Have you ever felt confined by the traditional path laid out before you, yearning to break free and chart your own course? That's precisely the leap Philip Chan took, transitioning from medicine to entrepreneurship with a vision that transcended the rigors of hospital shifts. Join me, Dr. Sapna Shah-Haque, as I sit across from this maverick in a candid conversation about the seismic mindset shift required to make such a change. We uncover the nuances of moving from a world where the expectation is to always have the right answer, to an entrepreneurial landscape that thrives on delegation, teamwork, and most importantly, growth.
He candidly discusses the process of duplicating his efforts through others, enabling him to amplify his impact far beyond the confines of one-on-one patient care. This episode isn't just a chat; Philip's insights are a guiding light on the journey to entrepreneurial liberation.
Fast-track Your Finance: A Masterclass on Proper Wealth Creation for Medical Professionals: When: Jan 8, 2024 05:15 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Though I am a physician, this is not medical advice. This is only a tool that physicians can use to get ideas on how to deal with burnout and/or know they are not alone. If you are in need of medical assistance talk to your physician.
Welcome to another episode of The Worthy Physician. I'm your host, Dr Sapna Shah-Haque, reigniting your humanity and passion for medicine. Before we get into today's episode, join me for a masterclass next week, monday, january at 5: 15, central Standard Time, where we'll unlock the keys to success together. Don't miss the opportunity to gain valuable insight and strategies to fast track your wealth. The link is in the show notes. Click on the Zoom link and register Now onto the show.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
As a practicing physician, why would I hammer out concepts for entrepreneurship? I have Philip Chan today to discuss why he went from medicine to entrepreneurship and how he was able to escape the 9-5, or even longer, as we know physician hours there, ungodly the living and creating the life that he wants. One thing that I think differs between medicine and entrepreneurship is mindset, because it's completely different in both realms. In medicine mindset at least what has been hammered into me from medical school. I don't hold onto it anymore, but what has been hammered in is there's so many hoops that we have to consistently jump through. It's the standardized test plus the test for medical school itself. Then, on top of that, you always have to be right. You always have to have the answer. You never admit that you don't know. It's very demonized to ask for help. What is the main difference between mindset of an entrepreneur and a physician? If you had to narrow it down, that's a great question, I would say.
Philip Chan:
If I had to pick one thing, I would talk about leverage and scalability. In the world of medicine, you're just so used to handling everything on your own and taking pride in that. If you miss class and then you ask someone for their notes, oh man, here we go. This guy is just being lazy, he doesn't but it's leverage.
Philip Chan:
If you study, not medicine, but if you study Forbes, if you actually took your time and we're all great at studying, but what I'm saying is, if you actually took your time to study greatness in business, in finance, in all things, entrepreneurship you're going to find that the most successful people and, by the way, the difference mainly between millionaires and billionaires is like an order of 10. If you're a millionaire, maybe you own 20 restaurants, but the billionaire owns like 200. You just throw an extra zero on top, but that order of magnitude is huge. Now just answer me this question how can you ever run 200 companies by yourself? You can't even be in two places at once. That comes from leverage and scalability. That comes from you having the mindset of okay, I need to lead by example and once I have mastered something, transfer that knowledge and skill set to a team member, groom them so that I can duplicate myself within them, and then we have that person duplicate themselves within other people.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
That goes back to having procedures and processes that are able to be replicated time and time again.
Philip Chan:
Yep, absolutely. But another thing is taking. I think, that first step of taking it on your shoulders, leading by example. We can all do that, we're in grain in that, but it's that ability to duplicate, that willingness to go. I don't have to be the best salesperson in the company, I don't have to be the best marketer in the company. As a matter of fact, why don't I go hire someone, or bring in someone to the team, through whatever series of agreements and negotiations, so that I can leverage their talent, which is a stronger strength than my own? Let them do that thing so that the business can grow. You want to work on the business, not work in the business, because when you work in the business, you're no different than an employee, which is what you're trying to get out of in the first place.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
Going back to knowing your strengths and weaknesses. That makes you have to understand that you don't have all the answers, which is different from in medicine. We're expected to have all the answers on the spot.
Philip Chan:
That's right.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
Of course, that's not always the case. That's the reason why we have multiple types of specialties and even subspecialists. Having said that, there's a difference in you can delegate in entrepreneurship and, in business, delegate to the highest level of talent.
Philip Chan:
When you delegate, quote unquote, there is boundaries, like the gap. Because of your degree you don't get so much. So you can only tell your physician assistant, your nurse practitioners, even at the highest level next to you, to go do something for you, but they're not going to be able to be as competent or as advanced as you Like. In entrepreneurship, naturally there's sort of the IDOT, idlusion factor anyway. So if I'm the best marketer, salesman and closer of the team and I'm like, hey, go close this deal, let's say if I was an A plus, they're not going to be an A plus, they're going to be maybe an A minus or B plus. And you have to remember great team members, whether it be great salespeople, great marketers, great customer support, they're not inherent. They have to be created and that's again on your leadership responsibility to create training programs and resources to support their development so that they can become an essential clone that is as close to you as much as possible.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
So one last closing question If a physician wanted to move toward more of an entrepreneurial mindset or a business mindset, how do they start to make that pivot?
Philip Chan:
They start by being open-minded enough to shed old beliefs away, to shed what does not serve them, to be open-minded to be exposed to actually what is working in entrepreneurship, and that's where it starts. It's the, I would say, it's the mindset of being a lifelong learner, but not just within medicine, not just being a lifelong learner for the sake of maintaining your license through continued education, but being a lifelong learner and learning things that you don't know, that you don't know specifically in entrepreneurship. Right, that's where it starts, I think.
Dr. Shah-Haque:
Thank you very much for that insight, phillip. I think it's very spot on and very well summarized. And if Phillip piques your interest and your goals online, his Calendly link is in the show notes click, Book a Call and let him know that you learned about lightspeed investments from the worthy physician. And to the listeners. Thanks again for joining us for another episode on the worthy physician. We can all use a bit of camaraderie.