104. Why This Physician Coach Launched an HVAC Business

Hey Doc,

In this episode, I’m sharing a major life update that, on the surface, looks like a hard pivot, but is actually a continuation of everything I’ve been building since I left corporate medicine.

📣 I’m officially the co-owner of The General Heating & Air, a family-run HVAC company serving Greater Houston.

I’m still coaching and I’m still podcasting.

But how I spend my time is changing — and so is what I’ve learned about capacity, clarity, and what it really means to have transferable skills as a physician.

This isn’t about telling you to start a business. This is about expanding what you believe is possible in your life, especially when you’re a physician mom navigating the chaos of transition with a brain wired for overachievement and a culture that rewards self-sacrifice.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why I’m adding HVAC business owner to my list of titles
• What almost broke me in the process (and how I knew it was time to shift my bandwidth)
• The myth of “I’m just a doctor” and why it’s keeping you stuck
• How every step of my journey — from burnout to social media to locums — prepared me for this
• Real-life examples of your transferable skills and how they show up outside of medicine
• Why I’ll be quieter on social media — but louder in new ways

Whether you’re in a transition, thinking about one, or recovering from one that didn’t go as planned, this episode will remind you:

You’re not stuck. You’re not behind.

And your next chapter doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s to be worth pursuing.

🔗 Links + Resources:

• Follow our new business: @TheGeneralHVAC on all platforms
• In Houston? Join our email list: Sign up here
• Listen to Episode 7: Your Dream Life or Mine? 

📩 Stay Connected:

Want support through your next big transition? Learn more about private coaching with me at drtoyacoaching.com

Subscribe to ✨Stethoscopes and Strollers✨ on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode.

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Join my Email list to get tips on navigating motherhood in the medical field.

If you are going through a transition -- becoming a parent, leaving a job, figuring out how manage it all, schedule a strategy coaching session and get clarity and strategic next steps for the life and career you want.

Strategy Coaching Session with Dr. Toya

Transcript

 Hey Doc, I am making a new transition and I wanna share all about it on this episode of Stethoscopes and Strollers. So I'm so excited to share this with you, and I want to be very clear from the beginning. The reason that I am sharing this transition, and what I'm about to say afterwards about the transition is not so that you follow what I am doing.

It's not about my dream. I have an episode about that episode seven, your Dream or Mine. I am not telling you to quit medicine and start a business or go on social media. That's not what this is about. This is about you being empowered in your own dream, in your own life, and expanding your thinking about what is possible for you as a physician and as a mom.

So. I am going from full-time coach and mom and traveler and all that to full-time coach, plus owner of an HVAC company. So my husband and I are starting The General Heating & Air, and there's a whole story behind that name,  and I'm very, very excited for this transition. We have been planning for a while.

There have been lots of ups and downs. It's been a bit tumultuous at times, but we are ready. The truck is bought. It's being upfitted. We've bought the field management software, which is like an EMR, like we're rolling, you know, March. Beginning or middle of March, we are on the road taking calls, servicing the Greater Houston area, and I am so excited and you know, I coach women physicians in transition.

Whether you're becoming a mom, going back to work, becoming, a, department head, or leaving medicine altogether, any transition, that's where I focus because during those transitions they can be tumultuous and. Even more so when you are a hyper independent over-functioner who has been conditioned by society, that this is what mothers are and by medical culture, When you smash those two together, transitions Plus who we were conditioned to be chaos. And I have had that chaos many times in my life, right? That's why I focus where I focus with my clients, but. I feel now that this transition is just such an exciting one. And I could say that now because I'm on the other side of the, the tumultuous time because the tumultuous time ended very recently, I must say.

And if it wasn't for all of these experiences, if it wasn't for doing this work and doing the work on myself and really trusting and believing in myself and my husband and the universe, it may have broken me again. I, I will be honest, but. I knew that it would work out. And as I look back, those times had to happen for me to be where I am right now and to be fully present in this new venture.

So I am, I'm grateful for all of it. So I was talking to my bookkeeper right before this recording and I said to her, I have learned through all of my experiences, and this is what I coach my clients to respect my bandwidth, right? I know I can't do all things. And be everything to everyone. So in this transition, in this business, I'm going to be doing quite a lot, including supporting my husband as his coach, which I have been for a while, but this is even more now because I've started many businesses and this one is starting from scratch.

So there's, there's even more support there, plus actually working in the business. So there's a lot to do and  In my dreams, a couple months ago, I thought that I would continue doing everything in Dr. Toya coaching, so coaching my clients, showing up in social media, speaking, going to events, doing all of those things just in a smaller amount of time.

So from five days a week, I was gonna do it all at the same level, same capacity in two days, and. Part of the tumultuous time was me realizing that that is not realistic and that I need to respect my bandwidth because if I want this new company to succeed, it needs the attention that it deserves. And I only have so many hours in the day.

I only have so much bandwidth, so I needed to adjust how I was thinking. So. Me making time for a new venture now looks different. I'm still going to give everything to my clients. That is not gonna change the level of service, the coaching, not that that is, there's nothing that's gonna change that.

I'm still gonna keep coaching and serving them. I'm still gonna record my podcast. This is. This is one of my favorite things to do to empower you, doc. Like I love recording this podcast, but this something has to give, and that's the social media. So I'm going to be less online, but really online in a different way because I am doing the marketing and social media for the new business.

And it's different this time because I'll be behind the camera, you'll see more of my husband, but it's, it's still a lot of work. So. In order for me to respect my bandwidth, something, something had to go. So I yes I'm sharing my excitement with you, but it's also to let you know if you see me talking about the hvac, it's not like, what the hell is she doing?

It is, it's very new, exciting transition and. It is definitely not a pivot because I will share with you as my people that even in this, which seems so far away from the life and realm of a physician mom, I have already seen how this could benefit you. Doc. I already have the vision for how my experience in this new realm is going to benefit.

Future physician moms, and even not even future right now, because like I'm about to talk about shortly, there's a lot that can be related and just expanding the way that we think about the things that we can do and the possibilities, it's, it's just so empowering. And you know, that's my goal. Like I want to empower you and have you truly believe that you have agency in your own life and you're not stuck doing any one thing.

So. I do see this as still working on my actual business on Dr. Toya coaching, my second calling in addition to this very new thing that is just completely separate and it's so exciting and the, the biggest thing that I love is that every single pivot that I have had since leaving corporate medicine in 2022 has.

Benefited me in this new venture, every single one. So starting by default, starting my journey on social media, starting to do speaking and interviews and all of those things, me knowing the value of myself as a physician, that enabled me and empowered me to leave corporate medicine running my locums company like the business that it was.

Creating Dr. Toya 

OBGYN.

And growing that platform to over 9 million views, having the postpartum burnout, creating a new business outta that, serving my clients at the highest level. All of those things have already benefited me in the starting of The General Heating & Air or will in the future.

And That's the first thing that I want to share. A lot of times if we make a pivot, we make a change and it doesn't work out or you change your mind, it may, you may be like a little ashamed and be like, oh, well, maybe I shouldn't have done that, or people are gonna think that I'm irresponsible or that I'm flaky, and whatever else may come to your mind.

But I am telling you something that I learned in. The EntreMD business School, the saying that we have, if this is not the thing, it's the thing that will lead you to the thing. And I believe that in my soul. Because I have had so many transitions myself, and I have regretted none of them.

They have all built upon each other and they have all benefited me to getting me where I am right now, living this version of my best life, because this is not the end, I have not waiting for everything, the dream to be fully realized, to start living the dream. Like, no, but all of those things, like if you look on the outside.

She's like, oh, she is, she is insane. Even my sister. When I told her we were starting this business, she was like, oh, well that's a pivot. Because of, she was aware of the tumultuousness that I was referring to in the last couple months, when the business almost wasn't gonna happen. So she was like, God damn.

And I get it, but I don't look at it that way. neither should you. So if you are like, I wanna make this change, and it doesn't have to be starting a business, it doesn't have to be leaving medicine. If you are thinking about a change and you're like, you're not sure, even if you are sure and it did not work out, it is not currently working out, you are not a failure.

You did not make a mistake This can be a lesson. You don't fail, you just learn. And it may sound like, oh, coaching nonsense, but I'm telling you., You can choose to believe this and it will change your entire experience and it will also open you up to the opportunities that come along with seeing all of this as learning opportunities.

Because you don't know where you're gonna end up. You don't know what you'll end up doing, So it could be the thing that leads you to the thing. And the other big thing that I want to share about this transition, because I, I coach my clients about this all the time, stepping into this very new and different realm. I have seen it so vividly, 

. You have transferable skills, doc. I can't tell you how many clients I have had tell me I'm just a doctor. All I know how to do is medicine. I wanna leave, but I can't do anything else. That is not true. It is not true. It is not true. If you really want to do something else, it doesn't have to be medicine adjacent.

You have transferable skills. If you are thinking, all I could do is this lap chole. Is that all you can do? Or is it that in doing that thing, you have a series of skills that can be transferred to any job that you want to do, your attention to detail, the ability to see the entire picture and anticipate needs and act quickly in an emergency.

If you nick something. Those are all transferable skills that you can take and do whatever you wanna do. And . I'm not saying you won't need to learn new stuff. I'm learning a lot of new shit and some stuff that I said I would never learn, like accounting, I was like, I'm not, I'm not doing it.

I'm learning it now though. So this is not saying that you won't be uncomfortable a little bit that you won't have knowledge gaps. But the point of me telling you this is so that you know you are not stuck. You do not only have to do medicine, you don't only have to be a doctor, you have the ability, you have the skills, you have the knowledge right now, you And even if you have zero plans of leaving medicine, just that knowledge is empowering.

Knowing that you have options is one of the most empowering beliefs that you can have, so you accept a lot less. You realize, yeah, I don't need to take this because I actually do have options. That's what I did in 2022. Remember, the plan wasn't to leave medicine. It was to leave that job because I knew I had options.

I knew I could just do locums. I knew I could go be a speaker. I knew I had the skills to start a business. All of those things from being a physician. So you just, you take a lot less, you stand up a bit taller, you ask for a lot more. You don't feel like, oh, well I don't have choices. You have choices, You have skills. You can do whatever it is you wanna do So I am going to be taking you along on this very exciting journey, and I'm going to be giving you real life examples of how you have transferable skills. Let me, let me give you one right now. This is a simple, silly one.

so in the HVAC business there is something called field management software. And. It's where you book jobs and dispatch the technicians and keep track of customer information, you do all this stuff. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like an EMR to you?

Just you knowing how to move around in an EMR. Will help you because let me tell you, that may not seem like a skill, but there are HVAC contractors right now who refuse to use these systems. They're still on paper. Still just like the old docs from back in the day when we were transitioning. 'cause I, I'm in that transition period where like in our resident clinic we have paper charts like I still remember, of attendings who were using paper charts.

And then when EMR became like the thing, they were like, yeah, I'm retiring. Right? They are still a HVAC contractors right now who are like our old attendings. But you have the skill to navigate. So it's not like, if it's not a big deal. This is a skill that can make or break your business. You already have it.

You already know what it's like to have death by a thousand clicks. It's the same. It's amazing how much it's the same, even though it's supposed to promote efficiency and all of those things. You being able to navigate it, you being able to give feedback about what needs to change because it's no longer being efficient.

That's a skill that is transferable. It's a skill that I'm using right now. So I'm able to like navigate these systems because they're very similar. You know, all of these enterprise software that has all these abilities that is overwhelming and you need two months to onboard and learn it properly. It's all the same thing.

You cannot imagine how many skills you have right now and that could benefit you. And so if you have the dream. Of doing something outside of medicine, just know you can do it. If you don't have that dream, just know you have options. Just think of yourself a little bit better now that you know, Hey, I'm not just a doctor.

Hopefully, hopefully I'm saying all this stuff and you're like, oh, I never thought that. I'm a big fucking deal. I hope this episode is irrelevant to you, but in the event that you have had that thought that I cannot do anything outside of medicine, that I have no transferrable skills, all I know how to do is deliver a baby.

If you ever had those thoughts, just know that is not the case, doc. Okay? I'm living proof and I'm here to inspire you. To expand your beliefs about what is possible in your life so that you can be free and live your best life. Okay, so you will be seeing less of me in Dr. Toya coaching on social media.

Hopefully if you, you, hopefully you're gonna follow my page on social media because I'm gonna invite everybody that I know to follow along on The General Heating & Air, so you better follow. Thank you very much. But there'll be less in this capacity. Just online podcast remains the same. Like, you can't get rid of me here.

You can't. And of course. Coaching my private clients. That is, that is not gonna change. and it's only, all of this stuff is only gonna benefit women physicians. I already have the vision doc. You are in my vision. For the future. And I, I can't wait to see it realized. So share this episode with another physician mom who thinks she's just a little old surgeon or just a pediatrician.

I'm only a family medicine doc. Share this episode with her and let her know she's not just anything. Okay. Let her know she's a bad bitch at, you know. She is. With all these transferable skills. leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts and a five star reading everywhere else, and I will see you on the next episode of Stethoscopes and Strollers.