Embracing Life’s Adjustments

Watch the episode here:

• Discover the importance of adapting to life’s changes.
• Learn how to embrace adjustments as opportunities for growth.
• Gain insights into Rick Jordan’s personal experiences with adaptation.
• Understand the power of pivoting in both personal and professional contexts.
• Get motivated to approach life’s twists and turns with a positive mindset.

Hey, what’s shakin’? Hey, I’m Rick Jordan today. We’re going all in. Today, I’m gonna give you some thoughts exactly. I had something lined up for today. And then I went to the dentist this morning. Yep, I went to the dentist. And the reason I went to the dentist is because I’m going through Invisalign. I’m on like, week 13 of 22. And the reason why this is happening is just because I clench a lot, right? It’s not like I don’t have any stress to deal with or anything, but I clench a lot. And it’s meant to just re-angle my back teeth for the most part, and pull them out, though, it’s been going great actually been going really, really good. So we’re sitting there talking, and this got me thinking, and this is why the topic in my mind changed for today we started talking about Invisalign, and how the one that I have is the most expensive one. And there’s a reason for that, because my dentist that I have, he’s a little bit younger than I am. And he has a couple of patents on a product He’s launching, he’s doing that you can look it up, it’s Burton bands, Burton ba nds.com. And it’s this new system to help with fillings. And he showed me the prototypes. He’s been working on this for a few years, he’s launching and got a deal struck with the manufacturer for this thing, they’re actually looking at taking over 25% of the market share of the competitor product. And it’s just amazing what this dude has done. And as he’s talking, he’s a brilliant guy, right? He’s the only one I used to wonder, no joke, I used to wonder why anybody would ever want to be a dentist, or real, it’s like, so frickin boring. And all you deal with is just looking in people’s mouths all day, you have to stare at some ugly teeth, you know, probably for a lot of people, you know, and I can only imagine as people start to get a little bit more elderly, like in their 80s and 90s. 

That’s got to be interesting, or real, that is not something I would ever want to do. I met this dude A little while back because he bought the practice from the dentists that I used to see growing up. And it’s when I got a bat into my tooth when I was coaching T-ball for my kids. And it gave me a vertical root fracture was like it was an emergency, it had to be pulled out. But he saw me he canceled all of his appointments in the afternoon that day, and came with me to the oral surgeon. And the reason is, because this thing had to come out right I was like I want to get the best impression I can possible and I ended up getting an implant. I mean they they loaded it and not loaded it but they put the post in then and did the bone graft that very same day. So it was an emergency but the dude took the rest of his afternoon off I cancelled his appointments to come with me. And that’s an example of the type of service that this guy provides in an urgent type scenario. Oh, the reason why I have the most expensive Invisalign look at that we got him pulled up right there. Yep, he’s an awesome dude. He’s become a friend over the years to be literally because of this stuff. And I go I have tequila with him down at Fat Rosie’s which is an awesome tequila bar and Mexican place right down the street from where his office is we connect we talk you know cuz he’s he’s taken on investors to get this product off the ground. It’s amazing because what used to take an hour for a certain type of filling now takes 15 minutes is product it’s and I’m just talking up his ingenuity because he’s amazing, right? And what used to take 14 tools to do now brought it down to literally this one thing so it’s just he’s revolutionizing in this specific area in the world of dentistry, intelligent guy, super intelligent guy. 

When it comes to Invisalign, which is what I’m getting done. There’s a lot of different levels, right? Just like if you ever look at LASIK, there are a lot of different levels of LASIK. You know, with LASIK, I got the most expensive one too. And the reason I got the most expensive one with LASIK is because you don’t want to have it’s not. It’s not the type of thing where you want to, you know, like get the sale done. Like oh, you know, buy one, I get one half off, you know, did catch the joke there, I hope you do. Because it’s your frickin vision. It’s the same as like, like a vasectomy, right? You know, you don’t want to go like you know, buy one get the other half off. Those are just deals you don’t want to do when it comes to very important things that are on your body, eyes, right down below your teeth or any of that stuff. These different levels, though, when it comes to LASIK, it’s like they gave me a digital mapping of my eye. And that was the reason and the big difference between the price point you know, to take it from I think was like $2,500 to $5,000 literally double the price. And that was the digital mapping because your iris, your cornea is sorry, your cornea is like this whole thing of mountain ranges like these really sharp peaks and valleys. And the digital scan then programs the laser to hit those ones individually versus the regular form, you know, which is half the price and does like one single layer over all of that. 

So if you’re doing it like this, but you still got some little hit below, you know, so it’s almost just like contacts or glasses, and that’s a lot of the reason why people would LASIK When they get it done without the digital mapping because your eyes your cornea is as unique as a fingerprint, why they have the halos around lights, why they have difficulties with nighttime vision, why they might have to have a corrective procedure later on. Right I had mine done eight years ago, still perfect 2015 vision afterward, which is actually more than perfect. No issues. The only thing now is I’m like 44 is my my muscles, which they told me of course, like anybody are starting to go a little weird, but that’s okay. It’s still not bad. And that’s because I spent a lot of time on the screen. If I do exercises with my eyes, yes, it comes right back and it’s a big deal. That’s the reason why I got the highest price LASIK is because it’s my frickin eyes. Okay, I don’t want to mess with my eyes. I don’t want to have any issues like halos or have a corrective procedure, the issues with nighttime vision, and I don’t because I got the best of the best. There were differences in deliverables. Now with Invisalign, there’s a difference in deliverables. And this was one of the things that we were talking about. He’s like, I only do for my patients, I only do the highest one, the premium, the most expensive one. 

And there’s a reason for that is because you can get as many reprints of the trays, they do 3d printing nowadays for these, and you can get as many reprints and corrections along the way as you want. It’s just covered doesn’t matter. When I went in, it was like I was on week 13 of 22, which isn’t bad. I mean, you’re talking 22 weeks is less than half a year, we’re talking five months. That’s it. I’m on week 13 of 22. And now on week 13, which I just put in those trays this morning, I have been right now, you probably can’t even tell. My top teeth are done the movement on my top teeth is over. Now from here on out. It’s just the bottom teeth. But he’s looking at like one tooth up here. And he’s like, we got to pull that one down some more. He’s like that didn’t go in as much as I want it to. So now it’s the correction. So he did a rescan, and everything’s correct at this point. It’s a premium service. But that’s the thing is I’m not paying any more. I’m sure you’re starting to see some similarities here. Another thing we started talking about, was the difference between Invisalign and smile direct. Does anybody remember Smile Direct, from years ago, right? They ended up going bankrupt, I believe in 2019. But Invisalign, because it’s expensive, right too especially the premium one that I have. You used to be able to sign on to Smile Direct that sent me like, they’d send you like a kid. I didn’t do this, but they’d send you a kit for impressions. You know, now with Invisalign, it’s a digital scan, I gotta rescan today to adjust that top tooth, but it uses AI, you know, to fill in the gaps. It’s frickin amazing, you know, there’s no impressions needed no, no, nothing. 

That smile direct, they would send you out the kids to do your impressions. And then they would send you out the trays and get you going on these things. They went bankrupt. And at one point in time, get this you ready at one point in time prior to bankruptcy, they were burning through you, ready? Shocker. $22 million of cash each month, $22 million of cash every single month. And the issues that they came into because they kept having to remake these trays. They kept having to do this. And the problem is, is that they’re trying to compete and go direct to consumer, bypassing the dentist, bypassing the expert and going direct to consumer, just giving them a product that they said was going to produce the same outcome, the same end result. And it didn’t work. The issue is that they had the biggest problem and as Dennis and I were talking this morning about this, he said Rick is the biggest one remember he’s in his upper 30s Right? Young dude, right? This isn’t like an 80-year-old dentist or something like that. It’s been it’s a guy who has now patents under his name for this new product that He’s launching. He’s revolutionizing the dental industry and speaks at the College of dental Association because he’s groundbreaking in his area of dentistry. absolutely groundbreaking, and the guy has a head on his shoulders. It’s more like an analytical rather than actually like an engineer kind of a dentist thing. He sees a problem and he goes in there and fills the gap. Brilliant dude. He goes, Rick, the problem is, with Smile Direct, the reason why they went bankrupt is because they just couldn’t say no.

And what happens with Invisalign, just like LASIK is you’re supposed to go in for an evaluation, and the evaluation determines and qualifies you or disqualifies you as to whether you are a candidate. That’s one thing that Smile Direct did not do. They literally accepted everybody. And that’s where they screwed up. That’s where they got lawsuits. That’s why they have issues with the products. That’s where they couldn’t keep up and they kept burning through cash because they couldn’t say no, they didn’t have a method in place to be able to say no to P People that were not right for their service for their product. And the only thing that they needed as he and I were talking, as Matt and I were talking, the only thing that they really needed was just somebody that could qualify them. That’s it. Somebody who could qualify candidates didn’t even have to be a dentist. Because I mean, again, with what I did today, I mean, he did some more on the bottom teeth, because remember, I said that I still have to go through the next. It’s, what is it 1320 to nine weeks, that’s it nine weeks. And he still had to like to shave down, like take a little bit off so that my teeth can move and provide some space, you know, it was a very white glove scenario that just does not get that job done when there’s not a person that’s managing the process, or even more so a person that qualified me whether I was a candidate, to begin with, or not. These are things that are important. 

Now, as I look at reach out, as I look at cybersecurity, as we begin to go direct to certain areas, right, there are processes that we’re going to still have in place to be able to say, no, now whether that’s because somebody doesn’t pay the right price, they’re not the right customer at the right price. They don’t want to get exactly what’s needed in order to get the job done to produce the desired end states. Or maybe they’re just not a candidate, because they don’t have a history. And this is important, they don’t have a history, doesn’t matter what business anybody is in. If you have if you’re trying to take on a customer or a client that does not have a history of being able to be committed to the end to see the result. That was one of the initial things he told me, he’s like, I need to understand my dentist. So I need to understand that if we do this, you’re going to wear these things, you’re going to be disciplined to the point to where these things are always in every minute that you can possibly have them. And because they’re supposed to be in 23 hours a day. That’s what they say. But really, it’s like 19 hours, because I mean eating all of that, right? And that’s what he kind of told me is like a footnote. However, I’m like, Dude, I go on TV shows, right? I, I’m not gonna have these in because it’s hard to talk for a period of time, like even right now, as I’m talking to you.

Even right now my mouth is getting dry. Because as you do these things and speak for a long time like this, it sucks up all the moisture in your mouth, it’s a little more difficult when you have these types of long conversations, my daughter is 16 years old, and also going through Invisalign. She’s in theater, she takes him out when she has rehearsal, he’s like no problem, we can accommodate for that, we can just extend the amount of time each tray. So if you have to leave it out for five hours, that week because you’re doing a couple of episodes on a TV show, that’s fine, just extend it on the end, no big deal, we can accommodate for that. If you need to do it two days in a row, that’s just keeping track of the hours. And over the last 13 weeks, I’ve kept track of this because, over the last 13 weeks, I’m off by about a week. So I’ve extended a day, probably every other week over the past 13 weeks, because I’m behind by about a week. But it’s more like it’s just extended because I’ve kept track of this and have been doing it exactly according to the instructions that I have been given to produce the result that I need. I hope you’re tracking with me. Because if somebody that you’re trying to offer a service to or a product will not do their part will not do what they need to do to get the desired end state that you guys mutually agreed upon. Here’s the blunt truth, straight up, they are not a candidate. And it is okay. And necessary and mandatory for you to say, no. That is one of the most important things in any sort of role that you’re in business I’ve told you about the word can’t write. And it’s not like we can’t help you. That isn’t what we phrase it as it’s like, no, we won’t help you because or we don’t help people in your position or companies in your position. Because Would you care to reevaluate? Because if you’re telling me that you want this, you know, and this is where it’s reframing, whether you’re in a service, desk position, a help desk position, or whether you’re in sales, whether you’re an account management, whether you’re generating a new line of business for the company, it doesn’t matter. What you need to do is have this conversation and mutually agree upon a desired end state and get their commitment level to that desired end state.

On a scale of one to 10, How committed are you to getting this done? And if they say I want your product, I want your service. It’s like, well, no, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about the product, the individual things, or the individual services that go into this bundle. This is the solution that we provide. I’m talking about a desired end state. I’m talking about what it’s going look like six months from now when all these things are done, when we onboard you, when we go through everything and document stuff when we get the right equipment in place and standardize you, this is what it’s going to look like. That’s what I’m talking about what this is going to look like, you’re gonna apply this to a lot of things like no joke, if you’re getting involved in like a relationship or something like that. And you’re saying, Hey, I know what I want this to look like. It’s not, rather than focusing on like, we’re getting together or we’re getting married, you know, whatever it is, because there’s so much Oh, I got engaged, and you get so hyped up in the moment and everything you forget to have the hard conversations before you jump into that thing before because you probably have an idea of what it’s going to look like 10 years from now, what you want it to look like your desired end state. That’s the conversation in business and relationships to Yes, but in business, in any sort of exchange in business that you have to have. What does this look like for you when that’s the part you agree upon, just like my Invisalign, right, even though the time was extended a little bit, even though I just got to rescan for an adjustment for one tooth, the outcome, the desired end state does not change. I don’t care if there are 18 million adjustments in the middle of it.

This is even in our plan with the company and going public and accomplishing the acquisitions that we have, I don’t care and I need everybody to hear me on this. I don’t care if we have to adjust 18,000 times. That’s good. Because if we don’t adjust, we’re not going to get to that desired end state. There’s no way because there are things that will come up things that happen in whatever you’re trying to deliver whatever you’re trying to do your relationship in the sale with a customer with a public company, it doesn’t matter, there are things that you will try to do and accomplish in your life. And you will have to adjust the entire way. Maybe 1000s of times micro-adjustments, large adjustments, medium size adjustments, I don’t care, you’re gonna have to because if you don’t, you will never get there. So if you get frustrated in the moments where you’re like, oh, man, I gotta, I gotta make a shift. I got to do that good. If you get frustrated, because something doesn’t happen the way you thought it was going to do and your perfect plan, good. Because that means you’re gonna learn. If something hits you and you get a financial hit or something like that, good. Now you’ve got something to work through because you’re going to come out of that and know how to deal with it if it happens again. But you’re still going to make it you’re still going to get to that end result. That desired end, state that outcome because you adjust it maybe 18,000 times. be frustrated, but then be grateful because you’re learning everything you can along the way, every possible thing along the way. And it’s also okay to get to that desired end state to tell someone no

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