Transcript of Scaling Dental Practices into Millions: Dr. Alex Planes’ Blueprint for Growth

There was times in the first couple of months, Paul, that I would literally wake up drenched in sweat. I had the worst nightmare. I would call my family. I'm a man enough to say it like just crying. I bought a practice in one of the richest islands in the United States, in Vero Beach, but it was dead. There was a patient every 3 hours. My wife told me, You're not going to make it. And I said, Let's try it. I remember my first training that I paid for. It was $25,000. I was like, What the heck am I doing? I've never spent this amount of money in my life. Within a year, man, I made that 25, 10 times. Then I did an investment for $150,000, and we went from collecting $1 million to collecting $2. 5 million in one year.

Hey, guys, and welcome back to the LevelUp podcast. This is Paul Alex, and today we have another phenomenal guest, guys. As you guys know, we do our weekly guest interviews every single Saturday here at the LevelUp. With that being said, I have a phenomenal guest that's actually in the dentists industry. This is going to be for anybody that actually is interested in becoming a dentist. If you're a current dentist, this is actually going to be a person you're going to want to network. There's a saying that I always say, your network is your networth. This person, which I'm going to introduce in just the next minute, guys, he has built a multiple eight-figure business off of being a dentist, guys. He has multiple locations here in the state of Florida. He has dozens of employees, and now he is consulting and actually helping dozens and dozens of actual dentists across the United States Build the infrastructure for their own multiple eight-figure businesses. I want to welcome Dr. Alex Plains to the Love & Love.

Thank you, Paul. Thank you for having me here today.

No, absolutely, brother. I'm excited, man. It's been a long time, man.

No, I know. That's just the way you go. Thank you for the invite, brother.

No, of course, man. Like I was saying, dude, it's a blessing. I remember it's been almost two years- That's correct. That I was on your show, bro. I was just like, Dude, I love interviewing my friends and people that I know. I think you have such a powerful You're a good guy. You have good morals, dude. I want people to listen to your story, dude, because it's very inspiring. Thank you. For the people that don't know you, Dr. Alex Plains, what is your background?

That's a great question. I was born and raised here in Miami. I actually started in dentistry at the age of 12 years old, working in a dental lab not too far from here. But unfortunately, I had to quit because I was allergic to the acrylics, so I'm asthmatic, so I thought I can never get into dentistry. Wow. I gave up on my hopes of being a dentist. I didn't think I was smart enough. I come from a broken family. I didn't have a lot growing up. From Hialea, the most my grandparents ever made was $8 an hour. We would live paycheck to paycheck. For God's sake, there was a time in my life that all we could eat is eggs and white rice for a period of four or five months. Every so often, we were able to get a steak. My grandmother would clean kitchens and bakeries at $30 a day. Imagine working for 10 hours a day and making $30. Yeah, dude. That's insane, bro. Then after that, I started getting into sales. I did newspaper sales. I did insurance sales. I did life insurance sales, which actually one of the places I actually worked for in Aventura, got raided by the FBI four weeks after I left.

True story. Then not far from your office here in Royal Caribbean, that's pretty much where I started my journey in sales, realistically. I worked for them for three years. Then I decided to give it a shot, and I lost all hope of being a dentist. But a dear friend of mine told me, You need to be a dentist. You're going to be very good at what you do. I took a leap of faith, and I moved to the Dominican Republic.

Wow. You moved to DR. What age did you move to DR?

I was 21 going on 22 years old. Wow.

So at 21, 22, you lost all hope. You're doing multiple sales gigs. You come from the poverty level of eating white rice and eggs, dude, which I can relate to that. To me, I didn't know that was poverty level. I was just like, I thought it was normal. But I get you on that one because I remember my grandma buying a little piece of steak and cutting it up in little pieces, and she would mix it with the eggs and rice.

Yes.

That was fire, bro. I'll still eat that sometimes.

You know those Vienna sausages? My grandmother would make that with yellow rice. That was like a feast. It was, bro. That's what we were used to. But it loves us who we are, right? So at the end of the day, I wouldn't change it any other way. It gave me that hunger and resilience I need and that I can have failure in my life.

Absolutely, brother. So, age 21, 22, you're going to Dominican Republic. For a lot of the 21s, 22-year-olds right now watching the podcast or listening to podcast, they're like, That's a dream, Alex. What did you do? So what was your plan going to the DR?

I had no other options. I literally packed my bags, got in an airplane. I remember in middle of May because the My master started in June, and I didn't have even a place to live at. I literally got there, and the place that my uncle thought he had for me, I walk in, and all we have are over a thousand sewing machines. In this place. The guy's like, this is not going to be ready to at least August or September. Luckily, my uncle does a lot of business in the DR, Puerto Rico, Central America, South America, and he has a lot of good friends over there. So he got me in a place where one of his best friends live at, and I was able to stay there to around September. Finally, I got a place, and I didn't get electricity till November. Wow. Because over there, if you don't have connections, electricity can take anywhere from 6: 00 to 8: 00 weeks. So I had to start paying people to get electrical up to my apartment, but only certain hours of the day. So I had to bathe with cold water, study with little lights, lamps that my grandparents and my mom will send me from Home Depot here.

That's pretty much how my journey started in the DR. Within the first three months, I almost got robbed twice. I stuck out like a sore thumb over there. I would have to walk to school and walk back. A lot of my friends gave up. A lot of the guys that came from Miami, they gave up, and they couldn't tolerate it. But then four years later, I graduated with a lot of adversity over there. Then I passed my Bards, my board exam, part one, part two, and then I got into Columbia University in New York.

What was your thought process when you're in the Dominic Republic, dude. I mean, obviously, you're going through it. You're trying to learn. You're trying to better yourself. But what is your daily thought process when you're waking up, dude?

Are you saying, Hey, as long as I get it through today, I'll be okay? Or were you like, Oh, man.

Were there times when you told yourself, Hey, this is not going to be for me, or was there times that you wanted to quit?

Oh, absolutely. There was times in the first couple of months, Paul, that I would literally wake up drenched in sweat. I mean, drenched in sweat. I had the worst nightmares. I was like, I will call my family, and I'm a man enough to say it, just crying. I'm like, I can't tolerate this. This is too much for me. And one of my stepdads, my former stepdad, told me he used to be a surgeon in Cuba, he's like, take it day by day. So I made small wins every day, till eventually it became quarters and then years. And by the time I knew it, the four years had gone by. So I set myself these goals, and I did a lot of manifestation and vision boards in my mind of where I wanted to be, where I wanted to move after I graduated, what residency that I want to get at to. And that's literally what happened in order for me to complete my time over there.

I believe it's very powerful, man. You first have to think of the life that you want, then you have to start working towards it.

It's a combination of those actions.

I think it's very powerful. I tell people your mindset's everything, dude.

It's completely everything.

If you don't go into doing anything in life with a positive mindset, saying that you're going to win no matter what, you already lost the game, right? So for the people watching right now, would you say that this is also viable to do right now in 2025 to become a dentist?

Absolutely. I'm actually trying to promote some of my team members that are 21, 22 years old. They're dental assistants. And I'm like, If you want to be a dentist, and you really love this, and you cannot afford dentistry in the United States, because there's less than 56 schools of dentistry in the United States. So it's a very elite crew that gets into dental school. That's why there's a huge scarcity in dentists just in Florida alone. There's hundreds of dentists, thousands of dentists here in Miami, Orlando, Tampa. But if you go to the middle of Sebring, Florida, there's going to be scarcity in dentists. So I have patients travel from Mokey Chaube over to Vero Beach because they just can't get an appointment in on time. Wow. So if you're thinking about this, there's never the wrong time to do it. You got to go for it. You just got to take that leap of faith and have faith that you want to do it. And if you want it badly, just get on an airplane, do your research. You can always contact me as well. I have some tips for you. And then you just jump on a flight and you start your journey.

Jump on the flight to the Dominican Republic, make it happen, guys, if you want the- But I wouldn't change it any other way.

I I couldn't change it any other way, Paul. It really humbled me. I remember the first time I walked into a store and there was no air conditioner. I had to carry my groceries, blocks and blocks and blocks, like 20 bags of groceries. One time I was running and I was chased by three wild dogs. So this type of stuff, I can't make it up.

No, absolutely. I bet you reflect from time to time, dude, and you're like, Yeah, I came from those humble beginnings, man. It makes you really appreciate where you're at right now.

Yes. I'm sure you know this because you run a huge empire as But for example, there's times that you hit rock bottom, and these are the type of memories that you need to focus on in order to overcome them.

No, absolutely, man. I always tell people, the best way to overcome anything is just think of the most painful moment in your life. Use that.

Get angry. Yes.

Get angry, man, and you'll dominate, right? Okay, at what age did you officially go ahead and now become an dentist and then start making moves towards building the empire that you have today?

I started everything at the age of 29.

Okay, so at the age of 29, this is freshly graduated?

Yeah.

Okay. Then did you work under someone first? Did you gain experience? How did that work?

As soon as I graduated, I was engaged. I was about to get married, I believe, 11 months later, so I had no cash. I started working here in Miami and Wellington in multiple practices, and I wasn't making money. I was floating around. The dentists owners were dicking me around. They were paying me $300, $300 a day. I was like, This is not what I was envisioning when I was in the DR in New York and doing my residency and taking my boards. Then all of a sudden, I I was like, I got to take a move. I got to move again. All my friends are like, Stay in Miami, stay in Miami, stay in Miami. I pack my bags and I moved to Marriott Island, to Melbourne. I started working there as a lead dentists for Aspen Dental, which owns now over 2,000 practices. They're a powerhouse. Immediately, they saw skills in me and business skills in me that they don't see another dentist. Within seven months, they were offering me ownership in one of the practices in Vero Beach. I would say every month, they have a good system for developing dentists to be owners.

You go over PnLs, you go the difference between accrued accounting, cash basis accounting, percentages of marketing that should be spent, line by line, itemized lines of percentages. Then I started noticing, but I was like, I got to do something else. I bought a practice in one of the richest islands in the United States, in Vero Beach, but it was dead, completely dead. There was a patient every three hours. Wow. So my wife told me, but she's also a dentist, told me, You cannot buy that practice. You're not going to make it. I said, All right, let's try it. I was actually discriminated against because I'm Latino, and they don't want any Latinos owning dental practices in one of the Riches Islands. That landlord is no longer with us. The Plaza has been sold, but he gave me the hardest time in order to get in there. Finally got in there, and then within the first year, we went from collecting 300,000 part-time, working three days a week to collecting over a million dollars. Then nine months later, I was buying my second location.

I love that, man.

What was the actual step, play play that you did in order to get that type of results? Because there's business owners out here, man, and you know business is very hard.

We just talked about it. We talked about it for an hour before the podcast. We were like, Dude, entrepreneurship.

People got to be careful for trying to pick their niche and their industry because it's hard. It's hard, especially in 2025, guys, you guys got to go ahead and be the implementer. You guys got to go ahead and lead by example, right? You got to go through this experience just like you did, man, in order to go ahead and execute properly. So With that being said, how did you go ahead in the first year of opening that new dentistry from 300K in profits to a million?

What was the step by step on that?

I will look at the most important thing is to leave EGLE out. Never have EGLE because it can be taken away from you in a second. So I would say when other guys were getting Porsche, 911s or Caymans or traveling already or buying Cannelli suits, I was still living like a student. I was saving because I knew that I had to have at least 10% of my next deposit to get another practice because that was my vision board. I wanted five practices by the year of 2020. That was in 2013, going to 2014. I basically got locked in and just told Paulina, Look, we're not going to buy expensive furniture. We're just going to live like we've always been living. She was okay with that. Modest, yeah. Yes, modest living. I just didn't spend, man. I just saved, saved, saved, and I managed my PnLs like no tomorrow. I marketed more than any dentists in the area.

We're going to get into that, man.

I'm a marketing guy, and that's what I do best. Number one, I have to give you kudos because with newer entrepreneurs, and you're not a new entrepreneur, but what I'm saying is to the new entrepreneurs that are listening to the level up here, guys, a lot of you guys are inspiring entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs, and you're listening to our story, and you're like, Dude, that's actually smart.

Yeah, that is an operator, okay? You don't go ahead and expand to multiple locations because you're making a ton of money.

No, that's how you go bankrupt, guys. You guys got to save. You guys got to know your numbers.

At the end of the day, I see a lot of people in the online space promoting like, Oh, look at my million dollar car. Look at my $500,000 car. I'm like, Okay, well, where's your office?

Okay, where's your employees? Okay, where's your actual credibility of you running an actual business and not being a solopreneur?

At the end of the day, guys, you guys got to reinvest into your business. That's what I did as well in the past seven years. You got to invest into your people.

You got to make sure your people are taken care of, man. I cannot live with myself when I see other entrepreneurs that they're living a great life, well off, buying the cars and all that jazz, and then their people are struggling.

You got to take care of them.

It's about cold Sure. That's how you build something great, right?

Exactly.

Let's dive into the marketing aspect of what you did, man, because I think what you're doing is you're a game changer, dude.

Thank you. You're a game changer. One more thing, I'm sorry to interrupt, Paul. One thing that you just made me remember about the people. Most of my girls back in the day when they started with me, these girls were 21 to 25 years old. They had a little bit of experience in dentistry, but they didn't have that professional development, that skill to really manage a dental practice, that customer service experience. You need it. I started the first. I remember my first training that I paid for. It was $25,000. I was like, What the heck am I doing? $25,000? I've never spent this amount of money in my life.

What year was that?

This was in 2015.

Oh, dude, 2015, $25,000 unheard of.

Yes, I spent $25,000, and it was to train the hygienist to be able to coach their patients better and be able to sell more treatment. I did it, and within a year, man, I made that $25,000, $10,000. I got addicted. Then I did an investment for $150,000 into this program that is going to five extra dental practice. We went from collecting $1 million to collecting $2. 5 million in one year. That's what I'm talking about. One year. Little by little, I started noticing that development is super important for your team and yourself.

Brother, it's everything. We were talking about before the pod, I was working out with one of my newer guys in here. On the way here, I'm listening to a self-development podcast. But guys, if you guys need motivation, please, every day, Monday through Friday. I have to level up.

But no, I was listening to another podcast, and that's where I get inspiration from other entrepreneurs. I will always humble myself and be like, Hey, dude, I want to see what everybody else is doing as well, and get inspired. I'm listening to this podcast, and it's about focus.

That's it.

It was simple, just focused.

I'm like, Wow, this is so good. I sent it out to my executives. It's Saturday morning, guys, after the gym. Most people are sleeping and whatnot. I'm awake. They're like, Hey, boss, we're listening to it. I'm on Monday, and I was like, You guys make time for what's important in your life.

Yeah, so true.

You have to self-develop yourself to get better. They're like, Okay, we'll listen to it now.

That's the way it goes, dude. You have to stay on your game, dude.

I've never met an ultra-successful person that has not ever invested in themselves, dude. I think it's important.

It's super important. And I did it the other way around. So I did professional development instead of personal development first. If I would have done it the other way around, God knows what would have happened. But I totally agree with you. Personal development, and I'm the same way. 3: 00 in the morning, sometimes I'm up and I can't sleep, and I'm looking at podcasts or articles, and I'm sending emails to my team members, and they're like, Dr. Plains, you're freaking nuts. I don't sleep. I don't sleep. I don't sleep. You guys are relaxing. I'm stressing.

It's one of those things, man. When you go ahead and it's something from one of our mentors, because if you guys don't know, we actually not We were friends for the past two years, but also we ended up joining one of the mentorships, one of our newest mentorships that we travel to Scottsdale. We go ahead and network with high-level individuals with other industries. And guys, How are you guys? You're, number one, your brand, your personal brand, especially in 2025. But also that's where you go ahead and you might meet someone else that you connect with and you're like, Hey, dude, let's do a business together or let's get into a venture or let's invest. It changes your life. With that being said, one of our mentors, he says, Life by design. Life by design, to me, I get asked all the time. They're like, Dude, what do you do besides work? I'm like, Dude, I love work so much. I'm a creative. I love to write I love to envision ideas and just make them come to reality. In the same way. In the same way, dude. You're a visionary guy. You're a startup guy, dude.

Then I hire smarter people than me to run the business. You run the business. To put it all together. I just need smart people that go ahead, and they're disciplined enough to go ahead and just execute, implementers. With that being said, when you are literally living your dream life every day, dude, I call that life by design, guys. I believe that's That's what you're doing, dude. That's why you're able to stay up and really look, and you're still thinking, and that's what's keeping you up.

It's that energy, dude, of you being excited of what you're doing. Now, when you're not excited and you're showing it off, it's easy to fall asleep, obviously.

Of course. Just remember, I was never the most studious kid, guys.

When I was in high school, middle school, I remember falling asleep in class. I was just like, Dude, this is freaking boring because I don't have interest in it. But I only imagine if you had somebody that I wanted to be You would have been focused.

I would have been a laser focus.

A laser focus, man. It's just, think about it like that. When you guys watch your favorite Netflix documentary, how locked in are you? Same thing with people that love music.

My wife, dude, she loves music.

She will remember lyrics from 20 years ago. Sorry, babe, I'm not trying to eat you. But yeah, she will.

I was like, Babe, how do you remember that? She's like, How don't you remember this? I was like, Because I have to remember so much because of work?

It just really depends on what's interest for you.

But now ask me the PnLs for last month, I'll tell you.

Exactly. You'll know your numbers. You're like, Okay, how many conversions did we do? How many offices did we do? Okay, cool. How many clients? Every hour? Okay, cool. But let's dive into the marketing aspect, Alex. Marketing, what worked for you to help you scale your business and be able to obtain multiple locations? This is going to be basically almost like a mini master class, where you have some inspiring dent is on here. You might have somebody who owns some dentistry here in Florida or throughout the United States, and they're probably like, he was able to do that fairly quickly.

How were you able to do that?

It's quite simple. I started with direct mail.

That's it.

I stayed consistent with direct mail, and I would meet with my marketing company every single month, and I was very consistent with my brand. Then what I started doing, apart from direct mail, I started doing Google and Facebook. Remember, I started in a different time, 2014, 2015, where Instagram and all this stuff wasn't as popular as it is now.

Alex, just real quick, because I love to break it down almost to the level of a fifth grader for my audience, just because we have a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. Some people may not even know what direct mail is, dude. What exactly is direct mail?

Postcards, 8 by 12 postcards, very beautifully designed. You get them shipped to your house, you get them in the mailbox. Out of that, I will send 8 to 10,000 of them a month, consistently per location. Out of that, then you will have 5% of them that will show up and 1% that will be converted into treatment.

Wow. Okay, so it's a numbers game. Basically, you're shooting them out, you're sending them to people's houses, and then you'll get a small conversion coming in, and then you will convert them in-house or over the phone or whatnot. That's what year?

This was in 2014, 2015.

So 2014, 2015, that's how you were able to scale to over a million dollars in revenue for your first dentist location. Then you started getting into Google and then SEO. Around what time?

Started at the same time. It was a very low budget. Very low budget? It's like 1,500 bucks a month. Then the max I ever did in GP marketing was $2,500 a month.

Okay, and then what was your results?

General Practice Marketing.

What was the results on that?

I mean, it was like a 20X return.

20x return? Yeah. 20x on ROAS, guys. Roas is return on ad spend. For any of our newbie marketers watching this show right now, that's what it means. That's a phenomenal results. Don't ever, ever fall for these gurus online. I'm not to bash anybody, guys. I love everybody. I have a big heart. But at the end of the day, guys, getting one, two X ROAS is horrible. You want a minimum, minimum Of four. I'm probably going to get some markers like, Wait, that's impossible. No, that means you're actually doing your job. Exactly. You're being a creative. You're paying attention, dude.

Attention to detail, right? So 20X is phenomenal, dude.

That's great. I started crushing it there. And then started doing a magazine out of a company out of California. This was like a 16-page magazine, but it was for higher-end procedures, like implants, full-mouth makeovers, veneers. And I would send anywhere from 800 to 1500 of those a month and had amazing results, too. So that's pretty much where I started building. And then in 2017, I got into a different demographic. I got into the Orlando market with a partner of mine, Dr. Chup. He's no longer with us, but he's still a dear friend of mine. And we literally took that practice from zero to $1 million within one year as well. I was like, I got this figured out. I started building these practices for less than $350,000 all in, and I was able to grow them to a million dollars in one year.

That's phenomenal, man. The return on investment on that is actually very quickly, because when you think about it, look at real estate, dude. Somebody can invest the same amount of money.

They're not going to make the same amount of return in one year, dude. It's impossible.

It's impossible.

Yeah, it's impossible.

With that being said, you end up doing that. You figured out the blueprint. What was next in your vision board, bro?

Because I love the fact that you have a vision board. What was the next step in your vision board? You're like, Okay, I got to dial in on creating the process and duplicate it, and you're duplicating it now.

What was the next step in your journey?

Then my next step was full arches, getting into full dentistry, which is most of the population is going to need a full arch at one point or the other.

What does that mean for somebody who doesn't know like me?

Yes, for sure. We would basically extract all your teeth and put four to five to six implants and give you a new smile within 24 hours.

So similar to veneers?

No, this is just... Yeah, but full. Okay. And they will screw into the implant. Got it, guys. So a lot of people that you think have veneers, this is actually a procedure that they have had done. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, So I went from doing three to five of those a month to doing 30 to 40 arches a month. One year.

That's crazy.

What year was that?

This was in 2020 to 2022.

Okay, that makes sense because I believe that was COVID, right? So during COVID, I feel like the entire world, because they were at home, they started noticing that teeth was very important. So was that the time where you start seeing push it to the limit, dude? You were just like, Yo.

It's crazy you say that Because while COVID was happening, I had two offices that I had just opened up, not generating any money. Covid hit. I had just bought in a beautiful new home, one of my homes in my vision board, and all of a sudden, COVID happened.

Bro, how bad were you stressing?

That's what I was going to get.

Amelia is like, Yo.

I was so stressed. I was so stressed. Then all of a sudden, the governor of Florida opens things back up, ending of May, and I get in there, man, and I'm swamp with work. Actually, 2020 to 2022 were probably the best years of my dental career. I blew up during that time.

It's a combination of a lot of things, man. Covid, you had the state of Florida opening up.

Interest rates were super low.

Interest rates were super low.

A lot of cash on the streets.

You had a lot of cash on the streets, and you had a lot of people inside already looking at social media and seeing that the appearance of their teeth, it does a big difference. Did you leverage social media within your marketing in 2020, 2022, or were you still sticking to more traditional marketing strategies?

So a part of me was still afraid to let go of the traditional. But I did level up on full-arch marketing, and I went to six figures a month in marketing, from five to six figures investing every single month in marketing. But it was mostly a traction of Google and Facebook, and we were getting our best ROI on Google still during that time. Yeah.

I mean, SEO is very powerful. You get a good SEO company or agency to go ahead and run it up on your company website, man. It's very, very, very powerful to go ahead and type in dentist near me, and then you're first one, dude, you show up, they're automatically going to go to you. So that's a great strategy, man. And keeping it simple. Keeping it simple because people think you have to do TikTok, go on LinkedIn.

No, we try TikTok through full large. Every industry is different, guys. So what might work for me, Google is very expensive, though. So you'll probably get 50 leads in Google, and you We get 150 through Facebook. But it just all depends on the quality of leads. And that's why you need a good marketing team to be able to tell you, Hey, Alex, you're spending way too much money here. We got to tweak it because your ROI and your conversion rate is better with this product. So that's what we've been working on. But now with AI, like my new marketing company for FullArch that I'm working with, they've implemented so much AI that we're getting everything to the microscopic level right now.

I love that, man. You're getting into the details of absolutely everything just to dominate. So let's talk about now the transition between you solely focusing in the dentists industry to now shifting to becoming a consultant in that industry and actually helping other dentists build their infrastructure and build similar empire just like yours, man. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Yeah. I'm trying to, I call it the Realist and Rawest Dental Coaching Company in the planet. Actually, I said that in one of the events that you were just talking previously, and everybody was just clapping their hand. Because I feel like a lot of the... What's missing in dentistry is a lot of the dentists are very stuck up, very ego-driven, and they're afraid to take leaps of faith. I've taken all the leaps of faith. I've jumped with no parachute on sometimes, which I'm sure you know that, too. You've done it in your business. But I want to be able to mentor doctors, and I want to be real with them. I want to tell them that it's not all going to be glamor. You're going to have to go through hard times. But I've been played by consulting companies and coaching companies that have taken advantage of what they've been trying to sell me on. Correct. And they've cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses. And so what I want is I want a full transparency. That's actually one of my core values, transparency. And I want to build a university, which I'm building currently, to help dentists grow and scale their business, but doing it the right way and not taking advantage of them and doing it with proof.

You can get all these guys on Instagram, social media saying, I have all this proof of building businesses, but I want to see it on paper. See, I can show you in paper the good years, the bad years, what you're going through now, the challenges you're going to face in the future. And a lot of guys don't do that. A lot of these coaching companies, and they call themselves dental consultants. But what have you built? What have you done? What lease have you negotiated? What marketing company have you done? That's pretty much what I'm working on, and that's my passion. That's going to be my legacy company once I can no longer practice unless my kids want to be dentists, which I'm trying not to do. It's just change, Paul. What happens is insurance companies They are not reimbursing us. Dentists are fighting, tick for tack, trying to get the lowest price. When I started doing full arches, I was charging anywhere from $21,000 to $23,000 a full arch. Now we've had to drop our prices to $15,000 to $16,000. To deliver the same product that we were doing two years, three years ago. For all you dentists out there, we are not the competition.

You guys are competing against Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Cruise Travels, Vacations, Italy. Don't lower your prices anymore. Let's stick with standards and let's make sure that we're united rather than fighting against each other.

It's a limited belief, man, because I always tell people this, you're doing yourself a disservice by actually lowering your rates because it just shows that you're not confident in your actually quality of work, brother. With me and all the companies that I've built and will continue to build, we're talking about I'm going to actually launch a fitness company here with a good business partner in mind that helped me actually lose about 42 pounds in the past six months, guys.

That looks great.

Thank you. But But in the last six months, and made me a believer, right? I'm basically one of his testimonials. With that being said, guys, we're not going to be the cheapest. We're actually probably going to be one of the most expensive fitness offers out there, where if people really want transformation, people want a customized deal. Don't pay for it. People want to be with you. They want to interact with you like all our jobs.

They're going to pay for it.

Exactly. That's just what it is. You get to a certain level where people pay for convenience. For For me, I try to outsource absolutely everything in my life that does not generate cash flow. That's just the way I think. That's just the way I think, dude. To me, last year in the years prior, before my health journey this year, dude, is I never, never put health as a priority because I was like, Well, yeah, I'm a little chubby, but I'm eating good. I'm still making the money. Everybody's happy. So what it is.

But That's the thing, guys.

Just because you make the money, it doesn't mean that you're ultra-successful.

You got to be successful in every aspect of life.

Health, core values, finances, being a good person overall. Now, due to that, optimize my health.

Oh, dude, my mindset is just so different. I have so much clarity. I'm so much happier. People can feel it. People can feel the energy. Of course. It's about energy when it comes down to business.

I know in 2025, just like you were saying, with a lot of the dental consultants out there providing that level of coaching and expertise and not fulfilling, dude. Unfortunately, what's happening in 2025 is you're not going to see a lot of these consulting and coaching companies in the next couple of years. No. You're not, dude, because people end up getting burned. Then once they get burned, guess what?

They start learning exactly what a good consulting company or a coach is actually about.

Exactly. They're going to go to the real people. That's why I love your concept, dude. You're the real deal. You got the proof. I'm pretty sure you got the pictures of you in Dominican Republic. I do.

I actually started a community called Lifestream Community. It's not only for Dennis, it's for entrepreneurs in general, because we all go through burnout. It's like you say, there's days that I don't want to go to the gym. There's weeks that go by that I don't want to go to the gym. Then all of a sudden, I get in this high, and I'm like, go to the gym three to four times a day. It's a week, I'm Then all of a sudden, guess what happens? You have a curveball come in life and you're like, Oh, screw it. I'm not going to the gym this week. It's the consistency. This community is for, for example, Paul gets in there and it's like, Get your ass to the gym, guys. Look at me right now at the gym. Or what are your challenges that you're going? Or what merchant services are you using? Or what marketing company are you using? So it's to empower. A lot of things that people don't ever talk about is just relationships.

It's huge.

It's huge. It's huge relationship I've been a victim of putting my business as a forefront and it's affecting my personal relationships, not only with my soon-to-be ex-wife, but also with... Which is sad. You never want to do this to end up in this road. But we have a great relationship. We raise the kids beautifully, so we put our hands in God. But relationship with your kids, with your coworkers, I I don't know if you've ever had days that you got bad news and you're snapping at people.

Happens to everybody, dude. It happens to everybody.

So you're snapping, right? That's why it's so important to get that community around you and have those friendships and those bonds to help you through these times.

Well, dude, it's like therapy. It's like anything else, right? Obviously, you having dozens of dozens of employees, me and myself, equivalent to that man, is I know the biggest needle mover, especially with retention Yes. Of keeping an organization, especially at this size and the size that you have, dude, with multiple locations, is you have to be able to actually interact with your people. You have to be able to go ahead and almost be like their therapist, dude.

You got to listen. All the time. Proactively listen because people are emotional creatures, dude. What makes the best CEOs and founders, what I found out, dude, is they care. They care. They care, dude.

It's equivalent to the teachers nowadays, right?

It's equivalent to parents nowadays.

Your kids are literally absorbing everything that you're teaching them, everything that you're doing on a daily basis. As you guys know, the last couple of episodes, I've said, I'm expecting next five months. I'm going to have a little boy. Congrats again. Thank you, brother. This is going to be a pivotal change in my life. As you guys that have been following me for the past couple of years, you guys are going to see me now become a papa. With that being said, I want to be the type of dad Where, number one, my kid looks at me and it's just like, wow, my dad- To lead by example. Yeah, my dad is a superhero. Wow, how are we able to go ahead and live this life? We're able to travel, we're able to sit in first class, we're able to do this. But I want them to realize it's not because we're lucky, it's because your dad put in the effort and the sacrifice for the family, and that's how you're supposed to lead by example.

Then I want my kid to be better than me, dude. I want my kid to freaking dominate, and that's just what it is. I want the legacy. My last name, Espinosa. I want that to be known. When I'm passed away or when I'm a grandpa, I want my kids' kids to be like, Yo, why we have all this? And my friends don't. Oh, it's because grandpa Paul, he said you were the V.

He was a G.

Exactly, right?

And that's just the way it is. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Exactly.

So, yeah, man, it goes deep. It goes deep. I think you have in a community like that where people can interact. It's super important, bro.

And people need it nowadays.

And this is why I created this podcast. It's a self-help podcast. That's how it started, bro. Just five minutes of motivation to go ahead and help you go through your day and shit because I needed it back in law enforcement, right? So with that being said, dude, we're coming to the end of now the podcast, dude. This was a fire in interviews. Thank you for coming here, dude. I know you're super busy, but this is a question that I actually have or something that I have all my guests do here at the Level Up, okay? So this is your camera. Imagine 100,000 people are going to be listening to your episode the day that it comes out, bro. It's going to be fire. You're going to inspire a lot of people with your story, especially you going to Dominican Republic. They're going to be like, Oh, yeah, they are. And they're going to be excited, dude. So a couple of words of motivation. Something that you would tell yourself when you were in the Dominican Republic, bro, before you were actually a dentist, now that you know what you know, what would you tell yourself back then, bro?

What would you say like, Hey, dude, don't do this. Don't do this. Do this instead.

Just give them some advice, dude.

Absolutely. You can Follow me at Dr. Alex A. Plains on Instagram, social media. I also have a website, livestreamu. Com. But when I look back at that time that I was in the Dominican Republic, the most important thing that you got to have is You got to have God first. You got to have major, major spiritual belief that you're going to get through everything. Keep your connection to God very profound and do it daily, even if it's three to five times a day, even if it's for five seconds a day, make sure that you're connected. Be resilient. Be encouraged. Encourage others. Always listen to that word in your head that says, Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep focused. There's going to be light at the end of the tunnel because if you're not focused on those beliefs, You're going to fail. Remember, there's only 1% of the world that can reach a level where you're making seven figures every single year. You need to make that decision if you're going to stay consistent and if you really, really want it that badly. Because what we do this for, me and Paul, we don't do this for ourselves.

We do it to give back. We were actually just talking about how we want to give back to our team, and we want to empower our team to be the best versions of themselves. But most importantly, We want to do it for our family, for our moms, for our grandparents, and for our kids. So guys, I'm an open book. You guys can connect with me at dralex8plains or livestreamyou. Com. I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast.

And that is the Level Up, guys.

Guys, if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple podcast, make sure to leave a five-star review. Share this with somebody that you care about. Share this with the world, guys. We are ranked number one in business, top 20 in all categories. I'm always going to say this until I get on the show. Rogan, what's up? All right. With that being said, thank you for tuning in. He crushed it. Dr. Alex Plains in the house, guys. Now, if you guys need any advice, whether you're a dentist, aspiring a dentist, hey, you loved his story, reach out to him on all his socials, guys. Really nice guy, based out here in Florida. With that being said, guys, I will catch you on the next one. Thank you.