Jai Dhaliwal & Ruby Mahal

Business: JDRM Dental Care Ltd.
Industry: Dentistry
Location: Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Website: jdrmdentalcare.co.uk

“Before, I didn’t think of dentistry or what we were doing as particularly inventive. But this ‘moonshot thinking’ has allowed me to think about things I never would have dared to before.”
– Ruby Mahal

Read Jai & Ruby’s full story below.

Meet the couple revolutionizing what it means to be dentists and entrepreneurs in the U.K.

Ruby Mahal and Jai Dhaliwal have built an exceptional life for themselves. They’re partners in life and business, and parents to a baby girl named Rosa. They also own and run a highly successful and unique dental practice in Leicestershire, UK.

But like for so many, navigating the unpredictable journey of entrepreneurship has provided them with their fair share of challenges and frustrations.

“When Jai and I first opened our practice, it was all new and exciting—and we ran with that. After some time, it became more stressful. The more successful we became, the more we had on the go, and we were just kind of spinning plates all the time,” explains Ruby.

“We would come in and whatever came through emails, or the front desk, or even people outside the business, we had to deal with that. It became all about solving those issues—everything else we were trying to do took second place.”

Their vision, passion, and purpose were the first things lost once success was gained. It was difficult to maintain clarity on why they chose to be entrepreneurs in the first place.

Their intention for running their own practice was always so they could do bigger things. The reality was they spent most days putting out fires instead of dedicating time to the business they wanted to maximize.

And then Strategic Coach happened.

“Open your eyes to the reason you have a business.”
“When we were introduced to Strategic Coach,” Ruby says, “we didn’t really think about it for that long. Jai just said, ‘We need to do it.’”

From Jai’s perspective, the Program was everything they needed but didn’t realize they were looking for: “We’ve been involved in other coaching programs before, most aimed mainly at dentistry, but it’s only dentists there. We’ve also done management and leadership training—but Strategic Coach was something really different for us. The terminology resonated with us. It also focused on the benefits and different ways of thinking unique to entrepreneurship. This was unlike anything we’d ever been introduced to before.”

The couple emphasizes how crucial the Program has been for transforming their business into what they’d envisioned. It’s provided them an opportunity to escape the insular world of dentistry and connect with people from different industries.

“It’s been so satisfying to meet people in other fields that I have so much in common with whether it be their day-to-day or their learning experiences,” says Jai. “I feel so aligned with them because we’re dealing with growth issues and setbacks that have nothing to do with dentistry and everything to do with our business as entrepreneurs.”

But just as transformational and important to their Strategic Coach experience has been participating in the workshops together. It’s been invaluable for them to be introduced to new tools and ways of thinking and then be able to collaborate on what this means for their business.

“If I were to go and do this on my own,” says Jai, “it would lose meaning completely. And because of the way we work together, we get the best of both worlds. My strengths mix well with Ruby’s strengths, and if one of us weren’t there, we’d have no idea what the other was talking about.”

“Don’t be embarrassed by bigger thinking.”
There’s a tendency in the U.K. to shy away from talking about success or pie-in-the sky ideas; level-headedness is praised.

“I think in the past, we’ve set goals and wondered whether they’re actually achievable or if people would think we’re talking rubbish. But now we have no reservations about taking them on,” say Jai.

“Strategic Coach has been our safety net to say, ‘We should be thinking like this. It’s part of running a successful business and it’s not a bad thing.’”

They’ve realized how inspiring it is and what a difference it makes to celebrate success and achievements—growth is not a bad thing.

They believe there is so much to gain by giving people the permission to think beyond the norm. This is where there’s room for people to move beyond the lines and reach for more.

“Strategic Coach,” says Ruby, “is an investment that will pay dividends for a long time in my personal life, my marriage, with my family, and in my business. We don’t have a reason not to do it.”