The "Tattoo Dentist" on Why Discipline Beats Motivation Every Time

Summary

Living The Red Life: The "Tattoo Dentist" on Why Discipline Beats Motivation Every Time

Host: Rudy Mawer
Guest: Jonathan Wong (“The Tattoo Dentist”)
Date: March 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features Jonathan Wong, known as “The Tattoo Dentist,” sharing his unconventional journey to personal and professional success. Hosted by Rudy Mawer and guest co-host Ray Guterres, Jonathan discusses forging a legacy, the power of discipline over motivation, leveraging his unique background, and the lessons he’s learned through entrepreneurship, dentistry, fitness, and self-reinvention. Grit, consistency, and authenticity are at the heart of his story, making this a must-listen for any entrepreneur determined to create lasting impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Motivation vs. Discipline

• Jonathan’s Core Message:
  Jonathan emphasizes that discipline is far more crucial than motivation in reaching goals, particularly in fitness and business.

  “You could be the most motivated person to have no discipline. And it won’t happen. It’s the discipline that gets you to the gym—even when you don’t want to go. Then your motivation follows that, in my opinion. I think discipline is way more important than motivation.”
  — Jonathan Wong [00:06], [14:17]

• Memorable Moment:
  Both hosts share stories of seeing themselves on camera as a wake-up call to change, connecting the importance of daily habits with self-image. [03:44]

2. The Entrepreneurial Journey & Resilience

• From Dentistry to Diversification:
  Jonathan reveals he didn’t take a straight path to dentistry, almost missing out on the field altogether, and now leverages his skills to open doors in other arenas like real estate and fitness.

  “Dentistry is actually like my main tool. It’s not who I am.”
  — Jonathan Wong [07:40]

• On Failure and Authenticity:
  Success, Jonathan notes, is often perceived from the outside, but he’s candid about having struggled and felt unhappy even after achieving material milestones.

  “People look at me, see the businesses, see the offices, see the cars, they say, ‘Oh, you must be really happy.’ I’m happy now. There was a time when I had all those things and I wasn’t happy at all.”
  — Jonathan Wong [05:07]

• Adapting and Giving Back:
  Jonathan mentors students and young professionals, carrying on his family’s educational legacy.

  “I mentor a lot of students, dental students. I don’t teach formally, but...the way I give back is sharing my experiences with them.”
  — Jonathan Wong [10:33]

3. Identity, Culture, and Personal Brand

• Embracing the “Tattoo Dentist” Persona:
  Jonathan talks about defying expectations in dentistry by showing up authentically—tattoos, cars, and all.

  “You see how I act, talk, look, and then you ask me, ‘Hey, what do you do?’ I was like, ‘I’m a dentist.’ You’ll be like, hell no, you’re not. I guess I am.”
  — Jonathan Wong [16:00]

• Cultural Roots and Drive:
  His blue-collar mentality and Chinese-American heritage fuel his relentless work ethic and desire to tackle difficult challenges head-on.

  “I will do what you won’t do or can’t do… That’s how I take on everything, professionally and stuff like that.”
  — Jonathan Wong [13:23]

4. Defining Success and Legacy

• Redefining Success:
  He encourages listeners to define their own measures of success, warning against equating it solely with money.

  “You really have to, male or female, just be the best at it. Success, you have to define what your definition of success is first and then follow that path.”
  — Jonathan Wong [18:03]

• Legacy and Accountability:
  Jonathan is mindful of the impact of his actions on his family, mentees, and wider community, finding accountability in being a visible example.

  “When you become more successful, you become accountable to other people. My accountability goes to the people that reach out to me and look up to me.”
  — Jonathan Wong [22:43]

5. Fitness, Longevity, and Routine

• Lifestyle is Key:
  Fitness is a lifestyle for Jonathan, not a series of sprints, and he’s honest about his love for sweets and the discipline required to offset that.

  “I’m not the best at diet... I have a major sweet tooth. Cookie Monster tattoo on my leg... Discipline of the gym, right? Infrared sauna, cold plunge, laser shockwaves.”
  — Jonathan Wong [16:46]

• Consistency Over Flash:
  The underlying theme is perseverance—outlasting with steady effort rather than burning out quickly.

  “There’s nothing conventional about success... Amongst all these people that I’ve observed, [the common thread is] consistency. But they’re all hustlers.”
  — Jonathan Wong [21:24]

6. Visualizing Success & Handling Vulnerability

• Visualization as a Tool:
  Jonathan credits visualization for preventing failure and staying driven, despite his fears of rejection.

  “I’m super visual. I do not like to be embarrassed... If I ever get embarrassed, I will sit there and obsess about how to not be embarrassed again.”
  — Jonathan Wong [23:40]

• Encouragement to Break Free:
  He urges the audience not to fear stepping outside “the Matrix” of conventional thinking.

  “Don’t be afraid to live outside the Matrix... Just be a forward thinker. Don’t be a robot.”
  — Jonathan Wong [25:02]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Motivation is nice, but discipline is what gets you where you need to go.”
  — Jonathan Wong [14:17]
• “Dentistry is my tool. It’s not my identity.”
  — Jonathan Wong [07:40]
• “I like to live life with a chip on my shoulder—even though there’s no real reason for it.”
  — Jonathan Wong [13:38]
• “Success isn’t about money. It’s about having the freedom to do what you want, whenever you want.”
  — Jonathan Wong [19:24]
• “You see how I act, talk, look, and then you ask me, ‘Hey, what do you do?’ I was like, ‘I’m a dentist.’ You’ll be like, hell no, you’re not.”
  — Jonathan Wong [16:00]
• “Don’t be afraid to live outside the Matrix... Be a creator of your own existence.”
  — Jonathan Wong [25:02]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Discipline vs. Motivation: [00:00], [14:17]
• Journey to Dentistry & Entrepreneurship: [07:12], [09:03]
• Dealing with Failure and Perception: [05:07], [19:42]
• Mentorship and Giving Back: [10:33]
• Cultural Influence & Background: [14:41]
• Personal Brand (“Tattoo Dentist” persona): [16:00]
• Defining & Achieving Success: [18:03], [19:14], [21:24]
• Fitness, Health, and Routine: [16:46], [17:14]
• Visualization & Handling Vulnerability: [23:40]
• Life Advice – Breaking out of the Matrix: [25:02]
• Contact Info/Social Media: [26:29]

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How to Connect with Jonathan Wong

• Instagram: @jww.tattoo.dentist (“Tattoo Dentist”) [26:54]
• Multiple social accounts: For business, personal branding, cars, and Club Five Health [26:29]

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Final Thoughts

Through honest storytelling and real-world advice, Jonathan Wong makes a compelling argument for ditching the myth of constant motivation and doubling down on daily discipline, authenticity, and self-defined success. Whether you’re in dentistry, business, or just seeking a breakthrough, Jonathan’s mindset and strategies offer actionable insight to help you build your own legacy—one disciplined day at a time.

Transcript

[Jonathan Wong]

We're not going to have good days and bad days. Right. So everybody says, find your motivation. Find your motivation. I'm like, okay, that's cool.

[Ray Guterres]

Why do I matter? Why do I care?

[Jonathan Wong]

You could be the most motivated person to have no discipline. Right. And it won't happen. Right. It's the discipline that gets you to the gym. Right. Even when you don't want to go. Right. Then your motivation follows that, in my opinion. Right. I think discipline is way more important than motivation.

[Ray Guterres]

So talk about being a male and using that energy and dominating. Like, talk to folks that are about to have that awakening. Yeah. And educate them and go, look, it's real. Follow the surge. Follow your intuition. Follow the path.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Rudy Moore]

So my name is Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life Podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill.

[Jonathan Wong]

Take the red pill.

[Rudy Moore]

Join me in wonderland and change your life.

[Ray Guterres]

Welcome back to the Living your Legacy podcast Red Life edition. For Inside Success. I'm Ray Guterres. Joining me today is yet another amazing, captivating legacy story. Jonathan Wong. How are you, my friend?

[Jonathan Wong]

I'm well, thanks for asking.

[Ray Guterres]

Happy Friday, brother.

[Jonathan Wong]

You as well. You as well.

[Ray Guterres]

So what brings you to the. The corner of Red Valley in South Beach, Miami?

[Jonathan Wong]

I was actually introduced to legacy makers through a recent business partner of mine, Dr. Ravi Patel, who has also been here. So I'm actually piggybacking off of his. His journey. Not really piggybacking, but it became a. An opportunity for me and I took it.

[Ray Guterres]

I love Dr. Ravi. Have you seen his video guy? I mean, he's huge. Like, this guy is character.

[Jonathan Wong]

Which one? There's.

[Ray Guterres]

There's a couple I've met one of them, he's got, like, a huge shoulder. He's like, robbing his Rodin S3 and he's like, yeah, he's killing it. He's crushing it.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

That is a doctor that understands how medicine truly works in 2025.

[Jonathan Wong]

I think so. I think so.

[Ray Guterres]

You catch my meaning? Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah. And I met him randomly through another business meeting, trying to explore the possibility of opening up a gym, which was one of my goals. Sure. To do. As an entrepreneur. And I met him in one of those meetings and then we hit it off from there.

[Ray Guterres]

So you mentioned a key word, gym. Bro, you're jacked up. I'm jealous. We can sit here and make it a different podcast, but gym, self healing, self health, self love. Talk about that journey.

[Jonathan Wong]

I mean, you can't preach something and not live it, right? So luckily for me, I've been a fitness person for life. It's a lifestyle for me. When my friends tell me, hey, I got to get ready for my vacation or big event in life wedding, I'm like, okay, so what happens when you achieve your goal? What happens afterwards? Are you going to go back to where you were? Because this is a lifestyle. It's a marathon. This is not a sprint. You know what I mean? So that's how I. I myself have gone through ups and downs. I've been stayed like this forever. It's kind of bodybuilding, Right. Everybody wants that bodybuilding look, Right. The reality is bodybuilders themselves only look like that for like a month out of the year.

[Ray Guterres]

Right. Emphasis on building. There's the body and then there's the building.

[Jonathan Wong]

Of course. Of course. I'm trying to live and look like 80, 85% of that for life. I don't want to be. There's no downtime. I try to keep it that. Because I'm hovering around £200 right now at 5 7, which is. I'm technically over. Right. But the. Yeah. You know, but I've also been £200 and looked a lot different.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh, dude. So you're, you're, you're speaking to my, like, heart. Like, when I was in my worst point of my Life, I was 199. I'm five nine. I was heavy. I was.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

And I was on camera, like, interviewing folks, and I go, that's what I look like. Who the hell's he? Listen to that, dude.

[Jonathan Wong]

That's hilarious. You see that? He's so funny. You say that because I was like, you have a perception of yourself in life. Right? And then it's not until you actually see yourself on camera, you're like, that's how I really look, what people think I look. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. So I was like, I have change. So.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's funny because Rudy went through that transformation. There was a Rudy I used to work for full time, and then there's a Rudy I work for today.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Two different people. And it's in the physical. Rudy's all about working out triathlons. His energy is beamed somewhere else, which is why I'm here and he's not. Hi. That being said, now that we've set the foundation and we're living the red life, you've just finished filming your episode.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yes.

[Ray Guterres]

For Legacy makers.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yes.

[Ray Guterres]

How do you Feel, first of all,

[Jonathan Wong]

I feel pretty good. I mean, it's good to get, it's good to get the message out there that everybody has their own story, right? There's not one way to carve your own path. Right? So when people hear that, they can be inspired and say, hey, I can do this, right? And I know a lot of people say that, right? But you know, you, you never know what you're gonna, who you're gonna meet, you know, what path you're gonna cross, you know, and stuff like that. And, and that's no different for. With me. I've experienced a lot of failure. A lot. You know, a lot of people look at me, they see the, the businesses, they see the offices, they see the cars, they say, oh, you must be really, you know, happy and whatever. I'm like, I'm happy now.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. There was a time when I had all those things and I wasn't happy at all. So, you know, it's, it's good for people to know that because don't be, don't have the misconception that in order to be successful, you have to be successful forever or you have to have started off successful. Right. There's, there's a lot of people that I know that, that were worse than. Worse places than me, you know, that deserve a seat here just as much as I do. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. In fact, I'm probably going to, you know, hey, you should check, check this out, you know. But yeah, I mean, you got to

[Ray Guterres]

meet Ray, you got to hang out with for sure.

[Jonathan Wong]

It's good for people to see that there's, there's different ways to, to skin a cat.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh, for sure. I, I absolutely, a thousand percent agree with that mythology of thinking. You emphasize the word now.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

When you say now, as an entrepreneur, you're almost like a, an alchemist of. You're creating in your own reality. Yeah, we operate in this dimension. How many dimensions do you operate in? When you pray, when you speak to a higher power, when you see the clues in reality, where are you truly operating? What's your frequency?

[Jonathan Wong]

So I am, I am like hyper analytical. So there's not one, one plane that I sit in. Right. Because I'm trying to analyze all planes, all scenarios at the same time. Right. When I talk to friends, they'll say, hey, when they say I should have done this or I should done that, right. I'm like, there is an alternate universe where you are doing that.

[Ray Guterres]

I was.

[Jonathan Wong]

So how does that feel and how does that look to you, right?

[Ray Guterres]

They're playing in their head, but they're actually. So it's actually happening, right?

[Jonathan Wong]

So it's like imagine how that person, that version of you, feels, looks and presents themselves and start acting that way now. Right? Because you'll never get there unless you act the part or believe it yourself. So to answer your question, I'm, I'm, I'm analyzing all scenarios at the same time. That's, I'm just like a, I actually did have one of those with you psych evaluation tests. Right. I'm very important. Yeah. I'm a super fast processor. I'm hooked, I'm told. I'm told. So yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

How do you, how do you weaponize that? How do you turn that superpower into a business?

[Jonathan Wong]

Well, my, my journey starts with dentistry. Right. I started dentistry maybe a little bit late. I didn't go straight from, from school. It's not because I wasn't smart enough and etc. I was actually supposed to go school. I didn't go. It wasn't until the 11th hour that I told my parents that I didn't want to go. Right. So dentistry is actually like my main tool. Right. It's not who I am though. So if you were to look at my social media, I think on Facebook, I think one of my descriptors says a twice board certified endodontist is, is, is what I do, but a dentist is not who I am.

[Ray Guterres]

Right on. Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

So I use that as a tool as, to access and open doors for other things, you know, so that's, that's kind of how I approach life. It's like I love dentistry, don't get me wrong. Right. And if I didn't love it, I wouldn't be pract, I wouldn't be practicing today where a lot of my colleagues who are experiencing or tasting the equal amount of success, they don't even practice, a lot of them. Well, I love it though.

[Ray Guterres]

So I'm sure you love it because there's a sense of freedom and there's also a sense of like, almost like a sense of like haha, like I figured it out way before everyone else.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yes. I mean money aside, right. I do make a good, good, good dollar. Right. How do you, how do you have

[Ray Guterres]

that financial freedom but be responsible investment?

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. You know what I mean? So there's, you have to use. It's not, it's really not how much you make, it's how much you keep.

[Ray Guterres]

Sure.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. You know, so I just use dentistry as, as, as my, as my tool that's basically what it is.

[Ray Guterres]

You're in. You're into the source. Everyone's figuring out a way into the source. Yeah. The. The reason why we're all here. Of course, everyone's got a smile. Everyone's. Everyone needs nice teeth.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

It's funny because when I go to the dentist, it's almost like a spa. Like, I like that drill and I just pass out. I know I'm. I know I'm very bizarre and rare.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Why dentistry? Why that? Why was that? You're in. Why not real estate?

[Jonathan Wong]

Because I. I'm doing actually. I'm actually doing real estate, too, but.

[Ray Guterres]

Of course you are.

[Jonathan Wong]

But I'm. I. I fell into dentistry because I was, as I was saying in my. My episode that I was supposed to go to medical school and I trained my whole life, educational life, to become this thing.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

And you. You know, I haven't. I wouldn't learn anything else. Right. So I didn't want to do that. And I kind of fell into dentistry. I actually didn't know that I was going to be a dentist until six months before I started dental school. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

Crazy work.

[Jonathan Wong]

And. And I graduated. What did I do? I graduated third. Right. In my class.

[Ray Guterres]

Right on.

[Jonathan Wong]

But my mentality getting in was at least I get to know what I'm doing with my life. My mentality was. What do they call, like, a simple question. What do they call the person who graduates last in their class?

[Ray Guterres]

The smartest man in the room? I don't know.

[Jonathan Wong]

They call him doctor. That was my mentality when I started.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh, for sure.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. But. But luckily I love what I do, so.

[Ray Guterres]

And to echo what you just said, my. My perception of what that philosophy was, I'm not going to burn out and spend all this energy trying to be the valedictorian. I'm going to just burn out and do my internal ministry and become this thing that is personal to me. I don't have to be number one for a bunch of folks to celebrate my success when they achieve anything that I can.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Which leads me back to my next question or the question I asked before. How do you contain this superpower with responsibility? Are you coaching? Are you preaching? Are you creating a tribe?

[Jonathan Wong]

So my dentist, or. I'm sorry, my dentist, my dad is educator. He's a dean at one of the local colleges. So I get the educational genes from him. So I mentor a lot of students, dental students. I don't teach formally. Right. But I mentor a lot of people in general in all parts of dentistry. Cars Stuff like that. Because they all see the success but they don't see how to get there. Right. So the way that I give back is sharing my experiences with them. More of like an individual basis here. It's been marketed. Right. To be to the masses. Right. I'm doing that on a one on one basis all the time though.

[Ray Guterres]

That's awesome.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Do you profile your clients? Do you understand that you can ascend them, keep them in your, in your tribe and essentially your community where you're monetizing their experience, especially through dental work.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

You always got to go in for the six months cleaning.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

You're ascending your client. You're. They're part of your, your Apple ecosystem. If you say yeah, have you seen success in that? And how are you thriving in that?

[Jonathan Wong]

So. Well, I'm technically a specialist. Right. So I don't get repeat patients really. Right. So I'm like a hunter, which I like. I love hunting. Right. So. Because if I do a root count on you, for example. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. It's a one.

[Jonathan Wong]

I don't wish for you to come back.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

Really don't.

[Ray Guterres]

Because you're not doing your job right.

[Jonathan Wong]

Exactly. That means you're not doing your job right. Right. And then I'll joke, I'll joke if you're a repeat patient of mine. Right. And I'll say, I'll, I'll pretend to be upset to you, at you. Right. Because why would I be that? Right. Because you, your network of people only knows. Know so many people. Right. So if you come back, you're wasting my chair time.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

When I could get somebody new who has a new network of people wasting my shared time.

[Ray Guterres]

How many times have I said that in this studio?

[Jonathan Wong]

So, and basically, you know, I'm basically in terms of success. I don't look at money as success. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

It's energy.

[Jonathan Wong]

I'm a fame chaser. Right. Or people don't know. Legacy. Legacy maker.

[Ray Guterres]

But you got to be careful though. You don't, you don't want to jack up on dopamine then become a star fucker. You don't want to be the dark side of what you want to.

[Jonathan Wong]

Of course, shave. Of course.

[Ray Guterres]

There is a such thing as being too good at something you don't want to. You don't want to like dope. You don't want to. Love bomb is what that's called.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

And that's just like I'm guilty of it too. You just want to over impress you. Super impressed. You found that you really want to chew on and you just go for it.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Which leads me to my next question. Let's, let's, let's talk about who you are as a human being. Being versus the person that you are that is an entrepreneur. Yeah. You spoke about cars, you spoke about tattoos. Let's talk about you as an artist, as a human being.

[Jonathan Wong]

So I'm very blue collar mentality or no, super blue collar. I, although I'm not an immigrant, I'm fourth generation Chinese American born, but I have very immigrant, you know, mentality. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

For sure.

[Jonathan Wong]

So I will do what you won't do or can't do. Right. That's how they can just. Because that's how I take on everything. Right. Professionally and stuff like that. So it's kind of like I was telling Lauren earlier. I was like, it's like I live life with a chip on my shoulder.

[Ray Guterres]

As do I.

[Jonathan Wong]

But there's no real reason for that chip to be there. Right. It's just if, if something happens to add on to that, it just makes that chip bigger.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. But it's always there.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. And that keeps me motivated because I want to be the best. I strive to be the best. But in endodontics, for example, in dental, you're either, you're either infected or you're not infected. You're either in pain or you're not in pa. No in between. Right. So I know that there's no such thing as the best ended, honest. Right. But I still strive to be the best. Right. So knowing those two things, if you put those two things together, it means my motivation will never waver. Ever.

[Ray Guterres]

For sure. So what, what, what gets you out of bed every day?

[Jonathan Wong]

Discipline.

[Ray Guterres]

Amen to that.

[Jonathan Wong]

Discipline.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah. So I mean, we're not going to have good days and bad days.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

So everybody says, find your motivation. Find your motivation. I'm like, okay, that's cool.

[Ray Guterres]

But discipline you can do. I care.

[Jonathan Wong]

You could be the most motivated person to have no discipline.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

And it won't happen. Right. It's the discipline that gets you to the gym. Right. Even when you don't want to go. Right. Then your motivation follows that, in my opinion.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

I think discipline is way more important than motivation.

[Ray Guterres]

Chinese background.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yes.

[Ray Guterres]

A lot of that energy comes from your culture.

[Jonathan Wong]

100. Yes.

[Ray Guterres]

That should be your power. What are you doing to really put a bullhorn on that and be like, this is where I come from. This is the energy. This is my, my wavelength of frequency.

[Jonathan Wong]

It's like you come from a people that you Know, we're in. The minorities here in the. So it's like, so it's like.

[Ray Guterres]

I'm sorry, I have to laugh because that's completely.

[Jonathan Wong]

Ancestors, like built the railroads for God.

[Ray Guterres]

I know, right?

[Jonathan Wong]

Exactly.

[Ray Guterres]

We're.

[Jonathan Wong]

We're starting from, from lower tier.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. So how do you get yourself. That's, that's, you know, that's, that's basically what I'm talking about. I'm not so sure. I may or may not be the same person if I, if I. If I was in a more privileged situation. I thrive on pain. On pain and suffering. Yes. And you know, you know, because I like to. I like to take on those challenges head on. You know what I mean?

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. Because you're designed for it. Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

It's too easy for it. I don't like easy.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah, easy is boring.

[Jonathan Wong]

Exactly.

[Ray Guterres]

Like, why be the superhero when you can be the super villain and be in every single movie for eternity and be a different representation. Yeah. Of that energy.

[Jonathan Wong]

And that's kind of what I am now. I'm this whole mantra of the tattoo dentist. Like you. You wrote to meet me on the street, right? You see how I act, talk, look. And then you asked me, hey, what do you do? I was like, I'm a dentist. You'll be like, hell no, you're not.

[Ray Guterres]

No, you're not.

[Jonathan Wong]

I guess I am. Right. In fact, I'm a twice board certified endodontist. Like, you know what I mean? So it's like I like surprising people. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

So.

[Jonathan Wong]

As do I. Yeah, for sure. So we, we. That's why we get along.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh, clearly. What's your sign?

[Jonathan Wong]

I'm Leo.

[Ray Guterres]

Did you know that, honey? No. What's your birthday?

[Jonathan Wong]

July 26th.

[Ray Guterres]

July 27th, brother. Is that right?

[Jonathan Wong]

Happy birthday.

[Ray Guterres]

Recently birthday. How old are you? How old are you?

[Jonathan Wong]

48.

[Ray Guterres]

42. You're 48?

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Fuck you. I look, I get to look like you at 48. Hell yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Asians don't raise in.

[Ray Guterres]

Dude, I'm Nicaraguan, Cuban. We don't age.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah, well, that's. You got to, you got to do this longevity stuff that we're doing, right? What?

[Ray Guterres]

Let's talk about it. I. You're clearly onboarding me. You've got me sold. Ascend me.

[Jonathan Wong]

Well, so lifestyle diet. I mean, I'm not the best at diet. I'll be honest. Full disclosure, right. I have a very major sweet tooth.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh.

[Jonathan Wong]

So much so that I have a Cookie Monster tattoo on my leg to remind me that I have one living inside of me. Right. But the discipline of the gym, Right? What are we using these days? Infrared sauna, of course. Cold plunge, you know, we're doing laser shockwaves.

[Ray Guterres]

I want to give you a quiet, secret VIP tour of Rudy's.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah, for sure. I hear he's like a workout maniac, which is like, you know, I look to people like that, right? It's like I want to be like that, you know?

[Ray Guterres]

Dude, that fucker takes his calls and he's like lifting and he's like on a zoom call like.

[Jonathan Wong]

Is that right?

[Ray Guterres]

Oh my God.

[Jonathan Wong]

I have a pull up bar in my office.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Oh dude, I'm pulling the blood pumping.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh gosh.

[Jonathan Wong]

I love pull up bar. Perfect push up and the perfect ab roller.

[Ray Guterres]

Oh dude, I'm going to show you his office. You're going to be like, what? I'm like, this is, this is 8:45, Rudy in the morning.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah, for sure.

[Ray Guterres]

So talk about being a male and using that energy and, and, and dominating. Like talk to folks that are about to have that awakening.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

And understand and educate them and go look, it's, it's real. Follow the surge, follow the intuition, follow the path.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah. So you know, like there's, there's no one way to do things as I thought I was taught, right. The reality for me and my journey is I did everything I was supposed to do. I got the grades, I did everything I was supposed to and, and I got nothing. Sorry parents, but I got nothing that I wanted and I wanted a lot, right? So you really have to, male or female, you just have to whatever it is, right. Just be the best at it. I've got three kids, right. So I try to tell them, listen, you don't have to do what your dad does or your mom does, right? Do what you feel, right? Because if you do what you feel is, is your passion, you're going to be the happiest first of all, right. And then you'll be successful, right? And successful is, you know, there's many different terms of success, right. A lot of people equate business success or success as money. It's not necessarily. There's ton of, there's tons of people who are wealthy that live modestly. You know what I mean?

[Ray Guterres]

Sure.

[Jonathan Wong]

So it really depends. You got to define what your, your, what is your definition of success first and then follow that path.

[Ray Guterres]

It's funny you mentioned that because folks definition of success is actually quite, quite normal, quite easy to achieve. It takes real cleverness and real imagination to see the, the real potential of how far we can take this reality. Cause life.

[Jonathan Wong]

Sure. You know, when, when people say success, oh, you've got money, that's. You must be successful.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

That's not what it is that makes them successful. Yeah, Right. It's the money that gives them freedom. Yeah, yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

Money's just basically do whatever you want. Right. Whenever you want. That's real success.

[Ray Guterres]

So talking about real success and doing what you want, what are we going to learn about your Legacy Makers episode? You're fresh off the treadmill. We filmed your episode.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

You were in Studio one, which is the Death Star of all the studios.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

How do you feel?

[Jonathan Wong]

You. I feel great. I mean, you know, people should know that you can, you can experience immense failure and still, still make it out.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

And be successful. Right. That's, that's, you know, that's what people view me as. Right. But when people label me as successful, I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. I still feel the same. So when you keep asking me, how do you feel? How do you feel? Feel like the same person. Right. Without all the lights, the cameras, the whatever. I'm still the same person as I am back at home. It's just people tend to notice. Right. So it must mean that I'm doing something. Right. But my drive and my motivation is the same. And it's all based on discipline.

[Ray Guterres]

All based on discipline. I love that D word. It's my favorite D word. Let's go back to the preview of your episode. What will we learn about you?

[Jonathan Wong]

About me specifically? I hope not a lot. No, you. I keep, I keep saying the same thing. Like my, my path. The reality is I could, I could be number one on Netflix multi part documentary. I swear to you, I could. Right, sure. If you had, if you had an insight of everything that I've been through. I've just been through a snippet. Snippet. Right. You know what I mean? Like the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

[Ray Guterres]

This is the podcast version.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah, exactly. The podcast version. Right. But you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. I've observed so many things, right. There's, there's nothing conventional about success. Nothing conventional about success. Right. There's so many different successful people. And because I like Cars, for example, I'm rubbing elbows with people who are way deeper pockets than I do. Right. And you can't go to school and say, I'm going to be that. You know what I mean?

[Ray Guterres]

There's no, there's no classroom for that.

[Jonathan Wong]

There is.

[Ray Guterres]

It doesn't exist.

[Jonathan Wong]

But there is. There is one thing. One thing. Is the D word Discipline. Yes, yes, yes. And. And 1. One common thread and characteristic amongst all these people that I've observed. Consistency. But they're all hustlers. Yeah, Right. They want it. Oh, yeah, Right. So it's like. It's like the. You know, seen the movie Rudy.

[Ray Guterres]

Right.

[Jonathan Wong]

I'd rather be. I'd rather be a Rudy and have all the work ethic but less talent than. Have all the talent and be lazy.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

You know.

[Ray Guterres]

Exactly.

[Jonathan Wong]

But if you have both, that's when you become like Superman.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. In layman's terms, how I developed that theory is when Rudy tries to recruit folks in Miami or wherever to be part of our tribe, I'm like, Rudy, you're gonna. You're gonna find a lot of videographers, but cinematographers, they're very rare. You're gonna have to hunt.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

And you're gonna have to be clever about your journey to inspire them to join your tribe like I have.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

So how do you inspire folks? How do you inspire yourself every day to day, knowing what you know? How do you stay inspired to keep going besides your children?

[Jonathan Wong]

How do you say kids, number one.

[Ray Guterres]

I was gonna say that.

[Jonathan Wong]

You already knew that I was.

[Ray Guterres]

Yes. I was gonna say your children are your legacy, and they are your eternal life. But before we get to the spoiler, how do you selfishly get out of bed and go, I matter because I need to?

[Jonathan Wong]

So, you know, I feel like I have some accountability to the people around me now that I've become more of a recognized figure in my local area and beyond. Right. It's not just. I'm not responsible for just me anymore. So what I do impacts other people whether I like it or not. That's just how it. How it goes. Right. When you become more successful, you become accountable to other people. Right. So my. My accountability goes to the people that reach out to me and look up to me, say, how do you do that? How do you do that? Or how do you do this? Or how do you do that? And I say, you can reach out to. I give myself out to everybody. Right. Feel free to call or text me people who are going to dental school. If you have any, you know, want to do some case, whatever. I'll talk to you about that. I don't teach, but this is the closest thing to it. Right. And I bet you I'll give you more education than you'll learn in dental school. Because I also went to dental school. You mean? Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

So for sure. Where does your download come from? Where does your curriculum come from? Do you sit there and prep or do you just sit there and meditate? And it just naturally, I'm very visual.

[Jonathan Wong]

I'm super visual. Right. I don't. People who know me know that my biggest fear is rejection. Fear and embarrassment. I do not like to be embarrassed at all. Whatsoever. Whatsoever. So if I ever get embarrassed for whatever reason, I will sit there and obsess about how to not be embarrassed again. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

You're. From my perspective, I get embarrassed as well. Not because I'm bad at it, because I'm just so sensitive to the vulnerability that I've. What? Created and I put it out there and now I'm supposed to let people enjoy it. Yes, dude, that's.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I identify with that at all.

[Ray Guterres]

We're doing it right now. Like what we're doing right now is part of that.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yes, yes. Yeah, for sure, for sure. So it's like I, I just, it's like, it's like driving a car. Right. Manual. Right. Like I don't want to be the guy that stalls the intersection on a hill. Yeah, that kind of stuff. Right. So once you visualize and stuff like that, then, you know, find, find the way that you can. But visualization works for me and it helps to be more successful, prevent failure.

[Ray Guterres]

What do you tell to folks that need to have that breakthrough and having to have that, that moment of like, holy shit, the Force is real.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

What do you tell the folks that are waiting to hear your words?

[Jonathan Wong]

Don't be afraid to live outside the Matrix. You know, the movie reference, Right?

[Ray Guterres]

Yes, yes, I do.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. So you know I'm not a robot. Right. I think for myself, I do things on my own. You know, there's, there's, there's value to be had from experience of others before us or in, in, in health literature, like the evidence based studies. Right. But somebody had to come, had to think of it at some point in time. Why can't that be you?

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

You know, so just be a forward thinker. Don't be a robot.

[Ray Guterres]

Are you a creator of your own existence, my friend?

[Jonathan Wong]

You asked my parents that they would disagree when I say yes. Right. Because there is. They're ultra Christian, my parents. Right. So I want to say yes with an asterisk, you know, I mean, you know, you have to forge your own path, you know, for those who have faith. Right. There's, there's a large part of that as well. Right. I'm kind of. I'm kind of in between. Right. But I do give myself a lot of credit because I was told to go one way. And where I'm at today is completely different from where I was supposed to be. Right. And there was actually a point in time where I was. I was walking the fence where one side of the line, I could have been homeless. The other side of the line, I could be where I'm at sitting right now.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wong]

Right. And I'm sure a lot of people can be like that. It's just all life decisions. Right.

[Ray Guterres]

So, Jonathan, how can people find you and continue this journey after this conversation?

[Jonathan Wong]

Well, I. I've been doing a lot of stuff on social media. I. I said the Instagram. I've got multiple Instagrams. One for the business, one for personal branding, and one for the cars, and one for Club Five Health.

[Ray Guterres]

Is the car account most important to you?

[Jonathan Wong]

It's not, actually.

[Ray Guterres]

I'm just teasing.

[Jonathan Wong]

It's. It's cool, though, because I've gotten. Oddly enough, I've gotten. Since I've been posting just random stuff. Right, sure. That I'm doing. I got. I've got tons of brand deals out of it. Yeah.

[Ray Guterres]

It's another funnel.

[Jonathan Wong]

Yeah. So it's kind of, you know, social media that the main one is the tattoo dentist. Jww. Tattoo dentist. Right. I've been building up pretty good. I didn't. I never thought I was gonna be insta famous or anything like that, but I started doing it and then all of a sudden started blowing up. I don't know. I don't know what the rhyme or reason is. I don't. I don't try to be algorithms or anything like that, you know, but it's broke out pretty good.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. To us, this is just Friday afternoon,

[Jonathan Wong]

just like regular day.

[Ray Guterres]

Yeah. Well, from one Leo to another. Meow with that. That concludes another amazing Legacy Makers episode for Inside Success. Jonathan, thank you so much.

[Jonathan Wong]

Thank you for having me.

[Ray Guterres]

I'm Ricky Tierrez. Good night or good morning.