Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Goldberg.
Dana, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Ryan D. Goldberg. Dana M. Goldberg M.D. is the name of one of my businesses. lol
I’ve been a multimillionaire three times, bankrupt once, and flat broke once. It’s hard to decide where to start with things, so I suppose I’ll begin with moving to Florida in 2009. I think the only thing that is critical in my journey prior to that time would be going bankrupt in my early 20s after building a mortgage banking company up to over $22 million in annual revenues. The truth is that Karma caught up with me pretty quickly after building the company by selling sub-prime loans via commercials during air time that nobody wanted during the Howard Stern Show, stealing entire teams of bank employees strategically, and thinking I was invincible. At the end of the day, “What comes around, goes around” as they say. Fortunately I learned the most valuable lesson of all, and that lesson was humility. While some see that word as an insult, the truth is that it’s an absolutely necessary foundation for enduring success. Humility is something that everyone needs to possess, and it should be worn like a badge of honor.
When I moved to Florida with what I thought was nothing, it was just after the collapse of the real estate market. Go figure that my first failure was after the tech bubble burst. I mention these events because I was still at fault for my struggles after each event. Most people think they understand the laws of natural selection, but all too often they get it wrong. Evolution isn’t based on being the smartest or the dumbest, the strongest or the weakest, it’s simply about being the one who adapts to change most quickly.
With that being said, I moved to Florida after my ex-wife who was my high school sweetheart completed her plastic surgery residency in Ohio. I left all of my business contacts behind, and walked away from everything I thought of as a business resource frankly because the weather sucks there.
At any rate, after moving to Florida I had a fair amount of time to take notice of the fact that my wife’s career as a plastic surgeon was not going as expected. She basically worked over 80 hours a week, was on call at 7 hospitals, and ended up making less than $50,000/yr for her first two years. After two unsuccessful attempts at renting office space from local plastic surgeons, I insisted that she make a paradigm shift from thinking of herself as practicing medicine to being in the business of medicine. I quickly realized that her ideal plastic surgery practice didn’t exist, and I decided I would build it myself.
After leaving her office one day at the end of our second year here, I pulled into the parking lot of a new professional building located a short distance away, and saw a sign that said “Build to suite/Lease to own” on the front doors. I immediately decided that I was going to lease an office there, and to become the general contractor on her office build out. I quoted double my true cost of the build out in my tenant improvement request, and used half of the money to build out the empty shell and the other half to furnish it. Don’t get me wrong this was not because I asked for a huge sum of money, but because my next move included renting a jack hammer from Home Depot.
I developed a brand, began to market heavily online, and eventually purchased the office space by the end of our second year in that location. I quickly built that into two surgery centers, tripled our medical office space, and ultimately created one of the most successful cosmetic surgery practices in the United States. During that time my ex-wife and I also had two sons, and I made it a top priority to teach them to never use the words “can’t or impossible,” unless proven otherwise before they were even born.
Two years after having our first son, I asked him what he wanted to do for his third birthday. He decisively told me he wanted to go on “a guys trip to Las Vegas.” I obviously followed by asking why, and he explained that he wanted to go to the Monster Jam World Finals. I thought it sounded like a great idea, and off to Las Vegas we went. As we drove back to our hotel a few days after arriving in Las Vegas, he asked me if we could rent a Polaris Rzr after seeing a billboard for Polaris Rzr rentals. He then asked me if we could buy a side by side immediately after we finished our adventure. I explained that it wasn’t very practical given the fact we live in south Florida, and while Las Vegas had a desert we had an ocean. He then replied that we needed to make a side by side for the ocean. As I tried to explain all of the complex engineering issues behind why it wasn’t possible, I eventually ran out of legitimate scientific reasons that it wasn’t possible. Ultimately we had to try to design and build one to prove whether or not it could be done. In doing so, Shadow Six was born along with the Typhoon. The world’s first Aquatic Utility Vehicle.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think there really is such a thing as a smooth road to success. In fact, I would argue that failure is an absolutely necessary building block in the foundation of success. I don’t think one can ever really figure out what their limits are without trying to push beyond them. Failure only occurs when we stop trying, or give up at something. We all fail our way into being great at anything.
I recall being turned down by six different banks for our first loan at the medical practice. While my ex-wife saw these denial letters as a sign that I was wasting my time, I kept the mindset that I was simply one step closer to finding the best banking partner.
Struggles are simply part of being in business even though it can be very easy to think that you’ve grown beyond them at times. By the time I had finally felt like I had accomplished what I had set out to do, I realized that I had unfortunately created an empire that was my vision and not my wife’s. I I firmly believe that the only people who have a smooth road to success are liars. Managing cash flow, employee morale, and remembering the things that helped you achieve your success are always struggles that come and go like waves in the ocean.
In the case of Shadow Six, it was a continuous struggle to get people to understand that having things not go according to plan did not mean that the time and money I had spent on the project didn’t simply go to waste. In fact, I actually got so excited when the first fully functional prototype was completed that I accidentally launched the product over a year before I had intended to release it to the public. Behind the public appearance of being an overnight success (literally) was a company that had to become NMMA Certified, obtain manufacturer’s liability insurance on a new category of transportation, and still create the necessary production capacity to keep up with unanticipated customer demand. The struggle is real, and its just as easy to wish you could be an employee as it is to wish you ran the entire company after 5 pm.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’ve always built each of my companies on the simple idea that they will stand out among competitors by providing customers with “the ultimate experience.”
The ultimate experience regardless of the company I run means continually improving upon all facets of the experience customers receive in every interaction they have with the organizations. This also means constantly instilling and improving upon the ideals that have become the foundation of the organization.
1. No sale, customer, or member of our team is more important than one another.
2. Our customers will always be the lifeblood of our organization.
3. We can always be better.
In my businesses, technology, communication, and customer education have always been critical components of our very humbling achievements as a collective group. I’m extremely blessed to have very special team, incredible customers, and the luck of being able to genuinely say “I love what I do.” I have always felt that taking the time to understand our customers gives my organizations the ability to earn an incredibly fulfilling connection with them.
I’ve also been fortunate enough to handpick an incredible team of individuals that I work with in Shadow Six and Dana Goldberg MD, and I could have never dreamed that I would have the pleasure of bringing so many talented people together.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Creating. If I am not creating something, then I am not fulfilled. I’m often told that I secretly crave a legacy even though I always say otherwise. I guess the truth is that I do want a legacy, and that legacy is my two boys. They make me happy in a way that nothing else in the world can possible touch. They give me a reason to want to be a better version of myself, and to stay grounded in the things that truly matter in life. Sharing knowledge and my experiences with others also brings me a great deal of happiness. It always helps me find purpose in the struggles I’ve faced, and the things I’ve accomplished when it can be used as tool for the growth of others. It’s always been awesome to see people prove to themselves that they are capable of accomplishing the things I see in them even when they don’t. This has even given rise to one of my most recent ventures, which is a medical practice consulting course in which I am fully transparent and explain every detail of what I’ve learned over the years to physicians in order to help them enjoy more fulfilling careers. Follow @Docprofitsmd on Instagram if you’re inclined to learn more.
Struggles never go away as an entrepreneur, and I still frequently fall back on a strategy that I’ve used for years when it feels like the world is ending. I simply keep repeating the phrase “any decision made in fear is always the wrong decision.” Oddly enough, it was something Anthony Robbins said to me as he passed by me at one of his seminars and shook my hand. Whether its business, playing guitar, giving advice to others, or even inventing; the common theme that makes me happy is creation. Nearly everything I look at through that lens makes me happy. At the end of the day, happiness comes from within and can never be induced externally.
Pricing:
- $250,000 Shadow Six Typhoon
- $500 – $50,000 or more when it comes to cosmetic procedures.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shadowsixracing.com/ www.drdanamd.com
- Instagram: @shadowsixracing / @drdanamd
- Facebook: @shadowsixracing / @drdanamd
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-d-goldberg-6657551/
- Twitter: @shadowsixracing / @drdanamd
- Youtube: @shadowsixracing / @drdanamd
- Other: IG Medical Practice Consulting account @DocProfitsMD
