IAM1360 – After Practicing for Over 20 Years, Physician Follows Her Life’s Calling

Dr. Nicole Rochester is a physician, former caregiver to her late father, and the CEO of Your GPS Doc, LLC. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University, attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and completed her residency training in Washington, DC. After practicing medicine for almost 20 years, she left a rewarding career in clinical and academic medicine to follow what she believes is her life's calling.

• CEO Story: Dr. Nicole’s experience as a personal caregiver to her late father, has opened her eyes to the needs of others which led her to do something and make her own company.
• Business Service:  Help family caregivers and individuals with chronic illnesses navigate healthcare. Finding a primary care doctor to communicate with the healthcare team when in the hospital. Insurance claims to locate a nursing home.
• Secret Sauce: Being a physician. On a mission as the nation’s expert in health navigation. Bridge the gap between physicians, healthcare organizations, patients, and family caregivers.
• CEO Hack: Audible
• CEO Nugget: Performed focused research and take action
• CEO Defined: Using my gifts and talents to help others on my terms.

Website: http://www.yourgpsdoc.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/yourgpsdoc
Twitter: www.twitter.com/yourgpsdoc
Instagram: www.instagram.com/yourgpsdoc
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-rochester-m-d-40700812

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Transcription

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00:02 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:27 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dr. Nicole Rochester of Your GPS Doc. Dr. Nicole, it is awesome to have you on the show.

00:39 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Thank you, Gresham. I'm so happy to be here.

00:42 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. We're happy to have you as well. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about your background so that everybody can learn about all the awesome things you've been able to accomplish. Dr. Nicole Rochester is a physician and former caregiver to her late father and the CEO of YourGPSDoc LLC.

She obtained her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her residency training in Washington, DC. After practicing medicine for almost 20 years, she left a rewarding career in clinical and academic medicine to follow what she believes is her life's calling. Dr. Nicole, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:21 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

I sure am.

01:23 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I wanted to jump right in and ask you a little, to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

01:30 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Well, I was a caregiver to my dad along with my 2 older sisters for about 3 years. My dad had a lot of medical problems, including dementia. It was a very, very eye-opening experience for me. Seeing the healthcare system from the patient's perspective and from the family caregiver's perspective was really overwhelming, to be honest with you.

And what I discovered over and over again is that many times we were only able to get my dad the care that he needed because of my background as a physician and, you know, me knowing the inside out and me kind of knowing how to escalate matters and, you know, particular words to say and what to do. And it really bothered me Because not only was I frustrated about our own experience, but I kept thinking about everyone else. And what do all of the other family caregivers who don't have a doctor who happens to be their daughter? And so I just decided that I needed to do something to try to make a difference.

02:33 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome. And I'm sorry to obviously hear about your father and everything that happened. Thank you. But you've been able to kind of understand that you had to kind of advantage me in having that medical background and be able to kind of help out your father. But other people don't have that advantage. So you kind of created something to be able to kind of help out your father, but other people don't have that advantage. So you kind of created something to be able to kind of fulfill that gap, so to speak.

02:52 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

That's absolutely correct.

02:53 – Gresham Harkless

Okay. And I wanted to maybe drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about like how exactly you help out those people and what exactly your GPS doc does.

03:02 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Sure. So one thing that I noticed as a physician, and certainly as a caregiver, is that most Americans have very poor health literacy. And this is a well-known fact. And health literacy just refers to your ability to take in information, medical information, and then use that to appropriately make decisions. And so I realized that many people just don't feel adequate when they are trying to navigate the healthcare system. They're intimidated. There are a lot of hoops that you have to jump through. And having that inside knowledge can be very useful.

And so I help family caregivers and individuals with chronic illnesses navigate healthcare. And that can be anything from how to find a primary care doctor, to communicating with the health care team when they're in the hospital, to helping fight the insurance company when they're denying an insurance claim, to helping a family locate an appropriate nursing home, and anything in between.

04:04 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, it definitely seems like, you know, not understanding exactly all the different things that are going on, you being able to kind of be that person, they can just kind of reach out to you and contact you, and then you can kind of take care of everything from there. Is that correct?

04:17 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

That's absolutely right. Yes. And I work with clients individually one-on-one, but it's also really important to me to reach many, because I realize that not everyone's going to work with me personally. So through social media and through speaking engagements and workshops, I have been able to also educate and empower patients and family caregivers.

04:40 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, and that's huge because being able to kind of be empowered to be able to help make those decisions, especially in those difficult moments is very, very important. So I want us to draw down a little bit deeper and to kind of hear about your, maybe your secret sauce or what do you feel kind of distinguishes you or makes your organization unique?

04:56 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Great. Well, I think, you know, there are health advocates. This whole field of health advocacy is relatively new, but there certainly are health advocates throughout the United States. But what makes me unique is that I'm a physician. There are very few health advocates that are physicians. And I think what also makes me unique is that I, as I mentioned, you know, I'm not only serving clients individually, but I'm really on a mission, Gresham, to be the nation's expert for healthcare navigation.

I am hoping to bridge the gap between other physicians and healthcare organizations and patients and family caregivers. I think I am uniquely positioned to be able to unite those 2 groups because it's not only important for the family caregivers and the patients to understand how to navigate healthcare, but I also want to help healthcare providers understand the importance of family caregivers and the wonderful wealth of information that they bring to a clinical encounter. And so I'm really hoping to bridge that gap between those 2 communities.

06:03 – Gresham Harkless

And that's huge, especially in a situation where, you know, you don't really know exactly what's going on in the environment, but you understand that you have somebody, again, you can lean on and kind of go to that can kind of help navigate that and kind of bridge that gap, as you mentioned, to kind of help you get in the services and products that you need.

06:20 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Absolutely. Yeah. And even as a physician, I struggled with this from my own dad. And that's why I know firsthand that it's incredibly difficult. And that's not a time when you want to be, you know, confused and lost.

06:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, you have enough going on. That's right. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. But what I wanted to do was kind of switch gears and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app a book or a habit that you have that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

06:47 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

I have several hacks, but I think one of the ones that I think has been most important for me in terms of my growth as a new entrepreneur is Audible. I have read so many useful business books and just personal development books using Audible. And it's great because, you know, I can do this when I'm working out, I can do this when I'm in my car when I'm traveling on a plane. And so it has really allowed me to really, you know, further educate myself in a way that doesn't force me to kind of sit down and turn the pages of a book.

07:20 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense, especially being on the go and having so many different things that you're doing to be able to kind of take in that content and to improve and to better yourself while you're able to kind of, like you mentioned, work out or be on the go. That kind of helps out tremendously. So I love that CEO hack.

07:35 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Thank you.

07:35 – Gresham Harkless

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice that you might have for other entrepreneurs and business owners.

07:43 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Well, I don't know if other entrepreneurs and business owners face this challenge. I don't think it's unique to physicians, but I know that one of the things that I have struggled with is the desire to research and then research some more and then research some more. And so I think my nugget would be to perform focused research and then just go out and take action. I have struggled with that, wanting to just learn more and more and make sure that things are perfect before I launch them. And so my nugget would be to do a little bit of research and then just go and take action.

08:15 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense, especially in this kind of business environment. A lot of it is about the action that you take and you don't want to, you know, be a victim of paralysis by analysis and don't let the perfect get in when it's possible. So I think that's a phenomenal thing to kind of keep in mind because we always want it to be perfect, but sometimes we just have to kind of take action and do it.

08:32 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

So true.

08:33 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, what I want to ask you now is my absolute favorite question, which is kind of like the definition of being a CEO. We're hoping to have different types of CEOs on this podcast and get an opportunity to kind of learn from each of them exactly how they would define it. So I wanted to ask you, how do you define being a CEO and what that means to you?

08:51 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

I define being a CEO as using my gifts, talents, and personal experiences to help others on my terms.

09:00 – Gresham Harkless

I love it. And that's definitely important because I know a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners when they start their business, a lot of times it's about being able to kind of paint their canvas in the way that they see it. And you've been able to sound like do that with your business as well too.

09:15 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Yeah, absolutely.

09:16 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Dr. Nicole, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do was kind of pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there was anything additional you want to let our readers or our listeners know, whether it be pieces of advice or anything about your GPS doc and how best people can get ahold of you.

09:33 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

I think my piece of advice to anyone who is dealing with aging or chronic illness, or if you are caring for someone who is in one of those categories, is to just advocate for yourself. We physicians can get busy, and I know sometimes it can seem like you're being ignored when you're in the exam room or when you're in that lonely hospital room, but it is very, very important that you realize that you really are the expert for your own body and for your own health. And so try to find ways to partner with your physician and other healthcare providers so that you can get the healthcare that you need.

And certainly, if you're running into trouble and you're having difficulty hiring a health advocate like myself is certainly one way to go. And in terms of contacting me, so my website is yourgpsdoc.com and there's a wealth of free information there. I blog and just try to write articles that are personal to me. Most of them are related to experiences that I have with my dad and lots of useful tips for others in that situation. I'm also on social media as at your GPS doc. So I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And certainly, if someone wants to talk more with me about the possibility of working with me individually, they can go to www.calendly.com/YourGPSdoc to book a free 30-minute consult call.

11:07 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. What we'll do is we'll have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you and Dr. Nicole. I truly appreciate you taking some time out of your schedule and taking the experience with your father and being able to kind of get back to people that need help as well. So I think it's awesome what you're doing. And I truly appreciate you for taking some time out.

11:25 – Dr. Nicole Rochester

Thank you, Gresham. Thank you so much for the invitation. I appreciate it.

11:30 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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