From Employed OB/GYN to Boutique GYN and Surgery Practice: Dr. Cheruba Prabakar's Road to $1M

OB/GYN Dr. Cheruba Prabakar ditched employed medicine, went cash-pay, and built a boutique surgical practice in the Bay Area from scratch. Dr. Una breaks down how she overcame fear, bootstrapped without a loan, and hit her first revenue milestone in year one.

Dr. Cheruba Prabakar spent 7–8 years in employed medicine before she admitted something felt off. Her dream of owning a practice had been buried under the assumption that private practice simply didn't exist on the West Coast. She joined the EntreMD Business School not with a plan, but with a question: is there another way? A year later, she opened her doors.

She bootstrapped entirely, no loan, no outside funding. She answered her own phones, hand-wrote appointments, and stood at a dark outdoor event in a ski jacket handing out cards to strangers. A patient showed up from that event two and a half years later. The work was always working. She just couldn't see it yet.

By the end of year one, she had already hit a revenue number she once thought was ridiculous to even write down. The milestone didn't make her comfortable. It made her hungry. She introduced membership programs, raised her surgical prices, and hired a second physician so her practice could run while she's on vacation. Now she's writing a book on fibroids, due out July 2026, because she wants every woman to know they don't have to wait eight months to see a surgeon.

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Key Takeaways
00:00 The number seemed impossible. Then it happened

01:08 The dream got erased because there were no examples

02:30 Joined EBS before having a plan. That changed everything

05:06 9 to 4. Kids' performances. No permission needed

06:52 The diplomas went up. Then real growth began

09:00 No loan. No safety net. Just resourcefulness

10:44 Cash pay. Surgery. Bay Area. Everyone said no

13:10 One patient on the schedule. Kept going anyway

16:42 6:30 AM. Dark. Cold. A patient showed up two and a half years later

19:00 Do the work today. Let the results catch up later

21:00 A million felt ridiculous. Write it down anyway

23:28 Memberships, raised prices, hired a doctor. That is how the number got hit

26:54 Fear shows up. Go back to the why

31:22 Five years in EBS. Not leaving

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The EntreMD Podcast is the go-to resource for physician entrepreneurs who want to build profitable businesses without sacrificing their personal lives. Hosted by Dr. Una, each episode delivers real strategies and unfiltered stories from doctors who are doing it — building practices, growing revenue, and creating lives they love.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The fact that I could generate such numbers was just like mind-blowing to me. But then I also thought, well, if I could hit this, like what else can I do? Where can I go?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hi dogs. Welcome to the EntreMD 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. Umna.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Well, hello, hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Entre MD podcast. And boy, are you in for a treat? Because I have my very good friend here, Dr. Chiruva Purbaka. She is a total boss. And she is, I mean, she's a boss. And she's so generous because she's coming to share her story. And I'm excited to get to hear her story because I want you to see what is possible for physicians. When I talk about private practice not being dead, I want you to see it playing out. And I want you to walk away from this episode so on fire, to take the next milestones you've been thinking about in your business and go crush them. Okay. That's the whole reason she's here. So, Dr. Prabaka, thank you so much for coming back on the Ontre MD podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Una. I am so excited and honored to be here. And I can't wait to share my story.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

So I'm gonna give you a moment to introduce yourself and so people will see part of the reason why I'm so excited you're here.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I'm Dr. Chiruba Prabhakar, and I am a board-certified OBGYN and a fellowship-trained minimally invasive surgeon. I am from the East Coast and trained in New York, and then married a tech guy and ended up in the West Coast in San Francisco Bay Area. And I started out like all good physicians do with an employed practice. It was great. I had got a lot of experience, learned how to become a good doctor, become a good surgeon, and also started growing my family at the same time. I have three young kids. And after about seven or eight years, I started to feel like there's got to be more to practicing medicine. My dream always when I graduated medical school was to start my own practice. But where I found myself at that time, in the West Coast in the Bay Area, very tech-centered, there just weren't a lot of private practices. And so I had sort of erased that dream from my mind, saying, well, it's good enough that I just have a job. It's, you know, I should just be grateful and sort of just put that in the back burner because I saw no examples around me. It was all corporate medicine, big employee practices, that whole concept of a solo practitioner or three or four people working together that I grew up seeing in the East Coast just didn't exist out here. And that's actually when I joined the entre MD business school. Not because I had a plan or not because I knew what was happening next, but because I knew there had to be a different way to practice medicine. And I started really thinking at that time and gaining a lot of momentum and starting to dare my fears and starting to become more bold. And lo and behold, a year later, I opened up my own boutique gynecology practice and uh GYN and surgery practice. And so it was a year of rapid growth, rapid transformation in my mindset and my skills, all of those things that helped me and enabled me to finally open my doors in October 2022.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

You talked about something that is true for so many physicians. You thought there's got to be more. And if you're listening to this or watching this and you're thinking there's got to be more, there is more, right? You talked about my dream had always been, right? But I was like, maybe this is good enough. And so, as physicians, a lot of times like we have these dreams of what we think medicine could look like, how we could practice, things we could do. And many times we settle for good enough, which is not necessarily a problem, but you can stop, like, because you're about to hear the rest of her story. But she did start her practice, and it is a boutique, cash-based practice in the Bay Area, and all of that. Like, that's her dream of dreams. But she could have still been in good enough. But here she is, right? Like when I think about it, it's it's so mind-boggling. And then you said you joined the entree MD business school. You didn't know what, you didn't know how. Again, which is something that stops a lot of people, whether it's starting a practice or going to the next level in the practice or in the business, whichever kind of business it is, it's like I don't know what or how. So I'm just gonna stay. Well, you're like, now I'm gonna move forward, I'm gonna evolve, I'm gonna invest in myself, I'm gonna do all of this stuff even before I know what and how, because something's gotta give so much, so much goodness. Okay. Now I want us to start from the end and then we're gonna go back to the beginning. So I know that, you know, starting a business or growing a business or scaling a business can be challenging, but I am a believer that it's so worth it. Okay. So you have come to a place where you can look back and say, okay, I've been an entrepreneur for X number of years. This is what is made possible for me. So what does life look like now that you've started this business, the business is thriving, all of those things? What for you makes it worth it?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

That is why I did all of this, right? Because entrepreneurship, just reflecting on something you said, medicine in general is a very straight and narrow path, more or less. Like you do this, and then you gotta do this, and then you gotta take this class, and then you gotta, you know, it's very linear. And we have been trained to think that way. And so to think that, yes, we can actually step outside and create something for myself is a huge step. But I want everyone who's hearing this to know that it is absolutely possible. And so when I think about, well, what has made it worth it? I mean, for one, I start my day at nine and I end by four. If my kids have a day that I need to be there early because they have some party or whatever thing at school, I can make it. If they have something in the middle of the day, which is always my annoyance with schools, how they have tea party at 11 between 11:30 and 12, which sometimes is is so impractical. But if I'm not in the operating room, I can make that, I can make their performances. So, so just the flexibility, I would say, is something I have never been able to experience when I was an employed physician. And in fact, the straw that broke the camel's back when I was an employee physician was when I tried to get a little more flexibility, and the answer was no. And so flexibility is something that has been so important for me, not just for my kids, but for myself. If I need a doctor's appointment, if I'm not feeling well, maybe I take a few video visits from home. Like it's just, you know, I can make my schedule. And that has been amazing. Number two, I would say it's who I've become. Like when I look at myself, I'm like, who is this person? You know, who is she? Because I never thought that such self-evolution was really possible. I was like, okay, great. I got my MD and I'm became a resident, then I become a fellow, fabulous. Like, check, like I've hung up all my diplomas and my wall and I'm all done, right? But really, this after starting my own practice is where my true personal growth began. And to me, that is super exciting. It's something that no one can ever take away from me. The way I have honed my skills, the way I think now, um, has been amazing. So I think the personal side and the flexibility to enjoy my life and my family has been really, really worth it.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

My personal thought is you know, the money we make in entrepreneurship is amazing. The lives we're able to change, that is amazing. The time freedom is amazing. But the person you become, because you then become this person and you're like, wait, what else could I become? You know what I mean? And it just opens up this door where you really feel like play-doh, like you're so moldable and you could become exactly who you need to be. And all those things you've suppressed all these years, like I'm not the kind of person who can do this or do that, the lid is off. And you're like, of course I can. I became this person, of course I can.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yes, exactly. And what else can I be next? So I love asking that question and realizing that there is no box, which sometimes you can feel like that when you're a doctor and you're just in a cogwheel, right? But when you come out on your own and you have to do things, I mean, you have to develop all these skills. At least I had to do from scratch. I mean, nobody in my family really owns, owns, or owned a business. Nobody was really an entrepreneur. So it's not like I could even say, oh, well, you know, I just got these skills from my parents. Like I had to kind of figure all of it myself. But I'm like, well, what else can I do? So yes, that's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

What are some of the skills or changes you had to go through in order to make where you are possible?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Well, I had to be a lot more bold in terms of really stepping outside the box. And I'm I've I'm overall a confident and bold person, I think, at baseline, but betting on myself was something I had to do over and over again. There were days in the beginning where there was nobody on my schedule. And I was like, what did I just do? Right. But it was okay. I still was willing to persevere and keep going. I mean, we've done that throughout our medical training. So this was this was not a new skill, but learning to bet on myself when there was really no cash, you know, influx and figuring out how to make it all work. Being resourceful was another one. I didn't take out a loan, but I figured out, okay, if I can do these kinds of low-cop shifts, if I can get this much money, like I could actually bootstrap my own practice, which I know is is a big uh kind of limiting belief for so many doctors. Like, oh, where am I gonna get the money from? So just to let you guys know, like I didn't I didn't take out a loan. So being resourceful was one, betting on myself, really learning about finances was another huge one. I mean, now I own a business, I had to look up a PL. I didn't even know what a PL meant. It's a skill that I'm still working on, but it was another huge skill that I had to double up.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Were you comfortable talking about money? Because your practice is a cash pay practice. And so you're telling people, I've heard of this insurance thing, but yes, this is how much should we pay for this service? So was there drama around that? How did you have to evolve, or you were like always cool with that?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Um no. I mean, yeah, I forgot to mention that not only did I start my own practice, I decided to go cash pay as a surgeon, which you know, everyone was like, You're crazy. If I'm gonna go all in, I just decided to, you know, do it big. But yes, there was a lot of money drama. I would get feedback even from friends and colleagues. Like, what do you mean? Like, you don't take insurance? Like, what do you mean you're gonna charge $500 or whatever? But I just decided to do it anyway and let's see what's possible. I knew I could always get a job, you know, if this didn't work out, but let's push the boundaries, let's see what else we could do. And so, yeah, that was a huge thing. And I just started with what I thought was reasonable. And since then, I've definitely increased my prices, I've increased my offerings, I've found more creative things, ways to program the various things that I offer to patients around surgery or even menopause care. So, yeah, there's been a lot of evolution, but that beginning was definitely scary. And there are still scary moments when I'm like, oh, maybe I should raise the price on this. Work in progress. Oh, we we never arrive. Oh no. No, that's one thing we don't do in entrepreneurship. We never, we never arrive. We never arrive.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Now, because you're, you know, you've been so generous to come share your story. I really want people to get a feel for true entrepreneurship, right? Because sometimes they see the highlight reel, which some of those highlight reel reels annoy me to the high heavens, where it's like, oh, we're just gonna sit margaritas on the beach and we're gonna work for two hours a day. Like, I've literally had people tell me, oh, I want to start this business, I want to launch a course because I want to have passive income. I'm like, yeah, see, those two things, they don't go together. So I wanted to talk about some of the challenges like that you had to go through as you were getting your business off the floor or as on your journey to your first million, whichever one you can pick. Just walk people through that because one of the things we do a lot in the on-tram business school is we normalize challenges. Because otherwise, people are thrown off by it. Like, why is this happening in my business? Because it's a business. That's just the way it works. So you're winning and you had challenges. Like these two things can go together. So kind of paint a picture, a you know, story here or there, like, you know, some of the challenges you have to overcome because somebody's probably in that and they think something's wrong with them or something's wrong with their business. And no, it's just, you know, the two years gonna have 10 potentials. Yeah. I mean, where do we start with the challenges next time? I I don't know. We may have to have a supplemental podcast episode for that one.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Yeah, let's title the challenges of entrepreneurship, right? There's there's so many. But I I think the biggest thing is not letting it stand in your way. So, for example, when I started, I didn't have a medical assistant. And many people could have been like, oh, well, I don't even know how to do all that. But I answered my own phones, I had a calendar where I put down appointments, I figured out how to charge people myself. Like it was, it was really messy. It was really, really messy. I had no idea what I was doing. But every day I would learn something else and I would just keep going. And eventually, yes, I got a medical assistant. Eventually, you know, I was not answering the phones, I had an EMR, like a proper system. Those all came, but the beating was really hard and got some ideas from those in the RMD business school, but it was sort of like, you know, we were all kind of starting out at that point. It was just learning how to do things messy. And then came the challenge of selling myself. I was in a practice here for seven years, like I mentioned. So I figured, well, a lot of people will come. Well, guess what? They didn't come because now I'm in a different model. I don't accept insurance. And so I had to really find new patients from scratch. And that I was not expecting. So my first year was very difficult in terms of, as I mentioned, like, you know, I'd have one patient on the schedule, maybe two. And I I was really started doubting myself. But I had to do all the things, go knock on doors, hand out my card, you know, drop off cookies, have events. And so it was a lot of action to get the get the bus rolling. But by the end of year one, I started to fill my schedule a little bit more. Year two became better, year three became more stable. That was a huge challenge. And now I have hired another physician and now kind of learning how to fill her schedule and get going with that has also been a little bit challenging. But but just taking steps, you know, and really taking the action. This is something we talk about in the business school, is just taking massive action and not being motivated by your results, but just being motivated, period. Like you just have to do the things, right? There's no shortcuts to that. And the results will come. It may come next month, it may come a year later, it may come two years later. We don't know. But we are just continuing to do the things. So, yeah, so that was a challenge. And then I had to find new space. So that was a challenge. Um, staffing always, you know, poses an issue with people coming and going and trying to find the right fit and not letting these things rattle you, but moving on despite. And so that's something I've had to do over and over again. And now I'm in year four, I'm kind of getting comfortable doing that.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

I've had the privilege of watching your journey. And even when you're like, I'm not sure, this is looking kind of tough, you never stopped. Like you kept going, right? And I I remember you saying, like all the times I thought it wasn't working. Now that I look back, it was all working. Like the ROI was all coming, you know, and all of that. So what do you do to stay in action when it's the results are discouraging, right? So maybe you're expecting I'll have 10 patients by now and you have four. Whatever that is, how do you what do you do to keep moving?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

So I kind of come up with a plan of the different actions that I'm gonna do. And in my mind, I just say, regardless, here's when I'm gonna do it and here's what I'm gonna do. And I don't look at the results. For example, I remember clearly, I think it was October of when I started, and there was, it was like starting to get, it was dark in the morning, you know, and there was this like run in the city that I'm my practice is at, and it was like 6:30. You had to come and set up a table. I mean, it was dark. My husband was sleeping, my kids are sleeping. They were like, good luck, have fun tomorrow morning. So I had to like load all this stuff in my car, this like paper sign that I made, and this table and tablecloth and these flowers and these cards. And I was cold, I was wearing my ski jacket, and I was like, What am I doing? Like, is this what it takes? And I thought, like, it shouldn't take all this. But you know what? Like, that was an opportunity for me to get in front of people who had no idea who I was. And it was a three-hour event, it was cold, it was dark, whatever. But it's something I had to do, and I had it on my calendar that it was was what I was gonna do. And I stayed for the whole event. I gave out my cards and talked to people. I don't know that I got anybody from that event that year, but you know, last year, this is two and a half years later, I had a patient who told me, Oh, remember that res run in October? Like, that's where I saw you. And so it was working. I mean, the result came two and a half years later, but it came. And so sometimes seeing those glimpses of work that I did, you know, a while ago helps me keep going. But I think that's probably the toughest lesson to learn. Like sometimes you think, well, I'm already a doctor, like I've already done all this. Like, do I really need to bust it now? And you know, the answer is yes, that's part of being an entrepreneur. Like you said, it's not all about sipping margaritas at the beach. There's a lot of hard work that goes in. And when you've decided ahead of time that that's what you're gonna do, like you just show up and do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

And the one person who came from that, that's as far as we know. And we don't know who else she introduces to your practice. We don't know the ripple effect of all these things, but what we do know is the work works. You know what I mean? Yes. I love your approach to it because what you did is you disconnected your actions today from the results today. It's like I'm working today for where I'm trying to go, and whatever the results are doing today, that's great. But I'm moving that way, you're always you're you're always accountable to something out there as opposed to being discouraged by what is, you know, what is not happening. You can feel the discouragement and keep moving, right? But it's like not letting the discouragement stop you.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yes, yes. And with filling my schedule, I mean, it's kind of a compounding effect because some patients will say, I don't really know where I found you, but I saw your name here, then I went to this event and I saw you there, and then I turned around here and I saw your name again, and I figured, well, this must be the place to go, right? So it wasn't necessarily from one event, but the fact that I was everywhere is what many patients told me. And it does take all that to make it work.

unknown 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

It does take all that. And and and thank you for saying that because I find some people, you know, sometimes they're confused that they have to work hard. And for me, where it came from for me was when you're going through pre-med, medical school, residency, all of that, it's like I'm paying my dues. And when I'm done with all this, I'm done. And so it's kind of like, wait, I'm I was done, like I'm not done anymore. You know what I mean? And and entrepreneurship is a completely different game. And so you still need that beginner energy. You can't, like your 300 years of experience as a physician has nothing to do with entrepreneurship. And so if you can't approach it with a growth mindset, a beginner's mindset, willing to put in the work, it does make the journey a lot tougher.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

And it's helpful to do it in community, which has been really fun because then you also see, okay, there this person was just a year ahead of me and look like it is working out. So that's helpful too, because entrepreneurship can also be very isolating. When I first started the practice, like there were definitely people who are looking at me like, you know, I don't know what you think you're doing, you know, but it's it's okay. You just keep moving forward with people around you who do believe in you.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

So you started a practice, practice is growing, and at some point you decide, I'm gonna do a millionaire revenue. What do you think inspired you to make that decision? And then the second thing is what did you have to change? Because at that point, practice is already off the ground, practice is making good money, all that stuff. Like, so what did you need to change to then make your practice the practice that would generate that much?

SPEAKER_00 21:39

I think I picked that number because it seemed so ridiculous and impossible.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Well, thank you for saying that because now somebody can believe it's not ridiculous or impossible.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I love it. And I've shared this story with you before where I came to one of the retreats and we were talking about, you know, entrepreneurs making a million dollars. Making a million dollars. And I remember just like laughing, and I'm like, well, she's definitely not talking to me. I don't know who she's talking to in this room, but it ain't me. But I still, you know, I still wrote down all the things that you were saying, and I still, you know, did all that. And this was the spring of before I started my practice. I think I leaned over to the doctor next to me. You said, like, write your revenue goal. And I was like, Well, I haven't really started my practice. Like, should I write a hundred thousand? Should I write 200,000? You know, something like that. And she's like, Yeah, just go big. And I didn't write a million because to me, that still seemed so ridiculous. But I wrote something in between. And believe it or not, I actually hit it that that year, my first year of practice. So when you hit it, were you like, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Or were you shocked? And if you're shocked, what was the thought that came after that?

SPEAKER_00 22:48

I was so shocked. I was like, what? Like, this is, yeah, this is this is crazy. I did not think this was possible. And just to be clear, this was my revenue. This was not my net profit. But still, the fact that I could generate such numbers was just like mind-blowing to me. And this was me just having started a practice a year ago, and I really, in my mind, didn't really know what I was doing, right? It made me reflect on like the amount of growth that had happened. But then I also thought, well, if I could hit this, like what else can I do? Like, where can I go? It was just exciting and it gave me fuel to like keep keep going because there are days that are discouraging, as we just talked about, but to keep going and it almost became like a game then. Like, well, how much, you know, when can I hit seven figures? Like, what will I make next year? And what do I need to do to get there? And that's a question that I'm always playing around with. How can I? How can I get there? How can I make that number? But one of the things that helped us was to introduce membership programs for certain aspects of care, like menopause. Another thing that I did was raise my prices for my surgeries with complex fibroids, complex endometriosis. And then I also hired another doctor. One of the things that I was clear on when I started my practice is that nobody's going to wait, you know, even two weeks to see a doctor here. We should have access quickly. And when I started filling my schedule 10 days out, I said, okay, it's time to bring somebody else. And it's just more fun with two surgeons as well. We operate together and I'm about to go on vacation next week. You know, she's here to still see patients. I didn't have to close my practice like I did the first few years. Whenever I would go on vacation or conference, there's nobody to see patients. So just leveraging that with another physician who also wants to have a good quality of life. Those are some of the things that I had to do to hit that number. And the the fun thing is the strategy keeps changing. So from this to my next goal, I'm gonna have to come up with a whole new set of strategies. And I'm not really sure what exactly they are, but I'm confident that my brain has evolved to the point that I can figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

So you hit a million, and when you hit that, what did it make you think about yourself and your practice? And I can already deduce for it that it did make you go, like, hmm, what else could I do? And I become this person who can figure out the next milestone. Like, is it gonna be different? And I can figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah, because there's no playbook. There's no playbook that says, here's what you do to hit a million, here's what you do to hit two million, right? For every one of us, it's different based on what your specialty is, where you are in the country, what type of practice you have. But I really look at it like a game now. And I'm like, well, how can I, what levers do I need to pull? And how do I need to improve as a CEO to hire the right capacity, you know, people. And so it's a very different scheme than when I started, but that's what keeps it exciting.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

This is what is required for every transformation. What kind of CEO do I need to become? Right? Like for every milestone we set, we always want to look back to ourselves and say, okay, who do I need to become to pull this off? You know? And so that's that's pretty cool. Okay, question for you. This has shown up a gazillion times in your business, and that is this thing called fear. And I I don't use the word hate often. So let me just use I really, really, really dislike fear because what it does is it paralyzes us. And when we can no longer do what we were afraid of, I think the fear lifts. And you're like, I could have done this. If you think about a dream, the fear is there to your 90. And then in 90, you're like, oh, I guess I could have done it, right? Like it's like, what kind of torment is that? Right. And so everywhere I see it, I go after it. Everywhere I see it, I'm like, okay, guys, we can overcome this. Like, you cannot let this stop you. And I see it stopping people all the time, whether they want to start something or they want to take it to the next level, or they want to take it to a million, or build something they can exit from, whatever that is. So, how have you stopped fear from stopping you? Because you're still moving forward. You're still doing what needs to be done.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

That's a really good question. And I think I I go back to really reflecting on why I'm doing what I'm doing. Like, why am I doing this practice? Because as we just talked about, there's lots of challenges, there's lots of fear, this there's a lot of inconveniences that you have to overcome to really get a practice running and be successful. So, why am I really doing this? And when I look at my area, I know that, you know, finding a surgeon for your fibroid surgery, just getting an appointment can be four months, five months, and then doing your getting the surgery done could be another four months, five months. And so that to me is unacceptable, right? I saw my own mom have fibroids and have a hysterectomy and all the things that she went through. And I can't imagine the plight of women who have to wait that long. And so I said, well, that can't be. And we need better access with quicker appointments. And in where I am in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, people are willing to pay. It's a matter of finding a doctor. And so I was like, I need to be that doctor. I need to be the person who is, you know, the go-to gynecologist when somebody can't get an appointment. And we can use that not just for surgery. You know, you get a terrible infection, you get whatever, whatever you're worried about, a breast slump, you're freaked out. Oh my goodness, can this be cancer? You don't want to wait four weeks to, you know, get an appointment with your gynecologist. And so I think about what purpose my business is serving and what purpose my practice is there to achieve. And so when I think about that, I'm like, oh, I have to keep going. I have to get better, I have to have a bigger presence. That would be my answer.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

I know your services are really required, like even without the wait time, but that's a long time to deal with that. For so eight months, almost a year, not long enough to have a baby. Like, that's crazy.

unknown 29:09

Oof.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Thank you for what you do.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

This is what patients are telling me when they get here. They're like, oh, the wait list, you know, is so long. So I just decided to travel an hour and pay the money because I I'm suffering and I need to be taken care of.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

You're a gift. You're you're a real gift. Real gift. Thank you. Okay. So talk about what difference being in the entrepreneur business school has made for your journey as an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

We talked a lot about fear, and I think the first thing you did was help me overcome that and to give me the thought that this is possible, or to even entertain the thought that this is possible. Because I talked about how I sort of erased that dream of starting a private practice, because that's just not what people do here. And it's just not something that works here. If I was in New York, maybe if I was back in the East Coast, maybe. So I'd already talked myself out of the game. And then being in EBS really made me look back and say, what if I did do this? And so that I think was really the biggest gift right away that helped me start, you know, this journey. So thank you for doing what you're doing. And then when I started, just being in community with others who are also doing the same and just bouncing ideas off of each other, seeing how they approach challenges. So you don't have to make the mistake twice. You know, you learn from somebody else and you just get faster and faster at kind of overcoming these obstacles and hurdles. And so it's been really a gift. And I know it was designed to be a year curriculum, but here I am in year five of EBS. I'm never leaving because it's just been so great. And seeing all the amazing physicians there from around the country and world, even and seeing how they approach their practices. And it's been such a gift to my life.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

And you've been such a gift to the community because people get to watch, you know, your journey, your story, and you're always so generous, you know, with your with the lessons that you've learned and the things you're doing. Like, even remember, you do events and you come back, you're like, this is how I did this event, and this is where I got this. And you're a true gift. And we're we're grateful that you're in the school. We're grateful you're a lifer for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Thank you. And then I talk about self-improvement and you know, all of that. Like this is part of that investment for me because when I'm around people who are doing big, bold things, then I get to become big and bold. And so for me, it's a necessary part of the journey.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Love, love, love it. So, what's next for you? So we're here, we've built a practice that is truly one of a kind, right? People are like, you'll know you can't do that, but you have a cash-based surgical boutique practice in the Bay Area, right? Like the all those words are not supposed to go together. You figured it out and you put them all together, you got the practice growing, you got it prostramilian, you have the team, you got another doc on, and all of this stuff. And and you've become this person who doesn't have a lid anymore.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

So, so what's next for you? So, you know, my next goal is to make fibroids a household name. So that is where I'm going. I just wrote a book that's going to be released next month, July 2026, on fibroids for patients who are suffering from fibroids. I want to be able to speak on more stages and really spread the word far and wide because I want everyone to know what they are, and I don't want women to suffer the way women are suffering right now. So I want to be able to use my practice and my skills that I've built to really blow that up. And that's just my life's mission.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Love it. Okay. All right. If you are watching or listening to this, the reason I asked her that question is because she has been so generous and she spilled all the beans. This is not a highlight reel. This is the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it, right? And I have no doubt that you are going to make significant shifts in your business because of what you learn, whether you have a private practice or not, whether it's cash pay or not, because it doesn't really matter. The principles are the principles. And so because she's done that, I want you to support her on what her next phase is. So that could look like if you're watching this right when it goes live, the book will be out in about a month. You would go get a copy, you would, you know, gift a copy. You know, so many women, but no matter who you are, you know, you can gift copies. She wants to be on other stages. If you know a stage where this conversation is required and you can make that connection, then make that connection, right? In the Untreme World, we're all about the win-win-win situation. We should all be winning here, is even on this conversation. And so that's how we create a win for her. So follow her, support her work. This is what we do to amplify the entire community.