Dentist's Life-Changing Transformation: How SummaUp Revolutionized My Career and Happiness

0:00 also came a point where you say, Look, you have to just take the leap and do something, the more you think the longer it's going to take, the harder it becomes for you to make a decision. 0:20 Okay, guys, it's Dr. Ryan and today we're going to talk with one of my patients about his experience with Summa meal. Why don't you go ahead and start, why don't you tell us a little bit, a little bit about yourself, where you're from, what exactly you do and some of your hobbies. 0:35 Alright, so I My name is Neil. I'm a dentist, anesthesiologist. And I see kids in dental offices every day who need treatment under general anesthesia. So that's what I do on a day to day basis. I live in Southern California, originally from the island of Barbados, actually, I been doing CrossFit for a number of years now. So going to the gym and working out is really a hobby for me. I'm kind of 1:02 curious as what your situation was, like prior to starting with Zoom up? In other words, what were some of the problems that you were trying to solve? And I'm asking in terms of these problems, specifically, in terms of your business, perhaps your family dynamics, your energy levels, motivation, mood, any physical symptoms, you have, like, what were you trying to fix, so to speak, 1:23 the easiest one would be health wise, I mean, I've always been pretty healthy. But as business got a little bit busier, it was hard to be able to dialing the way I used to before. And not only that, as you get older, the effort you have to put in to be where you want to be physically mentally that you know, it takes a lot, a lot more effort, I was really trying to get more sleep, for example, get rid of some brain fog I was having and just overall tried to organize and, and get better at structuring my business and trying to make that grow and take off and stuff like that it was becoming much harder to put all those pieces together, go into things that I was accustomed doing before you have to, to be able to have all aspects of your life kind of lined up and come together to may not be perfect, but they should be going in a similar direction. I feel that at that point, I feel like, you know, it wasn't working very well. For me, I've always had a great memory, it was always good at remembering a lot of concepts really easily, I can just read it one time. And I would remember there's no need for me to but I found myself the last number of years having to read and reread stuff to make it stick, you know, it was really hard to do so that that that was frustrating for me because I had never happened to me before it was really easy for me to do that. The other thing that was easy is that it was easy for me to wasn't behind the gym and I was consistent for at least two three weeks results would happen, you know, just at the snap of a finger, it was not much effort to do all those things for me, if my if I feel like you know, I'm not like in on all cylinders as I used to before all of a sudden, that translates you get a little depressed, anxious. And that translates into everything else, right. So everything else is affected business, which for me, it was it was just, you know, just not uncertain, it just not the same as it used to be, you know, I'm a person who's very decisive and one, all of that just went by the wayside for me. So I think one aspect impacted the other and it kind of just snowballed from there. 3:41 And visits like yourself, you're essentially selling yourself here highly competent than on it's easy. ologists and, and you provide competent care to many different clinics in the area, you know, having high energy levels not having confidence and you obviously can, can make a big, big to turn into to bring in more practices, right? 4:04 Absolutely. That was actually the problem, right? Because, you know, business was super slow my skill level or the way how I treated patients never declined, you know, because that's important to me, the children you know, are important so that never took a hit. It was just my attitudes I want not so once you people can tell if you have a dark cloud over you, you know when you walk so it's kind of more like an energy right? So if you don't have that people feel it as much as you try people feel that and then for me work is on referral. Right? So if people get along with me really well, they liked my energy. They liked the way hallway, I treat patients and those types of things and they'll refer you but if they feel like you're kind of Yeah, he's good, but you know, he seems energy seems a little bit off. It's not maybe not as friendly. Then, you know, you just kind of shoot yourself in the foot there. 4:58 Yeah, I can I can tell We say the given the fact that you were in that current state and whenever I talk to, to new clients, new patients in clinic, I always try to ascertain their ideal performance state, a state that primarily is prized of a mental and physical state that allows them to succeed allows them to reach their goals. And whereas your state it, as you'd mentioned, you had an idea of where you want to go to be a very successful than an anesthesiologist to be able to go to CrossFit sessions and get the results. You wanted to basically have the mood and the drive that you did in your 20s and 30s. And you recognize it wasn't there. It takes some time to finally be like, hey, I need to do something. Right. Right, sir. Was there like an inciting event that that kind of pushed you over the edge that made you say, Hey, okay, enough's enough, right, I can't live like this anymore. 5:49 I mean, it was just not one thing. I mean, because all along once I realized that I was not my full self, I was searching, right, looking for answers, looking to see if there's anything that could help me Was there any doctors or therapists or anybody who may be able to understand this as to what was going on and will be able to help? You know, one day just woke up led to cross fitters I usually go that, you know, that's was fun for me. But I, you know, I've been doing it for a while, and I was seeing some progress, but it was going super slow. And, you know, I came back and I was said to myself, Man, I mean, like, I gotta figure out what's going on, I hadn't been to the doctor in a long time, I just kind of avoided that. I don't know, it's just sometimes it's you figure, if you ignore it, it'll just go away. And but it didn't go away. So I said, I'm just gonna have to find a comprehensive solution, see if there's anybody who understands what I'm going through, and may be able to kind of suggest how I can kind of break out of this a little bit. 6:52 So my question to you, I guess now is how to exactly as you find out about myself and see what we what are some of the obstacles that that were in your place in terms of finding a doctor and a clinic that were right for you? 7:06 Right? Well, uh, most of the places that I would have I would find, would be out of state, for example, you know, in person type situations or out of state are somewhere in California that I could not readily get to get to often enough to make it make sense. So I was searching for a long time, and I'd find places that would offer one thing, but not the next, it was kind of like a hodgepodge of stuff. And, um, for me, again, I was looking for a comprehensive solution. But as I was going through, I came across your platform. And, you know, I just kept reading, you know, the landing pages and stuff and kept going through going through a read, I saw, this might actually work, I'm 7:52 assuming there's something on lines of an individual that is focused both on improving your physique improving your drive, improving your hormones and hormone optimization, right. So they're doing things to increase your runway and increase your longevity. And there are many clinics that do this, right. But you know, it takes takes a special provider and special clinic to really look at the components of longevity that can really reduce your risk of developing heart disease, stroke and disease. Right, correct. 8:23 Yeah, because yeah, because I mean, diabetes is on both sides of my family very strong, I think the only sibling on my mother's side, and there are nine of them that didn't have diabetes, as her on my father's side, all the man had diabetes, including him. And they all died as from complications of diabetes. So I was like, there's just no way I'm not about to end up like that at all, if there's one of the things that you could get that you don't want is that they die because I know how it affects the body, you know, having studied all these things on my life, so it's just just no way I got to make sure that I do whatever I can to be able to avoid these things. 9:14 Right. So things like minimizing glycation decrease and making sure your viewers are appropriate is going to be is going to be very key and or insulin sensitivity is something that I'm glad you kind of touched upon that that we take very seriously. We try to keep your hemoglobin anyone see under 5%. And you know, when you do things like that, in addition to optimize your hormones, reducing oxidation, reducing methylation and reducing inflammation, you really can prolong life and, and live in a way that you'd like to for as long as possible, which is awesome. Outside of the comprehensive approach and the knowledge base and the commitment to helping you achieve your ideal performance. It was there something else about the clinic that kind of made you think, Hey, this is the right choice for me. 9:58 Well, yeah, I guess So like I said, I address all the major points as I was going through the website. And then I saw that you were your own client, right? You were like, kind of like the poster person for the business as well, you. So whatever it is, you were advertising, it was because you were also somebody who had challenges, I had gone through it as well. So I say, You know what, this looks, this looks legit, because there's always something right. But I said, this looks legit. I again, I spent a long time making sure before I reached out, because I read up and kept looking and looked at some of the videos that you had to kind of listen to you and figure out if you are trustworthy, because that's a big deal. If I if I feel like you're not trustworthy, and it's kind of scammy, it just doesn't bother, I don't move forward. So I have to trust because for me, I'm like, Look, I've tried a bunch of different things. And you know, they don't work our work well. And at this point, I'm not trying to make another huge mistake. So I'm gonna take my time and try to figure out and listen to this guy to see if what he is saying makes sense. To me. 11:11 I'm glad that you mentioned that, I think when we were trying to make a purchase for anything service or a product, knowing about the product, understanding what it can do for you liking the company, or the individual you're working with, and most importantly, trusting that that person or that product is going to take you from point A to point B is so important. So let's kind of switch gears a little bit and talk a little a little bit about the changes that you experienced after you joined. Okay, and let's say we're going to focus on a couple of different areas, the first area is going to be your body and your overall health and like he is taking a minute or two and just think about some of the things that you experienced after being a patient and, and how you felt when that were very positive, very helpful to you. 11:57 Okay, so I think the first thing is, is that it was important to achieve a baseline and you know, you're a physician. So obviously, that makes sense. That's what we have to do, right? So you have gone through my blood work and those types of things. It was obvious that there were things that were off. And I guess intuitively, I knew that but actually just seeing it. So okay, yeah, clearly there's a problem. It's good that I found somewhere who's going to address all of these things from at once without me having to go to this person or that person. For me, it was clear that there was an issue, right. So after you gave me the playbook on how to go through fixing and reversing some of these things as setting me up to, you know, for something even better, I mean, one of the first things I noticed is that I was able to sleep better, right? So I, I could drop sleep and fall asleep deeply, my body started to change and look better. Once I started seeing that it motivated me to push even harder. While I was at the gym, my body was more defined, because the hormones were optimized. Now, it wasn't before obviously, lost weight, my physique was more chiseled, more defined, it never looked like that before, right? In even my healthiest of times, I never looked the way I did, people half my age at the gym couldn't really keep up with me, that just turned everything around. For me, all of a sudden, I just had more motivation more, I had a more of a optimistic outlook. So because I felt good. I acted like I felt good. And started paying closer attention to how I put myself together, how I put my equipment and everything. It just changed the way how I thought about everything all of a sudden, now I'm super busy at work, I just don't even have much time to do anything. I mean, my schedule is booked out for a year prior to that I could throw stones at my schedule and not hit anything right but now I am booked up a whole year in offices really enjoy having me there and and that's the thing that's why I keep pulling back is because you know they like how I approach things and I get along well with people I 14:21 mean as you touched upon your your physique makes a big a big change and it appears you've always had a strong self image but for a lot of my patients the way in which they they look can in you know work or to the detriment of their self image. Man, you've told me this and similar appointments, a lot of your colleagues have commented on. Yeah, he states and, you know, without doing too much of a deep dive and your lack of values, I'm really happy with a lot of your hormonal levels. We've optimized your test levels, your IGF one levels, your thyroid levels, and we really reduced as you'd mentioned, you're very concerned about your risk. about developing diabetes, but your AST hemoglobin a one C was phenomenal. It was right at 5%, which is really good. I'm really very proud of the changes you made. And I mean, to be honest, you know, I'm just a small component of it, maybe a little bit of guidance here. But really the fact that you've done the hard work to change yourself and get to that ideal performance state is as a testament to your drive and your your motivation to be the very best, which is, which is awesome. I do want to touch a little bit about the changes you saw in your career, you kind of did talk about how you were a little more efficient, perhaps and your setups for getting ready for your dental clinics. Can you tell me a little more about that? 15:39 Yeah. So again, once you start feeling good, it just prompts you now to make everything feel and look good. I analyze my business from top to bottom, I'm always I've always been that person who's looking for efficiency, I'm good at operations, that understanding how things can function. And because I'm always looking to improve, I'm not saying Oh, my system is working fantastic. There is no room for improvement, I'm always looking at ways I can be more efficient. And it just prompt me to look at everything from top to bottom make a lot of significant changes in the way I was scheduling. I was approaching offices and discussing with them how I would like things to go when I provide service to them. And the confidence I had and my ability, which you know, I knew I was good at what I did, but it never came through I felt once I was pretty confident about hey, listen, this is me, this is what I do. I'm good at what I do. And as a result, here are my fees. This is what I expect. This is how I run my business. People are like, Oh, okay, I you know, I was the whole Well, I should have done this a long time ago. 16:51 Yeah, one of our recent meetings you'd mentioned you get up at 4am most days. Yeah, you're younger, and you're at it, and you've been accruing so many different contracts with clinics across Oh, yeah. 17:02 Yeah, cuz I can't take any more business at this point. Right, Castle? Yeah, I can't scale my because I'm an individual provider, right. So I can't scale my self, I would have to try to look to bring on somebody else. And those type of different things, right, which is one of the things I'm looking to do this year is to find an associate, to help take some of that extra work that I have, that some of the work that I have to turn down. There's nothing that I'm leaving on the table, when I can work, I work at maximize the days that I work. 17:34 So let's talk a little bit about the changes we went, You gave me quite a bit of great information about how it's changed your physique and your career. But what about the relationships that you have with your family? Or your friends are and we kind of talked about your colleagues, but outside of work? What are some of the changes you've seen in those relationships? 17:53 Yeah, so if you don't feel good about yourself, and part of that is because you feel you don't look good, and all those kinds of things, then your family notice it, right, my mother, my sister, my partner, you know, my wife just noticed these things and realize that this is not the Neil that we are accustomed knowing, right, you know, you and I had a chance to chat and you were able to help me. I mean, like I said, Every time I go home, my mother and my sister be like, while you're really really good, and keep this up, you know, you're doing really well, this looks, you know, and, you know, just the overall way I you know, acted and behaved, you know, enjoyment, you know, it was just night and day, the way home, we, you know, interacted with each other and, you know, started talking about plans for the future and stuff. And before, I never, I never saw more than one day in front of me at the time. You know, for me, I get up every day looking forward to the future. And that day, I'm ready to go, just making big plans for what I want in career wise, and how I want life to go. So I'm making some big moves this year to change a lot of way how I practice and how I work. And for the most part, that's what it takes, right? You have the motivation to do something, you do something about it. And you think optimistically about something and generally good stuff starts happening. 19:21 Yeah, and I noticed that it's just a i, for some reason, I tend to attract a lot of highly educated, talented, you know, motivated entrepreneurs. And when you're trying to be successful, it's always important. This is I attribute it to Stephen, Stephen Covey and seven laws of highly successful people. But you always have to begin with the end in mind, right? You always want to you want to think about what that goal is. But the problem is, as we get as we get older and we get, we don't have the energy levels and the focus and the concentration that end becomes not as bright as you want it to be, right. 19:54 I'm doing all the things now. Like if I have 100 years to live, no alarm Got my like, well, you know, almost 50. And well, this is what normally happens anyway. No, I was like, No, I, it can't be that way. Yes, there's an aging process or whatnot. But it doesn't have to be that way. Right? You there, there are things that you can do once you have the information to be able to, like I said, Live, like you have 100 more years to live. So that's how I'm doing it. You know. 20:31 And you know that that's really not that far from the truth. To be honest, there are a lot of experts in the anti aging longevity field, that are convinced that limits of human life might be extended significantly to 121 3141 50. And the most, the key and most important thing is you'll have the opportunity to be vibrant. Within those years, you're not going to be confined to a wheelchair and your bed, actually do the things you want for much. Yeah, it's it's really that runway, that's so important. Okay, well, we talked about a lot of different benefits, your career, your relationships, your, your physique, your just your general state. Were there any other benefits that, that we didn't mention that came with working with me, just knowing 21:16 that I have, you know, I can message you at any point. And you know, you can you get back to me with recommendations on stuff, or you can find that, you know, like, it's really hard to find somebody that you can have at your fingertips, so to speak, to be able to get the answers you want to certain things. And if I said, Hey, Doc, this is kind of what I've been thinking, you know, what kind of interventions you feel would work best. And you always have a plan, a, b, and c, you know, that we can take a look at I want to and I I like that I like having those options. And that, you know, to be able to, to reach you and I want you you know, it's true. I mean, it's like I said, I will message you and you'll get back to me. Right? So oh, that's quick. So I am really appreciative of those types of things, you know, 22:06 yeah, accountability and accessibility are really key for the clinic, making sure that we're available when when you eat us. And and also, we're accountable to your success, right? You give us the goals that you want to achieve, and we will do our very, very best to, to get you there. And I think that's wonderful, that that you, you talked about it, I'm excited. And I'm very thankful to be in a position where I can advise individuals on a therapeutic plan of hormonal optimization of human breaking therapies with peptides of supplementation of diet and exercise advice that, you know, draws upon my grant background as a physician, but also as a physique competitor and a personal trainer. So it's it's a wonderful experience on both ends. Why don't we just kind of sum up this interview with one last question? What would you tell someone who's watching this now and is uncertain about joining the clinic? 23:00 Okay, so, you know, look, I am a skeptic by nature. That's my, that's how I think, you know, I've spent a lot of time in grad school as well asking questions when I was working on my PhD. So it's in me to ask questions and be skeptical. But that also came a point where you say, Look, you have to just take the leap and do something, the more you think the longer it's going to take, the harder it becomes for you to make a decision, the longer it goes on, and you get yourself to a point where, you know, you're so far gone, that not that you can't be held, but it will take a lot longer to be able to help provide some of the chances you're looking for. So why, why why stay on the fence, you know, so I was saying, anybody who's thinking it over on the fence about, Oh, should I do this or not? Take it from me, I don't spend my money loosely. I do not trust people very easily. And because of that there are a lot of things that people offer that I don't take advantage of. But this is something that I did for sure. Because it check all the boxes for me. And I don't have an issue at all. I don't I'm trying to remember if, if I for the time that I've been with you guys, if there's ever been an issue that I can't think of anything that bothered me or I had an issue with nothing or anything that couldn't be quickly resolved. I mean, for me, that's key, right? I want I shouldn't be as well. I want people to be responsive and accountable. And this, you know, your sum up just kind of check all those boxes. So anybody who's trying to decide, I think you found what you're looking for and this is what you do. This is comprehensive, top to bottom, and you don't have to go Looking at this other office and that to pull the pieces together, you have everything on the one roof, which is an A, you're always adding stuff. And I'm making recommendations and, you know, the the weekly calls and the information on various topics is important. You know, that's a library available to all that stuff. I mean, there's no need for me to look anywhere to anybody else. This is this is what I'm gonna be doing for the foreseeable future. 25:24 Yeah, and I'm glad you really touched upon that, because listen, we all have to be very careful with their capital allocation. Right? And I prefer to think of it as we all invest, invest things or to our capital or time and we want to get a good return on that investment. And I'm really thankful that you felt the decision to work with mice, myself and the clinics offered you a very good return on your investment. 25:50 Really? Yeah. Significant. Yeah, I yeah, this i Yeah, I can't argue with that at all. Okay. Well, Neil, 25:57 that's that's pretty much all I had to ask today. I really appreciate you taking the time today to talk a little bit about your experience and I hope you enjoy the rest of your, your day and your weekend. 26:08 Thank you very much.