Secure Dental Podcast_Dr. Jeff Anzalone: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Secure Dental Podcast_Dr. Jeff Anzalone: 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:
Hey, everyone! This is Dr. Noel Liu. This is another segment of our Secure Dental podcast. And today, I have a good friend and a colleague, Dr. Jeff Anzalone. He is a full-time practicing periodontist in this great state of Louisiana, author, and founder of DebtFreeDr.com. He focuses on helping doctors and other high-income professionals create passive income from real estate so they can stop trading time for money. All right, Dr. Anzalone, what's going on? So, let's share, and let's dive straight in. What is this bio? What are we talking about here?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yeah, I had a kind of a thing happen to me that kind of brought me on this path. I got screwed out of a deal when I got out of my residency. I was supposed to join a group, but unfortunately, it fell through. Had to figure out how to open my own practice, had $300,000 student loan debt, a two-month-old, we already bought a house, so I was literally in survival mode; went down the Dave Ramsey debt snowball path, you know, which probably most of y'all know about. But once I got to the point where I went through all of the steps, it was, now what? We're just going to work and just doing stuff with kids, and I was like, I guess this is what everybody does for the next 30 years. But then I had something interesting happen to me, as you alluded to a little bit earlier: injured my wrist snow skiing, and that was my aha moment, wake up moment because as a dentist, as a periodontist for dentists, if we can't use our hands, you got to hold a handpiece in your mouth or something or with your foot. I don't know, it's hard to do, huh?

Dr. Noel Liu:
How many years out were you when you hurt your wrist?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
I would say probably 9 or 10 years out.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Wow, so what went through your mind at that time when this happened? Because I know you were, like, comfortable with a lifestyle, right?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yeah, it's almost like sometimes when you ever get that feeling if you're, if a noise or something wakes you up at night and you know how you immediately you just your heart starts beating, your mouth gets dry, you're just like, oh.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Absolutely.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Like just like that, like within a second, that fight or flight reaction. It was more of a slower progression because boom, I hurt my wrist. I was just focused on my wrist. Like, man, I hope I didn't break it or whatever and got it checked out. And luckily, it wasn't, but then it was just, man, it was all those what-ifs.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
What if it was broken? What if it went numb? What if I couldn't work for two months, three months, six months? I'm by myself. So that was, that's what really got me focused on that.

Dr. Noel Liu:
And you and I, we both know how well the disability insurance works, right?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yeah.

Dr. Noel Liu:
You got to wait 90 days, and then only if they will deem you're not able to work. So this is what this is the essence of our profession. If we do not work, we don't have hands, we cannot generate income. That's plain and simple. And for you to go through that and you had this whole mind shift. So what is it that brought about for you to think about, Hey, I need an alternative way of making income.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yeah, for me, it's a little bit different because most of the people that I talk to now and that are in your group, which is fantastic, by the way. They're focused on, Hey, I just want multiple streams of income, I'm still working. You know, maybe I want to buy some other stuff, maybe I want to slow down, maybe I want to retire early, or whatever, so that's what they're thinking. Me, on the other hand, I was thinking like, insurance policy. Like I got to do something to mitigate the risk if this happens again. And I'm actually standing on a broken foot right now because I'm an active man, and I'm always, sometimes I'm getting injured, so I'm not going to live life in fear. I knew that going forward, there's no way I could do that with teenage kids. That's what it was for me. And I spent months and months YouTube videos, podcasts, articles, Facebook group, and if I could consolidate all of that down to two main points for your audience, it's this. Number one, and it's about wealthy people, really wealthy people. They all have multiple income streams, correct?

Dr. Noel Liu:
Correct.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Dentists, most dentists have one. Number two is, they own real estate, they own businesses, they own cash. If you go to, I'll go to conferences with people that are 15, 50, $100, million net worth people. You're like, Hey, what do you do for a living? They don't do, they're not like, Oh, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a, they don't they're like, I own these businesses, I own this type, it's like they own stuff. So, I knew only having one income stream, and I didn't have any businesses or real estate, that's what I needed to focus on.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So that's huge because most of us are worried about the income stream that's coming in later. Do we think about when I say income, I mean like the employee mindset? And when you're talking about multiple businesses, we are talking about like how Robert Kiyosaki says the B and the I, and that's where I see that you are focusing on. With that being said, are you still practicing right now?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
I'm practicing part-time right now, and I'm retiring to something. So the goal is to retire to the real estate businesses, the things that are, and you've mentioned a mindset already several times, so I think that's really important, that dentists, we get the correct mindset not just in money but in anything. If you want to get your health better wealth, if you want to get better, your marriage, with your relationship with your kids, whatever, it starts right here, but really, until you get control of your mindset first, you're going to have a hard time with those different ideas. So I'm, I've been sharing a little bit, and I'll come out of my comfort zone because I'm not a big Instagram person, but I've started sharing different things that I do on a personal basis every day on Instagram. That kind of helps me focus on what I'm reading, what I'm eating, how I'm working out, how am I doing with my kids, my wife.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Love it.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
And then once people see how other people are actually living, they're not just talking about one thing, I think that will help them, so we'll see.

Dr. Noel Liu:
No, that's so true, because a lot of times when we see people or when we follow somebody, it's very simple, right? Success ... clues, and we always want to pick up on those clues and find out like, what are the successful guys doing, and maybe we want to follow the same suit. And like the fact, what you just said, you are a part-time practicing periodontist, but you have this other side thing going on which is running parallel. Is that correct to say, like with your business at this point, and slowly you want to migrate from being a doc full-time and then being full real estate, correct? So, how long of a journey do you think if somebody is listening to this here, do you think would should someone anticipate? It's not an overnight thing, of course, right? What would you say if somebody goes, hey, I'm practicing, I got a one practice going, and it's like really killing it? I'm doing like a million and a half to $2 million a year. How do I take that so that I'm not trading time for money, and how do I take it and put it into real estate or something like what you did to transition? What would be your advice like time frame wise, money-wise? Just an overall from a 30,000-feet view?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know. Did you watch the last dance with the Chicago Bulls? Did you watch the documentary? So, I was a big Jordan fan growing up, he was my idol in high school, college. And you always just watch these people like him or Kobe or whoever your favorite sports star or whatever, and you just see them on TV once a week, and you're like, That dude's great. But then you see a documentary like that, and you see that dude ate, slept, drank, it was 100%, mindset was focused on basketball being the best. And once you see what it takes to get to that level, most of the time, people are not going to do it, because think about the really, there's only just a few great people. So I say that to say this. The majority, unfortunately, the majority of the people will, won't do this because they're comfortable, like you said, White. And that's just for me, and I've got over 22, 2100 people in my group now, my passive investing group, that are in the group. That doesn't mean they've all invested in something, but they get in there, and they're just, hey, I'm comfortable, and people don't like to change. And really, the people that come in that have the goals that have, I want to do this and this. I want to have $100,000 of passive income coming in three years or less, and this is how much I can invest. People that come in like that, typically, they've had a moment like I've had with the wrist injury or something like that to really-

Dr. Noel Liu:
Exactly.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Get them focused. Think about your practice. Most of the time, if you're busy, if you're booked out for weeks or months, you got a ton of patients in the book. Are you thinking about marketing your practice? No, right? Because you're busy. What happens as soon as the phone stops ringing and there's all these empty spots in your schedule?

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, you're running, yeah. You're struggling at that time. You're trying to look for answers.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
So that usually, that's the analogy that I give you. We're just cruising along, everything's good, then all of a sudden it takes something like that to go, Oh, crap, I got to do something about it. And again, it could be a heart attack, or it could be a, or it could be chest pain to get them to start eating right to healthy or whatever. So it's just, unfortunately, it takes people to get to that level. My thing is, I'm trying to teach people to work on it before it's too late.

Dr. Noel Liu:
That's huge, man, what you just said. Because a lot of times we always sit on the fence. We always wish, Hey, I wish we could have done this, wish we could have done that, and now it's too late, but when the time is there, we don't have the sense of urgency. And that's where a lot of our colleagues, too, they'll just sit down there, but not taking any action. I'm just really amazed, like how you actually thought about it, because now let me ask you this question here, right? If that injury would not have happened, do you think you would have thought about that?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
No, and that's the sad thing about it, because I didn't even know about it. And that's another thing that I was, that was my number one reason for starting my blog, starting the YouTube channel, is because I don't know if that dates back from like dental school, how as a specialist, you typically had to try to be in the top of your class. A lot of times we would get all pissed or we would have stuff and we would hoard it, right? We were just like looking out for us, unfortunately. So I don't know if people get like success and they don't tell other people about it. To me, I don't need any more money. I don't need to buy stuff, I don't need to travel. It's just to me, I get more pleasure, like just helping other people, sharing stuff, making the connections, and seeing that chain. And I think if more people do that, and that's why I'm always like, Look, I'll tell somebody, I'll tell them exactly what to do and I'll say, Look, if you do this and you're successful, do me a favor: make sure you tell other people.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Absolutely.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Because what's the point to hoard it all? And I would have never known that. So it took the wrist injury to go down the path to do it. So now hopefully I'll start getting the word out more and other people will get the word out more to help mitigate the risks that we all face. And I had an article that was published that Kevin, you ever heard of Kevin MD?

Dr. Noel Liu:
No.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
KevinMD.com. He's a really big social media guy or whatever. And it was and he wanted me to write an article about

Dr. Noel Liu:
Nice.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
We call it the Silent Threat. It's the one income that doctors and dentists are relying on. It's the silent threat, and that's really what it is.

Dr. Noel Liu:
This is so important because I think we need to drive this point home really hard, that as professionals as dentists or specialists or even an MD, we need to understand like trading time for money, just that one income source, and in your case, you had a wrist injury. So before something like catastrophic happens, the best way I would say is, start looking into it, and like you said about the mindset shift, that's so huge because without that, like there is no other way that anybody would take action. So if there was one point that you would really advise or you would like to drive home again is, what would that be for someone like sitting on the fence or somebody thinking about it? Hey, I need to have a second source. I do not want to go through that, I got family that I got to feed. What would it be like so that they can say, Hey, you know what, I'm going to start looking into it, and I want to take action like now?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
The easiest thing to do is something that both you and I have done and other hundreds, probably thousands of other successful entrepreneurs, is read The Purple Bible: Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Purple Bible. I love that.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
You haven't read the Purple Bible. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It was written, I think, in 1997. It was published in '97, which is funny because I read The Millionaire Next Door, which was published in the year before, '96, when I was a senior in college, and two totally different views. But you can actually take a little bit from each and learn from it. But when you read that book, if you're a dentist and you read that book, the light.

Dr. Noel Liu:
It will change your life.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
It will change. It's not going to tell you how to do stuff, but once you read it, you're going to get in the mindset of, Holy cow, this is how I've been operating financially and with my health and with everything else. And it goes back to the phrase, You don't know what you don't know.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Absolutely.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
You don't know it. And then when you read it, you're like, Wow, I cannot believe that we weren't taught this in dental school. It's like a disservice. So there's a DO school here in my hometown in Louisiana, and I'm always, I went and spoke to them last year about it, and they're sitting in the front going, Yeah, so just get the word out. Just tell people, just get the word out to people. If you got a kid, if you got a teenager, start just start pouring into them. Just give them those options. If not, they're just going to do what everybody else does.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Precisely. I was just at this last week, this weekend, I just had the summer ..., and Kiyosaki was there.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Oh, awesome.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yeah, great personality. I saw him live for the first time. It really hit hard. He was like, Dave Ramsey's teaching is great and he loves Dave Ramsey, by the way, his teachings are great, but here's the thing, it's meant for the 95% of the masses, and that's what he said. If you want to be the top entrepreneur, like you said, the purple book, just go and follow that with the B and the I in the quadrant that he explains really so well. And one thing that I did right away was he spoke about his Cashflow board game and that is something I just went ahead and got it for my kids. This is something I would definitely would want to invest in because.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
I got a funny story for you about that.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yeah, tell us.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
I bought that game on, my kids are 18 and 16 now, so my youngest was probably 10, 11.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Yeah.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
So the goal is to get out of the rat race and you go around the board and you do all this stuff. So of course he gets out of, my son Benton, he gets out of the rat race first. So it was my turn to spin, so I spun and did the cards or whatever and said, "Dad, are you out of the rat race?" "No. You can see I still have my cards. I'm still in the rat race." He's, "No. Are you still in the rat race? Like every day? For real?" I was like, "You mean, for real? Yeah." And he looked at me and he was like, "Man, that's got to suck". And I'll never forget that. So my 11-year-old was just, like, pounding it home to me. Dude, you got to get out of the rat race. So if you can instill that in your kids early on, then hopefully that'll be in the back of their mind.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Exactly. Exactly.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
But again, it's about the mindset.

Dr. Noel Liu:
It's about the mindset. It's about a mindset. So right now, some of the listeners there, they want to learn more about Debt Free Dr, right? where they just go DebtFreeDr.com. Any other links?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
You can do that, DebtFreeDr.com. My YouTube channel link is on there or you can follow me @DrJeffAnzalone on Instagram.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, that's great, Jeff. We'll definitely have this on our Facebook group for sure. And we definitely want to drive this home. Hey, we all as professionals, we need to think about it. What's going to happen for our future?

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Absolutely. Perfect.

Dr. Noel Liu:
So, Jeff, thanks so much again for coming in and driving that message home for us and our audience. I really look forward to connecting again, for sure. And ladies and gentlemen, this is the end. We're going to land our plane here. Again, thanks again. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Jeff, for coming in. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to like and subscribe. And this is the end of our Secure Dental podcast. Thanks, Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Anzalone:
Yes, sir. Thank you.

Dr. Noel Liu:
Thanks for tuning in to 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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