Latest / Coffee Playdate Podcast with Dr. Olga Deengar / From Hospital System to DPC Empire Ep 39: How Dr. Jessica Mendelsohn Built Freedom in Fort Mill
Transcript
- Dr. Olga Deengar: Welcome to the Coffee Plated podcast. have a very special guest with me today. Dr. Jessica Mendelson. Welcome. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Thank you so much for having me. Dr. Olga Deengar: First, I'd like to start off by asking, do you drink coffee? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: every day multiple times. Dr. Olga Deengar: And how do you like your coffee? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Just a little bit of cream. Dr. Olga Deengar: perfect. Very simple. I love that. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Very simple. Dr. Olga Deengar: Now we're going to play a rapid fire questions game. I'm going to ask you to choose between the two answers and you don't have to explain yourself. Just go with your gut instinct. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Okay? Dr. Olga Deengar: First question, traditional insurance-based practice or direct primary care? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: direct primary care all the way. Dr. Olga Deengar: Would you choose having 2,000 patient panels or 600 tight-knit members? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Absolutely 600 tight knit numbers. Dr. Olga Deengar: Would you bootstrap with savings or a small business loan? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: I can tell you I did bootstrap with savings, but I think both are equally as important as options. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, very good. The last one is, would you stay pure primary care or expand to like a wellness suite? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Again, I have expanded into a wellness suite and I think both are equally important as options for docs. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, great. The next game is take a sip. It's the same concept, but this time we both answer the question. And if our answers match, we're going to take a sip from our coffee cups. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: All right, let's do it. Dr. Olga Deengar: Morning admin or evening charting. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Morning, Admin. Dr. Olga Deengar: Me too. Warning admin. Cheers. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Cheers. Dr. Olga Deengar: Would you rather have a beach day or a hiking adventure? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: those are both really good options. I will say a hiking adventure. Dr. Olga Deengar: Me too. I love hiking. Cheers. Would you rather go paddle boarding or play a game of tennis? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Ooh, paddle boarding. Dr. Olga Deengar: I'd have to say tennis. I love tennis. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: That's awesome. I'm not very good at tennis, but I have Dr. Olga Deengar: Right. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: a paddleboard and love it. Dr. Olga Deengar: And the last question is would you rather travel to Brazil or Portugal for your next trip? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: similar but different. I'm going to say Portugal. Dr. Olga Deengar: I'm going to say Brazil. I've never been to Brazil. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: never been to either and we travel a lot but both are exciting. Dr. Olga Deengar: So Jessica, tell us a little bit about yourself and the work that you do. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Sure, absolutely. Again, thank you so much for having me. I am a family physician by training and worked for a large hospital system for many, many years. I did a lot of leadership within that system and had a large practice within that system. When I had my first son, it really helped me to step back and look at what are my priorities and realized I was burning the candle. at both ends in that particular practice. So I actually pivoted completely and left primary care and did hospice medicine for five years for reasons very near and dear to my heart personally and learned a lot about how to calm and and think through a team-based approach to medicine. So when I started after three or four years to get that itch to go back into primary care medicine, I knew I wanted it to be different than the experience I had had in a volume-based practice. And that's when I discovered the direct primary care model. So in 2019, I opened my practice solo. It was just me. And I joke all the time that I was scrubbing the floors, answering the phones, doing physicals, treating hypertension, getting back to marketing and learning all of the things that I needed to know to now be a business owner. And at the same time had my second son and really wanted to frame our practice into a community based practice in the town where I live. So over the years since then have expanded into multiple different service modalities. I now own real estate. I'm very involved in the community at a advocacy level and own three businesses within our our building that I also own. So I've really expanded out from that solo printer life to now running a team of almost 30 people and being actively involved civically and really throughout both my community locally in the state and nationally with other physicians. Dr. Olga Deengar: That's fascinating. mean, has it always been important to you to give back to your community and stay kind of living where you are? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Yes, and I also am very adventurous. So I am definitely the visionary of my practice and have learned that throughout the years of being now a business owner in that I love to travel. I love to explore. I love to experience different places. And I'm very deeply rooted in Fort Nell and the Charlotte region with with medicine in my community. I've been here for over 20 years and really want to shift the way healthcare is delivered to my friends and neighbors and my children, quite honestly, who are in our public school system and really thriving. So to me, my community is number one and the main reason why I do what I do, but to have a greater impact beyond simply where I am geographically is also extremely important to me. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah. And how do you think direct primary care differs from the traditional insurance-based models? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Oh, how much time do you have? so Dr. Olga Deengar: In a nutshell. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: the direct primary care model really, it just has shifted the way I think about medicine and what is possible on so many different levels. So DPC is everything that could be right when physicians have ownership in their work. And I view it as a way to It's a win-win-win. It decreases the overall cost of care because it's much more comprehensive and personal. And we have the potential to be much more proactive and preventative in our approach with our community and our patients because we have the time. So my mission on a lot of levels is really to talk about how DPC not just creates a safer space for patients. It also creates a safer space for physicians to practice because we can now practice what we've been spending so much time in school learning how to do, which is connecting to people and really educating people. And there's value in that. It's not procedure-based, it's relationship-based. And to me, that's a huge fundamental shift in what drives medical care in a much broader sense in our country. And so to be able to take that back and be physician-owned and really use another part of my brain and educate other physicians how to how to take a step back and breathe and be relationship-based, be a small business owner, understand that it is possible to change how we practice to decrease burnout and better health overall in our communities. Dr. Olga Deengar: And what are some of the mindset shifts that you needed to make as you were pursuing your entrepreneurial journey? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: So many, so many personally and professionally, honestly. I devoured books, I still do. And so much of that is because when I started, I started as a physician that knew I wanted things to be different. What I didn't know was anything about business. And over the years, it's shifted into now I'm Now I'm this business owner who's also a physician and can really create lasting impact on my community and my colleagues. And so that takes a lot of time and effort and intention to shift that way of thinking. I say it very concisely here seven years later, but it has been. a lot of personal development work, a lot of learning from people before me, both in and out of medicine, both in and out of business, and really thinking holistically about my personal and professional experiences and realizing that they're not separate. They really are similar and coherent and they feed each other, if you will. And so if I, particularly as a woman physician, have imposter syndrome as a doctor, I'm also going to have it as a business owner. I'm also going to have it as a mother. I'm also going to have it as a daughter. And so let's step back from that and really look at the fundamentals of our mindset and shift it in a way that is empowering across all aspects. so personally and professionally, I think that's incredibly important, especially in entrepreneurship where we are, where now the sky's the limit, right? So there is no boundary on what you're doing versus this very, very intentional structure of medical school to training, training to a W-2 job. So to be able to rein in and not feel overwhelmed with possibilities and not chase after every possibility, that mindset shift is absolutely essential to be intentional on what you're doing personally and professionally. Dr. Olga Deengar: And it sounds like this is a path that's filled with lifelong learning. You just continue to learn and grow every single day. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: For sure. And I would say, you know, that's what makes physicians so primed to be entrepreneurs, because we are lifelong learners anyway. That's what we've been trained to do as doctors. And so while we weren't necessarily trained in business and entrepreneurship, we already think critically. We already learn forever in our careers. We're already doing those things. And now it's just applying that to a different skill set. So absolutely. Dr. Olga Deengar: And on the topic of learning and growing, have there been any challenges that you faced along the way and how did you overcome those specific challenges? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: again, how much time do you have because challenges are every day. There's been a lot of blood, and tears literally through this. This did not come easy. I don't have entrepreneurs in my family. I don't have doctors in my family. This has all been through trial and error, failure, learning and growth, rinse and repeat failure, learning and growth. And I think the key is recognizing that again, going back to our training, we're not taught that failure is okay. We're not taught that learning from mistakes is okay. We're taught to be perfect from the get-go. so every day there's something that I'm learning. Every day there's something that I've done wrong. I've lost thousands of dollars and in growth and I know I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had those experiences. And that's both personal and professional. So entrepreneurship and business ownership and independent medicine is all about overcoming obstacles and growth. And so it takes a lot of grit. It takes a lot of humility. It takes a lot of admission and curiosity and learning from the people that have done this before you, both in and out of medicine. And so... So yes, that's the mindset shift, which is to say, I make mistakes every single day, large and small, personally and professionally, as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a doctor, as a business owner, all of those things. How do you fundamentally grow from that every single day? so that's the real work. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah. And I'm curious to know what is one personal investment that you've made that has had a long lasting ripple effect? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: coaching, coaching, truly both individual coaching, group coaching, business coaching, personal development. I think the more I surround myself with people who are at my level and above. The more I am able to give back to people who I'm mentoring because they're more growth I experience every day, right? So I say all the time, I wanna be not the dumbest, but the least experienced person in the room. I want to be that. want to be in a room where I am absorbing and learning from everybody around me and have their support because I think as we level up in our life and in our experiences, The people who have done this before us want us to succeed, right? So there's this saying of, know, winners are collaborating and learning from each other and empowering each other and want those of us that are striving to succeed. So to me, coaching and being surrounded by people who are cheering me on. and educating me every single day is a secret superpower. Dr. Olga Deengar: There's so much value in coaching. Like you said, being coached and coaching others and you always want to be learning and growing and looking for new opportunities to put yourself in that room where you're the least experienced. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: So it's always about, I don't know that I would feel good about coaching or mentoring other people if I wasn't still learning and being coached by those more experienced than me. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yes. And Jessica, I know you've already given a lot of great advice, but is there anything else that you would like someone else to know who might be starting out as an entrepreneur in a similar space as you? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Yeah, I think. What I say to that question frequently is surrounding yourself with the right people, which we've been talking about. And that isn't only mentors in business or medicine, but it's also mentors in finance. It's mentors in marketing. It's mentors in all aspects of business ownership, no matter what the business actually is. So if someone says, I want to start a business, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to open my practice, I want to build real estate, whatever the case is, the fundamentals are the same. Finance, marketing, operations, sales, all of those things are the same. so learning those basics from the get-go from people who've done it before you is huge. And I will say invest, invest, invest. So the people you get what you pay for in terms of advice. so if finding a coach who is extremely helpful, in their value and experience in medicine and business costs X number of dollars in the beginning, it saves you that amount of money tenfold in mistakes, in tears, in lost sleep, in lost revenue over and over and over again. It may feel like a decent amount of dollars in the very beginning when you're just a budding entrepreneur and learning how to do this, but I guarantee you over the course of years, your return on investment because you're investing in yourself and your business and your brain and your power to grow is absolutely 10, 100 X. It's worth it to do it right in the beginning. time is our friend, right? So what do you want to spend your time doing? Do you want to spend your time in QuickBooks learning how to work it or do you want to spend your time hiring the right person because you now have a frame of reference and know what questions to ask to let them flourish in their zone of genius while you're able to build your practice? Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, I love that. I am also curious to know if you had to do it all over again, would you still do it solo, growing your business solo, or would you do it slightly differently? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: That's an interesting question. I have three businesses, two that I own solo and I own a wellness studio with a physical therapist who are 50-50 partners. And I think having experienced both and all three of them being in different stages of business, I think it depends on the business, right? So I think if you view partnership as a marriage, and you view it as making sure you understand business fundamentals going into that partnership and know what your personality and that other person or those 10 other people's personalities are. It can get very complicated very quickly and it can get very heated very quickly if it's not the right fit. And so for me personally, I'm very glad I started out solo because I was able to learn and grow at my own pace. And then when I did end up in another business with a business partner, I felt that much more confident because of the things that I learned and the growth that I experienced by myself for five years before having a partner. That being said, it really depends on relationships and it depends on how quickly one wants to to grow and scale. But making sure that operating agreement is in place and rock solid and that those really really tough discussions are done prior to signing that agreement I think is key. Whether it's one partner or 20, it doesn't matter. Dr. Olga Deengar: That's great. And do you have one book recommendation for our listeners today? Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: I have 20 book recommendations. My favorite book that I recommend all the time. is Traction by Gina Wickman. And Traction is the book surrounding EOS principles, which is the entrepreneurial operating system. And we adopted EOS into our businesses about 18 months ago. And if I could go back and do something over again, I would read and reread that book when I was solo. it wouldn't have necessarily felt. applicable at that time, but it actually truly is applicable at that time. And to implement those practices when you're very small before you get large and complicated is so, so, valuable. So thinking like an entrepreneur, thinking like a business owner and not as a clinician. Those are the principles in that book that I think are fundamental across any business and implement it as soon as you possibly can. So definitely. Dr. Olga Deengar: I haven't heard of that, but I'm really excited. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: it's so good. It's dry. It's dry if you're not in a place where you have employees and you're banging your head against the wall because of accountability and clarity on roles and that sort of thing. feels. it doesn't necessarily feel applicable in the beginning, but fundamentally reading that book and really understanding the principles behind it is huge for everybody, in my opinion. Dr. Olga Deengar: Jessica, you've given us so many incredible insights today. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: Thank you so much for having me. The coffee is great. And our conversation is awesome. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. And this has been a joy. Dr. Olga Deengar: Thank you so much. Jessica Mendelsohn, MD: and soak up.