He was kind enough to send me an advance copy of "Happiness at Work" and I was so inspired by the topic and his book that I invited him to be my March Business Development teleclass guest. To my delight, he said yes!

I feel passionately that, as physicians who have invested so much effort, time and money in our careers, we are entitled to experience happiness at work and I'm thrilled that we will have direct access to such an esteemed authority on the subject.

So ... back to the book and its impact on my thinking...

A few quick background details on Professor Rao:

• He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He has an M. Phil. in Marketing from the same school, in addition to an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. His undergraduate training was in Physics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University (How is that for credentials?!)
• He is a business school professor at London Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley
• He developed the enormously popular business school program on "Creativity and Personal Mastery", upon which he has based much of his writing.

Drawing upon parables, stories and his own experience, Dr. Rao invites us to re-examine our cherished but dysfunctional beliefs. He provokes with questions. He asks us to recall those bad moments that undermine our happiness, and then to tap into the resulting negative or unproductive feelings. He then flips our perspective and shows us how to consider less adrenalin-provoking alternatives.

As a business coach, I use the term "gremlin" to illustrate the judgmental, often negative Inner Critic that is so often the source of procrastination, frustration and lack of productivity on the job. Dr. Rao urges us to recognize the huge impact these stressful "gremlin" thoughts have on our lives at work.

Here is a small sample:

Notice how you immediately judge what happens to you and label it "bad thing" or "good thing"...

... Even if you cannot see how something could possibly be "good", refrain from labelling it "bad". If you break your leg, don't label it "bad thing". If you have to stick a label on it, use "broke my leg". This is descriptive and neutral. Be generous with the label "good thing".

It may take you a while to get the hang of it and even to recognize how many judgments you pass. Persist.

See how your life changes when you stop using the "bad thing" label.

He provokes effectively by showing why positive thinking is bad for you and why affirmations can actually hurt you, as well as asking if you are really happy - he suspects not!

How is this for an outrageous statement?

You do not experience the happiness that is your innate nature because you have spent your entire life learning to be unhappy.

How dare he throw out such a challenge?

I found myself nodding, aha-ing and yellow-lighting my pages throughout the book. I get that happiness is my birthright (can't picture a baby born unhappy!), that I am in charge through my choices, and that I am not what I do.

And I ruminated deeply over the challenge he offers in the "God-stuff" chapter. How true it is for me that "the logical mind is a great asset, but it is also a barrier to higher understanding".

What I got from the book that was even more valuable, and that I hope we will get in small part from our teleclass, is the wealth of reminders and tools to stay on track and retain my awareness that I am, deep down, very, very blessed AND happy - and entitled to feel this way forever, with help from living consciously!

Could this information be the antidote to physician burnout and doctor disillusionment?

I invite you to join us in this journey to the soul in our March free monthly Business Development teleclass with Dr Srikumar Rao as my guest. Together, we will discover how to embrace both the woo-woo (after all, he has managed to make this highly popular at business school) and the practical!

Not all of these ideas, however, will make for a sound entrepreneurial physician business.

So how then do you know whether your idea is any good?

The Harvard Business Review Newsletter has a few tips for evaluating your physician business opportunity that resonate with what I teach, so here they are in a nutshell.

A viable business needs to:

1. Resolve a problem, address a pain or respond to a desire or need that exists "out there" (in the marketplace)
2. Have folks in your target market who want or need your solution, are willing to pay for it, and exist in large enough numbers to justify your efforts at reaching them
3. Have your prospects be the decision-makers who can make a decision fast enough that you aren't drowning in red ink while enduring an endlessly long sales cycle
4. Be in possession of assets that are valued by your market, such an unique design, high performance or functionality, special qualities such a leadership or trend-setting ability, or prized information
5. Be run by a person or a team with a passion for this business, and a culture driven by vision, values and a mission
6. Be "testable" with a small group to provide a proof of concept
7. Be able to succeed as a start-up with manageable overhead costs while generating some income

I suggest you try the Isenberg 2-minute test to see if you should be an entrepreneur and, if you pass, then focus on answering the above for yourself!

This excerpt from the first reply went like this:

Hello Philippa,

My name is Bev and I understand that the following items x, y and z are not showing up in your iTunes list. I can definitely see your concern and I will be happy to help.

Since this was cause by changing iPods, I have gone ahead and posted those missing items to your account. Please follow these steps to download the items: ...

... Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I'll be more than happy to assist you with whatever you need. Thank you for the chance to improve your iTunes experience.

Sincerely,

Beverly
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please Note: I am working Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm and then Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday 8:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

The latest email began this way:

Hi Philippa,

My name is John from the iTunes Store. I will be taking over for Beverly today. I see that ...

Please accept my sincere apologies for any frustration this has caused. I will be more than happy to take care of this...

... Philippa, I apologize but it is not possible to...

Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to your reply.

Have a great day, Philippa.

Sincerely,

John
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please note, I have Sat. off

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

The takeaway lessons for me as a business owner were:

• The friendliness of the email's tone
• The courtesy with which my question was handled
• The timeliness of the responses 
• The lack of a cookie cutter reply. Other than the last sentence, the email from each of the  staff members differed enough to make me imagine that, at a minimum, each customer service rep was permitted to create his or her own email response template. Perhaps they even composed their own original emails!
• The sense of personal connection that was engendered by the rep giving his or her name right away and hours of availability, as well as the regular use of my name (spelled correctly!)
• The graciousness of the hand-off from one rep to another, creating a sense of continuity for me -- all conveyed in a brief introductory sentence.

This interaction provided me with a vital reminder that marketing is not only about attracting new customers. It also involves providing a deeply satisfying above-and-beyond experience for your existing and even former customers!

What's your plan to leave a sweet, juicy "Apple Impression" with your clients or patients?  

"If I want to create an information product to sell (or to use as a marketing tool), how do I going about doing it?"

Creating information products, be they digital downloads or even physical CDs, is simple enough that I have distilled the process into 5 steps that anyone with a tech-savvy teenager in the house or neighborhood or an interest and a dash of technical skill could follow to create a product in less than a week.

Here's the article on how to create your first entrepreneurial physician information product!

I look forward to hearing your success stories.

The first is article 1, "Forming a Sole Proprietorship" in a 5-weekly series from the Wall Street Journal Online on what the best legal entity is for your new company and business, whether you're starting a business from home or opening a large-scale operation.

In their words:

Don't underestimate the importance of your choice, as the legal entity you choose will affect how much personal liability you face, how much you pay in taxes and how in- depth your new company's record keeping will need to be. Your business structure can take one of five basic forms: the sole proprietorship, the partnership, the regular or C corporation, the S corporation, and the increasingly popular limited liability company or LLC. (bolding mine)

I shall try to keep track of the 4 future episodes to bring them to you.

----------------------------------------------------

The second email was from Mitch Meyerson who I follow religiously. It's titled "Success Roadblock #1: Understanding Your Craft, But Not Your Business"  from his 5-part series Breaking Through Roadblocks To Business Success. You can subscribe to his excellent blog to get the rest of the series. He is the author of one of the highly recommended books on my list -- "Mastering Online Marketing".

I love one of his success tips (it's one I keep having to work on!)

Play to your strengths, passions and skills. Do what you do best and let others help you.  Build a team of people – employees, consultants, strategic partners, and the like – who are more skilled that you in key areas

Since I am now maintaining two blogs, I thought I'd share an article from my Physician Website Secrets Blog today on the Top 10 reasons for a first class medical practice website.

[By the way, you'll find a number of short educational videos on the site, teaching about ways to create a website that enables your medical practice or physician business to be truly profitable.]

In a nutshell, the top ten reasons are:

1. Be discoverable

2. Broadcast your Brand

3. Build your reputation

4. Create trust

5. Declare your distinctiveness

6. Enhance practice productivity

7. Generate revenue

8. Attract your ideal patients

9. Educate these ideal patients

10. Grow your practice

Take note - the same principles apply for any physician service business, clinical or non-clinical.

It's called Tungle.me and it's free, and it integrates with your calendar (whether you use Outlook, with or without Exchange, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac and Lotus Notes -- the latter is currently in closed beta).

This brief video demonstrates how it's used:

Here's to increased productivity, my fellow physician business owners!

But the fun is over and I must turn my attention back to work. It's not good enough to tackle my email pile-up -- that would be the easiest and least productive route.

My jump start is going to have to happen this way:

1. Drink a cup of tea, after my berries and cereal breakfast
2. Make a list (ah - lists - another easy way out!) of all that I need to do this week
3. Finish this blog post and commit to two more this week and two (with short videos) for the Physician Website Secrets Blog
4. Remind myself that it's fun doing this work and that I'll soon be buried in it, with a pleasant and hazy recollection of the trip
5. Coach my 6 clients on the calendar today using all my attention and heart
6. Pay attention to their challenges and wins - fodder for my blog posts and newsletters!
7. Stretch my achy back and get into the gym for 30 minutes.
8. Resist all temptation to check emails, check Facebook, or tweet unless there is something of value to add to the chatter -- address only the important or client-related stuff
9. Awaken tomorrow, secure in the knowledge (like it or not!) that I'm baaaaaack!

How do you get yourself going again? Any other suggestions?

Guest post by Lisa Tener, author and book writing coach.

Physicians who have long fancied the idea of writing a book are often overwhelmed by their goal.

After, "Where do I start?" and "How do I make time for this?" their next big question is, "How do I organize my book?"

Good question. There's no one best way, but here are five suggestions to get you started

1. Motivate Your Readers with Potential Benefits:
   Think about your reader and what they want to know.  Start with what the book can do for them (benefits) and include stories of how your system or program has helped other people in their shoes.
   
   
2. Address Obstacles:
   Know that your reader may have concerns or "objections" as it's called in the sales process. Maybe they've tried to lose weight or build a gazebo before and it didn't work. How is your book going to be different from the other methods they've tried? Maybe they're even worried that something bad will happen if they try your system (they'll get sick from the diet, they'll fall practicing the exercises, they'll get burned on a computer date). You need to convince them it's safe to try.
   
   
3. Give Your Readers a System:
   If you can organize your teachings into a step by step program, each chapter can be one of the steps.
   
   
4. Address Readers' Concerns:
   You may want to have chapters for each specific concern a reader may have: one for using your system for health, another for using your system for wealth, etc. This would be an alternative to the step by step method.
   
   
5. Help Your Readers Keep it Alive: Leave your readers with an action plan for the future. And help them work accountability and sustainability into the plan. Maybe they can take a class your offer, or enlist the support of a buddy, or start their own artists' circle in their home, using your book as a model.

---------------------------------------

Lisa Tener is a published author and book coach. She teaches on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course. Lisa has been interviewed on ABC World News with Peter Jennings, NiteBeat and PBS-TV and quoted in USA Weekend, Glamour, Family Circle, Body and Soul, Fitness, the Boston Globe and dozens of other publications. Her clients have been interviewed on Oprah, Montel and much more.

Join us next week on Tuesday February 23rd at The Entrepreneurial MD for our free monthly Business Development teleclass with Lisa.

This 36-minute visually gorgeous movie will zap you in the amygdala and hopefully leave you inspired to examine your work and life ... and decide what really matters to you.

Are you still passionate about medicine? Redesign your life to re-own and re-exercise that passion.

Tired of the grind? Lay yourself off and get involved with something you care deeply about.

Hate it when Monday arrives? Decipher what is missing from your days and add it back in, even in mini-bite sizes.

Set aside 36 quiet minutes. Fire up the movie and step briefly into the shoes of the many laid off workers in the movie. Share momentarily the beauty of the lives they have each uniquely discovered or recreated. And then reflect on your own opportunities to make lemonade. Go on - I dare you!

(thanks to Seth Godin for refreshing my evening with the movie)