Dr. Meg Meeker is one accomplished, busy and articulate lady!

As the author of six books (the 7th is on its way), a blogger, a mother and a pediatrician in practice with her husband, she has taken a strong stand for our children. Ardently opposed to our society's early sexualization of little girls in particular and a fierce proponent of excellence in parenting (for both mothers and fathers), she began the non-practicing part of her professional life speaking out in public forums. This passion quickly morphed into a writing career, along with national recognition as an authority on children's health and wellbeing, teens and parenting.

In this delightful podcast with Dr. Meeker, listen to her commonsensical approach to wearing many hats, along with her go-for-it encouragement for those physicians amongst you with ideas and strong opinions that need expression.

After listening, join us back at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to add your comments and thoughts.

I've been aware of GoogleAds for a long time but haven't had the time or mental energy to master yet one more piece of know-how.

Shame on me.

In my latest Insights from the Professionals podcast interview, I discovered from Wayne State University marketing professor Kevin Ketels just how easy and efficient GoogleAds can be in promoting a business to its ideal target market. As CEO of KMED LLC, a clinical research firm, Kevin has deployed his extensive marketing knowledge to build the business -- including, I suspect, the use of GoogleAd campaigns.

And who is that ideal target market? The person with a need or desire who happens to be sitting in front of the computer searching for exactly what it is you have to offer. Hopefully using the search terms that match those you've used in your GoogleAd!

Listen to this informative podcast with Kevin and learn what a GoogleAd campaign is, find out how Google has radically changed the traditional marketing model, and discover how to set one up.

And then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your thoughts or questions.

And you can tell me here if you're keen to learn more and I'll set up one of our free monthly teleclasses with Kevin -- he's happy to share his knowledge.

Makes me wonder how much money I've been leaving on the table to date! How about you?

Pediatrician Dr. Natalie Hodge has an ardent opinion that she is not afraid to share. And ears she wants to get to, including the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates.

As the founder of Personal Pediatrics, a house-call based retainer practice that she operates using her car, her laptop and her iPhone, she discovered her calling in the best of entrepreneurial ways.

She asked her customers what they wanted!

When harried moms expressed their interest in having a doctor who would come to the house, she sprang into action, and Personal Pediatrics was born.

Having proven the success of the model and finding herself besieged with questions by physicians and interested consumers from all over the country, she wisely looked at the larger business opportunity.

Now, not only does Natalie deliver care from bedroom to bedroom but her business also offers a consulting and licensing model, providing the turnkey tools for other frustrated pediatricians to experience what it's like to fall in love with clinical practice all over again!

Listen here to this stimulating and impassioned podcast with Natalie Hodge and then come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to tell us what you think.

What silver lining is it possible to discover in the life-threatening illness of one's own infant?

Hard to imagine, but Dr Sharon Langshur and her husband Eric accomplished this amazing feat.

When their first child was born in 1998 with severe congenital heart disease and Dr. Langshur had to put most of her life on hold, this challenged couple received a great gift of support from Sharon's brother, then a web-savvy techie.

In order to manage the outpouring of support and the desire to keep people updated with progress reports, Sharon's brother built a web page. This page was used to post updates on their son Matthew's progress, as he and the family endured three surgeries.

The enterprising part came later when, in 2000, the Langshurs launched CarePages based on their positive experience with their first "care page".

Listen to this inspiring story from a physician whose identity evolved, through necessity, from pediatrician to caring mother and accomplished business woman in response to a big change in circumstances. And learn more about this invaluable contribution to the peace of mind and sanity of people undergoing medical experiences -- proof that it isn't only "doctoring" that MDs have to offer the world! In fact, doctors make great social entrepreneurs (the topic of this month's newsletter article).

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your comments and thoughts.

Facebook is in our faces, we are twittering about Twitter and we're linking in through LinkedIn, so I was delighted to speak with David Toub MD MBA, Medical Director of Gynesonics, to hear his thoughts about the role of social media networking in healthcare.

In this interview (a little over 30 minutes), we discuss his personal journey from happy laparoscopic surgeon and gynecologist to physician business executive, with a detour through business school. He also shares his experience with the increasing power of online social networking -- which helped him land his latest satisfying position. And he gets really fired up when talking about the role of social media and online collaboration in medical education.

While not strictly a physician entrepreneur having started his own business, David functions very much in entrepreneurial mode, finding ways to express his business savvy and creative thinking in his non-clinical roles. I encourage you to listen to the podcast and find inspiration for your own journey beyond clinical practice!

Remember - to play the podcast, click on the grey POD button above.

And then rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to comment.

Dr. Jennifer Lin thinks so.

As a practicing family physician in Tucson AZ, she was close to burnout trying to cope with new mommydom AND maintain her "quota" of patients in practice.

Her plaintive cry:

This way of life went on day after day until my body did something it never would have done a decade before. It literally crashed. The stress manifested itself as frequent colds, neck and low back pain, headaches, insomnia, and chronic fatigue. I was destroying and taking light of the one thing that was more valuable than all the world's riches: MY HEALTH. I realized that I needed to make some difficult choices--either continue to let my job slowly kill me or cut down my hours and take a pay cut. Needless to say, neither option seemed like a fair one to me. Why should having to regain a better quality of life mean that I had to compromise my income?

Being both resourceful and desperate, she embarked on a quest to find another way to produce income to supplement her physician salary and free to up to enjoy medical practice once again. She also needed to create the time and energy to devote to two small kids - a frequent physician/mother challenge!

Listen to Jennifer Lin's story (just under 20 minutes) to find out how she found her perfect solution -- a home-based online business (CarbonCopyPro) with minimal start-up costs, affording her the opportunity to practice medicine part-time without feeling pressure to produce (she can even give away acupuncture sessions on occasion, as her gift back to her patients), and the luxury of a balanced personal and professional life.

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog with your comments or questions!

Val Jones MD is one smart, energetic and articulate cookie.

As seminarian-turned-physician, and now part-time clinician and President and CEO of Better Health LLC, Val has navigated so many career paths, it's enough to make one dizzy.

She refuses to be defined by the term "physician" and instead embraces a Whole New Mind approach to her life and work.

In this fascinating 22 and a half minute podcast interview, Val shares her story and her secrets to having fun and success as an entrepreneurial physician. She also outlines her ambition to connect the dots between science, "un-hyped" health education and real ("better") health. She plans for Better Health to be an influential voice in the development of healthcare policy that reflects and acknowledges the reality of the working lives of her constituency -- healthcare providers.

What an opportune time to have her around!

To add your thoughts to this podcast, please rejoin us here at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.

And if you want to catch her musings and information on Twitter, you can do so here.

...or will a crossword puzzle a day keep the doctor away?

With the influx of so many into the ranks of "older" folks, the big question arises about how to keep so many boomer brains healthy? How can we prevent the tragic dissociation between intact bodies and demented brains that Alzheimer's and other dementing diseases produce?

As the daughter of a man whose beautiful and gentle life ended in the early stages of dementia, I have a keen interest in learning more personally about how to stave off this mental disaster.

Dr. Paul Bendheim believes passionately that he and his team at BrainSavers may be part of the solution.

A neurologist with a career-long interest in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and prion disease (aka "mad cow disease"), Dr Bendheim hit upon his idea for a "brain-saving" program 4 or 5 years ago, that he has slowly and methodically evolved into a business.

In his quest to develop tools to preserve healthy brain function, Dr. Bendheim and his team have created a 3-pronged approach, using a total lifestyle program backed up by neuroscientific research.

Listen here to his BrainSaver story (25 minutes) and discover how he found the stamina to go from an earlier failed business venture to create a new start-up, garner the necessary financing and build a team of top-notch professionals to get his business off the ground.

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your thoughts.

What do you get when you mix passion with expertise and curiosity?

You get Dr. Steven Ponder, a committed pediatric endocrinologist and diabetologist, who has become an equally enthusiastic entrepreneurial physician.

As a Type I diabetic since age 9, Dr. Ponder knows diabetes.

in addition to practicing medicine, Steve is also a business owner in MyGluco.com and DiabetesHousecall.com - two highly innovative companies involved in the delivery of direct healthcare.

In this week's 25-minute podcast interview, you will hear Dr. Ponder describe how he became an accidental entrepreneur, what he had to learn to build his business expertise and how he and his business partner have taken advantage of technology to deliver care to a far-flung population of diabetic children in Texas.

What the podcast doesn't do justice to are the additional "smart marketing" activities I discovered post-interview that Dr Ponder is engaged in:

• writing a blog
• writing a health column for a local newspaper
• doing a radio show that is picked up by his local PBS station.

As a contemporary "marketer" (this modest guy would hate to think of himself as such --  he would only think of himself as an educator) who is using all the recommended strategies for getting the word out,  it is no wonder he is "slightly famous" in his community.

When you are done listening, please rejoin me at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and add your thoughts or comments.

Kenneth (Ken) Cohn MD MBA is no ordinary general surgeon.

This is a man who looked at a layoff as an opportunity to keep his wife happy (smart guy!) by remaining settled in New England, and instead, made lemonade out of the lemons he was handed.

Involuntary unemployment provided him with the chance and time to go back to school to get his MBA at the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth, thus launching a whole new phase of Ken's professional development.

As the founder of Healthcarecollaboration.com and a self-employed consultant who helps hospital administrators and their medical staffs and physician communities get cozy and collaborative, Ken obviously has the patience of a saint (I know, because I have been there and struggled with that). And a delightfully self-deprecating sense of humor to match! He's also a thoughtful blogger.

And to keep his hand in, he maintains a practice as a locum tenens, getting to know many physicians and hospital administrators in the process. Good marketing, don't you think?

Listen here as Ken shares the insights and lessons that becoming an accidental and now very intentional entrepreneurial physician have presented to him.

And then please rejoin us at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog to share your comments and thoughts!