Grit Your Teeth

In Grit Your Teeth: Building a People-First Organization through Tenacity and Purpose, Dr. Samson Liu chronicles his against-all-odds journey from struggling dental student drowning in over $300,000 of debt to founder of SOHDental, a thriving dental group practice organization with over twenty-five locations.

With exhilarating stories from the entrepreneurial trenches and hard-won business insights, Dr. Liu reveals the blood, sweat, and tears behind the scenes in getting a successful dental group venture off the ground—from desperate networking to secure financing to aggregating twenty-five practices in twelve months without any prior experience owning one.

Yet as SOHDental stabilized, Dr. Liu realized his success lies not in financial engineering but in creating local practices focused on patient care and staff fulfillment. By putting “People First” and supporting dentists to operate profitably for the next one hundred years, he aims to leave a far greater legacy than riches alone.

Sprinkled throughout are the lessons Dr. Liu learned over his career from other dentist entrepreneurs and business titans. Readers will discover:

• Why you need to know both your “Why” and “Why Not” to overcome initial doubts and obstacles
• How to create company values and a culture that attract “Raving Fans”
• The four tiers of dental practices and how to customize organizational support
• When to “fail forward” and strategically cut losses on an underperforming location
• The entrepreneurial qualities and leadership principles that underpin sustainable success

Thoroughly captivating yet full of heart, Grit Your Teeth shares the story of one relentless dentist who chased a big dream—revealing how staying grounded in relationships and caring for people ultimately powered his achievement. Perfect for dentists and dental executives along with entrepreneurs and business leaders in any field, Grit Your Teeth is a true American Dream success story.

Dr. SAMSON LIU is the founder of SOHDental, a national Dental Support Organization that is purpose-driven, people-first focused, and legacy-minded. His lifelong passion is to build long-term collaborative relationships with doctors and unlock practice potential. He is a frequent speaker with an excellent industry reputation and relationship with key opinion leaders.

Before starting SOHDental, Dr Liu was a veteran senior executive at Heartland Dental for over eighteen years. He has a dual master’s in business administration and corporate finance and a master’s in the Academy of General Dentistry.

Since graduating from Northwestern University Dental School in 1999, he has continued to practice dentistry and serving patients till the present day. Dr. Liu lives in Missouri with his wife and their three sons.

Chapter 1: The Start of the Grit
Chapter 2: The Journey Continues
Chapter 3: Helping Doctors Feel More Fulfilled in the Company
Chapter 4: 1 + 1 Does Not Equal 2 Purposeful Growth
Chapter 5: How to Finance
Chapter 6: In The People Business
Chapter 7: Go Where the Opportunities Are
Chapter 8: You Can’t Diagnose Unpredictability
Chapter 9: How to Maximize Practice Potential
Chapter 10: My Insights on Life as a Successful Entrepreneur

Acknowledgments
About the Author