorial. With any typical advertisement, you aim for the ad to jump off the page. But with an

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In this episode, Barbara discusses: Why a logo is essential for your business. What makes a great logo? Exploring different ways to use your logo to build your brand. Key Takeaways: "Logos provide brand recognition. Having a strong image helps your business stick out in people's minds and makes you stand out over your competition."

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Sponsor for this episode: SoundCybersecurity.com

In this episode, Barbara and Len discuss:

• What are the biggest issues companies face when running a digital marketing campaign
• How will you establish a marketing budget
• What is AI, and how does it work?

Key Takeaways:

“It involves determining all the major factors, including sales and marketing, contributing to your customer acquisition costs. Once you have it, you will have the necessary information to calculate your return on marketing.” Len Ward

Connect with Len Ward:

Website: https://ward.consulting/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenward/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wardconsulting9000

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LenWardNJ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Commexis1

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (140)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Len Ward.

Len Ward: Hi, Doctor. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: With over 26 years of experience in entrepreneurship, business, finance, and digital marketing, why consulting specializes in marketing, ROI, auditing, consumer acquisition, cost allocation, and digital marketing consulting. We will help you make sense of your marketing numbers. And instead of diving into different strategies to market your company, word consulting ensures you are thinking about innovation and not just optimization. In short, you will learn the intelligence behind marketing investment decisions.

Welcome to the show, Len.

Len Ward: Thanks for having me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Len, the biggest issues companies face when running a digital marketing campaign is debatable, but what do you think the biggest issues are?

Len Ward: I think there are two issues. But the number one issue people have with digital marketing campaigns is they do not know the proper amount of money to spend. So they feel the return on the investment should be larger than the investment they put in there. So if they’re putting in $1, they’re expecting a lot more from that dollar than what it should be. Secondly, even if they know what to invest in digital marketing, the biggest problem is they don’t know where to allocate that money. And allocating the money is predicated on where your sales process funnel is or your funnel or pipeline, however, you want to refer to it, wherever the holes are in that pipeline to get your patients in the front door. So those are the two biggest issues I think are consistently challenging the digital marketing role.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How does the company typically decide how much money to allocate to that?

Len Ward: Well, you have to start off with everybody will come in and say I don’t see a return on investment, or I’m looking for a return on investment. Return on Investment starts by identifying the actual number you’re going after. You can’t establish a return on investment unless you have something to weigh it against, whether that’s the number of patients you’re getting in the front door, whether it’s the amount of revenue you’re looking to bill. But that’s exactly how it starts. Once you identify the money you’re going after, the revenue target will say, then you have to go in and say, how many patients do I need to hit that revenue target? You take a step back, and then you identify what my pipeline looks like. And then right there is where your marketing budget starts emerging that it’s like, okay, I’m looking at the holes in my sales pipeline or my funnel. And it’s obvious that I have to allocate money in a couple of different areas, then you go to the platforms and identify what that bidding environment looks like.

So if you are an office and need a lot of leads right now, you’re going to be living in the ad world, which is a prohibitively expensive place to be advertising. So you go in, try to work on some keywords, work with your digital agency, work with your marketing team, and identify what you believe are the keywords or the user intent to find your services. And then you start building out a budget. And then, obviously, there are some KPIs and numbers. But that is truly how you try to establish a marketing budget. Too often, companies will come up with a marketing budget after they’ve looked at their operating expenses, and look at a lot of different things and say, This is what I have leftover from marketing. Those days are long gone. And you will not succeed in digital marketing if marketing is the last conversation on the operational expenses for the calendar year.

Using AI in Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales: Have you converted to AI in your marketing yet?

Len Ward: So we’re just starting to look at AI. I don’t think it’s just going to disrupt the marketing industry. I think it’s going to walk in and destroy the marketing industry. And I don’t say that too lightly. I was fortunate enough at my age, to date myself, I’ve been around since the internet kind of started emerging. I remember when I first owned a digital agency, we were optimizing for 15 search engines, not just Google. I was also fortunate when I worked on Wall Street to watch the rise of digital happen. And a lot of people were talking about how much that was going to change the way people advertised and interact with people, AI is going to do the same thing. So I think with marketing, what’s going to happen with AI, it’s going to take over your copywriting. It’s going to take over your strategy. It’s going to take over a lot. And I do think companies need to prepare for it. But I will say this. As much as we all want to race to AI and I’m right there with everybody trying to get in the front door, I think we have to let this play out just a little bit and try to find out exactly what they’re doing because Google and Bing and everybody’s now saying they’re integrating AI with advertising and so forth. I think that’s just a really nice way to say hey, we’re going to try to profit off the term AI. So make sure you keep your ad dollars flowing. But I don’t think we know what will happen for another year, but marketing people better be ready for AI.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, what do you think digital marketing will look like in 2025? Do you think it is just well going to be AI?

Len Ward: I believe that, in my personal opinion, AI is not going to replace critical thinking that we know, thank God. But I do believe AI will probably encompass about 75% of marketing. If I had to predict, I believe marketing teams are going to be down to about two to three people. And so whatever platforms are wrapped around that will be running your campaigns. So it’s the companies that have mastered the investment in marketing are the ones that are going to succeed. It’s the ones who are going to have good creativity, although I do think AI is going to kind of replace that. And those two people are the ones that are going to succeed. So I believe marketing departments will be cut by 75%. And I believe the ones who truly have a good product, like a game-changer separator, are the ones that are going to make it. So marketing is going to look very different. I think it’s going to be a lot of people coming out of college with, quote-unquote, no longer marketing degrees. And that’s a good thing.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, for our listeners out there, could you explain to them what AI is and how one converts over to that?

Len Ward: So artificial intelligence, right now, the easiest form to understand is ChatGPT. That’s the Microsoft product. This is the one Elon Musk put a lot of money behind. ChatGPT has a rapid, fast way in which you can crawl the internet and formulate and put together an answer predicated on the questions you’re asking. It can also do the same thing with creativity, meaning you can create an actual like image for yourself. If you say create a purple duck walking down the street in New York City, it can create that, although it’s really not there. However, the conversation through chatGPT is very interesting because the way it scrolls and crawls the internet and harvest data can give you answers that in the past may have taken you customer surveys, days upon days if not weeks to scroll on the internet reading, and trying to put an entire thesis together and saying this is what I think it’s going to be ChatGPT digest all the stuff that the humans have ever created and says this is what your answer is.

The problem with ChatGPT is that a good 35 to 40% of it may not be accurate because some of the stuff you’re looking at online is really not accurate. But it’s going to change the way we do jobs. Like instead of having somebody do a test for you, you’re probably going to ask for an AI interactive device. Hey, can you handle it for me? Hey, can you do that for me? So the stuff per se of marketing, like, can you build this campaign for me? Can you tell me how to fix this on a website? That’s the kind of stuff it’s going to handle. So I hope that kind of explains it. And I think the actual explanation of AI will probably change slightly over the next six months.

Map Out an ROI Campaign From Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales: How can someone truly map out an ROI campaign from marketing?

Len Ward: That comes back again to understanding what your targeted goal is and then really understanding what your customer acquisition cost and your lifetime value are. So you have to really understand what you’re investing in your customer acquisition cost is the investment in your customer acquisition costs properly allocated across the holes in your pipeline, and then weighing that against the client’s lifetime value. So if your customer acquisition cost is $100, and your lifetime value of a client is $1,000, meaning they will come up 10 times and spend $100 with you, your investment in marketing is 10 to one. For every dollar you put into sales and marketing, you’re getting $10 back, which is the proper way to look at a return on investment. What you cannot do when looking at return on investment is trying to pull in operating expenses and say, “Oh well, you have that. I had this, I had that. It’s identifying all the main components that go into your customer acquisition costs, which are marketing and sales. And once you have that, you now have the foundation of identifying what your return on marketing is.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do you help medical practices get patient acquisition?

Len Ward: How do we help medical get patients? Okay, so you mean patient acquisition costs? Or do you mean just obviously get patients in the front door?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are you involved in getting patients through the front door?

Len Ward: Yeah, we had worked with medical facilities in the past, so currently, right now, when I owned a digital agency, I owned a full-scale digital agency, two of them. We did work with medical facilities and brought them in, so it was the classic Pay Per Click retargeting, geofencing, email drip campaigns, and all the touchpoints. So if you are in the cosmetic area and let’s just say you’re doing filler in the face and Botox and so forth, there are multiple times in which people would like to be touched for that, obviously, your pricing is going to be really big for that. But yes, we would simply run pay-per-click campaigns; you’re trying to get them in the front door. There’s a special on however many vials you’re purchasing, email, drip campaigns, and so forth.

So you have to remember, if you are in that field, if it’s a medical emergency, that’s different. We know we’re going to the emergency room. If your tooth is cracked, you’re going to the dentist. That’s different. That’s a Google; you’re just trying to get them to alleviate pain. When you are trying, when it’s a little bit of a different medical situation, and as an elective medical situation, you have to remember that the average person would like to be touched in the neighborhood about five to 10 times. You need to ensure your ad campaign touches those five to 10 times.

Tips for Digital Marketing Campaigns

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are two tips you could give our listeners today that they could implement right away regarding digital marketing campaigns?

Len Ward: It’s mandatory to leverage your email list much more than you are. I don’t care what anyone tells you out there. Email is still the largest converter of sales. I understand that people’s email boxes are in your data right now. And it does get frustrating. But if you’re really good at email marketing, if you do have the right taglines and offer the readers something legit, don’t just send them a blog post. Nobody cares about that. But if you want to do before and after pictures, which is what everybody likes to see, that’s something somebody wants to read in an email.

Leverage your email list, and ensure you’re reaching out to past or current clients, prospective patients, or clients. At least on a monthly basis, make sure you have an offer on there. And if somebody does come in the front door and does have a consultation, one of the things you want to do to make sure that you’re keeping them there is implemented a drip campaign, which means a series of three to six pieces of content that’s mailed out to those individuals over the course of three months, however many times you see the individual patient, so standard email campaign, make sure you have something going out on a monthly basis. And then a drip email campaign for patients you’re trying to convert are two things you should implement almost immediately.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I’m sure that you have a lot of competitors in the digital marketing field. How do you attract your clients? How do you stand out from your competition?

Len Ward: Well, I’m a little different. I don’t mean to say this in any type of fashion, but it’s rare somebody sits down and is going to talk more about the financial aspect of marketing than the actual creative aspect of marketing. It’s not that I think creativity is easy because it’s not. It’s difficult. But the most difficult conversation in marketing is actually having a conversation about dollars and cents. So when I do have that conversation with clients, I quickly separate myself because, at the end of the day, marketing people, they’re not finance people. Do you know why? Because they’re not supposed to be finance people. I was just lucky in my past career to be able to work within the world of finance. I’ve run my own businesses. So I know what type of investment it takes. And that’s my differentiator. What also helps out is that when people work with me, I don’t implement or run your campaigns. I am a consultant with it. I will work with your agency, I will work with your internal team to make sure that your money is allocated properly and that you are getting the return on investment that you’re looking for. So I guess you could say I kind of live in the space between a regular marketing consultant and an ad agency. I live in that space in between, which is a unique blend. I think that’s what separates me normally.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, thank you for clarifying. And thank you for being here with us today, Len. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. Speaking with Len Ward. Til next time.

The post Digital Marketing with Len Ward first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Jessica discuss:

• How Barbara got into medicine and marketing
• How Dr. Hales helps fellow doctors market themselves
• A cause that she cares about

Key Takeaways:

“If you have a published book, then that perceives you as being the authority in that field or the services that you provide.” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Jessica Koch:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaLKoch

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicakoch1/

Website: https://www.jessicalkoch.com/

Email: Jessica@jessicaLkoch.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS47vSJ-G5KHodkYD1kz09w

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol,com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (139)

Jessica Koch: Hello, everybody. I am Jessica Koch, your host of Profound Professionals and we have had the joy over five years of featuring amazing, brilliant people from all over the world that are profound in so many different ways. They are inspiring. They’re outside the box in their industry, and they care about amazing, brilliant causes far above themselves and outside of themselves that support our community and the world.

So today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Barbara Hales. Dr Hales is an author, speaker and health marketer after having practiced medicine and OBGYN for many, many years. She has also appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. So all of the major networks that are the most important, I would say. So welcome, Dr Hales and thank you for joining us today.

Dr Barbara Hales: Well, thank you. And it’s a pleasure seeing you today. And thank you for having invited me.

Jessica Koch: Are you still practising as an OBGYN? Tell us about your journey.

Dr Barbara Hales: Well, my journey started out with a bit of a challenge because, in the days that I wanted to apply to medical school and wanted to apply for a residency, there was an unwritten quota about females in medicine. The interview I had way back, is totally illegal now. But you know, what’s acceptable at that time, was an interviewer asking me if I planned on ever getting married and having children. At that time, I was too young and naive to do anything but be honest. So I said, Yes, of course, I really don’t see one as being mutually exclusive over the other. At which point he turned red and snapped his fist as hard as he could on the desk, saying, How dare you? Your children will suffer, your husband will suffer, and your patients will suffer. Because you cannot pay attention to all of them with all of your being. You won’t be home when your husband gets home to have dinner on the table. And he just went on and on about that. But fortunately, we have come a long way since then.

Dr. Hales’ Journey

Jessica Koch: Yes, we certainly have. And so, what’s your journey now? How are you supporting people at this point?

Dr Barbara Hales: When I practiced medicine, I went into private practice. I didn’t buy a practice, I didn’t join a larger group. And so, after outfitting the office space to what I thought would be pleasant for patients, as well as effective, there was only about a few minutes before realizing after I opened the door that if I don’t market myself, since I have no patients, it will only be a matter of a few weeks before I would have to close the door. So unlike most people, I started marketing right away to promote myself. I considered myself a bridge between patients and medicines so that I could let people in the communities know not only what medicine was all about but in a sense, translate for them what medicine was for them. And I got into networking, promoting myself, to writing articles, to writing spots for patients to write in and ask questions. And so, over the course of time, I went from no patients to 10,000 active patients at the time that I left.

Unlike most physicians now, when you ask if they market themselves, they say, Well, I don’t know how to market myself, or I don’t have time to market myself, or is that even ethical? But the fact of the matter is that marketing is actually just telling people what you do and where you do it. Can you imagine telling people, this is what I do. These are my services and products. But guess where my office is? Or rather, this is where my office is. Guess what I do? Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? So actually, even though people don’t realize professionals need to market themselves, either themselves or outsourcing yet, it’s really a necessary part of the world.

Jessica Koch: Do you specialize in helping people in the health space market themselves? Is that your key gift?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Good, that is correct. After I left medicine, I haven’t really totally left it. But rather than seeing patients, what I felt was a transition calling to help my fellow colleagues in medicine, not just in traditional medicine, but alternative medicine, in complementary medicine, to get their name out there so that everybody has an important service for patients in their community and a message that they want to get out. But if patients don’t know that they’re there, then obviously, they won’t be able to serve the community. And so that’s what I do now to help patients. Get the services that they need by helping physicians get their name out there.

Working with Dr. Barbara Hales

Jessica Koch: That’s awesome. So if I were to work with you, what would that look like? Is it an online course? Is it group coaching virtually? Is it in person? Is it a combination of all of those? Is it one on one? How do I work with you if I’m your customer?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, the first thing that I would do is to analyze what you actually have in progress. Do you have an active website? Have you ever written a book? Do you have speaking engagements? Do you do networking? What is it that you already have so that we can enhance it?

I’m not here to criticize you like what you have currently, but just to enhance it. So I do have a do it with your program. And I have a done for you program. And I also write books for you. Now the thing that is important to think about is, unless you’re in a rural area and you’re the only physician within 1000s of miles, then the likelihood is that there are going to be many positions in your specialty within a given area. So when push comes to shove, how do patients know who to go to? How is it that you’re going to stand out from everybody else? Well, if you have a published book, then that perceives you as being the authority in that field or the services that you provide. So when patients look at ten people in a row, they say, Oh, well, that one wrote a book. That one must be an authority in their field. So it does give an authority or celebrity status to that physician and puts them above their colleagues.

Jessica Koch: So normally, I asked what’s one really specific thing someone could do today that would make a difference in the world, but what I hear you already saying is author a book. Right? Am I wrong? Is that the thing you would suggest?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that is, but I do have two tips. That person can go ahead and implement it immediately. The first one is if you do not have a web, if you do not have domain with your name, run, don’t walk, to the nearest service you can purchase a domain from, whether GoDaddy or one of the competitors.

The thing is, you don’t ever have to use that domain. You just have to keep anybody else from using the domain. Can you imagine if you did not have the domain, and rather than the website being used as a physician or a marketer, it is a porn star or something that is contrary to what you would like to represent? So, the first thing to do is go get the domain with your name and have it with dot com. There are plenty of other suffixes available. But you know, by habit, the first thing that people do is, regardless of what you tell them, the suffix is they automatically type in.com. So that does have a real importance.

The second thing you can do, which is also very important, is social media. Now, you really only have to go into the sites where your target market hangs out because otherwise, it’s kind of a waste of time. But the profiles available to you on every site can be filled out by you using the keywords that represent what people are looking for to find you and your services. It doesn’t mean that you have to be active on that site. But in reality, the reason for these profiles is that it directs people from your profile to your website. And filling out these profiles are free. So you can go into every single solitary social media platform and fill out a profile that is stellar, and that represents you. And you can do this anytime, as a step two that you can implement right away to promote yourself.

Jessica Koch: Absolutely. I think that’s wonderful. Those are great tips. So one of the other main reasons we started profound professionals was to feature these industry leaders like you, Barbara, who are doing things out of the box and unique from a unique perspective, especially for your industry, but also to take the time to learn about the causes they care about and how else they’re showing up in the world to help spread cause awareness. The more that we can let you know what causes are available and talk about them and promote the websites and push that information around them. It’s like staying top of mind. The more we help people remember, oh yeah, I want to do something with them. Or I want to volunteer where I want to give, or I know someone who needs to know about that cause I didn’t know that cause existed. And so that was part of the premise of starting profound professionals. Can you share with us a cause that you care about or that you’re involved in?

A Cause Dr. Hales Care About and Where She’s Involved

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. One of the causes that I feel very strongly about is St. Jude’s Hospital. This, for anybody that hasn’t seen the commercials on TV, or gotten emails about them, is a hospital that is geared towards the treatment of children that have cancer problems or severe medical conditions. But in addition to being a great pediatric hospital, what makes it even more passion-driven, is that not only does the family not have to be burdened with all of those medical expenses, but the family itself is given support financially for the time the patient is in there regarding living accommodations, food, family support, so well, without being financially burdened by the family themselves. It is all paid for through sponsorship, and people are suffering as it is with medical conditions. They’re in despair over how their child will bear, whether the child will live or die. The last thing they need is to worry that they will not be able to continue care because they can’t afford it.

Jessica Koch: Absolutely, I totally agree with you. The other thing people know about me as they follow this show is that I am totally in love with books. And I always like to learn about a new book so that I can explore it, read it, share it with others, and add it to my ultimate book list. So do you have a book that has inspired you in your life or helped you grow your business?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, well, a book that I love. Is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I think that it’s just one pearl after another. If you could implement just a few of them, it would take you to the next level.

Jessica Koch: And you’re an author yourself.

Dr Barbara Hales: I am. And I have books that have made the bestseller list, one that is helpful in terms of how you can best use Google searches and surfing to enable you to get the best information. And it still is accurate, like how to recognize which sites are effective and which sites are bogus, which is found in my book. How the patient can’t really see that but power to the patient, the medical strategist. And another one is Content Copy Made Easy, where I tell you how to put out press releases, how to best put out your newsletters for your patients, and how to do networking to be most effective, amongst many other things. But you can also find these on my website, themedicalstrategist.com

Jessica Koch: Awesome. That’s wonderful. It has been such a joy to have you today, Barbara. Thank you so much. And if you happen to be a profound professional and you have a passion or something you can give that will help improve someone’s life personally, and spiritually, or help them grow their business, I would love to have you on the show. But even better, be a hero to someone else that you know is a profound professional, introduce them via here to them and to us and introduce them to us to the show so that we can feature them. Now before we say goodbye. I always ask my guests to share one last piece of inspiration or information. Barbara, what would you share with our audience before we go?

Dr. Barbara Hales: What I would share is that it is really great being on podcasts. Regardless of putting out a podcast of your own, try being a guest on a podcast, which allows you to have exposure on other people’s stage without the tremendous expense. And then, from doing that, you can see how much you enjoy it before putting out your own podcast.

Jessica Koch: That is some great advice. That is absolutely right. Well, thank you so much again, Barbara. And I am so grateful that you are watching today and even more grateful when you share because you just never know who needed to hear this message from Barbara today. So again, I’m Jessica Koch, your host of profound professionals. Until next time, be kind to yourself and be kind to each other. Bye, everybody.

The post Profound Professionals Interviews Dr.Barbara Hales first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

• How do you select the right vendor
• What should be included in your proposal request
• The importance of having the same values and ethics with your chosen vendor

Key Takeaways:

“Your ultimate decision should not be based on price. You need to balance the benefits, offers and costs. But investing your time and effort in the process makes it more likely that you can avoid disasters.” – Dr Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business Website:www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com

Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION

Dr Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr Barbara Hales. Today, we’re going to talk about finding the right vendor.

You may have noticed that it has been a few weeks since the last episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I have been immersed in dealing with a vendor I chose to renovate a place. Due Diligence was done. They had a great showroom. They were responsive to my questions and appeared to have great ideas. That is until the contract was signed. Then the fun began, or theirs. On my part, frustration sword as they could have been more effective and time efficient.

So the question is, how do you select the right vendor who will not disappoint you and provide the stellar service you expect? Have you been there? Every business and medical practice will need to hire and work with vendors to provide for their needs. The selection process is not so easy, calling for analysis and criteria that you and your team decide upon to fulfil set requirements. Choosing a vendor based on price alone is a big mistake. Big mistake. After all, while this vendor can provide the services and supplies they promise, without a strategy, you will be flitting from one vendor to the next wasting a lot of time and money, not to mention total dissatisfaction and frustration.

Let’s formulate a selection process. First, sit down with your team and write a realistic list of what you want a vendor to supply and the parameters they should satisfy. Search online to find the businesses that provide these services. Do a background check. Look at their reputation. A company with good reviews from prior clients. See what social media has to say and view testimonials. One or two bad ratings are okay, but consistent complaints are a bad omen. Some might say they’re red flags. Once you have selected, ask for a proposal from the company and have them lay out exactly what they can provide and how they will comply with the agreement.

What should your proposal request look like or include? Well, a good way to start would be to let your prospective vendor know a list of requirements that you expect from the vendor, terms that you expect and what your business or practice is all about. The overview includes all the services and products that you yourself provide.

Background checks are what to look for. First, look at how long the business has been in operation. One would assume that an older one has more experience and has successfully navigated the minefield of problems that a newbie business may be inexperienced at dealing with. Take a look at their record of deliveries. Can they deliver products or services without disruptions? Cooperation with any supplier implies you will stay in close contact with them. Hence, you need your partners to be polite, share similar values and stay ethical. Otherwise, an unreliable, irresponsible or rude manager can destroy any good relationships you might have. Thirdly, check out their references to see past performance and how effective the service is. Compare the offers from the various vendors that you have received. Each gives each criterion a point value. Look at each vendor proposal, score the potential suppliers by selection criteria and add it up.

The decision process will be easy now based on the higher scores rather than emotion, although it does help actually to like and get along with the vendor. Once you have decided upon the right vendor for you, the next step is to negotiate a contract. Understand what you are willing to compromise on and what your must-haves are. Figure out the risks, liabilities and approaches to take if the contract is not satisfied legally. Well, your ultimate decision should be based on something other than price. You need to balance the benefits, offers and costs. Accepting the cheapest vendor may compromise quality. There are times, of course, when you have done your due diligence above and still get problems like buying a lemon or having to tolerate long-time delays, as I had with the last vendor over the last three months. But investing your time and effort in the process makes it more likely that you can avoid disasters.

Let’s take a look at the top mistakes in the vendor selection process. While evaluating prospective vendors, you might make some mistakes that can bring down the whole experience, which will be addressed in the next episode. Looking forward to speaking with you about that, then. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors talking about finding the right vendor for you to avoid frustration. Till next time.

The post Finding the Right Vendor first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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It was great to speak with Evander Holyfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta and hear his sincere, authentic principles from his humble beginnings. His beliefs center around discipline, spirit and soul, striving to be your best by working hard.

His Mom taught him to “Be thankful for who he is and whatever he had” . He gives his Mom credit for all his success. “I always listen to my Mamma; I do what my Mamma tells me to do”. She’s gone now but instilled a solid foundation for Evander.

His fans and friends consider him “The Real Deal” and I must admit, I do too!

Barbara Hales, M.D. on LinkedIn • 1 min read* 1 The post Evander Holyfield and Barbara Hales, M.D. Pack a Punch at the CNN Center first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Attract Prospective Patients and Increase Your Visibility with Your BrandStrengthening your brand not only increases visibility and awareness but also strengthens your reputation with the public who have become mindful consumers of their health.

Studies show that despite any referrals by friends, families, or other doctors, 8 out of 10 people will go online to check out a doctor or health professional before making an appointment.

The question is whether you are content to let all the patients go to your colleagues instead of you or whether you would like to grow your practice and increase your revenue. Will you win the competition?

Think about who you are, what you provide, and the image that you would like to portray. This reminds me of an event that happened to me last week.

The Prize

I won! An email announced me as a winner of dinner at a posh restaurant and a photo session sponsored by a portrait studio.

Eagerly, I made the appointment for the following week and showed up with two outfits for the camera shots. When asked why I came and what I hoped to get, I stated that new photos would be nice to freshen my website.

After getting dressed and primping, I was led into a room with props and a photographer who directed me to stand or sit in various staid Victorian poses. After the session, I was led into another room where the photos were projected onto the wall and I was asked to select the one I liked the best for printing and framing. The purpose was to paint out imperfections and make it look like an artistic rendition.

At this point, I asked if they could send me the other photos in digital versions for my website and social media platforms for a fee. The response was strong and adamant. “We do not provide services like that. This is a studio that provides portraits”.

Again, I asked for the other photos for digital use and was flatly denied. The response was that providing quality portraits is what they do. If they were to veer off, it would sully their brand. Everyone knows that they represent portraits and when someone wants one, they know to call their studio. They knew their brand, others knew their branding and they were not willing to compromise on that.

The thing is, despite being disappointed, I knew they were right. Your reputation and the perception of who you are is everything.

Help For Your Brand

Being a physician and a copywriter for the health community, I strengthen brands as part of what I do. This is what I am known for. Unlike most marketers, I am also a physician of medicine. This is unique.

Since I’ve worked in the trenches with you, I understand what you go through and what you do to attract your patients. There are various strategies that boost the perception of you being the best at what you do and it would be great if others knew more about you, the hard-working and deserving professional.

Brand Value

Brand value is what people perceive of your services and products. High-quality brands attract those mindful consumers as potential patients as well as retain those that are currently patients of your practice. Continuously bolstering your brand is necessary for the long-term success of your practice. It is no longer a matter only of success now. It is a matter of survival.

Strategy to strengthen your brand

There are 3 steps that you can implement now to strengthen your brand:

1. Consistency

Having the same opinions, tone of voice, and language usage allows the mindful consumer to think of you (and allows the search engines to identify you as well).

Use the same color, fonts, and shapes on all your assets- website pages, newsletters, emails, blogs, social media posts, packaging, and anything else you produce. Speak with “one voice” so that others can identify with you.

1. Credibility

As a professional, you will have degrees from universities. People want to know where your training is from. Of course, they also want to see that you are licensed in the state and field that you are practicing in. This is also a good section to be placing your awards and any recognition that you’ve received from associations, communities, and media.

1. Satisfaction

Satisfaction comes from engagement and emotional connections. People need to feel that you are empathetic and caring. Having loyalty programs show value to patients.

Satisfaction is also reflected by ratings and reviews. This incorporates testimonials. It is crucial that you have reputation management in place because if this area is left ignored and there are poor reviews, your practice can tank overnight.

The value of your brand boils down to exclusivity or uniqueness. It’s the way you set yourself apart from all others in your field. You must be able to communicate well with others and be consistent throughout all marketing channels, all the while being mindful of your reputation.

Tips on Branding

To get more tips on branding and marketing for medical practices, listen to Apple Podcasts. Click :

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/branding-and-marketing-for-medical-practice-with/id1463115938?i=1000542995383

____________________________________

Barbara Hales is a physician, consultant, and freelance writer for the medical industry. She has appeared on CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, PBS, and over 50 radio shows. Dr. Hales produces a podcast called Marketing Tips for Doctors and can be reached at Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

The post Brand Yourself to Attract Patients first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Stephen discuss:

• What are the traits Doctors and IT professionals have in common?
• Where do you begin in having cybersecurity?
• How do you determine a real or fake email?

Key Takeaways:

“First, focus on email security, and then move from there. Since email is the gateway for most problems, so focusing on that email first and foremost is a great way. ” – Stephen Jordan

Connect with Stephen Jordan:

Website: https://www.soundcybersecurity.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-jordan-a85b876b/

Email: Stephen@soundcybersecurity.com

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol,com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (137)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us a special person. He is known for cybersecurity, which is something that we all could know more about.

Stephen Jordan has spent over 33 years providing computer-related products and services to small businesses working as a technician, a system administrator, a system engineer and an IT Manager with 30 of those years running his own business, Stephen experienced the evolution of the industry as it changed from being the sales driven computer industry, to the more balanced sales and service IT industry, and then to the managed service industry and has seen many new industries created, including cybersecurity. Steven sold his it and managed the service business in October of 2021. So he could just focus on matters of cybersecurity for small businesses, which brought him to start his latest business venture called sound. Cyber security. Welcome to the show, Stephen

Stephen Jordan: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Stephen, as an IT professional, what do you feel you have in common with doctors?

IT Professionals and Doctors

Stephen Jordan: Gosh, you know, I’d say there are two things that I have in common though, there’s probably more than that. But I started out in the industry as a technician, as many do. And that evolved over time into me becoming a system engineer, where I was then selling, installing and supporting servers and other network products for small businesses. But then I woke up one day, and I found myself running my own business. And that was a bit of a shock. But I started out, you know, in college as a computer science major, and then moved on to industry certifications. And though I finished my bachelor’s degree years later, once there was such a thing as an Information Technology Degree, none of that prepared me for running my own business.

So the first thing in common that I’d say we have with a doctor or I have with a doctor is, you know, intentionally or unintentionally, you know, finding themselves in the same position with their own medical practice. We’re all great at what we do in our professions, but we’re learning to run a business as we go. And, you know, the second thing I say we have in common is that we just don’t have enough time to learn and do everything. So instead of working on our business, we end up spending all of our time working on our business.

Dr. Barbara Hales: As you work with doctors over the years, what do you see as their biggest challenge?

Stephen Jordan: Gosh, from my perspective, unless they all just had me fooled, and we’re hanging out and having a great time somewhere that I didn’t know about. They never seem to have the time to deal with matters of it or cybersecurity. So, I’d imagine that flows into other business matters as well.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do they overcome that challenge?

Stephen Jordan: Wow, well, I’d, I’d say surround themselves with people that they can trust, and that are smart in their professions as the doctor is and there’s you know, and then actually trust them. You know, it took me a while to learn that and to give up some of that control. So in my realm, you know, they need a really good professional. However, they need to realize that IT professionals don’t know do and provide everything that the doctor needs, no matter how good they are, and no offence to all the IT professionals out there, as I’ve been one of them for 33 years, and I believe I cared more or tried harder than most in the industry. But no one knows at all or has the time to do it at all. So they also need a good cybersecurity professional to help keep an eye on things and fill the gaps in their cyber defences.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Over the course of the last few years, we really heard a lot of horror stories about how people have installed malware unbeknownst to health professionals into their computer system with various viruses and then held the health care professional hostage saying, you know, you have to pay a certain amount of money or hospitals millions of dollars before they would deactivate the virus, which is a really a nightmare. Either that or well of the data and files on the computer are just washed out. How do you recommend that the doctor protect against that?

Email Security

Stephen Jordan: Gosh, you know, I’d say almost all cyber attacks start with an email. So according to a report from the FBI in May of 22, you know, business email compromised accounted for 35% of all cybercrime losses. So my recommendation is to first focus on email security, and then move from there. I mean, that’s, that’s just a starting point. But you know, as with most of us, you need to know, first, where you’re at before you can plot a path to where you need to go. So finding someone like myself, to help, you know, do an assessment and take a look at where you’re at in regards to email security now. But a lot of people shouldn’t, or, you know, especially doctors, or anybody in the health care profession, you know, shouldn’t assume that all their bases are covered. You know, because this is just one facet of email security.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So are you to computer systems? What Lifelock or identity theft is for personal data?

Stephen Jordan: I don’t know, I’d quite go as far as LifeLock. But is this comparing myself to LifeLock? In regards to cybersecurity in general, but as far as email security goes, definitely, I think I have a good set of services that do. Allow me to keep a good eye on what’s going on with their email security.

Sound Cybersecurity

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you get the name sound cybersecurity, I understand cybersecurity, but boy sound?

Stephen Jordan: You know, that’s a good question. You know, I approached that process of finding a name for my company from the perspective of, you know, what, what can I do that is, looking at it from the perspective of protection. You know, that’s, that’s really what you know, we do and you, if you’ve ever gone to my website, and you see my logo, you’ll see that there’s a shield as part of that logo.

So I spent a lot of time searching for something course, you know, these days, when you start a business, you also have to look at what domain names are available. So I spent a lot of time searching through a lot of possible names and just ended up coming to the term sound cybersecurity, how can we be sound and our approach and our posture in covering those cyber gaps that may exist?

Dr. Barbara Hales: What’s one thing you’d recommend for doctors to do to improve their cyber security posture?

Stephen Jordan: Yeah, I think I’d go back to starting with that email. You know, that, since that is the main entry gate, for most problems, whether that’s, you know, a business email compromise, spear phishing, a type of attack, or just somebody sending you a link that’s trying to give them access to something they shouldn’t have access to, you know since email is that gateway, I would say, focusing on that email first and foremost, is, is a great way. And if they’re paying monthly for some service that may be called email security or email protection, they still need to look closely and not just assume that, that that’s everything, seek email security related, you know, again, whether they have their own cybersecurity professional or somebody like me, who can do an email, health check for them and make sure that all of those different things are turned on. Because there isn’t just one piece of that puzzle.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Could you tell us a little bit about what your check is for an email to make sure that the office is safe?

Stephen Jordan: Yeah, so I use several different outside checkers, you know, it’s kind of nice with this. I can’t just look at any company out there and say, Oh, they have great antivirus software, they have great group policy or, you know, I can’t see their internal systems from out here. But I can see a lot about their email security from outside. So I have several different utilities online that’ll check different facets of their email settings and their DNS settings, MX records. And there are lots of acronyms I may be throwing out so don’t worry if you don’t know what they are, I know what they are. But there’s you know, with SPF and Deacon and D mark, and DNS, sec and MTA STS and TLS RPT and all these different, you know, the acronyms of things, are they enabled? And are they up and running so that we can count on that entity having as much protection on that domain name as they can?

Dr. Barbara Hales: So is sound cybersecurity mainly dealing with email security?

Stephen Jordan: I’d say mainly right now is my main focus. There are other services that I do provide. But I guess you could say I’m really on a mission right now to educate business owners and doctors included about demark. That is one of the, I think, easiest ways to put an end to business email compromise. And you know, it’s nothing in the industry is perfect, nobody can tell you that you’re always 100% protected. But that’s kind of my mission right now, is that email security.

Distinguishing Real and Hacker Email

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, you know, I know that it is foolhardy to download any attachment, especially if you don’t really know where they’re coming from. But if a hacker said that they were a lab, and they would like you to download test results, that would seem quite natural. How do you avoid or distinguish between the real test results, and a hacker dreaming up yet a new trick for you?

Stephen Jordan: Yeah, and then that, that to social engineering is the biggest challenge because in the end, it’s that person sitting there staring at that message, that is the final line in the defenses that we’ve put up. So them getting that as it is a struggle, whether it’s coming from a lab, or UPS, shipping, or whatever the source is, that looks so trusted and so real. But I think in the end, you know, I’ve always, you know, the old adage, call before you dig that your gas company always tries to get you to do you know, call before you click is really the big thing that I’ve always told my clients over the years, you you just, if you’re not absolutely certain, then give that lab a call and find out if that’s really from them. And they should be able to help you find that out. Now down the road, if this continues to become a bigger and bigger problem, I hope to see more. You know, use of file transfer services that you can, you know, log into securely online and obtain those things instead of doing them by email. You know, even when I get an email, then from a valid vendor that says I have an invoice, I don’t click on that email, I go to that vendor’s website and log in. And look at my invoices on that website. So that way, yeah, it’s a nice little notification in my inbox that I’ve got an invoice. But yeah, links in invoices should always be something that we approach with caution.

Stephen’s Career Journey

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you get involved in this?

Stephen Jordan: Oh, wow. You know, it’s an event an evolution of things over time. I, as you mentioned in my intro to the industry evolving. You know, I guess I knew from a young age that I wanted to get involved with computers, you know, embarrassing to say, but it was my senior year in high school when there was actually a computer in the one computer in the entire school. And I happened to get into a basic programming class and decided from that that computer science would be my degree when I started college and it didn’t take me long though in into all of that to decide that programming really wasn’t what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. And that’s when I started you know, picking up books and started reading all those manuals that put you to sleep and figuring out how it works. And that just evolved from one thing to another.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are there a lot of other companies or competitors of yours in this field, it doesn’t really seem like there are.

Stephen JordanL Yeah, because I’m a little bit of an anomaly, I think in the industry. They, you know, they’ve evolved to a point where we have managed service providers and managed security service providers. And they continue to try to do everything. And that was one of the biggest struggles as I was creating and molding this to business was just, you know, how can I break free from having all of that, to have to worry about and take care of and just focus on the specific things? And so I don’t, I think there’s a lot of different companies that still do the things that I do, but they also do so much more. And in the process of doing that so much more, a lot of those specific individuals targeted, things get overlooked.

Electronic Health Records

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s very sensible. And so what I would like to say, you know, normally I asked for the interviewee to give one good tip, you know, to their listeners, about their services. But, and, of course, if you have one good tip, you know, we’d all like to hear it. But from my perspective, the one good tip is, like, Ron, don’t want to hire this guy here. Because, you know, just cybersecurity for doctor’s records is so, so crucial. Now, in terms of electronic health records, are you involved in that as well?

Stephen Jordan

No, you’re not, not directly. I mean, obviously, anytime I’m helping somebody with cybersecurity that comes into perspective, but I don’t, the things that I do, don’t ever give me access to those things. Now, if I were your IT company, your managed service provider, I’m probably going to be providing services that are going to expose those things or give me access to those things. But the cybersecurity services that I provide, keep me away from those things and outside of that purview, and protect the things that could then give somebody access to those records.

Dr. Barbara Hales

Right. So this is like really important for people to distinguish, because they may be under the false hope or premise that the company that they are affiliated with in terms of their electronic health record, you know, promises them security, but the fact is, their computer is used for much more than just their electronic health records. And that’s where you come in.

Stephen Jordan: Yeah, exactly. I think probably one of the biggest objections is I reach out to companies and show them, you know, I’ll send them some email messages and call them about it and show them a screenshot that shows exactly where the vulnerability is. And one of the things I often hear is, Well, I already have an IT guy. And then that there, the flip side of that goes back to me is I remember all the years of you know, sitting in meetings with clients, and something would come up and they’d go, yes, Stephens taking care of that for us, and I’m sitting there going, No, I don’t take care of that for you, you know, they they have this false perception that IT guy is doing everything for them. And unfortunately, as hard as we try, we’re not. So somebody needs to point out those other areas and have the time to tackle those areas. Because those guys, I know, they’re insanely busy with the day-to-day technology, and issues of taking care of their clients, and they just don’t have the time to do everything.

Skeptical Clients

Dr. Barbara Hales: Right. So, you know, if you’re just flying solo with no insurance, you know, this is the time to really consider, you know, speaking with, you know, this guy Soundcyber Security, to keep your record safe, and to keep your computer system and your office from having a major meltdown would not be a pretty sight. Agreed. Do you have any horror stories for us and how you were able to convert them?

Stephen Jordan: Oh, gosh, it’s a simple one that comes to mind is just an attorney that I had worked with for many years. And he, he was probably amongst my most skeptical of clients for a long, long time. And I had been hounding him and hounding him he had been a holdout on using some old email system. And he just wasn’t getting it. And finally, one day, one of his staff received an email message with a Microsoft Word document and opened it up. And, you know, that Word document ended up grabbing every single email address that they could get their hands on out of the email account. And unfortunately, that was his receptionist, and she had access to his email account. So they had a huge compromise of all the email addresses and email messages that had been received. And so you know, he had a huge cleanup to do and notifying all of those people about, hey, this has happened, they have my email address, you might be a little skeptical about anything you receive from me right now. And it took him some serious effort.

And then, but then, of course, he was wide awake to the reality of the need, of what I have been hounding him about for literally probably two years that I had been trying to get him off of that, and to get better protection in place. So So in the end, it turns out good because they are awake, and now ready to proceed. I always tell everybody, you know, I can get you from point A to point B, but you’ve got to arrive at point A, you you’ve got to arrive there realizing Yes, I do need to address matters of cybersecurity, I’ve got to pay attention to this. But I’m never going to get you to point B if the whole route, you’re you know, you’re questioning and doubting and being suspicious of my motives every single step of the way. You know, it’s tough. And unfortunately, he’s an attorney. So I guess that’s the way he has to be right in his profession. But some back to that original.

Dr. Barbara Hales: As an attorney, he must also realize that it’s far beyond like, Oops, I’m sorry. I mean, I get, you know, like libellous to the tune of millions of dollars.

Stephen Jordan: Yes, yeah. And the reputation of that. I agree.

Cyber Insurance

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are you insured or bonded for any oops?

Stephen Jordan: Yes, I am. And as funny you say, oops, because I was thinking of that just a second ago that was one of the reasons I think I became a, IT person instead of a doctor I can say, oops, and nobody’s going to die. But at the same time, yes, I do keep that insurance up and everybody, not just in my industry, but any business needs that cyber insurance and, and the requirements to meet that you have to meet now to get cyber insurance or at least get it at decent rates are quite stringent. So that’ll that alone is quite the process.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are there licensing and certifications that you have to go through periodically to like show that you know, like, You are the man?

Stephen Jordan: Yeah, yeah, there are industry certifications, compute is a security plus is the one that I have. And they’ve got some newer versions of that that I’m working on. And yeah, in this industry, it’s constantly you know, which 1500-page book am I going to read next? And so yeah, it’s it is a constant and ongoing process.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So can I assume then that you don’t have any Netflix programs that you are hot and heavy about?

Stephen Jordan: No, I know, not much on Netflix. I probably spend more of my time on YouTube learning about things or you know, just catching up on the latest of this or that but yeah, I have to put the book down sometime and get some break from all of this. And I can’t read them before going to bed or that, you know, that doesn’t do much good other than put me to sleep pretty quickly.

Dr. Barbara Hales: But they make good bedtime stories for the kids don’t they?

Stephen Jordan: Yeah.

Dr. Barbara Hales:

For our listeners out there that are now sweating under the collar saying like, Oh my God, I don’t know how I have missed doing this before and I have to reach this guy. How can Get hold of you?

Stephen Jordan: So several different ways. Of course, they can go to my website sound cybersecurity.com And there’s a Contact page there. They can call me directly. The phone number is 866-772-8181 and of course, they can send me an email. It’s Stephen, S T E P H E N at sound cybersecurity.com.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, it’s been a real eye-opener having you on the show today and I’m sure our listeners are sitting at the edge of their seats. Only leaving their see to get the Tom’s for their indigestion now, thinking like, what this is another thing that I can’t afford to delay, delay on. Thank you so much for being with us today.

This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. We have been talking about cyber security, and it’s really been an eye-opener. Till next time.

The post Prevent Cyber Attack! first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Jeff discuss:

• How Storytelling Creates a Human Connection
• Why Should Doctors Start Storytelling
• How Can You Use Stories In Marketing

Key Takeaways:

“We are living our lives in the process of a story. And because of that, every one of us has stories. All of us, if you have a pulse, you have stories to tell.” – Jeff Bartsch

“You can do this. Everyone can do this. And it is incredibly powerful for you and your business when you do.” – Jeff Bartsch

Connect with Jeff Bartsch:

Website: https://www.StoryGreenlight.com/MTD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-bartsch-0265934/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storygreenlight/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryGreenlight/featured

Podcast: https://www.storygreenlight.com/podcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffbartsch/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com

Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

Books:

• Content Copy Made Easy
• 14 Tactics to Triple Sales
• Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we have with us, Jeff Bartsch. He’s a visionary, storyteller, marketing strategist, and founder of story Greenlight. With over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry and online business, Jeff has helped shape content for clients, including ABC, NBC, Universal, Disney, Apple, and many others. Quite impressive.

Jeff’s commentary has been featured in major publications, including Time Magazine, USA Today, and the Associated Press. At the Story Greenlight, Jeff and his team Empower experts and professional advisors to tell their stories, serve more clients and expand their impact in the world. He believes that the power of the story is within reach of everyone. And that human connection is everything. Welcome to the show, Jeff.

Jeff Bartsch: Thank you, Barbara. I am so looking forward to this. This is going to be good.

Learning To Play from the Soul

Dr. Barbara Hales: Jeff, tell us about your background. Your resume sounds pretty impressive.

Jeff Bartsch: I’ve spent my life doing a lot of different things that I thought were separate. But turns out they’re a lot more connected than I realized. And a lot of people who don’t realize this, might not know that I spent the first 20 years of my life being known as “Jeff the Piano Guy”. I started playing the piano when I was four years old. I started playing by ear. Shortly thereafter I started playing, I started taking classical lessons. As I was learning how to play the piano, I really liked Bach and Mozart. For people who are familiar with classical music, you’ll know that Bach and Mozart are very clean, and they’re very technical. I really liked Bach and Mozart because I could play what was on the page. I didn’t have to worry about any crazy, emotional, weird, fluffy stuff. I just wanted to do things by the book and play what was on the page.

I learned more about piano and I kept getting better and better. The more I learned about piano, the more frustrated I got with Sunday mornings, because I grew up going to church every Sunday morning, and every single song we would sing had five verses. We sang every single verse of every hymn. We sang it the same way every single time. And I’m sitting here, I was 10 years old. I just wanted to jump out a window, I was bored out of my mind, it drove me nuts. I remember that I was in fourth grade, I think I was 10 or 11 years old, I was at the church and was playing on the piano. This lady comes up to me and says, Jeff, it’s all good. It’s okay to play what’s on the page. But as you get older, you learn to play from your soul. When I heard that, I thought, this has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. I didn’t tell her that because I didn’t want to be disrespectful to her. But I thought she was completely full of it.

I wish I could tell you that there was one moment when I realized that she was right because she was. But what happened over the years, I started seeing how people responded to the way it was playing. So instead of just saying, oh, Jeff, you’re really good at playing the piano, you’re really good at that. They would say, Jeff, the way you play that piano today, really made the words of that song come to life for me. And they would say, you made the message of this come to life for me. And I’ve come closer to God because of it. Thank you so much. What I realized eventually, what I was doing, I was taking notes on the page, and I was telling a story that brought the message to life.

That’s what I’ve been doing ever since. I mean, I learned about video production in high school and I take even the most cynical crowd of high school seniors and they would just watch absolutely enraptured at the story. I ended up out in Los Angeles and I ended up doing that same thing in LA for 20 years for all these different TV networks for ABC and NBC and apple and all these other folks. What I’ve come to learn is it’s not enough to play by the book. You can’t just play the notes on the page because when you tell the right story, you connect with people. When people connect with you, they trust you and they choose you over anyone else who’s doing what you’re doing. I think that’s incredibly important for people in your audience to realize.

Storytelling To Create Human Connection

Dr. Barbara Hales: I love that story. What that highlights more than anything else, though, is we just need to be human and show our human side. That’s really what people want to know who we are, as well as what we’re all about. What type of storytelling create human connection?

Jeff Bartsch: Well, here’s the thing. Storytelling seems to be this thing, it’s this thing that we all think we know about, because we all do it, whether we realize it or not, we can see that some people are really good at it. We say, Oh, they’re really good at that. They must have some super special skills. But we know that there’s power there. There’s something that we all always know, but we don’t always know the power of what of what’s behind it.

The reason that storytelling is so powerful is that it helps solve problems that we have, as human beings and certainly, as medical professionals, because when you have it used to be that medical providers have all the information, we have specific, highly specialized information. Now, everyone has it. It used to be that doctors, you could have the right letters after your name. You can put on a white lab coat and walk to the room and people would instantly trust you. Today, people are far less trusting than they used to be. So you say, Okay, if anyone can look up Google, look up Dr Google and say, Okay, well, everyone walks in thinking they know the answers already. Why should people trust us? And why should people choose us over everyone else that does what we do?

‘That’s why storytelling is so incredibly powerful. I’m actually kind of geeking out about this because normally, I have to go into this whole thing about storytelling. The current research on storytelling shows that the chemicals in your brain are altered when you experience hearing a story. It literally alters the chemicals; it alters the hormones in your bloodstream. You have to tell people that oh, well, when you have certain chemicals going in your blood, your body reacts in certain ways, and you feel things. Thankfully, I think, I think the doctors in the crowd here can get that. But here’s the thing, when you tell the right story, your brain changes the chemicals in your bloodstream. It releases oxytocin, which is the human bonding hormone. It’s the same chemical that goes through the mother’s body when she gives birth to a baby, and they start feeling things

This is why there is a direct neurological and physiological connection between hearing a story and the physical experiences that come into the audience as a result. Not a lot of people know that. But it’s an incredibly important thing. When you use this process correctly, you make people feel things and when people feel things, they trust you, they feel connected with you, and they are willing to listen to what you have to say. They are willing to pick the people who do what they are willing to pick you instead of everyone else who does what you do.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Let me ask you an interesting question. That is in terms of increased hormonal release and increase empathy, an increased feeling which is at a higher state causing the person listening to his story or the person relating the story.

Jeff Bartsch: Well, I will say, I am not a doctor. I’m not a medical researcher. I’m not a neuroscientist, I can say, am a professional, lifelong storyteller. There is an emotional activity that happens between the sender and the receiver. The more times you tell your story, as the sender, the more use you get to it. It becomes more familiar to you. A story that you tell when you were first putting it together when you first craft it, makes you feel all sorts of feelings and you got all kinds of emotions going.

That was the first time for you. Imagine that’s more likely to be what happens in your audience when you tell it the right way to the right people at the right time. To your question, the emotional effects will fade in the teller. But the first time that the audience hears it, that emotional impact happens every time. And then if they hear the story, again, it starts fading for them. But that’s why we get to tell our stories over and over.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Were you encouraged to tell stories when you were growing up at home?

Jeff Bartsch: It wasn’t really put in those terms. My parents always said, Hey, let’s find what you’re good at. And do that and be excellent. Whatever you do, do it all for God’s glory, do that. And, so the way that looked was, my family has always been very musical. It was an environment that encouraged music. And, and it turned out that I had, some sort of, I won’t get into the whole nature versus nurture in terms of genetics, and genetics versus environment thing, but I do believe that I had some sort of innate leaning towards music, and my environment, just ratcheted that up. I ended up doing that in a lot of different forms for the rest of my life.

Storytelling Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales: With the demand on keeping the patient-doctor encounter to a minimum of time, how does one still manage to tell an effective story? And why should doctors care about storytelling?

Jeff Bartsch: That’s a really excellent question. I will say, from my own personal experience, I’ve, I’ve experienced what it’s like to be inside what feels like a doctor factory, the single most valuable time is of the doctor or the partner, or whoever is the core medical provider. That’s why the nurse does all the things. That’s why the people in the front office do all the things all the prep work. That instant, the doctor can walk in the door. You can do what you do, and you can move on and you can serve more, you can serve more patients. The question then becomes, how do you establish an emotional connection with your patients, as a doctor?

The question is how do you show up? This isn’t just about what you say to your patient when you walk in the door. It’s also how are you showing up in the world. Outside your practice, outside your office? Because when you have a website, you can have a practice that’s built on 100% referrals, and you may have zero marketing dollars because you’re amazing with your people. But even when your people say, Oh, you got to check out, you got to check out this doctor, you got to check out this practice. They are amazing. They’ve changed my life. What do you think the first thing, that person who is hearing this is going to do? They are going to go to the internet, and they’re going to see what they can find on you. They’re going to look you up. What are you seeing on your website? If you have a social media presence, which I’m not necessarily saying that all doctors or all medical practitioners should have social media, sometimes that is great. Sometimes it’s not the right fit. But when you do, what are you saying? How are you showing up? If I could have people remember one thing from our whole conversation here, so many people think that having great information and sharing information online is the solution.

That is no longer the way the world works. Everyone has information now. Unless you are on the bleeding edge of medical research, and you’re researching information that has never been attempted before in the history of mankind. Unless you’re right there. There is nothing that you can say to give people information that they cannot find online for themselves. What is left? How do we create that human connection?

That’s why storytelling is so important, especially for doctors who are known for being incredibly educated, and incredibly smart, working 25 hours out of every 24. This is why storytelling can be so powerful you can use it. Wherever you show up. Whenever you walk into an exam room, you can even say something as simple as what happened to my wife and me, we have journeyed through a long, long infertility process. The result that was our two children are domestically adopted. We adopted both of our kids, and you will not believe how happy we were to go to our pediatrician. And she starts asking questions about our little son at the time. And we mentioned that we had adopted him and she says, Oh, I’m adopted too. Instant connection. That opened up an entirely another level of connection. Now, did she tell us a story? Not in that very instant. But she did later on. The whole point of storytelling is not just to tell stories, the whole point of storytelling is human connection.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Just in saying that one sentence, you just envisioned the whole story?

Jeff Bartsch: Yeah. Information is not enough. We have to connect as human beings. And what can be more human than a medical provider helping heal each other, helping bring healing and restoration into the world. There here is no medical practitioner who doesn’t have incredibly powerful material to work with. It’s so cool. I get so geeked out about this.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes. And after all, that’s what the health professional is all about.

Jeff Bartsch: 100%

Using Story in Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales: What might it look like for doctors to use a story in their marketing?

Jeff Bartsch: That is an excellent question as well. Here’s the thing. Number one, you need to figure out who you are, what your goal is, and how you show up in the world. That’s an entirely separate conversation. That’s part of the process that I take my clients through, we talk about something called story alignment, and we talk about who is involved in, what they want. Is everyone getting what they want? And do the stories line up? Once that’s in place, you start saying what is the message that you want to take to the world. How do you say that? Once you figure out that messaging, you say, Okay, what’s the strategy for what you put out into the world? And only then do you start saying, Okay, I’m going to put one paragraph on my website, based in light of all these other things that we’ve already put into place, and say, this is why I help people heal. This is why I do this. This is a moment that I remember, knowing that this was my life’s calling, something like that. It can be something as simple as one paragraph, telling your story on your website, or it can be something as complex as having an entire portfolio of stories and interesting pieces of information woven together, that you then put out over all the channels that you have, you know, whether you’re showing up in a community meeting, whether you’re showing up on a podcast, or if you’re showing up as a wellness practitioner on TikTok, that can actually be really good. You don’t have to dance around like a crazy person to do it. All those questions have to be answered before you start saying, Okay, what is worth my precious time? What will give me the biggest impact on the effort that I put into it?

I can give you a tool right now. We got some minutes to dig into this really quickly. One of the things that people think is that storytelling has to be really complicated, and the fact of the matter is, the longer your story is the more moving parts it has, and the more chances it has to fall apart and not work. This is why so many people complain about Hollywood having so many terrible TVs and movies because they’re trying to hold people’s attention for a long time. The good news for us is that the shorter the piece that we’re doing, the fewer moving pieces we need. There is one framework, and frameworks can get super complex, it can have 30 million moving parts, I’m going to give you one framework to think of when you’re telling a story before twist after framework. In order to tell any emotional story that sticks in people’s minds and has the best chance of actually altering the chemicals and style inside in their bloodstream.

The best stories need to have three specific ingredients. You need to have a specific character; you need to have a specific moment. You need to have genuine emotion. Now, don’t just talk about your patient in terms of this general person. Talk about one specific patient, obviously keeping HIPAA in mind. Let’s not make the HIPAA people mad. Think of one specific character. Think of one specific moment. I started this conversation here with a moment with one character, me at age 10, talking with this lady who was saying something that I thought was really stupid, this was one specific moment. And there was genuine emotion attached to it. And at that moment, it doesn’t have to necessarily be anything crazy, or emotionally overwrought. You don’t have to ugly cry every time you tell a story in order for it to work. At that moment, I was a little worried about this lady really knowing what she was talking about. But then as I went on in the story, I talked about the emotion that I was experiencing from other people, and how that changed me.

So that’s just basically, barely scratching the surface of how this all works. Because one of the things I like to talk about stories, I like to say about stories is like you can go out to if you’d like to say that you go out surfing and you go to the beach, and you surf in the ocean and catch some waves and you come back and you say I know the ocean now?

Well, yes, you just surf down the ocean a little bit. But man, there’s a lot more to know about the ocean. And there is a lot more to know about storytelling and how it interacts with the hearts and minds of people and how it can be used to create those connections for the very best reasons that bring people towards you. And they say, yes, I want what you’re offering. I choose you. I believe that you’re the person to help me. And here’s my money. And seriously, that’s not just getting people to give you their money. That’s not just that, that is not the ultimate end. It’s trust, it’s having a better life. But man, if you can get the people to the place where they’re willing to say yes, give you the money, and choose you over everyone else, that’s when their life changes.

Content Creation

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. And I’m glad that you brought up TikTok because a lot of professionals might think that it’s silly.

Jeff Bartsch: Well, it can be. It can be silly.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Like it can be but it’s an opportunity to tell an entire story in only two and a half minutes. If you are shy about being behind the camera, you don’t have to be. You could show a medical machine and then say what the procedure is and then tell what the success of using that machine was or who the candidates are for using that machine with like words. You don’t actually have to appear on video if you know if you’re shy behind the camera, and I have a little confession.

Jeff Bartsch: Oh, oh, we hear it first.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I actually found a chiropractor from seeing his video on Tiktok.

Jeff Bartsch: Nice.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You know of course I then went to see more about him. You know, it’s not like I just saw a TikTok video and said, Oh, yeah is the guy for me. But the initial introduction between the two of us was actually me seeing his bone-cracking technique on a video.

Jeff Bartsch: Yeah. Well, and here’s and so, first of all, I love that. And here’s how that chiropractor can take what he’s doing, and make even more of an impact with it. Because obviously, when people are looking you up, they want to know, does this person know what they’re talking about? That’s always something that any prospective client or patient or prospect that you know, anyone who is considering working with you, needs to know. Do you know what you’re talking about? Then the second thing is, do I believe that this is the right person for me? Do I trust them?

When you show up, make sure that it’s not just about telling personal stories. You also have to prove that you know what you’re talking about. This chiropractor clearly showed that this technique worked, and it got your interest. What he can also do is say, there was a time when I experienced this myself or one of my patients who has allowed me to talk about this story, was feeling this. And he or she was feeling this way. And when they engaged and nothing was working. And they were incredibly frustrated. But when they engage with this machine or with this process, the change was incredible. After they did it, this is what happened. This is how they felt about it. This is how they’re doing now. And it’s an incredibly powerful thing. I’d love to invite you to come to see it for yourself. So, it’s not just about the machine. It’s about the people and how they felt before they use the machine and how they feel afterward.

Before, Twist, After Framework

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. And I think that’s a great way to present it both before and after. Yeah. Does storytelling have to be complicated? What is the simplest way that you could put the story to use?

Jeff Bartsch: Number one, no, storytelling does not need to be complicated. Some of the best stories are the simplest. And I think we’ve already kind of touched on that little framework a little bit. Because a lot of people hear about storytelling, and they think oh yeah, I have to go into a whole hero’s journey, I have to go into a three-act structure, oh, I need to tell a seven-step story brand, which, by the way, if you’re familiar with Donald Miller and story brand, he is fantastic. He’s influenced a lot of my work. If you really want if you want to create a genuine emotion, connection with emotional connection with people, I would offer that the easiest way that anyone can do that is to use the before, twist, after framework, use that and make sure you include those three ingredients, we talked about the specific character, the specific moment, and genuine emotion. And the reason that I would, I would offer those for your consideration is because the specificity is where the magic and the emotion happen. Because if we try to tell this great big broad thing, that’s where you know, we’ve helped lots of people overall, with lots of different kinds of conditions. And it’s been really good. Well,

Dr. Barbara Hales: Not emotional.

Jeff Bartsch: Yeah, not emotional. It’s like when you’ve been in these moments in your life when you think about when time stood still, you were completely present. And you were just fully aware of everything that was happening. that’s like the moment on my wedding day when I turned around in this mansion, and I turned around at the bottom of the staircase, and I saw my wife, my soon-to-be wife walking down the staircase, and I saw her in her wedding dress for the first time. I remember saying to myself, mental moment. No shutter in my mind. I will never forget that moment. And that is why it’s so powerful to tell stories before twisting afterthoughts. focusing on that specific moment.

Medically, and psychologically, when you do that there is something called the co-creative process that engages brain activity in the audience. And there are some studies that show that the co-creative process engages brain activity in such a way that people cannot. The fMRI readouts actually show that the brains think that they are experiencing that thing themselves, just by hearing the story from someone else. So that is where the magic comes from, is when you can suck in your audience to one moment, one character, genuinely motion, and that causes their brains to say, Oh, that reminds me of this time when I felt like this, or I had a moment like this, or I knew a person like this, or I felt like this. That’s when that all starts gelling together. And that’s why it’s so powerful. being specific.

Dr. Barbara Hales: At this stage of the interview, I usually ask the person that I’m interviewing for one or two tips from my listeners, but I feel that you’ve given us so many helpful tips. I would like to have answered that a lot of people may be thinking if this is something new to them, or how they could capitalize on this. And a doctor may be saying, I have a lot of stories, but how do I choose the one that will be in best alignment with the people that I am associating with as patients?

Choosing The Best Story to Tell

Jeff Bartsch: Oh, I love that. That is so important because there are so many ways that a story cannot work. If you’re open to this, I’m going to go pull back the curtain a little bit and go a little inside baseball on this. Okay, I love that. The reason I picked the story that I opened with, in our conversation here, I was thinking about my audience, which is your audience, I was thinking about you as the primary audience, and the people listening to your podcast. I’m thinking, what are their problems? They are busy. They are experts in their field. They don’t know what they don’t know, they are not experts in marketing. That’s not why they went to medical school. Marketing is a world unto itself. How do you offer something to these incredibly busy, smart, intelligent, educated, and often frustrated and tired people that will actually help them in their life?

And so that’s what was going through my brain when I was picking this story. One that I opened up the story with, and I used it, I talked about a moment when I was a kid, which is instantly relatable because we’ve all been kids. I was talking about why I played the piano. And I specifically talked about how I loved Bach and Mozart because I liked to be able to play things by the book I use, I loved to play put the notes on the page, I didn’t have to worry about this fluffy stuff, none of this emotion. It’s just I just want to play by the book. And I picked that because I predicted in my mind that that’s something that might be happening in the hearts and minds of your audience. So, when it comes to your listeners saying how do I pick what stories resonate? You need to know number one, you need to know who your audience is. You need to know what their problems are. You need to know what they want. You also need to know what’s the goal. What do you want them to know or do or feel after they hear the story? My goal for telling that story at the beginning of our conversation here, my goal was to get to the end. And for the audience to feel like they know a little bit more about me. That was my number one goal.

I also wanted them to know that I want that message of playing by the book, playing by the rules sticking to no frills, no fluff, sticking to the science stick to the data. I want them to be able to feel some sort of connection to that. And then I also want it to put the conversation into place to move things forward. When your audience is choosing what story to tell, they need to know their audience what and what does situation is and what their audience needs, what they want to have to happen. If your goal is to say, what do I put on my website? That’s going to be a completely different thing, then what do I say? What do I say to a mother, when I’m about to tell her that she can’t have children? Because I’ve been there. And I was not expecting that to happen. But you know, that’s what happens. You have to know what story will speak the right message to the people given what you’re talking about. Well, that took a turn.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that is something that will only make you more respected, and make you also a storyteller extraordinaire. Because you can not only bring your own emotion to the story, but you can elicit emotion from the people listening.

Jeff Bartsch: Well, and what I want everyone to know, this is not just a trick, this is not a fad. This is not a random social platform, that will that has sprung up and will be gone in 10 years, or even three years, or whatever. This is a way of creating human connection. It’s how human beings connect with each other. And the reason it’s so universal, it’s because this is how we are all living our lives. We are living our lives in the process of a story. And because of that, every one of us has stories. All of us if you have a pulse, you have stories to tell. And the thing that so many people think is that well, I don’t have I don’t my stories aren’t any good. My life is boring. I will give you a newsflash, everyone thinks that everyone, everyone is most familiar with their own life. And they think my life is normal. My life is boring. What is ordinary to you is amazing to others. And so that’s you know, so I want to encourage anyone who’s thinking, do I have stories to tell? Yes, you do. Is it possible for me to tell them without being a TED talker? Yes. Do you have to be an expert? No, you do not. You can do this. Everyone can do this. And it is incredibly powerful for you and your business when you do.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I think that is wonderful advice for people to remember that nobody really has a very boring life. You know, there’s something special about everyone. I mean even someone that would have been locked in a room and never seen the world their entire life. That in itself is an interesting story. We all have stories. And that’s something to keep in mind.

Jeff Bartsch: 100%

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I loved this episode. Thank you so much for being with us today. You all have been listening to Jeff Bartsch, a storyteller extraordinaire. And please check out the websites that he would like you to know about, which is story greenlight.com/MTD

Jeff Bartsch: That’s Marketing Tips for Doctors story greenlight.com/MTD, have some extra resources, especially for your listeners would love to help you help give you some tools to help you tell stories to help you create those human connections and to keep the conversation going.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors. Thanks for being here with us today. Till next time

The post Storytelling Is A Doctor’s Most Effective Medicine w/ Jeff Bartsch first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Steve discuss:

• How to write, publish and market your book
  How to be an author, and how to succeed in the process
  How Thriving Best Seller can help you in creating the best book.

Key Takeaways:

“There is somebody who needs who you are what you do in the world, your specifics, your specialty, they need you to be the one that does what you do for them.” – Steve Kidd.

Connect with Steve Kidd:

Website: http://thrivingbestsellers.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-kidd-90236655/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzk7pnddt893XlgqTv5Ko5Q
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AskSteveKidd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevekidd

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

TRANSCRIPTION

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Steve Kidd.

Steve’s big heart is what sets him apart, an international best-selling author of more than 20 books, and a third-generation minister, he fills the world with hope, and God’s energy, a diamond that shines through each person he brings growth to and a diamond that is a living and breathing, growing spirit that blooms through each one.

He doesn’t need to shine or be seen. He is seen through everything he touches. The best in the world is seeing the upper level, the next, the more. He is the extreme visionary, living a life of purpose and a vision that sees beyond the bleeding edge of what is coming next to the air being sliced through in front of it.

If you want insight into trends, projecting and possibilities come coming before it even seems possible. Steve is your guy. Welcome to the show, Steve.

Steve Kidd: Thanks so much for having me, Barbara. I appreciate it.

Promoting and Launching Books

Dr. Barbara Hales: So Steve, one of your talents is that you help people create books or launch their books so that they can promote their services. Tell us about your process.

Steve Kidd: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I work with people all the way from, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do all the way to they’ve had a book for as much as I think 20 years is about the oldest book that I’ve worked with to help them market at the bestseller.

But yeah, we work with a person to help them determine who they’re going to write what they’re going to write, and who they’re writing it to put that together into a book form, do it via interview because all busy professionals are too busy to sit down and put pen to paper or type things out.

And so just simply being able to take the time to talk and have others come in and put that together for you makes a huge difference in your ability to actually put your book out. And then we have story development editors, grammar editors, and graphics people, formatted for eBook and print form. And then most importantly, we have a program for helping you become a best-selling author, we absolutely guarantee it. We’ve done it 1000s upon 1000s of times with a 100% success rate. And the really cool part about those 1000s of people is that equates to literally millions of people that their messages have reached. That’s pretty cool.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s pretty impressive. Are you ghostwriting? Or are you putting them together with ghostwriters from your team?

Steve Kidd: I shy away from the phrase ghostwriting because a typical ghostwriter is going to do some type of interview process but then they write it in their voice and their style. I rather am conducting an interview and helping the person through their words put together a book that is very much in their voice sounds like them and is them versus being the ghostwriter. So we do it all via interview and an editor people but we don’t actually have a ghostwriter. Specifically, that’s just going to take your germ of an idea and run with it and make it really essentially theirs.

The Process of Creating a Book

Dr. Barbara Hales: How long does that process take?

Steve Kidd: It doesn’t take very long at all, actually, you know, usually, it’s about a 30-day process it really honestly, if you go more than about 90 days and the creation of your book, um, it means that other things are happening in your life, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It could be that you fell in love and got married or had a new baby or those kinds of things. But all of those good and bad life events, mess with our schedules. And but you know, I mean, as far as just, in general, 90 days is the longest it should ever take for you to go from no idea to a completely done book and have it be on the bestseller list.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What platform are you publishing the books on?

Steve Kidd: I focus exclusively on Amazon. Number one, Amazon sells in the high 90 percentile of all books that are sold in the world now. So if you want to sell books in this day and age, you want to be Amazon’s BFF. But when it comes to their bestseller list, they’re the only statistically driven bestseller list that I know.

Meaning that if a book is number two, and another book is number three, book number two sold more copies of the book during that timeframe. Now it is a little bit more volatile list than some of the others. But when you start looking at like the New York Times or other ones like that, those are editorials.

They take the information on wholesale purchases by companies like Walmart or Sam’s Club or things like that. And then they literally just write an editorial on out of that list who they believe the best-selling books are. And there’s a lot of criteria for and a lot of people that I’ve heard 1000s upon 1000s of stories of people who, statistically, were on the bestseller list, but they didn’t get included.

And again because it’s wholesale purchases that have no direct comparison to who got the book or who read the book. So we focus primarily on Amazon because we want to do something that’s for real for you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is your book promotion through social media?

Steve Kidd: We do a combination of social media, paid marketing, organic traffic, email, and all of those kinds of things. So that we can really get the start going, and then there’s beyond after because the best seller is only the beginning, your book should be a best seller really on day one. And then there’s a whole bunch of additional marketing things that we can do, building your community and your fan base so that your book really continues to sell if the sale of your book is what’s important. And sometimes the book is just building a really great foundation for the thing that really is important.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And if someone has no clue as to what they should put out on their book, what their topics should be that would best reflect who they are, or the services that they provide, I assume then that you talk it through with them to discover what that would be.

Steve Kidd: Yeah, yeah, that’s a lot of fun for me to talk about, what are you passionate about? What are the things that you would say? What are the things that you always say, and help them really discover? The book that’s inside of them? Or what should be the first of all the books that are inside of them to come out?

Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you get into this Steve?

How Steve Starts Creating books and his connections

Steve Kidd: As far as specifically books go, in 2007, the lady that I was then married to and my second youngest daughter, were huge fans of the movie, Twilight, if you remember that movie. And actually, because we lived near where the first movie was filmed, they went on a mother-daughter trip for my daughter’s 18th birthday visiting all of the filming sites for Twilight and blogging about their journey and stuff. And that grew into not just a book, or not just a blog, but into a full book. And I helped them put that together into the print format and publish it. And it was actually at one point, the number one best-selling movie-related travel guide on Amazon.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I see. Now I understand that with the success of some books, you’re able to get people on some TV programs. Tell us about that.

Steve Kidd: So it’s just such a night and day difference between having nothing, I think of Dr. Alicia Griffith, because that I know specifically is one of the examples I gave you. Dr. Alicia Griffith is a medical doctor. She’s an audiologist. She’s been in that field for 20 years, interestingly, and dealing almost primarily with kids with autism. And the interesting part is 10 years into her medical journey. Her son that was born was born autistic. So she has a very practical real-world life experience in it. But nobody knew who she was. And we helped her put together a book about the amazing gift that is her son and then began to show her how to be able to mark it that she was first on TBN.

And the interviewer pretty well held the book up for the camera to see almost the entire half an hour, I think the interview was in that particular one. And then she was invited to be on Good Morning America and segments on Good Morning America, like three to five minutes. And they talked all about her book and all the things that she does with autistic children. But as she said many times over, she’s gotten more out of being a best-selling author than she is out of having been a doctor in her same field for 20 years.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I can imagine that as I tell a lot of my clients if everything is equal and there are 10 colleagues in the room doing the same thing. Who is the prospective patient going to choose? And it’s going to be the person that wrote the book because obviously, the perception is that they are the ones that are the authority in the field.

So when a person goes through this process with you and they have the best-selling book is that what your services end? Or do they go on for other things?

Steve Kidd: So I mean, ultimately, we’re a marketing company with a strong publishing division. I’ve been a marketing company since 1988. We were early adopters in digital marketing and the internet space. In fact, the word The internet didn’t exist back when we were doing that to begin with. So for quite a while. We have everything I like to call it publishing to the best sellers and beyond. So there are a lot of things.

And it’s really about having a program and an understanding of what you really want to do. I mean, yes, you can sell books, and you can make anywhere from one to $5, depending on the margins of your book. But it takes a long time at Let’s even say, $5 a time to make 1000 bucks, let alone 10,000, or substantial money, versus if you create a course as one example. Or if you did speaking gigs, or those kinds of things, where you’re getting paid 1000s of dollars for each one of the clients that you convert into a sale. It’s about the same amount of effort but it’s definitely a much more maximized way of bringing in revenue for your time.

Connect with Steve

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you help your writers get on stage?

Steve Kidd: Absolutely, on podcasts on virtual and live stages, I have a specific contractor that I work with whose entire forte is just literally getting people on the bigger TV show, Steve Harvey, Good Morning, America, all of those and she comes actually from a Hollywood background and, and knows all the ins and outs of that. And that’s all that her business does. And she’s a contractor that works with me and I send my clients that want to be in that realm over to work with her.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s really very impressive. So because we’re talking about marketing, how is it that people find out about you and your services?

Steve Kidd: Well, of course, I’m doing a lot of podcasts these days, so that I can share with people. But specifically, if they want to look at my company, you go to thrivingbestsellers.com. And we have our whole process from done for you to do with you to talk to you. And then of course, if you already have a book, the marketing you program, thrivingbestsellers.com that’s our website.

Tips and Tricks

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is one key tip that you could give our listeners today that they could implement right away?

Steve Kidd: So the number one piece of it is somebody’s waiting on you. There is somebody who needs who you are what you do in the world, your specifics, and your specialty, they need you to be the one that does what you do for them. It’s especially true because I know your main listening audience as doctors, that specialty that you spent so much of your life becoming an expert at somebody really needs you. But they need to understand that you exist and who you are.

This brings me to part B of my second suggestion. And that’s you will never maximize the marketing to its fullest potential in any marketing you do for yourself in your business. If you do not have along with that bestseller, it is the number one marketing credential number one influencer credential, if you will, in the world right now today.

And it adds instant credibility. So when you say, I need a doctor, a whole roomful of doctors, but this one is the guy who wrote the book on it. Even something as simple as you put out an article in whatever magazine, whether it’s a trade specific doctor related trade magazine, or it’s something more for lay people when that article is written by the best-selling author of the book, such and such, or just even Best Selling Author, Dr. So and so it makes just a night and day difference between the impact as well as the saleability of that if you want to get published.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Well, you and I are on the same wavelength. I totally agree with you. If there are listeners that would like to reach you and discuss your services further. What is the best way to do that?

Steve Kidd: Well, I made it really easy for you. I love giving people gifts. So I created a free gift for everybody that’s listening today. If you go to goingwealthguide.com, that’s ongoingwealthguide.com There is a five-step process for really being able to create a process so that the abundance in your life is continuously included in that is a link to my signature. Your best seller and one-hour workshop that you can just listen to and write your book. But most importantly, and that’s free. Most importantly, when you get to the thank you page, there’s a link there. And you can schedule a free call to talk with me and we can talk about really anything you want to but specifically about your book and your marketing and what we can do to help you in the process.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that is fantastic. Thank you so much for being on the show, Steve. This is Steve Kidd that we’ve been talking to with two Ds and I’ve really enjoyed speaking with you. Thank you very much.

Steve Kidd: Thanks so much for having me, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Ongoing Wealth With Steve Kidd first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara, LeNae and Trip discuss:

• How integrative medicine can help you reverse your biological age
• Why you need to trust your own decisions and focus on what you love doing
• How habits and diets affect your overall quality of life

Key Takeaways:

“Do those things that you love doing. Just showing up in the places where you’re comfortable in and honor who you are and the care that you provide is the best tip, I can give you.” – LeNae Goolsby.

Connect with LeNae and Trip Goolsby:

Website: https://www.yourinfinitehealth.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infinite-health-integrative-medicine-center
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your.infinite.health/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCorwmbLZZGGFOe4rW6OdeNQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfiniteHealthIMC

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: halesgangb@aol,com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (134)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us LeNae and Trip Goolsby, who are doctors and the founders of Infinite Health Integrative Medicine Center, a precision medicine practice with a niche focus on health optimization, age reversal, and regenerative medicine. LeNae and Dr. Goolsby are also best-selling authors and speakers.

They have been featured in various magazine publications such as mindbodygreen.com, psychcentral.com, entrepreneur.com, and many others as well as having been guests on a variety of national and international podcasts.

LeNae and Dr. Goolsby have also published several books, including Think & Live Longer, which is also their proprietary mind-body connection coaching program. Think & Live Longer, in connection with their progressive peer-reviewed and evidence-based medical modalities, was instrumental in helping thousands of women and men transform, not just their health, but also their lives.

LeNae and Dr. Goolsby empower people across the globe to reclaim their health power to create and attain their personalized, successful health image. Welcome to the show.

LeNae Goolsby: Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. Just for clarification, I am not an MD, I am a displaced JD. I just want to make sure everybody knows that it is Dr. Goolsby over here, Trip Goolsby that is the MD.

Traditional to Integrative

Dr. Barbara Hales: You certainly cover a lot of areas that are really desired by most people out there. How did you convert Dr. Goolsby from being a traditional medical practitioner to what you’re currently doing?

LeNae Goolsby: She’s asking what prompted you to get out of providing reactive cancer care into integrative medicine and you have the story for that?

Trip Goolsby: 17 and a half years ago, LeNae and I had our first child together and that was conceptually on the eve of my 50th birthday. At that point in time, I was practicing medical oncology and I said, “I’m 50 years old, what am I doing here? I’m procreating, and I need to be able to keep up.” So, at that point in time, I started looking at all the good science on aging and optimization of health and started integrating that into my oncology practice. Ultimately, there came a moment when we made a decision together to transition into just doing integrative medicine.

At that moment, I became extremely interested in stem cell therapies and regenerative medicine and a number of things that actually helped use the body’s own systems to actually repair the damage, so to speak. We’ve integrated that into a very comprehensive program. So that’s kind of how it started.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I’ll let you in with a little secret and that is the father of my children started at 50 as well. I can say with personal experience that fathers who started 50 make the best fathers. They have more time for their children and more understanding than someone who is in their 30s, stressed out trying to make it financially and trying to figure life out.

LeNae Goolsby: There are pros to being an older, wiser parent.

Transaction Types

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is your practice concierge or do you accept insurance?

LeNae Goolsby: So we operate on what we call a hybrid model of reimbursement. So if somebody has insurance that we accept, we’re happy to bill it on their behalf for their physician interactions, we do have a membership subscription on top of whatever they may owe for their deductible and coinsurance. For those who may have a high deductible or be self-insured, as we say, we do have what we call a “private pay plan”.

Insurance isn’t really designed to keep anybody healthy. It just isn’t designed that way. A lot of the services that we provide that enhance health and expand life are not covered by insurance anyway. So a lot of the products that we use natural products for the bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, peptide therapies, stem cell therapies, those are not going to be covered by insurance.

We try to accommodate wherever somebody is. But if somebody is completely dependent, and expecting that their insurance to cover the services, they’re going to be very disappointed.

Trip Goolsby: Depending on the demographic, some of the hormonal therapies are covered. But as LeNae was saying, the vast majority of these bleeding edge and well-studied modalities are not covered by insurance.

Supplements

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you sell the supplements and herbs that you recommend, or do you just tell people what they should do and let them find it themselves?

LeNae Goolsby: Both! We have a line of certain supplements that are pharmaceutical grade that we recommend. Sometimes there are some over-the-counter things that they can get on their own.

The Program Classes

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you have classes in your office that people can attend to learn more about self-care?

LeNae Goolsby: The way that we approach our health optimization program, is what we call the “Four Pillars” approach to health optimization, and it’s a coaching kind of relationship that we develop with all of our patients. When somebody comes to us for whatever their malady may be, we are going to look at their nutritional habits, their physical fitness habits, and whether or not they’re on what we call BHRT—Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Then all of that is tied with our proprietary mind-body connection coaching program, which is the Think & Live Longer program. Every patient who comes to us is going to be immediately directed to start shifting the way that they think, because generally when you go to the doctor, you’re acutely aware of what it is you don’t want, but many people have not yet conceptualized what their happy end result is. From right out of the gate, we’re getting people to start thinking about that happy end result.

A lot of the physician-to-patient interaction is spent shifting the mindset so that the patient is thinking in a way that supports what their goals are. Right now, it’s heavy one-on-one. In addition to that, we do have a monthly kind of group coaching program to go through the principles of thinking live longer, which is free for our current patient base, and then is available for a nominal fee to those who are not yet our patient partners.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Are these classes virtual or online?

LeNae Goolsby: Yes. Right now we’re doing them monthly and they are virtual on Zoom. So if somebody wants to participate, we send them the link before the show starts.

Meditation

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you recommend meditation each week or for a certain length of time? How is your mind connection with your mind body?

LeNae Goolsby: Absolutely! Meditation is a component of care, especially for people who are in high-stress situations, anxiety, and depression. We particularly like to recommend binaural beats to help shift that brainwave.

Trip Goolsby: Any of the mindful physical techniques or yoga. Those things are well received by many of our patients. We encourage that as a physical modality also. If they’re anxious or in high-stress situations, have problems with sleep, and have insomnia, we find a great response with the brainwave entrainment treatments. Those are really accessible without any financial investment, and they work really well.

LeNae Goolsby: Yeah, there’s a plethora of library options for those on YouTube.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So you just recommend your patients go on YouTube to check out the various options?

LeNae Goolsby: Yeah, whatever resonates with them.

Trip Goolsby: Yeah, because some people like the sound of waves, some people like chirping birds.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What type of meditation do you do?

LeNae Goolsby: In the office, I like to put it on 528Hz. It’s calming, the DNA reparative, and it’s more of a soothing sound. So a low instrumental, I try to keep that playing in the front desk area for sure.

Trip Goolsby: Generally, later on in the day or in the evening, I’ll do a Delta Brainwave Entrainment, and focus on my happy end result.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That, theoretically, sounds great. But how do you overcome the care of teenagers and then go back to that mindful state?

LeNae Goolsby: You know, you got to do what you got to do. To be the parent that you need to be. It’s really just a choice. I don’t know how to answer that because my kids are just so amazing.

Trip Goolsby: I find tasers work very well also.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you have your children use meditation as well?

LeNae Goolsby: We try, we encourage it, trying to make it mandatory, we’re probably not very successful but we just make sure that they stay in a state of positivity, being very mindful of what their goals are, how they’re going to be contributing adults, and facilitating what their soul is wanting them to do.

Because, for us, our kids are very different. I mean, I’ve got one that you know, he’s on a musical career track, he’s 200%, creative. And then the youngest one was able to do fairly complex math complicated computations in his head when he was four and six years old. So he’s very logical and practical and academic-minded. For us, just making sure that we appreciate their uniqueness, and work with them individually so that they can fly in the direction that they are here to fly in, I think is the most important thing that we try to do.

Having the Proper Diet

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you recommend having a vegetarian diet or with some fish maybe thrown in? Or do you advise avoiding meat? What do you tell your patients?

Trip Goolsby: Well, the uniform cause of the disease is inflammation, and there are certain pathways that create oxidative damage and chemical moieties in the blood and in the cells that are adversarial to their best outcomes. And right now, I think statistically looking at well-rounded diets. The Mediterranean Diet is one that’s probably getting in the world theater the best outcomes for longevity but here in Louisiana, we have a challenge with it. A very high carbohydrate load and those are the formation of advanced glycation end products and those things that make it difficult for the proteins and enzymes in us to do their jobs. And that causes errors and errors resulting in potential mutations and inflammation inside the cell, which can then subsequently go on into inflammation in the body.

Anything that’s based on the patient’s physical being and what their lifestyle habits are, and their lifestyle decisions have been, whatever their physical outcome is, when I see them the first time, we look for them to create this image of ideal health for themselves, which I guide and let patients know, the best outcomes that we have right now with our knowledge base. And then I manipulate their food intake, and their nutritional intake to fit that outcome. I always tell my patients when they come in, I say we get a food log for two weeks. I tell them to eat, drink, and be merry, you have two weeks, when you come back, you belong to me.

First-time Patient Experience

Dr. Barbara Hales: What I’d like to do is to walk in the steps of someone coming to your office for the first time, because I imagine that you have a protocol that you approach each patient when they come in, typically. So after the patient has filled out their self-history and their prior medical history, what happens next?

LeNae Goolsby: Initial consultation is generally about a 45-minute consultation with Trip here, and he’s going to go through that paperwork. As I told you before, he’s going to get them to start thinking about what it is they want. As I said, out the gate, that’s like the first question, what do you want? What does that look like, then we have an exercise that he’s going to use with them, to help them to get really clear on what their successful health image looks like.

After that initial consultation, we have a very comprehensive laboratory panel. In traditional medicine, they’re taking nominal information, and they’re looking to see if you fit what’s normal on the bell curve, we have a very comprehensive panel, and we have a very strict parameter for what we’re looking to see in those values. Because we know through epigenetics that we can reverse the disease in the aging process. We don’t want our patients normal; we want them optimal, and we know how to help them get there.

So at that second appointment, after they’ve had those labs, they’re going to come back, it’s going to be about another 45-minute appointment with him. He’s going to go okay, this is your history, this is your goal, this is the information that’s coming up in the labs. Then he’s going to tailor those four pillars to help that patient, get from where they are to where they want to go. Depending on how you know where they are in their thought process if they’re already eating well, eating in a way that serves them, if they’re already acclimated to some exercise.

That person will be tended to differently than somebody who’s been abusing their body for the past 40, or 50 years and must be redone. I don’t want to say reprogram, but a new awareness has to be opened up new neural pathways need to be created right for that person. So generally, depending on where they are and what their goals are, they’ll either come back and have 20-minute visits twice a month, or if they’ve kind of “graduated” to where they want to go, then they can get on kind of a maintenance mech regimen, which is about a monthly visit with him. And because most people over 30 are going to need hormone replacement therapy, we do require labs to be taken at least four times a year. So that’s kind of the debrief on what to expect.

Trip Goolsby: I think that the first visit really critically is transforming the thought process into one that creates an affirmation of what they desire. Say somebody comes in with back pain, just for example, but it was one of the challenges of the back pain, I asked him what they want and he says, I don’t want back pain anymore. What they’re doing there is they’re actually focusing; they continue to focus on the problem. So they’re fighting the problem. They’re not visualizing and thinking, “Jeez it’d really be nice if instead of having discomfort, when I try to pick up a 30-pound grocery bag, or a bag of dog food, I could carry a hundred-pound bag across the yard, perfectly capable of doing those 10 times should I desire.”

That image of them being able to do that, and I had this very example with a farmer that I took care of who had back issues I treated in multiple different ways and it resolved his pain. He couldn’t even go up one or two steps, without having significant pain, his wife had to take him and pull him off the couch, to get him to be able to move around. So, his first step was “I didn’t want to have back pain anymore. “As I transitioned his thought process, he said, “I guess it’d be nice to take the feed for the cows and be able to take all those feeds, 100, 150-pound bags of grain or whatever they’re using in approximately three or four months.” He was in that position, and he was actually doing those activities, free of pain.

But the thing about focusing on what you don’t want leave that within your focus and leaving that within your focus always drives you to think about it so it never leaves you so if you’re thinking that you’re vibrantly active and physically fit, then that image draws your body and creates a physiologic response in your body to drive you in that direction. It’s an amazing thing when people start affirming what they want. Those types of things are the amazing drivers of the physiology in your body that helps you get there and make you feel really good at the same time.

Community Fairs and Getting Known

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that story was really impressive. Do you participate in community health fairs to get the word out about your practice?

LeNae Goolsby: Hey, we operate on a very lean human resource budget. So no, we do not have done those in the past. The ROI hasn’t really been sustainable.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So what is it that you do to promote yourself so that patients are aware of your practice? You provide a very valuable service and assure a very wanted service. But in order for people to come, they have to actually know that you have a practice there.

LeNae Goolsby: We have tried several things over the past 20 years of being in practice. And what we have found specifically since we shifted into integrative medicine is it’s not uncommon for our patient referrals to outpace any other marketing efforts that we may be running at the same time. Because when people feel as good as they do, and other people notice, I think we had somebody in the other a new patient in the other day, who was at the gym and couldn’t believe how this other guy looked and had noticed the transformation. And when they started talking, that guy is like, oh, you got to go see Dr. Goolsby. So patient referrals have always been number one. But number two to that is website SEO. Most people, if they’re not coming in off of a patient referral, they’re coming in off of a website search. In addition to that, and to try to help the SEO, we do press releases, we’re doing podcasting. We’re going to be launching our own podcast in about two months. We do email and social media marketing.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What platform do you find most helpful?

LeNae Goolsby: Hmm, well, SEO of the website is the most helpful. So make sure that the keywords that we want to be known for, are what our web patients are looking for. I will admit, I’ve always been a bit of a snob when it comes to the definition of integrative medicine, medicine versus holistic medicine. I’ve had to let go of that because of mass understanding.

Trip Goolsby: She did the Leadership program at Duke University.

LeNae Goolsby: I did. It’s ingrained in me what the proper definition of integrative medicine versus functional medicine versus holistic medicine is. But I’ve had to let that go.

The Difference Between Different Kinds of Medicine

Dr. Barbara Hales: No, I’m glad that you brought that out. Because most people have no clue as to what the difference is. It’s very confusing now with the doctor saying, now I’m functional, or now I’m integrative, or now I’m holistic, and people are saying like, well, is that the same thing? What’s the difference? Most have no clue. So in your mind, what is the difference?

LeNae Goolsby: Integrative medicine is a proactive approach to care that places the patient in partnership with their physician, and addresses their health concerns, evaluating and considering all components that affect our health. That could be your work environment, your home environment, your mental state, your emotional state, or your physical state, all of these nuanced variables impact our health. Then we address those.

What sets infinite health apart is that it specifically has a protocol of looking at the best of the best in traditional approaches and integrates the best in peer-reviewed and evidence-based complementary therapies. So integrative medicine allows for writing prescriptions if prescriptions are appropriate. But we were actually really successful at getting people off of sub-prescriptions. So the goal is to get away from the pharmaceuticals, but we’re not fully against pharmaceuticals if you will. I think in a lot of people’s minds, holistic medicine, specifically is no pharmaceuticals at all. I’m not even really sure what functional medicine is, maybe you know.

Trip Goolsby: The CDC came out a couple of months ago and said that 93% of our health is derived from our lifestyle and the things that we engage in our lives. So that being said, that means that 7% there are basic genetically inherited diseases that you can’t do much if anything about, but the rest of it, we have a genome that is imparted to us by our parents. If we act upon it in the same fashion that our parents did, then we’re going to get the same things more or less. By acting on it in a different way, and this is changing the thinking process, We can’t possibly hope to change the things that have occurred by one way of thinking by continuing that same modality of thinking.

So if you understand that that thinking process needs to change so that you can obtain a better outcome, then you’re already on board to make your health significantly better over the course of your lifetime. Thinking about the medications that we have that are in common use and as an oncologist, I probably use more pharmaceuticals than 15 or 20 interns over the course of their entire career.

In seeing that and understanding that we’re, very often in many cases, camouflaging the basic cause of disease to the benefit of the symptom of the disease, then what happens is that we’re true—I began to believe a number of years ago—just serving our patients. We’re not helping them correct what’s causing the issue in the first place and so if 93% of our health is determined by how we’re living our lives and what we’re taking in and what we’re exposing ourselves to, then some change there is going to actually help people get better outcomes and that’s the foundation of the program that we put together and we’ve actually helped people like LeNae was saying, there’s a genetic test that can be done to see how much of your DNA has been closed down over the course of time.

And fortunately, true biological age can actually be reversed. It’s the same birthday every year, right? But that biological age can actually be reversed. I have patients with a 20-year reverse age reversal almost by changing the environment that their cells are living in.

Online Content Creation

Dr. Barbara Hales: So have you become active on TikTok yet?

LeNae Goolsby: You know, I have not. Doing videos is uncomfortable place for me. I’m trying to get better at it. That’s interesting that you would ask that because I know that a lot of people in health care have been but there’s some backlash about people in health care, presenting themselves in a flippant manner, you know, dancing and compromising HIPAA rules and things of that nature. And I’m just not there.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I don’t think that doing a dance is against HIPAA. So you may want to start practicing your moves.

LeNae Goolsby: Yeah, I think I might have to outsource that.

Tips on Attracting Patients

Dr. Barbara Hales: What one tip can you give our listeners today in terms of attracting patients to their practice?

LeNae Goolsby: I have wasted a lot of money hiring people who hold themselves out as medical marketing guru. And I’ve allowed people to do marketing approaches that did not fit into what I perceived our brand to be and what we wanted to be known for. And I think in medical practice, sometimes you think you’re really good at being the healthcare provider that you are, you do everything you can to serve your patient, you don’t learn how to do marketing in medical school. And so you feel like you’re not adequate at it. You’re not doing the best things that you can do.

And so you’re trusting people outside of you. I’ve had to learn very expensive lessons that marketing gurus and people who alleged to be hyper-wealthy, aren’t necessarily going to be able to get you hyper-wealthy or get you patients. And if you put into play those systems, those marketing tools that actually honor and serve you, and that you’re comfortable with, and you can present authentically. Those are the ones that you need to focus on.

If you know you don’t like to talk down to TikTok because you’re not going to be successful at it. If you enjoy writing, you want a blog, do that because that’s what you love to do. It’s kind of what we do for our patients who maybe don’t like exercising. If you don’t like to run, don’t run. You’re not going to do it. You’re going to hate it. You’re not going to be successful. Same as if you’re in the healthcare industry and you’re marketing.

Do those things that you love doing. Want to go dance on TikTok? Do it. Want to write a blog? Do it. I think just showing up in the places where you’re comfortable and that honor who you are and the care that you provide is going to be the best tip I could provide for you.

The podcast and Final Word

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is the title of your new podcast coming out?

LeNae Goolsby: Well, thank you for asking. There was some deliberation about that. And we’re going to call it Your Infinite Health.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Sounds like a good name. Thank you very much for being with us today on the show. It’s been a very informative episode. And this has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. ‘Til next time!

The post Focus on What You Love first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Marlene discuss:
● What’s the number one rule of business marketing?
● How might other health practitioners get on TV and in films?
● How experienced do you need to get a highly desirable acting role?

Key Takeaways:
“If you’re nice and respectful to everyone, you’re always ready for those opportunities to come your way.” – Marlene Sharp.

Connect with Marlene Sharp:
Website: https://pinkpoodleproductions.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlenesharp/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharp6250/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Divamarlene70
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlene.sharp

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (133)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Marlene Sharp. She is a TV and film writer, producer, creative executive, and proprietor of Pink Poodle Productions, an entertainment consultancy home of the sassy Bichon poodle Blanche Dubois Sharp. For those people that are curious, it is a Bichon poodle mix.

Marlene serves as head of IP strategy in acquisitions for Rainshine Entertainment and as executive producer of Rainshine’s family-friendly film trilogy, Young Captain Nemo. Among other roles, Marlene is a mentor to the neuro-diverse adult animation trainees of the Center for Learning Unlimited in L.A. and its sister cartoon studio, Brainstorm Productions. Marlene has a career history of creative work with merchandise-driven character brands, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Yokai Watch, Postman Pat, Pink Panther, Power Rangers, and Saint Seiya. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre from San Diego State University.

Welcome to the show.

Marlene Sharp: Hi, thank you for having me on.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Marlene, are there any low cost relatively easy film or TV marketing tips that also apply to marketing for health professionals?

Marlene Sharp: Yes, I think a good place to start is social media. And I was looking at your previous episode offerings and noticed that you’ve had a few guests on previously to talk about creating videos and having a compelling social media presence. So I’m here to support those guests and hopefully build on that. But that’s something that’s accessible to everybody. And it’s low to no cost, and you can start immediately.

The Number One Rule of Business Marketing

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s all always very helpful. What do you think is the number one rule of business marketing?

Marlene Sharp: Well, for me, personally, that would be kindness and being nice to everybody. Because you never know where an opportunity will come from. It could come from the most unlikely place. And so if you’re nice and respectful to everyone, you’re always ready for those opportunities to come your way. And so it’s a golden rule, right? It’s just something so simple as that. And then I also find that having a sense of humor is helpful.

Also, having a dog, as I do, whether or not you should have a dog as your business partner is questionable. But having a dog opens up many other possibilities because you meet people you might not otherwise come into contact with. And I have several examples of that. The downside is when she’s not spoken to, not mentioning any names, Blanche, that’s you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I think that’s true. Even around my own neighborhood, I walk around with my dog, and we all know each other. We may not know our names, but we all know the dogs’ names. So, it may be like Blanche’s mommy or Haloe’s mommy or dad, but it gives us the opportunity to speak to people that would otherwise be invisible.

Marlene Sharp: Oh, absolutely. And one of my best dog mom’s friends is a publicist who lives in our complex. And she and I would not have met if it hadn’t been for our two little fluffy white dogs we met several years ago. Yes, I’m talking about Ella. Yes, your friend Ella. And we have collaborated on many, many products, and some of the tips I’ll share today will even be from her. Her name’s Debra, and her dog is Ella. And yeah, that’s a dog connection right there. So I’m talking the talk and walking the walk.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So, for all of you out there that may be on the fence regarding getting a furry friend, you may want to reconsider. It may be good for business. In addition, your tip about always being friendly works very well for networking, which is great in terms of getting people interested in referring to you, as well as getting to know you and maybe using you themselves.

Marlene Sharp: Yes, yes. Absolutely. And also, in the entertainment business, there’s a lot of upward mobility and changing of the guard, a lot of turnovers at companies and so forth. And so today’s production assistant could be tomorrow’s studio head, and the sons and daughters of famous people often start in those lower positions, and not a great deal of fanfare is often made about it. So it’s to your advantage, especially if you’re trying to schmooze people in Hollywood and Hollywood, meaning the global entertainment industry, because not just here, but it does serve you well just to be respectful of everyone because you never know.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s interesting. Marlene, how is it that you got involved in this? How did you get your start?

Marlene Sharp: Well, I think that I was born this way. I always felt like I was born to the wrong family in New Orleans, Louisiana, where I’m from. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with film, TV shows, business performance, and so forth. And it certainly didn’t come from my parents, who is a retired teacher and computer programmer. But yeah, I was just always interested in the business. And also, my parents did take me to a lot of Children’s Theatre in New Orleans. There was a good deal of community theatre. And so, at a young age, my mom enjoyed it. So we do that together. And so that’s where it started. And it just got way out of control.

As I got older, I eventually moved from New Orleans to San Diego for graduate school, my first move to California. So I have an MFA in musical theatre. And then, gradually, I moved up the coast to Orange County for about a year and then to Los Angeles, the place I always wanted to be, and I’ve been here for quite a while now.

Health Professionals for the TV and Film Industry

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, you certainly have a lot of exposure to this field and experience. How might a doctor or other health professional pursue TV and film appearances? There are many doctors that may feel in addition to seeing patients, they’d like to get a spot on TV so that it gives them a perceived sense of celebrity or perceived authority in their field that they might not ordinarily have and to a wider audience. So what would you say to these people that would like to look further into it?

Marlene Sharp: So there are a few suggestions. And just note that there’s no secret sauce or a magic bullet. I don’t have it. I wish I had it. Otherwise, you’d be hearing my name in the Oscar nominations that came out this week. But one helpful thing is to take a class in on-camera hosting or commercials. That’s a good place to start. And if you’re in Los Angeles, you can look on any street corner and find one of those classes. If you’re not in Los Angeles, there are so many online options that you can look into. And then, in the alternative, if you want to be cautious about starting, you can look on YouTube. And there are a lot of YouTube and Tiktok tutorials on on-camera presence. And the techniques that you want to focus on will depend on whether you want to play a character as perhaps you would like to play a doctor in a TV, commercial or TV show, as opposed to being a talking head pundit, an authority figure on a nonfiction show or a news program. So the approaches are different. So, familiarize yourself with the on-camera technique.

Sometimes people will try to seek out an agent right away. And that’s more like a middle step. It helps to have some background in on-camera performance. Because otherwise, if you start going on auditions, or even if you get booked on a show, whether it’s a local news show or something high profile, there will be an adjustment period because it’s quite overwhelming to be offset with other experienced people under the pressure of lights, schedules, budgets and things like that that come into play. So it sounds trite and easy. But I say research and try to get some practice in on-camera technique.

Another benefit of classes is that you can network with other students and the teacher; chances are good that the teacher is practicing the craft. And often, agents, managers, or casting directors teach classes. And I find that those are the best teachers because you’re networking right away. And actually, I have gotten a lot of good opportunities from taking classes with people who are already in casting or that aspect of the business. I tend not to want to take classes from somebody who’s just a good actor because it will not get me anywhere except more competition. So sorry to my fellow actors who teach, but my recommendation is to look for somebody who could potentially hire you. And then there are several resources, but one that I recommend, and it’s relatively inexpensive to join, is called actorsaccess.com. And you need to submit a profile. So it’s similar to applying for jobs, but you can put your professional picture and resume onto actorsaccess.com and submit yourself for consideration for various on-camera roles.

You can submit whatever you want when you’re on there. But there are quite a number of projects that would want a real doctor, like when the TV series ER was popular. During a short window of time, when it was on the air, I worked for a talent agency, and we would get these submission requests from casting saying that they wanted real doctors to play various small roles. And so sometimes it was a real doctor or a real nurse, real people casting is a thing for commercials, TV shows, and not everything that happens. I should also preface this by saying that if you do not live in Los Angeles, it will be harder for you to do these roles or do these jobs because most of them will be based in Los Angeles, and some casting calls happen in different regions. And you can research that on the actor’s access website. And then, sometimes, there will be a request to submit for a role where they ask people to record themselves and send in a video audition.

But then, if you get the role, you might need to fly somewhere to do it. And the production might not have a budget for you to stay in a hotel and all the bells and whistles that go with travel. But anyway, it’s worth checking out actorsaccess.com and then just LinkedIn, keeping your LinkedIn profile current with a good picture that represents your personality and how you want to portray yourself. If you are a funny doctor, and she wants to try out some stand-up comedy material that’s based on being a doctor, that’s one kind of persona as opposed to someone who wants to be taken seriously as an expert, or a pioneer in some fields, where you’re going to be on various TV shows pontificating about your inventions and discoveries. LinkedIn is a good place to start and then look into a subscription on actor access.

Dr. Barbara Hales: There is a very active comedian that does a lot of TV roles. That is, in fact, a doctor most people would know even though he plays doctors. Do you remember his name?

Marlene Sharp: Yes, that’s Ken Jeong. His family is Korean American. But when I lived in New Orleans, I judged a stand-up competition he was in years ago. And yeah, he was a doctor at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans. I’m not sure what his specialization was. And his wife is a doctor too. And I think she still practices. They live in Los Angeles now. He became famous for the Hangover movies. And he’s the host of the Masked Singer reality show. He’s done very well for himself as a comedian.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Right. But in making that transition, you’re not going to see him in a doctor’s office or a hospital anytime soon.

Marlene Sharp: Maybe not. Maybe visiting patients just to make them smile and entertain them for a few minutes. But it’s been a long time since he’s practiced medicine.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Giving us the name of the actor’s access is a wonderful tip. And certainly, something that a lot of my listeners will look into. I probably will look into it myself.

Marlene Sharp: Yes, I recommend it. And I personally, as an actor, have gotten many great opportunities from it. And it’s the same tool that agents use to electronically submit their clients. Now, agents also have the schmooze factor where they can call upcasting, directors, or whatever, and then they pitch their clients that way. But it’s the same service that regular folks can submit to it. And agents, it’s all the same service. The only difference is that there’s limited access for regular folks who subscribed, so I think it’s not expensive. It could be $65 for a one-year subscription. And only certain roles are opened up for submission to laypeople actors.
And then there’s the premium subscription which is quite a bit more expensive than the agents and managers pay. Then you also have to prove that you are an agent and have a legit business and everything.

However, they pay a lot more, but still, some of the same roles, especially if they’re hard to cast in certain age groups, ethnicities, and areas of specialization, are hard to cast, especially nowadays, with authenticity being so important in a variety of areas. Age, ethnic background, religion, and various things that there is a focus on getting the casting, as far as having it be authentic to the representation of a certain group. That would make the opportunities steadily increase for just lay people who are submitting themselves.

Getting a Highly Desirable Acting Role or Related Opportunity

Dr. Barbara Hales: A bona fide agent is unlikely to take a newbie. Isn’t that true? How experienced do you have to be before an agent looks at you and takes you on?

Marlene Sharp: It depends. I’m in Los Angeles. There are tons of agents, but it’s tougher to get an agent here because people from all over the world come here and try for that. But if you live in a small or medium or small city, there are agents in your area, like if you’re in Dallas or even New Orleans, because that’s where I got my start when I was in college. That was when I got an agent. And I didn’t have a lot of on-camera experience other than what I had done in school at that time. But I did an interview. There were a few agents there, and a lot of location shooting was struck. It was starting to happen in New Orleans.

There are local commercials and things that happen. Even if you’re in a small market and don’t have Hollywood productions to shoot on location, some mom-and-pop businesses need commercials or print work accessible to you. And so there should be opportunities relatively close as long as is if you’re in an area that gets internet, you should be relatively close, I would say within driving distance, so someplace where you could go to audition for things. But the great thing about the internet is that a lot of the casting now takes place online. So self-taping and submitting video and audio files are quite commonplace. But that only gets you to a certain point.

The director or the client wants to meet you. And you’ll have to do the filming. And not every production has a budget to bring people in from other places. But there are regional agents and managers. So that’s worth looking into in your area. And it’s helpful if you have some experience. But it’s not necessary to even in LA because when I worked for the talent agency for a year, it was a very interesting learning experience. Because those were the days when people would still drop off or mail in physical photos and resumes. And we didn’t have online submissions at that time. And so, I was an assistant, and I would go through the submissions. And many times, people would just mail a photo of their cute little toddler with their measurements and their age or whatever. And if the baby were cute, I would show it to the kid’s agent, and sometimes they’d be like, Yeah, bring him in. And with the child. The expectation is low. Up until age 18, you can get by with a lot less experience, especially if you’re good-looking. And if you’re good-looking, you can coast on your looks for your whole life.

We were always on the search for good-looking people, even with no experience, like super good-looking people who could do print and commercials. And then sometimes somebody would submit to the agency. And they would be something that we knew we needed like we would have seen a lot of casting calls for African American men who could ride horses, and we get an actor who was like an expert equestrian. And he was between this age and this age, and we knew that we had gotten some calls or seen some breakdowns. So somebody like that comes across our desk, let’s call them in, and then we would have them in for an interview. So it’s worth a shot. It’s worth trying whatever. Because you never know.

It’s important to emphasize your special skills, which is what a doctor is. And there are so many medical procedural shows, legal procedural shows, nonfiction magazine shows, and true crime shows where it would be very helpful to have a real doctor playing supporting roles. Like one thing that comes to mind is, it was on Hulu. It’s called Dr. Death. It’s a podcast that each season is about a heinous crime committed by a doctor, I hate to say it, but it’s compelling listen, so I highly recommend the podcast. But it was made into a scripted series. I’m not sure if it was on Hulu or Peacock, but I saw it. I loved it.

Alec Baldwin starred in it, and Christian Slater. And the story that’s shown on camera goes very deep into surgical technique. And this crazy doctor, played by Joshua Jackson, messes up his patients. And it’s a true story. And the doctors can show them a lot in surgery. And then there’s a lot of dialogue about what they’re doing, what went wrong, and the blood spurting out. And some of those supporting Doctor characters must have been real doctors and nurses because it’s easier for them to look comfortable in that kind of setting and deliver very technical lines. They understand what’s going on. And the same is true with lawyers and other professions and other special skills that can get you to cast very often. I once got cast in a commercial. The casting call was for Ugly sleepers. And I am hideous when I’m asleep. This is not a talent that many people have.

I know that I’m an ugly sleeper. And so I had an agent at the time my agent submitted it, but I just walked in there so confident because I was thinking nobody’s going to be an uglier sleeper than me. And sure enough, I got cast. So you never know if the weirdest talent that you have could land you in some kind of highly desirable acting role or related opportunity.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Just as an aside, what is an ugly sleeper?

Marlene Sharp: Maybe you’ve heard of ugly crying? It’s it. And you just look unattractive. And it’s someone who went sleeping, I snore. From a variety of experiences through the years, I’m able to ugly asleep on cue. Some people can cry on cue, I can ugly sleep on cue, and by golly, I don’t think I had told my agent ahead of time, this was one of my skills, but they must have sensed it at the agency. And now, it was a robust test in commercials. So it was a nice opportunity. So I’m glad that even the most obscure and even something that you don’t feel comfortable with, there probably is a call for it somewhere down the line. If you have something about yourself that you’re not happy with, I can guarantee that there’s a role that calls for it. So yeah, take lemons and make lemonade. That’s another of my life’s philosophies.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Do you offer consulting services?

Marlene Sharp: Yes, I do. So I do have a background as an actor. And we’ve been talking a lot about acting and on-camera stuff today. So I have coached people on that before, but lately, for the past few years, most of them, like consulting, has been about writing and producing. I have a lot of experience developing shows for kids and families and animation. And so, writing scripts and preparing the materials that it would take to go into a network, streaming service, or studio and pitch your project to potential stakeholders, whether it’s a distributor, an investor, or something like that. That’s mainly the type of consulting I do nowadays, but I’m flexible. And I always love to meet new people and see if there’s an avenue for collaboration. So yeah, the answer is yes. I do consulting.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do our listeners find you?

Marlene Sharp: My website is pinkpoodleproductions.com. And also, I am a maniac on LinkedIn. So I’m just Marlene Sharp on LinkedIn. And please link with me. I also moderate the women in the animation group and the LinkedIn group for networking; we have about 20,000 members. And it’s great if you’re interested in animation, and even if you’re not visual, visual effects, or graphics. We talk about all kinds of things in that forum. You can Google me and probably find a lot of other places where I live online because I’m very active on social media for business purposes. I’m not going to spout off about political views or anything. I’m all show business all the time. So it’s great.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, it has been an absolute delight having you on the podcast today and speaking to our listeners, giving them some wonderful advice.

Marlene Sharp: Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Til next time.

The post Further your Physician Status with TV and Film first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Maison discuss:

-How podcast works in the gaming community
-How to do video production with Maison Collawn
-What to do when starting a video production or podcast creation

Key Takeaways:

“Find a passion and make content that you already know.” – Maison Collawn.

Connect with Maison Collawn:

Website: https://mcanimepodcast.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maison-collawn-8884b1190/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsprinklesdotcom/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mcanimepodcast
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/maisoncollawn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blogmcanime/
Gift Giveaway

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (132)Dr. Barbara Hales: This is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we have a special guest by the name of Maison Collawn. Mason is a really interesting guy. Tell us what you do, Maison.

Maison Collawn: I was the founder of the M T M A podcast. I was also a Freelance blogger for the blog Mc Anime. I just launched another podcast, which is called Voice of the Voiceless. We allow people to tell their voice when they were voiceless and how they found their voice.

I can do recording, sound mixing, filmmaking, and all that stuff in one. So I’m very versatile, and I’ve been in retail for six-plus years.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. You do a lot of very valuable services. How did you get your start?

Maison Collawn: I got started as a blogger. I turned a passion into a medium to express it, and it just cascaded from there in the podcast scene, live streaming to the podcast, launching another podcast. It’s just been fun to do that because podcasting is easy to put yourself out. But also give you exposure at the same time. I’ve been involved in retail for six years, and I’ve also had influence from my dad doing a small business. So everything compiles together.

Dr. Barbara Hales: As our listeners know, I’m strongly passionate about people having blogs on their websites. Because every time you add another blog post, you give what the search engines feel is fresh content for your website. Otherwise, your website looks like it’s stagnant. And then people wonder if there is nothing new on your website. Does that mean that you are no longer in business, that you died, that you sold it, that you moved away? In addition to the fact that it plummets your ratings in search engines.

So we all know that blog posts are very important, not only to supply the content yourself, but if you don’t have the time or wherewithal, you could entertain guest posts on your blog. But that transitions to a podcast, which you are involved in because, on a podcast, you could go as a guest, in which case you are.

Exposure to other people’s audience increases your exposure and has your podcast where you can serve others. So the service that you provide is quite interesting. And how do you get your participants interested in coming onto your podcast?

Maison Collawn: It’s a combination. I’ve done five, so I’ve looked to podcast guests and paid up for them to be on the guest. So that’s one way you can have an incentive for them to come on if you give payment ahead of time. Now, most of the time, that doesn’t happen because most of the people I find in my Discord network, a gaming community. So that’s networking in itself. And I’m also in pod match and other podcasting directories to find guests with podcasters and podcasts with guests. Linkedin is another way to find business professionals to communicate with your audience.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So you would go into a LinkedIn group and say, who would like to appear on my podcast?

Maison Collawn: You could say something like that. Or you could do a post that’s related to what your podcast is about. So let’s say you had a podcast episode, or you could do a post. Is anyone looking for an automobile? I can connect a supplier and give you parts at a discounted price. If anyone wants to know how to do that, please contact me.

Or you do a post to answer a question. What is it like to find a cause in your area that’s cheap and affordable? That right there will be beneficial to connect with audiences because they see you doing something marketable to what you do, but you’re answering a question and posting it on LinkedIn.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Tell me a little about your TV production. What channel is that on? How do people view the programs that you create?

Maison Collawn: With the TV production I have experienced, I had access to a studio and walked as a team. So that’s my youtube at Maison Collawn. They concede some of the stuff I’ve made Into video-making voiceover work. I’m also in a series where I’m doing video blogs. I’m doing different categories in my life, like early childhood, family, and pets, and just recording myself in six parts, 15 minutes or fewer episodes in each category. So I’m expanding on my youtube as I speak.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is there a golden time, in terms of length for videos or TV production, that you feel is the key? What length of time do you think is the most effective?

Maison Collawn: Okay, so if you take the genre, for example, if you have a sitcom, it is typically good for 30 minutes. It’s a short episode that people can watch instead of the one-hour episodes, which is like an entire block from this time to this time.

If you’re not like short content in the TV show and want to like longer content, then having that one-hour, 40-minute production is good. Now, sometimes the 20-minute production gives you an alleyway. It depends on the genre and how your audience will interact with that show. If they have a short intention span, 20 minutes is better.

If it’s a more drawn-out plot with more things happening, it’s more complicated. That 40 minutes is key to giving the audience what they want. And you typically have 10 minutes of commercials on tv, then about 20 minutes of commercials or 15 on an hour block.

Dr. Barbara Hales: If people hire you for video production for their website, do they have to fly to your location?

Maison Collawn: So there are two ways to do that. I’m on fiver. Oh, so I have plus development and life coaching. Also, record any episode of any topic, but also have like scripting. Idea consulting a lot to it. They can go through that platform if they want to meet up and record. See the different options I have or PayPal with social media.

Contact through email and Paypal. I’m on fiver. So that’s my main plugin for freelance business regarding audio and video products. Idea. Consulting, writing blogs and articles and having graphic design elements.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay. Very good. And where are you located geographically?

Maison Collawn: I’m in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, great. So what are two tips you could give our listeners who would like to participate in video production, podcast creation, or podcast guesting? What would you suggest to them?

Maison Collawn: You find a passion. Focus on what you want to discuss if you are in a big technology field. Or you are an expert at your job, which is a good branching point to talk about and make content for. And another way is to make content that you already know. You don’t have to be an expert to make it, but you have to have an opinion or a way to present it to the audience that’s either informal or persuasive For the audience to come to you.

You need to have informative, persuasive, or entertaining in your show. So why do you want to entertain this important? So are you informing the audience? Are you entertaining them? Are you giving you selling them a product or persuading them to do something? You need to find that niche. And then if you are in a subject matter that you present to the audience that they can take in the law firm, it’s another thing.

Dr. Barbara Hales: If people would like to contact you, how do they?

Maison Collawn: One, you can talk to me at bloganime@gmail.com. I’m also on Facebook MC Anime, Twitter, and Maison Collawn, in my full name spelling.

That’s how you search. And then Instagram is at MC Anime Podcast. And I also have the website, which also has an email chain. And then also you can find me on Atree MC Anime, where I have all my links to my other podcast platforms and social media, which also has five oh connections. So if you want to hire me, you can also do that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What is your website?

Maison Collawn: My website is www.mcanimepodcast.com.

Dr. Barbara Hales: It was a pleasure speaking with you today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Guide to Video and Podcast Production first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Jessica discuss:
-What factors to keep in check when buying a business
-Getting the Most For Selling Your Business—a book written by Jessica Fialkovich
-How to determine your business’ worth

Key Takeaways:
” Every Practice Has A Value!” – Jessica Fialkovich.

Connect with Jessica Fialkovich:
Website: https://www.exitfactor.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exitfactor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exit_factor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/exit__factor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exitfactor

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (131)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. And today, we have with us Jessica Fialkovich. She is the founder of one of the top experts in the business brokerage industry, Exit Factor. This offers a proven method that helps small to mid-sized business owners and medical practices the opportunity to maximize their company’s value.

Through one-on-one consulting services and online programs, the trusted advisors at Exit Factor teach entrepreneurs how to successfully navigate and fully leverage strategies when buying, building, and selling their businesses. This is a service I’m sure we all could use. Exit Factor is part of the consulting division within the United Franchise Group Family of brands.

This is related to the United Franchise Group, which is home to an affiliated family of brands and consultants, including Accurate Franchising Inc., Exit Factor, Franchise Mart, Fully Promoted, and several more worldwide. It’s in more than 60 countries. This is extremely interesting and valuable, so you may want to take notes today.

Welcome to the show, Jessica.

Jessica Fialkovich: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales: When people decide to buy into a business instead of going into a conglomeration or working as an employee at the hospital, how do they decide on buying a business? What goals should they have, or what guide should they?

Jessica Fialkovich: When you’re deciding whether to buy a business or not, I think the biggest decision you need to make in deciding factor is whether you want that ownership seat or not. And I think many employees and workers feel like they want ownership. But always the upside of ownership.

“I wanna make money when the hospital group makes money, and I wanna make money when the business makes money.” But there is an element of risk and accountability as an owner that’s not appropriate or desirable for everyone. I find that’s the biggest deciding factor for people when they’re deciding, they’re trying to vet whether they want to be a business owner or not.

Because that’s what it comes down to is, yes, there’s upside in ownership, but there’s also risk and liability.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do we increase the value and profitability of practice once we start running?

Jessica Fialkovich: So there’s one really, and I’ll talk about this, like a tactical thing that I love to recommend to increase a practice’s profitability.

There’s something I call expense creep. This happens in our personal lives too. We’ll sign up for different services and compile expenses over time. And then I find that it happens in practices too.

So once a quarter, I recommend it to all our clients; I even do this in my own business.

It’s just sitting down and going through all the expenses we have in our business and asking ourselves, is this still working and necessary? And if the answer is no to either of those questions, eliminate the expense. So that’s one of the first tactical ways I start, by increasing the profitability of practice and businesses.

The first year we did that in my business, we increased our profit by 40%.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s pretty impressive.

Yeah, and it’s just simple. But it’s all about having the discipline to do it once a quarter and be ruthless if something’s necessary in the business or not.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That sounds like excellent advice. When you decide that you’ve had enough and only you can, what are some mistakes to avoid when you decide to sell your practice?

Jessica Fialkovich: Yeah, it’s a great question, and I see a couple of major mistakes. The first mistake is not realizing that, eventually, you’re going to have to exit your practice.
All things in life, our time on Earth, everything comes to an end, including our businesses, right? that time in our practice will come to an end. So I think the biggest mistake is that practice owners wait too long to realize that inevitability and wait until something happens that forces them into retirement.

If they’re burned out, they’ve just hit the end of the road and haven’t planned it. And because they haven’t planned it, usually they’re looking at a lower valuation, sometimes, smaller buyer pools than they would’ve if they had planned just a few years.

So that’s the first major mistake I see. The second major mistake is having the practice be about you as the founder, owner, and primary practitioner. It can’t just be about you. You have to have other people around you supporting you, whether that’s other doctors or physician’s assistants, and then also on the support side.
And having support team members, receptionists, administrators, and things like that and diversifying who’s doing the work in the business. And the last was to round out the top three: focus on profitability, running clean books and records, really clean financials on the business, and maximizing that profit margin.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Determine how much our business is worth.

Jessica Fialkovich: Yeah, that’s a very common question I get, and I say business valuation is part art and part science. So the science part is that all practices are worth multiple earnings. So we’ll look at typically the business’s earnings, which are defined by something called EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

And that number’s easy to calculate off your PNLs; your accountants can help you find that. The harder part is the art. So the valuation is a multiple of that EBITDA number. So if we’re making a hundred thousand dollars in our business, there are multiple earnings. That determines that value and that number; that multiple could be two or four.

So what makes a business worth two times versus four times comes down to what industry you’re in, and what niche your practice is in. It also comes to the qualitative factors of the business. How is the business run? As we talked about, how dependent on the owner is it? How long have you been in business?

All those qualitative differentiators are the difference between a two-times and a four-times multiple on a business.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What strategies do you recommend to increase the likelihood that your business or practice will sell?

Jessica Fialkovich: Yeah, so the first strategy is just starting early. We recommend just at least understanding the value of your business and the potential pitfalls or hurdles you have to come in a sale process at least two or three years in advance of a sale if you have that time.

And I think that’s the biggest pitfall again: people wait too long, then they’re listing it for sale on the market, and we’re seeing the red flag issues as they come. From a buyer’s perspective, it gives us very little or no time to fix those issues from a sale perspective.

So that’s one of the biggest ones. The other one is that this happens in the medical practice world, quite often than in other industries, is that sometimes, owners undervalue the practices they’ve built. So I’ll talk to many owners, and they’ll say, “Hey, I don’t think anyone will buy my business.”

Jessica Fialkovich: I don’t think my business is worth anything. I don’t think my practice is worth anything. And the truth is that every practice has value. We have to manage our expectations of what that value is.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Typically, do people come into biomedical practice just by the patients, or do they buy the location and all of the equipment as well?

Jessica Fialkovich: Yeah, they will typically buy the full location. It depends on what the buyer is that’s coming in. If you have what’s called a strategic buyer, that’s a competitor; it might be a larger hospital group or larger medical group than your current practice. They’re mainly interested in the client base, but they also are interested in your location.

So opening up a satellite location or a second office. So typically, you’ll see them buy everything. Client, patient list, location equipment, they want the team, everything. If you’re in a situation where they’re just buying the patient list, you’re probably more in that situation where you haven’t done some preparation work in advance.
Maybe the practice isn’t as desirable to some of those larger buyers as another practice, and they’ll pay you a smaller value. But just for the client, for the patient list.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I see. So what one or two tips can you give our listeners today to sell their practice so that they get the maximum amount, feel comfortable, and have fewer regrets?

Jessica Fialkovich: I think the first is the mindset shift in the medical world. My mom’s in medicine, and I love this about practitioners, is that everyone’s very service-oriented, right? They want to do the best for their patients. They want to do the best thing for their medical community.

And they don’t think of their practice as a business, as a financial asset that should produce a return on investment. That’s the mindset shift when moving to sales or even running a better practice. Start thinking about the practice as a financial asset that should produce a return on investment for you as an owner.

And if you think of it like that and run it like that, it’ll be highly desirable to another owner and buyer in the future. So that’s the first tip. The second tip is that understand where you are. I always say to people, understand your baseline and foundation. Go out and get an opinion of the value of your practice and see where you’re at today. What’s the practice worth? What are those red flags? What are the holes or gaps that you need to solve? And you can do that by working with, a professional investment banker, business broker, or an exit strategy just like myself.

But that gives you an understanding of whether you are five years away from the sale or five quarters away from the sale. It just gives you an understanding of the baseline of where you’re at today and the expectations buyers will have of your practice when you exit.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Jessica, you have found a really interesting and worthy niche for yourself, and I don’t think there are too many other people competing with you. How did you get into that?

Jessica Fialkovich: I started because I was also a business owner. I’m still a business owner. But I started in the wine and spirits industry when I was 24. And I founded a couple of companies, and I sold them. And what ended up happening is that through that process, I realized very few advisors would help business owners prepare for and sell their businesses, specifically small to mid-size companies.

So I’ve been in that arena of mergers and acquisitions for small to mid-size companies for over a decade. And then one of the industry niches my husband and I started working in is medical practices. We’ve helped many clients in that arena, and I still find much passion in not just working in the medical world but working for small practice owners and mid-size practice owners. That’s the niche I grew up in, small business.

I founded my small businesses, and that’s where I’m passionate and wanna give back.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do you promote yourself so that doctors looking for your services know where and who you are?

Jessica Fialkovich: Yes. So we have a network of professional advisors that refer business to us across The US. We’re partnered with about 150 business brokers, investment bankers and CPAs throughout the country.

But if anyone listening to the podcast wants to learn more about us, they can go to exit factor.com/podcast. We’ve got a few free downloadables and resources to help start the process

Dr. Barbara Hales: Great. I have also heard that you recently launched a new book called Getting the Most for Selling Your Business, which turned into a number-one Amazon bestseller.

Jessica Fialkovich: Yes. Yes, we did.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Could you tell us about that?

Jessica Fialkovich: Yeah, that book is; I joke to everyone who used to ask me, “Hey, can I take you for coffee? And can you tell me about how I can position my business for practice to get the most out of it and get the highest sale price?” And that book is basically what I would tell you over coffee.

If we were sitting down face to face and you asked me that question, that’s my complete dissertation of the answer. So it’s all about how businesses are bought and sold in the US and how you can best position yours to be the most attractive. So you get the most and most money at the closing table, giving you the most freedom after the transaction.
I’ve tried to keep it short and sweet too. It’s only about 150 pages because I know doctors and business owners are very busy, and they don’t have time to sit down and read a three or 400-page book.

Dr. Barbara Hales: We’ll be putting a link to your book in our show notes. And it was a pleasure having you here today. Jessica, thank you for coming.

Jessica Fialkovich: Thank you so much, Barbara.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Exit Factor With Jessica Fialkovich first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and John discuss:

-All about an exit strategy in business
-How to prevent a decline in patients and revenue during an exit strategy
-How to have a successful exit

Key Takeaways:

“Once you know their win, then you figure out how to build a plan towards it.” – John Ovrom

Connect with John Ovrom:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnovrom/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnOvrom
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Answers-Navigate-Business-Expert/dp/B09V3HSW6Y
Exit Consulting Group:
Website: https://exitconsultinggroup.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExitConsultingG/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/exitconsulting
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxBy-BxehkPy6vu_KqewJeg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exit-consulting-group/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (130)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Joining me for this podcast is the president and founder of Exit Consulting Group, which provides consulting and brokerage services for business owners to prepare for and execute their exit. He is the author of Exit and Answers: Navigate your Business Exit like an Expert. John is a specialist in creating roadmaps for business owners, who anticipate a transition, whether it’s transferring the business to family or employees or selling to a third party. Welcome to the show, John Ovrom.

Welcome to the show, John.

John Ovrom: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.

Exiting of a Business Partner

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, there is something really important that we are going to be discussing today, as you know, and that is an exit strategy. How do you promote the practice when somebody other than yourself has exited so that you are not seeing a decline in patients or a decline in revenue because of the exit strategy? So let’s start off with talking about the exiting of a business partner. How does that work? How do you make it so that you don’t suffer for it?

John Ovrom: So what we see in business partnerships is the most successful business partners are when one person has one skill set, and the other one has the other. One might be more sales, one might be more operational, and one might be more financial. When you lose a partner, one of the biggest challenges is that the YinYang relationship of a very healthy relationship partnership becomes challenged. When one person is kind of taken, I’ve got a full plane, and we’re going to cut it in half, it doesn’t fly the same. So our best advance advice on exiting is a well-timed, well-strategically planned, and particularly in professional services, like the doctor’s business, which is very much relationship-based with their clients.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So do you let your patients know? Listen, this doctor is going to be leaving at a certain time, but he stays on to make sure that the transition runs smoothly.

John Ovrom: No, most people don’t seem to like change, just human nature, right? People go to church and sit in the same pew. People go to the restaurant and order the same food each time. When they go to a doctor, particularly doctors, they want to see the same person who has that. Generally speaking, we see someone shadow and be part of that experience and then the doctor has a tendency to not make that next meeting. Then, they start to establish a relationship. So that’s why the more time they have with the client together and start shifting it out, the better it is.

The exit of a Partner in Medical Practice

Dr. Barbara Hales: Let’s say I have a thriving medical practice. My partner is exiting; whether it was a surprise or it was something that was planned, perhaps due to a disability or age-related or they just don’t want to practice medicine anymore. So how would I approach that? What would I actually do?

John Ovrom: When you have an unplanned schedule, whether it is through death, through a divorce, or from health either yours or your spouse’s, it becomes fairly quick. Being open and honest has always been the best practice. What your clients want is someone that they can connect with, and people that understand them. So usually the game will be is to bring somebody in as fast as you can or refer them out to those that you can and just be honest with them that this is probably someone who’s better for you. Because you don’t want to lose your own relationships with your current clients, and all of your current patients, you just have to be open and honest.

Ultimately, we all want to be taken care of. If we feel taken care of, regardless of whether it was you, Barbara, it was me, or it was Susie, or Johnny, ultimately if you’d called me up and said, “Hey, John, I know you have a particular style or case that I am not as strong in, I’m going to bring you to the best person.” I would trust you. I would be open to that person. But if you can hold me and keep me, I would rather stay with you as long as I know that you’re going to take care of me. It’s about trust. I mean, that’s all patients are really looking for, trust and honesty.

Transition

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so now let’s say it’s with a partner who is going through a transition, they’re not leaving overnight. Fortunately, there’s no death that I’m worried about. I don’t have like another person that’s coming in to take their place right away. So how would you recommend that I make that transition, so patients want to stay and not just look to see where he’s going?

John Ovrom: Let’s go with the assumption and the definition of a successful exit. For some people, some doctors, their best exit is just to shut down their practice. Because ultimately, that’s not bad. That’s not wrong. They got into the practice because they care about people. They care about making a difference. Trying to transition someone over to a younger doctor, bringing that younger doctor and their practice might be too small for that. Ultimately, in the end, they’re going to finish their ride, shut the doors down, and pass them to good people, but out not to keep the company alive.

Most people feel that an exit is about the transition of a company. The problem with doctors’ practices is oftentimes the doctors are the company. How do you transfer a company to somebody when you are the company? Ultimately that exit is, it’s okay, as a doctor to know, shutting your doors after practice for 40 years is a successful business. It’s not a failure by saying “I’m done, and I’ve checked my box.” So if that is an excellent foreshore, just closing your doors is excellent than passing them to some other people.

If you have a company and you want to transition a company, which is beyond you, then typically you have to bring in the younger doctors. We see it in dentistry, veterinarian, doctors, lawyers, and all of these professional services, particularly estate trust attorneys that have long-term relationships. You’ve got to have a long-term transition with someone coming in trusted. So typically, that’s what we see. We see a doctor or either join a practice, a bigger practice, and then they can start to absorb so they’ve sold their practice into a bigger practice, that practice then starts to bring the younger group in or has some space to pick up the extra patients. You’ll see that or they will bring younger doctors in and start transitioning those people over a period of time.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, let’s say I’m not ready to retire. I’m not ready to close the doors. I’m just getting rid of Dr. X for whatever reason. How do I make the transition with that person so that patients are firstly aware that that’s happening, and secondly, so that they are slowly transitioning into my care? How do you recommend going through that?

John Ovrom: When we have two partners and let’s assume you and I are partners, Barbara, and I’ve decided I’m going to leave if it’s an amicable departure, because not all partnerships end up amicably, right? If you and I are angry with each other, I just disagree. I want to go down a different path, partnership, divorce, legally and financially. How do you value the company? How do you value the patients? There needs to be some professional advisory around when I want to take my business with me, and you want to keep the business or we disagree. So leaving that approach aside, which was we call it a divorce, if it’s amicable, and I just want to be done. Hey, I want to help, then generally it’s up to the departing partner and doctor to assist in transitioning these over to you. If I’m going to leave, generally I’d have an agreement with you, Barbara. “Hey, Barbara. Let’s try it. Let’s look at all my clients.

Let’s see which ones you can keep.” I get a piece of that for a year or two. Whenever I get a percentage of something or oftentimes doctors will whittle down their hours and just come on one day a week or they’ll kind of be your backup when you’re on vacation. They work on this transition. But then we figure out which of the best patients you want to keep and which ones you don’t, and we talk about it from a patient care perspective and how much you can actually handle and keep that product up. If it’s amicable, it’s great, because you have two very smart people that put patient care first, that’s great then it can work. If it’s a divorce, or if it’s not timely, when it’s just because of an unfortunate situation, it becomes bumpy, for sure.

Value

Dr. Barbara Hales: There are some people that say, practice does not really have any value when you go to sell it these days, because it comes down to the insurance that you are provided for mixed with your personality. It’s hard to have the patient transition over since they’re coming to you because they like you. As you say, you are the company so there is still value to selling a medical practice these days.

John Ovrom: There’s a very big haircut in the value. You definitely don’t get your fair market value. Because we know buyers know that there’s going to be a reduction, it can be anywhere from 30 to 50% reduction in your client base. If I was to take over your practice from you because it’s just kind of how it naturally works. So you don’t get as much value when you are a sole practitioner. What you’re seeing though is a big roll-up of doctors, and they’re all belonging to groups.

Physician groups are really what’s happening out there. You can cross-refer to each other and it becomes less kind of a solopreneur, survivor island, and you can be part of a group. You can still be your own doctor, but you are part of a group, you see this in professional services with financial planners and real estate. You see attorneys see CPA firms, and you’re seeing more doctors rolling into those types of practices.

Future Exit Strategy

Dr. Barbara Hales: It’s recommended, as you know that thinking about your exit strategy shouldn’t be when you’re at the end of the line. But you know, when you’re first starting out your strategy makes sense. So what do you advise doctors that are just starting out in terms of their future exit strategy?

John Ovrom: It’s been very hard to get doctors. Business owners as a whole are difficult to think about what’s going to be their exit, particularly in the professional services industry, because they’re doing something they love. I mean, you’re doing this because this is kind of who you are you the profession picks you, you don’t necessarily pick the profession, right? It’s hard for them to think, is there anything else besides me?

Our biggest challenge in exiting is the willingness of the owner to walk away. They get so much value in their business that they are afraid that if they walk away, they’re gonna lose their purpose. If there was anything that we could push out to your listeners, Barbara is going to understand that an exit is personal. It’s going to be harder than you think. It’s not like selling a house or selling your car, it’s not an asset, I’m just gonna go sell my business. This is you; this is who you are, this is your name on the building. These are people that have been calling you and have trusted you. People respect you because of who you are. Once you become just a normal common folk person employee out there or just not employed. There’s a significant gap in value that particularly entrepreneurial people get, and it is what we call owner readiness.

So there are three parts to exiting. One is the owner’s readiness. The second is business readiness. Then the third is market readiness, right? So those are the three areas we’re going in. By far, the biggest challenge is owner readiness. They say they want to leave, but when it comes down to it, they’ll say, “Well, that’s not enough price,” or “No, this isn’t the right time,” or “Maybe next year.” It’s because they’re scared, and they don’t know what they’re going to do. That’s a very big part of doctors, particularly because they get so much value out of helping people that walking away from it is scary and hard.

Ideal Number of Years

Dr. Barbara Hales: Is there something that you would advise them a certain number of years prior to them considering leaving so that they can fill that gap or so that they don’t have that emotional trauma regarding leaving?

John Ovrom: Everyone’s going to have emotional trauma. Some people have been able to fill theirs If they at least acknowledge it. If you acknowledge anything, then you can start working towards the other things that fill your batteries. This isn’t the only thing; it’s just this is all they know. The challenge in professional services is how much the owner is involved. Five years is a minimum in professional services to start planning your exit. When I mean planning your exit, it will take you five years to make sure that you’ve thought through the taxes, you’ve thought through the legal, you’ve thought through the emotional. You’ve figured out how you’re going to handle the issues identified by someone you’re going to try to work with. Once you consummate the close, you still got two more years, three more years that you typically kind of stay on to kind of transition. This isn’t a widget that you’re just going to walk away from the next day, these are relationships deep.

When I say five years out, it ends up being about a 10-year cycle, because it takes you five years to get to a place to transact, and then it takes you five years to get out and get paid out of the transaction. So the sooner that you can set that in motion. You can plan your exit, but then wait for five more years, and then do it when you want to. But if you don’t have a plan because most doctors aren’t going to plan ahead on their exit, they just don’t, then you need to understand this is a long process.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So that’s why we’re talking today. Most doctors are going to be resistant, and I’m sure you may have found your clientele to be resistant until they get to the end of their rope, and then they’re desperate. It’s like, I need to speak to somebody like that. So assuming that they haven’t, you know that they’re not standing on a ladder with the rope around the neck, then, you know, what did they do during those five years? How do you advise them?

John Ovrom: So I thought that I would be an exit strategy. You’ll always see financial planners out there putting out this exit strategy. I learned that we were 17 years into this now that there’s really not a lot of exit strategy. It’s exit consulting. They don’t strategize. The time they call you is when they’re ready. It happens every time. There’s no time to strategize, it’s time to actually put things in motion. Particularly, entrepreneurial people, just wake up that day or set a date. I’m gonna retire at 65 or 70. When you’re there like I’m gonna retire in December of next year. Really, you’ve been doing it for 40 years, and you just decided today that you’re going to seek months. Yes, that’s right. Okay, well, how do you want me to help you then? Because I don’t know how to help you. Except just sell it or close it on, you know, here are your options.

If they’re willing to plan it, you always start with what’s your win? What are you trying to achieve in your exit? Is it that you want to keep the company going, and you have a key employee that you want to transition it to? Do you have a family member? Sometimes you have children that are coming up the line, and they want to transition it to their children or, or child? If you want to be partners, you might have a child or I might you know, how’s that going to work do we have? What is the definition of when? Is it a liquidity event and I need a certain amount of money in order to retire? Is it a time I want to be done by the time I’m ex old or do I want to hand it to my kid or do I just want to keep doing this? I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and when I’m done, I’m done. We call it the Viking Funeral. The Viking Funeral. I’m going to die at my desk, John, that is my exit strategy.

Viking Funeral

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely, yeah, I actually was told that but by a colleague of mine back in the day they said, Well, you know, I mean he was in his late 70s, early 80s. I said you know, now is the time for you to get out and do the other things that you dreamed of doing. You know, go out and have some fun. His response was, You know what, I don’t have any hobbies. I love doing this. I’m devoted to this. This is the only thing that I enjoy, and I do enjoy it. Success to me is doing it until I just like drop dead in the OR, or you know like in the office which is pretty dramatic, but he was serious about it.

John Ovrom: That Is an exit Barbara, and it is scary. How many people truly and as long as you own that bar, I’m completely fine. Here’s my advice. If that is your plan, and you want to have a Viking Funeral, then just get enough life insurance. Make sure that we can hire the right people. So your widow, or your children, or your trust, has to figure out that they have enough money to figure it out the right way.

Because if you’re not going to figure it out, you’re the best person to do this, the doctors are the best owner, figuring out, don’t leave it to your widow, don’t leave it to your kids, don’t leave it to the state and probate to figure this stuff out. But if you’re going to then just leave, get half a million bucks, so I can pay, so your wife doesn’t have to deal with it, your kids will, they can pay someone to kind of figure out how to close out the company. Forget all the accounts on a final tax return. Transition a company over to somebody else, get your patients like Just leave me money for the kids. That is an exit, I’m still okay with it because it is an exit. But that’s what I mean by defining their win. Once you know their win, then you figure out how to build a plan toward it.

Success Story

Dr. Barbara Hales: Can you give us some success stories? People would love to hear some stories. Of course, anyone that you know talks about without being personal is great, because people can identify whether they say, “oh, yeah, that’s me.” If they’re successful, then you could make me successful, too. So could you give us maybe a story that somebody that you helped?

John Ovrom: Sure. So we had a family practitioner, who’s been in a small town. We’re in San Diego. It was actually considered a small town, even though it’s not but unfortunately, they named their company, their business, their name, so we’ll call it Dr. John Ovrom, right? So, of course, John Ovrom was the doctor. So everyone’s been coming there. They’ve had grandparents, parents, and kids. They’ve given been at all the births and done all this stuff. They decided at 70 that they would design an X, like, this is about time. Okay. Sure. I mean, seven days is better than never.

For that individual, we went through the process of what do you want? What is your wind? The wind was? No, I don’t want to die at my desk. I would love to get some liquidity out of this. Okay, great. All right. So you want to liquidity event? Do you want to hand it on an internal sale to a key employee? Do you want to bring a doctor in? Do you have a family member, I don’t have any family. I don’t really have the practices big enough for me to just hire someone to come in and take that over. I don’t really have the patience. So we said, Okay, if you’re going to have a liquidity event, then you’re going to have to probably sell it to a physician group. If you want to be out in five years, why don’t we just start interviewing different physician groups, find out what group you could participate in, that could go into bringing your practice into theirs, and find out what the buyout agreement would look like in the transition?

It worked out splendidly because there are different physician groups that are looking for different kinds of practices. That ability gave him all of the control that he was still running in his practice, but there was a willingness for them to buy out. They knew that they were gonna buy out, so they were willing to invest.

A lot of times technology, older business owners, stop investing in technology, particularly in billing and processing. They can often take a lot of the stuff off of him from an administrative side and bring in all the new processes and just let him be a doctor, and then eventually start bringing people behind and it worked out splendidly. Really, really well. But he was smart enough to think far enough ahead, and then evaluate what did he really want? Then, process it because there are a lot of different choices. It’s okay to do whatever there is no right answer, whatever the doctor’s exit is, can be the right answer. Liquidation is an option, just shutting it down as an option inside the sale, outside the sale, run until you die. They’re all options. None of them is wrong. Just make a plan and understand that the family is going to have to deal with it if you don’t and you’re the best-qualified person to do it with the professionals around you.

Determining the Value

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do doctors decide or figure out what the value of the practice is?

John Ovrom: There are two different kinds of valuation methodologies: You can hire a professional business appraiser. They are certified licensed and stamped and they follow basically a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle) process. It’s typically used when it comes to divorce or death, for estate planning purposes, or you can hire a broker, which is what we are. We do what we call a broker’s opinion of value. We will go out and look at sales, comps, and market comps and understand who the ideal buyer would be, and kind of how involved they are, and how much their equipment is. We deal with it and both appraisal processes are talking about a type of buyer without taking it to market.

Closing Remarks

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, this is all been very interesting. What is one tip that you could give or two that you could give to our listeners regarding how they would decide to formulate an exit strategy? If they’re not the ones that are immediately leaving, how they could promote that to the role of patients so that they don’t lose them?

John Ovrom: Sure. Advice. My advice is to all business owners, and doctors, actually, particularly, it’s not an easy process. This isn’t exiting your business is not easy, because they are the business. The sooner they get educated, the sooner they surround themselves with the right kinds of advisors to help them get educated, and the better chances they’re going to get the result. I can only beg on behalf of their spouse on behalf of the children on behalf of their patients that they prioritize the future of the business beyond them. So there is a plan in place. It’s just really, really hard for solopreneurs not to think about what’s going to happen when they no longer get to do what they love to do. You just don’t like to pick up on it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Sure. Well, I would like to highlight all those that may have missed the beginning. John Ovrom is the author of Exit and Answers: Navigate your Business Exit like an Expert. I assume they could get that on Amazon.

John Ovrom: Yep. Yes, ma’am. Yes, it is. It’s available?

Dr. Barbara Hales: For our listeners that are saying, well it’s not something that I thought about or I may have just thought about it fleeting, but like it’s sort of like buying a plot. It’s not something that anybody really wants to face. So they say, Well, now you’ve convinced me. So how can they reach you?

John Ovrom: Best place is our website, www.exitconsultinggroup.com. That has all of our information. It is an easy way to find a lot of information about the exit process, different stories, different ways, and different solutions. A lot of different articles. It’s our goal is to be an educator. All business owners want to know is what are my choices, like, just be honest with me, don’t sell me just told me my choices. I’m smart enough to figure it out. That’s why we started this I’ve always been a business owner. I’ve taught and I sold my company. I was really disappointed in the availability of just honest, independent advice. It was always someone trying to convince me that I should sell, or I should take, and I just want to know my choices, which is what we’ve set

Dr. Barbara Hales: When it comes to an end, that’s what everybody wants. That’s something that may be like keeping them up at night. By giving them the options they can then move forward. They know what the choices of future steps are. So it takes that agony away.

John Ovrom: Yeah, and every one the business owners are generally, I got to figure it out myself and do it myself. Good people around you know how to do this. Don’t try to do it all yourself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s better to not hike Kilimanjaro by yourself just because you think you can get a Sherpa. Let them help you. It’s going to be a much better experience.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I think that that’s probably the best advice going. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

John Ovrom: Thank you, doctor.

Dr. Barbara Hales: We’ve been talking with John Ovrom and this is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Until next time.

The post Exit Your business with John Ovrom first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara discusses:

Why it is important to pinpoint your contact marketing goal before you create your content?
How to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns?
How can you strengthen your online visibility and grow your medical practice?

Key Takeaways:

“The most effective content marketing strategy is to identify problems that your audience is struggling with and provide solutions” – Dr. Barbara Hales

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (129)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Happy and healthy new year to everyone.

This is Dr. Barbara Hales, your host for Marketing Tips for Doctors. Now that the new year has started, it’s time to start thinking of marketing strategies before we wind up halfway through 2023. Perhaps in the past, you considered relying on referrals from the insurance carriers that you participate in and a few colleagues that you were with.

However, if you consider converting part of your practice over to a concierge model or having side services and products, it will be crucial to let people know about them before doing anything. Sit down, relax, take a few breaths, and have a cup of tea.

Who is Your Target Market?

Dr. Barbara Hales: Lock in who you are trying to attract. This is your target market. You’ll be the consumer of your services and products. Who will be the consumer of your services and products? Pinpoint your contact marketing goal before you create your content. Figure out what your goals are and make a list of the keywords that you want to incorporate into the content. Consider how you will analyze the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Parameters may be new subscribers, new patients, traffic to your website, number of podcast downloads, video views, social media shares, and engagement amongst many others. For most, getting more readers to your blog or digital newsletter and progressing to become email subscribers is key. You can then develop relationships with them and have them become loyal patients or clients of yours.

Your traffic goal is the number of people signing up and viewing your site. To achieve this, content promotion is necessary and can be done by mentions in social media with influencers or in other people’s blogs. The more you promote, the higher your traffic will be.
Pinpoint Your Content Marketing Goal

Dr. Barbara Hales: Before creating your content, figure out what your goals are and make a list of the keywords that you want to incorporate into the content. You have the freedom to make these choices at the beginning when they’re free, fast, and easy. Not later on when you’ve made commitments to other people and yourself.

Don’t wait till it’s something that you feel is not quite right, but you’ve already committed time and effort to. Consider how you will analyze the effectiveness parameters as mentioned, but also see what other parameters you may want. There are many advantages to marketing, such as attracting new patients, educating consumers, strengthening your brand, and increasing visibility.

Boost Your Search Engine

Dr. Barbara Hales: Boosting your search engine ranking and increasing revenue. When done effectively, you can see your practice grow by leaps and bounds surpassing those of your competitors and colleagues. Don’t be the best-kept secret. People are looking for advice beyond the jokes and articles sent through social media.

Be Active on Social Media

Are you active on social media? Send health professionals, to use their knowledge and expertise to inform their patients and communities. They incorporate social media strategies into their marketing to inform and engage prospective patients. The story that sticks with me and that I love is when the pandemic started and everyone was at odds as to how to live their lives and do so in a way that they would be safe as well as bring safety to their loved ones.

An internist did a quick one-minute video of what to do with your supermarket products when you bring them home. He showed how you sterilized or wiped down each one, how you categorized them and how you dealt with them once they got into your house so that you were vulnerable to any germs or bacteria that you may be bringing back. It was a simple little video, simple little instruction, and it went totally viral with more than a million views. Understandably, patients that were looking for a doctor were going to choose him because he was the one that gave a common sense to which they could relate.

Some health professionals really are not aware of the power that they have by simply relating their knowledge in a way that patients can understand. After thinking all of this over and what value you can bring, now you are ready to begin. So, let’s talk about your marketing strategy.

Know Your Audience

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s called the demographics. Who is your ideal audience and what are they like? Consider age, gender, occupation, job title, economic status, parent and marriage status, location, et cetera. You need to know who your audience is to identify their pain points. These are what you will be addressing with your content.

Identify Your Audience’s Pain Points

Dr. Barbara Hales: The most effective content marketing strategy is to identify problems that your audience is struggling with and provide solutions just like that video that went viral where people did not know how to approach common things like supermarket groceries, and doctor-provided solutions. You want to educate, engage, and entertain. Then they will be your loyal fans. You need to address them directly and show compassion for them.

Understand the Demographics and Psychographics of Your Audience

Dr. Barbara Hales: The first step is to understand the demographics and the psychographics of your ideal audience. Demographics are the quantitative, measurable traits that your viewers have. Whereas psychographics is the unmeasurable traits, like values, morals, interests, beliefs, and attitudes.

Create Your Avatar

Dr. Barbara Hales: Visualize your ideal patient or client. By visualizing your avatar, you will have a better understanding of how you approach them and how you would speak with them. There are seven key topics that I’ve learned in my experience, helping medical practices in the last 10 years.

Strengthen Your Online Visibility

Dr. Barbara Hales: Register your location on Google Maps if you’re a brick-and-mortar business so that people know how to find the office and see which office is close to them. Appear in localized searches like Dr. Near Me or Yelp with accurate and consistent business information. If you register for them and your office hours change, or you are changing the staff that’s there, go back into these sites and freshen it up, ranking higher in search engines.

Keywords For Your Business & Products

Dr. Barbara Hales: What keywords represent you and your products? Keywords are the words that people plug into search engines to find you or someone like you that has the services and products that you are providing. Basic website keywords and organizations are constantly optimized so you appear higher in search results. Build links to convey to Google that you are a trustworthy and credible resource.

Get the biggest bang for your buck with monthly keywords, ads groups, and bid optimizations. Never miss a lead and listen back to recorded calls on your dashboard with call tracking. Stay ahead of trends with customized recommendations.

Building a Better Social Media Presence

Dr. Barbara Hales: Thirdly, how do you get found on social media? Consider which social media sites your target market is. Are they searching Google or community sites to source answers and ideas? Do they prefer attending health fairs, in-person events, or group discussions? The key is to be present where your audience already exists. Keep your social profiles full of fresh and engaging content, creative, engaging, and informative content that matches your brand identity, custom-built Facebook and Instagram pages with cover and profile photos.
Keep your social media fresh. Save time with an easy-to-use calendar to preview and schedule upcoming posts.

Set Up Your Blog or Newsletters

Dr. Barbara Hales: For most, getting more readers to your blog or newsletters and progressing to become email subscribers is key. You can then develop relationships with them and have them become loyal patients. Thirdly, set up your blog if you don’t have one already. It’s time to set up your blog and decide on where your content will reside. I recommend WordPress because you can add it to your website. Then every time you post a blog, the search engines view your website as adding fresh new content. Remember, the content will be incorporating your keywords.
Consider also adding videos and podcasts to your blog as people are attracted to a different medium. If this is not done, search engines and patients themselves for that matter, don’t see any change on your website for six months. They have to ask the question, is this practice still active? Did the doctor retire and they didn’t take the website down yet? Did the doctor die? Did the practice move? All sorts of ideas go through a person’s head when it’s stagnant.

Optimal Website Boosting

Fourthly, create an optimal website boosting you on the first page of Google searches where patients can find you. A website isn’t just a nice thing to have. It’s a crucial strategy to educate patients and attract them. Patients used to rely on recommendations from family or friends to prospective patients. They look up doctors’ information online. Remember that 8 out of 10 people search for their physicians online before making an appointment.

If you don’t have a website, you don’t exist, or if your website turns out to be on page 25 of the Google search, you might as well not be there because patients rarely look beyond the second or the first half of the second page, and never really go beyond that.

Having an effective website also saves you time. Do you answer the same questions with your patients every day? Add frequently asked questions or a FAQ sheet to your online content.
Post what makes a good candidate for your service, indications, and contraindications for procedures. Post-op instructions and videos on medical devices and techniques. Setting up an effective website and putting this information on it allows patients to view it instead of having to call you up and ask these questions over and over.

Speaking Engagements

Dr. Barbara Hales: Fifthly, speak at events and neighborhood health fairs. It positions you as the authority in your field and draws in ideal patients who will actively seek you out perceiving that you have the solutions to their problems. I remember when I had a practice and spoke at the public library. At least half of the patients came up to me at the end of the talk asking for my business card and whether I was still accepting patients.

It was a great way to grow my practice at that point.

Writing a Book

Dr. Barbara Hales: Sixthly write a book. Writing a book on conditions that you treat makes you look like an authority in those solutions. Other specialists may work down the block performing the same procedures and treating the same conditions. But if you wrote the book on it, it is obvious that you are the one that people will want to consult with. You are the expert. Your book is a piece of you that they want to take home so that you are continually on their mind.

The Importance of Networking

Dr. Barbara Hales: Lastly, let’s talk about networking. Introduce yourself and your practice to professionals and health facilities in your area for referrals. Marketing isn’t just about trying to promote new services to patients. It’s also about managing your reputation and building relationships.
Hopefully, you see the value in marketing your practice, but I get it, you are already working what seems like 25 hours out of every 24. The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. You can outsource your needs and have someone do it all for you.

Where to Contact Dr. Barbara Hales?

Let’s chat about your needs. What are your pains? What are the struggles that keep you up at night? Contact me at themedicalstrategist.com/contact and we can discuss your problem and get you on the road to success. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.
Hope you have a happy and healthy new year coming up. Till next time.

The post Marketing Your Practice first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara, Matt and Nick discuss:

-Why branding is important for health professionals
-What is the importance of using AdWords
-What is highly targeted messaging and why is it important

Key Takeaways:

“Break the rules and push against convention to stand out and succeed!”

Connect with Matt Reno & Nicholas Coleman:

Website: https://superkickbranding.com/
Podcast: https://thebrandoutlaw.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattreno
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-r-coleman
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandOutlaw_Superkick

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (128)Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales.

Today we have a special treat, a duo, Matt Reno and Nick Coleman. They are co-owners of Superkick Branding, which created Brand Outlaw as a resource hub to drive the business world forward with advice, guidance, and tough love. What parent isn’t familiar with that? Through podcasts, videos, articles, and more, Brand Outlaw is the place where people at any career level in any industry can go to learn brand building with a fun, laid-back vibe.

Welcome to the show, guys.

Matt Reno: Thanks for having us, great to be here.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You both look like you exude a laid-back vibe.

Nicholas Coleman: Nice. Yeah, that’s what we go for.

Matt Reno: Yeah, absolutely. The best way to be creative is to have a relaxed mindset. So it helps us with problem-solving because it is a big part of how we go about helping our clients and just going about, sparking the creativity inside us.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, that and a lot of fun.

Nicholas Coleman: Yeah, we enjoy what we do. We want other people to enjoy this too.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Good. Now, you mentioned that you’re involved in podcasts. Are you talking about the podcasts you create for your clients or your own podcasts?

Nicholas Coleman: We have our own podcast, Brand Outlaw. So, no, we’re not in the business of creating podcasts for others. But we have our own, where people can listen to interviews with business leaders from all kinds of industries, hear success stories, hear the struggles that people went through to get to the top, and try to take some advice from them. And then we also have other episodes where it’s just Nick and I discussing different topics and breaking down some news or other items in the world of branding, business marketing, and what have you. So it’s fun, but there’s always some takeaway that you can apply to your own business.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So how did you come up with the name that you have now? Brand Outlaw, how did that come to be?

Nicholas Coleman: That it took a while took a lot of making lists and crossing stuff out. But what we were going for was to encourage people to take a little bit of a rebellious Maverick vibe to their business, to push against convention. Because if you’re following the herd and doing what everyone else is doing, you will not stand out. And then people need to have a reason to do business with you. We wanted to encourage our listeners, readers, or viewers to apply an outlaw mindset to their business and break the rules and push against convention so that they can stand out and succeed.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you have a tagline?

Nicholas Coleman: No, we don’t have a tagline, do we? No.

Matt Reno: Not at this point. Yeah. Because each business, especially at the beginning stage, focuses on what problem you solve. And then, as people know more about your brand over time, you can be more creative with the tagline. We wanted to keep it real simple and say, this is what we do. And we do this well. So when people come to our website or see our content, they immediately understand what we do.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, with such a great name that you have, it says it all you don’t need a tagline. Thanks. How did the two of you come to be in this business to begin with? What was the start of all?

Nicholas Coleman: Well, Nick and I worked together and had a marketing agency. He was my boss. And it started as a lead generation for that agency. But then we ended up leaving, and we decided we still wanted to work together on a freelance basis. So, we said, “hey, let’s take Brand Outlaw and turn it into the content arm of the business we were starting together”, which was Superkick Branding. And that’s the brand messaging consultancy, but we just loved making brand Outlaw content so much that we wanted to keep that.

Dr. Barbara Hales: How do you get your clients? What do you do to promote yourself and make others want to go into your services?

Nicholas Coleman: Well, I was going to say that Brand Outlaw is a big part of it. We use it to build credibility for ourselves and show, “hey, we know what we’re talking about, we have experience in this industry, and we can help other people.” So that’s one way we go about it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Why would you say branding is important for health professionals? Doctors may say, “Well, I’m a doctor. I know I have a practice in whatever specialty that should speak for itself.” So, what would you tell them? And why would you say, “Well, you’re wrong.”

Nicholas Coleman: You may have very good reasons why people should choose you, and your current clients, and customers, know what that is. But it only sometimes speaks for itself. There’s so much else in this world speaking, and how will you cut through the noise just by doing good work? Doing good work, of course, is very important. But there are other things you need to be able to communicate what makes you different to the public, and that comes from branding or marketing. I know only some people love doing that. But it is important because you need to give people a reason to choose you over competitors.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Make sense. What things should you say people should avoid in branding and marketing for the health industry? What should they avoid?

Matt Reno: That’s a really good question. Because one of the things I avoid is using a lot of like jargon that your clients won’t understand. Like, a lot of times because if someone comes, say, onto their website, or they’re trying to understand your practice or specialty, they might write in a way that’s too technical. You want to keep your communication and messaging as simple as possible. So that way, when people come to your website and want to know about your practice, they’ll understand what you’re talking about and feel more personal with your practice. So, it is one thing we advise avoiding, especially regarding your communication.

Nicholas Coleman: And building off that, you want to think deeply about what problem you solve. So, for example, if you’re a dentist, clean teeth and take care of cavities, that’s the obvious thing. Okay. And that’s what every dentist can say. But if you can dive deeper and think about the problem beyond that physical tooth cleaning that you solve, that’s something like the confidence that comes from a clean smile or straight teeth. So think about those on a more emotional level. You don’t just clean teeth; you give people confidence.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Like we make you sexy.

Nicholas Coleman: Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, what was the importance of using AdWords and Bing? How much should you be using?

Matt Reno: It’s absolutely important because here’s the reality. When looking at Google and Bing, these particular search engines and ads all sit at the top of the search. It’s incredibly hard to grow your practice, like doing it organically. I was thinking about this the other day. When I started in the industry, one ad was at the top of the search. And so you can grow your business organically. That’s why it was so important. But now you’ll have like about three ads that sit at the top, and then you also have your maps to show up. So you’re pushed way down, even if you’re on the first page, you’re almost near the bottom of the first page if you’re number one. So, if you want to make sure that people can find you easily, you need to run ads so that you’re at the top. Also, Google’s algorithms work because they are attached to your location. So, if you want to ensure that your location is always coming up wherever somebody is, having an ad and Google Maps right there at the top, it’s super easy for people to find you. And you have to make it that way for your customers.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That makes total sense. What would you say about social media? In regard to night positions?

Matt Reno: But, when it comes to it, it all depends on what your goal is. What are you trying to do with your social media? Because if you’re trying to be more nationally recognized, your intentions on social media will be about giving all these tips, being seen as an industry leader for what you do, and trying to push your practice. Make your social media more about your clients, community, or where you’re. Because from there, people will become more attached to the practice itself than who the actual doctor is. And that will allow these practices to grow because some of these practices want to hire more doctors, more staff, and stuff like that. So you have to make it about your practice being unbranded if that’s your intention with social media.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Tell me about the importance of creating highly targeted messaging.

Matt Reno: Oh, sure. This is one of our favorite things because it is about understanding your clients and where they’re at. So, often when people think, “Well, I’m going to write an ad, I’m going to do this broad”, like, “Here’s this family practice that’s in town. Come and see me.” People might be in different stages in their life. For example, someone may have just moved into town. So I’m going to write an ad that welcomes them to town and how to find the best practice in your neighborhood. Right? So, it’s thinking through, like, where’s this person at in their life, and can I write an ad that will make them stop and go, “Wow, these people understand what it is that I’m going through. And I want to want now to engage with this brand, and I want to reach out to them because there’s so helpful.” So that’s where we want to be intentional about. who are we talking to? And how can we help them and provide value to them?

Nicholas Coleman: Yeah, and we talked about this a lot, understanding where people are in the buyers’ journey and targeting your messaging for that stage. So, you’re going to have a different message for people who are just hearing about you for the first time than you are for people who are in that research stage where they’ve looked at a lot of options and are trying to choose which one to go with. And then that’s a different message from those who’ve already been to your practice, and you hope to have them as returning clients.

Dr. Barbara Hales: If they’re prospective patients, how do you know what stage they’re at?

Nicholas Coleman: That’s where you’re writing for your AdWords or other advertising, depending on which channel you’re in. You’re writing for those people who have never seen you before. But you can also have retargeting ads. Those people have interacted with you somehow, and you’re trying to get them from forgetting about your dropping off. So, it’s another reminder of why they should work with you. So, it depends on your channel when deciding what your message needs to be.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are two tips you could give our listeners now that they could implement immediately?

Nicholas Coleman: What I would say is take a look at your visual branding, your website, and the messages on your website and compare them to your competitors, whether you’re local or whether your larger organizations, figure out who your competitors are, and do your little analysis and say, “am I standing out? Am I giving people a reason to notice my practice to choose mine over competitors? Or am I just blending in with everybody else?” So, for example, take a look at your logo. Again, back to dentists, Do you have a tooth or a smile in your logo? Well, you’re probably blending in. It would help if you figured something else out and then took steps. But do your competitive analysis and see if you have room for improvement.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s a very interesting thought for a moment. What logo would a dentist use to stand out without using a tooth or a smile?

Nicholas Coleman: That’s a good question. And that’s tough because of the tooth, the smile, and the obvious answers. So, for example, if we were working with a dentist, we would ask a lot of questions that go deeper about their target audience. What are the problems that they want to solve for their patients? And we would go deeper like I was talking about before. And we may come up with something abstract, or we may come up with something that’s a little more geographically based if they want to be known as the top in their area. It all depends. But, if you’re going with the obvious answer, you’re setting yourself up to blend in. I can’t give you an easy answer for that right now because it’s not easy, and it is a process of figuring it out. But that’s the hard work we do for clients, and you must do that work if you’re trying to stand out.

Dr. Barbara Hales: It’s crucial to sit down and put the work and the thought in. That is not an easy process you could very flippantly use a photo or an image that you get generically. You’re so right; people do have to work on that. Do you have a second tip?

Matt Reno: Sure. This is more on the practical side. Make sure that your Google My Business is filled in. Because when we’re talking about standing out, it’s more than just putting your address on Google My Business. It’s about listing all your services, and one of the most underutilized, especially for family practices and different types of actual hospitals, they utilize the photos sparingly. And this is like an area where you can show your customers your office; you can show many different things on Google My Business. If you have it filled out, it gives you a huge advantage. Because when somebody comes on and starts looking you up, it takes up the entire right side of Google search. And so, the more information, the more images, the videos you have, it takes up even more of that page. So, you want that dialed in, and it’s easy to do.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s a great tip. How can people listening reach you if they’d like to hear more?

Nicholas Coleman: We have a contact page on our website, superkickbranding.com. And they can also go to brandoutlaw.com, where you can find videos, podcasts, and articles. With tips that you can apply to your own business. We have a contact page there as well. So there are two ways to get a hold of us.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, we’ve heard some great tips and great information today. Thanks a lot, guys. This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

The post Superkick Branding With Matt Reno And Nick Coleman first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Let’s Face it- the more publicity, the higher the perception of this professional having higher authority or celebrity status in the field.

In this episode, Barbara and Lisa discuss:

-What are TV programs looking for with their guests?
-How building relationships in the entertainment industry helps you in the long run
-How TV production works

Key Takeaways:

“Don’t just let it be all great inspiration, take something you can put into practice and create a result from it!” – Lisa Richards.

Connect with Lisa Richards:

Website: https://www.lisasimonerichards.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasimonerichards/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisasimonerichards/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeUygB7ZeKD8SsuvaWZ2SPw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellerich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisasimonerichardsgetseen/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (127)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors!

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today we are fortunate enough to have Lisa Simone Richards. So exciting!

Lisa Richards: Thank you! I’m so excited to be here!

Dr. Barbara Hales: Lisa is a publicist for doctors and health professionals who want to become regular guest experts and TV, top-rated podcasts, and other major media. After working with her, Lisa’s clients are recognized as industry thought- leaders, add an extra comma to their annual revenue—which I’m always for, and increase their “it factor” with a sold-out brand.

With brand experience, including Virgin Mobile, Staples, Crayola, and more, she gives constant expert access to the same PR strategies multi-million international companies use to scale their businesses. Her clients often get pressed on national media, including Fox, NBC, Forbes, and more, during the first 30 days of working with her.

On weekends, you can find her playing in the kitchen with her husband, petting all of the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube. Well, welcome to the show, Lisa.

Lisa Richards: Like I said, thank you so much for having me, Barbara! I’m so excited to be here and chat with you this afternoon.

How it Started

Dr. Barbara Hales: So why did this come about? How did you wind up getting into the field you’re currently in?

Lisa Richards: So when in 2002—I was in my first year of undergrad at Western University in Ontario. And I had just joined a sorority and I was having lunch with a girl in her fourth year who was showing me the ropes and she was about to graduate. And she was telling me after graduation, she was going to be going to PR school. Now 2002, the biggest show at the moment was Sex and the City. One of the four lead characters, Samantha Jones, had a PR agency, and it was all fashion, beauty, parties, and dinners. And I was like, that sounds cool. I’m into that. Right, I was enrolled.

So I got my start in the fashion and beauty industry, which I did for a few years. Then I moved into an agency setting where I worked with some of the clients who had mentioned before. And a funny story about me starting to work with doctors was, you know, I had an opportunity after being in an agency to work with a small business and make a difference, not just be the smallest team member. And I was able to help that company’s tax revenue over four years, going from 400,000 a year to 4 million a year.

A lot of small business owners can’t go to an agency like the one that I used to work at because they’re going to be told, “Absolutely, we’d love to represent you.”, it’s $10,000 a month, here’s a 12-month retainer. I wanted to make these practices available to small businesses.

And it just so happened that some friends from high school were chiropractic doctors, and a girl I also knew from sorority land back in undergrad was now a television producer. And she reached out to me and said, “Lisa, I know you’re in publicity. I’m looking for some chiropractors that could come onto the show. Do you know anyone?”, I’m like, hold on, this could be a business. And here we are now seven years later.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, it’s funny how things are so fortuitous. People wind up falling into things they never foresaw when they say, “This is what I want to do when I grow up.” It just—life happens.

Lisa Richards: One thing I love is that I knew I’d end up in communications. There’s this picture of me around three years old, sitting in the snow holding a phone. So I knew I’d end up doing something where I talked, but I needed clarification on what. And one of the things I’ve loved about working in this industry is it’s such a translatable skill. You can use it with doctors, telecommunications, products, fashion, beauty, and food. So it’s been fun to explore a number of different areas with this practice.

What TV Stations Like

Dr. Barbara Hales: You probably have seen that it’s not that easy for most people to get on TV shows that programs are very selective about the professionals they’re willing to take. What approach do you recommend health professionals take or what stories are TV stations most attracted to accepting?

Lisa Richards: So the cool thing is it’s not as hard to get on TV as people think and you’re 100% Correct. Producers are discerning in who they choose to bring to their shows. But some ways to make it easier to be a lot more attractive is by pitching themselves for a television opportunity, especially regarding TV.

I’m going to share a few tips here. Number one, start going local and start with a morning television show. Everybody wants to start on Good Morning America, the producers are looking for a strong demo reel before you start there. So unless you already have a ton of experience, start local. I always recommend morning television shows as a start because when you think about it, let’s say the lunchtime news is about an hour, the evening news is an hour and that’s hard news stories of the day. But morning shows? Typically from 6 to 9 am, Monday through Friday, that is 15 hours of content that a handful of producers are responsible for. So when someone comes in with a really good idea that will take up somewhere between four and seven minutes, it actually makes them a huge solid.

So if you can pitch an idea and paint the picture for the producer over seven minutes, we would do this. These would be the takeaways for your viewers. If you can just make it as easy for that person as possible. That’s going to increase your chances.

One more tip that I’d love to share, make it timely. What’s being talked about right now? We’re having this conversation towards the end of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It’s also National Blindness Awareness Month. Is there something you can speak to with those topics? What’s coming up in the news right now? Take a look at today’s paper because that’s newsworthy content. Can you offer a perspective on what’s being talked about?

So being timely is something that’s always going to win in television. Because if it’s a general story, we might come back to that later. But if you make it timely, that gives them a sense of urgency to put you on sooner rather than later.

Booking

Dr. Barbara Hales: How far in advance do media channels book?

Lisa Richards: That is a great question. So that’s called lead times in the industry. When it comes to morning television, when it comes to news, they have the power to be more flexible. If something happened today, that was a great idea. It could be on TV by tomorrow.

But typically, with something that’s a little more planned like a commemorative day, week, or month, like we were talking about, I think you’re safe to pitch an idea somewhere between two and three weeks in advance. That’s a healthy amount of time to send a pitch out, do a follow-up, and then coordinate something in advance of that desired date.

Going back to television, I’ve homed in on morning shows because that’s where most of my clients see their success. But we also have daytime TV shows that are out around noon or 1. Softer lifestyle content, like The View, for example, those shows where we have longer lead times. As we said, morning shows, Monday through Friday, three hours each day, and 15 hours of content. However, daytime shows one hour a day, five days a week, and they get a third of that airtime. So they’re a lot more selective and it books up faster. So that’s where you’re looking at something with more like a 6-to-8-week lead time because they’re planning that since they have limited time available.

Building Relationships

Dr. Barbara Hales: Does a show like The View take guests from off the show or do they stick with the people that they have as staff?

Lisa Richards: So once you’re getting to more of those national television shows, relationships do matter. Because they have a ton of people who would love to be on there. So I’ve seen a lot in my experience with guests on television shows that they will often start on a local morning station.

This is a true story about one of my clients, Sarah Taylor. We were shooting for a local television show in Toronto called Breakfast Television. It was her first time doing a segment with him, we were up on the roof. It was great. She had two women doing a workout with her flanked on the screen. And at the end of the segment, after the camera was off, the host turned to the producer and said, “She would do a really good job on City Line, ” a national television show that airs at 9 am. After Breakfast Television, BT Breakfast Television is local to Toronto, but City Line is across the country. So when they were like yeah, she would be good for that show, that was her in and she has gone on to do at least six to 10 Breakfast Television segments, at least 5 to 10, City Lines segments to date. And that spun into a whole bunch of other opportunities for her.

So start with that hyperlocal to build up your skill. Also, if you’re getting on national television, you want to be polished with your message, be confident, and have the back end set up for all the attention you’re about to get. So start local, and build those relationships. And that’s how you’re going to get to those bigger stages.

Message Creation

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you help with the message creation?

Lisa Richards: Oh, 100%. When I start working with clients, I typically take them through my 5P Formula for Positioning Publicity and Profit. And briefly, in the second step, I’ll jump you through the process. The second step is to position yourself as the solution. One of the things I come across with so many people who are educated and know so much about their industry is they can be super technical. They’re well-versed and educated. But we have to find a way. How do we spin this to make it relatable to the common person?

A great example of this is back to those chiropractors I mentioned earlier. I worked with them in 2015. And in 2015, we started getting front-facing cameras on our phones. So they had said to me—”You know, Lisa, all these people are holding their phones at this angle. Why don’t we pitch an elbow and wrist alignment story to the morning news.” And I was like, guys, I love you so much. And it is so hard to be the bearer of bad news. But if I was just anybody at home, watching the morning news, and I heard a segment on elbow and wrist alignment coming up, I’d go to the bathroom, get a snack, or change channels. And that’s what the producer has to think they care about their audience and ratings. So that’s not the thing that’s going to land.

However, love her or hate her—the next week, Kim Kardashian went to London in the UK and took 1500 selfies in a week. And I was like, guys, let’s roll off of this. Kim Kardashian took 1500 selfies in a week. What does that do to your elbows and wrists? So we took the same content that they wanted to share in the first place. We packaged it in a way that was going to perk up racers’ ears, it would make people watch television and not go get a snack. And that landed them a national segment. It got them a magazine article. And it also got them a radio interview.

So it’s about taking the concepts we want to talk about, but how do we massage them so that they’re interesting to people? I love my dentist. But as she goes into all these details, about my bicuspids and stuff like, with love, I don’t care. I want clean teeth. So we figure out a message that people will be interested in hearing.

Being in Front of the Camera

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that makes a lot of sense. Have you ever considered being in front of the camera or do you prefer putting your clients there instead?

Lisa Richards: Oh, that’s such a funny question. I used to get that a lot that people would be oh my gosh, fun story—I was working for a company and my CEO was just dying to be a regular on this one television show. And we got her a spot once they liked her. But they didn’t have her back. The host was like “Lisa, we want you to come back. We want you to talk about this topic.” I’m like, “I want to keep having a job. I can’t come on camera. Can you please put my CEO on?” And she was like, “Yeah, no.”

So I have been asked to be on camera in the past and funny story—I have been on camera before it’s not my thing. Trust me, I have only child syndrome. I love being on stage and getting all the attention. But the last time I was on television was on a makeover episode of a daytime TV show. And the episode was called 30, Single, and Loving It and I got to do really fun makeover. Little did I know I was getting engaged the next month.

Lisa’s Marriage

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, congratulations!

Lisa Richards: Oh, thank you. We’ve been married for a year now.

Dr. Barbara Hales: The first year is the hardest. You know, if you’re in love after a year, you’re going to make it to your 50th.

Lisa Richards: That’s the best news ever. Because here’s a little fun Lisa fact from behind the scenes. We didn’t move in until about five months ago. So we got married and then returned to our own homes for about eight months. So now we’re in the phase of like, okay, let’s integrate life, but it’s been going well, and we’re enjoying it. It will be a fantastic 50+ years.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That is good. What is the number one problem or dilemma for newlyweds?

Lisa Richards: Money, domestic chores, what else could come up? I don’t know. It’s one of those two.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What to make for dinner. When you’re single and hungry, you just get something to eat. But all of a sudden, now you have to figure out how to feed somebody else. And that you have to cook, and you’d have to think about it in advance. And you know that’s such a dilemma for people.

Lisa Richards: And you know what’s so funny? My husband and I love to play in the kitchen, and we love to cook. The other day something came up in conversation. I asked, “Do we have a regular go-to thing for dinner?” He’s like, “No, we’re always trying new stuff.”

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s great!

Lisa Richards: Beef Wellington, we got to get better at that. We’ve tried three or four times, but we’ll keep practicing.

Gathering Interest

Dr. Barbara Hales: The next question—getting back on the topic I’d like to discuss is for the publicity releases.

Lisa Richards: Okay. Oh, this will be fun!

Dr. Barbara Hales: You might think what you’re doing is of great interest to the public. The media might say we’re not interested in it at all. How do you write one of these releases that will get picked up by the media?

Lisa Richards: Okay, fantastic. I have some answers and some strong opinions on this one. So back when I worked at an agency, press releases were something that we were regularly using. This was around 2007 or so. Now that I’m working with some corporate clients, I do a handful of press releases. But a press release is not what you do for the average small business owner or individual practitioner. You’re looking for something that’s called a pitch, a simple email from one person to another saying, “Hey, I had an idea for a segment.” And I’m going to share some tips for a good pitch.

The number one mistake I see people make when pitching themselves for media opportunities is they make it all about themselves. And they need to lead with value. Hey, I do XY and Z. And I’m capable of ABC and won 123 awards. As soon as a producer reads through that, their eyes glaze over. They are not interested in giving you a free commercial with love.

That was the hardest thing I’ve heard in PR school, but it served me well. So what I encourage people to do is—how can you lead with value? How can you ensure that the viewers will want to stay on the station and that anybody that watches can leave richer than they came?

Something I always share with my clients when they’re about to do any media appearance, whether it’s a podcast interview, a radio interview, or a television segment, is to make sure that people number one—have a short-term win, something they can do in five minutes or less to feel successful, but also set them up with something that they need to do a little bit longer term. And that’s where you come in as a facilitator to show them along the way. So that way, you’re really making sure that, whether or not someone takes the next step with you, they can see some improvement in their life, their process, or whatever you might be talking about.

So leading with value is the most critical thing to do. And a litmus test I like to put my clients through when they’re sending out their own pitches because I also love to teach people how to do this is just before you hit send on that email, scroll through the left margin of your paragraphs, how many of them begin with I, me, or my. And if you’re seeing I, me, or my showing up over and over again, guess what? You’ve made that entire pitch about you. So shifted from “I would love to come on TV and talk about” to “Your viewers could really do with an understanding of XYZ, and I would be able to share with them how to do that.” Same sentence, same content, we’ve just shifted them around.

So as much as you can make that positioning lead with your viewers, your audience, and how it will benefit them. Now you’re thinking from the producer’s point of view because they care about most of the value for their audience and keeping their advertisers.

Opportunities with HARO

Dr. Barbara Hales: How helpful is it to join HARO?

Lisa Richards: Oh, I had some clients get great opportunities from HARO. I don’t scan it much of my done-for-you PRs are specific clients. We don’t use them here it was much, but I had one client. This was a fitness instructor who used HARO and responded to a query from an online publication, Pop Sugar. And Popsugar, it gets more viewers per month than Refinery29, Vogue, and CNN combined. So if you’re in health, fitness, and wellness, for millennials, that is gold.

So she responded to a HARO query and got a feature with Jenny Sugar, the author, and they developed a really good relationship and one feature turned to two to three to eight, ultimately. And at the time, this was during lockdowns, so they were doing a lot of digital content to connect with their audience. And they would invite personal trainers to come and lead a workout on Instagram Live. And they invited my client to do that. Now sadly, it didn’t end up coming to fruition.

But had it, they had just under a million viewers at the time. What would it have been like for my client to do a live on Instagram on an account with 900,000 Plus viewers, let’s be real, the Instagram algorithm is not showing it to almost a million people? But if 1/10 of 9000 people were watching that, and even a 10th of that, like 900 people, decided to work with her, what would that do to her business this year?

So you never know what could happen. And I think HARO is an avenue worth pursuing. If I can offer a quick tip, skim the headlines because now they break it down into lifestyle, business, etc. That’ll save a ton of time between reading through the different opportunities.

Standing Out

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s great. When you are considering giving a pitch, would a demonstration of what you’re talking about make you stand out more than someone giving a pitch without a demonstration associated with it?

Lisa Richards: Absolutely. I am such a huge believer. And again, we were saying earlier, but how can you really paint that picture for the producer? Because the more questions that they have, the more gaps there are. That creates friction. There’s work they need to do now, and they’re less likely to move forward.

So when I’m spending, for example, I work with a number of fitness clients. And when we send a pitch over they’re saying, we’re going to do an excerpt, we’re going to do a segment with these kinds of exercises. What is the name of the exercise? I’ll hyperlink it to a YouTube video. It’s not their own, they are just showing what it is.

So now we’re helping the producer see what this could look like. They’re considering okay; what are the camera angles? We’re going to need someone on the ground the whole time. Are they jumping? Being able to do those little things behind the scenes helps makes their jobs so much easier. So even if it’s not your own content, we could do something like this and link to it, and they can start getting a sense of how that would lay out visually.

Lisa’s Tips

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that does make a lot of sense. What are two tips that you could give our listening audience, who are now like really revved up after hearing, going “Oh, my God, I want to do this.” And I need to speak quickly. So what two tips would you recommend?

Lisa Richards: The first thing I would do is encourage people to think about what’s the end goal. Getting visibility is awesome. That’s great, but what do you want to get from it? Is it more people walking into your physical practice? Are you selling more books? Do you want to be able to book opportunities for stages, so being crystal clear on the outcome, this publicity is moving you towards is going to make sure that the work that you’re doing is intentional, leading to the result that you want to create?

That would be number one, be intentional about what you want to do. And then what would the second step be? The second thing for me would be to consider now that know what I want to create. Who is that audience you want to be in front of and where are they paying attention? Another mistake that I see people make sometimes is they’re thinking about what they would pay attention to, but not necessarily the desired audience. So even taking it back to that fitness example, because I’ve worked with many fitness companies, I get many trainers and studio owners coming my way. I’ll have studio owners say to me, you know what, Lisa, I work with women who are coming to the gym for the first time. And I would love to get featured in Bodybuilding Magazine, Oxygen, and Strong and Muscle and Fitness. And I’m like, you read those, but she does not like let’s talk about Cosmo, Self, Popsugar.

So being intentional about knowing who’s the right person and where to get in front of them. That’s going to make sure the effort and work you’re putting in pay off in the result you want to create.

How to Reach Lisa

Dr. Barbara Hales: Those are great tips. Lisa, how can our audience reach you?

Lisa Richards: So the best way to find me, if you’re curious about getting on television, is to head over to www.publicityfordoctors.com. Because that’s where I have my Doctors’ Guide to Getting on TV, sharing five tips to help you get started along the way, including a training video that will help you too. So that’s over again, www.publicityfordoctors.com. Otherwise, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I am the only Lisa Simone Richards on there. I use my middle name for marketing search purposes because there are too many Lisa Richardses otherwise.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that’s wonderful. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for being here today.

Lisa Richards: Oh, I’m so appreciative. Thank you for the invitation. And if you’ve just invested 25, 30 minutes and listening to this episode. Don’t just let it be all great inspiration, take something you can put into practice and create a result from it because there have been people who’ve listened to me on podcasts before and booked TV segments so you could be the next one.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That is great advice again. Thank you, Lisa. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host Dr. Barbara Hales. Til next time!

The post The IT-Factor: How Doctors Get Publicity and Celebrity Status first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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Happy Chanukah! May you have a joyous and healthy holiday with more wondrous times to come!

Chanukah is a time to celebrate you and the wonders you have achieved now and throughout the year.

It has been an honor to consider you all my friends and family. Here’s hoping that next year when we celebrate, we can do it together without the threat of COVID-19 or any health challenges that come our way.

Wishing you a healthy and safe holiday,

Barbara

The post Bringing Joy to You and Your Family first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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In this episode, Barbara and Paul discuss:

-Why people should own their own place instead of renting
-How Commercial Financial Solutions help businesses grow and expand their businesses
-How does Vantage Point Commercial Capital promote its brand, increase its visibility, and stand out against competitors

Key Takeaways:

“I’m a serial entrepreneur at heart. All of my spheres of influence are business owners and entrepreneurs. I spend my time and energy adding value to those people from a business standpoint, giving them insight, advice, direction, be a sounding board, helping them grow and overcome any specific challenges they may be facing.” – Paul Neal

Connect with Paul Neal:

Website: https://vpc.capital/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paul-neal-47b8478
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vantagepointcommercialcapi2419/

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (126)

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us a special guest. It is none other than Paul Neal, the founder and principal funding strategist at Vantage Point Commercial Capital, which focuses on helping entrepreneurs and real estate investors win by funding their growth and dreams in non-traditional ways. Welcome to the show, Paul.

Paul Neal: Thank you, Barbara. I’m excited about being here with you today.

Owning vs. Renting

Dr. Barbara Hales: Paul, you mentioned that you help entrepreneurs in terms of their office space. Tell me, why should people own their own place instead of renting?

Paul Neal: That’s a great question, Barbara. If you have a local business in an area, and it’s operating, and you’ve established that business and you have a pretty solid projected future, the question I always ask business owners and entrepreneurs in that scenario is, why do they own the home that they live in? There are a lot of common reasons why you do that – you want to control the home, you want to decorate it, you want a place to call your own, you want to build equity, you want to get the tax advantages of owning a home. At some point, you may use that home if you move, as a retirement investment, as an investment property, or realize a capital gain when you sell. There are a lot of similarities if you own your own business. We can look at some of the same reasons why you should own the building you’re in, just like the decisions you’ve already made to buy your house. There are tax reasons. There are control aspects. You’re building tangible value and equity. Your business can be worth more with real estate associated with it. You can build a retirement income stream out of that property. There are a whole host of reasons, but that’s the high-level reasons why entrepreneurs should buy the building.

Funding Solutions for Businesses

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you have any suggestions on how they should fund that?

Paul Neal: There are many misconceptions about how to fund it. I think that’s one of the reasons why entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals, doctors, dentists, and so forth don’t make the plunge initially or delay or maybe never buy. In some cases, they’ll generally go to the local banks and most local banks will want a large down payment, a 20 – 25% down payment, and fairly confiscatory terms if we talk about loan covenants, deposits, and things like that. From most people’s perspective, it’s for a local entrepreneur who is busy running their business, not a finance person. It can be a problematic concern. If you’re going to buy a $2 million building and you need a 20% down payment, $400,000 is a lot of money to take out of your operating account and plunk down on a piece of real estate. What we do is we look at the global picture of that borrower, the strength of the actual business, the history, the cash flow, and we have options where we’ve had investors and business owners get into their building for 0% down, sometimes 5% or 10% down, much lower barrier than they typically run into. That’s generally the thing that stops most business owners.

Dr. Barbara Hales: I see. Tell us some examples of people that you’ve worked with.

Paul Neal: Absolutely. A couple comes to mind in different scenarios. Just recently, we had an entrepreneur, a client of ours who owned several restaurants, and these restaurants had been established in a local area in Virginia where we are. They’ve been in business for about eight years in both locations. He was renting both business locations. Out of the blue, the owner of the building approached him and told him that he was going to sell one of the locations and he already had a buyer in mind. The buyer was not interested in that particular owner maintaining the restaurant. He had other plans and designs for that building. The seller gave the tenant, my client, the first right of refusal and said “Look if you want to buy the building, then we will sell it to you first because you’ve been a great tenant over the years.

Helping Clients Secure Properties

Dr. Barbara Hales: You mentioned that this guy was a great tenant, and he would be great by the building. What happened then?

Paul Neal: We worked with him to arrange financing terms, In his particular situation, he had some issues, some credit issues, which stopped some people as well. Some cash flow issues are based upon coming out of the COVID scenario. So, we were able to work creatively with him and get outside of the traditional lending environment with some private investors. We were able to help him secure that property. He was able to save the property. He now owns it. He doesn’t have to move his business and potentially lose a significant percentage of his clientele that he spent eight years developing. Another example would be in your neck of the woods. We have a doctor-client/friend who bought a building she practised about 15 years ago. They have recently paid off the building, and she’s approaching retirement. She was approached by one of these large medical groups to buy her practice. She decided, “hey, I’m going sell that as part of my retirement.” She’s got a nice exit plan for the next couple of years. But in addition to that, the medical group wants to maintain the building and the location because all the clients that she has are patients. That medical group will pay her rent on the building, which she owns free and clear, $10,000 plus a monthly income stream on this asset that her business had to live somewhere over the last 15 years. Now that she paid herself and build equity versus renting to a medical group, she has this retirement stream, in addition to her buyout from the practice and everything that comes along with that.

One final example I’ll give you is a lot of our clients will buy or build a space that’s larger than their own personal needs. Thinking ahead, they will occupy 50 – 60% of the building, take the remaining 30 – 50%, and lease that out to other tenants, with the idea of having those tenants pay a substantial amount of the mortgage freight on the property. They are in a situation where they have a much bigger asset, it’s worth a lot more than if they just bought a property that fits their own particular business. It allows them to grow and expand into that building space if they want to over time, or they don’t have to, because they have tenants paying the freight and are so much cheaper than just leasing a space for yourself. You don’t have to worry about the rent going up every couple of years.

You have to sign a new lease, and it’s always higher, right? It’s never lower. So, just a few quick examples of how and why you should do that. And it just makes sense. Again, I go back to “Why do you own your house?” Why don’t we just all rent, make somebody else rich with our monthly dollars. . Now, I will say this, if it’s like an online business, and you don’t really need a lot of space, and all of your employees are distributed and you or your business is really on shaky ground, it’s probably not a good situation for you to be buying. But again, if you’re a professional, you’re a vet, you’re a doctor or chiropractor, you’re a small business owner, maybe you have a landscaping company or a warehouse, you’re doing a lot of warehousing with maybe distribution or whatnot, then why on earth would you rent if you could buy under very favorable terms.

The Strength of Branding

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s true. One thing that you pointed out earlier that I would like to stress has to do with branding and the strength of branding, when you are accumulating your patients and clientele and you’re in a particular location, it doesn’t look good for your brand to have to relocate every few years.

Paul Neal: Absolutely. And not only looking good for your brand, which is a great point I didn’t even consider. People are creatures of habit. So, if you have a local practice in an area, you’re going to serve that area, and people aren’t going to drive so far right to come to see you. If you move, you’re forced to move sort of out of your comfort zone, their space, then they might look for a different practitioner at that point.

Promoting the Business & Increasing Visibility

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, the next thing I’d like to know, Paul, is that you’re not the only fish in the sea. You do have competition for what you do. How is it that you promote yourself to get people who don’t know about you to know about you and increase your visibility?

Paul Neal: That’s a great question. I’m a serial entrepreneur at heart. I studied engineering in college. I worked in IT for a very short period of time and I’ve since owned seven businesses and sold one a few years ago for a nice sum. All of my spheres of influence are business owners and entrepreneurs. That’s who I love to work with. I love professionals and entrepreneurs. I spend my time and energy adding value or attempting to add value to those people from a business standpoint, giving them insight, advice, and direction, being a sounding board, and helping them grow and overcome any specific challenges they may be facing. Because financing comes from time to time, it’s not something someone always needs. But I feel like as I add value and help other people with their own business based upon my successes and my failures, then then they’ll appreciate that. When the timing comes around with the opportunity for funding, then we’re there to help them.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you also advise professionals on which buildings or locations they would be better off investing in?

Paul Neal: I don’t go there. Again, I can be a sounding board. I’m not a realtor in the real estate space, but I can give them the financial piece of that and give advice based on what we see in that particular area regarding cap rates, market returns, and things like that.

Helping Clients Plan Exit Strategies

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you also help people from the beginning, seeing how they would have their exit strategy? Or how would they invest so they would be comfortable in the end?

Paul Neal: Yeah. One of the key things we always discuss when we meet with a client is not just today, but what are the goals? Short, medium, and long term? What are you trying to accomplish from a big-picture standpoint? Because that will impact if somebody says, “I’m retiring in five years”, well, then it might not make sense to get into the real estate transaction at all. But if they want to build a diversified portfolio, move some money out of the stock market, and get into real tangible assets, we can work with that. We work with many investors and clients, Barbara, that have invested in residential real estate because they understand that they want to diversify their portfolio. Many of them then start thinking about how they can get into the commercial space because that’s a completely different market. It can be non-correlating. There are so many sectors in that space that can be attractive at certain points in time and maybe aren’t attractive and other points in time. We try to give insight and work with each individual based on where they are and where they’re trying to go. Again, if anything could be a sounding board, we don’t charge for that. Ultimately, we want to build a relationship and add value. If we add enough value and can develop enough trust over time, when the time comes that they need to seek funding, we will be the source that they would come to first.

LLC Form of Business

Dr. Barbara Hales: Do you recommend that every property that someone purchases have an LLC for that particular property?

Paul Neal: Well, it depends. But we don’t like the idea of people titling properties in their own personal names for sure. There are liability concerns and we generally do like an entity structure. It could be a single-unit LLC or a series LLC, just based on their particular situation.

Advice to Professionals

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay. What is one tip you could give professionals listening today that they could implement immediately?

Paul Neal: Okay, one tip, the best tip I can give you is “think systems”. Professionals are doers. Entrepreneurs are builders. A lot of professionals are also entrepreneurs. But you can get caught in this world of technician work where we’re doing the day-to-day activity instead of building the system that allows that day-to-day activity to occur. If you can build the system, and I will say this, we all have systems in our business, whether we recognize it or not, some of them are really bad systems like how we answer the phone. If it’s not predetermined, it’s a bad system because it depends on whoever answers the phone and how they feel that day. Right? How do we pay our bills? Are we asking for deposits upfront or do we have an accounts receivable person who is after the invoice goes out as following up in a week to make sure it’s received so we get paid on time or early? What kind of systems do we have in place? Think systems, not tasks that will separate you from the day-to-day activity in your business, buying you freedom.

Connect with Paul

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s a great idea. Now for the listeners that would like to further get in touch with you. How can they do so?

Paul Neal: They can come to our website and I’m going to put up or have our team create a specific page just for this podcast. I’ve created a nice document to help them think through the funding process. You must ask and answer the key questions before you seek funding. It’s a really good process to kind of mentally go through if you’re thinking you need money for something, whether it’s expansion or growth or whatnot. But that website address is https://vpc.capital/

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that will be in the show notes for people who actually need to see that printed out. But that was really very generous of you to create that. You know that the checklist for people to read, I’m sure it’s going to be extremely helpful. So, listeners, don’t forget to click on that URL https://vpc.capital/ and get that checklist and you’ll learn so much more.

Paul Neal: Absolutely. You can also as well go to the website, you can click the red button, and schedule a discovery meeting and discovery call. We have a 15 – 20-minute conversation to find out what you’re looking for and to see if you know we have any value we can add to the process.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Thank you so much for being with us today. It’s been great. This is another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.

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-How believing to be a great speaker turns into a weakness

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Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION (105) Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we’re really lucky in that we have James Malinchak with us. He is the world’s leading authority on speaking and the number one Speaking Coach and Trainer.

James Malinchak is recognized as one of the most requested in-demand business and motivational keynote speakers and marketing consultants in the world. He was featured on the hit ABC TV show Secret Millionaire and was twice named National College speaker of the year. James has delivered over 3000 presentations for corporations, associations, business groups, colleges, universities, and youth organizations worldwide.

James can speak for groups ranging from 20 to over 30,000. And he has done that, as a speaker, marketing coach, and consultant. James is the behind-the-scenes go-to-marketing advisor for many top speakers, authors, thought leaders, business professionals, celebrities, sports coaches, athletes, and entrepreneurs and is recognized as the world’s number one big money speaker, trainer, and coach.

Welcome to the show, James.

James Malinchak: Hey, Barbara, thanks so much for having me, appreciate it.

All About James’ Career

Dr. Barbara Hales: Why don’t you tell our listeners how you got started in all of this, and your very, very impressive resume.

James Malinchak: Well, I grew up in a van down by the river. Right. And that would everybody who speaks says they start out with I grew up in a van down by the river. No, I actually grew up in a small steel town outside of Pittsburgh, a population of about 6000 great folks.

We didn’t have much growing up. Dad worked in the steel mill and mom was a lunch mother at the school serving lunches to us kids. And so, it wasn’t like we came from anything, but I had some big dreams. And my first big dream was to play college basketball. So, I accepted a basketball scholarship out of high school and went to the University of Cincinnati. And then my coach had gotten relief from his duties, which is a nice way to say, and he got fired. And I ended up transferring and playing out in Hawaii. And the first exhibition game I caught a pass and ripped my knee in half. So, my aspirations of playing pro basketball were done.

So I started working on plan B. Plan B was what I always wanted to do if pro ball didn’t work out, which was to be a stockbroker, a financial consultant if you will. So, I moved to Los Angeles after and started my career. And it was very fortunate to do well there. In my first year, I opened up about 200 new accounts and was working for a major Wall Street investment firm and was named the most outstanding performance from around the country for our training class of everyone who started at the same time, which was about 200 some folks.

And because of that, I got a telephone call one day, and it was from a guy who had said, hey, my son heard you did really well. I guess he works with you in the office, and I’d love to have you come and speak to my employees.

And that’s why I don’t speak I don’t even know what that means, like, stockbroker like I don’t know what that means. They said, Well, just can’t you just come and talk to them for about 40 minutes and speak to them about how you built your career. Maybe it’ll inspire them. And you did it so fast that he engaged and I said, I don’t, I don’t speak. I don’t do that stuff. And he said, and I’ll pay you $5,000 I said, I speak. Mama didn’t raise any fool.

Someone wants to pay you to talk you be quiet and take it. And that’s literally and I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no idea about any of this, you know, how to speak and all that stuff? Well, lo and behold, I found out that it was a very big industry. And that colleges, universities, medical conferences, corporations, associations, professional sports teams, you just name them, and they all bring in speakers for certain topics for certain things. And so I said, Well, if this is really a career in industry, maybe I should take this seriously. And so I did and one led to two and two led to three and next thing you know, here we are 3000 some talks later. So very blessed, very fortunate.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s pretty incredible. One thing I love to hear you say is how you could get people speaking engagements without any credentials, no experience, no connections, or even being a good speaker. How does that happen?

James Malinchak: Well, so it took me a long time to figure that out because I used to think I had to have the highest, you know, credentials, the best degrees. Now, if you’re in the medical profession, and you’re going to be speaking at a medical conference, then obviously, that is a very huge part of who maybe gets selected, and maybe who doesn’t.

But if you are just trying to speak and share a message or inspire folks generally, meaning that it’s not a medical-related talk, right? You don’t really need any credentials or anything for that, you know, you need a message that uplifts people, a message that helps people, a message that speaks into their heart, their mind, their soul, and their spirit.

And then the next most important thing is you actually need to get in touch with the people who are the decision-makers who decide who’s going to speak. And when I figured that one out, because I already had that first slide.

By the way, my company’s called Big Money Speaker, and that’s why the logo is a coin. Because I say there are two sides to the coin. On the first side, you have a message, information, you know, strategies, things that you teach, wanting to help people wanting to make a difference in people’s lives. But then most people stop right there, thinking that’s all they need. And I say, Nope, there’s a flip side to the coin. That’s why the logo is a coin, there’s a flip side of the coin and that’s called the business of speaking.

And primarily, the number one thing for the business of speaking, you got to get to the people who are the decision-makers, you got to get them to pick you. And so that that’s why I say I can take anybody, and if I can just get them to understand that. And if they’re willing to just do that. They can go from zero to hero, so to speak, by getting booked and paid to speak.

Biggest Mistakes of Speakers

Dr. Barbara Hales: What are some of the biggest mistakes that speakers are making right now?

James Malinchak: Well, I would say for sure, number one, understanding that it’s not, they don’t know, understand that it’s a business. And they like I kind of already alluded to a little bit, they, they really think it’s all about the credentials, the message, that sort of thing, that’s only half of it, I would think that that is definitely the first one, the second is being led to believe that you actually need to be a good speaker.

Write it because people think, Well, I’m not a professional orator. And I’m, you know, I don’t like to stay within the frame, meaning don’t put my hands outside like, imaginary picture frame. And I’m not the most eloquent speaker. And I have my hand in my pocket. Therefore, I’m not a good speaker, it’s not about any of that stuff. All speaking is you have a message to say to help people and you literally share it to help people. I could care less where my hands are, I could care less if I’d fallen off three stages in my career.

What happens if you fall off the stage, get back up. On the stage get up. I was speaking one time for 11,000 people out here in Las Vegas. And it was the hardest stage ever, it was a circular stage. Meaning that people were all around you. And like two levels, three levels up. And when it’s dark, and they have spotlights on you. It’s very hard to see it’s like looking into car lights. And so, a little trick that I figured out probably about 15 years ago is you go to the local store, like your drugstore, and you get the white athletic tape. Kind of like when I played basketball, they would tape our ankles so that we didn’t sprain them, and they would all before every practice and game and they would use the weight athletic tape athletic trainers would tape it. Well, you put that weight athletic tape down about a foot away from the front of the stage when it’s super dark and anytime you’re on stage.

You can always see the white athletic taping; you know you don’t step past that. Well, I forgot my athletic tape. And so, I took a step and lo and behold there was no more stage. fell off the stage in front of 11,000 people you should have seen the guy work in the spotlight. He’s like what the speaker goes, he bounces the light around looking for me.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s really helpful. A helpful tip to know.

James Malinchak: Oh, it’s so simple, but you never think of it. Yeah, I mean, if it’s dark and there are spotlights, you literally can’t see because you’re looking into the lights. You don’t like you don’t actually like seeing the crowd. So the stage is only about three or four feet up. So it wasn’t like forced I didn’t get hurt or anything. But yeah, so it’s not about being a good presenter. Because even though I fell off the stage, I still got paid a check. And I still help people and I inspired them and I uplifted and so that is the second biggest mistake.

The first is not understanding it’s a business. The second is thinking that you have to be this great professional orator. And you have to not flub a word. And you have to, oh, God forbid, fall off a stage. You can’t do that, right? No. I mean, if you’ve seen me speak, Barbara, I’m sweating on the audience, like, because I’m hot, and I’m moving around, I have sweat flying everywhere, right? I don’t care. I have a message to help people. And I simply stand up and say, to help people. So those are, those are a couple of the biggest mistakes right there.

Getting Speaking Engagements

Dr. Barbara Hales: A lot of the doctors that are listening now may be saying to themselves, wow, speaking is a business, and I could get a lot of money for this. I want in on this. So how would you tell them that they can get speaking engagements? How did they go about that?

James Malinchak: Well, the very first thing is you got to figure out who you want to talk to. Right? Most people make the mistake of starting with a message. Right? That’s not their fault a lot of times because you’re you listen to things that are perpetuated out in the world, especially on the internet, right? Because everything on the internet’s Correct. Right. And it gets perpetuated, oh, you have a message, and you need to share that message. And so, what happens is, we get trained to start with that message. And know the very first thing you have to do is start with your Who, who do you want to speak for.

So, if I want to speak for chiropractors, my message is going to be different than if I want to speak for kids. If I’m going to speak for professional athletes, or retiring professional athletes, my message is going to be different than the message I give to kids. Right? So, if you start with the message, then you’re really shooting yourself in the foot. Do you always start with who do you want to speak for? If you’re in the medical profession, and you want to speak at other like medical conferences, let’s say, well, then, even inside that, who’s your who? I mean, are they, cardiologists, you know, are they podiatrists? Are they medical technicians? I mean, who’s different and your message will be different based on the hoop. Okay, so that’s the first part start with the hoop.

The second thing is you start with so to and then why? Why do you want to speak for that group, that demographic? And you get a really strong, compelling reason. Right? So, like, when I started my who was kids, I went to teenagers. And why did I want to do that? Because somebody spoke to me when I was in eighth grade, at our high school, and that person spoke to my heart and changed my life. And my why was I want to do that for other kids. Because I know how it positively influences me, right? And so now, now, you know, you’re who and now you have a why because that why will make you successful, I truly believe. I always say you need to get a red hot. Why? Right? Why do you want to do it? Because if your why is strong enough, no obstacle matters. You’ll figure a way to go over it under it or around it, you know, and you’ll figure out how to be successful.

I tell students all the time when I speak for them because I still like to speak for kids groups. And I say, Look, if your why is strong enough, you’ll figure out all by yourself how to be successful, you give me a chance to have an A student with not why or a C student with a strong why I’ll take the C student with a strong why every single day of the week. Because that student’s going to figure out how to make it happen, that student will do whatever he or she needs to do to make it happen. Why? Because I got strong why I got a strong reason.

And like, you know, sometimes kids will say, well, my wife, or I’ll ask, Why did you come to college? And it’s amazing, like, I’ll hear well because I have to, I have to help support my aging mom, who has a disease. And so I go to school, and I’m working two jobs to help take care of mom. I will hire that student in a heartbeat over a student that makes straight A’s and looks perfect on a resume but doesn’t have that. Why? You know, the reason is that the student is working two jobs and going to college. While that student’s doing it.

That student has a strong why. They’re doing it for their mom to take care of their mom, they’re gonna make it happen. They’ll do whatever they have to they’ll stay up all night, though, they’ll ride the bus 10 miles one way to one job and 20 miles the other way. If they have to crawl through mud, they’ll crawl over broken glass, they’ll do whatever they have to do as they got a strong why.

So, when it comes to speaking, and if you’re a doctor trying to get you to know, in this profession, what’s your who and then why. Come up with a strong compelling why and you will never ever, ever lose.

And then the last part is what. Now you come into what’s your message. So, you have your who you know why it’s so important to you. You got the who and the why. And now you bring in now what’s the perfect message for that who, based on my why. So that’s how you start to think about it. You don’t start with a message. Because your message is different based on your who and why.

Weakness in being a speaker

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s really helpful to know. One of your blog posts says, why the same kryptonite that weakens Superman is weakening your ability to become a big-money speaker. What’s that all about?

James Malinchak: Yeah, it’s, it’s the kryptonite for us as speakers are actually believing that you have to be a great speaker, meaning this, you hear this all the time? Well, you have to walk into V, you have to use hand gestures, you have to make sure you make eye contact with every single person in the room.

So basically, it’s telling you that you have to be this great orator. And that’s not what it’s about, it’s about sharing a message that helps people puts an imprint on their heart, their mind, their soul, their spirit, not worrying about who cares where your hands are, who cares if you looked at everybody with perfect eye contact. I mean, who cares if your hands were in your pocket when you’re speaking, or they were touching a podium, or whatever, who knows? Who cares about that?

So, stop trying to be a speaker, and just be a person that has a message that shares it to help people and watch out like, because Barbara, I used to get so freaked out and nervous, because I would worry about all that stuff, that all that mechanical stuff to be really deemed what’s called a great speaker. Look, a great speaker to me is somebody who gets paid to check the talk. It’s not like, you know, I because I moved in a V formation on stage, you know, and I never moved from around the podium kind of things like that.

So that’s like, that’s the kryptonite that crushes folks. Because what it did for me was, I would get so freaked out by all of those mechanical things that I was being led to believe that I had to do in order to speak but I literally would forget what I was supposed to talk about. Because I was so freaked out worrying about, well wait, did I take two steps to the left, and was I supposed to walk into v to the right. And so, the kryptonite for all of us is worrying about all that stuff. I call that nonsense. That’s all nonsense. And the only people that that’s important too, are the, you know, the speech coaches that try to sell you high-priced programs that tell you that that’s important. I could care less about any of it. And I’ve done 3000 paid talks. So, I guess, I guess my philosophy works.

All About Call to Action

Dr. Barbara Hales: One of the biggest mistakes that I find listening to speakers is that when a person is a newbie speaker, the one thing that they forget, which to me is one of the most important things is that they forget to insert a call to action.

You know, it’s nice that people laugh at your jokes, or enjoy what you have to say. But without a call to action, they’re going to just move on to the next speaker, or go home with a smile on their face. And that’ll be the end of it.

But hopefully, you want the audience listening to you to do something once you get off the stage. It might be to call the office for an appointment, but they may not be ready to do that. So you may have other costs cost to action that you want them to do, as long as it’s only one call to action. You don’t want to say, Well, you could do this. So you could do this. So you could do this because then they wind up doing nothing call to action by pay. Hey, I have an I think FAQ sheet of the most popular questions that people ask me. And you know, if you go to this website, or you make this telephone call, we’ll ship that out to you for free immediately. Or maybe it’s a little ebook.

The thing is that whatever it is that you are offering, it should be in sync with the services that you provide. You wouldn’t want as a doctor to get up there and say, Oh, and by the way, I have a great ebook on antique cars. There might be some people in the audience that like antique cars, but the whole purpose of you as a physician being on stage is to get people to want your medical advice or your coaching or your consultation.

So, think of what people are struggling with the questions that they have, and come up with your solution which I’m sure you do every day of the week with the Patients that you see, and put it down in a little guide or a little ebook. And you’d be surprised how many people who turn into prospective patients will be not just asking for, like what you can provide?

James Malinchak: Oh, it’s great. Yeah. By the way, I like to say also, not giving a call to action at the end is actually doing the audience at this service. Right. Because if they listen to you, let’s say they watched you on a webinar or zoom, or they saw you live in person. Speaking somewhere, it could be a group of two people could be a group of 2000 people, it doesn’t matter the size, but that that group was, you know, into what you were saying they were, you know, hanging, they like love that they learn tips and strategies. And now to just say, Okay, I just talk to you for 30 minutes, bye, bye. You’re doing them a disservice. Right?

So you should allow them to have any type of continuing education. And that doesn’t mean you have to sell it. It could be like, exactly, I love what you said, Barbara, a simple little ebook, or could be just a zoom is free, jump on, jump on Zoom, right, jump on Zoom, and hit record. You could jump on Zoom, hit record zooms a free account and just talk into the camera, you know, and give advice and share things and then they could get that free Zoom video that could be 15 minutes, that’s a continuing of what you are going to be talking about, then it may go deeper on the subject, and you were able to go in the time allotted for the talk. So to send folks out after a talk without the opportunity to have more continuing education on the topic from you, aka giving them a call to action to do it is doing them a disservice.

So if you truly believe what I believe everybody feels they do, which aims me adds value, make a difference. enriching lives, if you are speaking and adding value making a difference and enriching lives, then it’s your duty and responsibility to allow audience members to do that more and deeper with you. By having something you give away. By doing a CTA a call to action.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s really such a great way to look at it. Because some doctors are actually embarrassed by the thought of promoting something, we’re selling something. And if they instead of looking at it, as you know, selling something, they are thinking of it as providing an additional service, it really takes all the pressure away.

James Malinchak: Yeah. And I always tell folks, stop selling start serving more. Right. And so by doing that, which we just discussed, you’re actually servicing them and serving them on a deeper level, which should make any doctor feel great because that’s probably what I had if I sat down 1000 doctors and say, What’s one of the reasons you got in the profession, it would be to help serve folks and heal folks and take care of them and make their life better.

Well, you have to look at your call to action with your giveaway, if you will, the same way you’re not selling, you’re serving them better. And what I always say is this, I always ask this question. And Barbara, you’ve been in my training enough, where you’ve heard this probably 10 times. But always ask the audience, how many of you believe in your message meaning the information that you’re sharing and talking about? And everybody puts their hand up? And that’s it?

Well, second question. How many of you truly believe that it does what I call AME, adds value makes a difference and enriches people’s lives. And again, every hand goes up. And I say, well, then why wouldn’t you want to put stuff together? That allows people to take more of you and your message home with them. That’s where there’s a disconnect. Yeah. And they’re like, oh, I never looked at it like that I like so. And by the way, if you want to throw a little price on it and make $10 $1,000 $10,000 is nothing wrong with that. As long as you’re coming from a place of service where you’re adding value, making a difference, and enriching people’s lives.

And now you’re just able to do that in a bigger, better way or a more personal way. You know, I hear you speak, you give great information. And I’m like, wow, I really should like maybe to go have an appointment with this doctor. I really liked you know, the new technology they’re doing or the way they’re doing it or new the new process he talked about, or she talked about, and now I come to you and then I become a client for life a patient for life and my customer value goes through the roof because I’m spending x number of dollars a year with you forever.

Sometimes, right, so that’s how you look at it, it all started by you weren’t selling, you were serving. Okay, whether you put a price on it, whether you didn’t put a price on it is irrelevant, but you have to have something if you truly are trying to serve people, and you have to tell them about it at the end so that they can all you got to remember, so they can go deeper with you, or on a more personal level, and get more, you know, knowledge about this topic. That’s all you got to remember. So it’s not selling it’s, you know, doing a good thing by serving them by offering it.

Connecting with James and Last Piece of Advice

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I’d like to tell the listeners that every year in addition to the webinars that you give to enlighten everyone, you usually have a summit, which is like a three-day event. And it’s fantastic. Have you gone back in person? Summit? Are you still virtual?

James Malinchak: We actually are having our first in-person one in about five months, I think I think it’s actually a little long. I think it’s October, or maybe it’s August, I can’t remember. But it’s the first one that we’ve had since the whole pandemic thing had happened. But

Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, five months, you all have time to rearrange your schedule and go. So how do they enroll with you, James?

James Malinchak: Well, the first thing I want to get away to do is to say I’m on this mission. You know, I sort of like retired a little bit about, I don’t know, two years ago, not doing as much as I was I’ve been blessed, I accomplished everything I wanted to do kind of thing. And I just sort of drifted and played little golf and walked on the beach. And then I just started getting irritated by some of the stuff I see perpetuated online, and misinformation.

Things like I talked about earlier, start with your message. No, you start with the who, right, because that’ll be so much more beneficial for you. So it’s things like that. I said, You know what, I should come back and do this, and, and help people and I said, but how do I help as many people as possible in the biggest way because I really want to leave a legacy.

So what I did, unbeknownst to a lot of folks is I’ve been working on over the last year taking my four-day training and putting it into actually a book. Right? Because I mean, Barbara, you’ve been to my training and they are 12 hours, some days, right? They’re long, we go into the evening. And so and I teach a lot of content. So I said, you know, I’m going to just put it in a book, because that’s the way to help as many people and I said, how else can I help as many as I can just give it away for free. No charge, no credit card, don’t have to go to Amazon and buy anything.

So if anybody would like to learn how to really master getting paid to speak, you simply go to www.freespeakerbook.com. freespeakerbook.com And you don’t need a credit card, you don’t need anything, you just simply download it. And then after that, then we will email you and let you know when we start announcing the actual four-day training.

And if you want to come to it, great. If you don’t, great, you got the book. And there’s more, more than enough in that book that will help propel you to getting paid to speak if that’s something you choose to do.

Dr. Barbara Hales: What a great gift that you are offering.

James Malinchak: It’s a great way to help a lot of people and spread the word. Yeah.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, thank you so much for me and thank you from the listeners.

James Malinchak: Oh, thank you for what you do. Barbara, you know you’re one of my favorite people. We go way back and thanks for having me on your show. I truly appreciate it.

Dr. Barbara Hales: It’s really been a delight. This comes to the end of our episode marketing tips for doctors with your host Dr. Barbara Hales speaking with James melon check till next time

The post How to Get Speaking Gigs and Discover Speakers’ Biggest Mistakes first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

View Details

In this episode, Barbara and Cheryl discuss:

-Why the “F” word is such a challenge for everyone

-How failure can also be perceived as something positive rather than negative

-Why it is beneficial not to be discouraged when faced with failure

-How Collaboration with Medical Staff is a sure way to come up with efficient solutions for patient’s problems

-Why having a positive attribute enables you to go far in life

Key Takeaways:

” The whole point is to get all of the how NOT to do somethings out of the way and quickly, fail faster; succeed sooner.” – Cheryl Lentz.

Connect with Cheryl Lentz:

Website: http://www.drcheryllentz.com/ | https://refractivethinker.com/ | http://www.dissertationpublishing.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcheryllentz/

Instagram: (@drcheryllentz)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DRCHERYLLENTZ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrCherylLentz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JSprinkles

Connect with Barbara Hales:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales

Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist

Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com

YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/user/TheMedicalStrategist

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Email: Barbara@barbarahalesmd.com

Books:

Content Copy Made Easy

14 Tactics to Triple Sales

Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

TRANSCRIPTION(104)

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:04

Welcome to another episode of marketing tips for doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. And you’re listening to Marketing Tips for Doctors. Today as a guest, we have Cheryl Lentz. Cheryl is known as an academic entrepreneur. She is a unique and dynamic speaker who intensely connects with her audience, having one foot in academia and one foot in the business and entrepreneurial space. Her goal is to offer the audience pearls of wisdom today to use it tomorrow in their personal and professional lives.

Dr. Barbara Hales 0:53

It is not enough to know the expectation for participants to take action and join Dr. Cheryl on her journey to connect these dots to provide inspiration, knowledge, and counsel to move forward effectively. No glue globally for her writings on leadership and failure and critical and refractive thinking. Dr. Lentz has published more than 52 times with 26 writing awards. As an accomplished university professor, speaker, and consultant. She is an international bestselling author and top quoted polishing professional on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. She took the stage as a TEDx speaker in Farmingdale 2020 in October. Welcome to the show, Cheryl.

Cheryl Lentz 1:53

Thank you so very much. It’s fabulous to be here. Appreciate it.

Dr. Barbara Hales 1:58

I understand that you teach on failure, which seems like a bizarre concept for most people.

The Fear of Failure

Cheryl Lentz 2:07

It does. And it scares the heck out of most bosses that I’ve ever been part of because they’re always a so you want to teach people how to fail. And we’re all okay with this. I’m like, yes, the whole point is to get all of the how not to do something out of the way and quickly, fail faster, succeed sooner. But we don’t like that F word. That f word really scares the heck out of most of us because failure is painful. If we have that perspective, if you look as a failure as a friend, it can just simply be a mastery journal like Malcolm Gladwell, we have to have 10,000 hours just to get to the end. So you’re good at and we don’t like the getting good part.

Dr. Barbara Hales 2:45

So you call this the F word, which is a different connotation for most people. Correct? Why is this F word such a challenge?

Cheryl Lentz 2:58

I think part of it is we punish ourselves with it, we think that we’ve grown up with the idea of their failure is not an option. For example, many gurus of leadership will teach that and I look at them going, if you don’t know how to fail, you’re not going to succeed, you need to have those skills. And we don’t like it because we assume that it doesn’t exist, we avoid it, we try and pretend it doesn’t happen. And it’s painful.

Cheryl Lentz 3:20

When we don’t get everything that we want the first time or maybe the second time, or maybe even the third time, if you look at you know, Edison, it took him over 1000 tries to get the light bulb right. And he just kind of looked at it as that one didn’t work, let’s move on and try something else. But we don’t do something the first time. And oftentimes it shuts us down. And so, we don’t like that effort very much at all.

Dr. Barbara Hales 3:42

So would you say the people that are most apt to succeed are the ones that fail the most?

Failure for Success

Cheryl Lentz 3:51

I think that’s probably an interesting way to look at it. Let’s look at baseball, for example. If you are considered one of the top baseball staff, you have a 500 batting average, you fail every time every other time you go to the plate, that means one in two, and yet we applaud them because most of the time in baseball, you’re only looking at maybe a third of the time that you’re going to have a hitter do something wonderful at the plate.

Cheryl Lentz 4:12

So the idea when you win in basketball, you win in any of the sports things, these are things that we keep trying repeatedly and we keep practicing. But you often, particularly in sports fail more than you succeed. And those who succeed well have very interesting ways because they know how to do it wrong. So they know how to do it right. But isn’t that an interesting way of being able to look at it? Most people if they fail the first time they’re gone.

Cheryl Lentz 4:35

Those who understand failure keep doing it until they get it right and understand that it’s persistence. It’s perseverance. You keep doing it, and eventually, we’ll get there but I am someone who didn’t take a long time to learn that lesson myself. So the TED talk is about and it’s embarrassing to figure out that it took me 30 years to keep trying.

Dr. Barbara Hales 4:55

Well, for our physicians and healthcare professionals, Let me highlight that we are not talking about failing at practicing medicine; our patients are not going to be thrilled with the idea that you succeed after failure. But rather, we are talking about how one promotes oneself or runs our business successfully. And so most professionals, just like any business person, will practice multiple ways of promoting themselves and furthering the visibility of their practice so that in their space, they know what works and what doesn’t, isn’t that correct?

Cheryl Lentz 5:50

I will kind of challenge you a little bit on the medical aspect of it. Well, I’m only a Ph.D. and not an MD. But I am considered a Mayo Clinic misfit, I have been there three times. And I’m one of these very unusual folks that are goofy by Mayo Clinic standards. And yet, they have had to put the critical thinking team to work because I have some very unusual anomalies that we keep working out. And when you are the 1% of the 1%. They do a lot of research and a lot of studies. But the trick is, is that Mayo Clinic does not give up.

Persistence to Find Solutions

Cheryl Lentz 6:21

And neither do your doctors with their patients, you keep looking for answers you don’t give them and say I’m sorry, you have to learn to live with us. But you teach them how to live with us if it’s something that doesn’t have an easy fix or an easy cure. And I think that’s the same principle that we’re working on. And I’m so grateful to the wonderful amazing magicians as I call them at Mayo Clinic, that they didn’t send me away because they didn’t figure it out right away. It’s taken them years to figure it out. And now we have answers.

Cheryl Lentz 6:47

And while I have to learn to live with somebody, that’s exciting, because they’re wonderful people that understand you have to keep working at it. And especially when the answers don’t come easy, or they don’t come quickly. You don’t give up you keep persevering. So I think there’s a lesson here for your MDS as well, is that no, we don’t like to be difficult patients when there are easy answers. But when they don’t come quickly, we appreciate and applaud the doctor who’s willing to love us anyway. And to get us to the other side was still to continue to dig in to find those answers and to do it with love, grace, and kindness. So I think there’s a little bit of lesson here too.

Dr. Barbara Hales 7:20

Well, I certainly agree with you there. If you have a patient that presents with unusual findings, and you’re not sure exactly what that person has, or the treatments that would be most appropriate, then, you know, we can’t give up on that person. Know, we could transfer that person, but you know, it’s gonna bug us forever. We have to persist, and we have to do whatever we can do. To do right by that patient.

Keep Pressing On

Cheryl Lentz 7:51

Exactly. And I think that’s a metaphor for life is you don’t, you know, give up on your child, you don’t give up on your spouse, you don’t give up on any of the medical stuff, you keep trying. And you look at it a different way you bring others to the party, you ask for help. And I think that is an amazing thing. And I’m so grateful to folks at Mayo Clinic because they didn’t get frustrated, they got excited when they saw me and like nobody is excited with a patient that has all kinds of interesting is for them.

Cheryl Lentz 8:17

And I love that they have that. Go get them attitude and that ability to say we’re going to keep looking and eventually found, it was pretty exciting. But some do give up too easily. And I think that’s really the metaphor here is not to give up and keep trying because there’s always something to do. And I like that they did that. And that’s really what’s helped me throughout my life, but to make a career out of failure. You’re right. It’s a little bit ironic. But I often as a college professor will teach the benefits and the gifts of failure when I think that’s really interesting. And it’s accountability. So

Dr. Barbara Hales 8:48

well, that highlights why we have the light bulb today when Edison failed 144 times. And he said no, I didn’t fail 144 times before succeeding with the lightbulb. I just found 144 Other ways that didn’t work as well, until I got to the right one.

Cheryl Lentz 9:13

Exactly. And I’m a professional researcher, and I’m one of the rare people who in my dissertation, I found nothing zero, zilch, nada. And it was a very hard thing for both. And my students to realize that finding nothing is something peculiar in this world of COVID, where we have the ability to have all these researchers working on Okay, that didn’t work. And the more we don’t know what work doesn’t work gets us to What does and we keep finding those repeating.

Cheryl Lentz 9:39

And as a researcher, you have to be prepared for all possible answers including that finding nothing is finding something it was just a way not to build the light bulb. And so we went down another path. And when you have all these people working together, we finally found the paths for COVID than the vaccines and multiple vaccines and multiple paths. And that’s also a really good lesson here for us to think about.

Dr. Barbara Hales 10:00

It also confirms the fact that a team approach really is the way to go. Not one person alone has the answers. But really just collectively, everyone putting their heads together, coming from different approaches will get the job done and find the appropriate solutions.

The essence of collaboration

Cheryl Lentz 10:21

And I think it helps us get there quickly, as well as because you have more people working on some of these things, they will figure out and do a lot of brainstorming. That’s why I like the Mayo Clinic. And a lot of the things we do in academia are we have the team approach. When I walked into the Mayo Clinic, I expected to see one doctor. I had 12 sitting at the table. And I was a little bit taken aback. And they dismissed a few along the way that wasn’t pertinent as soon as we get down to brass tacks.

Cheryl Lentz 10:45

And then there’s like, No, you guys, not your purview, not your thing. And then we’ve stood up with the core team. And that’s where they get they get excited. And that’s the difference, the attitude, not to get discouraged by failure. They were like, Great; now we can dig in. And they like that problem solving that Greer and the ability to find things in there. And it’s I think more about attitude to keep going. That’s what Edison didn’t get all excited about that he didn’t find something. He just kept going until he did. And I think that perseverance and getting excited about not finding anything pull you on.

Cheryl Lentz 11:18

But I will tell you, I was one of the few who didn’t. After the first time I failed at something, I stopped. And that wasn’t very encouraging. It took me a long time. It took me 30 years, and I started again. And that is the lesson is; you just got to keep going because it’s painful. And when you don’t have a mentor or someone to process you or a team to help keep you going. We take failure very personally. And often it diverse, it diverts us such as COVID, again, force compliance. We don’t like being told where we can’t do this. And so if we can look at the gifts of why and ask the right questions, boy, that puts us in a much better place.

Dr. Barbara Hales 11:57

This brings us to a tip that I would like to point out at this time, and that is what you know, is not that it’s crucial. But what I do recommend to make life easier for both physicians and patients is to have all of the positions that you see affiliated with the same location so that you don’t get to a point where you are falling between the cracks. And that you have a team that you may yourself have created with you at the hub, where you could discuss the situation with each section of the wheel. So that together as a team, you know, you could develop the solution. But if you have doctors and researchers at all different locations, it’s just going to be that much harder.

Cheryl Lentz 12:53

Oh, brilliant, brilliant. Absolutely. Amen. Because it’s the ability or reinventing the wheel with each one. And you may not know what something is important, but you as the expert doctor, or the one who went to medical school, that you’re listening to something when you’re doing’ their history, their charting, you’ve come up with something going, Hey, is anyone ever asked or like, I don’t know, I didn’t go to med school. That’s your job.

Cheryl Lentz 13:13

and I always made that comment is I could not put you all in the room at the same time to have the same conversation. So when we see them sequentially or in a different place, they don’t have the complete story. And so they can’t quite fit their piece to your puzzle. So the more we can do, even though we didn’t go to med school, you guys are the heroes here, that it’s really helpful if we can help you help us and that is a great tip. Great tip.

Dr. Barbara Hales 13:35

Yeah, absolutely. When you were a patient in that situation, did you have an advocate that helped you?

Cheryl Lentz 13:44

um, when I was originally put towards someone

Dr. Barbara Hales 13:47

that could help you navigate through the system?

Cheryl Lentz 13:50

Initially, because I became, I came due to being a military spouse. And so the military system handed me over because it was beyond their expertise. And so when I was handed over Mayo Clinic was a logical outcome because it was very unique to the CDC because I lived in Japan for a bit. And this is probably what prompted the illness, that they had to have a lot of divergent people and Mayo Clinic was found with that team effort to put all of the experts in various things because they weren’t sure whose purview was I just had a symptom.

Cheryl Lentz 14:18

And I had here this thing and found out with all the tests eventually that it was very unusual, to different deals, and it took me ten years to heal from it. They put me on the right medicine and Mayo Clinic was part of that, but it was so important to get there I had so many people that there wasn’t that advocate and I think it would have been helpful to have that cheerleader or that Grand Marshal in the parade, if you will, to have coordinate all those Mayo Clinic had much of that but I had to be transferred to them first. So

Dr. Barbara Hales 14:45

So getting back to your expertise. What are two tips that you would recommend to the listeners out there today?

Guests’ Nuggets of Wisdom

Cheryl Lentz 14:57

One of them is your attitude. There is something that a lot of people pessimism isn’t going to help here and we look at the idea of the glasses not, you know, the classes have fully the glasses half empty. If we can look at failure as the benefits and the gift and not the criticism in there, then we have the option which is so powerful is to fill your own glass. Most of us think it’s either the glass is half empty, the glass is half full.

Cheryl Lentz 15:21

But think of the power it has; when you become the advocate, as you’re suggesting, and you fill your own glass, you need to be in charge of your own destiny. And a lot of us, particularly I will tell you, as a non-medical doctor, have a very life-threatening illness. I didn’t know enough, I wasn’t confident enough when I finally was able to take charge and help them help me realize it was me. And I could fire and hire doctors that were needed. And I’ll tell you, that puts you back in a position of control, strength, and empowerment. So, I think a lot of it is empowering in yourself and attitude. So that’s the first thing.

Cheryl Lentz 15:55

The second thing is being able to look at not thinking. There’s something wrong with us if we do not succeed. The first time, I saw a lot of my consulting clients, a lot of my students that they struggle with failure as a punishment, that somehow, we’ve done something wrong, and that it’s something about us in particular, and we often get overwhelmed or we get discouraged. And then, we allow that effort to impact us negatively. So if you can see yourself differently and have that ability to move forward, and I think you’re going to have those tips would be so much better to keep you in the game and to keep moving forward. Because often, one of my mentors has a book called three feet from gold.

Cheryl Lentz 16:39

And it’s we often stop right before the success because we’re tired, we’re frustrated. So you’ve got just to keep going because success could be right around the corner. If you give it one more, try or try something different. And that’s often tough because you know what it is with donor fatigue. There’s illness fatigue. We just get tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. If you can change your attitude a little bit and keep going when everything points against you that really can make all the difference. And it did for me both as a patient and as a college professor consultant.

The Book about Failure

Dr. Barbara Hales 17:09

Could you repeat what the title of your book is? And where could we find it?

Cheryl Lentz 17:14

I have a copy of it here, it’s called Failure has no Alibi. I am thrilled because I am a big proponent of Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill is one of the oldest As a Man Thinketh. So he is and all of his 17 principles, one of them is about ownership and accountability. And that’s why I like a failure has an alibi. It’s available on Amazon and in all the right places in there. And I’m very happy. And it’s also the foundation for my TED Talk. So if you’re interested in learning a little bit more about failure, I’ve got a TEDx talk as well.

Dr. Barbara Hales 17:44

Okay, well, we are video as well as audio. So could you book up again? You know, read it at their leisure and move your index finger. Yep. Then how to spell your last name. And I noticed that it’s a best seller. So good for you. Congratulations.

Cheryl Lentz 18:02

Thank you very much. And it was such a labor of love. Although I will tell you, it’s the most vulnerable I have ever been. And that’s what one of my coaches has been working on is to not just be after it’s happened, but to have grace and elegance during some of the darker times. And that’s hard to do. And so, putting this out there was the most vulnerable I’ve ever been on stage. So thank you for the opportunity.

Dr. Barbara Hales 18:25

Failure has no alibi. I like that.

Cheryl Lentz 18:30

You may take thank Napoleon Hill for the title. I’ve completely known this is from hysteria, but I love the fact that you have to own it, and you have to take responsibility for it, and then you can fix it. And quite frankly, I fixed most of the ideas that I would leave this world without regret. And that’s my hope.

Dr. Barbara Hales 18:45

Well, thank you so much. That’s so interesting. And thank you for being here with us today.

Cheryl Lentz 18:52

I appreciate it. So very much good luck to your listeners. I hope they will find hope and failure.

Dr. Barbara Hales 18:56

This has been another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time

The post Failure is Your Secret Key to Succeed first appeared on The Medical Strategist.

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