Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Creating Financial Freedom with Dr. Bonnie Koo

🎙️ Welcome back to another insightful episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast with your host, Dr. Alex Schloe!

💡 What if the skills you’ve spent your entire medical career sharpening could become the exact tools you need to launch a 7-figure business outside of medicine?

In this episode, Dr. Schloe sits down with dermatologist-turned-entrepreneur Dr. Bonnie Koo—founder of Wealthy Mom MD—to explore how physicians can build wealth and purpose far beyond the clinic. Bonnie shares her inspiring transition from clinical medicine to life coaching, financial education, and business leadership for women physicians.

💼 From working locums in Hawaii to launching a successful online business, Bonnie’s journey is proof that you don’t need a traditional path to create extraordinary results. They dive into mindset, identity, money, motherhood, and why your values—not the algorithm—should shape your business.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why Bonnie left medicine (and never looked back)
 ✔️ How she built a 7-figure business from scratch
 ✔️ The role of mindset, coaching, and mentorship in her success
 ✔️ How to overcome imposter syndrome and stop underestimating your skills
 ✔️ Why physicians already have the tools to be incredible entrepreneurs
 ✔️ How to think bigger and get into the right rooms for exponential growth
 ✔️ The dangers of comparison, and how to stop playing small

🔥 Key Takeaways:

✔️ You don’t need a perfect plan to start—just the courage to take action
 ✔️ Business is learnable—and you’ve already mastered harder things than this
 ✔️ Financial freedom opens the door to practicing medicine (or not) on your terms
 ✔️ Coaching isn’t a luxury—it’s a catalyst for clarity, growth, and impact
 ✔️ Being around the right people will change your life faster than any course

If you're a physician who’s curious about what life could look like beyond burnout and bureaucracy, this episode will challenge you to think bigger, bet on yourself, and redefine what success really means.

Connect with Dr. Bonnie Koo:

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Transcript

Dr. Bonnie Koo:  Think it's really important to kind of check in with your values. Don't hop on the train because it's like the new trend. You have to check in with yourself, like,  does this feel, does this feel good for the type of business? For my value system? There's so many ways to be successful.

And so you know, you're not selling your soul, so to speak.

Dr. Alex Schloe:  Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Schloe. 

  Hello everyone. Dr. Alex Schloe here with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast. As always, so glad that you're here.  Thank you for taking the time to learn with us today.  Today's guest is Dr. Bonnie K. She is a master certified life coach,  physician and founder of Wealthy Mom md.  She is the money coach for women physicians,  a proud graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons,  host of the Wealthy Mom  MD podcast and author of Defining Wealth for Women,  peace,  purpose, and Plenty of Cash.

 She currently resides in Tampa, Florida, but she travels all over.  We talk about so many important things in this podcast about how to  start a business, how to overcome imposter syndrome, the importance  of networking relationships. Being in the right rooms, how she grew her business.  She even shared some roadblocks and some challenges that she faced  and how you can overcome them,  and that'll save you a lot of time, save you a lot of money.

 This episode was fantastic and I know that you will get a lot out of it.  Can you do me a favor?  Share this episode with a physician who needs to hear it. That is how this podcast grows.  So without any further ado, let's get started with today's episode  with Dr.  Bonnie Koo

 Dr. Bonnie k. Welcome  to another episode of the Physicians and Properties podcast. I'm so glad to have you as a guest today. Thanks for calling in all the way from Tampa. How are things going today?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Going great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm, I'm,  you're highly recommended, so I'm, I'm honored to have you on the podcast. So thank  you  for taking the time to do that.  Before we get started, do you mind telling folks a little bit about yourself?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Sure. My name is Bonnie Koo.  I am a dermatologist.  I haven't practiced since 2020, however, and that's partially COVID related. We can talk about that if you'd like.  And I grew up in New Jersey, did a lot of my training in New York City and then Southern California. As you know,  medicine kinda,  a lot of us move around a lot.

And now I am in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is awesome. Yeah. All over the place. And we were talking about  your love for Hawaii earlier before we, we started recording.  Well,  did you always want to be a dermatologist? Did you always wanna be a doctor? Or what did that journey into medicine look like for you?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah,  I've always been into science. I,  I don't think I knew for sure I wanted to do medicine until college,  but  I, you know, I was a biochemistry major  and I didn't really consider myself pre,  I was kind of like, I'm either pre-med or pre PhD, but that's kind of, I.  Where I was, and so  obviously I went the pre-med route  and I, I worked at Morgan Stanley for four years before I went to medical school.

That was not planned. I feel like a lot of,  I think life just kind of meandered for me and I just kind of followed it, if that makes sense.  I didn't  follow a,  you know, the prescribed  college med school residency, like all in a row.  So  I was an older medical student. I wasn't the oldest, but I was probably the third or fourth oldest in my class.

There was someone in their mid thirties, which  obviously is not old, you know,  at our age now, although you look younger than me, but like in med school, that's old, right?  So.  Dermatologist. Yeah. I kind of went into, I went to into medical school thinking I was going to be a dermatologist, and I remember everyone's like, oh, you're gonna change your mind.

Even  in college, I was like, I'm gonna be a biochem major. They're like, you're gonna change your mind. I'm like, Nope.  The same thing in med school. I was like, Nope, I'm gonna be a dermatologist. So I didn't say I'm gonna be an entrepreneur though, that I was not on my radar.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. Well, I'm sure those life experiences and, you know, spending some time at Morgan Stanley probably  made you a better doctor and certainly made you a better entrepreneur 'cause you had those things  to relate to and, and draw back on.  I love that. I. Love family medicine, but I think often that dermatology probably should have been the way that I should have gone.

But,

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Everyone thinks that, but it's, you know,  you, you know, medicine's not in a good place when dermatologists are burned out.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That is very true.  And medicine is not in a good place, and I'm sure,  I'm sure we'll hit on that.  But yeah. Sounds like a lot of traveling amongst, you know, throughout your medical training and education ended up in Florida during COVID 2020. Sounds like stop practicing medicine. What, what  was that impetus to, to stop practicing as a dermatologist?

Kind of walk us through that, if you don't mind.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh, of course  that wasn't planned. I had switched to Locums in 2019 with really no plan. I was working locums the summer of 2019,  and then I got a locums position in Hawaii, and that was for the winter, like December, 2019. Ended the end of February, 2020, and we know what happened soon after. In fact, I was in Las Vegas for the White Coat Investor Conference when.

 The pandemic was actually declared while I was there, so I did fly home early, and as you know, it was chaos. No one knew what the heck it was, how bad it was, all that stuff.  And so I flew back to New Jersey. And New Jersey and New York City were kind of the early adopters of shutting down and masking.  And so I actually was interviewing for part-time jobs,  so my plan was to work part-time.

And to me that meant like, I don't know, three days a week and  I did have my business at the time, but.  It wasn't like a full-fledged business.  And so that was the plan. But then I couldn't get a job 'cause no one was hiring. And so, you know, it just dragged on and dragged on. And I actually was also doing telemedicine that was even before the pandemic in terms of getting that job.

 And then the end of 2020, I realized I had no desire to see, like I just had no desire to go back. You know, I wasn't itching to go back.  I did actually apply to do like become a volunteer attending.  Somewhere in 20. It was after the vaccine, so was that 2021?  It's all such a, a haze now.  But even then I decided not to, not because I didn't wanna do it,  it was because  if I had the opportunity to just be at home and joggers and not have to mask like obvi, you know, I'm pro mask, but like  wearing a mask all day is hard, you know, with patient care.

 And my son was two at the time and I was like, if I don't have to expose myself. To the virus, you know? 'cause obviously the risk is you bring it home.  So, and again, we didn't really know, so I just was like,  no. And then it just kept dragging on and then I was like,  no, to going back.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. And it's cool that you had that flexibility and the ability to  not go back. And, and that's the beautiful thing about, you know, what you're doing at Wealthy Mom MD and what this podcast is all about is  how can you create some degree of financial freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want to, and you were able to do that through, through your, is I want to, before we hit on that, I do kind of want to hit your path of practicing as a dermatologist. 'cause you mentioned a couple things that are a little bit more atypical at, at least from my understanding in the dermatology space locums, tendons and, and telemedicine. So what drew you to both of those and, and how did that look for you?

 And was there a plan behind that in terms of, Hey, I'm gonna do locums, I'm gonna do telemedicine, so I have some more flexibility to work on the business.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah, so again, that wasn't planned either. So my first job out of residency, I was in academics.  And again, I kind of always had a, you know, desired like, you know, I was derm or bust during med school. And then during residency I really wanted to do hospital based medicine hospital based dermatology, which.

 Very few dermatologists wanted to. And so my first job was in academics in New York. And you know, there was a residency program and I was the  first director of hospital-based dermatology basically doing consults. And yes, the patients were actually seen by my residents first, and then me, I would round every  every day when I was on service.

 So,  and then we moved to Philadelphia for my partner's job. And so then I went into private practice. I did apply to Penn and some other places, but.  I don't remember exactly what happened. I think maybe I just decided to do private practice  and so it was okay. I didn't love private practice. I definitely enjoyed academics more 'cause I was kind of by myself in the office and  you know, it's kind of really nice to have a collegial atmosphere.

I really loved working with residents. They're so bright and shiny, you know,  and so, and I love teaching and everything, and they kept me on my toes, you know, because they, they are studying a lot more than  you know after, not that you don't. Keep up at all. But you know, it's different, you know, during residency.

 And so I wasn't super happy there. And you know, some, some things happen and so this locums opportunity came up. I just got an email. I'm sure you get emails all the time for, well, maybe, I don't know how  much family medicine does locums. And I usually just delete them universally, you know, I'm just like, oh, stop bothering me.

You know?  And for some reason I looked at it and it was Seattle for the summer and I was like, hmm.  So I, I applied and I got it and then I was like, let's go. My partner was in between jobs at the point. His job in Philly didn't work out, so it kind of was just great timing.  My son was two, so it's not like we were pulling my, pulling him out, you know, of anything.

 So we did that. And then while I was in Seattle, I got a a, an another opportunity to be in Hawaii and  it was for Kaiser. And what was cool about that is I actually applied.  To Kaiser in Maui when I was pregnant. And I, they offered me the job, but we ended up not taking it for a number of reasons. And so it was really easy for me to get that job because I was a known entity.

 So I kind of got fast track there. And so it's a kind of a convoluted you know, so I kind of did everything, academics, private locums, and then the telemedicine. I don't even remember how that came into my lap.  I don't think I applied ne. I think someone told me they were looking for people, so I applied and I had multiple licenses at that point because of locum.

So obviously it makes it easier.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely. That's really cool.  What was it like for your family doing locums? I know you mentioned your son was two years old, so a little bit less in terms of  roots, probably where you were at in Philly, but  what was that like? Was that a good experience for you guys? I.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: You know, I think it, it, it's, it's hard when one parent is tasked at as the,  you know, the primary caretaker. You know, it's hard, you know,  even with one child. And so I don't know if Matt enjoyed it that much.  You know,  Jack's always been a handful, but you know, Jack learned to swim in Hawaii, so they would just swim every day at the pool.

 After he got lessons. It was 15 minutes a day for one week. By the way.  And he  knew how to swim. And so as a side note, I think weekly swimming lessons really doesn't cut it. They can learn really quickly and that's how this person taught it. And it  extremely effective because it's all muscle memory, right?

And then he was able to practice every day. So there's that.  Anyway, so I think Kauai was a great experience for us. But again, I think it was a little hard  in Seattle.  We had our place in New Jersey at the time, so.  Matt and Jack kind of flew back and forth. You know, they would stay with us for a week. It was two weeks on, two weeks off by the way.

And that was great.  During our two weeks off, we would, you know,  explore the area. We went to Vancouver, Canada. We went to Victoria Island, which is a very cute and picturesque area. So  that was his first international trip. Canada.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. Well, Jack has a great name. That's my oldest son's name as well, so so very cool there.  And that's, that's, that's a cool experience to get to have.  The ability to travel. And that's two weeks on, two weeks off. Man, that, that's awesome. 'cause you can really do a lot in two weeks. Yeah. So that's, that's a really cool opportunity.

I'm sure you're working hard the two weeks that you were on, but that's definitely a good bit of time to recharge and explore and, you know, that's a really cool locums  setup. Family medicine. Yeah. I get, 10 dozens of emails every day, it seems like for locums jobs and different jobs. It's just such a huge  shortage for family medicine.

But we'll see. I don't know if the right one comes across, maybe I'd consider that at some point, but right now  looking forward to direct primary care and, and, and, and

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh, are you starting your own practice?

Dr. Alex Schloe: I'm actually most likely I haven't signed the contract yet, joining a practice here in Colorado Springs.

It's a,  it's an older physician. Dave, if you're listening to this, I'm not calling you old, but he, he's older  and wants to ultimately kind of step back a bit coming up in the next few years. So I.  Bringing me in to help grow the business and and it'll be more part-time for me too, which is great.

Really focused  now on, you know, now that we have some financial freedom focused on,  Hey, how can I spend time with the people that matter most and spend more time with the family and do more traveling and  more camping, which we love to do here in Colorado, and those sorts of things as well. So  really looking forward to that.

And I firmly believe direct primary care is such a huge step in the right direction of

Dr. Bonnie Koo: is a DPC practice.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yes, ma'am. Yep. This is

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh, that's wonderful.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, it's been it's been open for about seven years. Pretty well established in the community. He  has a,  much larger patient and ment than he can  handle on his own with the hours that he wants to work.

And so I would take some of his patients and then we grow the business and then  just continue to scale from that perspective. So  still figuring out some details there, but really excited  for the opportunity.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. So he was an early adopter of DPC, huh?

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, he sure was. He was an Air Force doc like myself, and he retired from the Air Force worked private practice, I think for about a year, year and a half, and was just like, yeah, I, this isn't for me. And so he kind of started doing some DPC while he was working in that. Private practice and then he opened up his own clinic full time and  has been doing it ever since.

So he was an early adopter and, and doing great. And so I'm really excited to have the opportunity to learn from him.  Since the roots have already been planted, the business has already been established, and, and that way I can keep growing  physicians and properties and our, our real estate  ventures as well.

 So it's gonna be a really great opportunity, I believe.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: I mean, it's the way to go. We do direct, so we have a DPC pediatrician for my son, and then I do, I have a concierge physician, so,  you know, I guess, you know, DPC versus concierge, it's,  there's some distinctions. But there's a lot of similarities, obviously.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely it is, it's a great way to practice medicine and a great way to receive care as well. So really looking forward to that.  Yeah. And if it wasn't for, you know entrepreneurship and real estate investing and so forth, I, I wouldn't even have the opportunity. 'cause I'm, I'm gonna  take a massive pay cut to be honest.

And and you know, that is. Worth it for me to have that freedom, to have that flexibility, and to have that time with my family, and so  yeah, really, really looking forward to that. Well, I think now's a good time to pivot towards what you're doing, right? You're a incredible money coach. You've done a ton of amazing things in the financial space with Mel, wealthy mom,  md.

Do you mind sharing  more about the origin story of that and how that became,  came to be?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. So again, the theme, I wasn't, that wasn't planned.  So after actually  the last year of residency when I was applying for jobs, it was clear. I was like, I don't know anything about money. I.  Thankfully, I had two co-residents. They actually would  talk about the stock market and talk about money, but I just did, you know, I was like, oh, they're talking about their money thing and whatever.

 And I guess one day I was curious and I was like, how do you guys know all this stuff?  And so they actually recommended I read the White Coat Investor book. So I did, this was back in  what, 2014 or so?  And I read it and it was like,  why hasn't anyone. Taught me this, you know, I think a lot of us feel that way once we, you know, once we start on this journey.

And so I just started sharing it with my colleagues and friend, physician friends,  just, you know, because I wanted to help them out and just make sure, like, this is really important. Are you doing this? Are you doing that?  And I just found myself doing that a lot. And then kind of like word got around that I was.

 You know,  I, I don't know if I'd call myself an expert back then, but just  knew more than the average physician. And so, and then I  started speaking, and then  again, I wasn't really thinking  about it in a business. So  the white coat investor was getting established passive income, MD physician on fire.

I'm sure these are, you know, blogger.  I don't know if I call them bloggers at this point,  but they were starting their businesses. And so when I met them, and it was really, it was just like a very nice. Group of people, you know, we all just had the shared passion of sharing this with other physicians to help them,  you know, live better, get their finances in order.

 And you know, when I was kind of at a crossroads, I had  moved to Philadelphia. I had my son was, I dunno, one around one. And I was like, I don't need a side gig as a dermatologist. You know, it's not like.  I was making good money. So it was, I wasn't, it was, and I, I was making money doing it. Not a lot 'cause I wasn't trying to make it a business.

And then I worked with a, a life coach for a year and a half and  I found her randomly on Facebook by the way. She posted in one of the position moms  group and was just saying she was in coach training offering free coaching. And so  I dmd her and worked with her for free and then I, then I paid her for a year.

 And I, you know, ultimately I had to make a decision. I was at this crossroads and I just remember  being told, like, you just gotta decide. You're either gonna do it or you're not, but if you do it, go all in. Otherwise, you know, whatever.  And I can't say you,  you know, people always ask me, well, well, how did you decide?

I'm like,  I don't know. I,  I think I just, it, it could have been heads or tails, if I'm perfectly honest. It was. Not like I had this, you know, light from God or you know, like a sign that I should do it. So  I just decided to do it and I quickly learned that I really enjoyed the learning of building a business, all things business.

And in fact, sometimes I feel like  I might enjoy that more than what I actually do.  And so that year I kind of dove head first into learning everything about online business. You know, it's a whole new world and I was  thrown into these groups of entrepreneurs and it was like this  whole new world and a whole new language.

People talking about money people, me being  people, making insane amount of money. And I was like,  whoa, this is crazy. People can make this kind of money  and.  You know, not to belittle them. I'm like, some of these people don't even have college degrees. Like I just,  my mind was blown because I think a lot of us think like  you have to be like smart to make a lot of money.

 At least, I don't know. That was,  I think our upbringing, a lot of us is, you know,  get good grades,  get a good job type of thing. Right.  And so when I saw like  this whole new world, I kind like, my brain just exploded. I was like, what is going on here? You know? And they're all helping people, right? Because I think entrepreneurs ultimately, we.

 We we're solving problems that we see in the world.  So, and, you know, so they're making a lot of money and making a huge impact  to the people that they help. So  that was just  ultimately fascinating for me. And also, you know, as a money coach, just having my mind blown about the poss,  like the ceiling that we put on ourselves, even as physicians.

And also realizing physicians actually don't make a lot of money compared to  entrepreneurs.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Wait, Bonnie, you're saying that not every physician is rich.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, no, I completely agree with everything that you're saying, and I think a few key points that I want to pull out was you mentioned that these things just kind of came along and, and I think that they probably came along, but you are also willing to jump in and take action.

 A lot of times these, these things come along and in our lives and we either have analysis paralysis, and we  just have to know all the details and how it's gonna play out before we're willing to take action.  Or we just let it pass us by and you're willing to, to jump on the boat. You're willing to, you know, take action  and go from there.

So I think that's huge. The other thing I think that's really important  is  you are in a room with people who are doing it right. You, you are in that room with  people who did not have college degrees and, and you saw that was possible. And I think that's another thing. Is that you just have to be in the room.

I love being the dumbest person in the room, which is not very which is, which is, you know, really easy to be in for me.  And so I love being the dumbest person in the room because that means I'm in the right room. And that's where  the doors open, that's where the opportunities come. That's where the networking opportunities really happen,  and that's where you see what's.

Possible. And, and that's something that I'm learning and you know, talking with Letty and Kenji recently about  Tony Robbins and unleash the power within and a lot of the different  events that they've gone to and been a part of, it's like, man,  a lot of times  we just think myself included, we just think way too small  about what is actually possible.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh, totally. And  what you said about being in the room, just  connecting your yourself. And people always ask me, well, how do I do that? And so  the great news is there's so many conferences, like, you know, you mentioned UPW,  you know, I usually recommend you know, Peter Kim's conference. It's coming up in September.

I dunno if you're planning to go, but  I always tell people that's a great, obviously my conference, although I'm not doing it next year,  but just attending one of these types of events where. Physicians are gonna be there and you know, they're having different conversations.  So that, that's what I recommend to people.

And you know, once, once they take that leap and then sometimes there's like, well, it's hard to get away and blah. And it is, it is like, this is not  convenient stuff, you know? But if you want something else for your life, you kind of have to  get out of your comfort zone  a little.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I mean, you're only gonna grow  as much as you allow yourself to be uncomfortable, and you have to be comfortable  being uncomfortable. And, and I, I completely agree, it's not convenient, but  it's worth it, right? Like  that can lead to the convenience later on in your life and the flexibility to practice medicine, how you want to, and, and live life how you want to.

And  so I think that it is huge and definitely something that folks need to, to think about and ponder. Like, Hey, what do I really want my life to look like? And.  3, 5, 10 years and do that.  Take action.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah, totally. I mean, I, I do try to evaluate every year, if not more often, just,  is this what I want? Like, what do I really want? And I definitely noticed myself putting  sort of like ceilings on things. Like for the, for example, the other day I was like,  you know, it'd be nice to have a house. We're renting right now,  you know, a house with a pool.

Then I'm like.  Do I really wanna take care of the pool? Like it's, it's a lot of maintenance.  You know, I moved here and right after we had two hurricanes. I don't think it's a good idea to own here.  And so I grapple with that. Like,  so am I making that decision because I don't think I can afford that life?

Or is it because I'm,  you know, where I live isn't as important to me as some people.  You know? Like I never had the dream of having this big, huge home, but probably 'cause I didn't grow up like that.  And so I would rather travel, you know. So,

Dr. Alex Schloe: I agree. I mean, I think we, you know, we, we look at things from that fear of abundance, fear of  scarcity and, and kind of teasing out the two can be really tricky.  And, and I agree too. I, I, I'm not one that's like, Hey, I need the big fancy house. I, I'd rather travel, I'd rather spend time with my family. I, I think,  you know, I heard something.

From my buddy Brian Lubin, he hosts the Action Academy podcast that I think about a lot and it's, it's called the 10 year role.  And the tenure year role essentially is  if you have the means and you're thinking about buying something,  doing something, traveling somewhere.  And in 10 years you're gonna remember that and tell stories about that, you know, thing, vacation, whatever that may be.

Then you should do it. And so I try and think about it from that perspective because, you know, once we are old and, and on our deathbed, we're gonna, we're gonna think about the things that we missed out on. We're gonna think about those opportunities that we did not take that we should have.  And so I think having that lens and that perspective can be really helpful.

Plus we're not taking a lot of these material things with us to the grave anyways.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. As far as I know, we don't.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah,  that's true.  Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I think, you know, I think, you know, legacy and heritage is, is way more important  from that perspective.  Well, that is cool. So what did things look like as you, as you started the business, you're, you're in the room with people who are  making way more money than you ever thought imaginable doing this.

What did it look like as you were growing and scaling? What are some  key  pain points that you felt? How did you overcome those? As well?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Well, again, I said I really loved learning business. I think  so I feel like the first six months I was just like on this high. 'cause I love learning, you know, like.  I love learning ran  like really random stuff.  I don't like watch it on YouTube. But anyway, that's a whole side conversation of just like the random information I have in my head.

 It's not related to my business.  And so the first six months was really exciting.  And then, not that I hit a wall, but then sometimes, you know, you have these feelings of inadequacy like, well, can I make seven figures or. Can I really do that? You know, and I, I think, you know, you're the way you're conditioned and your upbringing, you know, I,  my family was, I  don't even think they were middle class, lower middle class, maybe  below that.

So I didn't have that sort of like model of what's possible. Like obviously I knew people lived better than we did.  And so I think sometimes again I kind of have that artificial ceiling and then  that, that carries over to even entrepreneurship, you know? And, and what's hard about, what can be hard about entrepreneurship is when you have these entrepreneur friends, which I think is critical if you are an entrepreneur.

'cause otherwise people think you're crazy. And if you know they're sort of like more successful than you, like you,  you know,  there can be a lot of compare and despair. Entrepreneurship, you know,  it's not secure in terms of, you know, you're not getting a regular paycheck like  I am an S corp, so  I do have a quote unquote paycheck, but it's pretty low.

And then, you know, distributions are extra. So,  you know, it's you know, every month to month or the income is, can be wildly different. And so. Being okay with that. You know, there've been times when the cashflow wasn't great in my business and just dealing with that, not making it mean that I suck as an entrepreneur, you know, that kind of stuff.

So  there's a lot of life lessons. An entrepreneur, like I always tell people like it'll bring up all of The things you know, it is a fast track to dealing with all the limiting beliefs, all the things that you kind of  maybe don't have to deal with. It brings it all up and it is the biggest vehicle, I think the biggest and fastest vehicle to personal growth for sure.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, that is well said. I couldn't agree more. And you know, I think what is it, the value. Of despair that every entrepreneur goes through when you're, when you're building a business and you know, that typically hits that  six to 12 month mark of like, Hey, is this something that it's really worth pursuing?

Is this something that's really worth doing? And  I'm glad you stuck with it. And, and I think that it is tough  for folks to sometimes, you know,  climb outta that valley and, and get to the next mountaintop.  Other thing I heard recently, was that 12% of all our thoughts go towards comparison, comparing

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh, I haven't heard that.

 Yeah. Yeah, I heard that from Tim Tebow not a, a, you know, reputable source by any means, but I heard that from Tim Tebow was, was talking on the Sean Ryan show and mentioned that and yeah, 12% so true or not,

How is that even measured?

Dr. Alex Schloe: I don't know.  I don't know.  But it's a good thought. It's a good thought to kind of  process and think through of like, man, even if, even if that is 10% or 5% or  15%, who knows?

 But  I feel like you're, you're, you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned comparison in the entrepreneurial space and,  and  how there's always gonna be someone who's above you.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Always.

 But if you're willing to get in the rooms with those people who are above you, a lot of times they're gonna pull you up with.

Well, you learn from them. Those are the people you wanna learn from. You don't wanna be the highest earner in the room, although that, that definitely feels good.  You know, I, I have the Brene  Brown book next to me. It's the Atlas of Atlas of the Heart, and she talks about compare.  Comparison and she says it's automatic.

'cause some people say, oh, you should stop doing that.  So it kind of made me feel better. And if, if you think about from the evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that we do that. 'cause we're always  sort of seeing like what our status is. You know, back in the day, you know, it was really important for us to be accepted and be in a social group for our survival.

And so it like makes sense that we're always doing that right. But then it's, it's when it becomes sort of detrimental that you kind of wanna do something about it.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, for sure. I mean, back in the day, caveman, Carl killed the, you know. The, the elk or whatever it may be. And then  you feel that comparison and then you learn that new skill and then you learn how to provide for your family. So I think it is evolutionarily important, but I think if we get so preoccupied with  the comparison, I mean, I, I think about social media for example, right?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Oh gosh.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Seeing a fake version of everybody's best day. Right? And then we're comparing that to our worst day. And, you know, we're, we're ne you're never gonna be able to reach that. And so I think that's why social media can be so dangerous to, to see that. So that could be a whole other topic of discussion, I'm sure.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah, no, it's, it's true. Like, you know, and I do try to share, you know, the not so great things about entrepreneurship. You know when I can, because again, I think especially when there's other physicians or just other people who wanna get into entrepreneurship, I think it's really easy for them to think like, wow, well she's just successful and  it seems so easy, but they don't see all the, the work  and the tears that go into it, you know?

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I completely agree. Are there any,  if, if you're willing to share, are there any specific, you know, events or, or learning opportunities, if you will, that you've had  throughout  entrepreneurship that may be beneficial for folks who are just getting started in their

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. You know, in, in some ways I feel like, so when people start, they, I guess you could say they either struggle or they succeed initially, and I either one has its pros and cons. Like I was successful initially, but You know, I, I also tell people it's not that I was successful for no reason. I had been  you know, unknowingly building an audience for two years.

So I had an audience to sell to.  So when you're starting out, you need to have that, you need to find people who, you know, want your services. So I, you know, when I first sold my online course, I mean, it was,  I had 66 people buy, I think the first time. And then I remember, of course, that felt great.  It was a thousand dollars at the time.

And then when I sold it again, it was 33 people. And  looking back, it's like, I made that mean so many things. Like, what? How come it's not the same or higher?  What am I doing wrong? And then I had my first at least, you know, the first two, express it to me saying that  she didn't like the course and she felt like it was a waste of time.

I mean, she  probably said it a little bit nicer,  but I just remember feeling devastated. When that happened and of, and I remember emailing her back, you know, just wanting some  feedback, you know, and she, she never wrote back.  But, you know,  I think that's the part that's hard if you're, especially if you're like the front facing of what you do to, so like,  but now when people, if that, when that happens to an, a new entrepreneur, we, it's actually something to celebrate.

'cause if someone is.  Not happy with you that that means you're out there, you know?  But at the time it was devastating. I remember like,  I felt like it took a very long time to get over that.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I agree. I feel you there. I have been fortunate that this podcast has gotten a lot of five star reviews, but that, that first, not five star review,  man,  dagger of the Heart. And it was, it was funny too. I remember it bothered me way longer than it should.  And I look back on it now and like their, their review was like, I don't know,  something about the editing or, I, I, it didn't mean anything.

It had nothing to do with me or the content, but I was pissed and, you know, you just gotta let those things roll off you. 'cause if you're willing to put yourself out there,  good things are gonna happen, and you're gonna have  haters no matter, you know, no matter what you do. And  you know, let that bother you  for a couple minutes and then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back after it.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. Yeah. I, I had like, I haven't looked at my reviews lately. Like I, occasionally I do, but I don't look that often, but I remember when I got my first one star review, but they didn't write anything. I'm like, that is like, so not helpful.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, and then you're left wondering like, Hey, did they mean to click five stars? But

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Then you're like, you, you just don't know, you

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, yeah. That is even worse. Yeah,  well, it, it's just part of it and, and I'm glad that you stuck with it and, and thanks for encouraging so many other folks as well by, by sharing that. 'cause I could  completely see how that could, you know, be a struggle to have this, you know, really successful course launch and then the second time, you know, have your  attendance cut in half.

And so that, that I'm sure was difficult. How did you  overcome that? What did things look like going forward for you for wealthy Mom,  MD and the rest of the business?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: so I. You know, you really have to learn business. So obviously I'm in the online space, so  it's a little different than, you know, a brick and mortar. The, the basic principles of business are the same in terms of, you know, marketing and selling and  onboarding and delivery. And so  you have to learn all that stuff.

And  what's also hard about entrepreneurship,  especially to people like physicians, is we want like the plan, the framework, the roadmap, because that's how medicine is. It's like  you get into med school.  As long as you don't totally F up, you'll graduate with that MD or do degree. And you know the same thing with residency, with entrepreneurship.

There isn't just one way and anyone.  So if anyone listening to this is thinking of starting a business and you hear some business coach saying this is the only way or the best way, like they're just full of crap.  There are best practices, there are industry trends and you should be aware about them. But truthfully, you can do.

Entrepreneurship the way you want. And then you also get to see like, oh, that doesn't feel good to me. Like, I call it bro marketing. It doesn't mean like all men are bro marketing, but there's a type of flavor of marketing called bro marketing and it's kind of aggressive. And that does not feel good to me.

And I've, I've been on sales calls as a client, 'cause, you know, I'm a consumer of these types of things too, where like, you know, they, they're. Very vague about the price. And they say like, okay, the price is this, but if you buy by the end of the call, it's $2,000 less. And I'm like, well,  that doesn't feel good to me.

And so you, you, I think it's really important to kind of check in with your values. Don't, don't hop on the train because it's like the new trend. You have to check in with yourself, like,  does this feel, does this feel good for the type of business? For my value system? There's so many ways to be successful.

And so you know, you're not selling your soul, so to speak.

Dr. Alex Schloe; I agree. I think there's a million ways to make a million bucks. And a lot of times physicians are scared of shiny object syndrome  analysis paralysis. And you know, I look at it kind of like going to the ice cream shop and getting some free samples to figure out what ice cream you really want to eat.

And, and it can be the same way for your asset class, right? Like  if you're trying to figure out, Hey, I wanna invest in real estate, but I don't know if I wanna do long-term rental, short-term rental, residential assisted living, like  sample 'em. Figure out what you like. I think it becomes more of a problem once you have momentum in that asset class and you realize you  like it.

It'd be like me right now where, you know, we heavenly invest in residential assisted living. I think that is the best opportunity now and for decades to come in real estate.  Then if I immediately pivoted and was like, I'm gonna go buy apartment complex like  that is where it becomes a problem when you have that momentum.

But I think otherwise if you're just getting started, feel free. Try the samples and then figure out what you want to eat.

 Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah. No, I love that analogy. Yeah, and again, there's, there's gonna be common themes. So it's very rare where some person is selling some completely different  weird way compared to other people.  So, you know, I think,  again, just finding people who do this and asking them how they got started again, getting into those rooms, going to those conferences.

 Just getting involved with things and you don't, you don't have to travel to a conference if you don't want to. There's a lot of like online events  that are going on, and so there, there's,  it's kind of like there's no excuse to not being able to  get connected with someone, you know?

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, especially in this day and age of of, of Zoom and  you know, webinars and so forth, there's so many different ways to network and, and, and be connected and.  I mean, heck, even on Zoom, you could, you could turn your camera off and mute your mic and you know that at least you're there.  That's the first, that's the first step is just, just showing up.

Just being

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yes, exactly.

Dr. Alex Schloe: I, I would imagine you feel the same way as me, that entrepreneurship and business is all about relationships. It's all about networking. It's all around, all about being in the room with the right people, which we already hit on.  What are some other tips and tricks that you've learned that have really helped you grow and scale your business?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: So, yeah, so we talked about, you know, surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs.  I think just. I think it's really important to invest in yourself. So  this is, you know, either having a business coach, joining a mastermind, you know, and  I do see some entrepreneurs,  I would say it's mainly physicians.

We can be really cheap, sometimes not willing to invest in learning how to run a business. And it's like these are skills that you don't have and you need to learn them.  You know? So marketing and selling, you know, the business operations, like these are all things you need to learn. You don't have to like.

 Learn it all at once and you don't need to learn it before you have a business. That's where the analysis paralysis comes in. So I think willing to invest.  It could be a course. It doesn't have to be super high ticket.  I think that's really important. And that's also how you meet other people, right? When you do those types of things.

 So that's another thing. And then, you know, you mentioned earlier that I took action. Like you have to be an action taker. And spend as little time in analysis paralysis. So that's where having a community, having a coach can really help because some people  just really need that push, you know?

 Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I agree. And you know, if you were able to go to med school and pass medical school. School and residency and fellowship, like you can  absolutely achieve financial freedom.  You just need to do the things that, that Bonnie's saying and, and it is important. And  you're right,  we, we are cheap. I, that's funny when you, when you say that, 'cause I've had folks, we have a mastermind for assisted living called the Row Room Assisted Living Mastermind.

And  I've ironically had physicians reach out and they're like, Hey, is there a physician discount? And I'm like.  No, like this is already not an expensive mastermind. So sorry that there's not, and if

Dr. Bonnie Koo: of ironic, right?

 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So because all doctors are rich, as we hit on. But but yeah, no, it, it is.

Dr. Alex Schloe: And I think that is, it is so important. And, you know, I know that you're a coach and I wanted to, to hit on that. What,  how has coaching changed your life? You worked with that free coach and then you continued paid for a year and then now you are a coach. How has that changed your life from a coaching perspective?

 and I have a few Right now I just ended with a one-on-one business coach. I'm in a mastermind. I have a manifestation coach, although I think it's our last call this week, so that's sad.  So, I mean, it's changed. I,  I just, how, how do I even explain the transformation? Because sometimes when I talk to client, like, you know, potential clients,  I still find it hard to convey how life changing it is.

 And so, and everyone has their own sort of different flavor of transformation. Transformation. And so I,  I think the main thing is that it really shows you what's possible. It shows you how like you are in your way. You know this,  I was trained in a specific type of coaching may like kind of based on the CCB T model or, you know,  really examining our thoughts.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: And  it's wild when people find out like what my thoughts aren't true and what I can like change them.  And part of me is like,  we need to be, people need to know about this earlier, like when they're kids even, you know? And so what a gift it is to learn this as an adult.  To  be able to impart it on your kids if you have kids.

But even if you don't, you're probably,  you  sure You have friends who have, who have kids, and that's such a gift for them to realize  just how much agency  they have. And I think,  not that I said the word agency, I think it's  showing people, they have so much more agency than they think. 'cause I think a lot of physicians, we do play.

Victim a little bit. And again, that's, I'm not judging people, but  I think there is a culture of learned helplessness in medicine. And so  just showing people  they have way more agency than they think and that they need to own it and take it. 'cause it is sometimes easier to be in that  victim, you know, mode.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely. I think you saying that you have difficulty describing it because it's been so transformative like that. That's a perfect answer right there. Is, is that coaching can really make. Make all the difference  for folks. I, I know you're doing a, a whole lot of different things you know, and predominantly for women physicians.

 What are you looking forward to in the future?

 Dr. Bonnie Koo: That's, I haven't.  asked that question in a while.  You know, I'm kind of in the season of really simplifying things because I think a lot of entrepreneurs, we like to complicate our businesses, and so I really want a simple business to open up mental space and, you know, my son needs a, you know, a bit more time and attention right now.

And so that's sort of like, you know, being able to adjust for that.  So I'm looking forward to, I guess technically my business is simple. It's not like I have like 20 million things that I sell. But just  making it simple. Actually,  right before this call, I was talking to a copywriting team. They're gonna help me  rewrite a bunch of stuff for my main money course  and  not being afraid to leverage other people's expertise.

You know, 'cause it would,  I have spent a lot of time honing my co, honing my copy and learning how to write copy. Some people outsource it from the get go. I don't think there's a wrong or right way to do it.  To me, it was just important for me to like learn how to  get that, you know, get that dialed in.

 And so  just realizing, you know, my, my time is valuable. And so if this  copywriter actually met her in the Mastermind that I'm in, and so I know she's really good and a lot of the other.  Folks have used her  speaking, speaking of which, I'm one of the lowest earners in that Mastermind.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's the right place to.

 less comparison, just more like  sometimes feeling bad about myself sometimes, you know, it's like,  oh,  you know,  but I mean some of these people make wild amounts of money and then it also is a kick in the butt.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: 'cause like, wow,  they're making so much money doing X, Y, Z. It's just wild what you can make money on, like  it's.  I always tell people, I was talking to a lot of physicians lately about their business ideas. I'm like,  do you think it could make money? Do you think, blah? I'm like, listen,  some lady was selling farts in a jar a few years ago.

Do you remember that?

Dr. Alex Schloe: I do remember that, and I remember there was like a, the blizzard in Boston or something. Like a decade ago, and a guy sold the snow, which was just a jar of water for like $50. And he made like 50 grand. And so yeah, you can, you, there's a million ways to make a million bucks.

 They say,  someone said, you can make a million dollar, you can have a $10 million  business selling rocks.

I believe it.  I believe it.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: it's, you know, I'm sure whoever's listening is probably gonna have something a bit more valuable and a better solution for people than a rock or a fart and a jar.  And so it just goes to show you like you can, I mean, you know, we're all consumers, we're buying stuff, you know, so it's like, why wouldn't, especially physicians like  You know, our skillset, you know, maybe, 'cause a lot of people say, or doctors I talk to, they're like,  well, I don't have any other skills. I'm like, what are you talking about?

Dr. Alex Schloe: So many skills. Leadership, critical thinking, how to think on your feet, how to make decisions quickly. I mean,  how to analyze different problems and solve them. I mean, we, yeah, physicians are  amazing entrepreneurs. If they're just willing  to believe that they can be an amazing entrepreneur, I.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah.  And we can learn very quickly 'cause there is a lot of stuff to learn and it's all learnable,  but it's, it's interesting when they think like, oh, it's really hard to learn business. And it's like, dude,

Dr. Alex Schloe: Learning the Kreb

Dr. Bonnie Koo: med school.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. That's that is so true. Well that is awesome. Well, I, I love what you're doing and, and, and thanks for being such a strong voice in the space and a strong voice for women physicians in particular. How can folks reach out to you if they wanna do some coaching with you or they want to learn more about your money course, or they just wanna know more about you?

 Dr. Bonnie Koo: Yeah, the best way is to just find me on Instagram. Wealthy Mom MD is my handle, so obviously no spaces in between. That's also my website. It's also the name of my podcast. In fact,  I haven't  podcasted in like two months  since February. Actually, I'm looking at the date  and so actually an episode aired today.

Finally.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. It's the, it is the little wins.  Well if you have wealthy dad MDs on there ever feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to be a guest.

Dr. Bonnie Koo: sure.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Awesome.  Well, Bonnie, is there anything else that you want to hit on before we wrap things up?

Dr. Bonnie Koo: No, I think, you know, if you're listening, you're someone who's interested in thinking bigger, and so just don't be afraid to take a step.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, let's all keep thinking bigger together and  keep changing the world. So with that, it's been  Dr. Bonnie K and Dr. Alex Schloe with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast Signing off.

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