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Episode 13| July 21, 2023

Connecting People and Unlocking Your Superpower w/ Dr. Melissa Brown

She Was a Pediatrician at the Top of Her Field. The Career She Fought For Was Wearing Her Down.

Dr. Melissa Brown did everything right.

Three-year medical school with a ten-month-old at home, another baby along the way, a divorce at the end of her third year. She made it through and built a thriving pediatric practice.

From the outside, she had made it. Inside, the hours and the stress were wearing her down.

She realized the career she fought so hard for was the thing she needed to leave.

In this episode of the Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, retired pediatrician and content strategist Dr. Melissa Brown shares how she walked away from medicine, found her way to coaching and content, and turned a lifelong gift for connecting people into her work.

She calls herself a connector. It might be her real superpower.

If you have outgrown a hard-won path, this one is for you.

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“When you work that hard for a career, you think that is the only thing you can do.”

– Dr. Melissa Brown

Fast Skim & Timestamps

0:00 Meet Dr. Melissa Brown: Pediatrician Turned Connector
2:23 Her Superpower: The Connector
7:17 The Practice That Was Wearing Her Down
9:00 The Conference That Left Her More Depressed
10:30 Walking Away and Finding Coaching
11:30 Falling in Love With Content
16:06 The Happy Ending and the Women Who Shaped Her
22:13 She’s Got Content

Key Takeaways

Reaching the top of a career does not guarantee it is the right one for you.
Being a connector is a real superpower. Knowing who to introduce changes lives.
The people at the end of life wish they had connected more, not worked more.
Transferable skills travel. A pediatrician’s gifts became a coach’s and a strategist’s.
Sometimes the part of the work you love most points you to your next chapter.
A hard start is not the whole story. Melissa’s happy ending came right after her hardest years.

Three Petite Practice® Questions

1. What part of my current work do I love most, and where might it be pointing me?

2. Who could I connect this week, just because I know the right two people?

3. Where have I confused reaching the top with being in the right place?

Transcript Chapters

0:00 Meet Dr. Melissa Brown: Pediatrician Turned Connector

[00:00:10] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Today I am talking with Dr. Melissa Brown. Her career always had an element of teaching, first as a pediatrician, and after retiring from clinical practice, as a healthy lifestyle coach, author, and speaker. She hosts the annual She’s Got Content Virtual Summit and helps women solopreneurs and coaches stop being the world’s best-kept secret. [00:01:35] Dr. Melissa Brown: I am on the East Coast, in New Jersey. I grew up on a farm in Ohio, and now I live in the suburbs of New Jersey. It was a challenge at first, everything so close together, but I call it home now.

2:23 Her Superpower: The Connector

[00:02:23] Dr. Melissa Brown: I used to say my superpower was listening to people and hearing more than what they said. But over the years I honed a different one. I am a connector. It started in pediatric practice, where you needed to know who to refer a child to, a specialist, an expert. I collected a network of people. Now, when I hear someone ask a question in a group or a network, I think, I know the perfect person to pair you with, and boom, there it goes.

7:17 The Practice That Was Wearing Her Down

[00:07:17] Dr. Melissa Brown: I ended up leaving pediatrics because I was really killing myself in my practice. I was up early, rounds at the hospital, the office, back to the hospital, then call after call in the night. My health was suffering. I went through a three-year medical school, worked straight through with no summers. I had a ten-month-old when I started, another child during, and a divorce at the end of my third year. People said, now you have made it, but I knew the stress was going to catch up with me.

9:00 The Conference That Left Her More Depressed

[00:09:00] Dr. Melissa Brown: There was a conference called the Chrysalis Conference, named for the butterfly, all about what physicians can do outside of practice, the transferable skills, writing, consulting, so many things. I remember sitting through all those lectures and coming out even more depressed, because nothing they talked about really interested me. When you work that hard for a career, you think that is the only thing you can do.

10:30 Walking Away and Finding Coaching

[00:10:30] Dr. Melissa Brown: I left my group and started a small boutique practice, no insurance, my own hours, and that did not work either. So I found someone to take over my practice, handed it to her, and walked away, thinking I would just be retired. That was 2009. Then I discovered the world of coaching. I got certified, just for myself at first, because the personal growth was so great, and then I thought, transferable skills, I can put my knowledge and coaching together.

11:30 Falling in Love With Content

[00:11:30] Dr. Melissa Brown: I did healthy lifestyle coaching online, and I discovered the content part was really what I loved, writing the blog posts, the emails, learning the tech. So I made another transition, and now I help coaches with their content and strategy, learning the best ways to reach the people they want to reach. In 2022 I started a podcast, and I am just so in love with podcasting. Working with coaches lets me amplify myself and help them reach more people.

16:06 The Happy Ending and the Women Who Shaped Her

[00:16:06] Dr. Melissa Brown: There is a happy ending. In the last year of medical school I met my present husband, and we have been married over forty years. We had another daughter, so I have three daughters, and I helped raise a granddaughter who is off to art school this fall. When I ask where I get my drive, I think of my mom, who went back to college when we were in middle school and became a teacher. And I have always admired Helen Keller, and Barack Obama inspired me too.

22:13 She’s Got Content

[00:22:13] Dr. Melissa Brown: You can find me on Instagram at Dr. Melissa Brown, and my website is shesgotcontent.com. The podcast is the same name, She’s Got Content, and I publish every week. If you are a coach or entrepreneur, I have a free workbook called Never Run Out of Content Ideas. I would love to connect with anyone interested in content, or any Helen Keller fans out there. [00:25:16] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: It was such a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much, Melissa.

Meet My Guest

Dr. Melissa Brown

Retired Pediatrician, Content Strategist & Host of She’s Got Content

Dr. Melissa Brown is a retired pediatrician turned content strategist, author, and speaker who helps women solopreneurs and coaches stop being the world’s best-kept secret. She hosts the annual She’s Got Content Virtual Summit and teaches coaches to create content that reaches the people they want to serve.

She hosts the She’s Got Content podcast and offers a free workbook, Never Run Out of Content Ideas. Find her at shesgotcontent.com.

Meet Your Host

Dr. Christiane Schroeter

TEDx Speaker & Leadership Strategist

I’m Dr. Christiane Schroeter, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and host of the Top 1% ranked Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast. I help leaders think clearly, speak with conviction, and take the next step during change.

About Dr. Christiane

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