Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Dr. Alex Planes’ Honest Opinion on Scaling Your Business

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Welcome back to The Radcast! In this compelling episode, we delve into the dynamic world of business scaling with Dr. Alex Planes, a prominent dentist and entrepreneur. Dr. Planes, whose remarkable journey spans from managing a single dental practice to overseeing a thriving network of nine, offers invaluable insights into the challenges and triumphs of business expansion.During this engaging conversation, Dr. Planes emphasizes the pivotal role played by strategic division of responsibilities, unwavering trust, and the establishment of a robust business infrastructure. Listeners are treated to a candid exploration of Dr. Planes' experiences, highlighting the resilience needed to overcome obstacles and the deep fulfillment derived from helping others.Tune in to discover the secrets behind Dr. Planes' entrepreneurial success and gain practical wisdom on navigating the complexities of business growth. This episode is not just a conversation; it's a masterclass in resilience, determination, and the art of building a thriving business!Dr. Alex Planes’ Journey to Dentistry. He established his own practice, overcoming obstacles like securing a loan, hiring staff, and shifting from direct mail to digital marketing. His determination and passion for personalized patient care have been key to his successful dental career. (01:09) Dr. Alex emphasizes transparency and genuine patient care in his practice. As a first-generation doctor in his family, he aims to establish a legacy for future generations, drawing inspiration from the strong work ethic and unity ingrained in his Cuban heritage. (08:26) Dr. Alex talks about the challenges of working with his strong-willed wife in their dental practice and how they manage it by dividing their roles effectively. Additionally, he provides crucial advice for entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses, emphasizing the importance of strong infrastructure, careful financial planning, and strategic investments for successful growth. (12:29) The discussion focuses on the high client acquisition costs in dental procedures, especially in areas like full arch dental work. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing the lifetime value of a customer in the dental industry. (17:30) Dr. Alex Planes operates a training institute where he teaches dentists full arch procedures and helps them build successful dental practices focused on this specialized service. Both Ryan and Dr. Alex emphasize the importance of not just acquiring knowledge but also effectively implementing and executing it in the business world. (21:02) Dr. Alex underscores the significance of consistency, discipline, and commitment in reaching goals. He shares his journey from modest beginnings in Hialeah to opening nine dental practices, highlighting that determination can lead to significant accomplishments, emphasizing that with determination, anyone can achieve their aspirations. (25:19) Dr. Alex talks about the resilience needed in dentistry, addressing challenges like denials, HR issues, and life-threatening situations. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of hands-on patient care despite managing multiple practices, highlighting the challenge of balancing leadership duties with ensuring patient safety and satisfaction. (26:47) Dr. Alex shares his passion for coaching and mentoring professionals. He emphasizes the importance of non-negotiable family time, actively participating in his children's activities, and creating lasting memories. He aims for regular vacations and quality family time despite his busy schedule, challenging the myth of work-life balance. (30:31) Dr. Alex plans to consolidate his dental business and concentrate on expanding his consulting company, Lifestream, and the Implants For All Institute. His ultimate goal is to inspire others and assist them in recognizing their full potential, emphasizing his commitment to mentorship and empowerment. (35:31)Dr. Alex Planes shares valuable insights on scaling a business, highlighting the importance of teamwork, strategic planning, and continuous learning for entrepreneurs. His story showcases resilience, determination, and a passion for patient care and mentorship. The episode emphasizes consistency and giving back to the community. If you want to learn more about Dr. Alex Planes, check out his Instagram @dralexaplanes and his website https://www.i4a.events/. Learn more by visiting our website at www.theradcast.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcast. If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

You're listening to The Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. We've got an in-studio interview today. My favorite. We say if it's radical, we cover it.

I know a thing or two about dentistry. If you follow my journey, it's been a few dentists in my life. But none as special as the one in studio today. Dr. Alex Plains. What's up, brother? What's up, brother? What's up, brother? Thank you so much for your amazing hospitality. Hey, man.

My pleasure. You're looking good, man. Thanks, man. You look sharp. Thank you. I'm liking it. I'm like, damn, I got to get my tailor. I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy.

But, you know, I like to up my game. I love dressing up casually, too. I didn't know what to expect. No, you look good, man. Thanks. Thanks. You look great. Thank you. I appreciate it. Life is good. My didn't know what to expect. So. No, you look good, man. Thanks. Thanks. You look great. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Life is good. My son turned four years old today. So I'm here celebrating with you now. Hey, happy birthday to... Xander. Xander. Hey, I like that name. Thank you. He's a good golfer named Xander. He's a stud.

Yes. Yes. But yeah, I'm excited. Yesterday I went out to our steak dinner here. Amazing hospitality. Nice. For May disease. Have you been to Greenville before? First time. Gee, Vegas, baby.

First time. It's beautiful. I don't know if it goes up to the Vegas, but it's a beautiful city. I love the weather. Yeah. It's so nice and cool. I'm used to Florida where it's so humid. You go anywhere and you're just sweating bullets.

Yes. Oh, the humidity. It's finally cracked for us. That's why we get the four seasons. So we're starting to get a little bit of that. Yeah, it's nice. It's nice. I like it.

You got to come back with more time. I know, exactly. There's never enough time, right? Yes. Especially with nine offices now. Yes, nine dental practices across the state of Florida. Yeah, man. And only nine years in.

Nine for nine, baby. That's right. Hey, that's scaling. Been trying to scale. Been trying to scale little by little, but it's getting there. Yeah. So, doctor, let's start with some of the journey talk. I definitely want to talk some of the father-son talk.

You got three boys. I've got four. A lot of common stuff. But just for our audience, let's set the table with what got you here, man. What brought Dr. Plains to life? That's great. That's a great question. It's funny you asked me that. At the age of six years old, I knew that I wanted to be a dentist. It's funny because my mom and my two aunts were dental assistants. So that's the reason I got into dentistry. I realized that I had a passion for helping people. My friends will come, they'll be like, I'll give you a pack of Skittles and you

can take out my baby teeth. So I would literally start doing that, but I didn't believe in myself. So I graduated, I was in sales, started my business degree like most of us do. And then I realized like, this is not what I meant to do in this life. So during Hurricane Katrina, it's crazy. I say this and you might not believe me, but I had a premonition. I got like a vision in my life that said, if you don't go to dental school, this is what's going to happen to your life. It was a premonition. I'm going to be partying, wasting money from girl to girl, no real consistency. And that's not what my values are. I wanted to have a family. I literally, I was 21 years old. I called my buddy Gus,

which had friends that went to dental school in the Dominican Republic. And I'm like, I want to go become a dentist. And he's not a problem, Alex. So we jumped on a plane to Dominican Republic. He acted like my uncle. I enrolled in school in January. And in May, I was in the Dominican Republic. Wow. I was there. It was a journey. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

No electricity, no hot water. Like I'll literally go sometimes days with no electricity over there, but it was an amazing country. It gave me a lot of resilience and it gave me a lot of strength to do what I want to do. How was the curriculum? It was an amazing country. It gave me a lot of resilience and it gave me a lot of strength to do what I want to do. How was the curriculum? It was all in Spanish. Yeah. It was all in Spanish. It was a very good curriculum compared to the United States. You do get a lot

more hands-on training over there. Okay. By year two, I was already doing extractions in the local communities. Wow. I remember my first day where the teacher. I'm nervous for you. I would be nervous as shit, but I pulled my teeth out. All right. Just sit still, buddy. I'd be like, okay, can I get a string in a door? Is that how we do it still? No, no, no. It literally is, Ryan, it was literally like they said, take that two footer. I'm like, but where do I begin? I have no clue how to do this. So I got it done. And then time flew. I graduated, got back, started my res, I got into Columbia university in the city of New York for my residency. Amazing opportunity. Thank you for Dr. Turman for believing in me. May he rest in peace. He actually used to play the,

the clarinet. He was the director of my program. So I graduated there, got married, and I literally opened up my first practice after nine months. And then I just started, I knew that I had an entrepreneurial heart and I wanted to grow more. So I basically opened up my second practice within 10 months. Wow. Then I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that I can, I knew I had some background in managing. So I knew that I can make that grow. So my wife is a dentist as well. So she was in one location. I was in the other location. And we literally just started growing

from 2014 to 2023. And we're now in nine locations. A lot to unpack there. I'm going to come back to working with your wife because I think there's a few people can pull that off. I'm going to come back to that. But talk to me about the decision of, I don't know the percentage, but I would think most people coming out of dental school go work at another office or dentistry, right? Versus starting their own practice. Correct. Was that just, you said you're an entrepreneur, so you made that decision, but that's not an easy thing to just step into because you've, you finally learned, you've gone through all the schooling resident. You've learned to be a dentist. You've learned to do that. You got the skill, but learning to be, to own and run a business in office. Those are two different things. Yes. I mean, so what was the thought

other than just knowing what you wanted to do? And sometimes that's just the clarity you need. So basically what I did, I graduated. I went down to Miami. I worked in four different private practices. It was complete madness. So then I enrolled and I started working for a corporate dental group called Aspen Dental. I was with them for nine months, but I knew that I always wanted to have my own business. Because my own vision, the way I take care of my patients and not to talk bad about them.

They're very controlling. They like to control the schedule a certain way. And I felt that I wasn't giving my patients the adequate patient care that I really wanted to. So that's like shuffling in and out. Yes. You get 20 minutes for this, 15 for that, 18 for this. So I literally learned a lot from them in the business side within nine months, like about P&Ls and about overhead costs and how to negotiate with your vendors and how to staff. So I literally got like a business degree within nine months working for Aspen Dental. And then I just went with it and opened up my first practice. Wow. That's getting after it. And what was, what was like the biggest holy shit moment versus maybe like the yay moment of that process? So basically the, one of the hardest things that I went through was getting approved

for the loan to buy the practice. Yeah. That was one of my first obstacles. Then I realized how hard it was to get staff. Then I realized, how do I market? How do I let people know that this guy that is Cuban is in Vero Beach and one of the richest islands in the country, seventh richest island in the country. And I'm literally here and I'm 27, 28 years old where the median demographic was 68 to 72 years old. So they were like, why would I go see you, kid?

There's so many other dentists. So it was very hard to convince or treat the patients a certain way where I realized like they want to come back to see me. So that was one of my biggest challenges, retaining those patients. And ultimately, what was the hook that you used to get them mailers direct mail baby direct mail direct mail and i would do a lot of google ppc but honestly it was a lot of direct mail

yeah and then i started doing some radio shows and i did some tv commercials tv didn't do too well in the dental space but right right now my main bread and butter is Facebook ads and social media marketing and Google. Yeah. You're a charismatic guy. Like I can see. I don't know how you seem genuine, like down to earth. I am. I am. And so like, I think that there's some warmth there. People know that I care. People know that I care. And one of my biggest core values is transparency. So I'm very transparent with my patients. So they know that if things are not perfect, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it right. What made Alex Plains become Dr. Alex Plains? I sense like some ethical foundation behind you. Like, where does that come from? Where did that get instilled in you? I'm the first generation doctor of my family. All my families were blue

collar workers. My grandfather was a welder. My grandmother was a supervisor for a sewing company. My mom was dental assistant. My aunts were dental assistants. So I'm the first generation doctor of my family. So I wanted to make them proud. They left Cuba in 1980. They went through so many struggles to get out of that country. So the least I can do was build a legacy for not only myself, but for my kids and my family. That's powerful, man. Thanks, man.

What's something maybe someone in America doesn't completely appreciate about Cuba and its people? Like, what's something like we hear? OK, it was Russian or like a communist. Yeah. You're driven and all that. And you hear about these stories. I've met a lot of great people from Cuba. Yes.

And there's like some of this warmth and genuineness that comes through with a lot of the Cubans that I've met. But I don't know. Tell us something that maybe our audience wouldn't know. Cubans are very known to being very hardworking. Miami was built by Cubans. That country, that's this, sorry, that city has developed so well. And it was based on the Latin American population. Cubans are very hardworking. They're very committed and they're very smart when it comes to medicine. In the country of Cuba, everyone has medical coverage. And even though there's no medicine, but they get the training to become amazing doctors. Well, but in regards to the personal foundations, it's just the unity.

We like to be all united. Like we're going to do Thanksgiving. We want the whole family there. Christmas, New Year's. If I literally don't go to those events, like I get disowned from my family. I think that might be every family, depending on, you know, a lot of families in the U.S. Yeah. So I got a bad rap for that myself with some parts of it. You know, I love you, Aunt Donna. So I remember the first time I missed Thanksgiving because we actually wanted to go to Tennessee with the boys. And my grandparents were just devastated.

Oh, man. I'm sure. How old are the boys? Seven, six, and four. Okay. There you go. Those are good ages. You're getting outside of the baby phase.

You know what? Four's getting past the baby. Even three, I know there's toddlers and they're not a baby. Yes. It's getting more into. My middle son has given me i love nicholas he's very bright he's very smart like he has conversations like an adult already and he's just being a madman now jumping on couches and throwing stuff and just upset i guess he's just having that middle child syndrome are they playing sports yeah i had them in baseball last season. Okay.

They did some jujitsu as well. All right. Now they want to do soccer. I was about to say, soccer. Yeah, burn some energy. Yeah, get some running. That's right. A couple of mine play soccer.

Soccer, baseball, basketball, and swimming. Swimming, right? Swimming's a good one too for burning energy. Get back to working with your wife. Very few people have your own offices at the start. There's some separation. Yes. Church and state, man and woman.

Talk to me about how that experience is. So it's me and my wife are both, one of the best things I recommend to anyone is get a personality test done. I'm a high driver.. I'm a high driver. My wife is a high driver. We have two alphas, right? Fighting for the den.

My wife is an amazing dentist. So I was lucky to have her in one office, but it definitely does bring a lot of stress to the household, especially when it's not your ideal day. I'm going to be transparent. I'll tell you the truth. And it does bring a lot of stress. The good news is that my wife said, Alex, you handle the business side of things.

I just want to go in and do the clinical day-to-day stuff. And that alleviated a lot of the issues. Yeah. That helps. You got to divide and conquer. Yes. How's it been as far as like growing from one to two to now nine practices with her? She hated it. She hated it. She's like, why are you getting yourself into so many offices? My goal was to just scale my business. And that's just what my passion is. And what I love to do, building businesses. I guess both in business, but maybe even being a dentist, what's rewarding for Alex, for Dr. Alex? What's like your most rewarding moments? Rewarding for Alex, for Dr. Alex, like what's like your most rewarding moments? When I build a dental practice and I see where it was when I basically went and looked at the show and then I see that I actually build a practice and we're serving 1,000, 1,500 patients every

single year through that facility. And every single year we're growing, our reviews are getting better. That for me is an amazing reward back. How does it feel when you're usually a driver, you have a hard time letting go of responsibility. So I'm not going to, I'm going to put words in your mouth, but I think I know you brother. I know myself like letting go responsibility, trusting others. Yes. How's it been for you in that journey? Oh man, I still have major trust issues, but I've realized like drivers, we have all these ideas. We have the vision that we want to get at, but then you need that S personality to settle it all down for you and put it to work. Cause I throw so much stuff at the wall every single day. I'm like, I got this idea.

I got this idea. Jeremy, I got this idea. Christy, I got this idea. And then I need somebody to lay it all down for me and type it up and get it all laid out. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like you're starting to find where your gaps are.

Yeah. Mine showed themselves pretty quickly. Good at these two things, not at these nine. Correct. So organization, like I have papers thrown all over the place and I'm a procrastinator. A lot of the times I leave things to last minute, but I've been creating some habits, like getting five critical tasks done before 11 o'clock in the morning has really been helping me out. What, for someone listening, we're going to talk about some of your coaching and all that down the road. But talk to me, you're scaling and someone listening that's going, OK, I'm growing a business.

Dr. Plains did this in a hurry. But what's your biggest advice to people? Yes. Yes. I love that question. I think there's I know there's definitely a lot of break points that we all go over them really quickly. I know there's definitely a lot of break points that we all go over them really quickly. Like I invested massively in IT infrastructure when the revenues were not there yet to support that IT infrastructure. You also got to be careful on bringing a CC. Was that good or bad? It was a big expense. And it was worth it? It was worth it now, but I did it way too early.

Probably a year and a half, two years too early. So don't invest in technology too soon. Correct. The breakpoints, you cannot go over the breakpoints. So, for example, there's companies that I've seen that bring a whole C-suite and their revenue is five or six million dollars. You can't bring a C-suite if your revenue is not at least over 20 million dollars. suite of your revenue is not at least over $20 million. But you also, one of my biggest recommendations is you got to invest in the infrastructure, strong infrastructure before you start scaling. What I mean by that is HR, accounting, financial, clean, transparent financials, procurement negotiations, having how to hire the right people and marketing, having how to hire the right people and marketing,

and obviously having good clinicians to support you or good team members in whatever field you're in. Yeah. Obviously being a marketer, I'm going to jump at the marketing side. And we started down there fast early with the direct mails and stuff. But what's been, client acquisition costs are always like the high,

other than like staff and all that. Correct. Staff, infrastructure, and very quickly acquisition costs are always like the high other than like staff and all that. Correct. Staff, infrastructure and very quickly acquisition costs. I know you mentioned that you're transparent about learning like what works, what doesn't. Any surprises along the way? I realized, for example, I love how you just said acquisition costs. Right. So like a direct mail and we go back to direct mail acquisition costs is anywhere from $150 to $200 per patient.

Yep. Okay. For PPC and Google, for my full-arch marketing, it ranges anywhere from $2,500 to $3,500 per one patient. Wow. To close one of those cases. That's crazy. So it's a lot. It is.

But what's the lifetime value of a customer to you? The lifetime value, it brings in high revenue right away. And then basically they stay for the maintenance because they don't no longer have any more teeth. Yeah. So something like a full arch ranges anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 for one patient. And then you're paying $2,500 acquisition cost to get that one patient. Wow. What's the average, what's like the age of someone that's doing that? and then you're paying $2,500 acquisition cost to get that one patient.

Wow. What's the average, what's like the age of someone that's doing that? Average age of someone doing that? The average age is anywhere from 55 to 60 years old. I've done guys and females in their 20s and I've done people as old as 84. Were the people in their 20s, is it because they had significant dental issues

or is it because they just wanted to look pretty? No, actually high consumption of sugary drinks like Mountain Dew, Gatorade and some drug users, but mostly because of sugary drinks and just dental neglect. Everyone's afraid of going to the dentist. Yeah, I don't mind it. I got to keep my smile here. I got to look good on camera like you, Dr. Plains. Talking with Dr. Alex Plains, dentist and one hell of a guy. Hey, so doctor, let's talk a little bit about what you do in and

out of the office. I know you've transitioned your knowledge into coaching and teaching and things like that. Talk to me about some of your programs. So basically right now I realize like the full large space, there's only five percent of dentists in the whole entire world are doing this type of procedure so there's doctors doing veneers and crowns and fillings and root canals and whatnot but this procedure is very limited to just five percent so what i did i started a training institute to train doctors that want to learn how to do full arches. They can come to my program here in Florida.

I'm sorry, not here, but in Florida or in Costa Rica to get surgical training. And then if they want to stay and become a JV partner with us or join our program and become an implants for all center, then they can do that. And we offer the team training, the marketing support, procurement support, and HR support, as well as the call center. Wow. Nice turnkey. Yes.

So we help them build their business and they still run their business as they want to. That's great. Yeah. I just can't imagine. I don't want to get too techie or signed or medicine-y, but taking people's teeth out and just putting in all new ones. Yeah.

Talk to me about, let's get a little nitty gritty with the medical reality of what that entails. Yeah. So we extract all your teeth in one visit, whether that's six or 12 or 14 or 16 teeth in the top or in the bottom. How bad does that hurt? You're under sedation. You'll get your ass kicked for like 30 days. You'll feel the discomfort for 30 days, but it's revolutionary.

You take out all the teeth. You trim the bone down. You level everything out. I don't want to get too technical, but you put the implants in. You do scans right after. And within 24 hours, you're printing a device with a new smile design that

you insert into the patient's implants okay so they last forever those don't so six months later we make you your permanent set out of a material called zirconia or a nano ceramic material okay and then those last forever nothing's forever i can I can't say that. I'm wanting it to be forever, doctor. Nothing's forever. But the success rate is over 98% for this procedure. Wow. So how long do they last, typically? I've had patients with zirconia devices for over 20 years. The chances of it fracturing are very small. So you just don't guarantee it forever, but it could last?

Yes. Okay. I got it. That's fascinating. It's fascinating. So you're teaching people how to do this and how to build the business around it. Correct. They come to you in Florida or in Puerto Rico? Costa Rica.

Sorry. Yeah. So either location. So it's an in-person training. Correct. In-person, very hands-on. Yeah. We have a faculty that will be there from A to Z teaching you why you're doing this

and how to understand it. See, a lot of people go and they get training and then they come back to the United States and they're all hyped up. But the moment they realize, okay, how am I going to market this procedure now? How am I going to get it started? What implant system am I going to use? They realize that this is why this program is so good because we're going to be there with you along the way. And we're going to be like that accountability partner throughout the whole program. I find it's interesting. We're talking very specific to a dental approach and what that is. But what you just said there, I find to be the issue with all of the coaching and everything else that goes on is a lot of

knowledge being passed around, but there's not a way to put it to practice. Correct. And I think everybody goes to conferences and you go to the things and some of my friends back here that I love have the pump up events, Grant and Brad. We talked about them. Love those guys. But you go and you learn all this stuff from them and it's invaluable what you learn, but you got to go, you got to know how to implement. Yes. Implementation is everything. Execution's everything.

And I think that's where it falls down. So it's really, you're clearly ahead of the game in recognizing that and then providing that. Absolutely. So it's funny you say, so I work with Cardone Ventures, right? It's one of Grant's side projects with Brandon Dawson. Yeah. So I did the whole business platform with them. It's an amazing project. The amount of information they give me, it was honestly worth every dime. But now my question is like to

implement all of that, I need a team of people that know what they're doing to get it going. You know what I mean? So it's great that you say that. So that's why this program is so unique. It's because I realize that people go and get training. Then they come back. They try once. They have one hiccup and then they just give up.

So we're not going to let you give up. We're going to continually, continuously mentor you throughout the process. I know you got a podcast as well. So we'll get a meta on us here. We got to talk about podcasts on the podcast. Your number one marketing and business show. We appreciate everyone for making us number one. Amazing.

Talk to me about Lifestream. Lifestream is, I never knew I was going to do a podcast. I have a company called Lifestream Dental or Lifestream U, which is basically a program to help dentists build a practice with architectural planning, buying the shares, lease negotiations, the legal, the whole aspect of getting it all going right. We actually just helped a doctor in Miami open up his first practice in July and he's doing phenomenal. Dr. Nick Castellanos, he's doing great. So that's how it started. So basically the reason live stream is because I always wanted to teach people how to stream their life. So learn from my mistakes. I'll teach you how I spent thousands

of thousands of dollars in chairs that I really didn't need and equipment I didn't need. So don't make those mistakes. So I'm here to help you stream your life. That's great. And so the podcast as well, we have guests on. Yeah, we talk about personal development, leadership development. Because one of the things that I realized in order to lead people,

you need to have a lot of leadership development. So I listened to like Ed Milad and Brad Lee, Grant Cardone, Johnwell yeah so i'm constantly trying to learn more and more just to become a better leader because there's a huge difference between leader and manager yeah what's been like the biggest thing you've unlocked in yourself i man that's a loaded question i know hey you can take that a few different ways personally professionally yes i realized like and professionally i realized that this Man, that's a loaded question. I know. Hey, you can take that a few different ways. Personally, professionally. Yes.

I realized like, and professionally, I realized that pretty much when they say the sky's the limit, that's complete truth. If you really want to chase something and you create a vision and your goals are written down in a whiteboard or whatever way you can want to do them. If a guy from Hialeah, that's where I'm from, where my parents made no more than $7 an hour, becomes a dentist and opens nine dental practices by himself, anyone could do anything. If you stay consistent and you stay disciplined and you stay committed, the sky's the limit. So you can accomplish anything. Yeah. Is there a characteristic that

maybe you didn't know you had that's come out maybe in some of, I don't know, developing as a leader? I think it's definitely resilience. Yeah. Going through ups and downs and staying consistent and not giving up, getting denied by banks, getting in arguments with attorneys or accountants or even team members, HR issues. And I've always been able to, patient care issues, and I've always been able to patient care issues and I've always been able to stay resilient through all of it. What's a bad day for Dr. Plains? What's like, you seem positive. Like when is it, what is it like? Okay. Everything's great. We've done practices and everybody knows it's not easy, but I just, you sense to me to have the drive and the attitude to make, I don't know, shitty situations good.

Yes. But however. I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you. It actually just happened a couple, like eight weeks ago, actually. So I was working on a patient. Things were going great. My day was almost over. It was like two o'clock, 2.30.

And all of a sudden I'm doing a procedure and the patient starts coughing. She's sedated, coughing, coughing, and an implant tool actually went into the airway. Wow. So she starts coughing, turning pale, sweating. I'm sweating. I'm like, call 911. And she's like coughing. And then all of a sudden, within two minutes of coughing directly by a miracle of God, because I started praying. I really started praying. Of course, I'm doing my necessary precautions to make sure the patient's taken care of. She coughed up the part. Wow.

So it was literally stuck in the oral pharynx. So it was really stuck there in the middle. So it either goes to the lung and is a major issue or she swallows it. It wouldn't have gone to the stomach because it was literally stuck there right before it hits the lungs. Yikes. So it was a stressful day, man. Damn. That is, I bet. It went from being high highs to blow lows real quickly. Jeez. Yeah. So the other day I came back from labor day weekend and at seven 30, my phone's already getting ringed up with staff members out sick doctors that can't make it into work. And my first case canceled. Those are normal days for me. Yeah. But the one with the part,

that was a really scary day for me. Just a total random accident. Yeah. I've been doing this. Was there coughing is what caused it to begin with yeah because she started coughing and she moved and the part slipped off my hands and it went into the airway man yeah how was she after the fact she was thankful she was a good trooper yeah she was 72 years old beautiful lady she but she was really nice she was she understood that it was her fault yeah it gets but still man the pressure give us the pressure was on the pressure was on literally the pressure was on i got so many stories but i know it's not in regards to that there's cases that i've been sedating patients and then they get completely violent they start

punching yeah i'm about to say is there any funny stories that you can share? They start. Can you see the home videos of people that are sedated in the back of their car? And they're like, I'm sure you don't have any of those, right? No. But yeah, that was, that was another day. They get, sometimes they get really violent under the sedation, but it's hard when you're trying to run your company and you're trying to mentor and lead people and everyone comes to you for answers. But yet you also got to take care of your patients that they're looking for the right solutions. And that's the reason they came to your practice. Practice. Good word leading to what I was going to ask.

Like you're a practitioner, though. You're running down offices, but you're still working chair side. That's unique because I think a lot of people whether it's lawyer or dentist or other yeah they start building the compound of of the corporation of everything you've got going on and they get out of it but that's important to you right yep i love patient care i'm never going to leave the chair by my goal for 2024 which is right around the corner time flies when you're having fun. It's to go down to two or three days a week to really focus on not only my patients, but also focus on

running the business and working on all my side ventures. It does. You got to work on the business, not in the business. That's right. If you really want it to grow. Exactly. Yeah. Any other side ventures that we haven't hit? No, that's pretty much it. Yeah.

No, you got a lot though. I'm excited about it. Is, uh, is there like a guest or when you think about your podcast, things like that, they're like, there's a, I can't wait to have like some dream guests that you're, you're wanting. I'm living the dream right now with you, right? Hey, set you up there. There we go.

So yeah, man. Thank you again for having me here. It's been a lot of fun. I definitely want to meet Ed Milet. Yeah. I'll be meeting Brad Lee in a couple of weeks in Las Vegas. I'm very excited about that. I love Andy Frazella.

Oh, yeah. I love Andy. He's hardcore. But he's- I'll show you some pictures of this. Yeah. Andy in an event like, shit, 15 years ago. Wow, that's awesome. Yeah.

So I like him and I like Alex Hermosi. Yeah. Alex is smart. Yes. He's a mad scientist in his own brain. He's a genius. He is. He's very smart.

So yeah, baby steps, right? So we'll see where this road leads us. Do you like the coaching? I love coaching. Yeah. You seem like it could be a good mentor. I love teaching. I just literally started training a doctor out of Orlando named Dr. Freddie. And within three months, he never even knew how to do dental implants. And within three months now he's doing implants at least a couple of times in his week. So that for me, just so much fulfillment with that.

Yeah. Because at the end of the day, and you know this, right? It's not about the money. It's just about what is your purpose? Everyone talks about purpose, but really what is our purpose in this world? And for me, I realized is to give back and help others reach that potential.

What's happening with the family these days? Yeah, is it? Everybody likes to talk about work-life balance. I always have the family these days? Yeah. Is it, everybody likes to talk about work-life balance. I always have the non-negotiables. Yes. For you, what's balance look like?

Does it exist? It doesn't exist. It doesn't. And the day I realized that was the day that I was actually in peace. I realized, let me stop chasing it because it really, it's not realistic right now. So I definitely try to participate with my kids in their sports. I try to go to all their school events.

When I get home, I do the homework with them. I don't pay people to do that type of stuff because I really want to be hands on. My goal for 2024 is to literally even spend more time with them and at least have one vacation a quarter and one seven day vacation a year. We got to start somewhere. Yeah. What's Dr. Plains like to do when he's not working or doing family? Sports. Yeah. I love sports, baseball, football, basketball, love going to games, love playing them. Who's your team? Miami Heat for basketball, for football, the Cowboys and the Dolphins. Okay.

So, yeah. Dolphins looking pretty good this year. Yes, they're 2-0, man. I know. They're 2-0. They're 2-0. And for baseball, the Marlins. I grew up being a Braves fan, but then I became,

once the Marlins opened up in 93, I became a Marlins fan. Yeah. And I like the Yankees. I like the Yankees. I was there when Jeter hit his 3,000 hit, and I was hooked because I lived in New York for a couple years. Baseball in Cuba seemed to go well. They were good.

They're always just badasses. They're good. The problem is the program. They're not funded correctly so they don't have the trainers anymore like they used to. Where's all this head? What's the next 10? If you've got your crystal ball the next 10 like if you've got

your crystal ball next 10 years and you go that's it is it enjoy the journey you're on a wild ride or like

you've got like absolute goals in mind yeah my main goal is at the age of 49 is to eventually consolidate the business and definitely start scaling

like stepping back but running my consulting company with Lifestream U and the Implants for All Institute and my podcast and helping others, inspiring others. Yeah. It's powerful, man. Yeah. Where can everybody keep up with all these things and keep up with everything you're doing? Social media, Dr. Alex A. Plains or Lifestream with Dr. Alex Plains on my YouTube channel and Plains Dental Partners and Implants for All. There you go. So it's been great having you, man. Thank you, man. Likewise. And I appreciate it. Yeah, man. I think that people are going to

get a lot out of this and this is just the start and that was continued relationship, brother. Next time you got to come to Florida. I know we're about to start doing stuff on the road. That'd be cool. Yeah. I love it. That'd be awesome. I'd love to come check out your stuff. I'm actually going to be in Miami in a couple of weeks.

Awesome. Yeah. When in October? October 3rd to the 5th. Oh, cool. Cool. The 4th to the 6th.

Oh, cool. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. I'll be going to Vegas. Oh yeah. That's right. What is that? Was it an event? I'm going to vegas oh yeah that's right what is that was an event i'm going to his podcast oh perfect perfect so i'm going to be there from the

fourth through the seventh there you go maybe do some gambling play some roulette you play roulette oh yeah blackjack oh yeah a little bit everything awesome awesome to go to vegas a couple times a year i haven't had it i would go about every couple of years. I love Vegas. I just can't go that often. I get into trouble. Yeah, I can take, this is what I'm taking. Yes.

Win or lose. And also, I go lay by the pool and go out to the club or do whatever. If Nicole, my wife's with me, we'll go get into something. And if I win,

I can leave it there. You hold yourself very disciplined you have to be i think with that on certain things but i really appreciate you coming in and being on the show and it's been great man yeah can't wait to hear it yeah hey guys we're at the radcast.com search for dr alex planes you will find all the content from today's episode the full version the the short version, the highlight clips, and everything you don't want to miss.

I'm at Ryan Alford on all the social media platforms. You'll see that blue check mark. Had it before you could buy it, baby. We'll see you next time on The Radcast. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford.

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