Latest / Founder Talk with Alex Sheridan / How He Built 13 Practices That Run Without Him (And Still Grow) | Daniel Tataje

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How He Built 13 Practices That Run Without Him (And Still Grow) | Daniel Tataje · Founder Talk with Alex Sheridan

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The dream as a founder is to build a business that continues
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to run and grow even when you step away.
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And that's what we're committed to helping you do.
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And that's what the journey I'm on and the mission I'm on to do
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that for my own business. And so with that said, welcome
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back to another episode of the Founder Talk podcast, The
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Realist Room and entrepreneurship.
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Today's guest is Doctor Daniel Tatahe, founder of Mercy Dental
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Group and someone that came here as a young immigrant facing
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daunting obstacles to a multi practice business owner leading
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over 135 team members while staying rooted in a mission of
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service, humility and purpose. Daniel, welcome to the show.
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How you feeling I'm. Feeling great though, so great
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to to be, to be here finally, right?
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So that's great. I appreciate you coming down.
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Do you got your water? She knows.
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Oh, you got it. I have my water OK.
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Cool, cool. Just want to make sure if you
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need to stay hydrated, you're stay hydrated.
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So some of the things we're going to discuss today, if
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you're wondering, which I'm excited to get into, this is a
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few highlights and then I'm sure we're going to get into much
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more as things go on. But some interesting stories and
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wisdom from your journey as an immigrant to a leader of 135
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team members. What skills, leadership and
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systems do you need to go from one practice or business to
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12/13, including the non for profit?
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How do you stay grounded in your mission and purpose but still
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grow quickly? A lot of people struggle with
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that. A lot of founders, the secret of
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building a business that can run and grow even when you step
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away, which obviously is a big part of the show.
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And your book, which I got here in front of me.
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You should be able to see on the the both camera angle here what
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you just recently dropped a few months ago called the leader,
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the leader of humanity needs and so much more.
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Before we get into that, can we go back in time a little bit?
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You came here from Peru when you were 25 years old.
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You were kind of licensed to to practice dentistry there.
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And then you come here and I don't want to say you have to
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start over, but you had to start at a kind of a different level.
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Is that right? What was that like?
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Yeah, it was in a sense, well, wasn't necessarily planned,
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right. Like, so I, my plan was to just
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come here to the US to experience that they have that
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year of, of experience in the dental field.
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I took some classes and stuff and then I, I was supposed to go
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back to Peru, but one thing like led to another, like I met my
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wife and, and I decided that it was a good idea to, to continue
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to, to be here and stay here. But it was hard because choosing
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to stay here was choosing to not being able to practice
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dentistry. I was working in the dental
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field, but I didn't have a license to, to practice
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dentistry here. So I was a dentist, but I wasn't
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practicing dentistry, which was frustrating, but also was a
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great, a great thing that happened to me because I
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experienced all, all positions within dentistry, all that I
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could. So meaning like I was a dental
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assistant, I was a dental technician at some point and I
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was able to like I was used to work in the front desk answering
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calls, dealing with patients, insurance, all the things that
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now I use or I, you know, that allowed me to, to empathize, to
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just learn every aspect of the business of dentistry.
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And that's what I do today. And.
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What made you want is like did obviously they offered you
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something or there's an opportunity, but what that must
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have? Was it a little bit tricky to
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have that conversation with yourself and decide, well, I
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could go back there and kind of start practicing dentistry, or I
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could come here and have to do years of probably work and
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rebuild and things like that? Yeah.
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What? What was really selling you
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about staying here? Yeah.
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So there is a there was a little bit more certainty, right.
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So in, in terms of, of a future in, in Peru with my dental
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license and, and all this, you, you don't have any necessarily
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guarantees. It's, it's a different world
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because the business is different.
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And so here there was more like opportunity even even as a
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dental technician or dental assistant, I thought it was more
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secure. I was going to be better off
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than if I go back in Peru to Peru and practice dentistry.
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So, and I also enjoyed and really like the, the, the, the
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way dentistry is practice dentistry is the same
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everywhere, right? So the science is the same, but
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the way you practice dentistry is different than it was in
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Peru. And I, I love the, the, the
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practice setting in the, in the US, the business, this business
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structure. So that's the reason why I, I
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decided to stay. And, you know, as an immigrant,
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you don't necessarily think, you know, this is the my life I'm
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going to. So you think one year at a time.
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You think, well, I'm just going to say if anything goes wrong, I
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go back, right. So it's not that I was thinking,
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OK, I'm going to spend the rest of my life here in the US So
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that made it a little bit easier, I guess.
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And you know so. If the the Daniel, the 25 year
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old Daniel was sitting here and I said, Daniel, I'm coming from
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the future. You're going to have 1213
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practices that you own. You're going to be an
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entrepreneur, you're going to be a best selling book writer, you
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know, an author and you're going to be doing podcasts and you're
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going to have wealth and health and all this stuff.
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What would you say? I would have not believed you.
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Really. Yeah, definitely not because,
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you know, there were so many things, so many obstacles to get
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there and. Learning English is obviously
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one, is one, right? Yeah.
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Definitely and it yeah, definitely that one and yeah, so
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it it it has such a it was such an unlikely UN like not probable
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dream, right. So so that yeah, you know,
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definitely not. But it's it's funny how one
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thing led to another and one even the the most difficult
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moments in our lives. And that's what I argue in my
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book, you know, all those things make you greater and make you
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give you the tools that you will need in the future, whatever
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even the negative thing, you know.
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So that's when I talk about the mark of leadership, the marks of
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leadership. You know, when I say positivity,
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yeah, you under you. It's not pretending that things
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are or ignoring the bad things is understanding that even the
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bad things that happened in your life or the difficulties that
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you experience are the things that are going that you're going
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to be you're going to be using at some point to impact the life
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of of someone else. What was one of the more
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difficult things that you experienced making that
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transition and even being here for a few years?
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You know, other than the obvious language barrier, which I just
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think I just can imagine moving to Peru or Mexico or somewhere
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else or Europe, wherever, and having to learn a whole new
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language. That'd be a process, but what
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was maybe 1 of the biggest challenges that you went through
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that shaped kind of who you are today?
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Yeah, so there are there are multiple, multiple challenges,
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but just walking into the the unknown, right.
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So you just don't not knowing what to what to expect or what
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it what the future looks like necessarily.
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But obviously you know, that that language barrier was there.
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But, but yeah, so just not being able to practice dentistry was
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definitely the, the biggest, the biggest challenge because I was
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capable. I, I was well trained and, and,
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and in some occasions like, you know, I will work with dentists
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and I will feel like, my gosh, I, I'm better than, than
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someone. It's not right, right.
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It's not that I was cocky or anything like that, but it's
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like, yeah. And, and I felt that it was, you
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know, it wasn't, wasn't fair, right?
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So. And what would you have had to
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done at that time to become a dentist?
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Was that your goal originally going?
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Back So my goal was to just go back to school, but that would.
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Have been how? Long but it's easier said than
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done because we it would have been going back from from
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scratch yeah so which is frustrating that you.
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Feel like you're ready? You already are a dentist.
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That's right. Yeah.
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So, but there are some some program programs for foreign
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dentists that you can, you know, but it was very difficult for me
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to just take off and move because we had a family already.
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It was my life wasn't, you know, ideal.
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I couldn't just move and become a student again.
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I needed to generate an income and do something.
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So I had to, to just work with what I had And, and you know,
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see, I couldn't. But yeah, this it was funny too,
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because I, I, if I'm thinking about it, if I was, if I would
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have been able to, to go through that process, probably I would,
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I definitely wouldn't be where I where I am.
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I I not able to practice dentistry directly, but I
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practice dentistry I through my my people right now, so.
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You don't need to practice. And I am and I still mentor
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them. I still like, I again, I'm very
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grateful for, for my own training and, and what I went
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through. Like I love dentistry.
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I, I'm, I consider I was a, I'm a great clinician, which helps
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me, you know, lead other dentists and just, you know,
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create a great dental experience for our patients.
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There's a philosophy where it's like maybe it's a sane or they
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say don't judge yourself for where you're at today.
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You know, to me, people say I'm here today or I'm this age, I'm
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doing this or not where I want to be in my business or my life
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or my career or my financial situation.
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And I think everyone has a little bit aspect of that story
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where it's like if you take this moment in time in your life or
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your career, it can be difficult, they can be
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challenging. But if you just hang on and
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continue to get better and continue to improve yourself and
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give back and try to do good, where you're going to see
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yourself in six months, you may not know.
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In six years, it might completely blow you away.
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And in your case, you couldn't have fathomed what you did.
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And it's not even like you set out to.
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I'm going to have this big dream to come to America and build
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these practices and write a book one day.
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You just said I'm going to come here and make something of
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myself, create an opportunity for myself and others, and let's
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see where it goes. And it took you to some amazing
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places. Yeah, we always, sometimes we
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make the mistake of set setting just huge goals, right.
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So and that, that's fine. You, you can, you can dream.
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But the real goal should be, you know, today I have to be better
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than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today.
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So, and that's my life. I never had necessarily huge
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goals. Yeah, I had dreams again.
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But even when I started the business, my goal was to make
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one practice great. I had four employees, a small
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practice, and that was all. Like I wanted this practice to
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be to be the best, you know you. Didn't think at that point like
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I'm going to start another one do.
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Another one. And no, no, it was just to
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create the best patient experience to use the business,
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that little practice as as a tool to make a positive impact
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for in in the world, you know, so, and that's what I always
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encourage entrepreneurs to to do, to see their business as as
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a tool and not a tool to create wealth, a tool to make a
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positive impact. And the world is a mission
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oriented leadership in business. So your business should be your
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vehicle to impact and touch the lives of people, starting with
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your employees and and the people that you serve.
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In our case, dentistry of course provides a great opportunity to
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just put our use, our talents to impact the make someone feel
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better and impact the lives of of our patients.
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But but yeah, so there's. So many different ways to do it.
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If like you talk to some people and they're like, you got to
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have huge goals and you got to have a vision board and you got
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to do this. And for some people that works.
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And other people, it's just like, I just kind of took one
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day at a time, got what was better than I was yesterday, had
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something I was working towards and here we are.
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And I think it's just like everyone's a little bit
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different in terms of how we get there in the journey that we
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take. And I think that's kind of cool.
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Well. Do you have to challenge
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yourself? You have to, like I said, well,
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the fact that you don't have like you, you, you can again
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dream, but and, and, and have a, a, a big goal.
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But really what we need is to just challenge ourselves to be
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better today than yesterday and just continue to advance.
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I always you always have to to, to advance because you know your
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life is a gift and and your talents and all the things that
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you you, you have and the the people that invested something
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in your life are they gave you a gift, right?
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So I'm a result of a lot of people sacrifices, my parents,
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myself, my professors, the people that have impacted my
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life. And when you, when you receive a
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gift, the best thing you can, you can do to say thank you is
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to use the gift, right? So let's use our gift.
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Let's continue to advance. Just it's.
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And so it's not, I don't want to sound like, Oh yeah, you just
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want, you should just settle for where, where you are not, not,
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not have a no, don't have ambition, right?
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But it is, it is definitely a responsibility you have to.
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Continue. I think growth and fulfilment
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are the two kind of big maybe pillars that I like to live on.
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You know, in terms of if you're growing every day and you're
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fulfilled every day and you're doing what lights you up and
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what makes your heart and soul happy, and you're continuing to
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improve and build skill sets, I think you're on a pretty damn
14:09
good path, regardless of what that is, if you're doing those
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things. But if you're not growing and
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you're not fulfilled, that's typically when you feel stuck.
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That's typically when you feel depressed, you're suffering.
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It doesn't feel good because you feel like I'm not, I'm not
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growing to the next level. I'm not doing something that
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really lights me up and gets me excited.
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Yeah. So you've got the one practice
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at this point started your own practice.
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Was that a big move for you? Because you know, you're
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immigrant coming here, you're learning English.
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Now all of a sudden you're a business owner.
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Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
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So I was working at a dental practice for, for 10 years
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before that happened. And I was able to, you know,
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experience and learn a lot. And because of my, me being a
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consultant and working in different dental cities with
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different, with different practice owners with all kinds
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of settings that provided this, this view of what the ideal
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practice could be, right? So I wanted to take the good
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things of every place I you know, I experienced, but
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whenever I I decided to to jump on like and do this was
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definitely scary, right? So is.
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There a moment that you're like, I'm going to start my own
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business. Yeah, I felt like I reached the
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top of what I could do in dentistry and in business.
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And I I thought, well, I, I can do this.
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But for years I thought about that.
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But I was always afraid. I was like, yeah, no, I'm not
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necessarily. Like I didn't consider myself a
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business person, which I was wrong.
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And you had kids. At this time, yeah.
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Yeah. So you got dependents.
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I was the same way. It's like, hey, I have two
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daughters, You have two sons. I have 6 kids now.
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Yeah, my wife was pregnant of #5 when we started the business
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and. So you got some
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responsibilities. Right.
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It was not the right, the, the, the best moment, right.
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And I always tell people, you know, it's never, it's never the
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right moment. Yeah, that's true.
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If you wait for the perfect moment to to start something or
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or respond to a call like that, yeah, you will wait forever.
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Exactly. So it was definitely scary,
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daunting. I had to learn a lot and I
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worked a lot. I basically when I started, I
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had two jobs. I had to take a pay cut.
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It wasn't easy, you know. Yeah, because, you know, the
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business wasn't given enough to, to cover what I was making at
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other, at the other dental practice.
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So I started working part time there and part time there.
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I used to work Monday through Sunday and doing a lot of
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wearing a lot of hats, right. So my wife, of course, of course
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was a part of it. She's she has a dental
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experience. We started this together and we,
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we worked very hard, but with a clear mission, you know, that we
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wanted to, to use the business for, for good.
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And that vision started, you know, resonating with the, with
17:17
the dentist, with the people there at our practice.
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We double the size of the, the business with double the revenue
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within a year was very successful.
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And then the dentist across the street reached out because he
17:32
wanted to, to transition his practice with, with us.
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He had other offers from DS OS and stuff like he, he heard
17:40
great things from the, the dentist that I bought the
17:45
practice from. And so we started talking and
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acquire the practice across the street.
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And then we merged those two practices into one building.
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I did a, a construction and a beautiful building there.
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And like that, other people reached out.
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They heard about what I, what I was doing.
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And you know, I I acquired 17 practices and and nine years and
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we merged them into now that 13 locations we have.
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But none of those practices were something that I was looking
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for. Like I was not there set to
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acquire practices. It was always a referral or
18:28
someone that reached out and yeah, so just doing the right
18:35
thing. Yeah, there's something to be
18:37
said about that. Taking care of your clients and
18:39
your people and doing the right thing.
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What would you other than that, what would you attribute that
18:43
success, that early success to? Seems like, you know, within a
18:45
year you guys Dublin and then you're getting this other
18:47
practice, something you guys must have been doing in the
18:49
business that was creating that type of value and that type of
18:52
growth. Yeah.
18:54
So the business model in general, the way we see things
18:58
is that we want to preserve what the greatness of our practice,
19:02
the personality and whatever. And then we come in and just
19:06
add, add to it. So we don't come and we don't
19:10
have a cookie cutter model where we can just go and make this
19:13
practice something else. We just make this practice
19:16
greater. We fill the gaps and we just
19:19
with our values, of course. And that's what we did.
19:23
We came in and to this practice that that was, it wasn't as
19:32
successful as it could be when we acquired it, but it had the
19:38
heart in the right place. This doctor was building
19:42
relationships, was building great trust with the patients
19:47
and he really, really cared about them.
19:49
Build personal relationships and all that.
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So I, I was like, we, we're a lying.
19:53
This is great. We just need to let the world
19:56
know that this is who we are. So.
19:59
I was going to ask why wasn't his business growing or his
20:01
practice growing? What, what mistakes were he
20:03
making was he making that you guys could come in and fix?
20:06
Yeah, so I he wasn't so he wasn't the the he wasn't
20:13
presenting himself and the practice the way the way it was
20:18
the way it is, right. So he even when he was, he has
20:26
his practice for for sale. He had a practice for sale for,
20:28
for two years in Madison. That is unheard of, you know.
20:32
So people were judging his, his presence, his the way the
20:37
practice looked, it was completely outdated.
20:41
He's just had no technology. The building wasn't, you know,
20:48
necessarily appealing or pretty, pretty like technology wasn't
20:52
there. So all these things that, but I
20:55
saw the potential because he had this great relationships.
21:00
He was a great clinician, but he wasn't a conventional looking
21:04
dentist necessarily. You know, he would, he had a
21:06
long hair, long beard. And yeah, it, it was just that.
21:11
So what I did, I just created the brand and the identity of us
21:16
more like intentional and, and, and presenting the, the message.
21:22
So marketing, marketing played a, a big role.
21:28
And the, the best thing is that, you know, marketing works when
21:34
it's true. And all I had to do was to to
21:38
present the real message. This is who we are and this is
21:41
what we stand for. And then create a not only not
21:47
only promise things, but actually fulfill those, those
21:52
promises, right. So I always tell my, my
21:57
employees, you know, there is, there is a difference between
22:02
reputation and character. Reputation is what people
22:08
perceive of you and character is who you are.
22:12
If I have to pick one, I'll pick character because character
22:15
builds a great reputation automatically.
22:17
So I created the identity and I wanted to make sure that
22:21
everyone understood this identity and this is who we are.
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And even now I tell our employees, you know, like read
22:28
the website, read like why is it that these patients are coming
22:31
to your practice, coming to see you?
22:34
Because we make promises. This is this is what we tell
22:38
them. This is what we say who we that
22:45
we are, right? So make sure that you deliver
22:49
that the this isn't authentic, right?
22:52
So I think that the that authenticity was what made us
22:57
successful in the first year. Now, did you see, does that mean
23:01
new patients are coming in because they're seeing content
23:03
or they're going to the website and it's actually a good
23:05
experience? Are people coming back where
23:08
they were, maybe they didn't have as good of retention?
23:09
Like how did that show up in a business standpoint?
23:11
I'm curious. Yeah, so people are.
23:14
The word of mouth was huge. Did he cut his beard?
23:20
No, no, no, he just started wearing like we little better
23:24
dress. Yeah, yeah, better dress not not
23:26
jeans. And I don't.
23:26
Want to change who you are? But we got to like upgrade a
23:29
little. Bit definitely, yeah, that's
23:30
where the scrubs and the the white coat and stuff like that.
23:35
But. But yeah, he did not change who
23:37
he was. And actually, you know, the
23:39
first year I hired this great, great dentist that was so
23:43
aligned with what we believed and, and she was fantastic.
23:48
And it was, yeah, she was got sent.
23:52
And yeah, we, I was able to, to work with all that and this, the
23:56
staff and, and I was leading the business, leading the culture,
24:00
providing the customer service that was necessary.
24:04
Of course, Scarlet, my wife was a big, big part of it too.
24:10
But yeah, so training, inspiring people like to, to, to follow
24:15
our, our vision was key, definitely.
24:20
How do you get employees to follow a vision or be excited
24:22
about the mission that you're on as a company?
24:24
And you know, you try to hire good people with good character
24:26
and good background and things like that, but then get him in
24:29
here and get him to get excited. And I won't say as excited as
24:31
you, the founder, because that's pretty hard to do.
24:33
And you got to be realistic with that.
24:35
They're not going to work as hard as you probably.
24:37
But how do you get, you know, employees excited about what
24:40
you're doing and really bought into just a whole another level?
24:44
By getting excited yourself about your mission, really
24:47
believe it, really know that what you're doing is great, you
24:52
know, so that's the first step for that I recommend
24:56
entrepreneurs to do what is it that that your company is is
25:01
doing? What is the mission of the
25:03
company? And once you find it, get
25:05
excited about it. You are the first follower of
25:09
that mission of that, right? So you're the visionary, but you
25:12
are a follower too. And if you don't believe in this
25:15
mission, no one will do believe this, you know, so sometimes we
25:20
start backwards and, and, and in the business world, we think
25:28
that the business is there to create wealth to, you know, so,
25:34
and the way I see it is, is yes, it's important to create wealth,
25:39
but that is a by product of, of your mission.
25:44
So the business is, is, is a vehicle and you have a
25:47
responsibility with the business as you have to build a great,
25:51
stable, financially stable business because otherwise your
25:54
mission dies. But it is what's first, right?
25:58
So the mission or the result of that.
26:00
And it can't be a strategy. So that's another thing.
26:03
You know, some, some things that we do in business are, are, are
26:09
seeing or, or, or you, you do them for, for strategy, trying
26:14
to get a result. I do all these things because
26:17
it's my duty as a leader. You know, I have to leave my
26:20
people. I'm responsible for, for, for
26:22
these people. My decisions affect a lot of
26:25
families. So I have to understand that I
26:29
am here to serve. That's the that's the concept of
26:32
servant, servant leadership that we hear more these days, you
26:37
know, servant leadership. But really, you being a servant
26:41
of the of the people, the servant of the business, the
26:45
servant of the mission is is key.
26:48
So if you're a founder listener right now and you feel like your
26:49
team's maybe just doesn't seem as excited, they're, you know,
26:53
they're showing up. They're kind of going through
26:54
the motions almost. Maybe you got one employee
26:56
that's excited, but the others are kind of like dragging their
26:58
feet a little bit. Your thought process is, hey,
27:00
make sure the mission is 1 ultra clear and, and then #2 make sure
27:05
you're excited about it. You're talking about it, but
27:07
you're also living it now. You're talking about it, you're
27:09
being about it, right? And then your thought process is
27:12
that people, the right people will join you, get excited about
27:15
it and want to help you accomplish that mission.
27:17
A. 100% that the culture is not built out of some sort of
27:26
strategy. Again, is built out of identity.
27:31
You have to have a clear identity and you have to see
27:34
your business as as as a tool to impact the world, right?
27:43
When I was a corporate, I worked for a big multi billion dollar
27:47
company for six years and it just seemed like every year the
27:50
kind of the IT was a high performing team, but and I
27:53
learned a lot there. I'm grateful for the experience,
27:55
but it seemed like every year is kind of like, all right, this is
27:57
the number and it was just like, and I just never got excited
28:00
about it. You know, it's like, well, we
28:01
obviously we were on Commission and things like that.
28:03
So we wanted to hit our goals, take care of our family, we
28:06
wanted to grow, but it was just kind of like hard to get excited
28:09
about it. To your point, it was just like,
28:10
all right, so here's the new number.
28:12
And like the the the boss man was excited because he would
28:16
have a huge bonus if they hit it and that kind of stuff, which I
28:18
understand. But if for us, it was kind of
28:20
like, all right, like it just didn't do anything to me.
28:24
I didn't feel anything behind. It yeah, because they you, you
28:27
know, numbers are, are there but are important, but you need to
28:32
know why, right? So the the why of the businesses
28:35
that you need to to work on what why do we want to generate this
28:41
or generate these numbers? And, and the whole purpose of,
28:45
of this numbers is because you have to exist, you have to
28:50
advance your mission. I firmly believe that the people
28:53
that are impacted by Mercy Dental are in a better position
28:56
than if they are impacted by another DSO.
29:00
And I have the responsibility to, to exist.
29:04
And I have to see the sacrifices.
29:06
I have to see and value the the talents of the people that make
29:10
Mercy Dental great and and take responsibility of it and be like
29:17
acting and remembering all this, all the sacrifices when I make
29:21
decisions. So in a way, we were earlier you
29:25
were talking about fulfillment, you know, but what fulfillment
29:30
is, you know, finding fulfillment is, is one of the
29:36
biggest and most important questions to to answer.
29:40
How do you find that fulfillment and what is fulfillment right?
29:43
Sometimes we, we chase the the the wrong thing to find
29:50
fulfillment and sometimes in in business trying to generate, you
29:58
know, wealth or just of finding fulfillment in, in money is is
30:06
is is the wrong the wrong target.
30:09
What? What is fulfillment to you?
30:12
Fulfillment is to use your talents to for this, the service
30:17
of others, to use your all the, the great things that you can
30:22
produce, including including your, your your company and put
30:26
it to the service of others. And I found this, you know, I
30:30
kind of like went through my own journey and I found this out the
30:35
hard way, you know, so I grew up in, in poverty with, you know, a
30:39
lot of limitations. And I thought, you know, at some
30:44
point, like I need to work hard, I need to study, I need to apply
30:47
myself. I need to do all these things to
30:48
get out of this situation. And whenever I reach this this
30:54
level of, of wealth or comfort, I will be happy, you know, so
31:00
you, you think that way A. Lot of people, most people do.
31:02
Yeah. And then you, you kind of like
31:05
when you reach that you, you know that you, you know, you
31:08
don't, you don't find that fulfillment that you were
31:10
expecting. And then for me, I had to kind
31:14
of like reset and understand. That's where I understood, you
31:18
know, that using my talents for the betterment of the, the world
31:23
of the people, using my business, using my situation,
31:26
all this stuff that I, you know, I, I was creating and put it at
31:33
the service of people is what will bring good true
31:36
fulfillment. So in my book I I give the
31:42
example of of the dog races. There's the book, guys.
31:47
Go buy the book. Go check it out.
31:49
It's on Amazon, right? You can check it out right now.
31:52
The leader humanity needs. OK, anyways, let me interrupt.
31:56
You Yeah, no, no, no, of course. So the so I give this analogy
31:59
with dog races. You know when the, if you have
32:03
been or I've seen a dog race, they, you know, they chase this
32:08
fake rabbit, right? So and they just run with all
32:12
their hearts to just get it and and they don't realize it's
32:16
fake. But sometimes a dog reaches the
32:20
the rabbit and bites on it and realizes it's fake.
32:23
And that dog never write, never race again, you know, because he
32:28
loses motivation if it finds out that is a fake rabbit.
32:34
That's that's how I've I found myself, you know, I, I reached
32:39
the rabbit and I realized it was fake.
32:42
I had to kind of like restart and reset, you know, like I, I
32:46
realized how selfish I I became and I said, no, this is not this
32:53
is not life is not fulfilling. That's what we truly are are
32:59
trying to to get is, you know, is is love and love without
33:05
sacrifice. Love without suffering is not
33:08
real love, love without putting yourself, denying yourself for
33:14
this, for the sake of others. That's true.
33:17
That's real love. And that is like I encourage
33:21
people in the book, you know, like live your life for others,
33:25
use your talents for for the world, be light in the darkness.
33:28
That's why we have here and and the cover, you know, the light
33:33
overcoming the darkness, because the leader humanity needs is
33:36
actually the reader. I want the reader to understand
33:39
their, their worth, their power, their, their their value, and
33:43
how can they can, you know, light up the the world and
33:48
inspire others to be light too? Imagine if everyone will become
33:52
the leader humanity needs to the world will be a better place.
33:55
It's well said. The chip on your shoulder only
33:59
takes you so far, you know, at some point excited, similar,
34:01
different background than you, but early challenges.
34:05
And you know, that chip kind of, I'm going to make it.
34:08
I'm going to prove this and this wrong.
34:10
I'm going to have money. I'm going to, you know, that
34:13
only takes you so far. Because then when you do start
34:15
to see some success and maybe you are a little bit more
34:17
comfortably financially and you're not struggling to pay for
34:19
groceries for your kids, Yeah. You get to a point where you,
34:22
oh, you can't go out to dinner and you don't worry about how
34:24
much it's going to cost or oh shit, I don't have $150, you
34:27
know, Yeah, which is nice. Everyone wants to be there where
34:31
you don't have to, you know, worry about paying your next
34:33
bill tomorrow or you can't afford your rent this month or
34:35
house mortgage, whatever it is. But when you do get there, you
34:39
kind of realize, OK, now there's that's satisfied.
34:42
But now what? You know, it's like, it's like
34:45
that was kind of a survival necessity type thing that I
34:48
wanted to accomplish. But there's got to be more to
34:51
this because I don't have a desire to buy a Rolex or to get
34:54
a Ferrari or nothing. There's nothing wrong with that
34:56
if you do, but there's nothing material that is going to light
35:00
me up. It's going to have to come from
35:02
some type of mission or fulfillment or giving back.
35:04
And the second part of this is I've always found me personally,
35:07
when I'm in my toughest moments and I find myself kind of
35:12
surrendering in a spiritual way, I find myself saying, stop
35:15
thinking about yourself, Alex, even though you're going through
35:18
a challenge here or whether it be in the business, personal,
35:20
whatever it is, stop the focus on yourself, shift it to other
35:24
people. And I always tell my kids, I've
35:26
said this a million times. You guys probably heard on the
35:27
podcast, but one of the things I say to my kids all the time is
35:31
ask not what you can get from the world, but ask what you can
35:34
give. And when you do look outwards,
35:37
because it's easy to get in your own head, It's easy to start
35:39
thinking about what's Alex's, what's Daniel's problem, what's
35:41
our problem? You know, but the moment that
35:43
doesn't really serve you that well, you know, the moment you
35:45
say, let me stop, let me think about how who I can make an
35:48
impact on today. Let me see who I can brighten up
35:50
their day. Let me see who I can give
35:52
something to someone that I, I don't expect anything in return.
35:55
I'm just going to give them and that's it.
35:57
And, and I've just found that to be a better life living that
36:00
way. And actually it, it comes, it
36:02
all comes back. Funny enough, that's right, it
36:04
all comes back. That's right it all.
36:06
Works out. Let it all work.
36:09
Out and we all have you know, like if you see like I see a lot
36:12
of guys when are you in social media when they talk about
36:16
entrepreneurship and then they appeal to this, you know this
36:20
material. Yeah.
36:23
So they're driving the car, they're wearing the yeah.
36:25
They're renting the car. The the Rolex and all that.
36:28
And it's, it's, they're because we're, we're, we're fine.
36:33
We're trying to find fulfilment in the wrong place again, but.
36:37
When I see that, I know someone's lost.
36:39
Yeah, appeal to our our greed, right.
36:41
So, but greed is it's a distortion or something good.
36:45
Yeah, right. So this ambition that we should
36:48
have. Yeah, if you, if it gets
36:50
distorted, it gets like if you make it, you know, selfish, it
36:54
becomes greed. But if you can, if this ambition
36:57
is a good thing, because you have to have this, this desire
37:02
to do good, right? So to do good to others.
37:05
And that's what I, I, I see this, this two sides of the same
37:11
virtue, right? So, well, I guess 1 is a virtue,
37:13
1 survives and ambition and greed are not the same, right?
37:18
So I always tell people, mission, mission first, live
37:24
your life for others. And that is how you find
37:27
fulfillment. So you have 100 and 135 team
37:33
members, employees. That's a lot of people that you
37:35
oversee. You've got these 13 different
37:38
practices now that are running. And I think you are here today
37:41
doing what a lot of founders want to do.
37:43
You know, I literally talked to some founders and they're so
37:46
busy that it's like to meet with a group or do something outside
37:50
of their business for an hour or two.
37:51
Seems like I don't have the time.
37:53
You know, it's like, how do I squeeze out this one minute or
37:55
30 minutes or an hour? And I'm like, man, and a lot of
37:59
them are successful to get them credit.
38:00
They're growing their business that they're doing a thing.
38:01
I'm happy for them, whatever. But you're here and you're able
38:05
to spend this time creating demand, talking about the book,
38:08
being on podcast, building brand, doing a lot of the things
38:10
that I think a lot of founders listening want to do, but they
38:13
are scared they might, you know, lose their business if they step
38:16
away too long. So what do you think is the
38:18
secret to building a business that can run and even grow
38:21
without you? Yes, it's inspiring and
38:25
empowering other people. So when I talk about the seven
38:30
marks of leadership in my book, one of them is teamwork, right?
38:34
When when we talk about teamwork, I mean, everyone knows
38:36
what teamwork is. But what I I say, well, I start
38:41
with saying that everyone is unique and everyone is.
38:45
So that is one of the valve, the marks of leadership.
38:48
That's that's respect, that's understanding that everyone has
38:52
unlimited potential. They're, they're equipped with
38:55
talents and all those things and experiences that make them
38:58
great. And now when we get to teamwork,
39:01
it's just trusting in other people's capabilities, right?
39:04
So we talk about delegation in the business world and saying,
39:07
OK, you have to delegate so you can do more things.
39:10
But it is that's, that's true, but it's a, it's a self, it's a
39:14
selfish reason, if you think about it.
39:18
So what I encourage people to, to do is to, to just see it as
39:24
your duty. You have to you have to inspire
39:28
and empower other people to to flourish, to grow, to continue
39:33
to advance in their own career. So it's a selfless A selfless a
39:37
reason, right? So, and that's for me.
39:41
You know, the, the reason why I'm able to do all these things
39:44
and even run a successful business is because I have been
39:49
able to inspire talented people that believe in this mission.
39:54
Sometimes those people bring me back to the mission because they
39:57
are like I see them and they, I get inspired from them because
40:00
they believe in something that, you know, I created.
40:03
But sometimes I need that encouragement, right?
40:06
So the secret and the reason why I'm able to just continue to run
40:11
a business is because I have complete trust and the people
40:13
that that are running the business for me and, and, and,
40:18
and certain areas I. I see it as my duty to empower
40:22
them to to do to do something that they can do better than me.
40:28
So where do most business owners go wrong then?
40:30
When it comes to I have a business, but I can't step out
40:32
of it and let people run it. I need to be at the epicenter of
40:35
the business 24/7. If I leave, it's going to fall
40:38
apart or not grow or what? What are these business owners
40:41
getting wrong? You know that maybe you got
40:43
right. We talked about teamwork and
40:45
empowering, but someone might listen to this and say I, I do
40:48
empower my team like I do give them the rings and that kind of
40:51
stuff. Is there something else they
40:52
might be missing? It's so control is is definitely
40:59
a mistake, but it comes from from perfectionism a lot of
41:02
times. Yet you, you want to do things
41:05
that are a certain way and you want it your way, but you don't
41:09
necessarily see that other people sometimes might be, even
41:15
might be better than than you at certain things, you know, So I
41:20
tell my team always my leadership team at the, the
41:23
companies like, my gosh, you guys are so talented.
41:25
You have something, you're like the, The Avengers, You know, you
41:29
each have a superpower and, and powers that I don't have.
41:35
So my role is to just put people in the right seats and see them
41:40
flourish, right? So I the the the mistake is not
41:49
letting go out of fear they will.
41:54
I think sometimes that fear comes from, and I've, I've had
41:56
this happen to me before where it's not like you're almost just
42:01
worried about the client because you're worried like, oh, if they
42:03
don't get Daniel or Alex, the clients can be like, why?
42:05
I signed up to get this and now I'm getting somebody else and I
42:09
kind of get paranoid about that. Sometimes.
42:10
I think a lot of founders listening to is like, I got to
42:12
be in those client meetings. I got to do this because if I
42:15
step away, then I'm like, whoa, hey, wait a second, I signed up
42:17
for you and now I'm getting someone else.
42:19
What do you say to that? Yeah, because you have, I mean,
42:21
that's a lack of identity of the, of the business.
42:24
Again, if you don't have a clear mission, a clear vision for the
42:28
business and a clear set of core values, people, we'll get a
42:35
different experience with different people because we're
42:38
all different. But we are united by these
42:41
values. This is our identity as as a
42:43
group and we will use our talents to enhance this into
42:48
even to advance this mission. So my, my talents contribute to
42:53
the same thing, which is this, you know, clear mission.
42:57
So you start with mission and and then provide the tools.
43:00
And that's the reason why I came up with the Cinemarks of
43:02
leadership, for example, because I did experience this
43:07
exponential growth and I realized I can't be everywhere,
43:11
right? So I was my first team.
43:14
There are only four employees. I have full influence.
43:16
I can solve problems with patients and and patients that
43:20
didn't have a great experience and they were complaining.
43:23
I can solve these problems, but then when I said this happened
43:29
very rapidly, but we were like at 5 locations and I could just
43:34
not be everywhere and control everything.
43:36
So I realized I have to create leaders, right?
43:40
So but, but not leaders had leadership positions, leaders at
43:44
every position. So that's where I came up with
43:47
this idea is like everyone has the ability to move someone to a
43:51
better place, to be a good influence, to be light in the
43:54
darkness and all these things like so I needed to raise
43:58
leaders and the seven marks of leadership is, is the toolbox.
44:01
This is how you become a leader. This is how you embrace this
44:06
identity that we have as a company.
44:08
So that's that, I guess the secret, right?
44:14
So I have complete trust that that everyone is is following
44:20
this this set of of values. I appreciate you going a layer
44:25
or too deep because I think, you know, people hear this,
44:29
especially founders. It's like, you know, what's the
44:30
key to growing the business, You know, without you being there
44:32
and everyone kind of says you got to empower your people, you
44:35
got to go to lead, you got to be able to have a mission and all
44:37
that stuff is true. But it's like because people
44:39
have heard it so much, they're like, well, yeah, I've heard, I
44:42
know this, but it's like they're not doing it though.
44:44
And what you just said there is like, you know, because I've
44:47
experienced this too. Well, what if the client doesn't
44:49
they, they signed up to work with me maybe, and now they're
44:51
working with somebody else who's like an advisor.
44:54
And but that's when you said what you just said, which is the
44:57
you don't have a mission. The values aren't there.
44:59
Yeah, because the client should feel that they should know what
45:02
we're doing together as as a unit, as a, as a powerful
45:05
mission moving forward. It doesn't matter.
45:07
Everyone kind of does their part, but it moves together.
45:10
It's not dependent on one person.
45:12
It's on a one person show. That's more of a job.
45:14
That's not really a company. Yeah, that's right.
45:17
That's right. It is.
45:19
It is again being inspired by your mission, yourself and just
45:26
you. Following that will inspire
45:28
others to follow you, you living your life the way you want your
45:34
employees to be. Just be.
45:35
Be an example. Don't.
45:37
Don't ask something you can't or are not willing to do so.
45:41
Let me give you an example here. I'm curious what your take is
45:43
since you I would consider you an expert in the space.
45:46
So I've been running it. To give you context, I've been
45:48
running a marketing company for the last few years and it's more
45:50
consulting advisory and strategy that kind of helping companies
45:53
build their own in house content team.
45:54
So they don't necessarily need a marketing agency.
45:57
Then I started this other company just recently called
45:58
Podcast Builders. It's more of a local company.
46:02
Founders are going to come in here, they're going to run the
46:04
podcast, we're going to do all the editing.
46:05
It's more team, it's less of me eventually and I'm going to have
46:09
to grow and hire people to run the production here and that
46:11
kind of stuff, which is what I want to do.
46:13
I'm excited about it, but as I think about my mission and maybe
46:16
I have not given enough thought and I will after this
46:18
conversation for sure, but I feel like my maybe the mission
46:21
here is I want to empower people that they have a voice and a
46:25
story to share. And sometimes it just, you just
46:29
got to grab a mic and you got to get a camera and you got to talk
46:33
about the things that are happening in your environment,
46:35
your industry, your world with your team.
46:38
And if you do those types of things, it can expand your
46:42
opportunities, it can expand your relationships.
46:45
I mean, one of the reasons I started this podcast was because
46:47
it is such a good relationship builder.
46:49
After you sit down with someone for 1/2 an hour, hour, whatever
46:51
it is, you just have a connection with them.
46:53
It's different. It's there's like a friendship
46:55
almost made. It's like really powerful.
46:56
It's I think in person, virtual is a little bit tougher to have
46:59
that, but that's kind of where I go.
47:02
It's like own the conversation. It's like get out there and have
47:05
have a voice in the community, bring people together, start
47:08
conversations, build relationships.
47:10
That's probably a little bit all over, but what do you think
47:12
about that hearing that? Am I, is there something there?
47:14
Am I close? For sure, what you're doing is a
47:17
lot of what I, what I, what I preach, you know, so you're
47:19
understanding that everyone's path is valuable.
47:22
Everyone, everyone's unique approach and experiences is
47:26
valuable. And it's worth sharing, you
47:30
know, so it takes humility for that, of course, to know that
47:35
your, your, your, your view or your, your experiences are not
47:39
necessarily all that there is. But yeah, so the mission is, is
47:45
still you want to, to advance, you want to use this as a tool,
47:50
as a powerful tool to impact other business owners.
47:53
And I mean, in business, we have so much responsibility, right?
48:00
Like so we, we have the power to influence people as leaders, our
48:06
decisions and, and our things. We're, we, we have to use this,
48:09
our position as business owners, business leaders to, to make the
48:15
world a better place, right? So you are you're leading with
48:20
that, you are inspiring business leaders and empower them to to
48:26
help other people grow. Thank you.
48:30
I like sometimes Sharon, just being a little bit vulnerable
48:32
and sharing what I'm going through because, you know,
48:34
sometimes we like that we got everything figured out.
48:36
I have everything figure I got the mission, I got the business
48:38
plan, I got this. And and we do have a lot of good
48:40
things figured out, but there are some things where it's like,
48:42
Hey, I just, I'm not 100% there yet and I'd like to learn from.
48:45
And that's one more reason I think podcasts are great because
48:48
you get to learn from other people.
48:49
And I've had, I feel like I should write a damn book after
48:51
this, interviewing hundreds of founders and just, you know,
48:54
hearing their stories and what they're going through and their
48:56
lessons. If you really pick up on them
48:58
and you're curious and you want to learn, that's amazing.
49:02
Yeah. It's like a free MBA.
49:03
You're a humble person, which is a key, the king of oral virtues.
49:08
I I call it. And and that is the one of the
49:11
seven marks of leadership. It's actually the one that
49:13
encompasses it all like it is. Yeah.
49:16
If you're not humble, you can't lead.
49:18
That's true. Yeah, that's very true.
49:20
You have to you, you. You have to know that you don't
49:23
know know at all. You have to know that you don't
49:25
have all the talents that other people have.
49:26
You have to know that, yeah. So that's you're not more
49:30
important than anyone else. That's that's the truth.
49:33
What made you want to write this book The leader of humanity
49:35
needs? And why that title?
49:38
To be honest was because, you know, I I always.
49:42
So one thing I do, you know, how to, to implement to make sure
49:46
that everyone, everyone that understands our identity is that
49:50
I speak about those things all the time.
49:54
I do, for example, new employee orientations where like I meet
49:57
with every single new hire and I do quarterly meetings with all
50:03
the people that join the company.
50:04
And I just preach the values. I just tell them why we have
50:08
this set of values, which are the same marks of leadership.
50:11
And I repeat this, this message all the time.
50:14
And, and people say, Oh my gosh, you should, you should write a
50:17
book all the time. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'll read.
50:20
I write a book one day. No joking, but I felt the sense
50:23
of responsibility. I understand that I have some
50:28
unique things and also of course unique things to say, but also
50:32
unique experiences that make make me potentially lighting
50:41
someone else's life. So sometimes we have to go
50:46
through through uncomfortable things to, to advance.
50:52
Almost always, always, yes. Like to me, being a podcast is
50:56
not the most comfortable thing necessarily, but I, but I have a
50:59
message. I have something to, to share
51:00
and I want to inspire other people to, to just do what I,
51:05
what I do. And writing a book for me was,
51:10
was was that I, I had a message to to give and I had to be
51:19
necessary go go out of my comfort zone to do it.
51:22
And it was such a tremendous gift for me because it was such
51:24
a great exercise to just go through this introspection, this
51:30
remembering stories. There are a lot of stories.
51:33
So I back up every, every claim with some either personal story
51:38
or story I know of, of someone that impacted my life.
51:42
And it was such a beautiful gift in my life.
51:46
So I recommend everyone to write a book if they can at some point
51:51
in their life. But the Leader Humanity needs
51:54
title came up because I firmly believe that if the world, if
51:58
people embrace their talents and embrace their experiences and
52:01
understand their worth and use it for the good of others, you
52:07
know, the world will become a better place.
52:10
And so that means that humanity needs your leadership.
52:13
It needs you to become a leader. So again, the leader Humanity
52:17
needs is the the reader. So it's a call.
52:23
I guess the book is just. It's a call to action.
52:27
Love that. What's one thing that you've
52:28
gotten wrong about leadership in the last few years?
52:31
Or one thing that maybe you're still working on as a leader?
52:34
Yeah. So something I got definitely
52:36
wrong and I mentioned it earlier is that, you know, self-service
52:40
leadership, just thinking the business belongs to me, that it
52:43
is there for me to, to benefit from more than anyone else.
52:50
And I guess using the business for a selfless reason.
52:58
And I, well, luckily, thank God, I opened my eyes and I, I
53:05
changed the view and I started having a service mindset and
53:12
that's what led to the book and all that stuff do.
53:15
You think anyone can have that change of view?
53:17
Is there something that needs to happen for them to shift?
53:19
Or it seems like one day it's like, boom, you just kind of see
53:22
it. Maybe it's not one day, but all
53:23
of a sudden you see the light, you know?
53:25
And it's like, wow, I've been looking at this thing the wrong
53:27
way. Yeah, so everyone like you don't
53:33
have to go through the through the mistakes to to realize this.
53:40
Yeah, some people unfortunately have to do that.
53:44
But I the what I also argue in the book is, you know, you have
53:50
to be able, I guess humble enough to use other people's
53:54
experiences. So just and be smart enough to
53:58
do that. So hopefully, and I'm writing a
54:02
second book that is more on, on leadership with a framework and
54:06
all that leadership in business for entrepreneurs.
54:09
And I I just tell them a couple of things, hoping that they will
54:16
avoid this this difficulty. Yeah, learn from your mistakes.
54:22
Yeah, exactly so. So what's next for you then?
54:24
Obviously you've got this book, you've got another book you're
54:26
writing. What?
54:27
What do you like focused here? I'm curious where your time,
54:29
where you want to spend your time, and what's driving you
54:31
every day to get out of bed and stuff.
54:33
Yeah, I have multiple things going on.
54:37
I'm just I guess I I can never stop.
54:40
But yeah. So first for Mercy Dental is
54:43
just continue to to spread our mission.
54:46
We continue to to make good decisions, to continue to
54:50
advance the business and to impact more people.
54:53
Now, how much? I'm actually curious, sorry to
54:54
interrupt. How much time do you spend in
54:56
Mercy Dental Dental? Yeah, that's my majority of my
54:59
time, right. So I do work, but it's.
55:03
More from a leadership guidance level than in the weeds in the
55:06
practice, you know. Yeah, no, I have.
55:08
Oh my gosh. I'm just blessed.
55:10
I have so many wonderful talented people that I'm just,
55:16
I, I got to a point where I can just sit down and, and, and, and
55:20
enjoy the ride. Like seeing them solving
55:23
problems like, and they are so passionate about about this, you
55:28
know? It must feel good if yes, in a
55:30
lot of ways. It feels great because they
55:34
they, they love what they're doing.
55:36
I love to see them doing it. I, they, I'm the visionary.
55:40
I just make the decisions. They, they execute in a
55:45
compassionate way and everything.
55:46
Whatever we, we do with the identity, I have complete trust
55:50
on, on, on, on their ability to, to deliver the, the, the
55:58
mission, right. So, so, yeah.
56:02
So I guess my, my job is not as difficult as it used to be in
56:07
terms of like being the CEO of the company.
56:09
So I'm more, I do a lot of the boring stuff, you know, I have
56:11
to be with accountants and lawyers and, and things like
56:14
that. And just, but not necessarily,
56:18
I'm not super involved in operations, but of course I get
56:21
reports and things and I, I just make final decisions.
56:26
But then I, I am enjoying a lot of the, you know, speaking and
56:31
presenting these concepts and, and, and things and writing,
56:36
writing the books. And like my, what moves me right
56:39
now is, is that I'm hoping that my story and, and the things
56:45
that I share in the book and in my talks are, are, are inspire
56:50
other people to, to, to be good for me.
56:53
Like that. The, the industry, you know, I
56:56
want to impact the dental industry first, but any, any
57:00
industry really, you know, so that's what makes me excited
57:04
today. Very cool.
57:05
Well, I appreciate you coming in.
57:06
I really enjoyed this conversation.
57:08
Where can people find you, connect with you, learn more
57:10
about what you do? Obviously outside of the book.
57:12
Yeah, so they can go to my website, danieltataje.com is Dan
57:19
i.e. LTATAJE they can find all kinds
57:25
of things about Mercy Dental our our nonprofit arm.
57:29
We didn't talk much about that today, but yeah, I have a a
57:33
leader on a nonprofit. I also have a a men's group that
57:37
I lead. It's called Fathers for Crisis,
57:40
Spiritual formation group for man that integrates fitness,
57:45
nutrition and and spiritual life.
57:48
So it's very, very cool. Yeah, very good.
57:51
But we'll link all that in the description.
57:52
And Daniel, I appreciate it. Again, thanks for coming out and
57:55
happy to have you on the show. No, thank you, Alex.
57:57
Thank you. That's a pleasure.