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About the Guest:

Dr. Angela Reddix

Founder, President, and CEO at ARDX and Founder of Envision Lead Grow

Dr. Angela D. Reddix is a visionary and innovative thinker with a global perspective and entrepreneurial drive. Dr. Reddix is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and a 2021 Ebony Power 100 Entrepreneur & Innovative Leader Honoree. As a passionate mentor to the next generation of young girls and a proven Entrepreneur Coach, Dr. Reddix is a leading advocate for entrepreneurship to create positive transformation in the world. Her entrepreneurial drive led to the formation of ARDX®, a 15-year multi-million-dollar award-winning professional services management and consulting firm with over 100 employees dedicated to improving the lives of our nation’s most vulnerable populations.

Connect with Dr. Angela D Reddix

About the Episode:

On this week’s episode of Entrepreneur Rx, John had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Angela Reddix. She is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, innovator, entrepreneur, founder and CEO of ARDX, and founder of Envision Lead Grow (EVL). ARDX is an award-winning healthcare management and technology consulting firm committed to helping people get better access to better health, and lower the cost of care. EVL is a non-profit organization helping girls shift their mindset and transform themselves into business owners.

In this episode, Angela recalls how she rose through the ranks of corporate America by doing her best and working collaboratively with her employer. She shares how she found the healthcare industry, the problems that she found especially in the area of mental health, the traits an entrepreneur needs, and how the right perspective is needed to be resilient. Tune in and be inspired by Angela’s insights on how to be a successful leader and entrepreneur.

 

Entrepreneur Rx Episode 29:

RX Podcast_Angela Reddix: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

RX Podcast_Angela Reddix: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

John Shufeldt:
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Entrepreneur Rx, where we help health care professionals own their future.

John Shufeldt:
Hello everybody and welcome back to Entrepreneur Rx. Today, I'm really excited to have Dr. Angela Reddix. She's a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author. She's an award-winning businesswoman and a TEDx speaker and has grown to healthcare management and IT consulting firm called ARDX into a multimillion-dollar operation. Angela, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for being on it.

Angela Reddix:
Well, thank you for having me, John. Excited to be here.

John Shufeldt:
All right now, I know there's got to be a back story. So how did you end up where you are?

Angela Reddix:
Hmm. The back story is simply put, I was the best employee I could possibly be. I believed in working collaboratively with my employer, understanding their mission, understanding their vision. I rose through the ranks of corporate America and relocated back to the Hampton Roads area. I said I really just wanted to do consulting, just being a one-person shop, focusing on family, and after doing a whole lot of years of traveling and having large staff reporting it to me, I just kind of wanted to chill and focus on self. That lasted for two weeks before I was tapped on the shoulder to say, listen, you've developed this expertise, we need you, so we need you to subcontract, which became a getting my AA certification, which allowed me to be a prime contractor, grew a company of one to overnight a company of twenty-five. We are now 15 years in business, over a hundred employees all over the United States. And so I always say this is a company built by demand, not necessarily by desire. But once we made the commitment that we were going to be more than a one-woman show and a company, we were determined to do excellent work. And that's my story. I'm sticking to it.

John Shufeldt:
That's a good story. So, here's what was the business you're in where you rose up through the ranks? What was that business?

Angela Reddix:
Oh, well, I started very interestingly, I graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in Business, and my first role ever was a pharmaceutical sales rep. And back then, even now, that was a coveted position and really excited about that. Except, you know, I had to work from home and work alone and didn't have any team here, Had lots of perks, but I didn't enjoy that at all. So I ended up leaving that position after six months of meeting goal and doing well. But I knew very early on that that wasn't what I imagined. I imagined the team, I imagine, you know, getting dressed up and going into an office. And so I relocated from the Hampton Roads area to the Washington, D.C. area. Went into telecommunications, was able to move through the ranks and telecommunications on customer service side, then on the sales side, then moved into training and development and got my Master's in Organizational Development and Training. Continued in that field and then went on to Visa International, where I was the International Project Manager for our training initiatives. So at that point, I had cells, I had marketing, I had training and now I had project management. And then one of my grad school peers launched a business. She contacted me and said, hey, she had a major contract with Kaiser Permanente. Would I leave my good old cushy job at Visa International to help her launch this new business? And I thought she was crazy. I went home and talked to my husband about it, and he said, you should do it, you should do it. And so that was my introduction to healthcare. And so I was the face for her company, helped her build that company and traveled for a full year and a half, two years implementing a claims processing system for Kaiser Permanente nationwide. I owe everything I am today to the fact that I said yes because I learned healthcare, compliance, et cetera, claims processing, and contracting. Then I was recruited by a federal government contractor in the Rockville, Maryland, area. That company was bought by Lockheed Martin. And so I was a senior leader in that transition. And then that is where at that point I relocated back to the Hampton Roads area.

John Shufeldt:
Wow. And then OK, so once you're back in Hampton Roads, that's when you went kind of back into healthcare?

Angela Reddix:
Yeah, I stayed in healthcare. So from the time I was tapped on the shoulder by, you know, my peer in grad program, I haven't looked back. I've been in healthcare administration, fraud, waste and abuse, financial management for healthcare systems.

John Shufeldt:
But how about for Lockheed Martin? Were you in healthcare for them?

Angela Reddix:
Yeah, they purchased a company and I was over the health services in training division for that federal government contracting firm.

John Shufeldt:
Very interesting. Ok, so you move back and now all of a sudden the entrepreneurial bug is in you. Did you know it was in you before that, like when you were a kid growing up, did you?

Angela Reddix:
I have always been an entrepreneur. I always had the side business. You know, that definitely was a bug in me. My grandmother, who was very instrumental in raising me, I'll never forget it was my baby shower for my first child, we had three children. And they do the game about, you know, Do you know the mother? And, you know, everyone would say so, what's the question was what's Angela's hobby? And everyone would say shopping or something like that. And my grandmother would say writing plans. She loves writing business plans and projects, and so she knew me so well. She's no longer with us today, but she knew me so well. I will tell you that this was before I'm dating myself, before computers and laptops, I was just writing plans. I love business and so I've always created opportunities for income. And then after graduating from college, you know, I did Mary Kay, we owned a, events planning company that I did on the side. We had, my husband and I, even had a parenting magazine, African-American parenting magazine when we had our first child, because back then there wasn't a whole lot of diversity in the publications. And so I have been big on identifying the gap and believing that I can solve for the gap.

John Shufeldt:
So basically, see a problem, find a solution for it.

Angela Reddix:
Absolutely.

John Shufeldt:
Oh my God. Ok, so that leads me to next question. Do you think that, and I think I'm going to know your answer, do you think that's a trait that an entrepreneur must have? And what other traits does an entrepreneur need? Because you're talking to a group of entrepreneurs or people who are kind of new to the game? So give us some advice.

Angela Reddix:
Hmm. Well, let me just say this. I went back, studied what I thought after growing this company and working heads down, working in the business, satisfying the customers, growing organically, going from one person, I looked up and I had one hundred people around me. I went back for my PhD to study what I thought I would focus on which is organizational behavior. I actually ended up really being struck by a string of literature called Expert Performance. Deliberate Practice Expert Performance. Dr. Erickson is the researcher behind this, which talks about the 10,000 hours to become an expert. So I've done a considerable amount of studying as I have applied that concept to my research or that theory, and which speaks to your question of what are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Can you make an entrepreneur? Are they born an entrepreneur? And I've put that theory to the test. In fact, I used a population of middle school girls who are in at-risk populations that is has become my nonprofit and visually grow, where I introduce middle school girls to entrepreneurship through an immersion program. And then I surround them with mentors and coaching for an entire year to see if their mindset shifts. And it is amazing what has happened. In fact, now we have forty-eight states that we cover, 2,149 girls. If 12-year-old girls can do this, I know that adults can do this. So the antecedents to success as an entrepreneur, number one, self-efficacy. You gotta believe. You got to know what your value proposition and see that there's value. Conscientiousness. Having attention to detail. Focused attention. The ability to delay gratification. Is everything a now now now, if you don't see results is not worth it? That's not going to get you where you need to be as an entrepreneur. And then self-control. Because here's a reality, when you're an entrepreneur, there's no one saying you have to do things. And so you really have to have the self-control and discipline that's going to keep you on track. Those are the characteristics that I believe and I've proven empirically through the studies that create the most success as an entrepreneur. Those are kind of the intrinsic, those are the characteristics. Now there's two other things that you need. You need passion. And so many people they get into a place where they're just making the donuts. It's like every day you're just going, it's Groundhog Day. And so if you're not passionate about something, then when it gets hard, when there's conflict, when the wind blows a little too hard, you're out of there. And passion is what makes you say, you know what? This has been a rough day, but I have purpose in what I'm doing. And then the second thing is, you really have to understand business. And that's where many businesses fail. You have a skill, a passion, but you don't understand what it means to operate a business. So I would say those are both the intrinsic characteristics is the focus on, you know, what is it that lights your fire and figure out how you can make income from that and then understand what it means to operate a business.

John Shufeldt:
What do you do about resiliency? You kind of brush along resiliency in there.

Angela Reddix:
Wow. Resiliency is major, and resiliency I would put under the whole umbrella of mental health. And I will tell you that tenacity and the ability to see beauty and failure. You can't touch an entrepreneur who understands that the gift is in failing because you want to fail fast, and there's a whole book on that. You want to fail fast, you want to learn the lesson and then you want to grow bigger, better and stronger because of it. Instead of fearing it. And fear is what makes a lot of entrepreneurs, you're just paralyzed, you can't think straight because you're so worried about what's around the corner. In these 15 years of growing this company, oh my goodness, John, I've had some days that, you know what? I didn't show up as my best self, I didn't make the best judgment call, I made the best judgment call I knew of at that time, but I don't care, I have a PhD, it doesn't matter how many letters are next to your name, experience is the greatest teacher. And so I knew what I knew at the time that I made that judgment call. And now, 15 years later, I look back. I'm like, it is amazing, we're still standing and we're still thriving. And the difference was I kept putting one foot in front of the other and I said, I'm a fail at this particular thing one time because I'm going to learn from that. I'm not going to say I'm not going to fail again, I'm just not going to fail on that particular thing.

John Shufeldt:
Yeah. So there's that Chinese proverb, you know, fall down seven, get up eight.

Angela Reddix:
Yes,

John Shufeldt:
You mentioned resiliency, which was the perfect lead in or I mentioned it and then you followed up on it, which was a perfect lead into ARDX. Is it ARDX Foundation?

Angela Reddix:
ARDX. ARDX Foundation? Yes.

John Shufeldt:
What does that focus on? Because I think we're going to head down this path that's so important right now, given the pandemic that we continue to be in.

Angela Reddix:
Absolutely. So ARDX, we formed ARDX in 2006, and what we do mainly is focus on public health. In 2016, we formed our foundation and that's the non-profit arm and we shine a light on mental wellness. So many people for years, you know, finally, people are talking about it a little bit more. But back in 2016, people still weren't feeling that they could even let anyone know that they were having problems, that they were having challenges. And so there's a stigma associated with it. And we wanted to really shine a light on mental wellness, not on mental illness. Because shining a light on mental wellness tells us that there's hope at the end of the tunnel. So what we attempt to do is bring resources. We're an integrator, we don't provide the services, we provide the education and the resources to services that are available. In 2020, we made our focus even more narrowly defined to business owners and entrepreneurs because there are about thirty-one million businesses in the United States. Small businesses make up almost 90-some percent of the job market. Yet if you, if we all see the pressure we were under during COVID, that many were folding, it caused me to dig deeper into the research around mental health and entrepreneurship. There's a Dr. Freeman out of University of San Francisco who did this study, and he talks about entrepreneurs are twice as likely to suffer from depression, six times more likely to suffer from ADHD, three times more likely to suffer from substance abuse, ten times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder, twice as likely to have a psychiatric hospitalization and twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts. It's real. It's very real when you know that you are the single point of failure to the lights staying on or the not, the lights going out, to one hundred individuals having food on their table. So where the average person really only has to think about the food on their table, as an entrepreneur and employer, you're having to think about it a lot more than that. And so we really do programs around ensuring that we provide support and resilience training for small business owners, in particular, women.

John Shufeldt:
And what was the aha moment for you with that one? Was it your own experiences thinking, wow, this could be really tough? Or did you was, you were you consulting with folks and watching what they went through? And what was you know, before you said you see a problem, you find a solution, clearly, you found a solution. When did you see the problem?

Angela Reddix:
So I've lived the problem, and I know that there are three. As a business owner, there are three individuals I have on speed dial, I have my attorney, I have my CPA and I have my counselor. Because when they say it's lonely at the top, that is so true. And people can say they understand, but you don't understand until you walk in those shoes. And so that I've lived the experience. But for me, around March of 2020, when the world was closing down and small businesses had to close their doors not because they wanted to, but because they were required to, I saw all around me, peers that were saying they didn't think they were ever going to be able to open their doors again. So it was real before my very eyes. So I was very grateful and am very grateful that we had reserves, we had cushion, we were not in the same position that many of my peers were in.

John Shufeldt:
Yeah, it's funny you said it's lonely at the top. I talk about this often because I know what you say, no one knows what it's like to have to make payroll with no money.

Angela Reddix:
That's right.

John Shufeldt:
You put mortgage your house and all the these entrepreneurs have to do. And where it looks, you know, it looks like it's fun and amazing and exciting. But boy, there are times when you are just dragging.

Angela Reddix:
Absolutely.

John Shufeldt:
And so, so ARDX is a resource for mostly women business owners who are struggling and want to make sure that their mental wellness stays in check. Is that a good way to summarize it?

Angela Reddix:
Absolutely. And not, so ARDX foundation, it's not just for women, it's for people, period. However, we do have a program called Reddix Rules and Reddix Rules Program, where I actually give grants to 10 women per year who are in startup mode to, you know, still the beginning stages. And there's three components to the program, and we've been very fortunate to have sponsors whose come alongside of us. But one part is giving them operational excellence training because a lot of times no one's taught people how to read a P&L statement. They think that they can focus on what they love to do, but you also need to take care of your back office operations. So that's a part of it. The second part is the resilience, coaching and training. So they go through 10 hours of coaching through some of our partner mental health professionals. And then the third part is raising capital for them. So those three combinations have allowed our women to grow their companies by 10 times at a time when people were thinking it's impossible to start a company and certainly impossible to grow a company. Providing the proper wraparound services have allowed these women to continue to thrive.

John Shufeldt:
And how do you teach resiliency? Because other than putting people in situations where they better be resilient or they're going to fail which is tough to do? How do you teach it?

Angela Reddix:
I would say that, as I said in some of the workshops, I am not the expert, that's why we have mental health experts. But what I've learned from even observing the program is, step number one, it's not about teaching them what it is, it's teaching them, creating an awareness of the tools that we all have is just we have to determine that we're going to use the tools. So one big thing that we do is create a tribe, create a support group. That is one of the main things that the ladies get out of this. And actually, as the cohorts graduate, they become each other's tribe because they all speak the same language now because they've had the same experience. So that's number one. The second thing is resilience comes from recognizing the value of your story and shifting your perception and your perspective, shifting it from a victim perspective to the fact that you're here to tell the story and your story is going to empower someone else. All of a sudden you have purpose even in the problem. So it is really shifting the mindset of how you're viewing the situation that gives power, that gives you the energy to even continue to go to the next mountain and overcome that.

John Shufeldt:
So you're really not teaching them how to become more resilient, you're giving them tools to A, recognize that, B, have a support group and C, I guess, find the beauty or find the gratitude in the, you know, the fun hours. The fun is in the journey, you know, not a destination. But the fun is in the journey.

Angela Reddix:
And the fact is, anything dealing with mental wellness, we do realize it is all in how you're viewing circumstances. I mean, I can't tell you the number of times that I've been on with my, you know, I have an executive coach and then I have a counselor, they're very different. And but each one is about inquiry. They're asking me questions to help me reframe what I'm seeing. That's most of our problems, all in how you're seeing things. So we're not teaching people how to be mentally well. You're teaching people how to use tools that all exist within. No one can give you a magic potion. I mean, there's medicine, but even with that, you still have to have coping mechanisms. So you're teaching mechanisms and tools so that people know, number one, that that exists and then give them an opportunity to exercise that particular muscle in a circumstance so that at least they understand, oh, that's what the bicep feels like, and so that's what we're doing.

John Shufeldt:
All right. Let me ask you a question. This just dawned on me recently, and I read a lot, and one of the books I just finished reading, they talked about self-talk and I realize and I don't know why this is the case, but I've never been a person. I mean, I'll be critical of myself and think I might even get better and I'll make fun of myself and laugh at myself easily. But I've never really had negative self-talk and, you know, called myself names and sheen myself. Is that something that you struggle with? You seem like a person who is like, you are a positive self-talker. Was that learned, or are you that way naturally?

Angela Reddix:
I have to pause on this one, John. Let me, I want to go back some because I know what my answer would be in my adult years. I want to go back. You know, it's so interesting because I was very shy growing up. People can't believe that, I was very shy, I'm an only child. It was just my mother and I. She was a single mother and I spent a lot of time with my dolls playing school. That's, that's what I remember as a young Angela. So I won't say that I had negative self-talk, I will say that I really didn't have a voice at all, and I did not find my voice until I went to James Madison University. I love, love, love, love, love my alma mater because I found my voice, I found my people, I found my value, and I would say that anyone who knew me from college on would say, I have always seen the possibilities. I shoot for the possibilities, and I am that person that I have a creative side of me, yet I'm very analytical, so it's very interesting. But I can say it, I can see it, say it, write it and do it and it's done. Any project, any program because I have positive energy around me. So in these years, I would say the last five years, I am very cognizant of who I surround myself with because I believe that when we're all rowing in the same direction, we can get somewhere. But I have to protect my mental state and I have to protect my emotions so that I can continue to be the force that pushes us forward. So I don't do a lot of negative talk, self-talk, or about other people, I just don't have time for that.

John Shufeldt:
It seems like it could be totally wrong, but if it seems like there was a time in your life, maybe it was relatively recently where you were on that edge of this would go this way negative or this feel this way positive. And you made, my senses, as you made a couple of choices. One, screw that I'm going to be positive. Two, I'm going to find some people to surround myself with who are going to keep me on the path. Is that true?

Angela Reddix:
Wow. John, very, you're spot on and it's pretty amazing. You know, I was raised, my mother was 1 of 10 and they were born, she was, you know, basically raised in public housing. And she graduated three years early from high school, valedictorian of her class, and she was able to get out. She was able to get out because she was accepted into an Ivy League university and for her time, being African-American, that was like amazing, studying math, so what I'm trying to tell you is she's a pretty brilliant woman. By the end of that first year in college, she was expecting me. And so she had a decision to make, you know, to have me at all, to raise me and stop going to school, or to take the road that she took, which I am so thankful that she did. And that was, she continued her education and my grandmother and my aunts and uncles, they raised me. So I had a very, let's just say, non-traditional upbringing. And she went on to law school at NYU. So she came back and she became a corporate leader at AT&T and move me from where everyone looked like me to all the way to the waterfront where nobody looked like me, but she knew that that was the best education system for me. And so, very much so, those statistics, as I was in grad school and working on my dissertation, that's why I was drawn to the literature that I was drawn to, because that story doesn't match the picture of who you see today in most people's minds. And so absolutely, I could have gone through door A, I was home alone a lot, I was a latchkey kid, or I could have gone door B, it was a series of decisions and a whole bunch of people in the community who said it's not a question of whether you're going to be successful, you're going to be successful. And so I am very grateful that I had, I believe I have texture in my life because of that, I have compassion for people, and I also have the audacity to believe that I basically can do anything because if she could do what she did, I come from some, some good stuff. So I recognize that nothing stands in our way but our determination to either go forward or to not go forward. And it does not always look the same, the journey doesn't look the same for every person, and that's OK.

John Shufeldt:
So I have the same thought perspective. I always go back to Victor Franco. You know, if Victor Franco can do it and have his positive attitude that he had, then nothing you can throw at me is going to stick. Because if Victor Franco can do, if I'm a hundredth of what he is, I still have that resilience. But what you just said, is that the basis for you to start writing these books because that's.

Angela Reddix:
Oh, absolutely.

John Shufeldt:
Yeah.

Angela Reddix:
Absolutely. That's the basis of, ambitionly we grow our nonprofit, that's why I selected middle school girls. That's when I moved from, where everyone looked like me to no one looking like me, that was a pivotal time in my life, a defining moment in my life. And while I have to tell you, I hated every moment of feeling like I was in isolation, and then I think that's why I didn't have much of a voice during that time. I'm so grateful as an adult because I can move in and out of settings, and it's not as big of a deal because it's not normal for me and there are no mistakes and there are no coincidences. I am a woman of faith, so I know that my path was divinely created for me, but it's not only for me to benefit from. So I'm so committed to being the light in the community, that shiny object that shows women and girls that it's possible and that drives me.

John Shufeldt:
So it's the perspective. If you can do it, so too can they?

Angela Reddix:
Oh yeah. And it's also, it is very difficult for people to be what they've never seen. So if you are a little girl who you're in a community and that's all you see, then that's basically the limit to what you're going to be. For the most part. I mean, you have some people who just extraordinary. But the average person, I want to show them that whether you're raised by your grandmother, whether you're raised by your aunt, whether you're raised by a single mother, women, whether you had a child out of wedlock, whether you, all of these things, everybody talk to people long enough, everybody's got something going on. So we all have something. I want to be the shiny object that allows you to focus on the possibilities as opposed to all the other stuff, the noise, and that you really can be more than what you see in your mind's eye. So it's so important for people to hear this story because I don't believe this is specific to a particular race, particular gender, people have challenges, period, and so we just need to see that there's possibilities.

John Shufeldt:
So for your mom, however, she clearly, while she's extraordinary, no doubt. But you said she grew up in the projects, she's one of ten, and yet she just crushes it. Who is her, you know, who was her bright, shiny object that she can look at and say, wow, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, there's something else I can do. Did she have one?

Angela Reddix:
I have no idea, but I tell you what, John. I'm going to ask her that this evening. I've never asked for that question. Because I'm trying to think back to just the history that I know, I don't know who she was modeling.

John Shufeldt:
Yeah, but I mean, you know, valedictorian, graduates three years early goes to an Ivy League, and then you said she got a law degree after, after you get into math major.

Angela Reddix:
Law school. So I don't know who she was. Not sure. But I will ask.

John Shufeldt:
That's pretty damn impressive. So, you know, it sounds like you had that light and then your family, the whole tribe raised you, so you have some good underpinnings. Do you think now looking back that some of the things you've done has been, you know, there's always a saying like, you always try to fix yourself first. Sounds like some of the things you've done were because you've recognized things in yourself that you've luckily and consciously and divinely gone through one sliding doors as opposed to the other. Would that sum it up? How do you how can then can you teach people to make those choices to take the higher road, to take the walk towards the light and not towards the darkness?

Angela Reddix:
You know, I am big on training and I believe, you teach a lot of things, but I have to tell you that particular thing, I only think that you can demonstrate. You demonstrate what you want others to emulate. Some people catch it, some people don't. Some people catch it quickly, some people catch it later. But I don't, I can't even think of a curriculum to put together for that. I think that is where the TEDx speaking and all of that comes into play. People have to just hear it. We have to be open to sharing our stories and a lot of people, they're private, you know, my family, they're very private. I had to tell my story because I was called to know that this is extraordinary and you're not helping any one of, the people only see the final product. They don't understand what went into the final product. It seems like you can't reach that particular star. So I would say that's the curriculum, it is hearing people's stories and being patient with people and mentoring.

John Shufeldt:
Did you have to have a great deal of humility to share your mistakes in front of people doing the TEDx, right? So not everybody has that. Many people are, like you said, private, many people are afraid to admit or show failure because then it's a chink in the armor and somebody may real see the real them. How did you become unafraid of that? Because I think a lot of people are going to be listening to this, going to say, I can never do that because then someone's going to, you know, they're, they're going to recognize the imposter, the imposter me. And then we all have imposter syndrome. But I think for a lot of people, that is very all-consuming.

Angela Reddix:
Two things. It's one thing to be an entrepreneur, it's another thing to be an employer. And the more people that you hire, the more critics that you possibly have. I mean, let's face it, employees like to talk about the, them, you know, they're making. This decision is always about them. And it was cold water on my face because I see myself as the same person I was in 2006. I'm very collaborative, you know, when we're doing large training programs that would be on the floor with the staff putting binders together. So I see myself that way. But it was a harsh reality to understand that you have a C E and O next to your name. No matter how down-to-earth you attempt to be, you're not in the eyes of others. And so the vicious things that people would say when I know how much I give and I know my heart and I know how much I don't have to give but I give. At the time it hurts. But I will tell you, there is nothing that has taught me how important it is just to be real, to be vulnerable, and to be honest, because people see you as an institution, they see you as a building because you are a business, and they don't see that you bleed also. So that, to me, is a humbling experience that listen, if you don't tell your story, somebody is going to tell their story. And it may not be the true story, but you don't, people don't have anything to balance it against. So I had to come out, so to speak, because I was forced out. And so that would be one. And then the second thing is, I love to have a good time. And some of the best times I have is laughing at myself. And so we just have to be OK with just laugh at yourself. It's just OK, it's not the end of the world. You know, there was a time when I don't know growing up, like the worst thing in the world would be this, and the worst thing in the world would be that. And now I think about my husband and I joke our first child and how everything had to be so, you know, particular, and we wanted her to do certain things. Our third child, we're like, is she living? Is she, you know, so it's like, you live long enough and you say, really underneath it all, we're all human, we're not perfect, get that out of your mind. And once you get that out of your mind, you can shape your story the way you need to shape your story, but to stand and say that you don't fall short in any way, you're just making yourself sick because that's not reality.

John Shufeldt:
Yeah, that's that is phenomenal advice. All you're doing is you may make yourself feel better gradually, but you make it a lot of hard on yourself. Angela, where can people go to find out more about you? This has been, you know, very inspiring.

Angela Reddix:
Well, please go to AngelaReddix.com. It tells a lot about the different projects and programs that we're involved in. You can also follow me on Instagram at IamDrAng. D R A N G, I'm also on LinkedIn as Angela Reddix, and let's stay connected.

John Shufeldt:
Absolutely. Thank you so much, folks, we can put this in our show notes. Angela, thank you, this has been very inspiring for me, and I know it's so inspiring for our listeners. I feel like, like charged up, change the world right now.

Angela Reddix:
All right. Thank you so much, John, for this opportunity.

John Shufeldt:
Thank you.

John Shufeldt:
Thanks for listening to another great edition of Entrepreneur Rx. To find out how to start a business and help secure your future, go to JohnShufeldtMD.com Thanks for listening.

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Key Take-Aways:

  • Entrepreneurs identify a gap in the industry and solve it.
  • One of the best traits an entrepreneur can gain is self-efficacy.
  • Focusing on the details and being conscientious of them will make you be a better leader.
  • Discipline, self-control, passion, and accountability are traits entrepreneurs have.
  • Understanding the business you want to be part of is essential for success.
  • No one sees a CEO or a leader “bleeding out.”
  • Experience will always be the greatest teacher, even though titles may help gain theoretical knowledge.

Resources:

  • Connect and follow Angela on LinkedIn
  • Reach out to Angela on her website.
  • Follow Angela on Instagram.
  • Learn how ARDX is solving healthcare complexities.
  • Find out how EVL is transforming communities by helping girls with dreams become women with vision.