1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,840 Don't need to know this. What's the outcome? Why do we not 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,760 do the same when our sleep gets bad or when our mood changes? Like, 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,560 why are we willing to accept those things even when 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,520 help is offered? I don't take it. Some of the things that exist in my 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,160 brain exist in the brains of, like, 10 other people in the world. Because 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,840 I'm that good at what I do for a living, I can't run a calendar 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,520 to save my goddamn life. All right, here we go. 8 00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:29,300 I'm gonna pretend I'm pushing record, because that feels right. Okay, I'm pressing record. 9 00:00:30,340 --> 00:00:34,020 Boop. Hi, everybody. I'm Lauren Howard. 10 00:00:34,020 --> 00:00:37,420 Welcome to Different Not Broken, which is our 11 00:00:37,420 --> 00:00:41,060 podcast on exactly that. That there are a lot of people in this world walking 12 00:00:41,060 --> 00:00:44,900 around feeling broken, and the reality is, you're just different, and that's fine. 13 00:00:45,380 --> 00:00:49,060 I don't know if this makes me, like, peak Elder Millennial 14 00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:54,800 or if it's just the way I learn, because I am not of. 15 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,240 Well, I am kind of a visual learner, but I want to learn things 16 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,880 fast. I just want the information in front of me. But 17 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,280 we have reached the point of the timeline 18 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,000 where everybody feels like the explanations they 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,560 send or the content they create or the 20 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,640 education they put together has to be in video. 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,480 I say this as a person who actually creates a fair amount of video, 22 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,040 so I'm somewhat guilty of this as well. But I want to speak 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,800 for. Maybe it's not visual. Maybe it's that I'm tactile, so I 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,640 need to be able to actually do it. I don't know. I want to speak 25 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,440 for all of the elder millennials who are like me. 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,800 Don't send me fucking videos. 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,960 I don't want them. I want a list. 28 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,000 I want things written down so that I can read them and 29 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,800 consume them and jump around in the order the way my brain needs to jump 30 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,200 around in the order and look for the parts that are actually important to me 31 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,640 and skip the ones that aren't. Don't send me a video. 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,120 Especially if I'm paying you for something. Don't. 33 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,200 Don't send me a video. Because here's the thing. I'm paying you 34 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,360 so I don't have to do anything with that thing that you're 35 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,010 doing. And if you send me a video now, I 36 00:02:14,010 --> 00:02:17,850 have homework, and I am paying you to 37 00:02:17,850 --> 00:02:21,370 do the homework. That is not how I consume information. 38 00:02:22,330 --> 00:02:26,090 I don't know why everything has to be a 39 00:02:26,090 --> 00:02:29,650 recorded explainer. I don't need a recorded 40 00:02:29,650 --> 00:02:33,210 explainer. And this is not just for work. This is just 41 00:02:33,210 --> 00:02:36,970 like in general life. If I want to figure out how to do a thing, 42 00:02:36,970 --> 00:02:40,060 if I go to the Google box and I say Google, how do I blah, 43 00:02:40,060 --> 00:02:43,780 blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not picking the YouTube video you give me 44 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:47,540 first. It's not going to happen because I don't want to sit through 45 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:51,460 three and a half minutes of how you learned how to 46 00:02:51,460 --> 00:02:55,140 cook fried chicken from your grandmother's 47 00:02:55,140 --> 00:02:57,860 best friend's beekeeper. Like I. No, 48 00:02:58,900 --> 00:03:02,580 just give me something that I can scroll through 49 00:03:03,540 --> 00:03:06,920 so I can get the information. I don't want the 50 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:10,760 explainer, I don't want the background, I don't want any of it. I just 51 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,280 want a list. Now there are times 52 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,360 where I am coming to consume your content very 53 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:21,080 voluntarily. And then I want the story and the 54 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,880 side quest and the list and the whatever. And if I come out of it 55 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,560 learning something, great. But if you are trying to give me information that 56 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,100 I need succinct, package it up, make it 57 00:03:31,100 --> 00:03:34,860 very easy to consume. Don't send me a video. If you send me a video, 58 00:03:34,860 --> 00:03:38,100 I'm going to respond to it. I'm not going to watch this. Can you give 59 00:03:38,100 --> 00:03:41,780 me the highlights? I don't have time to watch a 20 minute video to 60 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:45,580 learn the thing that I'm paying you to do. If I have 20 extra minutes 61 00:03:45,580 --> 00:03:48,860 in a day, that is a miracle and it is not going 62 00:03:49,340 --> 00:03:53,060 to your video. Don't send me videos. Somebody who, 63 00:03:53,060 --> 00:03:56,700 one of my employees called me yesterday and was like, hey, 64 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,880 so and so sent over a video that they said we need to watch. So. 65 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,160 And I just went nope, nope. 66 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,080 And he was like, you're. What do you mean nope? And I was like, I'm 67 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,720 not, no, no, I'm putting my foot down. I am not 68 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,280 watching it. Can you give me the bullet points? Can you give me the highlights? 69 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,360 And he was like, so you, you want me to watch the video? And I 70 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,000 was like, if you could, that'd be great. Or you can go back to this 71 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,520 human and say, hey, can you send this in a list that is consumable in 72 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,360 the way that we consume things? Either are fine, I'll get the information. 73 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,960 But I'm gonna get into that video and I'm gonna be like, don't need to 74 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,080 know this, don't need to know this, don't need to know this. What's the outcome? 75 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,880 That's the outcome that I need. Awesome. And then I just wasted 19 minutes 76 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,320 of 20 minute video because the nuts and bolts. I'm so proud that you know 77 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,080 it. I'm so proud that you're good at it. I support you in being good 78 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,800 at it. That is information you can keep in your brain where it belongs. 79 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,080 And you can just give me the one that. The part that I want, which 80 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,900 is the outcome that I am paying you for. Thank you very much. 81 00:04:54,140 --> 00:04:57,500 Certain members of my team learned yesterday that if a video comes through, I'm going 82 00:04:57,500 --> 00:05:01,300 to pretend it's dead. It doesn't work. The link is broken. I'm not 83 00:05:01,300 --> 00:05:04,940 watching it. Send me a list. Send me bullet points. Voice 84 00:05:04,940 --> 00:05:08,740 notes are the same thing, friends. Voice notes are the same thing. 85 00:05:08,740 --> 00:05:12,300 And thankfully on voice notes, at least I get the. 86 00:05:12,620 --> 00:05:16,260 The transcription. And that's like a beautiful, happy 87 00:05:16,260 --> 00:05:19,340 medium because it means that the person who tends to do better 88 00:05:19,980 --> 00:05:23,740 talking can share their information that way. And the 89 00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:27,260 person who consumes better by reading, I can get my information 90 00:05:27,340 --> 00:05:31,060 that way. But I'm just saying, if there's no transcription and you 91 00:05:31,060 --> 00:05:34,660 send me a five minute voice note that is going into the voice note 92 00:05:34,660 --> 00:05:37,900 chasm and it's never coming back. It's just not. 93 00:05:38,380 --> 00:05:42,100 I'm sorry. I apologize that you did all of that work on 94 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:45,830 my behalf and I consumed none of it. I do apologize. However, if 95 00:05:45,830 --> 00:05:49,550 there's transcription at the bottom, awesome. We can do that 96 00:05:49,710 --> 00:05:51,870 same thing with your video. If your video 97 00:05:52,990 --> 00:05:55,950 translates into, like, captions that I can just read, 98 00:05:56,670 --> 00:05:59,790 we're golden. Excellent. That's the way I want to consume information. 99 00:06:00,270 --> 00:06:03,990 If you just send me a video as, like, here's all the information that you 100 00:06:03,990 --> 00:06:07,310 need because then I have to take notes from that video. No, 101 00:06:08,270 --> 00:06:11,230 it's not my job as your job. I refuse. 102 00:06:12,460 --> 00:06:16,140 Anyway. I don't know if that's an elder millennial rant or if that's just a 103 00:06:16,380 --> 00:06:20,220 my brain doesn't work that way rant. I feel like there's probably 104 00:06:20,220 --> 00:06:23,300 a lot of elder, like, we grew up, like, I still want to go. My 105 00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:26,620 instinct when I need to learn stuff is still to go buy a book. That 106 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:30,220 might just be me reincarnating the ghost of 107 00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:33,780 somebody from the late 1800s or something. I don't know. But I just assume that 108 00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:37,380 that's who I actually am inside. That's fine. But, like, I still want to go 109 00:06:37,380 --> 00:06:41,220 read stuff from a book. And books you can, like, thumb through and you can 110 00:06:41,220 --> 00:06:44,300 find the right page and you can read just the parts you need. And it's 111 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:47,940 great. Technically, you can do that with websites too. But, 112 00:06:47,940 --> 00:06:51,780 like, yeah, that's. That's the way I want my information. Please provide it that 113 00:06:51,780 --> 00:06:55,340 way. Or just know that it's gonna go into the void, 114 00:06:55,580 --> 00:06:59,300 and we only use the void for screaming. So if that's not 115 00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:02,820 what it is, it's probably not gonna get the attention that it 116 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:05,750 deserves. Sorry, that's the way my brain works. 117 00:07:07,190 --> 00:07:10,510 This week we have a very, very special guest who I can't wait to talk 118 00:07:10,510 --> 00:07:14,310 to. It is Joanna Strober. She is the CEO of Midi Health, which 119 00:07:14,310 --> 00:07:18,070 is an incredible woman focused healthcare company 120 00:07:18,230 --> 00:07:22,030 that is again, focused on perimenopause, menopause, and 121 00:07:22,030 --> 00:07:25,790 all of the changes that we tend to see that have historically been, 122 00:07:25,790 --> 00:07:29,310 like, ignored, or we pretend that they don't exist, except they very much 123 00:07:29,310 --> 00:07:32,980 exist. So I'm so excited to talk with Joanna and to 124 00:07:32,980 --> 00:07:36,180 learn a little bit more about her company and also just talk about the things 125 00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:40,020 that got us to a place where she felt like this company was needed 126 00:07:40,020 --> 00:07:43,700 when it absolutely, very much is. So, Joanna, thank you so much 127 00:07:43,700 --> 00:07:47,500 for joining me today. Thank you. Well, do you mind giving us a 128 00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:51,300 quick introduction from yourself about the who, What, Why? Tell us a little bit 129 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:55,140 about the company and about kind of what got you to this point where you 130 00:07:55,140 --> 00:07:58,790 realized that this company was so very necessary. Yeah. So 131 00:07:58,790 --> 00:08:02,550 I'm Joanna. I am 56 years old. I have 132 00:08:02,630 --> 00:08:06,230 three children. I've had five careers. At 133 00:08:06,230 --> 00:08:09,870 least I have. So I've done a lot of different things in my 134 00:08:09,870 --> 00:08:13,429 life. And I am a woman, obviously. 135 00:08:13,429 --> 00:08:17,150 And when I was starting in my late 40s, a 136 00:08:17,150 --> 00:08:20,990 lot of things started going wrong. I wasn't sleeping very well, I was 137 00:08:20,990 --> 00:08:24,550 gaining weight. I was having some marital issues. A lot of things were going wrong. 138 00:08:24,890 --> 00:08:28,250 And I went to a primary care doctor, and that doctor 139 00:08:29,050 --> 00:08:32,130 told me to get therapy. They sent me to a marriage therapist, to a stress 140 00:08:32,130 --> 00:08:35,890 therapist. They told me I needed, you know, anxiety medications, and they prescribed 141 00:08:35,890 --> 00:08:39,650 an SSRI. They sent me to get a sleep study. They never 142 00:08:39,650 --> 00:08:43,010 said, oh, wait, maybe this is all related to your hormones. And why don't we 143 00:08:43,010 --> 00:08:46,570 think about your hormones and maybe this is a hormonal issue. 144 00:08:46,650 --> 00:08:50,370 And so I had a long, you know, a struggle with this. And eventually I 145 00:08:50,370 --> 00:08:53,920 got to a doctor and that doctor gave me the right medications 146 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,760 for me, and everything changed very rapidly. It 147 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,640 was a concierge doctor. I had to pay them a lot of money, but it 148 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,440 was worth it because my life changed dramatically same time. I 149 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:08,120 just felt this sense that everyone had needed to have access to 150 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,800 women care. That was started with women first and started 151 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,040 with thinking about hormones first instead of them being an afterthought. 152 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,760 And so that was really how I got the idea of the company. And what 153 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,350 was exciting to me is that now, 154 00:09:22,350 --> 00:09:26,070 because of the insurance changes over Covid, I could basically take 155 00:09:26,070 --> 00:09:29,710 the breast woman's practice, the best women's health in the whole world, 156 00:09:30,190 --> 00:09:34,030 and scale it. And I could get the best doctors and say, 157 00:09:34,030 --> 00:09:37,830 okay, write great care protocols. Write care protocols 158 00:09:37,830 --> 00:09:41,550 for sleep, for anxiety, for night sweats, for mood changes. 159 00:09:42,670 --> 00:09:46,430 Write those care protocols and then we will use technology to give everyone 160 00:09:46,510 --> 00:09:50,010 access to those care care protocols to the best, highest 161 00:09:50,010 --> 00:09:53,810 quality care, and we can get it covered by insurance now. So 162 00:09:53,810 --> 00:09:57,610 that's really how we came about doing the company. And how 163 00:09:57,610 --> 00:10:01,370 long would you say it took you between getting the, 164 00:10:02,090 --> 00:10:05,530 I think what we now perceive to be very dismissive response from your 165 00:10:05,530 --> 00:10:08,810 typical primary care, which we see all the time, to 166 00:10:09,050 --> 00:10:12,330 finding a doctor who actually listened and 167 00:10:12,330 --> 00:10:16,180 understood the realities of being a woman in your 168 00:10:16,180 --> 00:10:20,020 late 40s and how biological changes sometimes drive those things. It 169 00:10:20,020 --> 00:10:23,700 took a long time. So that's obviously what made me sad, is that it took 170 00:10:23,700 --> 00:10:27,340 a long time. You know, you have to remember, like, perimenopause 171 00:10:27,580 --> 00:10:31,420 was not something people were talking about just a few years ago. So 172 00:10:31,740 --> 00:10:35,340 I was searching for these things online, but there weren't 173 00:10:35,340 --> 00:10:39,060 like, experts in perimenopause, which is what I was 174 00:10:39,060 --> 00:10:42,300 experiencing. I still had my period, so I was not in menopause. 175 00:10:43,170 --> 00:10:46,810 There were not a lot of doctors out there talking about perimenopause, and there weren't 176 00:10:46,810 --> 00:10:50,450 a lot of online people talking about it. So part of the problem was I 177 00:10:50,450 --> 00:10:54,050 was searching, but I was searching for the wrong things. So 178 00:10:54,130 --> 00:10:57,890 I think women now today are much smarter. But that discussion has changed a 179 00:10:57,890 --> 00:11:01,450 lot in the last few years. But for me, that discussion was rough because I 180 00:11:01,450 --> 00:11:05,090 didn't get access to the right information. I feel like a lot of 181 00:11:05,170 --> 00:11:08,810 women, we do that to ourselves before we even go looking for the information. We 182 00:11:08,810 --> 00:11:12,020 go like, well, I'm not sleeping at night, but it's probably these 60 things I'm 183 00:11:12,020 --> 00:11:15,260 doing wrong and has nothing to do with something that's out of my control. I 184 00:11:15,260 --> 00:11:19,020 probably did this wrong. And then we gaslight ourselves out of care until actually going 185 00:11:19,020 --> 00:11:22,860 to seek it. Is that something that you see within your patient population now? Is 186 00:11:22,860 --> 00:11:26,100 that something that you've kind of built messaging around to try to address? 187 00:11:26,500 --> 00:11:30,340 Yeah. Isn't that interesting? I mean, I think you're right. We stop sleeping and 188 00:11:30,340 --> 00:11:33,860 we think, ugh, you know, we don't think, oh, I should go 189 00:11:33,860 --> 00:11:37,650 proactively try to fix this. We don't do that for 190 00:11:37,650 --> 00:11:41,290 whatever reason. And honestly, it comes up a lot in sexual health. 191 00:11:41,290 --> 00:11:45,010 A lot of our patients have stopped having a good sexual relationship with their 192 00:11:45,010 --> 00:11:48,610 partner, and they're just blaming themselves. Right? Like, they 193 00:11:48,610 --> 00:11:52,410 don't think, oh, maybe this is physical, maybe this can be treated. 194 00:11:52,410 --> 00:11:56,250 Instead, they just. Their marriages are suffering and they're not having sex 195 00:11:56,250 --> 00:11:59,930 and they're angry and they are not seeking help. And. 196 00:12:00,250 --> 00:12:03,880 And we see that a lot. So I do think that 197 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,680 we as women don't take enough care of ourselves. And, and, you know, 198 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:11,520 we're probably prioritizing our family and. Or other people and not. 199 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:15,160 Not ourselves. I think a lot of it, you know, I joke to myself, like, 200 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,960 when our eyes get bad, we immediately go get glasses. Right? Like, 201 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,520 we don't think, oh, I should just suffer and have bad 202 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,360 eyesight. So why do we not do the same when our sleep gets 203 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,990 bad or when our mood changes? Like, why are we willing to accept those 204 00:12:29,990 --> 00:12:33,790 things? And, and I guess that's part of what I think about is, like, these 205 00:12:33,790 --> 00:12:37,430 are all part of aging. Let's. Let's be proactive. Let's fight these 206 00:12:37,430 --> 00:12:40,790 things. We don't need to just deal with them. 207 00:12:41,430 --> 00:12:44,869 So looking at kind of the populations that you see and 208 00:12:45,270 --> 00:12:48,630 maybe your own personal experiences, the experiences, the people you interact with, 209 00:12:49,510 --> 00:12:53,070 how often do you see these symptoms 210 00:12:53,070 --> 00:12:56,230 manifest as poor concentration, as 211 00:12:56,550 --> 00:13:00,230 executive dysfunction, delays or difficulties 212 00:13:00,230 --> 00:13:03,750 that maybe were. I never want to say that they didn't exist before because 213 00:13:03,910 --> 00:13:07,710 I. I tend to find that when you start getting into these questions 214 00:13:07,710 --> 00:13:11,310 with people who are complaining about these things in their late 40s, it wasn't that 215 00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:14,390 it didn't exist before. They just were better at coping with it. They just were 216 00:13:14,470 --> 00:13:18,070 better at kind of. I won't say ignoring the fact that it existed, but 217 00:13:18,070 --> 00:13:21,670 just, like, getting by. Whereas you tend to hit this wall where all of a 218 00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:25,440 sudden you're like, these things aren't working anymore. How often do you see that 219 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:29,280 manifesting in the population and. And what programs and 220 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,040 things have you guys designed to try to address that specifically? So I'm not 221 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,560 a doctor, so I want to be careful on how I address this. Right. 222 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:40,319 Totally understand that. We do see it a lot. Right. And it's. It's such 223 00:13:40,319 --> 00:13:44,000 a confluence of things. And so that's part of the challenge is that it's such 224 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,640 a confluence of things. Maybe you're stressed about your kids and you're 225 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,400 stressed about your work, and you're not sleeping and you're gaining weight 226 00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:55,550 and your concentration is shot. Are you surprised your concentration 227 00:13:55,550 --> 00:13:59,270 is shot? Like, all those coping mechanisms that you had that, like, 228 00:13:59,270 --> 00:14:02,550 enable you to thrive, those coping mechanisms are going, boop. 229 00:14:02,870 --> 00:14:06,630 You probably developed some really great skills to cope with those things. 230 00:14:06,630 --> 00:14:10,310 And then your coping mechanism, as your body is changing, 231 00:14:10,470 --> 00:14:14,230 those coping mechanisms are harder and harder. That's a lot of what I 232 00:14:14,230 --> 00:14:17,670 think is going on. Like, your brain is full and then you add 233 00:14:17,670 --> 00:14:21,450 anxiety and then, like, how are you supposed to do all this? So I think 234 00:14:21,450 --> 00:14:24,850 that I like to think about what we do as iterative care. And what we 235 00:14:24,850 --> 00:14:28,450 should do is we try one medication first, we see if it's better, we 236 00:14:28,450 --> 00:14:32,130 try one supplement, we see if it's better, we add something else and see if 237 00:14:32,130 --> 00:14:35,970 it's better. And let's do one step at a time and iterate 238 00:14:35,970 --> 00:14:39,690 with you and see, are you. Are you able to concentrate a little bit more? 239 00:14:40,090 --> 00:14:43,930 Maybe we need to up the doses of estrogen a little bit. Are you now 240 00:14:43,930 --> 00:14:47,700 able to concentrate a little bit more? This is not medical advice, but. 241 00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:51,180 Right. For some people, B12 could be something that is very 242 00:14:51,180 --> 00:14:54,380 effective for them. There's actually incredible research on 243 00:14:54,380 --> 00:14:58,060 lavender and how lavender can actually be very calming for 244 00:14:58,060 --> 00:15:01,780 people. And so instead of trying Ativan, which has a 245 00:15:01,780 --> 00:15:05,620 lot of other negative effects, maybe you try 246 00:15:05,620 --> 00:15:09,420 lavender. Like, I think my job is to give you all the science and to 247 00:15:09,420 --> 00:15:12,500 give you the information so you can a little bit be a science, experiment with 248 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:16,030 yourself and try to figure out what. What works and what makes you feel better. 249 00:15:16,350 --> 00:15:19,950 But I think, I do think that a lot of this is that we develop 250 00:15:19,950 --> 00:15:23,670 coping mechanisms. So maybe you have some adhd. We all do on 251 00:15:23,670 --> 00:15:27,350 different levels. Right. Or maybe, I mean, having children, I can tell 252 00:15:27,350 --> 00:15:30,870 you, like, that's what happens. Right. But you, you get through it because you develop 253 00:15:30,870 --> 00:15:34,710 coping mechanisms and then as those get challenged, I think it just 254 00:15:34,710 --> 00:15:37,590 gets harder. So that's kind of how I think of it, is, you know, how 255 00:15:37,590 --> 00:15:40,900 do we help people to manage those things and build those coping 256 00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:44,740 mechanisms? Back up one more thing on this and 257 00:15:44,740 --> 00:15:48,340 then I want to jump out of the kind of more medical side of things 258 00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:52,180 and move over to the kind of business side of things. Let's say you're 259 00:15:52,180 --> 00:15:55,540 a woman or somebody who's afab, et cetera, who 260 00:15:55,700 --> 00:15:58,780 goes to their primary care doing what you think you're supposed to do. And you 261 00:15:58,780 --> 00:16:02,580 say, I'm having trouble sleeping, my concentration is all over the place. I 262 00:16:02,580 --> 00:16:06,180 feel like I'm responding to things poorly, I'm gaining weight and I don't know why. 263 00:16:06,990 --> 00:16:10,470 And they give you what we kind of treat as the standard response, which is, 264 00:16:10,470 --> 00:16:14,230 well, eat fewer calories and exercise and maybe 265 00:16:14,230 --> 00:16:17,870 this is just anxiety, which, like, as a person who runs a 266 00:16:17,870 --> 00:16:21,710 mental health practice, it could be anxiety, but it also could be 7,000 267 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:25,070 other things. And let's maybe not chalk everything up to anxiety. 268 00:16:25,390 --> 00:16:28,950 What would you say to somebody who maybe just got, whether they 269 00:16:28,950 --> 00:16:32,430 realize it or not, dismissed by their primary care and 270 00:16:33,390 --> 00:16:36,590 has to find another path? Or it's like, either 271 00:16:37,390 --> 00:16:41,070 not really give up, but like, accept the onus, this is your fault, 272 00:16:41,710 --> 00:16:45,350 or go pursue another avenue. What would you say to that person who's in that 273 00:16:45,350 --> 00:16:49,150 situation? So, you know, I don't want to blame primary care 274 00:16:49,150 --> 00:16:52,510 doctors. You know, the truth is they are given 10 minutes a visit 275 00:16:52,830 --> 00:16:56,550 to take care of you, and it's not necessarily 276 00:16:56,550 --> 00:17:00,270 their job to do what you just said. Right. The question 277 00:17:00,270 --> 00:17:03,750 is, and this is honestly why we created midi, is 278 00:17:04,070 --> 00:17:07,790 we needed to create a different care pathway. So I don't think instead 279 00:17:07,790 --> 00:17:11,630 of like, that, they're doing their job. Their job is to, you 280 00:17:11,630 --> 00:17:15,030 know, give you a medication or give you something. That's why. So I don't know 281 00:17:15,030 --> 00:17:18,750 if you've seen the research. 20% of women are on SSRIs in our age category. 282 00:17:18,750 --> 00:17:22,510 20%, that's crazy, right? They do not all need 283 00:17:22,510 --> 00:17:26,030 to be on SSRIs. But the easiest thing for a doctor to do is say, 284 00:17:26,030 --> 00:17:29,540 okay, do you want to try an SSRI? That's the easiest way to take care 285 00:17:29,540 --> 00:17:32,980 of it. Instead of this iterative thing that I'm talking to you about, let's try 286 00:17:32,980 --> 00:17:36,540 one medication, let's try something else. Let's think about estrogen. Let's think about it 287 00:17:36,540 --> 00:17:40,140 like they don't have time for that. That's not the business model of 288 00:17:40,140 --> 00:17:43,859 care. And so I try not to actually blame them. The other 289 00:17:43,859 --> 00:17:47,420 thing that's actually really important is they can only know so much, right? And new 290 00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:50,780 research is coming out all the time, but you can't count on every primary care 291 00:17:50,780 --> 00:17:54,630 doctor to know all of the new research coming out. It's impossible. That's why 292 00:17:54,630 --> 00:17:58,310 we created our company. Like, that is what we created the company for, is for 293 00:17:58,310 --> 00:18:01,830 what you're talking about. Okay, So I want to change 294 00:18:01,830 --> 00:18:05,350 topics a little bit because you are not only. You are absolutely running an 295 00:18:05,350 --> 00:18:09,110 exceptional company that's providing really excellent care to women, but you also happen to 296 00:18:09,110 --> 00:18:12,830 be one of those women, which is convenient. And you 297 00:18:12,830 --> 00:18:16,350 are playing in a space and playing, I mean, working, existing, 298 00:18:16,750 --> 00:18:20,510 building amazing things in a space that doesn't welcome a lot of women. 299 00:18:21,290 --> 00:18:24,810 And I wanted to talk a little bit about what. What that 300 00:18:24,810 --> 00:18:28,450 particularly has been like. Do you feel like your kind of venture experience was 301 00:18:28,450 --> 00:18:32,130 different. Do you have any wisdom that you can pass on to the 302 00:18:32,130 --> 00:18:35,890 next round of, you know, female founders who will be going to 303 00:18:35,890 --> 00:18:39,730 search for that funding and figure out how to run their companies? And is 304 00:18:39,730 --> 00:18:43,370 there truly, is there anything you would do differently? Because I've been, you know, I've 305 00:18:43,370 --> 00:18:46,330 been running my company now for about two years. It's not my first company, but 306 00:18:46,970 --> 00:18:50,690 I can think of maybe 150 things that I would do different just off 307 00:18:50,690 --> 00:18:53,930 the top of my head. And so I wanted to just get your perspective on 308 00:18:53,930 --> 00:18:57,530 that about what it's like to be in the space you're in with just 309 00:18:57,610 --> 00:19:01,050 in this climate, in, in the funding climate in general, especially 310 00:19:01,130 --> 00:19:04,730 considering how funding has changed in the last three years so drastically. 311 00:19:05,130 --> 00:19:08,850 Honestly, I feel very fortunate and I'm, I don't really think a 312 00:19:08,850 --> 00:19:12,490 lot about the other companies or I just think about building this 313 00:19:12,490 --> 00:19:16,220 company, which is actually very helpful to me. So, so it doesn't help to get, 314 00:19:16,300 --> 00:19:19,940 oh, it's a hard funding environment for women. Like, I don't think about that 315 00:19:19,940 --> 00:19:23,660 stuff. I just think my job is to build this company into being the 316 00:19:23,660 --> 00:19:27,420 best company and to prove to people that a women's health 317 00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:30,940 company can grow to be a really big important company in the world. That 318 00:19:31,100 --> 00:19:34,780 is my goal. And you know, if I fail, then I will 319 00:19:34,780 --> 00:19:37,340 fail, but I'm going to work my damnedest not to. 320 00:19:38,460 --> 00:19:41,340 But I, I think, you know, if you start thinking about all those other things, 321 00:19:41,340 --> 00:19:45,070 it's very hard to actually focus on building your own company. So I don't, I 322 00:19:45,070 --> 00:19:48,630 just try to just focus on building this. So I want to touch on what 323 00:19:48,630 --> 00:19:52,350 you said, which is that a woman's health company can 324 00:19:52,350 --> 00:19:55,830 do well. Was there ever pushback from people saying like, 325 00:19:55,830 --> 00:19:59,510 nobody's either nobody's going to invest in this or this isn't. This 326 00:19:59,510 --> 00:20:03,230 isn't the company that's clear to people a few years ago that 327 00:20:03,310 --> 00:20:06,870 women's health is a thing that's okay. Like, I don't think 328 00:20:06,870 --> 00:20:10,550 that's, that's just, you know, things you have to come up with new 329 00:20:10,550 --> 00:20:14,300 ideas. And the reason why women's health company is a thing is that 330 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:17,260 women are looking for it. If they're not looking for it, it doesn't exist. Right? 331 00:20:17,260 --> 00:20:20,860 So it's a catch 22. If women just keep going to the old 332 00:20:20,860 --> 00:20:24,620 system and not going to new, innovative women's health companies, then companies 333 00:20:24,620 --> 00:20:27,900 won't exist like this. So there's a market. It's just about a market. 334 00:20:28,700 --> 00:20:32,020 Women get botox right? Women get, they go to 335 00:20:32,020 --> 00:20:35,860 dermatologists, they like, you know, I think of it like women are 336 00:20:35,860 --> 00:20:39,420 looking for beauty, they're looking for health, they're looking to feel better. 337 00:20:40,010 --> 00:20:43,850 And our job is to solve that. And. But that's not how historically 338 00:20:43,850 --> 00:20:47,210 healthcare has been built. And so we just had to prove that there's a different 339 00:20:47,210 --> 00:20:50,970 way of building a healthcare organization. And that's, it's hard. And you 340 00:20:50,970 --> 00:20:53,610 know, there's a lot of work in proving it, but that's really what we're still 341 00:20:53,610 --> 00:20:57,410 doing is proving that that is, that is a real business. Did 342 00:20:57,410 --> 00:21:01,250 that ever make you kind of incredulous as you were 343 00:21:01,250 --> 00:21:04,930 trying to explain this to people that you had to like actually spell out for 344 00:21:04,930 --> 00:21:08,420 people that women are different and sometimes 345 00:21:08,420 --> 00:21:12,100 require different healthcare? So I'm gonna say yes. But 346 00:21:12,100 --> 00:21:15,460 there's a pattern recognition for people you have to develop. 347 00:21:16,180 --> 00:21:19,980 When I'm trying to get funding, I'm not. This is not charity. Right. People have 348 00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:23,340 to believe you can build something into a big company. That's the belief. There is 349 00:21:23,340 --> 00:21:27,180 a pattern recognition of, oh, there's been Google, there's 350 00:21:27,180 --> 00:21:30,820 been Facebook, there's been, you know, this big company, like, does this 351 00:21:30,820 --> 00:21:34,430 look like that? The answer is no, it doesn't. So 352 00:21:34,910 --> 00:21:38,630 we don't have the same margins as software companies. Right. Like there's a 353 00:21:38,630 --> 00:21:42,470 pattern recognition there and we're breaking that pattern. And so my job 354 00:21:42,470 --> 00:21:45,990 is just to show that now we have to prove that there's different patterns. Right. 355 00:21:45,990 --> 00:21:49,430 And there's different ways that people can be successful. But I don't blame the 356 00:21:49,430 --> 00:21:53,110 investors. Like they are trained. Their job is just to make 357 00:21:53,110 --> 00:21:56,390 money and they have certain investments that make the most sense to them that can 358 00:21:56,390 --> 00:21:58,920 make money. And now, now I have to prove that I can do it with 359 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,360 a different pattern. Well, you hit on something really important that I think we probably 360 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,920 don't talk about enough in, in healthcare. And, and when I say healthcare, I mean 361 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,680 specifically either value based or fee for service healthcare. Though I think health 362 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,399 tech probably experiences this some to a degree. But 363 00:22:13,399 --> 00:22:16,760 like, you know, when you start talking about like hockey stick growth, 364 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,240 like you're not gonna get hockey stick growth off of insurance reimbursements. It's just 365 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,880 that's not the model and it's one of the harder things. I mean, especially as 366 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,550 we started having funding conversations as well, like explaining to people 367 00:22:28,550 --> 00:22:31,950 that there is a part of you that has to want this to 368 00:22:31,950 --> 00:22:35,710 succeed just as much as you want your money back. Not that we're 369 00:22:35,710 --> 00:22:37,750 not saying we're going to give you your money back. Not that we're not saying 370 00:22:37,750 --> 00:22:41,070 that we have multipliers here, but like we're not selling 371 00:22:41,070 --> 00:22:44,590 widgets. You know, you're not selling something that has a cost of goods, of goods, 372 00:22:44,590 --> 00:22:48,350 two of two dollars that you're charging $12 for. That's not healthcare. I do think 373 00:22:48,350 --> 00:22:51,710 that AI is going to change healthcare and I think it's gonna 374 00:22:52,100 --> 00:22:55,060 actually create some pretty amazing opportunities to 375 00:22:55,700 --> 00:22:59,380 enable providers to just focus on the care and 376 00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:02,820 we can automate the rest of it, right? So if you can automate pre authorization, 377 00:23:02,980 --> 00:23:06,620 you can automate billing and you can automate a lot of the other tasks 378 00:23:06,620 --> 00:23:10,100 that are take a lot of time and energy from the 379 00:23:10,100 --> 00:23:13,260 providers and you can make it so your only job is to do care and 380 00:23:13,260 --> 00:23:17,060 the rest of it is automated. I actually think that's a pretty extraordinary opportunity. 381 00:23:17,630 --> 00:23:21,390 So I mean, we're looking at that very carefully, right? How do I use AI 382 00:23:21,470 --> 00:23:25,270 to train our providers to offer better care more 383 00:23:25,270 --> 00:23:28,870 efficiently? There should be less burnout because they can spend less time on 384 00:23:28,870 --> 00:23:32,550 paperwork, less time fighting to get reimbursement for 385 00:23:32,550 --> 00:23:36,390 weight loss medications. Like, right. A lot of the things that they do that they 386 00:23:36,390 --> 00:23:39,110 don't really enjoy, we should be able to automate, so we should be able to 387 00:23:39,110 --> 00:23:42,590 actually just enable them to spend time on what they do, like which is actually 388 00:23:42,590 --> 00:23:45,840 talking to patients. And so I do think there are really interesting 389 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,760 technology companies or, you know, AI platform 390 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,480 companies that will be created that will enable better healthcare. So I'm 391 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,960 actually very optimistic about that. I think there's a part of that that we don't 392 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,280 talk about enough because I, I understand the hesitance toward AI as much as I 393 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,960 understood understand the, the eagerness toward it. Like I get 394 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,520 both sides of that. And I was a skeptic, I still am a skeptic, 395 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,510 but very much a skeptic of it in healthcare. But the more I get 396 00:24:11,510 --> 00:24:15,070 into some of these newer systems and again I get pitched 397 00:24:15,070 --> 00:24:17,750 stuff, not only pitch stuff, but I get asked to consult on stuff like this 398 00:24:17,750 --> 00:24:21,590 all the time. The thing that I'm coming around to, especially 399 00:24:21,590 --> 00:24:25,430 around like prior authorizations and things that you mentioned, is that, you know, my 400 00:24:25,430 --> 00:24:28,590 hesitation is always, okay, well who is this going to displace? Is this going to 401 00:24:28,590 --> 00:24:32,070 displace somebody who's needed in the healthcare system or who currently does an important role 402 00:24:32,070 --> 00:24:35,630 in the healthcare system who will no longer be important because we are creating 403 00:24:35,630 --> 00:24:39,340 these automated systems? And what I 404 00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:42,580 have found, the more I dig into this is we're, 405 00:24:42,820 --> 00:24:46,620 we're fixing things that aren't getting done anyway. Like the number of 406 00:24:46,620 --> 00:24:50,420 prior authorizations that physicians offices just don't do because they don't have the bandwidth. 407 00:24:50,420 --> 00:24:53,180 And if it's not approved, they just say it's not approved by your insurance. Even 408 00:24:53,180 --> 00:24:56,740 though there's probably a form, there's probably an appeal, there's probably another 409 00:24:56,740 --> 00:25:00,500 level that you can go to. There's probably like a line, a phone line you 410 00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:04,350 can yell into, and those things are not getting done. And that's, that's 411 00:25:04,350 --> 00:25:06,710 part of, I think that's part of the deal. Like, they do it on purpose. 412 00:25:06,710 --> 00:25:10,350 If we, if we bureaucratize this so much that you, we won't have to spend 413 00:25:10,350 --> 00:25:13,950 the money on the medicine. And I totally get that. But those 414 00:25:13,950 --> 00:25:17,470 solutions that you're talking about, what they're doing is basically 415 00:25:17,710 --> 00:25:21,550 fighting back against the bureaucracy, not against the parts of health 416 00:25:21,550 --> 00:25:25,270 care that we actually need humans involved in. Like, if a, if we don't need 417 00:25:25,270 --> 00:25:28,990 another human to ever do another prior authorization and that person can ensure 418 00:25:28,990 --> 00:25:32,660 that our patients are getting the exceptional care and the time, you know, and the 419 00:25:32,660 --> 00:25:36,260 access to things that they need faster. Like, please, let's build a system that does 420 00:25:36,260 --> 00:25:39,980 that, that prior authorizations are never something that we were supposed to have 421 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:43,540 entire people, you know, focused on within a 422 00:25:43,540 --> 00:25:47,340 healthcare organization. They are just literal bureaucracy to save 423 00:25:47,340 --> 00:25:51,140 the insurance company money. And so, like, yes, I agree with 424 00:25:51,140 --> 00:25:54,580 you. I think if we can finally find the pieces that get 425 00:25:54,580 --> 00:25:58,260 patients closer to medication without. I mean, right 426 00:25:58,260 --> 00:26:01,060 now we have a practice that we run that we have to do between three 427 00:26:01,060 --> 00:26:04,740 and four prior authorizations for a single medication. It takes 428 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:08,500 weeks, even if we get an immediate response. Because sometimes the systems 429 00:26:08,500 --> 00:26:11,780 don't notify you, sometimes they don't send the prior authorization through the right system. 430 00:26:12,020 --> 00:26:15,180 Sometimes we have to sit on the phone to find out. None of that is 431 00:26:15,180 --> 00:26:19,020 necessary. That is all healthcare bloat. And if we can throw AI at the healthcare 432 00:26:19,020 --> 00:26:21,620 bloat and actually get people access to their own care, 433 00:26:22,580 --> 00:26:26,380 I'm on board for that. So one last question before I let you go. 434 00:26:26,380 --> 00:26:29,940 And again, I so, so appreciate you giving us this time and sharing 435 00:26:29,940 --> 00:26:33,410 about what you're working on. Cause it's so important to our listeners if you meet 436 00:26:33,410 --> 00:26:37,130 somebody who, like you, maybe has an idea for a company 437 00:26:37,290 --> 00:26:41,130 that is, has never seen, you know, the, 438 00:26:41,130 --> 00:26:44,970 the marketplace has not seen anything like it before, or they're about to go on 439 00:26:44,970 --> 00:26:48,809 to their, their venture journey and they don't know where to start, 440 00:26:48,809 --> 00:26:52,490 or they're nervous. What would you say to that person who is like, 441 00:26:52,810 --> 00:26:56,650 you on day one where you had this idea, you know, you're 442 00:26:56,650 --> 00:27:00,380 going to get a lot of no's. And, and my suggestion is 443 00:27:00,380 --> 00:27:03,860 you listen to them very carefully. So don't just assume that they're 444 00:27:04,660 --> 00:27:08,500 not taking you seriously. Listen to them, listen to what they say, 445 00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:12,740 get their feedback. I think being humble and listening is actually very helpful. 446 00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:16,660 If you get insulted by the feedback, it doesn't help you. 447 00:27:16,820 --> 00:27:20,620 So my suggestion is listen really carefully to what they say. See 448 00:27:20,620 --> 00:27:24,470 if it's relevant, see if you should listen to it, follow it, 449 00:27:24,470 --> 00:27:28,270 not follow it, iterate. But you know, a lot of those 450 00:27:28,270 --> 00:27:31,870 people who turned me down at the beginning of the process gave me 451 00:27:31,950 --> 00:27:35,790 very, very valuable information and some of them 452 00:27:36,350 --> 00:27:40,109 ended up investing later. So I actually think you should be very 453 00:27:40,109 --> 00:27:43,070 excited about your idea, but you should be very humble and listen because 454 00:27:43,870 --> 00:27:47,630 those people who are turning you down, their job is mostly to turn people down, 455 00:27:47,710 --> 00:27:51,190 right? Their job is not to invest in every company. Don't be 456 00:27:51,190 --> 00:27:54,710 insulted. I think a lot of times as women, we get insulted, for example, and 457 00:27:54,710 --> 00:27:58,430 we feel hurt and we feel like, oh, they're, you know, they're sexist 458 00:27:58,430 --> 00:28:01,990 or they're this or they're this. And the truth is they're only going to make 459 00:28:01,990 --> 00:28:05,470 a few investments a year. Maybe yours is the right one. But 460 00:28:05,710 --> 00:28:09,150 I would just listen to them and see what they're saying and then keep iterating. 461 00:28:09,150 --> 00:28:12,870 And if you believe in your company, just keep building. And I think the more 462 00:28:12,870 --> 00:28:16,560 you don't get insulted and the more you just listen and just stay in 463 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,160 learning mode, the better off you are. Well, Joanna, I really super 464 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,960 appreciate it. Thank you so much for the time. It was lovely talking about 465 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,720 you. If people want more information about your practice and, and what you guys 466 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,474 do, where can they find you? Yeah, we're at join midi.com so just j o 467 00:28:31,512 --> 00:28:34,920 I n midi.com and we offer insurance covered care for women 468 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,800 for really all parts of women's health in all 50 states. 469 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,450 And now we'll go to Alison, who has this week's 470 00:28:44,450 --> 00:28:47,730 small talk. We have a question from Omar in Dearborn, 471 00:28:47,730 --> 00:28:51,450 Michigan. I'm realizing how much I've internalized 472 00:28:51,450 --> 00:28:54,570 the idea that needing support equals failure. 473 00:28:55,130 --> 00:28:58,170 Even when help is offered, I don't take it. How do you learn to accept 474 00:28:58,250 --> 00:29:00,730 support without feeling like you owe people something? 475 00:29:02,090 --> 00:29:04,170 Well, first you can ask them if you owe them anything. 476 00:29:05,770 --> 00:29:09,530 It's a really good way to like handle it right up front. 477 00:29:10,540 --> 00:29:14,220 I really appreciate you doing this for me. How can I help you back or 478 00:29:14,460 --> 00:29:17,100 what can I do in return. And if they say nothing, 479 00:29:18,140 --> 00:29:21,820 you take them to mean nothing. Because it is not 480 00:29:21,820 --> 00:29:25,460 your responsibility to repay a 481 00:29:25,460 --> 00:29:27,820 debt that they haven't told you that you have. 482 00:29:29,260 --> 00:29:33,100 That said, every single person 483 00:29:33,260 --> 00:29:36,310 in the actual world needs. Needs help. 484 00:29:37,670 --> 00:29:41,310 Every person. I use this as the example all the time because it is so 485 00:29:41,310 --> 00:29:44,790 silly, but it is so true. I run four 486 00:29:44,790 --> 00:29:47,750 companies, four very successful companies, 487 00:29:48,630 --> 00:29:52,270 all of which are doing amazing things. I am busy 488 00:29:52,270 --> 00:29:56,110 from morning till night. Some of the things that exist in my brain, this 489 00:29:56,110 --> 00:29:59,790 is not me bragging, this is just an illustration. Some of the things that 490 00:29:59,790 --> 00:30:03,600 exist in my brain exist in the brains of like 10 491 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,360 other people in the world. Because I'm that good at what I do for a 492 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,640 living. I can't run a calendar to save my 493 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,840 goddamn life. I'm physically 494 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,800 incapable of doing it. If you ask me when 495 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,600 I'm available, I'm like, I, I can maybe 496 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,400 check. I'm not sure if you want me to put an 497 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,600 actual event on the calendar. I will do it wrong. 498 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,000 I will do it wrong every time. I will forget to invite people. I will 499 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,200 put it on the wrong time. I will put it in the wrong time zone. 500 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,160 I will use the wrong video setting. All of it. I will 501 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,920 do all of it wrong. It is the simplest part of my day 502 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:45,680 and I am incapable. And everybody's 503 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:49,040 like, use a calendar integration thing or a 504 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,120 scheduling link. And I do have a couple of those, but I also have like 505 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,920 multiple calendars and multiple sets of visibility for multiple 506 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,680 people in different companies. It's so complicated. I can't run 507 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,600 a simple one. But you add that level of complexity to it. 508 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,480 Nope. So a couple years ago, I had to literally say to 509 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,520 another grown human, I am physically 510 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,240 incapable of doing this. Can you take this over for 511 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,680 me? And it was so freaking embarrassing 512 00:31:19,970 --> 00:31:23,650 because I can build a complex 513 00:31:23,970 --> 00:31:27,610 50 state entity with all of the different pieces and parts that it's 514 00:31:27,610 --> 00:31:30,770 supposed to have to be a compliant structure that has 515 00:31:31,730 --> 00:31:35,490 everything that you need, including complex licensure, 516 00:31:35,490 --> 00:31:38,930 schematics, and billings. I can do all of that, 517 00:31:39,410 --> 00:31:42,970 but I. I cannot click a button on iCal. I 518 00:31:42,970 --> 00:31:46,480 can't do it. That is a very 519 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,960 silly example of what could be a very 520 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,560 genuine need for help that you're explaining. But the point is 521 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:58,000 that everybody, even the most productive people, even the people who 522 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,920 have the biggest support systems, even the people who 523 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,240 look like they have it together all the time and never break 524 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,920 a sweat, even those people 525 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,880 need help sometimes. And sometimes we need help in way, in places that 526 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,670 are silliest things. Now I often need help in things that are very. Not 527 00:32:16,670 --> 00:32:20,510 silly. Not silly at all. This is kind of 528 00:32:20,510 --> 00:32:24,110 calendar related, but one of the times that my mom got sick and I was 529 00:32:24,110 --> 00:32:26,750 like literally running to the emergency room in the middle of the night, I had 530 00:32:26,750 --> 00:32:29,550 to call our chief clinical officer and be like, 531 00:32:30,510 --> 00:32:33,270 I have no idea what needs to happen tomorrow, but I can't do any of 532 00:32:33,270 --> 00:32:37,030 it. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I don't know what I'm responsible 533 00:32:37,030 --> 00:32:39,230 for. I don't know what my day is going to be like. I don't know 534 00:32:39,230 --> 00:32:42,640 if I'm going to have access to my phone. I have no idea. So 535 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,640 you've got to figure it out. And she just was like, okay, I got it, 536 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,400 no problem. But that was like. That was not 537 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,160 a. I'm silly and my brain's weird and I 538 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,560 can't do this thing. That was a real, genuine need 539 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,520 in the middle of a real crisis where I needed to be able to say 540 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,920 to somebody, I need help and I need you to 541 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,360 just do it, make the decisions, take care of the things. 542 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,920 I will trust you, whatever you can do. And had she not 543 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,600 done that, the fallout from me just ghosting 544 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,280 for several days while dealing with this family thing could have been 545 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,559 really bad. There was a ton of stuff on the schedule, a ton of really 546 00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:26,360 important stuff that we needed to be doing. And, like, do I pay her 547 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:30,000 to be in that role? Absolutely. But I very much could 548 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,680 have tried to juggle both things because as the 549 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,400 leader of the company, I should be able to figure all this stuff out. And 550 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,520 I have. No. No. I needed help. 551 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,680 And there was no way I was getting through that week without help, 552 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,120 despite the fact that I can do a whole lot of shit without any 553 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:53,280 assistance and put in long days and 554 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,520 love working and love being productive and love getting things done. There 555 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:01,240 was no way that I was getting through that period without help. 556 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,800 And that is not a failure. That is a reality. 557 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,280 That is not something that I did wrong. That is a situation that I was 558 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:12,040 thrown into, which is probably very similar to what most people are 559 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:15,840 experiencing. It's not something you did. It's something that is happening around 560 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,600 you or to you or whatever. And asking for 561 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,040 help is in no way a failure and in no way 562 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,800 weakness. In fact, what it does is it builds your network stronger. And then 563 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,539 when that person needs something, when they need somebody who is reliable and 564 00:34:30,539 --> 00:34:33,859 who will show up and who will fill need like they did for you, 565 00:34:34,099 --> 00:34:37,899 they'll know that it's you. And at no point has she come 566 00:34:37,899 --> 00:34:41,739 back to me since really heroically jumping in and just sorting 567 00:34:41,739 --> 00:34:45,059 the shit out. Has she come back to me and reminded me that she 568 00:34:46,179 --> 00:34:49,939 did this for me and that now there was a list of things that 569 00:34:49,939 --> 00:34:53,299 I need to do for her? She would never. But that's not the relationship. She. 570 00:34:53,299 --> 00:34:57,040 I needed help, she did the help. There's no tab left for that. And 571 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,160 at some point, if she has a thing that she needs help with, she'll come 572 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,880 to me and I'll just be like, done. That's what you do. So ask 573 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,720 for help. Figure out how to ask for help. Now, if 574 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:11,360 you need help and you don't know how to ask for 575 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,000 help, you can start a conversation 576 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,520 by saying, you know, with somebody who you trust, who you think would be helpful 577 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,800 by saying something like, I'm drowning and I 578 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,720 need some. Somebody to help me with something, but I don't know what it is. 579 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,000 And let that person tell you what things they can help with, 580 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,280 because that's a real reality of needing help, is that sometimes the 581 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,800 ask in and of itself is so overwhelming because there's so much that you don't 582 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,600 know where to start. Let that person weigh in. Sure, I'll be happy to 583 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,040 help. How can I. Can I clear your calendar? Can I make a phone call 584 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,760 for you? Can I call so and so and then start 585 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,880 ticking things off the list by not adding any additional emotional 586 00:35:52,350 --> 00:35:55,710 labor to yours? Thanks for being here, guys. Have a good day. Love you. Mean 587 00:35:55,710 --> 00:35:56,030 it. 588 00:36:01,390 --> 00:36:05,150 Don't give me fucking homework. I got 589 00:36:05,150 --> 00:36:07,710 all my degrees. I did the homework.