Bulletproof Dental Practice

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 39 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: David Harris, founder & CEO of Prosperident Watch the full video of interview by clicking here! Key Takeaways: At least 60% of dentists will be embezzled from, but the actual percentage is probably higher. Understanding WHY people steal will help in profiling an embezzler. People steal for 2 reasons: need & greed. Thieves want to be alone when they steal. Keep an eye out for employees who are coming in early, leaving late, or otherwise coming and going at strange times. Be familiar with your practice management software’s daily and monthly financial reports, and run / print those reports yourself. Don’t give anyone the option to report selectively. The Office Manager generally has the most opportunity for financial theft, but anyone at the front desk can be capable as well. Any form of wealth transfer to you can be intercepted; cash, check, ACH, sale of dental supplies, time, you name it. Most embez

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 38 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Jonathan Abenaim, founder of Smile Syllabus Training Institute, owner of Jonathan Dental Spa Key Takeaways: Use the 80/20 rule to determine which patients are best for your practice. Make sure your house is in order first before you invite people in. Make sure you have the right team and that the team believes your vision. Your hygienists’ first objective should be creating relationships with your patients and how you empower them to have a healthy mouth. The beauty of dentistry is that you don’t need that many patients to make a comfortable living. A lot of dentists think they can skip the process of mastering analog dentistry and think a computer will fix everything for you. Dentists need to start taking responsibility for what they’re doing. Digital dentistry isn’t about changing the analog concepts, it’s taking those concepts and streamlining them. Nightguards are the hidden money-maker in 3D dentist

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 37 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Key Takeaways: Listen to part 1 before proceeding! Operations manuals are created so you can focus on your highest and best use Silo 1 – Clinical systems Create manuals for the various positions within the clinical team; dental assistant, hygienist, doctor, etc. The manual should contain all processes and procedures – documented. Include pictures, diagrams Running through a comprehensive checklist frees up the brain to focus on tasks at hand. Silo 2 – Business Operations Create manuals for the various positions: front desk Include processes for everything these team members do within the course of their day Silo 3 – Marketing For mature practices, this silo is one of the most important silos in growing the business Practice owners should know enough about marketing process to be able to have intelligent conversations with outsource vendors You can have the most well-oiled systems-dependent practice in the wo

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 36 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Key Takeaways: What does it mean to work ON your business instead of IN your business? A lot of dental practices aren’t really run like business at all. Ignorance is NOT bliss. The e-myth (entrepreneurial myth) is that most people who start a business are entrepreneurs, when in reality, most people who start a business are technicians. Because we have a high level of understanding of dentistry, we think that uniquely qualifies us to run a business that provides that dental work. Most dental practices are set up as people-dependent practices, when the focus should be on a systems-dependent process. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? People-dependent practices are dependent on specific people in the office, whether it’s you or an employee. Should something happen to that person the office becomes very vulnerable. Corporations are process-dependent business, which is why independently owned practices have something to fear. They ar

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 35 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Brett Judd, Your Practice Therapist Key Takeaways: Key areas of dental burnout and stress:                                  Staff issues Cash flow issues Stress in general Burnout starts to set in at approximately 7-10 years Divorce rate is systemic in dentistry, and averages about 46% Divorce is going down in general population, dentists have a higher rate of divorce when you look at divorce rate by profession Studies show when our core relationships are strong we’re better entrepreneurs, better at our craft, more creative and resilient. When they’re in distress those key skills diminish. First step to turn around burnout is to realize you’re not alone, and to put together a self-care plan to help ease stress and reduce bad energy. Four W strategy helps you normalize and immediately differentiate yourself from the chaos: Why do I care? Who says? Whose issue? What can I do about it? When you feel te

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 34 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Reposted from Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran Key Takeaways: There seems to be a lot more opportunity in the Atlanta area focusing a new practice in more rural areas. Having great chair-side manner is key to success in dentistry. Some of that manner is inherent, but it can be developed with real-world training. Solo dentists have great advantages in providing excellent customer experiences, quality, and value. Dental corporations bring competition, which in turn makes the entire industry healthier. Dental offices never stop needing new patients, nobody keeps their new patients for life. Society is changing, but dentistry has been the same cottage industry that it’s been since inception. Writing down your goals is a key step in making them happen in your life. Partnerships in dentistry are hard. Be very careful when choosing partners for your business. Org charts are important. Make sure roles are clear, es

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 33 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dave Monahan, CEO of Kleer Key Takeaways: Kleer is a cloud-based dental care plan that helps dentists connect with patients who want more service. 50% of consumers in the US don’t see the dentist on an annual basis. Dental insurance is too complex, too many limitations, too expensive. Consumers and dentists both are frustrated with the system. Consumers want more dental care, but they face issues with cost, fear of cost, and not having any coverage. Customers want something that is simple, affordable, transparent, and something they can trust. Kleer removes the middle man (insurance company) from the process, which removes complexity and cost. Consumers overestimate dental procedure costs from 200-500%. Dentists on the Kleer plan keep about 90% of all payments. Patients who opt in to a membership plan will accept more treatment, creating a win-win for dentist and patient. Kleer offers three plans; children,

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 32 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Chuck Blakeman, entrepreneur and presenter at GOTT Summit  Key Takeaways: GOTT stands for Get Off The Treadmill, the annual summit is all about creating a dental practice that produces BOTH time and money. 70% of business is similar/generic. Problems are the same across industries. Business has little to do with the craft itself, but everything to do with the way people work. Dentists really need to get off the treadmill of working in business to work on business and be free to do the things they love. Separation of work and private life is false. Practice owner’s game is about how to make more money in less time. Need to demand both time and money from your career. Research shows there is a proportional link between happiness and money up to $70-80k, above that the level of happiness diminishes with each additional dollar. Key questions: What do I want out of life? What kind of practice do I need to build t

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 31 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness Key Takeaways: What is biohacking? Used to mean someone who literally hacks their biology. Lately it’s become a catch-all term for figuring out ways to enhance biology by hacking or shortcutting for better biological health. Benefits and drawbacks to reverse osmosis water Best approach to detox from mercury and lead Pompa’s True Cellular Detox Chelation therapy 3-4 things the average person can pay attention to? Focus varies from person to person, but consistently cleaning & detoxing the body is key. Sweat every day, great for detoxification Doing something that moves the lymph fluid (Qigong shaking, mini trampolines) Intensive, hard breathing (Kundalini yoga) Morning routines, including heart rate monitors, breathwork, yoga, tissue work, drink water, bulletproof coffee, writing, biohacking methods, easy exercise, saunas, cold shower, smoothies Gratitude is

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 30 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Watch the full video of the lecture by clicking here!  Start with Why Born & raised ATL Buckhead - flagship practice “To use my God-given talents to provide for my family, friends, and team. To use dentistry & business of dentistry to create a legacy. To enjoy my finite life and to know I maximized it and I mattered.” My Practice Evolution Start, today, where I’m going? 2002 - Graduated dental school 2005 - Started FFS practice 2009 - Opened 2nd location (Buckhead), added 2 associates (during recession) 2016 - Acquired PPO practice (investor not clinical), multiple real estate acquisitions 2017 - Building 3rd location, 2nd acquisition, 5th property acquisition, 2 more associates 2020 - Consulting, Exit (roll-up) EBITDA Struggles like anyone… 2015 vs 2016 Failed partnership $560k embezzlement Extreme clinical burnout Family demands The lesson it taught me - KEEP GOING The difference between success

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 29 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!  Key Takeaways: Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world. Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team. Achievement is not always related to fulfilment. Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love. Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain. Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information ran

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 28 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Chris Ramsey / Co-owner of Ritter & Ramsey Watch the full video of interview by clicking here!  Key Takeaways: Take care of your team. Your team will take care of your patients, and your patients will take care of our profits. Strive to be the best. You don’t have to be the best in the WHOLE world, but be the best in YOUR world. Success isn’t the same for everyone. Define what success means for you. Make sure you can answer the question “Why do people choose to come to your office?” Make sure you define your answer and clarify that vision with your team. Achievement is not always related to fulfilment. Chris Ramsey created a lecture program called M.A.S.T.E.R., dedicated to teaching people how to be great at what they do and do more of the dentistry they love. Mindset – The conscious, unconscious, and subconscious parts of your brain. Your brain is working like a hard drive, storing information ran

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 27 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Fred Joyal / Founder of 1-800-DENTIST  Key Takeaways: Many dentists still struggle with basic ideas of effectively promoting and marketing their practices. Patients judge you by their experience, and 90% of the patient experience is non-clinical. Developing clinical skills is important, but success is determined by the office’s culture. Building better relationships with your team and patients will make you wildly successful. A good patient who you treat well will earn you five new patients. The best marketing strategy is to CARE. The new economy is centered around caring and convenience. Dentists obsessed with adding value for patients are those who are killing it. It’s not about you. Everything the patient experiences (sees, touches, tastes, hears and smells) affects case acceptance. Most of our decisions are not rational, they’re based on feeling. If you don’t trust the doctor it doesn’t matter how much

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 26 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Stuart Faught / Founder of PatientSnap.com Key Takeaways: Online reviews are crucial to the success of your dental practice, they can also be very hard to obtain. Make sure every patient receives a text message right after their appointment asking for review and giving links to post a review. Key platforms are Yelp, Google, and on your website. 88% of patients are currently checking online reviews before going into a practice. There’s a democratization of small business; people have a much greater power to make or break your business. Shoot for getting the most stars and the best reviews. Cadence and consistency are important. Look at your review request process as an evergreen strategy and not a quick fix. Respond to every negative review, and at least some of the positive reviews. Every review response is another marketing opportunity. Even the best practices will eventually get a bad review. An occasional

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 25 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Erika Pusillo / Practice Optimizer @ Spodak Dental Group Key Takeaways: Running a 4-person office is quite different than running a 40-person team, the key is having the right leadership for your team. Every new stage in your life requires a different version of you. Seek areas that need improvement and try to optimize those areas. Leadership is essential for practice growth, having one person running the whole show can lead to breakdowns. Leadership is bringing other people around you up and into ownership. Nothing will ever be perfect. Start and try, if it doesn’t work the first time then identify what that is and change it. If it does, then multiply those things that work great. The goal is to allow team members to think for themselves, with leadership’s guidance on best practices to get results. Writing down your vision and sharing it creates a snowball effect. Your whole team will be inspired and empowe

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 24 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Bruce Johnstone / Apex Design Build Key Takeaways: It is better to have one team handle everything rather than having separate contractors handle your renovation. In a Design-Build Model, the liability and risk is lower because you talk to only one supplier committed to finishing the design. Look at dentistry as a retail function than a health care function in order to learn how to utilize space in new ways. Dental offices can become like retail stores by looking at ways to make patients comfortable while they wait. No one goes to a dental office thinking they’ll have fun. Dental offices have to shift their space so it is more engaging for customers and makes them excited to visit. A lot of things affect your patient’s perception like the lighting of your clinic, the color, the upholstery of your furniture, etc. The best source of new customers is from internal referrals. You get more referrals if patients l

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 23 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Josh Robbins / America's Best 401k Key Takeaways: The 401k is a massive liability for any business owner. As the business owner, you are in charge of setting up the account for the sole benefit for your employee. The providers of 401k are broken. There are too many so you need to choose the right one for your team. There are many funds within a 401k plan. You need to know what and why it is being offered and what fees are being charged. The best scenario is a level playing field where there are no middlemen and you get access to all funds regardless of how big your plan is. You can hire a fiduciary to handle your 401k liability for your employees. Investigate the fees being charged to your 401k plan. Most can be cut off. Dentists are easy prey for 401k brokers because of several factors: high income, recession proof, want to look out for their teams, etc. Brokers don’t earn from startup 401k plans so they gi

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 22 Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa Guest: Craig Cody Key Takeaways: Mistake 1 - Failing to plan. Like buying a car or a house, you need to make a plan how you’ll pay off your taxes. Mistake 2 - Choosing the wrong entity to operate. You need to understand the different types of entities available before deciding which entity you would choose. Mistake 3 - What-if Paranoia. Do not be afraid of the questions of the IRS as long as you follow the tax codes and everything is documented. Don’t be afraid to take a legitimate deduction. Mistake 4 - Getting the wrong retirement plan. Understand the different plans available to your employees and those that they’ll resonate to. Ask for advice from your CPA. Mistake 5 - Missing family employment if you have kids. Kids can become employees of your business and you can pay them wages to cover other non-deductible expenses. Mistake 6 - Not implementing a medical expense reimbursement plan. This works for some entities

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 21 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Key Takeaways: Find fulfillment in helping others. Today is the golden age of dentistry. To create a raving fan culture, your team must know how to make creative solutions within a given paradigm. Self-managed teams - they know what to do and they manage themselves. This results in more fulfillment. Tell your employees the WHY of the job. Make it results and performance-based. Learn to be self-sufficient first then learn to delegate the job. Referrals happen organically. Recognize your culture and explicitly define it. Self-managed team can hire their own people. You have to talk about your culture and give examples about it daily. Talk about the most important thing to your people outside their annual review. You’ll find out it’s not really about the money. Concept of peer-to-peer rewards. Focus on giving your people experience. Customers mostly review the culture. Make it a safe environment for your team and cust

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 20 Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa Guest: Michael Levin  Key Takeways Dentistry is a crowded marketplace. You can distinguish yourself by writing a book. You can target niche audiences using a book and build your credibility in that niche. Writing a book is easy using the right resources. You don't even need to write the entire book. You can hire ghostwriters to write it using the knowledge you have. Patients who buy your books and become fans can be your sales force. They become advocates of your practice. You can market your books by giving them as giveaways. Write books that will educate your market. This will create value for your customers. You can write books about your legacy as a dentist. Resources Mentioned: Books: Sober Dad by Michael Graubart River of Doubt by Candice Millard The Hundred-Year Marathon by Michael Pillsbury App: Headspace Tweetables: "People are grateful to the educator." Michael Levin "If you create enough value in the first