Episode #53 – Finding Your Voice, Following the Energy & Why Fun Fuels Success – with Alice…

Podcast Introduction and Mission 0:00

Welcome to the Startup Support Surgery podcast, where we light the entrepreneurial spark in medics and healthcare professionals. Join me, Dr. Jo Watkins, GP, business coach and co-founder of The How People, on a journey to discover where your medical know-how meets the business world. This will help you find some clarity on how to balance work, passions and family so that you can gain more freedom and control over your life but also continue to help people, which is actually why most of us went into medicine to start with.

Embarking on this entrepreneurial adventure is not easy. It is a roller coaster of emotions, but it's hugely rewarding and exciting in the process. Drawing in on my 20 years of blending medicine and business as a GP, I am here to share experiences, insights and lessons. Expect lively chats, expert interviews and real life stories from medics who have taken their own path. Let's break free from traditional healthcare norms and explore more innovative ways of making a real difference to people's health and wellbeing, along with paving the way for a brighter future for us as healthcare professionals.

Oh, don't miss my free PDF called From Stethoscope to Startup, which is an 11-page guide in the show notes full of practical help and advice. This is your roadmap to kick-starting your journey with us. Enjoy the Show. I am super excited to welcome somebody I consider a great friend who I have never met in person to the podcast today. Alice Ramsey is simply an awesome human being. She's somebody. I've been in a business group with for quite some time. And as you will hear listening to our conversation, we will talk about everything from entrepreneurship through to being brave,

Alice Ramseyu2019s Move to Europe 1:52

finding what actually lights us up and bringing as much fun as possible into our day-to-day life. Now, for those of you at home thinking, how on earth can this happen? This sounds absolutely ludicrous and I'm not gonna waste my time listening to somebody that's gonna tell me to go out and have fun all the time. Just listen and, I promise you, you will come away feeling inspired, feeling upbeat and with some tangible pieces of advice to take into your day to day life Alice is a moderator, an interviewer and a speaker on a mission to help one billion people have more fun.

As you will hear, she's had a career from an international lawyer through to founding her own communications agency and has definitely lived her life connecting with the power of fun She's the daughter of a GP herself so she understands where we're all coming from and she is here today to helps medical professionals like you embrace the Power of Fun and do their best work. Your fact of the day is that you hate it when somebody tells you something's gonna be fun, ironically, and actually people call you Madge because your surname is Ramsey and I was a massive fan of Neighbours.

Oh, same here, we would run in from the street to watch Neighbour's and yeah, the Madges thing is probably pretty accurate. I love it. Before we hit record, Alice was saying that she prefers to be referenced as Charlene, but maybe we're a few decades. Definitely too late. Oh, so good. I just wanted to thank Charlene so much. It was probably my first ever love with Jason Donovan. And I used to record all of the bits that he was in and then watch that wedding scene over and over again. How are we doing?

Especially for you. Nobody needs me to sing it this time. I'm so glad we're less than a minute into the podcast and we are singing. I really believe singing is the way of the future, Joey. Yeah. I do like a duet after a couple of drinks with my university friends, but they are getting worse and worse. They're getting more and more out of tune and chaotic. But yeah, I mean, that was a scene of like TV gold, wasn't it? But we could talk about Neighbours for half an hour. Oh, are you for it. I think entrepreneurial lessons from Ramsey Street.

I love that. Right, so you are here. First of all, you're here, clearly Australian. You live in Holland. I'm in Wales. Let's just kind of take the clock back. How are you here? Before we get into who you and what you do, but how are in Europe? Tell us a little bit about what got you there and we'll start piecing together how you will be able to help my listeners, because I know you Absolutely. Well, I arrived in Europe 16 years ago as a very shiny, eager international lawyer. And I'd reached my dream of working in The Hague, the city of peace and justice.

And the last thing, prior to that, I was working at the Australian Attorney General's department. And, the thing my boss said to me, because I had this conment for three years, it was an adventure. So, that's the bit on paper. Personally, i was 34, single, ready for a European adventure, So I think it's always important to fill out the perfect looking story on paper with the personal element. So my boss said to me, Alice, just whatever you do, do not fall in love with a Dutch man. Naturally. The first weekend I was out in the Hague.

Seriously, there's a square in The Hage called Plain where it's actually right next to Parliament. So it is really where movers and shakers in country gather for drinks. So of course I was there on my first weekend, walk into a cafe and I see the hottest Dutch man you've ever seen in your life and very fortunately he saw

Bravery, Experimentation, and Finding a New Path 6:29

me and the rest is history. So that's why I'm still here and And the reason I always bring meeting Eric into the story is the combined power of moving to the other side of the world alone and meeting this fantastic friend and partner, it was a great friendship as well. It gave me the confidence to bust out of a career that was not really working for me. So that's the Australia, Netherlands piece. Every time I tell that story, it's a bit different because it such a big move, its multifaceted. And I just would want to remind listeners when they're reading about any kind of journey or hop or business development, there's always so much else than the clean, pretty line that you see on paper.

I thought really strongly about that. Absolutely. We've got to fill in those blanks because there are so many of them. And at that point, you were ready for that adventure. You were already for about three years. Were you feeling already this sort of itch to do something else outside law? Or were you thinking that this would be very much a European law thing? Obviously, on paper, everyone was delighted because you we're going to The Hague. But inside you, were we ready to the next thing. Oh, inside of me, I was an absolute nuisance in the public affairs office.

If the minister needed a speech, i was on it. if new legislation needed translating,i was there to put it into clear, simple terms that the pubic could get a hold of. I had been masquerading as a lawyer for quite some time. What I didn't know is how brave I would get. So I could envisage, you know, the whole, thinking of the transferable skills from being a lawyer to being someone who works in public affairs or communications. But what I didn't envisage is how bold and creative and how much fun I used in finding my path out of the law, which is massive.

And I'm thinking of your listeners as I say that anyone who's trained to be a doctor has committed a large part of their life to becoming an absolute expert in a highly important regarded professional profession, it's your, you know, I used to joke I'm the bride of the law and I can imagine doctors might feel I am a bride medicine, like it is your life, who you are. Yeah, it's your identity. It's everything you've ever known. You said the word brave in there. And we come back to that a lot whenever I help and support somebody who's not necessarily leaving medicine altogether, but just creating their own take on it or able to help patients in a very different way in this world that we live in where we're on Zoom.

We're communicating. are able to learn from the right people at the wrong time. That world opens up possibilities for medics. But this feeling of, actually, I'm a doctor, get back in your box. Actually, this is what you've trained to do with everybody telling you that that's what You know, you need to be brave, don't you? To be able to even make these moves to something, a side medicine, let alone leaving altogether, which I don' advocate people do. That's not what I'm here for to make people leave.

It's about making it more aligned to what you want it to look like and being able help people in a different way. But you do have to brave right? When these ideas are flitting around your head. How important was that? Yeah, absolutely. And I love I'm with you on not advocating any big sudden moves. So I looked up around me and I saw that I had access to The best legal minds I had, you know, judges in international tribunals, I have professors at leading universities. I've had the cream of the crop literally at my fingertips.

And that's where I started. pitching and reporting, reporting on aspects of legal big, you know, the first genocide conviction of the ICTY came down during this period. And of course the news wires were reporting that faster than I could. But I would report human elements of that judgment being handed down and how it felt in the courtroom and what was happening outside. some of the sort of deeper, more reflective aspects. And where I got brave was so, you know, I rocked up to the tribunal and this time I wasn't on the inside.

I was outside with the press and I just bowled up. Almost took on a persona of who I wanted to be, which was the reporter, the investigator. Do you the craziest thing is And I actually get goosebumps talking about it because people accepted it. And, and I wonder like, you know, as someone who trained to be a lawyer and it's still deeply embedded in me to study hard, prepare hard do things by the book, it it regulated, there's a level that you're working to. and here I was just winging it, But I was winging it within my comfort zone.

I knew that the conversations I Was initiating, I could have a good, intelligent conversation about this. So it was bravery within My area of where I had confidence. And a word And then I promise I'll draw a breath. I love talking about this. Cause of course I'm still talking to myself, Joey. This never stops. Like I will use this in my day today. Keyword, get your pens and your paper, experiment. Experiment. Just experiment. And if it's no good, fine. You're still great. Yeah, absolutely. Experiment, experiment, little tiny experiments.

Little tiny moves towards what it is you want things to look like. But there's a couple of things there. One is being brave in your comfort zone, in you area of confidence. When I speak to doctors I try and say you know you're not you don't want to turn your back on all of those years of experience like where have you spent your time what do you Know about who's in your world like use those things to your advantage so I love that and I can just picture Alice like literally like having a word with yourself putting on those shoes and behaving like the person you want to be.

And we do have to do that, don't we? We have look and say, right, that's where I want be, like, what would that person be doing, thinking, feeling to enable them to able to that? Yeah, I even rocked up outside, say the ICJ and they literally pitched tents and I'd stand on the other side of the road and watch the people, how they're moving, and how are they sidling up and then I would go and do it. So really a great thing I read by David Hyatt from the Do lectures a long time ago is he drew a bird on a post and he said look around like a birds on post, and watch the people that you like the look of what they're doing and and watched them like hawk and I think that's something yeah I've really done and and got a lot from.

Yeah. That perspective, isn't it? Perspective of what other people are doing, how they're doing it. And you can do that in real life and you do can that online, you know, looking at the type of people that you admire, what they are writing about and Dave, we both big Dave Hyatt fans and for those of you that don't know him, or what they do, please have a look at the due lectures out in West Wales. We're going to come to it because Alice spoke there this summer. But they have, you know, there are many, many things I've got from them.

That concept of looking online, looking at who you admire, what you're doing, how they're showing up, what's working for you, what isn't, and what you enjoy from their content and don't. So it's the same thing whether that's in real life or online. And this experimental approach is so, so different from what we do in medicine and what you do law, right? You don't just wing it. It's the last thing you. Oh my goodness. I nearly threw up in my mouth a little bit when I said that. Like it's so forgive yourself for finding that a really tough one.

From Corporate Communications to Freelance Work 16:58

Cause I still, I mean, when look at my, look I'm still prepared. My life depends. And oh, Joey, something that really helped me was a time I spent in corporate. In corporate, God bless them, and I'm probably never gonna work with a corporate client again after saying this, but what I experienced time and time again is in-corporate, sitting across, oh God, I don't know if I should say this. Sitting across from people who look like they've got it all worked out, who sound like, they know all the things, and you sit with them for a bit longer after the interview, because I interviewed a lot of these people, you know, And you sit with them for a bit longer and you're like, oh my god, you are winning it.

And now I'm not saying all big, like the really big ones, the CEOs, they're made of other stuff. They're incredible human beings. There are a lot of incredible leaders out there. But I will say bless those here we go I'm going to do it again bless those men in suits who look like they've got it all sorted out who were totally winging them and I learned a lot from them they drove me crazy because the well-prepared overworked insecure overachiever within me was like get away with not knowing anything before we go into that meeting but they were killing it.

They were telling the game. And that gave me really important information of skills and qualities that I needed to grow into to be able to kill the gang too. So so so I've gotta give myself a talking to after that. There is something that has come to me that I really want to emphasise. And this, I think, this is the most important thing I'll say in this episode. Friends, follow the energy. As you're doing your consults today, as you going about your working day, tune into yourself. keep a sharp eye out, what is giving me energy?

Is it sending my patient out the door? is it when I'm deep in concentration working out what the hell's going on with that mole? getting that kid to open their mouth to take their temperature. Like, what is the moment where I'm getting a shot of energy? That, write that shit down. That is your guide. Follow the energy. What is making your eyes twinkle? Brilliant. So what sets your day apart? What are those moments, those glimmers, these things that bring you the joy and the energy? And then with that, you do what?

Like, what would you then suggest people do? Because are there those things you need to lean into and grow and sort of cultivate? Is that what you're saying? Exactly. Once you've got a few of them down, they tell you about and we're gonna get very business speak now, they tell you about where your zone of genius is. So that effortless, you know, your gift, that thing that just, it might be quietly writing up your patient notes afterwards. That tells you that you're more reflective. You like writing, You might go into writing.

It tells about your skills and qualities to pursue. And I didn't know that I had so much to say about this. I started with those skills in qualities and then searched for where I could place them, not the other way around. Yeah. Didn't say I wanna be a reporter, I want to be journalist, and wanna do this, gave me energy, what I saw people respond to, and then searched for where I could put it. Yeah. And I find when I speak to the doctors that come through my Clarity program, which is like this sort of beginner container for people who are like, I really want to do something else.

I don't really know what all of this involves. It's all a bit scary. But I know that I want start something. We do this exercise, drawing these things out. It's often that sort of last thing that's mentioned is a bit like the doorknob thing when you're in consultations and people come in and they talk to you for half an hour. And then on the way out, they say, oh, by the, I've got this massive lump in my breast. So whenever I speak to somebody, it's almost the last they, say I'm like, hang on, let's talk about that.

Oh my goodness, talk to my therapist about the doorknob thing. I will sit there for an hour talking about, you know, the way someone looked at me once. And then I'll say, oh, and by the ways, I couldn't breathe this morning. That is so true. You've got to dig really deep and that's the advantage of having somebody whether it's me or somebody else like going through that with you that process of getting that all out. So we're talking here about those brave and slightly different entrepreneurial skills that we need to kind of find to be able to go out.

You're not born with this confidence to able go to out there and use your network and do things that are totally out of your previous role. But talk us, we've now got to a point where we can imagine, you know, loved up Alice in the Hague, ditching her legal career, hanging around outside these important places to jump in and interview people. Did that take you from law to journalism essentially? It took me from law into corporate communication. So I then got freelancing for actually Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management.

That got me into personal development, working at RSM. introduced me to a large pool of corporates um and and Joey then I then you know the loved up pair needed a mortgage my friend and uh I so I were and I was also really curious about what the inside of corporate life looked like So the combined needs of needing, you know, a haircut and a real job. And I will say, even though it was the toughest part of my career, it, most powerful and has brought me the most fit for this next phase I'm in now.

Motherhood, Reinvention, and Finding Her Voice 24:18

And a house. We've got a great house! And an 11-year-old? Yeah, she's, uh, She's eight. Oh, eight! She is eight, yeah! Oh gorgeous. Yeah. She still loves you and wants to hang out with you all the time. This morning she was, um, helped me with this top, Joy. Beautiful top. She said, you know, mama, what are you doing this morning? Because, I was a bit, Eric's doing school run this warning because we're talking quite early this boarding, which is just fantastic. And she was like, Mama, What are doing?

I said I'm talking on a podcast, except this time I am the guest. and she said Oh, do you like that? Frey I love it. Said I m going to talk about fun. I say, Fre, Do you think I' m fun? She says, Mom, You are the most fun. And for me, you know, my work is done. Yes. My work's done, yeah. Oh, I've got goosebumps. I love it. We need to move seamlessly, and Freya's helped us there. So we've go this lawyer, she's fallen in love, She's now gone into the corporate world. She is writing, listening, curious, watching everybody.

You know I'm seeing somebody that's basically just putting going in and being that bird in all of these environments is like information gathering, isn't it? Information gathering. So how has that led you to where you are now? Tell us that last bit and tell us about what you're doing now, because it's just amazing. I love it. Oh, thank you, Joey. Having Freya, this was an epic path. So when she came, by then I was working at the Peace Palace in Communications. And I'm going to show a bit of vulnerability here.

I found it incredibly difficult to go back into work and be the mother I wanted to be. I mean, really tough. So I took what I called the summer of love to just be with her. And then after that, I went back to work. It really did not work for me.I was breastfeeding in a stationary cabinet. See,I could hardly talk thinking about this. And I could see that I was gonna have to do things differently. And this is something I'm really proud of. I caught it early, I made what I called, and I remember going to really high level events and announcing this, am taking a structured pause.

Am funding myself for three months to not work, to no be looking after Freya full time, but to reconnect with who I now am as a mother and a professional and to work out how I'm going to do it. And I will get a bit woo here and say the universe said right on Alice Ramsey, I am here for this. The funding myself was really important because else I would have just felt guilty that I wasn't contributing. It gave me the space to work out how am I going to do parenthood and professional Alice the way I want to.

And freelance work started coming in from my corporate days. And I frigging loved it. I was getting used to, you know, who I as a mother and that included getting back into my body and I had a long-running full-on assignment with a swimwear and lingerie brand writing all about body confidence and curvy stuff and I remember, I mean, i couldn't go hard enough on this. I absolutely loved it and work came out of the sky. It was like a magic trick. i'd go from one project to the next, freelancing in comms, absolutely loved it.

My assignments got bigger, more complex, and more involved. Before I knew it, I was basically a mini Mackenzie. I did business strategy, comms plans, And I was getting really pissed off that I getting paid as a copywriter and I delivering full-tilt business consulting services. And realized somewhere during the pandemic, this was on me. No one was coming to save me from myself. I had to up my prices. Had to change my offering. Reflect on how I operating. And that was a hard and painful lesson. I'm getting to the punch line.

Then I saw AI coming and I felt it in the kind of work I was doing was getting more and more niche. that it was my energy, it my human connection. It was who I was as a warm, connected, insightful human being that companies were hiring me to tell their stories. And I thought, that's something that AI is never gonna get. AI's my best pal, I've got a lot of great things to say about it. I'm really glad I did wake up to that because also my passion for writing other people's voice, whether it be a company or an executive, I also came to a point in my life where I was ready to find my own voice and what I had to say and what I think.

And holy prawn, this is like late 40s. It's been the best time of my life. Finding what i find important and I've described it in LHL, it has felt like coming out. Yeah. You know, really expressing this is the full me. This is who I am. this this what I've got to offer. So, it was really time to get from behind the computer and my something I'm really great is promoting others and and trying it on for myself and that's where the fun party started. I love this. And this is just another example of this journey.

Like you didn't just wake up one morning and become an international speaker on Fun and invited to speak all over the world. This is like 16 years of hard graft. bravery, experimentation, recognition that something's not working for you anymore and doing something about it as opposed to just keeping going and flogging a dead horse, learning from everyone around you, being super curious, that led you to say, right, what is it that I want to go out there and what it is that want I to be able to bring to the world and how can I help people?

And this is where this one word, this fun, like the whole concept of you and you talk about now in all different organizations is based around the importance

Fun for High Performance in Healthcare 33:08

of fun. Is that right? That's it, Joey. When I distilled it all down, it was about connecting with that force that lives inside us all and releases our best, whether it's with home and health or in our working lives. In my work, I'm focusing on fun for high performance. science shows, neuroscience backs, that when we give ourselves permission to have fun in the course of our working day, we think better, make better decisions, work better as teams, lower our stress, build our resilience and our creativity flows.

Now, something that's taken me by surprise with this work is how much it has resonated with the medical profession. So one of my early keynotes was at an emergency care conference. And leading on from that, I've done workshops to end PJ paralysis. I spoke with a falls lead from the NHS yesterday who's using my fun workshop to help train falls leads in her hospital to go back to patients and use small, fun interventions to help people get out of bed and not get bed sores. And she was so inspiring to me, Joie, because she's using fun.

I like using it both for clinicians and patients. In the rehab space, it's really taking off. And to go back to my introduction, I groan when people say, come on, Alice, it'll be fun. I really think fun needs a rebrand. It's not having to do the Macarena in the corridors at work. it's tuning into inside of you. And here's something that I hope people listening can take with them. Catherine Price did really we've talked about this before I think her research on fun and she identified the elements as connection, playfulness and flow.

So connection when you really showing up as yourself and have that delicious feeling like you and I talking now you're putting me at ease. I hope I'm doing the same for you. We're able to really connect. playfulness you know is not well sometimes it's walking past a swing and just having a go for yourself but like my my favourite form of playfullness is shuffling pots in the garden, faffing around, you know, cleaning up a few weeds, that's adult playfulness. And there's a fantastic book that has just hit the bookshelves on adult-playfulness, which I'll give you for the show notes.

you know, when we're just lost in something and we lose track of time and it's that whoosh that we feel inside ourselves. So when those three things come together, and I think it is really important to say You know, for me, it's having a sing, It's doing a dance. It'll be very European. Canutzler is the Dutch word for craft. Like doing arts and crafts with Freya. Cutting and pasting and drawing and you know. Seriously, you could leave me all day. So what does that look like at work? It is like pinching There's often an element of naughtiness.

So like pinching the last piece of cake in the fridge with your favourite colleague and sharing it or, you know, it's really tiny moments that that can charge you. Sorry, I'll draw breath now. No. I mean, let's put this onto almost like a template onto a busy day at work, bringing in that connection, that playfulness, and that flow. And I think if we cast our minds back at 10 minutes or so, you talked about recognizing when you're in that kind of flow or things that you enjoy in your work, I guess that's another aspect, isn't it?

Like, which for me, when I get I leave all my blood results until the end of the day and all of their letters till the End of The Day. And it's often something I have to like rush to do because I'm running late. I find it is not it. It's not something that I love doing at all. And I'm just thinking, speaking to you now, maybe one thing I could do is like challenge myself to, you know, have 10 minutes in the middle of the day where I am just getting ahead of game so that I've not got so many later on, almost like make a game out of something that i don't really like doing.

Because we are, GPs, hospital consultants, We feel everybody is feeling very, very stretched. We're not able to do the kind of job that we want to for our patients. we don't want have 10 minutes to plaster over the problem. As a GP, I could go into work, i could not go in to reception and say good morning to everybody. I can just go straight into my room and then I would just be disturbed by the phone and people coming in and out maybe if they need me. And then i can not get out at lunch time and i stay in there until everybody's really gone home.

That's a possibility and there will be people here who are doing that, who're not having any interaction with anybody else. So even if we can take from this those three things and just like you said, those moments, even popping in and jumping out of the stationary cupboard and surprising somebody or making somebody a cup of tea when they didn't ask or, you know, are those the kind of things? And, how else can we bring fun into our busy, stretched and stressful days? Absolutely. I think What you just said is absolutely perfect.

It's recognising that Having the quick chat with reception that energizes you is actually part of doing your job well. And then when things are going absolutely batshit later in the day, you will have had a laugh with Cheryl and she'll have your back and everything will go more smoothly. You know, really, I think getting the first thing that always comes to me is looking after yourself, filling your own cup. So even really small things. And do you want to do it now? Like just a quick getting out of our heads and into our bodies.

I won't stand up, but like, Shake it out. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight. Right leg. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight Left. Two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight One. two. 3. 4. one. 2.3.4. 1.2.1. And then a pose. Ha! Like, you can even do that sitting down between patients. And I promise you that the energy that you've just put into your room, fantastic. I, Joey, given me an idea, I want to make a document for your listeners with with some quick easy and ideas that that give more energy than they hate.

Yeah. Love that. It's really this is where the journaling really helps because I found that fun. Someone listening might be like I would rather die even if I'm in a room on my own like And this, what I'm hearing from more doctors is, I ask, What do you think's getting in the way of you having more fun? It's the feeling of, Am I allowed? Is this okay? Am i allowed. I mean, you are doing the most important work. Like, i'm in comms man, no one, I don't want to say it doesn't matter, but compared to what you're doing, and my heart was really breaking with you hearing, I'm always amazed when I go to the GP and I think, oh my God, she caught all of that and then the next person's going to walk in and she's got that every 15 minutes.

Like, how? How? I really hope that this work can come in and help fill your cup. It's not an extra thing to do, it's part of looking after you as you look after us. I love that. And I've just been scribbling. Do you know what, I am a bit of a softie when it comes to these things, but I loved how everything in my life seems to happen for a reason. What you've done online was called the rubber chicken. in lockdown, Emma who used to lead our assemblies with the girls with their schools, she would do the rubber chicken and that's what she'd do and she's call it that.

So in my world it's called the Rubber Chicken and it is lovely to see. I haven't seen anybody do that or done it myself for a long time. And I've just written down like five things that we can do really, really easily as busy GP's, hospital consultants So first of all, you can have some sort of fight song or song that you love either in your ear pods or in the car. So you put it on two minutes before you arrive at work, something that's going to uplift you and give you energy. Go into reception, smile, say hello, pop your head around the door.

It's gonna take two seconds. Smiling at everybody you work with, saying hello. I think being the first to say hello to patients when you're around the surgery as well. You're walking down the corridors, good morning, like that sort of energy and atmosphere can shift your energy, and theirs, right? Any act of kindness, whether that's buying a pack of Welsh cakes from the bakery that you walk past when your doing a visit, or making somebody a cup of tea. And then movement, you are right, we're sitting there literally 10 minutes, 10, minutes 10. I sometimes have to stand up to make my phone calls because I cut, but my desk isn't right and the, you know, it's basically we're just there all day.

So movement, doing the rubber chicken four times in that day, imagine the energy. Oh, imagine. And it was, Joey, it my birthday recently and a friend said, oh, do you have any birthday wishes?

Networking, Self-Belief, and Closing Advice 45:48

And I said post-it notes. I love me a good post at night. You know, get some of these mofos and just leave a colleague a little smiley or, you know tiny, tiny things like that. Like, I can't tell you the joy. absolute belters as well. I know they're beauties aren't they? She absolutely nailed the brief. So and I and another one I'm thinking of oh Joey we after this interview you and i have to riff I think we would uh we'd get a book Because this house is my office, I have a whiteboard in our bathroom and I write Priya Parker magical questions on the white board.

So whoever visits that downstairs bathroom, aka most of the neighbourhood, You know, at the moment, what's the favourite song that you're listening to at moment? And people are writing down, you know. Oh, my babe dog. You're my baby dog and you sit on the loo. It's just the whiteboards in bathrooms. Whiteboards and bathrooms, oh my goodness. I'm proud of that one. Yeah. Whiteboards in bathrooms, I love it. Right. So we could literally talk forever and quite often do. I would love you to just to kind of wrap things up.

We've talked about confidence, bravery, entrepreneurship, transferable skills, pivoting the career that you've created for yourself, decisions that we've taken, fun that opportunities that you've taken, curiosity has led you to these places. We didn't talk about, but before we wrap things up with your three top tips, what about and I just want to ask you about networking. Cause you talked about having a group of people at your fingertips. And this is another thing that doctors are really bad at is using their network.

How important is connection with other people and sending that email, you know, jumping into somebody's DMS. You know that people don't find that very comfortable. Extremely. I think the moment I realised I'm a lone wolf, Joey, like I am I have 3000% energy and it's all got to come from me. The moment, I realise I can't do this alone. was the moment I began to really flourish and that brings in where you and I met at at LHL really take a look at being surrounded by, you know that thing of, and I will stay focused on answering your question, You are the sum of the five people closest to you.

I have noticed the people close to me have really evolved as I've evolved and That gives me the courage to back myself and go out and do what I really get it. Okay, two things I want to say about networking. See it as an exchange of energy. You're not, it's literally a net work. It's a Net. Rock up and ask what you can do for them. It's you're giving them an opportunity. you know, and just pop it there and that's it. And if it's for them, they'll leap on it, if not, fine, get all Buddhist, detach.

So I wrote on LinkedIn just this week, referring to responding to something that a great Welsh entrepreneur wrote. Oh my goodness, how woo is this, Amir. And I wrote, you know, to G myself up a bit, I'm getting so many no's at the moment and I've never felt so alive because it tells me I am getting out there and giving stuff a crack. That's the putting stuff in front of people. It's planting acorns. Even if they don't pick it up now, you never know where down the track it comes. And again, I'm going to quote Do.

Givers get lucky. give give, give and give some more. It makes networking easy. it makes doing business easy, it keeps you feeling great. Its energising and yeah, I appreciate this question because I personally really struggle with selling myself. I feel like I'm, you know, I am still really learning it. Like, because I've always written on, oh my goodness, the quality of how hard I work and how deeply I prepare and, that speaks for itself. Well, guess what? Running a business, you're also a Business Woman.

Yeah. And part of your job is networking. Yeah, absolutely. It's fun, right? It is fun. You meet amazing people. We wouldn't be doing this if we hadn't put ourselves out there. So it's part, it is part what you do. Learn to do it, learn that it about giving, learning that its about showing up, its finding out about other people, about being curious and telling people what to you. Its much easier when you know what do and who you help. Were going to finish there because you are absolutely wonderful.

Have you got any parting words for these medics that are sitting there wondering whether to do something different. Yeah, back yourself. You're amazing. I wish you could see what I can see. Like, it's in you. It's IN you! Oh, I just bought a tear to my eye. Thank you so much for your time. You are utterly amazing. And I will speak to you soon. thank you, Alice. We'll put everything in the show notes of how to contact you at LinkedIn, Instagram, all the usuals I presume. Yeah, we'll. Put it all in.

I've loved it. Thanks for coming along. Take care. Bye. Transitioning from medicine to business is not easy. It's about adapting our skills while embracing the unknowns of entrepreneurship. And don't forget to grab the free PDF from the show notes from stethoscope to startup, which is your go-to guide and resource for diving into entrepreneurship. Many thanks for tuning in. I will see you next time. Thanks for spending your precious time with me. This has been a Monkey Pants Productions Podcast.