Business Lessons From My Dad, Dr. Chineme Part 1

I recently lost my dad. He lived a full life and took his final rest at 85 years old. 

He had always said he will die before my mom, and peacefully in his sleep. Well… He did just that. He lived the way he wanted, and he died the way he wanted. He had an amazing life.

I chose to take a moment to document all the lessons I learned from his life and on today's episode of the EntreMD Podcast, I share some of the business lessons with you.

For instance, he grew up in a mud hut in Nigeria and chased his dream relentlessly until he became a U.S trained surgeon in the 70s. My dad’s story will inspire you to become the person who believes. Believe in your dreams and believe you have what it takes (no matter the odds) to make it. 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hi pumps, and welcome to the Unchanny Podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. M. Well, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Entre MD Podcast. As always, I'm excited to be in your ears. Thank you so much for being a listener. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing your wins with me as well. Things that you've done because of the podcast truly warms my heart. And that is the reason why I do what I do. So in my family, we had something happen, which is not the most exciting thing. I lost my dad. He died five days ago at the time of this recording. It was, you know, his 85, and it was peaceful. He died in his sleep, which ever since I was five years old, he always said, I am going to die before your mom. And when I do, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna sleep, I'm gonna dream, and I'm gonna keep dreaming. So the man lived the way he wanted. He died the way he wanted. And while, of course, we're going to miss him terribly, he lived a phenomenal life. And he has such a legacy. And I wanted to bring that to you. Um, he he he was our colleague, he was a surgeon. And over the next few episodes, I am going to be sharing business lessons that I learned from his life and you know, sharing some of the stories of his life, which you will find so inspiring. And so, so that's what we're gonna do. Business lessons for my dad. This is part one, and we're gonna go all the way to part four. So this is gonna be really exciting. Okay, so my dad was born in 1936. Okay, so hashtag a really long time ago. And he grew up in Nigeria and he grew he grew up in the village. And when I say village, I'm talking like Mud Hut. His parents were both farmers. My grandfather was, you know, one of the most successful farmers in the village. I didn't meet, I never met him. But when you listen to my dad's story, so first of all, when he was in first grade, his tuition for first grade was one penny. Okay. And my grandfather was able to pay that. And, you know, it was somewhere around that point that my dad made a decision that he was gonna become a medical doctor. And for me, that blows my mind because I'm going, like, okay, hang on. You grew up in a village, you grew up in a mud hut, and your dream is to be a doctor. Like, how? You know? But anyway, so first grade it was a penny, and second grade, it was two pennies. They had the nerve to increase his tuition to two whole pennies. And guess what? His dad couldn't pay for it. His dad couldn't pay for it. And so it turns out his maternal uncle had this school that he ran. And so they sent him over to that school, so a different part of the village, to go to that school because he could attend the school for free. And he went to the school and he decided, you know, this school is inferior. So he dropped out. And I don't know if I'm gonna get to all the stories of these kind of pieces, but my dad was really stubborn in a good way. He knew what he wanted and he was gonna get what he wanted. He was always like that. And so I need you to imagine a second grade kid deciding this school is inferior. And he left the school. He dropped out. So his uncle, his brother, was much older, right? So much, much, much older, found out that he had dropped out of school. So, you know, he kind of took him on, adopted him, if you will, and uh paid his way through through elementary school and middle school. So the equivalent of that. And then when it was time for high school, you know, same, same brother of his, you know, paid for his first year. And then he found out that if he was part of the top eight in the class, he would qualify for a scholarship. And he was like, oh, oh, once I found out, I knocked somebody off the top eight and took their spot. And so the first year of high school was the only year that he paid any tuition because he was then, you know, he was on the scholarship. And then he played sports. He played all the sports. In fact, he was on the cricket team and they were really good. You know, he went on to represent Nigeria and Ghana, some game that they played and stuff like that. So that's what he did. And he was so academically sound that he got a scholarship to go to what they call higher secondary education, higher secondary school. It's kind of different from the American system. The Nigerian school system is based on the European model, but it's two years after high school, and he got a scholarship. So at this point, then he leaves the village and he goes to Lagos, which is like the bigger city, and he got a scholarship and he was there. And he did so well. You know, we always used to say he was the most brilliant person. Like, I don't think any of his kids are nearly as smart as he he is or he was. And so in 1962, there's this program that came. It was called ASPAL, is the African scholarship program of American universities. And he got a scholarship with them. So he got a scholarship to study zoology in UC Berkeley. And that was when he made the move from Nigeria to California to start his, you know, to continue his quest of, you know, becoming a doctor and all of that stuff. And it's so bizarre because when he told me about it, they actually went by ship from Nigeria to France and then flew from France to New York. I'm like, by ship? Like, how long did that take you? But anyway, so 1962, he got the scholarship to do a bachelor's to study zoology, which was what he did in UC Berkeley. And then 1969, he he graduated from med school. In 1974, he graduated from a surgery residency at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. Funny enough, that's where I was born. So when I think about that, my thought is how does somebody go from Mud Hut to American trained surgeon? Right. And the thing about him was he dreamed really big. He dreamed really big. In fact, I remember him telling me a story when he was in med school and he was at the top of his class. And I need you to imagine, okay, this is a black kid from a different continent with a thick accent. Well, I don't even know if he had a thick accent, actually, because he doesn't have a thick accent. So with an accent, let's say that. And whose name is I mean, his full name is Ekane Dili Chupu. That's his name. And, you know, he was very particular about people calling him by his native name because he was like, you know, that's my name. Figure it out. And in fact, we didn't have, not did it, we don't have any English names. Like my first name is NECA, my middle name is Chenwe. There's no English name. And he, and I was like, but I want an English name. And he's like, when English people start giving their children Igbo names, I will give you an English name. I'm telling you, like he was good stubborn, but he was a very stubborn man. But anyway, so his professor calls him and is like, you're at the top of your class. And my father, very matter-of-factly, is like, so he's like, but you're you're a black kid. He's like, so you know what I mean? And that was that was just the way, that's just the way he was, you know. So he dreamed big. He dreamed really big. And at the end of the day, he got exactly what he wanted. And so that's his legacy, that's his story. But what does that mean for you? What does that mean for me? Right? It's time for us to dream big. There are a thousand and one reasons why what he dreamed for were really not possible. But he didn't let that stop him. You know, so for you, what does dreaming big mean for you? Maybe you're a listener to this podcast and you've listened for a few months, but you're still like, I'm not an entrepreneur. Well, well, you can be. First of all, you do have a business. And that business is you incorporated. You already have a like to start with, you already have a business. Take it. Dream with it. Make something out of it. For everyone who wants to start a business but hasn't, secretly there's that dream. Oh, what if I could? What if I could? Well, what if you could? What if you took it? What if you ran with it? What if you worked relentlessly at it and you made it work? Like, how beautiful would that be? Right? You have a business, but you're kind of dabbling. You know what I mean? Like you're doing enough. So you can say, I'm doing stuff, but you know that you're underperforming, you know that you're underdreaming, you know that you're not pushing, you know you're just doing enough not to quit. Well, this is my challenge for you. It's time to dream big. If a little kid that grew up in a mud hut and who was a child to two farmers who couldn't pay two pennies for a second grade education, if he could fulfill his dreams, well, guess what? So can you. If he could do that, even though you didn't get a business education, I bet you can educate yourself in business and build a successful business, right? So, where do you need to dream big? Maybe you're supposed to start, you haven't started. You're supposed to scale, you haven't scale. You're supposed to build a team, you're running away from it. Well, guess what? You can. You're supposed to launch that podcast. Do it. You're supposed to speak at that event. Say yes. The bottom line is dream big and then chase after your goal relentlessly. Relentlessly, because guess what? He made that decision in second grade. But it wasn't until 1974, decades later, that he became a surgeon. And you know what? He was so good. He was so good that he was offered American citizenship based on merit. That's how good he was. Little black kid from a mud hut in Nigeria. So I'm here recording and I'm recording because I want his life to inspire you to stop playing small. I want his life to inspire you to look at things beyond what you think you can do, and then decide to do it. I'm here recording because I want you to take those dreams that you wrote down and you just left them alone all these years. I want you to dust them up and say, guess what? I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. Okay. So what do I want you to do? Write the dream, realize it's possible, and start chasing it. That's all. Write the dream down, realize it's possible, start chasing it. Write down the dream, realize it's possible, and start chasing it. And imagine you, decades and decades and decades later, at your birthday party, your children telling the story of the life you created. And it will be so phenomenal. It may not be about you starting off in a mud hut and becoming a surgeon. A surgeon who was so good that he was offered US citizenship because he was that good. It may not be that story. But they'll tell some phenomenal story of a dream you chased down that didn't seem possible and you made it happen. And I want that for you. And I would love to hear that story. And I would love to hear you say, I listened to that episode where you told about the life of your dad, and I made a quality decision that I was going to figure this out. Okay? That can be you. That can be your story. Go find those dreams, make them your reality. Okay? All right. So what we are going to do with these episodes, these are legacy episodes. I want you to share what you got from this episode on social media and tag us. Hashtag entree MD and hashtag entree MD Legacy. Okay? Entree MD Legacy. And I'll be looking out for those. And I can't wait to hear about all your success. Okay. Because it is possible for you. All right. So thank you for listening. And I want you to look out for part two, three, four of this legacy series, business lessons from my dad. See you on the next episode. Hey, if you love listening to the Untremity podcast, I want to invite you to join MTRMity on the man. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to the library and business, which is designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur. See you on the