Redefining Success as a Team with Jay and Preeti Gohel

0:00Preeti Gohel: www.w-db-860am-philadelphia and WPEN-HD2, Burlington, Philadelphia. The following programming is sponsored by Marc J. Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management, or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author, and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. At March Forward, Mark and his partners and associates think out of the box to partner with their clients in regards to their visions for their lives, their businesses, and their legacies. And through his innovative work with the Forward Focus Forums, Mark connects entrepreneurs to resources that help to fuel their success.

0:45Preeti Gohel: Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, reveal the stories behind their successes, and the lessons they've learned. Join Mark and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights, and a bit of fun. Now, let's dive in.

1:02Marc: Good morning, America. How are you? I am so happy to be back in Philadelphia today and to celebrate that because we've been broadcasting from Florida for the winter. But we're back for one week only, and then we'll be back in Philly again in a few weeks. But to celebrate that, we have TJ Gleason on the board, which I'm very happy about. My longtime favorite engineer, not to the exclusion of anyone else, of course, but TJ's great. So good to have you here, TJ. And we've got very special guests today. We're actually recording two shows today. One, we're live on the radio right now, but we'll be doing a second show because they have two different ventures going on.

1:42Marc: And their names are Jay and Preeti, and I'll introduce them in a minute. But our topic of the day is, and by the way, when I ask you, how are you, America? I really mean it. We're in the middle of a war right now. There's a lot going on. Jay and Preeti are about to travel internationally, and I know a little concerned about flying. So I wish you guys good Godspeed, and hopefully everything goes okay. So hopefully everyone's okay, but we stress the positive here. So I want to start out by talking about success and what that means. So everyone has a different definition of success. So Preeti, I'm going to start with you.

2:19Marc: We're doing a ladies' first day today. How would you define success?

2:23Jay Gohel: Hi, everybody. I think success is more balance in your life. It's not just success in your work. I think success has to be 360, everything, your personal life, your professional life, your health, and your mental stability. I think success is balance in your life.

2:47Marc: So good branding, by the way, because they have a consulting company called Thrive 360, which will be the subject of our second show today. Jay, how about you?

2:58Preeti Gohel: Yeah, I would. And first of all, I'd like to thank you, Mark, for bringing us on here and your team. My pleasure. Very excited to be here and even more pumped because our daughter is joining us. Yes. Thank you, Aria. Thank you, Aria, for being here.

3:13Marc: Highly professional video today, which is very nice. And she's taking pictures as we speak.

3:21Preeti Gohel: And I think that that's kind of like a very good example of what success is, that we're sitting here. We have the ability to sit here, talk to you, and our daughter is recording this. I mean, could I define success any better than that? But it's the ability to have, you know, one word would be, it's a state of bliss that is a mental state when you know that you've got complete confidence where you exist in life. You know, it's like you're not looking for any other reward because no financial reward can really overcome the reward of just being able to like right now be here and be able to do this with you.

4:12Preeti Gohel: So, again, thank you.

4:13Marc: I love that. And I'll just add a little bit to that. You've probably all heard, including our listeners, success is not a destination. It's the journey. Which to me means being in the present, being right here. We're successful as we're sitting here because we're all doing something we love and we're in the moment, which is great. So with that, let me introduce Jay and Preeti and Aria. So Jay Goel, DMD, BDS, is CEO of Aesthetic Dental Associates. And he's the CEO, clinical director, and visionary. And he's a singer. So we might get to that. Yeah, threw that in there. He's a talented singer. I've gotten to hear him.

4:57Marc: and Preeti Goel, they are married, is CFO of Aesthetic Dental Associates and she's also an actress because I've seen their music videos.

5:08Jay Gohel: I go to support them.

5:10Marc: And we're all in the arts here and their daughter Aria is here and she is going into film hopefully at Temple University and she is very talented, I understand, and doing the video and photo work today so we appreciate you being here. and so let me tell you a little bit more aesthetic dental group is a multi-location dental group it's seven offices and I've worked with a lot of dental practices and oral surgeons over the years and specialists and they five offices yes five offices did I say seven yes maybe it'll be seven pretty soon okay all right from your mouth to God's that's right so five offices which as far as I know, in the Delaware Valley might be the largest privately owned dental practice.

5:59Marc: And there's quite a story behind that. We're going to dig into that story today. And by the way, I never quite finished Preeti's bio, but she leads the financial operations for the practice. And she's known for ability to streamline financial chaos, create clear pathways to profitability. And her mastery lies in showing entrepreneurs how to increase profitability while expanding their net worth with intention, simplicity, and purpose. So we're going to talk about that more in the second show, I believe. But let's focus on dental practice for this show because it's a very interesting story. So you guys both started in India.

6:38Marc: And tell us about your backgrounds. You decide who wants to lead. Jay, why don't you start? Because you come from a family that probably prepared you for all this in a number of ways.

6:50Preeti Gohel: Unknowingly, yes, yes. So it's been a very, very fun journey, I'll say that. And a long time ago, I read a book by Richard Bach. And again, I'm going to bring that book up later on. But one of the things it says is that everything in life, and again being in the moment is is you could literally divide it into two things which is fun and learning so either you're having fun or you're learning something and and throughout my student years i used to and i i remember like being eight or nine years old my father setting up the first dental lab in um i would say what back then would have been like maybe a storage room in the house, you know, because that's how things were done 40 years ago.

7:43Marc: My father started a greeting card business in our cellar in our first home. Exactly.

7:49Preeti Gohel: Right. And that's like we have such similar backgrounds and that kind of like you can identify with that. Yep. And I worked in the lab all throughout my middle and high school years. And that's how I made my pocket money. And I didn't realize, and I would always tell my dad, I don't want to be a dentist. You know, it's just like the last thing I want to do is be a dentist. And after having worked in the lab for so many years, I realized like, hey, I know this works. Come time to pick a career. Guess what? It was like it was a natural progression for me.

8:20Marc: What did you want to be prior to that?

8:23Preeti Gohel: I would have definitely, I did want to be an astronaut. Really? I just guessed. You know, I actually had two very fun books on, you know, satellites of different planets and all that. But I also, you know, I think that's where our daughter probably gets the film bug from is I also wanted to get into the arts and performing arts. So it's in a way kind of in the DNA because, again, my dad's been practicing. He's still practicing part-time.

8:52Marc: Me too, by the way. You know, music major, law school, financial planner. So there you go. And I came from a family of accountants. So there you go. But I wasn't going to be an accountant. So I ended up being a financial planner instead.

9:06Preeti Gohel: Right. And it's all connected because, again, what I tell everybody is it's a big, the financial, and what you do is so important is the financial flywheel kind of controls everything else because everything kind of falls within that circle of the financial flywheel. No matter what you do, finances come into it. And that's where when I met Preeti, we met her in high school. And so we're high school sweethearts. and I'll let her kind of describe that. But it was just a perfect match that when we kind of got into this journey and she had the financial background. So it's just like a perfect fit for us.

9:46Preeti Gohel: So do you want to kind of talk about that?

9:48Jay Gohel: Yeah, definitely. So yeah, as he said, like I'm very good in following the thing. So, you know, when he said, I want to do this, like even I think until now, Like he'll tell me I want to do this and I'll just follow his directions and I'll, you know, just go ahead and do the stuff he wants me to do. And I remember like when we started our first practice and I was working in the dental lab, I was and, you know, Jay told me, you know, I need your help in the office. Why don't you come and give some time in the office? And I'm like, okay, I'll come and I'll help you out.

10:35Marc: And this was in his father's dental.

10:37Jay Gohel: Well, that is before that. So I'll tell you, I worked in his dad's lab too. And when Jay was studying in US, I was with his dad and, you know, I had time and his dad just asked me like, hey, why don't you come and join me? And I'm like, yep, why not? And I'm a, you know, a yes person. You give me anything, I'll do it. I won't. Good to know. Yeah. Yeah. Like, really, you tell me, can you do this?

11:06Marc: By the way, you know, I figured out I started calling her Jay when I need something.

11:10Jay Gohel: I think that's a smart move.

11:12Marc: That's right. I understand.

11:13Jay Gohel: So I was like, okay, let me try. And I did it. And I, you know, I have a creative background. I have a degree in interior designing and finance. so he told me do both the things for me and I'm like why not I'll try it and it was really helpful for me I worked with him for a year in his dental lab and when I came to US you know it was so easy for me to get a job here and when we started our journey and Jay got his first practice he just said why don't you help me in the finances or you know just do day-to-day things. And when I came in to the practice, you know, I realized that he was doing everything.

12:03Jay Gohel: Like he was like nine to five, he will work on the patients and take care of the patients. But after that, he would just sit and, you know, work on the business. So he used to come late. And I'm like, if I want him to come on time and we have to spend time together, I better be in the office. And it's been what now 20 years. I've never left the office. I know where, wherever he goes.

12:29Marc: By the way, another similarity, my mother, whose father was an accountant and she should have been the accountant in the business, uh, instead of my uncle who really wanted to be an artist. It's a whole nother story, but she did that for my father's business. And I think that was her motivation too. Although he worked seven days a week in the beginning and all that. But I think the idea was for the family to try to help out so that there'd be more family time. So completely understand that one.

12:56Jay Gohel: And I think that was a great decision at that time, like, you know, to spend more time with each other, work on the business together. And, you know, I think it went really good.

13:09Preeti Gohel: It kind of segues into another book, which is about having, And, you know, every business has, you know, a visionary, which is like somebody who's a dreamer, you know. And I can really... That would be me too. Right? Like I can really own that role. It's like I can dream. But then the business also needs the actual execution and operations where she comes in. Because, you know, the best dreams are just dreams without execution. and that's why I think we make such a, I think we are the dream team because we kind of fill those two roles. That's great.

13:49Marc: Literally, dream team. I love that. So let's just talk. We only have about a minute, a little bit more than a minute before break, but tell us about the beginning of the practice and any struggles you might have had, challenges that you had, and then we'll talk about the strengths you developed from that after the break.

14:05Preeti Gohel: So real quickly, short, one minute. Struggles was work-life balance. and I was very focused clinically and just had to bring her in. I was like, help me, you know, because like she said, I'll never come home because I'll be here till midnight doing my numbers. Right. And I think we developed that. What do you want to add to that?

14:29Marc: By the way, no entrepreneur has ever come on the show and said work-life balance was a problem. I mean, you know, it's the big one.

14:37Preeti Gohel: Now I will say this and we're short on time, but I will say there is no work-life balance. And she takes on the finances and I take on the clinical. But work-life balance, and I want to say, just clarify it to anybody who's listening, anybody who's thinking of becoming an entrepreneur. I mean, forget being an entrepreneur. If you're working anywhere, work makes life possible. So if you're looking for like defined balances, it's not really existing.

15:04Marc: I'll take issue with that. When you start a business, I think you're absolutely right. I don't think there's any way around it. But as you evolve, I talk a lot about, I mentioned to you guys that I have this friend that I met in the strategic coach program. Dan Sullivan, I talk about him a lot on the show, talks about the entrepreneurial time management system. Time blocking. And if you get other people like Preeti around you who are unique abilities that aren't yours and you can focus on being the visionary, then you can define your time. Yes, I do agree with that. Free days. I love, yes. Free days are 24 hours where no work at all.

15:42Marc: You're not thinking.

15:43Preeti Gohel: We do do that. We follow down a lot. Right. Attraction is one of the other ones.

15:47Marc: So we know that. So anyway, we've got to take a quick break, and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

15:52Preeti Gohel: Your best smile and your best tomorrow can start today. At Aesthetic Dental Associates, we believe a smile is about so much more than teeth. It's confidence. It's health. It's the freedom to laugh, speak, eat, and live life without hesitation. As a Pennsylvania-based dental group, our mission is simple, to change lives by delivering exceptional dentistry with compassion, innovation, and a commitment to serving others. Whether you're looking for preventative care, cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, or a complete smile transformation, our team is here to help you achieve a smile you'll be proud to share.

16:27Preeti Gohel: Service is at the heart of everything we do. That's why each year we're honored to host our Smile for Freedom event, providing complimentary dental care to local veterans as our way of thanking them for their service. It's one of the many ways we give back to the communities that have trusted us with their care. A healthier smile, a brighter future, a team that truly cares. Your best smile and your best tomorrow can start today. Visit TheAstheticDental.com or call 610-701-0102 to schedule your appointment. We look forward to welcoming you into our reality.

17:05Marc: We are back on Founders Forum. Wasn't sure if I had a microphone there. Preeti's going to add some color to the beginning of the story and some of the challenges. So why don't you take it?

17:15Jay Gohel: Yes, so we started in 2008. And if everybody remembers that time, and, you know, and I know like Jay, you know, graduated in 2007 and from Boston University. He graduated in India 2000. Yes, yes. So at that time when he, you know, he went out to find a job, there were no jobs there. And, you know, and we had our first kid, you know, and we like what to do at that point. And I think we started with like thinking about it. If there are not jobs, we have to start somewhere. and we got this opportunity to buy a practice, which was just part-time. And, you know, we still talk about like...

18:16Preeti Gohel: I think I sent out a hundred resumes and I visited a hundred offices and I could not find any jobs. Nobody wanted to bring on an associate or retire. I was forced, like the first office was like, you have no choice. You gotta, if you wanna feed the family and put food on the table, you're gonna have to buy an office.

18:34Jay Gohel: yeah there was no choice and i i don't think so before that like jay was uh you know thinking of uh you know i did not want to buy a practice at all yeah and i think because i i feel like when you are you know when you are starting your journey that's the time to learn the things have a good mentor than to jump into entrepreneurship. Because the initial time and, you know, that follows with financial freedom and, you know, all that stuff later that we are going to talk about. But initial time is to learn and, you know, have a right mentor with you. And we had to start with that. And I don't think so that was easy.

19:22Jay Gohel: Like, you know, you like we had no idea what to do. but that's what we are right now trying to create for our team like when they don't know what to do we are there to support you. I think that was our biggest struggle was.

19:39Preeti Gohel: That was a very very important point that you brought up there so we've seen in our life cycle at least two major one was the subprime mortgage crisis meltdown I mean it sounds good meltdown like a cheese melt it wasn't fun, it was not tasty at all I would not want to go through that again. And then, of course, COVID hit us in 2020. That was an education in itself.

20:01Marc: Hard to run a dental practice during. You can't do that virtually.

20:05Preeti Gohel: Well, yeah. No, that's one thing I don't think anybody can ever run virtually. I mean, we were completely shut down. So, you know, that's why we're creating the platform, which I know we're going to talk about later on. And I'm focused so much because I had zero mentorship when I was forced to open. Like, I say this very clearly. I was forced to open my first office because I had no work anywhere. And having no guidance, no mentorship became like such a learning curve was so crazy. And I want to teach and we both want to, you know, we're both teachers. We're lifelong students. But one thing I also live by one of our credos is like we want to teach people and we want to share our knowledge.

20:48Preeti Gohel: and that's probably, again, I guess one good way to say legacy is what knowledge are you going to leave behind that's going to help somebody else thrive?

20:57Marc: So you learn mentorship by being mentored ultimately. Ultimately, yeah.

21:03Preeti Gohel: Through the school of hard knocks.

21:04Marc: Right, and through the school, which has made me one of the best ways to learn for sure, right?

21:08Preeti Gohel: Probably.

21:09Marc: It's not easy. We've all been there.

21:11Preeti Gohel: Could have shortened the time frame if I had had a mentor.

21:14Marc: I can relate to everything you're saying. I understand. And I eventually found some, but it took years. It took years. Yeah. So I get it. So, okay. So now you got through that. What strengths did you build? Obviously, you built strengths of collaboration. You built strengths of being able to mentor staff, things like that. What else did you learn from those struggles?

21:35Preeti Gohel: Well, the first thing I realized was understanding where my strengths are. what levers can I pull to kind of stabilize my my practice and then the second is what are my weaknesses you know where is what is bringing a better you know production for me and how am I managing the production and is there money left over after I'm working so hard both clinically as well as non-clinically is there a reason to kind of you know because I see a lot of dentists in their 60s and 70s and they cannot retire. I've seen it too. Yeah, and then when Preeti came on board, and I want her to kind of expand on this a little bit, is understanding like, hey, is there some...

22:22Preeti Gohel: And last week, I was reading this post on social media, right? Somebody bought a practice. And guess what? Their take-home pay dropped significantly after they paid the debt on it. And I'm like, nobody... Common story, yeah. Very common story. Nobody's understanding that just because you're a good clinical dentist, the natural progression does not mean practice ownership.

22:47Marc: So let me just ask you a pointed question. I think that's what led you to grow and acquire other practices, right? Because now you're working on the business, both of you, not necessarily in it on a daily basis, correct? At this point, yes.

23:03Preeti Gohel: I would say Preeti, I do a lot of clinical director role, and Preeti has a financial role. Would you say that?

23:11Jay Gohel: Yes, definitely.

23:12Marc: But yours is oversight. You're not doing dental work.

23:15Preeti Gohel: I'm not doing dental. Now, again, to be very clear, the reason we bought additional locations was because I loved doing surgery. I loved full mouth rehab and placing implants. And I did not want to do the general dentistry part. I didn't enjoy that. So I said, hey, listen, if I buy some additional offices, then I could do the surgery.

23:40Marc: You could be the specialist.

23:42Preeti Gohel: You know, right? Would you add to that? Oh, interesting.

23:45Marc: I didn't realize that part. Very interesting.

23:47Preeti Gohel: Yep. Do you want to talk about the financial? Yes, definitely. Do you still do the specialist role? I don't. I treat and plan a lot with my doctors. I train them how to treat and plan. Right. Got it.

23:56Jay Gohel: So I would like to add to this. I think dentists are good clinically, but they're not great at finances.

24:07Marc: I can speak to that one as well. Yes.

24:09Jay Gohel: So, and it's very difficult. And, you know, we always used to struggle and I always wanted him to understand the finance part. And then there was a period of time when it was really tough for me to make him understand that. And then I realized, like, that's not his strength. That's my strength. And his strength was mentorship, because what he can do and he can, you know, teach other doctors, I think. And then we decided this is your path and finance is my path. And that's what we want to show and help the doctors in like, hey, no, clinically, we have a mentor here to help you clinically. and then finances, I come in that.

24:56I also tell them, you can say you're making a lot of money,

25:03Jay Gohel: but if you're not managing your expenses, then it's a problem. So there's a saying like CFOs always say no. And there is a reason why they say no, because they look at the numbers and how it affects, because he'll bring in things and say, I want this and I want this for the practice. And I'll say, nope, let me do the numbers first.

25:24Marc: By the way, I just want to support that. We're going to have to move on. But the first dental practice I work with, very substantial one, very great reputation, all that great dentists, knew nothing about business, got robbed blind by a bookkeeper they had. Fortunately, because we were putting away a lot of money for retirement, we were helping them. they were able to bail out of the IRS, IRS in the state, because they hadn't been paying taxes. The money was getting stolen.

25:52Preeti Gohel: In the last week, I have found out 10 or 11 offices that have shut down. It's all related to financial management. Management, how about that? Or financial management. 11, that's scary. It's amazing.

26:07Marc: So that's a great, that's not a great story. It's a sad story, but it's an important learning lesson. not much time left so we actually have two minutes left exactly so let me ask you a question Jay I know you're a reader I think you're both readers what what's your favorite book and why um one of

26:27Preeti Gohel: my favorite books would be the principles of influence by Joe Cialdini and that's been a game changer in terms of understanding, you know, people skills and how to relate to people and how to get better at what you do. How about you?

26:47Jay Gohel: So I have a lot of favorite books, but I'll tell you about the last book I read was Let Them Theory.

26:55Marc: Oh yeah, I love that.

26:56Jay Gohel: By Mel Robbins. And she is great. The reason I like that, because sometimes, you know, we think about what other people are doing and we forget what strengths we have. I just keep myself in the bubble and reading this book made me more stay in my bubble. Like, you know, there are going to be things going around you, but you have to focus what you are doing and you'll get good results. Isn't it amazing?

27:25Marc: And it takes so much stress away. Yes. It's amazing. Only a minute left. Let's talk about your one-year vision for the practice. What does that look like?

27:35Preeti Gohel: I'll let you start.

27:37Marc: They pointed at each other for that one. I think it's not one year.

27:44Jay Gohel: I would say I have stopped counting time. I think I like to work and I like, I think one year, if you say, I always like it can be one year, two years, five years. I want to support people, make them financially independent. That will be my goal. Whether it's my team, whether, you know, I think I want to support my team in that too.

28:11Marc: Well, I think you said it for both of you because we're out of time. Time flies on this show. We thank you all for being here this week. And we look forward to speaking with you again next week on Founders Forum.

28:23Preeti Gohel: Thank you. Founders Forum was brought to you in part by March Forward LLC. We partner with entrepreneurs like you to assist in accomplishing your future vision, your life, your business, your legacy. Comprehensive wealth planning that starts with you, not a product. We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum and that you found something of value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum. on WWDB 860 AM Philadelphia or on your favorite podcast streaming service. Securities offered through DFBG Investments, LLC. DFBG. Investment Advisory Services offered through Diversify Advisory Services, LLC.

29:06Preeti Gohel: Diversify. DAS and DFBG are affiliated entities. March is unaffiliated with DAS and DFBG. Members FINRA slash SIPC. The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Diversify or DFPG.