Launching a National Organization | Lauren Castle, PharmD, FMPhA.org

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:12] Mike Koelzer, Host: Lauren, for those that haven't come across you online, introduce yourself and tell our listeners what we're talking about today.

[00:00:19] Lauren Castle: My name is Lauren Castle. I am the founder of the Functional Medicine Pharmacists Alliance.. We are a professional membership organization for pharmacists that are in the field of functional medicine. We do advocacy work in helping to represent pharmacists in this emerging field, as well as have online courses to teach you how to get started and grow your own practice in functional medicine.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about my journey to founding the Functional Medicine Pharmacists Alliance back in 2017 and in present day. This being my full time occupation.

[00:00:58] Mike: So Lauren, are you ramming into another national association? How can we look at this?

[00:01:05] Lauren Castle: So when I. I I had the vision to start Functional Medicine Pharmacists Alliance back in 2017, it was really born out of a need. I was just starting my functional medicine journey, had gone through some health issues with my husband that led us down this path. I had done my master's degree in functional medicine and nutrition because I was really passionate about learning more about this.

And at the time when I was searching for resources on how to apply functional medicine as a pharmacist, there weren't any resources out there. All the functional medicine organizations and training programs were really geared towards . Clinicians that were more like doctors or prescribers or even more just like alternative health modalities.

They did not know what to do with pharmacists , whenever I would go to the training. And then on the flip side, when we would try to start talking to pharmacy organizations about functional medicine, we were met with pushback and they said, oh, well there's not enough evidence for this

new modality and so we're not interested in doing CEs on this topic and all of that.

So I was like, okay, well

I guess we're going to just create our own path.

When I first started F-M-F-A I thought a lot about this idea of well, there's too many associations out there already.

And like my experience in associations, I was very involved as a student in pharmacy school with different groups and being a new practitioner. So I took all the best parts of pharmacy memberships that I had been part of, but I really decided to just leave out all of the parts that I And a lot of that the rule following and the, Robert's rules of order and all of this like formality type of stuff I personally felt would just limit my ability to do what I wanted to do. And that was to create resources for pharmacists. My good friend Alex Barker actually sort of coached me on this whenever I was getting started because I thought well, it's gotta be a nonprofit and I have to get a board together and we have to put bylaws in place and we have to do elections. And he's like, says who?

And that's whenever it dawned on me that well, I guess we could just start this as an LLC, as a blog, as a website and just Let's see where it goes.

[00:03:40] Mike Koelzer, Host: When you created this now. Are there any technologies you're able to use that maybe the earlier groups haven't adopted because they kind of formed in this older way?

[00:03:57] Lauren Castle: Yeah. So whenever I try to explain to a layperson what F-M-P-H-A is, I tell someone that it is a trade association or a professional membership,

they kind of get lost because they have a preconceived notion of what those types of groups are.

So what I actually describe F-M-P-H-A as is an online membership community and online course, because that is how we operate.

[00:04:30] Mike Koelzer, Host: You don't pretend to do something different. You take it as a new movement of online, which basically sets yourself apart from some of the other things.

[00:04:43] Lauren Castle: Yeah. And certainly it's interesting because when I started all of this, it did start in person. It started with me presenting at pharmacy conferences and doing CE sessions,

but then it transitioned online because we wanted to be able to keep in touch. And so I started a Facebook group, and that was the first iteration of functional medicine pharmacists.

Before it was an alliance. It was just a Facebook group. And from there is where we started to gain more and more members. So once we got to 500 pharmacists and started to realize that we had this strength in numbers, then we started thinking about, okay, where is this actually gonna go? And ultimately created a website for it.

The first website was built on Weebly, a super easy, free website builder. It was sort of just like a landing page really that just directed people back to the Facebook group.

And it wasn't until 2020 once I actually started the business for F-M-F-A that I then transitioned into using WordPress and an actual membership platform and kind of got the tech side of it a bit more shored up.

[00:06:06] Mike Koelzer, Host: The Facebook stage. That's good. People still have Facebook. You're thinking of cats and all that kind of stuff. So it's good, but you have to move on to what you're doing. But if you start your thing too quickly, getting out from underneath a what would you call that?

A, platform when you kind of de platform and get into your own thing, if you do that too fast, you don't have that following. Do you still do quite a bit of socializing on Facebook and that? And do you try to. Bring that back into the official website and things like that.

[00:06:47] Lauren Castle: Absolutely. That really is probably our biggest goal right now. So our little Facebook group went from 30 people in 2017 to now almost 4, 000. 

All pharmacists vetted pharmacists, so it's a huge resource and it's completely free. there is eight years of information in there at this point.

the one real push that we had to realize it was time to move off of Facebook and start utilizing, like you said, a different platform really happened in Covid. We had discussions about covid, immunizations immunity and 

 our group actually started getting censored, we would get flagged for people sharing articles that they were questioning what do you think about this? Right? It wasn't sharing misinformation, it was genuine curiosity of how do we address these concerns with our patients? And we couldn't even have discussions about it because Facebook would flag the articles and say, this is misinformation.

And so I was like, well, I think it's time to get off Facebook. And so that was a really big fuel for us to say, okay guys, this is a great resource. It's always going to be here. We hope, I don't think Meta's going anywhere, but

It's time, if you're serious about this, to join us inside the membership because we need to be able to actually own our platform and own our conversations and our data and everything else.

So that's, that was how we sort of landed on the membership platform that we chose. And three years later now, in 2023, we're actually sort of revamping the membership right now in terms of the functionality of it, and how we can start to generate more discussions on the website. Because a lot of it is still happening in Facebook and now it's just, it's almost like too much.

Like how do we really start to simplify and distill things down into not just conversation, right? Because I could get on a soapbox about this, but

pharmacists are very good at talking about things.

And sometimes that's not always followed up with tangible action steps.

[00:09:07] Mike Koelzer, Host: I know a guy that just talks on a podcast and doesn't want to do a damn thing.

[00:09:12] Lauren Castle: talking is good. Talking is important in terms of sharing ideas, but

where do those ideas actually turn into action and where does

The rubber meets the road, so to speak, in terms of the advocacy work that we're doing to create these new roles and opportunities for pharmacists to practice in functional medicine, to work with their state associations in order to advance the scope of practice, Right. 

Because these are all discussions . and we understand that yes there's barriers and limitations to how pharmacists are able to practice functional medicine as it exists today, and that's part of why we exist as an organization, is to help fight these battles. But at the end of the day, it's also that individual action by each member towards their own practice and what they see for their vision

to utilize functional medicine.

[00:10:14] Mike Koelzer, Host: What kind of people grind your gears in a group like this?

If you could imagine. Don't you get some whiners and things like that, and some

naysayers and that kind of thing.

[00:10:27] Lauren Castle: Yeah. I mean. We were kind of riffing about this earlier, but I just got back from the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists meeting down in Orlando, Florida. And myself and my colleague Veronica, got to present on 

functional medicine while we were there. So it was such an honor, like a professional bucket list item for sure to present at a national pharmacy conference, specifically on the topic of functional medicine.

 But, I was sitting in on some of the roundtable discussions that they were having,

[00:10:59] Lauren Castle: And pharmacists were, some of them were sharing.

Actually, I'll give a shout out to Delon Canterbury. He was one of the speakers sharing about what he's done to get out there with his de-prescribing program,

And he was doing such an amazing job sharing about his success, and he was getting so much pushback from pharmacists in the audience saying all the reasons that they felt like it wouldn't work for them, that they couldn't do it, that their patients wouldn't pay, that their providers wouldn't listen.

And I Had to get up and leave the room , 

 It reminded me of why I had to just branch out and start a new path because. , we weren't getting the answers that we needed And liked from these pharmacy organizations. They have so much that they do so well

and are fighting these really big battles, like in terms of lobbying and legislation and all these things.

But at the end of the day, this entrepreneurial mindset is not talked about in most of the organizations outside of NCPA. NCPA is all entrepreneurs, right? So they get it.

 But if all we do is focus on the reasons that we can't it's such a mindset shift when you start thinking about, well, how do you know unless you try and just like with, I mean, heck vaccines in pharmacy, right?

[00:12:36] Lauren Castle: How many no's do you have to get before someone finally says yes?

right.

You're going to ask a hundred patients in a day if they want to get their flu shot, and you might get ten of them that say yes.

[00:12:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: Lauren, right when I was talking to you there and you talked about leaving the room, I got this feeling like I was back in pharmacy school and, 170 some people in the class and there's a group of students up front and they're kind of bitching to the teacher about the test, how are they supposed to know this or that, and I'm just like, aching to get out of the class. That feeling just came back to me.

There's some of those naysayers like that.

[00:13:18] Lauren Castle: Yeah. And you know what I mean? The way I see it, and I want to be clear, it's important for people to be able to express the frustrations

And express the disappointments, right? Because the people who were in that room, they were getting fired up about all the frustrations and disappointments and

how they've been shut down from trying to do this.

It's coming from a place of passion.

What I've really learned through this journey is kind of moving from pharmacy into functional medicine and really where I'm at today in my own journey, even beyond functional medicine, is you get into things like entrepreneurship, but even more than that it's mindset work.

It really is all about sort of transmuting these lower level emotions like anger and frustration and disappointment, and

even hopelessness. There's a lot of hopelessness going on in the profession today. 

but. That is all fuel. Because On the other side of that is going to be this momentum where you can start to shift your mindset, shift your perspective, get connected with people who are doing it,

and trust in yourself to say if that guy can do it, if she can do why not me?

Right? There's something in there, there's like a little spark and you just have to start nurturing it and keep going. Don't give up, 

[00:15:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: I tell my kids, Lauren we are in a very unique time in all of history that when I was, when I just started pharmacy. In my family's business. when I wanted to get something out, the word out or something like that, I had to either get involved and I was in the neighborhood association, things like that. Or you'd spend 500 bucks and get some flier in the newspaper, or something like that. Or you'd have to schmooze the local reporters and hope you're going to get a story in the advance or something like that. So you take that, then you think about the, you know, the casting couches and all that through Hollywood and all.

the You're always, there's always a middle person. And this is the first time in history that it's like, there's nobody In your way. I mean, look at me. Do you think I would like someone to pick me? I just threw this stuff because it's a remarkable time that nobody's in your way.

And so it's a little spark about what you're talking about and there's really nobody to blame it on as far as I didn't get my big break and they didn't pick me for the story on this. That doesn't exist anymore.

[00:16:26] Lauren Castle: Yeah, I completely agree. It really is an incredible time right now. I mean, with social media everyone has a voice, and even without social media, you still have a voice. Because What I teach in our bootcamp course is, the last module is all about marketing and branding. And I think there's a lot of pressure people feel now to have to show up on social media.

And some people love it. I love it. Some people hate it. And at the end of the day, just use whatever avenues or tools You love to use. And if you don't like being on Facebook, then don't be on Facebook. But if you like getting out in front of, your local nursing home crowd

or long term care facility and talking about de-prescribing, as an example, nobody's stopping you from knocking on the door, giving them a call and just saying, Hey, could I come talk to your seniors about

this topic?

Because I think they'd find a lot of benefit from it. Right. And there you go. You have an audience.

[00:17:41] Mike Koelzer, Host: Lauren, I have to stay on Facebook though. I gotta have a spot for my cat pictures.

[00:17:46] Lauren Castle: I mean, my Facebook is probably mostly cat pictures, 

[00:17:50] Mike Koelzer, Host: I don't have cats. If I put cat pictures on Facebook, excuse me. If you like cats, turn this down. It would be like roadkill cats.

[00:18:02] Lauren Castle: Yeah, I definitely have two cats. So we're big Cat fans in this house.

[00:18:06] Mike Koelzer, Host: You have two cats.

[00:18:08] Lauren Castle: Yeah. Olive and Pickle,

[00:18:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: When I was a kid, my parents had cats and Just so many horrid memories of it. Like I'd be standing at the bus stop and all of a sudden I'd smell my coat. it'd be like an ammonia smell, sure enough, like mittens had peed on it, and then when we were kids in the backyard, we'd have a sandbox.

So I'm four or five years old and we had all these really cool little sand logs in the sandbox. They were two inches long and about a half inch diameter, and they were sand logs, but they were nothing more than cat manure in there,

[00:18:49] Lauren Castle: Yeah, they tend to be troublemakers. 

[00:18:53] Mike Koelzer, Host: I don't know. Well, God bless you. Hey, Lauren, not only do you like social media, but I remember in a post half dozen months ago, you stepped up and you say you'd gladly be one of the spokespeople for pharmacy because in that conversation was Dr. Oz and all these kinds of people, and that'd be kind of cool for you.

[00:19:15] Lauren Castle: Oh yeah, absolutely. I. got my start in social media back in high school. I was like a super big MySpace fan. 

And of course like Facebook in college and then Instagram, when that rolled out like I've always just felt like it was such a fun, creative outlet for me. And then really got into it in 2019.

I was one of the first influencers for Walmart, so I used to be a pharmacist at Walmart. My friend Zachary Lones shouted out to him too. Zach was a store manager when I was a pharmacy manager. So he was at one Springfield, Ohio store. I was at the other. And we actually crossed paths for the first time in person out in Arkansas at the Walmart home office

and we were both there for training.

So he. Was teaching store managers how to be store managers. And I was there learning to be a, I think I was either a PCSM, which is a clinical manager or a market director at the time. And we just kind of kept in touch from that and had both been very active on social media just in terms of sharing our passion for our jobs and what we were doing and all of that.

And he was starting this little movement of Walmart associates that were all on social media And sharing their stories and like positivity and leadership tips and all these cool things. And that group ended up being like the first set of Walmart influencers or ambassadors. So we called it the Spotlight Program, 

[00:20:54] Mike Koelzer, Host: somebody from up high came down and or you got permission or something because obviously you'd have to have something in there as an employee and the name Walmart.

[00:21:04] Lauren Castle: So it, it started as a grassroots movement 

of associates

and then Zach ended up getting promoted to work at the home office and running what we called the local social program. So every Walmart store across the country has their own Facebook page that's operated by the employees in that store.

[00:21:27] Mike Koelzer, Host: Oh, is that right?

 So that was kind of where a lot of these people had gotten their start was like they were Walmart famous 

[00:21:34] Lauren Castle: on their own, like. Yeah. Stores and communities 

[00:21:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: You mean people that we know now that maybe some of the influencers, they got their start with Walmart 

[00:21:44] Lauren Castle: Um, not like. Influencers outside of the company. These are

employee 

So that was like the premise behind it is why pay some external influencer to promote the products at the store when your own employees are the most trusted voices and you should be giving them a platform 

To talk 

about this. 

[00:22:09] Mike Koelzer, Host: doesn't Walmart or one of the bigger stores use their employees in even the flyers? Is that Target or Walmart? Who does that? 

[00:22:21] Lauren Castle: I mean there's, yeah, there's different companies that have used, the 

employees in different things. But that was, again, that was the premise of this spotlight program that I was involved in. And then ultimately in 2021, the end of 2021, I transitioned out of being a market health and wellness director.

 Probably a whole nother podcast episode on all that, but complete burnout. My mom had passed away and I just needed to take a break from health and wellness. And so this opportunity came up and I really looked at it like this perfect way to add another skillset to my tool belt, right? Cause I had all this clinical experience,

I had leadership, operations experience,

and now I could add marketing and social media and branding and all of these other things.

And so I did that role for about nine months. So I literally ran the influencer program for 

[00:23:19] Mike Koelzer, Host: Nice. And you were a pharmacist at the time.

[00:23:22] Lauren Castle: Yeah. So I stayed on as a part time hourly pharmacist. I worked like one shift a month

in the stores and then the social media job was actually as a vendor. So we were, there was a third party company called Brand Networks

and that was my employer for the social media stuff. 

[00:23:40] Mike Koelzer, Host: I probably would have been further if I did something like that. I started off with a calendar that didn't sell too well.

[00:23:48] Lauren Castle: calendars are a great marketing tool.

[00:23:52] Mike: Yeah. But Lauren, do you get envious of any of the influencers that may have numbers beyond yours? I know I have a face for audio podcasting. So that's my, among many other things that's my downfall. Do you ever look and wonder how some of these people, is it serendipity that they've just really taken off?

 Is the pharmacy market too small? 

[00:24:21] Lauren Castle: I like this question because it's been a journey. I would be absolutely lying if I said that I never thought about the vanity metrics and how many followers and don't dream of having 100, 000 followers, on the internet someday.

But what I've really learned, and A lesson that I've been working with over the last year, I would say is that it really isn't about the numbers.

 I know it's easy to think that and to get caught up in that. And trust me, I've, when I worked for You know, for example, I got to do a sponsored TikTok video and it got 2 million views because it had ad dollars behind it, and I got 10, 000 followers overnight.

So am I forever grateful for those 10, 000 humans that follow me on TikTok?

Because it does give you a platform, it gives you access to cool new features, all those things, right? But at the end of the day, like when I really think about what social media is, on the other side of that is another human being. Every single follower is another human being.

And it matters what content you're putting out on the internet, right?

It's easy to get caught up in just wanting to create content for the sake of creating. And I think there's some value to that, especially when you're starting out in finding your voice.

You do just have to get out there. Sometimes you just have to get uncomfortable and just try things and experiment and see what works and what doesn't.

But I think on the other side of it, especially now, I think the conversation has really shifted and like social media is changing, where people are becoming more conscious and more aware. Of the effects that it has on our attention spans. I know for me personally, this has been something I've just recently read. A book on Stolen focus is the name of it, and it talks about all these experts that are basically shown okay, constantly scrolling, social media really does negatively affect your ability to learn and retain information, for example.

Kind of bringing all that back around. Now, whenever I think about how am I personally showing up on social media,

I've actually just this past week we're, we're recording this, launching a new community. It's the very original name, the Dr. Lauren community for right 

now. Basically because I myself got tired of it.

always being on social media and always having to try and follow everybody and keep up with everybody and consume so much content on so many different platforms.

I just couldn't do it anymore.

And so for me now, I'm not worried about all the followers on all the social media platforms. I really am more interested in, hey, if you are interested in what I have to say.

And if you feel like there is mutual benefit there, join this private platform, dr lauren castle. com slash community. We have a Discord server. So , I love Discord because it's like 

the old school forums, 

like back in the day

[00:28:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: Absolutely.

[00:28:11] Lauren Castle: and you can actually go deep into conversations, right? So we have 12 different topics in there on everything from pharmacy and functional medicine to energy medicine, psychedelics, consciousness, positive intelligence, leadership, branding, marketing, like all these different topics.

And we can actually spend time like having real conversations about them instead of just a 15 second video and likes and hearts and comments 

of, oh, cool.

[00:28:41] Mike Koelzer, Host: And that's one thing I've liked about the podcast is there's virtually no way for anybody but me to find out my numbers. Podcasting is a weird thing. It's really difficult to find out what somebody else is doing on someone else's show, and I like that because I'm just maybe competing with myself. I don't have to show this or that. I know that if the numbers are up or down, maybe it's because something was in the title or something like that. But it's so refreshing not to have to think about what others are thinking about my numbers. Nobody has any idea but me.

[00:29:25] Lauren Castle: Yeah, that's really cool. Podcast is definitely on my 2024 agenda. I've . I've Wanted to start a podcast for at least five or six years. Now I've got a list of 50 pharmacists that I want to interview, and it was just never the right timing for me in my life and career and working, multiple jobs

and all the things.

And it's like, podcasting is a commitment, right? It's a little different than running a Facebook group or creating content on social media. Like you really do need to have a little bit more strategy, I think, and consistency to be successful in it. 

[00:30:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: For me, it works out because of the speed of our store and it gives me a nice yin-yang balance of boredom versus stress. 

You, like to kind of live on that line, right. Between those, to keep life interesting. So

there's some days that I can pull more of this in and lay off for some time and things like that. But if my career job was a lot different, this would have to go. So it's just been nice And I think for me to do it. Well, and then speaking of that, Lauren, one of the reasons why I even started this is because a few years ago, I didn't know what was going to happen to our pharmacy, this and that.

And now I've had the chance to speak to 240 some professionals like yourself. And what are the odds of me being able to call up somebody and say, Hey, you want to talk for 90 minutes, to me, but the podcast makes it work. And I imagine with your stuff one of the cool things of having, and there's other ways to do this, being an author or winning some award or something, but another way to do it is to be the director of an association.

It opens doors for you. I imagine, and I'm not saying it should, I mean, there's a lot of talented people, but I think everybody likes to be able to say, oh, this person has this, and that kind of opens the door a little bit.

[00:31:36] Lauren Castle: YEah. I mean, kind of like we said earlier, nobody's holding you back, and there's no rushing any of this. I think you come across things when you're ready for them, right? Life is, it's a long game. There, there's plenty of pressure out there where you start comparing and seeing what other people are doing and want to do it all.

Personally, I'm fully of the belief that you can have it all.

You just have to prioritize the order in which you're going to tackle things. And so 

definitely, have your priorities and your ducks in a row, but then go after whatever it is that you see as a need in the world.

[00:32:21] Mike Koelzer, Host: Is there anything that you've passed by? Lauren in life said that it was a dream that passed by whether it was a goal, but now in retrospect, that wasn't the right thing. Does anything come to mind with that? That you

passed it by and it's okay.

[00:32:42] Lauren Castle: I had a lot of big dreams in my career at Walmart. I wanted to be a recruiter, a talent specialist.

I applied for that position three different times And got to like final round interviews and wasn't selected. And so sometimes I think the universe is sort of just. Closes the door on opportunities that 

it's just, you might want it, it might be the thing that you think you want to do, and for whatever reason it's Nope, we've got other plans in store.

And then in other times, I've had to be the one to say no to opportunities. So

I've been invited to work in different pharmacies and while it sounded really exciting, I had to really come back to what is my goal and my vision and my passion and my strong suits, and is working on the bench actually the best use of my time anymore?

And I had to say no, I've been really grateful for my experience there and I've come and gone from that. I look at where I am right now and how I create the most good in the world and impact the most people on the deepest level. And that's by doing what I'm doing right now, which is, things like getting on this podcast and spreading the message much farther and wider.

 And so I think it's a balance of both. Like, sometimes the universe is going to really make it very clear

what the answer is, and other 

times it's not. And that's where you have to be able to start to lean into your own intuition and trusting yourself and getting clear on your values and your integrity and your goals for what you want to do.

[00:34:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: It takes a lot less time than you think to march towards a goal. One of my goals is to be a good sight reader at the piano, and that's years and years for 35 minutes a day that I'm doing before I do anything else, whether it be, flipping through social media or things like that, and you think, what's that gonna do?

But golly, if you get 20 minutes into a goal a day, or 15 or an hour,

a Lot of stuff can happen. You just got it. Got a march towards it.

[00:35:18] Lauren Castle: Yeah, Absolutely. One goal that I had for myself this year was doing a 5k and my husband and I actually, we were just going to the gym last week and I had started trying to run back in February when I was in Costa Rica on a retreat. And I ended up giving myself bursitis, and I couldn't even walk by the end of the trip.

I literally had to get a wheelchair to get on the plane,

It was that bad. And so I had to like take some months off, 

And then I started trying to, use like the couch to 5k app in the 

summer and would do it for a couple of weeks. And then I kind of fell off for a little bit.

And so then I came back to it and I was like, oh my gosh, I can't even run for five minutes right now. Like, I'm already out of breath. 

And so I kind Stepped back from it again. And then I just started focusing on walking. I was like, 

Well, What if I can just walk for 50 minutes? And so then I wasn't even tracking anything.

I was just putting in the time and not worrying about the specific goal or number or outcome. And then we went to the gym last week and I was like, I think I'm just gonna get on there and set it for 3. 1 mile and we're just gonna do it. And

Did I run the whole thing straight?

No, but

Did I finish in less than 45 minutes? Yes. 

So, done, right? 5k complete

[00:36:40] Mike Koelzer, Host: Lauren, I think it's good to start small like that. Like I was at a company years ago, and believe it or not, they wanted me to participate in their 401k. Can you imagine running 400 kilometers from the get go? I said, no way. I got to start smaller than that.

Hey Lauren. So, you said that this is your thing now, and so, does it naturally fill a week up? Would you need that much time for this? And eventually, is this going to be a way that you can at least well, for example, let me say this. I've sort of monetized this podcast here and there, but the real monetization for me comes, as I said, when I've spoken to two or three hundred people and maybe something happens someday where the store is no longer and now I'm 300 people deep instead of starting from scratch. So there's a lot of value that comes from something. With that said, there's also potential remuneration of funds and money and so on in your position now. Are you spending a full week on this? Is this going to be something that is more hobbyish or eventually is it going to be some funds and so on? What's your setup on that?

[00:38:04] Lauren Castle: Sure. So I think I'll kind of start from a couple years ago.

When I first started FMPHA in 2017, I actually had no interest or desire in making it a business. I actually considered maybe if it should be a non profit. and then once I decided to go the business route. The first goal in a sense was how can I actually do this to replace my pharmacist income?

Right? For most people, that is the first goal that they 

set. And what I sort of realized for myself is it was less about a certain monetary goal and it really became more about the time I was spending on it, right? So at the time when I started it, I was still working 40 hours a week, and then when I transitioned into that marketing role, I was working from home.

So it was less about working 40 hours a week and more about the flexibility to 

work from wherever I 

I wanted to. 

So I was working 40 hours a week plus another, anywhere from 1 to 10 hours a week,

probably on functional medicine, pharmacist 

stuff. And then as the world started to open back up and I was traveling again, I had used up all of my vacation time halfway through the year, and that's when I realized it was time for another transition.

So I went back to working as a part time pharmacist, like three days a week. And then I would work on FMLA two days a week.

So at that point, we had started the membership,

it was starting to monetize. And that was sort of again, in my mind, justifying my own cost, right? It's 

 I would love to be able to do all of this for free forever.

 But realistically, advocacy work does cost money. This is why associations exist for us. Our first big advocacy move was partnering with the Institute for Functional Medicine, and we got 30 pharmacists to sign up for. A membership in order to get a higher discounted rate on one of their training sessions.

And so, I got everyone together, I collected the dues, and then I wrote them a check, writing a check or electronic for 15,

That's not a small investment. So I think for me, that's when I started to really shift into these bigger financial decisions. In terms of running a business and an organization, it's really more about stewarding funds, stewarding other people's money towards a cause and a goal.

And That is where it's like this idea of, oh, well, is this a job? Is this replacing your income? And all of that? 

 In my world. I think it's unique and a lot of people ask me that question 

because they get into functional medicine, they're so excited because they're like, oh my gosh, this is the answer of what I've been looking for and how I want to help my patients.

How do I turn it into a business? And we get really deep into this question in our bootcamp course because it's going to look different for everybody. It's going to depend on where you are financially.

And for me that's another aspect of my journey. And I did a podcast with Tim Ulbrich on this, and we talked a lot about this because I didn't just up and quit my job and decide to start this. It was a very stepwise approach.

and being a market director at Walmart and working in a middle management job 

and running that 401k for so many years,

it gave me the financial foundation to be able to now do something I love

and genuinely be able to say, I'm not doing it for the money.

I don't actually need to do it for the money at this point.

And that's a pretty cool thing to think about in terms of financial independence, being a goal for people. I think where entrepreneurship almost, it's like a fault of it is people get too fixated on the money and the income and the revenue

that they forget to stop and look and realize oh wait, I hit my FI number.

I don't actually need to continue charging. Thousands of dollars for this product or service. I can live my lifestyle and literally give this away if I wanted to and make it accessible for more people.

So that's where I'm at with the Dr. Lauren community that I just started.

I could have charged for that, but I sat back and looked at it and I was like, you know what?

I'm more interested in creating this bigger community of people because the value for me is in that audience. I'm less worried about monetizing 100 people at 1, 000 a piece, and I'm more interested in getting 100, 000 people at $0 

because there's different values assigned to each of those goals.

 If you monetize things too quickly, you could keep your audience down instead of getting too. a Thousand times that. And then having a national bestseller at that point, 10 years from now or something like that, that pays off. Maybe monetarily, maybe not, but I think the more true attention you have, not the numbers we talked about earlier, but the true attention you have can really pay off, but you can't see that now, and you can slow things down prematurely.

[00:44:20] Lauren Castle: Yeah. I was just having this conversation with a pharmacist prior to our recording about this very topic of, again, just when you put the money before the humans, I just don't think it works. I mean, it can work, but I think it works for the wrong reasons. And I think, I don't know. I believe in karma, I think it comes back to hot people when your intentions and your integrity

are not Purely motivated out of the desire to help people. And that's not to say that you can't have both, 

Because again, like I did Marie Forleo's B School back in the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey in 2020, and like the first thing that she talks about is a business without an income is really just a hobby.

And that's okay too, right? You do have to get clear on the goal and monetizing something isn't a bad thing,

but if it's the only reason that you're doing 

something, 

It's a recipe for burnout.

[00:45:33] Mike: some people can sit back, like we talked about the naysayers earlier. It's easy to sit back and say, well, Mike and Lauren, it must be nice to, be able to do things like this and not worry about monetization in the first year or two, or three or 10 years, or something like 

that.

I think the key is to work your tail off for your base. , in many of our cases it's our pharmacy salary. and then you're spending two hours a week on this. Or like we talked about 20 minutes a day for, three days a week, something like that. You don't have to monetize it right away, don't use it as an excuse.

[00:46:06] Lauren Castle: Yeah. Yeah. I've been meditating on this idea For the last couple of weeks, specifically around pharmacists monetizing their knowledge, their expertise, in order to create direct patient care programs and all of this. And thinking about it . My bootcamp students specifically, and a lot of pharmacists feeling very conflicted almost, well, we've just given everything away for free for so long.

It's so hard to charge people money, and to monetize pharmacy services. And I had a realization the other day, I haven't heard anyone else talk about this in all of

pharmacy entrepreneurship, online business land,

but I personally believe that healthcare is a human right. And I think it's really sad that we live in a society today, really not a society.

We live in a country today where healthcare is a business. It's not a business in most other parts of the world.

It's simply a human right that's guaranteed to you. So this is a very first world problem that we have in our country that pharmacists are fretting over how to monetize their knowledge to help 

people heal, 

And so it's another reason that I decided it was time for me personally to sort of separate my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs and ideas around this topic from the work that I do in F-M-F-A. 

because on the one hand, in that organization, you you look at the state of healthcare today in America and you see how broken it is, and we know that we're not going to be able to change this system overnight to go from a for profit healthcare, environment to sudden universal healthcare in 

America. That's not going to happen overnight. So what do we do in the short term to help our patients get the best possible care that they can get, to live a longer, healthier, happier life, to not have chronic disease destroying their lives and killing their family members?

How do we address the healthcare crisis today? And entrepreneurship really is the solution because we can't work fast enough inside of the system to create the change that we need. We have to be effecting change from both sides of the equation internally, changing the systems and externally helping people.

Live their healthiest lives in whatever way we're able to. And for a lot of people, yeah, that's gonna look like paying someone to be part of a functional medicine program.

I think it's both.

And I also think that there's so many brilliant pharmacists that are out there that got into this work of wanting to help people

from their hearts. 

And I think where this disconnect happens, and the reason that it feels so hard to charge for our services sometimes is because they feel that too. They truly feel like I want to be able to just help people and not have to worry about how much I'm charging for something. They want it to be affordable and accessible.

And that's where I think this idea of well, what if. You looked at other ways to make money to sustain yourself. There's so many other options for creating financial independence for yourself outside of just charging for offering health care, right? Trading time for money, or charging for pharmacist services.

Like you can be out there investing or doing all these other things or building a completely different business and then still be able to help people heal. 

[00:50:36] Mike Koelzer, Host: You said the one person that you took their course or read their book was talking about if you're not getting paid for it, it's a hobby and I see what she's getting at there. But if you've got the funds, if you've got something set up. While it might be true that it's a hobby, number one, I think that has a negative connotation. I don't think it necessarily should because you can have a hobby that also helps a lot of people.

Secondly it is like we talked about you don't know what the monetization is. It might not pay off for 10 or 15 or 20 years. You don't know. And so to say that's just a hobby. You should start having a revenue day one. You can limit yourself by having that pressure on you. It can be limiting because you don't know when the payoff might be.

[00:51:33] Lauren Castle: Yeah. I think to expand on that, is it a hobby or maybe it's a business that should be a non profit organization, Because there's an example of a type of business that isn't so much focused on profit in that regard, and honestly, like yet again,

nonprofits and discussing that whole thing.

Great way to talk about ways to lower your tax burden, right? And work from a heart centered place. There's so many different business models and structures and things out there that can be created, and it's just about actually finding what works for you.

 I think for me too, another aspect of this that I think about, I talked about my journey and starting a membership organization now, starting a free membership. But another avenue of monetization for me has been things like affiliate marketing

and case in point, I'm now an affiliate for Marie Forleo's B School. Why?

Because I don't need to go back and re-teach exactly what she's teaching.

I can simply share my experience of how that program changed my life and. Now I look back on it and it's kind of cool because I did that program. It was one of the reasons I decided to use WordPress to build my membership site. That is actually what led me to meet my current website developer Jill.

Jill is now the owner of Koansmania Costa Rica retreat property,

and invited me to be part of the board last year. So

you never know, Like when you start something, it's a perfect example of, yes, I started this training and this program and this business of FMPHA, but that led me to being a retreat property owner in Costa Rica.

So sometimes success is not just a ladder. It's like

it's a roller coaster and a jungle gym you're gonna go all over place on this journey to your vision.

you don't know the how. You just have to start with the why and then take the next aligned step in what feels good. 

[00:53:56] Mike Koelzer, Host: Lauren! Boy!

Thanks for dropping by. Pleasure to meet you. We've gone back and forth for years on social media like we were talking about, I'm gonna keep up the fight. You keep it up too.

[00:54:09] Lauren Castle: I think everybody has a journey ahead of them. No matter what age you are or where you're at in your journey, I think everyone is awakening to their true calling every day that they get the chance to wake up and be alive.

[00:54:28] Mike Koelzer, Host: It's quite a gift.

 Thanks again for your time.

[00:54:31] Lauren Castle: Thank you.​