001: Don Koontz DDS – A Dentist With A Purpose

Title: Don Koontz DDS – A dentist with a purpose
Host: Peter Wilson
Guest(s): Dr. Don Koontz

Peter: Welcome to the Biz and Life Done Well podcast, where we explore what it means and what it takes to do business and life well. I’m your host, Peter Wilson. If you’re like me, you’re intrigued by stories of common people who have achieved uncommon success in business and life. Join me as I interview fascinating people about how they got started, their successes and failures, their habits and routines, and what inspires them.

Don: I have

Peter: a very special guest this morning. It’s, Don Koontz, who’s my very good friend. He’s also my brother-in-law and a client.

Don: And Keep in the family, man. Keep in the family.

Peter: And, the reason I just wanted to kinda give a little preamble why I had Don on here, it’s because, he really inspires me. He’s been doing a video YouTube channel here for a while.

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: And, he’s the one that’s kind of encouraged me to, you know, think about doing other forms of media, personal brand, and just, you know, telling a story. And, the name of the podcast is Business and Life Done Well, Business and Life Done Well.

Don: Like that.

Peter: Donna’s a guy that I think really exemplifies, that.

Don: Thank you, Pete.

Peter: So I’d like to really kind of explore that idea, like what does it mean? What does business and life done well mean?

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: I look at you. I think about, the success I see you have in your life and your business.

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: And I really, I think there’s a lot of folks out there that might wanna know a little more about you and kinda what makes you tick. What what has inspired you, and, you know, what are the types of things that have really, you know, led you to, you know, be so, you know, at least, you know, successful, in many aspects. I’m sure we all look at our lives and go, well, there’s so much we can do better.

Don: But Like I’m just starting out, Pete.

Peter: Exactly. So let’s talk about, first, what does, what does life done well, what does business done well mean to you? What you know, I’m just gonna try this on for size here. This is like, you know

Don: What does life done well or business done well mean to me? Yes. Well, I’ve always not always, but my big thing is, I in fact, I alluded to this at my at my parents’ anniversary party, which you were there right now. You actually hosted the party. Great party, by the way.

So my kinda driving force is there’s there’s a parable. I’m a I’m a Christian. I’ve been raised in a Christian faith, and, it’s been a tremendous influence in my life. And in the Christian, in the Christian Bible, there’s, these parables, from that are attributed to Jesus. And one of the parables, one of my favorite parables is a is called the parable of the talents.

And the parable of the talents, basically, is a master who gives these, basically, servants talents, which apparently, in that day was a amount of money. Mhmm. Okay? Okay. And he gave different people different amounts of money, and then he demanded a return on essentially his investment.

Mhmm. Mhmm. And the one person who he was not happy with was the person that’s buried his talent because he didn’t wanna lose it. Right. He didn’t wanna take a risk.

Right. Right. Gave the money back to the master, and, essentially, he was punished for doing that. Mhmm. So I look at that in life.

It’s like, I believe the creator, God, has given us all things. You know, some of us he’s given, you know, like, you good looks to. This is this is podcast. You can’t see me.

Peter: He’s a

Don: good looking guy. Someone’s just given, you know, athletic abilities, smarts, whatever. So, anyways, he’s given us all a different package. Mhmm. And my belief is what he wants us to do is take that package and do something cool and creative with it.

Mhmm. Okay? Mhmm. And it could be being the best mom. You know, it could be being this this cool mom, whatever, or owning a 711, whatever.

Anyway, so my point is that that I look at my life and my business as kinda as kinda the same thing. Mhmm. Kinda 2 different sides of the same coin. You know? Basically, is I wanna provide for my family Mhmm.

For my business. I wanna do a good service to my community. You know, I wanna get a good a good product. I wanna have a great working environment for my for my employees. Mhmm.

Wanna beautify my corner per you know, the little corner that I’m on there. And, I watch when I take these things and then just take what God’s given me and improve on it. Mhmm. Same thing with life, you know. Mhmm.

It’s like, try and and do interesting things. I I I kinda have this picture of God up in heaven. He’s looking down. He’s looking up for 1,000 and 1,000,000 of years, and, you know, I think he gets kinda bored up there.

Peter: Okay.

Don: Thought about that? Alright.

Peter: No. Have not. No.

Don: It’s the same old stuff. Yeah. So I think sometimes well, I have I have this little I don’t know where I’ve heard this phrase, but kind of this phrase, make God smile. Right. Okay.

Something in life. Right. And God said, hey. Look at that guy Wilson down there. Right.

Right. He’s doing these audios. That’s that’s cool. He’s trying to, like, do something outside the box. Right.

You know, he’s God’s like, yeah. This is cool. I’m I’m I’m like like what this guy Wilson is doing. Right. Right.

So that’s kinda my philosophy in life and in business is to do what I to do what I’ve given the best I can, Make cuts and lately, actually, through these through these podcast or through these little videos I’ve been trying to do is I’m trying to be a good influence on my kids, my nieces and nephews, the next generation, you know, try to inspire them Yeah. If I can Yeah. Where they can at least get a few laughs out of my feeble attempts. So, yeah. But I I I enjoy what I do.

I enjoy being a businessman. I I I really have I’ve done it for about 26 years. I’ve actually really liked that aspect. I did not study business in college. I didn’t think of myself as a businessman, but the more I’ve done it, the more I’ve liked it because it’s it’s kind of a creative thing.

You know? It’s like this little it’s like this little life form almost of itself. And you kinda, like, this worked. Let’s I mean, let’s just double down on that or this didn’t work. Let’s let’s not do that.

So it’s just constantly evolving, creating thing. Of course, you’re dealing with people Right. Right. Which is another

Peter: For for those of you that don’t know, I failed to mention this, but John is a doctor. He’s a a dentist, DDS. So, he’s been a dentist for how many years? 26 years. 26 years.

Went to the University of Washington, School of Dentistry Pepperdine undergrad.

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: And what was your undergrad? Was it English? English.

Don: Let’s let’s let’s let’s Okay. English let’s Which is obviously a very natural segue into dentistry.

Peter: Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. So, so you’ve been a dentist for 26 years. How long have you been married?

Don: Just celebrated our 29th anniversary. Congrats. So we got we got married when I was in dental school. So k.

Peter: Wife Lisa? Wife Lisa. You’ve got 4 kids? Four children.

Don: Why don’t

Peter: we give them their names just so they can

Don: Gabriela, is the oldest, and, she is 25. Isabella is 19, Christian, 17, and Sofia, our baby, is 15.

Peter: Not a baby anymore.

Don: No. No. So I’ve been very blessed with both a wonderful wife and

Peter: 4 great kids. Awesome. Awesome. So one of the things that, I really wanted to explore on this podcast was, I want to try to go below the surface a little bit. I mean, we can talk about sort of biographies and what people have done and that sort of thing, but I really wanna understand more about like habits and routines

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: And, things that interest, interest you. Like one of the things, that you can’t see is Don is wearing his biking gear because he rode his bike here, which is how far from how far did you ride? Two blocks.

Don: It’s about 7 or 8 miles.

Peter: Okay. 7 or 8 miles. So how often do you get out on your bike and ride?

Don: Truthfully, not often as I as I would like to. I used to ride my bike to work, which is about 14 miles. I’ve kinda got out of the habit of that, but I’ll go on the weekends with some friends. And we’ll go out for hour and a half or so. Mhmm.

It’s not you know, it’s mainly weekends these days or or during the during the Friday. I don’t usually see patients on Fridays, so I’ll go off on Fridays. But, yeah, I I love biking. It’s it’s very, easy on the knees. Mhmm.

It’s a great way to get around in the city.

Peter: Right. Right. Yeah. You’ve been doing these kind of sort of I wouldn’t say extreme sports, but, you know, you’ve been doing a lot to stay in shape for quite a while. I mean, you’re great shape.

What what what what inspired you? Like, what was your journey? I mean, do people have different journeys for their fitness and

Don: all that?

Peter: What was your fitness journey?

Don: What was my fitness journey? Well, that’s a good question. Well, I was a typical kid in the seventies. I, played a lot of sports. Whatever season it was, I you know, we played basketball, baseball.

Yep. And, didn’t really, you know, light it on fire. But, I had fun, and I and in in high school, I I ran cross country and I played tennis. And then, I think in college, I really, I really realized, one day or one season that that, I got a lot of energy by running. Okay.

So I think we’re all of a certain level. You know, I was never really hyper kid. I was kinda more in the the low energy spectrum. I could sit and read for hours a day. So I realized that when I went out and and ran, I got this surge of adrenaline, you know, and it and it lasted for a few hours.

And it was, like, this this because I I could think better. I communicated with people better. It was just like this, wow. This is pretty cool. I was I was fortunate.

I learned it early on. It was, like, in my 19 or 20. Mhmm. So I’ve kinda used it. I I so I’m like a person that, you know, a lot of folks out there, they they hate physical fitness Mhmm.

Because it’s just it’s sometimes it can be hard. Whereas me, I’ve always gotten this this energy from it. Mhmm. So it hasn’t been an effort. Mhmm.

You see what I’m saying? It’s been it’s been a it’s been a real cool payoff for me. Not even not I mean, even if it’s not good for you, just, you know, it’s like a big shot of double espresso for me. Right. So I, you know, early on, I I I was in college.

I would run, not very far, then I then I got out of out of school, and, my brother-in-law, Lisa’s brother, Raymond, he was always into these, kinda more extreme sports. And he got me doing some triathlons. I did a few of those, not again, not very fast, but I got through them.

Peter: Did you guys do an Ironman

Don: or Yeah. We did the Ironman. It’s called Iron distance. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. That was that was pretty brutal. Survived. Survived. Yeah.

Lived to tell about it. Good. And then since then through life, I’ve just I’ve just through my adult life, I’ve just always tried to do it 3 or 4 to 5 times a week, and it just it’s a really, like I said, a life giving energy force for me. If I’m having a lousy day emotionally, I’ll go out and exercise and I’ll feel better. You know?

I know if if I’ve always if I if I’m thinking about something, like, if I’m I used to think about writing a lot. I used to write some articles, and I would go on a walk. Mhmm. And I would have these these like, I’d sit me, sit at a desk, couldn’t think of a thing, go on a walk for 3 or 4 or 5 miles, have all these ideas. So for some some some way in my life, my physical fitness stimulates my mental activity.

And, I don’t know. I’m not sure if that works for everybody, but for me, it helps. So, mainly, it’s just running and and cycling. So do you have a routine?

Peter: I mean, you know, so it sounds like it’s, really, it sounds like it’s when you have an opportunity, but do you have a specific routine that you try to follow every day? You know, it’s

Don: it’s funny because I’ve I’m wearing this Fitbit now, which I think is a really so you’re wearing one too. So Fitbit brotherhood. Anyway, it’s to me, that’s a really cool device because it I’m a person who really responds well to, kinda challenges and, you know, checking off the box type deal. So my routine now is I lately, I’ve been working getting into work about 9 o’clock, 8:30. So I’ll go down in the morning and jog for a bit.

At a gym, I can work I can walk to, lift a few weights just to do some upper body stuff. And, then in the evenings, I’ll go on a walk or run. So, usually, I’m trying to do, I mean, I typically I look at my Fitbit. I’m doing probably 60 to 90 minutes of Activity. You know, activity.

And that could be walking. That could be Right. Jogging or whatever. Mhmm. How the Fitbit tracks that.

But, yep. Yeah. So it’s it’s just basically trying to stay busy, and I find myself doing it almost every day. You know? Some sort of exercise.

Peter: Well, plus you’re on your feet as a dentist, so you must how many steps do you get a day? You must get a ton of steps.

Don: Yeah. Not as much as you’d think because it’s like, you know, I’ll be sitting for 50 minutes, get up and walk for Oh, right. 30 seconds. Yeah. But Yeah.

Peter: You know,

Don: usually, if if I do my walk in the morning and and or jog, whatever in the evening, it’s probably about 15,000. Oh, that’s pretty good. So Wow. Not, you know, setting records, but Right. I feel better.

Peter: Right. Do you have any particular intellectual pursuits outside of work that you, you know, that you follow? Mhmm.

Don: Yeah. I mean, I yeah. I I’ve always been a reader. I’ve always liked to read. Lately, I’ve been watching I’ll watch, videos.

Mhmm. I watch kinda I’ll get these kicks. You know? I’ll watch a lot of, like, different among these business people. Mhmm.

Marketing, you know, Gary Vaynerchuk, you know, Grant Cardone. Yep. Lately, I’ve been watching a lot from a guy named Russell Brunson. Okay. We talked about, you know, the marketing guy.

Yeah. So, and then a lot of these guys have written books too. Right. They’ve all written books. Right.

So I’ll read their books. I, kind of in the same vein of exercise. It’s like, I’ll I’ll notice myself getting, like, an emotional jolt by reading something or by listening to video. It’s kinda like like I’m on way to work. That’s that’s probably believe it or not, it’s part of my by one of my favorite parts of the day.

If I’m not, you know, if I’m driving, which I usually do, it’s probably about a 20, 25 minute drive. And and I usually try to listen to some motivational video. You know? And it just kinda like exercise. It just kinda gives me that that adrenaline.

Mhmm. That that natural just lifts your energy level. Yeah. So as far as reading goes, yeah, I’ll read a bunch of different books. What am I reading now?

There’s a guy oh, the guy that wrote the he wrote a book about what’s his name? Camilo or something. Ted he wrote about the TED Talks. Okay. And it’s about, kinda telling your story.

Okay. Okay. What we’ve talked about before. Storytelling. You know?

Yeah. So much of of, basically, how we’ve evolved, you know, sitting around the campfire Mhmm. Just telling stories. Right. You know, that’s why our brain just really, I think, locks into that because we’re kinda hardwired for that storytelling.

Right. And, I’ve had a a lot of curiosity about about marketing. Mhmm. Frankly, because I know so little about it. Right.

And it’s just it’s just cool to see how how we’re influenced. Marketing can be kind of a dirty word. Right. You know, the whole madman, whatever, advertising. Yeah.

But to me, the way I look at marketing is if if I’ve got something, either an idea or a product or a service that I believe strongly in or a faith. You can market your faith. Sure. You know? That, if I believe in that strongly, marketing is just letting other people know what I believe and what I have to offer.

So telling my story.

Peter: So talking about books, what, you know, what’s the top 2 or 3 books that you’ve,

Don: you know Talking all time?

Peter: Yeah. All time.

Don: Well, the way I kinda look at books, you know, you you you sit around talking about the favorite books, movies, and I’m thinking, what are the like, my favorite movies are the ones I keep going back to. Right. You know, on this Caddyshack. Caddyshack is good. It’s probably not in my top ten, but, I’m more of a cool Han Luke guy.

Okay. Paul Newman. Yeah. Anyway, kind of that feels the same with books. You know, what books do I go back to and read in consistent cases?

There’s one book called The Alchemist that I really like. Yeah. Kind of a fable. There’s one book. Of course, the the the Bible, I read that.

I’ll go through phases in my life. I’ll read more or less of it. I read that consistently. Try to, there’s a book called called Bunkhouse Logic.

Peter: Oh, love that book.

Don: You read it? Yes. There’s a book called well, there’s a CD called the, strangest secret.

Peter: Let’s let’s talk about Bunkhouse Logic for a moment. So it’s written by he’s a guy who’s in, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Isn’t he the guy who’s Yes. Bueller, the famous line?

Don: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His name is Ben Stein. Ben Stein.

Right. Yeah. Yep. And he was actually in the Nixon cabinet back in the Okay. Early seventies Yeah.

Before that kinda fell apart.

Peter: Got it. So his acting was just happenstance almost. Yeah. He was

Don: I think he was, like, a journalist or something, and he became a a, I think, a speech writer. And then Yeah. This book was given to me by my mother when I was in college back in the early eighties when it was written. And I I think I read it once and I tossed it aside, and I rediscovered it. So I’m not gonna you know, the those boxes of books you have put aside.

I’ll be back, you know, I don’t know, 10 years ago. And it’s just, it’s kind of this little allegory with this cowboy on this trail. That’s the bunkhouse part, but got a lot of really good really good themes. And one of the themes is that you have it’s kinda like maybe the the cowboy goes into the the saloon or the whatever, the casino, and you you can only win if you’re sitting at the table. Right.

Right? Right. And that analogy has really borne out in my life. It’s like, when I play things safe in life, it’s, yeah, it’s interesting. I mean, it’s it’s a fairly simple life, but you don’t make these big leaps Right.

Until you actually sit at the table, push your chips in. Right. Try something. Right. You know, you know, podcast like you’re doing, whatever.

Sure. Yeah. Or whatever. Try something that you could fail at. People could laugh at you, whatever.

But at least you’re trying. At least you’re taking a risk. Mhmm. And that theme, I think, is is so important in life. And if that was I wish I knew that earlier.

You know, just try something. If it fails, so be it. But if if it succeeds, you know, you you this whole other realm of possibilities opens.

Peter: So that’s great advice. And if you can find a copy of that book, I think it’s out of print

Don: now, but you might Could be. Mine’s got this cover ripped off, and I’ve it’s got, you know, all marked up with Yeah. But I it might be back in print. I mean, Amazon.

Peter: He’s he’s kind of a pre Tim Ferris, sort of, you know, make the most of what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to fail. You know? Exactly.

Don: Ask you’re gonna have to ask. The universe doesn’t come to you and say, hey. You know what? We want you’re gonna put yourself out there.

Peter: There’s some there’s some, let’s say, there’s some I think he has some dating tips in there for guys.

Don: Make it rejected 9 times and ask 10 times. It’s magic.

Peter: Exactly. So get out there and ask 10 times. Yeah. No. I I I thought that was a good book too, and I and I like just the core advice, and it was pretty sound as well.

Yeah. So, let’s talk about business a little bit. Talk about so you’ve had just tell us about your journey, through now you’re a dentist. You own your own practice. It’s very successful practice.

Okay. But take us back to, how you got started because I recall when you got started, you were working for a dentist that owned the practice perhaps. So so so just kinda take us on that journey a little bit and kinda lessons learned along the way.

Don: Lessons learned along the way. Wow.

Peter: Or just what was that journey like?

Don: You know? So it’s You know? Yeah. It’s it’s interesting. It’s I feel like I’ve I’ve I feel like I’m like I told before, I’m I really haven’t done a whole lot.

Mhmm. I mean, I feel like I’ve got so much more that I could do or what I wanna do. But, yeah, I’ve I’ve I’ve learned a few things along the way. I started off, like Pete like you said, I worked for a guy, doctor Sutter, for 4 years. I was basically running his practice.

It was a satellite office up in South Everett, and, the building, believe it or not, was a basically, a converted like, a double wide mobile home. Mhmm. You ain’t gonna lock doctor it up to make it look like an office, but so it wasn’t the best physical space, but, it’s a growing area. Mhmm. And I bought the practice in 96 from him.

And I would say from 96 to about 2010, you know, I don’t know. It didn’t really do much as far as growing the practice. It was pretty much status quo. Didn’t really didn’t really know much about business. Like I said, I don’t have really a business background.

I didn’t, yeah. Just kinda, like, flatlined for 14 or so years. Mhmm. And then I kinda got into a situation where I saw my my my practice kind of, I think, dropping a bit. And I just had this feeling like I have to have to do something about this building because this is the this is what’s really inhibiting me from from expanding my business.

So this was, like, in 2010, 2011, which is, you know, least up there was kinda when the bad part of the economy really hit. Right. You know? Yeah. There were days I had, like, 2 or 3 patients, and and I what I did is I I made this decision to really push my all my chips in.

I had bought in that that that land about, 5 years before. Knocked the building down. Had to move away to a different location for about 15 months. Rebuilt the building from scratch. I moved back in July of 2011.

And, and one thing about that, just looking at that, is, like, kinda had this moment of, oh my gosh. I’ve taken on a ton of debt. Right. My business is is not doing great. Yeah.

I need to do something to pay this loan off Right. Right. And to support my family. So Right. That’s one of those deals in life where it’s like, you know, you don’t wanna make foolish decisions, but you have to I think for me, for my personality, in order to be creative and really do some interesting things, I have to have some pressure.

Peter: To to take a little bit

Don: of a leap is what you’re Exactly. And I kinda put myself under some I don’t know. Pressure’s one word I I know about it. So, yeah, there were a few sleepless nights there. But, out of that, I ended up hiring you, I think.

I don’t know what what year did I hire you? 2,011 ish. Yeah. Because I figured I gotta get some more patients in here. Started marketing, which a lot of dentists don’t do.

Started expanding my hours. Started, hired an associate to get myself in you know, just doing things that that I probably could’ve done before. Mhmm. Mhmm. I just didn’t have never had the motivation to.

Yeah. So yeah, so, that was July of 2011. And in the past 7 years, we’ve we’ve grown about fourfold, our business. Wow. Went from 3 or 4 employees to, like, 13.

So, yeah. It’s been a great it’s been a great 7 years or so. Frankly, it’s been we’ve kind of outgrown our space Right. So which sets up the next chapter.

Peter: That’s a good problem to have, I guess. Yeah. One of the, things that I remember from that time of expansion and growth was there was some unintended consequences as well. I think one of the things you found out is that not everybody on the team was ready for the journey. Yeah.

And, so it seems like you you’ve you know, over time, you built up a team that really is, you know, ready to be part of the journey. So that’s that that from from my observation, that was one of the things I learned was looking at Yeah. You know, it’s one thing to as as a business owner to have this idea that you wanna take the business somewhere, but, you know, if people are happy doing what they’re doing, that that may be a foreign concept to them. Right? So you

Don: Yeah. The other the other thing you think about is is yeah. I think I got a great staff right now. Mhmm. You know?

And but I think that the people that that I’ve attracted to work with me I’m not sure how I’d say this. It’s like the more confident and the more confident you become Mhmm. The better people you can attract to yourself.

Peter: You attract better folks. Yeah. You know what

Don: I’m saying?

Peter: People that are more in line with where you’re trying to go.

Don: If I’m just kinda status quo, people that are gonna be attracted to that are just kinda the same mindset.

Peter: Right. So so what is that journey been like in terms of finding people? Because I know you have a fairly rigorous, you know, hiring, you know, practice now. I think don’t you guys do some 60 day,

Don: kinda Pretty pretty standard kinda 60

Peter: Yeah.

Don: So what was the question? What’s our

Peter: highest question? What what have you kinda learned? Because that’s obviously evolved over time. Right?

Don: You know what I’ve learned, Pete, is that one of the things I’ve learned is the person has to fit into the group. You gotta get chemistry. Totally.

Peter: Chemistry. You

Don: can kill chemistry by 1 bad person. So Right. I may think the person’s okay. If if the group says thumbs down, then I’m not gonna hire that person. Right.

You know? Yeah. It’s like, it has to be a good fit. It has to be a good heart. You know, it’s it’s pretty much standard stuff.

Great work ethic, good people skills Mhmm. Team player. Right. We don’t have any prima donnas. Mhmm.

You know, no one’s no one’s saying I’m not gonna do that. You know? Right? A lot of humility. Mhmm.

Like, hard work, humility, want to be part of something bigger than themselves. This,

Peter: Patrick Lencioni talks about that in his book on great team, like, putting together a great team.

Don: Mhmm. I

Peter: can’t remember the name of that particular book, but he has the 3. He’s, humble, hungry, and smart is what he talks about. So he wants folks that are humble

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: Hungry Right. You know, and smart. And by smart, he doesn’t mean necessarily intellectually smart, but emotionally smart. Like, they can actually, you know, they have some small social smarts. They they can understand cues from other people

Don: Yeah. What they’re saying and be empathetic to them. Yeah. That’s that’s right on. Have you read Tony Hsieh’s book about No.

Delivering Happiness?

Peter: No. Delivering Happiness. So that sounds is that the name of the book?

Don: You should read that. Okay. You know who that guy is? No. Zappos.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Your your wife’s read it. Yeah. I probably probably knew your thing.

Peter: She was supposed to have read it.

Don: Yeah. That’s a great book. He’s he’s a really inspiring guy too. Great story. But he actually had, I think, his staff write out what are the some of the qualities that we want and Oh.

And they came up with this, like, list of 10 Mhmm. 10 attributes. Right. And one of them is a big one is humility. Right.

So yeah. It’s, yeah. You know, running a business, I’m sure you’ve you you you got a successful business going. It’s like you kind of learn things along the way. Right?

Mhmm. Yeah. And I I didn’t take any business classes in school. Yeah. I didn’t take any Wish I would take an accounting and marketing and all that stuff.

Right. Kinda learned it in the school of hard knocks, but that’s one of the things is, man, what’s the old saying about slow to hire, quick to fire? Mhmm. Mhmm. Yep.

You wanna make sure you get the right people on the bus.

Peter: Yep. You know? Yep. Yeah. That was, Jim Collins, the whole bus analogy as well.

Don: Yeah. Good to great. And you have to make you know, you have to to keep people. And, obviously, you get some real hotshots, and they’re they’re onto something else too. You know?

Right. You just gotta have to bless them on their way. But Right. In order, I think, to keep people to keep calling people, you have to keep giving them opportunity to expand themselves. Mhmm.

You know? Mhmm. Yeah. Cool.

Peter: So, so you’ve you’ve got this successful practice. What, what, just in general, do you look for when you work with you know, I know you work with a lot of different vendors and that sort of thing. Do you have any particular sort of, just attitudes towards that, or do you just kinda carry on the same approach you take towards hiring in terms of the vendors you work with as well.

Don: Towards vendors?

Peter: Yeah. Like, how do you how do you pick the vendors that you work with?

Don: That’s a good question too. You know, I I think that, in my mind, the best salespeople deliver a great product at a fair price, and they give great service. Mhmm. You know? Sales intrigues me.

I think if I wasn’t Dennis, I might be in sales. And I’m not I’m not the most charismatic person, but I think that a successful salesperson, you know what’s the old saying about under promises and over deliver? Mhmm. You know? If you can deliver Right.

Over deliver Right. You’re gonna be successful. Right. Right. And a lot of it’s just being organized, being hardworking.

Right. Well, how about what you do?

Peter: I mean, let’s talk about that for a second. I mean, you’re a dentist. I mean, that’s that’s gotta be, you know, it’s traditionally known as a very high stress job. Mhmm.

Don: I would agree.

Peter: Yeah. And, you know, it just takes a certain type of person to just, you know, hang in there and keep doing it year after year after year. You know? But you guys have really built up an amazing following. You look at your reviews online.

Don: Mhmm.

Peter: You guys have, you know, hundreds of positive reviews. Mhmm. You guys have really built a great reputation. As the person who does the marketing for your practice, I mean, I really don’t have to do a whole lot because you guys sit on a perfect corner, and you guys have a great reputation. So it’s, you know, it’s kinda like the perfect storm for marketing.

It’s like We’re gonna have to

Don: Yeah. Crank it up a little bit. Building.

Peter: Right. But having said that, you know, you guys, you obviously have a reputation for the way that you provide patient care. So what what what is your, you know, your secret to success with respect to, you know, your just the the practice, the reputation. How what have you done to to to get there? What what’s the secret?

Don: So as I see it well, first of all, I think any in any kind of business, especially dentistry, you have to be a reassuring figure. K. I think I’ve got a pretty good personality for it. Mhmm. I’m I’m fairly even keel.

I think for whatever reason, I can I can explain things in very simplistic terms? I think people don’t like to hear a lot of jargon. Right. They wanna hear things in everyday common lingo. I think I can do that to people.

I I, been doing it for a while, so I have have some confidence when I’m doing. But I’ve tried to make it not about me. I’m talking about the patient. So it’s almost like you have to,

Peter: well, so in some respects, it’s like you’re the guide, sort of the sort of the the story brand, yeah, thought of you’re the guide. It’s the patient is the hero. Exactly. That’s exactly what I want

Don: it to be. I want I want the patient to be the hero. I want me to be, you know, I tell my staff, as he says, I’m not the boss. Mhmm. The patient’s the boss.

Right. You know? It’s not about me. Mhmm. It’s about them.

Mhmm. And, we’re here to to make this a good experience for them. And, I think with respect to our business, what what I think that our niche is, and from here going forward, I really wanna expand on this, is is to me that there seems like there’s 2 types of dental practices. K. There’s kind of the smaller, what I call the boutique practice, where it’s maybe 1 dentist, 1 or 2 hygienists, you know, kind of a couple, kind of that really high touch feel.

Mhmm. You you you come in and you’re the center of their attention. Mhmm. The downside of that is usually you have limited hours. You know, they work 4 days a week, typically.

Right. There’s 1 hygienist, one dentist. So if you don’t click with them, you know Yeah. You don’t it doesn’t you don’t have any other options. Sometimes, it’s very limited limited services.

Right. You know? And then the other typical practices is the bigger corporate model where it’s Right. Lots of chairs, usually pretty good hours, you know Mhmm. Extended hours, lots of different people.

But it’s almost like you’re not you don’t get that high touch.

Peter: It’s a production line.

Don: Yeah. And you may see, you know, doctor Jones today, and then connect next to me. He may be gone. You know, Susie doctor Susie Smith’s in. Right?

Yeah. So but I I see North Creek Dental Care and going further as kinda that middle ground, kinda having the best of both worlds. Mhmm. We wanna have, lots of services. We wanna have great hours, different providers.

And, also, we wanna those are the things kind of a bigger practice. We also wanna have the kind of the high touch family feel of the smaller practice. Mhmm. So as we’ve grown, that’s kinda what I’ve kinda tried to hit as that middle ground Mhmm. Between this very small boutique practice and the large corporate practice.

Peter: Right. So you wanna have the best of both worlds, basically. Yes. Exactly. To be even better than either.

Don: Yeah. That’s that’s our goal.

Peter: Right. That’s that’s great. So what is your sort of philosophy of care? I know that, you know, a lot of I read a lot of the reviews Mhmm. And they seem to say that, you know, you’re very, confident and but also give patients options.

You know? So is there a particular philosophy that you have of care?

Don: Yeah. Well, I so I think my job as a dentist, if someone comes in, I need to tell them kinda what’s wrong with their mouth. K. Yeah. I mean, obviously

Peter: Sure.

Don: You see it, you diagnose something. Yeah. K. Peter, here’s what’s wrong with your your mouth, a, b, and c. Mhmm.

Here’s how we’re gonna fix it. Here’s how you can fix it. Right. So that’s first and foremost, what I need to do is is see an issue, diagnose it, provide treatment. But beyond that, dentistry is interesting, and there are different there are different, to use a terrible term, there are different ways to skin a cat.

Right. Right?

Peter: Right. Right.

Don: And I think sometimes people get overwhelmed by going to a a dental office and they’re kind of got this sticker shock. It’s like, well, every every tooth in your mouth needs to be redone. That may be the case. Mhmm. What I try to do is is treat the the most important thing first.

You know, let’s get rid of this decay that’s almost in the nerve. Right. And then say, hey. These are the other teeth that I think being worked on right now. Mhmm.

These are the teeth that I think are needing some work the next couple years, just to give you a heads up. Yeah. If you wanna do that now, great. Let’s do it. Right.

But I don’t wanna overwhelm the patient, especially on the first appointment. Right. So what I’m looking for is a relationship. You You know, I want this person to say, hey. You know what?

Don Koons and the and the team there at Northfield don’t care. They’re gonna take they’re looking out for me. They’re taking care of me. I can trust them. Mhmm.

You know? And I always get the analogy of of of car repair. Right. I don’t know nothing about cars Right. Even though I work in the gas station for k.

I know how to pump gas.

Peter: Yeah.

Don: But I have to trust the mechanic to say, hey. You know what? You know, your your fuel pump is shot. You need this replaced. Right.

And your radiator, yeah, it’s got a, you know, it’s got a few more miles to go. Mhmm. But I have to trust, you know, Joe, the mechanic to say, okay, Joe. I wanna do what needs to be done now. I want you to tell me what needs to be done in the next 6 months to the year.

Mhmm. And feel good about that. Mhmm. Right? I wanna be that person for the people’s mouth.

You know, hey, you can trust you can trust Don Koons. He’ll do good work, and he’ll he’s gonna, you know, give you a straight shot of what needs to be done. Right.

Peter: A lot

Don: of folks have a lot of psychological issues about their mouth. You know, a lot of shame about it. Sure. So I try not to and I tell my intelligence this too. It’s like, even if the person is is the worst pressure in the world Mhmm.

You know? Yeah. Don’t beat them up so much. Right. Walk out of there feeling like about an inch tall.

Right. You know? Right. Say, hey, you know what, mister Jones? You’re missing these areas, but you’re actually brushing this front tooth pretty well.

Mhmm. Give them something to feel pain about. You know? And I’ve always used the analogy if you can, you know, you can do the ideal dental treatment on them, but if you don’t come back in 6 months Right. Are you actually doing them any good?

Right. Right? Right. You have to make them feel you have to make a connection. Mhmm.

Personal connection. Dentistry is different than a lot of different things. People wanna feel like they’re taken care of. They wanna feel like they’re not being shamed. They wanna feel like, you know, they they just they just have to kinda preserve their psyche.

Right. So you have to keep them coming back.

Peter: Right.

Don: Right? And, sometimes that sometimes you’re not gonna do everything. I I tell I tell my high suggest that sometimes there’s that little piece of calculus that you’re not gonna get, but guess what? It’ll be there in 6 months or 3 months, whatever. Right.

Right. And, the main thing is is to, you know, do the work. Mhmm. Do the job. Tell the person what needs to be done, but also give them enough self esteem.

They’re gonna come back and see you next time.

Peter: Right. That’s that that’s important. Well and one of the things that I’m you know, especially with dental, one of the most important things is self esteem and our smile. Right? So talk about that a little bit.

I know you’ve Yeah. You’ve probably had some Yeah. Yeah. Situations where you’ve done some work on somebody, and then they’re smiling for the first time in years and just in tears. Right?

Don: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I and this is something I really wanna going forward, I I really wanna emphasize this more in in in my life and in my business and just in in maybe future, blog, you know, video posts or the connection between a smile, dental health, and positive self image. Mhmm.

Okay? Mhmm. You can make yourself feel better by smiling. Right. You know?

Right. People look at at your eyes and your teeth. Those are 2 things you look at first name. Okay. Not your shoes.

That’s 3. Number 3. I think it goes back to, you know, when we were, you know, cavemen. You know, it’s like you can you can you can portray so many emotions through the smile. Right.

Yeah. You know, if I don’t know you, you’re a stranger, and you smile at me, things are going okay. If you frown at me or snarl at me, there might be a fight coming up. Right. Right?

Right. I think people, you know, in an ideal world, maybe we shouldn’t care what our teeth look like. Maybe we should smile regardless. But in our culture, in 2018, United States of America Mhmm. People are kinda judged by their smiles.

Right. Right or wrong. Right. So if you wanna be a successful, you know, fill in the blank, whatever, salesman, teacher, movie star. Mhmm.

You need to have a good smile that that looks good, that you feel confident with. Right. That’s healthy. Yeah. You know, I mean, this is not even talking about how your your your oral health affects your general health.

Right. But just in terms of psychological self image, having a good smile is huge. I’ve I’ve fixed smiles on people and they’ve changed their life. 1 lady left an abusive relationship. Wow.

So, after she felt more confident enough, you know, to to get out of that, Yeah. I’ve seen you just kinda see someone’s, self, you know, just just the the, what am I trying to say, the countenance on their face. Mhmm. Just have a a different look to them Sure. When they feel like they’re confident in their smile.

Yeah. So that’s that’s a cool part about my job.

Peter: That’s interesting. So one of the things I know that you do is you’re involved in you do a lot of, you know, charity type work, and, you know, we don’t have to go into all the specifics of that. But I what I wanted to know, there is there is one event you do every year that, you know, I think it’s worth mentioning. You do, dentistry from the heart, so I do wanna talk about that a little bit. But the other thing I wanna learn from you is just what, you know, why why do the different charity things is it and I know, you know, we’re not here to toot your horn for doing all that, but what does it do for you?

Don: Yeah. That’s a good question. You know, like I mentioned before, I’m I’m a Christian, and part of the Christian faith is is, you know, helping the less fortunate amongst us. And And just selfishly, it’s like, I I think it it bonds us together as a team. You know?

And as as we do this, we do this event once a year, which is a free dental event.

Peter: So so talk about that a little bit. It’s a it’s a day of free dentistry.

Don: It’s actually a national program. K. Well, I forget the guy’s name. Yeah. Do you remember his name?

Peter: No. Dentistry from the heart.

Don: Monticello or Monticello or something. He started it back east, and what they do, they basically give you kind of the framework for this. And we we advertise for it, and we basically, we have probably 15 or 20 people working at the event once a year, and we just open it up to free, dentistry. Yeah. And we’ve done probably how many years have we been in this?

5 or 6 years? 5 years. Yeah. I think we’ve done it over 50 or $60,000. Easy.

Yeah. And it’s, yeah. It’s it’s it’s a, you know, it’s it’s a hard day. I mean, you’re working all day. Mhmm.

But it’s really it’s it’s gives you a great feeling inside, feeling that you’re you’re helping out less fortunate. Like, like you said, team building or team kind of gels with that.

Peter: Yeah.

Don: Patients seem to love it. Patients like it. You know, sometimes we’ve had relatives or friends who pay our current patients that have utilized the service and, you know, of course, our patients appreciate it. So, yeah, it’s something that I really look forward to every year, and it’s, I’m really grateful that my staff, you know, they don’t get paid for it. They’re volunteering.

Right. So they all volunteer for that. I know you do a lot of work for it too, so I appreciate that.

Peter: A little bit.

Don: Put up our side over here and all that.

Peter: A little bit. A little bit. Yeah. The other thing

Don: the other thing involved in is is is just to put a plug for this is the, I’m on the board of the what’s called the Puget Sound Christian Clinic, and we have a five operatory dental clinic in the Community Life Center for Northwest Church in Glenwood. And there, it’s more of a it’s more of an ongoing dental care. It’s not just emergency Mhmm. And, really cool work they’re doing. We just hired a new dentist, doctor Hector Leon, who’s doing a great job there.

Peter: Great.

Don: So, cool.

Peter: So so the the the role that sort of giving plays in your life, do you feel like that’s, you know, kind of one of those things, like, your fitness routine? Like, is it just kinda part of your routine, part of your habit? I mean, would you feel, you know, any different, let’s say, if you weren’t I mean, you’ve you’ve kinda had a lifetime from what I’ve observed of of giving. So do you feel like it’s just part of what you do?

Don: Yeah. And just to be honest with you, Pete, I mean, there’s a lot of folks that give tons more than I can. Oh, right. Right. Right.

Right. So I feel, you know, I feel like I could do a lot more. But I think that, you know, it goes back to the humility thing. Mhmm. You know, it’s like, why was I given 2 parents that loved me, gave me great home?

Some folks didn’t have any parents. You know? I I’ve had 3 meals. We weren’t rich by any means. We were comfortable.

Right. I didn’t lack for anything as far as physical things. I had you know? I live in a great country. You know?

Yeah. So you think it back to kind of it’s kind of lottery. Mhmm. You know, when you’re born. Mhmm.

And I feel like I was dealt a really great hand. Yeah. So part of my, I think part of my responsibility is, you know, helping those out that maybe they’ve been dealt a worse hand Mhmm. For who knows why. Mhmm.

Mhmm. It’s not fair. Right? So yeah. It’s it’s and it’s, I don’t know.

It’s the I think the more that you go along in life, it’s like, well, it’s great to have success. It’s great to have x, y, and z, you know, but what’s really cool too is being able to say you helped someone. Mhmm. And be able to have someone say, you know what? And even even if it’s just part of your job.

Mhmm. You know what I’m saying? It’ll just be a charitable thing. Right. Yeah.

Peter: If you

Don: if I can give someone or if someone comes into my office, has always had a fear of dentistry Yeah. Has always hated their smile Yeah. And through myself and my staff, if we can turn that person around Mhmm. To where it’s a good experience now Yeah. Now they have a healthy mouth.

They feel good about it’s like that’s, you know, that there’s and we’ve been paid for that. There’s been there’s been exchange of of service for for money. Yeah. But I feel like I can help someone. And and in some ways, it’s kind of the same continuum Mhmm.

Just, you know, the the charitable stuff. Mhmm. You know? Some of

Peter: it is bringing money in. The others,

Don: it’s just Yeah. But in the end, I think it’s just, you know, it’s it’s trying to trying to be a decent person, trying to, you know, it sounds cliche, but, you know, leaving the world a better better place than you. Right. Yeah. So Yeah.

Yeah. It’s it’s been fun working with Dennis from the Heart, and, like I said, it’s it’s been a really good I’m really proud of my my staff.

Peter: Right. Who inspires you, I guess, is really what I’m trying to get to.

Don: Yeah. You know, I’ve always been, excuse me, I’ve always been really a sucker for for for, you know, talking about story, for people who have a great backstory and have managed to really, you know, take, you know, take lemons and make lemonade. Right. Yeah. I mean, you’re a guy.

You know? You you you didn’t have the easiest you you you know, your parents went through a divorce, and they did Right. They were good people, but, you know, you had some challenges and challenges, and and you’ve obviously done really well with your life. I like reading about people. I like there’s a guy, you probably heard the name a lot, Les Schwab.

Right. Yeah. You read his book? Tires? No.

Uh-uh. That guy is great. Okay. He grew up, in logging camp Mhmm. In Prineville, Oregon.

His dad was a raging alcoholic. Mhmm. His mom died when he was, like, 10. Jeez. He and his brother had to basically take care of his dad, and he died when when I think Les was about 12.

Yeah. And so he was based on his own from 12 on.

Peter: Wow.

Don: Started delivering papers, you know, 3 routes, became, you know may I think he may say he made more money than his principal did when he used it. And then just started with this one little didn’t know anything about tires and started one little tire store and and, and it’s got it’s amazing. And his company is, like if you think about service Mhmm. In the northwest Mhmm. Les Schwab, you know, if you ever dealt with them.

Yeah. I mean, don’t you agree? Oh, yeah. Yeah. They come out to you.

They run out to you. How can I help you? You know? Yeah. And they’ll fix your they’ll fix your flat for free.

So Right. I don’t know. His his story is is really inspiring to me. Who else? There’s a guy named Steve Chandler, who’s, an author.

He’s got a great story. He’s written what’s his story? It’s probably not as dramatic as Les Schwab’s, but he, you know, had a fairly, you know, upper middle class childhood, got really involved in in, drinking, I think, and drugs, and then just basically started decided he wanted to help people. Mhmm. And, kinda did the thing that, Dale Carnegie did, where he just knew someone that had a a restaurant or something that wasn’t being used on one night.

Yeah. And they said, hey. What if I what if I used your your restaurant for a, you know, like a I think it was a goal setting workshop. Okay. Put a bunch of flyers out, sign.

I think like one person came the first number. Free goal setting workshop, right?

Peter: Yeah. It’s kind of like how many people are going to listen to this podcast.

Don: Yeah, But you gotta start, man. Yeah. Anyway, just kept doing the thing. Mhmm. You know?

And if you ever listen to this guy’s voice, it’s like he does a lot of audio stuff, and he does not have a great voice. Okay. So it’s like, I just love the guy’s spirit. You know? Yeah.

He’s been a great coach. He actually is is a a mentor to other people. Mhmm. Other other coaches. Mhmm.

So he coaches, like, other coaches. Yeah. And, he wrote a book called, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, which actually I found in a Federal Express, FedEx office, or FedEx retail store one time. Yeah. Anyway, he’s what I like about Steve is his, basically, what the way I look the one thing I learned from Steve is the way you feel right now and the way that you relate to people and the way what you think of your personality Mhmm.

That’s largely a product of your early days. And if you know something that you don’t like about yourself, you can change it. Yeah. You know? It’s it’s the whole not being a victim.

Right. Now I know, obviously, a lot of the folks are are born in certain what we talked about before. Yeah. But it’s the whole mindset of, you know what? I may be in a bad state right now, but I don’t have to stay here.

Right. You know? I’m not a victim. Right. If I don’t like something about a person, if I think I’m lazy Mhmm.

Nothing even in my DNA says I’m lazy. Right. If I think I’m I’m introverted Mhmm. I can be I can put myself out there. Mhmm.

You know what I’m saying? So I I just love the fact that he says that there’s this avenue of change. If you don’t like something about your life, guess what? You can change it. Yeah.

So Steve Chandler’s a guy that that I inspires me. Some of the guys I alluded to earlier, you know, there’s a guy named Grant Cardone. He’s he’s kinda comes off as this blustery guy, but he’s he’s got a great backstory. His dad died young. Yeah.

There’s there’s a lot of people out there, especially with the whole YouTube. You know? Yeah. Some of them are kinda posers, I think. Alright.

You gotta gotta get through that. But I think whoever it’s all individual. You know? You may find someone inspiring, and I don’t.

Peter: Well, you you gave me audio CD. What

Don: was it called? The Greatest Secret? The Strangest Secret. The Strangest Secret. The Strangest Secret.

That inspires you. Earl Nightingale.

Peter: Earl Nightingale.

Don: Yeah. He’s got tons of old school. He’s got tons of stuff out there. He started off, I think, as a radio guy.

Peter: He’s like one of the original,

Don: And that that was originally a record album. Okay. You know, it was 2 sides.

Peter: Yeah. You know? So he’s kinda like pre Tony Robbins

Don: Yeah. Pre Jim Rohn. So I so the way I’ve seen it, the I’ve been turned on to kind of the history of of what, for lack of a better term, self improvement. Mhmm. Okay.

Peter: Yeah.

Don: There’s a I think, it was a book written back in, like, early 1900 Mhmm. Called I think it was called The Science of Getting More Rich. K. By Wilbur or something. Yeah.

Now, thinking what’s the guy’s name? Thinking Grow Rich, Nathaniel, or, Napoleon Hill? You probably read that one.

Peter: Yeah. I know which I I know the of the book.

Don: He he used from my understanding, he used the science of getting riches. So it went from the science of getting rich to think and grow rich Yep. To then Earl Nightingale kinda piggybacked on that. And then after that, you had guys like, Zig Ziglar. You’ve heard of him.

Yep. You’ve had guys like, Tony Robbins, who’s awesome. Yep. Obviously, you’ve had

Peter: Jim Rohn, who was who was Tony Robbins’ inspiration.

Don: Yeah. What was the the, the insurance guy’s name? Anyway, he was a big he was a big, actually, he was in Nick Nixon’s cabinet too.

Peter: Yeah. So Think and Grow Rich, the original 1937 classic.

Don: Yeah. Napoleon Hill.

Peter: Napoleon Hill. And what

Don: he did is he interviewed, like, Carnegie, all those guys. Yeah. And he basically Carnegie said, I’m gonna tell you I’m gonna he spent, like, 30 years interviewing this guy, and he said, I’m giving this information. I want you to disseminate it. Because Carnegie is another great story.

If you read about it. Yeah. Poor guy from Scotland. Yeah. Started off as just working on the trains and then learned how to do the Morse code.

Mhmm. Anyways, amazing story. But, yeah, to me, I’ve always been, like I said, I’ve always been about story. I love biographies. Mhmm.

I get a lot of inspiration reading folks and kind of the, I guess, kind of the thinking is, well, if they did it, how come I can’t do it? Right. You know? So

Peter: Right. Right. Well, that’s great. So are there any younger folks in particular that just kind of inspire you? I mean, just, you know, I look at some of these kids, and I’m just like, wow.

These guys are.

Don: Who inspires you?

Peter: Who inspires me? You know, it’s funny. I’m I’m inspired by all my nieces and nephews and my own kids. I am too. You know?

Don: Your your daughter inspires me, actually. She I love the fact that she’s I mean, I wish I had her positive outlook and her energy when I was her age. Mhmm. You know, she’s got some good skills as far as her and she does these great videos. And she’s she actually gives me a lot of feed positive feedback as far as my videos go.

Mhmm. My kids inspire me. They’re doing the they’re doing the best they can with their lives. They’re they’re, you know, trying to do some vision casting. Mhmm.

Because I wanna be in 10 years, 20 years. Wow. We do a yearly we go out to dinner every year, usually around the end of December, 1st January. Do, like, a goal goal setting. Really?

As a family or individual goal setting or both? So we go out as a family. Yeah. And then we all know it’s coming. Mhmm.

We’ve been doing this for 5 or 6 years. K. So we all one person’s ascribed. Yeah. We all go out and say these are my goals for so, like like, this year and For 20,000.

For 2019. Okay. And and then we we usually, like, someone writes them all down, like, say you have 6 gold and laminate them. Yeah. And you stick them on your your mirror.

It’s just cool to look back. Really? In 9 in 2016, these are

Peter: my goals. So you keep all of these?

Don: Of course. Keep all of them. I’d like to do it once a quarter. I think once a quarter would be cool just to

Peter: That’s an amazing exercise. I’d I’d that’s wow.

Don: And what’s amazing, Pete, is just like just the fact that you have a goal and you write it down, it’s amazing how many of the things actually come to fruition.

Peter: That happen. Yeah. That’s what they say because you’ve kind of your brain once you’ve once you’ve memorialized your goal, like my goal of getting this podcast launched was, you know, it’s

Don: all comes from an idea.

Peter: Yeah. And it was it was a long time coming, and, it took a little creative motivation from, my daughter, from you, from others to, finally make it happen. So, but it’s one of those things. Once you put the idea out there, once you once you memorialize it Mhmm. It’s amazing how you’re so much more likely to make it happen.

Right. Because Right. Because just because it’s printed, like you’re saying, and and then laminating it, I mean, oh my gosh.

Don: What you do is you stick it in your bathroom mirror every every day. What that what that does is that

Peter: Just reinforces in your brain.

Don: Brain sees every day. And then Yeah. We talked about Earl Nightingale. Yeah. One thing he says, and that and that strange secret, is you take them like a 3 by 5 card.

Mhmm. One side you write down whatever it is you wanna have happen. Yeah. And when I’ve done the in the flip side of it, you write down this this phrase, seek and you shall find. Mhmm.

Ask and you shall receive. Mhmm. Knock and the door will be opened to you, which is the saying of Jesus of Nazareth. And what I do is I’ll I’ll just I what I call the the poor man’s lemonade. Let me just stick some of that packing tape and Yeah.

Like, carry that with me. It’s money if if if you if you read both sides. So one side is this ask, seek, nod. Yeah. The other side is what your goal is.

Yeah. And it’s amazing how those things just wow.

Peter: So if I ran into you on a Tuesday, and I said, Don, show me your

Don: carton, you’d be packing it. You know, I have it in my little folder right now, so I probably could show it to you. Yeah. I used I used to there have been periods of time when I’m I’ve just kept in my pocket.

Peter: So so what’s an example of one thing you’ve done and that, you know, where that’s really

Don: One thing I’ve done, is about 2 years ago, I I had 5 chairs in my in my Practice. Practice. Dental practice. So I have a building, and it’s got 5 and and Five operatories? My thing was get to at least 7 chairs.

K. Seven operatories. Yeah. Because it’s it’s a capacity thing. Yes.

The more capacity you have, it’s like any business. You know? Mhmm. I need more capacity. Mhmm.

And, there was no way to expand my building. Basically, I was locked in by the amount of parking I have. So I said, I I wanna get to 7 chairs. This is a couple years ago to this. And I got to 6 chairs because I turned my personal office into an operatory.

Right. So that’s 6 bit. And so I kept thinking that, kept praying that, kept looking at that. And then one day, out of the blue, this friend of mine that might know a friend of mine who’s a real estate guy said, why don’t you make an offer on the building next year? I’m like, no.

They’re never because I’ve talked to this guy before that Mhmm. And and, they were never ready to sell. Yeah. So I said, sure. I don’t think they’re gonna take anything, but I’ll and, they accepted the offer.

I bought the building this year, and am in plans to go from not 6 or 7, but to to up to 12 operatories. Wow. So that’s something that Wow. That’s like you know, it hasn’t happened yet because Sure. I mean, I bought the billing.

I haven’t actually built it out yet. Right. You know, it’s it’s weird because you can, like, think of you can write something down like this. I don’t I can’t visualize how this is gonna happen. Right.

But my belief is if you write it down and you and you and you pray that and you live that and you think about that, something’s gonna happen. Wheels are gonna turn. You’re gonna see opportunities you didn’t see before. Mhmm. It’s amazing how that happens.

Mhmm. You’re one of the analogies I really like that goes back to the Jewish faith is, and I’m not even sure if this is historically accurate. To me, it seems like the Jews were the first person that came up with this analogy of God being a father. Mhmm. Mhmm.

I mean, some, you know, some other cultures have God being this angry whatever.

Peter: This king, ruler, deity. Yeah. This, what do you

Don: call it? Really punishing. Mhmm. And the Jews had this contract with God being the father. Mhmm.

Right? And they’ve actually called him Abba Fy, which is, like, like, a very endearing term. Right. Like papa. Yeah.

And that, that to me has, has been a huge thing in my life. Just thinking of God as, you know, as kinda like my own father. You know? When I have these questions in life, I’ll think about, what should I do? I’m at a crossroad.

Mhmm. Or, you know, which what? I think, well and I kinda haven’t hear my dad’s voice. I think it’s like the way I think is God talks to me or whoever, whatever. I’m getting these ideas, and it comes in the voice of my dad.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. Kinda pretend to have a conversation with my dad. Mhmm.

You know, and he’s always like, you know, just do the right thing. Right. You know, you kinda know what the thing to do, Don. Right. You know what I’m saying?

It’s going to be as in other ways. Yeah. So, yeah, I think my faith has just given me a real, you know, just a kind of underlying bedrock. Mhmm. You know?

There’s nothing earth shattering. Right. Be a good person. I married a woman who, had a great father too, a real man of faith, just a man of character. Mhmm.

And do the right thing. Mhmm. Even if it, you know you know, cost you in the short run, you’re gonna you’re gonna benefit in the long run. Right. You know, and even even with, like, your patients, you know, your your businesses, you know.

Mhmm. You know, do right by the patient. Right. If you do right, if you make them happy, whatever, make it right. Right.

Kind of the old Nordstrom philosophy we have in Seattle. Yeah. Make the patient happy. If you make the patient happy, you’re not gonna do okay. You’ll be here for the long run.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Peter: Got it. Cool. So, is there anything else you wanna add? Anything you wanna mention? You know?

Anything you wanna pitch?

Don: I’m just I’m just really excited about this whole you know? Just seeing these podcasts inspires me. You know? I wanna get I’m gonna start doing more, YouTube. I’m gonna do it up to 2 a week.

Wow. You know? And Right on. You know, kinda like you. It’s like, I don’t know who’s gonna listen, but Well one thing I think you do My kids might.

One thing I think we you do in in either a podcast or or a or a YouTube post is you you find your voice. Right. Yeah. And it’s like they say, this guy, Russell Brunson. He did, like, 50 of them before he really started finding Figuring it out.

Yeah. And then something happened. And what else is is it’s cool to get feedback from people. Yeah. Hey, I like this.

I I wish you could do that more of. It’s this evolving thing. Right. And it just excites me that you’re doing this. I’m gonna do it inspires me to do more.

It’s just, like, where is this gonna go? Right. How is this gonna, like, impact the other maybe it won’t at all. Right. The very least though, it’ll make me more confident in my message.

Sure. And it will give me a better way of articulating my message. Right. Because, one thing it’s like with me, with way way mind mind works, sometimes I learn things by talking about them. Mhmm.

Right? Yeah. I don’t know, really, what I believe, but if you ask me, then I’m, like, yeah. I guess I you know what I’m saying? Right.

Yeah. Certain things.

Peter: Of course.

Don: Yeah. You learn by actually verbalizing. Yes. I learned something about myself. Yeah.

So, yeah. I’m excited about the whole I have this yeah. One one thing I’m gonna plug here. I’ve I’ve got this philosophy for the 3 rounds of life. Okay.

Have I ever told you about this? No. Okay. And I’ll I’ll I’ll elaborate for it in a future podcast. But it’s basically there was a guy in Everett, Washington, and he was a a wrestler.

K. And he was very successful. He went on to wrestling college. I think he got 2nd or 3rd in the nation, but there was article in the paper about him, Everett Herald, I think. And they said, what what is what’s how come you’re so successful?

You’re not the biggest guy. You’re not the fastest guy. You’re probably not the strongest guy. He says, well, my philosophy is is there’s 3 rounds in a wrestling match. Mhmm.

Okay? A lot of guys come out and try to just win it the 1st or even second round. Right. Because, like, my philosophy is to be in such good shape Yeah. You know, that by the 3rd round, if I’ve survived, if you haven’t gotten pinned Yeah.

I’m gonna be going great guns. You’re gonna be worn out. Right. That’s what I’m gonna win in the 3rd round. Right.

Okay. What do you do is you’d like you’d like have a match in what my memories will you ride the bike home at night. Wow. He was just like this crazy Yeah. Trainer.

Yeah. And I think so much in life, it’s like, you know, it’s like we get caught up in, oh, I’m gonna I’m gonna work hard and retire at x age, 55, 60, 60. Yeah. And then it’s like, I wanna make it. No.

But it’s like to me, it’s like if you can, like, prepare yourself and pace yourself and work, it’s like the last round, you know, god willing. I mean, who knows? You’re gonna be on my bus when you’re Sure. If you make it to that 3rd round of life, which is, like, 65 to 85, let’s call it. Yeah.

Or 70. It’s like that can be actually your most productive in terms of of monetary, in terms of of helping people. Mhmm. You know what I’m saying?

Peter: Fulfilling. Yeah.

Don: Yeah. I I mean, I feel like my mom. She’s done so much in her last her 3rd round. Yeah. And, that’s kinda my goal is is to is to structure my life so that I keep getting better, smarter, more productive Right.

And more useful to other people.

Peter: Right.

Don: Right? I don’t wanna just quit. And then maybe I’ll do something different.

Peter: So this is training, basically. Right? Yeah. Maybe You’re training for the 3rd round.

Don: Exactly. I’m training, man. Warren Buffett didn’t start making a lot of money to his 52. Wow.

Peter: If you

Don: look at his the chart of his net worth Yeah. After 52, it starts to really ramp up. So Yeah. Our mindset is you know, and I don’t I don’t have a job where I’m out breaking my back. I mean, it’s tough with my body, but, yeah, it’s like if I’m a drywall or something.

Yeah. My body shot at age Right. 55 or whatever. Yeah. But, yeah.

I wanna keep my mind and my body mentally and physically sharp so that I can keep being productive. Mhmm. Mhmm. You know, it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon.

Right?

Peter: Right. Exactly.

Don: And, yeah. But there’s a lot of and even it’s like, I’ll find myself, like, what, you know, what did I do today? You know, I’ve got the traditional middle class Yeah. Christian guilt, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s like something Grant Cardone says. He’s like, doing fewer things has never solved many problems in my life. Mhmm. Okay.

Being productive, staying busy Yeah. Those have solved problems in my life. Right. You know? Right.

So that’s

Peter: It’s a good one.

Don: That’s what I like.

Peter: So that’s great. Well, that I I’ll

Don: see you in my second round.

Peter: And I can’t wait to hear more about this, in future podcasts. So we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have doctor Kunz on, doctor Don, aka brother-in-law Don, on a future podcast as well, and I just look forward to, you know, seeing where the voice goes here with this podcast and, just Yeah. You know, getting to know more about you and what makes you tick and, you know, just Yeah. What’s up?

Don: Hey. I feel honored to be in the first inaugural podcast. I’m sure there’s gonna be people much more successful, interesting than me. At least I I can

Peter: Well, you are very welcome, Don.

Don: Sam the first. So Thank you.

Peter: Thank you for that.