--:-- JJ Virgin: Hey, JJ Virgin here. On my podcast, Well Beyond 40, we ditch the idea of aging gracefully and go all in on aging powerfully. Every week I host powerful experts who can give you powerful insights on building muscle, boosting your energy, and feeling amazing no matter what your age. This is your one life. And trust me, being smarter and stronger are superpowers that can turn lifespan into Strengthspan. Listen to Well Beyond 40 wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Paul Alex: There were times in the first couple months, Paul, that I would literally wake up drenched in sweat. I had the worst nightmares. I would call my family. I'm a man enough to say it like just crying.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I bought a practice in one of the richest islands in the United States in Vero Beach, but it was dead. There was like a patient every three hours. My wife told me, you're not going to make it. And I said, let's try it.
--:-- Paul Alex: I remember my first training that I paid for, it was $25,000. I was like, what the heck am I doing? I've never spent this amount of money in my life. Within a year, man, I made that 25, 10 times. Then I did an investment for $150,000. And we went from collecting $1 million to collecting $2.5 million in one year.
--:-- [Intro music fades in and out]
--:-- Paul Alex: Hey guys, and welcome back to the Lovell Podcast. This is Paul Alex. And today we have another phenomenal guest. As you guys know, we do our weekly guest interviews every single Saturday here at The Level Up. With that being said, I have a phenomenal guest that's actually in the dentist industry. This is going to be for anybody that is interested in becoming a dentist. If you're a current dentist, this is actually going to be a person you're going to want to network with. There's a saying that I always say: your network is your net worth. This person has built a multiple eight-figure business off of being a dentist. He has multiple locations here in the state of Florida. He has dozens of employees, and now he is consulting and actually helping dozens of dentists across the United States build the infrastructure for their own multiple eight-figure businesses. I want to welcome Dr. Alex Plains to The Level Up.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Thank you, Paul. Thank you for having me here today.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, absolutely, brother. I'm excited, man. It's been a long time.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I know. Thank you for the invite, brother.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, of course, man. You know, like I was saying, it's a blessing. I remember it's been like almost two years.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: That's correct.
--:-- Paul Alex: That I was on your show, bro. And I was just like, dude, I love interviewing my friends and people that I know. And I think you have such a powerful story. You're a good guy. You have good morals, dude. So I want people to listen to your story because it's very inspiring.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Thank you.
--:-- Paul Alex: So for the people that don't know you, Dr. Alex Plains, what is your background?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: That's a great question. I was born and raised here in Miami. I actually started in dentistry at the age of 12 years old, working in a dental lab not too far from here. But unfortunately, I had to quit because I was allergic to the acrylics. I'm asthmatic. So I thought I could never get into dentistry.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: So I gave up on my hopes of being a dentist. I didn't think I was smart enough. I come from a broken family. I didn't have a lot growing up. From Hialeah, the most my grandparents ever made was $8 an hour. We would live paycheck to paycheck. For God's sake, there was a time in my life that all we could eat was eggs and white rice for a period of four to five months. And every so often, we were able to get a steak. My grandmother would clean kitchens and bakeries at $30 a day. Imagine working for 10 hours a day and making $30.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah, dude. That's insane, bro.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: After that, I started getting into sales. I did newspaper sales. I did insurance sales. I did life insurance sales, which actually one of the places I worked for in Aventura got raided by the FBI four weeks after I left. True story.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Not far from your office here in Royal Caribbean, that's pretty much where I started my journey in sales. I worked for them for three years and then I decided to give it a shot. I lost all hope of being a dentist. But a dear friend of mine told me, you need to be a dentist. You're going to be very good at what you do. I took a leap of faith, and I moved to the Dominican Republic.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow, so you moved to DR. And what age did you move to DR?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I was 21 going on 22 years old.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. So at 21, 22, you lost all hope. You're doing multiple sales gigs. You come from the poverty level of eating white rice and eggs, dude, which I can relate to that. To me, I didn't know that was poverty level. I just thought it was normal. But I get you on that one because I remember my grandma buying a little piece of steak and cutting it up in little pieces. And she would mix it with the eggs and rice.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: That was fire, bro. But I'll still eat that sometimes. Those Vienna sausages?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yeah.
--:-- Paul Alex: My grandmother would make that with yellow rice. That was like a feast.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: It was, bro. That's what we were used to. But it was just who we are. At the end of the day, I wouldn't change it any other way. It gave me that hunger and that resilience I need and that I can have failure in my life.
--:-- Paul Alex: Absolutely, brother. So age 21, 22, you're going to Dominican Republic. For a lot of the 21, 22-year-olds right now watching the podcast or listening, they're like, that's a dream, Alex. What did you do? What was your plan going to the DR?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I had no other options. I literally packed my bags, got in an airplane. I remember it was in the middle of May because the semester started in June and I didn't even have a place to live.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I got there and the place that my uncle thought he had for me, I walk in and all we have are over a thousand sewing machines in this place. The guy's like, this is not going to be ready until at least August or September. Luckily, my uncle does a lot of business in the DR, Puerto Rico, Central America, South America, and he has a lot of good friends over there. So he got me in a place where one of his best friends lived. I was able to stay there until around September. Finally, I got a place. And I didn't get electricity until November.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Because over there, if you don't have connections, electricity can take anywhere from six to eight weeks. I had to start paying people to get electrical up to my apartment, but only certain hours of the day. I had to bathe with cold water, study with little lights, lamps that my grandparents and my mom would send me from Home Depot here. That's pretty much how my journey started in the DR. Within the first three months, I almost got robbed twice. I stuck out like a sore thumb over there. I would have to walk to school and walk back. A lot of my friends gave up. A lot of the guys that came from Miami gave up and they couldn't tolerate it. But four years later, I graduated with a lot of adversity over there. Then I passed my boards, part one, part two, and then I got into Columbia University in New York.
--:-- Paul Alex: So what was your thought process when you're in the Dominican Republic, dude? You're going through it. You're trying to learn. You're trying to better yourself. But what is your daily thought process when you're waking up? Are you saying, as long as I get through today, I'll be okay? Or were there times where you told yourself, this is not going to be for me? Were there times that you wanted to quit?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Oh, absolutely. There were times in the first couple months, Paul, that I would literally wake up drenched in sweat. I mean, drenched in sweat. I had the worst nightmares. I would call my family, and I'm a man enough to say it like just crying. I'm like, I can't tolerate this. This is too much for me. One of my stepdads, my former stepdad, he used to be a surgeon in Cuba. He's like, take it day by day. So I made small wins every day until eventually it became like quarters and then years. By the time I knew it, the four years had gone by. I set myself all these goals and I did a lot of manifestation and vision boards in my mind of where I wanted to be, where I wanted to move after I graduated, what residency I wanted to get into. That's literally what happened in order for me to complete my time over there.
--:-- Paul Alex: I believe it's very powerful, man. You first have to think of the life that you want. Then you have to start working towards it. It's a combination of those actions. I think it's very powerful. I tell people your mindset is everything, dude. It's completely everything. If you don't go into doing anything in life with a positive mindset saying that you're going to win no matter what, you already lost the game. So for the people watching right now, would you say that this is also viable to do right now in 2025 to become a dentist?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Absolutely. I'm actually trying to promote some of my team members that are 21, 22 years old. They're dental assistants. I'm like, if you want to be a dentist and you really love this and you cannot afford dentistry in the United States because there's less than 56 schools of dentistry in the United States, it's a very elite crew that gets into dental school. That's why there's a huge scarcity in dentists just in Florida alone. There's hundreds of dentists here, thousands of dentists here in Miami, Orlando, Tampa. But if you go to the middle of Sebring, Florida, there's going to be scarcity in dentists. I have patients travel from Okeechobee over to Vero Beach because they just can't get an appointment in on time.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: If you're thinking about this, there's never the wrong time to do it. You got to go for it. You just got to take that leap of faith and have faith that you want to do it. If you want it badly, just get on an airplane, do your research. You can always contact me as well. I have some tips for you. Then you just jump on a flight and you start your journey. Jump on the flight to the Dominican Republic. Make it happen, guys, if you want. But I wouldn't change it any other way, Paul. It really humbled me. I remember the first time I walked into a store and there was no air conditioner. I had to carry my groceries blocks and blocks and blocks, like 20 bags of groceries. One time I was running and I was chased by three wild dogs. This type of stuff I can't make up.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, absolutely. And I bet you reflect from time to time, dude, and you're like, yeah, I came from those humble beginnings. It makes you really appreciate where you're at.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: And I'm sure you know this because you run a huge empire as well. For example, there are times that you hit rock bottom. These are the type of memories that you need to focus on in order to overcome them.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: No, absolutely. I always tell people the best way to overcome anything is just think of the most painful moment in your life. Use that. Get angry. Get angry, man. And you dominate.
--:-- Paul Alex: Right. So, okay. At what age did you officially become a dentist and then start making moves towards building the empire that you have today?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I started everything at the age of 29.
--:-- Paul Alex: Okay. So at the age of 29, this is freshly graduated?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yeah.
--:-- Paul Alex: Okay. And then did you work under someone first? Did you gain experience? How did that work out?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: As soon as I graduated, I was engaged. I was about to get married, I believe 11 months later. So I had no cash. I started working here in Miami and Wellington in multiple practices and I wasn't making money. I was floating around. The dentist owners were dicking me around. They were paying me two, $300 a day. I was like, this is not what I was envisioning when I was in the DR and New York and doing my residency and passing my boards. So I realized I got to take a move. I got to move again. All my friends are like, stay in Miami, stay in Miami, stay in Miami. I packed my bags and I moved to Merritt Island, to Melbourne. I started working there as a lead dentist for Aspen Dental, which now owns over 2000 practices. They're a powerhouse. Immediately they saw skills in me and business skills in me that they don't see in another dentist. Within seven months, they were offering me ownership in one of the practices in Vero Beach. Every month they have a good system for developing dentists to be owners. You go over P&Ls, you go over the difference between accrued accounting, cash basis accounting, percentages of marketing that should be spent, line by line items, itemized lines of percentages. Then I started noticing, but I was like, I got to do something else.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: So I bought a practice in one of the richest islands in the United States in Vero Beach, but it was dead, completely dead. There was like a patient every three hours.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: My wife, she's also a dentist, told me, you cannot buy that practice. You're not going to make it. And I said, all right, let's try it. I was actually discriminated against because I'm Latino. They don't want any Latinos owning dental practices. One of the richest islands, that landlord is no longer with us. The plaza has been sold, but he gave me the hardest time to get in there. Finally got in there. Within the first year, we went from collecting $300,000 part-time, working three days a week, to collecting over a million dollars.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Nine months later, I was buying my second location.
--:-- Paul Alex: I love that, man. So what was the actual step-by-step that you did in order to get that type of results? Because there are business owners out here. Business is very hard. We just talked about it for an hour before the podcast. We were like, dude, entrepreneurship. People got to be careful for trying to pick their niche and their industry because it's hard.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: It's hard, especially in 2025, guys. You guys got to be the implementer. You guys got to lead by example. You got to go through this experience just like you did, man, in order to execute properly. So with that being said, how did you go in the first year of opening that new dentistry from $300K in profits to a million? What was the step by step on that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I think the most important thing is to leave ego out. Never have ego because it can be taken away from you in a second. I would save. When other guys were getting Porsches, 911s, Caymans, or traveling already, or buying Canali suits, I was still living like a student. I was saving because I knew that I had to have at least 10% of my next deposit to get another practice because that was my vision board. I wanted five practices by the year 2020. That was in 2013 going into 2014. I basically got locked in and told Paulina, look, we're not going to buy expensive furniture. We're just going to live like we've always been living. She was okay with that.
--:-- Paul Alex: Modest, yeah.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes, modest living. I just didn't spend, man. I just saved, saved, saved. I managed my P&Ls like no tomorrow. And I marketed more than any dentist in the area.
--:-- Paul Alex: We're going to get into that, man. I love that. I'm a marketing guy and that's what I do best. Number one, I have to give you kudos. With newer entrepreneurs, and you're not a new entrepreneur, but what I'm saying is to the new entrepreneurs listening to The Level Up here, guys, a lot of you guys are aspiring entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs, and you're listening to this story and you're like, dude, that's actually smart. That is an operator. You don't expand to multiple locations because you're making a ton of money. No, that's how you go bankrupt, guys. You guys got to save. You guys got to know your numbers. At the end of the day, I see a lot of people in the online space promoting like, look at my million dollar car. Look at my $500,000 car. And I'm like, okay, well, where's your office? Where's your employees? Where's your actual credibility of you running an actual business and not being a solopreneur? At the end of the day, guys, you got to reinvest into your business. That's what I did as well in the past seven years. You got to invest into your people. You got to make sure your people are taken care of, man. I cannot live with myself when I see other entrepreneurs that are living a great life, well off, buying the cars and all that jazz, and then their people are struggling.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Struggling.
--:-- Paul Alex: Right. You got to take care of them. It's about culture. That's how you build something great.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Exactly.
--:-- Paul Alex: So let's dive into the marketing aspect of what you did, man, because I think you're a game changer, dude.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Thank you.
--:-- Paul Alex: You're a game changer.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: One more thing, I'm sorry to interrupt, Paul. One thing that you just made me remember about the people. Most of my girls back in the day when they started with me, these girls were 21 to 25 years old. They had a little bit of experience in dentistry, but they didn't have that professional development, that skill to really manage a dental practice, that customer service experience. You need it. I remember my first training that I paid for, it was $25,000. I was like, what the heck am I doing? $25,000. I've never spent this amount of money in my life.
--:-- Paul Alex: What year was that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: This was in 2015.
--:-- Paul Alex: Oh, dude, 2015, $25,000. Unheard of.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes, I spent $25,000 and it was to train the hygienists to be able to coach their patients better and be able to sell more treatment. I did it. Within a year, man, I made that 25, 10 times.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: And I got addicted. So then I did an investment for $150,000 into this program that is going to five extra dental practices. And we went from collecting $1 million to collecting $2.5 million in one year.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's what I'm talking about. One year.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Little by little, I started noticing that development is super important for your team and yourself.
--:-- Paul Alex: Brother, it's everything. Like we were talking about before the pod, I was working out with one of my newer guys here. On the way here, I'm listening to a self-development podcast. But guys, if you guys need motivation, please, every day, Monday through Friday, have The Level Up. But no, I was listening to another podcast. That's where I get inspiration from other entrepreneurs. I will always humble myself and be like, hey, dude, I want to see what everybody else is doing as well and get inspired. So I'm listening to this podcast and it's about focus. That's it. It's simple. Just focused. I'm like, wow, this is so good. I send it out to my executives and it's Saturday morning, guys, after the gym. Most people are sleeping and whatnot. I'm awake. They're like, hey boss, we're listening to it on Monday. I was like, you guys make time for what's important in your life. You have to self-develop yourself to get better. They're like, okay, we'll listen to it now. That's the way it goes, dude. You have to stay on your game. I've never met an ultra successful person that has not ever invested in themselves.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: I think it's important. It's super important.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I did it the other way around. I did professional development instead of personal development first. If I would have done it the other way around, God knows what would have happened. But I totally agree with you, personal development. I'm the same way. Three o'clock in the morning, sometimes I'm up and I can't sleep. I'm looking at podcasts or articles and I'm sending emails to my team members. They're like, Dr. Plains, you're freaking nuts. I don't sleep. I don't sleep. I don't sleep. But you guys are relaxing. I'm stressing.
--:-- Paul Alex: It's one of those things, man. When you go ahead and it's something from one of our mentors. Because if you guys don't know, we not only were friends for the past two years, but we also ended up joining one of the mentorships, one of our newest mentorships that we travel to Scottsdale. We network with high-level individuals from other industries. Guys, that's how you grow your brand, your personal brand, especially in 2025. But also, that's where you might meet someone else that you connect with and you're like, hey, dude, let's do a business together or let's get into an adventure or let's invest. Changes your life. So with that being said, one of our mentors says, life by design. Life by design, to me, I get asked all the time, they're like, dude, what do you do besides work? I'm like, dude, I love work so much. I'm a creative. I love to write. I love to envision ideas and just make them come to reality.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: In the same way, dude.
--:-- Paul Alex: So you're a visionary guy. You're a startup guy, dude. And then I hire smarter people than me to run the business, to put it all together. I just need smart people that are disciplined enough to execute, implementers. So with that being said, when you are literally living your dream life every day, dude, I call that life by design, guys. I believe that's what you're doing, dude. That's why you're able to stay up and really look and you're still thinking. That's what's keeping you up. It's that energy of you being excited about what you're doing. When you're not excited and you're shutting it off, it's easy to fall asleep.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Of course.
--:-- Paul Alex: Of course.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Just remember, I was never the most studious kid, guys. When I was in high school, middle school, I remember falling asleep in class. I was just like, dude, this is freaking boring because I don't have interest in it. But I only imagine if you had somebody that I wanted to be like, you would have been focused. I would have been a laser-focused man. Just think about it like that. When you guys watch your favorite Netflix documentary, how locked in are you? Same thing with people that love music. Like my wife, dude, she loves music. She will remember lyrics from like 20 years ago. Sorry, babe, I'm not trying to age you. But yeah, she will. I was like, babe, how do you remember that? She's like, how don't you remember this? I was like, because I have to remember so much because of work. It just really depends on what's interesting for you. But now ask me the P&Ls for last month. I'll tell you.
--:-- Paul Alex: Exactly. You'll know your numbers. You're like, okay, how many conversions did we do? How many offices did we do? Okay, cool. How many clients? All right. Every hour? Okay, cool. Right? But let's dive into the marketing aspect, Alex. Marketing. What worked for you to help you scale your business and be able to obtain multiple locations? This is going to be basically almost like a mini masterclass. You have some inspiring dentists on here. You might have somebody who owns some dentistry here in Florida or throughout the United States. They're probably like, huh, he was able to do that fairly quickly. How were you able to do that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: It's quite simple. I started with direct mail. That's it. I stayed consistent with direct mail and I would meet with my marketing company every single month. I was very consistent with my brand. Then what I started doing, apart from direct mail, I started doing Google and Facebook. Remember, I started in a different time, 2014, 2015, where Instagram and all this stuff wasn't as popular as it is now.
--:-- Paul Alex: Alex, just real quick, because I love to break it down almost to the level of a fifth grader for my audience, just because we have a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. Some people may not even know what direct mail is, dude. So what exactly is direct mail?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Postcards. Eight by 12 postcards, very beautifully designed. You get them shipped to your house, you get them in the mailbox. Out of that, I would send 8,000 to 10,000 of them a month consistently per location. Out of that, you will have 5% of them that will show up and 1% that will be converted into treatment.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. Okay, so it's a numbers game.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: Basically, you're shooting them out, you're sending them to people's houses, and then you'll get a small conversion coming in and then you will convert them in-house or over the phone or whatnot. And that's what year?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: This was in 2014, 2015.
--:-- Paul Alex: So 2014, 2015, that's how you were able to scale to over a million dollars in revenue for your first dentist location. And then you started getting into Google and then SEO?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yeah. Started at the same time. It was a very low budget. Very low budget. It's like $1,500 a month. And then the max I ever did in GP marketing was $2,500 a month.
--:-- Paul Alex: Okay. And then what was your results? General practice marketing. What was the results on that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: It was like a 20x return.
--:-- Paul Alex: 20X for 10. 20X on ROAS, guys. ROAS is return on ad spend. Okay? For any of our newbie marketers watching this show right now, that's what it means. And that's phenomenal results. Don't ever fall for these gurus online. I'm not to bash anybody, guys. I love everybody. I have a big heart. But at the end of the day, guys, getting 1, 2X ROAS is horrible. You want a minimum of like four.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Okay.
--:-- Paul Alex: And I'm probably going to get some marketers like, wait, that's impossible. No, no, no. That means you're actually doing your job. You're being a creative. You're paying attention, dude. Attention to detail. So 20X is phenomenal, dude. That's great.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: So I started crushing it there. Then I started doing a magazine out of a company out of California. This was like a 16-page magazine, but it was for higher-end procedures like implants, full-mouth makeovers, veneers. I would send anywhere from 800 to 1500 of those a month and had amazing results too. That's pretty much where I started building. Then in 2017, I got into a different demographic. I got into the Orlando market with a partner of mine, Dr. Chup. He's no longer with us, but he's still a dear friend of mine. We literally took that practice from zero to $1 million within one year as well. So I was like, I got this figured out. I started building these practices for less than $350,000 all in, and I was able to grow them to a million dollars in one year.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's phenomenal, man. The return on investment on that is actually very quickly because when you think about it, look at real estate, dude. Somebody can invest the same amount of money. They're not going to make the same amount of return in one year, dude. It's impossible.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: It's impossible.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah, it's impossible. So with that being said, you end up doing that. You figured out the blueprint. What was next in your vision board, bro? Because I love the fact that you have a vision board. So what was the next step in your vision board? You're like, okay, I got to dial in. I'm creating the process and duplicate it. And you're duplicating it now. So what was the next step on your journey?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: My next step was full arches. Getting into full arch dentistry, which is, most of the population is going to need a full arch at one point or the other.
--:-- Paul Alex: And what does that mean for somebody who doesn't know, like me?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: For sure. We would basically extract all your teeth and put four to five to six implants and give you a new smile within 24 hours.
--:-- Paul Alex: So similar to veneers?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: No, this is full. They will screw into the implants.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: A lot of people that you think have veneers, this is actually a procedure that they have had done.
--:-- Paul Alex: Oh, really?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: Oh, wow.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I went from doing three to five of those a month to doing 30 to 40 arches a month.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: One year.
--:-- Paul Alex: That's crazy. What year was that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: This was in 2020 to 2022.
--:-- Paul Alex: Okay. That makes sense because I believe during that, that was COVID.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yes.
--:-- Paul Alex: Right? So during COVID, I feel like the entire world, because they were at home, they started noticing that their teeth were very important. So was that the time where you started pushing it to the limit, dude? You were just like, yo.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: It's crazy you say that because while COVID was happening, I had just bought and I had two offices that I had just opened up. Not generating any money. COVID hit. I had just bought a beautiful new home, one of my homes on my vision board. And all of a sudden, COVID happened.
--:-- Paul Alex: Bro, how bad were you stressing?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: That's what I was going to get. Amelia is like, yo. I was so stressed. I was so stressed. Then all of a sudden, the governor of Florida opens things back up at the end of May. I get in there, man, and I'm swamped with work. And actually, 2020 to 2022 were probably the best years of my dental career.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: I blew up during that time. So it's a combination of a lot of things, man. COVID, you have the state of Florida opening up. Interest rates were super low. A lot of cash on the streets. And you had a lot of people inside already looking at social media and seeing the appearance of their teeth. Yeah, it makes a big difference.
--:-- Paul Alex: So did you leverage social media within your marketing in 2020 to 2022? Or were you still sticking to more traditional marketing strategies?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: So a part of me was still afraid to let go of the traditional. But I did level up on full arch marketing. I went to six figures a month in marketing. From five to six figures investing every single month in marketing. But it was mostly attraction of Google and Facebook. And we were getting our best ROI on Google.
--:-- Paul Alex: Wow. Still during that time. I mean, SEO is very powerful. You get a good SEO company or agency to run it up on your company website, man. It's very powerful to type in "dentist near me" and then you're on, dude. You show up. They're automatically going to go to you. So that's a great strategy, man. And keeping it simple. Keep it simple because people think you have to do TikTok, go on LinkedIn. No, no. We try TikTok through FullArch. Every industry is different, guys. So what might work for me... Google is very expensive, though. So you'll probably get 50 leads in Google, and you might get 150 through Facebook. But it just all depends on the quality of leads. And that's why you need a good marketing team to be able to tell you, "Hey, Alex, you're spending way too much money here. We got to tweak it because your ROI and your conversion rate is better with this product."
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Right. So that's what we've been working on. But now with AI, my new marketing company for FullArch that I'm working with has implemented so much AI that we're getting everything to the microscopic level right now.
--:-- Paul Alex: I love that, man. You're just getting into the details of absolutely everything just to dominate. So let's talk about the transition between you solely focusing in the dentist industry to now shifting to becoming a consultant in that industry and actually helping other dentists build their infrastructure and build a similar empire just like yours, man. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Yeah, so I call it the realest and rawest dental coaching company on the planet. And actually, I said that in one of the events that you were just talking about previously, and everybody was just clapping their hands. Because I feel like what's missing in dentistry is a lot of the dentists are very stuck up, very ego driven, and they're afraid to take leaps of faith. I've taken all the leaps of faith. I've jumped with no parachute on sometimes, which I'm sure you know too, you've done it in your business. But I want to be able to mentor doctors and I want to be real with them. I want to tell them that it's not all going to be glamour.
--:-- Paul Alex: Correct.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: You're going to have to go through hard times. But I've been played by consulting companies and coaching companies that have taken advantage of what they've been trying to sell me on. They've cost me hundreds and thousands of dollars of losses. So what I want is full transparency. That's actually one of my core values, transparency. And I want to build a university, which I'm building currently, to help dentists grow and scale their business, but doing it the right way and not taking advantage of them and doing it with proof. You can get all these guys on Instagram, social media saying, "I have all this proof of building businesses," but I want to see it on paper. I can show you on paper the good years, the bad years, what you're going through now, the challenges you're going to face in the future. A lot of guys don't do that. A lot of these coaching companies call themselves dental consultants. But what have you built? What have you done? What lease have you negotiated? What marketing company have you done? So that's pretty much what I'm working on. That's my passion. That's going to be my legacy company once I can no longer practice, unless my kids want to be dentists.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Which I'm trying not to do. It's just changed. You know what happens? Insurance companies are not reimbursing us. Dentists are fighting tick for tack trying to get the lowest price. When I started doing full arches, I was charging anywhere from $21,000 to $23,000 for a full arch. Now we've had to drop our prices to $15,000 to $16,000 to deliver the same product that we were doing two years, three years ago. So for all you dentists out there, we are not the competition. You guys are competing against Chanel, Louis Vuitton, cruise travels, vacations, Italy. Don't lower your prices anymore. Let's stick with standards and let's make sure that we're united rather than fighting against each other.
--:-- Paul Alex: It's a limited belief, man. I always tell people this: you're doing yourself a disservice by actually lowering your rates because it just shows that you're not confident in the quality of your work, brother. With me and all the companies that I've built and will continue to build, I'm going to actually launch a fitness company here with a good business partner in mind that helped me lose about 42 pounds in the past six months, guys.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: That's great.
--:-- Paul Alex: Thank you. But in the last six months, he made me a believer. I'm basically one of his testimonials. And with that being said, guys, we're not going to be the cheapest. We're actually probably going to be one of the most expensive fitness offers out there. Because if people really want transformation, people want a customized deal, people want to be with like you, they want to interact with you, all that jazz, they're going to pay for it.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Exactly. You get to a certain level where people pay for convenience. And for me, I try to outsource absolutely everything in my life that does not generate cash flow. That's just the way I think, dude. So last year, and in the years prior before my health journey this year, I never put health as a priority. I was like, "Well, yeah, I'm a little chubby, but I'm eating good. I'm still making the money. Everybody's happy." But here's the thing, guys: just because you make the money doesn't mean that you're ultra successful. You got to be successful in every aspect of life. Every aspect. Health, core values, finances, being a good person overall. So now due to optimizing my health, my mindset is just so different. I have so much clarity. I'm so much happier. And people can feel it. People can feel the energy. It's about energy when it comes down to business. And I know in 2025, with a lot of the dental consultants out there providing that level of coaching and expertise and not fulfilling, unfortunately, you're not going to see a lot of these consulting and coaching companies in the next couple years.
--:-- Paul Alex: No, you're not, dude. Because people end up getting burned. And then once they get burned, guess what? They start learning exactly what a good consulting company or a coach is actually about.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Right, exactly. So they're going to go to the real people. That's why I love your concept, dude. You're the real deal. You've got the proof. I'm pretty sure you got the pictures of you in Dominican Republic.
--:-- Paul Alex: I do. I do. So I actually started a community called LivestreamU Community. And it's not only for dentists, it's for entrepreneurs in general, because we all go through burnout. And it's like you say, there's days that I don't want to go to the gym. There's weeks that go by that I don't want to go to the gym. And then all of a sudden I get in this high and I'm like, "Go to the gym three to four times a week." And then all of a sudden, guess what happens? You have a curveball come in life and you're like, "Oh, screw it. I'm not going to the gym this week." And it's the consistency. So this community is for, like, for example, Paul gets in there and it's like, "Get your ass to the gym, guys. Look at me right now at the gym." Or, "What are your challenges that you're going through?" Or, "What merchant services are you using?" Or, "What marketing company are you using?" It's to empower. And a lot of things that people don't ever talk about is just relationships. It's huge.
--:-- Paul Alex: It's huge.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Relationships. I've been a victim of putting my business as a forefront and it's affected my personal relationships. Not only with my soon-to-be ex-wife, which is sad, you never want to end up on this road, but we have a great relationship. We raised the kids beautifully. So we put our hands in God. But relationship with your kids, with your co-workers... I don't know if you've ever had days that you got bad news and you're snapping at people.
--:-- Paul Alex: Happens to everybody, dude. It happens to everybody.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: So you're snapping. That's why it's so important to get that community around you and have those friendships and those bonds to help you through these times.
--:-- Paul Alex: Well, dude, it's like therapy. It's like anything else. And obviously you having dozens and dozens of employees, me myself equivalent to that man, I know the biggest needle mover, especially with retention, of keeping an organization at the size that you have with multiple locations, is you have to be able to actually interact with your people. You have to be able to almost be like their therapist, dude. You got to listen. All the time. Proactively listen, because people are emotional creatures, dude. And what makes the best CEOs and founders, what I've found out, dude, is they care. They care, dude. And it's equivalent to the teachers nowadays, it's equivalent to parents nowadays. Your kids are literally absorbing everything that you're teaching them, everything that you're doing on a daily basis. So as you guys know, the last couple episodes I've said I'm expecting in the next five months.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Thank you, brother.
--:-- Paul Alex: And this is going to be a pivotal change in my life. As you guys that have been following me for the past couple years, you guys are going to see me now become a papa. So with that being said, I want to be the type of dad where, number one, my kid looks at me and is just like, "Wow."
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Lead by example.
--:-- Paul Alex: Yeah. "My dad is a superhero." How are we able to live this life? We're able to travel. We're able to sit in first class. We're able to do this. But I want him to realize it's not because we're lucky. It's because your dad put in the effort and the sacrifice for the family. And that's how you're supposed to lead by example. And then I want my kid to be better than me, dude. I want my kid to freaking dominate. And that's just what it is. I want the legacy. My last name, Espinoza, I want that to be known. When I'm passed away or when I'm a grandpa, I want my kids' kids to be like, "Yo, why do we have all this and my friends don't?" "Oh, it's because grandpa Paul, he was a G."
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Exactly right. That's the way it's supposed to be.
--:-- Paul Alex: Exactly. So yeah, man, it goes deep. So I think you having a community where people can interact is super important, bro. And people need it nowadays. And this is why I created this podcast. It's a self-help podcast, bro. That's how I started. Just five minutes of motivation to help you go through your day and shit. Cause I needed it back in law enforcement. So with that being said, dude, we're coming to the end of the podcast. This was a fire interview. Thank you for coming here, dude. I know you're super busy. But this is a question that I have all my guests do here at The Level Up. So this is your camera. Imagine 100,000 people are going to be listening to your episode the day that it comes out. It's gonna be fire. You're gonna inspire a lot of people with your story, especially you going to Dominican Republic and being like, "Oh yeah, Dr. Alex Planes." They're gonna be excited, dude. So a couple words of motivation. Something that you would tell yourself when you were in the Dominican Republic, bro, before you were actually a dentist, now that you know what you know. What would you tell yourself back then, bro? Like, "Hey, dude, don't do this. Do this instead." Just give them some advice, dude.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Absolutely. So you can follow me at Dr. Alex A. Planes on Instagram, social media. And I also have a website, LivestreamU.com. But when I look back at that time that I was in the Dominican Republic, the most important thing that you got to have is you got to have God first. You got to have major, major spiritual belief that you're going to get through everything. So keep your connection to God very profound and do it daily, even if it's three to five times a day, even if it's for five seconds a day, make sure that you're connected. Be resilient. Be encouraged. Encourage others. Always listen to that word in your head that says, "Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep focused." There's going to be light at the end of the tunnel. Because if you're not focused on those beliefs, you're going to fail. And remember, there's only 1% of the world that can reach a level where you're making seven figures every single year. And you need to make that decision if you're going to stay consistent. And if you really, really want it that badly. Because what we do, for me and Paul, we don't do this for ourselves. We do it to give back. We were actually just talking about how we want to give back to our team and we want to empower our team to be the best versions of themselves. But most importantly, we want to do it for our family, for our moms, for our grandparents, and for our kids. So guys, I'm an open book. You guys can connect with me at DrAlexAPlains or LivestreamU.com. I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. And that is the level up, guys.
--:-- Paul Alex: Guys, if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, make sure to leave a five-star review. Share this with somebody that you care about. Share this with the world, guys. We are ranked number one in business, top 20 in all categories. I'm always going to say this until I get on the show. Rogan, what's up? All right. With that being said, thank you for tuning in. Alex was here, he crushed it. Dr. Alex Planes in the house, guys. Now, if you guys need any advice, whether you're a dentist, aspiring dentist, you loved his story, reach out to him on all his socials, guys. Really nice guy based out here in Florida. With that being said, guys, I will catch you on the next one. Thank you.
--:-- Dr. Alex Planes: Thank you.
