Dr Clarence Lee Jr: This Physician Almost Quit. Then He Built The Life of His Dreams

Dr. Clarence Lee is a licensed physician, speaker, educator and a proven entrepreneur. He founded Exhort Health, a full service clinic that provides superior, innovative care while reducing the cost and headache for its clients. In addition to serving his community, he is also passionate about sharing his story and encouraging young professionals, especially physicians, to think outside of the box, create multiple streams of income and create a lifestyle of freedom and purpose.

His Story

When Dr. Lee was starting as an intern, he had plans to be a surgeon. All of his mentors were surgeons and he was given several opportunities to spend time with them as they performed their responsibilities. “I had an epiphany one night. We had a call to the ER at two in the morning and I realized that this (sleeping in an office and waking up) would be my life in twenty or thirty years.” This realization that having erratic hours, sleepless nights and a life away from home caused him to do the unthinkable. He switched programs in the middle of training. After completing his internship in general surgery, he trained at the School of Aerospace Medicine and practiced , as a flight surgeon, for several years with the USAF before settling into the private sector. “After leaving the military, I quickly started making 300k-400k dollars. We lived a luxury lifestyle with cars, houses, and fancy vacations, but I found myself falling into the work life balance I never wanted. I wasn’t able to be home for my family.” After five years of practicing with a large medical group, he was faced with another issue. A pandemic. For him, that was a crucial time. The stress of keeping up with the demands of a pandemic at the expense of his own family’s health and well-being was eye-opening. That’s when he decided it was time to take drastic action. “I made a decision. I was either leaving medicine or learning to do it on my terms.”

Serving Others

As a result of his decision, he has created a life of freedom and purpose. Over the last few years, he has written several books, opened a clinic and speaks regularly to physicians and young professionals around the United States. Whether he is sharing with a seasoned professional or young aspiring physicians, his message is the same. “I want to breathe power into dreams and to give people the persistence required to reach their goals.” The first step of this process is helping people to understand what their ultimate path to success looks like. By helping his students to find the perfect intersection of their passion and expertise, he sets them on the path to creating systems that allow them to trade their expertise for value. “The problem as physicians is that, traditionally, we are only taught to make money by working more, picking up more shifts, or working fourteen hour days.” This mentality, he believes, is what ties their hands and keeps them from creating a lifestyle of freedom. Once he helps them find their purpose and passion, he teaches them different ways to monetize their knowledge and expertise.

A large part of what he does is helping his students to understand the power of their story. “The skills that were required for me to graduate medical school are applicable to life. People want to figure out how I focused, time management, multiple years of failure, my story and path. So I started to tell my story.” By telling his story through online courses, books, and speaking tours, he is able to inspire other physicians to live the life they have always dreamed.

What’s Next?

In many ways, Dr. Lee has already achieved the life of his dreams. He is able to provide an innovative and affordable healthcare option for his clients and he is able to inspire and educate others to live a life of freedom. Most importantly, he has created a career that enables him to spend time with his family and loved ones and work on his terms. Although he has quite an accomplished career, he is still looking for ways to innovate the healthcare industry by empowering physicians and improving the experience of his patients. When he is not working with his students or patients, Dr. Lee enjoys surfing, playing basketball, and spending time keeping up with his children’s recitals, baseball games, and building family memories. If you are interested in keeping up with Dr. Lee, you can follow him on his Instagram page. You can also learn more about his work and Exhort Health by visiting their website.