STARTING OVER ONE MORE TIME

Calling it a day and starting over after forty five years?

Not me, my wife’s business.

After five moves beginning in NW Portland and ending in Lake Oswego, delivering hundreds of babies, treating thousands of patients, the timing couldn’t be better.

We met at the start, teamed up for her business, and now it will be something else to team up on.

I think she’s got a great story to tell, but that’s not her style.

Her husband is a blogger. Maybe he’ll lure her into starting a blog?

We’ve talked about working together. She hasn’t said no.

After her first clinic, she’s been the boss of every place she worked, setting up clinics from scratch, remodeling, learning new medical techniques.

Like many of the greats, she’s going out on top after recording her best years.

The professional handoff to a younger doctor who bought the practice went against many professional opinions in her field.

They said no one buys a practice; they were wrong.

My wife has been proving people wrong for quite a while.

Except me.

I knew who she was when we met. She was my #1.

It just took her five years to figure it out.

 

Being Number One

In order to know a #1, you need to be a number one yourself.

No one has to agree with you, and you don’t have to talk about being #1, which makes you sound delusional, but you need to know who you are before you’ll know someone else is #1.

I’ve always seen myself as a #1, but didn’t feel the need to announce it, promote it, and self aggrandize all day every day.

Being #1 usually means keeping quiet because we live in a world of disdain for self promotion.

She feels the same way, which is characteristic of a #1.

For forty five years she’s listened to people’s problems and worked with them on solutions.

She kept her practice updated through hours of continuing education every year, attending seminars, traveling to conferences.

I tagged along to North Carolina, Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, Montana, a support team of one.

 

A Naturopath In Retirement

Depending on who you ask, naturopathic doctors are either ‘woo-woo’ or hopeful fakes.

My wife is neither, and this is not a picture of her the day after she retires.

But the stereotype persists. Hippie doctors.

She’s held office on the state and national level as well as a governor appointed member of the naturopathic board of examiners.

Some patients have stayed with her through all of her clinic changes.

The changes occurred due to circumstances.

A new doctor in her first practice came in full speed, working to convince everyone how good she was to the point of saying, “Hello, I’m Dr. ___ and I’m good” when you meet them.

The second practice ended when a business partner decided to expand his practice beyond her comfort zone.

The third one wrapped up when she asked everyone on the lease she held to chip in on a raise for their office manager and they declined.

The fourth ended when the building’s owner died suddenly, and just as suddenly the building was sold.

Her fifth practice is now in the capable hands of a new owner.

Has it been a good run? Running a business continuously for forty five years says yes.

She’s an experienced hand in keeping a business afloat through difficult times, keeping up with Portland taxes, country taxes, state taxes, and fees.

What’s next?

 

PS:

I think her story would make a good movie.

 

PSS: 

Someone should call Kate Winslet for the lead, Jodi Foster to direct. And to play me? Bradley Cooper.

If Kate is busy, call Jennifer Lawrence. She and Bradley have history together.