Latest / Coffee Playdate Podcast with Dr. Olga Deengar / From Survival Mode to Telecardiology Company: How Dr. Christina Kang Rewrote Her Identity | Ep. 30
Transcript
- Dr. Olga Deengar: Welcome to the Coffee Playdate podcast. I have a very special guest with me today, Dr. Christina Kang. Welcome! Christina Kang: Thank you so much for having me. Dr. Olga Deengar: It's a pleasure. I'm excited for you to be here and I wanted to start off by asking, do you drink coffee? Christina Kang: I do, of course I do. Dr. Olga Deengar: how do you like your coffee? Christina Kang: Just a little half and half. Dr. Olga Deengar: Perfect. I love that. We're going to play our first game. It's a rapid fire questions game. I'm going to ask you to choose between one option or the other based on you like right now. You don't have to give an explanation. Just go with your gut instinct. Ready? Clinic days or lab days? Christina Kang: Clinic days. Dr. Olga Deengar: to patient portal messages or responding to old school phone calls. If Christina Kang: What's an old school phone call? Dr. Olga Deengar: already old school. ⁓ about reading EKGs or echocardiograms? Nice. ⁓ one, educating patients on a heart healthy diet or an exercise regimen? Christina Kang: Thank you. Echoes. Exercise regimen. Dr. Olga Deengar: Amazing. game is called Take a Sip. ⁓ time we both answer and if our answers match we take a sip from our coffee cups. ⁓ one, ⁓ community reach or global virtual reach? Christina Kang: Okay. Global virtual reach. Dr. Olga Deengar: Global Virtual reached me too. Cheers. Christina Kang: Cheers. Dr. Olga Deengar: Reading fiction or non-fiction novels? Non-fiction. Me too. Christina Kang: nonfiction. Dr. Olga Deengar: Would you rather have a sweet breakfast or a savory breakfast? Savory, me too. Christina Kang: Savory. Yay! We're three for three. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yup. ⁓ Last one, would you rather have a vacation retreat or mini staycations at home? Vacation retreat, me too. Christina Kang: Vacation retreat. Nice! We have a lot in common. Dr. Olga Deengar: Do. So Christina, I'd love for you to tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what kind of work you do. Christina Kang: Yeah. So I'm a cardiologist. then maybe about starting five years ago, I've evolved, ⁓ evolved as a real estate investor. I ended up also transitioning from, ⁓ traditional medicine, traditional cardiologists to virtual medicine. And then now more recently have just, launched a tele cardiology company with my partner. And so, this started like. Five years into, being an attending, like five years ⁓ out fellowship, I was like in survival mode, I was an attending you can probably imagine I had two young kids at the time. My husband was a full-time doc. And that's when I felt burnout and just so unfulfilled and ⁓ really just like day in and day it was literally survival. And... You know, things happen for a reason. It just happened to be during that time when I was just like, ⁓ my God, is this, is this my life with like calls and weekends and baby crying? I fell into this community, ⁓ same community you and I are probably a part of, About meeting all these people, physicians who are doing ⁓ amazing things outside of medicine. And I felt like relief ⁓ during that time. Cause I was. Like I felt guilty feeling so like unfulfilled with like being a doctor, right? And so when I saw that people were doing like all these things, incredible things, I literally spiraled into this whole like self, like soul searching, like just reflection on my life. Like what should I do? Like reading books about life and purpose and then. just like leaning into the community and just talking to so many different physicians who are doing other things. And so at that point got into real estate, started real estate investing. And then when I took on this new identity as a real estate investor, it just opened up my mind. Like it wasn't about just real estate. wasn't about money. It was, ⁓ it was literally about having options, right? Outside of just like the hospital. so that's when I to telemedicine. So I literally, I left job, which was a whole identity crisis by the way, left my job, transitioned to telemedicine. And then ⁓ one day my friend and cardiologist, Vikas, was like, why don't we just start our own thing? And having been able to take on the new identities of, not being a traditional cardiologist, doing telemedicine, doing real estate, I was like, heck yeah, why not? ⁓ And so CardioVerseMD was born. And so have a telecardiology company we just launched. basically removing some of the access and the barrier issues. And so here we are. So I'm an entrepreneur as well now. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yes, and you have, you wear so many different hats. mean, going from real estate to the virtual cardiology business, there are so many opportunities for physicians. Do you think that physicians should always look for ways to have multiple sources of income? Christina Kang: Yeah, 100%. my biggest thing is yes, I do think it is important just for financial security, for your legacy, for your future. ⁓ I believe that yes, you should have definitely different sources. But more importantly, for anyone who, because a lot of us have this feeling, obviously you did, I did, this curiosity of like, what else is out there? What could I do? My biggest ⁓ like... thing is make sure you act on it, explore that and don't overthink it, but you have the ability to explore all of these options. Being a physician, I will never regret, right? Maybe I'm doing non-traditional things, but it's been an asset that has led me to amazing people and amazing opportunities. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah. And how did you transition from the traditional medicine to putting on this entrepreneur hat? Were there any mindset tools that you used to help you transition there? Christina Kang: my was being a cardiologist, right? It was like mom, spouse, you know, cardiologist. I remember when I was just so unfulfilled, like I got, ⁓ I got coaching. I love being I read a lot of books ⁓ and the biggest thing that I learned was I was just so ⁓ in this of what else could I possibly be or what else could I possibly do? Cause I spent all this time, effort and money into being a cardiologist and I should be happy with it. Like that was all my limiting beliefs. But the biggest thing was again, with a lot of help and you know, with coaching that, you know, I have the ability to change my identity, ⁓ But when you release yourself from that and just have faith, right? And then you realize when you detach yourself from like this one identity, there's many more opportunities that opened up. And that's what happened to me. Like telemedicine was just something that I never would have imagined. being a real estate investor, being an entrepreneur, starting a company are things that I never would have imagined. So for me, the biggest switch in mindset is just that identity switch and just believing that you can change your identity. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, it's a long journey and probably a tough one too. It comes with its own challenges. Being an entrepreneur, you're out there on your own. of course you have your community, but you got to do a lot of these things ⁓ by yourself and risks. So ⁓ was there challenge you could think of ⁓ that you faced and did you overcome that challenge? Christina Kang: Yeah, by the way, like you said, community, obviously my partner, like all keep you and uplift you through this process. But you know what? It was very simple think for me, was just, I had to get over, I had to just start, you So I truly to embrace like imperfection. Cause like, we're so used to like making sure all the pieces are lined up. ⁓ I realized you have to take a step back and remember why are you even doing this? ⁓ And enjoying the process and just not ever, like you can't fear failure. ⁓ and so just not having, just embracing it and just getting started was the biggest mindset that I had to get over. And it was, it was hard. had to keep reminding myself of it, that it doesn't need to be perfect. Just do it. ⁓ and learning to pivot, obviously when things don't go right. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah. And like you said, leaning on that community, leaning on that support system that you have, your family, your friends. Was there anyone that gave you some criticism along the way, people that looked differently at you while you were stepping out of medicine? Christina Kang: Oh, 100%. I think so when I actually quit and gave my notice, it's interesting because people are very supportive. But when I said I was gonna quit, all my partners or some of my partners, ⁓ particularly the male partners were like, are you sure? Like you're gonna go home and be a mom. And I'm like, I was always a mom actually, you know? And so, and I got that from a lot of people. Like I remember getting a message like on my last day from somebody and they were like, ⁓ like congratulations. I heard you're, you know, I heard you're leaving and you're gonna be a mom and. You know, so like that type of you know, weird things, like little comments about that. and then biggest thing is I got a lot of comments about, know, you're probably going to regret this. And then they'll tell me some story about somebody they know who left medicine and now it's been 20 years and they regret it because their kids are grown and they can't get back into medicine. And so ⁓ those, think were the biggest And I admit even like close friends and family were like, but you're a doctor, you spent so much time and effort into this, like why would you leave? You make good money. I was able to deal with it because I literally just hung out with people in the community. Like people who are doing weird things, quote unquote weird, right? That's what you have to do. Just hang out with the people that make you better and make you feel better, honestly. And everyone else is just, it's just noise and chatter. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, and I'm glad you didn't let that affect you because sometimes you start having like these second thoughts. You're like, ⁓ is this the right decision? But I'm glad you followed your heart and you didn't listen to anyone else. This is great. ⁓ Christina Kang: Yeah, yeah. It's been amazing, honestly, and I never would have imagined this. I still have people that I know and they remember, it wasn't long ago where I was like, no, not a business owner. I don't know how to start a business. I'm not gonna ever do that. And then here we are. Dr. Olga Deengar: did you read a lot of books about business or did you take any ⁓ or courses to help you in starting your business? Christina Kang: Yeah, so a lot of books and I do have to say, a lot of it is always like mindset rather than the actual like learning the business, if that makes sense. Because you have to have a solid foundation, a solid mental like mindset foundation. when I happened to come across telemedicine, it just, it did change a lot. I realized it wasn't that I wanted to leave medicine. I just, I love cardiology. It's just that I wanted to practice the way that I wanted to practice, like many of us. ⁓ And telemedicine actually gave me that opportunity. That I can start my own business. And so it became a natural, almost like organic shift. And then just like seeing people in the community doing their own thing and starting their own businesses just is very inspiring and very uplifting. My partner, Vikas obviously we are very different, but we each have our strengths that just make this work. And that's been amazing as well. Dr. Olga Deengar: Is it challenging working with a partner? Like, is this what you've envisioned is to always have a co-founder or did you want to do this as a solo entrepreneur? Christina Kang: So it's funny because I've never had a vision to ⁓ an entrepreneur, start this company. ⁓ And you know, when he brought it up, it was a natural, like, let's do this. I have partners in real estate as well. And there's always, agreements and disagreements, but ⁓ strengthens this is this ⁓ is you find the people who have the same. values and the same mindset as you, When things are hard, you leverage other people's skills and time. And if anything, overall it's been, you know, it's been a very good, you know, a good thing to have partners in my personal experience. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, now I love partnerships and collaborations because you're right, you bring in so many different skills into the business and you can actually get a lot more creative with how it grows. So, it's great. I know you've already given a lot of great advice for our listeners, but any other advice you'd give someone who's starting out in a similar space? Christina Kang: Exactly. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, obviously, depending on where at, if you ⁓ are, you know, in situation and you're curious about what's out there, or you're curious about starting a business, whatever that is. the first thing is, well, two things, actually. First, just take action, make a decision, like commit to it, right? Like, stop thinking about it, because I've certainly been there, right? Thinking about all these things that I want to do, or thinking about real estate investing, but you don't take that action. ⁓ So ⁓ it's community. You need the people, you need the who in your life because those are the people are gonna make you better, ⁓ who are gonna push you. That's where you get your ideas from. That's how you grow. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, and there are a lot of different communities out there, even for physicians. So it's always good to explore, to do your own research. You can even ask AI to point you to the science. And one last question that I love to ask my guests is, do you have a book recommendation for our listeners today? Christina Kang: Yes, for sure. Yes, that's true. That's true. That's true. Yes. Yes. Yes, I've read so many books like during like the time that I was trying to find myself, you know, so to speak. But you know what, one of the top books that stand out in my mind is The Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod. I read that book during the time where I was trying to like, you know, figure out my identity and, know, during time when I had a lot of like fears and limiting beliefs about like, I be a real estate investor, can I be an entrepreneur? And so the book itself is basically about, know, miracles can happen with two things, unwavering faith and extraordinary effort. basically the miracles are these possibilities. ⁓ it very timely when I read this because there was like, there's two parts in there that really, really stuck out in my mind. And it was one of them is something along the lines of like, Hal Elrod is not a runner, he hates running, which is, and you're gonna be able to, this is why I told you, congratulations on starting your half marathon, I kinda understand, but Hal Elrod hates running and he decided he's gonna run this ultra marathon. And like when I'm reading this book, by the way, I don't even know what an ultra marathon is. So 52 miles, right? And he was basically saying like, who would that, like who would I become, Hal Elrod, right? Like who do I have to become or? Who am I, who or how can I become that person who can run 52 miles? I've never met that person. Who is that person? What skills do you need to get? And like, it really just like, it hit me hard because it was one of those things where I was like, wait a minute, like who is this person, right, inside me that could be a real estate investor, an entrepreneur? And what it was, was it wasn't about just the running. It wasn't about the marathon. It was just, who you become that Right. And like, it's the discipline, it's the grit. And then. It's all the hard things. It was so hard waking up and running, right, and training. But I realized that permeates through the rest of everything that you do, right? That positivity, that growth. it just seems corny, but that one little half marathon really does expand out to everything else that I'm doing. And it you that momentum, ⁓ it pushes you forward. And each step of the way, doing these hard things, And what led me to being able to, start this business. So, miracle equation. Great book. Dr. Olga Deengar: I love that recommendation. I've actually never read that book and I haven't heard of it, so it's going to be interesting. ⁓ Christina Kang: ⁓ yeah, check it out. It's a wonderful book. Dr. Olga Deengar: Well, thank you so much, Christina, for joining us today. was such a pleasure having you on our podcast. Christina Kang: Thank you so much. Dr. Olga Deengar: you. Hope to have you on a future episode. ⁓ Christina Kang: yes definitely