Latest / Power Moves Media / Power Moves Ep. 6: Dr. Nekia Staley-Neither on Trust, Leadership & Legacy

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Power Moves Ep. 6: Dr. Nekia Staley-Neither on Trust, Leadership & Legacy · Power Moves Media

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Power Moves on WLit106, where we explore ideas, strategies, stories shaping business, entrepreneurship, and economic growth across French Georges County, the DMV, and the greater region.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Alexander Austin.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Rose Johnson.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what's ahead on today's show.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're asking a question every entrepreneur, business owner, and leader should think about.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: How are you building trust before you ever make the sale?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about why trust has become one of the most valuable assets a business can have, what it takes to build a reputation that opens doors.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: And later we'll sit down with Dr.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nakia Staley, an entrepreneur, educator, and CEO who's built multiple businesses by putting trust, leadership, and service at the center of her work.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: And stick around until the end because we'll wrap things up with On Our Radar, where we'll where we'll share business and community events happening around the DMV that you'll want to add to your calendar.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Alex, let's jump in.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Rose, I got a question for you.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: When people think about trust, most people think about relationships, but I actually think about business strategy.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me more about that because I definitely go right into relationship.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, so think about it.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: If people don't trust you, they don't buy from you, they definitely don't refer to you, they don't partner with you, they don't invest in you, and trust isn't just personal.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of the most valuable business assets you can build in your um journey.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I know entrepreneurs don't really think about trust that way.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when they're first starting out.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: We spend a lot of time talking about marketing, sales, branding.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we love them colors, we love that logo, we talk about social media, how to go viral.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: All of those things are really trying to answer one question.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Can I trust you?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, trust lowers the cost of doing business, it shortens the sales cycle, it creates referrals, it opens doors that advertising alone can't do.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't think about as as I think about it from the community perspective.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: People support businesses that they know.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Businesses they see, the ones that consistently show up.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes trust is built long before someone becomes a customer.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Consistency matters.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: You don't build trust in one great meeting uh or one great marketing campaign.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: You build build it over time.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: And one interaction, one promise, and one decision really at a time.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I think about when we talk about consistency and, you know, here in the DMV area, we have so many amazing restaurants.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's to the point where we can pick and choose.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: We can pick and choose, and what sets people apart, the consistency.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is the service?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do I know I'm gonna show up and get good service?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do I know that the food is gonna be good?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Do I know if something is not right that you're gonna put it?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: You can tell.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: You can tell.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it becomes even more important as you grow because when you're a solopreneur, people know you personally.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: But what happens when you have employees, multiple locations, and teams representing your brand?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're asking people to trust the whole organization, not just an individual.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that's one of the biggest leadership transitions entrepreneurs make.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you go from being the business to building the business that earns trust without you even being in the room.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Listen That's scaling.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's actually kind of scary to me.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's the truth.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's the truth.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, because you gotta make sure the message is being said the way that you would say the message.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: The way you would sell the message, right?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the way that you would want your company to be conveyed.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so trust doesn't happen by accident, it scales through intentional, intentional leadership.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Culture, systems, training, hiring, and my favorite word of all, processes.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Processes.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the things that help trust grow beyond one person.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And not only that, it helps the business owner manage and be ready for that growth.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so today's guest is a perfect example of that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: She's gone from building a successful dental practice to leading multiple businesses, mentoring other dentists, serving on nonprofit and corporate boards.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: She's shared, uh she serves on Prince George's Chamber of Commerce board.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And expanding access to care through her nonprofit.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Our guest today is someone who's built an incredible career at the intersection of health care, entrepreneurship, and community impact.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Nakia Staley is the founder of Special Care Dentistry, where she served thousands of patients throughout Prince George's County and beyond.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: She's also the founder of the Other White Coats, helping dentists become stronger entrepreneurs and business leaders, and the nonprofit Special Care for Special Needs Dentistry, which expands access to care for individuals with disabilities.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: She's an author, serves on the board of directors for Prince George's Chamber of Commerce and UM Capital Region Health Foundation, and somehow still finds the time to be the mother of six.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Staley, welcome to PowerMoves.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me, Alex and Rose.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so as I was reading through your story, somehow it really stood out to me that most people would probably assume that your journey began in dental school, but it actually started much earlier than that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: As a high school student, you volunteered with children with special needs, and that experience became the foundation for everything you've built since.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Take us back to that young woman.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know then that you had found your purpose?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it was about purpose then, but it definitely was about passion.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when I first started working with children, um, particularly special needs children, at the hospital for sick children in Northeast DC, um, it it just warmed my heart to be able to go there and volunteer and make a connection with those children and to bring light into their lives.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that is, I think that is definitely where the spark started.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it's interesting because when people look at successful entrepreneurs, they usually focus on what they built.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: But listening to your story, it seems like the mission hasn't really changed.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it it really, your platform just gotten bigger.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, do you feel that that's what you're living at this moment?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like, you know, outside of being what we call a successful entrepreneur or dentist or whatever we're doing, um I look at where am I making impact and how am I impacting those that I touch, those that I have influence on, and my community at a whole.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, that speaks volume when I can say I'm here, I'm speaking about my community, I'm speaking about my passion and speaking about my purpose.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're from this area.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I am from, I'm a native Washingtonian, yeah.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: We don't find too many native Washingtonians.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, second generation.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you're also my dentist.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and one thing that I really what really attracted me to your uh your practice was first of all, well, so let me let me rephrase that, that you're my orthodontist.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I met you through uh the golf tournament, the chambers golf tournament.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was there, you know, I was uh you somebody introduced me to you, and you know, I was like, oh, well, I have some extra FSA money that I need to spend.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about orthodontics.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so you said to me, you were like, okay, yeah, when you're ready, you could come and get scanned.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh, she must mean after the golf tournament.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I walked into the clubhouse, you guys actually had the scanner there on site.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: There on site at the tournament.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wow, that right there already impressed me.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then also the way that, you know, yours, um the folks that were there interacted with us.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: It was so amazing.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was an amazing experience for me.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: The innovation that you guys had, because I had never seen anything like that before.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so you eventually opened your own practice.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I imagine that that's the dream for a lot of dentists.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: But owning a practice and running a business doing innovative things like having mobile services and things of that nature are two very different things.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: When did you realize that you're not just practicing dentistry anymore, that you're actually running a company?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I opened my practice um a year post-graduating dental school.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some would say that was very uh heroic, and some will say that that was maybe not the best thing to do.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a little bit in the middle.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what I had to learn opening a practice so early was that I didn't know anything.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anything about the business of dentistry.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I knew how, I barely knew how to be a dentist, you know.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know what I didn't know, and I didn't know what I needed to know to run this practice.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, and very early, I learned that you gotta go and figure this thing out because if not, you're not gonna be able to accomplish these visions that you have and these dreams and goals that um are coming to pass now.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned I had to go and learn about how to read PLs and how to read balance sheets and how to be an effective leader in my practice.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that I'm proud of is that I've learned how to create a team and create a team around me that um they exude my passion.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: They adopt my passion.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you speak to anyone on my team, they know what my passion is and they almost adopt it.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Most of my team members are not trained to be or treat special needs patients, but somehow they uh develop the same heart for it just from seeing me doing it and being around me doing it.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's important to me that I've been able to create a team of employees that um see the goal and they work towards it and they rally around what we're trying to do.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: I I've personally seen Dr.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Stadie has an amazing team.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: An amazing team.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: And would you say the team building is your biggest lesson?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because let's be honest, when you go to dental school, you're you don't go to dental school to become a CFO, a marketing executive.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: You go to serve people, but you started serving people and building a business at the same time.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like that that is almost unheard of in a lot of cases and very successful.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so would you would you say the team building was your biggest lesson?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I got that because I started noticing like I was running through employees, like my turnover was just it was like a swinging door.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I did not understand that that was not good for business.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, patients complained about it.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: They liked seeing some consistency, and once they develop a relationship with someone, it's hard for them to keep, you know, changing over.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted patient retention.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't want to be the type of employer that had a revolving door.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So what that meant was I've got to find out how to become a better leader.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at me and said, it's something about you that you're not able to not only retain your patients, but you're not retaining your team members.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I just, you know, started educating myself, started taking tests on who I was and who I needed to be as the leader, as a CEO of this practice, and started developing myself first, and then I could develop my team members into the people, into the uh team that I wanted to have around me.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I absolutely love that.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so let's dig into that a little bit.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what were some of the things that you uncovered that you were not doing that you then started doing to build a team that would last and sustain?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: One was um I've mentioned knowing, testing myself.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like we took, I took personality tests and different things, and then had my team members start taking it so that we could learn who we were, first of all, how I communicate, how they communicate, how I receive information, how they receive information.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And from there, you know, those were the things that were causing issues, just lack of understanding and not knowing how to manage expectations and all of those things.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that was number one.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then number two, I had to start investing.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I had to start investing in my people, investing in training them, investing in sending them to workshops.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, people wanted to work for us because they saw us taking trips to Jamaica.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: They saw us taking trips to different places.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Can we go back to rewind it up?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like, man, y'all, if we reach home, we go to Jamaica.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Man, but where can where where can they no?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I really think that that is important.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: The last organization that I was with when I had a nine to five, they did invest in us heavily.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, a part of it when I first started, they had these tests that they would take.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: In the beginning, I didn't take it seriously.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like a lot of people didn't take it seriously.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's difficult to get everybody on board sometimes.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so then maybe like let's say a year and a half into being there, the CEO he held a meeting.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, listen, guys, we have to start taking this seriously.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it almost became like a cult.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: It became like a cult.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's expensive.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: These things are expensive.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And when when when you as a as an owner buy in to these training modules or, you know, whatever the leadership is, it is expensive.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen uh colleagues, you know, invest and then they don't really uh hold their team accountable.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the piece of it.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: That that's the piece of it when I say occult, because he held us responsible.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: The uh leaders of each team, they were responsible.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: We were responsible.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's almost it was to the point where if you did not fall in line with the mission and with how we're operating in that regard, you would lose your job quicker than if you made a mistake.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I think to that point, because I enjoyed working there, I thought it was a great place to work and that they invested in us and they wanted to see us do well because they knew if we did well, then the company would do well.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what it sounds like the type of team building that you're doing, where you're investing.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: You said everybody knows your mission and they can reiterate it.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is a huge foundational piece that is so important when you're building something.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: So congratulations on that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I just want to know what city and where are we going to Jamaica?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, when we take we can make you create a small that's an investment.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's an investment.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and to your point, Rose, if if we're going to Jamaica, you have to be aligned with the mission because you are betting 1,000% on your team.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And to that point, um, I can say that those same individuals are still with me today.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even though that might have been trip, we've taken trips five, but though when I we've I was looking at pictures back, those same people are still on my team.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and they're committed.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm family.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: And even to that point, like I said, I'm a patient at uh at special care, and your staff knows.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, why are you not why you're not wearing your trays?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you not wearing your trays?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I'm really loving where this conversation is going because you became then what you did not have when you started your practice.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so you've built multiple practices and organizations, growth sounds exciting until you're responsible for more people, more decisions, more moving pieces.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, how has your leadership evolved over the years and as you've scaled?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: It has um, I definitely have had to uh delegate, hire um more resources or or use more resources just to help me.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, in the practice, there's these different positions, there's assistants, there's managers, a hygienist, but um, and you'll you'll see me sometimes.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have to have someone just to help me think things through and write down and get through.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, I'm with you on that.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm trying to do because um, you know, most of people say, like, are you like, do you have ADHD?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'll be on to the next thing.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: So are you pad, buddy?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: It is me.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um I had to invest again in someone that could help me manage that.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Help me just manage my thoughts and and get them down and come up with a way to uh sustainably and responsibly get there because I'm ready to go.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I have to have somebody to check me sometime to say, hey Doc, did you check these boxes first?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um to kind of rein me in and make sure that we're scaling, but we're scaling responsibly.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: So so let's let's talk about scale and scaling responsibly, right?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um And sometimes people think it just means, you know, more customers, more revenue.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and in in theory, it does, but can you define scaling and define scaling responsibly?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because you can grow really fast, but then you could grow moderately, and and scaling responsibly could be the type of customer that you're serving.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: It could be the service you're providing, not just revenue, but ultimately it could be the retention.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that hit me somewhere around perfect example, around 2016.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 2015, I opened a practice in Suitland.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: I still had my practice in District Heights where I originally started, and then I opened, I think I had opened the practice in Landover.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I at some point around 2016, I was owning and working between three different practices.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounded wonderful.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: It sounded like a wonderful thing to do.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Three practices, three sources of revenue, and you're gonna have all everybody's gonna think.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was the worst decision that I could have made.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: All and then, like you said, I still have this family of six over here that I'm trying to raise and manage as well.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so scaling responsibly would have meant um doing some projections, taking the time to see, well, how are you gonna be three places at one time?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's not you, who is it?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: And do you have the resources to uh step out there and do all these things?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I could just, oh, I could rent a space or I got the you know working capital to get started, but I don't think sometimes we look at the picture all the way through.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're not doing the three-year, five-year projections to make sure that we're on target and just having the bandwidth at certain times to be able to do that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Capacity.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Capacity.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: So so what was the thing that changed that allows you to grow without simply working while it's because you only got 24 hours in a day.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: And if you have a family, you really don't have 24 hours in a day.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a 24-hour practice.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was it was funny.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I it was one year, maybe about four or five years ago, um, I had this meeting with my my team.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: I call it my executive team.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this was through training, to be clear.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: This was, you know, me going through training myself and leadership training.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said, you know what, I only want to work two days in the practice.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it just was quiet.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're like, like, what you mean?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna do that?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't know, but it was a planning meeting in December for the previous year.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I was planning out my next year in that early December.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm only gonna work in the practice two days a week.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all I knew, and that's and we had to reverse engineer it from there.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I made a decision.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is it.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: These are the days I have, and these are the days I'm gonna give.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we figured it out.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: We figured it out.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: We we backed into it and we figured out what we had to do, and we did very well that year.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was almost amazing.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do you still make the same amount of money working in two days?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: But we that's this is you know part of what I do with the other white coats because um it's doable.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's definitely doable and it's scalable when you have systems, when you have teams, and you are able to, you know, use all your resources.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely doable.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an amazing segue.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: But then I had to ask like, well, what you gonna be doing all the time in three days?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean that's what I'm gonna be doing.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be doing what I need to do at home.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, one thing that we really admire about you is that you didn't stop after building your successful practices, and you just mentioned the other white codes, you know, turned around and you started helping other dentists.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: What inspired that next chapter?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: You were able to get your systems and processes down, and you were working two days a week.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I learned about you teaching other dentists from your business manager when I'm nosy and I just like to chit-chat.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was asking uh, you know, questions about the practice and you know, is this the only one?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And about making money.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh no, Dr.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Nakia stays busy.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: She she's teaching other dentists as well.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh wow.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so talk to us about what inspired that.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to myself be a resource.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't know if this, but I've I've I've written a book about it.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: But the journey for me over the past 20 years, um finishing dental school, opening in a dental practice, um being uh in a family of raising six children, it was difficult.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was challenging, it was hard.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there were a lot of things that I wish I would have done, or I wish someone would have told me to do, or try, or, or, you know, help help me to manage all of those things.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: I lost a lot of sleep, lost a lot of um time with my family.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: There was always trying to balance and make decisions as to who gets my attention right here, right now.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those types of hard decisions.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought, and you know, I I particularly like to work with women for that very reason.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this profession and a lot of professions in medicine, uh, sometimes we're the first ones to uh be in that profession and manage family as well.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And no one has kind of, you know, told us how to do that.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I thought, well, maybe if I, you know, could help other women to help manage this, to grow their business, you can still be successful, but you still can have time and energy and balance family and work life, you know, at the same time and how to do that.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And some of those, some of the things that I've had to do were not traditional.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for instance, and I, oh my gosh, I caught so much shame and flack from family members about helping uh get nannies, um, someone in the home to help me with children and help me with the home.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was like, you know, you can't raise your own kids, you got somebody, you know, all of those things.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh even though I knew I had to have this, I felt guilty about it.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I felt shameful about, you know, that I couldn't make my kids dinner every night.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the kind of things that I hope to share with others and be able to help other women in that process.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, the demands of the workforce, you know, you you hear it all the time.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a workforce background, and and and what you brought up around the balance of having to be a professional and raise a family is something that I have witnessed women go through more and more in this time we're in.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it seemed like the demand, the workload is just getting heavier.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's not getting lighter.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's not right.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so segue in that, okay, I'm a professional, I'm now starting my business.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: Why do you think um so many professionals struggle with entrepreneurship?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I mean, it's it is a you have you you can be incredibly skilled, um, but running a business is a completely different animal.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a different discipline, right?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: But from your perspective, why do you think, particularly in in the dental industry, you know, why do you think dentists because not every dentist is is successful.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Certainly.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, I kind of alluded to it, you know, we're not trained to be entrepreneurs, we're not trained to own businesses.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I even remember in dental school, I didn't even know that you had to build insurance for the work that we were doing.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like we just had patience and we, you know, did what we did and that was it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so and I opened my practice and didn't know how to file an insurance claim.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how to get paid.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I see it reoccur.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've had associates, I had, I've had, you know, other dentists work for me and they have no clue.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, yeah, I want this salary, I want that salary, but they have no clue how that cycle works.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: We send a claim, we wait 45 days, and then we get paid.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then we, so there's no, you know, awareness of that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I in in and we're trained to be clinicians.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's two different mindsets being a clinician, being a provider, and owning a business.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the when the road meets, there is a place where you really have to make some tough decisions.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and for example, and I I love to talk about this because my practice is out of network.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a touchy subject.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a touchy subject, but I have to talk about it because it's how, you know, it's how I'm able to survive and still um provide services to those that I want to provide services and those that want services from me.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I made the decision roughly about four or five years ago that I would go out of network with insurance.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just because as a as a provider, one that was really passionate about being able to provide the services that I thought as a doctor, as a person who was trained to make a decision about your health care versus an insurance adjuster.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I made that very difficult decision.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, I knew when I did that that I would lose patience.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we planned and we prepared for that.
• 28:54
  unknown: Yeah.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we didn't, we didn't back out of everyone at one time.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we would start with one company, then we pull out another company.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we did it responsibly.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we, again, we were prepared.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: We knew we were going to have uh patients that were not going to come back just for that reason.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we had to train.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: I had to train my team on how to have that conversation.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: How do you say how do you tell someone that they have a fee with something that you know they're not used to paying for?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a very difficult decision to make.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was a challenging um time for the practice and for my team members because now we had to work harder.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I had to train them.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: I had to invest in them because now I had to make them see the value of what we were doing.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say, so someone listening today, fresh out of dental school, wants to start their own business, right?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: Ready to go.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: What's the one thing, or let me let me say it a different way.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: Someone comes to you, maybe they've been in business a few years, right?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: Still learning.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: What's the one thing that you would say you should stop doing this right now?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: If you're kind of on the same trajectory?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: The follow-up question is what it what would be the one thing that they should start doing?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: What should you stop doing?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um I would say if they feel like they're stuck.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: If they're stuck, just stop.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Stop and pivot.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Stop and see what is the thing that is causing you to be stuck or causing you to lose or not be successful where you're looking for.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um it's all about pivoting.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're we're constantly pivoting in the practice.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh COVID was a big pivot for us.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I had to make the decision um that year that I wasn't gonna close my practice.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: I closed my practice for three days.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: And during those three days, I was talking with my team and we were trying to figure out how we can do this, how can we still serve our community and how can we still provide for our families?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we opened back up the next week.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we we made commitments to one another to stay safe.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and we had our um one of our best years um during that time because we just pivot.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how it was going to work, but I knew that if I close my practice, it would never be the same.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that I'm sure that was such a tough decision.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: And throughout this conversation, you've talked about several tough decisions that you've had to make, but your remit your mission has remained consistent, you know, whether it's your practice, your nonprofit, mentoring other professionals, mentoring your team, investing, serving people, even making the decision to go out of network because as a clinician, you feel that you know better than someone that's had a keyboard.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I'm about to get on my soapbox, but I saved that to a whole other controversial, but then at the end of the day, I was like, well, who's not?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm exactly exactly, exactly.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so has purpose been your greatest business strategy?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say it has been, and it also has been the thing that um if if there's challenges for me, it is that um trying to reach my purpose and sometimes find my purpose.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that is always an evolving door for me, and I'm always evolving.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: And today my purpose is this.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow it's I've added to it.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so being able to manage that in a way that you know, I don't run people off sometimes or I don't scare you.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, definitely my purpose and at the at the core of the purpose is is service.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, when I first met Dr.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Staley, I was like, I said, Dr.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: Staley, first of all, I need to know how you do what you do, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because you wear so many hats and you wear it gracefully and you just constantly move forward.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and really, you know, when you say, hey, you know, you don't want to, you know, scare people off, people just have to learn how to keep up.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just put that out there, right?
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: I already told you, just private plane when you when you just get me on the jack, because I know I'm like, you at two states, you make it look like very impressive.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: Very impressive.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: And just that's that's something that I think um that we all should admire and learn to adapt that discipline and skill.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: And mental toughness, right?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because I mean, that is that is difficult to manage mentally day to day, right?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and you have so many lives that are just dependent on you and your spirit, right?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you know, I think that's a a good time to pause and just kind of reflect on you know what is happening and just you know take a just room to discussion into um the next segment of the show because for me this has been this has been very rewarding.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, you're a board member on the Prince Rogers Chamber of Commerce, just a community leader, I mean a business owner, just just doing it.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: And can I share a fuck, Towson?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: All right, and your youngest daughter is going to Townsend, which I'm a Towson alone.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I just want to brag on that for a second.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love it.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: It has been an amazing conversation.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: And now we are at one of my favorite parts, is Alex said, segment, the next segment called the power move.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: And Dr.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Staley, when you look back over everything you've accomplished from building practices, leading organizations, mentoring professionals, I imagine you have had a lot of defining moments.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them you have mentioned here.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: But if you had to choose one, one decision, one risk, an opportunity, a moment that changed everything, what was your power move?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think I just uh, and I, you know, not to to to reiterate it, but it was my decision that I made to keep my practice open in COVID.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it wasn't a popular one, um, but it was one that I'm not sure what possessed me to come up with that idea or to say that, but I knew that, like again, if I knew if I didn't do it, um our lives would change.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: My family's lives would change.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: How would I provide for them?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: How would my team members provide for their families?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that was like kind of at the source of, and then I also realized, well, they said, well, only essential workers can stay open.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's getting more essential than a death.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like, you know, people are in pain or infection, and and you know, so we we uh we kept with that and we stayed true to, you know, what we were and providing service for the community and it um it worked out for everyone.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have anyone get sick, none of my team members, you know, had any issues.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: We like I said, we it was it was a pivotal time in my leadership because that was not an easy thing to say, hey, we staying on.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because everybody else, all their friends were home getting whatever, but you know, we were going to work.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: We were going to work, and um it was it was where I the rubble met the road for me in saying, okay, either you're gonna lead this team through this, but you can't stop and put your head in the sand.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I refused to do that.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that was one of them.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: And uh coincidentally with that, the defining moments are for me, and I'll share my children work for me.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: Love that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna share this with my kids.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: My children are in the practice and and they're excelling.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: One is going to dental school next year.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so while I thought raising them that they couldn't stand what I did, I spent too much time at work, I worked too hard.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they see uh what I'm trying to build for them.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: They understand the legacy, and now they're becoming a part of it.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: They understand it and they're working alongside me.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's the it's the greatest reward ever.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: That is amazing.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: What I truly appreciate about your story is really the decision and the commitment to stick to it, right?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever the decision was.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as business owners and entrepreneurs, sometimes a lot of us wait until the time is perfect.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what what you have reminded us is that sometimes the clarity comes after the decision, not before it.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm just eternally grateful for what you shared with us thus far and just what I've observed of just getting to know you, man.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is just powerful.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And to see the gleam on your face and say, my kids are or what it is, that's that's rewarding, extremely powerful.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I I agree as well, and especially with having a family practice, you know, and I think it's so important whether your your kids become a part of the business or not, but they've seen it.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: They've seen what it means to be a business owner and an entrepreneur and what it takes, the fortitude that it takes to get through it.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so before we let you know, one last question.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Our audience is filled with entrepreneurs, professionals, and people who are building something.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you could leave them with one piece of advice, what would that be?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: That would be to uh if you have, you know, a vision, if you have a purpose and you have a dream, um, as Alex just said, sometimes you can't just wait until all little pieces are come together.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh go ahead and start.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Get started.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you don't start, you can't get there.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely get started.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um do all you can to educate yourself about what you're doing and how your business works.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Get help.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: I like it.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: I like it.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, again, that's powerful.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I think again, it's just a reminder that success is just not about what you build and it's about who you become in the process.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: And um and ultimately who you're able to help along the way.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um so um I'll turn it over back over to Rose.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, Dr.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Staley, tell everyone where they can connect with you and find out more about special care dentistry.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: We uh our website is myspecialdentist.com.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can uh usually reach any of my other uh organizations uh from that uh website, myspecialdentist.com.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're located at 8700 Central Avenue in Landover, Maryland.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: And guys, I'm telling you, the team is phenomenal.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in a lot of uh of uh social groups, uh Prince George's County social groups, community groups.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: And anytime they ask me or they're they're asking about a referral for a dentist, I tell them about special care dentistry.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, they know me.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so that makes a difference to me.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: That means a lot.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: It means a lot when you know folks and family or friends refer refer you.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for spending time with us today and uh sharing your story.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's been a pleasure.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.