73. Growing Forward Podcast featuring Jessica Schneider

Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast with Paul Casey

Speaker 1:

There's got to be a clear why as the motivator behind every goal. So I believe it's why power, not willpower that will ignite your inner drive and get you to your goal.

Speaker 2:

Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. It's the Tri-Cities influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams. So we can all benefit from your wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey growing forward services, coaching individuals and teams for breakthrough success.

Speaker 3:

It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Jessica Schneider. She is the medical doctor and the CEO and founder and owner of empowered health Institute. And I asked her for something funny or quirky about her and it was hard to come up with something, but she said she loves sci-fi and fantasy. Tell us more about that.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. As I was mentioning, Paul, I enjoy reading sci-fi books and what I'm currently reading right now is red rising by Pierce brown. And it's a great story, but I, this is the way that I've put myself to sleep for years and years. If I shutting off the real-world and going to something that's a little bit more a fictional,

Speaker 3:

Love it, love it. Well, we'll dive in. After checking in with our Tri-City influencer sponsor, it's easy to delay answering uncomfortable questions. Like what happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die. So it's no surprise that nearly 50% of Americans don't have a will and even fewer have an estate plan, many disabled clients worry that they don't have enough assets to set up an estate plan, but there are important options available to ensure that you have a voice in your medical and financial decision-making. Even if your health takes a turn for the worst estate planning gives you a voice when your health deteriorates or after you're gone. Marin Miller bam attorney at law is currently providing free consultations to find out more about estate planning or to book an appointment. Call Marin at [phone] or visit Salem that's S a L U s-law.com today. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome, Jessica. This is the first time we get to meet. I've heard your name in the community a lot. And so it's like, I've got to interview her. So it is great to meet you today. Sorry. So then our tries to the influencers can get to know you tell us about what your organization does, the uniqueness of it. And I think I know what you probably spend 80% of your day doing

Speaker 4:

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I am the founder and owner of empowered health Institute and we are a primary care medical clinic that is run a little bit differently. So we are a membership model, which means that our patients pay a fee to be part of our practice. And we've taken out the middleman, mainly insurance and allow ourselves a lot more time with our patients, which has been wonderful. And the reason why I started empowered health in the beginning was because I was seeing a huge problem with time to be able to spend with patients and became increasingly frustrated because the 10 minutes slots that I was getting each day with my patients was not enough to do more than push a pill or change a dose. And that is just not what health and wellness is should be about. And so I, I decided to found empowered health and, and by doing this, we're actually two years old this year, this month, and it's been amazing. So we're able to spend 90 minutes at our new patient appointments, getting to know our patients and actually understanding what the root causes that's actually causing them problems. And yeah, it's been incredibly rewarding.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for doing that, that just sort of blasted away at the old model. And I know some of your patients and they're just, they love that extra time that you get to spend with them.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Brought the healing piece of medicine back. I know in it, for me and our patients, that's, that's exactly what they say too.

Speaker 3:

So why do you love to do what you do?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, well, I, you know, I got into medicine out of college because I love the science behind it. I am so fascinated with the human body and the ability for the body and the desire to heal. And so basically if we can get out of our own way and know the right tools, our body wants to heal us. And, and so that's why I got into medicine. I actually also applied to business school at the same time as I applied to medical school and I got accepted to both. And so it really was, you know, a hard moment for me to decide which one to pursue. And so medicine one, but being able to start empowered health and also now run a business, suits my personality very well. So it's been a great fit for me, both, both sides.

Speaker 3:

So you can't do it alone. You have to have a team. So who do you surround yourself with within the practice? And then who else do you surround yourself with outside of your practice to help you be more successful? Yeah,

Speaker 4:

Well, I mean, my practice is obvious. You know, I've got, we have five employees now and I could not do it without my team. They are, they bring a lot of their own personality and their own ideas to the table. And what I've had a lot of fun with as a leader is allowing them space to actually create and do new things. And so we're always looking for new ways to help support our patients in, in their health and wellness journey from the standpoint of business and, and being able to come and create something new in this community. I've actually been really fortunate because I do, I did grow up in the Tri-Cities and I do have a network of friends here. And so when I was ready to start empowered health, you know, I know the business attorneys, I know the landlord owners. I know, you know, so it's been really fortunate for me.

Speaker 4:

I've been really supported, you know, Brett Spooner is a close friend of mine, a lot of advice on starting a startup company. I'm also really fortunate that my brother, Casey Stratton and my husband max Schneider both have business degrees. And so I'm able to pick their brains on everything from finance to, you know, employee management and all of those things. I also think it's really important to have female mentors. And so I do have a mentor in the community who is a serial entrepreneur in the metastatic space, Nicole Scharamonte. And she has been wonderful in helping me to look at business and leadership from the standpoint of, of what a female brings to the table. That's a little bit unique. And so that's, those are the people that I've been really fortunate to be surrounded by and supported by and, and the list is even longer, but those are just some of the things, what a fantastic

Speaker 3:

Personal board of directors that you have so fortunate. So leaders have growth mindsets. So how are you constantly evolving as a leader and what's in your own professional development plan?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. This is such a great question, you know, and I really think about it. If I look back over my life, I think there's phases of growth as a leader. I have always personally been very interested in personal development. I actually started a personal development book club when I lived in Milwaukee and it's still going on today. Unfortunately, I can't be part of it anymore having moved here. But so I did that, you know, I have done coaching for myself prior to starting empowered health. I think the phase that I've been in in the last two years for personal development has really been trial by fire and being in it and, you know, going through and recognizing problems as growth opportunities. I'm definitely, I think we're entering a new phase and we just actually hired a nurse practitioner. So our, our practice is expanding, but I'm excited to be able to take the next step for myself and personal development. Now that we have another team member who's accepting patients. So,

Speaker 3:

So you brought up a book clubs, so books, probably a big deal for you, as you think back over the last few years, which books have been made the biggest impact on you? Oh gosh. There's so many now.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. The one thing I think has, has been a pretty one, pretty good one. Yeah. And I think just the concepts of, of organizing around what are, what are the few things that you want to get done and having laser focus on that. So that's been, that's been a big one for me. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I love that book. It's like, what's the one thing you can do that if you do it, all the other things leave there become less yeah. Less burdensome or just maybe not even essential anymore. That's a great question to ask. Yeah. So to avoid burnout and negativity, how do you feed your mental and emotional health and wellness on a regular basis? Cause you got to be the role model.

Speaker 4:

So, you know, this is, yeah, this is my life. I love this question. You know, a couple of different things. I mean begin with, yes. It, it really comes down to recognizing that, you know, our nutrition matters, our sleep matters. I definitely emphasize working out and feel a big difference if I'm not able to get on the treadmill and just walk, you know, a few times a week. So those key things in my life, I also really do a very good job of shutting off. At the end of the day, I will stop work. I have kind of a hard stop time in the evening and recognize it's so important that I, my brain needs to rest and spend time with my family and my spouse. And I also, one huge thing as far as having perceived balance in my life is travel. We, even if it's just getting out of town for the weekend, it's the time that I find to be most fulfilling as far as reconnecting with my kids and my husband. And so it's, it's a huge part of my life. It's what makes the day-to-day worth it for me. And you know, I've never been to Europe, so I'm not talking about, you know, worldwide travel, but just getting out of town, camping or going to Leavenworth. You know, these are just things that are really important to me.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I, they say vacation is an attitude adjustment. It's a code word for attitude. Adjustment. Exactly.

Speaker 4:

Getting out of the house.

Speaker 3:

Yes. Well, interesting on a nutrition exercise, you mentioned a few of those things. What is the common message that you give to your patients in those two areas, nutrition and exercise. I'm sure there's someone on the call or on the listening today on the podcast. That's like, I really want to lose weight or I want to live healthy and have that, that lifestyle wellness. What would you say?

Speaker 4:

Well, from a nutrition standpoint, I would say eat real food. You know, if your grandma wouldn't recognize it, get rid of it. If, if it has more than five ingredients on the label, it's probably not something that should go in your mouth. So start with real food. Okay. And from an exercise standpoint, you know, we talk a lot at empowered health about movement is w it can be anything. Movement is exercise. It does not have to be at a gym. It doesn't have to be a formal class. If you get out and you start making movement more part of your day to day life, you're going to have health benefits. Fantastic. Thank you. So

Speaker 3:

How do you get things done? So you're with you with patients, but you also run a business. So how do you organize yourself? I also love this

Speaker 4:

Question because if I, if I picked one word for myself, organization is probably one of the top ones. Yeah. So I, you know, my, my phone, I used to do list and it's, it's, it's my external brain. Right. And I, I truly wish I'm waiting for the day and maybe it exists where I can be in the shower and talk to to-do list to, to continue my list. Cause that's where all the great ideas come. I'll just some white space there. So yeah. So I use that religiously as, as my days, get more crowded or there's certain days of the week that I have more self-expectation. I actually will write out based on the hour, whether it's 60, 30, or 15 minute intervals and schedule in my, my task list for the day. And oftentimes what that does is it makes me realize that I have way too many things that I expect myself to accomplish that day and I can move them in advance. And it helps me feel like I'm accomplishing things and having, like I said, appropriate expectations for my time.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It sounds like you're at achiever like me. And if we put too many things on our lists and then we don't get all of them done, we feel like we failed, which is ridiculous. Isn't it, we're getting way more done than the average person. But yeah. So we have to have that reality check. You have to do this. This is something I use with my team too. So listeners it's T O D O I S T. And I'm just reading a book called now do more better, which is like a faith-based productivity book. And they actually have a chapter on to-do list in the book and tell you how to set it up.

Speaker 3:

So that's pretty cool. All right. Before we head into our next question to find out how Jessica steps back looks at the bigger picture, let's check in with our sponsor located in the Parkway, you'll find motivation, new friends and your new coworking space at fuse. Whether you're a student just starting out or a seasoned professional, come discover all the reasons to love coworking at fuse come co-work at fuse for free on Fridays in February, enjoy free coffee or tea, Wi-Fi printing conference rooms, and more, and bring a friend. If you use this, where individuals and small teams come together in a thoughtfully designed resource, rich environment to get work done and grow their ideas. Comprised of professionals from varying disciplines and backgrounds. Fuse is built for hardworking, fun, loving humans. Learn more about [e-mail] or stop by seven to three, the Parkway in Richland Washington. So it's easy to get trapped into reacting in leadership. There's problem comes up, got to deal with it. So how do you specifically step back and look at the bigger picture?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think this is a really a great question. And of course this happens, right? It's, it's unavoidable that these times are going to come up as a leader and as a business owner. And so for me, I think the first thing that I've learned, and this is definitely an in process, but is to step back time-wise, you know, allow 24 hours for the dust to settle, to recognize that there are very few times where a crisis has to be acted on immediately, and that allows my emotions to settle. And then I'm acting a little bit more out of logic, the logic side of my brain versus the emotional. And so, so that's the first thing that I do. And then the second is just remembering the goals. What is the bigger picture? And actually, and sometimes it requires actually just writing it down and looking at it that way. So that's that those are the things that I've started to work on and seem to give me some benefit here. Yeah. Inserting

Speaker 3:

That 24 hour pause. That's good. Good and good advice. Do you have a strategic plan for your business as you look out, you know, maybe one to three years, I know things are changing so fast, but do you have one?

Speaker 4:

Yes, we do. It's actually something. Well, as, as the owner and with my spouse, we have a strategic plan that we put into place before we even opened the business. But the one that I'm more proud of and that we use more on a regular basis is the strategic plan that our team has put together. And we spent a lot of time on this in the fall last year. And it is, it's really fun too. It's been actually broken down to by month and, and by product. And so it's fun to go back and revisit that at our team meetings each month, as we, as we travel forward through the year,

Speaker 3:

Give us a little bit more of an insight into that. Was it a retreat that you did? Was it questions that guided you through, how did you sort of culminate that vision as a team, as a team?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, so it started, you know, it starts from myself and my spouse. We do a retreat together and we set the big picture goals, and then we really looked at it from the standpoint of, you know, what impact do we want to have? How do we want to grow? What, how can we be better community players? And so we broke it out into five key goals that we have. And then within those goals, we have initiatives that we can act on. And so we broke it down there further. I have a team member. It's actually our coach. We have a health coach that works with our clinic and she does, she's very organized, does a little bit of life coaching also. And one of her great skill sets is, is breaking these things down into Excel spreadsheets in a way that we can all utilize them. So based on our five goals and our initiatives, we actually then develop tasks and then assign them to each individual on our team. So we each are color coded tasks that we, that we're responsible for and that we come back to on a monthly basis to keep each other accountable.

Speaker 3:

Love that I'm nerding out on that spreadsheet right now.

Speaker 4:

It is beautiful.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. That's funny. So last year, you know, COVID hit, did you have to make some key moves yourself for your organization in the last year to be responsive strategic in an uncertain time? Or did you just keep rolling along?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think like most small businesses, there was definitely some, some quick thinking of course safety was first in my mind, you know, as a medical doctor, we have to make sure that we're not putting our patients or our employees at risk. And so we did transition to telemedicine as much as, and stayed at that until we were able to start safely re-introducing in-person visits and, and then slowly moved forward. We are, we now have all of our staff back in our office and, and are, you know, navigating that, but we did have to make quite a few changes. And from a business standpoint, you know, we pulled back on any, maybe more unnecessary spending and, and kind of thought through that. And it was an interesting exercise for myself to go through, to say, what is the worst case scenario here? And to really look at the trajectory, had a lot of great support from my mentors at that time point. I'll never forget being on calls with both, you know, Brett and Nicole and, and hearing very similar feedback from both of them on strategy. What

Speaker 3:

Was the hardest part of the last year for you?

Speaker 4:

Oh, the constant change, you know, I have two young kids, I have a five-year-old and an eight year old and between their schooling and changes in, you know, work location for my spouse and support, that was probably the uncertainty. The constant change

Speaker 3:

Was telemedicine really hard. Or did you adapt to that pretty quickly?

Speaker 4:

Telemedicine is interesting because there's definitely a lot lost when you cannot put hands on the patient and see them in person, but it, wasn't hard from the standpoint of the technology and engaging. And luckily again, when you spend 90 minutes with your patients to get to know them at the very first visit, plus a 60-minute follow-up, I know these patients very well. And so to be able to pop in quickly for a telemedicine visit actually feels like talking to a friend on the phone. Wow. That's awesome.

Speaker 3:

How do you best lead organizational change? You know, that you've been doing it for two years. There's probably been a lot of change that you've had to guide your people through. And for most people change is hard unless you've got a unique team where it's, they're all just like, sure. Let's go.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, no, I know they are pretty unique, but yes, I agree. Change is hard for everyone. You know, the approach that I have learned works best for myself and for the team members that I've had is really bringing whatever the problem is to them. And I've of course thought about it. I thought of what solution I think would be the best, but asking, you know, what do you think is a solution here? What do you suggest? And I've had great results with that. And oftentimes I'm surprised by a brilliant idea that I hadn't thought about. And so I find it's a way to make everyone part of the solution and get everyone's perspective, and yet also provide appropriate direction.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So staying close to your team's a big deal, because then it becomes, what do they say of if I can weigh in, then I'll buy in right

Speaker 4:

On that side. That's very well quite

Speaker 3:

Well. One of the most difficult tasks of a leader is when you must have a difficult conversation with a team member. So how do you bolster the courage to do that?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think I saw something on Instagram recently about, there's no better way to ruin a good employee than to watch you tolerate a poor employee. Again, I, you know, that just really hits home. Right. It's so, from, from my standpoint, I don't know if it comes down so much to courage is it's just, I recognize that those hard conversations are just part of the job. And if I want the rest of my team and the business and my patients and myself to do well, those conversations have to be had.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. They say out of caring comes courage. Right. So if you care about the person to hold back from telling them anything would be an act of selfishness, right. Because nobody's growing, I'm not growing as the leader, because I don't want to have that conversation and they're not growing because they haven't gotten the feedback. That's another,

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely. Really good point.

Speaker 3:

So let's talk about our community a little bit. Tri-Cities so your Tri-Cities girl, right? Good. Yes. That's where my kids went. So you want to be a visible influencer in our community. Right. And how do you do that?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, so, well, it's interesting what you envision yourself doing when you grow up and what the reality is. I would have never chosen this for my path. That's very, it's even surreal to be here, sitting here with you today, but I think the first thing is getting involved, you know, and when we moved back to the Tri-Cities, we knew, and we, we discussed it as a, as a couple, my spouse and I, that, you know, we were going to step out into positions in the community to, to have influence, to meet people, to understand what the needs of the community are. So, you know, I serve on the board of the Tri-City chamber of commerce. I'm also associate board member of Giza credit union. And so I think it's, it's just about getting out there and understanding what, what is the community doing? What's driving it, what are the needs?

Speaker 4:

And then start plugging in, and then, you know, bringing your unique self to the table. It's really fun to be a speaker in the health and wellness world here in the Tri-Cities and we need it. We need something to change. We're actually in a really sad space from, you know, especially from primary care and doctors want to do a really good job. They want to love their patients. They want time and it's being taken away. And so to be here and to be able to speak to that is pretty powerful. And so I think the influence just comes naturally, if you're passionate about what you're talking about.

Speaker 3:

So you mentioned a couple of boards, would you recommend a Tri-City influencers to consider being on a board and why?

Speaker 4:

Absolutely. I mean, again, it's, it's an opportunity to network and to understand what's going on in the community. It's also really great way to learn from other organizations. You know, I mentioned the strategic plan that we put together at empowered health. It's actually very closely modeled just to the format that seen Giza use. And it's, you know, it's just, it's a great way to learn and to have mentorship and, and connect.

Speaker 3:

So you're you and your husband are both business owners and, you know, he got a couple of kids, he said, so how do you make time for just you as a couple?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. We're still, you know, we're still figuring this out. We've tried a couple different things, but you know, a lot of it's just communication and having time to connect in the mornings or at night, I cannot say we're perfect at this. You know, we've definitely put into place date nights and had that. Not always work out, but yeah, so we, we spend time together whenever we can get it. And like I said, I think the biggest thing that we do is really, we travel, we book our travel plans a year in advance and his family still lives in Milwaukee. So part of that's just because we have to, and we have to plan, but, you know, even just getting away for a weekend as a family or just the two of us is probably the way we reconnect.

Speaker 3:

So tell us about your marketing plan, because to see like you're visible out there. So what kinds of things are you doing on social media? Do you have a newsletter? That kind of stuff?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention how we got started with introducing empowered health to the community. And that's largely been through a local marketing firm, brand Kraft media, and they have done worlds. They for supporting, you know, developing our website, our brand and introducing us. But as far as internal marketing, we, we do have a marketing director, Leah, who you've met and she works a lot on our social media, our Instagram. We also have a newsletter, which I'm very proud of and it goes out monthly non-members can go ahead and sign up for it on our website to get access to that. And we put a lot of content in there about lifestyle and supplements and even, you know, latest research on things like COVID and, and, you know, the vaccine and melatonin and all of those different things that have come out about COVID. So that is one way that we've really engaged in showing the community what we do. And the idea is that if you're interested in what we're putting out there, then you can come and learn more about our clinic.

Speaker 3:

Fantastic. It sounds like that newsletter is something I want to subscribe to too. So that'd be great. So how can they, how can people subscribe to that? What's your website and what's your other ways they can people contact you? Yeah.

Speaker 4:

So our website is empowered health institute.com. And again, you can sign up for the newsletter on there. There's a box to do that. And we are also on Facebook, under empowered health Institute and Instagram as well. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Fantastic. Well, finally, Jessica, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to growing and gaining more influence?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think, I mean, it definitely goes back to getting involved in the community and, and recognizing that even if you don't necessarily feel like you have something different, you do, you bring something unique based on your experiences and finding that niche and what you're passionate about and stepping into that in a way to make a difference and just moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Good stuff. Good stuff. Well, thank you for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep growing forward. Thank you, Paul, let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend, Hey, has it been a long time since you've gotten your team off site and done a retreat, things are opening up more now and I would love to be your facilitator for that. There are so many benefits for retreats, offsite, its relationship building its strategic planning. You can enhance your communication. As a result, we could do a disc assessments. We can do emotional intelligence assessments. We'll just customize that to fit whatever needs your group has for just getting closer together and being visionary for the rest of the year. So just reach out to [e-mail]. Again, this is Paul Casey, and I want to thank my guest, Jessica Schneider from empowered health Institute for being here today on the Tri-Cities influencer podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest until next time, keep growing forward.

Speaker 2:

Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show Paul Casey on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with [e-mail] for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you is free. Control my calendar checklist, go to WW dot, take back my calendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message 2 7 2 0 0 0, and type the word growth

Speaker 3:

Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.