We recently connected with Maiysha Clairborne and have shared our conversation below.
Maiysha, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My career has been full of taking risks, some calculated and some on pure faith. The first risk I ever took in my career is deciding to start a cash based integrative (holistic medicine) practice at a time when no-one knew what holistic medicine was. Through a pandemic I grew that practice successfully, and it taught me to always bet on myself and follow my intuition. However, one of the biggest risks I took was leaving medicine altogether. I spent 8 years of post secondary education and another 3 years in residency to get this education. However, 6 years into practice I knew that my path would take me away from clinical practice. While I continued to practice for another 7 years, 3 of those years I spent planning my exit. I gained my interest in coaching early on, but it was unheard of for a physician to leave medicine to be a coach. I knew the value of coaching, and having experienced the trauma of medical training, I wanted to heal the healer. By this time, I had gained an additional skillset as a master practitioner in neurolinguistic programming, hypnosis and deep emotional release work so I had a specialized skill that I knew would bring above the traditionally trained coach. In 2016, I decided I would give myself 10 months to replace my revenue and then I’d turn my practice over and transition out of medicine. I had no real marketing or business plan, just determination and faith. Fortunately, a program crossed my path (divine order) that was the exact training I needed to systematize my marketing and begin attracting clients. I took a leap and put down $9000 to be trained (not ever having invested this kind of money in myself) and within 3 months I had begun to see the return. Within 6 months I matched my income and within 12 months I replaced and exceeded it. I continued to build my physician wellness and career coaching business for the next 4 years until I heard the next calling. It was time for the next risk. Transitions and risk have become easier having built the evidence that I will be okay. It has led me to a very fulfilling new career as a consultant, speaker, and master trainer in Neuro-linguistic processing, trauma informed communication, and psychological safety. It continues to help me to elevate my impact every day.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have been a healer and entrepreneur my entire adult life. Even before medical school, I was creating income as a healer. Going into medical school, I always knew my path would be different. The ideas I had for practicing medicine with a holistic style were ahead of their time. In residency, I realized that the traditional way of practice would not work for what I wanted, and that As I came close to completing my residency, I looked for jobs that were aligned with what I wanted to do, but there were none. My mother always showed me that if the something that you want doesn’t exist, you have to create it. When I realized that I wasn’t going to find a job out of residency that would allow me to practice medicine the way I wanted, I knew I was going to have to start my own practice. That was my first entry into entrepreneurship and small business ownership. I grew that business over 10 years, starting with no outside funding and at the beginning of the 2008 recession. However, within 10 years of being in practice as a physician, I knew there were bigger plans ahead. In 2013, I realized how much I loved helping my patients get to the root of their stressors, and unconscious limiting beliefs. That led me to train in Neurolinguistic programming. I’d go on to become a master practitioner, and an NLP trainer in 2017, subsequently selling my practice to fully immerse myself in the discipline of helping others understand their brain, behavior, and communication. Little did I know, that the events of 2020 would transform my view of how I could use my expertise, it would lead me to activism, anti-oppression, and equity work. What I have loved most about being a small business owner is that I get to use my specific brand of expertise to change the world in ways that will impact generations. I’m creating a legacy of which I know I will never see the full impact.
Now, I provide consulting, live trainings, trauma informed coach certifications centered around healing trauma, creating psychological safety, and teaching communication that transforms. I recently launched my online trauma informed communication course is designed for individuals and organizations (especially in healthcare) who are committed to breaking harmful communication patterns in their work and home environments.
NLP is a very unique discipline that (though is based in science and produces transformational outcomes) is not regarded highly by all. I believe that what I’m most proud of is that my business has made NLP relevant in spaces & disciplines that have not historically utilize such technology. We have created an interest and buzz around it by building a bridge between NLP and the core values of the organizations & institutions. This has allowed us to educate in relatively conservative audiences by drawing a relationship between NLP and conscious communication… between NLP and trauma responsive communication… between NLP and emotional intelligence… between NLP and psychological safety, and finally it’s relationship to social emotional learning in our youth.
At the end of the day I am an agent for transformation, and while much of my work is in the healthcare space (both organizational and individual), I know that the ripples I create with each individual I reach will span beyond what I will ever see in my short sight and lifetime.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
If could go back, I would absolutely choose the same profession. I believe that every choice I have made in my life… every experience that I have had has led me to this exact point in this exact journey. I would not be who I am without these choices.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I was coming out of residency, I was this bright eyed bushy tail naive physician who had it in her mind that she was going to start a holistic wellness center right out of residency with absolutely no business knowledge or background. During my final year of residency while my colleagues were interviewing for jobs and getting their offer letters, I was negotiating with chiropractors to let me rent a room to get started with my holistic practice. The first chiropractor I was to work with seemed all in. He sent me a contract, I had gone to tour the practice, and after I sent back the contract he completely ghosted me. I searched other practices and found another practice that agreed to host my practice inside of theirs. However, with no business acumen, my practice quickly failed. What was interesting as I look back, though, was that at no point did I see this as a failure. I simply thought “well, back to the drawing board” and began planning my next move. Ultimately, I ended up working several contract jobs over the next 3 years while learning the basics of business and marketing. I worked several medical practices and observed practice setup and style. I traveled to New Zealand to see how other countries ran their medical systems and practices, and 3 years after my first practice failed I started my second practice. It was a struggle, and one year in, the 2008 recession hit. HOwever, I knew I was on my path. Through grass roots marketing (a lot of knocking on doors, old school networking with adjacent health professionals, attending health fairs, and corporate cold calling to land free lunch and learn speaking engagements), I was able to create multiple referral sources that grew my practice successfully. Building that resilience was the foundation for what was to come in my 2 career transitions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mindremappingacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DrMaiysha
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrMaiysha
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/DrMaiysha
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/DrMaiysha
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/DrMaiysha
- Other: Listen to the Black Mind Garden Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms or visit https://anchor.fm/remapyourmind to subscribe directly. Learn more about Dr. Maiysha’s speaking – https://www.drmaiysha.com
Image Credits
Image credits Nick Nelson, Brandpreneur Image credits Antwon Little, Prspctiv Pics