Dr Jo Watkins: Business Coach and Mentor for Medics

It’s happening.

Well.. it’s happened.

It’s live

Link in bio.
portia were bloody wonderful. Their podcast interviews plus a special expert session with Tracey Jones from Inspire to Outstand are all live.

Thanks to the awesome for the graphics and for putting up with my garbled voice notes and generally being a legend

When one of your amazing Medic clients sends you a message from a conference for female founders having hosted the first of her group sessions to help people with her specific area of medical expertise, from the event on Zoom and feels totally comfortable being there with some incredible female founders…

Without one bit of imposter syndrome, knowing she needs to continue to take messy, imperfect action towards her goals…

That’s why I do what I do.
You know who you are.

Medics don’t take lunch breaks.

Yup, I know.

But we should.

And this is a perfect reason to do so.

“September Reset: New Start, New You, New Momentum” Therapeutic Journalling workshop with

TODAY! Wednesday 4th September 1-1.30pm.

It might be just what you need… Zoom details are below and we will send a reminder on the day.

DM me before 12.50pm and I’ll send you the zoom code!

PS. You can even bring your lunch.

Free Therapeutic Journalling Lunchtime Workshop with me and our expert journalling coach

Give it a try…

Just 30 mins on Wednesday 4th September
1-1.30pm

“September Reset: New Start, New You, New Momentum”

It might be just what you need… DM for the Zoom details.

Photo: Tremerchion, North Wales because it’s beautiful and it took Tanya Lynch and myself about 6 years to realise that our parents both live there!

There are two big birthdays in my world this week.

Big decade type ones.
Today is the first one.

Loved celebrating last Friday with you to celebrate this legend turning 50 with .thomas

We met via the wonders of the inter web 9 years ago and have stood by each other on every twist and turn of entrepreneurship since. Happy birthday to the awesome

“Really loved yesterday’s journalling session.
Thank you so much for that little space for self reflection”.

Some lovely feedback from yesterdays free lunchtime journalling session with

Most of the medics and healthcare professionals I work with like the idea of journalling, know how good it can be for you but don’t give themselves the time.

In fact, quite often we don’t give ourselves the time to do much just for us.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone else. Comment below YES (realise my DM’s were unreliable - for an 8 minute recording of the prompts we used)

But, journalling is one of those powerfully transformational practices that can spark creative ideas, get you through blocks in your thinking and help you work through the hardest of situations.

To learn more follow here or on Substack and look out for our monthly free journalling events to give it a go yourself

This was the best possible way to finish this academic year. Chatting with Alex Deeks from The Princes Trust about the impact figures and outcomes from the incredible pilot collaborative girls programme that has reached 4 schools and over 60 teenage girls in Wales this academic year.

Bringing a project to life is a long process.

Starting, tweaking, learning, listening, delivering, tweaking repeat.

We’ve always said if one person benefits from our content each time it’s delivered then that’s a win.

And that’s happened.
Many times over.

Ok. Now it’s time to switch off for a little bit.

Bring on next year.

Went to look for some baking powder to make a banana cake with some very brown bananas.

We don’t have any.

We do however have an industrial supply of bicarbonate of soda should anyone require some.

Note to self.

Never go out for a walk on a sunny day, through long grass, without sunglasses or taking antihistamines two hours before you go live on Zoom to give a talk.

Mmmmm. Looking forward to seeing some of you sporting my attractive puffy, red eyes at 1pm today.

Register via link in bio. For all medics and healthcare professionals embarking on a side hustle, personal brand or business.

PS. My very good friend and travel loving GP is also hosting a workshop today straight after mine at 2pm. If you also love adventures with your kids as much as we do, please sign up and if you can’t make it live you will get the recording. I’ll link both in the comments below.

Next week is a double ‘Open Mic’ week. Free Q&A chats on Monday 24th 1-1.45pm and Thursday 27th 1-1.45pm.

I’ll be talking about business and niche along with taking questions. Sign up via the link in bio or share with anyone who maybe interested.

Failure = Learning
Simple.

Sometimes people in my world share things that stop me in my tracks. Dr. Carlos Saba has history with this.

The graphics, design and messaging is always spot on.

A few weeks ago he shared this journey.

I could literally write days and dates next to each stage over the last 15 or so years.

Entrepreneurship is not quick, easy and straightforward. It’s the most incredible twisty turny path that needs to be enjoyed along the way.

It’s absolutely 💯 not just about the destination or the end goal.

Your journey matters.

Your ups, downs and learning along the way.
Thank you Dr. Carlos Saba and a big thank you to Claire Perry-Louise for bringing such an incredible group of entrepreneurs and leaders together to learn together, laugh together and lean on each other each week.

On a Friday.

*which is also the title of one very good business book written by us all at available now on Amazon

When your helpers go rogue 😂

Organised chaos today for me today.

This sort of thing should not be allowed without the watchful eye of my finer detail/better half organisational buddies in life.

Big friends get togethers
The HOW People
Digital Doctor stuff
Family trip packing of any sort

The van is nearly packed.

Mobile library ✔️
Book case for mobile library ✔️
Giant post it notes ✔️
Magazines and scissors ✔️
Fairy lights ✔️
Candies ✔️
Lists about lists ✔️
A Chinese Bamboo Ladder ✔️

It’s an eclectic boot of items.

First stop tomorrow and on the M4 for pick ups then we are off.

Seems like yesterday when I had a conversation while fully clothed in thermals in a sauna in Canada talking to on Zoom about doing a retreat in Bala and throwing this Canva together and all the spaces going within 3 weeks.

Messy imperfect action taken and now it’s here.

The mobile library and office supply box is being packed up, ready for the trip to North Wales on Friday, for the first ever, sold out Mindset, Marketing and Mountains Retreat/Adventure weekend in Bala, North Wales.

A weekend of workshops, community, wholesome homemade food and connection in nature with a group of like minded medics who are at various stages along the journey into starting their own personal brand, side hustle or business.

Collaborating with some incredible young people who are rising to the challenge of catering and photography along with three amazing humans: Dr Emma Presern , who will be taking us on a guided adventure walk, Dr Fiona McHardy hosting early morning yoga sessions and Tanya Lynch who will be leading us in journalling sessions over the weekend.

I am taking some business and lifestyle books for people to thumb through in the sunshine (manifesting a weekend like the one we have just had across the UK) plus a few that started us on this journey to introduce more freedom and flexibility into our family life.

And of course there are plenty of Post-it notes of all shapes and sizes.

Can you spot any of your favourite books there?
and more importantly... what am I missing?

For the past 4 days my time has been challenged by external factors beyond my control which means the priorities and what I can actually do in a day have had to change.

So I have to rethink things.

In the time that I do have, what are my priorities.

Yes, there is an endless to do list, but what are the 1% of things that I need to get done today.

Life gets in the way of what we want to do sometimes and throws us curved balls.

Control what you can control.

Do only the essentials.
Delegate stuff.
Delete stuff.
Defer stuff to a time when things are calmer.

[Photo. Home made sausage rolls from a few weeks ago. Zero baking going on this weekend!]

The dangers of being left to my own devices to run a retreat, without the watchful eye of , involves a ridiculous number of Post-it notes and a valdalised receipts from making sure the Sharpies all work.

[Don’t worry I’d already taken a photo of the receipt and uploaded it into my expenses notes file under R for retreat expenses, I promise 😉]

I am not here to tell you to leave Medicine.
I am not here to tell you to stay in Medicine.

I am not here to tell you that entrepreneurship is easy.
I am not here to tell you how to earn 6 figures from doing something for an hour a week (let me know if anyone has the magic ingredient for this 😉)

I am here to give you a balanced opinion.

To tell you about the pros and the cons.
The ups and the downs.

The real life, down and dirty reality of combining medicine with a purposeful business or side hustle.

And then to be able to support you along the way when you are ready to do this.

If you would like to receive the 15 minute recording of my talking about the pros and the cons along with the steps to take you from ‘Powerless to Purposeful’ as a Medical Entrepreneur then send me a quick DM and I will send you the recording.

Almost felt a little bit like summer tonight.

A swim with a seal and these two .landers who could’ve stayed in for hours to finish off a lovely weekend.

Hope you’ve all had a good one too.

I am very sociable and very antisocial at the same time somehow.

I think I’ve become an introverted extrovert as I have got older.

This weekend we had a very rare night out on Saturday with great old friends.

Nothing more energising than that at the time, but not the next day.

While pitch side on Sunday for a hockey tournament, I would normally take a walk, check my emails, make sure I had my list ready for Monday work, send some voice notes, make a phone call to Mum, or a friend I need to catch up with, during the breaks between games.

But yesterday I didn’t have it in me, so I didn’t.

I just chatted to really lovely people.

Really, really lovely people that I would never have connected with had I been ‘too busy’ with all the things I would normally do.

Using the ‘pockets of time’ that we get in our lives wisely is really important as so much time is wasted as we scroll and faff and procrastinate but talking to people, connecting with people in real life and chatting is never time wasted and it was really important for me to have that reminder.

1. I talked to another mum who has three really different kids with different passions and needs about how important it is not to put our kids in a box and explore their own interests as they grow up and go through the school system that tends to put them in boxes.

2. I met a couple from one of the opposition teams who it turns out have friends who have just bought the house next to my mother in law and they told me what lovely humans they are and will be great neighbours and keep an eye on her.

3. I chatted to a Dad who knew we had just returned from Canada and mentioned that his nephew is working in a wildlife sanctuary in Northern BC and will probably stay there. We looked it up together to see where it was and it is in the same small town in BC where some of our cousins live so we will go there one day and say hi and I’d imagine our wildlife mad 11 year old might do some volunteer work there one day.

No emails.
No voice notes.
No lists.

Just chats.
Great chats.

I never thought I’d ever, ever be sharing a photo of my breakfast and a recipe on LinkedIn or Instagram but there is a strange irony in this, given my first proper business a breakfast cereal called Bendylegs Granola

I’ve had lots of messages and comments asking about it this week so here it is!

Beach Porridge (first eaten in a beach shack cafe in Sri Lanka hence the name)

1. Cook your Oats 
Oats of your choice - I prefer Jumbo Oats
Milk of your choice.
Cook in Microwave as per instructions.
Stir.

Add some more milk to your preferred consistency - some like wallpaper paste some like it more liquidy.

2. Add your Nuts

Grab a hand full of any or all of these and then stir in to cooked porridge

- Chopped whole almonds
- Chopped walnuts
- Chopped pecans
- Sunflower seeds
- Chia seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Ground linseeds

3. Add your Fruit

Chop any fruit of your choice on top
Bananas, Blueberries, Raisins, Goji Berries etc

4. Add a bit of milk, dash of Maple Syrup or Agave Syrup or brown sugar to taste

5. You might need to heat it up a bit at the end. I’ve never enjoyed a bowl of porridge in my life before discovering this.

Every month we host an expert within our Start up community of amazing doctors and healthcare professionals.

Sharing expert advice, tips, tricks, ideas, inspiration, experience, stories, passion and more.

There are always nuggets of gold.

Yesterday was no exception as the wonderful Su Dodd talked to us about our ‘Marketing Mix’ especially important to anyone starting out who feels totally overwhelmed and pressurised to do all the ‘things’

Procrastination is something we are all guilty of from time to time but, telling people about your business and what you are doing when you are a medic and you’ve always been a medic and the thought of sales and marketing brings you out in a florid rash….well, that brings procrastination by the bucket load.

The magic cure?

Action.
Doing it anyway.

Feeling the discomfort and blasting through to the other side.
Doing a Mel. 5,4,3,2,1

But also.

Remember.
If it just doesn’t feel right it’s ok to not to do it.
You don’t have to do it.

You. Do. You.
That’s totally fine.

At risk of trying to look like some sort of annoying, menopausal influencer, I’m committing to a few things for 6 weeks after 3 months of being in a different time zone, meaning working on Zoom between 6-8.30am every morning and not having proper walks.

I will be posting pictures of my breakfast daily.. (only kidding)

These are my personal morning commitments to myself.

Maybe writing them down here is my first step.

All done for today ✔️
Boom 💥

- Water first drink of the day
- 45 min walk first thing x 4 a week
- Green Tea for first cup of tea
- Only one (really good) coffee a day
- Beach Porridge (with all the good stuff in it) every morning

Beautiful green, lamb filled North Wales for 48 hours

Try loudly.
Fail loudly.
Do it again.

Love this share from today.

So many people get stuck thinking others have it all worked out.
They don’t.
They just aren’t afraid to fail.

Thank you to the awesome tanyalynchpin for your guided journalling today within our group on procrastination and fear of failure.

Medicine and Entrepreneurship.

Both super tough, fulfilling, incredible and rewarding.

But, it’s a transition that needs different skills (along with some of the same skills which is great news)

Anyone got anything to add to these?

👉 Learn from others one or two steps ahead of you on the entrepreneurial journey.

👉 Build genuine, connections and relationships with others. Business needs to have authentic relationships at its core.

👉 Be clear with your messaging and consistent with your posting.

👉 Be kind and help others out.

👉 Work out who you help and how you help them.

👉 Always be good to people, say thank you and show your appreciation for others.

👉 Be coachable and open your mind to possibilities and new ideas. Never think you know it all. You don’t.

👉 Be fast to take action to get things going and be quick to change tack if needed.

👉 Develop an experimental attitude to business. Take messy, scrappy imperfect steps and see how things go.

👉 Act on growing momentum.

👉 Don’t be afraid of getting it wrong. These are learnings not mistakes.

👉 What and who got you here isn’t going to get you there. You need different people at different times.

👉 There is no such thing as failure. It is all part of the process.

👉 Never stop growing.

👉 Small changes repeated over time have a massive impact.

👉 Community matters. Find people who will have your back and pick you up when things are tough. Medicine is tough yes. Business and running your own business is also super tough.

👉 New things feel hard because they are new, you aren’t supposed to be good at them straight away. This stuff needs practice.

👉 Learn when to say ‘Yes’
👉 Learn when to say ‘No’

👉 Be patient. If business is for you then try, try and try again. If it isn’t a fit, then try, recognise and return to something that is for you with a new enthusiasm and appreciation.

👉 Have hopes, dreams and plans for the future and make decisions that align with what you want your life to look like…

There is nothing I love more than helping people find their purpose and do something different.

If you would like to know more or feel like you need a hand ping me a DM.

Got a question about how to navigate the journey from medicine to creating your own business, side hustle or personal brand?

Join me today Monday 2.45pm and Tuesday 8pm.

I’ll be chatting ideas and inspiration, customers and content plus the business essentials.

Link in bio.

I’ll be telling you about an opportunity to join my programme for Medics and healthcare professionals and for those those that attend live there’ll be a super special bonus available.

Come to one or all and anyone registered will receive the recordings.

If it’s not for you but you know someone who would benefit please let them know.

Late night working this end.

Slightly bizarre and uncomfortable watching and listening to myself on Zoom while in a switched off sauna answering questions live in the Q&A at the at 1.51am.

featuring our tasteful towelling robe/snow boots combo 😂