How My Business Paid for My Double Jaw Surgery

About this video

In a story-time video, Sean explains how his business eventually paid for double jaw surgery he had wanted for about five years. Born and raised in Japan, he moved to Hawaii at 14 and grew up middle class, resenting how lack of money restricted his choices. At 18 he was introduced to network marketing and the idea of passive income, made no money from it, and at 19 started door-to-door vacuum sales. A dentist visit then revealed an underbite and crooked bite; an orthodontist estimated $9,000 including discussion of braces, and he started braces, which he says cost $5,000. After saving on low-paid retail work, he says the estimate rose to $14,000, then an oral surgeon quoted $30,000, which he says was the standard price after seeking multiple opinions, and insurers treated it as cosmetic. Discouraged, he removed the braces and gave up for over a year. Around 23 he found Kindle publishing, which he claims grew from about $1,000 to $10,000 a month and later to $20,000-$25,000 a month, while he kept living frugally and saving most of it, despite also claiming he lost over $110,000 in a bad business decision and went into debt before recovering. At 24 he restarted braces, had the surgery in September, paid $30,000 out of pocket as he tells it, and reports early benefits including clearer nasal breathing and no longer sleeping with sleep apnea symptoms. His message is to tackle a large obstacle by chipping away at it monthly.

Key takeaways

• His surgery cost escalated in his telling from an orthodontist’s $9,000 estimate to $14,000 and then to an oral surgeon’s $30,000 quote — he advises viewers to still check insurance rather than assume it will not cover.
• He saved for years by living extremely frugally on retail and later higher pay, saving roughly $800-$1,000 or more per month at different stages.
• After giving up for over a year, he restarted the roughly two-year braces-and-surgery process at 24 because delaying further meant never doing it.
• He credits Kindle publishing income — claimed at $20,000-$25,000 a month in recent months — with letting him pay the $30,000 out of pocket.
• His closing advice is to tackle a big financial or personal obstacle head-on and chip away monthly, because small savings compound over time.

Episode details: published November 18, 2019 · 20:39 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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