My Full-Circle Moment as a Guest on Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

Once upon a time, when my online business was just getting off the ground, I used to listen to Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield like my life depended on it. I’d be walking around my neighborhood, earbuds in, trying to soak up all the wisdom she had to share about marketing in between running my practice and being a mom to my three kids.

It was a crazy time to say the least!

But that mini-obsession of mine paid off in a big way. Thanks to Amy’s guidance, I developed an award-winning online course, built a thriving business, and grew a community of the most incredible dentists, practice owners, and patients. 

You can imagine, then, how surreal it was when Amy invited me to be a guest on that very same podcast this summer! I had always dreamed of getting the chance to tell her just how big of an impact she has had on me, and then all of a sudden there I was, chatting with her on camera like we were old friends. 

It was a beautiful, full-circle experience that I will cherish forever, and I’d like nothing more than to share it with you. 

My Favorite Moments from my Guest Spot on Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

In case you don’t have time to listen to the full recording of my episode of Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield, here is a collection of my favorite moments from the interview that I hope will inspire you to get out there and chase your dreams—just like Amy’s podcast inspired me!

Full-Circle Moment #1: When I talked about how my own tooth story inspired the creation of my online course.

Sonia: I’m a dentist, and I’m a dentist who does root canals. I know that’s not the sexiest topic, but I started my course basically to make it sexy! 

I save teeth for a living, and I never thought in a million years when I was going to dental school that this is what I would be doing. I thought the pinnacle of my career was going to be graduating, starting my own practice, allowing that to thrive, and that would be it. But this has been the most fulfilling part of my career.

Amy Porterfield: So, you realize, “Wait a second, there’s a gap here.” Talk about the name of your course, who it’s for, and how you identified that there was a gap, because what you’re doing, you’re actually the first in your industry to do it!

Sonia: My course is called E-School: Everyday Endo Made Easy. It’s really focused on teaching general dentists—that’s my primary audience—how to do root canals better. There’s a lot of negativity that surrounds root canal therapy. People think they’re toxic, they don’t want to get them, and there’s a lot of fear and anxiety that goes along with it.

The idea for the course kind of goes back to my original tooth story—my experience as a patient. When I was 17 years old, I experienced a toothache. I went to maybe seven different doctors, and nobody could figure out where my pain was coming from. I was kind of like a diagnostic dilemma to a lot of people.

I was in agony for nine months before I finally had a tooth extracted, and it ended up being the wrong tooth. I still had my toothache after the extraction! So that really had an impact on me. I chose dentistry because of that incident.

Fast forward to when I was in dental school, I was looking at the requirements, and we only had to do four root canals to graduate. That’s not much experience or exposure in four years of dental school! So, already, I saw the gap as a student. Then I graduated and ended up becoming a specialist, and once I got into private practice, I started to see my own tooth story in my patients. Fifteen years later, and nothing had changed.

By that point, I started to get frustrated, almost heated. I was like, “Why are things done this way? Why are they picking this tooth and not that tooth?” It stirred up all these emotions for me, and that’s when I realized that I wanted to do something about it. Combine that with being at a point of burnout and unfulfillment in my career, and it was like the perfect storm that gave birth to the course.

Full-Circle Moment #2: When I revealed that creating my course actually made me more efficient as an endodontist and helped me understand my value as an educator.

Sonia: Creating this course actually made me smarter in my other business. I started to find pockets of time that made me think “Wow, I’m wasting time over here.” So, it just organically happened where now, as an endodontist, instead of working five days a week at the practice, I work five days a month, and I didn’t lose a drop of revenue.

Amy Porterfield: Okay, hold on, that’s a big deal! So you were working five days a week, and now you’re working five days a month, and you didn’t lose any revenue. I’m guessing you weren’t sure how you were going to figure that out in the beginning, but you were able to find a way to work less for the same amount, if not more. What was the catalyst for that?

Sonia: I just started really looking at my time: how I was scheduling my day at the practice, what my mindset was, what my beliefs at the practice were—like did I really have to do everything? So I brought in another doctor, I evaluated which insurance plans I was taking, and I thought, “I can still treat these people even if I’m not in their insurance network, and I can get paid on my terms.”

It was almost as if I changed a lot of my beliefs and really understood my value after a while, and that’s what built the practice. To be honest, I don’t know if I really believed my value until I started to create the course.

Amy Porterfield: Why do you think a digital course gave you more confidence in your abilities and your value?

Sonia: I had a lot of imposter syndrome when I first started. Seven years ago, the typical teacher did not look like me. I hate to say it, but it was the old white man, and I am not that. So I thought, “How do I fit in? How are people even going to trust me?” That was a big hurdle for me. 

But as I started piecing the content together, taught my first lesson, learned from that, got better, taught it again, and so on and so forth… I realized I really know my shit! And all of a sudden, I felt more value in my practice and what I was giving to my patients.

Full-Circle Moment #3: When I shared what kept me motivated to keep going when things got tough.

Amy Porterfield: You said you created the course while having a full career in your practice and three kids. How the heck did you find time to create a course?!? What did that look like behind the scenes?

Sonia: I would wake up at five in the morning, mainly on the weekends because I couldn’t do it while I was working at the practice. 5–9AM is probably my happiest time. Most people like to meditate and go work out at that time, but for me, I like to work.

Amy Porterfield: There’s just something super peaceful about that to me. Those that are listening are probably thinking, “I have to wake up at 5AM on a weekend to create a course?” No! You just need to find what works for you and also be willing to learn to love what it takes to get what you want.

You wanted something different, you wanted an additional stream of revenue, you wanted to find a way to not work so much in the practice, and you felt like you were doing good in the world, so you were going to find a way to make that work. I think knowing your why allows you to find how to make it work, and for you, that was 5AM.

Sonia: I also gave myself grace. Every time I would hit a roadblock or felt the imposter syndrome come back, I always came back to this one thought: “If I just help one person avoid experiencing my tooth story, then it’s worth it.” That meant it wasn’t some mountainous thing I had to overcome. It was simple. So, I simplified the why. 

Full-Circle Moment #4: When I discussed my revelation that not everything has to be perfect to put yourself out there.

Amy Porterfield: What were some of the doubts that seeped into your mind in those early mornings while you were creating your course?

Sonia: “This is gonna suck,” or “What am I doing?” I was afraid that I was going to hit launch and it was going to be crickets. I remember that when I made my first sale, I shrieked, “Oh my gosh, I made one!” It was one of the coolest feelings ever. 

When I did that first launch, my process in creating the course was that I wanted it to be high production. In retrospect, I wish I had just done it via Zoom, because nobody cares! It’s like your wedding day—nobody knows how it’s supposed to go except for you. Eventually I got the advice, “Just launch it at a B-,” but at the time, I was still stuck in this mode of “It needs to be perfect.” I thought, “Oh, the universe doesn’t want me to do this.”

I now believe I was made to make this course and get it out into the world. The impact it’s had has been unreal. You just don’t know until you do it!

Some Final Thoughts About My Experience on Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

I’m incredibly grateful to Amy for inviting me to be a guest on the very same podcast that helped shape my career. But perhaps even more than that, this full-circle moment reminded me just how important this amazing community is to my journey. You keep me inspired day in and day out, and without your continued support, engagement, and desire to learn, I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today. Thank you for being the heart and soul of my mission to #GiveTeethAChance and for allowing me to share this very special moment in my life with you!

– Sonia