IAM2829 – Co-Founder and Creator Brings Healthcare Providers Together

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Transcription:

Adam Goodcoff 00:00
Keep reaching and setting goals. And that's mostly what I've gotten from talking to other, you know, business oriented folks is just keep setting those goals and as soon as you reach that goal, set another reasonable goal.

Gresham Harkless 00:39
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gretch from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Adam Goodcough of the MedLife. Adam, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Adam Goodcoff 00:47
Thanks, Gresh. Appreciate you having me on.

Gresham Harkless 00:49
No problem. Super excited to have you on again. And then what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Adam so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And medical student and future emergency medical doctor by day, world traveler, photographer, and fitness addict by weekends and nights. When Adam is not seeing patients or studying, he's planning his next adventure. Adam is the co founder and one of the creators of the MedLife. Inspired by the lack of teamwork in the medical social space, Adam set out to bring healthcare providers together from coast to coast through his team of content creators in their YouTube videos. And Adam is back on and we actually had him on episode number 369 of the I Am CEO podcast. So it's great to have you back on. Adam, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Adam Goodcoff 01:28
Absolutely, Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 01:29
Appreciate it. No problem. Let's get it started. So what I wanted to start everything off with that. I want to hear a little bit more about your CEO story, your progress, and what led you to kind of start your business.

Adam Goodcoff 01:38
Yeah, so it's. It's been absolutely incredible the last couple months. I mean, I joke and say if you told me six months ago that I'd be sitting here actually functioning as a CEO, actually running a business with an official LLC and all of these things, I would just absolutely laugh. I mean, I think most medical students at this point, you know, are so focused on residency and closing out medical school, which absolutely is a priority for me, but I've kind of carved out time to do this. And I think, you know, since we last talked, I thought it'd be great to chat again because it's just changed so much. I'VE learned so much in starting a business and kind of expanding my team even. I think last time we talked, I really only had a few creators even in mind, and there's now five creators in total.

Gresham Harkless 02:20
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And, you know, has it. Has it been like rapid growth where it just happened overnight, or has it been just trying to transition, even though I know it's still a short period of time since we last spoke?

Adam Goodcoff 02:30
Absolutely. I think it's. It's been a mix of both. I think the Instagram kind of was a rapid thing and that's kind of what got the. Planted the seed in my head of, hey, this, this really, there's a market for this. There's kind of a. A model here. And that growth kind of stimulated the growth in the medlife, in our business itself. Me and the other co founder Josh, kind of talked about it and we're like, hey, let's take kind of what we already are doing and make it this teamwork effort that medicine should be. And rather than just having a nurse and a doctor, let's have a nurse, a doctor, a pa, a pt, a dentist, and maybe expand down the road. And that way we can kind of reach out to all those different audiences and bring everyone together in one space.

Gresham Harkless 03:11
Absolutely. And, and I remember when we talked about before just how, you know, getting the kind of the behind the scenes of what it actually was in the medlife and what that looked like. And definitely it's great to kind of hear that no matter kind of like what, I guess, type of doctor or how you want to get into the medical space, like you're creating content and a picture of what it looks like from there.

Adam Goodcoff 03:31
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think, I think kind of segueing into something we were maybe going to talk about down the line was kind of determining how do we make this a business. Like, we all love this. We're all passionate, and that's the only reason this is working. I mean, the content creators and I encourage anyone who's curious to head on over to the website. We have bios on everyone. You can kind of meet all of the creators, but they're all so passionate in their spaces, respectively, and they're bringing that energy to us. And so our goal was to say, how do we fund this as a kind of a bootstrap operation to where we can make it possible to bring people across the country and connect them across the country to where we're doing collaborations and working with other. You know, I hate the word influencer, but other Medical influencers and people in that space to create content that's both useful and entertaining for the entire health care space?

Gresham Harkless 04:22
Yeah, absolutely. That makes so much sense. And I think that, you know, one of the big things and the beautiful things about, you know, social media and platforms like YouTube and, you know, all social media sites really, is that, you know, you have a voice, you have the opportunity to hear from people in different ways that we never would have had before. So that's why I love, you know, what it is that you guys have been able to build and to do, too. So I know we kind of touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about the MedLife. I know you touched on it, but can you tell us a little bit more about what we're going to find there and a little bit more about, like, even where you see it going?

Adam Goodcoff 04:53
Yeah, I would be more than happy to do that. So the MedLife, what we're going to see on our launch, which hopefully by the time this podcast actually airs, will be fully launched and super excited for that. But what we're going to be bringing is consistent YouTube content, and that's going to range from things for nursing students who want to get into nursing school, from medical students that want to crush their clinical rotation, for practicing physicians that want to, you know, discuss compassionate interactions with patients, then over into the dental spectrum. How does dentistry and medicine play together? Maybe there's a video. How does medicine and dentistry play with physical therapy? So, for example, a condition of the jaw, tmj, a lot of people have heard of that, that ties together medicine, dentistry, physical therapy. So we have all of those creators. We can bring them all together and then kind of create that content that's engaging for people to enjoy on YouTube and also learn. And from there, all of our creators are going to be keeping their individual Instagram pages, which will allow them to kind of have their own unique identities and continue to do what they do best, which is kind of own that space that they're already in and then expanding on there. The kind of two prongs that we've added are we've brought a blog, and that's over on our website, see themedlife.com and that actually is kind of unique in that it's driven by our content creators and moderated by our content creators, but we're actually having a lot of guest bloggers on that blog format as well. So that's somewhere you'll be able to go to not only hear from our regular content creators that you're seeing on YouTube, but also to learn from, you know, other experts in the field who maybe don't have a platform but still have just as great of information to share from. So we're kind of working on spreading that network as well. And then I think that last arm I was talking about is we've kind of expanded into merchandising. I think there's kind of a desire for fun, cool medical merchandise. It kind of sounds silly but you know, people love a good T shirt, a good tote bag, things like that. So that's kind of the one thing we're adding on is, you know, hopefully creating this community that people connect with. I mean, so far everyone that we have reached out to for our launch in terms of this like kind of medical influencer space has been just overwhelmingly supportive, very excited about supporting what we're doing. And so we're hoping that carries over as well with some of these kind of in the merchandising area.

Gresham Harkless 07:15
Yeah, absolutely. That makes so much sense. I appreciate you for breaking that down because I think a lot of times, you know, again, like going back to the whole kind of voice thing, I think the beauty about social media is to have a voice. But still to some degree, you know, with platforms there's kind of like this, you know, you could follow hashtags or you could follow people or know people and connect with them somehow. But to be able to kind of bring it all together where these are all the medical influencers, as you said, you know, and this is how you get an idea of like what, what a day looks like and maybe even get some, some swag and some shirts and things like that. It's kind of like a one stop shop for those that are interested and probably even in that entry.

Adam Goodcoff 07:49
Absolutely. I think you've kind of hit it on the head and I think so many people have had success in the YouTube space and there's kind of this phenomenon where everyone wants to be YouTube famous, which, which we get. But our goal is kind of, you know, as I've been talking, bigger than that. I mean this is less about YouTube fame and more really about helping people. And I think that's what people are getting excited about is this is kind of the first time to my knowledge, that anyone on that entertainment slash, how to helpful YouTube space has really tried to take all of medicine and, and make it a teamwork effort with everyone sharing the limelight. There's no one big star, but better than that we have all of our creators and hopefully, you know, different Folks will connect with different creators and really look forward to their content.

Gresham Harkless 08:33
Absolutely. That makes so much sense. So you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally or for your site, but what do you feel kind of set you apart, makes you unique?

Adam Goodcoff 08:44
Yeah, I think that's a phenomenal question. My secret sauce, I think personally and probably also for our brand as a whole, is just the work ethic. And I think you'll find that in most folks that are very successful. I used to joke growing up, I was never the smartest person in the room, but I was almost always the hardest working when I had my mindset on that goal. And I've carried that over. I kind of project that ideal over what we do in the medlife. And I think that all of the creators individually are very passionate about what they do and share a similar mindset. Very hardworking, very goal oriented. And I think kind of having picking the right team that all feel the same way, that get motivated by the same goals, that really helps to push the agenda. Especially when you're in a situation like ours where we are doing this as a bootstrap. I mean, we started this, this whole adventure with $0 in the bank account. Nobody has ever funded us or anything like that. So, you know, every step of the way, the bank account keeps growing, deals keep, you know, being made, and it's, it's all because of the hard work, the positivity and, and just the really great attitude that everyone has had. So I would say that's. That's our secret sauce.

Gresham Harkless 09:52
Nice. I, I definitely appreciate that because I, I think a lot of times there's so many, like, kind of external things that happen and external things that we can't really control. But one of the things you can control typically is, you know, your work ethic, how, how much you roll up your sleeves and get things done and just have that make it happen kind of mentality. So I think that is, you know, super awesome that you guys, not only you, but obviously your team is able to kind of implement that and it's part of your overall culture, it sounds like. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Adam Goodcoff 10:26
I think the last time we talked, I chose actually a book as my CEO hack. And it was, I mean, it's fantastic. It totally transformed the, the way that I kind of approach business. But I have to be honest, this time it's a bit more practical. My couple hacks are all Internet based now. So Slack has been, I know that's very popular for many businesses, but Slack has become our lifeline. That's how we're able to brainstorm in New York, in California, anywhere. We had a creator at one point that was I think visiting in like Egypt and she was there for almost a month. And we're still able to have conversations because we're on Slack, we're having group discussions, discussions. So that has been absolutely instrumental in bringing us together. And then the other one is just a free shout out to Google. I mean they've been Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive. Like we're, we're totally invested and it's, it's the best. Everyone is able to see everyone's stuff. If I need to have a call with everyone, I have the schedules available to me, I can send the invites out.

Gresham Harkless 11:24
I definitely appreciate that. And then I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you know, know that you learned as well too, that you already kind of talked about. But if you were to hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Adam Goodcoff 11:38
I think I'd probably just tell myself to keep going, keep going and just keep reaching for the stars. I mean we, I've read so many books, I've talked to so many people because coming from medicine, we've kind of talked about this in the past. I know nothing about business. I mean, not a drop. I did no business classes in college. That, that's something I tell myself is to go back in that time machine and take some business and marketing classes. But you know, aside from doing that is to just keep reaching and setting goals. And that's mostly what I've gotten from talking to other, you know, business oriented folks is just keep setting those goals and as soon as you reach that goal, set another reasonable goal.

Gresham Harkless 12:12
Appreciate that and appreciate you for, for sharing that as well. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Adam, what does being CEO mean to you?

Adam Goodcoff 12:24
Someone who can connect with all of the employees and all of the kind of pieces of the company, but also know when is the right time to Step in and say, this is where we have to go, because it's what's best for the whole. So kind of, I would. I would say it's that kind of key piece in the arch that knows how to connect everything, but also carries the weight and ultimately makes the calls that. That matter the most. I would say that's probably the. The best I could do for you there.

Gresham Harkless 12:54
Hey, that's an awesome to do, definitely. Just because I think so many times, you know, as you said, when you go to that 60th floor, a lot of it is like you're detached from what's actually happening. But I think there's a common balance between being, I guess, kind of somewhat on that floor in the sense that you can see the vision for where you want to go and hopefully, you know, protect everybody and make sure you're making the right decisions or as best decisions as possible. But I think it's also like you said, rolling up your sleeves and being able to be there with the people doing work and putting in as much time and effort as they're putting in, if not more. And I think a lot, you know, goes towards. Towards being able to say that and do that.

Adam Goodcoff 13:31
Absolutely. I think, I think a lot of times, too, and this is maybe a personal thing, but I just think of myself, think of the kind of CEO role as, oh, that person makes a ton of money and, you know, everyone else is doing the work. And I can tell you, as I'm doing this now, and I'm sure probably a lot of other business leaders would agree with. Agree, you know, if you're not working harder than everyone else, you're probably not doing it right. You know, when you. When you get to the top of one ladder, I always say, move to the side and climb a taller ladder. And I think that's kind of, you know, just because I hold a title of CEO, I think that that really means nothing to me. And I'm always pushing and working harder and finding ways to try and kind of push the envelope every day, which add up slowly over time. And so know, I think it's spot on with what you said.

Gresham Harkless 14:15
Absolutely. Well, Adam, I definitely appreciate you, appreciate your time even more and all you're doing, wanting to pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you. Find out about all the awesome things you guys are working on. Absolutely.

Adam Goodcoff 14:30
I think the only thing additional is to just. Just believe and, And Use Google because I can't, I can't tell you how many things like setting up an llc. I'm not a lawyer. I have no, no idea how to do that. But you know, through a lot of Googling and a lot of YouTube videos, I figured out how to set that up. I figured out how to get our tax information set up, some basic accounting type, you know, necessary measures. And so it's all been just kind of blood, sweat and tears, if you will. And it's, it's been incredibly fast. But my message is, if you want it, there's so much free information out there and good, you know, quality free information that, you know, spend some time, do some reading and you, you know, you'd be surprised what you can find. I think that's been really key. And then if, if, you know, folks would like to get in touch, we're over@seethemedlife.com or you can find me on Instagram @seethemedlife. And then of course, the YouTube channel we've talked about a bunch today, that's actually just the Medlife and that's kind of our brand that'll be on YouTube. You can just search that in.

Gresham Harkless 15:27
Awesome, awesome, awesome. We'll also have those links in the show notes. But yeah, definitely, you know, appreciate you for, for, for, you know, your time and all the awesome things you're doing and just reminding us that there's so much at our fingertips. You just kind of have to have the will to kind of Google and search for it and a lot of the answers will come to you very quickly because that's what Google does. So.

Adam Goodcoff 15:45
Oh yeah.

Gresham Harkless 15:46
Adam, thank you so much again. Have a great rest of the day.