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The podcast for aspiring entrepreneurs who have families. If you're a dad looking to escape the rat and quit your 9 to 5 while keeping food on the table for the family in the process then this show is for you. We discuss the challenges, tips, tricks and hacks to help you make the leap into freedom.
Brendan Ryan:
Drew, thanks for joining me today.
Drew:
Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Brendan Ryan:
Great, great. Well, Drew, so I've known you for quite a few years actually and you are one of the very few people that I know that went to college, got a career, in your case dentistry and actually loves what they do. And it also happens to be that you're in one of the few careers that I know of where you do go that route, where you go to college and you oftentimes end up your own business owner. Now I know that practice ownership for dentists has been declining over the years, but last I checked, it was still something like 75% of dentists own their own practice. But your particular journey, you graduated from dental school, and then if I recall correctly, you did work for another dentist for a year or two, and then quickly ended up being your own practice owner. Can you walk us through that transformation, that journey, if you will, and what it was like going from student to employee to... business owner in a relatively short period of time.
Drew:
Yeah, it was awful.
Brendan Ryan:
Hehehehe
Drew:
Um, yes. And so I suppose as opposed to many entrepreneurs, I, I had the, the blessing or the benefit of, of knowing very early on what it was that I wanted to do. Some people just end up with the desire to do something, own their own business, but not know exactly what that is. I didn't really have that desire to be a business owner. Um, I just saw what my dentist was doing. And thought, Hey, that's a good way that I can help people. Let me do that. And I heard, um, it sounded nice at the time, but I heard that dentists only work about four days a week and I'm like, that sounds great. Let me do that. Yet here I am working on Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays. Often I'm not in the practice. Like today's a Friday. I'm not really the practice thankfully, but it doesn't stop when you own the business. Um, so I would also mention that, um, I don't know. were, I would assume that far fewer than 75% of dentists own their practice these days. I think that was probably the norm, but when I got out of school, it was, my eyes were opened to all things, ownership of owning a business. It was very clear that the way that dentistry had been done for decades and decades is rapidly changing and there's lots of dental chains out there now. taking over the industry and they are very well known because they put their name on the front of the building. And some are very subtle. You don't know that the practice is owned by a larger corporate entity because they keep the name of the dentist who they purchased the office from, or they keep your town dentistry or whatever it is. So. But the point is that the industry is changing, it's consolidating, and lots of people are, lots of dentists actually are buying, is doing, moving more towards group ownership. They're purchasing or starting lots of practices with the goal of selling them in a roll-up. And so that's something interesting that's happening behind the scenes in dentistry that I don't think necessarily is good for patients. And maybe we can get further into that if the conversation leads us in that direction. But I think to get back to the original question, what was the question? No.
Brendan Ryan:
We're good.
Drew:
I have enjoyed this career path because when I first became a dentist, when I set my sights on wanting to become a dentist, it was just to help patients. And then when I finally got into dental school and then got through dental school and became a dentist, you know, I had always heard that you get out of dental school and then you just have to keep learning. And that's true. But it was always with the implication of you have to learn more about dentistry. What I didn't anticipate having to do was learn more about business ownership. I didn't expect to be in the position that I'm in now. I was expecting to just be mentored by a dentist when I came out of school and eventually take over that practice in that business. I was the model that I was anticipating. That was all that I had known. But the dentist I started working with when I first graduated. Um, the opportunity wasn't as great as I was hoping that it would be. And in my first year out of school, I had to supplement, I was working there two days a week with the intention of buying into that practice and that, into that business eventually, but they weren't busy enough to keep me. Um, my, my schedule filled. So I ended up working in lots of other practices in that first year. And I got a really good sampling of what is good and what is not good. Um, how to do things. well, how to do things okay and how to do things poorly, from a practice management, business management perspective and also from patient management. I would unfortunately worked in some places that was just, the quality of care was not there and that was quite obvious that this is not the career path that I'm looking for. I wanna be able to offer the best quality of care to people at all times. Long story short, just under a year out of being out of dental school, I ended up purchasing a practice. And I was in way over my head. I was a dentist who was retiring. Um, he had owned the practice for his whole career. And it seemed like a good fit. Um, but I just didn't know the first thing about owning or running a business. And truly it was trial by fire. It's all right. Well, I've got all these student loans and now I've got this practice loan and. I got to figure this thing out. Um, and some of that has been, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. But for me and my personality type, that created a lot of stress. And some of that doesn't leave you or it takes time to grow past. Um, I think some of that's just inherent to being a business owner as well. Um, that it all falls on your shoulder shoulders at the end of the day. So I don't know if that answers your original question, but that's at least a little bit about my journey into how I am. Where, well, let me actually then share with the audience a little bit about where my practice is now. So that was a one dentist practice. when he retired, that was in 2014. So about nine years ago, almost. So, um, in the practice, he had purchased it in like the sixties or seventies from another dentist. So it had always been a one dentist practice. When I took over, I mean, it was, it was pretty dated. They, there was no new or modern technology. Um, they had paper charts, they had two computers. And they had two typewriters and the typewriters got used more than computers. And so there was a lot of updating to be done. Um, there was a lot of transition to be made, um, and a lot of growth to occur. So I had a five year lease and then I knew that I was going to be kicked out of that facility. And it was very old facility. It was kind of probably wasn't updated since the seventies. It kind of felt like. So. I was kind of buying my time until I had to make that move. And eventually I was able to bring on another dentist and kind of figure out how to make that work. Our facility was built for one dentist, but now we have two practicing. So we got to kind of innovate and figure out how we can keep both of us busy. Meanwhile, I was building another, um, I purchased a bar and a rundown Irish bar, which had been vacant for about a year. Um, we tore it down. And we built a new dental office there about a mile and a half from where the current space was. And that was very challenging. I did know how to go through that process. Uh, but that was something else I just had to figure out. Um, and so one of the things that I did, maybe we can touch on throughout the conversation is I was, well, one, I was terrified because I'm, I'm way out of my comfort zone here. I don't know how to do these things. I, they didn't teach us this in school. So I started my own podcast. Um, this is maybe back in 2017, 2018, um, with the audience being dentists. Um, so I was actually interviewing it. I was using it as an excuse to interview other dentists and other business owners. Other people who are doing seemingly doing things well and doing things right. Who had knew what they were doing to try to learn from them. That was kind of my excuse to talk to people smarter than me. and document some of that. And so I learned a lot along the way of doing that. But I built that new building with room for, you know, four or five dentists, maybe up to six, depending on how we try to navigate our growth. And so now about nine years after purchasing that business, if you will, we have, I'm one of four dentists in our practice and it's grown tremendously. I'd say in terms of like patient growth and collections and whatnot. So it's been a journey. Didn't quite get the four day work week that I thought I was walking into, but it has been a lot of hard work, a lot of sleepless nights, but it's been rewarding and a lot of fun. So that's a little bit, that's most of my journey and I've tried some other entrepreneurial endeavors along the way as well with. not quite as much success, but along the way had to kind of figure out what's most important to focus on.
Brendan Ryan:
Sure, sure. Yeah, I'd love to hear more about the other entrepreneurial endeavors as well. But quick question. Did dental school teach you about business ownership or management at all?
Drew:
So it's funny, I listen to a lot of podcasts that are specific to dentistry. And I'm in a lot of like Facebook groups and other types of forms that are specific to dentistry. And one of the main complaints that dentists have is that dental school doesn't teach you anything about business ownership. We did have, in my school, we did have a business class, I think it was a semester. It was, I mean, it was. It was all right. It was a nice kind of brief introduction overview of like, Hey, you may have to have a business one day. I don't know. It wasn't my thing is so that while we did have that class that that's not the point of dental school. The point of dental school is to teach you to become a good dentist. Um, and as much as I've heard other dentists complaining about the fact that they don't prepare you for dental school or for business ownership. I don't. think that there's enough time in the four years that it takes to graduate from dental school to really teach that well. And also because of the teachers that end up being in dent... The teachers that, the dentists that end up teaching in dental schools are not often the ones that have had much success at practice ownership. So that's part of it too, is there's just, there's better resources out there these days for those who really want to learn on pretty much any topic, including dental practice ownership.
Brendan Ryan:
sure.
Drew:
versus like a lot of the dentists in dental school, you could teach them everything you might want to be able to teach about topic of business of dentistry, but they might not retain it by the time they're actually practice owners, you know.
Brendan Ryan:
Gotcha. Okay,
Drew:
Yeah.
Brendan Ryan:
so tell us about the other entrepreneurial endeavors that you mentioned.
Drew:
Well, so I started my own podcast. Um, and I had seen other dental, other dentists who had started a podcast, using those podcasts as platforms to do lots of sorts of things. Um, some use it for, you know, affiliate marketing. Some use their platform for coaching or consulting. Um, I didn't really have any of those. as hard and fast goals for myself. But I figured, Hey, let me just start the podcast to see what I learn from these other dentists and, and hope, hopefully, um, other people in my same position will be interested in the topic and be learning alongside me. Um, and then maybe one day I could use that platform for something, but that wasn't really my goal, but it's nice to have options. So I thought. That might be nice. The one thing about dentistry is, is, you know, you can make a good living being a dentist takes a lot of hard work to get there in the first place and a lot of debt and whatnot. Um, but it's really hard. It might sound surprising to some people. It's really hard on your body. A lot of dentists have, uh, have to stop practicing because of back injuries from just the odd positions that we put ourselves in all day long, trying to see into someone's mouth. Um, so I always thought, well, if I could have an additional revenue, source that's not dependent upon my two hands or my back or me being tied to the dental chair. It'd be a good thing to have that option. So I thought maybe the podcast would lead to some additional source of revenue. Obviously you can get sponsorships on a podcast. Long story short, I kind of had to choose to walk away from hosting the podcast, at least for a while. I like to say I'm still on a break from it. Um, well, I got much busier. I, when I started it, I didn't have any kids. Uh, now I have three kids. Um, I start, I think I stopped hosting it, uh, shortly after my second child was born. But, or maybe just before, but point being other entrepreneurial endeavors. Um, I did, uh, start, um, a, a membership. software platform for dentists to be able to kind of create a membership model with their patients, for their cash paying patients, those who don't have dental insurance, to help them manage. It's a popular model now that a patient might pay a membership fee in exchange for almost like a monthly subscription to the dentist. And for that fee, you get your regular cleanings and your exams. And then should you need... any treatment like a filling or a crown or something, you get a small discount on that. So that's not a concept that I invented, but it seemed to fit well with my audience. That would be something that would be beneficial to them and helping them to help their patients and to grow their practices. So I created a platform or work with another company rather to bring that platform into dentistry. With okay success in hindsight. I still use the platform of my own practice. Um, we have lots of other practices that also use the platform. Um, and so I'm glad that I got, went down that road because it's been helpful to me and to others, but as far as return on investment from the time that it took to put into it, my time would have been better spent just growing the practice and not being as focused on that side. And I was also doing that right at the time. like the pinnacle of my stress and the heightened phase of, I was building this new office and I was trying to bring on another dentist and all these other things on my plate. So I, a lot of ways been off more than I can chew and I got through it, but it was just very stressful. Um, so I reached a breaking point where I just realized, Hey, something's got to go. Um, and so I had to kind of trim back and focus on what was most important. And as much as it would be fun to maybe. have a coaching group or a consulting platform or the membership software subscription model, I really need to focus on what was, you know, why I got into dentistry in the first place and that was to help patients. And so the other stuff kind of, I had to outsource some of it. I said, no, I have partners in that software that run it and do a great job with it. So it's not taking my... the majority of my time. And for the podcast, it's still in existence, but thankfully we had, excuse me, a good friend of mine who's also a dentist step up and he's been the quote unquote co-host for the last couple of years or so. He's done a phenomenal job. We call him a co-host, but he's pretty much the host at this point. He's been the sole host for the last couple of years or so, but I'm hoping to get back towards hosting again, but you know. As with three kids now, life just keeps getting busier and the practice is still growing and we're getting ready to add another dentist here shortly. So I keep waiting for that phase of life where things are easier and I can kind of focus on the side ventures that are a lot of fun, but I have to re-prioritize what's most important in each phase of life.
Brendan Ryan:
Yeah, I think they call that shiny object syndrome, right?
Drew:
Hehehe
Brendan Ryan:
So one of the things that I strive to be is a family man first and a businessman second, which is a phrase I stole from somebody else, but I loved
Drew:
Yeah.
Brendan Ryan:
it. And when I think of somebody that is a family man first and a businessman second, one of the first people that I think of is you, I think you do a phenomenal job of,
Drew:
Thanks.
Brendan Ryan:
of doing that. And I know that you, you have great ideas, entrepreneurial tendencies, and you've thought of even other things besides the ones that you mentioned just now. So how do you figure out what to focus on and not have? How do you battle shiny object syndrome and figure out what is most important in terms of that? Because as dadpreneurs, as business owners that
Drew:
Mm-hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
have a young family, we have a little less time than maybe some of these typical young guns, right? These 20 something year olds that have significantly less responsibilities and therefore
Drew:
Mm-hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
less at stake. So it's important for us to manage our time wisely. Right.
Drew:
Hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
And I think that being able to focus, right is key to that focus on what exactly is most important, what exactly moves the needle the most and
Drew:
Great.
Brendan Ryan:
is most important to you and how you can make an impact. So can you speak to a little bit about that, about what is your thought process for you particularly? when you choose to double down, say on the practice versus go after some other new venture.
Drew:
Absolutely. Well, I think it, this is not going to sound too novel, but it's critically important. It's knowing what your priorities are. Um, so for me, for example, um, they haven't changed, uh, since I, you know, sat down and wrote them down in high school or whenever it was, you know, God's at the top of the list. That's my number one priority. And from their family, um, that used to mean, you know, When I was in high school, that meant like my parents and siblings. But now, of course, it first means my wife and then my children, you know, from that. Um, but then comes, you know, work. Um, you know, also on the list, if we're really digging into it, you've got to think about your own physical health and wellbeing and making sure you can't just be all work. Um, but it, you have to be, balance your own priorities and needs so that you can be a good leader. for your family and a good leader for my business and for my patients, doing what I do, benefits other people doing that well. So step one, of course, is knowing what your priorities are. It's very helpful to write them down. But then it takes sacrifice to actually live that out because yeah, my family becomes above work, but how do you reconcile that? Because we spend most of our time, most of our waking hours at work or doing... things outside so that doesn't necessarily mean that your priorities have to correlate directly you know with how much time you spend because there's almost an inverse relationship there. You spend most of your time at work but that's not your first priority so you need to make sure that you're spending intentional time when you are not at work and not allowing too much of those That's in flux at every phase of life. Um, so when I, I've had to relearn that lesson in different ways over the past, you know, nine years or so. And so when I first began taking a step back from some of that additional podcast related stuff that I was doing, um, you know, I was beginning to speak at conferences and things like that. And it was just really kind of taxing. Um, pulling me in lots of different directions. Um, I, I had a breaking point where it was becoming apparent to that. I had my, one of my employees, one of my team members was getting ready to quit. Um, she kind of like out of nowhere was just, uh, clearly very stressed out and kind of threatening to leave the practice. And I, I was a very low moment for me because it was again, right at the, the all of the things that were going on in my life with trying to build this new building, taking on a whole lot of debt to do that. And I do not like debt. So that weighs on me heavily. And then, so the stress that came with that, then she was getting ready to quit and I just said, okay, well, something's got to give. And I had to, I went, I literally for my team, for my employees who wrote out on the whiteboard, like all the things that I was doing outside of running the business and the practice. And I just started crossing things off the list. I said, look, I'm sorry that my attention has been so split. This is what it's been split on. So as a result, I've indirectly made a lot more work for you guys without giving you the support systems needed, I suppose, to manage that work. And so I started reprioritizing at that moment. So that was one painful time when that all kind of came to a head. Now, thankfully, we have a much larger office and a better support structure. So I can delegate a lot more now than I used to be able to with my team or to my team, and it's freed up more of my time. But now I have children. I didn't have kids then. Maybe I had one on the way at that time. Not quite. I don't think, not yet, but so now the priorities. Well, I've. You know, I sat down with my wife at the beginning of the year and thought about, hmm, is there a way for me to take off? I, it was a realization that I don't have as much time as I would like to have with the family and to be able to do the other things that I was still wanting to do. We've talked about hosting like a dental conference with that podcast, for example. Um, so we began strategizing ways to get me more time back. And so we were talking about, um, me working one day less clinically. practice, so going down and not physically being at the office one more day per week. Currently I'm there four days and on the fifth day on Fridays I'm constantly like working nonstop on practice management stuff or other endeavors. And that often spills over into the weekend and that's where I need to kind of draw a line. It's hard sometimes, but I guess it's just I can go on with examples, but the point is you know realizing what's most important and my kids are young and this phase doesn't last forever. Um, so I want to be able to savor it while they're at these ages. Um, so yeah, that, that is the constant battle and struggle with, uh, dad reneur, right, is you're doing this for the benefit of your family and for their future, but at some point you, you may need to make the distinction between, okay, what's really best for them. How much of this is for them? How much of it is for me and, or my ego and, and just like, okay, I'm, I'm starting to get good at this and it's fun and I like it and it's getting exciting. But. I need to see my family too. That's what I'm doing this all for. So what's the point if they never see me? So I think we don't really, it's a constant rebalancing of that attention to what's most important, I'd say.
Brendan Ryan:
Absolutely. Yeah. A lot of dadpreneurs that I talked to, their family is a huge part, if not the sole reason for what they're doing. Their why, if you will. Whether that's being there for them more often, right? They have more time because they own a business and they're able to delegate or automate things like that. Or if it's something like retiring a wife or leaving a legacy, usually there's some something about the family involved in why they're... doing the entrepreneur thing to begin with, right? So yeah, you have to balance it because even though it is part of your why most of the time, hopefully, you need to be able to spend time with your kids when they're young, right? At least that's ideal. You could be building this business and it might be amazing one day, eight figures plus or whatever, but then they're old or whatever, they're out in college or living their life. The ideal situation is that you have the time, the money, the business built up when they're young, right? But that's a rare, rare thing. But I think it's still something that's worth shooting for,
Drew:
Mm-hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
right, obviously, because having time when you're young, when you have more energy, more health, et cetera, is worth so much more than having the time and the money when you're 60, for instance,
Drew:
Yeah.
Brendan Ryan:
you know? So I think it's a noble endeavor, but it has a... father and a husband, it always has to be balanced by that. And so, yeah, there's a great book that I read somewhat recently called The One Thing. And it was about how to focus on what really moves a needle or what really matters in terms
Drew:
Mm-hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
of your ultimate goal. So for any listeners out there listening, I'd highly recommend you check that one out. But did you do anything else when you were reflecting? I like the brain dump, you know. whiteboard idea that you had there,
Drew:
I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.
Brendan Ryan:
kind of that, that moment you were, you realized that you were going to too many speaker events and that kind of thing. And so you hone back in on the practice. What is it also about the practice that, that was for you, the thing that made you want to double down on that rather than say, go more of the podcast route or grow that kind of brand and all that kind of thing.
Drew:
Um, I've gotten very close, very many times to pulling the trigger on, um, a whole bunch of side endeavors, um, in the form of a consulting group, in the form of a conference, in the form of, uh, group coaching. Um, I've spoken to you about this on and off as well, and gotten some valuable insights from you and, and every time it's fun to think about. And it excites me because I love that. I love being a business owner and I love seeing things take off and grow. Um, every time I begin to get gun shy, uh, I've kind of mapped out a new way that maybe this, maybe it can work this time, uh, cause I see an opportunity and when it's something that I know that can help people, um, which I know that, uh, these things that I've been toying with in my, my plans would be very helpful to people who are in my shoes. Um. Um, or currently struggling in practice ownership. Um, I know they can help people and it would be a fun thing for me to do. And it'd be another way to provide an income for my family. It, like, it checks lots of the boxes, but something that has kept holding me back is, you know, you can't give a hundred percent in two directions at once. So something's going to give, um, and. part of what's helped me back is the recognition. Well, first of all, I wanted to become a dentist because I wanted to be a dentist. Like I didn't really wanna be a dentist coach or a consultant or a podcast host. Like those are fun. I would love doing those on the side, but it's in conflict with how I spend my time. Like if I had infinite hours in the day, then great, let's do all of the things. But I forget. I do remember listening to some podcast where I had a light bulb moment. If anyone's familiar, I think his name is Alex Sharp, maybe. I haven't listened to it in years, but he coaches businesses, apparently, on how to get to like a million plus or whatever, you know, how to take the million to 10 million, you know, lots of, lots of resources out there for those that this these days, but he said something that just clicked that. It's. incredibly hard to like, once you get a million dollar business off the ground, for example, which is an incredible feat for us to do in the first place. Um, it, it's really difficult to then get a second million dollar business going and then keep the original one still growing. Like you can't just go in both directions. And it's so, so it's obvious when you say it like that, but it was, I had my practice, which was about that size at that time. Um, and then I'm here, I'm trying to do this coaching consulting side business. And I'm just realizing that, wait, like the more I go down the side road, the more of my tension and energy is taken from the practice and one of them is going to give. Um, so there's other ways to get around that. Of course you can take on partners and you can share the work and share the success and, um, rewards that come with that. Um, but. I suppose the point is that it's, you know, back to what we were talking about, just knowing what's most important to you. And for me, that was becoming, being a dentist, helping patients, providing for my family. And the other thing that kept holding me back from these side ventures was that they were going to require some form of travel. Yearly, quarterly, at least travel. And being in other cities. being on the road, lots of airplane flights. Well, that can sound fun and exciting when you don't have a family. And while I saw lots of other dentists or consultants doing this type of thing who had families, it was just in conflict with what I wanted. I don't wanna be gone every weekend. Like I wanna be at home with my kids. And one coach slash speaker or consultants in dentistry said that to me once. He was like, I said, well, you know, in a few years I'm going to have a family and I'm going to want to have, be spending time with him. I don't really want to be going down this road where I am having to travel all the time. And he kind of tried to spin it as like a, well, that could be a good thing. You might need a break from the family. And, you know, and maybe that's how he, apparently that's how he felt. But for me, it was just like, that's, that's not what I want. Like, yeah. Well, it's true. Like sometimes I, you can use a break from the toddlers. That means that my wife is then the one taking the brunt of that. And that's not what I want for her. Um, that's not the selflessness that we sign up for when, you know, we make that commitment in marriage. And so, I know that didn't sit right with me either. So, um, it's hard to reconcile for me a career path that even if let's just say I could be as, um, I could earn the same amount of doing this other endeavor. As I can do in industry, the benefits of the practice that I have. I live very close to where I practice for work on purpose. I built my office and then we bought our first home after that. So we could be, I could have a short commute so I could spend more time with the family. I've tried to arrange my life in that way that I can just be physically present. So the life of travel, I've always had a hard time reconciling. So I explored ways to do things remotely and virtually, but then you're giving more access to of yourself. Um, you're kind of on the clock all the time. If you're a consultant or a group coach and you, if you give over like available, if you're available 24 seven to people, then you're still not present even when you're home. So that's kind of been my back and forth struggle of having to do, of committing to any of these side adventures that would look fun that I know that I would find a passion and joy out of, but really they'd be taking away from what my real priority is. So I don't know, I'm kind of coasting a little bit until I think, putting those dreams on hold for now, until either I've got more support at my business, at my practice and more partners there, freeing up more of my time, which could be on the horizon here shortly. And then maybe I'll start with some of these side ventures again, or if nothing else, I might just circle back around when I'm closer to retirement. Like when the kids are out of the house. I think that will be a fun time to be focusing on a lot of these other sorts of things. But it's, it's, while I have that entrepreneurial drive, um, on those side ventures, it's been nice to have the clarity to know that I need to make sure that my bread and butter, which is coming from my dental practice, um, and, and performing industry, it is not going to suffer. Like I can't let that suffer. That that's what's providing for the family. So it's nice having that clarity in a sense so that I don't need to get too caught up in getting distracted. So maybe one day. Or maybe in the meantime, I'll think of something different and go down that road for a minute. But I don't know, does that give you a good response to your question?
Brendan Ryan:
Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. What about consulting with your wife or the family about your potential business ventures or what you should focus on? I know for me personally that because my wife isn't super business savvy, that can be difficult for me sometimes to kind of cue her
Drew:
Mm-hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
in on all the details and what she does versus doesn't understand. And my hopes and dreams and goals is actually that someday... will work in the business together. And I think that
Drew:
Hmm.
Brendan Ryan:
creates for a more cohesive life in a sense. But how much do you consult with your wife about what to do, what to focus on?
Drew:
Um, all the time. Um, so first of all, I should say that my wife is an interior designer. And so she was practicing or working full time, uh, before we got married and after we got married and even she helped me design her new office. Um, when we built it back, it was built in the middle of 2019. Um, which is also when we had our first child. And so. We. When our second child was born, she stopped working as an interior designer and you know, we're blessed that she's able to be home with our kids full-time. But even that is a 24-7 job. Like it's, she works harder than I do. And it's, it's, we both work to raise our children, of course, but it's a challenge. There's a lot of work involved and it's a joy. But as far as talking about business and. these side ventures, I always, of course, anything that's gonna take my attention from, from her or from the kids or from, take my time, I need to have a discussion over. So whether it's a side venture or if it's just, hey, there's this dental conference that I want to go to because I want to learn this new procedure or this new practice management, whatever. Time is our most valuable commodity right now and it's getting to... help raise our children. So there's always conversations around that. Early on, when I first became a practice owner, I wanted nothing more than to have a group of other business owners that I could consult with because I was trying to figure out what I was doing and I wanted to balance ideas off people. So I started listening to these dental podcasts to learn to do that. I tried getting her to listen to them and I tried sharing business ideas with her and she is very... loving and very kind and will talk things through with her, with me, because it's clear like we were lucky that we got to go out for dinner last night. We got a sitter and I caught myself talking business on our date night. And I said, okay, this is the last thing. Luckily the appetizer hadn't come out yet, but I caught myself. So the last thing I'm going to say about work and then we're going to, we're going to cut it off. So for us, there needs to be a line drawn because it's... Kind of she is about it. I don't we don't want to let that occupy You know our whole conversation for example, I know some dentists who are husband and wives and you get a Lot of mixed feedback on that some husband wives that work together in the dental industry You hear some people the most common sentiment is don't do it like Practice separately because when you come home, all you're gonna talk about is work and or the what? husband or wife who works in the office and the same practice. It's like, you don't get a clear delineation and separation between work and home life at that point. So that's something to be cognizant of and you know, tread carefully to make sure that it can work very well for some relationships from others, for others it may not work as well. And so for us, there's a balance. I want her to have the peace of mind and clarity to be focused on our family. you know, raising our children well. Um, but I just, when I get an idea in my head, I can't help, but like, think about it until I've thought it all the way through. And for me, I need to verbalize things. So sometimes she's just stuck having to listen to me and
Brendan Ryan:
Thanks for watching!
Drew:
hear out my, uh, latest crazy idea and help me realize if it's a good one or not a good one. So that's kind of how our dynamic works.
Brendan Ryan:
Got it. So Drew, where can people find you if they happen to be in your area for dentistry or where can they find your podcasts?
Drew:
So I'm in Winter Park, Florida. So my practice is Parks, Miles Dentistry. So we'd love to see his patients. There's four of us there. All the dentists are really great. And if you are a dentist, you wanna listen to Dental Podcast, if you're not, then you're probably not gonna find the podcast of any interest to you whatsoever.
Brendan Ryan:
I'm going
Drew:
You're
Brendan Ryan:
to go.
Drew:
better off binge listening to this podcast. So, but it is called the Fee for Service Dentist podcast. And it's geared towards dentists who are out of network with dental insurance companies, which is a whole nother topic as to why dentists might wanna do that, which might not be of super interest to your listeners, but that's kind of the topic of that.
Brendan Ryan:
That's a good preface for sure.
Drew:
Yep.
Brendan Ryan:
But
Drew:
Thanks.
Brendan Ryan:
Drew, thanks so much for coming on, man. Do you have any
Drew:
Thank
Brendan Ryan:
parting
Drew:
you.
Brendan Ryan:
thoughts before I wrap it up?
Drew:
No, just keep listening to Brendan. He's a smart man. He knows what he's talking about. So keep
Brendan Ryan:
I
Drew:
following
Brendan Ryan:
appreciate
Drew:
this podcast.
Brendan Ryan:
that.
Drew:
Yeah.
Brendan Ryan:
Appreciate that Drew. So guys, if you're listening, especially if you're on YouTube, please give it a like and subscribe. And if you're a dadpreneur, especially, we have a free discord group for you. You've got the newsletter, please check it out. Please join me. Please join Drew. Become dadpreneurs. We love this lifestyle. Own a business and being a dad is definitely not easy, but it is incredibly rewarding as well. Nothing in life that is rewarding is often easy, right? So trying to do both at the same time is not for everybody, but if you're one of those crazy people that wanna do that, please by all means join us, make the transition from employee to entrepreneur, and we will see you on the other side. Thanks for listening.