We recently connected with Dr. Michele Cho-Dorado and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Michele, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
I had been about 8 years into practice as a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. I had dedicated so much time and energy to get there and it was my whole identity, that’s all I knew. Up until then, I was taught to work hard to get a good job. And then to keep working to save up for retirement. I thought I would practice until I retire into my 60’s, maybe even 70’s. But once I got married, I realized how little I knew about financial planning. I had never even considered retiring early or making passive income but my husband started planting these seeds. Around this period, I started reprioritizing my time and wanting a better work-life balance. We had also wanted to move geographically. I decided to make a career transition and left practice. It was a huge decision and one that took awhile to process, but I would say this was a defining moment for us. I took a role as a Medical Director for a healthcare company, which allowed me to work remotely and have more flexibility with my schedule.
During this transition, I came across a forum of doctors who talked openly about financial topics and investment strategies. This led to an educational journey where I started reading and soaking up all I could – topics ranging from personal finance to mindset & growth, to real estate investing to tax strategies. We decided to be more intentional in how we managed our finances and investments. We became both active and passive investors in real estate and have continued to grow our portfolio. Out of a desire to teach our own kids, I wrote a children’s picture book introducing basic financial concepts to young kids and then formed Bright Futures EDG to be a platform to help share this information.
It wasn’t until I left practice and started making bigger goals for myself that I realized I might have a creative side I never knew existed, or perhaps suppressed. I had always stayed on the narrow path to becoming a doctor. I told myself that I wasn’t a writer, that I wasn’t good at business, that I wasn’t good with money. I stayed in my lane and wasn’t encouraged to think outside of the box. These were my limiting beliefs. Turns out, I can be a doctor AND be other things – an author, an investor, a landlord, an entrepreneur. It has been both liberating and exciting at the same time. I have learned that finding a community is important. If you surround yourself with like-minded people who think big and encourage you to do big things, you’ll see that anything is possible!
My mantra this year has been to get comfortable doing uncomfortable things and so far, it has helped me to grow and connect with others in ways I never expected.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was raised by immigrant parents who worked very hard to provide a better life for their kids. I learned the value of working hard and making academic achievements starting at a young age. I am grateful for my upbringing and the work ethic that was instilled in me and I recognize that I was afforded an education that many aren’t able to pursue. I followed a mostly traditional path in medicine, which meant I spent all of my 20’s and early 30’s in school or in training. I was in my mid-30’s by the time I took my first job as an attending physician and was finally making a decent salary; but after a few years, I realized I didn’t know what to do with my money. I had spent so many years in school, but had never received any financial education. Some of the first tips in investing and money management came from my husband after we got married!
Once we had kids, we knew that we wanted our kids to learn these things early. This led to the publication of my first children’s book “Reach For The Stars”, which introduces basic financial concepts to young kids. I then started Bright Futures EDG to be a platform to get this information to as many children as possible. Not only will parents be able to purchase the book and related items on this platform, but they will also be able to access a mix of fun and goal-oriented activity sheets for their children. Our mission is to introduce and expose children to the basics of financial literacy starting at a young age and I hope to develop this platform further to best serve this audience with meaningful content..
Another piece of this is empowering children to be bold and to think BIG. I believe having financial literacy encourages confident thinking, which in turn promotes leadership and entrepreneurship. Encouraging charitable giving as part of money management, can also develop a sense of social responsibility. There are so many benefits to receiving a financial education at a young age that will carry over to other aspects of life and I want to help parents provide these tools to their kids. Our goal is to help raise a younger generation of confident and more financially savvy children. I have always gravitated towards helping the pediatric population and now I’m able to do it in a different way while still providing valuable education & life skills.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Going through residency and fellowship training taught me how to power through difficult situations, many times while working long hours, lacking sleep and being in a high stress environment. While this helped to develop physical and mental resiliency, I believe being a mother brought a whole new emotional component to the meaning of having resiliency. Juggling the responsibilities of a working mother while trying to raise your children to be kind, generous, confident, hard-working, grateful and all the positive adjectives you can think of can be exhausting! Nevermind trying to balance the desire to protect, support and love your children unconditionally while also allowing them to fail, make mistakes and pave their own course. Nothing prepares you for the highs and lows of being a parent. And my kids haven’t even entered grade school yet! But I am thankful to have experienced all of it because it has shaped who I am and how I approach circumstances in life.
When I entered into the world of writing, book publishing and entrepreneurship, it was, and still is, a whole new arena. However, my past training and experience has prepared me to be committed, to be a learner, to be attentive to detail. I know how to be diligent and how to persevere. I’ve experienced delayed gratification and know how to stay focused on my goal. But most of all, when there is purpose to what you are doing, there is greater passion and desire to accomplish what you’ve set out to do. Navigating challenges and overcoming obstacles in any business is expected, but if you have a clear goal in mind, then you will find a way to get there. One of my favorite sayings from Tony Robbins is “If you can’t, then you must!”
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
YES! There are so many good books that have helped me in my journey, but the top 5 that I believe were the most impactful are: 1. The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John D. Mann
2. The GAP and the GAIN by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
3. Start with Why by Simon Sinek
4. Who not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
5. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
These books are mainly focused on mindset & personal growth with the last one being on negotiation skills. You may have heard the phrase “Success is 80% mindset and 20% skill”. I whole heartedly believe this. The shift in mindset, for me, was the biggest factor in making big pivots in my life. It has clarified my vision and helped me to focus on the things that matter. As for my philosophy in entrepreneurship, I believe having a focus on serving and giving to others is far more satisfying that focusing on what you can receive. Physicians have an innate desire to help people and I’ve been lucky enough to be around other physician entrepreneurs who have demonstrated that leading with purpose and mission is critical to the success of any business endeavor. One of my favorite quotes is from Jim Rohn – “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment” and I believe this should be the mindset of anyone pursuing a business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brightfuturesedg.com
- Instagram: @brightfuturesedg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089618709516
Image Credits
www.siwardphotography.com