SD_Mary Kang.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

SD_Mary Kang.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Welcome to the Secure Dental Podcast. Through conversations with the brightest minds in the dental and business communities, we'll share practical tips you can use to scale your practice and create financial freedom for yourself and your family. My name is Dr. Noel Liu, CEO and Dentist at Secure Dental, and also co-founder of DentVia. I'm your host for the Secure Dental podcast and I'm so glad you're joining in.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Hello, everyone. This is Dr. Noel Liu at the Secure Dental podcast. We have another episode with someone I just met and such an amazing person, Dr. Mary Kang. We met at the Korean Student Dental Association event, and she and I have the same mindset with everything related to dentistry and investments. So I would like to welcome Dr. Kang here. Dr. Kang, tell us a little bit about yourself. I know you told me briefly. You graduated in 2006 from NYU College of Dentistry, did a lot of things in dental, and spent years and decades advancing the field of dentistry as well as implant dentistry. So just give us a little brief overview of how you started right after dental school and what got you in where you are today.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Oh, yeah. Well, thank you for having me. It's such an honor. So when I went into dental school, I don't know about you, but back then, after you finished, a GPR was not a requirement. But I love to learn. So I decided to do a GPR, and after I did my GPR, I still wanted to learn. So I went back for my post-grad prosthodontics training at NYU. And then, when I did my PD cross-training, there was just one maxillofacial faculty. For some reason, I think he saw potential in me, and every time he was in, he would schedule a maxillofacial patient and be like, Okay, Mary, you're going to work on this case with me. So everyone say morning, it was a maxillofacial patient with him. And then he encouraged me to do maxillofacial prosthodontics. So then I did my fellowship after my cross-training out at UCLA. And then, when I was at UCLA, the director there was also like, Oh, there's another program at MD Anderson where you place the surgery, like the implants in the head and neck cancer and trauma patients, why don't you do another fellowship out there? And I love to learn. So I said, Sure, why not? So I went to MD Anderson. I did the implant fellowship there on the head and neck cancer and trauma patients. And then when I finished, I moved back to New York and I started working in private practice full-time. But someone found out that I moved back to New York and I was in town, and they said, There's a full-time position open for you to teach. They said, You need to apply right now. And I said, No, like, I'm working. I'm making good money, paying off my student loans. And.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So what year was this?

Dr. Mary Kang:
This was 2012, 11-12.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, wow. Okay.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. They were like, Just apply. Like, you're perfect for the position. It's an implant department. They do their own restorations. And so I applied. And I didn't think I was going to get it because you had to give a lecture in front of the entire department. And I hate public speaking. And I like, didn't want to do it. And when I gave it, I thought I did a horrible job. I'm like, I am not getting this position. That went so horribly. But amazingly, they hired me. They said, We want you full-time. And I was like, What? So I've been yeah, I've been teaching over the years now.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So what was the lecture about?

Dr. Mary Kang:
The lecture was, yeah, it was about like the head and neck cancer, trauma patients, all the case presentations that I did. I worked with a lot of implant restorations. So I just put together all the cases that I did.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Awesome.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. But I thought it went horribly.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Well, we always are our worst critics, aren't we? And especially like, with public speaking or like any kind of like self-image or, we always have this self-doubt. So what's going on, like, after you got the job, what was next for you? Were you like straight were you just faculty only or did you like, go into like, the implant place, implant center?

Dr. Mary Kang:
So I teach in the perio implant side because they restore their own implants. So I've been there over ten years now, if you can believe. I can't believe it. But while I was there, I like to do stuff with impact. I don't like to waste time. I like to do things that's meaningful and you create impact in people's lives. Which is why I got into dentistry. And I was actually on the path to become the Dean. I applied for this position called the Leadership Institute, where they trained dental faculties nationwide, and they train you to become deans eventually when it becomes our time. So I applied to that program and I got accepted. And that's where I learned about real estate investing, because sure, I have all these titles, degrees, awards, and I realize it doesn't mean anything. So that's where I learned about real estate investing, ironically.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So was it that one event or was it like a series of events that kind of sparked that interest for you?

Dr. Mary Kang:
So it was actually at the Leadership Institute. So there were about 30 dental faculties from nationwide, and they divided us into groups, and each group had a dental Dean be our mentor for the year. It's a one-year program. So on the first day of orientation, he was sitting across from me, the Dean of the dental school, and I just asked him. I said, Hey, can I ask you a question? And he was like, Yeah, sure. And I said, What do you do as Dean of a dental school? Because if I want to do this, I want to know what I'm getting myself into. And he was like, What do you mean? And I'm like, What's your day like, day in, day out? What do you do every day? And guess what his response was? What do you think of dental Dean?

Dr. Noel Liu:
That's a valid question.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah, but what do you think a dental Dean does every day as part of their duties?

Dr. Noel Liu:
I don't know, maybe meeting people, right? ... need to tell you.

Dr. Mary Kang:
So I went there because I wanted to create an impact. But there are so many problems in the dental school. And I've been a student. You went to NYU. I was a dental student there, post-grad there. I'm a faculty there. I see so many problems. I'm like, why aren't these problems getting fixed? And i think you understand as an entrepreneur, if there's a problem, you want to fix it. So that's why I applied for this Leadership Institute program. And surprisingly, his response as Dean of a dental school was he fundraises every day for the school. And in my head, I'm thinking, what the heck?

Dr. Noel Liu:
Wow. Okay.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah, like number one, I don't like to ask anyone for anything, let alone money. And that's what he does every day. So I was like, oh my God, what did I get myself into? I thought, as a Dean, you could make change in the dental school, which is probably why there is no progress sometimes in certain dental schools. But he said he fundraises. So I said, Oh, you mean from alumni? And he said, No, alumnis are the worst. They never donate. And in my head, I knew alumnis don't donate because I know how they treat the students. And my philosophy is if you treat the students well, they do well in society, they'll contribute back. Like, it should be a full circle, revolving circle, right? If they treat the students well, they do well in society and they ask for donations, you're like, Oh, they were good to me, I'll donate back. But from what I've heard from other alumnis, most don't donate. And when my classmates found out I was teaching, their response was, How could you even step foot near that school? And I'm like, You know, we did get our degrees from there. So he said, Alumnis don't donate. So I already knew the answer. And then I said, So who's your number one donor? And guess what his response was?

Dr. Noel Liu:
Investors?

Dr. Mary Kang:
Real estate investor. And I never heard that term before. I said, What's a real estate investor? And he's telling me what they do. And then it just clicked in my head. I'm like, Oh, if I want to make a change, I can't do it being a dean of a dental school. I need to be one of these real estate investors that have some money to donate to these schools to make the changes through money.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Amazing. Your velocity, like, just opened another door for you.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. And then my phone is listening to me because I started getting advertisements on real estate investing. So I'm at the Leadership Institute, and I'm scrolling through my phone and I'm getting advertisements on real estate investing, and I read one summary of a book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, love it. Yes.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Never heard of him.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Changed, changed a lot of people's lives.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. So I ordered that book while I was at that meeting, and then it arrived when I came home and I couldn't put it down. As soon as I read it, it shifted. Something clicked in my head and I said, Oh my God, what have I been doing my entire, I'm poor dad!

Dr. Noel Liu:
All this time, right. All this time.

Dr. Mary Kang:
I have all these degrees, all these awards. Who cares? I have all these student loans, and I was going to take out more student loans to get my PhD to fulfill this Dean position. And I'm like, Oh my God, thank God for Robert Kiyosaki and that book because he saved my life. He literally saved my life.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Can you imagine if you would have gone another 20 years in the same path without knowing all this stuff? It would have been like a knowledge just wasted. I mean, this is something which I always keep telling everyone, it's, we are always trading time for money. And what you've just realized that the fact that you can actually start using money as using time in your favor, that's huge. I just love. It just resonates what you just said. I can't agree more.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. And now I feel like I want to educate the students and healthcare professionals because when I ask them, what do you invest in, what's your retirement plan? A lot of them don't know and they go, I have a financial advisor, they take care of it. And I don't blame them. I was like that as well. But now I'm so fully aware of finances and money and how it works.

Dr. Noel Liu:
No, that's great. So how long have you been an investor right now in real estate? So what is the time frame? So like, you went to the leadership. What was the year then and what's until now? What was that about like, four years, five years?

Dr. Mary Kang:
No, it's only been a year, maybe a half?

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh wow. Wow. And look at you. You already look like you're a seasoned player in the field.

Dr. Mary Kang:
You know, I'm, like, obsessed. Every waking moment I have, from the moment I wake up till the moment I go to sleep, even during my lunch break, every free moment I have, I'm listening to a podcast, I'm reading a book because I lost so many years of opportunity costs, of me spending all these years for all my education. I lost 20 years of my life going down that path.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Precisely. Precisely. And I can totally agree with you because I'm the same thing. I started my personal development journey, I think about five years ago, and the same exact thing. I mean, I was overweight, I had all kinds of health problems, I mean, you name it. But the day when you started changing yourself and started investing in myself, that's when everything shifted. Because we are the product, our product, everything else outside is like a product of our thinking. And what you're doing is amazing. So I know you're really excited about it. It's been a year and a half. What's your goal and what's your plan like? What are you planning to do like, in the next five years? So where is Mary going to be in the next five years?

Dr. Mary Kang:
My goal, I want to make my million first. In five years, I really want my freedom. I want my time freedom, financial freedom, which coincides with your time freedom. But yeah, that's all I want. I want to be able to do what I want, when I want, without people telling me, You can't do this, you can't do that. I think your freedom is so important. And without money, you'll never have freedom.

Dr. Noel Liu:
You know, I always say, no matter how many degrees we can have in front of our names, at the end of the day, you still need that financial security and the financial independence. Because here's the thing, tou and I will probably still be doing dentistry, right? But we will be doing dentistry on our own terms, right? Like, you just said it, like, when do you want to do it? Or how you want to do it? And whenever you want to take off, you just take off. And whenever you take a vacation, you just do it.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So now with just students there, what are you doing with them now? I know they are doing their implant course there. They're doing periodontology. So with that being said, I'm sure they're having a different trajectory in their lives with you being there, right? Tell me how is that affecting them. I'd love to hear it.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Not all the students know because they're there for their dental education.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, of course.

Dr. Mary Kang:
The priority is their dental education, and I'm there to guide them for that. But the few that found out that I do have this other life, they've sought out some guidance from me, and I love guiding them just on mistakes I've made so they don't repeat the same mistakes, like taking out so many student loans, going for higher education. And I'm like, If you have student loans, why would you take out more loans and more debt? I asked them what they want in life. What's your goal? And I know everyone's goals changes throughout the years. Yeah, I think they're shortsighted and they see so like tunnel vision. I'm trying to expand their thoughts and horizons on what they can achieve, so.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, that's great. That's how we were in dental school, right, when we were in school. No, that's amazing. That's amazing. So I just want to ask you a last question here, is very, very simple. What else, like, how can we be of service to you, your students, you know, anything that we can help out with? Because what you're doing is really, really amazing. The fact that trying to help them out with their mindset, trying to help them out with personal development, investments. This is a great one I'm hearing from you.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah. They definitely don't get any education on finances. So I want to be able to, like, provide that, not only for the dental students, but even my colleagues. When I speak to them about their retirement plans, I ash, What's your average annualized return on your investments? Most of them are invested in the stock market. They don't know. I'm like, What are you invested in? Oh, I don't know, one of those funds or my financial advisor. I'm trying to educate them. I go, You know, you're probably an accredited investor. As a credit investor, you have so many opportunities before you. They just don't know. And I feel like, yeah, and it's the fear of the unknown. So I just want them to be aware of what the options are because it's not just cookie cutter, oh, you work for 20 years. You get your retirement plan, like you left. Like, that's so ridiculous. For me, that's jail. I'm like, this is jail. And it's like hell for me. I'm like, no.

Dr. Noel Liu:
You know, the stock market was made for the masses. And seriously, because a lot of times people don't how to manage their money. And that's where the market is for. So with that being said, you are probably out of the stock market, right?

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah, I cashed out all my positions.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Cool.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yep, and. Yeah.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Awesome.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yep. Same here, same here. Well, Mary, is there anything else, I mean, what else can people like listening to this, if they want to reach out to you? And something along those lines about what you're doing for a lot of the dentists out there, like accredited investors, I know, like a lot of times we have opportunities. Is there anything that you would want people to reach out to you? Any number, contact, I mean email, or site, or?

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah, they could look me up on Instagram, dr.mary.kang.dds. Yeah, I've been trying to put more educational content out there, the good that we're doing. We're actually, there's a group, I'm part of this mastermind, and we recently had a $100 tip cleanse. So every time we go out to eat, everyone brings out $100 cash. And at the end of the meal, we surprise the waiters and the waitresses with the wad of cash. So we just did this event last week, just creating positive impact. We collected $2,301 for the waitstaff, and then we presented it to them. But I just need to do stuff with meaning and impact. Like, if you tell me to do things to check off something on a box, like, I'm not made to fit in a box. So.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Sure, sure. So you found your purpose. You always had this want. That's great. That's great. Well, Mary, I appreciate your time so much for coming up. And this was awesome, awesome episode, I mean. This is something which I think, this is the first time I have someone like real estate dentist at the same time, and what you've been doing and impacting other people. So thanks again for coming on.

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah, what you're doing is great too. I mean when I read your scenario, like your bio for that meeting, I was like, I'm not going for anyone else but this guy. So I thknk it's great.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yeah, like-minded, right?

Dr. Mary Kang:
Yeah.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So great. Yeah. Thanks for coming in. And yeah, we welcome to have you back again with more achievements and more accolades as you go down the road. Definitely discuss more ideas. So thanks again, Mary. Well, everyone, yeah, thanks again for listening and watching. So like and subscribe. This is Dr. Noel Liu checking out from our Secure Dental podcast. Thank you.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Thanks for tuning into the Secure Dental Podcast. We hope you found today's podcast inspiring and useful to your practice and financial growth. For show notes, resources, and ways to stay engaged with us, visit us at NoelLiuDDS.com. That's N O E L L I U D D S.com.

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