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How many business ideas are you currently sitting on?
If the answer is more than one, this episode is for you. Dr. Mike Woo-Ming opens with a hard truth most ambitious physicians eventually face: seven ideas is functionally the same as zero. A business you haven’t started pays you exactly as much as one you haven’t thought of yet.
Drawing from his own experience building a medical practice while simultaneously chasing software, coaching, and side projects, Mike shows how the very instincts that make doctors excellent clinicians, gather more data, rule everything out, don’t act until you’re certain, become the instincts that keep them stuck in business. He reframes idea-shopping as insurance against failure and “more research” as procrastination with a spreadsheet attached.
The episode then moves from diagnosis to a practical tool. Mike walks listeners through the Three Filter Test:
- The Relieved or Trapped question applied to what you already have
- The 30-Day Dollar Test (which idea can put real customer money in your hands the fastest)
- The Only-You Test (which idea actually gets easier because you are the one doing it)
He closes with a clear rule: once a winner survives the filters, give it 90 days of monogamy—no new research, no idea #8 appearing at 11 p.m. A mediocre idea run for two years will beat a perfect idea still living on a comparison chart every single time.
Three Actionable Takeaways:
- Seven ideas equals zero ideas: Having multiple business concepts feels productive and safe, but functionally it is identical to having none. A business you have not started generates zero revenue, zero customers, and zero momentum. Until you deliberately choose one idea and commit, every option remains theoretical and your progress stays permanently stalled. Choose or stay stuck.
- Run the Three Filter Test tonight: First ask whether keeping only your current work leaves you relieved or trapped. Second, identify which idea could put real customer money in your hands within 30 days. Third, determine which idea becomes easier specifically because of your unique specialty, network, license, or story. The idea that survives all three filters is the one worth pursuing.
- Commit to 90 days of monogamy:. Once a single idea emerges as the clear winner, give it your exclusive attention for one full quarter. Refuse new research, new podcasts, and any late-night idea number eight. Real-world data and momentum collected over 90 days will teach you far more than another year of theoretical comparisons ever could.
About the Show:
Bootstrap MD is the ultimate podcast for physician entrepreneurs looking to escape traditional healthcare and control their financial futures. Hosted by Dr. Mike Woo-Ming, a successful physician, entrepreneur, and investor, the show delivers actionable insights on starting businesses, creating passive income, and navigating healthcare entrepreneurship. Featuring interviews with industry leaders, physicians, and experts in telemedicine and digital health, it’s your guide to building a profitable, fulfilling career.
Tune in weekly at http://bootstrapmd.com
About the Host:
Dr. Mike Woo-Ming has over 20 years of experience as a physician entrepreneur. He’s built and sold multiple seven-figure companies and now leads Executive Medical, a group of clinics specializing in age management and aesthetics. Through BootstrapMD, he mentors physicians in business, content creation, and autonomy.
Let’s Connect: www.https://www.bootstrapmd.com
Want to start a podcast? Check out the Doctor Podcast Network!
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Transcript
YouTube English auto-captions.
A quick question for you. How many business ideas do you have right now? Not someday ideas, not hey, wouldn't it be cool if ideas. Ideas that you've actually researched. Maybe you bought the domain for. You watched six YouTube videos at 11:00 at night. Maybe even brought it up to your spouse over dinner and then they kind of gave you that look. You know that look. So, if your answer is more than one, then this episode is for you. So, a few weeks ago, I gave you that 5-minute protocol. I showed you how to get hours back out of your week, real hours gone from your calendar, back into your hands. So, here's the uncomfortable follow-up question. What did you actually do with those hours? Because if you're anything like most of the doctors I talk to, here's what happened. You didn't build anything. You researched idea number eight. So, let's talk about that because the problem isn't that you don't have a good idea. You probably got several good ideas. The problem is you have seven of them. And here's the thing nobody tells you. Seven ideas is the same as zero. Functionally, mathematically the same as zero because a business you haven't started doesn't pay you a dime more than a business you haven't thought about yet. My name is Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. This is Bootstrap MD, the podcast for physician and healthcare entrepreneurs. I'm a 20-plus year physician entrepreneur. And today we're going to talk about why smart doctors get stuck and exactly how to get unstuck. And my goal is by the end of this episode, you're going to have a simple filter you can run every one of your ideas through tonight. So, let's get into it.
So, why does this happen to smart people? Well, because it does. I'm not talking about doctors who lack ambition. I'm talking about doctors who have too much of it. They point it in seven directions at once. So, here's my theory. You were trained into this. Think about your training for a second. In medicine, you were taught gather the data. Rule things out. Don't act until you're sure. Because a wrong call could hurt somebody, even kill somebody. Well, that instinct kept your patient safe for years. It's a good instinct. It's a necessary instinct in the exam room. But in business, that same instinct could wipe you out because there is no, quote, gather all the data. There's no version of market research where you finally have enough information to guarantee the outcome. There's only enough information to start. And most of you blow way past enough and keep going because it feels that's the responsible thing to do.
So, let me reframe something for you. Having seven ideas isn't ambition. What it is insurance. So, think about it. As long as you never pick one, none of them can ever fail. Nobody can ever look at you and say, "Nah, that didn't work." Cuz you're safe, completely safe, and completely stuck. Because optionality feels like freedom, but it's not freedom. It's a hiding place with really good lighting. And here's reframe number two. More research isn't diligent. It's just procrastination with a spreadsheet attached to it. You don't need another course. You don't need another podcast. Yeah, I see you're listening to podcast episode number 300 and so on how to start a business you haven't started. You don't need another comparison chart with pros and cons in two columns. What you need is a decision. Cuz here's what that indecision is actually costing you, and it's not what you think. You think the risk is picking the wrong idea. It really isn't. The real cost is the compounding you're forfeiting every single month you spent, quote, still deciding. A mediocre idea you actually run for 2 years will beat a perfect idea you're still comparing on a spreadsheet every time. Because the mediocre idea is out there collecting customers. It's out there collecting testimonials. It's out there collecting momentum, and momentum is the one thing you cannot get by thinking harder. You can only get it by just starting. Right? You already know all of this. You know you're stuck. You know you're not moving. So, why can't you just pick one?
So, let me tell you why. Because I'll tell you about me. I'm not lecturing here from some mountain top here. I'm some you know, big guru. I've done the exact same thing. There was a stretch back when I was starting my medical clinic where I was also building out a coaching offer. I was working on software, and I was creating a sports website all at the same time. All of it in just a few hours a week, right? Well, that's what I told myself. Here's a part that actually stings looking back. None of those side projects were bad ideas on their own. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the math. Every single hour I spent on the software or on the sports site was an hour that did not go into the one business that already had customers, that already had momentum, that already worked. That was my own practice. And then what happened? Well, growth just kind of stalled. It was flat. It wasn't failing, but it was just flat. And if you've ever run something that used to grow and then you'd stop growing, you know that's almost worse than failing. Failing at least tells you something. And the thing is, I didn't see it happening. And that's what happens when you split your attention, and it just does something to you. In that moment, it doesn't feel like a mistake. It feels like you're hustling. It feels like you're doing more, but in actual fact, you're doing less. I felt productive. I was super busy every single day. I just wasn't building anything. And it took somebody else to point this out. It was an accountability partner of mine, somebody whose opinion I trusted, not just somebody being nice to me. He was like, he said, "Mike, you just got a lot of stuff. I mean, where are you going with all of this? Which is actually working? Because you can't do all nine." And that hit me. I can't do all nine. That one phrase did more for me than 3 months of staring at land spreadsheets. So, when I tell you that choosing is hard, I'm not judging you from my mountain top. I'm judging you from, you know, the ditch. I've been exactly where you are.
Now, let me tell you about a physician I just worked with recently. She's experienced. She's have over a decade in practice. She already has a small telehealth practice up and running. She's licensed in multiple state. She's smart, credential, motivating. She's already had a probably 95% of doctors who say they want to to get out of that W-2 grind. And the problem is she was completely stuck. Here's her version of the seven ideas. She had seven different audiences she could build a business around, seven. And she'd been sitting at seven for months. Not because any of them were bad ideas, cuz they were all plausible. And that's the actual trap right here. Bad ideas eliminate themselves pretty fast. Good ideas, well, they can just accumulate. They pile up. And then a pile of good ideas can paralyze you just as completely as a pile of bad ones. She had one audience where she wanted to work with female physicians. She had one audience where she wanted to work with a specific ethnic demographic group. She had one audience where she wanted to work with a certain age demographic. And she realized nothing was getting done by going through all of these different things. So, she booked a strategy session with me. And here's the thing, we didn't spend that hour comparing the seven options on the whiteboard. I didn't build her a scoreboard or a scorecard. I asked her one question first before anything else. I said, "If all you had left was your current practice, nothing new, just that, would you feel relieved or would you feel trapped?" So, I want you to sit with the question. That's why I repeated it. I actually ask it about your own situation right now. Now, here's why that one question does more work than a month of research. It skips the spreadsheet completely and goes straight to the engine underneath it. If your honest answer is relief, then you don't need a new business. You don't need a double down on the one thing you've already got. So, stop shopping around. If your honest answer is trapped, then your current thing is a bridge. It isn't a home. and then suddenly the seven-way comparison collapses down to something much simpler. An escape route, but not picking a hobby. And when you have a strategy session with me or with anyone else, for myself, I'm not just handing you more ideas. It's actually more productive to help you take ideas away one at a time until there's only one left standing. And that's what we did. We spent a 1-hour, she walked me through all these different directions. But at the end, I gave her a clear path to say, "You know, of all these things, everything that you've told me, everything what I've heard, your face lights up when we talk about this specific direction." She had her answer. So, we walked out with one, I gave her 90-day plan, and I wanted to her to be clear. And that's not because I'm just some genius who saw something that she couldn't. It's because a structured outside question can do something in 60 minutes than another month of solar research never will.
So, let's get practical. I'm not going to leave you here with just a story and a feeling. And here's a tool you can use tonight on your own seven ideas, wherever they are. I call it the three filter test. It's just three questions. You run every idea through all three in order. So, filter number one is the relieved or trapped test. I talked about it earlier. It's the same question I asked you. Start with what you have. Okay? Do you feel relieved that you're just having just one? Then you're done. Grow what's working, stop idea shopping. If you feel trapped, then move to filter number two. Filter two is the 30-day dollar test. Ask yourself, which of these ideas could put one's real customer money in your hand within 30 days? I also call it the fast path to cash. It's not a revenue production, not a this could eventually, one actual paying human being paying you. Because here's what this filter does. Any idea that needs a course built first, or an app coded first, or a certification earned first before you can make a single dollar, that idea should go to the back of the line. Not because it's bad, because speed to proof beats size of dream every time when you're starting out. Again, fast path to cash. And then filter number three, the only you test. Which idea gets easier because you are the one doing it? Is it your specialty, your network, your story, your license, your years in practice, the thing only you can bring to it? Because here's the truth. If any motivated stranger off the street could run your idea just as well as you could, you don't have what we call a moat. You have a hobby. And you'll quit the second it gets hard because there's nothing holding you to it. So, if you got seven or more ideas, I would highly encourage you to run through all these ideas through those three filtered questions tonight. One of them is going to survive better than the others. That's your business. And here's the rule after the filter. Pick the winner and give it 90 days of just working on it. I call it 90 days of monogamy. There's no switching, no new research, no idea number eight, nine, or 10 showing up at your feet at 11:00 p.m. and pulling your attention again. Choosing one thing isn't closing doors on the others. Choosing is the only thing that ever actually opens a door.
Now, I already know what some of you are thinking because I hear it every single time. But Mike, what if I pick it wrong? What if I make the wrong decision? And here's my answers. In 90 days, you're going to have real data, actual results. Instead of imaginary comparisons you're still running in your head six months from now, a wrong choice teaches you more in one quarter than a right choice you're still researching on teaches you in a year. The only truly unrecoverable choice, the only one, is not choosing it at all. So, here's your homework. And it's not doing more research. Tonight, ask yourself that question. If all you had left was what you got right now, do you feel relief or do you feel trapped? Then run your ideas through the three filtered questions and just circle one. That's it. That's the whole assignment. And look, if you get to the end of that and you're still staring at three circled ideas, then I might be able to help. What you can do is you can book a strategy session with me. It's 60 minutes. We get on a Zoom call, just you and me one-on-one, and we're going to help you make that decision. And what I do is once we have that decision, I give you a 90-day road map so you can get going. If what I say resonates to you, then I invite you to go to bootstrapmd.com, that's bootstrapmd.com, and click at the top of book a strategy session. The doctors who win aren't the ones with the best ideas. They're the ones who's picked. All right, guys, I hope you've enjoyed this. I hope that I got you a little past analysis paralysis. Remember, 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.