I grew up studying my physician parents. My dad, a pathologist, was a hard-working hospital employee with multiple odd jobs on the side. He always worried about whether he’d have enough for retirement (though he never really wanted to retire). My mom, a psychiatrist, is more of an entrepreneurial businesswoman. She had her own private practice (even though all the other employed doctors warned she’d never make it going solo). Guess who earned more money? And retired early? My mom (she retired 30 years before my dad).
As a family doc in my own clinic, I do a ton of psychiatry. In fact, psychology dictates our financial success. For more than 20 years I’ve helped medical students, physicians, health professionals, and patients live their dreams and claim their value. I recently taught these 7 strategies to med students and physicians in my mentorship group. Yet they apply to everyone. This year, I invite you to share yourself with the world—and get paid! Just follow these steps . . . (listen to podcast & download MP3 below for more details).
1) Know what you’re worth. Discard the drama. Money is math problem. My mom always warned, “Don’t let your emotions hijack your clear thinking.” Given your education, your skills, and the need for your service, what are you worth per hour? What is it worth to save a life? To inspire a child? To build an organization? If you don’t know what you’re worth, nobody else will either. Trust me. Never apologize for your fees. Claim your value with confidence.
2) Release limiting beliefs. If you don’t think you’re worth much, you won’t get much. If you think more money means more work, you won’t be earning more without working more. If you think nobody will pay for your services, nobody will pay you for your services. What do you believe about money? Is what you believe attracting money or undermining your income potential? (Hint: avoid naysayers and other people with limiting beliefs. They have a way of really screwing with your mind).
3) Stop killing your best ideas. If you’ve got a great idea, get off the couch and do it. Don’t talk yourself out of the amazing contributions you were born to deliver to this world. Even worse: while you’re killing your most innovative ideas, someone else might start launching your plans. Jump up. Get moving. Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Especially you!
4) Do what you love. When you offer your passion, energy, enthusiasm to the world, you are more likely to attract people who will value you not just for your product or service, but also for YOUR LOVE of your craft. Plus when you do what you love, you’ll never actually work another day in your life. So what’s your dream? What brings you the most joy? Now, go do it.
5) Liberate yourself from dollars per hour. Consider charging money per outcome (for achieving a goal), money per month (like gym memberships, cell phone service, some medical clinics), money per product (book, art, speech) or per service (surgery, car repair, haircut). Money per hour will always lock you into working hourly for income.
6) Play with revenue streams. Want to speak? Start talking. Want to write? Start writing. Have an amazing video or DVD you want to produce? What’s stopping you? Want to share your ideas with the world? Go forth and do it. Don’t forget to charge something.
7) Start now. There is always something you can be doing at this very moment to move forward with your dreams. Whether it’s writing a book, speaking at an event, helping a child or hosting a dinner party. Invite people into your life so they can experience your passion and expertise up close and personal. Delayed gratification delays everything you want in life. Live your dream now—and fill your bank account today.
___
Pamela Wible, M.D., pioneered the first ideal clinic designed by patients. She thanks her Mom and Dad for giving her the brains and the chutzpah to live her dreams—and help others do the same. Need a jolt of inspiration? Contact her.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are so generous with information, insight, and compassion. I am a female chiropractor who is so grateful to get this inspiration in a message that isn’t forced and rigid and ego driven. I wanted that ideal clinic as a new graduate 20 years ago, but I did listen to the experts who said it wouldn’t work. Please tell me it isn’t too late.
I lost my 20 year old son 19 years ago. Suicide is so misunderstood and stigmatized. Keep up your work and you will impact training and work conditions for healthcare professionals and many in other fields. We just need to treat each other with love.
Thank you for being you and sharing it with us!
Toni ~ You can do it and I am here if you ever want to talk or come to our retreats 🙂 So sorry about your son. The truth will help prevent these losses. Hiding the facts helps nobody. You are courageous to share publicly. Never listen to the “experts.”
So sorry for your loss. Your note touched me.
I imagine you are very sensitive to your clients mental state.
Please empower your patients with my self-help e-book. At Eden’s Gate: Whole Health and Well-Being.
An always welcome inspiring reminder that we are generally worth so much more than we envision.
You got that right.
Great information, inspiring and motivating, great resource to start my new practice and also confirming that I am on the right track.
Thanks a million Pamela for sharing your pearls of wisdom with us !
Sure thing Sadia!
Pam, I grew up in a family where making money was viewed as evil. There were only two kinds of people in the world. The salt-of-the-earth workers (poor) and the heart-less owners (rich). We knew which group we were part of it and proud to be good and poor. It’s taken me a life-time to let go of my parent’s mind-set and life story. I’m still working on accepting that I can be good and still be rich (and that being rich is not about how much money I have). Thanks for your words of wisdom.
Thanks Jed! I think my family was really into making money and they always worried about me because I wasn’t a good capitalist. It all comes down to right earning method, right mindset, and right intentions with money. I don’t hoard money. I keep it flowing. It’s called currency for a reason. Needs to flow.
I’m thrilled to have found you Pam! I’m about to set forth doing what I love the most – counseling suicidal patients. I am specializing in this field because so many people commit suicide and many, many more attempt to. I hope to be able to normalize the conversation so everyone can get the help they so desperately need. I’ve lost friends to suicide and it is such a waste. It’s time counselors step up, ask the question and help people manage their emotions in a positive way. Thank you for your leadership in this area!
Awesome Leslie!!! I think your comment was intended for this article: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/what-i-say-to-suicidal-physicians/ Thanks so much for writing me. Regarding the suicide issue, I try my best to say died by suicide versus committed which criminalizes the suicide (like committed robbery, murder etc.) See this:https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/7-shaming-words-stop-saying-now/ Please keep in touch (I think we’re destined to be best friends now since you’re on my email list as well). <3
If employers would pay their people a generous wage with excellent benefits and a good retirement system plus giving them good financial support plus not being so stingy with their own money, we would not be having so much problems in this country and around the world.
Greed helps nobody. As I mention in a prior comment: I don’t hoard money. I keep it flowing. It’s called currency for a reason. Needs to flow.
That was simplistic and amazing. We all chase things and either forget about them or run away in fear of ourselves. I’m definitely going to change my perspective. Thank you.
Seriously – download the MP3 and listen every week (or every day) until you change your mindset. Your brain is the control panel for your body.
Pamela,
Thanks for the nice happy photo, I expect is you with Mom and Dad. Great family! Good looking.
Re charging: at some level don’t we end up making less than we would like but more than we had feared?
The tyranny to avoid: that a committee in D.C. knows what is a fair value for all of us. Go ahead, think of it, you may be worth more to your patients, community, and colleagues than a 99213. If you think you are worth more than 99213, then prove it and ask for it. Find out if you are right…or wrong. Earn it. It will help everybody.
it seems to me that price controls (as represented by Medicare schedules) are creating distortions and imbalances that are irritating everyone.
Allan
One word for ya Allan: DISINTERMEDIATION. Why should a bureaucrat in DC control the price of your office visit in Nebraska?
Why? Because it is against the law to charge more than the Medicare schedule for the 99213. The law empowers the bureaucrat.
In my approach, I let the 99213 stand, enshrined by Medicare, but try to provide care that all value (colleagues, patients, families, and myself) that is not in the CPT but is still valuable and important and part of caring for the sick and the complex. I want to provide the CPT plus what is not part of CPT. I write about this at my website, and I believe you are doing great work with Ideal Medical Care/Clinic.
As your videos so powerfully state: You/we can do better. We can free ourselves from a system that seems good in many ways yet also abusive and distorted. The goal for me is to create something better in the micro-economy of my neighborhood, community, nursing home, and hospital that honors my ideals and is valued by those I serve.
Keep up your good work. Thanks for the posts and thoughts. Well done.
Thanks for posting this, Dr. Wible. I can empathize with Jed, as I grew up in a family with a similar mindset… the “poor” were good and honest and hardworking, while the “rich” were evil and selfish and abusive.
I am only now, in my research year of residency, starting to understand the damage that this did to my thinking about medicine and professional success.
At this point, I think that true wealth has less to do with a bank account (although that is also very important) and more to do with creating options, freedom, and that ultimate resource: TIME.
Agree wholeheartedly. The big question is: what do we want to be doing with the limited and very finite time we have in these earth suits?
Thanks Pamela, for the inspiration and for the practical advice they do not teach you in medical education!
Just discovered your website Dr. Wible. This is very inspiring information. I am curious if you know of specialists opening very basic low overhead offices as well. This would work better for some specialties than others.
I was also thinking of just opening a very simple office just to volunteer my time seeing/advising low income patients, maybe a few days a month to start. Obviously I would do better sharing an office with others to lower my overhead as much as possible. We do have free clinics in the area but they often require a significant time commmitmment that is hard for me to meet currently. I would keep my current job with HMO to pay the bills. They are not too bad to work with at the moment and have allowed me to go part time.
I wanted to know if you had any experience with physicians doing the above. Thank you and keep up the very important work you are doing.
Yep! I know lots of specialists. Just email me here and I’ll share more. Include your location & specialty: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/contact/