7 Vanity Metrics That Are RUINING Your Private Medical Practice

Hi docs , welcome to the EntreMD podcast , where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms . I'm your host , dr Una . Well , hello . Hello , my friend , welcome back to another episode of the Entremdy podcast .

I am super pumped , as always , that you're here Now . Today we're going to be looking at something that is so powerful and when you apply this , this will create quantum leaps in your business . We're going to look at seven vanity metrics that are killing your business .

These are numbers that might , could matter , but in the grand scheme of events , they're not the ones that we look at as the measure of success . But so many people do , and this is the reason why there's a lot of effort , but the businesses are not working . So after today , you're not going to have this problem anymore . Okay , so let's look at those metrics .

So , metric number one now you know , maybe I should back up a little bit and kind of give you a better picture of this . So if you're watching a basketball game and you're watching an elite player , the elite player has one job , ultimately , is to make sure that the ball goes into their opponent's basket more often than it .

You know like the other ball goes into the other basket . It really is as simple as that . Now , they may dribble , they may have you know , no look passes , they may do all of those things , and those are important . Like you know , no , look passes , they may do all of those things , and those are important , like you know .

How many times do you rebound the ball ? How many times , you know , did you dribble ? Did you do that ? Like awesome ? But at the end of the day , is the number of times the ball goes into the basket that matters , right , now , that's because they're elite basketball players that are competing for a championship and all of that .

Now I have gone to a game by the Harlem Globetrotters and their goal is entertainment , and so they're doing all kinds of maneuvers , all kinds of dribblings , passes , flips , and all of that , not so much how many times it goes in the basket . Right , and that's because the goal is entertainment .

So I am convinced that in your business , you are not in business to be entertained . You are not in business to be distracted from your life .

You are in business because you have a desire to have a huge impact in the lives of your team members and in the lives of your clients or your patients , and you want to create financial and time freedom for yourself and for your family and all of that . You want to leave a legacy , all of those things , because that is your intent .

I am making the assumption that you are an elite entrepreneur . You are not an entertaining entrepreneur , right ? And because of that , it is very critical that you understand what the basket is right , so that you can go score , as I mean , you can go score as many times as you need to score , okay , so this is very important .

Now , the numbers we talk about today , it's not as though they don't matter at all , but they're a means to an end . They're a number that requires another number to interpret them . It's so critical , so critical .

A few years ago I think this was two years ago I set a goal it was on my vision board for the number of downloads I wanted to have on this podcast , on the EntreeMD podcast , and I can't remember what number I set , but a really big number . But I was very clear when I put it on there this is a vanity metric .

This is a vanity metric because there are things I want to accomplish as a whole in the business . Now , will this help me get there ? Yes , but can I take my eyes off those things to focus on the number of downloads ? No , so I'm very clear . It's a nice to have as a vanity metric . I'll probably post about it .

I'll probably be so proud of myself with all the work I put into the podcast . Yes , but I can't measure that number by the expense of other numbers . Okay , all right . So I think you get it . Now let's look at those things , all right . The first one is your engagement on social media .

Okay , so that could be views , followers , likes , comments , all of those things . Now am I trying to say that's not important ? I mean , come on , I wrote the visibility formula . We talk about social media , we talk about all of that , and we talk about it very heavily in the Entremet Business School . So am I saying it's not a number to measure ?

It's a number to measure , but on its own it's a vanity metric ?

Okay , so if my goal then becomes I want to have more engagement , I want to have more views , I want to have more likes and follows , then what that means , I'm going to create content , not for impact , not to attract new clients , none of that but to keep them entertained or keep them liking and following and all of those things , right .

So my driving force cannot be my engagement on social media . Now am I going to create engagement on social media as a means to an end to get more clients , to help people have more impact , to help them create wins , just from my content ? Of course , but that's not the target .

And so if I'm measuring that , I'm not measuring profits , I'm measuring that I'm not measuring how many new clients I got . It's a vanity metric , right , like , so , yes , I have a hundred million followers on TikTok . So what ? Right Like , yes , and do you also have the outcome that we want to create from being on social media ?

Because social media is a means to an end , right , and so we want to think about that . We don't want to be , like rich and dollar , poor , and when we focus on those numbers , that's the kind of situation we create Now . So am I saying don't get on social media , please do not hear what I'm not saying . I am not saying that .

What I am saying is measure all the way , don't just stop there . It's not an end in itself . Do you know that if I post a video about a cat okay , about a cat , and it's filing down his nails and stuff like that , and I put something snarky on there , people are going to comment and like and share and all of the things ?

If I came and I said , oh , you know , we've just opened enrollment for the Entremdi Business School , or I come and I say , you know , like now we have tickets for Entremdi Live , we'd love to see you , you know , as part of the live audience , if I do all of those things , I know I'm going to have less engagement .

I know that , like , whenever there is an ad , it could be to register for a free webinar , it doesn't matter what it is , but the bigger your ask , the less your engagement . But that doesn't mean people are not saying yes .

So the question is are you going to be so , you know , like , so determined to make sure your numbers for your likes and all of those things are going up ?

Then you won't make any calls to action because , guess what , you may have more engagement , but nobody's saying yes to you , nobody's deciding to work with you , nobody's coming to your clinic because of it , because you don't have any call to action , right . So on its own , it's a vanity metric and we've got to be clear about that . Okay , number two .

Number two is the size of your team , dr Una . What in the world are you talking about , like you always talk about , you know , bringing on a team and you know , with the team you have , you know , more capacity , more bandwidth to do more . Then you can create time freedom for yourself and you can multiply impact .

All of that , and it's all true , but this is a deal . Are we measuring team size ? Are we measuring team productivity ? Are we measuring team size ? Are we measuring team size and also , like , this is the way this team contributes to the bottom line ?

Do we have a big team that is growing or at least maintaining our profit margin , meaning that as we bring on more team , that they're bringing in more revenue ? So , at the end of the day , it's not eating into our profit margin ? Meaning that as we bring on more team , that they're bringing in more revenue .

So , at the end of the day , it's not eating into our profit margin ? Or are we bringing on team that are dead weight , and so the owner is almost like killing themselves to generate enough revenue to support the team , but the team is not doing anything to support the bottom line , right ? So team size is that important , of course ?

Like , we want to grow a team I've been growing my teams and all of those things right ? Yes , we want to grow it , but just saying , oh , I have a team of 15 , I mean that's great , but how are these 15 people contributing to the bottom line ? How are these 15 people expanding your impact , expanding your bandwidth , helping you to have more time off ?

Like , how is the team helping you do that ? Your team members , do they even know what revenue generating activities are ? Do they know how their role impacts the bottom line ? Because if this is not in place , then your team , the size of your team it becomes a vanity metric . Like , you have a big team , so what ?

Right , and it's so critical because the team does not exist for itself . You started alone . You started with a vision . You had goals for the business . You had a vision of what the business will look like . You bring team members to come work alongside you to make that vision a reality , right ?

And so if you bring team members I cannot tell you how many businesses I've reviewed and audited and coached and you see that for the team members , they're almost like this additional thing and they just have some tasks that they do .

But there's no connection between that with the vision , there's no connection between that and the overall strategy of the organization , right , and so team size alone is a vanity metric . It's a vanity metric , okay , all right , let's look at number three . Number three is email list size . Okay , email list size . I have 50,000 email subscribers , yeah , Right .

Now , dr Una , what in the world are you saying ? Are you saying you don't want us to grow our email list ? Of course I want you to grow your email list .

I am actively growing my email list as we speak , right , like , for instance , if you're listening to this and you're not subscribed to our newsletter , our VIP newsletter , where I give you tips and tricks and hacks to go to your first or your next million in revenue , I want you to go subscribe . Now it's entremedycom forward slash newsletter .

You get it in your inbox every Thursday and it's like super high value and it's things you won't see on the podcast . It's just solely for the newsletter . So go subscribe . What did I do ? I just grew my email list . Like , seriously , if you didn't subscribe , go subscribe . Right , I just grew my email list so I might tell you don't grow your email list .

No , that's not the point .

But the thing is this if you have an email list but you're not sending them emails , you're not giving value , you're not nurturing them in any way , you're not using it to grow your know , like and trust factor , you're not making any offers , you're not inviting them , whether that's to come to a workshop you're doing , or if you're a private practice doctor , to

schedule an appointment because they might be overdue , and all of that . If you're not using it for that , what does it matter ? That you have 50,000 people ? The size of your email list becomes a vanity metric .

So you may feel good telling people about it oh , I have 15 people on my team and I have 32,000 on my email list and all that but it's not affecting your bottom line , it's not helping you get to your goals , it's doing nothing for you . So it legit does not matter . It doesn't matter at all , right ?

And so when you look at it that way as an entity on its own , a number on its own it doesn't matter , it's a vanity metric . It makes you happy , it makes you feel like you're super successful , but you're not doing anything . It's just extra work collecting all those email addresses . It's a vanity metric . Okay , all right .

So we looked at number one your engagement on social media

. Number two , the size of your team . Number three , your email list size . Number four would be let's talk about this one your revenue . Oh my goodness , dr Una , what ? What are you talking about ? Right , like ? What do you mean ? Revenue is a vanity metric .

When you look at revenue and you look at it as a number on itself and by itself , and you're like by all means , we're going to make this number go up , you know , we're all about the revenue this year and all of those things . If you're only thinking about that number , a lot of times it makes you do crazy things .

It makes you do things so crazy that you might find out that , oh , it was a great year . Oh , my goodness , we did 2 million in revenue . And then you find out that you spent . Well , you spent 1.8 million , though , right ? So at the end of the day , you're looking at profit of $200,000 . And that's because you are not thinking about profit .

You are not thinking about cashflow . Revenue is great , but revenue doesn't go to your bank account . What goes to your bank account is profit , right , revenue is great . But if you don't have cash to run your business , you don't have cashflow .

You don't have cashflow right , and so the revenue by itself , just so you can say , oh yes , we're multiple seven or whatever , and there's nothing wrong with that . Please don't misunderstand me . I talk nonstop about us building seven figure businesses or adding another seven figures and all of those things .

We work relentlessly on that with the Entree Empty Business School . So I'm not saying revenue is not a good number to track , but in isolation it becomes a vanity metric , right ? It's when you think about profit , when you think about cashflow . Then you start looking at how do I increase my revenue in a profitable way ? I want you to think about that .

How do I increase my revenue in a profitable way ? That's where you can start looking at the ROI of the things you do . Like I'm spending a gajillion bajillion dollars in ads , but I can't link anything to it , right ? So is that something that needs to stay ?

That's what will make you go look at your profit and loss statement and I will be the first to tell you like I used to break . You know imaginary , but I used to break out in hives in my mind when I would think about looking at my accounting in any way , shape or form . But this is what will make you look at it right .

It's not just enough to see what came in through the Stripe account or what is in the bank account . We're looking at that . We're looking at unnecessary expenses or expenses with no ROI . Now , to be very clear , I'm not talking about investments . Sometimes people look at their team as an expense .

Your team is not an expense , and I did a whole podcast episode on how to convert your team from an expense to an investment . So if you're thinking your team is an expense , I really want you to go listen to that .

So you're not necessarily cutting the things that generate revenue , but you're cutting the things that they're not maintaining the revenue and they're not creating an ROI , and they're just there . You know what I mean . It makes you think about it differently , right ? It makes you think about it , and that is what will benefit your team .

Your business does need to be profitable for them to continue to have a job . That is what will benefit your family because all this time they , you know , loaned you to your business to go do all this work . At least there's an ROI for it , there's something that comes back home and then your business can continue to exist .

So revenue is great , but think about profit , think about cashflow . Okay , so that's number four . Number five this is , you know , like events with tons of bells and whistles , right ? And this could be in the private practice world . This could be in the coaching space , or if you're a speaker and you host events and things like that .

I want you to hear me really clearly , right ? This is a place where I see people making the most unbelievable mistakes because they look at an event forgetting that this person they're looking at has been doing events for 10 years , 12 years , 15 years .

They're cashflow positive , they have great relationships with vendors , they have an in-house team that handles a lot of things , and somebody who's starting off is less than five years into it decides , oh , I want to do the event at the same magnitude as this person and , at the end of the day , I've seen events where people have lost 20,000 , 30,000 , 100,000 on

an event , especially with no clear roadmap to creating an ROI . So it's not like after the event , there's something they can do to none of that right , none of that .

And so it's just like oh yeah , you know , I had my event and it was in the Four Seasons and I'm just , you know , nothing wrong with the Four Seasons , it's an amazing chain but I was in the Four Seasons and I had , you know , this kind of , you know , swag and these kind of bonuses and that kind of experience and all of that , just to say I had it .

Now am I saying don't do that , absolutely not . I host events . I host a ton of events right , whether that's through my business or through the church and all of those kind of things , and we do our best to pull off a show right .

But we also have to do it understanding that we're not the federal government , we don't have a , you know , like a limitless budget , and also with the understanding of this concept that I call the pace of grace . My job is to do the best to do an excellent event .

Okay Now , an excellent event means that I do the best possible event I can do with the resources that I have available to me . That's what that means , and so I put on the absolute best event that I can do with the resources that I have available to me .

That's what that means , and so I put on the absolute best event that I can put and then debrief with my team , and then we already have plans on how we're going to make the next one even better . And we're doing this in a profitable way , because , remember , at the end of the day , the job of a business is to serve a customer .

Because , remember , at the end of the day , the job of a business is to serve a customer , serve a client , serve a patient , and to do it in a profitable way , right , so that they continue to have the privilege of serving those clients . And so you don't have to have every bell , you don't have to have every whistle .

You can grow into the bells and you can grow into the whistles , but we don't want to just

do it so we can say , oh yes , I had that kind of event , right . So it's just something to think about , right ? I cannot tell you how many times people are like . You know the way it is . You know events . Most of the events are just done .

You're going to lose money on the events and , and you know , in the by and by you , recoup it and I'm like , yeah , I'm not the federal government , I don't make those kind of decisions . Right , because I have the privilege of serving hundreds and hundreds of some of the most phenomenal physicians and helping them build amazing businesses and amazing lives .

Like , think about it , dream business and dream life concurrently . Right , I serve them to the best of my capacity . I invest so heavily in myself . I invest , you know , like I invest over six figures in myself every single year . Why ? To be better , to serve them better .

The last thing I'm going to do is put myself and my business in a position where we're not serving , we're not profitable and maybe have to go out of business or anything like that . I'm not willing to sacrifice that because the work I do is just too important for that . Okay .

So bells and whistles and I'm not saying please don't misunderstand me , I'm not saying don't do the bells and whistles , do them , do them in a profitable way , do them in a profitable way . Okay . So that's number five . I think I don't know what number that is , but we'll just roll with it . Okay , the other is your community size or an audience size .

So that's kind of you know . Say you have a group , like , for instance , I'll see people and they're like oh , I have a Facebook group and there are 20,000 people in it and it's a metric and it's measured and it's bragged about and all of that , but guess what ? There's no nurture happening in the Facebook group .

There's no call to action in that group at all . Like , there's no invitation to come for a masterclass . There's no invitation to come for a masterclass , there's no invitation to schedule an appointment , there's no invitation to come work directly with a person . There's nothing happening .

And so what you'll find is you have another group that's an itty bitty group with a thousand people or 2000 people . That is really a million dollar Facebook group . And you have another group that has 400,000 people and there's , it's an , it's a , not a dollar group . And you have another group that has 400,000 people and it's not a dollar group .

Okay , I just made up a phrase it's not a dollar . Okay , so then it becomes a vanity metric , because the number of people in the group doesn't matter if we are not doing the things to reap the reward of having that number of people in the group .

Right , and so , when you think about it , right , if it's a community that's built to support your business and you're measuring that number . You also want to ask like the number on its own is not a complete thought .

The complete thought is like this is the number and these are the activities we do , and because of that , this is the percentage of people who are active in the group and these are the number of times that we make calls to action and , because of that , this is the number of people who come for our masterclasses or who schedule appointments or who have come to

work with us and stuff like that . When you measure that , then that tells the complete story , because just the number of people in the group doesn't tell a story at all . A group a fifth of the size of that , managed properly , could give more of a result . So then it becomes a vanity metric . Okay , all right , let's see how we're doing here .

The final one would be you know , like equipment , right , like I have this kind of laser or I have that kind of machine , so equipment , devices , I have this kind of facility and all of that Powerful , and of these seven things I've mentioned , they're all seven things that I want , they're all seven things that you want , but they're not , they're not the end .

All be all right , like , the whole point of dribbling is to get the ball to the basket . The whole point of the no-look pass is to not allow the opposing team intercept the ball so your team member can get the ball into the basket , right . And so imagine measuring the number of dribbles and just completely losing count of what the score is .

The score is , that's what matters , right , and so the dribble needs to be interpreted in light of the score . Okay , so back to the equipment . So I have this kind of equipment , this kind of device , this kind of facility , all of those kinds of things , great , okay .

So this wonderful device that we have and we're the only ones who have it , or one of five people who have it what's the ROI on it ? What is it doing ? Is it some laser that I bought that I'm literally paying for , like it's a house mortgage and I haven't had a single patient use it ?

Then it's a vanity of vanity metrics , right , okay , yes , I got the new building and for my practice , and it's X hundred thousand square feet , great . But I'm not doing any marketing , I'm not going after any referral sources , I don't have patients . Like , literally one third of that space is being used .

It's a vanity metric to keep talking about it and keep focusing on and keep celebrating it when I'm not doing the thing to make it useful , right . So it's a different way of thinking .

It's like critical thinking for physician entrepreneurs , critical thinking for seven figure physician entrepreneurs , doctors who've decided I'm going to have a huge impact , I'm going to create financial freedom and time freedom . This is the way we think . We're going all the way to the end .

My job as a business is to impact a lot of people and do it in a profitable way . Impact a lot of people , build this asset that touches many lives and creates financial freedom . For me , it's a win-win situation , right . And so all these other things that we need to measure , do we need to measure them ?

Yes , but we need to measure them and hold them to the outcome we ultimately want . So , yes , I have the big building and because of that , I'm able to bring in more patients and because of that , my outcomes are better . I'm able to serve more people . I'm able to earn more . I have this huge engagement on social media , which is awesome , and I nurture them .

I'm giving them content that , literally , you're like oh my goodness , you're in my head . How did you know I needed that today . I needed that .

So I'm growing my know , like and trust factor and I have a schedule , so I'm making offers come to my masterclass , buy my book , come see me in my private practice all of that , and because of that , from social media .

We can say that a third of our revenue is coming from social media and this impact on people are telling people and all of that Do you see like ? So it's not as though it doesn't matter , but we have to have it connected to the outcome that we want , right ?

So when you think about the revenue , ooh , the revenue is amazing and in addition to that , you know our overhead was 50% and we've succeeded in bringing it down to 40% . So our revenue is higher , our profit is higher , right , and our efficiency is better , and it did all that with me taking more time off and all that .

You tell the whole story and then you can make really critical decisions . Now , why is it important that we understand these seven things that are vanity metrics ?

Because if we take our eyes off the ultimate goal and we start looking at those , we start making decisions that don't make sense For instance , creating content for views and likes as opposed to for impact and conversion . Right , like impact and conversion , you can still create the engagement , but the intent is clear .

Like , as an entrepreneur , you know what you're doing . Right , as opposed to , people are tickled because this is the deal . The person who gets entertained , the person who wants to be entertained , is probably never going to work with you because they're there to be entertained .

So imagine not talking to the person who is really , who really wants to get the work done . But it's like , let me know , I'm just on social media to follow this person , kind of get a feel for if this is the person I should be talking to , is this the person I I should be working with ? Let me grow my know , like and trust factor .

You're a pediatrician . They're checking you out , checking out what your values are , your philosophies are , seeing if there's that connect , and then you're entertaining them , and then the person you're entertaining is not going to work with you because they're not looking for a pediatrician , they're just looking for entertainment , right ?

So when we don't have the right pictures , when we don't have the right focus , then we cannot . It is not possible for us to make the right decisions . If I understand , you know , like , what my team is for is to help me accomplish the vision that I want to accomplish . Then , from the beginning , I talk to them about revenue generating activities .

I show them how what they do affects the bottom line , their bonuses and all that is tied to how they help me do what I need to do . As far as the vision and all of that , it's not just the number Like , who else should I hire Before you hire ? And if you're here and you're thinking about hiring , how about I give you this freebie Before you hire ?

Stop and ask how am I leveraging the team I have right now ? What percentage of their activities are spent doing revenue generating activities ? How much time are they spending browsing on Facebook when they're at work ? Because they're bored silly , because they don't even know what to do ?

Fix that and then hire the person you need to hire , right , and so what I would love for you to do is really take this episode this is one of those .

You want to start over , maybe workshop with a friend and say , okay , where have I lost my focus and I'm driving my business based on these numbers that are in the middle instead of the outcomes that I ultimately want , right ? And you make these tweaks and they're little tweaks , but they will turn your business right side up .

They will turn your business right side up , so do that . And if you find that , oh my goodness , like I made so many changes based on this , I want you to send me a DM or a PM on Facebook or Instagram and say , oh my goodness , dr Una , you will not believe it and I'll believe it . Okay , you tell me what you did with it .

Okay , and the other thing I want you to do is take this episode . I want you to share it with the doctors in your life , because it would be complete , such a complete game changer . Complete game changer Because then we go on to be these people who create more revenue and more profit , build bigger teams that are more productive .

We have email lists that are bigger but create more ROI for us . We have events that are amazing but create more ROI . You know like our people are really being impacted and the revenue and all of that is happening .

And we just have this business that's bigger and better , because many businesses get bigger and worse , but now you'd be setting yourself up to have a business that is bigger and better and is creating more impact , more revenue , more time off , more impact , more revenue , more time off , more significance , more revenue , more time off , more significance , more legacy

because you don't have your eyes locked in on the vanity metrics . Okay , all right , so go share this episode with the doctors in your life . They'll thank you forever . I'm rooting for you . I'm so excited for you as you apply this in your business . You'll be blown away by what happens , and I'll see you on the next episode of the Entrepreneur Podcast .