44: Inspire Smiles with Dr. Elona Gaball

Foreign.

My name is Drew Phillips, and for those that don't know me, and I'll be the host of today's episode. I'm very, very excited to announce my guest today. She has been a client of practice CFO for a very long time now, and we've had the absolute pleasure of watching her blossom in virtually every area of her life, from business to personal. We have a lot of great topics today that I'm sure all of our listeners will enjoy. So without any further ado, I want to welcome Dr. Ilona Gable.

Yes, thank you, Drew, so much for inviting me to be a part of the podcast and to share my story and I hope to share the wisdom that I have received through just my journey with others, as well as to just hope to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest, to contribute to the world around them. And living a life, life of purpose and contribution is one of my greatest values, if not the greatest value. And that's what essentially has allowed me to be the person that I am today. And you see me blossom, as you say, that is the drive and the energy behind it all. And that is what I really hope to leave all who are listening to the podcast inspired to do the same in whichever area of life that they feel most called to be an inspiration and be of value and contribution.

And I am, I'm a testament to, to the fact that Alona embodies and lives those values every single day in her in and out of her life. So I want to start, obviously you are a practice owning dentist. That's how we have, that's how we met, that's how we, we know each other. But our relationship over the years has evolved way past just the clinical aspects and we've really gotten to know each other on a more personal level. So we'll talk about a lot of those things. I do want to start just because we are in the dental business and our listeners are probably all dentists or most of them at least. And so I want to talk about your journey around the practice and sort of just your entire life around dental in general. Kind of how you got here today, what drove you to be a dentist, and not only just a dentist, but a practice owning dentist.

Yes, thank you so much for asking. And yes, I am super excited to share that. And, and before I get onto that, I wanted to just acknowledge you for who you are in the world and how much you contribute to my life, my practice specifically. Well, practice CFO for sure. Just because you have been the most instrumental I Believe in my success from the financial management, setting goals. And I actually met Wes when he was first starting his amazing company that's now national and soon to be international. I hope so. And it was just a little desk in the little office that literally had nothing, just the desk, I don't know from Home Depot or something like that, and the tiny little space. And he was just as amazing as he is now, just in a different space. And then.

He was awesome, encouraging and very, very highly qualified and trained. And I believe just having that as a foundation to build upon is what really significantly contributed to my success. So. And out of all the things that play into like stepping into the practice ownership, I actually did not have any of them to the level that I needed other than the financial, which I believe is really one of the most important things. So I'm just deeply grateful that I was introduced to practice CFO that I connected with Wes and then meeting Drew you. So once you became a partner of the company and then working with you and getting to know you and you always support us, myself and my husband Curtis, he's in medical field and we kind of run the practice somewhat together and just always seeing more possible for us, always encouraging us. So that's been a huge, huge gift in our lives. So I appreciate you, I value you and I believe you guys have an amazing company. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I'm grateful to contribute as well. So back so the practice journey. Yes. So I've been, so I am just like everyone who's listening, a dentist. Right. This is foreign dentists. So I do practice full time and I have been a dentist for 23 years. I.

Received my training and then my husband is active duty Navy. So for the first part of my career I actually traveled all over the world with him, supporting him with our three then young daughters or before we had them and then we had them. So I always worked in different areas where we were stationed and I practiced pretty much up to. Well, up to where I took over the ownership of the practice. I had practiced in every possible practice setting from really small fee for service practices. They were very, very aesthetically Dr. High value and lower volume to like full corporate to multiple practice settings. So I've had a lot, a lot of experience in different practice settings. And then when we got stationed in San Diego, due to my husband's active duty station being here in San Diego, our daughters grew up or somewhat and we knew we weren't moving anymore and the practice did come available. So I decided to step into the ownership of the practice, as I think most dentists who practice eventually kind of want to be either an owner or, you know, at least a partner, to have an ability to practice according to our values, according to our professional experience, expertise, and to really have a way of contributing to the patients in the way that we feel is best. I think it's kind of within our nature to do that.

Seven years ago, I took over the ownership of the practice that I currently have in Solomon Beach.

My journey started on somewhat of a rocky foundation because literally the day that I was signing the documents to buy the practice, our eldest daughter, who was 15 at that time, was going into cardiac arrest from an eating disorder. So that was very somewhat traumatic, as you might imagine. But, yeah, so I literally had her. I had an appointment at the practice and I took her to the hospital and she was put into the icu. And the nurse just literally said like, well, you know, she's in the best place that she could be. There's nothing you could do. I cried and I was like, what should I do? And she said, just go and sign the documents, come right back. She's safe. So that's kind of how I began. And I thought, again, I was prepared and I was clinically probably experienced, but I definitely was not prepared to own. And until you actually step into it, kind of like throw your hat over the wall, so to speak, you really don't know what it is that you're saying yes to, which is actually part of the excitement of it. So it just kind of depends on how you see it. And initially it was. What occurred to me is a lot of overwhelm and stress. And again, I wasn't well, also, like, the way that I took over the practice, like the own. The transfer of ownership also wasn't really most supportive. And I know practice also has the arm of practice transitions, so I really did not get the benefit of a great transition and support and also having like, all the documents reviewed correctly. So I thought I was getting good advice, but I really wasn't getting good advice. And that did have very, very significant consequences to me being able to get started for me to be able to make the financial things work, to make practice work and just how the patients will handle the team and all those aspects. So the rocky beginning did bring me. So then kind of like two years into it, I.

Pretty much realized that I, you know, wasn't going to be able to do what I had planned on doing due to, like, again, how the transfer of the ownership occurred. And I, even though clinically I felt like I was doing the best I could. I wasn't really making my numbers at all. In fact, like, I was losing. And at that point. So we'll see two years into it. So there was like one month, I just didn't meet my numbers at all. So I was under. I had to pay from our personal account to keep going. And again, my story is not unique. I know that's happened to all of us to some degree where we just are prepared for all the things. And again, speaking of, like, all the support and coaching and advisors, again, it's critical to have the right people advising you in the right way to be able to really make correct decisions and having the correct information and being. Having that information available when you need it, and also guidance and support that people need to be able to take the right steps in the right direction. So then two years into it, again, month, October, I think it was, again, had to pay. November, had to pay more. December, had to pay more than my husband was like, that's it. No, you can't do this. It's too much. Yeah, we're not. This is. And he actually had. Yes, he is a physician, facial plastic reconstructive surgeon, amazing husband, beautiful human being, accomplished surgeon, teaches, and also is a captain in the US Navy. So. But again, he was like, he has an accounting degree. That's what I want. So, yes, based on the accounting principles, the business is meant to produce money. It's not meant to cost you. And even though we've always been financially very smart, so I must acknowledge him and I know that practice cfo, you guys always encourage us to, you know, look long term, make decisions for long term, like financial, not only stability, but like financial independence. So thankfully, I married to an amazing man who has been doing this since he was 19. He's 52 now. So we do reap the benefits of making those wise decisions. Although it wasn't really like, when we invested in the business, our plan wasn't obviously to pay for it, so. And so with that, again, the journey kind of continuing on, you know. Well, I mean, the sad part about that is just that I felt like everything about who I was was completely shattered, like my whole identity as well. We're still struggling with our daughter. You know, she kind of recovered somewhat and then she just took like this whole turn towards complete 180 from all the values and things we've taught her, like just doing pretty much anything. And anything you think of a girl doing wrong, she was doing that around that same time, like Running away from home, drugs, like, gone. Like, never went to school. Like, it was just extreme, you know.

And then also the practice, you know, just things that I was, like, being pulled into a lawsuit that I didn't know was there from the previous owner. Then, like, again, due to, like, inappropriate guidance in the beginning and also just not making the numbers. Pretty much, yeah. Like, it gave me the sense of, like, complete failure. Like, as not just the dentist, but also, like, as a human being. Like, I felt like I couldn't be. Like, I. Something was wrong with me as a mom. Something was wrong with me as a dentist that, you know, all these people are supposedly doing well in dentistry. Right. Like, I have practices in my building, all around me. And.

So. And then, like, I guess I wasn't strong enough leader or like, I couldn't get again, the team to perform to the level I needed. And I actually didn't have clarity about what it is that I actually wanted to accomplish. So it was, like, very general. Like, I just wanted to be here. I wanted to own and I wanted to do good to people. And I think at that point, actually Wes specifically, he was like, ilona, you've actually accomplished. You know, I think you running a very successful ministry, although it's not a very successful business. So I just remember him saying that, like, he was like, well, it's our mission. He was like, this is not a mission. This is a business. It's meant to make money. And again, you know, and then me being, like, very compassionate and relationship driving and I have strong relationships in my community and church and things like that. Like, I was always kind of like, very generous person, but I was always kind of like, you know, maybe somewhat hesitant about requesting the fees that we were worth. And also being in network with a lot of insurance plans and having people from my circle of.

My immediate community, people from church and things like that, asking for all kinds of discounts and things like that. And I guess, like, all of those things, like, it was just. Yeah, I was like, what am I doing? Like, I want to help people. And basically, like, yeah, I mean, it was like such a. It was very devastating, I must admit that. So I cried a lot. I just felt like, completely brokenness. Like, I just, you know, felt like I couldn't do anything. And then. So, yes. So once I had that conversation with Wes and he actually connected me with a great coach, and he sat down with me and kind of like, was like, okay, well, what do you want to do? And that was actually a really great, great question because really without clarity, it's really quite impossible to really accomplish your goals and really be all that you're created to be and all you want to achieve and accomplish and have all these goals met. If you don't clearly know what it is that you trying to accomplish. Right. That's not just show up and like run the practice, you know, and do your best. It's not do your best. It has to be like very, very clear, very specific. Uh, and then once I kind of listed what I wanted, he, you know, again, like, I'm just so appreciative for people being like, really straight with me, really honest with me and like, no, you can do this. So he just looked at me as like, you want to do all this? And I said yes. And then he's like, well, not like that. So basically, so essentially what that means is that again, like we can do anything and the doing really comes from being. And I know deep down I am someone who is highly committed to high levels of performance in all areas of life. And I've always been a plus student, always got like, I got into dental school without even getting my dental. I'm sorry, my.

I'm losing my words.

What's the degree we get in college? Bachelor's degree. That's right. So yes, I did not actually get a full bachelor's degree. I got accepted into dental school before I got that. So after three years. So I am definitely, you know, someone who performs at the high level. And.

So with that just the way of being is really like who you are and who you can be. Commit to being is what drives your performance and your ability to accomplish things, ability to, you know, create goals. And like that comes from within. It's not so much the doing, it's actually the being is what drives the doing. So while that was a really great question and statement, I suppose that made me kind of do a lot of self inquiry. And that's when I decided to be the best that I could be professionally. Find a deeper, greater purpose for what I'm doing and why and what's really, truly in my heart of why I wanted to succeed within my practice. And that's how I got to, well, I made some commitments. So then the next step, you know, once you decide who you want to be and the actions in the plan, create a plan, then you have to make commitments to actually accomplishing all the things that are required to be that so you can do and then you could receive. Right. So while and on professional.

Aspect of things. So I invested a lot into A lot of advanced training. So I'm actually the first person to complete all SPEAR education curriculum within 18 months, the first female to do all workshops. Peer education offers. So clinically, I believe like they do offer the best training that is post doctorate. So I did that to be able to understand very comprehensively like all aspects of dentistry and how to work.

So not only on teeth. And that's kind of like what dental school really teaches us, to work on teeth, but within the body. Just like we have a cardiovascular system, we have a pulmonary system. So and I know this for dentists, so maybe not necessarily required to explain, but at the same time for.

Head and neck region, it's really like, it's a body system, so it's masticatory system, it's a chewing system that's basically based on physics and engineering. And the aspects of that system do involve teeth, ligaments, muscles, joint. And the airway is a big component. And there's also an effect of how that works within the whole body system. And how your body works also affects that system, just like everything else within our bodies. Right. That's so like one and is meant to work as one. So getting that clinical training to that level of.

Expertise is really what allowed me to really start to see things within the practice. And like the patients that I was seeing from the clinical standpoint, like, that I never saw before. Right. So like we weren't just looking at like, oh, well, this is a filling that needs to be replaced. They're like, no, you actually have like an airway mediated occlusal disease. And this is what that means and this is the impact of that on your whole body. And I've developed a very.

Highly, highly advanced way of clearly diagnosing it and also analyzing it. And within our practice we call it occlusal analysis that involves again, very high level evaluation of the whole system and how that affects the body.

A solution that we present to our patients does have the allopathic component, which is like myself and my husband and we have another specialist in our practice as well as integrative approach. I created a team of integrative professionals who can support the other parts that are necessary for this comprehensive way of treating the person. And that's what makes us unique.

While I worked with my coach for a long time, so he really supported me in clinical training, just personal development and actually around that same time, like things kind of aligned. And my husband and I, we both were introduced to personal development training. And this isn't meant to again promote landmark, but this is where we were invited to participate. And like, that totally just opened my eyes into like this whole other world of how I could be and how my being is really what drives everything. And how if I am someone who is what I say that I am, then from that I can create what I need to do and I can stay committed and be in full integrity with the word that I give to myself. So essentially, the personal development aspect is what actually allowed me to continue to take the necessary steps to incorporate everything that I learned, because I learned so much. But again, just like all of dentists, we go to a lot of ces and again, like, we do. Well, what I find is like, actually what I was doing. I know a lot of dentists do that. You just go to like some random c. Like, oh, well, that sounds good. I'm gonna go to like, update on period or do like, I'll do implants. So that's not how you get to be a high performer clinically. Like, it has to be like, again, you have to decide on what you want to be. So for me it was. I wanted to be an expert in TMJ disorder treatments and offering people an actual, like a long term solution, because I just find it to be something that is not understood. Well. People are really suffering. They're in pain. They just go provider to provider, and every time they show up at somebody's office, they don't know what to do with them. They just kind of like give them night guard and send them to an oral surgeon or basically, like, try not to schedule them because they have a lot of internal issues. And people just get really frustrated and thrown around like the, this cycle of never ending, you know, resolution to what the problem is. And no one really sits down and really like, invests into like figuring out what it is that is the ideology behind what they're experiencing and offering, offering them actual, you know, solution to the actual problem that they have. And without doing like a really highly detailed, again, this evaluation that includes everything, like a whole system and the body and also like a lot of the psychological components that go into it. It's impossible. So the night card is not a solution for TMJ disorder, like at all, you know, and we have like over 100 designs of appliances. They go, you know, they treat different conditions. And it just baffles me how like, without the actual diagnosis, which is like the doctors, you know, like, as doctors, we. That's what's required. You have to have a diagnosis before you have any kind of solution. And you know, and most people just even, like, they just have tmj, which is, like, so random because TMJ is just the name of the joint. That's not an actual.

Diagnosis for any condition. So, again, for me, I wanted to be an expert at that, and I wanted to be a highly advanced aesthetic dentist and be ACD accredited. So I'm on track for that. And that does require, so a lot of personal development and communication skills and business skills. Because, again, like, seeing something clinically is also. Is one thing. Being able to, again, like, diagnose it correctly, come up with, like, this amazing plan. Well, then you have to actually, like, talk to the person about it, you know, present it in the way that they say, yes. Well, that is not something you learn at dental C courses. It's something that. Dealing with people who are upset, dealing with people who are afraid, people who are overwhelmed with information. So that has everything to do with personal development.

So those are like, two. Well, so professionally, that's what I did. But clinically, I did SPEAR and UCLA training. I did a TMD residency at UCLA as well. And then, so personally, I've been. My husband and I, we actually do it together. We've been in personal development with Tony Robbins and Landmark now for almost five years. And basis, like, that's, like, required. You know, like, we finish one course and we just do, like, no, this makes a huge difference in our lives. And then while the third component is actually one of the main reasons why I wanted to be on the podcast, is still, like, creating a greater why to, you know, why anyone would want to show up to work and be this high performer, achieve goals. And it's way more than just, you know, having paid people to say, yes, making the money. So it's definitely not that. Only, you know, and I think it's not primarily that at all. And for me, it was just kind of searching my heart. And again, it was part of the course that we did and really, like, seeing, like, how do I want to make a difference in this world? Like, what am I called to accomplish? To where I create a legacy of who I am within my community and where my work really reflects my identity, which I got to, again, create by choice. And for me, it was specifically working with survivors of human trafficking in San Diego. And we started that process five years ago. So it was something that was just always on my heart and just I cried, prayed, cried, prayed. And one, after doing the work, I'm like, no, this is why I'm here. This is why I. To succeed. This is why I'm working really hard to achieve.

Business success, professional successes, so I can really give back. And in fact, in our practice we measure our success by how much we give, not how much we get. So how much contribution we make each year. And it's been growing. Well our numbers, I don't necessarily have to share those, but we are performing at like 300%, you know, in terms of practice operations and we are like in our giving, just this year alone, we've been able to give over $127,000 in contribution to survivors of human trafficking in San Diego. So that's about eight, nine months into the year now. So and we started. So the about five years ago I started working with the ladies. And that's actually another reason why I'm really also highly now experienced the treating TMD disorder because it is something that is primarily female condition. And it's also related to a lot of like past trauma and things experienced as trauma. And a lot of the internal components that go into people having the.

Signs and symptoms that they have have that about 80% actually accounts for the internal component. So. And we have been doing that really, really well, helping people, transforming their lives, giving them whole new smile to create a whole new identity. And that led me to like just again this drive to like, well, how can I. So each day I basically ask a question, I wake up, I'm like, how can I give? Like, how can I be, you know, as generous, as loving, as kind, as joy filled individual as I can be? Because that's what I choose to do. So I chose this. I choose and how can I show up in my day like that? So to be able to give more. The only really best way of doing that as well as also creating like sustainability to what we've been doing and contribution was to create our own nonprofit organization which is now currently active as of December of 2021. We do have our dental practices called Inspire Smiles and our nonprofit organization that is specifically created to.

Build funds and resources for smile reconstruction of trafficking survivors. It's called Inspire Changes and it is currently just on our website, not just on our website, as a page. And we are working on promoting it more and just sharing with people. So that is something that I'm really excited about. I have been asking to speak at different places, like churches and other places that I'm a part of. Certain areas in the community where I can share about that more and we, you know, share with our patients is one thing and also another great thing. Like in again for me was that so My encouragement is for everyone listening to really, like, just search your heart and really see, like, look like way, way further, like, much more than just the practice and family. Like, yes, I want to do well. Yes, I want to help, you know, take care of my family and I want to support the ladies who work with me or my team and give to whatever it is that we normally give. You know, most people give to either charitable contributions or church or whatever. Like, far beyond that. Like, how can I truly make a difference in the world? Like, how can I contribute to humanity being better than what it is right now? Like, actually make, like, the shift in human experience so, like, way deeper and way bigger. Because if you start there, then whatever it is you get to accomplish and achieve is going to be way more than if you start smaller. Right?

If I know anything about you, you start with big, big dreams. Big dreams. And I think to recap a little bit here, you know, based on my. Just my experiences with you and my time with you, she did, as she mentioned, she came in with a very big dream to give back and to help people in her community in and around her life. And so part of her coaching that she got independent of practice CFO was to create this plan that ultimately led to her end goal, which is to give as much as she possibly could. And in order to do that, she had to reverse engineer and be a better business owner and a better high performer on the personal side to tie all those things in together and create the sustainable business that she now has that has this surplus of value that she now can reallocate and repurpose to her grand mission. So it was a long, bit of a long journey at this point. Five, seven years as an owner, and over the last two to three years, every time Ilona comes into our office, it's just like she's grown a hundredfold from the last time that I saw her. And her ideas are amazing, and the progress in the tangibleness of what she's working on is so real. But it just speaks to how an idea that is backed by goodwill and good intentions can really motivate someone to go through everything that you've gone through and come out on the other side as this really polished and really amazing thing for people to see and get value from, both from the profit and the nonprofit side of her business. I want to talk a little bit just because I find that it's, you know, it is slightly unique in the fact that you part of your comprehensive element and nature of your practice around TMD and TMJ has, you know, created a niche for you specifically. And I kind of want to go just a little bit deeper on that and maybe talk about your system that you've created with these providers and ultimately what that flow looks like from start to finish. So maybe raise a little bit of awareness on how you're accomplishing that particular objective.

Yes, thank you for asking. So, yes, as patients. So we do actually direct marketing for TMJ disorder to attract patients who are actually seeking.

Help in that regard. So if it's a patient like that who comes in specific or they call our practice, let's say it's from our marketing and they're cookie looked it up and you guys came up and you do that. So then the process is, yes, we bring them in for. Well, usually. So it's actually part of my normal operations is to call every new patient that we get in a practice. I called them the day before to connect with them, to ask them specifically what is most important to them about their visit. Also their relationship with me as their new dentist and also their relationship with our practice. Like, I actually ask those questions, which are kind of like a little odd question for most people. Like, nobody has ever asked me that before.

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So anyways, in that, so I really get like a good grasp of why people are coming in and what would be the most important thing for them to get accomplished when they hear so specifically, like let's say for TMJ patients, we do have a virtual consultation feature on our website. So one option is so when they call like they could either just share a little bit of their story and submit it through that it's a free feature for them. Then I can read a little bit and see what they need Specifically. I've designed a lot of systems and processes to make this very.

Nonjudgmental in nature and also very, very comprehensive and also not to create a barrier that's likely in. A lot of people usually already have gone through so much that they don't need another barrier. We have a special questionnaire for TMD patients that our Clin, I'm sorry, admin team is trained in. So they're very specific questions that give me information about which way that I need to direct their care. So that's one thing. So virtual console perhaps. Then the specific question, you're on the phone, then I call them the night before. So I get a lot of information before they come in because again, our time is value. Right. So the most, most expensive part of our practices is our time within the practice, like chair time. Right. So I want to like basically try to not like that. I don't, I spend a lot of time with our patients, but I want to get like all their necessary information before they come in and also to build the relationship and the report before they even come. So then when they come we have kind of like two tracks. So some people are like, they're a little maybe hesitant. So they just want to like get to know you. So we have a consultation only that does not have any clinical aspects to it per se. We just mostly kind of like talk about things that they experience. It's an hour, we have a fee for that. And we don't do any imaging or actual clinical exam or anything like that. Maybe just very, very slight opening or something like that, basic check of the joint. And we do encourage actually people to take the second track is to come in for new patient experience with us. That that's specific for TMJ patients or TMD patients. And that is actually a 90 minute clinical appointment that does allow me to do like the whole basic exam imaging and things like that as well as like certain steps that we need to accomplish to take the next step. And then the next step is this detailed evaluation that I do that involves.

Again doing like a full system evaluation. So first one is more of like a, more of like what you would consider like a normal dental comprehensive exam. And then the second one is what I learned at spear, like a comprehensive occlusion. It's basically it's an occlusion workshop if anybody is going occlusion and advanced inclusion workshop. So those two would teach you enough to be able to do all of the steps required for the next visit. Because sometimes actually TMD patients like they have a lot of pain so they can't really open. So you might have to do like something before you could do the more advanced evaluation analysis because they need to be able to open, they have to be out of pain. And then so once I do that then it actually takes me on non clinical or like outside the chair time about three to four hours to put all the information together which for dentists like mounting everything on the articulator with the face bow, like analyzing the photos, all the measurements that I take during the clinical exam and like all the findings, you know, contacting all like necessary specialists. And that's what I also share with our patients as a value that they get. Like they don't have to go to periodontist, orthodontist, you know, ENT doctor. Like I basically do those consultations for them within the allopathic aspect of the team. So I would contact like let's say if alignment was part of the treatment then I would actually talk to an orthodontist before, share all the information, the photos, talk to them, put it all together. And then I have this amazing and beautiful branded keynote presentation that we also created to where I put in all the photos that I take and Also clinical findings. And that's the presentation is guided towards them basically saying yes to the proposed treatment. And then we invite them back. So about like 90 minutes of my time with them after the initial dental exam, which was like 60 minutes to 90 minutes, then three to four hours for me to put it all together in the keynote and all like prep for that. And then an hour to where we sit down in the consultation room where we basically review everything with them. And I have my treatment coordinator, she sits with me. So she's like practically dentist at this point because she's heard like all the clinical information. Like she knows all about like how the joint works and what all that means, which is really great because you do have to. Well, admin team people, they're usually non clinical. And I like, at this, like, at the level that we are practicing, there's a lot of like clinical information that most dentists, even general dentists don't have. And for them to be able to like, really, like, you know, close it in terms of the financial, manage the appointments and when people call and answer the questions, like they have to be trained, you know, very at the very high level on the clinical aspect of it as well. So. And that's kind of how that process goes. And then after that, we initiate the kind of phased treatment. And we usually have people like, our practice system is to. For actually not just this, but all treatment is to. Upon presentation, we have people prepay for the whole thing upfront. And we do offer a courtesy of 5% to encourage them to do that. And do all of our patients do that? Well, maybe not, but I would say like 90 or more do, because that's just our process. And I actually spoke at an event for women recently, women dentists, and they were just like in shock. They're like, oh my gosh, like, you know, you actually have your patients prepared. I'm like, yeah, that is like, that's what we do. Otherwise, I mean. Well, first of all, like, if we have financial goals, like if we schedule to goal and we want to make these numbers, like, you can't schedule to go. If those people, like, let's say I schedule them for a crown, even like as basic as that. So if they haven't prepaid for the crown, it's on the schedule. That's technically like, it's really leaving it to chance. Because what if they like move the appointment, right, or don't come in or whatever it is that happens. So we have them prepay. So if they move the appointment, like we are you know, like, yes, we have to manage the time, but like, that's how you achieve the goals that you set. Like we have them again designed for a whole year, for a month, for a day, for. And then we schedule to. We have the numbers on. We use Dentrix so it's on every day. And read the production, the collection, what we need and how to schedule to that and people who get put on that schedule prepaid for treatment. So we know it's happening, right? Otherwise it's like, okay, well let's hope and pray that it happens, right? And I mean, yeah, here and there people need to move the appointments, but it doesn't happen too often. But if they do move again, it's like they already prepaid. So like from the business standpoint you're like, okay, that's fine, we'll do it later. And we can, you know, fill the time and sometimes we can. But the nice thing is you already have the financial aspect of it secured which, which is less of an impact if you didn't, if you lost right the block time and also financial because they didn't prepay. That is much more of a significant impact upon the business. So that's one of the things that we use that's really.

And you guys, and you guys also like are facilitating the payments to the comprehensive network of providers that are a part of this really vast sort of process to fix the real underlying issue as opposed to the band aid approach that a lot of, a lot of offices more or less default to. One of the things that I love, you know, sleep, sleep, sleep and the advancement of sleep treatments is really interesting to me just more generally and I think that the long term prospects of sleep are really incredible in the dental space and will be increasingly a large part of successful practices in the future. And when, you know, learning about what you do alona more specifically and getting more to the root cause of fixing airway issues and then learning that like these appliances that, that a lot of these doctors are giving to them are really again, just a temporary fix or a solution that may provide relief but not going to ultimately heal them or fix that root cause. So when I, you know, listening and learning from you, being able to connect those pieces was very, was very interesting. So let's, let's pivot just a bit here. I want to talk about the nonprofit because I think it's just incredible what you're doing. Your purpose, you know, in that mission is incredible. The community that you're supporting definitely needs your help. And just to preface this A bit, you know, her office on the profit side of the business, you know, her staff members, her time all goes into feeding this nonprofit on the, on the clinical services side. And through that we're about, you know, I can't remember exactly how many days a month that we're on the nonprofit side. But the for profit business is paying for the staff members as if they were working on the profit side of the business. So point being is they're completely, she's completely subsidizing the personnel and the facility expenses that go into facilitating this treatment for the people in need. And what does that mean for our listeners and the people that feel that this cause aligns with what they want to give and give back for, is that all of their money, all of the donation money because of those items being subsidized goes to the patients, it goes to the people in need. And I find that to be, you know, part of any nonprofit, regardless if it's inspired changes or anyone else out there when you know, as, as a, as a, as a donor that 100% of your contributions are going to care very hard to find organizations that can support and claim that. And I just wanted to emphasize that before I give a loan of the floor back to kind of go over inspire changes a little bit more in detail and how potentially our listeners out there can get involved and be a participant in, in the program.

Yeah, yeah, thank you for sharing about that. Yes. So in terms of non profit, well, nonprofit as you know, it is a giving back of course like it has, has you know, great purpose behind it. But in terms of like operating it, it is a non profit business. Right. It just doesn't declare profit but it requires essentially all the same business skills as a for profit business. So you have to run it. Right. It's the same thing. And so with that, yes, for our nonprofit organization, again the difference I guess between like now that I've done a lot of actually research and studying how they work is that most non profit organizations, like when you give to something like yeah, you feel called to like doing something and contributing somewhere most of the.

The contribution. So it's about 75% on average on any nonprofit organization that goes into admin costs of actual organization itself and then only 25% usually on average ghost to the beneficiaries. So that is something again I did not know because I was always contributing to, you know, different organizations prior to having my own is that, you know, we do hope again like it goes to like the specific child, let's say it's you know a mission somewhere in Mexico supporting education or whatever or even within our community. And while it's not really like as so again like it's somewhat deceiving because I think you know people who want to give like they really want to contribute towards the beneficiaries like people that the organization support. Although again 75% on average goes towards admin costs. And then the difference again without within with our organization inspired changes is that all our admin costs essentially are met by our for profit. Again that is where like again because I came as I mentioned like I come from like how can I give more? Well I can only give more by doing really well on my for profit because that meets our operational costs us. It allows us to take the time where and you know, energy and everything resources that are required to actually give, you know to the beneficiaries. So like all the donations that we receive. So it's actually more in the reverse. So we do have admin costs. Of course it costs us. You know there's a board and I'm you know chairman of the board and I do get minimum wage pay for doing all that. So again I give up myself salary. So I do my. I have to acknowledge that. So that's how to be able to contribute or with take the resources from non profit. But again our operational costs aren't high because like they're very minimal only like just whatever specific things that go into actually accomplishing the treatment. So like probably I have not made this calculation specifically yet but around I would say it's probably in reverse like that 70 if not 75% or more actually goes towards the actual, you know, beneficiary. Like a woman in our community who's been trafficked and now you know is she is part of a recovery program and it goes towards her smile. So so that's where I feel like we are different and unique because most of the resources actually go to people who need it. And again, you know I want to. Well if anyone wants to contribute it is called Inspired Changes and it is on our website inspiresmiles sd.com as how we give back. So if you specifically feel a call to contribute towards our organization or learn more about it, you can contact me directly. Or if you want to set up your own I can also kind of directly coach you through that if anybody feels called to doing that. Because another great aspect of doing that in addition to giving back and contributing and helping people who really need help and feeling good about what you do. Again not that our patients don't matter as much as someone else. But you meet people who would never be able to have this level of care. And not only that, the ladies who come in, they're like, I've never even been to a place as nice as this before where everyone actually like, it's beautiful. It's like everybody loves me or I'm like giving a blanket and just like, well, I mean especially population group with who we work with, like they're. It's modern day slavery. Like, it's women being held captive against their will and basically sexually abused, you know, for the purpose of making money and force. Drugged and you know, beaten and hurt and things like that. So they have a lot of trauma and just like feeling like, wow, you know, I get to come to a place and people actually like care about me and actually like receive, you know, high level of treatment is just something that, you know, makes all the effort and all the investment, all the hard work into what it takes to run the practice successfully and be the person that it requires worthwhile. Right? Like just having someone like, wow, you've changed my life, you know. And I know we hear that from our patients too, but it's like, it's a little different because they would never have this opportunity without us doing something. So what I wanted to mention is like specifically like the organization that helped me create the minor profit. They. They actually work primarily with dentists, medical dentists, medical providers.

Chiropractors and veterinarians. I believe also to be able to create the nonprofit to have a way of having their student loans forgiven through government grant program. I personally don't have student loans. Again, you know, as our organization grows, I hope to expand, you know, like providers and having like other dentists basically provide services for our organization within their practices, then they can actually qualify for student loan forgiveness if they have loans. That's. That was my like primary intention because I don't have them, is to like be it like something that works for people. Like, it speaks to their hearts, to being able to contribute and gives them something like tangible like, okay, well I'll have my student loans forgiven as well. That just makes it even better. And if again people want to, or if anyone wants to create their own, again, you could create it for your own cause. And if you have student loans, that program does assist with that, which I think is a great gift.

That was very well said. And I, you know, I just, I love that that's something that you've made a mission in your life to tackle. So One more topic before we adjourn here, because one thing that you mentioned, Ilona, which I think is just so invaluable, regardless of the pathway in which you take to accomplish it, is the personal growth, the chair side presentation, the ability to get case acceptance. And for you, it was through landmark, it was through Tony Robbins, through high performance coaching. So I do want to talk about your journey in high performance coaching and just me as your testament to this. As I mentioned earlier, watching you come into our office a few times a year and every single time a new level of energy and new growth, both business and personal. And you could be, and I say this to so many of my clients, you could be the greatest clinician in the world. But unless you are able to convey the treatment plan in a way that relates with the patient in that chair and they are able to see the benefit and say yes to that treatment, you'll never be able to use your world class skillset. And so for high performance coaching, for you, was that missing piece to help you on that avenue, which I feel is probably one of the top two, if not number one, in terms of important things to learn and be and develop. And it's an ongoing development, so you're never going to be perfect at that part. But so, yeah, so talk about high performance coaching, your journey with Tony Robbins and landmark a bit more and then also talk about your own high performance coaching now that you're, you know, five, six, seven years into that process. You know what you're able to now give back to other people and through your learning.

Yeah, well, thank you so much. Yeah. Yes. So, yes, so I think that is what makes the greatest difference is again, like myself generating my identity as a choice, as a matter of my word, and that being completely independent of what happens and doesn't happen in my day or my experience of life, because life happens to all of us. Right. Like if you wake up, if you're a human being and you're planning to engage with any other human being, which is what's required in business, life is going to happen. And you know, everything that we do, like personal development, faith, all these great things that help people to have a greater experience of life, they don't preclude life from happening. It happens to all of us. Right. At the same time. You know, one of the major stands in our training is that like you can be with, with anyone, any circumstance and at any time and not lose your sense of who you are and also generate a world that doesn't currently exist for them. Within that circumstance, yourself and them and you together. And I believe, like, that is a major aspect of how I get to be really effective and successful with people, is having that. Because I used to be someone who was like, okay, patient is upset. I would cry. I mean, I do cry a lot. I cry almost every day at my practice for different reasons, but not because someone, you know, yelled at me or whatever it is, you know, or they said something like, we all, you know. So now, like, literally, I feel like, you know, with all the work that I've done, like, I am. I'm not perfect again yet, but I can be with anyone at any time, in any kind of circumstance and not lose it. Like, stay really strong in my identity and be able to respond in the way that's not only, like, justifying, like, my righteousness. Like, there was someone who was, like, really questioning on fees, not be like, well, I'm worth the fees. You know? Like, that's what most of us would say. Well, it's like, far beyond that of, like, really speaking to who they are and what's important to them in their world and generating, like, something else to which they can say yes to. Because when people say yes to us, they're not just saying yes to. Because they're like, oh, yeah, she's worth the money. Like, that's not why they're saying yes. You know, and talking to them about that and proving, you know, how valuable you are isn't going to have them say yes. What's going to have them say yes is when they like you actually with your speaking and your engagement in there. The way that you relate with them generates this whole new possibility of this world that doesn't currently exist for them, where they can see not only, like, the improved smile and, like, better health and things like that, but, like, the experience of life. Like, they see something more. And when they see something more, you have a way of, like, guiding them to taking the next step. So that's kind of like how that.

Works within our practice and with my team, too. These people, like, so committed to me. Like, they love me more than anything. Like, I just know it. And they say it every day. They're not here for a paycheck. They're not here for bonus. Like, they truly love me and they want to do everything that's required far and beyond. They come in on weekends during the pandemic. Okay, I literally. Well, we. You know, I don't know how much time we have, but we were asked by our consulting group, like, fire everybody that was kind of the best way. And I said, well, if you want to volunteer your time, you're welcome to volunteer your time. And I had people literally here. We were here during the shutdown, rebranding, reorganizing, making this whole business, like a totally new business that it is now, like, eight, nine hours a day, just with me being here. Like, they're like, no, Doc, I want to help you. Like, I'm not gonna stay home. Let's do this. And, you know, I mean, that I think, speaks for, again, generating that world. Like, they believe in the world that I'm building. They want to be part of it, whether I pay them or not. And so I, you know, really attribute it mostly, not, if not primarily to, again, the coaching that I received. It's personal development. We've been committed to.

Getting trained in with my husband. And also that actually led me to this next step that you mentioned briefly is like, well, how can I. Again, like, I'm like, how can I give? How can I give? And I feel like I have so much to give. I just want to give it. And, you know, like, what really made a difference for me is again, these people and coaches who came into my life and like, really transformed it for me. And again, I am really committed to. I love diplomas and accomplishments and things like that. So I got in training at the High Performance Institute, and they do offer a certification program to become a high performance certified coach to be able to have the process, because, again, I have a lot of value, but again, I'm very attached to processes. Structuring process is also important, and that program does allow me to have structured process within which I can lead people towards higher levels of performance in all years of life, important to them. And that is something that I now do as my third business. It's called Inspire Lives. And it's my kind of ideal client for that as a business owner or a coach. I have business owners, coaches or consultants, people like that. So it's really for people who want to reach this, like, next level of who they are, like, performing at the higher level that they currently are and seeing something else possible. Not just, like, accomplishing goals, but really, like, building this amazing world which they can share with others.

When do you think you're going to run out of time? In the day? In the week?

No, I know. And also. Well, yeah, people ask that all the time, like, oh, my gosh, you're doing too much. And well, that's another thing we may want to consider. All of us have 24, seven right. That and, you know, some people, they barely get out of bed and, you know, do whatever it is that they do. And not to say, like, I, again, I don't come from judgmental place at all. But we can really, if we really look at how we are and what we give our time to and really consider where all the time and energy goes, we could do a lot more. I mean, human potential is just so unbelievably beautiful and there's no limit to that. The limitation only comes from what we say, right? If you like, say I can't do it or it's not enough time, or it's overwhelming, then it's too much and overwhelming. Or if you love it and you just enjoy the process and see yourself again grow within that process and really almost like welcoming the challenge instead of being overwhelmed by it, that's okay. I enjoy things when they go wrong and awesome. I get to be even more.

Like, more is required, right? Like if something happens that like we had the couple weeks ago, our vacuum completely shut down, like one more is required for me to like, we lost the whole day of operation, I would have to pay for like, you know, in the past again, I would be like devastated, crying, like, how am I gonna do this? And the whole team, I'm like, no more is required. We're still going to meet our numbers, we're still going to pay for it and we just have to be and reasonable and make things happen even more so than before.

Relentless.

Yes.

Well, how so if, if we want to, if anybody listening wants to talk to you about the high performance coaching side of, of your world, how would they be able to connect with you on that front?

Yes, thank you for asking. So the branding is being currently developed that's somewhat of a new addition to my endeavors. So the best way would be to DM me on Instagram, which is inspire smiles sd like our practice. Inspire smiles and just DM on there. Just say, I want to talk. I'm a dentist, I want to talk about high performance coaching. And I answer all my texts. I don't miss any messages. I'm really committed to high levels of communication as well. And after that we'll have initial inspire call kind of to get to know each other for 30 minutes. And then the next step, we do a free 60 minute strategy session to where we like really get to see what's important in your world and how we can make more possible for you and get a higher level of performance created and accomplished and.

Not only spoken for us, but actually Done so.

And I am. I am again, was honored to. To have Alona give me one of the strategy sessions. And I was able to get a firsthand account of what it's like to be in her high performance coaching system. And, you know, a lot of. Just a lot of great revelations in that hour. I mean, not a second wasted, that's for sure. So I appreciate, again, Alona, for bringing me in and let me experience that. Any parting words for our listeners that you feel you would like to. To say as we send them off?

Yes. Thank you so much. Well, what I want to leave everyone with is again, like, look at the deeper why. And I know, like, you know, it's kind of overdone maybe, but that deep desire to, like, contribute, give back to what your heart is broken for, where you feel like you want to really, truly make a difference, like looking bigger, like.

Like.

Like changing again, like the experience, the human experience at large, be it, you know, population in need, be it helping other business owners, be it whatever it is. Like, it doesn't have to be anything specific, but it has to be something that's unique and special to you for which you would do anything, you know, even if you didn't get paid. Right. And that would drive, you know, performance in all areas of life. So. And our communities. Well, I specifically want to request people to look within their community and really meet a need within the community, because, like, building a stronger community is what allows us all to have a better experience of life. And that just allows for, you know, just human value of who people are created to be, to be celebrated, acknowledged and cherished and also, you know, creating a better, like, kind of be the change you want to see in the world. That's one of my most favorite ques. That's who I am, who I am. Like, be. Be that. And, you know, just seeing, again, being of contribution to the community and like, really, like, I'm making a difference in the world. I think that would allow anyone to achieve any goal they want in their business or personal life.

A lovely message. Thank you so much for joining us, Alona. We really appreciate having you on the show.

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you so much for inviting.

Sam.