No Excuses: How I'm Building a Streaming Career While Running a Dental Practice

What does it really take to chase a dream while maintaining a successful career? The answer lies in what I call the CDP formula: Consistency, Discipline, and fighting Procrastination.

Showing up matters more than feeling perfect. Today I streamed despite not feeling my best—dealing with cramps and exhaustion—because consistency isn't about feeling good; it's about commitment. This research project I've undertaken is simple yet profound: can I show up consistently for an entire year on Twitch and see what grows from that seed? The dental school determination that carried me through dissecting cadavers and mastering complex procedures now fuels my streaming journey.

My path from "Hood to Hooded" wasn't traditional. With a mother who had me at 14, many expected me to follow similar footsteps. Instead, I channeled those doubts into motivation, eventually opening my own dental practice after years of running others' offices. That transition taught me invaluable lessons about autonomy and perseverance—lessons that now apply to building my streaming presence. Starting from three followers might seem insignificant to some, but slow progress beats no progress every time.

The streaming world differs dramatically from dentistry, yet both require consistent effort and patience. Like planting a seed, you must provide the right conditions—rich soil (preparation), consistent watering (showing up), appropriate sunlight (the right environment), and patience. Don't be afraid to start from zero; be afraid of never starting at all. Whether you're considering streaming, changing careers, or pursuing any passion, remember: water your dreams daily, believe in your potential, and never let procrastination steal your tomorrow. Welcome to my dental family on Twitch—where we improve our streams and oral hygiene, one day at a time!

Chapters

• 0:00 Consistency Over Perfection
• 3:36 From Dentistry to Streaming
• 6:58 My Dental Practice Journey
• 9:46 Hood to Hooded: Overcoming Expectations
• 12:26 CDP: Consistency, Discipline, No Procrastination
• 15:16 The Dental Family on Twitch

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

consistency over perfection, consistency over the quality that I want to work myself up to. Sometimes, imperfection is required. Imperfection is required. The thing about right now is I don't feel my best. I don't feel like, oh my god, I'm just lit and ready to go live. But, like I told you guys earlier, I'm doing this research project. I want to just see, even when I'm tired, can I show up? Even when I don't feel good like today I got cramps going on like didn't even work yesterday because I wasn't feeling well. I didn't want to work today because I'm not feeling well.

Speaker 1: 1:19

But when you're consistent, you don't make excuses. So I said no days off. That's what consistency means. So even when I'm in here talking to you guys live you're watching this on the replay I'm live with nobody in here, and that's the type of confidence, that's the type of dedication and determination you need to succeed. So I'm just transferring my dental school morale, the work ethic, into streaming, and I love streaming. It's just something that I haven't really made time for, but now it's a requirement for me to do this, because I want to see the difference Like I just want to keep going live.

Speaker 1: 2:02

I want to get it into my spirit, into my blood that I'm a streamer and sometimes you have to be the Lulu for your dream, because if you won't do it, nobody else is going to do it for you. But that's what always stops us procrastination, not being consistent and not being determined. As you guys can see, this is my first day of determination. It's a little research project, but we're gonna keep rocking out like. We're gonna keep rocking out, showing up when you don't feel like it, showing up when you don't feel like the best, like when you're a streamer, you have to show up, and I mean like show up. So if you are engaging and you finally like stumble upon the stream, whether it's live, whether this is on youtube, make sure you are following me so you can see how much we can grow. We're not. This is the year where we not making excuses, we just gonna.

Speaker 1: 2:56

So, like I said, I want to be with the big boys, with my big camera, like you know what I'm saying, but it takes a little more skill for me to get there Because it's a little bit more in-depth than I know. It reminds me of dentistry, like it seems like dentistry is just. Oh, we just learn about teeth, but teeth go so deep, they're so complex, they have so many different parts. That's why dental school is so long. It takes so much to get in and get out, because there is so much knowledge there and of course, this is different lanes. But I feel like with streaming, a lot of people may look at streaming, especially on a platform like twitch, like oh well, I could just hop on and go live. Some people have that charisma where they can just pop on and have a million viewers.

Speaker 1: 3:44

You know, I'm saying, and some of us have to work hard and, like I said, consistency, consistency. So I compare it to like a different type of skill, like coming from dentistry, that's a lot of books. That's a lot of books. That's a lot of science, a lot of just Lord, have mercy, do not take me back to dental school. I don't want to do that ever again in my life. You don't even think your brain can go to the capacities that dental school pushes you. I mean dissecting human bodies, cutting open skulls. Dental school is a trip. It's a trip. I don't even think that allowing students to really dissect cadavers as much anymore, which is a shame, because we had to do it. We had to do from head and neck anatomy like yeah, that was an experience, um, so that's a different type of skill. To be able to go through something like that, that's a different mindset of skill. To be able to go through something like that, that's a different mindset.

Speaker 1: 4:42

But with Twitch, since I got on this platform, like two years ago, it's been very fucking challenging for me. When I got on here the first time, I was like whoa, whoa. I took a year off after the first time. That should have let you know that I was not ready. Then I got back on here again, like a year later and I'm, like, still not ready. Last year I did a little bit more, I studied a little bit more. I actually got out of my fear, started playing around with, like the scenes and sources and gaming a little bit, but I wasn't consistent.

Speaker 1: 5:19

So, you guys, for me the consistency is key, which is why I'm on here tonight, because I know if I don't get on here before midnight, I have to start back off with this journey. I'm tired of starting over, like, are you guys like tired of starting over when it's something that you really want to do and you'll go a couple days and then you skip a day and then just throw your whole little plan off like I really just hate, I hate it. I really really hate it Because I have a goal. Sometimes you have to look, do Lulu? Sometimes you have to be crazy, sometimes you have to show up when you don't feel like it because you have a goal. And this is how it is. When you go audience and no matter what that is and a lot of times we want to grow as people, no matter what age Just look at the things that don't work and look at the things that are working for other people. So, like I told you guys earlier, I've just been doing my research. So I say you know what? I'm all over the place. I'm on Facebook, twitch well, not really on Twitch, I'm on Facebook, youtube, tiktok. I'm trying to be on X. I'm trying to be here. I'm trying to be doing too much. That's what I'm trying to do.

Speaker 1: 6:26

That's the reason why I became a dental practice owner is because I wanted autonomy. I had worked in so many different practices since doing my residency at the brooklyn hospital center and finishing that up in like 2018. I bounced around from different offices and I was never completely satisfied, because it's always someone else's practice, so you don't get to put your own creativity into it, you just walk in, do your work, go home, boo boo. That is not a bad deal to walk in, go, go to work and go home. The only issue is, when you do it that way, they are going to pack your schedule the f**k out. So I was running offices alone. They knew that I was good, so they would leave me in the office alone. And I'm fresh out of dental school, fresh out of residency. I'm scared. I did it and it just became like second nature to be running people's offices alone. So I said you know what I need to be getting more than 25 to 30 percent of this. I need 100. So I said, you know, let me go ahead and open up my own practice. So that's what I did, like two and a half years ago.

Speaker 1: 7:32

And, baby, it has not been easy. It's been everything. But the word easy. Everything was easy. But would I take it back? Definitely not the skills, the learning that you go through, the ups and downs, the trials, the tribulations, the experience. I can say you know, I have three years of actually owning, running and being a dentist at my own practice and paying myself like or just being able to provide a source of income without anyone else. That's major, but for me, the reason why I want to add in this online community, here on twitch primarily, we started from three right now. I was starting from zero last year, so I'm at three right now. So we doing better, but we definitely not where we want to be. We want us three to three million, three to three thousand, 3 to 3 something other than just 3. But slow progress is better than no progress.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Hood to hooded it means from hood. I came from the hood and I became hooded. I became a doctor in the most unconventional way that you could even imagine. So when you think about somebody who has been on this track they have a practice, now they're a doctor you think, oh my god, they must have had so much support. Oh my god, they must have just been spoiled. You know harder than I don't know.

Speaker 1: 8:59

People still look at me like, well, how did you make it, girl? Because they thought I was gonna be a teenage mother, like my mom had me at 14 years old. They thought I was gonna be a teenage mother. They thought I was going to be a teenage mother, like my mom had me at 14 years old. They thought I was going to be a teenage mother. They thought I was going to be somewhere, just strung out, helpless, hopeless, nothing. They thought I was just going to give up on life and I didn't do any of that. I said you know what? I have a lot of people to prove wrong and I have my own insecurities to prove wrong too, because sometimes you know, you could be insecure with yourself and not follow through with your dreams and just talk yourself out of it every freaking day and not show up for you.

Speaker 1: 9:36

So today, this is me showing up for me, guys. It's me showing up for you too, but it's me mostly showing up for me to prove that I do have a voice. Someone needs to hear what I have to say and I do have positivity to give to the world. I'm not getting into my own way anymore. I'm not getting into my head. I'm not like waiting for the perfect camera, the perfect this, the perfect that. Sometimes I'm gonna show up on this thing on iPhone.

Speaker 1: 10:02

Every day is a little progress. Every day we strive for progress. Day is a little progress. Every day we strive for progress. Every day we strive to overcome our fears and every day we strive to overcome those three things that I've been talking about for today. The three things that I've been talking about for today is getting away from the spirit of procrastination.

Speaker 1: 10:24

Like procrastination has haunted me ever since I've been in elementary school, middle school, high school. I've been a procrastinator. Yes, I'm a doctor, but I've been a procrastinator because school came easy to me in the beginning and then when I got to dental school, I could not procrastinate. Like dental school you can't do that, you're gonna get kicked out. Because you got to study all day, all night, all day, all night, all weekend, every day, every second. You just eat, breathe, sleep, studying. So you can't play procrastination role in dental school. But I still had a little bit of it in there, but not as much the uh.

Speaker 1: 10:58

So procrastination, discipline we talked about discipline. So discipline is just not making no excuses, guys. Discipline like you know what you do something you don't want to do but you do want to do, but you do it Even though you're in the moment where you could not do it and you have every valid reason not to do it. Like for me, people will say well, dan, you run in the demo practice, you got patience in the morning, like you got to be prepared for that. You're probably tired when you get off with a short step. I don't have, like it's just a couple of people running this practice right now, so I could just have every excuse to not dedicate to twitch. Like what is that? I'm a dot? Like no, no, no, nowadays we need to step out of our egos and stuff and try to get more than one stream of income. I will do this.

Speaker 1: 11:51

And if there is anything in your life that you've been, you know, shying away from, you know, if you know, you know, if there's anything in your life that you've been shying away from that you haven't been doing that. You've been playing around, procrastinating about not being disciplined, you know, not showing up for yourself and not being consistent, because that's the real thing that I'm testing myself on. Like I want to go a year with just showing up on twitch and just being consistent and seeing what the outcome is. We know that if you plant a seed right and you don't water it, you don't, it doesn't get sunlight. You plant it in the shade where it doesn't get any sunlight. It's like in a desert, in bad soil. It's not going to grow and that's kind of like how situations can be when you lack discipline, when you lack consistency and when you have a whole bunch of procrastination build up in your dna or just in your mindset, right? But if you plant a seed with all the knowledge that you gain from planting the seed in the wrong spot, and now you're like you know what, let me go and plant my seed in some rich, nutrient, rich soil okay, not dirt, but soil. Let me go put my seed in an area where it's going to get enough sunlight that this seed requires. So this seed requires 75% sunlight. I'm gonna pick a spot that gives it exactly what it needs. If this seed requires, you know, two tablespoons of water a day, I need to give it what it needs. And then I need to have a little patience. I need to wait until the seed sprouts, until it grows.

Speaker 1: 13:32

You know, and it's at first like streaming you have nothing, you starting from pretty much nothing. When you start streaming, you have nothing unless you're famous and you can bring followers with you as you migrate. But when you're, like me, infamous, you start from nothing, and that's okay. Don't be scared to start from nothing. Don't be scared to start from zero, guys, do not be afraid. Be afraid of that, don't be afraid of it, don't be afraid to start from nothing.

Speaker 1: 14:03

So we start from nothing, just like that seed. It started from just a seed, but with a little bit of time, a little bit of consistency, a little bit, a lot of it. A dedication and no procrastination. When it needs water, water it. It said it needs water. When Every day. So we're going to water this seed every day. We're going to show up every day. We're going to quit never. Okay, we're going to manifest every day. Be unapologetic every day. Be you every day.

Speaker 1: 14:37

There's a lot of things that we have to do every single day to prove how worthy we are of every goal that we have, every, you know, obstacle that we overcome. You are worthy to overcome this, and I'm talking to myself and I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you. So, yeah, guys, I didn't want this night to end without me coming on here and just talking to my audience. If you're watching this on the replay, thank you for watching this on the replay. If you're watching this on YouTube, make sure you come to my Twitch, because I will be live again very soon, in less than 24 hours. That's my goals.

Speaker 1: 15:19

Guys Like is it possible? Of course, nothing is impossible. What impossible? What? Yeah, believe in yourself, period, period. Believe in yourself. We're gonna work on our what consistency talking to myself, because I'm the one who needed the most our discipline and procrastination. Consistency, discipline, procrastination, c consistency, discipline, procrastination, cdp. All right, when we work on that cdp, we're gonna get increases.

Speaker 1: 15:58

I don't went through dental school so I feel like I can do anything. I feel like nothing is impossible for me once I did that, nothing is impossible for me. I could be a streamer if I want to like. What. What? Who gonna check me? But so I know there's not a lot of dentists on here who are gamers and streamers, but that's going to be me.

Speaker 1: 16:18

I'm the dentist the melanated dentist at that who is going to be on here streaming and gaming and telling y'all to brush out teeth and floss your teeth before you go to bed. Can we? Can we talk about that, how we have to floss our teeth tonight and brush our teeth before we go to bed? All right, don't sit up and watch people the whole day, because you'll get cavities and your teeth will rot out of your head and then you will be in pain and you'll be like dr sean I have a toothache because I did not brush and floss my teeth and I didn't drink any water. All right, are we not having that?

Speaker 1: 16:57

When you on my stream, the one thing you will learn is about oral hygiene and flossing, just like my patients in the office, y'all my twitch patients not literally, but you know you really need your own denses. But you know, in the world of twitch I'll be your denses. I will set you into my dental family on twitch, okay. So so welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to my Dental Family. Make sure you are subscribed, make sure you brush and floss your teeth tonight and make sure you go to bed with nothing but positive energy from me to you. Good night.