For doctors who want a thriving practice and abundant home life, listen as your host, Dr. Justin rose, Claire goes behind the curtain and interviews doctors and guess about real real trial struggles, practical tips, and entertainment from this episode of a doctor’s perspective.

Welcome to the first episode of a doctor’s perspective. I’m not going to rehash what was just said on the intro. But I want you to remember, we’re going to have a wide variety of doctors on this show. And I want you guys and gals to critically think about what said so that you can apply it to your clinic. There’s a reason why coaches, coach, and successful business people write books, so that you can avoid the mistakes and jump straight to the success. My first guest is Dr. Jonathan lead that dermatologist First we’ll kind of talk about education background, then practical advice for some skincare marketing, student advice, relationship advice. And near the end of the interview, he’ll talk about anticipating your patients questions so that you can train your staff to handle these objections before they even come up. After the episode. Stay tuned for the travel tip. If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, he noticed that I’ve traveled a good bit, especially in Asia, since I live in China right now. And I wanted to share some fun tips. You can find all of today’s show notes at a doctor’s perspective. NET slash 01. further ado, let’s get into the interview.

We have a very special guest today. Dr. Jonathan legit, MD dermatologist, board certified fellowship trained. Welcome to the show.

Unknown 1:57
Thank you for having me. Just appreciate the opportunity to be on your podcast.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
2:03
So to begin with, let people know a little bit of background, some of your schooling, all those types of things.

Unknown 2:11
Well, as you know, how from Breaux bridge, Louisiana Little Town in South Central Louisiana, but 120 120

Unknown 2:19
miles west of New Orleans. So I’m the oldest of four you know went to spend most of my life in Breaux bridge had a little bit of time where I was younger I was in brokerage and Sicilia which is adjacent

Unknown 2:34
so you know from brokerage to brokerage high state local went to university Louisiana at Lafayette to get my degrees in got one in chemistry and one in microbiology. So go raising Cajuns that was there near and dear to my heart. And you know I think it’s a fantastic University. So graduated from there graduated on off semester in December, which was nice. And I had it I had like six months off man, it was awesome. Wow, my time at a URL at University of Louisiana Lafayette also known as you ll I didn’t know what I was going to do for a while but about getting a PhD in chemistry but since you and I go way back, I thought that medical school would be better for my personality so I wouldn’t be confined to the lab and thereby drive the people in my lab crazy. So I thought that I’d be better at helping people and and doing things like that.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
3:32
Okay, where’d you go to med school

Unknown 3:34
medical school went to went up north to Shreveport Louisiana you know funny story about that so I went to a pic Shreveport over New Orleans because I was very scared I don’t like hurricanes right? And I said one day you know hurricanes gonna just come wipe the whole city I don’t think a little bit below sea levels is something that you could do is nice so New Orleans nice place to visit don’t want to live there. And next year Katrina happened man in that the know obviously sad fire state, the great state of Louisiana. But um, you know, I went to I went to else you. It’s LSE Health Sciences Center now in Shreveport got my MD from there. And then they successfully matched in the residency in Birmingham, Alabama.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
4:16
Very nice. Oh, I have a friend. He was doing med school with your same time went to New Orleans, Katrina hit. They lived on like a casino boat in Baton Rouge and finish their school. So that would have been like worst case scenario.

Unknown 4:28
Yeah, right there. Well, there was there was all kinds of Yeah, actually, there’s all kinds of setups, some people went to two lane. You know, a few people wants to listen to people want to, you know, had got picked up by other schools across the country. So there was a you know, an outpouring of helps, but can you imagine? Yeah, that is that is great. You know, our country does come together whenever there is a time of crisis. So, yeah, I’m just glad to have to really live through that. By the time Katrina got to me in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was a tropical storm.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
5:00
There we go. Alright, so you went to University of Alabama? Birmingham. No, no, no. Yeah, that’s right. Okay, you went there. How was I was ready to prepare you to get your fellowship and how did how did that work for you? What What was your specialty I guess in fellowship,

Unknown 5:19
so so are excited to fellowship so I did a research fellowship where helped with some of the latest clinical trials in that those are the clinical trials are very important. They help you know Shepherd new medications into the forefront. So I worked on psoriasis thing, some of the drugs you may have heard of today, I get to work on the Laura which is also known as used to Kenya map worked on co synthetics, which is one of the newer drugs, some of the more famous drugs you may have heard of our Humira we had a trial with you, Myra, we had a trial with in Burrell so anyway just helping people that’ll their psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and things like that. also worked on a number of toenail fungus drug overall was a fantastic experience worked with a fantastic person named Dr. Bonnie loose key. You know, she’s past president of the American Academy of Dermatology. And she’s done a lot for the specialty. She’s a nail fungus guru, just known worldwide.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
6:24
That’s pretty cool.

Unknown 6:24
Secondly, the after research fellowship and residency there, did three years of residency there I also did my intern year in, in Birmingham, Alabama. Didn’t after research here did residency at UAB Be it was fantastic. I thought they have a fantastic program prepared me well, for everything that walks in the door, my day to day practice. And from residency, I went on to do a fellowship with Dr. Brett cold, our who’s also another, you know, another pretty famous dermatologist. He’s been past president of the American Academy of Dermatology American college and surgery, and has also done a lot to advance our specialty in terms of payer reform, things like that, and helping keep dermatologists honest. So did my fellowship in Cincinnati, Ohio at try health. And it was fantastic. In most Michael graphic surgery. The actual name of the fellowship is called micro graphic surgery and dermatologic oncology.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
7:25
So what’s the brief version of mobile surgery?

Unknown 7:28
Mo? Mo? Mo’s? Yes. Yeah, Mo h. s name for the great Frederick Mo’s who pioneered this technique.

Unknown 7:41
So basically, what most surgery is, is it’s a way to remove skin cancer, where we remove skin cancer. Number one, it’s clear, whenever you leave the office, we do it in office safely, without general anesthesia. And we are excited the specimen, that specimen goes to our lab where it gets cut, processed, stained, and then we analyze it under a microscope looking for cancer. And that’s one of the key things that the fellowship does is you work under the tutelage of a mentor. And it helps prepare you to make sure that you know, what you’re looking at under the microscope as well as obviously residency does that you get dermatologist, we get a lot of pathology in our residency training. So after that, we remove you know, you may have heard it mentioned this layers, we take a layer at a time, if an area where to be positive for the whole thing was positive, we go back and we quote, take another layer. After doing that, you know,

Unknown 8:38
we go eat the specimen goes back to the lab again, after going on lab, same process gets we analyze it under a microscope. And you do that until it’s clear. And after it’s clear, we reconstruct the patient as you know, to make them look aesthetically pleasing.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
8:54
Okay, when would I go see you versus going to just the general practitioner, and they can when they cut off something just like you are what

Unknown 9:02
Okay, so I have a saying in the office, that if you have a heart problem, you should see the cardiologists if you have a car problem, see the mechanic and if you have a skin problem, you come see me, the dermatologist, the board certified dermatologist and most surgeon, so if you were to be diagnosed with a skin cancer, most surgery, we don’t use it on every skin cancer, we use it on the head, neck, predominantly the hands and feet, the genitalia. And we use that so that we can conserve skin and we can give people a cosmetically pleasing and so you know people your skin is your representation to the world. And people want to obviously not have people stare at them like why do you have a big score on your face or something like that. So if you were to get biopsied with something, if you were to get a skin cancer biopsies, you would come see me and I will talk to you I’d say you know controls Clara, what we’re gonna do is we’re going to anesthetize the area, we try to use non technical terms were in office, but we’ll get to anesthetize areas will make it known. We let that sit for a few minutes. So that can take effect we cut it out and then proceed with the process of the scrub earlier.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
10:06
Okay, now for there’s a lot of doctors, we see skin, you might be an eye doctor, and you notice something on their lip. It might be a physical therapist or a chiropractor. see something on their leg a rash? What’s the best way to you know, you can ask we can ask the patient Hey, we had this look that before maybe she can check out our is there what’s coming to those sort of the signs that we should say definitely you need to go not maybe you should go but you definitely need to go this week to the dermatologist.

Unknown 10:33
Well, I think things that are painful, that have been things that don’t heal areas that have been present for an extended period of time they bleed on their own, they may bleed when you just wipe them softly. I think those are the areas that need attention. Also, more importantly, it didn’t have to bleed again. melanoma, you may have heard of the ABC the ease of melanoma that’s a for a cemetery in know, what does it look like? If you cut it in half? This one side? look the same be for borders? Are the borders nice and smooth? Are they not? Not since scallop or the irregular? See for color, you know, is it as a uniform color? Is the color nice and smooth? Are? Is it dark? Are there some areas where you know you have some black pigment that’s not something you want to get looked at deeper diameter we say if it’s over six millimeter which sighs pencil rates you want to get looked at. And he for evolution so that he was added a few years back he for evolution so that the change the change in the last few years. So I think it’s important, if you notice anything during your physical exam to send them to the person that does is just like, you know, when a patient comes in, just in my office and they say national debt, can you please look at my ankle? When I say excuse me? Is there something wrong with the skin on your ankle? And they say no. And I said, Well, I’m sorry, you’re going to need to see somebody that looks at ankles, because I can’t help you.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
11:54
Send them over. Okay, so with maybe one more question about business of the the practice of Dermatology, and then we’ll move on to the other part of the more like, marketing and growth and success and family life. So let’s go with people spend so much money on face creams. There’s a commercial every other day. What are we looking for cream? Or lotion? Is there a special ingredient? Do we need to spend $100 on a bottle? Or can we spend five? Like what’s the deal? What do you recommend the easiest?

Unknown 12:24
Well, you’re looking for, you know, I will say that we have several products on the market that have fantastic marketing. And I think I think you know, some of those product, those products do work. Some of the things that they utilize are available in other products over the counter for I’m not gonna name any names, we don’t want to pick on anybody, but let’s just say

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
12:44
we’re not going to just my own neck, but that’s not saying I should, right,

Unknown 12:47
exactly. So I think, you know, if you if you needed to get on a face regimen, regimen, it depends on what your complaint is, is Are you suffering from your skin being dry, what for suffering from your skin being drawn a simple fix is let’s use a clean instead of using a lotion, creams are thicker, the hydrate better. You know, if you’re suffering from acne, you know get in see the dermatologist get on a program was something that I hope you that may or may not include prescription medications to get your acne clear. So like, especially within the cosmetic area, a lot of ladies spin, you know, tons of money on products that contain retinol, which is a derivative of what we call Tretton on or you may have heard of it as written a that prescription for that as $100 in the last three months, even if it’s not covered by your insurance, versus spending $100 a month on

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
13:41
products X, Y or Z. Okay, very good. What are some of the most common misconceptions about your profession?

Unknown 13:48
I would say that one of the common misconceptions about dermatologists is that we don’t work hard people when they think the dermatologist you know, they think we all drove a Mazda Roddy show work at 10am on the golf course by 330, which is just not the case. Have a lot of colleagues who work very hard and we provide a valuable service to you know, the respective communities that we practice it

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
14:13
Do you find it a Sarah is there like a bullying? But there’s there a joke or anything that other doctors is that one of them like now these guys are just laid back or do anything?

Unknown 14:22
We’re not what number one I’m not a real doctor.

Unknown 14:29
I’m not I’m not get paid?

Unknown 14:30
Like what?

Unknown 14:32
Uh, yeah, you know, they already know the statistics. So I, you know, I don’t need a break that up with them. But you know, they, you know, they that’s one thing, they say, Well, I’m not a real doctor, I don’t they think we’re just worth an acne either. Or we’re just doing Botox, which, you know, if people want to get Botox, and they want to help themselves, have a better appearance and improve their self esteem. I’m all for it. We support patients with that, and if you’re spending the money, you can do whatever you want to do. So, yeah, exactly. It’s your money. So I think, you know, like, see there will pimp or poppers, right? It’s like, oh, the dermatologist, all they do is pop zits. And you know, which is not case, you know, we do surgery. And sometimes I tell my colleagues, I’m like, all right, well, I hope you get psoriasis. And then you can have to come see

Unknown 15:20
hope you get it specifically on your genitals so that way you have

Unknown 15:25
video video recognize

Unknown 15:26
I’m a real doctor. So anyway.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
15:30
And you’ve told me some stories of the the size that some people come in with on their face? And you’re like, Well, yes, challenge to close, but you have to do it.

Unknown 15:40
Right, exactly. So I’m in Jonesboro, Arkansas at a fantastic place called in a Baptist clinic. And this is a farming community, a rural community, we have about 70,000 people. But that also includes that’s a little bit misleading, because it includes Arkansas State University, which is here. And basically, you know, we have anytime you’re in a farming community, you know, if you’re a farmer, you generally don’t see the doctor until you absolutely have to because you’re busy forming people may not have known. So I mean, I see these tumors that are just, you know, gigantic, they’re, you know, they’re they’re two and three times the size of things that I would normally see when I was in residency or in fellowship on a regular basis.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
16:21
Right, right. Alright, switch gears just a little bit here. What is your What are some of your unique abilities, mindset strategies that sets you apart from from others? Would you say?

Unknown 16:32
Well, I think one of the things that, that says our office and our practice apart is that we try to make sure that everybody has, you know, a five star experience. We, I think in

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
16:43
that’s a pretty generic term, let’s let’s definitely dive into that. Let’s do that.

Unknown 16:47
Certainly. So you know, like one of the things I think it’s important to know, know who your audiences you know, your area of know, the area that you’re servicing, I’m going to form a community. So, you know, I have to service people who have those particular needs, we have to, you know, they want personal service, they want service that’s in non technical terms, like we have team meetings, every week, we tell our, our front desk person, you know, we tell them, You are really the most important you’re wanting to everybody’s important. But it all starts with you, if you don’t have a smile on your face, if you don’t have a welcoming experience with you, then the rest of the visit is going to be it’s going to be a struggle for us to get back to providing that excellent experience. Because you know, people don’t necessarily remember everything that happened when they’re at the visit, they just remember how you made them feel. It’s like interviews, you know, if you unless it’s recorded or something, people when they interview, you know, they have their interview notes, but they really just remember the feeling. And they’re like, Oh, I love this person, this person was great. like them, they were energetic, or Oh, that person was kind of, you know, I didn’t feel good about them. I didn’t have a good vibe about them. And you know, we make a lot of decisions based on that.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
17:57
Right? So that’s almost kind of like a marketing tool for you.

Unknown 18:01
Right? So and then, like I said, knowing your area is key in this area. A lot of people since it’s an older community, a farming community, we still we get the best response on the newspaper, if we run an ad in a newspaper. I mean, the phones will just ring off the hook. You know, if I was in Austin, Texas, that might not be the case, because it’s a you know, it’s a younger community. You know, they may respond more to Facebook or, or digital advertising. So I think newspaper for us, number one, and number two would probably be radio as a medium for bringing in patients force.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
18:38
That shocks me. newspaper and radio. That’s like the I was in Denver and talking about just throwing some money.

Unknown 18:45
Oh, hey, man now, but it

Unknown 18:48
works for you. We still have Western sizzling out here in Jonesboro, Arkansas. So we’re turning back the hands of time a little bit, you know, where we haven’t caught up to a lot of the digital revolution. That other places?

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
19:00
Well, that’s amazing. So that’s your top two or three marketing strategies to get new patients and to keep them happy and everything?

Unknown 19:08
Yes, I think the, you know, like said the, you really just have to know your area. And what people respond to some of it may be just kind of a hit and miss kind of thing or, you know, if you’re fortunate, and you can get with colleagues in another area, either someone in similar specialty, which is fantastic. But a similar specialist is going to help you be successful, or you find someone in that area who’s successful and what strategies they have done. So if a new person will come into town, I will tell them, hey, you’re the most bang for your buck is going to be in the newspaper, because that would that just gets people that’s how people communicate. Here. That’s how they find out about things. And I think that would be you know, I think that would be

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
19:49
Yeah, very good. Very good. Someone that’s maybe just starting out, deciding to do private practice hospital setting, what are some practical steps they could take to get where you are right now.

Unknown 20:02
Okay, so that those are that’s. So those are different setups. So if you’re going to do a hospital setting, I would say, get all the things that you would like done in place in writing. So that way you can be successful, I find that promises, we will do this later for you or that later for you those things may or may not come. You know, just to give you a quick, quick story. So I was here for a year, worked for my first year, right after residency, set everything up, you know, had a great working relationship with the people here, I still do.

Unknown 20:40
But the CEO at the time, he is no longer here. And we had a lot of gentlemen, a gentleman’s agreements in place for when I returned, well, I show back up and that gentleman’s no longer here. So those agreements are no longer respected.

Unknown 20:53
So

Unknown 20:54
so that’s so if you’re if you’re going to be employed position, I would say you know, you make sure that you get everything you want a front, talk to older dermatologist or other people in your specialty, about what’s important, what kind of things you want, you know, they’re giving you $3,000 for seeing me, is that practical? Probably not. Whenever you have specially society views that are thousand dollars or, or $800, you know, you may want more, if you’re doing private practice, that’s a different animal. You can speak to that better than I can, having owned and not one, but two successful practices and opening that. So that’s not something that I can really speak about too much.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
21:34
Thank you, sir. Now, what about that utensils, know, the surgical tools that you use? Is that something that you can negotiate like, I really like the Cadillac version versus the right

Unknown 21:45
view versus a you, I think if you’re getting in an employee, if you’re in private practice, I think by and large, most people say you want to buy the best instruments, you really want the best instruments, because the best instruments usually have the longest shelf life. I mean, that doesn’t even need that does not mean you need to overspend on everything. But I would say you want to have high quality instruments. In our office, you know, we use quality instruments, we use instruments that have a lifetime warranty, we can send them back, they get sharpen, whatnot. And they were probably twice as expensive as some of the cheaper instruments, but they, they will last longer they you know, they can last a whole career. You can call that, you know, we use team and instruments, you can call that company up and say, Hey, excuse me, this is not you know, this is not working correctly, or this doesn’t work for me. And you know, they’ll replace it or they’ll service it, such that they’ll work out an agreement with you. So I would say and I would say that with everything. If you’re if you’re starting, if you’re either was employed setting or for yourself, you want to get some of the best equipment because that equipment last longer, like exam shares, in my experience, the mid Mark exam chairs, you know, when you go to different dermatology offices, this is a reason you see mid March chairs that are 2530 years old. I mean, they just they rarely break, they rarely need service, the mid Mark reps Tell me when I talked to them at trade shows they told me, man, sometimes I just wish our equipment was a little less reliable. So I could sell some more of these things.

Unknown 23:16
Right?

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
23:18
That’s an issue right there is broaden their line to some other, well, they

Unknown 23:23
actually have done that. So that’s you sensing that. So not to mention that what they do is now they make they make cabinet where you know, so they they used to just make chairs, and now they have cabinet were like so you can get mobile cabinets for your office, you can get

Unknown 23:39
autoclave from them, you can get a variety of different things. So they really have created a niche in terms of office to have furniture now they have they’ve gone on to other things now. You know, as far as furniture goes, I have not used been Mark furniture, you know, is it better than IKEA? I don’t know, you know? So I think that’s it? That’s where you can start to examine their can I save some money there? You know, what else can I do? I have to get I would get right, eight plus instruments. But what do I need to do on furniture? Oh, am I trying to keep the same furniture my whole career? Probably not, you know? So do I can I get something that last 510 years and then switch it out when you remodel things like that. So

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
24:19
save some money there. So you know, right to

Unknown 24:22
do that. Right? So there, there are things in there things that are easily more easily done. In the beginning, like for instance, in our office, we have a call system. And, you know, I’m the only one in the whole clinic that has the system. But you know, I did not I designed this particular system. But I got the idea from being at a practice management office where someone had, you know, one of these fancy systems that cost $10,000 to install wall hours, I can tell you costs $106 in equipment, you know, so now what is the basically it’s a call system. So all it is is, you know, I was able to talk to an electric, we have a foot pedal on the floor, I can step on that pedal, and it’s a charm that goes off for six seconds. And what that does is that alerts our team members on the outside of the door who are not in in the that exam room with me that we’re I’m in need of something, you know, maybe I maybe I need a new another instrument, maybe I need I and I generally have a nurse or a paid, I call them patient care specialist. Because we have some certified medical assistance and some licensed practical nurses. So I step on the light, I step on the on the pedal, a light goes off, a charm goes off in a light bulb goes off on the outside of that door. dermatology is a small office in hospitals, you may see a similar system where there’s a big led thing at the desk and whatnot. But I mean, when you have an office of you know, 1010 or 11 re exam rooms, I have eight, if you have a small office, this will this will suffice. They hear the charm, they look for which light is on, and then there’s a reset button on the outside of light. And I think that I think that every office should have it at least that it comes in. It’s invaluable to me.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
26:06
So you’re not a big fan of the screaming at the nurse

Unknown 26:09
manager wants what we had to do it somebody? That’s what we

Unknown 26:12
had to do in residency, excuse me, I need a nurse, can I get a nurse? So, you know, it’s like you’re you got it

Unknown 26:18
right? So it’s not it’s not something that I enjoy doing. I want to have the a seamless experience for the patient. So and I would say when you’re starting your practice, make everything patient focus. If you are a patient, what would you like, don’t think about what you is the physician with like, what what will the patient What

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
26:36
I can tell you so many doctors are like that. I want this, I want this, I like this, and it’s not about you, in a sense is really is like you said it’s about what the patient’s going to experience so that when they’re with their friends, like hey, if you ever need to go to the dermatologist, I got this guy using go to it was an amazing experience. Right?

Same kind of vein here is what would you advise a college kid who wants to do what you’re doing is?

Unknown 27:01
Well, the first thing I would tell a college student is you’re a college student,

Unknown 27:06
I would say number one work hard, I would say that you need to get the best grades that you can get. So that way, you know I always say and I don’t know if I heard this somewhere, you know, you read a lot of things. So you never know, did you come up with it? Or did you read it somewhere probably read it somewhere. But it you know, I always tell my brothers, you have to do what you’re supposed to do. So you can do what you want to do.

Unknown 27:29
So meaning that if you work hard and you take care of business, the rest of things will take care of itself. So if you’re a college kid, I would say you know, enjoy college, but put the grades first extracurriculars are just that they’re extra. So we need to make sure we take care of the curriculum, the curriculum. first before we worry about, you know, the next step. So and, you know, I think that having a pre made plan is is not always the best of ideas. Because you don’t know necessarily 1818 and 21 and 25, I was probably ahead, that’s probably three different people really. Because even though some of the things that are the same, you just look at life a little bit different. So I would say apps for college students make the best grades that you can. So that way, all the doors are open to you. And that way you can do what you want to do. Very good. Very good.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
28:23
All right, just a couple more, what you got,

Unknown 28:25
oh, no, I was just gonna say now if you’re a med school, and you’re like, Hey, I made it to med school, I know I want to be a physician. So let’s let’s talk about, you know what specialty I want to do, then I would, it’s a little bit more applicable, you’re already in med school, you’re down the path of being a physician. So and then your you know, your second year med student and you’re like, Hey, I’m gonna have to pick after next year, what I want to do. Same thing applies if you got if you just got into med school, make best grade possible that way everything is open to you. And then after that, you know you got shadow people really because you’re experienced that you have at your resident at you’re in your day to day life, your school, may or may not represent the real world, just just depending on how your department is run and also an academic centers, you know, you tend to see the sickest of the sick, that’s not necessarily

Unknown 29:15
that’s not necessarily what exactly is going to see on a day to day just to give an example. I mean, I love Reno physiology, I thought nephrology was from a from a

Unknown 29:26
intellectual standpoint, I thought it was the coolest thing because I was like well, wow, you have you know the Henley’s loop and you know, you’re you’re listening, you’re thinking about the physiology, what’s going on? But in practice cool. application, you’re like, wow, oh, I have to spend a lot of time in the dialysis unit. Oh, I have to deal with people, you know, losing looms and things like that. And that’s not necessarily the happiest environment. So I would. Yeah, so anyway, so after you pick what you’re going to, if you, you know, I was shadow people before you decide, and if you have a parent that’s in a certain field, you know, I probably feel sorry for those people who had parents who were physicians in a certain field because I felt like their decision was predetermined for them.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
30:07
That’s a true statement.

Unknown 30:08
I was like, No, you’re going to be a urologist. So you’re going to be an ophthalmologist, and you never really got to experience Oh, I would like to be a general surgeon, I would like to be an orthopedic surgeon. So that kind of thing.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
30:19
Right, your your profession is what top 2% of medical students get in?

Unknown 30:24
Yeah, you know, the statistics are all over the place, man. I mean, that’s what they say, dermatology, it depends. If you look at the numbers, I think that the direct plastics is actually it’s called the hardest thing to get onto direct meaning like, so you can do plastic surgery where you do a general surgery fellowship, and then you do plastic surgery, or you can do it where you, you have a combined there. So dermatology is tough it is that you got to be, you know, at the top to get in what they say, you know, it’s a, so we know it is but it’s good. I think that puts dermatologists in a in a good position, you know, we do we provide a great service to our communities. And we have a good rewarding lifestyle because of that.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
31:03
Very good. So speaking of lifestyle, speaking of rewarding, what type of five or 10 year goals do you have set for yourself? And how do you know if they’re worthy of your pursuit? You know, like, what gets you what to get you excited for the future?

Unknown 31:17
Well, what gets me excited for the future is just just continuing to build, I’ve always had some business interests think you, you might remember, my favorite magazine, growing up was Entrepreneur Magazine. So you know, just so in this next chapter, I’m enjoying this chapter that I’m in, one of the things that think about is growing, growing my practice in building, as a successful dermatologist and most surgeon, you know, five years from now, I would hope that, you know, I would we you know, we’re well respected in the community, and people look to us to treat their skin cancer. And then, you know, 10 years from now, I would hope that, you know, I’m a fixture a pillar in, in the community, and in same well respected and that we have an efficient practice. And maybe we have, we brought on some other members and we work together as a unit and the team and everybody buys in, and we’re, you know, we’re sharing in the benefits of practice and medicine together and reach and reaping all of the financial gains together, and just the satisfaction of

Unknown 32:25
being a practice of Dermatology and loving what we do. You know, I think that patients are done a disservice by practitioners, providers who, the provider that’s like the new hot term, right? Because they don’t know if it’s you or as a mid level or whatever. Anyway, I think they’re done a disservice about people who do not enjoy what they do every day.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
32:45
Yeah,

Unknown 32:46
what sounds like you have a pretty good time, you know, I like I said, I have to let you be the judge of that, you know, you got to have the experience and then and see how it goes, I would hope I think we strive to give a, an A plus experience, we try to make sure we listened to people, you know, a common complaint is that the dermatologist didn’t spend enough time with me. So we make sure we sit down and we try to talk to them and let them you know, answer any questions. I think I might ask you at every visit, do you have any more questions at least three times? So

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
33:12
very good. Now, are you ready to switch gears completely? It is time, let’s do personal style, some personal questions, your hospital affiliated, how much vacation Are you able to take? And is there a way to take more like so many doctors, I’ll set it up for you. But a lot of doctors, they don’t have enough time to get away from the cloud. Okay. So,

Unknown 33:32
as far as time, you know, basically, unless you’re a straight salary employee, you know, you the time away from clinic is basically at your cost. I mean, even if they tell you, hey, you have four weeks paid vacation, if you never exceed your salary, then it’s true, you do at four weeks paid vacation. So in my situation, we basically take off whenever we want, I work four days a week, because I think working four days a week is more efficient for my life than working five days a week, you know, have a young child at home have a 15 month old daughter. And I think getting to spend that Friday afternoon with her is really invaluable Friday all day with her is really invaluable, and I get the weekend as well. So we try to have for efficient days, I start clinic at 730. And you know, we do have a quote unquote hour for lunch, but my team takes 30 minute lunch breaks. And we try to do as much as we can. And those four days, we work 40. And for rather than 40 in five days, because it’s more efficient, I think our team works harder because they appreciate having that third day off. So as far as vacation goes, we can take as much as we want, I usually try to take about three weeks, three to four weeks a year. I like long weekends. So my wife and I do long weekend sometimes, like we went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, last week had a great time, on a camping trip with another friend of mine, and roasted marshmallows and whatnot. I think that Tom awake from your practice is important because it’s a mental reset. It’s a break. It’s, you know, it’s time with their family because you don’t get that time with your family that

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
35:07
right? Not everybody works in a hospital or knows how it works. So are you saying some hospitals, you are always a straight salary and other hospitals? Maybe it’s kind of based on productivity, and so they don’t really dictate how much time you can take off? Because they don’t have to if you’re like, we’re going to work hard, right? Exactly. So

Unknown 35:26
basically, we, you know,

Unknown 35:28
I have a quote unquote, sell a base salary, but we’re basically paid on productivity. So after you teach your base salary, you’re getting paid on productivity. So basically, if I were to work less, you know, if I were to work less, I would then in turn earn less. So, you know, some some positions like hospital list and are just some even some dermatologists if you have a 100%. Like if you work at the VA, if you’re 100% employed person. And it doesn’t matter how many patients you see whether you see 30 in a day, or if you see 10 a day, then, you know, obviously, there’s going to be some differences there because the incentives are different. So you can take off six weeks, if you know, hey, if you’re making x, if you’re making $100,000, you’re going to make that same hundred thousand dollars, where do you take four weeks off six weeks off for 10 weeks off? You know, there might not be motivation to? To do more than right.

Unknown 36:28
So

Unknown 36:30
yes, vacations are more. You’re right, you’re not on maternity leave, you get over yourself.

Unknown 36:37
So I think that that’s

Unknown 36:40
right, that’s right. I think that they were like, Hey, we don’t want to hear about a long mental health holiday. If, if you’re you know, you’re barely covering what it costs to have you so. So I think any situation where you’re not being paid on productivity, they would probably want to, you know, there’s a hard cap on your vacation. Whereas if you’re, you know, if you’re in a system that rewards productivity, they as long as you cover yourself, they really do not care how much vacation time you take, because basically, the less time you take, the less money they have to pay you.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
37:13
Right? Right?

Okay? What what preoccupies your mind, besides your

Unknown 37:18
have a 15 month old daughter, so that takes up a good majority of my time and my, my wife’s time. So, you know, family time is probably the number one thing that correct, that’s not my time, I try to get home to them, and spend time with them. But I do think that these are times that you know, your daughter may not remember them. But I think they’re affected long, long time, your your daughter, your son, whomever, they may not remember all of them, especially when they’re very young. But these are times that you cherish times that you will never get back. So I’ll try to get home with them. Also have some business interest. So I’m always, you know, looking at the business side of things, trying to think about things that that would help me. It’s the next level, Mom, you know, think about things that that how can how can I set myself up for the future sustainable things? You know, I’ve been debating, if I should get an MBA in I think I may end up doing that. So that way, it’s just I just want to have another notch in my belt. So that way, if I decided to pivot in the middle of my course, then I have another thing that I can rely on to do thing.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
38:26
Absolutely. I mean, I have friends that have decided to go another route. And they’ve realized their degree is good. But it doesn’t give you the management qualifications. So they had to go back in and do online, right, while they’re doing their other job and so that they can pursue those other passions. And so, sounds like you’re, you got a four day workweek. You prioritizing your family, are there any other ways to have a home and work life balance?

Unknown 38:51
I mean, I think that’s the, I think that’s something that at least I struggle with, I’m trying to get to a point where I think I have a good home work life. Now. It’s a mixture, you know, I enjoy spending time outdoors, I have, you know, we have a dog and I like to take her for runs and you know, long walks in the park and whatnot. Yesterday, we walked in the snow for three or four miles. So you know, just try, it’s hard to find that work life balance. I think it’s important though, because you never get those years back in. As we get older, I think, you know, the things that become more and more important are the time that you the experiences that we have, or are the most important. So

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
39:29
you’re married? What can you do to keep the love alive and feel connected?

Unknown 39:34
I think so I think you spend time together, man, I think making time taking that time out to do things with your spouse, like last night, you know, we had just like family night out, we just went, you know, what’s a restaurant we just talked and just had a good time, we usually try to do date night at least once a week, and spend that time together gets to do things that support each other and try to talk as as much as we can, to, you know, do spend time together and you know, make sure that we are keeping checks and balances on our relationship to make sure we’re in a good a good place. And we’re happy with what each other is doing and doing things that will, you know, kind of free up time for each other. So that way we can have that time to spend together man and like, like, you know, she went to she enjoys reading books and whatnot. So you know, sometimes we just have quiet time, when my daughter sleeping, she’s reading a book and I’m, you know, doing whatever, you know, I may, I may take the dog for an extended period of time, whatnot. But anyway, just I think just keeping the lines of communication open is because I think in our lives now where everybody’s always attached to their phone. Like we don’t have phones at the dinner table in my house, you know, because there’s not anything so important that it can’t wait, how long does it take to eat dinner? Did that take 15 minutes, um, you know, obviously now surgery nights, I do try to answer the phone. But it’s rare that it actually rings by the time when I’m having dinner

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
41:01
right now to cook together. And we do types of things and grocery shop and just try to find those small things together.

Unknown 41:07
That certainly helps. We do cook together we enjoy cooking. So one of the things we stumbled upon it was a we use the Blue Apron food service. And Blue Apron has been helping us out because basically everything’s planned for it, you got a meal, the meals plan, there’s usually, you know, some some prep work would do that prep work together and then cook that food and it’s a homemade meal and healthy and everything was we had all the ingredients wouldn’t have to run around the grocery store and talk to you about this, that and the third

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
41:36
is like a sense of accomplishment together to

Unknown 41:38
rest. So I mean, and that’s important. And then our young daughter also watches you know, she’s in the kitchen and while we’re preparing dinner, and you know, she’s watching us and you know, she’s usually playing around. So anyway, it’s just good family time.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
41:52
Very good. Very good. All right, we got a few more questions to wrap up. They’re just gonna be more fun questions. So loosen up the tie. And let’s just have some good times here. Do you have a morning or a lunch routine, that ground you are excites you for the rest of the day,

Unknown 42:08
it’s still a work in progress. Minimum, I would love my morning routine to be going to the gym. at current. Sometimes I go to gym in the morning, sometimes I go to the gym. In the afternoon, I think one routine we have is basically, you know, we always take a family walk together in the evenings, provided it’s not, you know, 20 degrees outside or raining. So, you know, just I get up every morning, I do sit ups every morning and try to get ready for my day. You know, just try to keep mentally sharp. Yeah, man, I mean, I get up at four in the morning, generally speaking, so that way I can. That way I can get the you know, get things done and get my day on with that’s basically you know, for two is four to 630 in the morning. That’s probably the only time I have really to myself where everybody in the house is sleeping and whatnot. So then I can do what I want. So are you doing like meditation? Or is this kind of when you walk your dog and now? I don’t I don’t meditate, my wife does. She loves it. You know, she she loves meditation. I you know, I’m usually I just just have that quiet time to think when I’m walking my dog and whatnot. Just think about what my next thing is what projects I have going on with things I need to do? Well, you know, you know, I you know, sometimes I’ll talk to my friends in the morning, just things like that. So, just kind of relaxing. Okay, do you have a

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
43:22
real quick switching gears back to to work again? Do you have staff meetings are things like that? And how do you how did you create staff that were, you know, quality? How do you find those guys? Are they hired or do you train them?

Unknown 43:34
It’s, I think is great to higher quality people. It’s it can be difficult to get the right personnel act until you get some experience. You know, we try to stress what the job is, you know, we don’t i don’t undersell it. I tell people, you know, listen, you’re going to work hard, you know, work four days. It’s hard work. It’s a lot of you know, it’s a lot of taking care of business and making sure that we are serving our patients needs. So if you and it’s fast paced job fast paced, but not rushed. So we want efficient service, but we don’t want rush service. We want the patient to make sure that they have a fantastic experience. And they’re they’re, you know, they’re doing pretty good.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
44:15
Okay. Do you have a favorite book, blog podcast that you secretly love? And what that you more likely recommend to other people?

Unknown 44:24
Yeah, I guess that well, you know, I’m a sports person. So I do love listening to the bunch of ESPN shows. Pardon the Interruption. 30 minutes. I mean, I make sure I’m going to listen to podcasts only get 30 minutes. Pardon the Interruption is it I get my sports snippet like that? That’s pretty good. Kind of off the off the one that you might not think of it like Greek mythology that stems back from high school days and High School Quiz Bowl. I’ve always loved Greek mythology, in Science Olympiad, all that stuff. I since back from those days, I’ve always loved Greek mythology. So there’s a mythology podcast that I subscribed to that comes out once a week, and they just, you know, tell stories, and it’s that the gods interpretation, and I think they do a really good job of it.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
45:06
Anything else? I felt like I cut you off?

Unknown 45:08
Yeah, no, no worries. I mean, so from podcasting, basically, usually the sports, there’s the, the Greek mythology thing, you know, it’s just those, those are the kind of things that, you know, there’s only 24 hours in a day, and unfortunately, you have to spend about seven of them sleeping. So, you know, any app, you know, I do feel like almost every hour of every day is is taken up, but I do try to take that time for myself. I love listening to sports podcast, I listened to him whenever I’m walking around, just in the hospital or whatnot, or when I’m driving to work. So this fantastic. What’s your go to sport? Well, you know, I think football is king is the most popular sport in America. I’m a Patriots fan. I love me some Tom Brady. You know, we could debate it. But

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
45:49
you know, for all the drama,

Unknown 45:51
even app may come on now. I mean, we’re talking about the latest.

Unknown 45:56
Yes, okay. Yeah. So it was

Unknown 45:57
he was throwing was he throwing the faith that deflated footballs really in the in that game when the balls were quote, unquote, properly inflated, he put up more points had more yards anyway. So

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
46:07
probably, you know, high school ball size too.

Unknown 46:10
Yeah, I think those balls are the same size as the NFL, but whatever. So no, I think I like the Patriots. I think it’s a well run organization, I think. I think they have some business principles that that you can look at. And it’s consistency. You know, it’s a, you know, it’s it’s creating a consistent experience. You asked me if we have staff meetings, we have staff meetings, and we know there isn’t anything in our office that is left up the chance. So when people answer the phone, they answer the phone with specific way, when people have to return a patient call, there’s a script, that they answer their anticipated questions from a patient standpoint and how to answer them. So we don’t leave things up the chance we we try to make sure that we are given a consistent experience.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
46:52
Very nice. And you have handouts and things like that for certain conditions. They don’t correct. So

Unknown 46:56
we don’t, right, so we’re not going to reinvent the wheel. You know, you treat when I treat acne, I would say I treat acne, depending on the severity of the acne, if it’s, you know, it’s moderate acne, I treat moderate acne the same time, the same way. Almost every time unless, you know, a patient is allergic to something or I’ve had a bad experience with a certain product, or something like that. So but yeah,

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
47:19
so streamlining

Unknown 47:20
your stream on man. I mean, that’s it’s efficient. You want we want things to be efficient. That’s that’s so

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
47:27
at the same thing with me, we do rehab instead of, you know, acne treatments, but it was the site was like, You got a low back problem, though. Here’s phase one phase to go, you know, right, exactly.

Unknown 47:37
made it

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
47:38
easy. It is it’s the things that people need, you know, yeah.

Unknown 47:41
So turn them back to your right, turn it back to your previous question on how to help people be successful, I think you need to set up your system, you look at the some of the best run, best run clinics and your specialty, there’s all these ideas out there, and you can, and you can find out about things that can make your office more efficient, such as call, but you know, you come up with a script to try to anticipate problems and streamline it, do the things that you can do. And you don’t like I’m a I’m a little bit of a control freak. And I like to know everything and have my hands on everything. Well, the problem with you know, the problem with that is the more control what you want to, quote unquote, control everything. You know, you can’t do everything because there’s only so many hours in a day. So what you have to do is you have to empower your people to be responsible for what they’re doing and make sure that they understand why they’re doing we do a lot of teaching in our office. Everybody knows how, why, why did I use why they use this certain type of suture Wyatt Wyatt, why did I do this process this way? Why do we wait after we anesthetize somebody, you know, people understand those things in it. If training of the staff is a big deal, if you train them, well, then it will reward you for years and years ago. That makes sense. And I tell people everything, take with these doctors are saying on these these podcasts and put them into your own clinic. These last couple minutes. I mean, that’s that’s golden mind right there. Right.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
49:02
Yeah. Alright. Last question. You already heard? What is your favorite phone app? It could be business.

Unknown 49:08
Our pleasure. What man I feel like I’m starting to sound like an ESPN commercial. A mean. That’s

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
49:15
right. They listen

Unknown 49:18
to some sponsorship,

Unknown 49:20
we’ve got Right. Right. So ESPN, right. Yeah, the so probably the I probably use the ESPN app. Second most that Yeah, probably the most of my non texting or phone apps on my phone and just ask them make you more efficient. So like, I don’t carry those. Those little cards they give you at the restaurant or eat at the restaurant at the grocery store at the auto parts store. I don’t carry any of those cards with me. They make apps that can scan the barcode. So I use those you know, so I just have my life and my phone. My phone case has my you know, my phone case has a secret compartment on it. So it can hold my license and my credit card whatnot. So I just grabbed my phone and go I don’t even you know, like I haven’t cared my wallet on me and months.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
50:06
Okay, so we know where to attack

Unknown 50:08
correct. But good luck getting my you know what the only time My phone is actually not on my person is when I’m at home and I’m trying to have that family time My phone is on the charger or in another room or something like that.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
50:19
That’s amazing. Well, you have any final thoughts?

Unknown 50:21
Yeah, man, I just want to tell you I appreciate you for having me as a guest. I think this is a doctor’s perspective is a great podcast. I look forward to listening to many of your other episodes and such as you’re very guest I really liked how your spanning the the spectrum of doctors, you know, I know you had a pharmacist on other fellow chiropractors and no you haven’t Thomas’s it’s going to be on so I’m excited. I’m a fan. I look forward to subscribing, a doctor’s perspective. podcast. I hope I get that free t shirt for being a guest. I look forward to that.

Unknown 50:57
Hey, gotta put it out there. You know, I heard a rumor that we were going to get free t shirts for being a guest. So I’m hoping that

Unknown 51:04
working on it,

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
51:05
working on it.

Unknown 51:09
Yeah, I’m hoping that I know. And yeah, man, just looking forward to watching your podcast build. And I think it’s gonna, it’s gonna be a great addition the just getting different people’s perspectives from you know, people who are new in the industry of people who have been doing things a long time and I look forward to,

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
51:24
I really appreciate it. That’s some really good encouragement. And I think I think it’s gonna happen, I think it will happen, people will be able to learn a lot and change their lives, their personal life, their business life and really succeed. So, really appreciate your time, you’ve been a fantastic guest. And congratulations on your new daughter, and many successes in this coming year.

Unknown 51:45
Alright, man, thank you. Thank you again for having me guess you have a good one.

Dr. Justin
Trosclair, DC
51:53
That was fun. What a good sport. Good interview made me laugh, especially at the end. Got some good resources, I believe. Thank you so much for being on the show. You can find all of today’s show notes at a doctor’s perspective, net slash 01. Like I said in the beginning, definitely critically think about what he said, How can you implement it into your clinic and have better outcomes than you have in right now, business life and your family life. Again, stay tuned. travel tip is coming up next. I almost forgot I am putting the final touches on a free ebook that I want to give to you guys and gals, please go to a doctor’s perspective. net, top side, the bottom, there’s all kinds of places where you can sign up, put your email and your name for updates. Once the book is complete, I will send you a email and then you can download it. It is going to be my secret hacks about health, weight loss, strengthening the spine, different things like that. It’s very actionable it’s implementable is not only can you use it, but also your patients. So go on over to a doctor’s perspective. NET sign up, and you’ll be the first to know when that ebook is ready for downloads.

I am quite active on social media and the easiest way to connect is the head over to a doctor’s perspective net. Look at the top right, and you will see all the social media icons just pick your flavor and friend me. I found out in practice that people can hardly pronounce trolls Claire, much less spell it because of that. And username lack of availability. I have a mix of my name and Cajun Cairo. I’m from South Louisiana, aka Cajun country. I am a Cajun I am a chiropractor, Cajun Cairo, you will find travel photos, updates, fun comments, etc. Connect comment, and I’ll respond back.

Today’s travel tip, how to spot local restaurant, if you’re traveling, whether it’s a different city, a different country, some people just want to go to the big box regular restaurants. However, I want to eat something local. And one way to that is you’re driving around and you notice around lunchtime that there are a bunch of cars in the parking lot safe to say they probably have good food. Even in a foreign country. You can look around and see the restaurants that have a lot of people that look you know different than you and also don’t really look like a tourist. It sounds simple, because it is simple. And hopefully the menu will be in your language so that you can order it If not, you can do what I do kind of walk around the restaurant, peek at their plates and you know, that’s fine. Just tell your waitress or waiter, I want that. I want that. And they get it because that’s what they do for a living. Happy travels. We just went hashtag behind the curtain and this episode has come to an end. I hope you got the right dose for your optimal life. Please spread the word about this podcast by telling to friends, share it on social media and visit the show notes on a doctor’s perspective. net to see all the references from today’s guests. A sincere thank you in advance. You’ve been listening to the Justin trust Claire giving you a doctor’s perspective.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai