Bernie Borges [00:00:00]:
What if you could go into surgery? Yes, surgery. Feeling empowered instead of anxious. Well, my guest today turned her own medical fear into a purpose driven mission. And what she created is changing the recovery experience for patients everywhere. My guest today is Heather Campbell. Heather, welcome to the Life Fulfilled podcast.
Heather Campbell [00:00:24]:
Thank you so much, Vernie. I’m really excited to be here.
Bernie Borges [00:00:27]:
Well, I’m excited for a conversation. You have an interesting backstory and I love what you’re doing. You’re an entrepreneur, you’re an author, and you’re a founder. And as I said, you’ve got a mission led venture. So give us the backstory. Let’s start with your backstory.
Heather Campbell [00:00:43]:
Yeah, I had to have surgery. And like 92% of all people who have surgery, I got anxious, I got nervous. When I use that number, it often makes me think, who are the 8% who don’t? I’d like to meet them. I haven’t met them yet because when I talk about surgery, everyone either has had it or knows someone who has had it and has talked about how it was absolutely stressful. When I feel stress, I like to do something about it. So I went online and looked for, I’m having surgery. What can I do? And unfortunately, Google did not have any good answers other than PT or pain meds. And I didn’t want to do either of those things.
Heather Campbell [00:01:23]:
I hadn’t had surgery yet. It wasn’t time for pt. So I thought about, what could I do in this moment? I have a wellness background and I’ve done things that are helpful for myself. So I thought, what could I borrow? And then I went to other people who were knowledgeable in medicine and knowledgeable about surgery and said, what do I need to be focusing on? And I created a small program for myself after my surgery. When I was in recovery and my surgeon was going through everything, he was very impressed. He also, though, recognized it wasn’t just him. He recognized that I had played a part in what had happened. And he said to me, I wish all of my patients could be like you.
Heather Campbell [00:02:07]:
And I thought, yeah, I’m gonna go make that happen. I’m gonna go start a company. And ready, set, recover was born.
Bernie Borges [00:02:14]:
Okay, so it sounds to me when your surgeon said that to you, I wish all my patients could be like you. It sounds like that was the moment where the light bulb went off to that you’re going to do this for a bigger purpose beyond just for yourself.
Heather Campbell [00:02:28]:
Yes, Possibly naively. If you. If anyone is out there who has started a company in healthcare, they will recognize that, wow. Not the easiest industry to jump into. But, yes, I felt a responsibility and an opportunity. The reality is we have agency during this time. It’s surgery is so hard. It’s this time where everything feels out of your control.
Heather Campbell [00:02:54]:
And there’s this person who we almost put into this godlike presence who’s going to take care of everything. But really, surgery starts the minute you hear the words you. You need surgery. From that moment on, you are going to make decisions that are going to help you or hurt you. Ready, Set, Recover helps you make decisions that are beneficial.
Bernie Borges [00:03:19]:
So, Heather, it’s not often that I invite someone on to talk about their business, but what really attracted me to this conversation is the backstory that you just shared. You know, the purpose behind it. And as you know, Heather, the Life Fulfill podcast is all about encouraging people and equipping people with ways to find fulfillment across the five life pillars. Health, fitness, career, relationships, and legacy. And, you know, I see three of your pillars in play here, right? Certainly there’s the health, and it’s a business, so it’s career. And I think legacy is very much in play. So with that context, tell us more about what you’re doing with Ready, Set, Recover.
Heather Campbell [00:04:02]:
Yeah, so again, you’re totally right in terms of the different pillars. There’s the health side. Again, this is an offering. I am offering to people what you can be doing in this moment. Simple, simple steps, things that you’re already actually doing, and you might not be paying attention to doing them in a way that helps you. Again, your podcast, you’re also doing storytelling, right, where you’re telling stories. You’re inviting me to tell the backstory of what has happened when you’re having surgery. You talk about it.
Heather Campbell [00:04:35]:
Are you talking about it in a way that helps you or hurts you? Are you creating cortisol that’s making you more anxious? Are you creating dopamine that’s making you feel better? This is your decision. No one tells you you have to tell people about surgery and say the scary words and the horrible things that might happen. You get to decide. So, absolutely, we are playing into that. And then I thank you for recognizing the part of career. This is absolutely a business. 100%. It’s a business.
Heather Campbell [00:05:07]:
The beauty in a business perspective of what we’re doing is it not only helps the patients, it also helps the insurance companies, the hospitals, the physicians, the employers, because all of those entities, bottom lines benefit when their employees, their patients, their insurance people who are paying their premiums are less stressed and more compliant. So I’ve created a win, win, win, win, win, which I’m really proud of. And I want more of us to be doing how amazing to create companies where potentially everyone wins. That feels powerful to me. That feels important to me. So, yes, thank you for recognizing that this is playing into those things.
Bernie Borges [00:05:58]:
Yeah. And Heather, you are also a great example of someone doing something that is purpose driven. It’s mission led. We’ve already touched on that. I’ve often said that at this stage of my life, I could tap into if I wanted to make more money, I could go back to what I’ve done in previous years, which is sell technology solutions. I’ve done that. And it’s potentially a lot more lucrative than my purpose today. My purpose today is around all of this fulfillment Centric leadership is what I bring to the market today because that’s what drives me.
Bernie Borges [00:06:37]:
And you’re doing the exact same thing with Ready, Set, Recover. But I also know that it is also something that is tied to an even bigger purpose for you. Why don’t you speak to that? Because I know that about you as well.
Heather Campbell [00:06:50]:
Yeah. I feel incredibly lucky to know my purpose in life. I hadn’t articulated it until relatively recently, you know, but I know what I’m here to do. I am here to help make people feel seen, heard, heard and celebrated. Now, there’s also foundational needs, Foundational needs need to be met. You need a roof over your head, good food in your belly, health insurance, little bit more for joy. So financially, there are things that need to be met. But if you also feel seen, heard and celebrated, the world is a completely different place that changes everything.
Heather Campbell [00:07:36]:
And that’s why I created Ready, Set, Recover so people could feel seen, heard and celebrated. Advocating for yourself is one of the steps in the program. Again, the story of your surgery, how do you tell it in a way that celebrates yourself within this? I feel, like I said, I feel very lucky to know what I am here to do and to be given opportunities and to create opportunities that allow me to do it.
Bernie Borges [00:08:03]:
And Heather, I don’t know how much I’ve shared with you about my own history as a patient. I’ve had a number of surgical procedures. In fact, I started pretty young. I was a small child when I had my first surgery. And I’ve had multiple. None has ever been what I’d call, you know, life saving or life threatening. But they just run the gamut from a lot of things. And as recently as just a few years ago, and it’s never been a pleasant experience.
Bernie Borges [00:08:33]:
There’s never been any kind of resource provided to me identified as a resource as what you’re bringing to the world. So how are you bringing it to the world?
Heather Campbell [00:08:46]:
Yeah, again, entrepreneurship is not an easy path. Originally I had thought that we would be going direct to consumer, direct to patients. The challenge of that is finding people in that moment. Preferably, we like you to start the program 16 days before surgery for you as a patient to know, oh, I should be looking for a resource. Oh, I should actually be taking action. Oh, I’m going to trust these people to actually do that with them. During this time where I’m feeling really vulnerable, it hits from a business perspective. That is too hard.
Heather Campbell [00:09:23]:
I will say, however, ready setrecover is available to anyone. You can buy it for yourself, you can buy it for a gift back to that purpose. I believe everyone should have this support. So there is a price tag to it, there’s a cost to it. If you cannot afford that price tag, I say you should name your price. Everyone deserves this support. That is how strongly I feel about this. That said, it’s also a business.
Heather Campbell [00:09:51]:
And so when we recognized that going direct to consumer was not going to be an efficient, effective way to make it a business, we started going to hospitals and surgery centers and insurance and employers are currently partnering with them to do some studies to get the data that shows what everyone nos. Oh, you make people less stressed. Would that be helpful? Huh, I wonder. Duh. However, it’s healthcare and it’s a business. People need the data. So we’re busy doing that, getting that information as we partner with these people.
Bernie Borges [00:10:27]:
You just said that it makes people less stressed. And there’s more data than I think is readily known about the impact of stress on our health. Yeah. And so I would imagine that you’re tapping into that. Right. Because when anyone is going to go through surgery and then post surgery, obviously there’s a recovery period. Stress is only going to unhealthy stress, unnecessary stress is going to make that even harder. How are you tapping into that?
Heather Campbell [00:10:59]:
So we’re really looking. It’s interesting. And when you talk about stress, you know, emotional well being, there are different pieces to this. There’s logistics, there’s behavior and then there’s emotion. And usually people think of stress with emotion, but we’re actually creating stressful situation, harmful situations within all of these different aspects. So I’ll jump into a simple one. Logistics. Logistics can become stressful.
Heather Campbell [00:11:26]:
When you talk to someone who’s having surgery, most likely if you say, you know, like so what do you need to do? The majority of surgery patients, I’m not supposed to eat or drink after midnight. Now, when you go on vacation and you’re going to go away for vacation, you think about what am I going to do? What should I pack? What am I going to wear? Do I need my passport? How long will it take me to get to the airport? Is there going to be traffic on my way to the. You think of all of these things around this surgery. Don’t eat a drink. That’s it. So we are looking at the logistics that you need to think through, which if you don’t and you’re in the car five minutes before you’re supposed to be having surgery because you didn’t think about the fact that there’s actually going to be traffic on the way, that is not only stressful emotionally, it is harmful in terms of having your surgery actually happen. When I was showing the program to an administrator at a hospital, she, you know, loved all of the things, the elements of sleep, the elements of taking care of yourself, advocating for yourself. But in her words, if the only thing the program does is get people here on time.
Heather Campbell [00:12:38]:
So I am not losing millions of dollars in or time, that makes the whole thing worth it. So there are all those different elements that we’re looking at.
Bernie Borges [00:12:48]:
Now I know that you also have authored a book called Good is Amazing, so I’d like to know something about that. And of course, the connection to Ready, Set, Recover.
Heather Campbell [00:12:59]:
Yeah, Back to my purpose. I’ve actually again thinking about my full, full backstory. I’ve had weird and wonderful titles. I’ve been in charge of synergy at espn. I’ve been in charge of alchemy at another media company. I’ve written a book called Good is Amazing. I’ve. I’ve got Ready, Set, Recover.
Heather Campbell [00:13:19]:
All the throughput on all of that is how do you bring people in? How do you give them the recognition that actually you’ve got more control than you think. In Good Is Amazing, I talk about you are actually the main character of your life. Ta da. It’s you. You get to write a lot of the stories. Yes. They’re gonna be plot twists you never saw coming, but how do you decide and how do you get to say what’s important to you? What is good? You know, somewhere along the line, you know, I’ve got two kids and high school and college and watching the grades and everything. When did a B become bad? What, what are we doing in life? Why do we think it’s gotta be top Stellar.
Heather Campbell [00:14:15]:
More.
Bernie Borges [00:14:15]:
More.
Heather Campbell [00:14:17]:
Again, foundational needs and a little bit more seen, heard and celebrated. That’s amazing. That’s incredible. That is a joyous life. My book is an invitation, an offer for people to recognize that I’m actually doing really well. I’m actually happy. Why am I letting the outside noise cloud that?
Bernie Borges [00:14:44]:
So it’s taking stock in where we are, what we are experiencing in life. What it reminds me of, Heather, is there’s a concept that I didn’t know was a thing because in my mind, I knew about it. And for some reason, I know it’s going to sound really weird. For some reason, I thought I was the only person in the world that thought of this concept. And then I looked it up and I realized it’s actually a thing. It’s been around for quite a while. The concept is the following. You’re going to laugh at me when.
Bernie Borges [00:15:12]:
When you hear me say that I thought I was the only one who thought about this. But it’s called incremental progress. And it’s a simple concept of just doing something consistently, repeatedly, over the span of time, and you just continue to make more and more and more progress. A really good example of that is when you write a book, right? You didn’t sit down one noon and write a book in an afternoon. Right? You wrote that over the span of time, and during that time, you were making incremental progress on the book. And it probably happened over the span of, in most cases, months, for some people, years. Right. And so it sounds to me like.
Bernie Borges [00:15:50]:
And think, you know, Heather, I’ve not read your book. Good is amazing. But it sounds to me like. Like the concept of incremental progress is in there, whether it’s stated or. Or not. Because oftentimes we can look at the progress we’ve made in some area of our life and go, okay, I can celebrate that.
Heather Campbell [00:16:09]:
Yes. What you’re saying. So there is a chapter in the book about I lose my job. There’s a restructure, I’ve done a great job. It’s not me, but I’m no longer working there. And emotionally I’m dealing with that. It happens, I think, on a Friday, Monday, I’m picking my daughter up from school because I can, because I’m not working. And she gets into the car, bounds in and, hi, Mama, how are you? And I said, good, how are you? And she says, how was your day? And I said, really great.
Heather Campbell [00:16:43]:
And she turns head, swivels, mama, did you get a job? And it’s like the kid has Punched me in the gut. Did I get a job? I’ve told her my day was really good. She knows that I lost my job. So obviously, if the day was really good, I must have gotten a job. And I can’t say anything, and. And then I’m angry, and then I want to all of these things, and my kid is still looking at me, and I realize she’s trying to give me joy. She’s asking a question with joy and hope. So I can’t get mad at that.
Heather Campbell [00:17:23]:
I want to get mad at that, but I can’t. And I’ve got all these thoughts, and finally I look at her and I say, so, no, I didn’t. And I know why you’re asking. I know why you’re saying that you think that if I’m having a great day, that that’s what must happen. It’s going to take me a long time, potentially, to get a new job. We’re going to have to come up with different milestones, because I love that you’re asking me, and I want to celebrate things with you, too, but it can’t be, did you get a job yet? Because otherwise we might be waiting for a long time for some celebrations so you could say things like, did you have a really good call? Did you see a job posting that excited you? Did someone come to you to talk to you about your past experience? And you got to feed them. There are lots of small pieces to this that will happen that you can ask me and we can talk about and I’m going to celebrate. But if we wait till.
Heather Campbell [00:18:20]:
Did you get a job? Wow, this is gonna. I’m never gonna pick. And I didn’t say that. You know, I’m never gonna pick you up again because I can’t say this every day.
Bernie Borges [00:18:28]:
That is a great example of framing it as milestones. So it was a great life lesson there with you. And you said it was your daughter, right?
Heather Campbell [00:18:36]:
Yes.
Bernie Borges [00:18:37]:
Yeah. And so framing it up there as a lesson, I would think that was memorable for her because you really taught her a valuable lesson, that it’s not always about the end result, that we’ve got to be thinking in terms of the steps and the progress along the way. Again, there’s that word progress again, right in my vocabulary. Used the word milestones, which I like, but it’s teaching her. And I hope anybody listening to this podcast, reinforcing the importance and the value and the fulfillment that we can experience when we look at those milestones along the way. I mean, this podcast for me is an example published, you know, north of 200 episodes. So episode 50 was a milestone, 100 was a milestone, 150200, et cetera. There’s so many examples of that in our life.
Bernie Borges [00:19:30]:
And I think what you’re saying in your book good is amazing, is you’re simply calling attention to that so that we can in fact celebrate it and feel good about it. Right, right.
Heather Campbell [00:19:41]:
Calling attention and giving permission, like validating. And you don’t need permission from me. You have to do it. You have to validate, and you have to give yourself permission. At the very beginning of the book, I talk to the reader and I call them my dear reader. Dear reader. It’s not about me. These stories are just examples.
Heather Campbell [00:20:00]:
What are the stories in your life? How does it relate to you? You get to decide all of these things in terms of I’m going to celebrate. And, you know, maybe someone’s going to say, If I do two podcasts, I’m not going to wait till 50. If I do two, if I do one, if I get one person to say that, they’ll come in and talk with me. I’m going to celebrate that. One of the last chapters is called the Champagne Manifesto. When I went to business school, I wanted to thank the people who had written my recommendations and I wrote up this whole thing about my Champagne Manifesto. I pop my champagne bottle often. Now I also put the little caveat, I don’t actually pop a champagne bottle all the time.
Heather Campbell [00:20:44]:
It’s an illusion or reference to celebration. But I celebrate things along the way. When I decided to go to business school, I celebrated that because I am not a typical business school student. I got. That was a reach, huh? Am I going to. So just saying I was going to do it. Each step along the way, taking the gmat. Taking the GMAT the second time because I need to do all of the things along the way.
Heather Campbell [00:21:12]:
How do you celebrate them? Because it’s easier to create habits. We know this. We know that with habit creation, it is easier to create good habits when you are celebrating them. So that’s what the book is offering. Come celebrate your wonderfulness. Come look at all of the things that you are already doing. Give yourself that pat on the back, quiet that inner critic a little bit. So that’s.
Heather Campbell [00:21:39]:
That’s the goal and the hope that inner critic.
Bernie Borges [00:21:42]:
Boy, I think most of us have one of those, right?
Heather Campbell [00:21:45]:
Yes.
Bernie Borges [00:21:47]:
Okay, so before we get to a wrap point here, I do want to ask you to reconnect because I still feel like I need to reconnect Good as it Good is Amazing. Your book to Ready, Set, Recover, connect that.
Heather Campbell [00:22:01]:
Sure. So within Ready, Set Recover their action steps, daily actions, what you can be doing, what you can be doing to recognize that you are really in control here of so much good is Amazing is doing the same thing. At the end of every chapter, there are questions that I ask you to think about. You’re in charge of so much of your life. How do you take actions that make you feel good about what you’re doing that actually opened the door to what you want to be doing? You know, you said yourself at the very beginning of this or at one point you could be doing other things and maybe the world told you to do other things and maybe people said you should, you know, all the shoulds you should and could listen to yourself. So that is what Ready, Set, Recover. At a time when in surgery where you are being told to do a lot of things and you do need to listen to the experts on a lot of stuff, it’s important. We’re not saying don’t listen to your doctor at all.
Heather Campbell [00:23:11]:
We are partnering with your doctor, saying you’ve got this great medical team, but you’re important in this too. And that’s what Good Is Amazing is doing as well. You’re so important in your life. Go, fly, be free. Celebrate yourself. Share that with others.
Bernie Borges [00:23:31]:
You said earlier that it’s also about giving yourself permission to do that. And I love that I actually say that often as well because I think many of us, myself included, have struggled with doing exactly that. Giving ourselves permission to fill in the blank, to do something or not do something. So maybe as a closing thought, maybe you can connect that whole concept of giving yourself permission to look at what you’re doing through Ready, Set, Recover, which you said is a business, but a mission led, purpose driven mission, or a purpose driven business rather, but connecting that to your fulfilling pillars. Right? Which I think we said, I think we agreed are health, career and legacy. So maybe as a closing thought, you can kind of give us your thoughts on that.
Heather Campbell [00:24:18]:
So it’s funny, in creating the company and doing it for others, I absolutely have to look at it myself. So it is a proof point for me that I am doing what I profess to others. It is a reminder every day because I’m working hard on it every day about what I can be doing within this. Similarly with the book, I was doing an author talk a while ago and I held up the book and I said, so I literally wrote the book on this. Literally wrote the book I’m not cured. I too have to look at it and remind myself I’ve got it on my shelf. Not just to show other people, to show myself in doing Ready, Set, Recover. I’ve since had to have my, my daughter had surgery.
Heather Campbell [00:25:13]:
I Ready, Set, recovered her and it was recognized by the pre op nurses. You know, they recognized that here is this caregiver and here is this child in a different state. So while yes, I am doing this because it all makes sense, I take advantage of it and it gives me permission to live into this life. Which again, with the noises outside and the noises inside. My inner critic’s name is Blanche. She’s very vocal. It’s important to surround yourself with items, frameworks, people who are going to support you being the person you want to be.
Bernie Borges [00:25:55]:
Fantastic. Well, I love the name Ready, Set, Recover. So let’s transition to where can people connect with you, Heather? Where can people just get into your world, learn more about what you’ve got going on.
Heather Campbell [00:26:08]:
So ReadySetRecover.com is the website for the company. Kept it very simple for myself personally. It’s Heather A. Campbell. That’s my website. Campbell’s like Campbell Soup, no relation. And I love hearing from people. We love hearing from people who go through the program who have questions about the program.
Heather Campbell [00:26:29]:
It’s been so fun hearing from people about the book and my assumptions again in terms of who this would speak to. I had a 19 year old young man read the book at my kitchen table the other day asking questions and fascinated by it. I have mothers who bought it for daughters and then ended reading it for themselves. I have people who bought it for their children or bought it for themselves and their children have stolen it. So super, super thankful that it’s all of these things are resonating with people and love hearing from people about them.
Bernie Borges [00:27:03]:
Well, thank you, Heather. As I mentioned, I don’t often bring people on to talk about a business or even in many cases a book. But it really resonated for me and really just had a meaningful connection and I’m hoping that it’ll do the same for my listeners. So, Heather Campbell, I just want to thank you for joining me for this episode of the Life Fulfilled podcast. I love what you’re doing. You’re making a difference, you’re having an impact and I look forward to staying in touch.
Heather Campbell [00:27:32]:
Thank you. And I think you are doing the exact same thing in offering all of this to your listeners. So thank you very much.
Bernie Borges [00:27:38]:
Thank you, Heather.
