Doctor and Author, Sayeh Beheshti
We are very pleased to introduce Dr. Sayeh Beheshti, a successful medical director who recently decided to take up writing as a side-gig. She is currently in the process of writing her memoirs. Dr. Beheshti’s education, professional experience and life story are all part of her success, and she shares some of her insights with our readers below.
What gig work do you do? What made you decide to do this? How long have you been doing it?
My day job: I am the medical director and part owner of Healing Path Recovery (HPR), a drug and alcohol detox and residential program. I have been treating addiction for over ten years, and together with my business partners, established HPR in 2014. I have an affinity for helping those who are forsaken by others, and people who suffer from addiction issues have a lot of stigma surrounding them. The work challenges me on a daily basis while I strive to remain non-judgmental and hopeful.
My side gig: I am a writer by nature. I have a few published poems and short stories and have had an active blog since 2012. For the past 18 months, I have been working on writing my coming of age memoir which will be the first full-length book I have written. I grew up in Iran during the revolution which led to the overthrow of the government in 1979, and subsequently lived through four years of the Iran-Iraq war before migrating to the United States.
In addition to dealing with the violence around me, I also struggled to understand the treatment of women in our culture. Those struggles continued even after I came to the United States where women are treated differently than they are in Iran, but still struggle with issues of inequality. Given the world-wide and local political climate of the last few years, I decided to write my memoir to explore my own experiences.
What training or education did you have? How did this inform your career path and/or your side-Gig?
I received a Medical Doctorate degree from University of California, Irvine in 2006 and completed a four year residency in psychiatry in 2010. I graduated from medical school with distinction in the humanities and arts for my writings. Since completing my residency training, I started a successful private practice in psychiatry which I have now retired from, and then co-founded HPR.
All of my traditional training and experience, however, directly prepared me for what I need to succeed as a published author. I am now in the process of establishing a 'platform' as an author in order to approach agents and publishers for my book. What my training has given me is credibility and authority, but I still need to find a way to enter this other world of writers and publishers.
What is the best part about gig work?
I have always had a passion for writing, but I never thought of it as a career path. I love my job as a physician, and enjoy the benefits that it provides for me. Writing is a wonderful side-gig because it allows me to explore the more expressive and artistic side of my psyche and it feels like soul-work. The best part has been pursuing my life-dream of publishing a book, what I'm learning, and the connections I am making through the process.
What was the hardest part about starting with gig work? How would you advise others about this?
The hardest part has been finding a balance between the time I spend on my 'day job' and the time I spend on writing. Especially in my line of work, I bring it home and am on call 24-7, so there is no specific time that I consider as 'free time.' The best advice I can give about this is to assign specific times on your calendar to work on your side-gig.
How have you leveraged social media and the web to grow your gig work?
I have had to learn to use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and am working with a marketing adviser who teaches me on how to utilize social media to get my message out as an author. The publishing industry wants to know about an author's platform before giving any attention to their work, so it's essential for me to build my platform in parallel to writing my book.
Many people start doing gig work to reach financial freedom. Has it been profitable?
Not in my case. As a physician and business owner, I have achieved the financial freedom I needed to give myself permission to work on writing. I have been very fortunate to have a career that is financially rewarding.
How do you balance your gig work with your personal life (family, vacations, leisure-time, etc.)?
This is difficult. One of the ways I balance is that I talk to my family about my writing. This opens a lot of discourse while helping me get new ideas and perspectives on what to write next. Writing is isolated work, however, and I find that I do a lot of my writing when everyone else is asleep.
How has your business adapted to the sudden changes of the past couple of months?
It has been quite a transition, and not easy. I have a pre-existing condition, so I'm seeing patients from home. Obviously I can't do physical exams from home, so I have other physicians covering for me for the physical exam portions. At HPR, I worked hard to implement strict guidelines to keep my staff and patients safe. It has been quite an adjustment for all of my staff who were used to seeing me at the facility on a daily basis.
What is your goal in the next 5-10 years?
In addition to maintaining a successful facility for drug and alcohol treatment, I'd like to publish my memoir, followed by other books that I have been working on. Eventually I will need to retire from my work as a physician, but I hope to continue writing for the rest of my life.
Contact Info
You can find out more about Dr. Beheshti at her website, www.doctorbeheshti.com, or by emailing her at office@doctorbeheshti.com.
