How a Vascular Surgeon Built a Personal Brand (Without Posting), with Lucas M. Ferrer-Cardona, MD

Summary

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Slay The Gatekeeper

Episode: How a Vascular Surgeon Built a Personal Brand (Without Posting) with Lucas M. Ferrer-Cardona, MD
Host: Courtney Johnson | Date: December 23, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this dynamic, insight-packed episode, Courtney Johnson welcomes her fiancé, Dr. Lucas M. Ferrer-Cardona—a prominent vascular surgeon—to unpack how he built a powerful, lucrative personal brand in medicine, all without touching social media himself. Together, they dive into “cheat codes” for building personal leverage, debunk myths around traditional career advancement, and offer tactical steps for launching a personal brand, even for those who are camera-shy or time-starved. The conversation blends actionable wisdom on automation, risk-taking, time management, and self-investment, with Lucas’s uniquely candid, occasionally irreverent humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Purpose of a Personal Brand

• Why Build a Personal Brand?
  • Lucas saw Courtney monetize tiny pieces of content and realized he wanted that leverage and autonomy in his own career (03:21, 03:57).
  • Naval Ravikant’s “How to Get Rich” podcast was transformative—Lucas learned his high-level skillset as a surgeon still left him "trading time for money" (04:33, 04:45).

“My personal brand gives me my own voice...I’m not tied to just a big institution and only known for being in that big institution. I can create my own energy in the world.” — Lucas (14:49)

• Leverage in the 21st Century
  • Naval’s three forms of leverage: People, Money, and (now most accessible) Media & Code; Lucas and Courtney chose media (05:02).
  • Being top 10–20% at several synergistic skills creates a “category of one” with outsized opportunity (07:07).

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2. Cheat Codes for Strategic Brand Building

A. Build Without Being Online [08:15–10:17]

• Outsource Relentlessly:
  Lucas doesn’t log in to social media at all—instead, he shows up for batch podcast recordings, then passes the footage to a trusted team who edits, distributes, and manages every social channel (08:29, 10:07).

  • Uses the GaryVee Content Pyramid (start with “pillar content” and break it into smaller pieces) (10:17).
  • Courtney: “You don’t have to do anything at all. Show up every two months to record and that’s it.” (10:17)

• Self-awareness is crucial:
  Lucas knew he could “get himself canceled” trying to run his own social media, so he hired specialists instead (08:29).

B. Debunking “Head Down & Work Hard” Myth [11:24–14:12]

• Putting your head down alone doesn’t guarantee anything in big systems—institutions may own your output and focus on processes that replicate themselves, not true outcomes (13:17, 14:12).

“I have nothing, because this company owns everything about me. If they fired me, all I have is some referring doctors that know my name.” — Lucas (14:14)

C. Tangible Benefits in Two Years [15:12–18:17]

• Opportunities flow in:
  • Proctoring for device companies.
  • Easier networking and speaking gigs.
  • Inbound connections with industry leaders, book authors, and win-win projects.
• Brand acts as an “opportunity bank account”—connections, income, autonomy—available to dip into any time.

D. Use Your Platform for Free Consulting & Expanding Your Network [19:10–19:41]

• “Whenever we want to learn something about a specific area, we just have an expert come in and get a free one-hour consulting session. Free advice, free consulting.” — Lucas (19:10)

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3. Tactical Steps for Getting Started Without Social Media Overwhelm

A. Hire Global Talent, Start Small [21:20–22:12]

• Use Upwork or similar online platforms to hire international (e.g., South American, Argentinian) editors or assistants at a favorable rate, promoting win-win economics (21:20, 22:01).
• You don’t need a big budget: Start with inexpensive remote podcast recording ($20/month) and a part-time editor ($120/month for 10 hours) (22:01–22:12).

B. Automate Content Creation [22:28–23:02]

• Start with audio-only (even cheaper), use transcripts to auto-generate posts and social content.
• “Refine it, iterate. Just start. Nobody cares [that it’s messy at first].” — Lucas (23:50)

C. Cheat Code: Iteration Over Perfection [23:07–24:42]

• Perfection isn’t required—start with your phone, upgrade later.
• People only remember your polished success, not your rough beginnings (23:50, 23:59).

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4. Advanced Leverage: Mindset, Risk, and Time

A. Develop a Healthy Relationship With Risk [24:24–27:29]

• Build risk-taking muscles gradually: Start with tiny, “safe” risks (sending a cold email, striking up conversation), then amplify as your comfort grows.
• “If you have an idea and you start small...and it causes you to have that feeling in the pit of your stomach, just close your eyes and do it.” — Lucas (25:15)

B. Master Time Using Experts & Outsourcing [28:00–31:42]

• Lucas went from “sucking at time” to running multiple projects by hiring a coach and a top-tier virtual assistant (“I will die before I tell anyone else her name—she’s amazing” (30:27)).
• Everything is scheduled—surgery, podcasting, social life, workouts—on the calendar.
• Don't neglect a virtual assistant—even $100/month for 10 hours can radically increase your bandwidth (30:49).

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5. Lifelong Learning & Niche Expertise

A. The Ongoing Value of Coaching [32:18–35:10]

• Invest in yourself perpetually—“always make a coaching budget.” Start with small group sessions or one-off 1:1 consultations (34:28, 34:52).
• Demand proof of expertise from coaches before investing (33:09).

“There’s an infinite amount of things I want to know and be good at for multiple reasons...I think I will always do coaching.” — Lucas (34:20)

B. Create and Share “Specific Knowledge” [36:06]

• The value is in ultra-niche expertise; Lucas is building a coaching/teaching offer around “deep vein arterialization”—a highly specialized vascular procedure (36:28).

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6. Memorable Moments & Quotes

On Building a Distinct Presence Without Social:

“I would probably get myself canceled really quickly if I managed my own social media account.” — Lucas (08:29)

On Institutional Careers:

“Nobody’s unreplaceable.” — Dr. Amy Goldberg, via Lucas (11:42)
“In big corporations, the motivations are not outcomes—they’re more about appearance and process.” — Lucas (13:17)

On the Value of a Personal Brand:

“If you build a personal brand on LinkedIn...you don’t have to apply to any more jobs because people are going to be fighting to work with you.” — Courtney (15:12)

On Automation and Delegation:

“Hire an amazing virtual assistant. If you don’t have a virtual assistant, invest $100 a month. It will change your life.” — Both (30:45–31:01)

On Iteration:

“Start small and iterate...nobody cares [if it’s messy].” — Lucas (23:50)

On Healthy Relationship with Risk:

“Start playing with risk at little league, and then eventually you’re taking NBA-level risks. It’s the same game, just bigger stakes.” — Lucas (27:29)

On Healthy Habits and Preventing Disease:

“If it’s liquid and it’s sweet, don’t drink it. If it comes in a box or a bag and has marketing, don’t eat it. Do weight-bearing exercise.” — Lucas (38:48)

On Partnership:

“The right person next to you elevates you or drags you to the pits of hell...I’ve learned and grown the most in our relationship—and felt the most supported and unconditionally loved but also held to a high standard.” — Lucas (42:49, 43:41)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Leverage:
  “I figured out, after spending 17 years of training, that I had no leverage.” — Lucas (04:45)

• On Category of One:
  “When you become a category of one, there’s not gonna be a lot of those. You can charge way higher rates for that.” — Courtney (07:33)

• On Opportunities:
  “It creates your own luck because people come to you to leverage what you’ve created so they can pursue whatever they want to pursue.” — Lucas (17:25)

• On Outsourcing:
  “There are amazing people where you can, you know, arbitrage the price difference in like Argentina. You pay them well, they’re living a good life, and you get great quality.” — Lucas (21:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:21: Why Lucas built a personal brand—Courtney’s influence, Naval Ravikant’s wisdom.
• 04:45: Realization of being “a wage worker” despite elite training.
• 07:07: Stacking top-10% skills = category of one (“cheat code” concept).
• 08:29–10:17: How to build a brand without being present on social media.
• 13:17: Why “head down” conventional advice is a myth in bureaucracies.
• 15:12: Tangible results and opportunities from establishing a brand.
• 19:10: Using a podcast as a free consulting platform.
• 22:01: Step-by-step for starting a remote-first, low-cost brand/podcast.
• 23:50: Iteration is the key to progress.
• 24:28: Small risks lead to bigger risk tolerance.
• 28:00–31:42: Delegating, hiring coaches, using a virtual assistant, calendaring life.
• 32:46: How coaching accelerates growth and can be done affordably.
• 36:06: The value of teaching specific, niche expertise.
• 38:48: Lucas’s “how not to end up on your table” health cheat codes.
• 42:49: The “ultimate cheat code”: having an aligned partner.

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Final Takeaways

• You can build a lucrative, influential personal brand—without ever logging in to social media—by leveraging outsourcing, systems, and delegation.
• Iterate quickly and cheaply; start messy, grow into polish.
• Invest in coaching, community, and expert help at all levels.
• Stack multiple synergistic skills to create “category of one” leverage.
• Personal brands are new “bank accounts”—opportunity and autonomy accrue for those who invest.

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If you want actionable frameworks, a little tough love (and some dark medical humor), or you’re a professional looking to own your narrative (without the scroll addiction), this episode will set you on the path—with Courtney and Lucas as energetic, inspiring guides.

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Transcript

[A]

You don't log on to social media and yet you are one of the most prominent figures in your industry. You built a massive, super monetized personal brand.

[B]

It's very difficult to be the best at one thing because there's so many people competing to be the best. It's very difficult for me to be the best vascular surgeon.

[A]

We have our most special podcast guest ever in the history of all time, which is my fiance.

[B]

Something about a specific area. We just have an expert come in and we have like a free, free one hour consulting session. Just ask them whatever questions we want to know about.

[A]

So free consulting personal brand is a bank account you can dip into if you want to get a vascular surgery job right now. If you want to go do a speaking event, if you want to go create something with someone, if you want to go make a medical device, you have the network that are all going to say yes. Much easier than if you didn't have a personal brand. Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, Courtney Johnson, and I am here to un. Gatekeep the gatekept. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Hi, Lucas.

[B]

Hi, Courtney.

[A]

We have. We have our. We have our most special podcast guest ever in the history of all time.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Which is my fiance.

[B]

Oh, we all.

[A]

And I've been on your podcast. But you've never been on my podcast.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't even know if my audience, like, if they notice. No. They've never heard from you.

[B]

No, no. Yeah. That's on purpose.

[A]

I know you haven't. It's interesting. We both have personal brands, but our personal brands don't intertwine that much. Actually, when I came on your podcast, you. You were like, pretended I was a random person.

[B]

I did not pretend you're a random person.

[A]

You're like.

[B]

You're like, I guess, you know, like a guest. Like a guest.

[A]

Like a proper guest.

[B]

This is proper.

[A]

Wink, wink.

[B]

Proper guest.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Most famous guest.

[A]

I am your most famous. Actually, am I your most famous guest?

[B]

That lawyer.

[A]

Oh, the divorce. Divorce lawyer. Yeah. It's so funny because I. I look at so many people's top performing posts and every single podcast, like Mel Robbins and Huberman and all these people, he's always their top performing clips. The divorce lawyer. Why? Like, that's crazy.

[B]

People love divorce.

[A]

People love. Bitches love divorce. Bitches be loving divorce. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I use you as an example all the time, every day. I always talk about you. I always. I always talk about you because some of my clients Are like, courtney, I want to build a personal brand, but I literally have an Instagram addiction or I'm anti social media. I cannot even be on social media. Or I want to build a personal brand. I see the value, but I want to delegate it completely. I just want to show up. I don't want to touch anything. I don't want to see the comments, I don't want to. Whatever. Yeah. And you've actually built that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You. You don't log on to social media and yet you are one of the most prominent figures in your industry. You built a massive, super monetized personal brand, which is really, really impressive. With the help of a incredible consultant.

[B]

Consultant. Consultant at an inside track.

[A]

Yeah. How to inside track. I just want to start with what made you decide to build a personal brand?

[B]

I saw you making 30 second clips and making significant amount of income and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What the fuck Can I say? Fuck?

[A]

Yeah, of course.

[B]

What the fuck is happening here?

[A]

I'm like showing Lucas an email that's like, hey, we want you to make a 30 second video and we'll pay you $5,000. And you're probably like, what?

[B]

What?

[A]

You can do that?

[B]

That and naval.

[A]

Yeah. Okay, so let's break that down first. You saw my results and you're like, okay, I want that for myself. You're a surgeon. You're in a completely different industry than me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you still saw how this translated. We're going to get into that. I think that's really interesting. And then second naval. I think that's a huge sheet code. I want to call that out. If you're listening to this podcast and you have not listened to the 3 hour and 30 minute and the people in this room, and you have not listened to the 3 hour and 30 minute naval. Robbie Kant, how to Get Rich YouTube video. Listen to this podcast. But then after go watch that and come back. It is a requirement. Like, I don't let my clients at.

[B]

Least listen to it six times.

[A]

At least six. I don't let my clients work with me if they haven't listened to it. It's the very first thing I tell them to do. What did that podcast teach you about personal brand? Like, what was the Aha.

[B]

It told me that it was fucked.

[A]

Up.

[B]

As a surgeon because.

[A]

Because you're a wage worker.

[B]

Because I trade my time for money.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that and Nassim Taleb, you know, kind of talks on the same subject about leverage. And I had no leverage. And I figured that out after spending, like, 17 years of training.

[A]

Yeah. Seniors at school.

[B]

In school, I was like, oh, oopsies.

[A]

Yeah, oopsies. Well, you know, you can create leverage through anything. So Naval says that the three forms of leverage are people. You can hire a lot of people to do whatever you want them to do. Then we have money, money, money. If you have money, you can invest that money and make more money. And then we have media and code. And media and code are the new forms of leverage. So Naval says you either need to learn to code. This was also made in, like, 2015 vibe code. Now, you either need to learn to code or create media. He says, make podcasts, write books, do talks, make YouTube videos, post on social media. Pick one of those lanes. If you don't have a ton of money to invest and you don't want to use people as your leverage, which is going away, because robots are the new leverage. You have to choose media or code. And we were like, media.

[B]

Well, also, another thing he says is it's very difficult to be the best at one thing because there's so many people competing to be the best. It's very difficult for me to be the best vascular surgeon.

[A]

Even though you're top five. Right.

[B]

Thank you, babe. Yeah, I think, you know, I think I am good. I think that I've dedicated a lot of time to. To my craft, but it will take a lot of energy for me to be the best vascular surgeon. I could be the best vascular surgeon. A lot of energy, a lot of time. Or I could be top, say, 25% of vascular surgeons. I could be. I'm definitely in the top 5% of vascular surgeon podcasters. There's only two. And. And then pick something else. So be really good at something else. And if you do those things, you'll be the best or in the top 1% of someone that does all those three things together. And ideally, those three things would be synergistic. So that's a cheat code. That's a cheat code.

[A]

Okay, so instead of focusing on being the top 1%, be the top 10, 20% at three different things. Yeah, a great example of this is I had a client who was. She loved marketing. She was a marketer, and she was really hesitant to post about anything else on LinkedIn. But she also had a gaming YouTube channel. Yeah, she was, like, a gamer on the side, and she is from Canada, and she spoke French.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So, like, that's your top 10% of understanding Canadian culture and speaking French. Your top 10 understanding YouTube culture and gaming culture and your top 10 marketing. What? Well, EA Sports hired her to launch a new game in the Canadian market and she was a category of one. She was one of the very few people that fit expertise in French Canadian culture and language, expertise in gaming, expertise in marketing. There's not gonna be a lot of those. You can charge way higher rates for that. When you become a category of one, and you are a category of one in vascular surgery and media and community, like having people come together and, you know, communication and education around vascular surgery. So you really have created this category. One that's really powerful.

[B]

Still evolving, but yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So back to building a personal brand without being on social media. How have you built your personal brand without. Without actually having to log into Instagram and be on LinkedIn every day and log into YouTube.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I first recognized that I would probably get myself canceled really quickly if my manage my own social media account. So have some self awareness around that and that I, I just like would know enough about it, social media and culture to just get myself in trouble without even knowing about it. So. And there are people that just love social media. They're really good at social media and I just didn't want to dedicate my energy and my time to that. So I just went up, work and iterated, you know, found people, then changed. And through you, I found a current team which I'm gatekeeping because they're awesome.

[A]

Yeah, I'm gonna start gatekeeping them. I'm giving them too many people. Yeah, I'm gonna start gatekeeping my team. Tbh.

[B]

Yeah. So yeah, I found them and they're amazing and they are on it and they push like I still, I. I have not. I mean, I've involuntarily gone up the cringe mountain, but hesitantly, and they just push me to places that I wouldn't go. And that's good for engagement and for growth. So it just works. And I just let, Let it. I trust them. I just let, let them run with it.

[A]

So your process is you show up to a recording day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You record podcasts.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You send it to your friends in South America.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

They take the footage, they chop it up, they put it on your social media, they manage your LinkedIn, they put it out on your Instagram. Exactly. So you don't have to do anything at all. There's. There's a few ways.

[B]

Show up every two months to record and that's it.

[A]

There's a few ways that you can do this. You could either host a podcast, you go to a studio, maybe and take that. Have a conversation with a friend. Take that and distribute it. You could host webinars, you could host a talk. Like if you Google Gary, the content pyramid, that's the strategy that Lucas runs. Follow that. Exactly. And that's how you can create this without actually having to log into social media. Now, I do the inverse of the GaryVee content pyramid. I start with little pieces of content. I start with testing out little ideas on Instagram, on TikTok, on LinkedIn. And when they prove themselves that this concept works, well, then I'll build it into a podcast. Then I'll build it into a YouTube channel or a course or whatever. So I'm actually the opposite. But if you don't want to be involved in social media, you gotta use the traditional Gary Vee content pyramid, which is what you're doing.

[B]

Yeah, I have a day job, so.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. You're literally a surgeon.

[B]

So I just don't have the time or the interest to do that. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it's just not a motivation for me. Yeah.

[A]

So a lot of people listening to this are in the medical field. Maybe they're like teachers or doing the traditional work. And I think there's a misconception that if I put my head down and I work hard.

[B]

Wrong.

[A]

Everything is going to work out for me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Did you believe that?

[B]

Yeah, I did. Yeah. But then, so I had one of my great mentors, Dr. Amy Goldberg, very petite, short, but very scary woman. And I remember I don't know what I was doing. I probably fucked up on something in residency. And she looked up at me, she's like two feet shorter than me, and she's like, lucas, nobody's unreplaceable. I said, yes, yes, sir or ma' am or both. And yeah, I think that there's still people that thrive in a corporate bureaucratic structure. I am not one of them. I just care too much about saying about what's in my brain. So that doesn't fly. At least not for me. It may fly for some other people. So you quickly realize that in big structures, in big cor. Corporations, the motivations are necessarily not outcomes. They're more appearance and kind of. Yeah, I would say they're. They're not completely outcome related.

[A]

So. So a bureaucratic organization is driven by. It's not necessarily driven by outcomes. They're they. Once you create that, like Ed Gregor, it starts to be driven by processes.

[B]

Or isn't there a framework motivated. Yeah, there's somebody I'm sure has thought about this but it's is motivated by recreating itself and growing, and that's not necessarily motivated by what you would think the primary outcome would be. So, yeah, along that, you know, along all this process of just like, oh, I should post on social media because there's like, leverage and all this stuff at the same time, I came to the realization that it just. I have nothing, you know, I have absolutely nothing because this company owns everything about me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I literally, if they decided to fire me, have just some referring doctors that know my name. That's it. I don't have all the work that I've put in. It's for nothing. It's not mine. So, yeah, I don't know where we're going. But anyways, that's why I, you know, I've decided to. To kind of start my own thing.

[A]

So what has your personal brand brought you? Like, you've, you've had your personal brand for a year and a half. Two years now.

[B]

Yeah, two years.

[A]

Yeah, two years. Okay, so it hasn't been that long. You've been.

[B]

Okay, so this is where it was coming. So my personal brand gives me my own voice.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And thus my own presence and my own influence. So I'm not tied to just a big institution and only known for being in that big institution. I can create my own energy in the world.

[A]

Right. So personal brand gives you autonomy and gives you your ownership over your audience, your message, so you can do your own thing. For example, if you start to build a personal brand on LinkedIn, something that a lot of people start to realize they don't have to apply to any more jobs because now they have the network and they have such a strong reputation that if they're like, oh, I'm looking for a project manager job, they know they're such a good project manager, people are going to be fighting to work with that.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

You create your own opportunities. What other opportunities have you gotten from building a personal brand? Like, what can our audience expect? In the first two years, they really dedicate themselves to building a personal brand. Is it money? Is it connections? Is it friends? Opportunity? Speaking, like, what tangible things have come out of it?

[B]

One of the tangible things, one of my personal goals was to be like, someone that would proctor specific cases. So if you're like an expert in a certain area, some company that has an interest in using their product and a specific procedure will fly you somewhere to teach someone how to do that procedure and how to use their product in that procedure. So that was just like a goal A random goal that I was like, oh, that seems cool. I want to do that.

[A]

And that came from building your personal brand?

[B]

Yeah, 100%. It also came from other work that I've been doing. Kind of, you know, the people doing academics, they. They do some research, they partner with companies, coming up with cool technologies, and you can do that. But definitely a personal brand helped me for that. And then you just meet me. You meet incredible people that you would not have met any other way. They give you the time of day. They separate time out of their schedule to talk to you. People that would not even answer an email if you didn't have, like, some kind of presence. So that's a big opportunity. And then, you know, you develop. So naval. It's all about naval. Naval talks about different types of luck. It creates your own luck because people come to you to leverage what you've created so that they can, you know, whatever. Pursue whatever they want to pursue. So somebody. So somebody recently reach out to k. I'm a book whatever representative, or how would you say that? Book agent. Agent. Yeah. And they say, my client would like to come on your podcast. I'm like, super cool. Met the guy that wrote the book. Amazing guy, doing amazing things. Who knows who will work together. But I know this person that's just doing amazing things in the world, and we could come up with a win win situation where I contribute some of my specific knowledge, some of the influence generated on the podcast to help him in his endeavor, which is an amazing endeavor that would help a lot of people. So those things just happen when you start up hot.

[A]

What's this book about?

[B]

And it's called Insured to Death.

[A]

Okay. Insurance industry.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you're creating your own look. So every single podcast guest you have, every post you put out, it's opportunities that could come to you. And I think of this like a bank account. Like, personal brand is a bank account you can dip into if you want to get a vascular surgery job right now, if you want to go do a speaking event, if you want to go create something with someone, if you want to go make a medical device, you have the network that are all going to say yes when you pick up the phone. Much easier than if you didn't have a personal brand.

[B]

Much easier. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I feel like the number one takeaway that we've talked about that a lot of people have when it comes to their podcast is the connections. Like, I'm about to fly to Miami, spend an hour interviewing someone that charges $11,000 for a one hour session with her. And I'm getting it for free because I have a podcast and I have an audience and we're creating a win win.

[B]

Yeah, that's a joke that we. That Miguel and I have on our podcast that whenever we want to learn something about, you know, something about a specific area, we just have an expert come in and we have like a free one hour consulting session. Just ask them whatever questions like we want to know about. So, yeah, free consulting. Free consulting.

[A]

Yeah. It is funny. I do you. Whatever problems you guys are struggling with in your business, instead of like, I'm gonna book a one on one, you're. Let's get this. You do get a lot of free advice.

[B]

A lot of free advice on podcast. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so basically the cheat code is listen to the Naval podcast like six times.

[B]

Not joking.

[A]

It is the new think and grow rich. It is the think and grow rich of the 20th, 21st century.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Listen to the Naval podcast.

[B]

What is it? What is the new Naval podcast? Because that's 10 years old.

[A]

Yeah, I guess we'll find out.

[B]

Yeah. Somebody put it in the comments.

[A]

Put it in the comments. Okay. Listen to the Naval Podcast. But there's not another. There's not anyone like Naval. Like, he's a perfect blend of like, philosopher, investor.

[B]

Probably somebody like Naval. Who?

[A]

Nassim Taleba?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Who knows?

[A]

We'll figure it out. Okay, listen to the Devolve podcast. Start your personal brand 100. Your personal brand is a bank account.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

A bank account is an opera. It's like a bank account of opportunities that you can always tap into. People reach out to me all the time. Oh, I want to partner. Partner with you on this. I want to host this webinar. Come guess. And if they don't have, like, followers, I'm like, I'm not going to waste my time.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not if they don't have to have a million followers. But if they don't have some sort of presence, I'm like, it's not a win. Win who? You're leveraging my audience. I'm not getting anything from you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Build a personal brand and more.

[B]

Just because you want to own. You want to own your voice, you want to own your. The energy you put out in the world. You want to have some claim to it, because if not, someone else will.

[A]

The gatekeepers. And we're slaying them. Yes, we are slaying them. Okay. Build your personal brand. And it's totally possible to build Your personal brand without getting personally involved in social media A hundred percent by hiring a great team.

[B]

Yeah. Go to. Go to any of these websites. Upwork, upwork. There's a bunch more. And they are amazing people where you can, you know, arbitrage the price difference in like Argentina.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like amazing people. Super creative. And just there's a price difference in living standards. And you pay them well. They're living a good life doing something that they enjoy. Hopefully listening to us talk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you get great quality, great service and you can then not be involved.

[A]

So for someone that's like, okay, but I'm just starting out. I don't have a budget for this. I want to share what might work. Maybe you could start your podcast remote on Riverside or zoom. That's Gonna cost you $20 a month. Get an editor that's $10 an hour in South America, wherever you love South Americans. Can you speak Spanish? And then let's say 10 hours a month. Maybe you're investing $120 a month to start. So you don't. You don't have to go crazy.

[B]

Well, just start. Especially if you just do audio, because audio is cheaper than audio and video. Totally. So you can do it for even less just for audio. And then you use that transcript of your audio to generate endless amount of content through automation.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

Just take an automation. Which I'm planning to do whenever I have time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or when I make time on your podcast. First is. Yeah, there's tons of automation courses out there. And just, Just refine it. Iterate.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

Yeah, always iterate. Never tried to do something perfect from the get go.

[A]

Okay. That's a great cheat code iteration. So you didn't start your podcast with amazing lighting and a rodecaster and. And cameras and an awesome editor. You started your podcast very messily. You rented a studio. You went through a couple of iterations of people. So I feel like people often get really overwhelmed because they want it to be perfect. They want it to be amazing. But we didn't start with the iPhone. What are we on that's released like tomorrow? The 2017? I don't know, 25, 30. We started with the iPhone one.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Like another iPhone.

[A]

Yeah, there's another iPhone. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But if they would have waited, like, oh, we're gonna wait until it's perfect. We're gonna wait. They would have never got to the 17. So your cheat code is start small and iterate.

[B]

Yeah, just start. Nobody cares. I mean, you've said this multiple times. Nobody's gonna look back at your first recording and say, you suck.

[A]

No.

[B]

Like, people are always gonna judge you on your success. People judge you in your success. So if you were messy at the beginning and you like achieve whatever success means to you, which can mean anything, then. Then you. There's nothing to worry about.

[A]

Yeah. Scroll back to my very first episode. It's literally me on my iPhone. Voice memos.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And there's no video.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Next cheat code. Risk. You're the king of risk.

[B]

I, I don't think I'm the king of risk. I am exploring my relationship with risk more and more. But I think risk is important.

[A]

You are embodied in risk being a cheat code in your life.

[B]

I understand that in order to have a. I think a cool, for me, in my opinion, a cool life, then you have to have a healthy relationship with risk and understand when your body is showing you what you think is fear as the sign to do something.

[A]

So for our listeners, they're like, that sounds really scary. What is one tiny tactical way they can implement risk today in their life?

[B]

If you feel like if you have an idea and you start small, like whatever it is, and it causes you to have like that feeling, the pit of your stomach, then just close your eyes and do it.

[A]

Okay, so maybe that's something like talking to a girl at the coffee shop.

[B]

Talk to the girl at the message email.

[A]

Cold emailing someone that you hire.

[B]

Email the person. Yeah. And something really small that's not going to have any major consequences because it's like a game you learn and then you do more and more and more as you understand, you know, how you maneuver it. But there I. There was some concept that I wrote recently that you were just playing with the. When you can see it like this. Like this, with the already established yes and nos, there could be a world where the yes and nos are kind of already predetermined and what's for use for you. And I think, I think that's true. I think, like, what is there. There are different arcs. I think that there's different arcs in our lives. I could definitely go out and fuck up my life if I wanted to. And I can hopefully be an arc that leads to a healthy, fun life. So there are some yes and some no's that life is going to give you along the way. So. And I think that some of those are predetermined. So just play with them. Nothing. I don't think anything's going to change much. If you say, go to the meet, to the girl at the bar and just like, say some stupid. You know, you're still going to meet your woman of your dreams in two months in, you know, Tulum or. Or Burning man this year or something like that.

[A]

Man like Ruby.

[B]

So. Yeah. While you're looking at some art car randomly, you know, so don't worry about it too much.

[A]

Okay. So what I'm hearing about the cheat code around risk is feel it in your body. You want it to be stretchy, but not something that's going to completely destabilize you. Unless you're a master in risk.

[B]

I think you play with it. Like you play basketball. Like, you know, you go to the little leagues and then you are in high school and then you're in college and then you're in the NBA. Right. The type of thing the person that is in the little league does compared to NBA is different, but it's still the same game.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's different safety levers you have too.

[B]

Yeah. And you're.

[A]

It's just like, even like.

[B]

And you learn, you know, you learn how to manage things and the more you learn, the more risk you can take.

[A]

Love it. Okay, next cheat code. You. You're really good at time. It's. It's actually really crazy because I've seen your time transformation over the last few years. It was not always this way.

[B]

I sucked at it.

[A]

Yeah, you did suck at time, but now it's amazing. You, you are, you know, you're working full time as a surgeon, an academic surgeon. You take call, you teach. You literally are a professor. You have a media company, you're running a conference. You have a real estate business. You have a relationship, you have friends and like a very healthy friends and very healthy community. And you volunteer and you coach others. What? Like, what the. How? That's crazy. That's crazy. Most people that are surgeons are like, I'm like your surgeon friends. Like, I'm so busy, I don't have time for anything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then you work out and like hike and stuff.

[B]

Yeah. How don't have a tv.

[A]

Yeah, you don't have a tv. That's true.

[B]

And then just hire someone to coach you on time. Like, this is like, I am not expert level. So I hired one of our friends, Vision, which is a master on time and he consults on this. So shout out to Vision and reach out to him. Vision battlesword something.

[A]

IO He's. He's. He was on a previous episode. His information, if you search it, I'll put his stuff in the comments. And then I also have a level up on LinkedIn girly that does time consulting too. And I'll put both those resources.

[B]

So I just like, was, hey, bro, you're really good at time management and being OCD about shit, and I am the opposite. If I just get 10% of yours, I'll be good. So I just said, I'll pay you to coach me. And he did. And then I learned how to use a calendar. And yeah, it basically just lived by my calendar. There are other strategies which I haven't gone into, but I plan to. Around scheduling, deep work scheduling, outsourcing. I also outsource a lot. I have an amazing virtual assistant working. I will die before I tell anyone else her name because she's amazing.

[A]

I just.

[B]

Yeah, you're lucky that I told you her name.

[A]

We're not killing her. To anyone else.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Between us, she'll be full time.

[B]

Yeah. And she, I mean, she is the reason I'm a master of time.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So virtual assistant. Yeah. If you're also. If you're listening to this and you.

[B]

Don'T have a virtual assistant, you have no virtual assistant.

[A]

Again, you can find some for $10 an hour, 10 hours a month. You. If you're listening to this, invest a hundred dollars a month into a virtual assistant.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that goes for the people in this room too.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Invest $100 a month into a virtual assistant. It's a great place to start.

[B]

Change your life. It will change your life. Yeah, so, yeah, those things. So calendar. Everything I do is by calendar. Going out to dinner with friends, going to working out, surgery, podcast. Everything is by the hour. And I set a lot of alarms and reminders and I have a virtual assistant do.

[A]

Yeah. One thing I have not been able to get you into is co working. Like, co working works so well for me, but it hasn't really drived with you.

[B]

It's just my life just doesn't lend itself to co working or. Yeah, I just think that also because it starts at 10:00am yeah, that's true. It's like I'm up at 6.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. And I'm out the door by 7. So I can co work from 5 to 5:30, but no one's co working at that time.

[A]

Yeah, you also have a lot of your. Your brain is really good at context switching and working, like in between your cases and in between.

[B]

Yeah, but that, it's. That's not a good. Yeah, that's not good.

[A]

Okay, don't do that. Don't do that to take that out. Okay, next sheet code is self Development after you did your first coaching container, which was a time container, which we'll link again. Vision, battle, sword. You can google him or look in the, the, the show notes because he's a, a master of time. You said to me, you're like, oh my God, Courtney, I'm always going to have a coaching budget. Like this is so, so valuable. There's probably listeners that have never hired a coach, never worked with a coach. It's probably like coaching, eh. What would you tell them?

[B]

I mean, I, like, I was that person because it's really difficult to figure out who's a good coach and coach.

[A]

And I'm a good coach.

[B]

You're a good coach. You're the best coach.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

But I've had people tell me that they would charge me $36,000 to coach me on I don't know what.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Some harsh, posh, masculine embodiment. Mastery of business, mastery of women, like all in one. And you look at them and like, wait, if you're a master of that, why are you coaching? Like wouldn't you have a billion dollar company or something?

[A]

Unless they've exited.

[B]

Unless they've exited.

[A]

My, my business mentor exited and now she just vibes.

[B]

Unless you've mastered what you're coaching in.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that's why I reached out to my friend because he's a master of time and I had seen it and I said, okay, I want to know what you know. And then I think that when you look for things, they find you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the moment I kind of realize and open my eyes about it, then I was, okay, I want to do this forever because there's an infinite amount of things that I want to know and be good at for multiple reasons. Professional life, fun relationship. So yeah, I think I will always do coaching.

[A]

Yeah, you're, you're really good at taking risks in that way too. And like investing in yourself. Yeah, it's really inspiring.

[B]

Yeah, I think, I think that, you know, stay within your budget, but always make a budget and invest in yourself. That's the best investment you can make.

[A]

I think a great way to start doing this if our audience again is like, okay, where do I start? Maybe I don't want to start. I think it's a, it's a big risk investing like 5k in something, whatever. Just start asking people for one on ones. A lot of times people will do a hundred bucks, 200 bucks, 500 bucks for a one on one. And it's a great way to.

[B]

Or do smaller group, like do group Containers.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where there's four to six people and you can start dabbling that it's not. Doesn't have to be one on one. And that's the price. The price is lower.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that's another.

[A]

Sign up for content Club.

[B]

Sign up for content Club.

[A]

Yeah. And that's a great way to get coached. We have, like, the best coaches ever in content club.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

This is the most amazing community you can literally be coach every single day for like, like, literally every day on Zoom for less than, I don't know, $10 a day or something.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's crazy. Love that. And now you're creating a coaching offer, then.

[B]

Yeah, I would say it's. I have an idea about creating more value with con for medical education in very specific things. Yeah. I like. I don't like the idea that I'm gonna coach or like, teach or maybe have something to share on things that are, I don't know, like, too broad.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, I. Then this is another thing that Noel says. You know, develop specific knowledge. I. I develop very specific knowledge on certain things that are super niche. And I think that I have something to share and to give value in that very specific thing. So I am interested in doing that.

[A]

Deep vein artill. Arterialization.

[B]

Vein arterialization.

[A]

Dva.

[B]

Dva.

[A]

We love that.

[B]

We love dva.

[A]

Here we sleeping a cure. We love dva.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

DBA is basically. Don't let me explain. Shooting. Okay. It's like, oh, no, I'm going to lose my legs. I have diabetes.

[B]

Yes, Lucas, I have diabetes.

[A]

What?

[B]

Very bad diabetes.

[A]

Bad diabetes. I'm losing my leg. And Lucas says, actually, you don't have to lose your leg. I'll shoot blood the opposite way of where your veins go, and then your leg is saved. Am I right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Really?

[B]

No.

[A]

What kind of.

[B]

Kind of? Yeah, maybe.

[A]

And this. You. You tell you diabetes. Bad.

[B]

Diabetes is bad.

[A]

You. You chopped off legs before?

[B]

I. Unfortunately, I have, yeah.

[A]

A lot of legs.

[B]

Unfortunately, yes.

[A]

But it's not you that chops.

[B]

I do.

[A]

Oh, I thought you bring in the chopper.

[B]

The.

[A]

The orthopedic surgeon.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

You chop it.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You're cutting off legs, like at the.

[B]

Groin or the knee at different places.

[A]

With the saw sometimes. Is that crazy?

[B]

It is crazy, yeah.

[A]

And then what do you do with.

[B]

The leg after you send it to pathology?

[A]

And what do they do?

[B]

They look at things under a microscope or they throw them away. They discard them.

[A]

They just throw lights away.

[B]

Safely and ethically, is it? Yeah, they discard them. Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

That's kind of scary sometimes. Yeah.

[A]

Sometimes.

[B]

No. They do. But, you know, sometimes you can keep your leg. No.

[A]

Okay. Because it's disease.

[B]

Yeah. And it's rotting.

[A]

Okay, that's not good. And it's like an electric thing. Or you do it manually.

[B]

There's different ways to do it.

[A]

What do you like to do?

[B]

I don't. I. I see. Whenever I do an imputation is failure. I just feel like a failure. So I don't like to do it.

[A]

So you tell, like, the intern to do it.

[B]

No, I do it, but I'm not enjoying it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. It's kind of a failure that I failed to save the person.

[A]

Because you didn't DVA hard enough.

[B]

Because I didn't deviate hard enough.

[A]

Okay. Okay. So how do we all not get diabetes and end up on your table? The last cheat code.

[B]

Okay, this is my spiel. Okay. You've heard my spiel.

[A]

Yeah. My audience has it.

[B]

Okay? So if it's liquid and it's sweet, don't drink it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So obviously, any type of juice. Any type of soda.

[A]

I had orange juice for breakfast this morning.

[B]

Yeah, but to make an so because to make an orange juice, you have to squeeze, like, three or four oranges.

[A]

Yeah, I hand squeeze it.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Juicer. Fresh organic orange.

[B]

But would you eat four oranges in one sitting in less than five minutes?

[A]

No. So I shouldn't drink orange juice? I mean, I'm an exception.

[B]

No, I mean, it's kind of a balance. Right. This is, like, for people. For. I tell this to people that Dr.

[A]

Keily said drink orange juice.

[B]

That's fine. I love Dr. Keily. Whatever she says is fine. But these are people that. Their body doesn't like sugar, obviously, because the body is dying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's for extreme situations. I'm not saying that this is for everyone, but I think it's somewhere. The answer is somewhere here. So, okay, if it's liquid and it's sweet, don't drink it or drink very little of it. If it comes in a box or a bag and has marketing, don't eat it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because things that are good for you, your body naturally wants to eat. Like a steak doesn't need bright colors or font or anything like that for you want to eat it. Right?

[A]

Right.

[B]

Yeah. So if it has. If it's in a box or a bag and it has marketing and cool fonts, don't eat it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then the other is do weight bearing. Weight bearing. Exercise.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So gain lean muscle mass.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And just go on YouTube, do 30 minute body weight training, Clear out a space that's, you know, 12 by 12. And that's it.

[A]

Okay. Before we get into our last cheat code, which is the ultimate cheat code for life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, side note on. On vascular surgery and everything, there may be people listening to this whose parents or grandparents are dealing with vascular disease. And that's like a whole thing. Is there like a place you would send them? This is like, not related to the content at all. But I. I just feel like there might be some people listening. So while we got you here.

[B]

Well, vascular disease, you would put in different buckets. So vascular disease that's, you know, atherosc. Atherosclerotic plaque that leads to blockages that can lead to losing limbs or having strokes. Then in my opinion, that is a inflammatory state. So your body generally has an inflammatory state. So where do you go to get information on mediating that and not having an inflammatory biome or. Or. Or state in your body? I don't think there's a good answer for that. I think.

[A]

It'Ll be hard for.

[B]

We talk about. We talk about like, really, like. We talk about nutrition sometimes. We talk about it with Dr. Connealy. I think that you get to. You get to do your own research on that one because there's.

[A]

It's not helpful. What about going to flying Houston or going to Basil?

[B]

So. Yeah, well, no, Miguel doesn't have nutrition. She does. He doesn't do functional medicine.

[A]

What I'm saying, if, like, oh, if.

[B]

You'Re dealing with atherosclerosis, we're like, oh, I'm.

[A]

Oh, Lucas, while you're here, my. My dad.

[B]

Yeah. Go to Hope. Go to Hope Vascular. In Houston. In Houston.

[A]

In Campo.

[B]

And then if not in three months, go to Dorado, Puerto Rico, to clinic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Love it. Okay. So our last chico. This is really important. It's. In order to succeed in life, you have to have an amazing, beautiful woman by your side.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Any. Any elaboration.

[B]

I think that. I think that, you know, the right person next to you either elevates you or just drags you to the pits of hell, you know, or the wrong person. The right or the wrong person. I mean, I think the, like, I have learned the most. I've grown the most during the time that we've had a relationship. And I think. And you. I've felt the most supported and unconditionally loved, but also. Also, like, held to a high standard in a very loving way.

[A]

What an honor.

[B]

Yeah. So I. Yeah, I tell all my friends that that's what they get to have.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I love that. If you're single, go to the episode with Joel Monteleone and listen to everything you're doing wrong.

[B]

If you're single, hired Joel. As you're dating, you will laugh the most and you'll really get good advice, but you will laugh a lot.

[A]

Yeah, I agree.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If you're trying to. If you're trying to bag an amazing woman like me, go to Joel.

[B]

Maybe. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Lucas, thanks for coming on. Say the Gatekeeper.

[B]

This was so special, Charlie. This was special.

[A]

You're amazing.

[B]

Thank you. You're amazing.