May 14, 2020

Narrow your Niche | Brian Bisher, PharmD, EmpowerRx Health Solutions

Narrow your Niche | Brian Bisher, PharmD, EmpowerRx Health Solutions
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Brian Bisher is a pharmacist and the founder of EmpowerRx Health Solutions, which helps new pharmacist dads get physically and mentally fit for life. 

https://www.fast2fitlife.com/

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Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: Well, hello, Brian. Hello, Mike. Thanks for joining us today. 

[00:00:19] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Absolutely. It's my pleasure to be a part of this Brian, for 

[00:00:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: the people that haven't come across you yet introduce yourself and tell us what's going on hot right now. Why are we 

[00:00:30] Brian Bisher, PharmD: talking today? I'm a hospital pharmacist. I've been working actually in a community hospital for about seven years now.

And I've seen this need that needs to be filled. I know that as guys in pharmacy, it's hard for us to take care of ourselves and, and work on ourselves mentally and physically. And I personally was there where I, for one, didn't really feel fit to be working in a hospital as a pharmacist. I know I need to take better care of myself.

So that's what I do. I have a program where I'm working with guys to help improve their physical and mental energy so they can focus on those relationships and their. And our personal goals, 

[00:01:08] Mike Koelzer, Host: stop the press. Now, Brian, because out of the 50 podcasts that I've done, someone is finally helping us guys out.

You're a hero. Now I've talked to so many people that are helping out all the damn women and women I'm like, why are you helping the women? They've got 70% of the career, the jobs are nicely built around them with part-time and this and that. Now all of the ladies that are listening now are saying, yes, Mike, but we don't have representation in the leadership in that.

So I understand that, but it is good to find someone that's sticking up for us guys. 

[00:01:49] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Well, I'll tell you, Mike, it's not the easiest because as guys we don't really like to listen, we don't really Like the help, or we don't really know if we need the help to begin with, you know what I mean? Like, it's very difficult to reach that audience and, you know, you may label who calls it a health coach.

Um, I like to think that that term has kind of been thrown around a little bit too much and it's undervalued because of that. The health coaching industry is just full of women, helping women. And I saw a need where. There needs to be support for the guys out there. And, you know, I personally, I know I could have used some support working on my physical and mental energy just cause you know, you're going to work every day.

You're, you're getting burnt out. You don't really take the time to take care of yourself. Right. We, we think it boils down to, I just need to have that motivation and I don't have the time to really take care of myself. The number one thing I hear from guys that I talk to and work with is. I just don't have the time or motivation and that's not their problem.

They think that's their problem, but it's not their problem. You 

[00:02:52] Mike Koelzer, Host: say that the coaches, that term is thrown around loosely. What do you mean by that? 

[00:02:59] Brian Bisher, PharmD: There are so many people out there trying to become a health coach or working on starting their business. And I, for one belief, pharmacists are positioned to be the ideal health coach, right?

Uh, can really bridge that gap between conventional medicine and holistic care. For patients and that's a whole nother conversation. I believe it's undervalued because of the number of people that have gone into this industry, thinking that they can just help everyone out. And I think they go in with good intentions.

I just don't know if they are training. 

[00:03:32] Mike Koelzer, Host: There's people who have finally done their first 5k and they're labeling themselves as a health coach and to their credit. If they narrow down their niche, enough of whom they're serving, they do have the ability to maybe help people who are overweight and they want to make their own.

K, but the problem is that the coach is thrown in with the same coach. Like you, who's got seven years of college and experience and this and that and pharmacy and healthcare and those kinds of things. So it's probably like everybody can use the term coach, but when it's quickly seen on a screen or a business card or something.

People maybe don't go into the depth of well, yeah, but what kind of coach am I really looking 

[00:04:28] Brian Bisher, PharmD: for? Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is we don't, people don't buy health coaching. It's not something that I'm going to go out and search for. And I'm going to, I know I need a health coach, right? It's just not something we would think of.

We see problems. We see. Um, we hear stories and we resonate with those stories and that's how you really get to know your clients and come to actually gain clients by helping them resonate with you through your story. Um, and recognizing that they have a problem that you went through and you could probably help them out with, 

[00:05:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: by solutions where you are fatty.

[00:05:07] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I, yeah, I actually was, and I weighed about 210 pounds. Five 10, recall it five, 10. I'm a little five. Probably like five, nine. 

[00:05:18] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah. My wife doesn't let me see. I'm six feet. I'm like five, 11 and a half, but I always say I'm six feet. She says, no, you're five. And he's like, why you shouldn't be the one saying I'm like six one.

Why is she bringing me down to five 11? I don't get it. But now I'm probably truly at five 11. Five 10 to 10. That's 

[00:05:39] Brian Bisher, PharmD: pretty hefty. It's hefty. Um, I don't know if I'd say I was, you know, obese as much as you know, that that term is thrown around a lot too, but I would definitely be overweight. I felt overweight.

I did not feel my best and I did not look my 

[00:05:53] Mike Koelzer, Host: best. How far are you out of pharmacy 

[00:05:56] Brian Bisher, PharmD: school? I'm several years out of pharmacy school. I had it all, you know, I'll happen during pharmacy school, to be honest, you know, the stress of. School itself and burning the parties and. We did have a good time and they always fatten this up with pizza.

I don't know why every single meeting had free greasy pizza, like, and that's a thin cross kind either. I'm talking like I'm talking like the thick cross is going to throw you into a food coma, 

[00:06:21] Mike Koelzer, Host: right? The big breaded kind. Yeah. They get that pizza in there. It's cheap and they figure students like it. It fills you up.

Yeah, but it made me 

[00:06:29] Brian Bisher, PharmD: fall asleep in my afternoon classes. And that's if I was there, I mean, a lot of times I would skip classes because you're 

[00:06:36] Mike Koelzer, Host: sleeping. Is there a national brand restaurant that puts in whole wheat crust on their pieces? Oh, I don't know about that. We always throw in that high white high-glycemic stuff, yeah.

You're asleep and a half hour later. 

[00:06:50] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah. And that took me a while to realize like, put that combination. The other, like that's one thing we don't really learn a lot about nutrition in school, so I wasn't really aware of the effects and you know why I was so tired all the time. Um, in fact, I was living off chicken fries, um, and catching up.

Uh, so yeah, multiple reasons why I. I put on a decent amount of weight in school. Um, stress being the ultimate, um, lack of nutrition. Knowledge was definitely 

[00:07:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: up there. Okay. So you put that on at school. And then what was your first job after pharmacy school? My first 

[00:07:27] Brian Bisher, PharmD: job was. Working at a smaller hospital.

And I was thrown in the night shifts. I was just taking whatever, whatever shifts they would give me and, you know, obviously throwing your sleep schedule off and I just wasn't handling it all. Well, I was tired all the time and, uh, No, always hungry so that didn't really help 

[00:07:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: either. And you've got to come home and reward yourself after the shift.

Yeah. And 

[00:07:52] Brian Bisher, PharmD: then I had all this money. I didn't know what to do, so I was going out to eat more and I was going out, drinking more with friends. I'm like, I got all this time. I'm only 24 at the time. And. I even told people, they asked me if I did a residency. And I said, no, that was actually before residency's became almost mandatory for hospital jobs.

I told them I don't feel like I was mature enough to even do a residency at the time. And that was just me. I was just living life. I was really enjoying it. And, um, didn't go to, well, 

[00:08:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: physically, how long have you been out of pharmacy school now? Just about seven years. Seven years. Did the turnaround come and why?

[00:08:31] Brian Bisher, PharmD: 2015, the turnaround cabins. One 

[00:08:33] Mike Koelzer, Host: thing I know that you don't have, you don't have a bunch of kids telling you that you were fat. You didn't have that. 

[00:08:38] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I did not have that. I have a mirror though. That's true. You know, I asked guys like, what's, what's your reminder like that you need to take care of yourself.

And they, a lot of times I'll hear the answer while I see myself in the mirror and it's just, it's either something I like, I look and I feel good about the way I look or. I know I need to start doing something or I hear the word should a lot. I should be doing something I should be eating better. I should be 

[00:09:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: working on there's a third option too, of just getting rid of the damn mirror 

[00:09:04] Brian Bisher, PharmD: there that you can get rid of 

[00:09:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: the mirror.

Brian, I've got the gray hair and the wisdom that you don't have yet. 

[00:09:10] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah, that is great 

[00:09:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: advice. We come up with those win-win options, like getting rid of the mirror, but if you youngsters still insist on keeping the mirror, that's where you were able to see it and see that you weren't looking back at someone that you wanted to look like.

[00:09:27] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah. I just didn't feel good about myself. And that's really what it boiled down to. I knew I wanted to feel better. Not only mentally, just about the way I look, but also physically. So I could then transition into being a husband to my now wife and a father to my now son. So I think that really all plays a big part in it.

It all turned around for me with one Google search. And I say that with dead seriousness and it's like one Google search changed my life. And that is why I am always hungry in the morning. 

[00:09:57] Mike Koelzer, Host: That is something that. Longterm. It's really hard to beat hunger because it seems to always balance out that you don't want to be hungry.

And so that's always been the key to me. It's like, you can try things. But if you're hungry, your body is constantly saying I'm hungry. I'm hungry. That's always been to me. It's like, I know the answer isn't in my willpower. It's in my hunger. Yeah. So what did you find on that Google 

[00:10:32] Brian Bisher, PharmD: search? So I came across a very interesting website, um, by a sweetest man named Martin Berkhan and it was about the lean gains method.

And that really is what introduced me to intermittent fasting. And so when I got to his website, I read the articles. He's very sarcastic in his approach, but he's also very scientific and a lot of what he wrote and I was reading made so much sense and they talk about insulin and cortisol. If you really want to get into it, you know, stuff we learn about in school.

And I thought to myself, Wow, this is all really interesting. And I was just like, and I was, I, I found something I was really 

[00:11:13] Mike Koelzer, Host: into. Yeah, literally, like you were looking at this when you were at your top, you're like, I gotta find something to fix this. I was 

[00:11:21] Brian Bisher, PharmD: not at my top weight. Um, I had started working on some stuff and I was losing weight.

Um, it wasn't, it didn't feel like it was something I could maintain. Right. Because you were hungry. That's what led me to this was I was working in the emergency room. My shift would start at 10 o'clock. So I would wake up in the morning, you know, drink a protein shake. Like I thought I was supposed to be having some oatmeal.

Get to work a couple of hours later, try to focus for a little bit. And next thing I know I'm like, I feel the hunger pangs coming along and I'm just like, I just, I can't focus. I made my way back down to the pharmacy and had another snack. It wasn't really sustainable for what I needed to be doing.

I didn't feel present where I needed to be present, which was at work. And I was constantly thinking about eating. And going down to eat. And I, and I know there are so many approaches to losing weight and you can eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, but that was not working for me. So I came across this method with this Google search and it literally just changed everything for me.

It just opened my eyes to intermittent fasting and reading all about that. Mind you, this is all before, you know, in your intermittent fasting, it became pretty mainstream. Cause it's a little more mainstream now 

[00:12:35] Mike Koelzer, Host: It's been mainstream the last couple years, but this is back five years for you. Right. Yeah.

[00:12:42] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Five years ago, I tried it out. I thought this all makes sense. Scientifically, this guy makes a really good argument and uh, let's give it a shot. So I did it. And two weeks later I took before and after pictures and I thought, this is incredible. I did not change what I was eating. I only changed the window of time in which.

And that was it. And I saw a noticeable 

[00:13:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: difference. So I know there's 12, 12 and 16, eight and 24. Where did you start and where did you end up? I started 

[00:13:16] Brian Bisher, PharmD: at eight and 16, so I would eat within roughly about one to 9:00 PM. Um, and I love the flexibility of it too. Once you got into it, once you a couple of weeks in, um, you could just forego it on an occasion when socially you felt like you want it to, for me, I was still young at the time, so that, you know, mainly on the weekends, when I didn't really need to focus at work, I would forget about the fascinating the irony came.

When I found that it benefited my life in so many other ways, more than just physically. That it was something I wanted to do. It wasn't just about weight loss anymore. It was more about how much it helped me in other areas of my life. And I'm talking about the mental focus I gained at work.

It was just incredible. And I thought, wow, I need to use this. Not only as a lifestyle, but as a tool. Become a better version of myself every single 

[00:14:09] Mike Koelzer, Host: day. Is it still 16, eight, or do you throw in different time periods? 

[00:14:14] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I've tried 70 to 72 hours straight. Um, just disparate the experience to be able to write about it.

And it was not easy. Um, the hardest part was spilling dinner upstairs and trying to be out in the basement. 

[00:14:27] Mike Koelzer, Host: I was listening. What we're talking about with 16 eight is 16 hours of not eating. Eight hours of eating. And if you said yours was one to nine, it's basically shutting the fridge at night and holding off on breakfast till like one o'clock.

I mean, that's, that's basically the timespan. Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:14:46] Brian Bisher, PharmD: And it worked out, it's worked out for me at work where, um, if it would get busier and say, I couldn't leave the emergency department, I was using it to just, I would just extend the period of time in which I, until I eat. Right. And you get even more and more better.

Uh, the further you go. So, like I said, it became a tool for me to perform better at my job because, um, in the past I was, if I would get past two hours out eating, I would get like this. I would get this hunger and I would lose concentration and I'd be like, no, I'm not focusing on the task at hand. And yeah.

And now with this as a tool, by my side, I have this ability to just extend out, like if it gets busy and I'm needed, then I can stay and help out. 

[00:15:32] Mike Koelzer, Host: And you're not linking a true carb deficient ketosis, but it gets easier because you're teaching your body after. Past some of those hunger payings, you're teaching your body to kind of flip and use some other energy besides the quick carps.

Is that about right? 

[00:15:55] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Absolutely. Yeah. You're flipping that metabolic switch. You're going from more carbohydrate burning to fat burning and. Um, your brain actually prefers ketones over glucose. That's what really helps with that focus and also increases something called brain derived neurotrophic factor.

It's basically think of growth hormone for your 

[00:16:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: brain, right. So how long have you 

[00:16:17] Brian Bisher, PharmD: been doing this for ever since 2015, five years? Like I said, originally, I used it to lose weight and get better. Now I use it for a tool and I call it building the foundation for that level of fitness that fits your life.

[00:16:31] Mike Koelzer, Host: I've done it for a day. I tried it for like two weeks, like a year ago. I understand it all. I just didn't do it. I'd have to get a coach to tell me, why did you find this call about it? Well, there was. Probably only two things, not eating and starving, 

[00:16:54] Brian Bisher, PharmD: starving. That's a, that's a term we don't have to get to, but 

[00:16:59] Mike Koelzer, Host: I could probably narrow it down to those two basics.

If I have 

[00:17:03] Brian Bisher, PharmD: to, we all have the friends that think they need to eat or get hangry after. Couple of hours of not eating. And that was me. I can tell you that for the longest 

[00:17:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: time, try now, at least to lower sugar when I can. So. Anything. That's basically sweet is defined in my book as sugar, whether it's honey, even these highly healthy honey rolls or something like that.

It's honey. And it's, it's, it's sweet. A lot of days I'm having oatmeal and blueberries and stuff like that in the morning. A lot of carbs, but complex carbs. But the other day, I treated myself to a nice big ball of frosted mini wheats. And the first couple hours on both of them are the same, but with that many wheat mornings, man, when you're hungry, you're hungry.

I mean, that drops off. Like you just walked off a cliff and that's what in the fasting you put up with some of that for a bit though, until your body learns to go into that at least many ketosis. Yeah, absolutely. You 

[00:18:07] Brian Bisher, PharmD: can retrain your hunger hormones when you give it enough time. And it also really helps to be eating the right things.

When you are fasting, you go into such a state of insulin sensitivity. If you stick to just really high carb, highly glycaemic foods with fasting, you're going to get an even sharper drop in blood sugar potentially. 

[00:18:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: So you're saying Brian, that during your nine hours of eating, when you say you don't have to think about it, you're still trying to put in some good sensible food.

It's not time to eat cotton candy for nine straight hours. Would that be fair? 

[00:18:45] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Be a fair statement. Yes. It helps to focus on adding in, you know, whole foods and, uh, protein, rich foods that help 

[00:18:54] Mike Koelzer, Host: fill you up. They fill you up. And you're just not thinking about food so much because you're not crashing all the time.

Yeah. 

[00:19:01] Brian Bisher, PharmD: It took me a while to put that together. I would have been a better student. Had I know about fasting? For one, I probably wouldn't have been so tired all the time during classes, because I personally just think, you know, I myself have an issue with blood sugar stabilization and I've experienced some low blood sugars without being a diabetic.

I feel like I've had that experience where I've almost passed out, or I felt really lightheaded after a meal I'm referring of course, back to when they fed us pizza in school. And I didn't have anything else besides pizza. And you're just talking, getting hit with tons of carbs at a time. With nothing else in your stomach, your blood sugar is just going to spike and then it's going to drop, right?

So our body perceives hunger, not only as the rate at which it changes, but the amount of which it changes too. So our blood sugar goes from like 300 to 100. Yeah. It could happen over a couple hours or if it happens like that, then your brain is gonna be like danger, danger, danger, even though you're in a safe zone.

I feel hungry. You're going to still feel that food coma 

[00:20:03] Mike Koelzer, Host: and you're going to feel it. And you're going to probably eat whatever walks in front of you, whether it's a cotton candy booth or whatever, because your body is telling you, if you don't eat this, that it will drop off so much. If you don't eat this now you'll die, which is not true.

Absolutely. Yeah, you look great. So what is your weight 

[00:20:27] Brian Bisher, PharmD: now? I'm currently at one. 

[00:20:31] Mike Koelzer, Host: One 60 from two 10. So, so solid, a solid 50 pounds. How does that feel? Is that enough for you? 

[00:20:37] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Oh, absolutely. I'm not trying to lose any more weight. Um, and now coming up with strategies to try to put on a little 

[00:20:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: A bit more weight, you don't have all the secrets.

I could tell you how to do that. The business of pharmacy podcast. Here's what I want to talk about. I touched on it earlier in the show and you chose a rather narrow category of men. Who are making that transition between school and we're in then maybe into fatherhood and so on. But typically that's going to be about a seven to 10 year window.

And pharmacists are an interesting bunch where I, as an independent pharmacy owner. Somebody may say to me, where is your niche? You know, who is your focus? And it seems with pharmacists that we've always, I know I've always just said, well, I don't know. It was kind of hard. And our focus is anybody who is zero to a hundred, who.

Male or female, any income level who's sick, you know, and basically that basically covers everybody who could be your customer. And as time goes on, you narrow stuff down. You do. Pareto principle of where's 80% of your profit coming from, and the 20% of the customers, while these are going to be customers who are in this district and maybe need delivery and maybe have so many meds and things like that, but it's still pretty, uh, it's still a fairly large target.

Let's talk a bit about how hard or how natural it was for you to decide. That's where your niche was going to be. It wasn't going to be anybody coming out of pharmacy school. It wasn't going to be anybody who had stressors in life. For example, you could have an ad that said. There's all kinds of stress in life.

It's getting into pharmacy school and minutes getting out, and then it's finding a job. Then it's having a baby and then it's getting married. And then it's working in a seamless, endless job. And then it's doing this and then it's doing that. And before you know it, you could have been trying to focus your business basically on men period.

And you went for that pretty narrow niche and told our listeners what went into that to decide to focus there. And if you ever questioned. That focus. 

[00:23:33] Brian Bisher, PharmD: It definitely took some, uh, self-reflection on my own personal journey and story. Right. So I like to even just take it back a little bit in time when I'm in high school.

And I thought, you know, my, my, my dream is to be this baseball player and, you know, I just want to play baseball. I want to play professional baseball, and then I'm at tryouts and first cuts come and I don't even make them. Right. So that right there, that moment in time for me was a low point. And from that point on, I didn't really feel good enough about who I was.

And so that played, you know, that that really had a huge impact on my life. It took some time for me to realize, and this whole business venture has helped me realize it. And that's freshman year of high school. Yeah. Freshman year of high school. And it's taken me this long to realize how much of an impact that had on my life.

It's 

[00:24:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: amazing. Isn't it? Yeah. People always talk about the great value of sports and I'm like, what did I learn? But to ride the bench here and do this, or, I mean, I think that my sports was terrible for me. 

[00:24:40] Brian Bisher, PharmD: That definitely has some values that for me, it. It really made me question, um, my own personal worth and self-worth, and then, you know, you go through high school and you're supposed to come out knowing exactly what you want to do with life.

And for me, I only chose pharmacy because both my parents are pharmacists and I looked at them and I'm like, oh, well, they don't hate their lives. They seem to be doing it. Well, let's go into pharmacy because I don't really know what I'm passionate about. And obviously I'm not meant to be a baseball player.

That really set the stage for the rest of my career and going through school and helping me narrow down to that niche was reflecting on my own story. Right. And to even dig a little deeper, it's helping the guys that, that were like, that are like me, that, you know, we, we may be doubting ourselves. We compare ourselves to others.

We fall into that trap of self comparison and we don't have that foundation of sports or fitness to really, to build off of, for the rest of our lives. Like people talk about all the time. Sports really have a huge foundation for setting you up in your personal relationships, your, your, your life as a husband, as a father.

And not everybody has that. Not everybody excelled in sports growing up. Right. I was that person. And so it's like, well, what about me? Where am I? I'm just left to just hang out and dry, like, feel like crap about myself or not feel good about myself. Right. Um, how can I show up and still be a better pharmacist?

A better husband in the future, a better father in the future. If I don't have sports to build off of, right. That that played such an instrumental part in me, helped me settle on the niche of guys that I feel like I can serve the best. And that's what it really boils down to is who can I serve ?

It hits 

[00:26:31] Mike Koelzer, Host: a nerve. My wife was a decent athlete. She's always like we should get the kids in this or that. I'm like, wow. So they can ride the bench and come home and cry because they didn't get put into the game at all and stuff like that. And I think I was just saying 

[00:26:46] Brian Bisher, PharmD: that last week, I knew my wife's a D one athlete and.

You know, you really, you've learned so many fundamental things about life. That's what sports is, right? That's one of the things we love, how it brings people together and we love the lessons. It teaches us for life. Where does it leave you without 

[00:27:02] Mike Koelzer, Host: sports? Where does it leave you knowing that you didn't have the chops to long in.

The group that's supposed to teach you all these great lessons, uh, left 

[00:27:14] Brian Bisher, PharmD: me, questioning myself, for sure. And just like it honestly left me in this trap of self comparison to all the other guys that were, that seemed like it just came natural to him. None of that ever came naturally to me. It never came naturally for me to be social.

Another key thing was in college. I wasn't naturally social. So you use the old lubricant to help with those situations and that, you know, that all contributed to my weight gain, but oh, sure. Bring it back to your question of where I got that idea for this, this niche, this narrow niche. And it's because I know myself and I was intimidated.

I felt. I didn't know where to start. I was asking myself all of those questions, right? Like where do I, where would I even start, with nutrition? Where would I even start with a fitness program? You know, I don't really actually want to be counting macronutrients on a daily basis or counting my calories.

I really want to be able to enjoy my life. Right. And just not have to worry about it and just have it all become part of my routine. And it just fits in. And. I don't want to, I don't want to be mentally having to process how I lose weight and keep it off for good every single day of my life. I could 

[00:28:30] Mike Koelzer, Host: see that almost leading towards more animosity towards your past of saying, wait a minute, I didn't make a team or I didn't do this.

And then. Every day, I'm trying to make up for that with macro logs and, you know, exercising to death and all this kind of stuff. And so the fact that you were able, and you're able to teach others that this is not a punishment, this is a gift. You just 

[00:29:07] Brian Bisher, PharmD: bring up a huge point that I like to make.

When we talk about all of these things we should be doing and finding the motivation, um, we turned sheds into chores. Like I should be eating, right. I should be exercising if you're doing it out of this sense that you should, you're turning into a chore. And I don't know about you, but I hate chores.

Right. Whereas if you flip it a little bit and you look intrinsically as to why it benefits you and how it is. How it can change your life and improve it on a daily basis, physically and mentally, it turns it into a gift you can give yourself each day. And, and that's what I like to teach people. And that's what I helped them realize through my program.

We do. One-on-ones where we're just working through the stages of what does fitness mean to you? Um, what have you tried in the past or like, why do you feel like you have no motivation or you have no time? Um, And just working through defining all of that for that person, that individual and where we get to is, you know, heightening that sense of awareness.

You don't really need motivation. If you have awareness about why you're doing it. 

[00:30:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: Do you feel a need to focus this online to a particular audience or is it more general? And then people come across, you see your name, maybe word of mouth or mention it to somebody else. And so on. 

[00:30:33] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I've not run any advertisements.

I really operate more under word of mouth at this point in time. And just working with, um, past people in my network and guys that have come to me and said, Hey, you know, I hear about what you're doing. And I, you know, let's work together. I have some weight I want to lose. You know, initially we always start with the surface level.

It starts with weight. They want to lose that. They don't feel like they have the motivation or. To work towards, and you know, now that I've gotten some word of mouth, um, I'm ramping up my. Um, my online presence and, you know, I feel like I do better in person and in-person networking events. And obviously that's on hold right now.

Um, so that's been a challenge because I did have some presentations lined up, just some of those where I'm going to go and give a talk to two guys and, and help them solve that problem of getting more mentally and physically fit. It's just something I've become so passionate about. And it's filled that void that I, that pharmacy couldn't for me, where I, I always liked pharmacy.

I was good at it. I'm still good at it. Um, but I was never truly passionate about pharmacy, even coming out of school. I questioned my desire to be a pharmacist. Uh, so that's what gave me that, that itch. It was that for me, that I didn't even feel the desire to be a pharmacist. I need it. There was something more I could do.

And I didn't exactly know what it was at the time, but it was a lot of work and introspection. It is definitely coming to light now. So 

[00:32:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: are you still working full time in the pharmacy and anything that you're doing now with this is going to be kind of extra income and so on between 

[00:32:20] Brian Bisher, PharmD: part-time full-time I'm about 30 hours a week.

So that does. Time outside of my job to be focusing on this 

[00:32:28] Mike Koelzer, Host: is that 30 hours because of what you've already have built with your business, or it just happens to be the 30 hour schedule, which then ends up giving you time to focus on the 

[00:32:40] Brian Bisher, PharmD: business. It just happens to be the 30 hour and I could pick up more hours if I wanted to.

Um, it's not like I've seen such a huge influx of money that I'm not, I don't have to work at the hospital anymore. It's worked out where, you know, my loans are paid off. Now we have a relatively low monthly budget. It allows me that time to do this and noticeably I'm happier without finding that thing you're passionate about.

You can get easily burned out if you're not feeling 

[00:33:09] Mike Koelzer, Host: fulfilled. Absolutely. To be with this in three years, the question would be, if you were able to do this full time, would you, would you not be back in the hospital? Would you be doing something with this, whether it's speaking or web stuff or whatever, would that be a goal or not necessarily?

I don't think 

[00:33:33] Brian Bisher, PharmD: necessarily because there are really aspects of my job that I enjoy. Uh, and it's, it's about being that advocate. Per patients, um, in the emergency department and in our outpatient wellness, our wellness center that. I feel called to be an advocate there as well for those people. And, you know, I, I wasn't fulfilled at that job for the longest time because I had this burning desire to do something outside of it.

But now I have that as well. Yeah. It's actually helped me get more out of my current job too, and, and work with more purpose there than I had intended rather than feeling like I regret it because. It's blocking me from doing something I love. I have the best of both worlds where I'm doing something I love and now I'm doing something I love to like where I have two things I'm 

[00:34:19] Mike Koelzer, Host: doing.

I love, do you bring any of your holistic slash nutrition, et cetera, into your current job? Or are you just saying you're finding fulfillment with general pharmacy things? Oh, I 

[00:34:31] Brian Bisher, PharmD: absolutely do. And I have had some incredible conversations with people in the emergency department where I've just had some really intense.

Incredible conversations in the emergency department and our outpatient wellness center. And I go against the grain, as you would say, I know I've helped people more because of my holistic approach. And that definitely has helped me get more out of that job as taking what I've learned now, you know, doing my own thing into my current 

[00:35:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: role.

Do you feel the hospital? Know about that and that's encouragement or are you like a bud? Let me tell you about this thing. And then you don't want anybody to hear you. 

[00:35:14] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I will not mention anything about that.

No, I mean, I don't think I ever step out of line with what I'm telling people. I don't think I've ever felt that. Now, maybe in our diabetes clinic, I haven't gone by the book. Literally what I am going to do is ask them questions and be a genuine leader, and listen to their problems. And that has had a huge impact.

I think that is the one lesson I have learned that, you know, if we could all just listen a little bit. Yeah, that's all people really need. And that's the one lesson I've taken into. My current job is stop trying to regurgitate all my information onto these people and counseling on my route, eat this, eat that all they really want you to do is listen to them and then they'll work out 

their 

[00:36:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: Own problem.

I've been doing that at the pharmacy lately. I've been working a lot more hours there because we had a lot of staff changes and, um, what I've been trying to do. I don't answer the phone very much because I'm the boss and I don't have to years ago, my dad always tried to set a good example. I don't even have the phone ring at my spot because it's like, I'm past that.

But with that said, love him or hate him. I'm taking the path that rush, but it does on his show. Some of these shows like let's say Dave Ramsey, who has a financial show. You know, he pushes people right along on the phone call, you know, like, let's go and let's get these questions in and out of Russia. On the other hand, you know, he's got a three-hour show and I don't know, he might talk to two people, you know, but the people he talks to are laid back and listening to them.

People might differ on that, but he's taking a lot of time with like two calls rather than trying to fit in 20. So I found some joy in that in my later years, you know, just having that longer conversation with people plus the longer I'm talking to one person, they can't give you. Any more work to do, you know, it's not like they say, well, I've got a longer list.

Let me read you more of my list. You know, you, you still have the one or two things you might want to do off a phone call. You put in 20 minutes there. That's just free time. Yeah. I 

[00:37:32] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I think one thing tele-health has brought to the healthcare industry is it's probably helped doctors listen more to their patients.

Are looking in a webcam, you know, whereas opposed to just looking at a computer. Yeah. I'm typing. Yeah, I got my, so I'll be it really, really interesting to see what comes of this whole situation with telehealth, Brian, 

[00:37:53] Mike Koelzer, Host: as you begin to age and start to look more distinguished like I do with some gray hair.

I think that your base will change when you're 40 and 50. Do you think that your website will say, I am taking men through different stages instead of like the focus that you have now on your wonderful website? I should say I'm taking people through the end of college and into their new job and new life.

Well, that keeps going up. As you keep aging, I'd like 

[00:38:28] Brian Bisher, PharmD: to think I will always be there for men, uh, different transitions in their life and help support them through that physically, mentally, like I said, they feel fit for 

[00:38:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: that role right now. It's focused on where you've lived. It is focused more on that 20 to 27 year old time slot or 

[00:38:47] Brian Bisher, PharmD: whatever.

I do know. I have this goal of going back and speaking with high school students about self-worth and helping them. Feel better about themselves, if they don't feel like they have that passion, that thing they're passionate about, or if they don't Excel in it. You know that there's still something out there for them that they can do, and they don't have to compare themselves to others, because that's where I felt like I struggled the most was in high school.

So I know that I would like to help create programs for, for those kids, for those boys at that age. Um, and I also like to think I would like to help, you know, empty-nesters and, and help them transition out of that role where grout side of this, the role of becoming a parent. And it seems like a lot of emptiness.

So you then struggle with that identity, right? As a married couple and. Um, I've seen marriages break apart because of that. And I think it'd be really cool to help you guys become that supportive role to their wives and, you know, help, help them flip, not flip that switch from becoming a married couple to two or another couple 

[00:39:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: that is probably widened.

Then as you go 

[00:39:53] Brian Bisher, PharmD: along, I basically like to think of it as taking lessons I've learned, and that's where my program comes from. The whole thing is derived from lessons I've learned in my. And then help teaching that other guys and helping them go through that and getting out of it, what they can, 

[00:40:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: if you could go back in time to those freshmen in high school.

Would you say, ah, I wish I would have made the team or do you say now, you know, this is God's direction and I can do this now and I can teach this and I can teach that you can't go back and say, I just wish I made the damn team. 

[00:40:37] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I wish I could go back and just tell him it was going to be all right at that point in time.

Yeah. That 13 year old self, just tell him, Hey, you know, it's all right. Don't worry about it. Don't, you know, cause you know, I was told, this is crazy. It seemed, think about it, but I was told from a young age in grade school that, you know, I was going to be a really good high school player and I was going to be playing college most likely.

And I just had, I was so talented. So to hear that in this outside input and then not have that. Uh, it was very tough, but I would like to go back and tell that version of myself, you know, even if you don't make the team, it's okay. Your life is going to be still. Great. Um, 

[00:41:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: so, 

[00:41:23] Brian Bisher, PharmD: and Mike, I'd like to ask you what, going back to yourself, you know, as a, you know, as a new pharmacist graduate, you know, taking over, or it sounds like working at your, I know you work at your, uh, took over for your father's store.

And how do you think you would have benefited from a service like this? Or where do you think, like, how do you think that would have positioned you to be at the 

[00:41:44] Mike Koelzer, Host: time? Yeah, I had some of what you had growing up with sports teams. My brothers were swimmers and I never swam as well as they did. And you're talking a second or something off a race, but I never quite did that.

But one thing that I did. And this was right after high school got done. It's right. When triathlons were coming out, there was the Olympic distance, which was 0.9 miles swim, 25 mile bike in a six mile run. And that was a real saving grace for me because I was able to do something. Nobody could compare me to, you know, it was kind of new.

It was kind of cool. It was none of the fast people had found out about it yet, so I can play so I could place a little bit higher. So I think that sent me kind of in a different direction. And then I think a lot of the news stuff that I've done being, hopefully the pharmacy voice of grand rapids, that least, I think a lot of that came from kind of self doubt, you know?

And I use some of those kinds of things to kind of like, be like, yeah, it's kinda cool that I might have self doubt, but I'm on the news and stuff. You know, it was kind of like the little Eagle. Oh for that happened to be good for the business, but it was also kind of an ego booster for me. And so to answer your question, Brian, I think, unless you and I are the only two lonely souls coming out of pharmacy school with a history of not winning, let's say, I think there's a huge need for helping people find their way.

'cause I know even now, like I'll listen to some singers. They could have Grammy after Grammy, but they don't have five of them. Like somebody else has, you know, that kind of stuff. I think that's a weird time in life coming from high school where the average high schooler didn't really feel like they fit in and to have that and then go through pharmacy and stuff.

I think you're hitting on a very raw. That's out there. Yeah, 

[00:44:12] Brian Bisher, PharmD: I appreciate it. My, um, the ironic thing is we think about health as our, as our motivation is like our thing we're using for our motivation. I just want to be healthier. You hear that all the time, right. As a goal, I want to be healthier. Well, that goal is so nonspecific and it doesn't actually lead to habit change because it's, it's so nonspecific, you know, with donuts sitting in front of you on the table is.

Going to be calling your name away more than health that you can't really perceive now. But we are creatures of instant gratification where we see the donut and we think, oh man, my health goal, can we just have another day because that's their, that's their, or someone brought in donuts today at work. How do you take what you're doing now to apply it to your life now?

How's it going to help you now, if you think about that, And if you work on that, that is where your change is going to be sustainable. And those habits you want to implement, you know, our new year's resolutions, wherever they may be. If you think about how it helps me now, how can it help me do better now at my job?

How can it improve? Um, my enjoyment of life 

[00:45:24] Mike Koelzer, Host: right now? Yeah, you have two choices. You can say, I'm not going to eat that because I want to be healthy, but you're saying that there's going to be benefits of not eating that donut right now. I like to tell 

[00:45:44] Brian Bisher, PharmD: people. If you can choose to eat the donut because of some higher emotional reason that is attached to it.

For example, I'm choosing to eat donuts on Sunday because it's mother's day. And my wife absolutely loves the donut shop down the street. So we are getting there. That's a very intentional eating of donuts and I don't feel guilty. I will not feel guilty about that day. But if I am saying that, I am choosing to eat the donut because I'm hangry at work and it's sitting right there and I, who else is going to eat it, then that's not being very intentional about eating donuts and you're likely to even feel guilty about it.

Um, that guilt is then gonna manifest even more as you know, feeling more and more tired. You're not going to get the enjoyment out of the doughnut that you're meant to get. Right. You're always going to choose the donut over health. If you become aware of what the doughnut does, then. You know, you're empowered with that knowledge of, well, if I eat this donut, I'm going to probably have that blood sugar spike and feel a little bit more drowsy later on.

I don't want the feeling of that. I know what that feeling is, and I don't want that. I'm not choosing the Yuca donut at this point in time, because of that, the benefit there is like the site does not outweigh the risks. It 

[00:46:59] Mike Koelzer, Host: seems to me that it takes coaching. It takes the focus because especially when you're in a situation where you didn't cause the doughnut to be there, you're at work and the donuts there, and that's sort of like putting a mug.

Beer in front of an alcoholic and having it inches from his mouth. And it's like, at that point, it's no longer really a choice. So the choices have to come earlier through a lot of thought and long-term goals, not the goal of counting the calories, the goal of what does this mean for me? And so on when someone hears this and they.

Want to learn more? How do they dabble in you? Are they going to be looking up your website fast to fit life.com? 

[00:47:51] Brian Bisher, PharmD: That's probably the best way to get a hold of me is going there or on LinkedIn. Um, and just reaching out really. Uh, cause you know, I know for, for me, the one thing is, is that question, where do I start?

Right. That was the question I always had is where should I even start? I was, I don't have that foundation of fitness or athletics to really help me with that question and empower me with that knowledge. So it can be very overwhelming to try to go in like, as I did and follow all these Instagram people and workouts.

And, and then you fall into that trap of comparison because they are completely jacked. There are 

[00:48:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: some benefits. So because that's of course where you first came across me. 

[00:48:34] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah. Oh, absolutely you. Yeah. 

[00:48:37] Mike Koelzer, Host: You're saying if they're only jacked, like that's their main. 

[00:48:41] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yes. Yes, absolutely. 

[00:48:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: Just to make it clear for everybody.

No, but really it came across these people and it's like, that's not a starting point. That's an ending point and 

[00:48:50] Brian Bisher, PharmD: it can be very overwhelming, intimidating. So it's like, if you're just learning where, like, if you're just trying to figure out where you should start, uh, it can be very tough. And, and like, if you think that motivation and time is what you really need, it's not, it's not really what you need.

You just need to know where to start. And, and that's why. Things. I want to give to people that help them out is just this quiz to help bring awareness to them. And I just need this quick five minute quiz, um, and it applies pretty well to, to pharmacy and your career. And how are you handling, taking care of yourself?

But the two of those 

[00:49:25] Mike Koelzer, Host: things combined, is that on your website or are they doing that verbally with you? No, it's 

[00:49:30] Brian Bisher, PharmD: on my website. Yeah. If you sign up for the list, you can go check out. Um, on any of my blogs, I actually wrote a blog post about how to avoid the doughnut at work. And, um, if you were to sign up.

For that you can get that quiz. You can fill it out. Like I said, it takes literally like less than five minutes. So go through, you'll get it like a sense of awareness of where you're at and it gives you a score and it tells you which area of your life you really should focus on the most to help improve your mental, physical energy and ultimately take better care of yourself.

So you can feel it. 

[00:50:06] Mike Koelzer, Host: Hey, Brian, really cool. Finding out about that niche is near and dear to your heart. That is the stuff that you focused on there with that goal of your soul really is cool. And I think that anybody is going to be successful, but also very happy with that success. That sounds like a good combination to try to find that niche by something that's near and dear to your heart.

So really cool stuff. 

[00:50:31] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah. It's been fun. Like. Talking with me and having this conversation, I really have enjoyed 

[00:50:37] Mike Koelzer, Host: it. The following. If you come across me on Instagram, just do a little shadow. I have time between some of my sets to 

[00:50:45] Brian Bisher, PharmD: do live workouts and Instagram and broadcasts. 

[00:50:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: I haven't done as many now because I'm starting to do all the tick-tock dances.

[00:50:54] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Yeah, I think quarantine has helped us get more creative, that's for sure. And so I stumbled across my old DiPiro textbook pharmacotherapy. Netbooks are huge. Right. So I actually used it for a workout. Physical, not mental, physical workout. Yeah. I will never read that book again. Did you do 

[00:51:13] Mike Koelzer, Host: like a step up and down or.

[00:51:15] Brian Bisher, PharmD: A combination of both really. I mean, you can go on my Instagram and watch it if you want. I had some people message me and say they tried it. And, uh, it wasn't, it wasn't the easiest, but you do like some side lunges. You do some like curls and shoulder presses. It's got a good bulk to it. It's about four or five inches thick.

[00:51:35] Mike Koelzer, Host: ain't no genius, but when you get to be my age, you think a little smarter than you young guys. I'm going to do that with the Kindle edition. All right, Brian, keep it up. We'll be following. 

[00:51:48] Brian Bisher, PharmD: Alright. Appreciate it. Take it easy.