The Entrepreneurial MD

A non-profit physician entrepreneur who anticipated burnout and acted

2013-05-20T16:10:41Z

Dr. Richard (Rich) Sagall is a very busy physician entrepreneur these days. As co-founder and president of the 501(c)(3) non-profit NeedyMeds, he is reaping the rewards of having pursued his passion -- helping those whose circumstances make receiving affordable healthcare treatments and services a significant challenge.

Over 25 years ago, Rich began his clinical life as a family physician in practice and went on to work in occupational medicine, before ultimately moving full-time into his own non-profit start-up.

On the advice of his father, he wisely looked ahead while still practicing clinical medicine, and anticipated the day when providing care one-on-one to patients would no longer satisfy his sense of purpose. He began to acquire multiple ancillary skills, including computer programming and comptency with the Internet.

A chance conversation with a medical social worker colleague, Libby Overly, provided his next opportunity and NeedyMeds was born in 1997.

NeedyMeds started life almost as a hobby and has evolved to the point that it was named one of the Top 50 Non-Profit Best Places to Work in 2013, alongside such luminaries as the American Heart Association, the Alzheimer's Association and The LIVESTRONG Foundation. Its statement is as follows:

The mission of NeedyMeds has been, since its inception, to make information about assistance programs available to low-income patients and their advocates at no cost

Listen to my conversation with Trailblazer Rich Sagall MD of NeedyMeds and then please add your thoughts here. (Note - I apologize for the abrupt end to the conversation!)

The Queen’s Power: A Leadership Fable

2013-05-06T17:11:29Z

Discover the secrets of real leadership power

Physician leadership coach on "Leading Clinicians & Clinicians Leading"

2013-04-22T22:36:39Z

The four tasks facing frontline physician leaders in today's healthcare organizations

Seven secrets to becoming a successful physician intrapreneur

2013-04-17T00:40:22Z

Physicians can succeed as intrapreneurs within their organizations without having to go out on their own and start businesses

How to eat an elephant ... one spoon at a time

2013-03-20T03:25:46Z

I have never been a fan of group exercise with its hyper-upbeat classes, pounding music and the need to keep up with the gungho crowd. However, a Groupon coupon many months back lured me into a neighborhood Circuit Works and despite it being exactly that (loudly energized), I have discovered a wholly satisfying way to get a workout.

At the beginning of the hour (my "elephant"), I feel a sense of dread ... how am I going to endure this long, hard sixty minutes?

At the end, I leave with a sweaty inner glow and a sense of accomplishment that surprises me.

I now understand how this works. How I am forced/encouraged to accomplish something that is outside my comfort zone.

I'm not required to do anything for longer than two minutes - two on the treadmill and two at each station. The routine includes two minutes alternating on the spinning bike but since my back doesn't encourage that position, I opt to stick with the treadmill ... at ... my ... own ... pace!

I can manage anything for two minutes!! These are my "spoons".

How is this relevant to you?, you may ask.

Think of the tasks you have been putting off -- all those moments of procrastination (like writing those blog posts, or doing that bit of networking, or tackling your billing and account books!)

Can you break the task into two or maybe five minute intervals? Can you really push yourself for that brief spell?

My startling discovery after doing a few of these classes is that they have become easier. I still don't sprint on uber-energetic command, but I do go a little faster, try a little harder. Something in my physiology is responding.

I have learned that even the tasks we dread can be handled, in small bites.

Confession -- I have yet to complete all the abdominal exercises at the end!

When perseverance is called for ... a success trait for entrepreneurs

2013-02-13T00:46:26Z

Despite the earnest commitment I made at the beginning of the year, I have failed so far. Instead of blogging regularly (well, at least once a week!), I've fallen into the "I'm so busy, I can't find the time" trap. This even though I have blocks of time set aside on my calendar for writing.

Time to get back onto that horse and ride again!

So, how should I do this?

I am fascinated by what it takes for children to succeed in life, since I have a kid and want good things for her. In addition, my clients are seeking great results and wondering how they can create invigorating new careers or businesses at later points in their lives. My quest to understand these challenges has led me to some fascinating research, mainly coming out of the field of education.

One prominent researcher in this area, Angela Duckworth PhD, writes about Grit -- Perseverance and Passion for Long Term Goals in which she tells us that the more "grit" (she defines this by her subtitle) we demonstrate, the higher the correlation is with success.

Yet another inspiring education-related story (which references Duckworth and her grit research) comes from writer and speaker Paul Tough. The New York Times ran a story some time ago, written by Tough and titled "What if the secret to success is failure?", that fired my imagination sufficiently that I bought and devoured his book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (A).

The third reminder comes from Rule 9 of "The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How 3 Harvard Business School graduates learned the 10 rules of successful entrepreneurship" (A) -- remember, it's Persist, persevere, prevail.

All this is a long way of saying that, if I am to be successful in maintaining my blog as a short term goal and keeping my business soaring (the bigger goal), I too must show grit. I do have the passion. But what if the secret to my business success is this failure, and others, and that it's perseverance that is being asked of me?

I'm getting back on that horse today!

How about you?

Women physicians thinking of leaving medicine: How can I help?

2013-01-16T00:35:08Z

This blog post is for my women physician readers - or for you to forward to any woman physician you know!

As the host(ess) of the Women Leaving Medicine blog and physician coach owner of The Entrepreneurial MD here, I would love to get your opinion.

I started this Women Leaving Medicine blog over 2 years ago, with an initial post expressing my philosophy and a manifesto. Almost immediately, the blog took on a life of its own as women began finding it and contributing their stories spontaneously. They also began generously supporting one another.

Week after week, I read the posts that appear, and while I am grateful that these women physicians or medical students/aspiring physicians have taken the time to share their stories -- stories filled with pain, despair, loss of hope, determination and even occasional successes - I am disheartened by their depth of their anguish and size of their struggle.

I so badly want to help women doctors feel better about their lives and professional choices AND find workable solutions.

While I realize each of you has your own unique story, situation and set of needs, I believe there are themes that are emerging: survival; finding joy; embracing your own identity whether you choose to practice medicine or not; balancing the demands of motherhood, spousehood and work; dealing with demanding work environments; coping with deep disappointment as to how life as a physician has turned out for you.

I would love to create an inspiring, affordable, self-paced home study program to provide comfort, inspiration AND solutions, based on my own insights and skills as a physician coach, a working mom (working steadily from home) and as a former practicing family doc who also burned out.

I know you are way too busy for a lot of chit-chat, so this program will not be a big old lecture thing that you'll have to slog through. Instead, I want your input to help me design and offer you exactly what you want.

If you identify with this struggle in any way:

Do you want concise nuggets that challenge you to experience and savor your life more deeply?
Do you want to learn new skills to help you discover for yourself that next experience that will bring you deeper fulfillment and satisfaction in your professional and personal life?
Do you want me to share a ton of resources that point you to non-clinical opportunities?
Do you want a bit of everything?

Here is a link to a brief 5-question survey to help you answer these questions (it won't take longer than 3 minutes): Women in Medicine Survey

Once again, how can I REALLY be of service to you, and help you with your often very difficult choices??

Innovation, entrepreneurship: book in brief for physician entrepreneurs

2013-01-08T20:09:45Z

Seven big ideas about entrepreneurship and innovation for aspiring physician entrepreneurs

As 2013 nears, are you making Resolutions or Commitments?

2012-12-29T18:13:40Z

In the past, I have remarked on my innate resistance to making New Year's Resolutions. I believe these ideas of intention are born out of desperation to change something in our lives that isn't working, and don't offer much more than quivering hope and wishful thinking.

No 2013 resolutions for me ... no siree!!

However, I do have a desire to fulfill a promise I made to myself over 6 years ago ... to reach out to my Entrepreneurial MD reading community via my blog and share thoughts, ideas and questions. And to listen for and learn from your responses.

So I am going public with my 2013 Commitment.

I have found it increasingly hard to sit down regularly and write a short article for this blog. On closer inspection, this lack of activity has come about because I have fallen victim to a form of laziness --- "I'm too busy", "I don't have anything to say today", "I've got this deadline to meet and I must attend to it first" etc..

Sounds like many of us with exercise, correct?

My commitment is to get back into the habit of writing regularly ... as I was doing earlier in the year.

Keeping a commitment feels honorable; sticking to a resolution feels dutiful. Since I generally pride myself on keeping my word and following through (unless my memory fails me, which it does from time to time!), I can live comfortably with the idea that my regular blogging will represent me keeping apromise to myself ... and now to you!

[And guess what? - this only took my 15 minutes to write]

Are you a Resolutions or a Commitment person?

What choices do you want to make for 2013?

Here's to a wonderfully festive, enriching, life-affirming New Year and beyond!!

For physician bloggers, a handy guide to getting your word out

2012-10-19T15:07:08Z

30 ways to promote your blog posts to get word out