People Before Profits: Scaling a Practice on Integrity | Dr. Louis Gilbert, MD

People Before Profits: Scaling a Practice on Integrity | Dr. Louis Gilbert, MD

When you're growing a practice, it's easy to let the numbers start making your decisions for you. Dr. Louis Gilbert refuses to. Dr. Louis Gilbert, founder and CEO of Cornerstone MD, is building a multi-location family medicine group across Houston and Pasadena, Texas - with a goal of opening a new clinic every year. He joins Jakub Grajcar to talk leadership, integrity, and growing a practice without losing sight of the people it serves. He also talks about his experience as a client of Talkie.ai, implementing an AI receptionist at his practice. We dig into: 🏥 Dr. Gilbert's #1 tip for growing a practice - grow people before you grow locations, because culture and problem-solvers are what actually scale 🚶 The "Walk with a Doc" program - how a monthly community walk turned patients into family and grew the practice 🌱 "Grow where you're planted" - why the Pasadena and Houston clinics run differently, and how one core standard still holds both together ⚖️ People before profits - what integrity looks like in the everyday decisions practice leaders actually face 📞 Covering the calls you're missing - how Dr. Gilbert kept his front desk and let Talkie AI triage the overflow instead of hiring a 20-person call center 👥 The 3 I's of hiring (via Warren Buffett) - intelligence, initiative, and integrity, and why initiative is the hardest to spot Resources mentioned: 👤 Guest: Dr. Louis Gilbert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-gilbert-26b646184/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-gilbert-26b646184/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_drlouisgilbert_/ [https://www.instagram.com/_drlouisgilbert_/] 🏥 Cornerstone MD: https://cornerstonemd.health [https://cornerstonemd.health] Lumé Haus (medical spa): https://www.lumehaus.health/ [https://www.lumehaus.health/] myWelli (healthcare app in development): https://www.mywelli.health/ [https://www.mywelli.health/] 🏛️ Texas Medical Association - supported the launch of Walk with a Doc 🧠 Also mentioned Warren Buffett's "three I's" hiring framework - intelligence, initiative, integrity 🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg]

The Marketing Strategy Framework Most Practices Skip | Saul Marquez

Most practices chase marketing tactics - SEO, ads, podcasts, webinars - before they ever settle on a strategy. Saul Marquez calls that the treadmill, and he says it's where most growth quietly dies. Saul spent two decades in medical device sales, left a VP role, and bootstrapped Outcomes Rocket into a global healthcare marketing agency - now 1,900+ interviews deep with founders, CEOs, and clinicians. He joins Jakub to lay out the exact framework he uses to help healthcare companies grow. We dig into: 🏥 Saul's #1 tip for growing a practice - keep your team as close to patients as possible, and let technology carry the repetitive load 🧭 The 3D model - Discover, Define, Deliver - and why strategy has to come before any tactic 🔁 The "treadmill" trap - how to tell real progress from busywork 📊 Why only 28% of healthcare marketers document their strategy - and why the other 72% are your opportunity 🧱 Owned, earned, paid - the order to build your marketing in, and why paid comes last 🎯 The "three uniques" - the questions that force out what your practice does that nobody can match 🤖 Why every practice needs an AI strategy before vetting vendors - "if you don't have a plan, you become part of somebody else's plan" Resources mentioned: 👤 Guest: Saul Marquez LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulmarquez1/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulmarquez1/] Outcomes Rocket: https://outcomesrocket.com [https://outcomesrocket.com] 🎙️ Podcasts Healthcare Marketing Executive (Saul's podcast, Jakub was a guest): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-SxLblM5o [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-SxLblM5o] Outcomes Rocket (Saul's original podcast, 1,900+ interviews): https://www.outcomesrocket.com/podcast [https://www.outcomesrocket.com/podcast] 🏢 People & companies mentioned Pat Williams, iScribe Health 🧠 Frameworks & references The 3D model: Discover, Define, Deliver "Tactics are the noise you hear before the war is lost" - Sun Tzu, The Art of War Aristotle's appeals of persuasion - ethos, pathos, logos McKinsey - only 28% of healthcare marketers document their strategy "Positive discontent" 🎙️ Related SPM episode Evan Steele of rater8 on reputation management (ep. 9): https://open.spotify.com/episode/5detjLcslSPFokVcObgkcs?si=f80bfbcb401b4076 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/5detjLcslSPFokVcObgkcs?si=f80bfbcb401b4076] 🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg]

What Nurse Practitioners Get Wrong About Owning a Practice | Amanda Guarniere, NP-C

Can a nurse practitioner build more than a one-person practice that just replaces a salary? Amanda Guarniere says yes - and most NPs never find out because nobody shows them what's possible. Amanda is a Yale-educated NP with 15 years of clinical experience, VP of Enterprise Partnerships at Guardian MD, and the founder of The Resume RX. She also runs her own wellness and aesthetics practice - so she sees both the clinical and the business side. She joins Jakub Grajcar to break down how NPs can legally own, run, and scale a practice. We dig into: 🏥 Amanda's #1 tip for growing a practice - know exactly who your future patient is before you build, then create messaging that attracts them and repels everyone else 🧠 Why most NPs never scale past replacing their own salary - and the mindset shift that changes it ⚖️ The compliance buckets every NP must understand - practice ownership vs. medical oversight, and why they're different in every state 📍 State-by-state reality check - from fully independent states to Texas, Georgia, and the rare in-person supervision rules 🚨 What actually triggers an audit (usually a complaint) - and why so much runs "on your honor" until it doesn't 👥 The real signal you're ready to hire - a full schedule and a 2-3 week waitlist, not just the wish to grow 🔮 Where NP regulations are heading post-COVID - and why it comes down to lobbying power, not logic Resources mentioned: 👤 Guest: Amanda Guarniere, NP LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aguarniere/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aguarniere/] Guardian MD - remote medical directors & compliance infrastructure: https://guardianmedicaldirection.com/ [https://guardianmedicaldirection.com/] The Resume RX - career resource for nurses & NPs: https://www.theresumerx.com/ [https://www.theresumerx.com/] 📚 Books The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold 🧠 Frameworks mentioned EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) - the "seats" concept: delivery, growth, operations "Glass balls vs. plastic balls" - priority triage 🎙️ Related episode Cornelius Schmahl on scaling (ep. 28): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2jC5oyfrhg&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoABUtTOYaMLQMARJjb_8zS&index=1&pp=iAQBsAgC [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2jC5oyfrhg&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoABUtTOYaMLQMARJjb_8zS&index=1&pp=iAQBsAgC] 🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg]

$3.7 Billion Scaling Advice for Medical Businesses | Cornelius Schmahl

What does scaling Uber across 300 cities have to do with running a medical practice? More than you'd think. Cornelius Schmahl spent five years at Uber launching the service across Europe and Africa, finishing as interim CEO of a national branch where he led a $3.7 billion merger. He went on to become COO of a telemedicine company, made 100+ angel investments, and now coaches founders of high-growth companies. He joins Jakub Grajcar to translate startup scaling lessons into something any practice owner can use. We dig into: 🏥 Cornelius's #1 tip for growing a practice - treat it like a business, not a place where you "doctor people" 🎯 The dollar-amount rule that lets your team make decisions without you - and how to test it safely 📚 Why building a shared knowledge base (and rewarding people for it) is how Uber scaled to hundreds of new cities 📞 The first thing to automate in your operations - and why it gives you visibility you never had 🧠 Fixed vs. growth mindset - why doctors get stuck on "I'm the hero" and how to let go of control 📣 The most overlooked lever in healthcare - and how to catch up on it Resources mentioned: 👤 Guest: Cornelius Schmahl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cornelius-peter-schmahl/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cornelius-peter-schmahl/] Coaching: https://unicorn.coach [https://unicorn.coach] 📚 Books Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows Mindset by Carol Dweck They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller 🧠 Also mentioned Ikigai (Japanese purpose framework) The EOS "seats" concept for delegating roles in a business 🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg]

Designing an AI-First Primary Care Practice from Scratch | Dr. Zeshan Rajput, MD

What if you could design a primary care practice from a blank canvas - AI at the front door, overhead at half the industry average, and every minute saved reinvested in the doctor-patient relationship? Dr. Zeshan Rajput is doing it. A physician, clinical informaticist, and MBA with 15+ years across EHR implementations and federal health IT strategy, he's now building New Hope Primary Care in Columbia, Maryland from the ground up. We dig into: 🏥 Dr. Rajput's #1 tip for growing a practice - design every patient touchpoint the way Disney would, and ask whether you'd want to be your own customer 🤖 The four-bucket framework for deciding what AI should and shouldn't touch - human only, human-first/AI review, AI-first/human review, and AI only ⚠️ Printers, passwords, policies - the three failure modes of every tech rollout, and why policy is the one most practices get wrong 📊 The #1 reason healthcare tech implementations underdeliver - and it's not the go-live, it's the optimization window that follows 💰 Targeting 25-35% overhead in a world where most practices run 65-80% - and the provider-only staffing matrix behind it 🔥 The hot take that might get him in trouble - which subspecialties of medicine could become AI-first first Resources mentioned: 👤 Guest: Dr. Zeshan Rajput, MD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zrajput/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zrajput/] 🏥 New Hope Primary Care: https://newhopeprimarycare.com/?utm_campaign=talkie-podcast [https://newhopeprimarycare.com/?utm_campaign=talkie-podcast] 📚 Books mentioned: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently - Fred Lee 🧠 Frameworks mentioned: The 4-bucket framework for AI vs human work - credit to Dr. Mark Kramer 📝 Also referenced: Talkie blog post - How Much Do Missed Calls Cost a Medical Practice? (with embedded calculator): https://talkie.ai/blog/how-much-do-missed-calls-cost-medical-practice/ [https://talkie.ai/blog/how-much-do-missed-calls-cost-medical-practice/] 🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg]