Episode 96: The Business Impact of Bladder Leaks with Dr. Sheila Whiteman – Transcript
Rennie Gabriel 00:10
Hi folks, welcome to Episode 96 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information and provide inspiration around your business and your money. I'm your host Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to understand the numbers from your business, how to measure the level of pleasure, based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 - 10 seconds, what determines how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®, and how to run your business without being in your business. Last week, we had Bejeel Parmar speaking about the number one thing that an entrepreneur can delegate, or outsource that would dramatically boost your productivity. Today, we have as our guest, Dr. Shelia Craig Whiteman, a physical therapist and health coach, who's on a mission to help women reduce and eliminate bladder leaks. She's a two-time best-selling author, and host of Living Well with Dr. Shelia, which can be seen on several streaming television channels. Her signature program, Stop Your Bladder Leak, helps women reduce and eliminate urinary incontinence. You may be wondering how this is a fit for a podcast on business and money? Well, two things. One, you eliminate the cost of buying special underwear or diapers. And two, how embarrassing could it be if a business woman is giving a presentation, when that can be eliminated as a concern? So Dr. Shelia, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Dr. Shelia 01:56
Thank you so much. I am so pleased to be here. And I'm glad to bring this topic to your audience.
Rennie Gabriel 02:03
Thank you. Well, let's get right to some questions. So, you know, we figured out what you do from the bio, but why?
Dr. Shelia 02:11
Why do I do this? Well, there's a few reasons actually why I do this. I do this, because I, so many women actually suffer from bladder leaks, and it's really 3 in 10. It's going up to 4 in 10. And yes, it's really a huge, huge topic. And as you might notice, if you watch television, listen to the radio, there now are a lot of products that are on the market that you buy, not to solve your problem, but just to make it more convenient. That is the pads, the underwear, etc. - which if you went ahead and solved the problem, you would be saving money. Another reason why I started doing it was because when I was in the clinic and treating, so your example that you gave about the meetings was spot on. I had a lot of women who came in with, a few of them had that, unfortunately, during a meeting and this is when we were all, yes, when we were all in meetings. Because now it's hybrid - it's you know, whatever. But everybody at one time was in an office for the most part.
Rennie Gabriel 03:19
Yeah.
Dr. Shelia 03:20
And there were two scenarios. One of them was - once you leave once, that's it, you're going to go ahead and seek help, because, you know, it's just very embarrassing. So I had that one, but then I also had the women who had urinary frequency, which is having to go to the bathroom and men have this too, actually. Yep, they have this.
Rennie Gabriel 03:43
I'm aware of that.
Dr. Shelia 03:44
Yep. So you go to the bathroom more frequently than what is considered, quote, unquote, normal. And that being said, so you would be in a meeting, so clearly, these are executives, they're in a meeting and it is difficult to focus on what information you have to bring to the table because you are worried about whether or not you are going to have to run to the bathroom. And if you don't get there in time if you're going to have a bladder leak.
Rennie Gabriel 04:12
Yeah, well, you know, it's not the topic I want to talk about, but I'm at the age where I know I have to go, maybe every three hours, sometimes every two hours. And today, before I left the house, I said, 'Okay, I'm going to go now, as long as I'm back in a couple of hours, everything will be fine'. And sure enough, I was only gone for a couple hours. And before this interview, I had to be sure I'm empty.
Dr. Shelia 04:38
Mhmm. So just imagine, if, and every three hours that's acceptable. Imagine if it's every 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
Rennie Gabriel 04:49
Oh.
Dr. Shelia 04:49
Because that's what I see.
Rennie Gabriel 04:51
Yeah, that's, yeah, that's almost not being able to function. You can't go, you're not going to make it to the grocery store and back.
Dr. Shelia 04:58
Right and you certainly are not going to be able to make Wealth On Any Income. Because you're not going to be able to focus enough to make anything worthwhile to make money.
Rennie Gabriel 05:10
You're absolutely right. So, well, I like to lead by example. And I donate 100% of the profits from the work I do to charity. Tell me about the cause or charity that's most important to you that you support.
Dr. Shelia 05:22
I support, with my husband, we are very supportive of education. So what we do is we provide - we actually do a lot in the education arena, but we provide scholarships to children who are unable to afford, especially children that are outgrowing their public school experience. I'll put it that way, who need more. So for private school, because they've been found to have some exceptional qualities in whatever area. So we provide scholarships for them, for the four years in high school. So we start there, four years in high school, and this is a boy's school. So my husband actually mentors them. So he mentors them, we, you know, pay. And then for the older students, we actually have an endowment for students in community college, our community college for my cause, which is Allied Health. So those are the students who are becoming nurses, respiratory assistants, those kinds of professions, to be able to, number one, we help with tuition, but afford the books to pay for the testing. Because you know, you have to pay for your board tests and things like that. And yeah, so it's more ancillary. And then we also pay for a mentorship program, because you, mentorship is so important to students, especially the ones who are considered disadvantaged, you know. I hate to use that word, but the ones that don't have a lot of support. And those students, a lot of times can fall through the cracks. So whichever, however many that we can bring up from, you know, where they start to give them a really chance to having a successful, happy, and financially stable life, is what our true goal is.
Rennie Gabriel 07:22
Well, bless you for the work that you're doing in education. Thank you, Dr. Shelia.
Dr. Shelia 07:26
You're welcome.
Rennie Gabriel 07:27
Now the next question is a little bit on the funny side, from the standpoint that, was it Thomas Edison said, 'I've had no failures, but 10,000 learning experiences in making the light bulb?' So you could look at something that didn't work out as a failure or a learning experience. What would you say was your biggest in that area?
Dr. Shelia 07:46
Well, I'll say my biggest learning experience, I would not say it is a failure. But I did own a home care agency. I'm a physical therapist, but I've always loved working with older people, you know, saw what was going on, the difficulties that they had finding care, etc. So I opened up a home care agency, which is really, really a challenging thing to do. Because what you can do managerially, you still have to find the people to work and actually do the work. And that's where it kind of fell through, especially when we came to the pandemic. Can you imagine going into people's house that was . . .
Rennie Gabriel 07:46
Oh, yes.
Dr. Shelia 07:49
Yes, it was, it was really, really difficult. And it was difficult to keep going. Now, I kept it through the pandemic and kept it, we're still kind of in it, but we're considered coming out. So the past, I'd say, a year and a half or so, as we were coming out, I came back, you know, got clients, got caregivers, etc., brought it back up to where it was profitable. But I also knew from that, that was not my calling.
Rennie Gabriel 08:59
Mm hmm.
Dr. Shelia 09:00
You know?
Rennie Gabriel 09:01
Yes.
Dr. Shelia 09:02
That's when I learned that wasn't, that wasn't my calling. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being with the clients. I really did. That was actually the fun part. I enjoyed making sure that they had the correct care. But I didn't enjoy any of the other things. And what I, as you get older, you begin to realize that the thing that you do in your life should be something that lights you up.
Rennie Gabriel 09:29
Yes. Yeah, that makes so it sounds like the insight was that you weren't doing what you really enjoyed.
Dr. Shelia 09:37
I wasn't doing what I really enjoyed. And also even though I thought that that was my calling, I don't think it was, truly. I'm almost certain it wasn't. It was not. It was not.
Rennie Gabriel 09:51
Well, okay, so getting back to the people that you work with. Is there a common mistake that shows up when they're trying to solve this problem for themselves?
Dr. Shelia 10:02
I think the common mistake might be under estimating how much your livelihood depends on other people.
Rennie Gabriel 10:13
Well, I'm talking about, you know, the clients you might be working with.
Dr. Shelia 10:19
So the clients that I've worked with were older people who needed care.
Rennie Gabriel 10:24
Got it. And so was there anything, I mean, I've heard of like, Kegels or something? I mean, do people think that, does that solve their bladder leak issue?
Dr. Shelia 10:36
It will solve the bladder leak issue. But I have to tell you, those are two different things. So the home care agency had absolutely nothing to do with what I do now.
Rennie Gabriel 10:46
Oh!
Dr. Shelia 10:47
See, right. So it has absolutely nothing to do. What I do now, yes, I am very passionate about. What I did then, that's how I realized that that was not probably my mission on earth.
Rennie Gabriel 11:00
I get it. Okay, now I'm clear. Now I get it.
Dr. Shelia 11:04
In that business, I will say this, though. And I don't know if, you know, you take it with a grain of salt or whatever, but many people do need care at one point or another in their lives as they age. And if you're fortunate enough to age and you know, get 80's and above, the chances of you needing, even if it's short-term care - and hopefully you can stay in your home, which is what everybody's goal is - are high. So even as you're younger, to think about that, and make provisions for that.
Rennie Gabriel 11:39
Mm hmm.
Dr. Shelia 11:40
Whether it be insurance, or whether it be saving money that you are not going to touch.
Rennie Gabriel 11:46
Yes.
Dr. Shelia 11:47
You know, for that purpose. So I will, that's my takeaway from that experience for people really to know.
Rennie Gabriel 11:55
Got it, okay. Do you have an example of someone who took your advice in terms of their bladder leak issue, and how something may have transformed?
Dr. Shelia 12:08
Yes, I do. So we can actually go back to the executive that I worked with that had the issue where she had an accident at work. We can stick with the same person.
Dr. Shelia 12:20
So for her, people tend to think that, because you mentioned Kegels, if you do Kegels, you're going to be as good as gold. And I can assure you that many women have tried Kegels. Almost all have tried them, but you really don't have the success that you want or think, you know, think that you're going to have, because it's a really multi-pronged approach. You have to find out why. You have to find out what kind of leakage it is. You have to find out what you have to do for it. And in her case, once we really figured all of that out, and she did the program, now the, and she, this is a program that she did in person because I actually was in the clinic at that time. After, it took about three months, after three months of working and doing it she actually had no leaks. That's the interesting part about this, that's what people who have bladder leaks can't believe.
Rennie Gabriel 12:20
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 13:19
Hmm.
Dr. Shelia 13:20
They literally will come in crying. I did not leak all week. I did, you know, and you're so excited, because this is something that you never thought would happen, or that you didn't believe would happen, because generally it's been going on for a long time, and you kind of ignored it.
Rennie Gabriel 13:25
Yeah,
Dr. Shelia 13:25
Until I got to the point where you couldn't.
Rennie Gabriel 13:39
Mm hmm.
Dr. Shelia 13:40
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 13:42
Cool. I get it. You know, I could just see someone may cough or sneeze or be afraid to sneeze because of what could happen.
Dr. Shelia 13:50
Can you imagine allergy season?
Rennie Gabriel 13:53
Oh, I have allergies. And my wife today, she just, she was on her way to the garage, and I'm on the complete opposite end of the house and I sneeze, and she called me on the phone to say I just heard you sneeze and I'm all the way across the house.
Dr. Shelia 14:11
Wow.
Rennie Gabriel 14:13
Yeah. So yeah, it's hay fever season.
Dr. Shelia 14:16
That'll stress urinary incontinence: cough, sneeze, exercise. So you get your, your influx of stress urinary incontinence complaints, because that's, it's really hard to control if you cough or sneeze and leak and you're coughing and sneezing several times a day. And usually it's more than one sneeze at a time. You know. Right. Right. So . . .
Rennie Gabriel 14:40
Okay, well, something I think would be important is if there's some resource that people, you can direct people to the could support them if they have this issue.
Dr. Shelia 14:51
Oh, of course. So there are, you can go to my website, which is the thepelviccoach.com. There is information on there. There's blogs, there's articles. There's different information on there that you can read. Also, if you're interested in watching a presentation, I've done a presentation that you can watch. It's absolutely free. And you can go also to the thepelviccoach.com/free.
Rennie Gabriel 15:18
Mm hmm. Okay.
Dr. Shelia 15:19
And that'll take you right to the presentation. And you can learn about different types of urinary incontinence, different type of treatments. We also, I teach you - we practice doing Kegels, because most people don't do them correctly. So we practice doing that. And all of that is in that presentation.
Rennie Gabriel 15:37
Oh, great. So I'll make sure that's in the show notes. And they can just click on it and get right there. Is there a question I should have asked you, that would give some additional value to our listeners?
Dr. Shelia 15:51
Well, there... well if we stay on topic of money . . .
Rennie Gabriel 15:57
Mm hmm.
Dr. Shelia 15:58
I'll just say it like this. If you're spending money on incontinence supplies, and products, look at that as, unless you have a medical issue, so we'll take that out of the equation of course. But look at that, as if you are wasting some money that you can invest. You can invest towards your future. You can invest towards the fact that you might need care later, even because we mix two different topics, you know, in.
Rennie Gabriel 16:24
Yes.
Dr. Shelia 16:26
Right. So you, I want you to think of it like that, that because they're expensive, everything is even getting more expensive. Look at it added up on a weekly and yearly basis, because when you're buying them separately, it might not even occur to you. But look at that budget, put them in a budget. See how that goes every month, and every year. And that probably will be a nice amount of money that you can use towards building your nest egg.
Rennie Gabriel 16:56
Great. Well, Dr. Shelia, thank you for being on the show.
Dr. Shelia 17:02
Thank you so much for having me. It's been fun. Thank you.
Rennie Gabriel 17:05
You're welcome. And to my listeners, thank you for tuning in. Next week, we'll have Janet Fish, a business coach and real estate investor talking about how to hold people accountable to their goals. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review and subscribe. If you'd like to know how books, movies and Society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 9 Step, 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice®, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money. And if you'd like to see how you can increase your wealth and donate to the causes that touch your heart, please check out our affordable program, Wealth with Purpose, on the wealthonanyincome.com website. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.
