From Near Bankruptcy to Healing Thousands through Regenerative Medicine: The Journey of Danielle Fette

00:00:00
This episode with Danielle Fette was a lot of fun. You are going to thoroughly enjoy it. Danielle is one of the co founders. She and her husband co founded Fettech Fe t e c h. They are doing some phenomenal work in the medical field, specifically regenerative medicine.

00:00:21
They have two products that are just absolutely transforming the way healing works in the body. So you got to stay tuned for that toward the end. This one's full of a lot of really valuable information. Financial challenges with starting a business, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars, actually millions of dollars, into their business almost being foreclosed on. And that's just one example.

00:00:47
But we talk about a lot of other mental health challenges and a lot of tips for overcoming the mental side of adversity. And if you listen closely, there's a thread about how opportunities arise from specific periods of adversity, and it's only able, you're only able to see that through the lens of hindsight. One of the things I loved about this episode was how Danielle was able to overcome her dyslexia as a student, and then essentially how she was able to point to and use her creative talents and relationship abilities, the strength that she had built because she had to overcome that adversity of dyslexia, the mental fortitude that she had developed because she'd dealt with the challenges that come along with dyslexia. She was able to take all of that and parlay that into a very successful career in medical device sales. But then, and also real estate.

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But then more importantly and more recently in this regenerative medicine field. And I mean just this. This one is jam packed with both inspiration and practical tips for entrepreneurship. You're going to love it.

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Welcome to from adversity to abundance, the go to podcast for real estate entrepreneurs seeking not just to thrive, but to conquer with resilience and mental sharpness. Each week, join us as we dive into the compelling world of real estate through the lens of mental fitness, where challenges transform into opportunities. Get ready to transform your mindset and expand your understanding of what it takes to succeed in real estate. Let's explore these stories of triumph and resilience together.

00:02:56
Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the from Adversity to Abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I'm pumped today to have with us Danielle Fette. Danielle, how are you doing today? I'm great. I'm excited to talk.

00:03:09
Awesome. Yeah, this is going to be fun. Danielle is the co founder and chief marketing officer of Phet Tech. And Phettech is a regenerative medical company. Correct me if I say anything wrong.

00:03:22
Yeah, you're doing great. So briefly, for the listener who may be unfamiliar with you, who are you and what are you up to today? I'm a wound care nurse by trait and I co founded Phet Tech with my husband, who is a tissue engineer. I have a pretty strong background in medical device biotech, regenerative medicine. And we discovered ways to advance regenerative medicine by inventing new devices that they use in the hospital throughout the country.

00:03:52
And we just launched a product for aesthetics. So we basically manufacture and develop technology that other people sell in the field. Got it. Awesome. Yeah.

00:04:03
We were chatting briefly beforehand, and I'm really excited to get into more specifics later as far as where some of the issues that are found among the traditional medical system, which has some serious flaws, let's just be real, right. So I'm excited to get into that part of your journey and why you went the direction you did. Before we get there, I know you've dealt with some, a lot of personal adversity. Um, let's jump back into your backstory. Where do you want to start?

00:04:36
Well, it's easiest to start. Why I'm in healthcare. So from the time I can remember growing up, I was obsessed with all things medicine. You know, if someone else would fall and get hurt or was sick or even if there was vomit, I would genuinely want to help. And I noticed I was different early on because other kids and other humans would be squeamish or want to run away from that.

00:04:58
So I had a strong burning desire to help people heal from the time I can remember. And I used to tell people I wanted to be a doctor when I was like, 3456. However, I am dyslexic, so reading and writing is extremely hard for me. And I struggled in school. I mean, getting a c was like a bonus.

00:05:16
You know, on a good day, I would get a c. Um, I luckily played lacrosse and I excelled as an athlete, so that got me into college. And then in college I was like, okay, let's keep it real here, Danielle, you may think you're majoring in biology or claiming to be a pre med major and sometimes cheating on tests to pass, but you're never going to get into med school or any of the other schools like chiropractic pt. I explored everything. So I did get into a nursing program.

00:05:41
And through doing my rounds in the hospital, I liked helping the patients. But there were so many elements to traditional medicine that I just, I felt handcuffed I felt like I couldn't use my creative juices. I feel like I couldn't give enough time to patients. So the fit wasn't right for me to be a floor nurse. I switched over to the medical device biotech side, and I jumped around quite a bit through sales and marketing and clinical specialist roles where I was in the or teaching surgeons how to use the most cutting edge edge technology.

00:06:11
And that, to me, was very rewarding. I felt important in these roles. So, for example, a neurosurgeon, um, they would put a pacemaker, and the leads would go into the brain and surgery, and I was the one teaching them how to use the new technology that was not available when they were in med school. And I learned working for other people what I loved and admired in leaders and what I absolutely hated, it would never be like as a leader. So very ugly behaviors, which shocked me, because, you know, I know a lot of humans operate from a place of wanting to make money, but when it's healthcare, I mean, we're all going to be patients one day.

00:06:45
And really early on, I. I was shocked by the behaviors I was seeing behind the scenes, working for others. It was all about the money, and it really was never. Even if they claimed, oh, it's about patients, we care about patients. I'm like, bullshit.

00:06:58
It's not, excuse my friends, but it's not about the patients. And I get really passionate and worked up. So I job hopped from company to company, thinking that things would be different. And regardless if it was the biggest Fortune 500 company or startup medical device company, I saw the same behaviors. I then explored entrepreneurship.

00:07:18
There was a time like the online boom of the Internet. My sister and I had a clothing store, an online boutique, and that was really exciting because I got to learn behind the scenes how to build websites and sell products. Again, it was the boom of the Internet. And at that same time, I also got into real estate, which I'm mentioning because I know you focus on that on your podcast. Absolutely.

00:07:38
Yeah. I still held on to my solid career in medical device, but I'm pretty good at getting things done in a lot, in less time and a lot less steps than my peers. So I was able to do both. I was able to be the lead salesperson and make great commissions working for others. And then behind the scenes, I was able to work with my sister, run a company, and also dabble in real estate, which I actually loved.

00:08:04
Real estate, nice. Yeah, let's, let's, uh, before we get there. Cause I definitely wanna dive into that a little bit. Um, so dyslexia, I mean, I think that's one of those. You're sort of misunderstood.

00:08:18
Not sort of very misunderstood. Challenges. I don't know if you refer to it as a disorder condition, but you know what? I guess, and most many people maybe already know this, but what. What is dyslexia?

00:08:37
And what does it really, how does it actually come to fruition in everyday life? Well, just picture being in a classroom and knowing how smart you are. Like, so clever you could figure anything out. And you were typically like leaps and bounds. Like, if there was a street, you were at the end of the street mentally before people could even figure out how to take a couple steps.

00:08:57
However, you always felt stupid because teachers would say to you, are you trying? Like, why are you scoring so low if you're so smart? And I can memorize anything? So maybe it didn't sound like I was reading, but when the teacher would call on kids to read in class, I was smart enough to be like, okay, ten paragraphs down is going to be my turn because I'm looking at the patterns of when she's going from kid to kid. So I'm going to memorize this.

00:09:20
By the time it gets to me, not focusing on anything else but memorizing those three lines, I see you become very strategic and very smart, but it is hard because it is embarrassing to know how intelligent you are. But. But when we went to Juliet and I, who was on your show, we went to the same high school. It was a very predominant, like, education was everything. I mean, all my friends were going like, ivy League the most part.

00:09:43
And, yeah, so it was hard and embarrassing not being able to get those grades. And there were times like, you pretend you don't care, but of course, it's like, this stinks. However, I didn't. I didn't feel badly about myself. I just was embarrassed in those moments because I knew how smart I was and I had to rely on how creative I was to get ahead.

00:10:02
I had to use my ability to build relationships, to strategically do things faster than everyone so they could find me out. You know, I had to get creative. I mean, I played lacrosse. That got me into college. But once I was in college, I didn't qualify to get in the nursing program, but I figured out how to backdoor into it, you know, medical device.

00:10:22
I was told, you know, you're never going to get this job. You have no experience. These people in the waiting room have, you know, ten years experience, and this, you're this young kid right out of school, I'm like, watch me. And I talked my way into the job, you know, with, with, um, Eli Lilly right out of college. So I'm proud that I have these superpowers, if you will, to get creative and to not be afraid of failing.

00:10:46
I'm so used to failing growing up. It's all, it's all what you do about it, right? It's all how you pivot. And, um, pivoting is so huge in everyday life. So if you can identify, huh, this doesn't feel right.

00:10:59
Not the best path to go down. And the quicker you pivot and make a change, the better and faster your result is going to be. And I've always had to do that. Yeah, I love that. And there's so much there that you just, there's a lot to unpack that there's a, you know, absolutely figuring out, especially for entrepreneurs, whether a real estate entrepreneur, not figuring out when to pivot and when to hold, stay the course, or maybe just slightly, you know, move off course a little bit to still reach your goals.

00:11:27
That is one of those never ending challenges, those tensions that just never goes away, because if, if you pivot every day, a 90 degree or 180, you're never going to get anywhere, right? But, but if you're just stubborn like, you know, uh, just, I am set on this for years and years, you're not listening. You're not taking into account market conditions or anything else. You're also not going to be successful that way. So, um, but I love several things you said, first off, when you said that, um, you know, that you were embarrassed, and you kind of implied that back in school that the teachers viewed you as, you know, well, you said stupid, right?

00:12:06
Um, and I recall. So I'm, so this is not, I don't think nearly, it's not anywhere as challenging as being dyslexic. But I'm colorblind, right? And so I know I have a blue shirt on. No, I'm kidding.

00:12:21
But that's, that's what happens, is people always ask, what's this color? But, but I remember back in, I think it was first grade, but it was definitely elementary school, we had to go do this, the vision testing at school. And I remember the nurse, or I think it was a nurse giving the test, and, you know, she was, just, had done a bunch of them, tired of the test, whatever. And she says it was that. I think it's called the, the Ishira test or something.

00:12:47
I don't know how you say it, but the dots that you're supposed to pick out numbers and letters based on the colors. Well, I couldn't see anything. She would say, okay, what letter do you see? And I would just see dots. And I'm just like, so I don't know what you're talking about.

00:13:04
And so, I mean, it was kind of traumatic because it's like she's insinuating that I'm being difficult or, you know, just. Just answer the question so I can get to my next person here. Exactly. Well, no, I don't, I don't. I am smart, but I don't see a number or a letter.

00:13:24
So, like, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't know that there's anything different. It's the way people make you feel, and you have no control over it. Correct. Which is really interesting.

00:13:33
But, you know, my mom used to say, in life, you're all dealt over and over again a hand of cards, and it's how you play those cards, it's what you do with that hand. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, whether it's real estate or other businesses, they get so emotionally attached, like you said, and it's important to know when to put them down and move on. Yeah, that hand. And I think I'm really good at that because I don't have attachment to situations. Like, sure.

00:14:03
And I think that stems from the dyslexia and being with, sucking at something, but also having the confidence, like, if I want to learn something and be good at something, I know how to do it. Yeah, no, I love that. And real quickly, before we. Because I definitely want to get into the rest of your story. Cause I know it's fascinating.

00:14:21
Um, I remember I saw a recent clip. It was Grant Cardone, who's a real estate entrepreneur, real estate investor and controversial guy. But, uh, he had a clip of, and I think it was specifically about dyslexia. And, um, it may have been also about anxiety and some other mental health conditions. But the fact is that entrepreneurs have a higher level of mental health and other similar type of challenges or conditions that the broader population doesn't necessarily have.

00:14:54
You can get into all kinds of debates about, does entrepreneurship cause mental health challenges? Well, maybe. It's definitely not easy. Right. But I think.

00:15:05
So. His point, and I think hes spot on, was that because Danielle has overcome, in your case, dyslexia, or at least dealt with that head on and figured out how to still be successful and to pivot and use your relationships and your creativity as youve already talked about focus on your strengths and figure out a way to make it work because youve already overcome that. Youve built that mental capacity and that strength because you have had that adversity. Now, these challenges that come along with entrepreneurship, you're able to navigate probably better than the straight a student who doesn't have dyslexia. What, what do you say about that?

00:15:45
A million percent. And I also think a huge part is I don't have an ego. I had to rely on my resources to get me, like, I'm, I'm, I'm not really, I don't really go deep into any subject, but that I have a lot of, I have enough knowledge to be successful in a lot of different traits, but I always know I have a lot of self awareness. So I know when I don't know something and I know when I need help and I know the resources to go to get to where I need to be. So, like my team, like, I surround myself with amazing humans that are all very unique and bring different skill sets to the table where I've seen leaders where that intimidates, they don't want people that are better than them in certain areas where I welcome it, love it.

00:16:27
That's how I got through chemistry lab. You know, I always made sure I had better partners than myself. So again, it just, I, I feel badly for kids sometimes that do really well in school and parents tell them how great they are and they're people pleasers. And then when they get older, what's going to happen? Because you're not always perfect and you need to learn how to say, I'm not sure, but I'm going to go and get the help I need and that it's crucial to being good in business.

00:16:50
Totally. And then the fact is our, the education system, in large part, especially on the public side, is just archaic. And it's set up to train kids to work in a factory or manufacturing and that kind of thing. And it's, I think, slowly coming along, but a lot of great people in the education system, but the system itself does not set you up well to be an entrepreneur. So, and I love that you've touched on this a couple of times, but just what you learned from seeing other leaders and what you did and didn't like in that regard and the fact that the medical system in particular is set up for profit first.

00:17:34
And there's nothing wrong with making a profit. I know, you know, entrepreneurs want to make a profit. We should want to make a profit. Right. But if you end up putting that above other people, other the patient's health, for example, that's not okay.

00:17:49
So, um, I guess before we move into the real estate thing, what, what were like one or two examples that were, that were really disheartening for you in the medical field with regard to, you know, profit first? Um, oh, you know, we don't have to name names, of course, but what comes to mind, I mean, I can. Give you little examples because bigger companies are very narrow minded on what's going to give me the maximum revenue. So we had a product that you used in the body that would signal to heal and repair, and I wanted to use it for nipple reconstruction post mastectomy. Okay.

00:18:27
But if you think about the size of a nipple, it's really small, and it's very important for women that have mastectomies. So think about a nipple compared to like, a huge open stomach. For example, if you sold product the same, the same product for a huge open stomach, you're going to make more revenue than a tiny nipple. But for me, I'm like, we're all going to be patients one day and someone's going to need help, and that's someone's mom and sister. And if we can develop a device that can help that person feel more comfortable in their own skin, like, why wouldn't we do it?

00:18:53
But it was all about money. And then the icing on the cake for me and why I formed our company with my husband, Fed tech was we were working for another company and they knew that they were making product that could potentially not be good used on patients, but they didn't want to throw away the product. And I'm like, okay, my husband are like, we don't stand for this. Like, we are done. Like, because they, the company at the time wanted a quick cash exit.

00:19:20
They were a startup company, and they wanted as much revenue as possible so they could sell the company, cash out, move on. And, you know, when you see things like that, you know, at the time, I was working with the neonate in the hospital, treating them for a massive infection. I'm like, I'm putting this product in them. Like, even knowing what goes on behind the scenes, it was so scary to me. So for my husband and I, we knew we could develop better products.

00:19:45
We know we could cut through the red tape to get them to the patients that needed these products faster. And we wanted to do things for the right reasons. Because I believe if you have a passion and you have a purpose, you can make money and still do the right thing. We always knew that. We knew our product was amazing, so we knew the money would be there.

00:20:03
But that's not what drove us to want to start our company. We just wanted to take off the handcuffs and not answer to other people. Because there's nothing worse than knowing you have a better idea or you can do things better. And then the layers of tape kick in and you can't get creative and you can't execute your vision the way you want to. You're answering to other people.

00:20:22
So when we started our company, we didn't. We chose to do it the really hard way. We didn't take outside funding. We had people that wanted to give us funding. But I'm like, I'm not selling my soul to the devil because that's what's wrong with the companies we've worked for.

00:20:34
They want, they got outside funding. They answered to a board and they wanted a quick exit. I mean, my husband and I were very aligned with morals and values, and we're like, we're going to do this our way. So, you know, and that was just a confidence that I had in both myself and clay, my husband, to develop the best products out there. So there were times, I mean, really talk about, like, hitting ground zero.

00:20:59
No money, car repoed, house was in foreclosure, robbing Fette to pay Paul just to get all the tests that you need to get FDA clearance. But there was a period of time where, you know, I had done really well in my life. I had, you know, real estate and other businesses and had a huge cushion working for other people. You know, I was paid very well working in biotech and medical device, and my husband was home in the lab. And all the money we made went into getting FDA clearance.

00:21:28
You can imagine. I mean, we went from like riches to rags pretty quickly. My poor oldest daughter now is like, gosh, I grew up way differently than my youngest now is growing up just because we're. The worlds were so different. Sure.

00:21:40
So. And briefly, what was the real estate? Was it, were you doing real estate sales or what should you do on the side? Yes. So I had saved money as a medical device.

00:21:53
Exact. And having my own business with my sister, and I'm like, where do I want to get into to invest my money? And I have always liked real estate. My parents used to flip real estate as a side gig growing up. I mean, I remember going and scrubbing cockroaches with my mom when I was really young and then flipping these really gross houses, but they made great profit on it.

00:22:15
When I moved, um, after going to From Adversity to Abundance Podcast to Florida. At the time, real estate was still affordable and I just saw projections and plans for downtown Fort Lauderdale. And I'm like, I wanted in on it. So I would do a couple things. I would either buy, I would get in with the developers and buy pre construction and flip it before I moved in, because there were some, I don't know, I know every state's different, but depending on the developers I would work with, I, because I was friends with them, they would give me first rates and you could flip it once before it was actually ever closed on.

00:22:50
So I did that. And then there were a couple other properties I wanted to hold on longer to because I knew the projections of building downtown. So I would hold onto them, rent. But this was like 2004 to 2009. And for those of you in real estate, no, the market definitely took a turn starting in 2007.

00:23:10
So I got to experience short sales and foreclosures and stuff like that. Gotcha. I'm very grateful that that happened in retrospect, because that kind of made me stay in medical device, which is my passion. Helping people, people heal really is my passion and is my gift. I just didn't know how to combine my entrepreneurial, creative side with the healthcare.

00:23:33
Wanting to help patients heal kind of got it. Now that makes a lot of sense. And that's, I'm guessing, took a little bit of time to view it that way, uh, just based on my own experience. It's hard to see, you know, adversity as a blessing in the moment. Um, you know, so if you're, if you're experiencing the, the wrong side of a foreclosure or short sale, that's not fun, right?

00:23:57
And so you're, it's. But, but in hindsight, you're saying that you're able to now you're now able to focus on your gifts and your, your experience, and really, your passion is really what you're talking about. Passion to help people through medical devices and help people on the health side of things and incorporate your entrepreneurial passion and drive there. So. Okay, so you and your husband decided to start vet tech, right?

00:24:26
Is that how it went or did you? Yeah. So I met him in the field. I was actually in a head on drunk driving accident at three in the afternoon and I was on leave and someone called me from a local hospital that I lived a couple miles from and said, we have a patient with this rare disease where the skin attacks itself and nothing is helping this patient heal. Little did I know, that patient was a friend of mine, but I didn't know at the time.

00:24:51
I offered to help, and I had called the company that made the product, and my husband was one of the developers of this product. They licensed it out to our company, and we sold it. I'm like, is there anyone in Florida that can help us? Because. Because, you know, the company at the time was in Chicago and the other branch was in Maryland.

00:25:09
And they sent him down and he walked into the room, and I was very intrigued by his lack of ego, but his level of intelligence, to speak at every level. And together we helped this patient, and it was strictly a friendship. He was actually married at the time, but it was just really refreshing. You know, you always get nervous when you have some. Someone from corporate fly to the field.

00:25:33
I'm like, oh, here we go again. I'm just going to pitch your product, and I just want to help this darn patient. Right. I'm going to see. Your ego is going to be so, so overkill and.

00:25:42
Right, but. But that's not what happened. Yes, exactly. So we work together, and we would, um. While we were waiting in the hospital for various surgeons or opportunities to help people, we would brainstorm.

00:25:52
And we realized early on we. We saw things eye to eye. We saw how we could take the products he was developing and use them in different therapeutic areas in the hospital. And we grew the company by leaps and bounds, just by collaborating. And he was like a magician.

00:26:08
Like, I would have ideas, and then he would go into the lab and, like, create the changes needed. I'm like, this is crazy. Like, I have visions, he has visions, and then I have someone that can actually produce what I'm thinking of. So at the time, like I said, I was on leave because I was in an accident. I couldn't drive.

00:26:25
Um, Clay actually moved. He's a Midwest nice guy who moved to Fort Lauderdale because his wife at the time had mental illness. And I met him. And my sister and I are, like, inseparably codependent and close, and she's a family therapist in child. Child development.

00:26:45
And I remember Clay saying to me, hey, listen, I need to tell you the truth. Like, I don't know anyone in Florida. My wife has mental illness, and she has tried to take her life before. And God forbid I ever need you. I have a nine year old.

00:26:56
Could you and your sister help out? And at this time, we were single in Fort Lauderdale. I mean, I was in the prime of my. I'm never getting married. I go out way too much, and have too much of a social life.

00:27:06
And. And I can say, by the way, we stayed and we went to Fort Lauderdale in December, and there's definitely a party, party atmosphere. I mean, I lived at the party. I mean, my life was a big party. I don't.

00:27:16
I don't know how I did yoga. I didn't sleep. I went from my clothing boutique to fashion shows to going out and had no urge to commit to in a relationship. So, anyway, you know, to a couple months after meeting Clay, we found out that his wife took her life, and he had to travel for work. So my sister and I moved into his house.

00:27:39
And I don't think I've ever said this on a podcast, but we moved into his house, and a couple months in, we realized we had a connection that was undeniable. But I. I hid it from everyone because I was actually embarrassed, because his wife, I loved her. I knew her. I mean, I loved the person that she was.

00:27:56
I knew her. We didn't have, like, a close relationship because I just met them. But I also fell in love with his daughter, who I've since adopted and is now my 24 year old. But it is a beautiful love story in a sense. It's like, clearly someone wanted my husband and I to get together for the better good of humanity, because this.

00:28:15
If you had asked me when I met him if this is someone I would date or ever marry, I'd be like, there's no way. But I kind of fell in love with his daughter through helping take care of her. And then there was an undeniable connection that we had. So, after a year of being together, we actually moved to Maryland for this company, left my family, and that's. We helped develop their products, and we had stock options, and we believe so deeply in that company.

00:28:40
Two years after moving, I got pregnant. This is when we discovered that the product wasn't good, we shouldn't sell it, and my husband wouldn't sign off on it. So, upon having a baby, we were both fired. We were out of jobs, living in Maryland. So, just to clarify, and I don't know if you can say more specifically, but it's not so much that the product might not have benefits, but this.

00:29:05
You actually saw that there was clear potential downside for people. I believe. You know, I know it's a legal thing people Google, but I don't know what I can and cannot say. But I. We had a strong belief that it wasn't the right thing to do, was to sign off on it.

00:29:18
Got it. Understood? Yeah. Okay. So you both.

00:29:22
You, you got pregnant and then you. You both got fired from your job. We were. The month I had my youngest daughter, we were both out of jobs, luckily, sales, marketing, I can get a job anywhere. I mean, sure.

00:29:37
But his, my husband is one of five tissue engineers that develop devices and regenerative medicine. I mean, there's really not many of him in the world. So we said, you know what? This is our sign. We're going to do it ourselves.

00:29:50
We're going to develop better products because you know how. And he's had these visions and we've been up brainstorming. We were just going to do them with this other company because we believed in the company and we're pretty loyal. Yeah, I think this is our opportunity. And so I went to work.

00:30:05
He. He stayed in the lab. We moved back to Florida, and now here we are today with two FDA cleared products. We've used our products on thousands of patients, and time and time again, we see miracles because patients that ordinarily would have trouble healing or would take a really long time, pain and suffering, whether it's a patient that's been in a fire, a traumatic car accident, a chronic wound, you know, I pinch myself in gratitude. I say that on every podcast because it never gets old.

00:30:33
When you get a patient to hug and kiss you and say, I don't know what I do without you. This stuff really is magic. You save my leg or you save my life or you save my baby. I mean, I've saved humans before, so that feeling is what motivates me every day. Yeah, but it also keeps me up at night.

00:30:49
And I've had to learn to balance my mental health and really learn to listen to my emotions to guide me through life, because this is greater than me. I mean, at some point you talk about it and it feels surreal, and you say to yourself, okay, if this is my purpose, like, the fact we figured out how to do this and the fact we're able to help people restore where there's injury in their body means, you know, I have to rely and trust that there's something greater than me out there, wherever you want to call it, or whatever you believe in. Yeah. And I've really had to check how my head feels versus, like, my gut intuition to get through and make better business decisions. Interesting.

00:31:27
So is there. I mean, that makes sense, but do you have kind of an example of what you mean by that? Yeah, I mean, okay, so there's a lot of times on paper that a transaction or a deal would be like, wow, that's, that seems like a great opportunity, this person. On paper. Yeah, on paper, it checks out.

00:31:46
Like, we could make money, and this is an opportunity, but something deep inside myself is not excited to do it, and I can't identify why. Like, I'm, like, there's no logical reason behind this, but something inside, like, I'm not really quick to want to pick up the pen and get excited and go to dinner with this person. I should be excited to go have dinner. I should be excited for this meeting. Everyone's told me this person's the biggest thing since sliced bread, but I don't know why.

00:32:08
I have no motivation. And then I have to remind myself, Danielle, it's not because you're lazy. It's not because you're not hungry. Listen to these emotions. And my sister has really installed upon me because I am a very impulsive person.

00:32:20
I like things yesterday, and I don't like to wait, but I've had to learn that if I don't, if I'm not excited about a decision, to pause and I don't have to feel like I have to make a decision and making no decision, making no decision isn't better than making a decision and have to backpedal out of it, because that's where you lose momentum and time as an entrepreneur and in business, you make a couple bad business decisions, and you wake up really quickly and say, what can I learn here from this? And how do I not do this again? And for me, it was making a couple mistakes, and I'm like, this cost me time and money and emotional stress. Like, I get attached to, to people. So if relationships don't work out, whether it's business or personal, it eats away at me, and I can't have that if I want to be successful and help heal a lot of people.

00:33:07
So I thought, okay, I had signs, I had warnings. I don't know about this. And I went through with it anyway. So I've had to really, like, tap into those emotions and pay attention again, you may not know the answer. You don't need to know the answer, and you don't need to know the why.

00:33:23
But if something doesn't really light you up and excite you, pause and do nothing, don't act on it. I love it. And then the answer will come. That's great. And, and you're absolutely right.

00:33:32
I mean, I have that same type of, uh, as an entrepreneur, the same impatient drive. I mean, I want to see results immediately. The, the risk for me ends up being, um, making bad decisions, you know, because I'm impatient or doing too many things and. And therefore not doing anything well, doing everything on an average or, you know, b plus level or something instead of focusing. And, um, so that's, uh, something that I think I need to hear over and over again, as well as what you just said is lining up.

00:34:04
Yeah. The. It should pencil out. There should be the logical piece that it makes sense. Of course.

00:34:08
Right. But even more importantly, tapping into that intuition and pausing, like you said, that's what you're just pausing to make a decision you don't have. Almost nothing is actually on fire and has to be done immediately. So if you can pause, think about it for a day or two or a week or whatever, create that mental space to make a more informed and take that time to tie into your emotion, like you said, and make a better decision. Right.

00:34:34
And the reason why I say emotion is because it's easy to get in your own head and to justify or to talk to too many people that are going to justify the decision that you ultimately want to make. And I used to do that. I used to let me talk through this situation because the truth is, I know I should probably do it, but I have hesitation. So maybe all these other people could convince me, like, no, I should do that instead. Now I pause.

00:34:55
I'm like, okay, why do I have any hesitation? And if I feel the need to talk to someone else to justify the decision, I need to pause. And I stop trying to figure out why the why behind it and be okay with some things you're not supposed to know. One day I'll look back and I'll know. This is why it unfolded.

00:35:14
Oh, that's why I didn't want to use that speech speaker. Oh. That's why I didn't want to sign that license deal. It doesn't need to make sense in the moment. Got it.

00:35:23
That's. That's good. That's really good. Okay, before we get into, I want to drill into the products, the two products you have. But before we get there, you mentioned, okay, you were doing really well financially, and then you really, you and your husband were struggling financially because you put all the money into the FDA approvals, I believe.

00:35:43
What did that look like from a personal and family standpoint? You know, where were you before and then, and how many years were you living in? You know, was it, was it bankruptcy, poverty? You know, what. What did it look like?

00:35:56
I mean, we had our house, but there were times where, you know, in Florida, I felt like education because my daughter also has dyslexia, so going to a private school, to me, was, like, top tier, like, priority. But there were times I'm like, what do I do? Pull her out of school? Or, like, they're going to come repo my car, which was embarrassing because, you know, like, I lived in a nice neighborhood, and, you know, it was on zillow that my house was in pre foreclosure. And I know friends were talking about it.

00:36:20
And it was interesting to see people view me differently because they thought I had less than them, which is like, I was. I was okay and comfortable because I knew at the long run how well we would do. And we made this choice. We could have taken funding, like I said earlier, but we didn't want to. But, um, it was hard because it takes about five, six years.

00:36:42
So you're talking about a marathon and not a race. And you have to be patient because you have to do more tests. And, you know, just when you think you're close, the FDA may say, hey, we need this one more safety test, or we need this one more clinical evaluation. And that's, you know, $100,000. And we spent millions.

00:37:01
I mean, our life savings went into this project. But again, we just had faith, and we knew where we wanted to be and why. And luckily, we had supportive family. So there were times we'd have to call like, a brother in law and be like, hey, you lend us $50,000 so I can not lose my house. This hurricane happened.

00:37:19
That helped a lot with real estate, because you can get a forbearance on your mortgage. So, yeah, things that most people would probably cry over. We were excited. That helped us. Well, there's always.

00:37:29
Every problem brings an opportunity. Right. You know, something a plus that wasn't there before. Um. So, okay.

00:37:38
All right, let's talk about the two products. I mean, what are. What are the products that you offer? How do they actually help people? Yeah.

00:37:45
So my husband's a tissue engineer, and basically what he takes are elements of tissues, the biomolecules. We need to facilitate healing. So, in layman's terms, if you're healthy enough to heal, so say, Jamie, you cut your finger, your body would go in through inflammatory response, which is that redness, that swelling, it's bringing all the biomolecules to the area, and then it's telling it how to heal. But our body's natural reaction is to form scar tissue. And scarring is really just a way for our bodies to put a quick patch on what's open so we don't get further infection.

00:38:19
So the premises behind regenerative medicine, and again, that's if you are healthy enough to heal. If you have a comorbidity, like if you have diabetes or an autoimmune, or you've just had radiation, you know, and you have cancer, your body naturally won't be able to heal and restore the way someone that doesn't have those comorbidities. Sure. Regenerative medicine is how do we take the best biomolecules that our bodies naturally have and put them into the injury to tell your body how to repair and remodel differently. So when you take what my husband has made and put it into an injury, it's going to signal to your body, it's going to say, okay, stem cells, come here.

00:38:58
Now, don't go through inflammatory. So the pain, the redness, that's not happening. And then no scar tissue. And some patients still have a little bit of something, but ultimately, it's signaling to your body to heal differently. And wherever there's injury in your body now, you're going to repair the injury.

00:39:15
And it's pretty wild. It sounds like Sci-Fi medicine. We used it. We were cleared topically. So if you.

00:39:21
I've helped soldiers that were blown up in war and their, you know, legs were blown up, and, um, we put it on them to heal. Or a patient, instead of needing all these skin grafts after a fire, you can use our material, you know, fill in the area, and then the skin will heal across and minimal to no scarring. I fell in love with this product. My husband and I were like, okay, how do we take this powder and help all different kind of areas, not just topical, but, hmm, if you have traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, those are injuries. What if you have a heart attack and your heart muscle dies?

00:39:55
Could we inject our material into the heart to help it function? So we had all these ideas, but we needed to turn the powder into a gel form so that we could inject it. So over COVID, that's what we did. We took the powder, we turned it into a gel, and then somewhere along the line, I realized, in the world of aesthetics, our skin is our biggest organ in our body, and it's really important to take care of it. Sure.

00:40:18
Side note, even though I come from medicine, I'm actually granola crunch, and I love all things natural, so I actually don't agree with conventional medicine. And if it was up to me, for me and my family, I try to do everything possible to fix, repair, heal naturally before I will rely on conventional medicine. And I do think there's a time and a place, there's a. There's a blend that has to occur. But I don't look at it all one way or the other.

00:40:44
It doesn't have to be just eastern or just western medicine. Totally. And I'm by no means an expert, but I've just gotten more and more into. I'm working with a nurse practitioner myself right now. Who is she?

00:40:57
Left the traditional medical field to start, I think, about four years ago to start a functional medicine, holistic medicine, whatever you want to call it, practice, because the traditional medical system is so broken, and we do tend to not use our bodies. I mean, it's the most powerful resource we have is the body itself. Right. It's just for. For physical healing.

00:41:22
I'm talking about, we. We tend to not use that and just slap on some. Some external, you know, solution that, that then creates additional side effects and other problems that then you got to go take this other medication for that. And, um. And I think you.

00:41:37
I mean, no doubt, I'm just. Yeah, there are a lot more and more podcasts out there. More and more. I think people are starting to wake up, starting to realize that the system is broken, and we've got to go in a more natural, holistic way. So I think you're clearly out in front of this curve and riding the wave, and obviously, there's a ton of work.

00:42:01
You're not just riding the wave, but I think your timing is fantastic from a market standpoint. No, it really is. And, like, when we started this, I mean, we've been doing this for over 20 years. My. My husband's been inventing the most predominantly used devices in the hospital he has helped work on, but there wasn't much evolution in the space because, again, the ton, the tunnel vision.

00:42:25
So, again, we're proud of fed tech because we're advancing it quicker than the other companies can because of our forward thinking mentalities. But I think of it like this. As humans, we thrive in a perfect environment. Right? You're surrounded by good people.

00:42:40
You feel supported, you feel loved. You're going to do better. Sure. Absolutely. So our cells are the same way.

00:42:46
Our cells thrive in the perfect environment. And right now, we know clinically, you know, there's a lot of talk about biohacking. And again, like, how you eat, mental stresses, um, metal toxicity, you know, EMF, like, um, there's lighting. There's so many different things that contribute to our cells. Not being healthy.

00:43:07
And I think that if our cells are not in the right environment to thrive, disease happens and it presents as cancer and it presents as autoimmune and all these different problems, but no one's talking about, okay, instead of putting a band aid and masking on that, how do we fix and get to the root of the problem? And that's where I'm really excited to explore with our MTP platform. It's a multi tissue platform, is, is what we developed, because if we can restore and rebalance the environment that the cells are in, and then tell those cells what we need to do to repair and balance the body out, that's how we're getting true regenerative healing. So even though we've been using this for 20 some years in the hospital now, it's exciting because I think humanity is catching up and talking about stem cells and talking about alternative ways to heal. So I think it's just a matter of time, time where this whole thing blows up.

00:44:00
The biggest challenge is what the FDA recognizes and wants to accept versus like, what doesn't go through the FDA. So when you talk about like, stem cell. So instead of putting outside stem cells into your body, which are not, do not go through the FDA clearance and regulatory, our product does go through FDA and regulatory. We're putting all naturally what you have in your body to make your own body stem cells. Come to the area and then give them the instructions they need to know what to do to repair the injury.

00:44:30
Got it. So both of your products do do that, is that right? Yeah, it's basically the same exact technology. The first thing we made was a powder, honestly, just because it was easier to make. And then from the powder, we turned it into a gel, which took a lot of time to figure out.

00:44:47
How do you make it into a gel? How do you preserve all the properties of the bio molecules in there? And it's, you know, the science behind it is so fascinating because we think we know, but we're just scratching the surface. They're discovering new biomolecules and peptides and proteins that are in our body like every day behind the scenes. It's amazing.

00:45:05
And I just. Because of some family mental health challenges, I've gotten more and more into understanding, you know, learning. There's so much, well, so much I don't know. But I'm starting to appreciate how little it really is known about mental health. But the fact is, I think it's more and more pointing.

00:45:23
The evidence is pointing to the fact that mental health is tied into brain health and physical health, and truly at the cell and mitochondria level, that's all interconnected. Instead, unfortunately, I should say we have these hundreds of specializations in the medical field. Nothing wrong with specializations. Obviously your husband is a specialist and super smart in what he does, but it almost feels like it's just so splintered that nobody's bringing it all together. And that's really what's needed here.

00:45:59
Totally. We're all connected. Our bodies are all energy. What happens in your oral health will affect your body. What happens in your gut affects your whole body.

00:46:07
And unfortunately, when clinicians are trained, it's very segregated. You know, you learn about one, you master one body system. Sure. And I feel bad for the Dodgers to be on it. My friends that are nurses and doctors, I feel horrible.

00:46:19
They only learn a certain way in medical school, which is dictated by who pays for the books. And they're not taught this whole world, they're not taught to think outside the box. They're dictated. The insurance companies and. And the hospitals are who's banking.

00:46:34
But as patients were frustrated, and then as healthcare providers were frustrated, I don't have the answer, but I know the more I can try to help educate, yeah. Humans and patients, because we're all going to be patients one day, the more I want people to feel empowered that not anyone has all the answers and just to really feel comfortable asking questions, asking why are you using this product over that one? How did you come to that decision? What other products would be available for what I have? Because you never know.

00:47:00
Like a lot of times hospitals will only use what's on contract and where they're getting the best deal. Doesn't mean it's the best product available. And the doctor may not be able to use products based on what's not on formulary. So there's a lot of things that go into healthcare behind the scenes. I wish it wasn't that way.

00:47:15
You know, it's in your mind, it's like in other businesses, I get it, it's about money, but these are patients lives. But at the end of the day, it's a business too. It is, right? And then the fact is, and all this can be so, it could seem very overwhelming and just like, what diet should I do, you know, what. What medication should I take and all this stuff?

00:47:34
But the end of the day, you do need to take ownership of your own situation and your own health. And I mean, companies like yours are clearly helping people in such a positive way. So talk about what is, like, what specific, I guess, conditions does your, does fet tech address? And what do you not address? You said natural healing and wound healing.

00:48:00
What? Really? Who's your ideal avatar? Client, I guess, of your client. Well, right now, we have the two products.

00:48:07
We have. We treat the patients in the hospital that have been through burn, chronic wound trauma, and now we have the gel, which will be used in the aesthetic market to strengthen your skin and make it appear younger. We, through getting FDA clearance, we had to prove if our product was infected with virus, how would that transmit to patients? We kept failing this test, and we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to redo it. And then through that, we discovered that our material actually deactivates an envelope virus.

00:48:37
And at the time, this was right before COVID I didn't know what an envelope virus was. So I googled it, and I googled it. It said herpes and shingles. I'm like, great. I do get a fever blister, which is a form of a herpe, once a year on my lip, and I will use the product.

00:48:50
But at that time, that didn't feel like my life mission. On our whiteboard was, like, traumatic brain injury, Ms, heart attack, like those osteoarthritis. However, then COVID broke out, and we googled envelope virus, and we found out that COVID is an envelope virus and some of the world's most deadly diseases. Not diseases, the hardest viruses to treat, like HIV, Ebola, Marsburg. So now we're working with the government to do tests.

00:49:15
I'm actually leaving for Australia in a couple of days to accompany one of the most world renowned scientists that's done some awesome research using our material against herpes and shingles at the time. This is going to air, I guess I can say it, but against Valtrax, she looked at our material and other products on the market used for herpes and shingles. You have to a catch it very early, within, like, three days, else they don't prevent the spread of herpes and shingles, but also there's toxicity to them, and they can't always use, be used in combination with other therapies. So I am beyond pumped that our product not only worked, but it worked. Um, even if you caught the herpes or shingles later on, and it's all natural, so there's no toxicity, there's no problems.

00:50:03
You can use it in conjunction with any other therapies. So it's totally groundbreaking. But my husband and I laugh like I really am a wound and skin expert. Like, I know more than most in that space, and my husband in tissue engineering, however, we know nothing about viruses. So, like, right now, I'm trying to study and read and learn everything there is to know.

00:50:22
Fascinated with viruses, but that's like a whole different language to me. Sure. Yeah. Well, that's. And just to point out, it's another example of where you said you had to spend $100,000 or several hundred thousand dollars on this testing, so that's.

00:50:35
That's bad, right? Could be viewed as time. I could have, like, I was, like, crying. Right? But it's like you just talked about what the good that came out of that.

00:50:43
That wouldn't have come out of that, and it wouldn't have happened, it sounds like, or you wouldn't have realized how. How good your product was had you not gone through that adversity with the FDA testing. Hopefully, I got that right. Yeah, you did. He nailed it.

00:50:55
Awesome. All right, so, as we start to wrap up here, Danielle, I've got some rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Sure. All right, so this one tends to trip people up a little bit.

00:51:06
What do people misunderstand about you? You personally? I think some people in my career have thought I'm too nice and have tried to take advantage, but you pushed me too far, and I'm not messing around. And if. If you mess with, like, I can endure a lot more individually, but if something crosses the line with my family, my children, or people I care about, I will handle it very quickly and very effectively.

00:51:31
So it's almost like the mama bear claws come out. I was gonna say mama bear claw. People know, like, do not cross the line. Like, do not misinterpret my kindness and generosity for stupidity. Love it.

00:51:43
If you could go back and give your 18 year old self, uh, some advice, what would that be? I would. I would have taught myself to slow down and pause and listen to my emotions earlier on and stop being so obsessed with needing to figure everything out and be more intrigued with, like, it's okay not to know and the reasons why it's okay not to know. Just follow the little breadcrumbs. But you don't have to have, like, the be all and end all answers all at once.

00:52:09
But you don't need to know your five year plan. You just need to know what feels good and the direction you want to keep walking towards. Love that if you were given $10 million tomorrow doesn't have to be for your business, just personally, what would you do with it? Um, there's definitely studies that I would fund immediately in cancer research and some other ones, um, to prove, like, proof of concept. To move forward with those projects, I would probably buy property on the beach because it's going quickly.

00:52:42
And, um, would plan a. A reunion with my family. Probably like a party, like a vacation. Yeah. Awesome.

00:52:53
Um, in your business, what is one challenge that you and your husband are facing right now? Not enough time in the day, honestly. I know it sounds so, like, just we, we. There's so many projects we're working on from, from grant writing to government projects, the viral and, you know, Australia to. We just got FDA ray gel cleared and we're launching an aesthetics.

00:53:18
And when you have visions and you believe in your products so much, it's like, I just want to help as many people as possible. And that pressure is really hard. It's hard to separate the pressure, knowing people are relying. We get emails morning and night from people like, please, you're my only hope to live, or, my baby was born with an open abdomen, and I heard you did a poster that won years ago, and it would heal this, and without you, my baby will die. And then there's politics that, like, I can't just legally ship it to them.

00:53:48
I'll go to jail and we'll get closed down. And if it's not approved through the. The political chains of the hospital, even if a doctor wanted to use it, they can't always use it if it's not approved and in network. I see. Yeah, I was curious about that.

00:54:01
It's. Yeah, I mean, it's. That's what I thought, but it wasn't positive. If somebody just on the street wants to use your product, they can't just contact you and order your product, correct? No, they would need to get their doctor to, like, email us that it was okay, and then we could ship it to the doctor or the patient, but they would need an order.

00:54:17
And then the other thing, reimbursement. Oh, if you. If you ask me, the one thing about healthcare right now, I just want to, like, I could put my fist through a wall because you get FDA approval, which that's one path you have to take. But to get reimbursement, that's through CMS, and CMS does not care what the FDA says. So you would think that would be all bundled in one.

00:54:37
Like, you get a product, the government says it's good enough to sell, it's good enough to help people. We're proving it safety wise. But then you have CMS saying, even though it's so safe, you did all this clinical testing, and they're saying it can be used. It doesn't mean we're going to pay for it. So that's.

00:54:49
And then you have to pay for a whole another round of tests and years and years of testing just to get it reimbursed. So, you know, it goes back to me now, being very educated and knowing there are wonderful products out there that could be available to help people that are against or not accepted in conventional medicine because they may not be reimbursed yet. Got it. Yeah, that's a, that's a lot of bureaucracy and a lot of red tape. That's very unfortunate.

00:55:16
I worked for the federal government for 14 years, so I'm familiar with many agencies not agreeing on things, unfortunately.

00:55:28
All right, what is a book or two that you could recommend for our listeners? Well, the only time I turn on a book which I don't read is to go to bed and I set my alarm for 510 minutes. But I'm really into anything. If I'm not reading journals and scientific literature about regenerative medicine, I will be listening to things that usually, like, enhance health. So the cancer revolution by doctor Keneally.

00:55:54
I am obsessed with whether you have cancer or not. It's interesting because it talks about ways to treat and heal patients thinking outside the norm. I love doctor Jack Cruz. He's a neurosurgeon that, again, is like anti conventional medicine. And he talks about light and how important, you know, we're, as patients, trained to be afraid of the sunlight.

00:56:13
But truthfully, if we act like elephants, he says, and we're awake in the morning, upon sunrise and sunset, those rays actually help our skin know how to protect us better against the sunlight. So I'm obsessed with everything about Jack Cruise. It's K R U S E. Maria Menounos podcast. I'm the biggest Maria Menounos fan.

00:56:35
She preaches, be the CEO of your own health. She was a tv interview. I think she was on, like, Entertainment Tonight. And she's just a force to be reckoned with because she's so pure and authentic. But she sheds lights on ways that she's had to treat herself from cancer and tumors and how to take her own health into her own hands.

00:56:57
As someone that was born with type one diabetes, to do better in the world and to help inspire other patients to know it's going to be okay. But let's share the information we're learning. So I love her podcast. That's awesome. Yeah.

00:57:08
And then on the diabetes thing, even type one, it's people are learning now that it's reversible. Right. I mean, and not everything that we thought was, you know, a lifelong curse has to be that way. And then, secondly, on the light thing, I know Andrew Huberman talks about that a lot. As far as just, you know, you know, even for optimizing sleep that night, getting up in the morning and having that first light in your eyes can really help set that circadian rhythm, which helps you better.

00:57:40
Get a better sleep that night, and then just helps you be your best self. Right. To show up for other people. Be the best entrepreneur you can. He actually learned the light story from doctor Jack Cruz on his.

00:57:50
Is that right? On his podcast. Yes. Gotcha. Definitely.

00:57:53
Check that out. Got it. Awesome. I think it's like a three segment series, but it was fabulous. I listened.

00:57:58
I mean, it's deep. Some. A lot of it's over my head. And I'm used to science talk all the time, but it's fascinating because we're trained to be afraid of the sun. Yeah, exactly.

00:58:09
But yet most people that develop cancer, like skin cancer, have low levels of vitamin D. So what does that tell you? Clearly need the sun. Sure. Right?

00:58:16
Absolutely. Awesome. What is, uh, one question that I have not asked you that you wish I had?

00:58:25
No. You've done a great job. We've covered a lot. A lot of ground. Yeah.

00:58:29
I don't know. You're stumping me here. I don't think you've asked me really good stuff. All right, Danielle Fette, where can our listeners find you online? Well, you can look up Danielle Fette on LinkedIn.

00:58:42
Um, full disclosure, I laugh because for so many years, I was in hiding because I felt guilty not being able to help patients. But now I'm doing more talking about, like, entrepreneurship and how to listen to your emotions to guide you through owning a business. And on the aesthetic side, it's a lot easier to talk about because it's a cash business. So I'm not as handcuffed not being able to help people in the hospital. So now I'm coming out of the closet so you can find me on Instagram.

00:59:10
Danielle Fette, Fettech is fe tech.com. And then if you go to our Fet tech page, you can find all our other companies. Awesome. And Fette is fe t e for the listeners. Well, the fact that you're out now must mean that you're actually living in your purpose, and there's a reason you're not hiding anymore, right?

00:59:35
Because you're aligned with your mission and your purpose. And serving others, which has to just feel so good. Even if you're super busy and tired some days and dealing with all the challenges that come along with entrepreneurship. It definitely from my perspective, seems like you and your husband are absolutely out there serving people and just living, living out your purpose. So kudos to you.

00:59:59
Thank you. And thank you Danielle for spending your time with us. This has been great so really appreciate it. I appreciate this conversation. It was fun.

01:00:08
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01:00:30
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01:00:40
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01:01:03
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