Constant Lu: The Dentist | The Business Blast Podcast #41

All right everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner and today our guest is Constant Lou. He's been a dentist for 22 years and he's also the co-author of the Better Business book. So welcome Constant, I'm happy to have you on, man.

All right, thank you Tyler, it's my privilege and pleasure to be part of this.

Awesome, the first question I have for you man is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Biggest lessons that I had learned actually was from my experience in dental school. So, uh, believe it or not, uh, I, uh, at one point through the dental school, uh, after I got accepted then too, though, I lost focus though to the point where I almost got kicked out of school. And, uh, so what happened during that time was I lost my focus and started getting wrapped up with a lot of other types of activities during school outside. And then as a result of that, my academics were starting to slip. So, but then after I had kind of gotten a hold of myself and got refocused on what I needed to do, then I went full steam ahead and, you know, able to get back on track and actually made the, like, the Dean's List, which was the list of the top students there. But, you know, through that process, I really learned that you basically need to finish what you start, right? So, and through that though too, you're going to get a lifetime of experience. And there were some things along the way then in the— during the dental school process that some certain topics that I really didn't like too much there. But then, and even after graduation, there's some aspects of the work that get to be a little bit even tedious, but what has happened is that as I got better at those things, then I learned to actually like those things better as well. So I would just like see that as hopefully as an encouragement to others to just get your nose to the grindstone. But even if you don't love something from the start, once you get better at it, you actually learn to love it.

Next question is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Yeah, so as a lot of areas in the world today, then too there's a lot of rapidly changing technologies, and dentistry is part of that. There's a lot of good things that are coming through that, such as CAD/CAM technology where different crowns and fillings can be made within a couple hours there or less. There's 3D printing that's occurring. There's digital X-rays, which makes diagnosing so much quicker and with less radiation. And dental offices are working with a lot of cloud-based programs now to help them run more efficient operations. So, you know, anyone that's kind of looking for a dental provider these days Be— I should be looking for a provider, of course, that's going to be compassionate and listening to their needs. That's number one thing. But then they should also be looking for those that are keeping up with all those technologies because that's going to make it an easier dental experience for them as well.

And what's your best piece of overall business advice?

So for anyone that's starting or wanting to, you know, succeed with the business of learned that focusing on vision is going to be the most important aspect. So vision in the sense of both a big picture and a small picture. Okay, so that's where you would visualize what your business is going to be looking like 5, 10 years, 20 years, you know, down the line. And then also gaining a more detailed, down to the Earth, the ground level perspective, and learning how to get to that vision. And there's going to be a lot of different details of laser-like focus on learning how to get there. But those would be the main things that I'd see.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Yeah, I would say to learn to enjoy each step along the journey. There were just some times where I kind of lost sight of that too when I was younger and got a little bit depressed, even a little bit crabby sometimes. But life is too short really to not stop and smell the roses when you're young and also when you're older. So that would be the advice I'd give to myself.

And that's perfect leeway to the next question is, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

So kind of in a nutshell there is like I see happiness itself is a fleeting thing. Personally, I cannot make just an outright choice to be happy. What I've found is that when I do good for others' sake, then I learn to be happy. So for example, I volunteer to help underserved and homeless population, and some short volunteer stints overseas. And also even at work, when I know I've done an excellent job with my treatment and I've charged a fair price and the patient leaves with a good experience. And even at home. So for example, if I send my wife an unexpected bouquet of flowers I see them being happy and as a result, I have a very intense satisfaction in that. So that's where I get my happiness. It's actually helping others be happy first.

And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?

Yeah. So the best book I've read actually is the most widely published book in the entire world in all of history. And some might guess, but it is the Bible. And I believe it's the most widely published book for a reason. Well, just the take I get from that is number one, that God loves us and he is in control. Number two, I am not God, but I still need him.

And last question is, what's your favorite quote and why?

My favorite quote still comes from my favorite book. So it comes from the chapter of the Book of Matthew. 11:28. So they said in the, uh, the old times, the Hebrew children were actually asked to find a personal verse in their scriptures, um, and that verse would start with the first letter of their, uh, their name. It ended with the last letter of their name, and in between that verse would contain all the letters of their name. So I just went and did my own version of that and then had to take some time but found that passage. And it's Matthew 11:28. 28, and that says, come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. So that's actually Jesus talking to his followers. But on that verse, first letter of that verse starts with C, last letter of that verse ends with T, and that's my first name, Constant. And in that verse has all the letters of my name. But so that's personal in that regard, but also When I read that, it's been a great help for me.

Well, thank you so much for coming on, man. The last question is, is where can people best find you online?

So I can be found on the office website, which is www.lighthousedental.net, or have an email, lighthouse.dental@yahoo.com.

Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, man. We really appreciate it.

All right. Thanks again, Tyler. It's been awesome.

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