MEET DONDEE NETTLES
Many Layers, Many Titles, Many Tales
The Visionary
“Good leaders have vision and inspire others to help them turn vision into reality. Great leaders have vision, share vision, and inspire others to create their own.”
― Roy Bennett
Jesus Freak. Entrepreneur. Husband. Father. Chiropractor. Podcast Host. Imperfect Free-Range Human, trying my BEST.
After 55+ years of living life by creating diversions and hiding behind the fake grins and facades I constructed for myself, it's about time I came clean with everyone, so here goes...
My life, has been a literal Encyclopedia Bullcrappica of stories, mostly autobiographical in nature, and written under a pseudonym to disguise ownership. Stories that read like a Who's Who of a person struggling to find his identity in a world that was consistently inconsistent for me. My parents' divorce was the most damaging to me emotionally and the main reason I escaped into sports, academics and music, for much of my formative years. Suffice to say, when life got "lifey," I made a habit of diverting attention and pursuing an academic or athletic accomplishment. With the resultant trophies, certificates and awards, people focused on the prizes instead of the broken person behind them. When I was alone in my room, the headphones went on, I sank into my waterbed and the records and cassettes played for hours and months and years. This secret formula continued for over 10 years, until work accomplishments, changes in college majors, and focus on GPA took over. Now, prepare to read about ME and my life in layers or cycles. It's crazy. And every word is true. You may relate, you may not. You may laugh, you may not. Heck, you may choke on your food. But one thing is for sure, you will shake your head! I warned you!
Queen's King. Little Girl's Daddy. Teenage Boy's True North. Bonus Dad. Gwampa.
After trying unsuccessfully to salvage my relationship of 28 years, with my children's mother and high school sweetheart, I was crushed, brokenhearted and felt like I had nothing to live for.
THEN GOD SHOWED UP (a common scenario in my life) and introduced me to my gorgeous wife Marci, through our mutual business. We knew right away, we were meant for each other, and felt it deeply! After a courtship of 1.5 years, we were married and blended our families. That's when the real Purpose for my life became clear to me... Together with Marci, we were called to show the world that God allows U-turns! To show that He is the Creator and Author of second chances, and do-overs and He forgives divorces, screwups and life blunders! If there was ever two people who knew this through and through, it was definitely us! And NOW, I am pleased to share our wonderful family, with 4 amazing kids, and 2 grandkids! You have pictured over there in the photo, our daughter Marina (to my right), our son Deitrich (to my left), Marci holding our grand daughter Thalia, and our grandson Kota, sitting to Marci's right.
The Family Guy
“The most important thing in the world is family and love.”
– John Wooden
The Professional Edu-tainer
“I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."
- Albert Einstein
Former Family Wellness Chiropractor. AM Talk Radio Host.
Health Activist. Community Educator.
Ever since I saw my first episode of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, I wanted to be a Marine Biologist and Oceanographer! Then the movie JAWS came out in 1975 and I changed my mind for about 5 years. I was traumatized by that movie! THANKS MOM! I was scared to sit on the toilet or take a bath for a few days! Even swimming in a pool was a little freaky for me! And don't you even think I was gonna get on a raft or inner-tube on the river! Oh no! But my parents would say "your brother and sister are doing it." In my defense, they were younger than me and DID NOT see JAWS eat a whole town!
By High School, I was back on the Marine Biologist Train! Then I graduated and went off to College. After a year of getting my General Ed requirements out of the way, I stopped in and talked to my Academic Advisor. (I'm rolling my eyes right now) We talked about the academic courses I would take. No problem. We talked about the "job description." No problem. Then we talked about me being like Jacques Cousteau and having a TV show and traveling all over the world and swimming with every sea creature know to man. BIG problem! I wasn't French. I wasn't a millionaire. And I certainly was not sponsored by the French government. So I changed my major the first time.
That scenario repeated another 5 times, over 8 years, until I met Dr. Mark Wells, a Chiropractor in Pleasanton, CA! Right then, I knew I was called to be a Chiropractor! The next 4.5 years, leading up to graduating with honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic, in San Jose, CA passed by like a blur, and now they called me DOCTOR Dondee Nettles! While studying to take the National and State Board exams, I began working as an Exam Doctor in Los Gatos, CA for my Chiropractic College Mentor, Dr. Ken Savage. After becoming licensed, the next 5 years, saw me join my friend Dr. Ron Bellistri's practice in Campbell, CA and begin studying under Chiropractic Master, Dr. Fred Schofield. While gaining technical and mindset skills there, I also started studying Business Law, coding, AMA guidelines and the denial tactics of Health Insurance companies. It fascinated me that this stuff was not taught in College, and I saw an opportunity to become a Chiropractic Consultant. For the next 2 years, I traveled the country giving seminars and 2-day specialized trainings in 38 states and 84 different Chiropractic Offices! Then I got bored and needed a change of scenery, so I moved my family to Goodyear, AZ in 2003 and raised the bar on my calling and newly acquired knowledge and skills. Within 3 years of opening my office, called Health Within Chiropractic Center, and doing weekly Wellness Lectures in my community, I had the 4th largest solo practice in Arizona. I was adjusting between 350-500 patients per week. Then I got an offer to extend my community education to AM Radio and took it! I was the Host of a Talk Radio Show called Health Within, on KFNX 1100 AM, and then on KPXQ 1360 AM, for 2 years. During this time of high demand and pace, that kept me out of my home for 80-90 hours per week, I became a father with the birth of my son in 2006. Three years later, the pace kept gaining momentum and my daughter was born in 2009. By now, I hadn't noticed, but the wheels of my marriage began to come off. I wanted and needed to be a Daddy!
Network Marketing Professional. Thought Leader. Keynote Speaker.
It all started when I read the book called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. I learned something that no school never taught me, including my business classes in College. I learned of the option to have money work me, instead me working for it! Mr. Kiyosaki's followup book, "The Cashflow Quadrant" blew my mind wide open! I learned of B-Quadrant businesses, leverage, true financial freedom, cashflow and investing. And I also learned to best way to get there...Network Marketing. Network Marketing and the concept of financial "leverage" was too good to pass up or do just part-time. So, after a year of building my Network Marketing business in my scarce spare-time, I sold my practice to be a stay-at-home Dad and global Network Marketing Professional.
Marci and I are now building a world-wide Team, in 19 different countries, that allows us to raise our kids from home, work together as husband and wife and build our dreams as big we would like them to be. We are also Blessed to be teaching this same, easy-to-follow system to our Team of Leaders around the world, and our kids too! We are Blessed to be top leaders & earners in our company, as well as being voted by our peers and Corporate Leadership Team, to be on our company's Field Advisory Board and Compliance Committee, liaisons to the field leadership. We have also been keynote speakers, on stages in front of crowds from a few hundred, to 3,000, 4,500 and 5,000+ many times. It is the greatest feeling in the world to inspire people to be their greatest, and know that the legacy we are building, is going to be passed down to our kids and no one can dictate our value, worth or pay, except us! This works SO well with our life plans!
The Big Thinker
“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.”
― David J. Schwartz
The Lifelong Student
“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” – John C Maxwell
Living Proof that People Do Survive Being in the Belly of a Whale.
In my quest to be 1% better every day, my wife Marci and I (that's her on the left, in the picture with us and John C. Maxwell) wake up early every day and adhere to a daly gameplan. I wake up between 4:00 - 4:30AM (M-Sa) and do cold water submersion therapy for at least 10 minutes, followed by reading Bible scriptures. Marci gets up at 5:30AM, we drink 16 oz. of warm lemon water & cayenne pepper, followed by 16 oz. celery juice and hit the gym for cardio for 10 min., heavy weight lifting for 45 minutes, and lastly sauna for 20 minutes. We do this 4 days a week and substitute swim for heavy weights for 2 days a week. Home by 7:45AM, shower, dress and start our daily business meeting at 8:15. The workday officially starts at 9AM. At strategic times, we listen to a business and personal development Podcast or two, that make up our "Poverty & Mediocrity Annihilation" Daily Action Plan, for Massive Growth & Success!
We run and manage an International, Health & Wellness and Anti-Aging business that currently operates in 25 countries, with 10's of thousands of Distributors.
Despite my parents' repeated denial, I am fairly certain I was dropped (or thrown) on my head, as a child. There are clues.
I'm not sure HOW to populate this section of my "About" page, but since I have been rather forthcoming in the above sections, I may as well just give you some eyebrow raising (and shaking your head) behind-the-scenes material too. I was wondering WHY I should even bother, but there really may be some people who really want to know how far off-the-rails someone can go and still come back and tell about it.
So here's a few examples...
* Doesn't everyone kidnap the cadaver, gurney and all, from their College Anatomy & Physiology class, hide it in the Janitor's closet in the maintenance shed, and then send ransom notes (the real kind where every letter is cut individually from a magazine) to their Instructor asking for payment in boxes of Chocolate Pop-Tarts, OR ELSE... the dead guy gets it!? Yep! That was me.
* Or... Didn't everyone intentionally run-over the people, pets and garbage cans, and crash into cars and trees in the simulator trailer of HS Drivers Ed class, thinking the teacher wouldn't know? True story. I got a big fat week of detention for that stunt!
* Or how about this one... Didn't every kid, every day, just randomly dial 7 random numbers on the kitchen wall phone and tell the stranger on the other end that he was playing "chemistry set" with his little brother and made him eat the green powder under the kitchen sink (Comet cleanser) and now he's not moving or talking to me anymore, what should I do!? And then, when the person panics and asks where I live, hang up the phone and laugh hysterically? C'mon, this is freaking twisted, you must admit! Sidenote: When dialing *69 called back my number, I stopped that routine pronto! If this ain't either PROOF, my parents dropped me on my head once or fourteen times, it certainly proves Stephen King is probably my real Dad! Just sayin'! Although I have toned it down in the last year.
The Whackjob
“When you see me speaking Taco or Sushi, back away quietly and keep your requests to yourself, because the answer is NO!” – Me
The Wanderer
“There's only one place I want to go and it's to all the places I've never been.”
― Nikki Rowe
This shy and introverted kid finds confidence in a most peculiar way.
Marine Biology/Oceanography Major? Nope. Pre-Dentistry? Negative. Architecture? No way. By New Years Day of my 22nd year of life, I had changed my major 3 times and suddenly found myself reading a Dear John letter after 5 years in a committed relationship. I was devastated, confused and lost. After sulking for 3 months, I decided I needed to get out in public again and begin repairing my self esteem. And besides, my 1986 Miami Vice inspired wardrobe needed some fresh air. So, a friend and I went to a Night Club to drown my sorrows of being single, lonely and starting over with my life. This was a pretty lame idea for a guy who never fast-danced in public, EVER! Instead, I opted for copying the dancers on the 70's & 80's TV show, "Soul Train," while I watched in my living room. At the Night Club, an old High School friend, surprised me and pulled me onto the dance floor, amid my panic stricken objection. Her liquid courage beat my timidity as she drug me to the center of the dance floor, outside the gaze of judging & critical eyes, that I was certain were there and keenly focused on ME. I had never been so embarrassed and scared in my short adult life, but rather than faint, I started copying the guys dancing around me, like I had hundreds of times before... to Soul Train. Apparently the charade worked, as a talent scout for a local Male Revue Dance Troupe was there, saw me dancing and offered me a tryout. WHAT??!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! Two weeks later, I was fast-dancing by myself. In front of LOTS of drinking & screaming women. And removing most of my clothes. For money. For reals!! OMG... what would Mom think?! That experience taught me I could overcome my worst fears and survive. It also taught me to be evaluate short-term and long-term goals and relationships and the utter shallowness and cruelty of human beings. And my Mom showed up to one of the gigs, waving money shortly thereafter!