Pre-Med Entrepreneur

[AKPsiMD84]

Anyone on this forum been an entrepreneur before med school or during medical school and would be willing to give me advice?

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[TexasPhysician]

On starting a business from scratch, building an expense sheet, picking out drapes.......?

 

[amidoinitrite]

i'd like to hear about drapes please

 

[TexasPhysician]

i'd like to hear about drapes please

Embroidered or Lace Drapes. These always look nice in old fashioned type living rooms or in bedrooms. They have a romantic, old fashioned feel to them. You can find them in many colors, yet white and shades of white seems to be the most popular.

Sheer drapes have a classy appeal to them. These can be used alone or can be paired up with other thicker drapes.

Pinch and pleated drapes come in a variety of different types of fabrics including chenille, velvet and even cotton polyester mix blends.

Silk drapes are often made from silk. Yet, you can buy silk drapes that aren't sheer looking. Some are simple cut and free flowing. Yet, other silk drapes are adorned with ruffles, giving them a more romantic feel.

Plus, do not forget that you can buy drapes that are insulated. Insulated draped are lined. This lining helps to keep out the cold in the winter and will also help keep the hot summer's rays from heating the house in the summer months.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I guess I'll be honest and say that I got the information at http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Pick-Out-the-Perfect-Set-of-Drapes&id=864133 .

No drape experts here.

 

[TOXOSIS]

Anyone on this forum been an entrepreneur before med school or during medical school and would be willing to give me advice?

I had a fairly successful business before med school... what is your specific question though?

 

[AKPsiMD84]

Where do I start? Im thinking of getting into energy.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

How much time do you have to dedicate to this?

I owned a service firm for 4 yrs, hope to start med school next fall. My spouse has started around 4-5 companies over the past 15 yrs.

Couple unfortunate truths..most new businesses fail within the first year or two. To make mine succeed and pay enough to live on, I was doing 7 day weeks, probably 9-11 hrs most days (shorter on weekends) for the first year, scaling back after that.

It's close to essential to start a business that you understand well - toughest part was gaining clients; convincing them to spend money on your product.

My spouse is close to getting venture capital funded now; is working with a VC and an angel investor regarding steps needed prior to getting funded by these individuals who are in her nitch. As written in a recent alumni magazine at my Bschool: '99% of the investors you speak to will not be interested in your space; they'll not accept some component of the risk that your idea entails". This was from a entrepreneur w/40 yrs experience in this space who has had success.

If it were me interested in getting into energy, I'd 1) get employed by an energy firm -- learn the lingo, what clients want, what has value to clients that can be generated fairly inexpensively, who the competitors are, etc. This'd probably take a year or two. 2) Save lots of money; typically our new firms bring in nothing for around a year; that is, profit is zero due to startup costs 3) decide if you want to self fund, go with "friends and family", or attempt to pursue a VC. Banks stink; they only will work with folks with great credit who have assets to cover the loan and can begin paying back the loan immediately; that tends to be a bad match for a new company. I zeroed out my 401K of around 80,000 to get started. This is not a path for the timid, and not one I'd do again given the stress and uncertainty involved.

Getting funded means they take a chunk of equity in return for enough cash for her firm to expand more quickly. Good and bad things about this; in my wife's case, she's been working unpaid on the most recent startup firm for around 8 months, hopes to be funded in another 6 months or so; in the meantime, no income from this company.

 

[AKPsiMD84]

Im not sure. I was thinking of doing one during med school or as I tried to get into medical school (and just delegate the CEO position) since eventually I do want to do both. But it sounds like a lot of work and that I would have to pick one or the other for now.

 

[bipolardoc]

Im not sure. I was thinking of doing one during med school or as I tried to get into medical school (and just delegate the CEO position) since eventually I do want to do both. But it sounds like a lot of work and that I would have to pick one or the other for now.

I hate the pre-med/med mentality like this where just because you are applying or getting into med school that you think you should start at the CEO level without putting your dues in. Do either or, seems like your in medicine for the wrong reasons (money and prestige).

Want to be a "CEO" get into Wharton, Stanford, Harvard MBA, get plenty of contacts/networking this way and credibility in the business world, get a smart partner or investor and go from there. Dont think because your pre-med your entitled to have your own business without a business plan and want to jump on as a part-time CEO as you attend med school, enough with this narcissism pre-meds come in thinking they own the world and everyone deserves to be under because they got into med school!

 

[AKPsiMD84]

I hate the pre-med/med mentality like this where just because you are applying or getting into med school that you think you should start at the CEO level without putting your dues in. Do either or, seems like your in medicine for the wrong reasons (money and prestige).

Want to be a "CEO" get into Wharton, Stanford, Harvard MBA, get plenty of contacts/networking this way and credibility in the business world, get a smart partner or investor and go from there. Dont think because your pre-med your entitled to have your own business without a business plan and want to jump on as a part-time CEO as you attend med school, enough with this narcissism pre-meds come in thinking they own the world and everyone deserves to be under because they got into med school!

I made this thread for advice not for bull**** like this. If your going to post this junk go to another thread to post but not on my thread.

Read more about business and entrepreneurship before making assumptions about what a CEO is and how businesses start up.

 

[deleted36260]

Im not sure. I was thinking of doing one during med school or as I tried to get into medical school (and just delegate the CEO position) since eventually I do want to do both. But it sounds like a lot of work and that I would have to pick one or the other for now.

I ran a business. I'm in med school now.

You have no idea the time that either one takes. Focus and worry about it later.

 

[AKPsiMD84]

Is it worth reading any books on the subject?

 

[Bellonium]

I ran my own internet company for 2.5 years before I sold it off. I'm not one to discourage another to be proactive in their future but if you're going for a career in medicine I'd concentrate on that and then move on to something else after you've conquered that goal. Or take the other route and come back to medicine. Otherwise I think you're setting yourself up for failure if you spread yourself too thin trying to make both work.

I think it's admirable to start your own business and you could definitely do that once you are a doctor, go in to private practice. <business owner>

I'm sure there are some good books out there from an amazing CEO or whatever but I would imagine the majority is just fluff. I'd save your money and go with your gut. CEOs are dreamers and leaders, that's why they are paid the big bucks.

 

[j-med]

I ran my own internet company for 2.5 years before I sold it off. I'm not one to discourage another to be proactive in their future but if you're going for a career in medicine I'd concentrate on that and then move on to something else after you've conquered that goal. Or take the other route and come back to medicine. Otherwise I think you're setting yourself up for failure if you spread yourself too thin trying to make both work.

I think it's admirable to start your own business and you could definitely do that once you are a doctor, go in to private practice. [/SIZE]

Thanks for this note - I have a tendency to spread myself thin too. But how busy is med school. I'm in health policy but I am wondering if I can have time to keep doing my health policy research / tech consulting gigs while at med school. Any thoughts?

 

[j-med]

I ran a business. I'm in med school now.

You have no idea the time that either one takes. Focus and worry about it later.

TOXOSIS and phatmonky -- that's cool that both of you did entrepreneurial stuff beforehand!

Just to bring up this post again - is it really impossible to keep some extracurricular activities on the side during med school? How busy do you get?

I am in health tech consulting / policy research, would I have any chance to integrate that experience into med school?

Because I am debating whether to apply now (risk rushing MCAT and lower score, summer test date), or wait a year to apply. If I choose to wait, I hope my extra year of experience would be worthwhile - i.e. if I have still maybe 8-10 hours per week to work on some research with the profs or small consulting projects.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[bjackrian]

TOXOSIS and phatmonky -- that's cool that both of you did entrepreneurial stuff beforehand!

Just to bring up this post again - is it really impossible to keep some extracurricular activities on the side during med school? How busy do you get?

I am in health tech consulting / policy research, would I have any chance to integrate that experience into med school?

Because I am debating whether to apply now (risk rushing MCAT and lower score, summer test date), or wait a year to apply. If I choose to wait, I hope my extra year of experience would be worthwhile - i.e. if I have still maybe 8-10 hours per week to work on some research with the profs or small consulting projects.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advanced!

You will have 8-10 hours per week where you're not doing medical things. Whether you want to spend them doing more work instead of relaxing, I can't tell you. And whether you'll be able to limit the time you spend on the outside work to relatively few hours consistently, I also do not know.

 

[roo]

Self-started service company 1996 (3 years before starting in medicine). Company still maintained as sole proprietorship, now that medschool and residency are in the rearview for 4 years now.

Sector: Internet (believe me, much much easier in 1996 to just roll up one's sleeves, hang out a shingle and get started since there was so much need and so little providers in that time period).

Advice in my opinion:

(1) Do the business in a field you enjoy, since there will be many long hours. Preferably something you know, as it is a good competitive advantage, but a field you enjoy is more important. Anyone can be an expert at something with about 10,000 hours of experience. If you enjoy it, you can get to expert level easily, if not it will be an unpleasant haul.
(2) If possible, start small, and then grow accordingly to business demand. Much easier that assuming giant debt for capital costs and other expenses and paying it down while realizing you don't like working at it.
(3) Don't shy away from entrepreneurship because people tell you that you can't do it. A closer look will tell you that most of the people who tell it is impossible are those who think it is impossible for themselves.
(4) Realize ahead of time that most businesses don't last beyond 5 years (I think ~20% survival at five years ). If start a business that ends up being one of the 80%, do an autopsy and try again with appropriate changes.
(5) If lucky and things are growing well, know ahead of time that one of the biggest barriers for an entrepreneur is not wanting to let anyone else do part of the job. By nature, if some part of the job is contracted out or turned over to an employee, it won't be exactly the way it would be if you did it yourself, but time is a factor.
(6) Join your university's young entrepreneurs club. Isn't one? Start one--a very entrepreneurial thing to do.

Best wishes and good luck