#Clockedin with Jordan Edwards

#259 - The Intersection of Dermatology and Entrepreneurship

• Jordan Edwards • Season 6 • Episode 259

Share episode

Send us a text

Ever wondered if your skincare routine is actually helping or just emptying your wallet? Dr. Anthony Rossi pulls back the curtain on an industry filled with white-labeled products and minimal differences between brands. As both a dermatologic surgeon and research scientist, he's uniquely positioned to expose what works and what's just marketing hype.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Dr. Rossi reveals how tanning addiction works in our brains similarly to smoking – triggering endorphin release that keeps us coming back despite knowing the dangers. He dismantles the dangerous myth of the "base tan," explaining why that golden glow isn't protecting you at all. Instead, he offers practical strategies for being "sun smart" without hiding indoors. Just one blistering sunburn dramatically increases melanoma risk, making this information potentially life-saving.

Beyond skincare, Dr. Rossi shares profound insights on balancing multiple career paths, embracing challenges rather than merely enduring them, and finding fulfillment through continuous growth. His experiences working in sub-Saharan Africa without reliable electricity or running water shaped his perspective on what truly matters. "The journey is just as important as the end goal," he explains. "If you're miserable through the journey, you'll be miserable afterwards too." This philosophy has guided his approach to medicine, entrepreneurship, and life.

The discussion culminates with practical wisdom on physical wellness, meaningful relationships, and spirituality. Dr. Rossi emphasizes how morning workouts sharpen his focus for surgical procedures, why recovery is essential for sustainability, and how being truly present with loved ones requires conscious effort in our distracted world. His approach to spirituality focuses on underlying values rather than religious rules – a perspective shaped by experiencing diverse cultures around the world.

Whether you're interested in skincare science, entrepreneurship, or simply living a more intentional life, this conversation offers valuable insights that might just change how you approach your daily routine. Listen now and discover why protecting your skin is about more than just vanity – it's about honoring the body that carries you through life's journey.

To Learn more about Dr. Anthony: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-rossi-md-faad-facms-3b6597b

To Reach Jordan:

Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/



Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.

Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min

Speaker 1:

Hey, what's going on, guys? I got a special guest here today. We have Dr Anthony Rossi. He's a world-renowned dermatologic surgeon and research scientist and he's founded Dr Rossi DermMD, which is a skincare line. Dr Rossi, we're so excited to have you here today. How did you get into skincare, Like, where did that come from?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So skincare for me is a natural extension of what I do on the daily. I'm a dermatologic surgeon dermatologist and so I'm always treating people's skin issues, helping them maintain better skin health and really just always taking a deep dive into their life and skin needs. So, for me, creating skincare formulations that targeted aging in a completely new way through this mechanism called TRPV1, and combating inflammatory aging was something I was super passionate about and wanted to really give people something that wasn't there yet.

Speaker 1:

So for me, it was a it was it's a project of love, but also exploration and creativity, absolutely. And most people would sit there and go wait a second. So you're telling me you're a world renowned dermatologist and you're a research scientist and you want to do this game, like why would you even consider doing multiple paths, cause there's a lot of people who sit there and go, hey, you're a doctor. Like, enjoy your life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well, my mom gave me that title world-renowned dermatologist, by the way but it is a good question, why, you know, do something hard, really hard. You know when you already have something very stable. You know when you already have something very stable. So I've always been someone who wants to progress in not only their life but, you know, a challenging way. I really thrive off of the challenge and I think for me, I really enjoyed med school, for example, and med school is really hard.

Speaker 1:

How was that journey compared to, like most of the other students?

Speaker 2:

You know, I think there's different types of students. Obviously there are some students who really, you know, take a challenge and, you know, just thrive on it. They love the challenge, they go after it. This is for me. I try to attack it head on. You know, I don't want the challenge to overcome me, I want to overcome the challenge. Yes, there are other people that are really like, wow, you know, this sucks, like med school is really hard, it's going to be like a bad four years. But if I get through this, then I'll be on the other side. And I never really try to think about that, because for me, the journey is just as important as the end goal, you know, and if you are always miserable through the journey, you're going to be miserable afterwards too. I think you have to enjoy the journey and the challenge, because that's most of it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I would say for the audience listening, whether you're working a regular job, entrepreneur, doctor, doesn't matter. That true statement of the journey is the destination. Couldn't be more true because it allows you to get through these hard things Like I just released my 250th podcast episode.

Speaker 1:

And if I sat there and said, hey, I got to do 250 episodes, I've been like, oh my God. But you just start to meet cool people and you start to learn and you hear stories and you start to realize that there's a lot in you, regardless of who you are, because you're capable of much, much more.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, and I mentor a lot of med students, a lot of fellows, a lot of residents, and we always start with the same thing Like, yes, you may want to be a doctor and you may want to have this idea of what a doctor is, but the day to day is a lot of work, it's a lot of grind, it's a lot of hustle and unless you really love that, you may not really love the end goal, because things only get more complicated, more complex, harder, you know afterwards.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it becomes quite interesting because you sit there and it's you start to realize that you have two parallel lives going at the same time and it's how do you divide up the time? How do you think about time management? I just gave a presentation to an insurance group about time management because so many people have a challenge with it. So, with you doing a few different things, how do you think about time management few?

Speaker 2:

different things. How do you think about time management? If I'm being completely honest, it's an area I need improvement on, because, for me, as a student, I could always like cram for an exam. I could sort of you know, last minute, like study, study, study, really do everything and still do well, it was just something that I had in me and I could pull all-nighters. It was just something that I had in me and I could pull all-nighters, you know, and get up and ace the exam, which was amazing.

Speaker 2:

But you can't function like that your whole life right, especially when you're running multiple businesses or you have other interests. You really need to allocate time to do one thing well, and I think we all struggle with that a little bit now because we are so distracted by digital devices, multiple platforms. If you looked at my web browser, I have 12 tabs open. It's actually really inconducive, it's not conducive to productivity and I think we think all of these things make us more productive, but they don't, and so I I've actually felt that like blocking out time just to do one task, you know, and focus on one thing, like right now I'm going to focus on skincare and I'm going to, you know, bang, bang out everything that I have to do for that and put aside the other one, or vice versa. It really helps me to stay on task.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I just gave the presentation so I'm thinking about it. But there's this concept called building, and when you're in the building time, it's where you time block your own calendar for appointments, that you're not even meeting with anyone but you're just meeting with yourself, and people sit there and go. They'll prioritize appointments with everybody else besides themselves, or they'll prioritize emails and all this stuff and it's like no, you have to work, you have to set your own time first before you start looking at somebody else's time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because if you can't knock off the things on your to-do list and you're only doing someone else's to-do list, it's, you know it's you're never going to grow, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

So for you you're going through med school, was the skincare line a thought, or it was just hey, let me become a doctor first.

Speaker 2:

I always thought about it because, you know, I come from a family of hairdressers. My parents have a hair salon. I grew up in that whole industry. Products really meant things right. I would see my parents use certain styling products for certain people and they really tailored it. So growing up in that world I really thought like, hey, the end person, the consumer, can really benefit because of X, y and Z. But I didn't want to just do something that was sort of like very similar to what else is out there. I wanted to create something that had intention. So I did take my time and formulating all these skincare formulations, especially targeting this receptor called TRPV1, took a lot of time. It took years. I had to find chemists and find manufacturers that would work with me to take out, to omit, like, all the bad ingredients that I didn't want in these formulas that are out there, you know, available over the counter.

Speaker 1:

So so explain this for, like the simple person what is going on with the skincare industry? And like even sunscreen, like is this good for us, because I know we want sun protection like how do we think about it?

Speaker 2:

well. So the thing about skincare and sunscreen is that there's just so many products out there and most of them are just very much similar. They use the same base formulas. They're white labeled, meaning like someone just makes a formula and then like people slap their name on it. You know they're using the same base preservatives, same base ingredients. They may change fragrance and such. They'll change packaging, of course, but it's all the same. And there's a lot of sunscreens out there too that are very similar.

Speaker 2:

So for me, that wasn't something I was interested in. I didn't want to white label anything. I wanted to create new products that really are effective. We call them medical grade skincare. They have clinical trials that are backed. Oh, wow, yeah. And the the mechanism of action is completely unique. So we're targeting inflammatory aging and aging just in a different way. And the mechanism of action is completely unique. So we're targeting inflammatory aging and aging just in a different way. And the sunscreen even has a patent pending on it because it is so unique and it's a way to really be sun smart. I call it, and that's what I always talk about. We should enjoy the outdoors, we should enjoy being out in the sun. You know, being out in the sun but you don't want to get burned. You never want to have a sunburn because that's just DNA damage of your skin. And you can be sun smart. You can wear some sunscreen and use some protection and not get burned while you're outside.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and tell us a little bit more about that sun. Smart, because I'm living in Florida. So everyone looks at me and they go you're so pale, you're so pale, what are you doing? And for me I vividly remember it was funny. It was high school, my senior year. I went outside and I tanned for the first time with a buddy and we tanned outside for like 15 minutes each side. I could not get out of bed for like I was so burnt. I was like, what am I doing? And ever since then I checked the UV rating, because there's different times and different elements. But for the audience listening, like, how should they think about this?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean one sunburn like that, especially one blistering sunburn, increases your risk of melanoma, which is the type of skin cancer, drastically. So I always tell people every one counts right and you never want to get sunburns. And if you're out in the sun long enough, especially for someone who's lighter or pale, they'll burn easily and we all have different amounts of time that we could be out in the sun and be exposed to UV rays until we burn. And that's called the median erythema index and it's really unique to yourself. So SPF is a way to increase the time outdoors without burning, because SPF blocks UVB. And then the other component is UVA, which you'll see on newer sunscreens like mine. They'll have a PA rating called PA plus plus plus. That tells you how long against there's a blockade against UVA. But both contribute to aging and skin cancer.

Speaker 2:

So between 10 and 2 PM is usually the highest point of UV exposure 10 AM and 2 PM. So you really want to not necessarily be doing your most outdoor activities during them. If you are outside, wear a hat, wear sunscreen. You know, protect yourself. You could wear a sun shirt. Those are all great ways to do it and you know I love playing sports and being outdoors, so I employ all these methods sunscreen. You know, hat sunglasses and I just want to make sure I'm not getting burned.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think the hat and the sunglasses are a game changer, because it actually protects your face. You know what I mean and you don't have to reapply, because I'm reapplying like every hour and you don't realize that, no matter what you do, it's still not enough sometimes and you really should go into the shade. And what would you say? What do you think about the tanning beds then? Are those? Oh yeah, those are not no, I, actually we.

Speaker 2:

I was just interviewed for um abc because I used tanning beds myself when I was a kid because I was pale and my family are all Italians who are tan and they were like, why are you so pale? So I would go in these tanning beds and I would get burned and I even had a skin cancer myself. You know, later on in life, tanning beds are such intense amounts of UV exposure that's extremely artificial. You don't even get that amount of exposure if you're just outside right. So it's just a high burst of UV exposure and a lot of it is UVA.

Speaker 1:

Actually, a lot of the people and what's the big difference between the UVA and the two?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so UVA will actually give you an immediate pigment darkening.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

There's this whole false notion, and now we're taking a deep dive into the science. Uva gives you sort of an immediate pigment darkening your melanocytes that make up the cells that produce melanin in your skin. They will produce melanin very quickly and give you this darkening. People think that's a base tan. There's no such thing as a base tan, because that immediate pigment darkening does not protect you against UVB like you think it would, and UVB is another form of UV radiation that causes burns. It can cause skin cancer, and so that you're not protected from that with even with this UVA induced pigment darkening, and uva also causes aging and skin cancer as well. So it's just an highly intense amount of uv exposure in a short amount of time. Most people burn in these tanning beds, which is even worse, and as soon as your skin starts to get red, that's that's a signal. That's saying the uv is inducing mutations in your in your dna. Oh, wow, yeah so what?

Speaker 1:

what can people do if they've already say they're listening to this and they've already been tanning for many years? What's it? What's a change that they could start to implement or think about?

Speaker 2:

well, there's always time to stop that behavior. It's like smoking right, there's you always. You know, whenever you can stop smoking, it's it's the best time. Yeah, just do it. Right, you have to start somewhere.

Speaker 2:

Next, if you can stop tanning, that's great, but it is an addictive behavior. So we have to be cognizant of that. We have to realize that. Oh really, yeah, tanning isn't. It is a another addictive behavior. It makes you feel good, it makes you feel warm. There's endorphins that are released from the sun. So there's a lot of positive benefits from sun exposure. Right, it keeps our sleep cycle regularly. It helps with circadian rhythms. That's why, you know, you can get jet lag and things like that when you cross time zones, because we're so tied to this circadian rhythm, which is all tied to sun up and sun down. So there's a lot of positive effects of sun, but the burning aspect and sunburns are not. So you have to recognize that. You have to stop tanning. You should see a dermatologist to get a skin check to make sure you don't have any atypical moles or, even worse, skin cancer. And you know, again, the point is to be sun smart. So of course, we want to enjoy the outside, the outdoors, but you don't need to get burned.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and so what is a lot of the stuff you're finding? Because obviously people are starting to look at doctors a little bit differently. They're starting to think more consciously about this stuff. Have you seen changes over the years?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I work at a cancer center in New York, so, and I cut out a lot of skin cancer. I'm a Mohs surgeon. I cut out skin cancer every day. People can change, believe it or not. Behaviors can change. We see it. It's a slow change, but skin cancer is still on the rise and it's twofold. There's more diagnosis of it because more people are aware, so more people are going to the dermatologist. But there's still the actual exposure to the UV. You know where people are traveling more they're outdoors, they're still being exposed to UV. So skin cancer incidence, unfortunately, is still going up.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

We are detecting it early and the more people go and get skin checks, you know, the more opportunity there is to detect it.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so for you. You get such a high level in regard to your doctorate and all of those. You have the validation. What made you feel comfortable enough to go and be a beginner again with going into the skincare? Because I know a lot of people listening are like I've had people who funny enough I'll share it real quick but I've had people literally come and they're like I'm great at this and then I'll try to go skiing with them and they've never skied before because they live in Florida and they're like why am I so bad? Like this three-year-old's better than me and it's like you haven't done enough reps. So it's hard to like go back to that beginner mode, but I think that's what allows us to grow.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Like. I enjoy the challenge. I knew it would be a challenge because I have no formal marketing skills. I never took a marketing class in my life, you know, as a physician. As a doctor, we don't think about marketing, right. We think about facts, science, clinical trials, results. And that's how I went into the skincare game with my mind focused on. I was like I'm going to make amazing formulations that have never been seen before. Target a unique receptor that's not been targeted. Come up with clinical trials, do those clinical trials. They showed great results and boom, there you have it.

Speaker 2:

But no, there's a whole nother aspect of direct-to-consumer marketing that you don't even think about. And that's really what drives sales, right. It's like how do you target consumers that want to learn about the science, want to know about what you're doing, care about what you're doing and really invest in great products for themselves? And for me, that was a new challenge that I've never had to deal with, but it's been really interesting. I've learned about consumer psychology, consumer buying, what people value, what price points do they value it at. So I'm learning a lot.

Speaker 2:

I'm learning a whole business that I never thought I would need to learn, but for me that's exciting. I'm super excited by it and I'm super motivated by it and I'm activated by it. I could understand people not wanting to do that. I hear you. And so when people tell me like, oh, I want to do this, not wanting to do that, I I hear you. And so when people tell me like, oh, I want to do this, I want to do that, I'm always like you need to do what excites you, because that's what can drive you every day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah so do you think? What do you think about people who are looking for new things, new opportunities, and how? How do you even find that excitement? Like, because it seems pretty obvious now that, oh, the dermatologist makes a skincare line, right. But like, were you always like I love skin, I love saving people from the sun? Was that like you were born, came out of the womb? It's time to save people.

Speaker 2:

You know, I thought about all different types of medicine. I knew I wanted to be a doctor. I just love the idea of going to the doctor. I love the idea that I got to meet new people and help them in this journey, and for me the doctor in the community represented someone that people trusted and I really enjoyed that. You know, I and I wanted to be part of a team. I like the team dynamic and much of medicine is a team sport, I say because with others, you know nurses, physician assistants, staff, the patient they're all part of the team. So I explored all different types of medicine. I worked in sub-Saharan Africa doing oh, wow, yeah, I explored all different types of medicine. I worked in sub-Saharan Africa doing HIV, dermatology and infectious disease.

Speaker 2:

In med school you go through every one of the specialties OBGYN, pediatrics you get to see all these different things. I really like that concept of learning because I think that's how learning should be. You should really be exposed to all these different fields. I wish I was exposed more to like business and marketing, but sometimes we just like pigeonhole ourselves so quickly that you don't get the exposure. So for me I think it's important for people to have exposure to all these different things, and you're going to naturally gravitate towards the thing that interests you the most absolutely, and I think it's important for people to realize that if you don't have that thing right now, there's still things out there that can help you get there oh yeah, and it shouldn't yeah, especially with the internet exactly like I literally started this podcast five years ago.

Speaker 1:

I was 24 and at that time I was like I don't't know what I'm doing, but I want to talk to cool people. How can I go about that in a, in a, in a way that they'll say yes. So then you start to realize like hey, there's different opportunities here. And for you, anthony, I know you've gone to, you've traveled a good amount. Yeah, how have you, how have you thought about travel? And what do you think people should do if they've never like, should they travel? Is it something they shouldn't do? Should they save money?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know it's interesting because some people get really energized and invigorated by seeing new places, and I do as well. I love exploring different countries, meeting locals, just experiencing the culture, because I think we can benefit from that cultural exchange. For me, I like going to more remote places that maybe are off the beaten path. You know, I work in many different sub-Saharan African countries.

Speaker 2:

I've learned a lot just like living there and like doing day-to-day activities in different places where you don't have these comforts of western world, of the us right, I, we didn't have electricity for most part of the day there wasn't running water, it's. You know, it can be really uncomfortable too, just physically uncomfortable, but for me that helped push me and realize, like you know, I don't need all this stuff to, you know, function Right. I can still interact with other people, I can still, you know, have a good time, I can be by myself, which I think is something we really all need to learn how to do. And that was that's. Those were great moments for me to just like push myself and also expand my horizon.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. But it also grounds you in gratitude, yeah. So then when you do turn on the water, you're like thank you. I remember hiking the Inca Trail, which is four days in Peru and Machu Picchu, with four buddies. Dude, there's like no bathrooms on the trail. There's like there's like no water. We didn't shower. And it's as soon as you get to running water you're like thank you, like I don't know what I have to do for this but I appreciate this.

Speaker 2:

Thank you to those romans who built the aqueducts to bring water into the, you know it's. I mean, civilization is just a unique uh, you know, also like just mind-blowing, uh thought, right, like, think about all these civilizations that came before us, that we built upon, and now we're here in this super modern world, using computers, using the internet. You know, you can learn so much. I see my nieces, my niece and nephews use computers and their phones in such a different way, yeah, and how I, you know, started using them, and it's just amazing to see how their mind works, how they problem solve, you know. So it's really cool.

Speaker 2:

And for me, travel is worth it, right, seeing all these new places. And for me, travel is worth it, right, seeing all these new places, I could understand why some people rather, you know, stay home and be, you know, very, they're very comfortable in their environment. But I do think there's something special about seeing our world around us. Right, if you're Elon Musk, you're going to Mars, right, like that's, that's his travel, right, right, uh, so, but for me, like just seeing the world, like I was just in asia, I was in shanghai. I was in korea for my skincare, I was in hong kong. All these cultures are amazing, like great food different food. You know different interactions. You know different political system, different way of life. All right, well, we can learn from that. I know some people get nervous about doing that, but for me it's always a learning opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Last year we did a me and my wife did seven weeks in Europe and we were remote and during that time what ends up happening is people go, oh, like, aren't people going to need you? It's okay, man, I'll figure out. With the constraints I have, everyone else will figure out how to be a person. It's not a big deal. You work through it. You think, oh, my God, I can't do that. I can't do that.

Speaker 1:

And then you go and you're like it's actually a lot easier over here, because we would just work at like one or two o'clock in the afternoon till like 10 o'clock and in Europe people eat till like 1am. So you're like, okay, we'll eat late, like who cares? And it's this cool, different lifestyle and you're able to do a lot of this stuff and it's it really does expand your headspace. And then the ability to go from place to place to place and, like you take one thing away. First of all, you're getting the memory dividends like which you can always reference and people connect on those, and those are super exciting. But it's also this idea of like I've actually created something that's empowering me and I know when I reflect back on my year I'll be like this was a highlight of the year I love, I love memory, memory dividends.

Speaker 2:

I didn't even think about that, but yeah, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. There's this book. Bill Perkins Die With Zero. Okay, you should definitely check it out. I mean, you probably already kind of live it, but I didn't read it.

Speaker 2:

No, I could read it Pretty much.

Speaker 1:

The whole concept is this idea of how do you get the most out of life, and he talks about different things, like a memory dividend, where it's like we're referencing the trip and you're smiling, or you're telling a story and you're smiling, no-transcript, like a shorter time horizon than you going to the opera, like you could totally go to the opera when you're 80 and like go enjoy that. So that's his concept is just you can do everything, but there's an order to doing things and make sure you get the order right, otherwise you might be very upset with the way you lived your experience.

Speaker 2:

That's, that's cool, that's great advice. Yeah, and you know, I've heard similar advice from I see so many patients every day and they always I love, like my older patients, because they give such great life advice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I have a patient who's 106 years old. Oh my god, yeah, and she's lived a life and she's still spry, she's still intelligent, she, she's funny, like she makes jokes, and you know it's I. You learn a lot from these people because they give you little nuggets of advice that you know, make you stop, make you reflect and then also, okay, what's important, right, you know I could do all these things, and I could do them mediocrely, or I could do a couple of things and do it really well and make a difference.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And the biggest thing for me is, like some of the different mentors I've had are older people in my life you start to realize like they're always like slow down, it's going to go fast anyway. And that's what I like about the podcast, because it puts you on a call with someone where you're having that conversation, you're having that discussion and there's no like we have to get something, some objective done. The objective is having a deep conversation that the audience sits there and goes, wow, that was quite interesting. I learned something there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely, and for me it's been helpful to write things down physically. I know we all use our phones to make notes and stuff, but for me it's still been helpful to write things down in the journal, make lists. When I was an intern in the hospital, everything was list format, so we would always write down the tasks for each patient we had to like check it off, and that I having that pen and paper is still like super important for me, you know, because it makes me really focus on the task absolutely, and then you also.

Speaker 1:

The other thing you mentioned a little bit earlier about your nephews and nieces is that we can learn from everyone. A lot of that's when we're sitting here going. I'm the doctor, I know.

Speaker 2:

No, you might know some more about skincare, but someone else might know something in a different area oh yeah, I ask my patients for advice all the time, like they're great, because I see people in all different fields and all different aspects of life and you know what. What keeps you up at night? What are your strengths Like? What have you seen that works? What's successful, what's not? So it's helpful to crowdsource, you know.

Speaker 1:

New ideas, new thoughts. How much will like? Even you could probably do the skincare where it's like hey, if I was to sell this, what would you buy it at? I what would? I don't, I'm not selling it, but if you were to buy skincare, what's your average skincare call Like? It becomes very interesting.

Speaker 2:

And you know that's what a lot of brands are doing these days. A lot of brands are working backwards, right? Instead of trying to come up with something that's a blockbuster and then put it out there and see if it works, Most of these brands are working backwards. They create all different iterations and then they go crowdsource them on, you know, YouTube meta and they see what resonates with people and then they work backwards and build it from there.

Speaker 1:

And that's the best way to do it, because you're going to save a ton of money and a ton of time, especially if it's something that you're like I like this, but I don't know if I want to dedicate 20 years to it, but I don't know if it's worth it. Like, that work backwards concept works with everything. So if you're, even if your objective is like I want to find more friends, okay, where do friends hang out? What kind of friends do I want? Do I want drinking friends? I'll probably go to the bar. Do I want running friends? I might go to a run club. And you start to realize but the key there is to be intentional with whatever you want to do, because we only have so much time in our life, so we have to be intentional.

Speaker 2:

So, at Edwards, oh you can go Well, I was going to say intentional and lock it in. You've got to lock in. You've got to lock in, you've got to clock in. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

No, you have to. So at Edwards Consulting, we have five pillars. It's mental health, physical health, community service, philanthropy, spirituality and relationships. So what I've been doing with the guests and I do this with all my clients is I ask them on a one to 10, where are they at today, august 1st? You might've had a big night, you might have a lot of travel, I don't know, but where are you at today? So, on a 1 to 10 for mental health, how are you feeling, anthony? Like on a 1 to 10.

Speaker 2:

Mental health August 1st, I feel 9.5. I feel great, Really yeah.

Speaker 1:

Why are you at a 9.5? And I say that just so that the audience listening can go. What can I do that Anthony is doing right now to change my mood if maybe I'm at a four?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so for me, I you know I'm a creative person in general, but I also like structure and this week for me was a great week, like I worked out. You know I work out every morning. That structure really helps to just like set my day Absolutely. You know it's a. It's a time like early in the morning where I don't like look at my phone, I don't look at anything. But I work out with a training group called Excess and they really helped me Cause I'm just it's like a one-on-one.

Speaker 1:

What's going on with Excess? What is that?

Speaker 2:

Is that like a personal trainer or is that like a it's a group of personal trainers Excesslife, that's the website and you get personalized training, one-on-one. You really it's training for longevity, it's training for sustainability. It's not just training for aesthetics, right, like you want to look good, of course, but you really want to feel good and you want your joints to work, you want your body to move, and it's overall health. So for me, starting the day with them it's just a game changer. I've been doing it for a couple of years now and it's really helped me sleep better, eat better and just be mentally sharp, because then from that I go straight to operating and doing surgery and seeing patients and you really need to be locked in, right, like operating on people, which is a gift and it's a huge responsibility. So they're expecting you to come, you know, with your best right.

Speaker 2:

This is not like a dress rehearsal. So you know it's really important for me and that when I feel good, I'm. Physically, I perform really well. And this week is great. I had a pop-up shop in the Hamptons for my skincare line last weekend and that performed really well. So that was, like you know, a good high and you know these things come in waves. So, yeah, when you ask me, like, mentally I'm great.

Speaker 1:

So so I think it's important for everyone to realize here that Anthony pulled out three different things that occurred that were wins for him. That could have been minor things, but you, you don't have to just be like, oh my God, I got the biggest deal of my life today. Now I'm happy. It's happy with the process and I'm happy with doing this every single day. So, physical health for you I'm guessing I know where it's going to be, but physical health, how you feeling?

Speaker 2:

Good, I mean I'm I'm a little sore cause I was. I worked out hard, so you know we're at an eight, but I did. You know I've been doing a lot more of um dry sauna, which I thought really helped me recover faster. And I think that's another thing that I'm sure you coach on as well, as, like you have to build in recovery right, and it's not just physical recovery, it's mental recovery. You know, emotional recovery. There has to be a period where there's a little lull right, and so using like after a workout is really helpful because a it's hot, the heat really helps loosen your muscles and your joints. And you know it's also another time just to like be quiet and recover.

Speaker 1:

Yeah and be present, and I see that I. Are you wearing an aura ring? I am yeah. Yeah, I wear the Fitbit and, like either one, regardless you just if you track your stuff, it helps you process of like oh, it was a revalidator, I had a good night's sleep or I have a good exhausting my body, like I, I hit the goals, like I did. Well, because we sit there sometimes and we just go, we just base ourselves off, I feel all right and it's like you don't know because you don't measure and monitor, which is definitely something really big what I find really interesting about this world, the wearable tech and the fitness.

Speaker 2:

It helps to bring about change if you're on the mental track to change. And we say this in medicine a lot because as physicians, like we're always, you know, giving advice like, try to cut down smoking, try to cut down alcohol drinking, you know, improve your exercise, improve your nutrition. But we have to meet the patient where they are on this cycle of change. If they have no insight into, like, what's good and what's bad and what's harmful, they're never going to change their behavior. Right. But at some point they start to realize and on this cycle there's more willing and acceptance to change. So you really have to meet people where they are a hundred percent.

Speaker 1:

But it's even the point of like how do you, how do you even do that? And I think a big example for everyone listening is like dr anthony, what he does is he does skin like, he focuses on the skin. So I sat there and he's like okay, like skin cancer, I don't okay, what I get it. But then he's like no, like people are addicted to the skin, addicted to sun, like they're addicted to cigarettes and smoking. Now I have the neurons in my brain connecting like, oh my God, tanning cancer interesting, tanning smoking interesting. Because you start to connect these dots and sometimes you just got to hear it a little bit differently where it lands for you and you're like that makes sense. And when you have that aha moment with people, it's game changer.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's the same. You know, in retail and in skincare, like, usually consumers have to touch the brand in some way. Like seven times, People say before they commit. You know, when they're trying to decide, like, do I buy this, Do I not? They need to come into contact with the brand. You know, people say on average like seven to nine times, Same thing in medicine. You have to, like, drop these little nuggets of knowledge. You know they're not going to maybe not pick it up on the first time, but over time it'll start to resonate.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely Like the 106 year old. You've been dropped since she was 92. She's finally picking it up. I'm just messing around, yeah, but it's true, if you keep going to the doctors and you keep hearing the advice, you're gonna start to connect the dots a little bit.

Speaker 2:

And it's not, no one wants to bring you down, they want to bring you up yeah, it's all about helping the community right like we're we're, we're all helpful to each other. And like your podcast, your consulting, it's helpful to people to hear it from someone else who struggled with the same thing. Maybe you know.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and it's sometimes just the voice. So that's why a lot of the parents that listen you might be right, you probably are right, but your kid can't hear that because they see you every single day, so they're conditioned by what you say. And unless you're getting external validation from these things and your kid validates, who said that they don't? It doesn't land. So you might see what I've actually done. Sometimes, if I want to get a concept across and I'm not seeing it land, I'll send a video of someone else talking about it. Hey, what do you think of this person talking about it? It's the same idea, but it just it lands a little bit better because it's not from you.

Speaker 1:

I love that yeah, that's great so the the third pillar is community service and philanthropy. How do you think about that? We have some people who are like I'm not even sure what that means. Some people are like I'm, I'm active. How do you think about that?

Speaker 2:

I think we owe it to humanity I know this is a lofty idea but like we owe it to our fellow, our fellow humans, and, you know, animals. I have two dogs that you have to give back to the community in some way, shape or form. That doesn't necessarily always mean like monetarily. It could be time, it could be expertise, it could just be, you know, showing up and being present. I think we have to give back to other other people because it gives you purpose too in life.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely yeah. And for an example, like I have a coaching client and he was he's a fitness coach and he was talking about how he wanted to give back to this uh facility that he was a part of. It was like a workout thing, um, kind of like people going through a challenging time. And he was like, yeah, like when I make more money, I'll go give more money. And I'm like dude, you have a skillset here and do a free, free workout class and it's like what he's like, that's amazing. And now he's like going through the process. But you start to realize I share that just because there's a lot of people here that have skills, they're just oh no, people don't want to hear that, they don't want to learn. There are eight or nine billion people on the planet. Someone wants to hear what you got to say, so go help them.

Speaker 2:

I think that's why social media is so important and so revolutionary because you can really share your thoughts and, yeah, it may not reach everyone, but it may reach one person, which is great.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. The fourth pillar is relationships. These could be business relationships, personal, wherever you want to keep them, but what do you think about your relationships?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm always trying to improve my relationships with both friends, personal, family. For me, because time is so constrained, you know, and there's so many things going on, I could do a better job of reaching out, um, being present with family, not doing work at the same time, so I always have to make a conscious effort to slow down and be present with the people that I love and care about and who are who I'm fortunate enough to call my friends and family. So, um, for me, that's always it's hard, like I need to work on that. So I'm like at a seven, six, seven, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

No, I mean, it's a lot, especially as we get bigger and bigger and bigger and there's so much stuff going on. It's how do we think about this logically and like what I've helped people with a little bit is like if they have a commute, okay, that's a good time to call a friend. Like, if they're doing that, like if there's any wasted time, there's a good time to like connect with someone, or like pick the vibe or see how they're doing or what's going, or just shoot them a text. It it all comes down to you don't need to always be in contact with people, but when you're with them, you're with them, which is a thing I really like that you brought up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it has to be meaningful and like be present Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one spirituality. So some people agree, some people are not. It could be religion, it could be meditation, it could just be like you're in the ether. What?

Speaker 2:

do you think?

Speaker 1:

about spirituality.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's so. For me, you know, I was raised, I went to a catholic high school, I was raised catholic. For me, it's not so much about the religion, it's more about the spirituality, and I think the underlying underpinning of all of these religions and belief systems is you. You're a good person, like to humanity. It's the values, the values. And I was just in china and, um, you know, I went to visit some of the temples there, which are beautiful and you see people praying, you see people, you know just, you know walking around, seeing, like all the ancient statues, and seeing the relics, and you know different religions have different. You know iconography, but it all conveys the same message which is, you know, reflection, mindfulness, be a good person. You know humbleness, uh, really trying to just become centered and you know, and at peace with yourself, but with others too. So I think I think spirituality is really important. You know, yeah, I can yeah, I completely agree.

Speaker 1:

I think it's the values underpinning how it is, because it's basically a playbook, because most of us aren't even aware of what values we have. So we go it's bs or that's good or that's bad, like you don't even realize it. But you have ingrained values just through your community, through your lifestyle, through everything, and that church, that temple, that those areas, those cause you to think a little bit differently. And if you but eventually you're gonna sit there and go I have these values. I think it's bad to murder people. Okay, that's probably a good value, very valid, yeah. So you start to sit there and realize like, hey, I like this or I don't like this, and that's okay either way. But it's really deciding on the values that you and your family want to have.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm less about the rules of a religion and like having to believe in one certain thing. I'm more so about the underlying you know message and the ethos about how to live a really you know a beautiful life.

Speaker 1:

But, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, dot anthony. This has been incredible. I appreciate you sharing all this. Where can people learn more about you? The skincare line Rossi Derm MD. On Instagram. On.

Speaker 2:

YouTube. I also have a podcast, so you can catch me everywhere.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I really appreciate the time.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. No, I love this, gave me good reflection as well, so now I'm going to reflect on this time Awesome.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jordan Edwards

Host