Welcome to the Heart Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love. Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second. From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism. So buckle up and let's go. Let your heart guide your business journey.

Well, as we welcome the prime duchess of prose, the marquess of medical mastery, Dr. Aimee Duffy. With a bookshelf brimming with bestsellers and a cape of commendable credentials, she's a phenomenal lady who packs a playful punch. She's turned tired list into triumph and transform many from sickly to spirited. Get ready heart led listeners to meet the mirthful mom, merited medic, and masterful maverick who's making magic in the medicine world. Stay tuned for a terrific tantalizing talk with our guest, Dr. Aimee Duffy. Dr. Duffy, welcome to the show.

Hello. Thank you. What an awesome introduction. Very poetic. I might have to steal it.

One of my favorite prose writing is alliteration, but it's so difficult to speak.

One of my favorite quotes and words of recent is the multitudes. And, I mean, that's really where I feel like I'm growing, I've probably been there my whole life in terms of just constantly doing a whole bunch of different things. But that's really. Really kind of resonated with me lately is all these multitudes of different things that are happening and, sort of coming out of the universe out of nowhere for some of it. So that's very powerful. And so when I'm listening to your words in the intro, it was brought that to mind, Oh, wow, I am doing all these different things. And, part of what we're talking about today is how, if you lead with your heart and what do they say, like you, if you love what you don't work a day in your life. And hopefully that's the goal for a lot of people.

Absolutely. So speaking of that, what would be your definition of a heart led business?

Passionate about, that you're making a difference for people I'm not going to say that it's always easy by any means, but that are, our ultimate goal, I mean, for me, both in working with patients, what I've learned over the years and what has always, been In the drive, for lack of a better word, even if I'm not really conscious of it is I want to change lives. I, as a very young girl at age 18 I was offered or an invitation to watch the live birth of one of the families that I babysat for. And so I was a senior in high school. Like I, I wanted to go to med school and I really thought I was going to be a pediatrician because I just loved babies and loved kids in that, I was just a babysitter. That was my job forever. But when I saw that birth, I was like, man, this is a whole new world. Like I want to deliver babies. This is what I want to do. So that's what I did. I went to med school, college, med school residency. Since then I've delivered a hundred babies. I mean over a thousand babies, sorry in my career, got C section privileges. Transitioned from that. I mean, I had four babies of my own, so, kept life busy there for sure. So it got to a point where when you're not delivering babies in women's health care, you are seeing women right in kind of the GYN world and they're having all their, menopausal issues or weight gain or fatigue or whatever the issues are. And I really started feeling like I needed to take care of them better than kind of what traditional medicine was providing with antidepressants and birth control pills. That was really our two options, right? So that's when I started really doing a lot more in this functional medicine world. Which led me to open my own practice, which led me to really get to sort of what, why people were feeling the way they feel. And I think once I was able to understand it for myself and helping them The more it came out that it was more important for me to help them to understand the why. So a lot of what I do is education, which gives them, empowerment. I really want to help empower people to, understand why they feel the way they feel so that when I'm making suggestions, everybody knows we should eat better, right? And cheeseburgers and french fries are not the best diet. But, nobody knows why, or they know, okay, that's high in calories or whatever, but when they really start to understand. So for me, and the reason I'm kind of bringing this all together is that I started this career, bringing life into the world, right? With delivering babies. And now I feel like I restore life to those who have lost it. And to have that experience, I mean, when we do testimonial videos for people who have worked with us for several months, I mean, it just gives you chills every time when they describe what they were experiencing, what they were feeling before they started working with us. I mean, just not living, they're in survival mode, barely get up, to get through their day, can't function, feel stressed because they think. Either they're going to get fired from their job or they just can't, they can't function in their job like they used to. These high performers that are like, I can't focus anymore. I'm getting irritable at meetings and not acting like myself. Right? Or, with their family, they're not taking care of their loved ones the way that they want to. Moms that just, are so sad because they're not being the moms that they want to be. To see the transformation of living life again and not only getting through their day, but actually finding time to have fun. I want it to be Cindy Lauper girls that want to have fun, right? Like, it's not just about getting through your day or surviving. And, so I hope I'm answering your question. I mean, so, so for me, yes, I have to run a business but my business is I need to stay afloat so I can keep the doors open so that I can see as many people as I possibly can. And now what it's transitioned into is that it can't just be all me because, I don't have enough time in my day, in my week, in my month to see as many patients that need our help, right? So that, that leads you into building a team that has as much passion as you do. And the team needs to know where you're coming from. So I share my story. I've written books and my team reads my books because they need to understand what we're doing and why we're doing it. And the more they see that, then the more we can help as many people as we possibly can.

I think that's a really important point that you brought up as well. When you're leading a team, you need everybody aligned with the heart led business that you want to ultimately grow and that's a great way of getting them all, all together on one common thread is having them read your books. So I think that's great.

Read my book and then read other books that, resonate with me for sure. Like your book is really helpful. And I know that at least three or four of our team members so far, they're passing it around. So, it's definitely part of our team as well. And, when you look back at when I first started, I think definitely, I mean, the passion was there in terms of what I wanted to do. And the office that I was in was an OBGYN office that was getting ready to be bought out by the hospital system. And, we know that's, the way medicine is going these days, but the way, you know, I definitely didn't want to go and be sort of controlled by the system. So I knew that I wanted a different way to help my patients, but I didn't know anything about business. I mean, this was four years after residency and like, I had zero idea, and my brain was like, I don't want to think about numbers and dollars. I want to take care of people, right? And so, so I had to have some help. And I think that's a huge part of lessons learned in business is you've got to have a support system. It's the who, not how many entrepreneurs have read that book. But even then, I think in the beginning that, that help was somebody that I needed for sure to get the business going, but it was still a lot about business, a lot about numbers and, the more patient, we've got to take all insurance and all everybody, the more patients you get in here, the more successful you're going to be. And I think that's where, when I'm mentoring practitioners that are coming out of the insurance model and into, something that's going to be more helpful for them, they're still stuck in that. Like I've got to keep seeing these patients because that's where the bills get paid and, it's hard for them to let go of that.

Yeah. So when did you make the transition from traditional OBGYN insurance model care to integrative functional medicine?

It was a very slow transition and, if I could've done it much quicker so I kind of drug it out a little bit. So initially I continued seeing, I continued accepting insurance, but I had kind of this membership where, it was sort of an administrative allowing us to to take, take more time with patients and we kind of had to separate, we'll take care of physical exams and sick visits and lab work on the insurance model, but our wellness visits are going to be, in this different model. So I did that for a couple of years and it was fine, but it was really confusing for everybody and our staff and everything. So it was really In 2020 during, the year of craziness that I just made that transition to say, we've got to, we've got to let insurance go. And it's because insurance was holding us back. It wasn't, it's not the system that's there to help us really get to the root cause and help people. Like I said, education, empowering, it doesn't give us the time that we need to spend with people. And really insurance is just a sick model. So it's there for sick, but it's really not there for us to get well.

I like the old meme that I've seen where the doctor's like, well, let me figure out the diagnosis code for your disease. Why do you think you took a long time to transition? What was the mindset back then?

I think it's that fear that, really, when you think about a lot of people and read stories of people who are really successful whether it's in business or whether it's in, anything like athletics or something. I mean, it's, those are people that are outside of the box, right? Like these are the people that are, that are doing something different. And I think it's hard, that's a scary thing to do. And most people that are starting their own business, one, I mean, that's such a small percentage of the population that even get to that point and I still hear it today, I mean, I get a lot of people asking, like, why don't you take insurance. I have great insurance with my work or whatever the case is, why can't I use that? And it, it's always a conversation because that's what the norm is and I think you feel guilt sometimes that you're not, sort of taking care of that system for some reason. Like that's just, people will spend all kinds of money on the gym and on, food delivery services and organics and all that kind of stuff. But when it comes to their healthcare, they're like, they feel like they already pay the premium and they just want to pay their 30 copay or whatever. And it takes a lot again of education and understanding and a lot of people who come to me have been frustrated in that system and recognize that, they're not getting the answers that they want from there, or, they're not getting the offer of appropriate treatment where it's just, here's your pill, off you go until I see you back again in six months for seven minutes, right? I think for me, I just held onto it for a long time. I mean, I thought, is there a way that I could, support both? And like I said, that's what we tried for a couple of years and then realized that it was still kind of holding us back. So, 2020 was a crazy year because that was, a big year of transition for a lot of us. But yeah, finally, I just said we've, and when it goes back to team, I mean, 2020 was, stressful for a lot of people. And, for me at this point in time, I have no team members that I had back then, like it's all been a transition and not that I went and fired everybody, but people left for different reasons. And I remember having a conversation. With my office manager during COVID. And she was like, why don't you open up to be, sick care and let's just see 29 patients a day that have COVID and we can take care of them. And I just was like, that's an obvious place where she didn't get what we were trying to do. I didn't want to just be the, the urgent care mill of throwing prescriptions out to people. Like, when we're taking care of COVID, it's more, let's take care of your own immune system. So it can, it can function the way it needs to. So, that was a tough time there of like, how do we keep pushing through this? And again, going back to that passion. And even if I haven't been conscious of it, but you know, I've had this business now for 13 years and I filed for bankruptcy. I've, went through the insurance model. I've done all kinds of stuff. And there was never a moment where I felt like I got to shut the doors. It was always just. Let me figure it out. Let me find a support person, a consultant, a coach, somebody that's going to help me, find what's missing or find what I need to tweak a little bit so that we can make it better. And even now, I mean, I had a long meeting with my staff yesterday saying, Hey, how can we make this 10 percent better? And I think listening to Shoot, I can't think of his name off the top of my head, but the 10x is better than 2x, that you don't want to just sit there and be complacent with where you are, because, you're not going to be able to change and grow, and I feel like, you want to make sure your systems are in place so that when you add something new, it doesn't just, reek havoc on, on your team. But you know, I'm always looking for how can we make it better. And make it better for our patients. And then, what we've talked about before this idea of multitudes is that, okay, I'm a doctor. I'm a physician. I'm a mentor. I'm a coach, for our patients. But now what's happening is I have people coming to me who are providers who see, what I'm doing and the success I'm having in my business and taking care of our patients that they're like, Hey, How can I do that too? So, this has become this whole new aspect of business of, coaching and teaching other providers. And, I want to touch as many lives as I possibly can. That's why I'm here, doing podcasts. I go on TV, I speak, on stages. And that's not just to, make my head bigger and promote me. It's about, if somebody is listening to this and they go, huh, what's this functional medicine thing? What's this integrative thing? If I'm on TV in Sacramento, California, I'm not looking for patients in Sacramento, California. I don't have a license there, right? That's not what that's about. It's about if that person heard, that TV segment and then went and Googled and found a doctor that maybe is kind of like me in that area, then, would they be able to change their life and get some help with what they're looking for? I don't want to have the mill of just, thousands of patients coming through. I want to be able to really optimize what I'm doing and focus on that. But then how can that expand to other areas so we can touch as many lives as possible?

That's beautiful because reviewing some of the testimonials that you've received, one of the main themes that goes through that is this is the first time that some of these patients have been heard by a medical provider, truly heard. And that's amazing that, you can have such an effect on people and then multiply that across, other providers and just, the media empire that you are creating for yourself as well, which I think is just absolutely amazing. And then you touched on a couple of points about, taking care of the people and that wasn't. Really your words, my words. But when you put people first, what does that do for your business? Do you think?

I think it escalates it for sure. I mean, when you create a system, like, like for instance, just to give you an example, I mean, we have wellness programs, right? And part of the reason that works so well and whether you have an insurance model or say you're not in the insurance business, but you're in what we still call fee for service, right? So, you come in and you make a payment, let's say it's a 200 payment for an office visit. And then, I'm seeing the patient, I say, okay, here's your labs and here's, what I want you to do. And then follow up in six weeks, follow up in, three months, whatever. And they may, have had some benefit with that small amount that we did, right? So their brain is going, I feel good. I don't think I need to spend another 200 on the next appointment to follow up. Or, I feel better after three months of taking these supplements, so I'm going to stop taking them now because I didn't, I don't need them anymore. And then what happens, is six months later, here they are back again, worse off than they were when they first saw you because they didn't follow up. And I'm answering your question in a backwards way, but when you put it together in a program where they just, you know, it's an all inclusive experience. So we're here, whenever, if ever you've experienced an all inclusive vacation or something like that, it's like your brain is just about having fun. It's about the experience. It's about the result that you want. It's not about how much does this drink cost? How much does this excursion cost? That kind of stuff. And so when we put that together in, in a wellness program for somebody they're done thinking about how much. The little things cost. How, how much does a supplement cost? How much is this office visit? Or, people are like, I don't think I need coaching. What do I need coaching for? I know what I'm doing and you don't know what you don't know, right? So to be able to put that together and take care of the people means providing them the things that they don't even know what they need. And then again, education time with them. So our office visits are an hour. I mean most patients in their programs, they get three or four of those in just a short period of time, six months, nine months, something like that, which, most people see their doctor twice a year, maybe, and they get seven to 10 minutes, right? Unless they have an urgent need for something.

In an hour in the waiting room?

Yeah, an hour in the waiting room and seven minutes with the provider and half of that time they're typing on their, computer. So, it's again, the quality of time that we spend with them, but also, the time that we spend behind the scenes to create that wellness plan for them, that program for them, the time I have spent in educating myself in terms of, the more intensive labs that we do, but then that then requires me to take the time to educate my staff on what this is and, what we're doing. And so, we hear all the time, again, in our testimonials and things about how much the patients see how our team really works together. And we're all kind of aware, of what's going on. So in, in that business, and I know you have a big team. I don't know how often you guys talk, but I feel like when I talk to anybody on your team, everybody knows what's going on, right? Like, they all know me and I feel like my team is the same way. That if we have a patient, asking a question or whatever, everybody is aware of who that patient is. They're aware of what, what their struggles are or what their achievements have been. So that constant communication with your team lets the patients know that they, that we care, we're paying attention. It's not, if you've ever experienced, you call a, I'm thinking about like orthopedics for instance, right? Like, And that doctor that you maybe saw for your knee pain a year ago is now your doctor, but that doctor's out, out on vacation that week. And you're not allowed to see any other, but any other doctor in that business, right? And it's such a strange model where it's kind of, you're owned by this practitioner owned by this practitioner. You can only talk to the nurse associated with that doctor. And if they're busy or whatever, like you're just not getting an answer. And you, you've got to lead, you've got to lead your team. And for many people, as entrepreneurs, they might be starting by themselves and they are their team. Well, that's great because you know everything about everything, right? And eventually you'll just start figuring out what's, what are those things that you could hire somebody else to do. Right? And then you start that. Slowly over time is what's, what's something that somebody else could do that. It doesn't require me doing it. And you just begin to build that team. I mean, I started with a team of two, I had myself and a nurse, and then I had, eventually a front office person. And then I hired an office manager to start, taking care of the business part of things after I finished with my consultant. Right? So now have a team of 13 people. And it's a great team. And I don't know what the future is. I mean, I'm not looking to be a huge corporation with 500 team members by any means. But that's the next step is how I always tell people that we're never going to say we're not accepting new patients, because that means, there's people out there that I can't help. And so if we get saturated to the point where we can't take care of people, then that's time to hire a new provider, right? A new little squad that, that may be helping to support more patients. So we're always growing.

That's amazing. The people part that you just brought up, taking care of your own people, resonates with them taking care of the patient ultimately as well. So if you're able to take care of your own people, then we'll be able to take care of the client. That's great. What one piece of advice would you give to a heartled wannabe entrepreneur that's struggling with, I got to make money. I got to eat at night and sleep indoors. But I have this passion for this particular business.

I was just on a week long retreat where it was myself and another practitioner who were teaching other practitioners, again, helping coaching, I guess I should say more so than teaching, but and so many of them just don't know their worth, and I'm sure that takes time. But Especially in the medical field. I mean, other fields, obviously, people are expecting to spend money, but in this field, like again, we mentioned, so many people have their insurance and, just want to pay 30 for their co pay for asking for money is a whole new thing, and we were taught in med school and residency and whatnot, we don't talk about money, it's just, here's what you need. And, we're going to Let the front desk or the insurance take care of it. Right? And I think if you develop a product, like for instance, a wellness program and you understand what that worth is, what the patients are going to get from that whatever the case is, when you're thinking about what your, what your goals are to help that person. And then I don't know if I'm getting it out right, but spending some time really understanding what your worth is and being comfortable with asking for that. So, back to this, I'm listening to the 10 X audio book right now. So, I mean, that's in my head, but it's like, you've got to be able to what am I trying to say? I don't want to help less people. I want to help as many people as I can but do it in a way that's not requiring you more work. And. When I talk to entrepreneurs and other practitioners who are trying to get into this, again, there's, they're so stuck in like, I don't have time because I have to see so many patients, and the thought process is like, if you were charging a little bit more for each patient, then you would have more time for them, but also you're going to have more time for yourself. So if you can see, instead of seeing 40 patients a day, if you can see 10 patients a day, but you're actually charging them. More than you would have charged for that 40, 40 patients altogether, then you're not only are you making more money, which is a goal in a business, right? But you're being more effective. This is not the area and this type of business, whether it's medical or whatever heart led business you have, this is not the place to be cheap. This is not the place to, make yourself a commodity and try to stress yourself out by seeing so many people whatever your clients.

Yeah,

You can't provide an effective outcome for them if you don't have time to spend with them. And that's why the insurance model is broken, right? Because they're, practitioners are having to spend so much time. But in any business, think about fast food, for instance, compared to like a really nice restaurant, right? I mean, like they're just strolling through it and maybe you don't recognize it, but one, the customer service is not great, but two, the food is not good for you, right? And your experience is such a, they don't even know who you are. And, you end up at a nicer restaurant where they recognize you maybe because you've been there a few times and, I don't know if that's the best example, but I mean, people can relate to that, right? Or, even going to store, going to Walmart versus going to, a nicer store, one, you're going to get better quality stuff. You can buy, the same spatula at Walmart every year because it breaks, or you can get a nice one, for your kitchen, that's going to last you a lifetime.

That's such a great analogy. Just know your worth, know the product that you are and charge what it's worth. I mean, and the analogy of buying a new spatula every year is that hits close to home.

When I first started doing these wellness programs I charged, I had two different programs, one was like 3000 something and one was like 5, 600. And I just thought that was, exorbitant. And it took me, it took me some coaching to be comfortable with that. And then it took me a couple of years to go up into the 8, 000 range. And just to give you an example, now our programs are 15,000, 18,800 and 25,000. And, I made the 25, 000 one just to be a place, a placeholder, really? I just wanted to have this higher end one so that, in, in the marketing, theory, you want three options so that people choose the middle one most of the time. And then all of a sudden I had patients that were like, well, I want that. And then all of a sudden I had to go, oh, okay, what's included in this program. That's going to make it, make it feel value. And again, a lot of the value is coming from time spent with us. So those are the patients that get to see me, and, get my more of my time. So that definitely adds value there. But that's something that has taken a long time for me and so again, another piece of advice is there's some connection between business coaching and then like life coaching. And again, if I could go back and, whether you call it counseling, I mean, I don't know that counseling is the right word. You need to find somebody who I've spent a lot of time with life coaches or happiness coaches doing hypnotherapy, getting the message out of whatever your history is your trauma. We all have things that are holding us back. We all have things that are that that make us feel like we're not worthy of what we're trying to accomplish. Or, we're putting all these other people out in these golden balloons and everybody's got their story. And, learning to tell your story. So writing my book was really therapy for me because there's a lot of stories in there about where I came from and the struggles that I've had through my my marriage and taking care of my kids. And, it makes you feel like a real person. And I think people connect with you a little bit better that way. But just for me personally to not be ashamed of those things, to not sit here and think, Oh, I have to be this perfect doctor in this perfect world. And so once that gets out, out, of you, from that perspective and doing the work, for me. Spending, investing in yourself is another huge piece of advice that I would give because how can I expect a patient to invest in me if I wouldn't spend that kind of money on myself, right? And I know when you're first getting started and just got to pay the bills, that feels outrageous to say, Oh, I, I've just got to sit here and grind out more patients and more, more clients, whatever the case is, but. That's just going to open yourself up for, I don't want to say failure but stress because you're not taking care of yourself. So, whether that minimal investment is getting a massage once a month even, or, investment of time to do, whether it's a gym or, I mean, I sat out here on the patio and did yoga this morning because, I don't schedule things on my days like this before 10 o'clock so that I can have time. And again, that's something that's been a long road, a long process to be able to have that flexibility. So, I remember seeing, 2025, well, in, in OBGYN, we saw 50 patients a day, right? I mean, it was just a, it was just a baby meal over there. Then I came to my practice and 20, 20, 25 patients a day was the norm and it was exhausting. I mean, I remember putting kids to bed and sitting down on my laptop and just charting till 10, 11 o'clock at night because I didn't have time to chart. And the only way you got paid is to finish your chart and, send it off to the insurance. And so, I remember going, man, massage therapists have it made. They only, they have an hour long appointment with their patients and or clients and, they only see it's an hour long. So they only see six, six a day, maybe eight, if it's a long day kind of thing. And like now, if I have six patients on my schedule, I'm like, this is a busy day. And I remember, that was 10 years ago, probably 12 years ago that I just remember going, man, wouldn't it be awesome if I saw. Three patients in the morning and three patients in the afternoon. And again, not because I wanted to see less patients, but because I wanted to spend time. I'm still putting in the same amount of hours in that day. But you know, I see patients 9, 10, 11. I have a break from 12 to 1:30 to get stuff done. I don't lay around for an hour and a half. I got business stuff to deal with and messages and things like that. We take walks at work. So, everybody's walking around our our building and stuff like that at lunchtime. Start, regroup. And then, I got a 1:30, 2:30, 3:30. I'm done by 4:30, finish up my charts and whatnot. And I'm most of the time home by 5:30, ready to play tennis, or do something with my kids for the evening. And I got plenty of energy to do it all and, a much less stressful life. So, working on yourself making sure you're spending time getting adequate sleep, eating healthy is certainly an important thing. We're dumping a bunch of sugar and stuff in our system. Our brain's not going to work very well. Moving however you want to do that, whatever your exercise is. And, it's that mindset, whether it's meditation, breathing, whatever you want to call it having a support system there to help understand that. And again, going back to my team, they all, they all walk the walk. I mean, you find people who are gonna, you are going to support your passion, but they also support their own, their own endeavors by taking care of themselves too.

That's really great advice. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing, your story with us and spending the time as well. And, having worked with you for, I think, close to four years now your team is by far the most cohesive team that I've seen in a long time in a medical practice. So a really good job in keeping everybody together and having that vision. That's, awesome. If people are interested in learning more about like what you do in terms of either your coaching or your medical practice how can they get ahold of you?

Several ways. Facebook, of course, or any social media. If you just search for Aimee Duffy, you're gonna find us. Carolina Integrative Medicine is our practice, the business. So carolinaintegrativemedicine.com, or you'll find Carolina Integrative Medicine on social media. And then website for my personal or coaching is aimeeduffymd.com.

All Right? A I M E E D U F F Y M D.com. And we'll put all those links into the show notes. So listeners, if you are interested in learning more about what Dr. Duffy does, then I encourage you to go to her website. As a reminder to our listeners as well it would be really awesome if you do what other like minded inconsiderate listeners do and give us a good rating and review and pass on this episode to somebody that could use the advice that Dr. Duffy has shared with you. So until next time, lead with your heart.

You've been listening to the Heart Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs. Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.