Dr. Laura Purdy, MD - Disrupting the Status Quo in Healthcare

Welcome to the Real People Real Business Show.My name is Stephanie Hayes, and I'm a business strategist who helps experienced business owners design asset-based business models that set them up for growth and exit.I love to speak with like-minded entrepreneurs to share their real stories and the gritty details on how they've navigated their own way through.On this show, you won't hear the glamorized entrepreneurship journeys that you see online, and you will be told how to make six figures in six weeks.Instead, you can expect to hear the real, vulnerable and inspiring stories that you can relate to that have helped create the foundation for each of these guests businesses.Today, I'm so excited to welcome Dr.Laura Purdy, licensed in all 50 states plus DC and known as America's Doctor.Dr.Purdy is a board certified family medicine physician who has been featured in Vogue on Fox News, ABC, NBC, and N P R, among others as the nation's leading authority and thought leader on the future of digital healthcare.Dr.Purdy's in-depth digital health experience comes from more than a decade spent providing and directing primary care for hundreds of thousands of patients of.All ages from all walks of life.Welcome to the show, Dr.Purdy, and thanks so much for taking the time to share your story today.Oh, thank you for having me Stephanie.And I have to admit, I'm really glad we're not gonna talk about glamorous things or making six figures in six weeks, cuz I don't think I could talk about either one of those things.No, I can't either.No pressure for those.Thanks today.What I think is so interesting about your perspective is there's, there are two kind of directions that you have experienced with entrepreneurship and I think a lot of people don't equate someone in the medical profession with being an entrepreneur, but in fact, Almost every doctor, every healthcare practitioner is in fact an, an entrepreneur in the sense that you have to build your own practice.But you've had experience also with working with and supporting hundreds of practitioners who are building their own small businesses.So I just wanna hear your story.I want to hear like where did, how did you get to where you are right now?You've spent a lot of time in digital healthcare.Like, let's hear it all.Oh goodness.Here we go.Well, I just dive on in.So I will say I, I do feel like I cheated just a little bit because my dad was a businessman and I grew up in a business household from, you know,from a businessman, and we talked about business at the dinner table.And so some of it, I, I got honest,I, I, I acknowledge that not every physician or healthcare practitioner.Has as solid of a business foundation because they don't teach it to you in medical school.And yet we're all expected to understand things like revenue and growth and being lean.But you don't.We don't.There's no place to be taught that.And so we have to learn it on our own or, or find it.Somewhere else.And I grew up in a business household and we, and, and had some really foundational things imparted upon me, and then I was in the military for 15 years,which a lot of people make that face.They say, well, what does that have to do with business?I will tell you what it has to do with business is that when you are in the military, especially when you're an officer, every three years you get put in a new position.You are expected to innovate and you have very minimal resources.And I don't know a better way to describe being an entrepreneur than being in a new role expected to innovate with minimal resources.Right.Oh, I mean,that's about the perfect description of an entrepreneur that's.And so, and I did that, you know,three or four times getting just recycled into brand new roles with brand new teams in brand new places,and just having to reinvent the wheel and try to do better every time.And I learned some basic foundational principles of entrepreneurship in business.In the army actually.So getting out, I started working as a physician in telehealth, digital digital health, digital medicine, virtual health, whatever you wanna call it.All the words mean the same thing.But what I found is that that was a broken system two, but what's unique about,and we're really talking like 10 years ago, and this was many, many years ago.It is much less broken now than it was then.There's always room for improvement,but nowadays, if you're working in a hospital or in a clinic or for the institutions, we don't really have the ability to impact change.Those are massive entities that will change over time, but any one individual person cannot be a change driver.But that wasn't the case in telemedicine and virtual health.So being in those systems and saying, this doesn't make sense.Why are we doing it this way?This system is terrible.You're wasting your time and your resources.How do we innovate here?And then over time,innovation beget innovation.And before I knew it, I found myself starting and co-founding my own companies.And, and this was like a four year,you know, four or five year time lapse of all of this happening.But being willing to advise, being willing to help, and not necessarily.Having a fiscal mindset, but just having a helpful and an innovative and like a change the future and make an impact mindset, it really just snowballed because all these CEOs and the founders,they would come to me and say, Hey, we heard you did business with so-and-so.Can you help us start our company?And then I went and got an m b because I didn't understand half of what was being said around me.And.The business meetings, and I wanted to be able to speak that language.And so now here we are, so many years later, I would consider myself a seasoned entrepreneur.I also work with hundreds, I wanna say probably between two and 300.S medical world, small businesses all across the country in an advisor, director, supervisor capacity, and, and I love it.Entrepreneurs have to support each other or none of us are going to survive.But together, we, in our industry of healthcare, we are innovating and changing the industry as a whole.The, the, the capacity for impact is, is so exciting.And that's the story generally.Are you still in traditional practice?I have never been in traditional practice.Actually, I went from the military.And as in the military, that was very much not traditional practice I was doing.I did hospital work, so as a family medicine, I'm a primary care doctor, but I was a hospitalist.Then I led the, I was the like chief medical officer of the like disability program when soldiers get disabled and then they're being funneled out.And then from that I went directly into telemedicine because there was a taper.You know, I was ending one and starting the other, and I realized that I had no desire to be a part of the traditional system because the entire traditional system needs to change.So I came out and said, I'm going to be the change that I want to see in the world.This is what I'm doing.I do still do one hospital day a month because hospitalist was my foundation,and I do love that type of medicine.But beyond that no, I've never done traditional medicine.Yeah,I love it.And tell me a little bit about the evolution of telehealth.I happen to know a little bit about this having worked in big sort of eHealth implementations, but I come from the technology world, but from a, from a policy perspective and you know, a process perspective, I think those are the places where we get stuck, right?Yeah.Oh goodness.I mean that, that would be a whole day long workshop's worth of conversation.But the high points are, as such,in the beginning there was no laws, no rules, no regulations,and lots of people going rogue.If you recall, and maybe I'm,you said you're in Vancouver,so I don't know if this was, if this was happening There as well.But what we saw a lot of, maybe15 years ago was these on nebulous online pharmacies where you could go online and buy Viagra was a big,a big thing in the online pharmacy realm, and it was very sketchy.You had no idea where the doctors were,you had no idea when the medications were gonna show up, where they were manufactured, where they were, you know,whether they were even any good or not.And it was a pretty scary place,and that is like the most primitive form of substandard, very bad quality of care, telemedicine.But as time evolved and so did technology,We found that the laws and the state regulations, they made room and they made space for, usually it would be video calls and phone calls, and then, you know,the EHRs, the electronic health record systems or the medical record systems.Then also started to build telephone console like telecoms.That's telemedicine.We've been doing it forever.Informally in the clinic.But as time progressed you know, online became safer.Security standards started to be put in place.Google searches would not include things like fake online pharmacies.They really started to vet, and there was a lot more of a vetting process of these websites, these doctors, these people that were doing prescriptions.And so the quality.Did go up and gone are the days of the sketchy online pharmacy.Like that is not a thing anymore,but so many people are still very skeptical when the pandemic hit.It just, it just blew the doors wide open.States loosened up on their regulations.The, the federal government, the US Department of Health and Human Services,like put waivers on the types of technology you could use and how you could do controlled substances or not licensure requirements, all of that, because they realized, oh, we have an access to care solution right here in front of us.And the pandemic has created this massively resource constrained system.So we've got to stop.Obstructing virtual care because this is a big part of the solution.So that, that was a huge time of growth and people adopted it.Physicians, you know, patients.Patients is what I mean.Patients adopted it, companies adopted it.Large health systems started to look into how they can integrate digital health into their.Processes as well.And then this was the time of the massive boom of the innovators, the founders, the innovators, the disruptors all across the country just projected themselves into the virtual space, and we saw a massive gr massive growth.Things are starting to pull back a little bit.But, but I think in a, in a good way,in a let's, let's put some constraints.Let's put some boundaries on what we're doing.Let's hold people accountable for the strange practices that may be going on out there, if there's any shady stuff.And so I think we're really heading in a really great direction from a policy standpoint, a technical standpoint, a procedural standpoint.And I'm so excited to see where it's heading from here.Yeah.I, I mean, I have a bunch of things to say about that because we're in a, we're in a place where,Even without the pandemic, we have a, a significant constraint on available doctors and like my doctor shut down his practice and it's, I, I've been without a doctor for three years now because there are none.It's not available.So the, the advent and the growth and the explosion of you know, virtual healthcare in the province means that I can go to our online service and schedule a time with a doctor anywhere in the province, and that is available and.Actually get care as opposed to not.So it's been a, it's been an interesting story up here as well.And I think that we've had, you know, kind of, we have a different system, but it's been, you know, the same kind of demand.And so talk about your role in this explosion of digital care and,and the evolution of digital care and, and where have you kind of situated yourself?Ooh, I have many roles I can wear.What I tell people is this, working with me is like eating from a buffet.I have so many options of things that I can do.My skillset is very wide, and people may pick and choose just like from a buffet line, what they would like to leverage in my skillset.But today it, it can be a few things.I still can practice.I'm still licensed in all 50 states and I can practice my bandwidth for delivery of care is a little more narrow than it used to be.But I tell people that if we can design efficient systems and if you can make it easy for me, then yes, we can do that.I also serve as a lot of, you know, co-founder.Level or senior medical advisor,fractional chief medical officer, medical director, executive administrative roles.I have recently gotten into board, you know, board ccs, sitting on advisory boards, advising companies, especially I've found in the, in the biotech and life sciences industry, which is adjacent to telemedicine, but I think.Very much needs to be more integrated as they're taking their products and their inventions and their drugs to market that, that's a great place for me to be because I'm definitely not a researcher and I'm not a scientist in that way.But I can tell you how to capitalize your product really well and efficiently.And on the small, small business.Level, like community-based aesthetics practices in small clinics, I can serve as a medical director, a supervising physician, a collaborating physician,depending on the level of licensure within the clinic to, to make it legally compliant, but then also to help the business run more smoothly working on processes and procedures.I also do a lot of marketing and pr, and I do PR people leverage my, like my name and my.Advice for, for marketing and digital assets.There's a lot of things I can do.I mean, the, the, those are not all the things, but a lot of the things that I do these days.Well, you are definitely a unicorn.I know that in, in any sort of Startup within the medical field, or even just in life sciences or healthcare or biotech, having a, a medical advisor on, like, it's an imperative.And I, I know from some of the clients I've worked with, they had, I always have a hard time.Finding that sort of medical advisor who also has a good sense of what they're trying to do from a business perspective and trying to build from a business perspective.So I think it's super interesting that you've built a business around being that kinda unicorn.I.Yes, and honestly, I, I just, I, my heart goes out to these, these people because unfortunately the physician is in a huge physician of power and influence, and that power is not always leveraged for good.I have seen doctors that have just gutted, destroyed, and run into the ground small businesses because they overcharge, you know, they'll charge like tens of thousands of dollars because they think that they should be making the same amount that they would work.You know, in a clinic full-time,which is just totally unreasonable.Or they give bad advice or they're overly conservative.And let me put a disclaimer in there cuz I know people who are listening are going to, you know what, they might think about that, but it's important to obey the law.Of course it is.But we also, as innovators, we do have a responsibility to work within the bounds of the law and push it as far as we can, because that's how we drive change.We need things to change.We don't want the system to stay like it is right now.And so if physicians are overly conservative, which I think usually comes from place of fear.It can ruin these small businesses like nurses, estheticians RNs, mps who are,who are just trying to take care of people and offer a service in a novel way.So that's the reason why I do it,because, because I, I genuinely, I love,like I have love in my heart for these entrepreneurs, and I am so endeared to their mission and what they're doing, and it, it, it gr, it pains me when I see my peers and my colleagues destroying these people's dreams because they're just not being as user-friendly as they could be.So, I love it.I, I really love it.Yeah.And that love seems to come from a true desire and authentic desire to see change.Right.And to, and, and, and how are you finding your clients?Like, do they find you or are you, you know, are you active in certain networks?I.Yeah.These days they find me.So I I, I used to, there was a period,okay, so we wanna talk about how to, you know, it's not glamorous.It is not glamorous, it is simpler now than it was previously, but there was a time in my life where I was absolutely grinding like I was.Grinding.I would get on the job boards every single day and I would just apply, apply, apply, apply, and then follow up and have meetings.And 30% of those people I did the math, would never respond to me.Ever.Another 10 or 15% wouldn't choose me,and I was just like clawing my way.Up to, you know where things are now.It was quite a grind, but these days I actually have a couple of freelance business development people who look for new opportunities for me.I do have a couple of agencies that I work with that kind of do the pitch because it's easier if they kind of already know who I am and what I do,and their skepticism is already gone.So I'm not having to prove myself during the conversation.We can just get down to how I can help and what they need and get onto the good stuff.So yeah, there's several, several referral streams now, but a lot of times they come to me.And what do you have to navigate from a sort of a regulatory perspective?Because I know I've worked with a number of healthcare providers who are, are really run up against this sort of conflict when they're trying to be,you know, a licensed and practicing certified professional in their field.But there are restrictions from, you know, their regulatory bodies and,and so like, they, they always have this tension and I'm wondering if that was there for you too.There is always tension.There is always tension, but what I say is this, I am not an attorney and I will not, I will not work with folks that aren't willing to get a good lawyer.Does that make sense?Because I am licensed in all 50 states and I don't know what all the laws and rules and regulations are and I don't want to know cuz I'm not the lawyer.So I lean ver, I bet I have a dozen different law firms and attorneys in the various.States across the country and we lean so heavily on them, not only for paperwork and for advisement, but also to help design the processes.Like here's your limits of what the law says you can and can't do, and what you must not do and what you may do.And then, and then from there, we kind of craft our.Offering around that.But I am always so very mindful cuz the last thing I wanna do is get disciplined or get in trouble and I don't want the business to get disciplined or get in trouble and people will find ways to complain to the medical board.So when they do, I have to make sure that I am all squared away and my ducks are in a row.It's very, very serious with regulatory and complainants.And so when you see, when you say that people will complain, I mean who are you working against?I don't know.I, I, so sometimes I think,unfortunately, I am working against competitors of other businesses.Like, for example, I got a board complaint relatively recently.In Massachusetts that somebody was accusing me of a false claim advertisement on a window of some clinic that I worked with for just a handful of months and don't live there anymore.And I don't know what the advertisement said.The small business owner doesn't know what the advertisement said, and we're90% positive higher than that, that this is just a competitor in town who's trying to stir up trouble because.False claims are pretty severe.And, and I would never, I would never intentionally or even unintentionally do that.It doesn't even make sense to me.So I, I, sometimes it is competitors.Sometimes there are people who look to undermine and occasionally it's just people who feel like they need something and they don't get what they want.And I exercise, I'm a good medical decision making capacity and say, I, I don't necessarily think that's a great,that that's a great thing for you.And they'll complain about it.Yeah.You never know.Right.What drives people on their behavior?I dunno.I dunno.What do you, what do you think the role is that entrepreneurs need to play in healthcare?Because I think that there's, there's increasing opportunities for disruption,but yet we also, you know, we also are constrained by, you know, all sorts of different things.So where, where's that sweet spot for entrepreneurs in the healthcare field?I challenge entrepreneurs to disrupt every single segment of the entire industry.Let's try to avoid health insurance because if we can do things, cash pay.That's how it works though.I'm gonna tell you a secret.The way to actually change the system is disrupt something.Do it Cash.Pay virtually.And once you have a big enough response to the cash paid direct to consumer,then eventually the insurance companies are going to have to get on board.We can win them over with demand when the patients are demanding it and when the, and when they are losing so much money because so many people are sub, you know, going around their insurance and using cash pay.That's how we get their attention.So I would say if you're an entrepreneur and you're thinking about this thing that you want to disrupt in the industry, Do not wait.The time is now.We got, we've gotta do it.It all needs to be disrupted.It all needs to be innovated.It's not the what?And it's not the when because the what is Yes.Disrupted the when is yesterday.Now you know, now it needs to be disrupted.It's the how that we have to figure out.But that's what I'm here for.That's what the lawyers are here for.And I know so many people.All across the industry that do disruption and innovation for a living.I am a career disruptor and a habitual.Pathological innovator like that is what I do in my sleep is I figure out how to turn systems inside out and make them better and make them better for people.So all I would say is let's just do it.Let's just do it and not, not even worry about the details, because the details will take care of themselves,but we'll never even figure out what those hurdles are if we don't start.One of the things I know about sort of serial disruptors is.There's something unique about them that enables them to keep doing it and keep doing it.Keep doing, because you don't always win, right?And you're, you're, you know, you're,you're the one who's always gonna be,you're like front of the snowplow, right?You're the one who's always gonna be breaking through the thick crust and breaking through all of the,the areas that have resistance.So what do you think it is about you?Or your practices or your, you know,the way you think or your perspectives that enables you to continually be that disruptor?I have no fear.I, I don't have one shred of fear.I have seen plenty of businesses fail.I have seen plenty of companies dwindle down and, and, you know, dissolve into nothing.It happens all the time that that is business.But I think that not having fear plays a huge role in it.Fear is so distracting and unproductive and it doesn't serve me at all, and,but I do understand that the system is not going to change itself, and I feel like I have a responsibility to whom much is given, much as expected, and I feel like I have a responsibility to not accept the status quo and drive change..Like, I'm not single-handedly doing the change myself.There's there's all, all the rest of the people are doing the change, but I'm driving the change and I'm, you know, I consider myself a leader in the movement helping to generate this,this forward momentum because it's not just about me, it's not just about my business, it's about all of them.So when I look down on this large field of businesses across the country, and maybe one or two of them are failing, it doesn't.Distract from the success of the rest of it, right?And so my lens is much wider and I, I have no fear.And I think a lot of entrepreneurs can kind of borrow that confidence from you, because I know a lot of entrepreneurs are very, very fearful of,I mean everything, right?The fearful from a financial perspective, fearful from being judged,fearful of being successful, right?And so that'll prevent them from really being sort of that way clearer.And I think if you can get an entrepreneur who's, who knows how to do things,married up with someone like you,who knows how to push them forward.I mean, that's the,that's the ideal scenario,isn't it?It really is.I would say my gift is not,I, I am not a gifted operator.Operations is, is very difficult for me, but I'm the big cuz I, I am not a, I can't, I'm not a details person.Right.I, I am like a quintessential big idea.I'm a, you know, Enneagram type three.Just the go, just the go.Getting big idea, not detail,executive, not operator.And so having so I can give ideas and guidance and direction and encouragement and positivity, and I can help with management problems, that actually,that's one of my skill sets is like people problems and handling people and managing people and in, in a loving way, not in a painful way.And, but then like having someone to take that and then do it.That is the absolute best of both worlds.I will not sit down and write your protocols for you.I will empower you and encourage you to write your own protocols so that you can own them and internalize them and imprint them on your heart.It doesn't really serve me or you if I do the work for you, right?I empower you to do your work and together we all do more.Where are,Where are some of these startups getting funded?Well a lot of 'em are self-fund.A lot of them.Mm-hmm.Yeah.The small, you know, the small local businesses there, a lot of those are self-funded.They're bootstrapped and that's why I am not expensive to work with generally because I am trying to be mindful of that.Sometimes there will be offshoots of larger.Like larger clinics, like somebody owns a primary care clinic and they wanna do a little bit of aesthetics on the side.Telehealth companies may get venture capital funding happens a lot, or they'll do like a seed round of friends and family, or they'll have some small investors, or maybe they've had a prior successful exit and they had a liquidity event, and so now they're putting it back into a new venture.Lots of different ways, but on the organic kind of grassroots level, it's a lot of self-fund.Yeah.You know, I, I've kind of heard that from, you know, from the healthcare field, and then there's, you know, there's the big, the big startups that get, you know, they're the darlings and they get some, you know, some VC backed funding.But I think for the most part, there's a lot of boots trafficking because of the, the, again, comes back to fear.With a lot of PCs in terms of not knowing regulations and not knowing what it means to invest in healthcare and what that could get them into and, and all of that sort of thing.So I think you've got a, you've got a very bootstrappy community there.And does that change how you work with them?Does that change, you know, their motivation?Because I know there's a real difference between a bootstrap founder and a and a VC led founder.It does change my interaction.Yes, it does.And it, it's not because of that I view them differently.Like there's, it's not like a, like a prejudice thing in my mind, but, but it is, it, it is a different persona.It is a different presence and it is a different skillset because the, the, the grassroots.You know, community level startups, they,they need to be like lovingly held with Tender care and they need to be supported.Sometimes I will work for free for three to six months until they get up off the ground because I, I.Tho, those types of ventures are not about me making money.They're about them being successful and realizing their dreams.And if at the end of the day they could say, wow, you know, that one doctor I worked with, she volunteered her time and that was one of the most meaningful things.And now look at my huge business and I'm financially independent like that is so much more meaningful to me than anything else.And I will be more like a.Friend and a, or like a sister or like a partner, you know,in, in that sort of interaction.It's a little different when you're taking venture money.And that, you know, I'd take off my,you know, friend, sister, community,partner hat and put on my, okay, Dr.Alar pretty Chief Medical Officer.You know, that's when we start using big titles and talking about all the stuff on my resume.And because in order for the venture capital firms, I.To feel confident enough giving funds to the businesses.They almost always wanna see the doctor, almost always, but like their second to last discussion, they wanna talk to the doctor cuz they wanna make sure I'm not gonna blow it.So, and I don't blame them, right.If your doctor's a of a clown,then you're not gonna be effective.So I do, I will sometimes go to investor dinners and I'll,you know, put on a little black dress and show up at dinner and.You, you know, surprise them with how well I can talk business and hold my own in these conversations, cuz it's usually.You know, not a lot of women at the table during those situations.A lot of times I'm the only one and that's okay.It is a male dominated industry,but they do expect that next level of decorum, executive presence,they will ask me what is my fee?And I will tell them exactly what my fee is, and it is much higher than for a small, you know, brick and mortar.And I really have to bring the presence to the table so that they understand that it's a very You know that I, I'm very serious and I will take their venture serious and I will help them be successful.Do you, have you ever had the desire or do you see the desire coming to be one of those founders at some point in time and drive your own, your own innovation to fruition?Yes, so I have, I have been a co-founder on two ventures so far.You know, no, the first one was actually kind of absorbed into the second one,and I think there will at some point be a liquidity event, but I've kind of stepped into more of a senior level advisor role.I am actually on the see how you can tell,I'm trying not to be as excited as I am.If you can see her face, if you watch the video and you can see her face, you can see it all light up.There, there may or may not be a venture in the works and it's in the oncology digital health space and we are at the very early level of like corporate formation and shareholder agreements,but, oh buddy, I'm excited and I think we, because of the fact that me and my peers do this all the time for a living,we'll have an accelerated launch timeline.I think we will have go to market.My goal is before Memorial Day, so four to six months depending on development timeline, and we are about to turn the oncology industry upside down on its head.So more to follow about that one.Oh, I can't wait to hear.You're gonna have to stay in touch with me and let me know how that's developing, cuz I'm certainly, you know, super excited in, in this space.Just having had some experience here to see the accelerated disruption that I think is happening now on all sorts of different levels.And it's funny that you mentioned insurance because that's one of the areas that we've worked in as well.And I, I yeah, that I, there's,there's a lot to talk about.I record as well.You know, you're building, you've built almost a personal brand, right?And your, your business is very much about you and, and the work that you're doing.What's, you know, what's kind of in the future and, and what, if you looked back 10 years from now,how would you gauge success?Well, I, so you'll, you'll, you'll hear a change in my tone because this is this whole, so I do have a personal brand.America's favorite doctor is my personal brand, and I feel like the way that my career is heading right now, I.I'm definitely participating,but I don't feel like I'm driving the train or steering it.It feels like it's, you know, the horse is outta the barn and it's heading off in this direction.There's a lot of press, there's a lot of media, television.I celebrity work.It's, it's pretty crazy.And.I personally feel like I have already achieved all of the success that I need in life.The day I got outta the Army, that was all I wanted to do was just survive military service and get out and be a free civilian, and I did that.So everything beyond that I feel like has just been icing on the top,and it's, it's been wonderful, but I think I, I feel like I've succeeded.Enough.And even though I am driven to continue doing more, it's not, it doesn't come from a place of not feeling successful enough.It comes from a place to feel like I, I am called to change the world.So I'm really interested in myself in wondering what we're about to see.I think there will be more television.I think there will be more.Magazine covers and news outlet interval,you know, interviews, and I don't exactly know where all of that's heading.I think there's going to be brand endorsements.I've heard that there's a lipstick being made for me called Purdy Pink.Apparently I, I, I don't know, like stuff, stuff is just happening so quickly and I don't know how to predict what's going to happen, but it is.All very exciting and unnerving.I've entered a new industry.The entertainment, fashion media industry is all completely brand new to me and I have so much to learn.But it's not gonna stop me from continuing to innovate and disrupt.It's just a bigger platform to get the message out.And what I love is that you've built this kind of like, you know,intentionally or not, you've built this kind of business model that has, you know, little bits of everything and there's some leverage in there as well.And you know, a lot of the work that I do is around building more leveraged business models so that,you know, these, these established businesses can move towards an exit.Whether that means they stay in their business or they sell it completely.So I love that you've got these little,like, tend tendrils of everything that are starting to grow and, you know, take root and, and that's, and that's leverage.That's something that's going to serve you, you know, for years down the road.And I, I love that you've done that.I have a question that I ask all of my guests and I'd love to hear your your take on it as well.What's the difference between what we hear out there in the business world and what's real about being a business owner?It's so hard, like it's so much work.Being a business owner is so much work and it is not.It is not easy.It is not bright, shiny.It is hard.You are never like, forget the notion of a day off.I don't even use that term anymore.Like what is a day off?I don't know what it is, but it's not that I don't have work life balance because I do.It's about accepting the responsibility.Being a business owner is a tremendous responsibility, and as you invest yourself into this business venture,you are giving up something.You're giving up a lot of yourself into that.So, I encourage people to loosen their rigid ideas of this, like it me time, you know, personal time.Yes, of course, but you're never off.You must always attend to your business just like you would attend to a baby or a child or something else that you're responsible for.That is what the business becomes in your life, and so you must be willing to, to embrace that responsibility and really embody it and not be afraid of it.And I think one of the challenges that a lot of people face in that regard is not even so much their own willingness to do that, but the understanding of the people around them that have to support them.And the fact that you are always on, which doesn't mean you have to be working all the time, but you're never forgetting.Like you're never.You never stop thinking about kind of what's next.And I think you need that community around you and that ecosystem around you that's gonna get that.That's, maybe that's not how they work, but that's how you are gonna work, at least for the the time being.Yes.I mean, you, you.So support system buy-in is a really big deal, especially your immediate support system.My husband is ridiculously supportive and honestly, it's been a lifetime of mutual support.Like when he was in the military and was deploying, I was supporting him and now I'm doing all this and traveling and he's supporting me.Right?It's a two-way thing.But, and you know, the child caregivers and the teachers in the school,and even my friends, they, they're all very supportive and the ones who haven't been, are not around as much anymore, and that's okay.I don't really need to have people in my life who are going to criticize.And, and take away from what I'm being called to do.Like, I, I, to an extent, yes.I'm saying yes and yes, I'm choosing to do this, but I also feel like I do have a calling to do these things.I, I feel like I'm being called to do this and I would never say no just because of someone else's Yeah.Thoughts about what I'm doing or not.Yeah.Yeah.Support system is important.Yeah.I love that.We're coming up on time.Can you tell our listeners how they can find you?I.Oh yes, of course.So you can find me in a few places.I do have a website that is still in the process of being built,but it is minimally functional.Dr Dr.Lara purdy.com.I have an Instagram at America's favorite doctor.Spell out the whole word, doctor.I'm even on LinkedIn.Lara Purdy.M B M D M V A.You can find me just about anywhere.I'm kind of all over the internet these days, so reach out to me in any way you'd like.Awesome.I love that.And we'll make sure all of those links are in the show notes so you can find Dr.Laura in all of the different locations.And I just, I, I know that, I just wanna continue to follow your story cuz you're such an inspiration.So we're gonna, we're gonna wrap it up.I'm so happy that we had the opportunity.To chat with Dr.Laura Purdy today to hear more about how her business came to be, her experiences along the way, and what the future of the business entails.And thank you for tuning into this episode of The Real People Real Business Show,where we get the real entrepreneurial stories and journeys that you can relate to the show notes, resources, and links from this episode are available on my website and social media platforms.If you've enjoyed today's content,I would love for you to give us a review on whatever platform you're on.To help us share these genuine stories with an even bigger audience.Until next time, keep dreaming,keep building, and keeping real.