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Hey guys, welcome to another edition of Bootstrap MD, the podcast for physician and healthcare entrepreneurs. My name is Dr. Mike Woo Ming. I am a serial physician entrepreneur going on two decades starting my own business and helping other physicians start up their own businesses.

This is kind of a crazy week this week at the time of this recording. I'll be going to Newport Beach, California just up the road going to PIMD Con. It's happening on September 24th through 27th, 2025. If you haven't gotten your tickets, now's the time to do I'll leave a link here in the show notes.

Also having to virtually as well if you can't make it to Southern California. Never heard of PIMD Con? It's the number one real estate and entrepreneurship conference dedicated for physicians. It's helped 16,000 plus physicians achieve financial freedom, which is what we're all about here at Bootstrap MD.

And I want to share with you on this call is if you're going to PIMD Con, just some insights, what you should plan to do if you never been to PIMD Con before. I think I've pretty much been to every single one. I think I maybe I missed maybe the first one or two, but since then it's just an amazing time to meet other like-minded physicians and helping them through take control of their physician career.

So, I'm going to talk about things that I've learned, things to best prepare if you've never been before or maybe you've done it before and maybe you'll get some more insights and some methods to get the most out of attending the conference. So, first off, what is PIMD Con? It's founded by my good friend and business partner Dr. Peter Kim.

He's a anesthesiologist or although he doesn't practice clinical medicine actively anymore, he is the creator of Passive Income MD. Their goal is to help other physicians to work less, earn more, and enjoy life beyond the clinic. When you go to PIMD Con, we started last year I it was the first It was focused primarily on real estate investing but then they opened up another track called the entrepreneurship acceleration on there.

You're able to get CME. There's 30 plus expert speakers including myself. There's panel discussions, about 700 attendees attend this and it's made by doctors for doctors where everybody speaks your language and it's not just talking about burnout. It's about building wealth.

It's a building freedom, freedom as time freedom, geographic freedom, financial freedom. That's amazing conversations come up cuz if you're going to attend you're going to get new ideas. You're going to get new things to really make you more aware of what is out there besides being physician. There's so many times we're so busy taking care of patients we don't have time to take care of ourselves.

And so there was some great opportunities whether you talk about just a really cool energy to there and that's why I've been an avid attendee and participant in this conference. There are some things that you can do when you're getting ready to go is spend time to preparing yourself. There's a reason you decided to attend this conference but do you actually have like clear written goals about what you want to get started?

And that's what I would first recommend is just to write three specific goals about what you want to do. What do you want to get out of this conference? Not just saying you're going to learn stuff. It's I want to learn how to do analysis of rental properties to start my first investment.

Three specific goals that you're going to get. Go to the website, see all the speakers and that would be the second step is to research the speakers. See if there's there's lots of different conferences. You're not going to be able to go through every single one of them but find out have a game plan.

Which one are you going to attend? You may have some friends that are going and maybe you guys can compare. You may want to focus on one track and that he or she may focus on another type of track. But listen to the expert.

You want to delve into them. Listen to their podcasts, if they've done interviews, read their content. Prepare, ask questions. We're all about sharing and being transparent.

And this is a great way to getting to know some of the speakers that maybe you just listened to on a podcast and actually break bread, maybe have the opportunity to have a meal or go to the bar, whatever you want. To do some research. Step three is to pack for value capture. So that means what are you going to use to take notes?

Are you going to bring your laptop? What's the best way? Physicians can take down a lot of information in a short period of time, but what's the best way that you can retain that? Are you going to bring your own business cards?

I recommend bringing your business cards. It's not just about your practice, maybe you're starting your own business and this is a great way to start networking with people. And speaking about that, I would definitely, and this is like an aside, just make sure you wear comfortable shoes because you'll be going to breakfast, you'll be going to the restaurants, you'll be attending the conferences. There may be a lot of walking there.

So make sure you pack for that. Get make sure you pack for good energy, your favorite snacks, have that around because things can go it's can go boom, boom, boom and it can be make for a very educational, very informative, but very, very long day as well. Step four is to set specific intentions what you want to get out. What are the three takeaways that you want to get?

Or maybe you want to have three meaningful relationships with building a communication with some of the speakers. Plan to use those There's opportunities for coaching sessions. Come in with prepared questions. Make sure everything is all set and I would also recommend to you like after the conference, a lot of time you you go to the conference and the next week you're just bombarded with patients.

I would even recommend, if it's still possible, is to maybe even, you know, when you get back to maybe take a day off just to give your time to decompress. Block time to implement, okay, I'm going to block off the next Monday and I'm going to make sure I'm going to follow up with some of the people that I met there. You just don't want to be stuck with coming back and if you can help it, don't have a room full of patients because that's going to really drain your energy and you'll lose the momentum going in there.

I want to talk about networking strategy, too. So, how do you get the most out of it? There's going to be 700 plus attendees there and that's not even including the speakers. You're not going to be able to meet anyone, but maybe aim for having 10 to 15 meaningful conversations with other people.

Focus on aligned goals and interests. What do you want to get out of it? Who do you want to meet? I think also, too, everybody's going to ask you, "What do you do?" Everybody knows you're a physician for the most part, but try asking different questions.

And so, you could say, "What brought you to PMD Con this year? Are you doing the real estate track? Are you doing the entrepreneurship track and why? What's your biggest challenge?

What's your biggest challenge with starting your own business? So, have great opening questions. Also, I always think it's important to lead with value when you're having to network. Maybe you might not have the answer, but maybe through your connections, you might have someone who will learn the answer on there.

Be the connector. Be the resource sharer. Maybe share relevant resources without expecting things in return. Those go a long way.

There's a lot of people where it's just like, "Take, take, take, take." But, it really should be give, give. There's going to be opportunities and make sure you attend these things. There'll be some happy hours. There'll be some VIP dinners.

If you have a chance to do that, attend the mastermind sessions. Don't eat alone. Make sure when you go for meals, they'll have meal times. Sit at a table where you don't know everybody.

Or that's the best way that you can connect. Don't just It's not about just going there and then you go straight to your hotel room. I think as an introvert physician, I want to do that, but I know I have to take myself out of my comfort zone. And that And what got to me to where I am today was through a lot of networking and events similar to to PMD Con.

So, make sure you take advantage of that, too. And the thing is, too, is when you're networking, is have some type of system where you can remember these things. If they're giving you a business card, write down like something that you got from that conversation. Oh, I found out that she has a daughter that's going to the University of Michigan, and I happen to graduate from the University of Michigan.

There's a connection there. To follow up within 48 hours on a specific things. Like, oh, yeah, like they have a golden retriever, I have a golden retriever. Make sure that there is connections on here.

And if you're going to say something like, "Hey, let's get together." Make sure you follow up with that. Cuz I see so many times where there are like, "Hey, let's make sure we get together." Don't be the person to just make empty promises. Keep your promises on things that you're going to make during the conference. Take photos.

Share them on your social media. Share session insights, too. This is a great way with if you have a social media, and then I advise everybody to do, is to do #PMDCon2025. That stuff gets noticed.

So, you can share session insights that you've learned, tag relevant people. That's going to make you a better connected. Maximize the sessions and workshops, guys. So, when you're going here, you'll have a you got a real estate track.

We'll talk about how to invest while practicing medicine. There'll be entrepreneurship track. There'll be talks on how to plan your business, how to market your your business. Choose things that help solve problems for you.

Not just topics that are just interesting to you, but maybe you're having some current challenges with there. Make sure again, I'm going to say this again, have a couple goals. What do you want to get out of this conference on here? Just strategically follow the speakers that you want to engage with.

There's usually a Q&A session for most time. It's not the time to ask personal questions. It's questions that could benefit the entire audience. Prepare for like specific conversation starters with then you're going to meet when meet with some of the attendees and the other the other people that are going to be at this conference on here.

There'll be small group sessions. Make sure you attend these. And again, you can learn not just from the speakers but from the other attendees as well because when people come around I start seeing when I've seen like hey, I see this person this is like their third conference. I know that this person is committed to having a a change in the way of their career and they're interested in investing into themselves.

Make sure you connect with those people. Those are the ones who are often times if you're new to them, they could be introducing you to other people and such. And don't stress about capturing every detail live. There are recording sessions I think that you can take advantage of as well.

Just focus on I think the biggest part is focusing on networking. Information is important. Don't get me wrong too but especially when you're coming learn live, right? That's what you're going to connect with.

I want to also warn about common pitfalls that you can have with PMD con on here. And the first thing I found is don't try to do everything. Don't try and everything once. It's not just getting to the room, making sure you attend everything.

Leave room for spontaneous conversations. Number two is try to meet other people. Don't stick with the same people that you came with. You'll have a time to talk with them afterwards that you'll be your friends.

Try to meet other people. Again, there's 700 plus people there all with diverse backgrounds. Try to sit at different tables. Join diverse conversations.

Try to avoid information overload because you can't implement everything at once. What I've seen often is they'll have a binder full of notes but then at the end they don't do anything with it. Try to prioritize like one or two focus areas ruthlessly that you can follow. And eventually there's some things that that sounds good but it may be able to have to be at the back burner.

Another thing too is and this is where I often see where physicians get themselves in trouble is they love comparing them to someone else. We see this in our own mastermind group in here. They'll see a doctor who's got 50 plus real estate properties, maybe they've had an eight-figure exit as well. And here someone is, "I'm just starting to get start my first real estate investment." Everybody had to start somewhere and we've all had failures on in there.

Just focus on learning, not measuring against other people. Other things that I want to share with you again is to take care of yourself on there, keep yourself hydrated, bring snacks, make sure you get good sleep, eat regularly. I know, you know, there's going to be going to the bar. I'm not I don't drink, but a lot of times people can get themselves into trouble.

You just be smart in here. We're all here to learn and have a good time as well, but just make sure that first and more foremost you're taking care of yourself, too. And then as mentioned, have a follow-up system. Make sure you follow up with people that you say you're going to follow up with and be ready to implement.

Yeah, and so those are some things that I wanted to share with you in terms of attending PMD Con, how to get the most of it. And these are just principles that I think you could do for any conference on here. When you're at looking at different conferences outside PMD Con and I've always encouraged you to start looking at different conferences outside of your comfort zone. Don't just go to conferences because they offer CME.

If you want to grow your business, for example, I wanted to learn more about artificial intelligence. I started going to AI conferences 3 years ago on in there and I think it's helped me help my business grow a lot faster if I didn't on here. But I think there's some universal questions that you get is like, "What's my ROI when you're going to the conference? What's your return on investment?

What do I hope to get out of it? What is the opportunity cost? Am I saving myself time? Am I saving myself money or making money?

Am I building energy?" If you're not able to articulate your return on the intelligence, then don't want to the conference on here. When you're deciding you want to attend a conference, what is the goal? Is it to focus on investing in yourself? We're all used to going to clinical education conferences, but you should also go to conferences that also build you and fulfill you.

Investing in yourself, or learning more about real estate. I want to learn more more about artificial intelligence. I want to learn more about how to build up my business on here. I want to meet other people who are like-minded like myself.

That's one of the one of the important things that I go to different conferences is to meet other attendees and to do so in a strategic manner on here. Because at the end, it's all about communication. It's all about forming and building meaningful professional relationships. And what I've learned having attended a lot of different conferences is every time you go to conference, you learn more and being more selective, and each conference builds on other conferences that you learned in.

So, take on points for you guys is don't just attend it, just experience and experience with intention. The promise of a conference like PMD Con is it'll be life-changing and it truly is, but it really requires a strategic approach. Some immediate actions that you can do now is if you're attending PMD Con, please reach out to me. I'm going to be there.

I'll be probably working behind the scenes on some things. I'm also be speaking, but just block calendar time for preparation right now. Just spending a couple hours. Okay, I'm attending it.

I'm sure you've already planned your hotel, you planned where you're flying or driving if you're in the area, you've blocked calendar time to make sure you're prepared, but also prepare yourself. Block time to prepare yourself to write three goals you want to get out of that conference right now. So, find out what your cleared your your call to action is. What do you want to What do you want to do next?

And after the PMD Con, it's like you decide, okay, now what do I want to do? I want to build what I've learned. Now I need to implement. Because the conference is just the beginning.

It's not the end. But I just see so many people they attend a conference and they seem to be in the same You don't want to be the one who's I'm in the same place that I was the year before. And actually others their business or their career has drastically changed after they're attending a conference on here. I like to think of ourselves we have ourself and then our future self.

And your future self thank you if you take attending conferences and you approach it very strategically. So again if you're attending PMD Con or do you want to know where to go? We'll leave you a link. Again it's happening in Newport Beach, California September 25th through 27th.

I hope to see you there. Please reach out to me. I'd love to get to know you. Want to say hi.

You listen to the podcast. And yeah love would love to connect and get to meet you. Again thank you for listening. If you felt this Bootstrap MD episode helpful to you, please share this with others.

That allows us to grow and kind of spread the word in helping others physicians build and take control of their physician career and build that financial freedom that they so deserve. As always as a physician entrepreneur you're going to have your ups and your downs. Do something a little each day to get you closer to your goals and keep moving forward.