Elijah Desmond

0:01Well today's guest is a powerhouse in the dental world. He has been a motivational speaker, an entrepreneur, an author, in fact, best selling author, but he's best known for bringing fun back into dentistry with Smiles at Sea and Dental Festival. He's currently a co founder with Dental Pitch Brokerage, which is helping dentists maximize their value or their practice when they're ready to transition. And most importantly, in my heart and mind, he's one of the featured speakers for our luxury dental retreat in Dubai this summer. So I can't wait to hear what he has to say. Of course, my guest is the one and only Elijah Desmond. Hey, hey, need my walk on song, but that was pretty good. Sorry, man. I should have hooked you up.

0:49I really dropped the ball there. But we got so much ground to cover. I mean, just your intro, there's so much stuff that you've done and that you're doing now that I'll just jump right into it. I I know most people know just your incredible experience and success in business. I mean, I said serial entrepreneur, you've had seven successful exits, which is just insane. Because how old are you? I mean, you're a young guy. 37, but I was just doing the math this morning. I'm like, oh my gosh. I might have, like, half of my life that I I mean, like, in I wanna say in three. I wanna live at least to be, you know, 80. But Oh, yeah. You know, it'd be nice to be a 100.

1:27So I got, like I'm approaching half the halfway mark any way you look at it. Well, I I love it. But I wanna go back to the beginning. I wanna go back to that 15 year old kid who walked on stage for the first time as a motivational speaker. Like, can even imagine that. I mean, when I was 15, I don't I don't know what I was doing, but I wasn't doing that. What was that like, and how did it go? Yeah. Absolutely. Well, first off, it it went good. Didn't go as good as it does nowadays. But look, when you're a kid, you know, you're a storyteller naturally. Yeah. You know, you're you're a storyteller. And if you can relate with people, you're a good speaker.

2:05If you can if you're relatable. You gotta be relatable more than one person, but if you can change somebody's life or save somebody's life, that that's only one person that you need. And I I'm in the the world of speaking to save kids' lives. And so all I needed was one. And when I when I saved my first kids' live from the stage, I I I knew that this is what I was supposed to be doing. And if there was any fear that I ever had, even though I I don't I don't get scared when I Yeah. Get me the mic. I'm ready. You you're you're fearless. Yeah. The bigger the the bigger the crowd, the better. Absolutely. My walk on song would knock out any fear that existed, but as soon as I had the ability do I have the ability to actually change some kids' lives by saving their life?

2:50When you get that long hug and a kid said I was gonna go home and take my life, but I'm not going to because of the words you said in the stage, that's where it's at. That that's where it's at. So That's awesome, man. I I can't believe you guys started so early, though, so young. I mean, at that age, you're really relatable to the kids. And, you know, to still have that driving passion today with Beyond the Game, which you cofounded, I know, to help help kids. And tell me about that a little bit. Like, what inspired you and what's been the impact you've seen? Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, I I I was speaking for one high school at a time for my whole entire speaking career.

3:26So that's twenty two years. And one high school at a time was awesome, but I'm like, what if I can, impact, like, five to seven schools at once? Because me saving yeah. Me saving one to two kids at one talk, It's awesome, but how can we make it more awesome? That was easy. Put more kids in the room. So beyond the game, we're actually having our very first motivational concert. And I I sent a text message confirmation actually this morning, believe it or not. And the the official date is September 3. Alright. Having it. First motivational concert with five to seven high schools. And I'm like, well, ma'am, if I can incorporate that many schools, and I can do it my way, which is a true concert.

4:17Right? I went to Scratch Academy to be a DJ, a battle DJ. Yeah. Yeah. I know how to pump people up and kids up. If I can do that and put these kids in a environment they feel safe in and I can motivate them with multiple motivational speakers, give out a car to one of the lucky kids. It's a good kid and give out a dental or business scholarship. Awesome. Man, how would life be? The that first motivational concert is happening on that date. So That's that's exciting, man. We'll be back from Dubai by then, so you'll be fired up and ready to go. Hey. If listeners wanna donate to the cause, I was just thinking, like, I don't know where to donate. Where would listeners send money?

4:54Yeah. We can put a link in the in the in the show notes. So link in the show notes is where you can can send it. We'll create a link, and you can always just reach out to me. I'm very visible on all the social media platforms or Elijah at Dental Pitch Brokerage. There'll be a opportunity to for you to give back. And it's with the it's a 501 c three, so it's legitimate. You're saving these kids' lives. You're putting them help them putting them through a dental school or a hygiene school or entrepreneurship. You know? There no better cause. I mean, it's all about the kids. I mean, my wife is, she directs the CASA program, which is the court appointed special advocates for kids.

5:27She leads a team of about 70 volunteers who are like you. They're in that space saving kids' lives and making a difference. And so it's near and dear to my heart too and I'm so happy that you've been doing that. But I'm gonna shift gears a little bit because I remember the first time, I don't know if it's the first time, maybe the second time, but before I ever met you in person, I saw a video of your proposal to your wife. And it was epic to say the least. So you gotta share the story with with the listeners because they probably haven't heard it. Yeah. Absolutely. So if you wanna shed a tear at the end of an awesome video, send send me a message.

6:07They send me the proposal. Pretty straightforward. I love dancing, having fun, and music. I reached out to a DJ, asked him to make me a mix, and I reached out to the the the instructor for the dancers for the Miami Heat, dance instructor. Awesome. And I asked him I told him I wanted to do a flash mob proposal. So I basically went to city center in West Palm Beach and invited all her family to stay in the in the stores that are out that are like it's outside shopping mall. Told her I told them I was coming. I went with her dad and her mom and our family for a dinner for her nephew that was supposed to happen that actually wasn't for her nephew.

6:48Was a celebration of us. And and a flash mob starts taking place. And the first song is I think I wanna marry you by Bruno Mars. And then all of a sudden, you have 10 kids dancing. Now there's 20, there's 30, there's 50. I got 50 plus kids doing this. And in the middle of the song, I jump in the flash mob as if I'm and I'm just she thinks it's just me at this point. And it it wasn't just me even though I would probably do something like that. Oh, yeah. Totally. And and then I pulled a ring out of my pocket. The kids went down into one into one they took a knee in a shape of a heart. And the song the the song I Think That I Wanna Marry You is first, and then I think the next song was I Found Myself oh, I Found Myself a Cheerleader.

7:40I Found Myself a Cheerleader song came on. That is the best the best I think I've ever seen. Definitely the best the best I've heard of and definitely the best I've seen. So Yes. Well, I'm gonna tell you the goal is to make it so amazing that they can't say no. So Alright. Then I gotta share my story with you. It was my birthday. I think my 20 birthday. I stayed home from work that day. It was like a Tuesday. And I I was trying to think of how to do it because I was gonna do it soon. I actually wrote that day on my birthday a 100 line poem in twenty five four line stanzas. And that night I took her out to dinner and took a picnic basket with a bottle of wine, and we climbed a sand dune.

8:26You know, we're right by the Indiana Dune State Park. And at sunset, I memorized the poem also. So I recited the poem from memory, opened a bottle of champagne actually, and the last line as the sun is setting, I asked her to marry me and dude, there's no way she could have said no. And she didn't even say yes. She said absolutely. That's awesome. That's awesome. It's such a big event. You gotta make it memorable and you've got yours on camera. You know, wish I had mine on video. Yes. Yes. So you guys, you and Matt Ormstein, I know, started Dental Pitch Brokerage this past year, and I mean, it's been amazing. I've seen a little bit behind the scenes, and you guys are just doing great things for dentists.

9:10Obviously, selling a practice is a big milestone. It's exciting, but it's also really stressful for Dennis. What makes you guys different and how do you help Dennis kind of navigate that whole process? Yeah. First off, I'll I'll I'll touch on the very stressful part. So we we take the stress down, and we put the fun on. I'll start with how do we make it fun. Well, first off, you know, you get to we fly you out to an event, and we bring you into a room in which 10 buyers are in the room. They all have nondisclosure agreements, you don't have to worry about your business getting leaked. And we invite you into the room, and before you come into the room, we say, like, if you were to, like, sell your life's work and you had the ultimate song that this it was that moment for you, what would that song be?

10:05And they say the song, and we get the song teed up. Soon as soon as they come into the room and we have big speakers going and we hit this they have their walk on songs. They walk onto the stage. All the buyers are standing up clapping. Oh my god. And once they get to the stage, I interview them or Matt interviews them. K. And we ask them all of these questions about their practice that are nonfinancial, but things more like, what made you become a dentist and tell us about your journey. Okay. You know? Or They're in the arena then. I mean, this is this is big time. I love it. Yep. And it's fun. Yeah. It's super fun. We ask them, well, how's the culture in their practice?

10:43Do you what do you do you have any specialties in your practice? What made you want to, you know, exit your your practice? What's the what's the reason behind it? And, basically, we ask them this question so that buyers can get to know them because the buyers already received all of their numbers in advance. Yep. They have a quality of earnings light already done. They have their SIM. They have a the the tear sheet is right one one sheet the tear sheet is right in front of them, and no financial questions are asked. So it's a laid back environment, and they get to know each other. And then we ask the dentist if they can go ahead and leave the room. And we say, alright, buyers.

11:18Here is the time where you sign up just to meet with the dentist if you're interested. And so the meetings are, like, twelve to 12:30, 12:30 to one, one to 01:30, 01:30 to two, so on and so forth, where they can have up to 10 meetings, we have had in one day. Wow. And and and and and that's the start of what makes us different. Not to mention we have 55 buyers. I can keep on going about what makes us different. Yeah. But I think the team, the lineup is so important. Right? We have myself and our manage our our VP of operations are actually clinicians. Right? So we know what it's like to practice. We get it. I also, in my past, you know, till 2018, I was a dental consultant.

12:03So I understand what it takes to grow practice. I truly understand the numbers. And then you have my business partner, Matt Ornstein. He started his own group with 20 locations and grew it one at a time until he's got to above 75 locations now. That's incredible. That that is that is a lot harder than people think. You know, there are 2,000 some, like, DSOs out there, meaning group practices, that sort of thing. And, I mean, it's tough to go from one to two. It's tough to go from three to five, five to 10. And to have gone as far as he has gone and so quickly is is truly extraordinary. So I know I know you guys, and I know your executive director, and just class acts all around.

12:44And, you know, the way you guys are doing this is Right. I think really gonna change things a lot, shake things up in dentistry. Right. When they when we came in, everybody said, well, what experience do they have? Well, I guess to start with, we went from that 20 locations to 74. That was working with all these different brokers to get there one office at a time. So Jason Brown, who's our managing director, he's got thirty years in the m and a space. Well, he understands everything it takes. He's worked with everybody. This is his area, and we have two insane amazing in house full time attorneys. And so it's we're we're literally stacked when it comes to our team. Awesome. You know, with with Dennis, obviously, it's it's a big momentous occasion.

13:29I wish you guys had been around when I sold. You know? I sold my three practices ten years ago, and honestly at that time I didn't feel like there were a lot of resources. There weren't a lot of people out there mentoring on this or talking about how to avoid those big mistakes. And you know, looking back, there are a lot of things I would have done differently. You know, today there's a lot more information, but it's still a scary proposition. What's the biggest mistake dentists tend to make when they're thinking about transitioning out of practice and how can they avoid it? Yeah. I would say the biggest make mistake that they make is actually going or listening to one DSO. So a DSO comes to them.

14:07Yeah. A DSO does their quality of earnings. A DSO tells them their EBITDA and their adjusted EBITDA, and a DSO offers their terms. They have no they don't know how to negotiate. So that's the biggest mistake. It's it's going straight to the DSO. You should everybody should work with the broker. I'm not it doesn't have to be me. I'm advocating for the industry in general. Go with the expert. And here's what happens. Do you think that when they tell you what your EBITDA is or what their offer is or do you think that they're gonna give you, like, the best offer in their favor or your favor? I mean Yeah. Yeah. Come on. It's a no brainer. When they're holding all the cards and they did the valuation and they made the offer and everything, clearly Yeah.

14:46The the deck is stacked against So how do you fix it is the is is is the solution. What's the what's the answer? Number one, work with the broker. You don't it's okay. You don't. It's fine. But here's what you should do. Get your own quality of earnings light done. Get it done. And number two, reach out to about three people that have sold to them and did their transition with them. Yep. Not the ones that they give you. That is great advice. And and, you know, one thing I'll I'll add to that that I tell every dentist who's kinda going through that process, and I've been involved in a lot of these deals over the years. But everybody wants the most money, obviously. It's your life's work and you want to max it out, but getting the right partner is every bit as important.

15:30And I think that there's some dentists who kind of overlook that little tidbit. And then they get locked in for three to five years and they're miserable that whole time. So are you guys looking at that and trying to kind of give the right buyers to the right sellers and sort of pair them up a little bit? Yes. So I'll I'll first off, I'll start by saying if you've seen one DSO, you've seen one DSO. Number one. That's true. They're all different. And and the and the next thing I'll say is is that the way that we're mitigating that that big issue is is we're letting them meet each other really early on in the process. K? So we're making sure that their culture's aligned, that it's a good fit, but we take the broker wall down.

16:14And we don't hold it up the whole you know, we take it down immediately and let them get to know each other. Let them talk. Make sure that it's a good fit instead of waiting till the very end. Now the dentist is like, dang. I've been through 50% or 75%. I pretty much think I have my office sold. Yep. Money makes sense, and now it's time to meet who my partner is. Right. By that time, it's like, dang. I'm just gonna go ahead and do it and risk it because I just went four months, five months, six months, and I gotta go ahead with it with it now. Right? And so super important to to to understand that if you meet them early, that helps a lot.

16:52Also, we're working with this amazing woman by the name of Christine Diehl who's actually helping. Especially help the bigger groups is not as much with the smaller groups. Basically, she's going in and she's like making sure that the team is told, you know, in the right time. Making sure that they she softens important, man. There's got to be a strategy in place. And you got to sequence it the right way. And if you don't, you could have a total loss of half the team. Well, she's fixing that basically. That's great. Which is awesome. Good, good. Well, hey, I wanna go back in time again because I mentioned in your intro that you were the guy who brought fun back into dentistry. And I used to be in a group that did the same thing and that was our motto like twenty some years ago.

17:39But you did it with smiles at sea. Mean how exciting is that? I mean education on a cruise ship and the dental festival. So why do you think that kind of a format, having fun with education, why is that so powerful? I mean, you've seen a lot over the years. Absolutely. Well, I'm gonna tell you what. I believe in a a a vertically integrated lifestyle, and, you know, I like to have a good time. I like to have a fun time. I like to go on vacation. I like to be around good people. I love music. I love the pool. I love the casino. So, like, it was natural for me to do it, And I and at the end of the day, I feel like I attracted the right people.

18:23I attracted my people. Bringing fun is so important. Dentistry is stressful. It is. It's one of the most stressful industries that you can be in and it's typically a people problem. And, you know, dentists don't really understand that. They're like, what? It's like the cushiest job ever. And and I I remember being really defensive as a young dentist. Like, well, we have to do this and we have to do this. We have to do this. You know, basically, at the end of the day, we come out of dental school and I don't know if it's the same with hygiene school, but in dental school, we don't really learn communication skills, we don't learn leadership skills, we don't learn how to run a business, and then we're just thrown out there and talk about stress, especially if you've hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and you're just desperate to pay that off.

19:05It's a big deal. Absolutely. Well, I think you bringing people onto a cruise ship for that kind of entertainment and that kind of a fun fun thing is kinda what you put puts you on the dental map, at least in my mind. Yeah. It is. It was that and social media at the same time. I mean, when I first, I was on social media very active, specifically Facebook. And then after that, I launched because of the the following that I got. I'm like, alright. I'm gonna try something new. And I remember I never will forget. I posted something on someone's group and said something along the lines of, would you like to get continuing education on a vacation cruise ship? And it was like 200 comments in within five minutes.

19:49And it was like, okay. I got it. And then hey. Look. And I was criticized for doing things out of the box and doing it differently. Right? Doing the CD differently. Oh, fun shouldn't exist in dentistry. You take the word professional way too far. Like, listen. It's not that serious. Like, you go out and you have fun with your friends. You go on vacation with your friends, your family. Yeah. Why can't why can't it be like that, you know, with with with your peers? And so I basically broke down the barrier of of fun and dentistry, I believe. And then somebody told me like, hey. This is the best thing I've been on since like the ACE or generation next events. And like so it really already existed.

20:26I shared I shared that feedback. It it's exactly exactly the same vibe that that we created. We had a we had a band, you know, made up of members, dentists and dental people. And, you know, they came and played it played live at every event. And, again, it was just it was a party all weekend whenever we got together. Yeah. It's yeah. It's it was it's a it's always a great time. I'm excited. We go on another cruise the beginning of next February out of Tampa to Cozmo, Mexico, and I go on one here and another I wanna say we'll be on another one in next month, about a month. Next month. Yeah. That's right. And, hey, you took a group to Dubai a couple of years ago, and I've heard some of the stories.

21:06It sounds like it was just an epic trip. What was your favorite part, and why are you so excited to go back this year? Yeah. Well, I mean, first off, thank you for inviting me back. Was Of course. Literally the best experience ever. Basically, you know, all of the things that you've seen from about Dubai, like the insane photos with, like, you know, the the what is it? A pineapple Island or I forget what kind of island it is. Palm Island? Palm a Palm Island. And I think there's a pineapple too. Yeah. And then there's, like, you know, the Lamborghinis, the Bugattis, the clean environment. It was insane. Some of the nicest people ever. No crime. Yeah. If you like Las Vegas, this is, like, literally 10 times the size of Las Vegas.

21:56The screens are 10 x. You walk into a mall, they got, like, an entire skiing resort in the mall. Is unbelievable. I can't wait to see it. And we did, you know, private. We did yachts. We did the, you know, camels, riding the camels. We did sand dunes on Jeeps. Now a picture, I've seen pictures like that my whole life. What they don't tell you is is your heart is racing a thousand miles per hour I bet. Because you're afraid the thing is gonna tip because it feels like you're gonna tip on the top of these sand dunes. It is absolutely crazy. You know, I've seen fire dancers. I got a I got a opportunity to to float in at a floating restaurant. Like, they put you, like, really, really high and you float while they're playing good music.

22:38I mean, I got to experience Dubai to the fullest. It is definitely, you know, one of the the top three places that I've ever been to, and I'm very well traveled. I go all over the world, and I'm very excited to present on, you know, your high value exit and and what it looks like to and the strategies to to to sell when you're considering selling. Yeah. It's gonna be it's gonna be amazing. And that the reason you started Smiles at Sea is the same reason I started luxury dental retreats because I've always loved education as a student then as an educator. I've always loved small groups, where you can really get intimate and have serious conversations, and people are a lot more likely to share.

23:19And when an attendee can be up close and personal with the actual speakers, I mean spending five days with them. I mean, we talk a lot about being in the right room with the right people. Well, five days where you're eating and drinking and learning and doing amazing excursions. I mean, that's that's why I started it. But Dubai, I believe, was your idea because you had such a great time. And so why should Dennis think about going? I know, obviously, we've got you speaking. We've got Steve Rasser speaking who's an icon. We've got Jeff Busky speaking who's super motivational and really powerful. But what what are dentists gonna get out of that trip? Absolutely. Well, I mean, first off, if you're a premium dentist. Right?

24:04If you're if you're a if you're a dentist that likes a luxury life, this is the luxury trip, first and foremost. Right? So when you talk about treating yourself to the best, you work your butt off, you know, you you you spend every day working or, you know, you spend every every day, you know, taking care of the family. Like, this trip is for you. This trip is for your your your life. It's for your well-being. And and, oh, by the way, while you're there, you get to learn from some of the top educators. And, you know, that's about creating your, you know, your your high end life, doing high end dentistry with with Rasner, and then setting yourself up for a high end exit so you can actually go there all the time.

24:41I hope this is the people's first time. So they can go back and say, remember when. And then whenever they sell their practice, shoot, we'll take a we'll take a practice together. I think that's a great idea. Yeah. You know, that's one of those things that I know is going to create just a ton of memories. And when you talk about dentistry and dentists, a lot of dentists are lonely. I mean, obviously a lot of dentists are overwhelmed by all the skill sets they don't necessarily come out of school with, but I think a lot of dentists feel really isolated. And that's another reason why I'm forming this community. So that these people who think they're alone, in fact, I just talked with a doctor who's got an $8,000,000 practice.

25:24He's like, you know, I really never talked to anybody and I'm just in a rut. And I think it's time to get out there and spend time with other really successful people. I mean, Rasner has been doing 5,000,000 for a long time. Jeff Buske did over 4,000,000 last year by himself. My practice used to do 4,000,000 back in the day. You have grown practices way past those numbers. And so not only are we a lot of fun, but we've got a lot of knowledge. And that's that's that's pretty cool. Yeah. I think putting the people same people in the room is everything, and and it's essentially called a mastermind. Right? And I it's like having a super brain. So it's like you could you work so well.

26:01You get so far on your brain. But if you can put multiple brains in the room, especially if they're like the brains the the ones that create other people's Oh, yeah. You know, knowledge and they're educators and they're educating them. You put everybody in the same room, and you're able to not listen necessarily to a lecture, but have true dialogue and true conversation and and really make sense of things. That's when you really move the needle. And here's another thing. All it takes is one thing to make your entire trip. One idea. One connection. One opportunity. Absolutely. That that's that's definitely the case. And I I think that sometimes when you look at a luxury trip like that, you know, people think, oh, it's out of reach.

26:41It's gonna be too much. Well, honestly, I think it's pretty damn affordable for what we're doing, where we're going, and what our attendees are gonna get out of it. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, listen. I'll go back to it's premium. It's premium. Are you premium? Do you treat yourself premium? Do you treat yourself luxury? You know, I'll never never forget the the time I heard Anissa give this this analogy. I mean, you have three people, that's people that want everything for free. K? If it's a handout, they sit on those Facebook websites, man, they'll drive an hour to get something for free. Then you have cheap people. Those are people that want everything for the cheap. If there's a discount, they're doing it. That's what's gonna push them over the edge.

27:24Those people staying outside of, you you remember Black Friday, Thanksgiving? Oh, They got a long line wrapped around Best Buy. Oh, yeah. And and and it's to get 20% off this big flat screen TV. But then there's people people. And people people are people like you and I, Jim. We we we pay extra. We pay a premium to skip the line. While there's that long line that are saving 20%, I'm willing to pay 30% or more to skip the line. If you see me you you know, we go out and have fun and we go to a nightclub. Say it's in Dubai. Guess what I'm gonna do? I am gonna either, a, give the security a $100 bill, a hundred's work, the Benjamin's work. You give him a $100 bill, you skip the line, or I'm gonna get a table and have my own section and my own space.

28:10Yes. I'm gonna get there, like, way before everybody because that long line. I am also gonna get my drinks immediately. Dude, speak to my language. I'm not standing in line while while I'm waiting behind everybody trying to wave my hand and and be looked over. You pay a premium. These are premium people. It's a luxury retreat. Premium people wanna be around premium people. That's right. And and guys like you and I have been doing luxury travel for a long time. And when we're the ones planning this event, you know it's gonna be high quality. There's no way no way around that. But, you know, going back again, you have hosted and been a part of a lot of really unique super high energy events. I gotta ask, what's the most memorable thing that's happened at these incredible events?

28:56I know it's hard to narrow it down to one, but if you could give me one or two most memorable moments, I'd love to hear it. Man, I honestly, like, I don't I don't make up stuff just to just to fill questions. I I'm gonna have to pass on what's the most memorable thing just because there's but there's so many memorable things. If that matters, like, there's so many and it's it's stuff that's that's intangible like relationships. Right? Like, I don't even know what relationship, but I've made so many deep connections and deep relationships at all of these events and the these retreats all over the world. You you can't put your finger on one relationship, one thing. But if you say one, it's it's gotta be relationships.

29:42Yeah. Well, that's good because that's what it's all about at the end of the day. It's all about relationships, how you treat people, and, you know, you treat people the right way. And it's incredible the amount of capital you build up over the years. And that's why you've created such a great following and had so much fun with it. You know? And and just to branch off of that, I mean, you're just you're one of the best connectors that I've ever known. I mean, you find common ground with everybody some way. You know, sometimes it's hard to do that in business, though. What do you think the secret to great business partnerships is? Yeah. So I I'll go back to what you just said with you have built up so much capital, and and that can be confused as I sell dental practices.

30:25The capital that I have built up so much of is called relationship capital. And and and relationship capital, in my opinion, gives you the ability to have more freedom than money than than dollar than dollars. And so while my bank account may not be as big as many people's bank account, my relationship bank account is bigger than most rooms combined. And so because of the relationships, and you say you have the ability to find something in everyone or connect with somebody on some on all different levels, it's actually, like, kind of, yes, but it's here's the thing. I don't connect with everyone. But if you tell me your story, and I am a listener. Mhmm. If you tell me your story, I know who to connect you with.

31:08I might not connect with you personally, but I know exactly who you need to talk to because I have listened to enough stories. Mhmm. I've met enough people, and I've focused on helping so many and serving so many people instead of myself. And for years and years, and a lot of those people were the underdog. They actually were the free people people. They were the cheap people. They didn't have it. But I focused my time on building those people up, and now they're people people. So now I have thousands of people running around. You know, Elijah, I think you just you just hit on it. Like, the secret sauce to your success has been creating value for so many people without an expectation of anything in return.

31:46And too often people I'm I'm guilty of it sometimes. Like, you, like, say something really nice or do something really nice, and you don't necessarily get it back. But you've been so great for so long, like you said, just giving, giving, giving, and creating value, and that's why you have such a a close orbit, you know, people who really enjoy spending time with you. And I I appreciate being in that orbit myself. Thank you. I mean, it it does feel good. It's genuine. It's real. It's authentic. And, you know, I'll just tell you, it wasn't always like that. You know, ten years ago, you know, I'm I'm in in Hawaii, living in Hawaii thirteen, fourteen. But point is I'm in Hawaii, and I'm like, man, I have an idea.

32:32If I help a whole bunch of people, I bet you that they're gonna help me. And that's called not giving with pure intentions. Okay? For a year, I got my heart broken because I went all in. I got my heart broken. I would ask for a favor. They're like, who are you? Right? Yeah. Yeah. You you text somebody, no responses. And it was it was broke I get get my heart broken. And then I I pivoted. I learned how to give pure. And so when I give, you know, what my compensation is or what I get back is knowing that I changed somebody's life in some capacity, and I don't need anything. And so I'm I'm a whole person. I don't I don't need I don't need help.

33:15I'm not going to people. I'm asking for help. And the cool part is is when you don't ask and you overdeliver, you you overdeliver so much to somebody, you can make them uncomfortable, and they'll be like, hey. What can I do for you? But you don't do that to to to get. You do it just to give. Well and and you know what? It's it's a natural byproduct that people want to give back. At least the right people do at some point. But I think it's really admirable. So back to pitch for just a second because so many doctors are worried and nervous about transitioning. To most people, transition means selling. But you talk a lot about increasing the value of practice. Don't you run into dentists who say, you know what?

33:58I don't think you're ready because I think you can do even better. And so you've done that before. You've worked with dentists. You've worked with practices. You helped them grow. What's the best thing a dentist could do today to increase the value of their practice in preparation for a transition? Yes. Well, I'm gonna first tell you what not to do. Do not go and crazy ramp up your production and spend all this money on marketing. I'm gonna tell you why you shouldn't do that. The reason why you shouldn't do that is because unless you plan on keeping that pace up after you're gone after you sell, you're going to be expected to keep that pace up. So don't screw yourself over for the next three to five years.

34:41Okay? That is what I would recommend to not do. What I would recommend to do is clean clean things up. Clean things up. Clean up clean up stuff that adds straight to your bottom line revenue. Okay? And so what are examples of that? Alright. Let's just say you're working with the the name out there. Say you're working with Patterson Dental. You're getting basic pricing. Why don't you search another company like maybe crazier date DC Dental and get 25% less for all of the products and materials that you're using. So let's just say that you're you're spending about 10%, okay, on on things, on your materials and your products, yourself from from Patterson Dental. Alright? You have a $200,000 practice. Alright? So that means that you are spending 10% is two your practice is a $2,000,000 practice.

35:34Sorry. $2,000,000 practice. You're spending about $200,000 on your supplies. Okay? 10%. Now, of course, we wanna get it lower, but a lot of practices are eight to 10, but it's called 10%. Sure. Alright. So if we can get 25% less of these supplies, 25%, that's gonna be $50,000. Alright? It's a lot of money. Yeah. Tell you what's more. If you go out and you get a multiple of that, which added $2,000,000 in collection, let's just say, you're gonna get, you know if you had a 20% margin, you have a $400,000 EBITDA. You have a 30% margin, you got a $600,000 EBITDA. Okay? So on that practice, it normally would been a $600,000 EBITDA at, say, 30%, that margin. You're probably gonna get a five to six x.

36:25Realistically, for five five, probably five x. Yep. But here's a really cool thing. You just went and you saved $50,000 and it went straight to your bottom line. What does that mean? That means that you now, when you sell that practice, you're gonna make 250,000. I just found that in your practice. That's a takeaway. Right? So so so then you work with a company like, call it Spendly. Spendly focuses specifically on taking money from or reducing your money from, like, merchant fees and your utilities, your phone, your all of these extra things that you don't realize, there can be negotiated terms. And now all of sudden, you dropped that down. Maybe it's 25,000. Let's be realistic. Okay? 25,000. Now you multiply 25,000 times five, that's a 125,000.

37:17So just from these just from that two minutes of talking at 2,000,000 practice, I could have given you $375,000 worth of value you can put in your pocket. And two simple things. Yeah. And, man, we didn't know any of that ten years ago. You know, I wish I wish that you'd been around, like, teaching this then because, you know, I made a lot of mistakes. I did really well, but I made some mistakes. And I I love I love when dentists or anybody can fast track their success not only by following the path that made you very successful, but by avoiding the pitfalls and mistakes that you made. And because you've seen all of these things happen, you are in a perfect position to help them avoid that.

38:02And and that's that's how I feel too. It's like Yep. You know, you wanna condense time for people so they can take a shortcut and get to the promised land a little faster. Yeah. Let's just talk about that for just a second. I think it's important. I think I kinda flew by it, but I just wanna slow down for just a second. We talked about what not to do. I I started with that. Do not go and pour a ton of money in your marketing Mhmm. And ramp up your work. Yeah. Now let me just be let me break it down a little bit further. If you go from let's just say, if you go from $2,000,000 in collections or production and you you ramp it to 2,500,000.0.

38:39K? When you sell your practice, there's gonna be a a thing called an earn out. K? And essentially, you ramped up that production all the way all the way up to 2,500,000.0. The intention of the earn out is is to make sure you maintain that 2,500,000.0. Okay? Or maintain your EBITDA. So here's what happens. You ramp up to 2.5 from two, and you're tired every day. You did that for a year. You're like, oh my gosh. This is tough. Guess what? When they come in, they're gonna say, alright. We're gonna give you not a 100% of your money, but we're gonna give you 80% of your money or 70% of your money. And we'll give you that upfront. But what you have to do is you have to maintain that level you're at Yep.

39:27For the next three to five years. And if you don't maintain that, you don't get your money. Yeah. So that's too hard of work. You're talking about look. I don't wanna work that hard for one day. Let me go ahead and say three to five years do that. Oh, no. Now I wish I didn't work that hard to to to essentially make myself work harder in the future. I wish I would thought smarter and went straight to bottom line items and efficiencies in the office and getting rid of all the you got five softwares, you only need two to use them. I mean, I can go on and on about how do you cut costs. Absolutely. Well, it's all about efficiency at the end of the day.

40:06You know, I I've always been a believer in work smarter, not harder. You know, and so much of that comes down to leadership and making sure that you've got a great team. And you get a great team by hiring well, but also putting them in the right positions, giving them all the tools that need to be successful, and then establishing systems and protocols that are repeatable so that you're clicking along really well. And a lot of times you don't need that extra person. Right there is a big savings if you're more efficient. Yes, absolutely. Well, hey, man. I know how busy you are. I really appreciate you coming on today. For real, I know this is your third podcast today. You're a popular guy. But I can't wait to hang out in Dubai.

40:48It's going to be a great time. I know that any of our listeners who come along are gonna get just massive value out of it, and I'm excited to be one of those providing that value. So, Elisha, this has been a great conversation. Did we miss anything? Any final thoughts that things that I didn't cover yet? I think that the the last the last thoughts would be some free resources. Right? You can go to our website, and that website is www.dentalpitchbrokerage.com. You know, my business partner, Matt Ornstein, has the EBITDA handbook. Yes. He does. Authored. You can get it. You can download it there. It's usually, like, $20. It's free to download on the site. And then the art of the deal today, that book is a little bigger, but it has the EBITDA handbook within it.

41:39That's a $100 book. Wow. You go on the website to download it. It's free. You know, Amazon, it's a $100. I would go and and encourage you to go to the website and and download those books if you you're thinking about either growth or if you're thinking about selling. And don't wait until it's three that's a huge mistake I see people do. They wait until they're like, alright. I'm 70 years old, and I'm ready to sell, you know, in three months. No. First off, the sale takes three to six months, number one. And number two, when you go and sell your practice that's $2,000,000, you're gonna have a hard time finding a private practice dentist to just pay $2,000,000. And the the group practices, the emerging groups, the private equity, they want you to stay on for three to five years.

42:24So the time to start thinking about your exit is now, and and conversations are free. Just give me reach out. Reach out to me. I'd love to have a conversation or anybody on my team would love to have a conversation. Make yourself knowledgeable. Read those books. They're free. There's all of that effort to how do you grow from 20 to 75 locations in such a short time? Yeah. Right? Incredible. How do how do you do that? Well, this is how you do it. And these it's all free free information. So I would say reach out. Anybody can reach out to me at elijah@dentalpitchbrokerage.com. On social media, that is me. I make my own posts. I respond to everyone. I'm never getting to the point where I won't.

43:06I will continue to do that. And I'm and I'm happy to share my story, and I'm super excited to see you in Dubai. Yeah. Hey, man. Thanks so much for your time. That was a lot of fun. I know everybody got a lot of value out of it too. Yes. Thank you. Talk to soon, buddy. Thanks, Sam. Bye bye.