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Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway, give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com being a yes man in life, it seems like it's the right thing to do. When you're young entrepreneur, you just say yes to everything. Every meeting, every moment, every dinner, everything. You just go to anything and you end up wasting so much time and energy.
Ryan Alford
This is Right about Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month, taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.
What's up, guys? Welcome to Right about now, your number one marketing and business show on Apple podcast. We thank you for that. If you're listening the first time, I'm Ryan Alford, your host. I am blessed to be here. Get to do what I love and love what I do. It's, it's a benefit and I don't take it for granted. We want to thank you for tuning in and you know it. I get to talk to people I like. I get to talk to people I respect. Sometimes I just get to talk to the best in the world at what they do. It's just the benefit of sitting in this chair and I get to. Today we're going to talk business. We're going to talk to business of science and medicine and surgery. We're going to bring it through the lens you may not expect, but I can just tell you I respect the hell out of people that build their business the right way and understand human nature, behavior and the principles of marketing better than maybe they. Doc knows it, but let me just tell you, he does. He is a brilliant doctor. He is the world's best rhinoplasty doctor. He's in Beverly hills. It is Dr. Deepak Dugar. What's up, Doc? I always wanted to say what's up, Doc? Yes. Thank you so much.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Thank you for having me. I'm excited. Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan Alford
Yes. Damn, Doc, I'm like I was looking through beautiful media. I mean, all, you know, you can't. I always say, you know, they say you can't hide money, but you can't hide good marketing and good PR and good, like, understanding. I got it. Look, as a marketer, it was like a marketer's dream, like watching. And like you said, a lot of it wasn't paid. You know, like pr, media, like, it was brilliant. Like how you've built it. Every touch point, luxury, every. I don't know, everything just felt right. That's the, that's the best compliment I can give you as a professional marketer.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I think, I think one of the keys was starting a practice, and especially in such an elite place like Beverly Hills, which is one of the most competitive markets for what I do. So no matter what business you run, no matter what business you're starting up or continuing to dominate in, you know, the key is figuring out your angles and niches. I think for me, in Beverly Hills, coming with a niche was really important because there's so many famous, articulate, well marketed plastic surgeons. So how do you even create a little wave, like a small one, not even a big one. And I think the way I figured that out was by going really hard into one singular procedure. You know, Tesla, when they started, people forget that Tesla started out as a roadster company. That was it. They sold one car. They were Tesla Roadster. That was it. That was the entire company. That was their strategy. And then they perfected the concept of it. They never even released it, but they perfected the concept of it to get the waves in the car world. And that's how Tesla became where it is today. But, you know, same thing. We went in really heavy with one singular procedure. I do what's called a scarless nose rhinoplasty. So traditional rhinoplasty, you make a cut at the base of the nose, lift up the hood of the nose, take it apart, you reconstruct it from scratch. It's like tearing a house down and rebuilding a brand new glass box. Like most modern homes today, they all look the same, versus if you have like a beautiful French chateau, you don't tear it down, you just restore, refine, improve. And so coming at it from a more natural lens, scarless technique, all internal incisions. It got a lot of attention really fast, really early on. And I think that's probably one of the biggest success pillars I had, you know, one of many, but that was one of the biggest ones, was finding a little Niche, you know, it's like, it's like those restaurants have really small menus and they just get really good at that one type of burger.
Ryan Alford
Riches are in the niches, baby. That's what they say. And, but you know, it helps when you, you're also damn good at it, you know, like, you gotta have the goods, you know, because they, you know, there's a saying in marketing. Putting lipstick on the pig only lasts so long. But when you're the world's best at what you do and you're in a niche, it's magic. And you know, judging by the clients you work with, I'm gonna ask you to name drop a little bit. You know, look, it's good for the click. You can call it clickbait Doc, but I'm just. You. Everybody likes the stars, you know, so who can you name that you that you've worked on?
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah, well, I'll say 99 we cannot name because.
Ryan Alford
I thought it was on the payroll or something.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah, yeah, no, no, but the ones, you know, the ones that have gone public like recently, we were just featured on this Bravo TV show called Denise Richards and her Wild Things. Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards daughter Sammy Sheen. She did her nose job with us and we got to document the entire thing and she put it on the shows. On two of the episod, we worked with a lot of other celebrities like Daniela Monet, Mia Khalifa. You know, I spend a lot of time working with some of my friends on content that are really famous in the influencer space. Not necessarily patients, but just close friends of mine like Adam W. And Hannah Stocking and King Batch and some of the most famous influencers in the world that you'll see me in a lot of their videos. So we have a lot of organic relationships, a lot of really high end celebrity patients, and then, you know, just influencer friends that I get to have the privilege of being around and working with. And you know, one thing that, you know, one of my mentors always told me is that, you know, the world is full of mediocrity, you know, and it's like, it's really easy to even get rewarded. You can get rewarded in this life for being mediocre. Most mediocre people, even in business, it's a good life, you know, because even mediocrity takes a certain amount of work. It's not like mediocrity is easy. It's still, it's a good amount of work to be mediocre, but it's a lot of work to Be great. And it's an insane amount of commitment and excellence to be the best in the world at what you do and really want to be one of the best in the universe. And I think, you know, with business, it's tough because you really have to break down niches because, you know, what is the best businessman in the world? Is it the richest? Right. Then it's, okay, Elon Musk, that's it. No one else can talk. Everyone shut up. And that. That can't be how life works. So it's gotta be within your branding of business and how you do business that you become the best in your cycle. So for me, when I look at competitive energy, I don't want to be, like, the best plastic surgeon in the world. I want to be the best scarless rhinoplasty surgeon to have ever lived. And that's kind of the way that I approach it within that niche. And so, yeah, that's kind of how I think about what I do and how I put that mindset to it. So celebrities and all that stuff is just like, you know, it's a privilege and it's an honor because they truly have the ability to go to anyone in the world. So when they come to us, you know, whether it's a billionaire, whether it's a Saudi sheikh, whether it's, you know, one of the most famous celebrity children in the world that comes to us, you know, those moments mean a lot because it shows that the skill and craft has earned beyond just the marketing reputation.
Ryan Alford
Talking to Dr. Deepak Dugur. He is the world's best rhinoplasty surgeon. Talk to me, Doc. Like, I like to get underneath the hood a little bit.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Sure.
Ryan Alford
With how people tick. I'm trying to imagine Doc growing up. Like, you're clearly competitive. You're clearly driven to excellence. So I always like to unpack for audience those characteristics or things you identified that you worked on. I mean, I don't know that you can build grit and drive, but there's probably things that, you know, make Doc who he is. Like, talk to our audience a little bit about what that journey was for you. And what are those characteristics you feel like that are. That are uniquely yours?
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Well, I think, you know, I'm. I'm a one of three siblings. My older sister, older brother. Both definitely smarter than me. Both definitely more, you know, charismatic. I think I'm. I. One thing I had was. I had a little bit more dream power. Like, I think I just dream, and I think I put that energy to, like, you know, Almost a competitive edge with my own mentality of how to be the best. I also take everything personally, in a good way and bad way. You know, taking things personally in business is stressful, as you know, because then you take every pain point home with you at night, and you're sitting there at the dinner table thinking about every pain point. But it's also good, too, because it's like, you know, when you watch Michael Jordan in the last dance, you know, he's like, everything they said, he's like, I took that personally. I took that personally. And you almost create this competitive drive. So when I look at my competitors in town, and I think one thing that everyone should learn, and this is what I did early on, is you have to be so wise about picking your competition. Do not compete with losers. Do not compete with idiots. Do not compete with mediocrity. I picked. I literally looked around. I was like, who's the best in the entire planet at this craft? I picked the three, four people, and I said, that's my competition. And people think that's crazy. But what you do is you rise to their level to be able to compete with them. They always say, you know, don't let. You don't meet your idols, right? Because, you know, your idols become your enemies. That's only if you're really good at what you do, you know? And so I think the key was picking the right strategic partners. And these aren't partners. These are enemies. And these are not, you know, not really facetiously, but they are my competitors that I take personally. So when I see them do something, I say I want to do it more. When I see them do something good, I say, I got to do it twice as good. And I think picking the right competitive partners to dance and spar with. And this is how, if you look at Federer, Djokovic, and you look at Nadal, you know, that energy. They hated each other at one point. You know, you see this camaraderie today. They're all hugging and kissing. That didn't exist during the 15 years they were playing competitively against each other. They used each other's ammunition to get better and better and better. So that's my biggest, you know, success secret, I think, is I picked the best and most competitive people in the world to be my competition. I didn't. I didn't go for the people at my level. I want the people at the top.
Ryan Alford
When did it click? Brilliantly said Doc. I mean, it's so true. Like, that competitive. It. We can all say it's not. And, but I do say and I, I, I've been an entrepreneur for 10 years and I used to be really good at hiring people. Then I seem to get bad at it and then now I'm back to good. I realize like the characteristics. If you don't like to win, I don't want you on the team. Right. Like, but, and what you just described a little bit. I mean you're talking, but you, you don't have to like create like boogeyman around the corner that don't exist. But if you don't like want to compete, like that's just like one of our, the great human conditions, the opportunity. And not because you need to like. Well, I would, I would argue that you need to obsess about it to be the number one. However, you know, it needs to be done healthily healthy. Like I think you would agree with that. Even if sometimes it ventures across the line. But competitive people typically get what they want. You know, like if they're channeling it the right way, sometimes it can totally go the other direction. But that's something I really respect and feel from you Document.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah. And I feel like, yeah, I completely agree with you and I completely sympathize and empathize exactly with what you said. Because it's the same for me as bad hiring, good hiring, bad hiring. I think the team around you makes such a difference. And I think the problem is that again, mediocrity doesn't look mediocre. Sometimes mediocrity can put itself in a nice facade, say the right things. Right? But what is success? What's the difference between an NBA player who's the worst in the NBA or the NBA players the best in the NBA? They both practice their butts off, they both work out hardcore. They both, they all have six packs, they all eat healthy, they all train, they all work non stop. They all. So what's the difference? It's not the facade of the NBA player and seeing how tall they are. It's that at 4am the mediocre players sleeping. And at 4am Kobe Bryant's already on his way to the gym. Right. So it's the stuff you don't see. And that's the problem I think with hiring is that mediocre can look superior really easily trick us and then you really got to get to. One thing I've been doing lately with hiring is I do what is called skills assessments. First interview is always for like the vibe. I want kindness, I want empathy, I want politeness because I do think it's important in a workspace for everyone to feel comfortable. I don't want people being diminutive, diminutive to each other. And then the second thing I do is a skills assessment where actually we put them to work. We put them to work, we let them see for a few minutes, give them some tasks and some skill sets, live in the moment and we see how quick or smart they are. Because what I found toxicity comes from is having really smart people around. People who aren't as good at their job and it's not their fault, it's just. But the problem is, is that the doers, the killers, they get dragged down sometimes energy wise. There's energy vampires that happen in the workplace and I think you got to really separate those people and try to give the winners the best team around them. Otherwise their performance starts to draw away too.
Ryan Alford
That right there, like that's going to be a highlight clip. Uh, by the way people, if you're listening because like what Doc just described, he is a masterclass in hiring the right people and blending together. Because not just the hire, it's the blend of the team, the makeup of the team. Because it's not that you're. It's hard to have all type A's or like all but you can't, you will get brought down if everyone's not at least on a similar plane. Like it's just, it doesn't work because they will. Your B players will pull, you know, B, let's call them D players will pull your A players down. They don't have to be A's, you need A's and B's. Like your D's are going to pull your A's down, your C's are going to be like so it's important and look it's. Everybody's got a different skill and so it's the blend of talents. But everybody needs to be on the playing level, playing foot field of how at least great in what they are and what they do within the skill sets that are needed, you know, for your office run or any business to run. Right?
Dr. Deepak Dugar
That's right. That's absolutely right. And then I think the other big thing that I've learned too over the years, I'm sure you know this for sure Ryan, is you gotta say no. You know, you can't say yes to everything. You know, being a yes man in life, it seems like it's the right thing to do. When you're young entrepreneur, you just say yes to everything. Every meeting, every Moment, every dinner, everything. You just go to anything and you end up wasting so much time and energy. You gotta be really selective in who you work with, what you do. Saying no to the wrong clients will save you so much time and money, and saying yes to the wrong clients will literally suck the life and energy out of you. So it's really be really being selective, starting to get that confidence. And I think young entrepreneurs, they get nervous of saying no because they're like, well, any revenue is good revenue. And it turns out it's not true. There is such a thing as good revenue and bad revenue.
Ryan Alford
Yo, I've learned that lesson. I, I, I still learn it every now and then from time to time. You know, you and I can get, you know, lured in. Oh, I can, I could. Because here's what happened. You'll get the confidence that you can change them, you know, like mine. Like, I know that I know what problem I might be getting, but I think I can work my way through it, you know, like, no, it doesn't work. I would, yeah, I'd call it be greedy with your energy is really. Yeah, you know, like, that's what it is. It's not, it's not figure, you know, literally being greedy just with your energy and where you apply it, because we only have some. It's a finite resource. Right, right.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
That's so true. So true.
Ryan Alford
Doctor, please. I really want to get down on a couple topics here that really relate to how you've built your practice that I think could be learning lessons for audience. It's around a few different themes. I'm exclusivity, luxury, and almost like just the whole ethos of a company that are built with both of those two attributes kind of built. It's an interesting, weird place. Especially, you know, it's one thing you can say, oh, Prada. And like, these brands are something that are, you know, 30, 40, 50 years old, whatever they are, that have built that over time. But for, like, new businesses, the idea of exclusivity is like, just like what you just said. Oh, any revenue is good revenue. Like, oh, I got to get it. But maybe not. When building your brand, talk to me about your perspective on, on luxury experience.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
And well, I think one of the biggest things luxury experience is you got to have a funnel that weeds out the waste of time leads. And I think a lot of us think about funnels as like, oh, let me not lose a single lead. Right. When you're starting out, you create these funnels and you have these, you know, and you Want every single lead. You don't want to lose a single one. You're getting mad at your employees that they missed the email on that one and they didn't get the right phone number on that one. Right. Versus worrying about the high level, you know, useful leads. You want quality leads. You don't want to just want every lead. And I think that's what a lot of young entrepreneurs get wrong too, is they want to create these massive email lists, these massive things. And I get it, at some point there's a scale to those things when you sell your list or do things like that. But in a medical space, especially for luxury concierge branding, where I'm trying to create myself as the Hermes of what we do in our business, you know, not even a Chanel or Louis Vuitton, like straight up to the Hermes Birkin bag of what we do. This is the Rolls Royce is the Birkin. That's the branding we took from day one. So the concept is we want quality leads and so anyone you know, we have a filter. So in order to book an appointment with me, first of all, just to talk, it's $500 to spend 10 minutes with me basically to get to do the consultation and that. $500. I don't, I don't, I'm not trying to make a business off of 500. That's not how this works. It's a, it's a quality lead generator where if you're not willing to spend that, then you're probably not going to be comfortable spending 20 to 40,000 on a surgery. So it's okay to let those go because a lot of patients will call me like, oh this, will you do a free consult? Or what happens if I don't do surgery? Can I get the money back? And listen, I understand, listen. If you don't go to Hermes, you don't go to Rolls Royce if you don't have the budget for it, and that's totally fine. There are lots of options, there's lots of surgeons out there, so there's nothing disrespectful about it. We tell the patients with grace. Oh my God. God bless. There's so many good options out there for you. Do not worry. However, to book a consultation with Dr. Dugard is $500 and that is non refundable. And we make it very clear. We're just very matter of fact. The other thing I learned is you gotta have employees who are comfortable talking about money. Money is such an awkward thing for the average person because they're not trained in sales, but when you're in sales, you have to be very comfortable talking about money. Money is just a commodity. It's just something you use to get what you want out of life. So it's not some weird, scary thing, you know, it's like, you know, no one wants to talk about sex with their kids. That's not one of those. It's just money. It's just pieces of paper that you collected and now you spend it on something you want. So it should be a good thing. It should be an exciting moment to spend your money on something like me, because I'm an exciting moment for most people in their lives. And so that's number one and two is funneling them through quality lead generation. And then I think having the concierge ability to talk to them in a really respectful way, make sure they feel heard, make sure they feel listened to, and have people not overworked with the minutiae of your business. Every business, how much minutia is. They're like, look at your current podcast. There's a giant TV behind you. Someone has to make sure it works. There's an audio guy making sure the audio works. There's a video guy making sure the video works. There's seven, eight people doing my new show right now. For Ryan to be able to do what he does, which is deliver message to the person listening right now. And so I think the key is we have to look at our employees that way too, is I don't want the video guy worrying about the audio guy's work, and I don't want the audio guy worrying about the video guys work. Everyone's got to take care of their thing so that the luxury person who is selling can just talk. Just focus on that client eye to eye. Give them confidence, influence in a way that makes them feel at home. And then we took a lot of inspiration from hotels and from like, some of our luxury brands that we identify with. And we have, you know, hotel infused scents in our lobby. And we have, you know, we have minimalistic, you know, restoration hardware, minimalized decor everywhere.
Ryan Alford
So.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
So it kind of has this inviting feel and you have like this cleanliness to it. So, like, you get that medical sense with, like this calming sense as well. It kind of fuses together and we kind of create this, like, holistic energy of concierge medicine where it's one level above whatever other office they went to. And my whole thought is that if we put that level of attention into this, imagine how much attention I'm Putting into the surgery.
Ryan Alford
Yeah. Yes, Doc. It's. I. I can't hit this enough for our audience. You know what? Dr. Just really eloquently outlined a lot of key principles there. But he's gatekeeping, and he's creating a filter for getting the right audience. That's his audience, by the things that he's doing, by the brand he's created, by the access to him. This isn't about being, you know, taking advantage or, like, overdoing something. He's identified that he is, and he's already worked to be the best in his practice. He's establishing a look, a feel and an experience that reinforces what he is doing as the best in the world. And he's creating these levers that both signal to people what he is and what he isn't and what their practice is and what they can expect, but also what you're going to pay. Because, look, we all want a Ferrari, you know, or most of us, but you know what? But we're realistic if we can't write that check, you know, and so you stop before you even go into the dealership. And so it saves time from his people, his time, because you're establishing. And that principle of what he's doing is certainly applied to luxury in this sense, but it really can apply to anything because a lot of people want to be all things, all people. And it's the road to nothing in nowhere.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Because you can't.
Ryan Alford
It is. It's like. But you're doing it, Doctor. And it's. It's not to be pretentious or to be whatever. It's just you've earned the right because you're the best in the world at what you do, and you're providing an experience that matches what you're talking about. It's. And I think there's a lot to learn there. It's hard to almost unpack that enough for people, because I think we're. Entrepreneurs are so instinctively, they try to be altruistic, you know, a little bit and, you know, but it's a business. At the end of the day, this isn't a charity. It is.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
It is. And I think transparency, Transparency is so important. I think for young entrepreneurs, the mistake is you want to be at the big dog, day one, and you have to work your way up. You got to be the big dog in your world, right? So you can't just be the top dog. You can always be a big dog, but you got to do it in your way. Like, I didn't start Charging this much money when I started out because I do believe there's such a thing as called market demand. So even though I was looking at the biggest guys in the world as my competitors, I wasn't pricing like they were 10 years ago. I was pricing in my world much lower, probably 60, 70% less than they're charging. But I still use them as my competitive drive to want to be better than them one day. I didn't say it has to be today. So I didn't beat myself up mentally and go home sad every day that I'm not as good as the Michael Jordan at the time. Right? I knew, listen, I'm Kobe. It's going to let me work my magic over the years. I'll get my skill set up, and I'm going to win my championships in a few years. But today, let me focus on being the best I can. And I stayed my price point and I stayed my filters based on where I was. So, you know, there was a time where I was charging 5 to $7,000 for rhinoplasty. Then it goes up to 10 to 12, then it went up to 15 to 18, then up to 20 to 25, and then 20 to 30. Right. So these price increases, I didn't just arbitrarily make them. What happens is the market dictates your pricing based on how good you're getting, the results you're getting what the world says you're worth compared to the metrics of everyone else that's offering the same service. Right. So a Birkin bag doesn't just get to decide it's $30,000, $20,000, versus a Chanel, which is 15,000. It's the market demand. The market has said Chanel's worth 10 to 15 and Birkin's worth 20 to 40. And so you have to listen as a young entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. To what your market demand is for you. You can't just make up these fake things either. You got to get value, and you got to make happy clients and focus on the clients. Make them really happy, especially the first hundred, 500,000, really lean in to give them the best experience possible. And then you'll find out if your service is even good or not. A lot of entrepreneurs just want to make money, and they're not focusing on the value add. You got to be good at your craft first. Go to your business, good at your service, and then you can figure out about how to increase your pricing. But, you know, I meet so many young entrepreneurs who want to just, you know, oh, well, I'm just going to charge this much and I'll take on these clients and this whole business plan as if they've done it for 20 years, but it's their first day. And I think knowing where you are, what stage you're in, you got to listen to what stage you're in as well.
Ryan Alford
You got to be it to make them see it. And, and, and look, you aren't necessarily number one, day one, but you obviously had a luxury vision in mind and a world class goal in mind. It's two of my favorite, you know, be it to make them see it and inspect what you expect. Yeah, like two of my favorite. And like I'm you literally when you were talking, I'm like this, this guy's a living, breathing example of these two things. And if you want people to think of you as a luxury and if you're wanting to build that brand or whatever it is we're using, you know, this is doctor's brand and how he's built his practice, it could be whatever attribute you want it to be. But I can tell you what, you have to live it and breathe it if you want people to, to see that and write that check. Like you got better, obviously your practice, the technology got better. You're learning in education and, and doing it hundreds and thousands of times. How many surgeries you've done. Obviously it was improving, but, but the, but the outward display of that, which is I'm going to transition, doc, for you into like what you have done on the marketing level visually or with PR and press, you know, because you haven't spent a ton in the, in the traditional sense. But how do you think, and how did you think about marketing and building that luxury brand?
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Well, my space is very visual, so you have to think about what space you're in for business, you know, depending on what type of market you're in. Mine was very visual. And so what I found from day one is that I could spend a huge ad budget on Facebook ads or Google Ads from day one with mediocre content or I could figure out how to make really good content in my space. And what makes good content for me is different for every business. So for me, you know, this kind of podcast clip, patients usually don't care about this in my world. Right. And it depends on your business and your business. This works really well. Well, my world, what they care about is they want to see a beautiful girl's before and after picture. That's a picture. I'm not pretty enough, Doc, the Problem is you're too good looking. There's nothing to appreciate.
Ryan Alford
Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, you're right. No, carry on. I know.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
So for me, it was how to create these beautiful. So my entire mission for the first three to four years of my practice was get the most beautiful patients who I can transform them in such an amazing way that they looked even more beautiful after. But even the before was beautiful. So if you have the before beautiful and then the after is even more beautiful, it's almost like, huh, that's insane. Because if you take someone who's not beautiful and make them beautiful, it's kind of like, all right, well that's what placard is supposed to do. But if you take someone who's already beautiful and you make them even more beautiful, you say, oh, God, this is art. This is incredible. It's like drinking a fine bottle of wine, like drinking a first growth Chateau, you know, Mouton Rothschild from 1982 versus you drinking a regular $20 bottle of wine from Napa. And you're like, oh, wow, this is art. You realize, like, wow, this is expansion of my entire vision of what I could be with my life, right? When you drink that wine, when you have that caviar, when you taste that gold rated steak and you say, oh my God, I didn't know steak could taste like this. These are the moments where you open, unlock your brain to what the most beautiful parts of life are. It's almost like the movie the Matrix where the guy's eating the food in the Matrix. He's like, I know the steak is fake, and I know it's fake, but I still like it, you know, and that's what the life, life is about. We gotta enjoy it can't just be about problems. One of my favorite quotes is like, life cannot be about problems every day. And it can be like, we gotta enjoy life. And that's what I found, is that when people come to me, they're not here for problems. They're here to have fun. They want to look better, feel better, like, this is a luxury good. So you have to understand your business really well. The core of my business is people want luxury and they want to feel and look even better. They're not coming to me for some sad problem. And so knowing that, I wanted to juxtapose my marketing to present that. And so I used the best before and afters I could use to show them what my results were. I didn't spend any money. I had zero marketing budget for the first five years of My practice, I got organic PR at a couple. A couple of patients who randomly came to me and they're like, hey, you know, I work for E. News, or, hey, I work for Variety, and I would love to do my surgery with you with or without any participation. And if I do do my surgery, would you allow me to write about it? And I was like, of course. And then even though you got to deliver and you got to make them want to write good things about you. So for me, it was just organic pr. Also, being in Beverly Hills, being social, you know, I'm a. I. I take a large part of my time to do. Do the best socializing in la. Like, I would tell you if, you know, you talk to anyone in la, the best socializing aspects in la, I'm a member at all of them, whether it's Bird Streets Club, soho, Malibu, Nobu Malibu.
Ryan Alford
You know, I'm coming to hang out with you, Doc.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah. I'll show you the best 24 hours in LA you can see. And so, you know, from a social standpoint, I also made it a point. Make your friends, your clients, and make your clients your friends, depending on who they are. So, you know, on any given week, I'm taking someone from Dubai, Saudi, India, Kuwait, I'm taking them to dinners. I'm taking, you know, my patients from London and Paris out for lunches and brunches. And you create a lifestyle that mixes with work so it doesn't feel like work all the time. And also, you genuinely want to spend time with these people. So part of my marketing was social, and I think people don't realize how important that is. You know, sometimes you'll see a business entrepreneur who gets to the next level before you, and you're like, how the hell did he do that? I'm spending so much on ads. I'm spending so much on this. How did he get there? And it's because he was at the right dinner or he was at the right lunch and he was at the right table. And so I think a lot of entrepreneurs forget to. You spend a lot of time going to these useless dinners, these useless, you know, meet at meetups and you sit in the corner and you find someone to drink with, you start talking to some chick or something. Instead, what you should be focusing on is how to create your own socialization stratosphere that you can utilize and leverage the people at your table to get you to the right table.
Ryan Alford
It's not what you know, it's who you know, baby. Yeah, but it helps when you're the world's best. And you know people. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Because if you're sitting with the Saudi sheikh and then he introduces you to the Qatari shake, like disconnections is what life's about. And I think that's where, you know, being told, you know, just like anything, like, who's the best plumber in town. It's all subjective. And so if Tommy's the best plumber to you and you tell Jim he's the best plumber, then Tommy's the best plumber to Jim too. And so it's who tells. Who talks about you is more important than what's being said almost. And that's where I feel like my marketing was really organic and tried to put more social influence into my marketing than I did.
Ryan Alford
Dollar Spend a lot of key learning lessons there. I mean, we all. Everybody wants to do it behind the keyboard. It just doesn't all happen there. And it's still a people. Human world and people do business with people and they talk about your business with other people when they like you and you build community outside of the Facebook group, you know, like, there's nothing wrong with the Facebook group, but let me just tell you, you get at the right dinner table, magic happens.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
That's right. That's right. And me and you are having dinner when you're in LA next time. That's for sure.
Ryan Alford
Exactly. I'm seeing it, Doc. I think we get down. I think we got a lot, lot in common. What, What? You know, doctor, when I'm talking to a guy that's successful like you arguably did, not really arguably. We'll just call you. We know you're the world's best, but. World's best. Where did. Where's the. It's always about the journey. And so where, where are we headed and what gets you excited when, you know, some people would say you're. If you're at. You're close to the top of the mountain, you know, if you're not there, you know, where is the top of the mountain? What's the next mountain?
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Well, I think, I think one of my favorite things is I use a lot of comparisons to basketball because I think it's so fitting in my life. But like, the day you win the championship, you're the championship player, the next morning, you start all over. You start all over. And so I think, you know, accolades are fun to look back on to remind yourself that that was a good day or that was a good year year. But it has nothing to do with the future. So whatever I've done up until yesterday was my rewards for yesterday. I got to go earn my reward tonight. I have not earned my reward for today yet. So every day you got to earn the reward, the privilege. What an honor to be good at something, to be great at something, and to be able to do it well and to help people along the way, and you got to do it every day. So whatever treats I want today and tomorrow, I got to earn those today and tomorrow. And so I always look at life as like, you know, you never get too privileged, never get too comfortable, always want the journey, always enjoy the stress. You know, Kobe Bryant famously said, you know, the victory was not the trophy. It was the 4am sleepless nights. It was the. It was the extra two workouts a day that he never knew if it would matter or not, but he put them in anyways. Like, that's truly what winning is to me. And so I like being good. And every surgery, you know, just like, no matter what business is, whether you're serving a boy at an Evergreen or whether you're building construction buildings and building high rises, every building, every patient, every food, every meal, that's the fun for me. And so, you know, I have three surgeries the next day and three surgeries the day after that. Those patients don't care how many good surgeries they've done. They don't care if Ryan says I'm the best. They don't care if 100,000 patients say I'm the best. They need the best on their nose that day, right? So this tech CEO that I'm doing on Monday, who? One of the most famous CEOs in the world. No one cares. He doesn't care how famous I am or how great I am. He wants his breathing to be the best breathing he's ever had in his life. And so you got to keep winning. Keep winning, keep winning championship after championship, and you only get to celebrate that one singular success. You don't. You don't celebrate the whole life.
Ryan Alford
It's a lot. Doc, you're obviously brilliant, but I have not ever heard it quite put together the way you did. And if you. You'll go as far. You're already way up the ladder, but you'll go as far as ever. If you can look at every day as winning the championship, like, I think that's what we do. We kind of put these artificial stopping points of, okay, I got like, you. I mean, your world's best at what you do, so you'd be easy to go, okay, I'm the world's best. And not that you'd suddenly start not doing good surgeries, but like, but if you can realize and think about every day as an opportunity to be better and you can truly be challenged within the day and not the broader time period, that's a, that's a really great recipe for success. Thank you, doctor. I mean, I really love that. Where can everybody keep up with all you're doing with your practice? And, you know, obviously a lot of wisdom to share in business as well.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yeah, my pleasure. So my website is scarlessnose.com like scarless no scar nose.com and my name is Dr. Deepak Dugar D U G A R. I'm on Instagram at Deepak Dugar MD. I'm on Twitter X and I'm on TikTok under the same name. Deepak Dugger MD. Love to share. If anyone has any questions, just shoot me a DM and anywhere. My team is amazing. We get hundreds of DMs some days, depending where in the world and what I posted and what people liked. But shoot us a dm. We'll always respond. We try our best to get through them all. As my best is we can.
Ryan Alford
It's a pleasure having you on, doctor. I look forward to continuing the relationship.
Dr. Deepak Dugar
Yes, sir. I'll see you in LA soon. We'll go to Nobu.
Ryan Alford
I love that. Hey, guys. You're to find US Ryan is right.com we'll have highlight clips, links to all of the content. No, it won't be pretty people and beautiful women, but it will be drops of wisdom and knowledge from Dr. The best in his field and we appreciate him. We appreciate you for making us number one. We'll see you next time. Right about now.
This has been Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.
Podcast Summary: Right About Now with Ryan Alford – Episode: The Art of Attracting the Right Clients for Your Business with Dr. Deepak Dugar
Introduction
In this insightful episode of Right About Now with Ryan Alford, host Ryan Alford sits down with Dr. Deepak Dugar, renowned as the world’s best scarless rhinoplasty surgeon based in Beverly Hills. Dr. Dugar shares his journey to excellence, strategies for attracting high-quality clients, and the principles that have established his practice as a leader in the competitive field of plastic surgery. The conversation delves deep into niche specialization, team building, luxury branding, and the relentless pursuit of perfection.
1. Building a Niche in a Competitive Market
Dr. Dugar emphasizes the importance of carving out a specific niche to stand out in a saturated market. By focusing on a specialized procedure—scarless nose rhinoplasty—he was able to differentiate his practice from other articulate and well-marketed plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [04:50]: "Riches are in the niches, baby. That's what they say. And, but you know, it helps when you, you're also damn good at it, you know, like, you gotta have the goods."
He draws a parallel to Tesla’s initial strategy of perfecting a single product—the Tesla Roadster—to create significant impact before expanding. Similarly, Dr. Dugar concentrated his efforts on perfecting the scarless technique, gaining substantial attention and establishing his reputation early on.
2. The Philosophy of Excellence and Competitive Drive
A recurring theme in the discussion is the relentless pursuit of excellence. Dr. Dugar explains his approach to competition, choosing to benchmark against the best in the world rather than settling for local standards.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [09:00]: "I picked the best and most competitive people in the world to be my competition. I didn’t go for the people at my level. I want the people at the top."
This mindset not only fuels his continuous improvement but also ensures that his practice remains at the pinnacle of the industry. He compares his journey to basketball legends who view every day as an opportunity to earn their success, embodying a championship mentality.
3. Strategic Hiring and Building the Right Team
Dr. Dugar discusses the critical role of hiring in maintaining high standards within his practice. He avoids mediocrity by implementing thorough hiring processes, including skills assessments, to ensure that new hires are both technically competent and culturally aligned with the practice’s values.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [13:47]: "I do what is called skills assessments. First interview is always for the vibe. I want kindness, I want empathy, I want politeness because I do think it's important in a workspace for everyone to feel comfortable."
He highlights the importance of having team members who are not just competent but also capable of contributing positively to the workplace environment, preventing energy drain from underperforming employees.
4. Quality Over Quantity in Lead Generation
Dr. Dugar advocates for a selective approach to lead generation, prioritizing quality over quantity. By establishing a high barrier to entry—charging $500 for a consultation—he filters out non-committed clients, ensuring that his time and resources are invested in serious, high-potential leads.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [17:14]: "You have to have a funnel that weeds out the waste of time leads. I don’t want to lose a single lead, I want quality leads."
This strategy aligns with his luxury branding, positioning his practice as the "Hermes Birkin bag" of rhinoplasty services, where exclusivity and premium quality justify the higher price points.
5. Organic Marketing and Social Engagement
Without a substantial marketing budget, Dr. Dugar relies heavily on organic PR and social engagements to build his reputation. By cultivating relationships with celebrities and influencers, he leverages word-of-mouth and authentic endorsements to attract new clients.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [27:13]: "I used the best before and afters I could use to show them what my results were. I had zero marketing budget for the first five years of my practice, I got organic PR."
He emphasizes the importance of being present in the right social circles and creating meaningful interactions that naturally lead to business opportunities, rather than relying solely on traditional advertising.
6. Creating a Luxury Brand Experience
Dr. Dugar meticulously designs his practice to reflect a luxury experience, drawing inspiration from high-end hotels and brands. From minimalist decor to concierge-level service, every aspect is curated to provide an exceptional client experience.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [20:53]: "We have hotel infused scents in our lobby. We have minimalistic restoration hardware, minimalized decor everywhere. It kind of has this inviting feel and you have like this cleanliness to it."
This attention to detail not only enhances client satisfaction but also reinforces the perception of his practice as a premier destination for rhinoplasty, attracting clients who value exclusivity and top-tier service.
7. Continuous Improvement and Long-Term Vision
A key takeaway from the conversation is the importance of viewing success as a continuous journey rather than a final destination. Dr. Dugar adopts a mindset of perpetual growth, always striving to enhance his skills and deliver superior results.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [33:34]: "Whatever I've done up until yesterday was my rewards for yesterday. I have not earned my reward for today yet."
This philosophy keeps him motivated to consistently exceed client expectations and maintain his standing as the best in his field.
8. The Role of Transparency and Market Alignment
Dr. Dugar underscores the significance of aligning pricing with market demand and maintaining transparency with clients. By setting clear expectations and pricing his services in accordance with the value he provides, he ensures that clients understand the premium they are paying for.
Dr. Deepak Dugar [23:22]: "I stayed my price point and I stayed my filters based on where I was. So these price increases, I didn't just arbitrarily make them. The market dictates your pricing."
This approach not only builds trust with clients but also positions his practice as a trustworthy and prestigious option in the market.
Conclusion
Dr. Deepak Dugar’s approach to building a successful, high-end rhinoplasty practice offers valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and marketers alike. From the strategic focus on niche specialization and excellence to the importance of building a top-tier team and creating a luxury client experience, his insights emphasize quality, commitment, and continuous improvement. By leveraging organic marketing and fostering meaningful social connections, Dr. Dugar has established a brand that resonates with high-caliber clients, ensuring sustained success in a competitive industry.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps
Dr. Deepak Dugar [04:50]: "Riches are in the niches, baby. That's what they say."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [09:00]: "I picked the best and most competitive people in the world to be my competition."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [13:47]: "First interview is always for the vibe. I want kindness, I want empathy, I want politeness."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [17:14]: "You have to have a funnel that weeds out the waste of time leads. I want quality leads."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [20:53]: "We have hotel infused scents in our lobby. We have minimalistic restoration hardware, minimalized decor everywhere."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [27:13]: "I used the best before and afters I could use to show them what my results were."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [33:34]: "Whatever I've done up until yesterday was my rewards for yesterday. I have not earned my reward for today yet."
Dr. Deepak Dugar [23:22]: "The market dictates your pricing based on how good you're getting."
Resources and Contact Information
For those interested in learning more about Dr. Deepak Dugar’s practice or seeking his services, you can visit his website at scarlessnose.com. Follow him on Instagram at @DeepakDugarMD, on Twitter @DeepakDugarMD, and on TikTok under the same handle.
Final Thoughts
This episode serves as a masterclass in building a high-end brand, attracting the right clients, and maintaining excellence in a competitive environment. Dr. Dugar’s experiences and strategies provide actionable insights for business owners aiming to elevate their practices and achieve sustained success.