Posted November 20, 2008

By Nadia Maria Smith
CS&T Staff Writer

What can a dentist teach you about business success? A lot, according to Dr. Joseph Capista, a nationally renowned cosmetic dentist who shares his insights gleaned from three decades of experience in his new book, “What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? Discover Secrets to Achieving Total Success.”

Capista, a member of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Media, has built a multi-million dollar dental practice located in Broomall, Delaware County. Williamsburg Dental is recognized as one of the most successful dental practices in the United States. But his success did not come easily.

A graduate of Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, Capista was an average student. By his first year in college, he didn’t make good grades and he remembered what his high school guidance counselor had advised him: “Perhaps you should be a teacher because you aren’t strong in math and science, and you will have a tough time.”

However, Capista wanted to be a dentist and resolved that for the next three years he would double up in his studying and memorizing efforts so that he could pull up his grades. He was accepted to Temple University’s Dental School and was one of the top students in his class, finishing a semester ahead.

Capista was proud of his success and quickly set his goal on making money after dental school. By age 29, Capista was financially successful and living the American dream with a wife, two children, a luxurious home, a sports car and a thriving practice.

But he wasn’t happy.

In fact, his personal life was in shambles. His marriage was strained, he was barely around to help raise his children, and he was not in good physical shape. Although raised Catholic, he was also out of sorts with his relationship with God.

It’s what he learned from age 29 to the present that has dramatically transformed his life and what he shares with his readers in his new book.

“What I learned about business I learned from other people,” Capista said. “I’m an average student, but my success comes from how I think, how I feel and how I act coupled with skills and intelligence.”

Capista realized that true success did not have a price tag; it was achieving balance between his business and personal life that brought happiness.

He realized that unless he loved himself, he couldn’t love others; that without spirituality, he couldn’t have religion; that without systems, he could not have business success; and without fitness, he could not have good health.

He resolved to get his life and business in order with the help of his mentor and business experts that taught him how to run his practice more efficiently so that he could spend time with his family and on his physical and spiritual life.

Capista has been sharing his success with business leaders, doctors, dentists and business students for years. It was at their request that he eventually put down what he had learned in a book.

He has also been attending the Malvern Retreat House for the past 24 years, which he says is a God-send. He now gives monthly talks on success and spirituality and has been recently elected to the Board of Directors.

Capista has also found that attending daily Mass regularly helped him find the inner peace and quiet to hear God’s voice in his life, and he believes it is essential to success.

“I intentionally block out noise. I don’t listen to radio or watch television. I read the Gospels and daily reflections,” Capista said.

His success also means a responsibility to give back, which is why Capista has invested in his needy patients, his local community and his parish. He was awarded the Small Business Person of the Year by the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce – an award given to a dentist for the first time for his pro-bono talks.

“Fifteen years ago, I was at church serving as a Eucharistic minister and I went down and sat on the altar and inside the missal there was a holy card of St. Joseph the Worker with a handwritten letter that began, ‘Dear Joe.’ I felt like it was God speaking directly to me,” he said.

Ever since then he has been calling upon St. Joseph, his patron saint, for spiritual assistance.

Today he is a happily married man of 35 years to his wife Anne, and says he has true success in life.

To purchase Capista’s book, an Amazon.com best seller, visit www.amazon.com or www.joecapista.com .

ISBN 978-0-9658159-5-6
202 pages; $19.95
Maxwell Publishing

CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.