Business Innovators Radio - Dr. Shawn Ward – Foot & Ankle Surgeon, Director of Residency for West Central Ohio Podiatry

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Dr. Shawn Ward DPM, FACFAS is a Board Certified Foot and Ankle Surgeon and the Director of the Foot and Ankle Residency Program of West Central Ohio Podiatry. Dr. Ward joins us to discuss his drive and commitment to open his private practice and continue to push his expertise by diving into an Orthoplastics Fellowship in 2016. Dr. Ward has been a client of Strategic Navigators for nearly five years. Tune in as he offers an inside view into his experience with the SNI team, highlighting the warm treatment he has received and the incredible income tax reduction he has experienced each year with our strategies.Learn more about Dr. Ward and his practice:http://wcopodiatry.com/shawn-c-ward-dpm-facfas/There’s an old adage that says you should pay your fair share of taxes but not a penny more. We believe that to be true.We help business owners and high-income earners realize their savings by deploying time-tested tax strategies with decades of case law to back it up.Each strategy must pass through our sift of being legal, moral, and ethical.Get your complementary analysis to see how much you overpay on an annual basis. Click the link below to schedule your complimentary analysis.Learn More: https://www.stratnavinc.com/Schedule Call: https://www.navigatesni.com/NAVIGATEhttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/navigateSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/dr-shawn-ward-foot-ankle-surgeon-director-of-residency-for-west-central-ohio-podiatry

And I have noticed a tax savings of going, you know, into the brackets of 28% down to my tax burden is anywhere between 5% and 6%. Hey guys, welcome to the Navigate podcast brought to you by Strategic Navigators. I'm Adam Dirksen here. And what we do here is save business owners 40 to 60% on their income taxes. Hey, this is Mitch Zelanti. And today on the podcast, we have a current Strategic Navigators client, Dr. Sean Ward is a board certified foot and ankle surgeon and the director for the foot and ankle residency program at West Central Ohio Pediatry. So Dr. Ward, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for coming

on. Thank you. It's an honor to be here. Yeah, well, please just tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and how that led to you, you know, being in this career that you're in now. Yeah, just to encapsulate where I came from. Just a middle class, kid, motivated individual, played high school and college athletics, and really had a passion for medicine. Didn't know what that meant. But lo and behold, I ended up going to medical school coming out doing a residency, and I graduated as a podiatrist.

And that means a lot of things all over the country and all over the world. and over working very diligently and hard. Just I think a work ethic was placed in me from a young individual. My father was probably in most cases considered a workaholic, and I kind of followed in that footsteps and just really worked diligently to create a private practice. And private practice, as you know today, is kind of a dying breed. but it, you know, 24 years ago, it was a great thing. So I worked hard from nothing to build a practice. And over the years, it just became from a business standpoint, increasingly difficult. But yet from a medical standpoint, it was, it was, it's been quite a ride. It's been an experience that I've enjoyed. I love doing what I do. I've kind of found myself into the niche of. of kind of a subspecialty that we call orthoplastics to where I do a lot of the really

challenging, difficult cases where there is involved trauma and reconstructive cases to fix complex problems. And so that's where my niche has fallen. And through that, I've now become the residency director for a residency program that trains foot and ankle surgeons to do all kinds of things that I expose them to from trauma reconstruction to a lot of peripheral nerve surgery. I do a lot of neuropathic procedures where people that have the dreadful neuropathy in pain in their legs and feet, I can correct that. I can fix foot drop. And I will just pause and say all of these things. And I never want to forget that I have a wife that is a prayer warrior. And she has prayed, despite challenges and family raising three sons. I wasn't around a lot. We homeschooled. My wife is a champion.

And she has prayed a lot. She has prayed us through many things. And I have a good God that I love and serve. And so I don't want to forget that the achievements, although I've worked hard, they don't come unless God anoints it. And so I'm very thankful for that. And God has, even despite challenges upon challenges, God has anointed my practice and then the overall business aspect of what we've tried to accomplish. And as medicine and my teaching, ability has kind of come to a place where I'm now enjoying the fact that I can teach and I can still do the things I enjoy doing. There's also this whole business side where medicine is difficult these days and not just medicine in general, but private practice and reimbursements and

challenges with payers and payroll taxes. And you see all of these things coming to a head where it just created my wife and I to say, hey, there's some problems because, wow, are you seeing all this taxes? You know, you follow a dollar through the practice. And I'm like, this is awful. And I'm not against paying for what our government structurally does for us. But I think that there's when you see the chaos that's happening in today's world, you quickly realize that my dollar to help the government isn't, isn't being used to really help our country. It's used in other ways that I don't agree with. And so I think that directed me toward finding out where a couple friends of ours had mentioned,

oh, you ought to check out this consultant from Chicago. And so as time progressed, I'm trying to do things differently. I started to get involved in real estate to create some other other resources of passive income that could, you know, but yet it's taxed, right? So, so anyway, trying to create businesses, trying to create an atmosphere, but still do the thing that I love to do, but not want to give it all away in taxes. And so that's how, you know, moving down the road, I finally, it's over four years, almost going on five years that I got introduced to Josh. So, and strategic navigators. So you're a serial entrepreneur.

Yeah, I think so. That's awesome. That's fun to see. Before we get into going into some text talk and things like that, you said there's a phrase that you had a few minutes back, orthoplastics. I want to learn a little bit more about that. Can you tell us a little bit more about orthoplastics? I already knew you were a lot smarter than both of us, but as soon as you said that,

it became very clear to everyone listening. So when, I should say, kind of back in the 2000s, I got introduced to a lot of new things that I never experienced in my residency. And I quickly found out that I have to gain more training. It's just not enough to what I learned in residency. And you're talking 25 years ago, 26 years ago. And some of those things were only very scratching the surface. And so I began seeking out other ways of teaching myself. And one of the ways was I ended up in 2016 doing a fellowship.

And so I started doing a lot of trauma and a lot of reconstructive care using what's called an external circular frame. So you hear people say, I have a halo or I got a halo. And a lot of times it was used in neurosurgery where they put it around your skull. They drill into your skull and you've got it drilled or literally connected to your. So you can't move your neck. So this originated actually, these types of things originated in Russia. And it's called an Illazharov technique. And essentially you're putting pins or rods through the bone and then you're stabilizing to an external ring that goes around your foot.

ankle leg. And what that does is that just completely bypasses the weight from your stepping on the ground around the injured area to through the rings and the pins. And what that does is that allows healing. And then there's other techniques for deformity correction. I've been able to have the pleasure of lecturing in Kenyatta Hospital in Kenya, Africa, and clubfoot correction, where we use these techniques to correct very difficult deformities. And so that spurred me to being associated with a very close mentor and friend in Chicago, actually, Eduardo Rodriguez, who is just been a pusher and an advocate for me. And I've learned a lot through him.

And I did a fellowship training with him to learn microsurgery. So now we're talking about peripheral nerve cases. And then we're talking about taking flaps. So I'll take your calf muscle and I'll cover up an area on the front of your leg and I'll rotate skin on an artery in order as a helicopter. We call it a propeller flap. Or I'll do an ankle joint replacement. And if something goes wrong, we'll fix it with a flap.

And so orthoplastics is I do orthopedic and trauma correction. but I also involve plastics, which are skin flaps and muscle flaps, in order to cover or correct areas where there is a large wound or there's a large deficit or bone deficit. And then peripheral nerve repair for people have injuries. I've had firework injuries where I've had to repair a nerve all the way to correcting someone with foot drop using peripheral nerve microscope cases. So that's orthoplastics.

Okay. Well, that was great. A lot of what you said reminded me of our previous interviewee on the podcast, Partha and Ava, he started this company called Lassow. Have you heard of that by any chance? I have not. He invented this sock that sort of mimics ankle taping. At least that's what the higher sock does.

I know he, sorry, Parth, if you're listening in this, I don't want to butcher it, but I know his lower sock revolves more around the arch. But another thing is his invention was inspired by athletics. I want to go back to you saying that you were an athlete because Adam and I were both collegiate athletes as well. I played lacrosse in college and Adam was a collegiate sprinter. So what did you play? You went to Ohio University, right?

I went to Finley High School, Finley, Ohio, and then I went to Ohio Northern University, which is a Division III NCAA college. And I played football there. Okay. Great. I want to hear a little bit. too about how, you know, your athletic mindset translated to your drive and wanting to start your own practice. And obviously, that's a lot more difficult than just going and working for

a hospital. So tell us a little bit about some of those early years and maybe provide a little bit of inspiration to someone listening who's thinking about doing that or scare them away, either one. Yeah, right. No, that's a great question too, because I think athletics, whatever you want to say about athletics wrong or right. I think a lot of people have opinions. But I think in my, my experience is that athletics created a discipline and it pushed you to be disciplined. At least it did for me. And I think that that's where the value of being involved in athletics, it also creates a lot of team, teamwork. It also creates a lot of opportunities to depend on other people and what do you do when you can't depend on other people? And so I think that that can be

applied, you know, as you move forward in life and in business or whatever vocation, you know, you got to be disciplined in order to make things happen because without the discipline, you're not going to be able to push through when things are difficult. You've got to push yourself. Right. Absolutely. Another thing, Dr. Ward, I wanted to go into, you talked about the anointing that God's placed on you. And I want to, you have an anointing of healing. I want to read a review that you got eight months ago. Someone wrote, this is a man named Jeff, wrote, Dr. Ward is giving me my comfort of walking back. A serious injury treated in two corrective surgeries, one on each foot, has made my future much brighter. All that just in the past year, I'd almost given up hope for

normal comfort. The entire staff deserves my thanks. Words cannot describe my level of support for them. Thanks so much. Bless you all. What do you feel when you hear something like that and when you impact a patient's life like that? No, that's that's why I do it. Wow. Yeah, I didn't. I've never even heard that review. So that's pretty cool. One of the things that early on, and when I say anointing, you know what, I serve a God. I've been born again through Jesus Christ, you know, and realize that he died for me. And only through him can I have eternal life. And so I'm anointed through that.

And besides that, I just continue to acknowledge him every step of the way. And so when early on, I realized that, you know what, my platform is being able to help people. God's given me this platform. And so I want to use this platform to physically help people so I can spiritually point them to the real healer. And I think that what I've tried to do in our office, and my wife and I both, I mean, she's helped decorate where we point, when you come in our office, you know that we believe in a God that heals. And we believe that there is a spiritual component to things that happen in your life. And so we try to make it that way. We try to create a culture in our office where our staff cares for people because there's plenty of people in medicine that don't receive care.

We spend time with people. We don't rush them. It makes things tough sometimes, but they know and they care. They see that we actually have a genuine concern for them. And so I think when I hear that, I want to thank my staff because they're a huge part of it. I can't do this kind of stuff without, you know, without them. And then, you know, I'm just, I'm just thankful. I praise God for that because that's just, that's what we're here for.

You know, we're, I feel like our practice and what I do is, is here to help people. so I can glorify God. Well, Dr. Ward, that was just one review, and I can only imagine the countless lives that you've impacted and your practice and everything that you've done. And with that, I want to transition a little bit into the impact that we've made on you with strategic navigators and how we've made an impact on you from a personal side and with your business. So tell us about your initial interactions with the team and your thoughts and what the process was like for you. Yeah. So when I was first introduced to Josh, the one thing that I think I'll initially say is that Josh is the CEO of the company. Josh is the, he's the head guy. Okay. So this is the head person talking with me, which you don't find that. Okay. First of all, I don't, you know, usually there's

other people in it, in administrative positions that do that. Yes. Yeah. And so I just am, I was initially think, wow, okay, this is pretty significant. And then I'm thinking, this must be a small company. No, this is not a small company. This is a pretty good size company, from my standpoint, at least. And so those sorts of things stood out. And I think as I started walking through the process, number one is that they are genuine and they're kind.

Mandy has was always super kind and she's very responsive. and that's what we noticed. And then as we're walking through just a consultation as to what strategic navigators could provide for us, you know, it was not, there was no pushy sales pitch. It was, hey, this is what we have experienced. This is what we think that we can do for you. You know, obviously there's variables sometimes we don't know, but boy, we're pretty confident that we can we can do this for you and and i think that because josh you can you know that he's more

than just this um CEO or this business leader um expert he he's also a man of god and in i i see it i you can experience it and realize that there's more to him and so because of the genuineness and the kindness of him. And then just the expertise. I mean, he's, I felt like my wife and I, we would get off these Zoom calls and we thought, we're taking like a business class in college and we're like, oh my gosh. I was like, I don't even understand that. And if we didn't understand it, simply calling him, he would, he would explain it again,

very graciously. And so those are the things initially that they were inviting. They were genuine. in and you knew that they weren't trying to sell you anything. They're literally trying to make life better for you. And if you don't want it, that's okay. They weren't, they, they weren't upset or trying to push something down your throat. So I was, that, that's the initial.

Yeah. Well, thanks for starting us off with that. I love hearing that that's your initial interaction with Josh. And I'm not surprised because that's, that's who he is. and we get to see that on a daily basis, Adam and I both do. Adam, I've taken up a lot of questions. I want to give you a chance to ask about Dr. Ward's experience in the process as well. Yeah, thank you for all that, Dr. Ward.

So in the process, one thing that we like to say we deliver is 40 to 60% savings. Now, you don't need to share your personal numbers or anything like that, but did we deliver what we said we would? And was it just like a one-time thing or have we continued? to deliver. Have you seen, have you realized those savings each and every year? Have they been greater each and every year growing? And I just a little bit about that, please. Yeah. I can tell you that when Josh initially explained to us, you know, the how we would pay for the services, you know, initially I was like, wow, okay, that seemed, it seemed like not terrible, but it seemed like a lot. And I'm saying, and I'm telling you that so listeners know that it's not a lot.

Okay. I'm saying that because you hear it and you think, oh boy, this is too much. But I assure you and I hope that you realize as you listen to the next few minutes that that's not the case at all. And in fact, it was just a drop in the bucket of the savings. And so that is a testament also of how they're really trying to become part of the process for freeing people from all kinds of financial issues in life. Number one, meaning just freedom from not only just the tax burden, but then freeing up money for other things.

And so, yeah, my experience was that after the first year of working, and I know we're fast forwarding, I didn't explain the force. year, but after the first year, when I received a tax return that was in the tax world to me, I'd never see anything like this before. And I'll just say it was $80,000. And I'm like, what in the what? And I called Josh, a business owner getting a tax return is not likely. Yeah, no. And not only that, but a giant, I literally called Josh and said, am I going to go to jail. And Josh goes, if you were going to go to jail, you would already be there. And so, and I say that only to say that it is legitimate. And I have noticed a tax savings of going, you know, into the brackets

of 28% down to my tax burden is anywhere between 5% and 6%. And so that is just not, when I tell that to people, and when I'm explaining this process, they don't believe it. And they're like, are you kidding me? And I was like, look, that's just, that's what I've experienced. And it's been consistent. So they answer your question there. Not only did I see it initially, it has been consistent year after year after year. And it's been incredible.

Thank you for sharing that because I say I speak for myself and Mitch as well. I'm sure one of the biggest objections that we get, is it sounds too good to be true. And my mother always told me or my father always told me if it's too good to be true, right? It probably is. So, um, and we get it. Like we understand like we understand people having that reaction, but we also, we also know what we're standing, you know, behind.

And we, we know what we represent. So we still get to carry that confidence, but that reaction is still there. Yeah. Agreed. So we did deliver. That's awesome. And then, you know, just like follow up steps. and then referring us to other businesses.

I mean, that's the tall-tale sign of a product. Well, worth it is when the referrals start to come. And word of mouth business is a great way to grow. So thank you very much for that. Another question I wanted to ask you was relating to your CPA. Did we get a chance to work with your CPA? Did we steal you from your CPA? Because that's another question that we get often.

How did that process? work with integrating your accountant? Great question. Yeah, you're right. It is often asked of me as well. And what I explain to people is also what I've also experienced is that in no way, shape, or form does strategic navigators want to steal your CPA? In fact, in going through the process, it was up front from Josh that they provide accounting services, but they're not here to take your accountant or replace your accountant that they're here to work alongside your accountant and hopefully teach your accountant new things. And that's what I experienced. My accountant,

I appreciate him. And I thought, you know, let's just see how this goes. I don't know. And, you know, I would say that the year that is devoted to developing the new structure for all of this and to going through the little hiccups to try to make it right, especially when it comes to you and your accountant. Because what I've learned is most accountants, and again, I'm just observing these things, most accountants are not privy to this type of structure that strategic navigators applies. And so it's new. And an accountants are also, they're a different.

breed. And so what that means is, you know, if it's not what they know, then they're not going to go for it and they think it's wrong. And so I, Josh was very, very gracious and also just very soft and gentle with my accountant because I know there were several occasions with there were emails and there were discussions. And he said, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it. And then him and my accountant worked through issues. And it was great. And so I'm very blessed by that because that means that now here where in my hometown, my accountant also now has these tools that he's using for me. And I don't doubt that there's a few other guys because I've been talking, you know, to a lot of people. So so my hope is that, you know, it's a learning thing.

And that's what I'm involved in in my field. So, you know, I always tell people, I was like, Josh is the guy. that's on the podium teaching the people that are accountants. And I was like, so you can rest assured he knows what he's talking about. Perfect. So going along the same lines of objections, did you have some initial objections, like the too good to be true or other things or anything like that? You know, I was at a place where I was willing to take a step of faith.

and just do it. And so objections, I think what really sold me quite honestly in my life and married to my wife, if she is falling in line with it, then I'm okay and I'm comfortable. When she's resisting, I have to really double check and say, okay, is this something we should do? She was, we were together saying, boy, I don't know. Is this for real? But I think that we were at a place where everything was so difficult from a tax liability standpoint,

we didn't have any other options. And it was one of those things where because of the process that we went through, it started to click, you know, as we went through it. So I don't have a good, I don't have, there is no good anecdote for if you are a person that aren't going to believe. but I can tell you that it's trusting people. And you can tell from the beginning that strategic navigators and Josh, Sun J, these guys, they're experts and you can trust them because you can feel it.

I don't know how to say it. You can tell. And so I think that, yes, the too good to be true is a real thing. People think that in the stealing of accountants and that, oh, this is wrong. But it's not. So Dr. Word, you were saying earlier that you weren't necessarily hoping to keep funding what the government was doing with your tax dollars. And regardless of what parties in office, I think beyond some of the things that we all need roads and teachers and a fire department and things like that. But I think given the choice, we'd rather fund some things that we really believe in.

So can you talk a little bit about how strategic navigators and what we've done for you has been able to, been able to help you and your impact beyond what you're doing from a medical perspective? Medically, you know, I think what it's done is it has freed me to, to utilize some of the savings to, you know, give to ministry or to invest in my sons to have, have, have, the revenue that, you know, I don't even know if I'm answering your question correctly, but I just know that. No, you are. Absolutely.

Yeah. And Josh, I like what he says. He's like, the money should be in your pocket, not whatever other entity or the government. And we're just, I really think that we get, I don't know, branded in this culture to think that, oh, well, taxes are taxes, you know, we got to just just pay them and that's the way it is. And yeah. And I think that that book also, the power of zero was really an eye opener to just kind of learn some of those things. And I just think that, unfortunately, what I see is a lot of people in life. And I've been there and I get there sometimes too. You just get so bogged down with the

busyness of life and moving that you just don't decide to take the time to do important things like this. And I would encourage people to take time to seek out ways that you can have the edge. And it's not to have the edge as, you know, better than the next person. No, it's so that you free up resources to utilize for your family, to utilize for, you know, charities or donations, the church. And so these are, these are the things that are important. And, you know, that's, that's what I think that the tax savings has done for us. Yeah, well, thanks for sharing that. Adam, do you have any more questions? I did want to wrap up with one last one. Yeah, go ahead. Dr. Ward, do you have any advice to other medical professionals that are young and have big

aspirations and want to get into the same field that you're in? And maybe they're out there or maybe someone is considering using S&I as their tax-saving specialists, that group. I know it's a two-ended question there, but do you have any advice for people that may be in one of those two categories? Yeah, no, thank you for that question. because, you know, I have the opportunity. It's really a privilege to teach residents.

So every day I have people following me in a teaching capacity at the hospital. And I have the opportunity to speak in to their life in many ways. And so that's exciting. It's not just teaching them medicine. I'm trying to teach them life and what little bit I know and understand. And so I would say to these young people, people coming out, number one, they have an incredible debt. And that is a burden that is beyond what is comprehensible sometimes. And so I think for them to start out in a way that can free up taxes in multiple ways. I mean, we didn't even go into all the

intricacies of it. But I mean, it frees them up from a tax liability standpoint. I would say it's important to get grounded because I wish I would have known this 24 years ago, not five years ago. And I think that's the key that it would benefit them to start out in this way so that they can get further ahead. And I think our culture is, it's challenging. You men know. the thing is is that just working hard and having a work ethic that, you know, when when things get difficult, you're going to be disciplined and you're going to, you know, pull your bootstraps up and get her done. I think that we're losing that. And I think that that's the other thing I try to instill in these young people. It's like, look, this, we don't need a wellness day.

What you need is you need to just get it done. And, you know, there'll be time to take a break. And I think that that's a thing. You work hard. You take care of people. You do it the right way, rather than just getting it done. You do it correctly, rather than just checking it off your list. And it will come back to you and then more.

And so I think that it's hard work, dedication, it would serve new practitioners well. And then also it's get grounded from a financial standpoint. And that's what I try to steer the residents that I get to work with. Raising up the next generation. Thank you for that advice. Someone's going to benefit from that for sure. Yeah. Dr. Ward, this was fantastic.

It's an honor to be in business with you. And thank you so much for coming on and sharing everything that you shared. I love hearing your heart behind what you do and the impact you want to have for your patience. And thank you for the things that you said about S&I too and the things you said about Josh. I know when Josh listens to this, that he'll feel very honored by your words. So again, just thanks so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. Yeah. Mitch, Adam, you guys are great. Thank you. Working for a great company. And I'd love to see young men just pushing ahead. That's awesome. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thanks for listening to Navigate. If you're interested in learning more about strategic navigators, feel free to click on the link in the description.