YFP 319: Pharmacy Innovators with Dr. Jena Quinn (Perfecting Peds)

Founder & CEO of Perfecting Peds, Dr. Jena Quinn, joins host Dr. Corrie Sanders on this segment of The Pharmacy Innovators.

About Today’s Guest

Jena Quinn, PharmD, BCPPS, is an expert pediatric pharmacist. She developed the vision for Perfecting Peds based on her extensive background in medication management of pediatric population, personal love for children and her desire to optimize more children’s medical profiles.  She has 10 years of safe medication management and direct patient care experience in the pharmacy field with a wide-ranging background in developing, enhancing and managing clinical consulting programs.  Dr. Quinn earned both her Doctoral degrees with high honors from the Ernest Mario school of Pharmacy. She is a nationally Board-Certified Pediatric Pharmacist. She is also a mom to three adorable little girls, Hadley, Peyton and Avery.

Episode Summary

Today’s edition of our Pharmacy Innovators series is filled with vital information for pharmacy entrepreneurs on how to expertly navigate the risks involved with leaving the W2 world behind. In today’s episode, host Dr. Corrie Sanders sits down with the Founder of Perfecting Peds, Dr. Jena Quinn, PharmD, BCPPS, to discuss Jena’s transition from working 9-5 to running her own consulting business that is focused on medication management in complex pediatric patients. Our guest explains the role that her family played in her decision to take up pharmacy, how and why she made the pivot to pediatrics, what inspired her to break free from her W2 job, and how she benefited from being willing to branch into a new industry (cosmetics sales). Dr. Jena then shares why she is not too concerned about AI in pharmacy before diving into how she built her company’s team, how she uses the various social media platforms, why she chooses to always lead with authenticity, and what it was like for her to take on a new business challenge as a pregnant mother of two. This powerful conversation is filled with advice and strategies for those who are contemplating a non-traditional career path, and Dr. Jena explains everything she loves about being a business owner and pharmacy entrepreneur! 

Key Points From the Episode

• Introducing Dr. Jena Quinn as she explains her family’s role in how she got into pharmacy. 
• How she made the pivot to pediatrics. 
• What inspired her to leave her W2 job and what she was expecting from becoming a founder.
• How she benefitted from being brave and willing to take on a non-pharmacy-related job.
• Why AI could be both damaging and useful for pharmaceutical dispensary roles.
• How long Dr. Jena worked solo, and what it looked like when she started building her team. 
• What her first business contracts looked like compared to how they look today. 
• Assessing her social media profiles and why she chooses to be authentic across all platforms. 
• Exploring her mindset when she started a new business venture as a mother of (almost) three. 
• Dr. Jena’s favorite characteristics of being a business owner. 
• Her advice for anyone who is contemplating a non-traditional career path. 
• What she loves most about being a pharmacy entrepreneur.

Episode Highlights

“I just knew at that moment [of helping my epileptic sister] that whatever I did in life, it would be taking care of these children in some capacity, whether it was [as] a physician, a nurse, [or] a pharmacist.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [03:33]

“I started in a multi-level marketing company selling skincare, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done, as silly as it sounds.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [07:45]

“Pharmacists are the crappiest salesmen. Because of that, our profession has taken a hit. We have to be a good salesman to show our worth, and push and advocate for our profession to go into a more innovative direction.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [14:48]

“My husband is in IT, in cybersecurity. He’s always in my head, he’s like, ‘Whatever you’re doing, you better not be able to be replaced by AI.’ It’s so true that it is going to drastically affect our profession, but that’s okay.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [15:52]

“Sometimes I don’t even understand what I’m doing until I do it.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [23:05]

“We [pharmacists] have this unique knowledge. I mean, daily, we make these life-changing interventions, and we don’t get any compensation for it. How is that okay? Long story short, it’s just not.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [28:34]

“I just try to keep it real. I have three kids; I understand that everything gets messy.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [31:28]

“Being a business owner, I wake up every day with a fire in my belly; I have control to change patients’ lives.” — Dr. Jena Quinn [38:32]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode

• Dr. Jena Quinn on LinkedIn 
• Dr. Jena Quinn on Instagram 
• Perfecting Peds
• Perfecting Peds on Facebook 
• Rutgers University 
• GlaxoSmithKline 
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
• Rodan + Fields 
• MedActionPlan
• Corrie Sanders on LinkedIn 
• YFP Disclaimer
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• Episode Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:00] CS: Hi, YFP community. Corrie Sanders here hosts the Pharmacy Innovator segment of the YFP Podcast. Pharmacy Innovators is designed for pharmacists navigating the entrepreneurial journey. In this series, we feature founder stories and strategies that help guide current-inspiring pharmacy entrepreneurs. Today we feature Dr. Jena Quinn, a board-certified Pediatric Pharmacist that established Perfecting Peds, a consulting business focused on medication management in complex pediatric patients. 

In just 18 short months, Jena has expanded her business across multiple healthcare systems and hired support staff that is pioneering pharmacy consulting in the state of New Jersey. We discuss how she financially navigated her transition, the unique timing of establishing her business, and plans for the future of Perfecting Peds. I cannot wait for you all to learn from Dr. Jena Quinn. 

[EPISODE]

[0:00:52] CS: All right. Jena, we will start things off with a really easy question. For those that don’t know you, tell us a little bit about where you went to pharmacy school and how you got into the profession. 

[0:01:03] JQ: Yeah. I went to pharmacy school at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Even at 34, I’m like the biggest baby and I won’t go more than an hour from my parents, so that’s why I landed there. It’s between that and the University of the Sciences in Philly. My parents said, “You’re going with a cheaper school.” So, that was pretty much how I made that decision. But as far as the profession, my grandfather, who has been my lifelong mentor, he was a pharmacist for 60 some years and the later parts of the last 30, he was the director at GlaxoSmithKline, where he patented over 150 drugs.  

I always tease that he makes me look really stupid, because he’s just such a wealth of knowledge. He wrote many organic chemistry books, which was my least favorite subject, but really, he is my inspiration. My mom, to be very honest, is a nurse. She was like, “Nurses work too hard and don’t get paid enough, so you’re going to be a pharmacist and that’s what’s going to happen.” So, once I applied to pharmacy school and got in, and my dad called Rutgers to make sure that I really got in, that’s where I went. 

[0:02:22] CS: I just had to make sure.

[0:02:24] JQ: Yeah. It’s always something. You can always use it later.

[0:02:27] CS: That’s amazing. A little bit of family inspiration. Then just tying it all together with some of your interests, it sounds like. 

[0:02:34] JQ: Yes. Yes. 

[0:02:35] CS: How did you pivot specifically into pediatrics? Was that some postgraduate training? Did you get gauge interest with that on rotations? Where does that stand from? 

[0:02:44] JQ: Yeah. Historically my little sister, she’s nine years younger than me, had epilepsy knock on one. It’s been like nine years, but growing up, I was always the one who took care of her. I’m sure nowadays it’d be like a DCPP call, but some sort of DIFAS call, but my parents, starting at the age of 12, would just leave me with her and she had epilepsy. So, I got really familiar with how to administer Diazepam, what to do during a seizure and all the seizure precautions. 

Then I knew – I always knew I wanted to go into the medical field. So, I dedicated – which is funny, because how life works out. A lot of my patient population is epilepsy, but I just knew at that moment that whatever I did in life, it would be taking care of these children at some capacity, whether it was a physician, a nurse, a pharmacist. She’s really what drove me into the pediatric desire. Then throughout pharmacy school, actually, I just applied to do a couple of research as a student and research opportunities. They were in Peds.

Then during my appies, again, I got partnered with majority pedes. Then I actually, I’m one of those, I would say like older. I got grandfathered in, but I only actually did one year of residency at a local hospital, Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia, which I know traditionally a lot of pediatric pharmacists do, too. At that time, I was really done with the whole residency thing as far as it’s draining. It was draining me. 

I applied and got into Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, where I started their pediatric patient care program with a couple of other of my colleagues, like the in-between of a true clinical pharmacist and staff pharmacist, where we were on the floor rotating with the providers and then verifying orders. That I did for three years. Then went to another local hospital and started the same program for another eight. 

[0:05:06] CS: Wow. Well, it sounds like you had a lifetime of experience on top of the year of residency. I’m sure that maybe the second year wasn’t necessarily needed after starting with pediatric care at age 12? 

[0:05:18] JQ: Yes. Yes. That expedited it all, but it was, I was very much sure that that was trying to tell me something. Like I said, a lot of my patients in some way, shape, or form have epilepsy. 

[0:05:32] CS: That’s wonderful. That all ties together, so well. It seems like that was just the path that you were meant to be on from the start. Jena, what I want to pivot to now is I think what we’ll spend a majority of our conversation today is talking about establishing your company, Perfecting Peds, and what that ultimately looks like, and some of the steps that you took when making that career transition. Why don’t we start with what were the motives to leaving a traditional W2 job? What were you striving for? What were you expecting when you started your own company? 

[0:06:04] JQ: Yeah. I mean, motherhood changes everything. I have three little girls, six, three, and one. When my youngest was one years old, I realized – so I worked the first full year of her life at the hospital. I quickly realized that because I started – I shared with you, I started the program for pediatric patient care, I was the first true clinical pharmacist there, full-time at Cooper. What I quickly realized was that between 40 hours and then additional, I would have the residents unpaid, I would be called all the time for urgent situations that the medical residents needed help with and the PICU and the NICU. 

I realized that my quality of life was really taking a hit, especially on my family time, and there was no separation at all. I quickly realized that I didn’t want to be in the hospital fulltime, especially having a little one. I went part time, which then inevitably allowed them to hire a bunch of new people to the hospital. But for me, I was doing a job of a few pharmacists in one. That shone actually a lot of light on that and they’ve hired a lot more people. I was really desperate to be quite honest and to match my income and stay in the luxuries of the pharmacist salary, but I did not like the lifestyle that the full-time job left. 

What I did was I started in a multi-level marketing company selling skincare, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done, as silly as it sounds, but it actually was how all my mindset hacks, all my sales lessons that they were all encompassed in. It was called Rodan and Fields, but I learned them all from my mentors there. It was awesome. I had some great opportunities. I would travel to different countries on their dime. I got actually, the computer I’m working on. They were actually, they were very good to me. 

What I realized was that I was really more obsessed with one, building something. Two, just the flexibility of the job, even though I didn’t have like, yeah, skincare is okay. I didn’t have a passion for it, but what I had a passion for was entrepreneurism, setting my own hours. Really, I like the idea of having a team.  I feel like if anything, the people you surround yourself with is who you become. I was like, “You know what?” I – also at the time. I did that for the entire time till my daughter, so for three and a half years. Then I realized like, “Okay, well, what are you passionate about?” Which was pharmacy. 

What I started realizing, even part time, the lifestyle wasn’t for me. I didn’t – I was missing things. For example, last week, I was able to go to two things in the middle of the day, to be at my daughter’s school for just one was a race and the other one was field day. I was able to participate and be a volunteer. I realized that I was working a majority of weekends and then a day or two during the week. With the weekends, I started missing my daughter’s soccer practices. I was like – 

[0:09:34] CS: Sure.

[0:09:34] JQ: I was like, “This is not happening.” Again, I was – I started transparently, to be transparent, I started looking for other jobs. In that process, I realized that there wasn’t any jobs for pediatric pharmacists outside of the hospital. If they were, they were the really niche, like maybe a rare disease in medical science leaves them, but it wasn’t like – there wasn’t a robust amount of opportunities. I felt like the only way I was going to leave the hospital is if I went into the geriatric or adult population and that literally killed me. I love them, they’re just – my hearts are children. So, yeah. I was like, “They smell bad, I can’t do this.” 

I started looking for other jobs. I actually, got offered a job for a geriatric long-term care facility position. That got my wheels spinning, because I was like, “Wait, you need to have long-term cares.” Like acute cares – all these medical days in the area. And I started looking around and asking questions to providers that work there. I’m like, “Who’s looking at these kids? These kids are the sickest kids of the sickest. They have multiple medications.” The answer was that nobody was looking at them clinically. It was the politically correct answer. 

I went door-to-door, my salesman mentality, and was just like, “Hey, you’re already paying the pharmacist.” I’m sure you know this. If you’re a consultant pharmacist too, they’re paying pharmacists to do this. I don’t want to put down other pharmacists, but we have this unique training of residency. We’re all board-certified pharmacists that are uniquely trained in peace. It’s very different than adults, right? I couldn’t end geriatrics. I couldn’t turn around and take care of an adult patient. I don’t even know their disease state. 

I just said, “Whatever you’re paying them, pay me and my team and we’ll take care of them and we’ll offer them a bunch of unique services on top of the compliance work that they’re already doing.” That’s honestly how it started. I did the prep work and all this sales pitch over six months, until I started getting some contracts. Because I knew I couldn’t take that much of a financial cut. Then once I started getting contracts, that’s when I jumped full-time into this. 

[0:12:08] CS: Jena, so many things that you said there that I want to highlight for the listeners that I think are really important. The first one is that you weren’t afraid to take a non-pharmacy related job – 

[0:12:19] JQ: No.

[0:12:19] CS: Because it wasn’t worth sacrificing your mental health in the place that you were in. I think a lot of pharmacists can relate to the quality-of-life issues that you spoke of and the work life balance, especially when you’re in management positions. You really do start doing the work of multiple pharmacists many times. I think so highly of you for taking that job and just being not afraid to say, “I’m not going to do something pharmacy related right now.” That’s how confident you felt about yourself and how much you respected yourself. Two, it is great almost that you stepped into a sales job, because many people don’t realize that sales is a lifeblood of business when you are first starting off. If you can’t sell your services, it completely hinders the product or the service that you can provide. 

[0:13:03] JQ: Yeah. 

[0:13:04] CS: Probably an amazing stepping stone to be where you are today and to have that mentality, like you said, to be able to sell what you want and be able to articulate that to other people. 

[0:13:14] JQ: Yeah. I think, too, I’ve gotten such a habit. Social media is such a powerful way to sell. When I was in Rodan and Fields, no one’s going to buy something from you. If you’re – one, this is my opinion. If you’re not authentic and people can’t relate to you, right, or they don’t know you. If I was going to actually make a decent income, it was building authentic relationships and just being myself, so people could get to know me, so that then they’ll feel comfortable buying from me. 

It taught me so many life lessons. Part of that was just getting in the habit of posting on social media every day and regardless of what it was, if it was just like whatever – I mean, I was always taught to keep it in three categories, but for me, it was always three things, family, and probably enough, one was pharmacy. I was already posting a lot of things about pharmacy organically. Then it was a more natural stepping stone to start my own business, but as part of that, I just honestly switch from, because I’m focused more on B2B. 

I switch just to doing the same thing on LinkedIn to build my pharmacy presence, to build authentic connections and to network. That’s honestly how I’ve been able to meet amazing people like you. That has been the most powerful tool. That was embedded in me from sales. The other thing I do want to say is, pharmacists are the crappiest salesmen. Because of that, our profession has taken a hit. We have to be a good salesman to show our worth and push and advocate for our profession to go into a more innovative direction. 

[0:15:07] CS: That’s such a beautiful statement that resonates with me a lot, because I work a lot with legislature and talking to senators and elected officials. They truly don’t realize what a pharmacist does outside of a dispensing role. 

[0:15:22] JQ: No.

[0:15:23] CS: Especially, like you just said, as the profession evolves alongside technology, it’s going to drastically change in the next 10 years, we really have to learn to advocate for ourselves. You’re already just ahead of the curve by having your own business and being able to do that independently. It’s a wonderful thing. 

[0:15:41] JQ: Yeah. I think AI is going to be a sole crusher for a lot of the dispensing roles. I didn’t even know that AI was on the horizon when I started this. My husband is IT in cybersecurity. He’s always in my head, but like, he’s like, “Whatever you’re doing, you better not be able to be replaced by AI.” It’s so true that it is going to drastically affect our profession, but that’s okay. I think it’s going to put us in, like I just said, before these long-term care pharmacies were doing compliance work, like checking out dates and counting narcotics, that can all be automated. 

There’s no reason for a pharmacist to do that. What I quickly realized was I hired pharmacy techs, and pharmacy techs are amazing at this stuff. Why is a pharmacist with eight years of education on top of, maybe residency and all these board certs, why are we doing that? The same goes with the dispensing role. We are too smart when we went to school for too long to be doing that. It really takes away from the angle, which is patient care. 

We want as much forward-facing time with the patient as possible to help the patient and advocate for them. Some of the traditional dispensing roles really take away from that. I personally think it’s an exciting time in pharmacy. I think as far as we leverage that and just use our education and sell ourselves accordingly, I think we’re going to have a lot of exciting changes on the horizon. 

[0:17:14] CS: I think so, too. I think so, too. It’ll force us to really utilize our clinical skill set across the board in a way that probably hasn’t been forced before. 

[0:17:22] JQ: Yeah. 

[0:17:23] CS: Jena, I also want to touch on the fact that you’ve said you just hired technicians or that you’ve hired technicians. Let’s talk about the growth of your team. How long were you just a solopreneur really facing everything just by yourself? When did you start to hire? What did that look like? Who was ultimately your first hire? I would love to know that as well. 

[0:17:43] JQ: Obviously, because it was such a cluster. This is true Jena fashion. I signed – I started taking private patients just as my beta patients, because I do think, like okay, I wanted to get used to the EHR. I wanted to also get PGX certified, this little like 20 CEs, but I also wanted to really take patients, because there’s not an abundance of pediatric literature in PGX. I wanted to get comfortable on that, because I do think again, that’s the way of the future. We’re going to have to utilize that to take the best care of our patients. 

I started just taking like private pay patients. That’s how I got started financially, but also just getting used to everything, as far as the EHR and training. Then I got five contracts all at once. I didn’t understand how medically complex these kids were, until I opened the chart. Of 120 of the roughly growing, I don’t know, so what I’m doing is some quick math in my head, like 300 of them were had a minimum of 23 medications on their chart. 

[0:19:08] CS: Wow. 

[0:19:08] JQ: I got all these dropped on me at the same time. I was like, “Oh, my God. What did I sign up for?” I quickly realized that I could not do this by myself. If I did, I would be, so to give you again, I’m all about shedding light on things that should have their curtains unveiled. The prior long-term care gave these pharmacists 15 hours for 120 critically ill pediatric patients trait that due to dependent. 15 hours a month at $200. I couldn’t even open and close the chart. Plus, do the compliance work which is go through the med room and make sure, count the narcotics and all that. I quickly outsourced that. 

That was, honestly my first hire, was I had a technician that I loved at the hospital that I worked with. I said, “Hey, I need help. Are you looking for like PRN contractor hours?” She jumped on board. She helped alleviate at least, like I said, the doing all the compliance work. But then I realized that proudly for the first year me and my husband were going to be paying to take care of these kids, as awful as that sounds. I think the pharmacy profession is so in need of advocacy and change. I knew that I needed my proof of concept before anybody even listened to me. It wasn’t until I got the numbers of cost savings, cost avoidance. I knew they were going to be like, “This is a really cute idea, little girl.” I’m all but not even five foot. 

I know people were not going to take me seriously. My first nine months of this business, which we just got all that exciting data in last month, was just hiring pharmacists and quite frankly, breaking even. It was just breaking even. What we were providing was the comprehensive medication management for all patients who had never had it before. Providing pharmacogenomics, doing calls to parents who wanted to be a part of the care. Also, giving some compliance medication compliance software. We have an app, a med rep that really shows the parents in 50-day print languages called MedActionPlan, but where to draw up on this syringe, what exactly did you expect from an ADR standpoint, when to call us. 

All these services were provided out of pocket by me and my husband. I just knew that it needed to be done, this proof of concept, because we’ve never have been outside of the hospital walls with an exception of somewhere like pediatric and care clinics where the hospital was funding it, but there’s never been a true pharmacist consultant role. I knew that in sales, you need to solidify your proof of concept. It took me nine months. Now that we have the numbers, we are in talks of some really exciting big contracts, but it took a really long time. 

[0:22:18] CS: It’s beautiful that you were able to have the mindset and the wherewithal and the experience to be like, “Okay, I’m going to have to do proof of concept.” You were willing to just eat it for nine months. Then be able to put it together. Ultimately, set yourself up for something that’s probably really great long term, just knowing that you had to prove your worth, especially in this new, like you said, this is a new niche for pharmacist in New Jersey.

[0:22:42] JQ: Yeah.

[0:22:42] CS: Realizing, you’ll have to put all that together.

[0:22:44] JQ: Yeah.

[0:22:45] CS: Some of those, maybe the intricacies of the concepts or of the contracts, Jena, what did that look like? What did your first contract look like? Were you all set up to go for billing? Did you have to get collaborative practice agreements? What did that first contract look like? Then, where is it today? 

[0:23:02] JQ: Yeah. Again, something, sometimes I don’t even understand what I’m doing until I do it, but I was like, I knew I was going to – whatever I was going to do, I was going to take care of these kids. When we first got the contracts, the collaborative practices weren’t in place, but what I very quickly realized was that these positions or providers, and just like anywhere, they are very, very stretched thin. We were given an average of 10 to 15 recommendations per chart. They did not have the bandwidth to go in and make those changes. That was pretty evident and very quickly. 

I was like, this is not going to benefit anybody if we don’t get a collaborative practice in place. We have collaborative practices in place, which are a beautiful thing, I think should be the standard of care for any pharmacist practicing, just because it just builds our autonomy and puts us in the same pedestal, or just honestly, the same building opportunities and capabilities as PAs and MPs who have done a beautiful job in establishing their work. They’re not doing anything automated with dispensing. 

I really look at them, those two professions as like, how can we be like them? How can I be like an MP today or a PA? I don’t want to diagnose, but how is there a way that I can use my medical – my medication knowledge to optimize patient care, be in front of the patient, be a part of their team? So, within two months, we got that up and rolling again. It is hard, I had to scramble to find who’s a good health care lawyer in the area, so they can help read my contracts, because you don’t want to do anything blind. 

They’ve been an awesome addition to Perfecting Peds, an awesome and expensive addition, but necessary. What that looked like was, we would basically take over what they were doing, but instead, we just did a deep dive of comprehensive men management through a collaborative practice agreement in the pharmacogenomics. As far as we’re our contracts at now, I can’t disclose too much, but we are starting in talks with insurance companies, because in New Jersey, unfortunately, there is no opportunities to build, even incidents, too. 

It is very disheartening. I know we were talking about you being in Hawaii and you feel like you traveled back in time. I worked at a hospital where I had so much autonomy, like too much autonomy. Then I came to outpatient lands and I couldn’t even change the concentration of the men. I was like, “What’s happening?” It was like, I just couldn’t believe, I was just so dumbfounded. We were talking about advocacy and legislative, I really admire what you’re doing for the Board of Pharmacy in Hawaii and advocacy. I think it’s just so needed, because I’m not political and so many people get me out of me when I say I’ve never even voted. 

I realized real quick, I was going to get political, because this is – how we’re practicing is not okay. Again, proof of concept. I knew if I had that I could take it to insurance companies, I could take it to other facilities, I could take it to home care companies, all these different places. It didn’t have to be in New Jersey, right? Because I had that barrier of billing in New Jersey, but for example, in a couple of weeks we’re launching in Minnesota. We have some opportunities in Colorado. You know what? It’s not the best thing, but it’s like, okay, well then I’ll practice where I can practice until I give you guys enough literature, which we are publishing to understand that this should be the standard of things.

[0:27:02] CS: It’s amazing. So much of what you’re saying really resonates with me, because it’s amazing to realize that pharmacists are some of the only healthcare or the only healthcare professional that’s just taught to give away information for free. That’s not saying we shouldn’t be answering questions when patients come to the counter and they’re receiving a prescription. Ultimately, any other profession is billing for the services that we are already providing. Your proof of concept is just going to hopefully add so much knowledge and leaps and bounds of data of what can be done when we can practice at the top of our license. I think that’s going to be so meaningful. 

[0:27:39] JQ: Corrie, to your point, I didn’t realize – this is not an exaggeration, weekly for the past nine – I guess people started catching when I’m a pediatric and maternal health pharmacist about  – after I grew more confidence after a job. Then I was talking. I told you about posting, so then I would post tips and tricks. What I realized is that a minimum of 20 to 30 people were coming to me a week for their child or their selves. 

I did it for  nine years and then I was like, “Damn, I think this is a business.” I’m like, “Why is nobody else doing this?” We’re just mad at pharmacists at our profession, because I’m like, like you’re saying, every other person can build. And coming with all this, we have this unique knowledge. I mean, daily, we make these life-changing interventions and we don’t get any compensation for it. How is that okay? Long story short, it’s just not. 

[0:28:49] CS: Exactly. Jena, I want to circle back on something that you just brought up that we didn’t get to touch on before is your social media strategy. Something that I do love about following you is how authentic you are, and you said that that’s always been your intention is to just be authentic across all platforms. What are you using primarily? Are you focused on LinkedIn? Do you use Twitter and Instagram? How do you delineate between the different platforms and where do you put a lot of your time? 

[0:29:17] JQ: I’ve been most of my time in LinkedIn, just because like, do you think that as a profession, if we put a lot of our time there, well organically, and over time, educate the not only fellow pharmacists, but other fellow providers, too. There honestly is no strategy similar to my life, but what I do is I try to do one to two real patient cases, things that I saw this week that – or I tried to do the week prior that our team made a huge impact. Oh, and to your – you did ask, we are seven contractor pharmacists, two technicians and an assistant at this moment.

[0:30:00] CS: Wow. 

[0:30:01] JQ: I want to flip – I’m starting to explore a few things, people over the full-time, which is an exciting change, but that being said, I have my team. We all – for the perfecting piece, we just revamped it, so that we can streamline how we’re visioning this as my goal. As for perfecting piece to be anything from preconception, I’m thinking about having a kid. What are the things I need to know to add lessons? We just started, because I wanted to revamp and have it organized, as far as the flow goes, but all of us on the team take task at different posts to do the Instagram Perfecting Peds, which close onto our Facebook and then the LinkedIn Perfecting Peds page. 

Now we’re consistently posting there, because it was hard to do LinkedIn and all the other things. I just focused on LinkedIn for the first year, which has provided so much opportunities, network and the opportunities have given me more than I’ve given them, but I tried to do at least two real cases to showcase. Again, I’m a salesman, like, “Look, this is what pharmacist can do.” Then I try to do three hot topics or any, or it could be anything, whether it’s related to just entrepreneurs in the general, things I’ve learned, tips and tricks. Again, a lot of them are authentic, not all of them are this positive rainbow. I just try to keep it real. I have three kids, I understand that everything gets messy. That’s for sure. 

[0:31:38] CS: There’s no way around that, I’m sure.

[0:31:40] JQ: Yeah.

[0:31:41] CS: Jena, I had said this to you prior to when we started recording the podcast. But something that I really admire about you is that the stage of life that you were in when you started your business. You had already had two kids, your third was on the way. Was that more of a motivator to step away from your job or did that make things scary? What was your mindset going into the transition being in that chapter of your life? 

[0:32:02] JQ: Yes. My first two were clomid babies. I was pretty sure I wasn’t able to have children, naturally. Me and my husband had closed that chapter. I bought my LLC and four days later, I found out I was pregnant. I think, like a normal person would have felt like maybe this is my sign. God saying, “Don’t do this.” But then I thought, I was like, “God’s given me nine months to get this bad boy up and running.” So, I did. I used that. I also used leaned into it that the fact that I can’t do this alone. 

One of my past mentors, who quite frankly scared the hell out of me, is at [inaudible 0:32:42] you reached out and said, “I’ve been thinking about doing exactly what you’re doing for 10 years of my life and you’re inspiring. Can I basically work for you?” I’m like, “Yeah.” She’s a – she’s so much harder than I ever – again. She teaches me so much. It was a humbling experience to see that, but I knew that I was going to force me not to be the bottleneck of the company in multiple things, because I knew, I needed to take whether it was six weeks or whatever maternity leave. 

In order to do that, I needed to build up some systems and standard operating procedures so that I wasn’t the only one that could do it. That was something that I knew from the start of it. I had an implement and had nine months to implement. I did use it as fire, to be quite honest. My hospital gave me six weeks after the birth of my second daughter. It really pissed me off. They’re going to do the same shit again. So, I used that as, even though I loved everything about my job, the people, but it was just like HR. They were adamant that even though I’d only worked 960 hours, I needed 1000 to get an additional six weeks. They were only going to give me that six weeks and family time for me and my employees is non-negotiable. It really did not sit well with me. I knew if I could build this up enough that most likely, I’d be able to leave right around then and that’s one of us. 

[0:34:21] CS: That’s amazing. I actually just had goosebumps when you were saying that one of your old mentors reached out to you saying that she’d been thinking about it for so long, because most people really will choose being in an uncomfortable place over uncertainty and taking a leap that they don’t know where they’re going to end up. I’m sure that was just an amazing sign from your end of being like, okay – I’m doing the right thing. I have people supporting me. I feel like, especially in the entrepreneur community, it’s not uncommon to have that support.

[0:34:51] JQ: Oh, yeah.

[0:34:52] CS: It’s great that you – yeah. It’s great that you were able to get that immediate gratification almost from someone that you respect. That’s an amazing way to start. 

[0:35:01] JQ: Yeah. Like I tease, but she was just one of those people that her intelligence was so intimidating. Yeah, it was humbling to say the least. And then just a couple of days ago, I was on the call with another past pharmacist I worked with. Again, because I came from just one-year residency and these girls were no BS. If you’re going to touch a patient, you better know what you’re talking about. I only had one, I was one of the few, if not the only, that only had one year. They were hard on me. It was just weird talking to her the other day and she’s like, “Are you hiring?” Who would have thought that my mentors would be asking one day if I’m hiring. 

It’s humbling, but just another reminder of just how life works out. Yeah, I mean, there wasn’t any certainty to be a 100% honest, my husband would kill me. I knew, I was going – I just wanted to do this full-time. I quit and then the next day I told my husband. It wasn’t like – because I knew I had to do this and he was always going to tell me, he’s so supportive, but he’s not a risk taker. I knew he was going to keep telling me, “Just keep doing the weekends. Just keep doing the weekends. It’s an extra $600.” But he wasn’t appreciating how much that was taking away from my business and my attention. Yeah, I don’t advise wives to do that. I was like – I’d would rather tell you that I cheated on you. He’s like, “Oh, God. This is not—“ 

[0:36:37] CS: Let me set the stage here. 

[0:36:40] JQ: I did something worse, I cheated on you. I quit my job without telling you. He knows me enough that he was like, “All right, well, you’re going to figure it out. You’re going to figure it out.” Yeah, it was just like nobody – it’s just such a hard thing to actually, you’re never going to be ready to be like, all right, I’m just doing this. It’s just like, man – I was like, “I just have to do it.” I felt I was slowly dragging it out and that was actually causing me a lot of anxiety, too. I’m like, “No, no, no, you have to do. This is what your heart said on, just do that.” 

[0:37:18] CS: There certainly becomes a point when you are developing your business on the side where your job becomes more of a detriment than an asset to your new business. The fact that you were able, you were feeling that and you knew this is, I need to make the job, I need to make the cut. There’s certainly an element of sink or swim to leaving your job, but there’s also a very large element of planning and making sure that you’re ready and that you have something up and running, so that when you make that transition, it’s not as scary. 

[0:37:46] JQ: Yeah. I knew.  I’m like, all right, at the minimum, I have these facilities at least for a year and that will give you enough time to show our work, essentially. It’s what I knew. I started the clock. 

[0:37:58] CS: That’s right. All right. Jena, I’m going to wind this up with just three easy questions that I think will really resonate with the listeners and maybe give them some inspiration to starting something new or maybe pursuing a non-traditional pharmacy career path. What is the most memorable aspect of being a business owner and why? 

[0:38:19] JQ: I would say, honestly, when I was in the hospital some days, it sounds so dramatic. I just didn’t look forward to going to work, right? I think being a business owner, and I wake up every day with a fire in my belly. I have control to change patients’ lives. So, that’s really where, because I’m in the driver’s seat and quite transparently as I start looking for different investors and stuff to really build this up, it’s just a non-negotiable for me that clinical comes first and then we’ll figure out a way to get reimbursed and everything, secondarily. 

I think my being able to apply my own values instead of relying on my bosses, even though my own boss is not, she’s amazing, but instead of relying on somebody else, I think that was really what gets me fired up is I can create this, I can make it so that patients get the best care, and that really fires me up every day. 

[0:39:25] CS: It benefits you. It benefits the patients. It keeps you going. It’s just wonderful once you’ve felt that. It’s great motivation to continue what you’re doing. What is one piece of advice for anyone that’s contemplating a non-traditional career path? 

[0:39:39] JQ: I think, go for it. The worst case when you go back to your traditional job, right? That’s the question my husband – I have 12 years of pediatric experience. I can easily find another job if I need to or I ended on such great terms, like my boss said, “Come back whenever you want.” So, worst-case scenario, you go back to where you were, right? I mean, I’m going to give it a good try, I think you need to at least do it for a year to see if you’re gaining an attraction.

I do think – I’m always like the worst-case scenario, if we were drowning and I couldn’t pay my bills and give my girls what they need, I would just go back to it. I’ll go walk in the CVS and apply and get a stupid bonus. That might be miserable, but you know what I mean? But that’s the worst-case scenario is you go back to a traditional job. We’re needing it now, so leverage it. 

[0:40:35] CS: That’s right. I mean, COVID has shined a light on the profession in a way that hasn’t been shown before. It’s great that pharmacists are using that to their advantage to finally advocate for the profession. It’s a beautiful time for you to be making this transition and have a company that’s so successful in such a short amount of time. It’s wonderful. 

[0:40:52] JQ: Oh, thank you. Definitely – 

[0:40:54] CS: Then last question for you. Your favorite part about being a pharmacy entrepreneur.

[0:40:59] JQ: Advocating on the behalf of our profession. Like I said, before we started this. I lived in this really ignorant bubble of, “Oh, my God. Pharmacists are awesome.” I worked in hospital settings. I had basically collaborative practices. It felt even more than a collaborative practice, especially with the medical residents and the attendings, because you got to know them so well and they were such a trust factor. I quickly realized when I tried to make some changes, when I first started pre-collaborative practice with a lot of my kiddos, you couldn’t even change concentrations of medications. 

I’m like, if we’re not equipped to do that, who is? It’s really, again, I admire what you’re doing. Getting involved in like the legislation change. That’s my – after five years, after I build this up, that is the next step for me is getting involved, because – of course, I’m involved in associations and everything. Again, I wasn’t active in a single association before entrepreneurism. 

Now, I think I’m a serial association person. I’m in 10 pharmacist associations. Then a couple other just random entrepreneur ones. It really, again, if I’m in a position where I can advocate for the profession that I didn’t know we needed this much advocacy in the outpatient world, because just like you, I’d been in hospital the whole time. I didn’t realize that it was – I didn’t realize it was an issue. 

[0:42:33] CS: Well, that’s beautiful. I hope that in a couple years, you’re the state of New Jersey pharmacy practice and sitting at the Senate and pushing things forward. That would just be such a full circle moment and benefit everyone in the state. Yeah. That’s wonderful. Well, Jena, thank you for taking the time to be here today. This was such a powerful interview. I feel like you were so authentic, so many life lessons. You’re an inspiration to so many. I know just starting this business and making it so successful going across multiple states with multiple hires. I’m excited to see what Perfecting Peds does in the future. Thanks for being here. 

[0:43:08] JQ: Thank you for having me.

[OUTRO]

[0:43:11] ANNOUNCER: As we conclude this week’s podcast, an important reminder that the content on this show has provided you for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for investment or any other advice. Information in the podcast and corresponding material should not be construed as a solicitation or offered to buy or sell any investment or related financial products. We urge listeners to consult with a financial advisor with respect to any investment. 

Furthermore, the information contained in our archive newsletters, blog posts and podcasts is not updated and may not be accurate at the time you listen to it on the podcast. Opinions and analyses expressed herein are solely those of Your Financial Pharmacists unless otherwise noted and constitute judgments as of the dates published. Such information may contain forward-looking statements which are not intended to be guarantees of future events. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. For more information, please visit yourfinancialpharmacist.com/disclaimer. Thank you again for your support of the Your Financial Pharmacists Podcast. Have a great rest of your week.

[END]

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