For nearly a decade, Farah Sultan, MD at Vitalogy Wellness Center, spent hours on end speaking with patients about their health and trying to convince them to live a better life. A life of wellness. She was working in a conventional model for an underserved population and knew there had to be more to practicing medicine than treating ailments and writing prescriptions, so she sought out to find answers; for her patients and for herself.
“For 10 years I was treating people, giving them medications, and trying to help them. I was backed up with people waiting to see me and was staying up till 2 a.m. writing notes. I had also felt a shift in my own health after my first child was born, and I finally found functional medicine after I had my third baby.”
When Farah was first introduced to the world of functional medicine, she knew in her gut that she had found her place in the industry. She immediately began working on obtaining her fellowship and had a vision of opening her own practice.
“I went to a conference and was like, wow, this is how I want to practice medicine. This is why I got into it. I wanted to learn more and wanted to start my own practice, but I had no clue how to do it.”
Farah was nearly done with her fellowship when she met Dr. Charles Webb at an A4M conference and quickly decided that the FPC team would be the ones to mentor her into successful entrepreneurship. She joined the FPC family in January of 2014, opened her practice in February, and had her first talk two weeks later.
“I had a building, but I had no idea how to get people to come. I had no idea about marketing or running a business so when I first met Charlie, I knew I was joining. I invited my friends and family to my first talk, and they were the first to sign up for a program.”
Though she was pleased that she was able to jump start the practice quickly, Farah’s path towards success did not come challenge free. She discussed some of her initial setbacks and the fear she had about speaking in public.
“I’ve always been anxious about it, but I didn’t let it stop me. I had to practice a lot. I’d hand-write everything, print out power points, and record myself in front of the mirror. It was out of my comfort zone, but I knew that if I didn’t speak, people would go without help. Now, I actually enjoy it and I don’t have that fear and anxiety I used to have.”
Public speaking is one of many nuggets that Farah has acquired throughout her FPC journey. Over the years she has successfully incorporated several FPC strategies into her business from her hiring process and quarterly trainings, to referral incentives and having a quantified goal to change lives.
“I model so many FPC strategies with my own practice members. We do a graduation and recognition for them. There are testimonials and we even have a private Facebook group. We also do quarterly trainings where I’ve invited keynotes and presenters. And when FPC announced the goal of changing 10 million lives I made a resolution for my practice to change one million within five years.”
Although Farah completed her initial three-year program back in 2017, she did not hesitate to further her endeavors with FPC. She was happy that she received an invitation to be considered for the FPC Mastermind group and she had even approached COO, Mary Guirovich to ask about a potential part-time coaching opportunity.
“I had to make a pitch as to how I could make a difference in order to be accepted into Mastermind. I was thrilled that I got in. It has added so much value. I’d spoken with Mary about coaching so when the opportunity finally came up, it was a no brainer. I felt like I could help practitioners who were in similar situations and felt like it would enable me to lean more as well.”
Farah spoke about success in terms of peace, joy, financial freedom, leading her amazing team, and living within her core values. She prioritizes self-care and family time and is a big believer in the block scheduling that FPC promotes. She also says that placing trust in your purpose and staying hopeful is important.
“Follow the roots,” Farah said when I asked her to give me a pearl I could pass along to fellow practitioners. “Go back to the drawing board. We ask our patients to look at the root cause so it’s really important for us to re-visit the basics too. I re-listen to my talk and re-listen to the entire lead flow process. If you do what FPC tells you, it will work. Never give up.”
Are you ready for your own success story?
If you are, I have good news! We can get you results like this. It won’t be easy, nor will it happen overnight, but I’ve seen it happen so many times that I can tell you that’s it’s possible.
You’ve got to be hungry, driven, up for the work, listen more than you talk, complete more than complain, implement plans more than you announce them, and show up daily with a beginners mind. If you’re ready, it’s time to get to work!
