What Healthcare Professionals Will Take Away
“If you want to change your life, you got to change your mind.”
This episode is for physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physicians, and every clinician who loves patient care but feels the system taking more than it gives. Host Klaus Grim, PA-C CPC ELI-MP talks with Fedna Morency, PA-C — a physician assistant since 2014 who moved to full-time locum tenens in 2018 and built a career defined by flexibility, travel, and bold self-advocacy. Fedna is the founder of The Travel PA Course™ and the Travel PA Your Way to Wealth community, and her story is less about geography than about mindset: the decision to treat her degree as an investment and her time as the one asset she cannot get back.
By the end of this episode you will be able to:
- Name the pattern — how the system leans on clinicians’ compassion, and what that costs you.
- Understand locum tenens — what travel practice actually is and who it fits.
- Think in leverage — your degree, your skills, and your money as tools that should work for you.
- Take a first step — one message to a traveler or recruiter, and keep looking even while employed.
Why Do So Many Clinicians Feel the System Is Working Against Them?
The frustration compounds when clinicians can’t even see the business they generate. At her first job, Fedna wasn’t allowed to see billing and collections — “I worked for you, but I can’t see the billing and collection so that I can advocate for myself.” Meanwhile the profession’s real currency kept draining: “Time is something we all cannot get back. We are in this profession that we like or love, but now we’re getting compassion fatigue. We don’t have enough time for our families.” Her answer wasn’t to leave medicine — she loves clinical practice — but to start thinking differently about what her degree could do.
What Is Locum Tenens — and Why Did This PA Choose It?
Her path there was forged by hard experiences. At her first job, six weeks after surgery and facing call across four facilities, she gave notice because no one listened when she said “I am not well physically or mentally.” It was before wellbeing was taken seriously, and she paid for it — “I was scared, but I did it anyways.” At her second job, she watched a practice close around her once a corporate goal was met. A travel nurse told her PAs could travel too; her first seven-month contract in Minnesota kept extending, and the plan changed for good: “I changed my mind to change my life.” After that, she says, “opportunities found me or my brain worked in a way to create my own opportunities.”
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Does Travel Medicine Actually Improve Your Wellbeing?
A new assignment is not a new life. “It starts in your mind that mindset shift that you had to make those bold moves. You got to apply the same mindset shift to other aspects of your life,” she says — money, relationships, student loans. Travel gave her room to evaluate all of it, and the income to invest in her own care: paying out of pocket for a therapist was not a splurge but “an investment.” Klaus names the trap many career-changers fall into: the grass looks greener, but “the issues of life don’t just disappear when we make changes.”
How Should Healthcare Professionals Think About Money and Leverage?
She learned this the practical way. A friend in real estate introduced her to the term “accredited investor” — and being told she didn’t yet qualify became fuel: “I saw it as a challenge and it made me better.” She later hired him as a wealth strategist, and the fee stopped mattering: “That money that I paid has opened doors, and networks, places, that are just invaluable.” The mindset block she sees most often in clinicians: “We would prevent ourselves from making $100,000 more because we’re not willing to invest $10,000.” Her standing advice, learned from a friend’s mom: “even if you have a job, you should always still look” — because leverage belongs to people who stay ready. And comfort is the quiet cost: “Don’t get too comfortable because that’s not where growth happened. Stay very uncomfortable, my friends.”
Leverage needs a strategist
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How Do You Get Started as a Travel PA?
Relationships carried her whole career: a business card collected at a conference landed her second gig, and that recruiter relationship still stands today. For structure, she built The Travel PA Course™ to teach a system rather than a hot tip — “at least I am teaching a system that you can take with you at any point in time” — with guest experts on taxes, W2 versus 1099, asset protection, and generational wealth. She is also developing a strategy tool that asks where you are in your PA career and suggests the next move. And she is clear on why the Travel PA Your Way to Wealth community exists: “you’re either going to become part of a community or you’re going to create community for others.”
What Would Make the Leap Into Travel Medicine Less Scary?
Her advice is to connect the model to what you already love — rural communities, travel, autonomy, time with family — and to see the education it gives you for free: “becoming a travel PA, it teaches you how to be a business for yourself, teaches you how to be an entrepreneur.” She loves what she sees in early-career PAs reaching out to her: “I love the boldness. I love that they’re not afraid. I love that they see the value in their PA degree.” Klaus closes with the smallest possible first step: get curious, look at what an assignment could be, and let awareness lead the change.
Key Takeaways for Healthcare Professionals
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Episode 105 of the Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast about?
What is locum tenens, and how is it different from a permanent job?
Do travel PAs really earn more than permanent staff?
Does becoming a travel PA fix career unhappiness?
How do I take the first step toward travel medicine?
Keep designing a career that fits
More conversations on time, energy, and sustainable careers in the Wellbeing Collection, and on leading yourself in the Leadership Collection.
Episode Transcript
Download transcript (.txt) ↓︎Segment 01 · 00:00 – 00:43
Compassion Exploited
The cold open: a system that banks on clinicians’ compassion — and why your issues follow you wherever you go.
Segment 02 · 00:43 – 02:16
Meet Fedna Morency
Klaus introduces Fedna: PA since 2014, locum tenens traveler since 2018, founder of The Travel PA Course and community.
Segment 03 · 02:16 – 05:39
Mindset and Leverage
Why the degree is an investment, what the system takes for granted, and “if you want to change your life, you got to change your mind.”
Segment 04 · 05:39 – 08:53
Breaking from Toxicity
Giving two weeks’ notice after surgery when nobody listened — scared, punished, and validated years later.
Segment 05 · 08:53 – 12:19
Discovering Locum Tenens
A travel nurse’s tip, disappointing interviews, and a first gig in Minnesota that kept extending.
Segment 06 · 12:19 – 15:04
Networks and Benefits
The recruiter relationship, a business card from a conference, and seeing a traveler earn more with more time.
Segment 07 · 15:04 – 18:24
Wellbeing on the Road
More time to exercise, better food, flying family out — and the truth that problems travel with you.
Segment 08 · 18:24 – 21:47
Money as a Tool
Therapy as an investment, money as current that has to flow, and staying uncomfortable on purpose.
Segment 09 · 21:47 – 28:39
Building the Travel PA Course
The accredited-investor lesson, paying for access and mentorship, and turning questions into a course that teaches a system.
Segment 10 · 28:39 – 32:03
Community and Mindset Calls
Inside the Travel PA Your Way to Wealth community: mindset sessions, shared gigs, and shared knowledge.
Segment 11 · 32:03 – 34:23
First Steps to Start
Networking first, the free ebook, and a strategy tool that meets you where you are in your PA career.
Segment 12 · 34:23 – 36:28
Normalizing Travel Medicine
Locum tenens as part of medicine — access to care, compact licensure ahead, and learning to run yourself like a business.
Segment 13 · 36:28 – 38:15
Closing Thoughts
Get curious, stay connected, and reach out — the first step is exploring.
Read the full transcript
Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast — Episode 105: What Travel Medicine Taught This Physician Assistant About Living, Not Just Working. Host Klaus Grim, PA-C CPC ELI-MP interviews guest Fedna Morency, PA-C, locum tenens travel physician assistant and founder of The Travel PA Course. Published April 20, 2026.
Fedna Morency: They were banking on us. using our compassion against us so that we can work more, give us more patients as time goes on, as long as it meets their bottom line. But I'll tell you, whatever issues that you have, it follows you. It doesn't matter what issues you do have, it follows you wherever you go. It's about leveraging your degree, you leverage your skills. Don't get too comfortable because that's not where growth happened. Stay very uncomfortable, my friends. Stay uncomfortable
Klaus Grim: So, hello everybody. Welcome to the Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast, and today I have a really special guest and I have Fedna Morency here, and she's going to tell us a little bit about travel medicine and how her career has shifted and I just want to tell you a little bit about Fedna really quick. So she's a seasoned PA, so a physician assistant. She's an entrepreneur. She's a dedicated advocate for financial empowerment. She's been a PA since 2014, and in 2018, she boldly transitioned into the world of locum tenens. So if you're not familiar with this, we're going to talk more about it. And she leverages her clinical experiences to build a career defined by flexibility and travel. She leverages her diverse experiences and she created The Travel PA Course, and I'm so excited to talk more about this later. And the Travel PA Your Way to Wealth community. And these are platforms designed to guide professionals through the unique opportunities of a career as a travel PA and Fedna, you're deeply passionate about bridging the wealth gap and helping healthcare professionals maximize their return on investment of their and our hard-earned careers through negotiations. So career strategy and thinking outside the box. And so Fedna, tell us a little bit more about yourself and what made you want to come onto this podcast.
Fedna Morency: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm happy to be here and share my experience and I hope that it can inspire somebody to make bold moves, to advance their career and be a trendsetter. So when I went to PA school, it was never in thoughts of, "oh, this is going to be an investment that I'm going to make." And thought along the lines of investment. When we think of investment, it does not necessarily have to be monetary. It can be about time, family, just that word itself, it can go so many different directions. I think all of us, at least me, when I went into it, I wanted to change the world, I had compassion for people. I think the system was banking on that. They were banking on us. using our compassion against us so that we can work more, give us more patients as time goes on, as long as it meets their bottom line. And the more I progressed into this career, I got frustrated that the people who are not seeing the patients who are not face-to-face with the providers on a regular basis, or the patients and seeing how what we do, how we do affects them. It pissed me off. I'm like, "why are you guys getting paid so much? It doesn't make any sense." So along the way I'm like, I love what I do in terms of taking care of people. I love being a clinical PA. That's my thing. but something had to change because I didn't understand why promises were made to forget our student loans, and we had to spend time that we can never get back in order to fight the system to get our student loans paid off. Things like that. It just makes me think all right, time is something that I cannot get back. Time is something we all cannot get back. We are in this profession that we like or love, but now we're getting compassion fatigue. We don't have enough time for our families. We don't have enough time to pursue other passions. Why is that? And I think in PA school, I had to come to terms that it was my decision to go to PA school because I knew what it was for. I went in it because I like to work with people. I like healthcare. I want to play a part in people's health, but I had to start to think differently. So, nowadays, what I tend to say is, if you want to change your life, you got to change your mind. And everything starts with mindset. I have this degree. How much did I pay for this degree? How much can this degree earn me while I continue to serve the patients? And what can I do with it? So I had to think about leverage. we get reimbursed by insurance. We need to ask more questions about billing. Listen, my first job, they would not share that information with us. I mean, could you believe it? I worked for you, but I can't see the billing and collection so that I can advocate for myself. That's kind of grimy, right? Like when you think about it. But that was an era where people were not set enough for themselves. It was pre-COVID. We just took what was given to us. But I've always, had a little spice in me. Even my first job, I used to go at it with people, not in bad way in a ways that if you're going to dish it out, then you should be able to take it. But that's how I earn respect and not have to fight all the time because I'm like, "all right, well I don't think this is fair. it has to be talked about." So I made moves that were scary at times. before mental health was actually in the front lines. I'm going to say. I remember having so much anxiety and an issue at work. And I had surgery six weeks prior to me taking call, and I just felt like I was not ready. we picked up another facility making it four facilities total between one PA and one surgeon. And my knee was not going to be ready. I did not have full range of motion. I just wasn't ready. I was having like a mental breakdown. I turned in. I gave my two weeks notice, not because I wanted to, I was so scared of my health. I was so afraid. it was the first surgery I've ever had, and I felt like nobody was listening to me. I'm like, "I am not well physically or mentally." But they expected you to do the job. But that's the area that I was in. So I was making these moves before things were being thought of. nowadays, it's like they care about that stuff. Those days they did not care, but I did it anyways. I was scared, but I did it anyways. And even when I was done, I was still scared and I got punished for that, okay. Like it is what it is. But I think the thing is I'm never afraid to make that move. And it may not feel good in that moment, and I may not see the benefits of it, even weeks or years to come. But let me tell you, that same job I left about five years later. All the PAs left, I think they still have two of the same PAs. But no, it was a toxic environment and it made me feel like validated, I'm going to say. It made me feel good. like I pull that trigger first, but it goes to show that if you believe in something, if you know it's not right, if it doesn't sit right with you. You're going to have to go against the grain. Everybody may see something different, but you see it a little bit differently, maybe clear to you, but not clear to everybody else. Pull that trigger, make that move, become a trendsetter. So, the thing is that hind sight is always 20/20. So I saw those benefits years later of what I did. So it emboldened me, to bet on myself a little bit more, even when people cannot understand or see my vision.
Klaus Grim: Wow. Well first off, thank you for sharing I had so many key concepts you mentioned that I think resonate with our entire audience and its time and the system being so challenging, you brought up compassion fatigue, and it sounds like you had a few experiences that kind of led you towards this ultimate, pursuit of travel medicine. So, it sounds like that was maybe your experience, that made you say something needs to change. And I know that it's going into the unknown, but something in my body is saying, "I got to make a change for my life so I can get time and I can be happier and I can feel healthier." Does that sound accurate?
Fedna Morency: yes, it does. But that came with time and reflection. Because how I got into travel medicine, my second job was another experience. So what I talked about was my first job, my second job that's when I learned more about business. I learned about joint ventures because I didn't understand why the practice was closing then I sat down with the manager. She explained to me They practiced with a big brand and they wanted to establish territory in a small community, and I think that was done. There was no more benefit to come out of it than they had to close their doors. Now the practice went elsewhere because their goal was established. But who got impacted? We did. All the clinicians did. We're going to close our door because our goal has been met, and that's how I got into travel medicine. I met a travel nurse during my second job, and she's the one who told me PAs travel, doctors travel, and a lot of other healthcare providers travel. And that was in 2017. So I started to interview for positions. I was disappointed because I was not trying to jump from job to job. I wanted stability. I wanted somewhere I can grow with the practice and just stay put. And to my surprise, I was about three years in at that time, during all my interviews, some of the rates, the offers just did not sound right and the way that I was being coached by recruiters and practice managers to not accept, to not ask above a certain salary. I'm like, "that's insane. who does that? Why would you train me not to advocate for myself?" So I was experiencing a lot of things that did not sit right with me. And the only thing that sat right at that time, since I want some stability, I think locum tenens is the way to go. And I just did it. I went for it and I went to Minnesota. I was there for seven months and I was still looking at jobs, because I didn't know it's going to be a permanent thing. I'm like, oh, I'll do this for a few months until I get something back in New Jersey where I was. And it wasn't happening. More gigs found me. So during my second gig, that's when I'm like, "you know what, I'm just going to roll with it." Put my things in storage. I'm like, "I'm going to have a position. I'm going to have a contract every time. And in between contracts, I'll travel and spend time with my family." That was my plan and that's exactly what happened. I changed my mind to change my life. I said, "it has to be done," and you know what? Opportunities found me or my brain worked in a way to create my own opportunities.
Klaus Grim: I love how your experiences have shaped who you are. So you had the experiences as it sounds like a W2 employee going through some of the challenges that many of us face being in healthcare as clinicians, then learned a little bit the business side of things. Met somebody who had a different experience with medicine, The travel assignments. and then took this bold move to say, "huh, I value stability. I value advocacy for myself." And you took that bold move and you didn't know right where it would take you. for some people, that bold move could say, "ah, maybe that wasn't right for me." But at least you tried it and it's worth celebrating. Or it's that opportunity of a lifetime that has now said, "This is for me. I love this, I want to do this." And it sounds like that's how it took up for you.
Fedna Morency: Yeah. it really did.
Klaus Grim: And so what these voices that you had, both internal or external, that tried to maybe talk you out of it and what did responsible or safe or stability look like for you at that time?
Fedna Morency: Yeah. I work with a recruiter who was very reliable. I build a relationship with them, and I think the key to success is the relationships in your network. Matter of fact, when I wanted to do travel medicine, travel PA, I met a group at the AAPA in 2016 in Vegas. And I had that card. So when I was done with my first gig, I went home I'm like, "I got to find this card. I got to hit up the people." I had the card, I hit them up, and they helped me get my next gig. And I built a relationship with that recruiter and I still have that relationship with them today. So it's the relationships that I had and I have nothing to lose. I saw how much I benefited from the first gig. I was able to experience a different way of life, a different way of thinking, and I was also able to see, I'm like, "okay, PAA, which is me and PAB, both PAs doing the same jobs. except I'm a traveler, they're permanent. I'm making way more. I have more time." the benefits was just too obvious. I was making the money to help pay the bills because It was like four months. I didn't have a job, for my permanent job before I transitioned to travel. So I had to play catch up. I had to start doing things differently with money. I had to take a look at money differently. So once I decided to make that bold moves, just started to look for opportunities. I had time. Because I was a guest at somebody's hospital, so my anxiety level wasn't the same as somebody permanent. They kept extending my contract and kept extending it. I'm like, "I'm just just going to roll with it." All those experiences, what I was seeing over time became a good problem to have. everything I did, I took advantage of whatever opportunity was given to me because they were grateful for having somebody present to actually help with the load. So I was seeing not even a monetary benefit only, I was also seeing mindset, relationships, and networking. The places I went to, the people I met, I'm still friends with them until this day. We exchange information. it's invaluable. I can really say that. Just the people alone. I would say the relationships has been the key to my success in learning how people live differently and how they think differently because I'm travelling all over the country
Klaus Grim: Fedna, how did you support your wellbeing throughout this process? when you go from a permanent job, some people are working 9-to-5, certain specialties, you may have some varied schedule, but at least several months in advance, oftentimes. with the unpredictability, whether that contract was going to be extended, if you were going to go somewhere else, how did you balance your life and the things that are important to you — family, friends, time, exercise, nutrition — in that process?
Fedna Morency: Well, I had more time to exercise, which was good. I had more money to afford better food. it's easy for me to make friends, so I made friends and my friends are very supportive. They love that I travel so they can come and visit me. So. I don't have like a really close family, but I was able to afford to fly my mom and my sister out to spend time with me. So things I was not able to do before I was actually able to do that. again, the friends that I have, they're very supportive. my phone was always available. They always call me. I would travel to see them. I mean, listen, they love to come and visit me because I was just all over the place. That really helped out a lot. But I'll tell you, whatever issues that you have, it follows you. It doesn't matter what issues you do have, it follows you wherever you go. So it made me realize if I had an issue with family or whatever, with money the way that I thought, I'm like, "man! Just because I move, it doesn't mean everything else is going to move in a positive direction with me." So I had a time to sit down and evaluate, where I wanted my life to go with relationships, with money, with student loans. That's what it did for me. It made me think differently. I think sometimes we think if we make that move, then everything else in our life is going to make that move as well. That's not how it goes. It starts here first. It starts in your mind that mindset shift that you had to make those bold moves. You got to apply the same mindset shift to other aspects of your life. the nutrition was amazing because I was able to afford better things. My support system were great. I didn't have any issues there. And it's easy for me to make friends. So whenever I travel somewhere, it was easier to make friends when I went somewhere I like. Like, San Francisco and Connecticut. Some of the other places were, I would say, they're not really places for single people. So I'm like, "Yeah. I'm not going to go there again." So I was able to experience some things like, "okay, I can do this again, but this particular region we don't want to go there."
Klaus Grim: Wow. Thank you for sharing that. It's a very unique perspective that you brought about, and I think people forget when they make changes. the issues of life don't just disappear when we make changes, A lot of people think the grass is greener when we think of transitions from careers. But oftentimes your running away sometimes often from one challenge and maybe meeting another challenge at a different place. and being able to address these challenges are so important. And I love the power of reflection that you bring and I think, it's a underrated, or it's a cliche thing to say reflection, but it is so powerful when you're able to step back and say, "what's going on with me? How am I feeling? How am I showing up what's important to me?" and then learning how to cope and address and handle these challenges so that they don't feel as challenging.
Fedna Morency: Yeah, I 100% agree with you. I think, even therapy, I have a therapist that I see, and even looking for one. I had to pay out of the pocket, which was not a problem because of state laws. I travel so much, it's like, "wow, how can I have continuity in my personal care because I travel so much?" So I had the money to afford it, and it was not a concern like, "oh, I can't afford this person because they're too expensive." "No, it's an investment." And I have to think about money is a tool. What do I value? What am I investing in? And I think that's like the biggest thing that I learned about money is that sometimes we hold ourselves back. We would prevent ourselves from making $100,000 more because we're not willing to invest $10,000. It's a mindset thing. Money is a currency. Current flows. If you hold onto that thing, it's not going to go anywhere. It's not moving, nothing's happening. You lose time, And we know that the value of that $1 today will not be the same tomorrow. So while you think, and think about it, you're losing time. You lose an opportunity for compounded interest and compounded knowledge and wisdom. So we have to look at things as a tool. Our degree is a tool. It was an investment. How do we get the most out of it? Okay. You like the people you work with. These people don't pay your bills if something were to happen. Like, what can you do with your degree to help your family out? You love your surgeon, okay? Is he helping you make more money? We have to think of things that we value, that we prioritize, and what makes sense to us. If we can go somewhere where that's not too toxic. Obviously our mental health is important, but I think we just get too comfortable that we just stay there.
Fedna Morency: So, I learned something from my friend's mom and she said, "even if you have a job, you should always still look." And I like that it's more of a little bit of a proactive approach. And I'm pretty sure people were not doing this pre-COVID, but I learned this pre-COVID and I thought it was such wise advice because it allows you to stay ready. You don't want something to suddenly happen at your job and you start to make threats. You can't make threats because you have no leverage. It's about leveraging your degree, you leverage your skills. Don't get too comfortable because that's not where growth happened. Stay very uncomfortable, my friends. Stay uncomfortable
Klaus Grim: Yeah, there's some power of vulnerability being uncomfortable. I mean, think about ourselves when we were in PA school and rotations, and it's one of the things as a preceptor for PA students and medical students is pushing my students to be uncomfortable. Say the zebra differential, if that's on your mind. push yourself to have a large differential that may not be a hundred percent correct, but at least you can talk to and away from it, when you're talking to me about it so that we can really figure out where your learning is and how we can apply this to the case that we have. And so I think there's a lot of truth with what you just said, with vulnerability as practicing PAs in our field, and seeing things from different perspectives as well. And so I think this might be a good time Fedna, to tell us a little bit about your experiences and your strong passion for time and mindset and rethinking the way we think of money into what you've created. Will you share that with our audience?
Fedna Morency: Absolutely. I want to say this journey started with my second travel PA gig. I was making so much money. I'm like, "man, this is a whole lot of money." and I was paying like $10,000 a month on my student loans. With no issues. There was no decrease in lifestyle, nothing. it was easy. and I reconnected with a friend of mine who was in real estate. This guy is genius, I was like, "man, I wish I met you before so I can start investing with you." Then he started to teach me these terms that I didn't know. The first term that I learned was about being an 'accredited investor.' So yes, I'm making all of this money, but it wasn't enough for me to be an accredited investor. So now I'm learning things. It's like to be strategic. If you're going to make a whole lot of money, you want access to different things, then become an accredited investor. So, accredited investors essentially say that for a single person, you have to make $200,000, the year before, in the current year as well as be projected to make that same 200k the next year for married couples is 300K or have a million dollar net worth, not including your primary residence. That's what makes you an accredited investor and that give you access to other stuff. I think I was right there, but I started to make 200K, mean 200K+. So the next year I'm like, "I'm in, I'm good." I didn't see his 'no' for that opportunity at the time as like, "oh, get angry or whatever." I saw it as a challenge and it made me better. So the next year, I invested with his private equity firm. And I had access to things and people. I started to learn how to think differently in terms of like investments, and I started to put the two together. I'm like, "okay, so this is how you do it. This is how you make your money work for you." Then, he expanded and had a business, so I hired him as a wealth strategist and he taught me how to set goals, have accountability partners, and how to invest in the stock market. So I took all those lessons with me and I just kind of stuck with him. So even when my eight weeks with him was complete, I stayed connected to him. He became a mentor. So whatever I paid, I don't remember if it was like 5,000 or 8,000, whatever I paid, the value in his knowledge. I saw the value in the person. It was, the investment was worth so much more. That money that I paid has opened doors, and networks, places, that are just invaluable. And that's when I learned. It's like, "ah. So that's how you do it." You do have to pay. I mean, PA School was not free you know it's access. Coach, it is not free to access. basketball camp is not free. Nothing is free. But how do you want to use money as a tool, right? How do you want to use it? Do you want access? Do you want value? is the investment worth it? We were so comfortable relying on the government loan for PA school, but I always say if we actually had the money ourselves and our bank to pay for that, would we actually do it? so I just started to pay attention. It's like congress is going to, change things every two years, every four years. We're not really guaranteed that these student loans are going to be forgiven. By the time I made so much money, I didn't qualify anything, so I was just paying off the loans. So travel PA became popular in 2020, Because COVID happened. And people were getting furloughed, people were getting fired. It doesn't matter. But they needed to feed their families. They had no choice but to get up and get a job and do things. They had to be creative. So you see how tragedy just makes everybody so uncomfortable. But there's there's beauty in it. It made you creative, it made you get up, do things you would not have otherwise done. But now we're back to comfortable. Yeah. We have to stay uncomfortable because that's where the creativity is. So COVID happened and I was still experiencing a lot of things, and people were asking me for the course. My friend was like, "you should create a course." I created a course. I created a course, because we need to think of strategy. People would ask me very specific questions, but if you have a strategy that can work for you and your lifestyle and that season of you in your life. I think it's better than me saying, "you should work with this agency. because guess what? Next year is going to be another agency. Another agency and another agency. I don't know who's going to go out, who's going to come in, who's going to be the best, but at least I am teaching a system that you can take with you at any point in time." So you have to ask yourself, is this worth it for me? And the course itself teaches you how to make the money. I have an accountant in there that teaches you how to keep more of your money. We talk about the W2 1099. I have somebody in there who talk about protecting your assets. There's somebody in there who talk about community. My fellow travel PA, we talk about how if we need a gig, we'll call each other or just pass down information. Community matters wherever you go. And I think travel PAs need community as well. I brought in a psych PA to talk about some of the issues that you can have when you travel and you're like in a remote location. And then I bring somebody in there to talk about generational wealth, talk about his experiences, how my investment started with real estate, Broadway, sports. I'm a sports owner, by the way, like a sports team on soccer team. So about how to start early. So that's how it started. People were asking, it made sense to me. But I didn't just want to give like a cookie cutter answer. I wanted to, make people think and help them create a system for themselves and understand that I am teaching how to make $10,000 more, $20,000 more, $30,000 more. Not just one time, but all the time. So all the mindset things, all the strategies that I teach, what I want people to take from it is you're not just taking this and applying it this time. You can even apply it to your permanent job because the information is so valuable.
Klaus Grim: So it sounds like this community is built for those who are interested in travel medicine, but also if you're in travel medicine, you brought up the power of community which I think is becoming the newest trend, I think in the entrepreneurial world and for good reason. community is so important and some people have community through church, through colleagues, through friends. but sometimes that community can get lost as we start to make changes in our lives and maybe we're traveling, maybe we, which is even harder. So if you were part of a, like a church group or some local community running group, whatnot, now you're in a totally different area. and it may, that connection is so important for just our wheel of life, our dimension of social health. so, what are you hearing so far in that community of what are people saying about it?
Fedna Morency: so my Travel PA Your Way to Wealth community are for travel PAs because everything we talk about there, unless you've taken the course or a travel PA yourself, is going to be confusing. And then the standard is not going to be a little bit different because, for example, I've had somebody in there who signed up for the course, they haven't completed the course, and I can tell just because the things that we talk about, the mindset is different. People value the information, they value the connection, they value just having other people there with different point of views. I think the thing that they love about more is the mindset. I had a sessional mindset, so we do, like zoom calls twice per month where I invite another PA or another professional to talk about money, to talk about wealth because we know. Yes, we're making this money, but we all know is how much you keep. because people can make money and just waste it, right? So how do we use this thing? Now you have time for yourself because in travel PA you can work how much you want to. It's totally up to you. So we bring people in, and one of the thing that they loved the most was the mindset. I think mindset is underestimated and undervalued. Because this here, your mind is so powerful and we don't think about it enough. And that was one of the sessions that they absolute love. The other thing that I love that, they love about the community is we get to share information like, membership reward cards. we can share that information. We share who's our accountant. We share about which prices are reasonable. We share gigs, we share information. People want get a referral bonus. Drop that gig in that community, get you little money, help you out. So, they love the community and to be honest with you, you're correct. No matter what happened in we're going to have different communities. In PA school, we had the same class for two years or three years, that was your community for that time. Then you went on and have a community at your job or back to your regular life. But you're right, things are going to change in different season. So you're either going to become part of a community or you're going to create community for others.
Klaus Grim: I love that. I love that, and I love that you created a community for people who share similar experiences to you and using your experiences and your passion for, mindset, money, mindset of travel, mindset, taking control and advocacy for yourself in a very powerful way. And so if somebody's here listening to this episode and they're feeling stuck or curious about other options about whether travel medicine is for them, investing is for them, but not sure where to start, what's that first step that's actually within their control right now?
Fedna Morency: First step is networking. It's within your control. You can go to hashtags on Instagram or LinkedIn. You could DM me, dm other travel PAs or recruiters. and I'm also currently I'm developing a tool, which this tool is amazing. I'm developing a tool and it's a strategy tool. you basically go on my website and there's a strategy tool, and what you do is you click on it and it's going to ask you, where are you in your PA career. So it's like from zero to two years to five years, or five years plus. And then based on your answers, it's going to tell you the next move you should make.
Klaus Grim: I can't wait to see that tool I'm excited about it. And to let our listeners know in the link in the bio you'll see links to Fedna's course and community if you want to learn more. and then hopefully maybe by the time, later on this tool will be available to you. because that sounds pretty interesting. A projection of.
Fedna Morency: It is. Yes, and I do have free things on there as well where I have free ebook in there. It's the ultimate guide to becoming a travel PA. that's really where they should start too, because it kind of go down all the things, everything that people ask about. Where to look, 1099 and W2. All those information that people would want to know, I would say start with that tool and then the network as well. So go on the website, download the free ebook, check out the course, and that tool is coming up. Okay. I am very excited about it. And they can find me on social media as well, so yeah.
Klaus Grim: Thank you for sharing that. I think that sounds like an amazing first step for those who are considering, a different way forward, or maybe you're not considering, but maybe, as you had mentioned Fedna from the advice you got from somebody, it's always good to have other job prospects in mind. So, thinking about what a travel PA assignment, could look like for you by just looking, investigating, see what it's like, and see if it's right for you. And so Fedna, what do you wish somebody had told you before you made this leap into travel medicine? What would've made this transition easier or maybe a little bit less scary for you?
Fedna Morency: I think it would have been great to normalize it like this is part of medicine. Did you guys know there's a such thing called "locum tenens" where healthcare providers go and provide access to care and you have to tie in people's passions with what they're already doing. If you love rural community, you can travel. Listen, they always need people. You can go there. You're still making an impact. You're providing access to care as a PA. Now, if you're young or single with no kids or an empty nester and you love to travel, this is absolutely one of the best tools, So I wish it would have been normalized, but let me tell you something. It's the future and the future is here. It's only growing. Compact licensure around the corner. The PA profession is popular. There's so many different pathways you can take as a PA and I've been more in contact or a lot of early career PAs have been in contact with me and some of them are like packing up their stuff and they're going traveling. I love that. I love the boldness. I love that they're not afraid. I love that they see the value in their PA degree, that they don't have to give it up. They can use it however they want to and create their own lane. So I wish there was more. There was more talks about that, like you can normalize this, you don't have to just be a W2. We would talk about business and medicine, I think in the beginning would have been nice to know more about so that we can know what our options are. Or even if you don't travel, ask your employer, do you offer 1099 things like that? Because becoming a travel PA, it teaches you how to be a business for yourself, teaches you how to be an entrepreneur. The lessons are just invaluable.
Klaus Grim: Thank you for sharing that. So it sounds There are just so many endless options, and the first step is just really just to start exploring and just getting curious, I think getting curious, if that's part of your mindset as you mentioned earlier, Being curious, you never know where this will take you. maybe it is staying with what you're doing, but maybe it's taking that next step like Fedna mentioned and that she did. and awareness and understanding is often the first step to making, changes in your life. So I really appreciate you coming onto this podcast and sharing your background, your expertise, and your passion. Your passion shines through. And if any of this. Of course. No, it's serious and Fedna and I connected on LinkedIn and so I'm glad you gave that plug to reach out. we always value connection as ourselves, and so if this resonates with you, if you're on LinkedIn, please message, Fedna or I, we'd love to connect and leave us a, like a comment or share this with somebody that you think would value from this talk because we always value the opportunity for people to learn to grow and to develop as a human being in life and as a PA because both of us are PAs and we are very passionate about our profession. All right, everybody, we'll see you at the next episode
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About the Founder
Dr. Lillian Liang Emlet
Physician · Executive Coach · Founder, Transforming Healthcare Coaching®
Lillian is a practicing physician, certified executive coach, and the founder of the Transforming Healthcare Coaching® podcast — this episode is hosted by co-host Klaus Grim, PA-C CPC ELI-MP. She works with clinicians, clinical leaders, and healthcare executives leading through role transitions, seasons at capacity, and culture change — helping them lead with clarity, intention, and sustainability.
Learn more about Lillian →