Podcasts about start your dental practice

Welcome to the latest episode of The Dental Practice Launch Podcast! In this exciting installment, we dive into focusing on how to begin your dental practice with a resounding success. Whether you're a recent dental school graduate or an experienced professional venturing into independent practice, this episode is packed with valuable insights and expert advice to help you kickstart your dental journey with a bang.   Join our esteemed host, Shane Simmons, and guest, Robin Morrison, as they explore the key elements necessary to establish a thriving dental practice. From strategic planning and building a strong foundation to effective marketing strategies, financial considerations, and patient acquisition techniques, we leave no stone unturned in this comprehensive guide.   Learn more about Robin Morrison here: https://rlmmarketing.com/

Dr. Grace Yum, founder of Mommy Dentists in Business, shares her journey from dental assistant to dentist and practice owner, why dentists should spend a little time working the other jobs in a practice before buying their own, and why success comes from choice and intention. Website: https://mommydibs.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mommydentistsinbusiness/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mommydentistsinbusiness/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mommydibs?lang=en YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwo6tOyNC-4PKtATeYYShwA Say hello to Dr. Grace! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-yum-7090198/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grace.yum.71 Visit our events page to discover all our upcoming events that you and your team don't want to miss! https://smcnational.com/events/

In this episode, Dr. Shelby Tesar shares her secrets to overcoming self-doubt and advice for dental students. Dr. Tesar graduated from dental school in Iowa and moved out to Denver in search of a great associate role. We talk about contract negotiation, the job search and how she chose to work with Pacific Dental Services. She also talks about starting her own dental practice in 2020 just before the pandemic began. Dr. Tesar's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.shelbytesar/ Engage with the podcast on Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/groups/703580220572972/ Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/703580220572972/ Haley's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleyschultzdental/

Join the discussion on Facebook! - and connect with Dr. Buchman!TranscriptJonathan VanHorn:Welcome to the Tooth and Coin Podcast where we talk about your adventure of being a dental practice owner. In these episodes, we're going to be talking about problems that you will likely face as a practice owner as well as give an idea about actionable solutions that you can take so that you can get past this problem in your practice. Some of these concepts are really big ones, some of them are very specific. But we hope that these episodes help you along with your journey.Jonathan VanHorn:Now, a very important piece for you to understand is that this is not paid financial advice. This is not paid tax or legal advice. We are not your financial advisors. We are not your CPAs. This is two CPAs talking about informational and educational content to help you along with your journey. It's a very important piece for you to understand.Jonathan VanHorn:Another thing that you need to know is that if you enjoy today's content, join us on the Facebook group. So we've got a Facebook group that is active with dentists that is going to have content talking about what we're talking about today to continue the discussion. Agree with us? Don't agree with us? Have a story to tell? Have something to share? Join us in the Facebook group. If you go to Facebook and you search for Tooth and Coin Podcast, click on it to join it and be able to join us there.Jonathan VanHorn:Finally, if you need some more help, we're developing a list of resources that are going to be centering in around our topics of discussion to be able to help you a little bit more than what the content is doing. So if you'd like access to that whenever it becomes ready, all you have to do is text the word toothandcoin, T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N to 33444. Again, that's toothandcoin, all one word, no spaces, to 33444. Reply with your email address and we'll email you instructions on how to get into the Facebook group as well as add you to the list to be able to send you those resources when they're available, and if they're available, we'll go ahead and send them to you as well.Jonathan VanHorn:So onto today's episode. I hope you enjoy.Jonathan VanHorn:Hello, ambitious dentists. Today, I have with us a very, very special guest in addition to my partner in crime, Mr. Joseph Rugger. So today, we are doing something a little bit different, a little bit more fun, that I think you guys are going to enjoy. We are talking with someone who we've been lucky enough to be able to see their entire dental practice journey so far. This person is Dr. Wes Buchman. So Dr. Wes, thank you for coming on today.Wes Buchman:Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah. So for people that are listening that aren't familiar with dentists in Arkansas, Dr. Wes Buchman has acquired an office. We were lucky enough to be part of that process. We've been able to see all of the success that he's had with that process. So Joseph and I were talking about some really fun ideas for episodes and Joseph thought this would be a good episode for us. So Joseph, why don't you take it away and just talk about what it is you're thinking that people will be able to get out of this conversation?Joseph Rugger:All right. Thanks, Jonathan. Really, really excited to bring you a new episode on the Tooth and Coin Podcast. We're really excited to talk to one of our good friends of Tooth and Coin. This is Dr. Wes Buchman, who is a practicing dentist, solo office in Central Arkansas. So I'm really, really excited to get a chance to come pick Dr. Wes's brain, learn a little bit more about his decision-making process, and all of the things that went into the first couple of years of practice ownership. So we're really, really looking forward to the conversation. Wes, thanks so much for joining us. We're happy to have you on the podcast.Wes Buchman:Yeah. I'm happy to be here.Joseph Rugger:Wes, why don't you walk us through maybe the decision? So you worked as an associate at another practice and there's quite a bit that goes into the decision to start your own business and to go out on your own and hang your own shingle on all those things. As you look back on the last couple of years and on the decision to make the leap into practice ownership, maybe walk us through some of the bigger things that you were thinking, some things that were big turning points for you and walk us through how you made that decision.Wes Buchman:Yeah. First, I was fortunate enough to get out of dental school and have a very good associateship with a successful practice. It couldn't have, at least financially, been a better scenario. It wasn't like I was scraping by or anything like that. So then it really turned into what do I want to be doing for the long-term? My personality is more of I want to do things my way, for better or worse I guess you could say. So I just knew that I wanted to be able to make decisions on my future and not really have somebody be able a) to fire me if they just felt like it or I knew there was a reason people are buying practices and owning practices, and there had to be financial reward there as well. But ultimately, I wanted to be in power of my own destiny instead of at the whim of an owner that wasn't as involved or as concerned with my future as I was.Joseph Rugger:Well, Dr. Wes, I wanted to also ask about the decision to acquire a practice. So as we have folks that are probably listening to this podcast, there are going to be some that are interested in doing a de novo or a scratch start, right? Or they may be interested in doing an acquisition. So I'd be curious on your thoughts on what led you to go down the road of acquisition versus scratch start. Maybe walk us through that decision-making process.Wes Buchman:First of all, doing a scratch start still scares the bejesus out of me. I don't know. People that do that are just on another level, man. Most respect to them for just having so much confidence that they can just bring people in out of thin air. I mean, that scared me so much that I'd rather have a bigger loan and patient flow. So that really wasn't ever a desire for me to do a scratch start. But honestly, when you get out, you don't really know what you want as far as what a practice looks like unless you just have a person... you are a person that has really great vision.Wes Buchman:So for me, it was learning. Listened to plenty of Jonathan's podcasts. I listened to Shared Practices's podcasts. I read as many articles and books and stuff as I could get my hands on to really form an educated opinion on what a good practice was and was not. Then started asking around. I knew that Central Arkansas and really Little Rock was where I was going to practice, so that narrowed it down. Some people will move or look out in the country. That really just wasn't something that I was looking for. So then it was sitting there waiting and going and looking at practices. I probably looked at five or six before I landed on the one I'm in now.Wes Buchman:Just, with all the stuff that you learn before of how many patients do they have, does it seem like it's struggling, is it... looking at their practice numbers, seeing do they have the latest and greatest equipment or is it old, all of these different factors that you guys helped me on and then the knowledge that I had gained from literally just learning and reading everything that I could. You start to figure out what kind of practice you really want, and that's going to be different for everybody. For me, it was important to have a bigger of a practice because I always wanted to have two doctors, me and one other one, or more, but me and one other one in the practice. So I was really looking for bigger practices from the get-go if I could do it. So yeah. Those are probably what made me start going in that direction to come to this practice.Joseph Rugger:All right. That's great. Thanks for that. I want to ask about something that we get a question on on the CPA side regularly. So the question is, hey, there's this piece of equipment that's coming up. My rep is in town, said that I can expense all of it for tax purposes. Should I buy it with cash? Should I use debt to finance it? Can you maybe walk us through, as you're looking... I'm not talking about changing the style of gloves that you wear. Just when you look at some of the bigger purchases and the bigger decisions that you make as a practice owner, certainly on the CPA side, we can always guide you on the tax ramifications and all of those different pieces, but maybe walk us through as a new business owner maybe how you approached some of those bigger decisions and how you made those decisions. If you could maybe walk us through that decision-making process?Wes Buchman:Man, in my opinion, owning a practice is just so many little decisions. It's not one big massive decision, after deciding to buy the practice, of course. So owning the practice is all these little decisions. So for me, it was more of an abstract thing of realizing that I had to question each decision that was made and to seek out as many answers as possible. So just that general statement there has gotten me through a lot of when something would come up or looking at how something was done in the practice, of saying, "Is this the right way to do it? How do we get to the right way to do it?"Wes Buchman:If I don't know, I start asking people. Luckily, our dental community overall is really nice and helpful and understanding. I mean, especially the younger guys that were closer to your age. I have three or four or five fellow dentists that I especially called a lot in the beginning to ask them, "How do you do this? How is this done?" And just try to seek out as many answers as possible. Because at the end of the day, you guys are there to help and then your guys that you know are willing to help. It just makes everything a lot easier if you're willing to seek out some answers.Wes Buchman:The other thing I was glad I really knew was, another kind of abstract thing, of just knowing I was willing to put the work in. I wasn't scared to do it. That's a really big thing I think all practice owners have to realize is there are just people that are not willing or built to take on that type of responsibility and that's fine. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. But everybody talks about owning a practice, but at the end of the day, if that's not your style, you're going to be miserable doing this thing. We are up here a lot more and taking care of a lot of different stuff. So as far as things that I'm really glad I knew, it's more general knowledge of personality and being willing to go the extra mile to make it right. Because clinically, it splinters in a lot of different stuff of how you want to run your practice, which would be different for everybody.Jonathan VanHorn:Can you give us an example of something specific that you have... maybe you even dealt with it today or in the last month, that you're like, "I didn't really think about me having to do this back when I was thinking of buying a business"?Wes Buchman:Oh, man. The silliest thing would be when I bought the practice... The practice I had before, the staff did basically everything. I was an associate. I was an employee. I walked in, when to work, and left. As the owner, everything falls on you. The silliest thing would be that I have to deal with after I get off with you guys is there is a trap that catches all the stone and stuff, and after it gets full, it gets pretty stinky. I got to go dump that thing out. It's going to be heavy and smelly and miserable for about 30 minutes while I do that. So that's probably the silliest thing.Jonathan VanHorn:Hey, we are pulling the curtain all the way back on this podcast.Joseph Rugger:That's funny.Wes Buchman:Yeah, unless you just got a staff that does everything for you. My staff does so much, don't get me wrong. But that's one of them that the doc before me did himself and so I have acquired that fun task every little bit of time.Joseph Rugger:I want to switch gears a little bit and talk to you about some knowledge pieces. So as you look back over the last couple years of practice ownership, I'd be interested to know what are some things that you knew and you were prepared for, some things that you were really glad that you had spent the time and learned about and you knew about? What are some things that you thought you knew on the front end that you're really, really glad you spent some time learning about?Wes Buchman:Oh, man. Where do you begin? I mean, if you could just generalize it, it'd just be people. If you hadn't been around long enough, you haven't met enough people. So dealing with staff, especially in the beginning, it's going to stress you out because you don't know them that well and you're trying to and there's a lot of personality. Luckily, I didn't have really any turnover at the beginning. Some people retired because they were at retiring age, but I didn't really lose anybody for that nature, so that was awesome. But just figuring people out and dealing with the most random staff requests that put you on the spot. You don't really know what the right answer is in the moment. You got to think about it.Wes Buchman:Or dealing with patients. There are a lot of interesting people out there that you don't really know how to handle at the first. You get your groove with them and hopefully you just don't make them mad at the offset or make them think you're weird. But after you get to know them, you know how to handle them. But man, people by far because you're just... you got to learn how to handle people or they're not going to like coming to your office.Jonathan VanHorn:Talking about people, one of the things that I find really interesting, or at least, I think is interesting, I don't know if everybody else does, I'm assuming other people do, but one of the things that is almost never talked about is whenever a doctor buys a dental practice from another doctor and then they have to go and meet their team for the first time. What was that like, meeting your new team?Jonathan VanHorn:So we've had clients who are like, "You literally cannot even send..." Make sure we're doing this. We don't send anything in the mail because it's going to be the day that I buy it is going to be the day that I walk in. They're going to meet me the day I become the owner, not a day before that, not a day... At no other time are they allowed to hear my name because the doctor wants us to be ultra top CIA secret. Then we have people that are just like, "Yeah, I've been talking about this to this guy for the last two years. I know everybody that's there and they're all my best friends and they know I'm going to be taking over eventually." So what was that dynamic like for you? Then what was it like going and meeting the staff afterwards? Because again, sometimes that's a part of the decision-making process for people. Do I actually like the people? Do I like the employees that are going to be here? Do I really want to buy that? So what was your experience with that piece of it?Wes Buchman:Well, my situation was unique in the fact that I had been a patient at this dental office before, so not many people have that opportunity. So I have known... It was a two doctor practice. They ran them separately. I was the patient of one of them and so I bought both and merged together. Right? So I didn't really know the other staff at all. I really only knew the doctor and kind of one of the assistants because I hadn't been back here since I'd been away at school for a decade. So I knew him already and had a great relationship and they had been at a retiring age for quite some time. So not as much as your second part of your example, but still, they had flirted with the idea of retiring for a long time and so the staff knew something was going to happen at some point. So mentally, it wasn't a surprise to them in that way.Wes Buchman:But we did it kind of down the middle as far as your two examples go because we did send out a letter. The two doctors each wrote a letter to their patients and I wrote a letter that had my picture, all professional photo with my wife and Henry on it, and sent that out with that letter. So that was beneficial overall because it got to give people a chance to see me before they saw me. Some people, I've heard advise against that because you're going to lose patients. You can make an argument for anything.Wes Buchman:So after they announced it to the staff and then right after, it was either the day after or the Monday after, I had lunch with the staff and with those doctors there. So I catered the lunch and just basically gave them my resume beforehand and said, "Let's hang out and we'll run through questions," and did it that way. So I actually had two or three meetings before I really ever started to make sure all questions were answered and everybody was comfortable and I got a feel for if they had any issues or special things going on with them or stuff like that.Joseph Rugger:Talk to us about maybe some of the things that you wish you would have known going into practice ownership that you just had to find out the hard way. Maybe walk us through some of those things that you figured out.Wes Buchman:Oh, man. It's been a couple years. I wish I would have written them down because they did really throw me for a loop because it was just the most random stuff. I just bought the practice. I don't have my office manual in place yet, everything locked down. So it was just...Wes Buchman:One was a lady that was nearing retirement age and she had family stuff that would take her out of the office. So she just asked a very blunt... She's a super sweet lady, but she asked me just a very blunt question of am I going to allow her to take off whenever she wants. It was like, I guess? I don't know. I mean, there's vacation days. I don't really know what you're asking.Wes Buchman:Or there was a lot of questions about what are you going to change? What are you going to keep the same? That's a little bit easier to answer, of stuff that I offer that the other docs didn't and go through that. Most of the stuff, I tried to keep the same as much as possible in the beginning just to make the transition easier. But really, a lot of the questions were specific about certain patients. Because we have a really fun patient base, but there are a lot of quirky people here, which makes it fun honestly. But our patients have been in this practice for a long time. A lot of these patients have been here for 30 years, which is amazing. Because my doc has practiced in this location since '84.Wes Buchman:So a lot of them, the questions were so random, of, well, we got a guy, let's call him Jerry, we got a guy, Jerry. He doesn't like when you do this, that, or the other. So what are you going to do about it? And you're like, "I don't know, man. We'll figure it out." But it's just the most random, specific questions that you... There was no answer for it in my opinion. But we got through it.Wes Buchman:The hardest parts were the meetings after and going through when I did start to change stuff and making sure the staff was onboard with that and comfortable with the changes and answering their concerns and things like that.Jonathan VanHorn:Give us some examples of that. Like what were some of the changes that you felt like you needed to make after you took over the practice?Wes Buchman:This practice, you could just say it was older in general. New equipment hadn't really been bought in quite some time. Still paper charts. The pano machine was still film. That pretty much sums it up to a lot of younger docs. So I knew the way that I practice, and Joseph can attest to our many conversations, I like technology and I like things to be efficient and run smoothly and look good as well. Right? So I knew I-Jonathan VanHorn:The reason you chose that was CPAs, right? Because we love [crosstalk 00:22:49]-Wes Buchman:Exactly, exactly. I look for the best looking dental CPAs.Jonathan VanHorn:Third best in the state of Arkansas right here. yeah.Wes Buchman:So I had learned through all the stuff that I read and my prep on owning a practice was try to start with stuff that will have the highest ROI with the least patient impact or disturbance you could say. I kind of took that to heart, so we changed the phone systems, because we were still sending out postcards in the mail to remind you of your appointments or your need to schedule, and that costs surprisingly a lot of money if you have a lot of patients and we're a two doctor practice. So I was like, "Why don't we just change the phones, do text messages, and save a bunch of money on postage?" Which we did and it was awesome.Wes Buchman:So we moved to Weave. That improved the internet and the phones as well. Because I remember calling right before I started and it sounded like it was raining on the phone. I was like, "What is that sound on this phone?" They were like, "Oh, yeah. It does that every little while and we can't hear the patient, so we just ask them to call back." I was like, "That is unacceptable. This is the silliest thing." So we changed the phones, got Weave.Wes Buchman:We got a new pano machine and I knew I wanted to do endo and end up placing implants, so we got a CPCT machine. Before I bought it, we started looking and these guys with the film pano hadn't really been taking any panos. So buying a CPCT machine that does panos and getting back on a regular schedule doing those with the patients, I mean, it was a no-brainer at that point that the machine would pay for itself in a short amount of time. So those were the first two big ones.Wes Buchman:Then we moved to change the practice management software. We were using SoftDent before and I feel like I was using Windows '94. So we moved to Denticon because, honestly, it was between a few of them and I had used Denticon at my previous job and the office manager that I was stealing from another office, she uses Denticon as well. So it was just a natural fit and so we kind of ran with that. So getting rid of the paper charts, just modernizing the office in general were big ones. So the practice management software was the biggest hurdle because these people have been using paper charts for 30 years, 30-plus years. So that was very difficult to get everybody comfortable and efficient at using modern practice management software.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah. I find that that usually is a very disruptive change internally for dental practices, but looking back on it, most people are like, "Yeah, that was a necessity. We had to do that at some point-"Wes Buchman:For sure.Jonathan VanHorn:... and think it's a good thing at the end of the day. So that's fantastic. So frame this too, we didn't do this at the beginning, probably to start the conversation off, about how long ago was it that you bought this practice?Wes Buchman:Yeah. We bought it... I started November 4th, my birthday, in 2019. So it was a great birthday to begin. We had worked on it for, I think about, what, five or six months before?Jonathan VanHorn:It was-Wes Buchman:Maybe shorter?Jonathan VanHorn:It was a pretty decent timeframe. I mean, we've had people that will call me and they'll be like, "Yeah, I need someone to help me buy a dental practice," and I'll be like, "Well, when are you trying to close by?" They're like, "Well, today is the 12th. By the 16th?" I'm like, "Well, expectations are not going to be met if you're trying to get [crosstalk 00:27:07]-"Wes Buchman:Yeah. No, but you are... It was longer because I had to wait six months at my previous job. So it was longer than six months.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah, we had a lot of time to think about it. So in terms of, just framing it of the listeners too, all these changes that have happened, again, this is a two doctor dental practice you bought and now you're the sole owner of a two doctor dental practice. Giving some vagueness to it, just to tell people the success that you've had in this dental practice, I would say you're seeing right now, from when you took over, again, using a wide range here, somewhere between a 30% and 70% growth over that two year period? Because we're not even at two years yet, but about a two year period?Wes Buchman:Right. Yeah, we're definitely tracking to be in that range of increasing in revenue with keeping the staff, adding just one staff since I came on. So we've been able to really get going. That's honestly, these older guys are great dentists. They just haven't had to work as hard as a younger guy does. So we're a little bit hungrier. We want to move a little bit more and work a little bit harder. But we've just made some changes like that and just how we schedule, which has helped with the Denticon being out software, and bringing in our office manager that's just a rockstar. That has helped fuel that growth for sure. So we're on track to be quite a bit bigger than when we started, so we've been really happy with it.Jonathan VanHorn:Well, and I'll just say this, and we mentioned this before the podcast started, I wanted to use wide numbers because we don't want everyone knowing all of what's going on with you. But there are some influencers that are out there that will say they'll have, oh, these giant numbers of growth and giant... like 100% growth year over year and all these other things. We have this unique perspective where we're accountants, we're CPAs, we know a lot of... We just, we can see behind the curtains for some people sometimes. Those numbers aren't always what they seem.Jonathan VanHorn:I hear this from a lot of people actually that are people that are in the industry, that are on the consulting side, and things like that, and I hear people that are listeners that are talking about influencers that are saying, "Oh..." They said they did this, but it was really only this. To the listeners out there, this was not a small practice that was just all of a sudden that grew this amount. This was a significant amount of growth.Jonathan VanHorn:So for you, Dr. Wes, if you were to start this all over again, what would it be that you would look for in a practice? Assuming you didn't buy this one, knowing what you know now, what would it be that you'd be searching for in a practice to buy? It's kind of an odd question because you already... you own this one. But just pretend like you don't own it anymore and you're not allowed to buy this practice again. Given that you've had such success with the practice you've gotten, what would you look for in the new practice?Wes Buchman:Yeah. Man, so every practice for every dentist is going to look different. I know a guy down in Louisiana that bought a smaller practice, but he was almost fee-for-service and so he's kept it really small and has been very successful in that way, so might look different. But for me, if I had to do it again and not this one, looking for bigger of a practice, the better. Because the margins are better. Your room for error is better. You know what I mean? So if you buy a practice that's only grossing 400K, well, the margin's a little bit thinner for error of you being successful and not successful if you buy a 800,000 or a $1,000,000 practice.Wes Buchman:Honestly, one of my thoughts was, "Well, this is a two doctor practice." In ways, one guy ran it pretty tight, so it was kind of a 1.5 doctor practice, you could say. I was like, "At the end of the day, if 20% of the patients leave," because that's what some articles will say, "maybe it'll just shrink and I'll have a great one doctor practice." I had some room to run there. But for me, the bigger, the bigger. The bigger you can muster and get that loan for a bigger practice, it's just going to be better.Wes Buchman:Then not going for a practice with all the newest stuff because they're going to make you pay for it. This practice being older, I got to pick and choose on my own time of what I wanted. So if somebody is the CEREC guru that does all this late and great stuff, I mean, can you match that when you're one to five years out? Probably not. So bigger practice, older equipment that's functional, the better because then you can pick and choose what you want.Wes Buchman:Then probably the last one is see how long their staff has been there. If you have a smaller practice and all the staff is constantly turned over, you're probably not buying a very healthy practice in a lot of ways. This practice was fortunate that people have been here for... The oldest hygienist has been here since like '87 I think and she's still here working for me. I have added one or two people, but most of these people have been here over a decade or more. That just goes to show that people are happy here. Patients have been here for a long time. So just things like that you look for. Because at the end of the day, if a piece of equipment's terrible, you can replace it. It doesn't have to be the newest thing. It can be used. But the more patients, the better. You got to understand your people and what you're doing. You're not going to know everything about them, but you can gather enough information to know if this seems like a happy place or an unhappy place.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah. So in terms of finding that practice, and this is a bit of a chicken and egg question, so sometimes it can be a bit complicated to answer, but what would you rather have? I mean, because you mentioned the bigger, the better. What would you rather have be bigger, revenue or patient count? So when I'm saying that, let's say that you've got a practice you're buying that's $1,000,000 to buy the practice and it's got 2,500 patients and then you've got another practice that's for sale that's $1,000,000 and it's got, say, 1,100 patients. Of those two, which one would you rather have? Would you probably be, knowing nothing else, be more interested in?Wes Buchman:If both had 1,000,000 in revenue, but one had 2,500 and one had 1,100?Jonathan VanHorn:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Active patients.Wes Buchman:First, I wouldn't believe them because I would double check their hygiene numbers. You taught me that. But, man, what a good question. Because you can make arguments for either one. I probably-Jonathan VanHorn:Because those are the two practices we see come in all the time.Wes Buchman:My gut would say the one with 2,500 because the one that has 1,100, he has probably squeezed every penny he can out of those patients and when you buy it, there's not going to be anything left.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah. So when I'm talking to people about the practices that I see have the most amount of success, it is that... It's more patient count than it is revenue really.Wes Buchman:Right.Jonathan VanHorn:So whenever someone's looking for a large practice, I always say, "If they've got a lot of patients, there is a lot of opportunity usually just inside of that because of the fact that..." And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with someone who's asking $1,000,000 for a practice that has 2,500 patients, but there is a lot of... With 2,500 patients, a lot of people can do a lot more in revenue than that. Especially a lot of the younger doctors.Jonathan VanHorn:Now, really, when I say that we see this come in a lot of the time, that practice actually doesn't come in... Those two practices don't come in that often. Really what comes in more often is more like $700,000 for each practice and one of those has like 2,000 patients and one of them has like 800. But that's a bit more common of what usually comes into the office. Those $700,000 ones that have the 2,000 patients or whatever it is, those are the ones that, not every time, but historically seem to be they see the growth that you've had in similar amounts because it's just you add new services, you do a newer style of treatment planning than a lot of what the older docs seem to do, and it just seems to grow so much faster.Wes Buchman:Yeah. You bring up a very good point that you have to say to anybody wanting to buy a practice, one of the things I did miss was look for a practice that you can add skills, add services. I mean, that's the quickest and arguably least expensive way to grow your practice immediately, right? If you have a crown and bridge guy, he may have done all the crowns, but he's not doing any of the endo or any of the harder oral surgery or implants, Invisalign. If you can get your training in those things as early as possible, you're going to be so much better off in the long run. You're going to get tired of doing quadrants of composite fill-ins for an hour when you could place an implant for less than an hour and make a significantly more amount of money.Jonathan VanHorn:Oh, yeah. Another question for this is let's assume you go out and you did find another practice that's got, let's say it's that $1,000,000 practice, 2,500 patients and it looks fairly similar to the day that you start... A lot of things go the same way that we just talked about in terms of what you went through buying the practice, meeting, the staff, getting the patients turned over, adding services, things like that. Day one of being the new owner of this new hypothetical pretend practice, what would you do that you've already done today, but do faster? Does that make sense? What learning curves have you overcame by being an owner for a couple of years that you would have implemented faster if you knew how to do it?Wes Buchman:Are we saying clinically or just managing the practice or what do you mean?Jonathan VanHorn:Anything, anything, anything. Whatever you think would have the most impact on getting that practice up and running, and either it be for your quality of life or it be for revenue or it be for income, whatever, patient care. Whatever.Wes Buchman:Yeah. When I first started day one, I tried to meet everybody and I would not have done that again. That's the first little thing. Literally day one, I was trying to meet everybody, every patient in the office, and that was just unsustainable. So we quickly went away from that. I struggle with when to make changes in the offices, like the practice management software or buying stuff or how we did things in treatment plans. You can make arguments either way and if you read enough on this dental space about that, you'll figure that out. But for me, I would have changed more earlier and just... Because the first year of owning a practice is pretty terrible in a lot of ways. You're up here all the time, you're stressed out about everything. I'm more of a just get it over with kind of guy, so I probably would have just changed more in general and hopefully coasted earlier after that. Does that answer your question?Jonathan VanHorn:It does.Wes Buchman:Okay.Jonathan VanHorn:So now I'm going to throw a wrinkle on it though.Wes Buchman:Okay.Jonathan VanHorn:So even though you didn't know what you didn't know and assuming other people that buy a practice for the first time aren't going to have experienced these things, do you think that would have been good advice for you to tell yourself whenever you started? Do you know what I mean? Like would you have screwed it up if you hadn't experienced the change in a slower process? Would you tell the guy next door that's going to be buying a practice, "Hey, start changing the stuff earlier"? Because the common thread if you ask anybody, they're all like, "Give it six months. Give it six months. Don't change anything. Then after six months, then start changing things." I think that's pry the safest advice for most people, especially if they're a first time practice owner. But I would think even if you're a second time practice owner, that probably should be fine to go ahead and start changing the stuff, right?Wes Buchman:I would think so. I think part of that six month buffer is just get your bearings, right? You got a lot going on. But now that I'm on the other side of it, I don't remember that anymore. It's kind of like having your kids. You kind of don't remember all the sleepless nights as vividly as when they first happened. I guess I would still tell them to do it quickly just because in a way, what are you waiting on? I mean, if your staff's onboard... If you're already having staff struggles or you're dealing with some bigger issues, of course, use some judgement and wait. But if things are going well, and this isn't going to turn the practice upside down, like if you're going to just fire half your staff or something, I mean, if you're just making changes, just do it. You're not going to really regret it because you're going to deal with it now or you're going to deal with it later.Wes Buchman:At the end of the day, you want to run your practice the way that you want to run it. You don't want to feel like you're cooking in somebody else's kitchen the whole time. That was a thing for me, was get this thing how I want it so I feel like it's mine and not like I'm borrowing it from the last guy.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah. I love that answer. I think that's really good advice for everybody that's listening. Is there any other advice that you can think of that you wish you would have known before this whole process started?Wes Buchman:Oh, man. We should have a much longer podcast because we can keep going on this stuff, man.Jonathan VanHorn:I know, right?Wes Buchman:Advice? If you think that you are ready to buy a practice and you find what you think is a good one, and Tooth and Coin will help you do that, that's not an official plug, but it is a plug, do it. You're going to be stressed, fine. But it is, in my opinion, totally worth it to own the practice if that's your desire. Just do it. Make it your own. You'll be happier if you do. Seek out as much help as you possibly can. At the end of the day, I can ask you guys as many questions as I can, I did it a lot at the beginning, and you guys helped. I asked a lot of friends that were dentists that owned practices what they do.Wes Buchman:I went on the message boards and filtered out all the crazy stuff, but tried to find answers there. Because at the end of the day, you don't know that much about business, especially as dentists because we take, what, one hour or so of business classes in dental school. So just don't be afraid to ask questions. Anybody listening, I will be happy to talk to them and run them through more specifics of what we're doing or what we had and answer questions because there's a lot of decisions that are all small that have to be made. Like when do I buy this big thing? When do I buy these small things? What kind of vendors deals are there? How do I compete with the buying power of corporate dentistry? There is a lot of BS that you have to filter through, but the more questions, the better, man, because most of the time, people want you to be successful. So just ask as many questions as you can.Jonathan VanHorn:I love it. So you mentioned a few earlier, but what are some resources for people that are trying to figure this out? You mentioned my old podcast, Start Your Dental Practice, you mentioned Shared Practices, which we're really big fans of those guys. What are some other resources you found helpful? Like any books or any specific forums or anything like that?Wes Buchman:Well, I think the Shared podcasts were going to be the second biggest one. Because they were just so comprehensive. I mean, that podcast was going on forever. So reading all of that, or excuse me, listening to all of that, they hit on so many different topics that you feel like you have a decent idea of what's going on. They're not trying to sell you anything in the podcast at least, so, I mean, it's really beneficial. I'd say if you want to own a practice, that's one of the ones that you should be doing.Wes Buchman:As far as books go, I wish I had a better memory, but I don't have any books on hand. It's been two years. I try to read a lot of books, but I tend to read half of it-Jonathan VanHorn:I see.Wes Buchman:... and put it on the nightstand and then forget about it.Jonathan VanHorn:Me too. Once I started having kids, I stopped being able to actually read books. I don't read books. It's been-Wes Buchman:Oh, yeah. I mean, two pages in and you're asleep.Jonathan VanHorn:I know, right?Wes Buchman:Then internet stuff, Dentaltown is a crazy world if you get into it, but if you read enough, you can start to filter out a lot of the craziness. Then Dental Economics is a really, a great magazine and internet space. Those would probably be the big ones. Then you can find anything on YouTube.Jonathan VanHorn:Do you remember any posters on Dentaltown? Specifically that you saw they had a post, you were like, "I'm going to read this one."Wes Buchman:Oh, man. I need to get back on there and see.Jonathan VanHorn:I haven't been on there in a while either. I should pry be on there more.Wes Buchman:I probably just... I don't want to say any names because I'm probably remembering the crazy ones. I don't want to throw them under the bus.Jonathan VanHorn:Yeah, that's what I would do too, is I'd probably be like, "Which is the one that you like?" And I'd name one off and it'd be the person who like, well, we just found out they went to the looney bin for some reason.Wes Buchman:Yeah, yeah. Right?Jonathan VanHorn:Like mix the name up. Okay, cool.Wes Buchman:Yeah, let's not throw anyone under the bus by accident.Jonathan VanHorn:Sounds good. So Shared Practices is a must. There's Start Your Own Dental Practice, which was the podcast that I had. It's got like 125 hours of content out there. I think that Shared Practices is a little bit more focused on the acquisition process and things like that. So there's definitely episodes of Start Your Dental Practice and I'm sure that people [inaudible 00:47:47] be good. This podcast, the Tooth and Coin Podcast-Wes Buchman:When I-Jonathan VanHorn:... has a lot of business information on it as well. So Dentaltown forums, reaching out to Dr. Wes and your fellow dentists, and yeah. So it seems like a pretty good recap of information places to go whenever you're getting ready for this process, right?Wes Buchman:Yeah. When I get home, I'll see if I have any of those books and I can put it in the podcast notes too, okay? I just can't remember their names.Jonathan VanHorn:Absolutely. Yeah, we'll do that. Cool. Dr. Wes, thanks so much for joining us today. For anyone out there that's listening, if you want to... We'll leave a way for you to be contacted in the show notes of the podcast so that you don't have to put out your information all the way there. Again, thank you so much for being so generous with your time and your knowledge and your experience on this. It's been a pleasure getting to talk to you. We may have you back for another episode to dive a little bit deeper into some of the questions. If anyone has questions that they would have liked to had been talked about on this podcast for Dr. Wes, feel free to let us know and maybe on episode number two, we'll be able to do that. So again, thanks Tooth and Coin listeners, thanks Dr. Wes, and we will see you guys next time. Bye.Wes Buchman:Thank you.Jonathan VanHorn:That's it for today, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Tooth and Coin Podcast. If you are going to be a practice owner or a new practice owner and you're interested in CPA services, head on over to toothandcoin.com where you can check out more about our CPA services. We help out around 250 offices around the country and would love to be able to have the discussion about how we can help your new practice. We do specialize in new practice owners, so people that are about to be the owner of a practice they're acquiring, about to be a owner of a practice they are starting up, or have become an owner in the past five years. That is our specialty. We'd love to be able to talk to you about how we could help you and your services with your tax and accounting services.Jonathan VanHorn:If you enjoyed today's episode, again, go to the Facebook group. Talk to us about what we've talked about. Join in on the discussion. Let's create an environment where we can talk about some of these things so that we can all help each other get through these things together so that this adventure of business ownership is more fun, more productive, and better in the long-term.Jonathan VanHorn:Lastly, if you want access to those resources that we are currently building, just text the word toothandcoin to 33444. That's toothandcoin, no spaces, T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N, to 33444. Reply with your email address. We'll send you instructions to the Facebook group. We'll send you the resources when they're available. We will see you next week.

Join the discussion on Facebook!Full Transcript:Jonathan:Welcome to the Tooth and Coin podcast, where we talk about your adventure of being a dental practice owner. In these episodes, we're going to be talking about problems that you will likely face as a practice owner, as well as give an idea about actionable solutions that you can take so that you can get past this problem in your practice. Some of these concepts are really big ones. Some of them are very specific. But we hope that these episodes help you along with your journey.Jonathan:Now, a very important piece for you to understand is that this is not paid financial advice. This is not paid tax or legal advice. We are not your financial advisors. We are not your CPAs. This is two CPAs talking about informational and educational content to help you along with your journey, a very important piece for you to understand.Jonathan:Another thing you need to know is if you enjoy today's content, join us on the Facebook group. So we've got a Facebook group that is active with dentists that is going to have content talking about what we're talking about today to continue the discussion. Agree with us. Don't agree with us. Have a story to tell. Have something to share. Join us in the Facebook group. If you go to Facebook and you search for Tooth and Coin podcast, click on it to join it and be able to join us there.Jonathan:Finally, if you need some more help, we're developing a list of resources that are going to be centering it around our topics of discussion to be able to help you a little bit more than what the content is doing. So if you'd like access to that whenever it becomes ready, all you have to do is text the word toothandcoin T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N to 33444. Again, that's toothandcoin, all one word, no spaces, to 33444. Reply with your email address, and we'll email you instructions on how to get into the Facebook group, as well as add you to the list to be able to send you those resources when they're available. If they're available, we'll go ahead and send them to you as well. So onto today's episode. Hope you enjoy it.Jonathan:Hello, ambitious dentists. Welcome to another episode of the Tooth and Coin podcast. This is episode number five, which is a really good one. We're really excited about it. One of the things that if you've listened into one of the 120 episodes of the Start Your Dental Practice podcast, one of the things that I said that people needed in order to be able to be a business owner is leadership skills. It's one of the things that I always say this is not something that is usually inherent in a lot of people, is having leadership skills. You may believe that you have some leadership skills, and you may not be afraid of leading, but leadership skills are definitely something that once you get to a certain size of a company, it adapts, it evolves, and it becomes even more important.Jonathan:I find that a lot of people think that they may be really good leaders, but they're going off of that gut feeling of how it feels to just kind of push people along and try to go in a certain direction, because they know where they want to go. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing that great of a job of leading everyone. So that's the reason that I said leadership skills are one of the things that is the hardest to come by whenever you become a practice owner to actually have and have to be inherent to actually just understand and know about.Jonathan:So one of the things that I always tell the people, I get a question like, "I am in dental school. What do I need to focus on in order to be able to be ready for practice ownership whenever I get out?", that's one of the things, is leadership. It's not, "Oh, you have to understand exactly how assets equal liabilities and owner's equity." The balance sheet is not super important compared to understanding leadership. So today's episode is going to be about leadership. I'm going to be interviewing Joseph about this. Joseph has a lot of experience with leadership in different programs and lectures on this topic and is someone who's very knowledgeable about leadership in small business. So Joseph, walk us through ... I mean, did I do a good job of teeing up that leadership is important? Tell us your take on leadership.Joseph:Yeah. I think that whenever we talk about the things that we do as a firm, one of the things that we're always constantly hitting on is that dentists spend 10,000 hours or 15,000 hours learning to do dentistry and zero hours learning how to run a business. I think to kind of piggyback on that, leadership's just something that is inherent in owning a business. It's a very difficult thing to understand how to do it and how to do it correctly. I think that's one of the biggest things that dentists can continue to work on, especially earlier in their career, is being that good leader of the office.Joseph:To be fair to dentists, it's really most of the people that are out there that are running businesses. They've got kind of their own what they would call style, and they just think that everybody needs to learn their style and this is exactly how we're going to do it, and we're going to move on. So I think that it's imperative that any business owner knows leadership, studies leadership, understands leadership. I think that that's one of the things that we can hopefully shed some light on today.Jonathan:So in keeping with the theme and the patterns of our episodes, why would it be a problem for a small business owner to not understand or take leadership seriously?Joseph:I think a couple of different things. Number one is that if you don't lead people well, they'll leave. People don't want to just work for money. They want to work for a higher purpose. They want to do work that matters, if I want to kind of pull a key phrase that's out there, and they need to be continually reminded of that, that what we're doing is work that matters and this is why. If you have a whole bunch of turnover, you're going to have a lot higher cost to go along with things, and things aren't going to run very smoothly. If your front office isn't running smoothly, if your chairside stuff isn't running smoothly, then you're going to lose out on opportunities to do well and to help more people and to service more people in your community and to be able to realize the financial dreams that you had whenever you started a business. I mean, leadership is key to making sure that you're able to meet your own goals and to do all of those things that you want to do with inside the practice.Jonathan:One of the things that I've noticed as I've consciously tried to sharpen my leadership skills and do better at leadership is that when I do that, it's not just the leadership of my employees that gets better. It's also the leadership of our clients and potential clients and my family. There's a whole lot of other pieces that go along with it, that leadership is not just about the small business. It helps out in a lot of different ways. So cool. I would probably just highlight a big problem is that a lot of people, you don't get to be a leader until you're leading.Jonathan:I mean, it goes back to one of our first episodes, saying, "You're not an owner until you're an owner." You don't own the business until you own the business. You kind of learn by doing, right? So it's hard to be self-reflective if you've never done it before. So walk us through it. Talk us through a framework for leadership. Talk us through how someone who has started hearing the podcast and understands, "Okay, I understand why I need leadership. Listen to these really smart, good-looking guys, and go with what they said, believe what they said." So talk us through that.Joseph:So when I was in college, Jonathan, I went to a small school and was in a couple of different organizations. I felt like I was a good leader. I just said, "Get out of the way. I'll show you how it's done. Give me all the work, and I'll do all of it. I'm not going to let you do anything. Look at all these great results that I'm producing for my organization." When I was 19 years old, I got selected to take part in a really elite leadership program for college juniors and seniors, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. That really opened my eyes to there's a whole lot more to this than "working hard" or getting the job done. I think that's probably one of the traps that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into. It's just like, "If I just work hard enough, everything will be okay. If I just try hard enough, if I just do all of these different things, get out of the way, and I'm going to show you how to do it."Joseph:So what I was introduced to at an early age that just really was ... I guess they call it an aha moment, right? The light bulb went off. But there was a couple of guys named Kouzes and Posner that wrote the five principles of exemplary leadership or the five practices of exemplary leadership. As we went through this exercise, just light bulbs started going off about my own shortcomings inside of leadership. So if it's okay with you, I'd love to go through these and maybe just kind of bounce some ideas off of you and get some thoughts from you on this, Jonathan. Does that sound like a good idea?Jonathan:Yeah, yeah.Joseph:So the first thing that really hit me, whenever you go out and study or look at leaders, is they have a tendency to have just incredible vision. They can see where things are going. But it's not about just me telling you what the vision is. One of the things that leaders do is that they inspire what's called a shared vision. So not only am I going to inspire you, not only are we going to have vision, it's not going to be my vision or your vision. It's going to be our shared vision. So whenever I say that, inspire a shared vision, I mean, one of the things that immediately comes to mind is what we're trying to do at Tooth and Coin inside of our CPA practice. As a shared vision, we want to be the CPAs from the time that they enter practice ownership until the time they retire. That's something that we can all get behind. I mean, what are your thoughts whenever I talk about inspiring a shared vision, Jonathan? What are some things that kind of stand out to you?Jonathan:Yeah. I mean, originally, that's one of the things that I think is a big pitfall about having a shared vision, is that entrepreneurship, there's a saying that it's kind of lonely at the top whenever you don't really have ... I mean, it's kind of just in your head. I think for dentists, they can usually sometimes think that the vision is, "I've got to get more patients in. I've got to do dentistry. That's my vision, is what my dental practice is." It's more than that, like you stated. People want to be paid for their efforts, but that only lasts for so long, and that shared vision is how you start your team, basically. You're surrounding yourself with people that are trying to do the same thing that you're doing.Jonathan:One of the really big analogies that people use in terms of teamwork is they talk about sports teams. If you're on a football team, your shared vision usually isn't that you're going to create some more social good in the world or you're going to bring a lot of spirit to the school. It's that you're going to win a football game. You have a vision of, "We're going to win. We're going to go to our state championship this year. That's what our vision is, and we're going to work towards that as a team to get to that point." It's not anything other than that.Jonathan:Whenever you're in business, you sometimes think that state championship is just the business is successful. In reality, it has to be something much more nebulous. It has to be a bit more impactful to the people that are surrounded, because what does that mean to be successful, and how do we define what that success is so that we can boil it down into a better vision of, "Okay, the practice is successful. Yes. But the reason it's successful is because it's doing what we want in our community. It's helping the people that we want to reach into our community. It's providing security and happiness to the people that are involved in our community." Maybe there's a certain types of procedures that you prefer to do over other people or other services.Jonathan:One of the things that I've stated before that is a dental moment that's helped me is before I got Invisalign, I would get really bad headaches. I found that whenever I finally got my teeth straightened, I didn't have as bad of headaches anymore. It helped a lot. So that's something that that practice owner did for me that if someone is to surround themselves with, "Hey, we're going to help people. We are a health organization that's going to help" and is very specific in the way that it's going to go about doing that, then that makes it much easier for people to get onboard and be a part of that team so that they can start moving forward towards that state championship, so to speak.Joseph:Yeah, absolutely. So we've got to have a shared vision. We've got to be able to be on the same page with all of that. The second thing that we've got to do is we've got to be able to enable others to act, or you might call that process delegation. So if a dentist starts a practice, they're not going to be able to answer the phone, schedule appointments, file claims, verify insurance, collect payment, do fillings, do x-rays, do hygiene. They're not going to be able to do all of it. That was one of the things that I know you and I have talked about this internally, is we try to figure out and bring staff along and to delegate some responsibility and to pass work down and to basically enable others to act. We kind of have this own self-thought that, "It is only me. I'm the only one that's good enough to do this job." So the second thing inside of exemplary leadership is we've got to enable others to act. I think that goes kind of a long ways. I mean, any thoughts on that, whenever you're delegating, enabling others to act?Jonathan:Yeah. So, I mean, making sure that people can do the jobs that you've assigned them to do is really important. So whenever you're talking about enabling others to act, are you just saying that people have to be able to move towards that vision in their own way? Fill that out for me. Talk to me more about that.Joseph:Yeah. So, I mean, everybody needs some guidelines and some guideposts, or you could call them bumpers in the lane of bowling or whatever. But they need to be able to have a little bit of autonomy to come up with the best way that they have to do the job. Nobody wants to be a robot. It's really about giving them some guidelines and giving them some guideposts. But what you want is you want to make sure that people have ownership in their position and that we're hiring human beings with real brains that have the real desire to want to do a good job. So we've got to give them some space in order to do that. Now, certainly, there's certain ways that you want to have things done. You want to have some uniformity in a lot of things that you do. But in a big picture understanding, you can't do it all, and you need to be able to enable others to act and enable others to help.Jonathan:I think dentists are pretty good about that. I think that naturally, a lot of dentists are pretty good about that, because they're used to, "Here's your role. Here's your role. Here's your role." The dentist doesn't want to be doing the [inaudible 00:14:28]. They're going to let the hygienist do that. They're going to be able to do the pieces that go along with that. So yeah, I get that.Joseph:Yeah. So first thing we talked about inspire a shared vision. Second thing we talked about is enable others to act, and the third thing is that we've got to do what's called encourage the heart. We've got to give people some feedback in how they're doing, and a lot of times, this is something that's absent inside of our business and absent inside of our organizations, is just taking the time to say, "Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing a good job. You did a really good job with this." We've got to encourage the heart, in a way, because, again, we're dealing with human beings that are on our team that we're leading. We've got to help them see all of the good that they're doing. "Hey, did you notice that Ms. Jones that was in, did you see the before and after pics on that? Man, look at what we did together. Nice job helping us out with that." So I think that's another big thing, is we've got to encourage people. We've got to encourage the heart.Jonathan:Yeah. One of the things that comes to mind with that is Tom Shoes. If you remember, the Tom Shoes is you buy a pair of shoes, and then they're going to give another pair of shoes to someone in an impoverished country as a way to do social good. So not only are you buying a pair of shoes, you're buying someone else a pair of shoes. You're doing good by buying these shoes. When Tom Shoes came out, it had this massive success, because they shared their vision with their customers, not just the people that were working with them.Jonathan:I've seen dental practices do this, too. So a really good example of this is we had a client that said, "Hey, we're going to do a bonus program for our fluoride." They had a really low fluoride percentage. They're like, "Hey, Jonathan, we've been trying to figure this out. [inaudible 00:16:11], the data consultant on it said to do this." They tried this, and it worked, was they said, "Okay, for every fluoride that we do over the next quarter, we're going to give $5 to this charity." It was a charity that the team had came up with, or I can't remember if the team came up with it or the doctor came up with it. But it was a charity that everybody wanted to help out with. So they said, "Okay, we're going to do these $25 fluoride ... We're actually going to offer them to patients."Jonathan:So they let the employees have more of a reason than just, "Hey, it's your job to offer fluoride to patients," have a reason to do it. They ended up getting something like, I don't know, $2,000 they ended up raising for this charity that was a big help to the charity. So it actually did something. Them doing the fluoride actually did something. An added benefit to that was once that incentive was over, the team had basically self-trained themselves on how to offer fluoride.Joseph:That's awesome. That's awesome. I like it. So we talked about inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, encourage the heart. The fourth piece of exemplary leadership is model the way. So one of the things that you'll hear a lot about in the leadership world is they'll talk about tone at the top. They'll talk about what kind of example are you leaving for your employees? So if you're constantly 15 minutes late to the office, you should expect your staff to be 15 minutes late. If you're on time, if you're early for stuff, if you present yourself in a very professional way, if you watch your language, if you keep things in a very professional way, you're modeling the behavior you want from your team members.Joseph:I think modeling the way is a really, really important thing, and it's not about being a prideful thing, "Everybody's got to be like me" kind of thing. But it's about how are you going to act in front of the patient? How are you going to treat that patient? Are you going to belittle your patient? Well, you should expect your staff to belittle the patient. Are you going to use their last name whenever you address them? Are you going to address them with respect? Are you going to call them. "Mr. Rucker, thank you for coming in today"? Are you going to be grateful? Are you going to be gracious? What is it that you're modeling for your staff in order to present the tone and present the kind of culture that you want at your office? I mean, are you going to belittle one of your team members in front of a patient in a way that's going to be very disrespectful and it's going to make them upset? Then you should expect your team to do that.Jonathan:I'm sure there's a lot of people that are nodding their heads and have seen that in the past, where you've had a boss that acted in a certain way. Then you look at and around you, and even though there might be some contempt about how the boss is handling the situations, that's kind of how all the situations got handled after that point. I've had bosses that lashed out at employees and would yell and scream and curse. Honestly, after I left those work environments, it was hard for me to kind of not think about things in that way, because the person that I had modeled in my mind as being the boss, that's how they reacted to those situations.Jonathan:So I had a lot of times I pulled myself away and thought, "No, Jonathan, you're a calm, collected guy. You're not a hothead. You don't have to act that way just because the other person acted that way. Doesn't mean it was right." That's something that even I have struggled with in the past to reconcile, because all these patterns are learned behaviors. So setting the tone at the top makes complete and utter sense. So yeah, that's a great one.Joseph:Yeah. Another thing is what are you going to tolerate? Whenever it comes to different stuff, how are you going to address things? Are you going to have the courage to address the things that you need to address? Those are all tough things. I think we could probably spend a whole podcast, Jonathan, talking about having crucial conversations and addressing things and what do you address and what do you not address and what's the best way to do that? So I think we should probably save that for another topic, but modeling the way is a big, huge piece of leadership.Jonathan:It reminds me a lot of just the culture conversation of businesses. What is the culture of the company? Even when you said, "How do you address people?," I mean, there are a lot of different ways you can address people. You can be incredibly professional and have that be done in multiple different ways. You be incredibly professional and be casual. You can be incredibly professional and be very manneristic, so Mr. and Mrs., making sure who it is. There's a lot of different ways you can do it, and all those little things are going to permeate throughout the business. They're going to create the culture of the company and the culture of the practice.Jonathan:That's one of the reasons why a lot of people sometimes tend to lean towards ... When I say a lot of people. I'm not saying the majority. I'm saying there's a lot of people out there that their ideal way of going into practice ownership is through a startup process, because they don't want to go into another culture and try and reshape that culture based off of their personality and style. So yeah, I definitely think we could probably have a whole episode about culture, and that's definitely a part of it.Joseph:For sure.Jonathan:So you want to go to the next piece?Joseph:Yeah. So the last piece is to challenge the process. We give you all kind of just cliches that are out there. If you keep doing what you're doing, you keep getting what you're getting. What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Insert your own cliche for doing things. We talk about Saly a lot in the accounting world, right? Who's Saly again, Jonathan?Jonathan:Same as last year. She's only got one L in her name, but she's [inaudible 00:21:52].Joseph:Yeah. So number five is to challenge the process. If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting. So as you get a chance to look at all of the different things that you're doing, are you doing things exactly the same way year after year? Are you having problems with your scheduling? All right. So if we keep having the same different pieces, do we have a lot of no-shows? If we have no-shows that are taken up time on the schedule, what are we going to do differently? What are we going to challenge the process, and how are we going to handle this in a different way? Is it because we're confirming appointments? Well, maybe we need to have a different system of confirming appointments. Maybe we've got all kinds of different stuff that we can try.Joseph:So one of the great things about being a business owner is that you get a chance to try all kinds of different things. If you don't challenge the process, if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again, you're going to continue to beat your head against the wall. So number five is challenge the process. What are your thoughts on that, Jonathan?Jonathan:I think that of all the leadership traits that I have that I enjoy versus the ones that I'm not as good at, challenging the process is the one that kind of is the reason our business got created, was because every CPA firm that I was a part of, I was building up and breaking down every process that we had, because I'm to a fault a person who likes the most efficient way of doing things. If it's not the most efficient way of doing things, then I'm probably going to space out real quick whenever I'm a part of that process. Joseph, you can amen that.Jonathan:So one of the things that I get a lot of eye-rolls about from our team is where I decide to add in a new app to our software stack, because we're always trying to find a better way of doing it. There comes a point where that can be detrimental, but yeah, you've got to be able to keep adapting and moving, or else your business model could end up going to the wayside. If someone else figures out a better way to do it than you that's substantially better, you've accidentally inherited some business risk. In dentistry, you'll probably be fine, but it's a danger to your business.Jonathan:So yeah, definitely challenge the process. I don't know how many times I've heard from so many owners throughout the country that the reason that this is a problem for us is because it's our patient base or it's our software or it's because of this insurance that we take or it's because ... There's a reason behind why this doesn't work for them. Yeah, sometimes it takes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 20 different ways until you finally figure out the way to do it the best way, but you've got to keep trying. You've got to keep challenging the process to see if you can make it better and do better at the end. The purpose of doing that is to meet that shared vision. There's a reason you're trying to do that. It's not just because you're trying to add two cents a dollar to your bottom line. It's because you're trying to meet that shared vision. That's how you get the buy-in from the team to be able to do that. So I'd love to hear your insights to challenging the process, working in our firm.Joseph:Yeah. So you mentioned that this is probably your biggest strength in this list, and this list isn't you have to get all of these right 100% of the time. It's really a guide work and a framework for you to determine your own style and to move forward and to help your practice move forward. You mentioned challenge the process as being your best one. That's probably the one that I don't do well at all. It's like, "Man, I've got this tried and true way of doing things. I know it. I don't have to learn a new process. I can just crank through as much as I possibly can. I've been using this same Excel file for this many years, and it's just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam."Joseph:So I think, interestingly enough, if this is what you would call your area of strength, it's definitely my area of weakness, is to challenge that process. It's not that I don't want to get better. I want to get better, too, but I don't want to take the time learning a new software, a new app, a new work process, a new workflow, all of those different things. I guess I've just been scarred over the years. I used to really good at this early in my career, like all these challenges and stuff. So I'd come up with all these different gadgets, all these different ways of doing things and spend all this time on it. Then it just wouldn't work. I'd be like, "Well, see, we should've just done it the same as last year," right?Joseph:So, anyways, I think that's why we complement each other well. When we look at this list, Jonathan, what would you say is your biggest challenge? I mentioned that the challenge process is my biggest weakness in this list, but between inspire shared vision, enable others to act, encourage the heart, model the way, challenge the process, what would you say is probably your most difficult piece in this list?Jonathan:It changes. It's fluid. I think of ones that have been challenges. So initially, inspiring a shared vision, we talked about one of the challenges at the beginning is that you're trying to build something successful. That's what you think the vision might be. I went along with that, too. I made that mistake when I started the business, until we became much more purposeful in the way that we did leadership inside the firm. So at one point, it was that. I feel like we're in a better space than that now. So at one point, that was it.Jonathan:The thing I think I've always been pretty good at, enables others to add, but there have been times where ... I tell my employees this all the time. If I'm handing something off to you, I have to hand it all off to you, because if I'm even touching it, I have to be a part of all of it. I can't just pass over a piece. It has to be all or nothing. So in a way, at one time, I probably wasn't great at it, because probably it was too of a min-max, or what's it called wherever you ... Micromanage people. But I think I've gotten better at that.Jonathan:Encouraging the heart, another one that I think we could probably do a little bit better at that now, but I feel like I do an okay job of that. Modeling the way, we're a virtual company, so we don't see each other every day. Sometimes whenever you've had a hard day or not slept in a few nights because you've got a newborn at home, you come into a meeting, and you're a little tired or something like that. Yeah, sometimes that can be hard to do, too. But I feel like over the time that I've had in this industry, as well as in this specific business that you're never going to be perfect at all of them. So you have to have to give yourself some grace in these things. But you have to be aware that you're working towards doing a better job. That's what I try to do every day, is I just try to be better. I try to be better while allowing myself to not be perfect.Jonathan:So I feel like I have minor weaknesses in all of them, but I would definitely say that my strength would probably ... See, with the one that I said I had the strength in, I said I had maybe to a fault that sometimes I like to challenge it too much, because maybe I'm trying to make something more efficient, and it ends up wasting everybody's time because we look at an app that we end up not implementing because it ends up being only a fraction of a second better or something like that or even be worse off than the other solution. So you're going to have your pros and cons to all of these. It's just you have to try and do as good of a job as you can on the ones that you can and then allow yourself the grace on the ones that you don't. So what about you? Where do you feel like the ones that are ... You mentioned that your weakness was your biggest strength.Joseph:I always like to be a cheerleader. I figured out a long time ago that it's very easy to be the worst part of somebody's day. The person at the drive-through does something bad, you can yell at them, and that five second encounter will be the worst part of their day. So I kind of flipped that on its head, and I said, "How can I try to be the best part of somebody's day?" So mine is encourage the heart. I really like to get a chance to tell people in a sincere way ... It's got to be honest, and it's got to be sincere. It's not just a Johnny good job kind of thing. It's got to be one of those things where it's honest and sincere and it means something and it's not handed out all day, every day. "Hey, congratulations for showing up to work on time today." Well, you're supposed to show up to work on time today. But you can say at the end of the week [crosstalk 00:30:15].Jonathan:[crosstalk 00:30:15].Joseph:Yeah. "I made it through another" ... Yeah. But you can say, "I really appreciate your dependability as an employee. I always know that I can count on you." That's honest, and that's sincere. "The other day, whenever you helped Ms. Jones out, she was having the pain with whatever, and you walked her through that and helped out with that. That really meant a lot. Thank you for putting our patient's mind at ease and helping them out." Having that kind of honest, sincere appreciation for your team members, that's one of the things that I really like a lot kind of to do. I don't know. It was a challenge that I figured out several years ago. I want to be the best part of somebody's day, because it's just so easy to be the worst part of somebody's day.Jonathan:I definitely agree with that statement. So cool. So is there anything else you wanted to add in terms of leadership? Leadership is a big topic, everybody. I mean, this is not a 30-minute thing that you're going to listen to that. "Now I'm ready to lead that Fortune 500 company. I'm ready to be the CEO." While I would love for that to have been the case with what we shared today, that's not going to be the case. But this is a really good framework to start, to start conceptualizing and looking internally on the ways that you're going to be able to impact the lives of your people inside of your practice, not just your employees, again, your patients and your community and your family and everything like that. So Joseph, is there anything else you wanted to add in terms of this topic?Joseph:Yeah, no, I think he nailed it on all of these things. This is a framework. This was the first framework I was introduced to, is learning how to be a leader. It's been very impactful for me, and I'm just glad that we got a chance to share it with our audience today. You're not going to be perfect at any of them. Leadership is a process. You've got to continue to learn and grow and learn as much stuff as you can about leadership and continue to challenge. Going back to challenge the process, challenge the process of how you're leading your team and continually seek out knowledge on that.Joseph:I mean, as you mentioned, we could spend hours and hours and hours talking through different leadership models and theories and all the different experiences that we've had in our life. I'd like for this to just kind of be a beginning, a beginning, the conversation with you about leading, having these five core principles according to Kouzes and Posner about exemplary leadership. Again, inspire a shared vision. It's not my vision. It's not your vision. It's our vision. We want to enable others to act. We want to encourage the heart. We want to be able to help people understand that they're doing a good job. We want to model the way, set the tone at the top, and we want to challenge the process. Saly is not always our friend.Jonathan:Perfect. Well, guys, thanks so much for listening to another episode of the Tooth and Coin podcast. This is episode number five. It's about leadership, where we talked about the problem being that if you don't take leadership seriously, your business just won't be as effective as it should be. It can cause a lot of issues and even cost you a lot of money in the long run. We've shared a framework that you can use and adapt to help conceptualize on how to do these and gain these skills in leadership and maybe even do some planning on how to impact your business on your own.Jonathan:If any of these topics have resonated with you, if you have stories to share about bad bosses, people who've done bad leadership in the past, that can be a really powerful tool to be able to share with people to see how to not do the stuff. One of the best ways to learn how to do something is to learn how to not do it. So if you have any stories about that, feel free to share them in the Facebook group, in the Tooth and Coin Facebook group. Thanks again for listening in to the Tooth and Coin podcast, and we will see you next time.Joseph:Bye, guys.Jonathan:That's it for today, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Tooth and Coin podcast. If you are going to be a practice owner or a new practice owner and you're interested in CPA services, head on over to toothandcoin.com, where you can check out more about our CPA services. We help out around 250 offices around the country. I would love to be able to have the discussion about how we could help your new practice. We do specialize in new practice owners, so people that are about to be an owner of a practice they're acquiring, about to be an owner of a practice they are starting up, or have become an owner in the past five years. That is our specialty. We'd love to be able to talk to you about how we could help you in your services with your tax and accounting services.Jonathan:If you enjoy today's episode, again, go to the Facebook group. Talk to us about what we've talked about, join in on the discussion, and let's create an environment where we can talk about some of these things so that we can all help each other get through these things together so that this adventure of business ownership is more fun, more productive, and better in the long term. Lastly, if you want access to those resources that we are currently building, just text the word toothandcoin to 33444. That's toothandcoin, no spaces, T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N to 33444. Apply with your email address. We'll send you the instructions in the Facebook group. We'll send you the resources when they're available, and we will see you next week.

Join the discussion on Facebook!Jonathan:Welcome to the Tooth & Coin Podcast, where we talk about your adventure of being a dental practice owner. In these episodes, we're going to be talking about problems that you will likely face as a practice owner, as well as give an idea about actionable solutions that you can take so that you can get past this problem in your practice. Some of these concepts are really big ones, some of them are very specific, but we hope that these episodes help you along with your journey.Jonathan:Now, a very important piece for you to understand is that this is not paid financial advice. This is not paid tax or legal advice. We are not your financial advisors, we are not your CPAs. This is two CPAs talking about informational and educational content to help you along with your journey. It's a very important piece for you to understand.Jonathan:Another thing that you need to know is if you enjoy today's content, join us on the Facebook group. So, we've got a Facebook group that is active with Dennis that is going to have content talking about what we're talking about today, to continue the discussion. Agree with us, don't agree with us, have a story to tell, have something to share? Join us in the Facebook group. If you go to Facebook and you search for Tooth & Coin Podcast, click on it to join it, and be able to join us there.Jonathan:Finally, if you need some more help, we're developing a list of resources that are going to be centering in and around our topics of discussion, to be able to help you a little bit more than what the content is doing. So, if you'd like access to that whenever it becomes ready, all you have to do is text the word "toothandcoin," T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N, to 33444. And that's "toothandcoin," all one word, no spaces, to 33444. Reply with your email address, and we'll email you instructions on how to get into the Facebook group, as well as add you to lists to be able to send you those resources when they're available. And if they're available, we'll go ahead and send them to you, as well. So onto today's episode, hope you enjoy it.Jonathan:Hello, ambitious dentists. So it is the Tooth & Coin podcast, episode number one, and we are here to discuss this new podcast learning experience that we're going to be creating and developing, and to be honest with you, learning a little bit more about the business of dentistry with everyone that is listening in. I have with myself, Mr. Joseph Rugger, who is a team member with Tooth & Coin, a long time friend of mine as well. Joseph, why don't you tell everybody about yourself, about your experience in the accounting and the dental world, the medical world?Joseph:Yeah, sure, absolutely. So, I always get a chance to tell my story and I get a chance to tell some funny parts of it and some fun sections of it, so hopefully that's of interest to your group. So, I grew up playing competitive baseball and ended up getting a chance to play college baseball at a small school in Batesville, Arkansas called Lyon College.Joseph:Ended up finishing three majors at Lyon: accounting, economics and finance. So, members and money are born and bred into me and formally educated. My first job out of college, I got a chance to go work for my collegiate fraternity, so my job for a year was to travel the country and hang out with college kids. It was a rough job, but somebody had to do it. I ended up doing that for about a year. I always tell people that my salary at the time was $17,000 a year, and I figured out that I was too smart to not make any money.Joseph:So, I went to grad school at IU Indianapolis and did a Master's of Professional Accounting there. Spent about two years working in public accounting in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. Worked for a top 50 CPA firm out of Carmel Indiana, and it was May... I think it was May. And I was still getting up, going to work, and I'd parked my car outside and I was scraping ice off my windshield, well into May living in Indiana, and a buddy of mine called me, and my friends of course, back home in Arkansas were all going to the lake in May and doing things outdoors and hiking, and here I was, scraping ice off my windshield well into May.Joseph:Anyways, so, buddy of mine, his parents owned a prosthetics company and he called me in the middle of the end of busy season in the accounting world. And he said, "Hey, our controller just left. Do you have any interest in coming to work for us in the prosthetics business?" And I said, "Absolutely, would love to come visit with you." And I got a chance to work in the prosthetics business for a company in northeast Arkansas for about 12 years, spent a couple of years as the controller and spent the bulk of my time there as the director of finance and administration, which is a fancy way of saying the CFO and the COO.Joseph:We got a chance to do all kinds of crazy fun stuff. We had four locations when I started there. After I'd been there for a little while, we divested two of our locations, so we went from four locations in two states to two locations, and then over the course of the next 10 years, we opened up a number of new branches, expanded into another state, and by the time I left, we had eight locations across two states, had about 75 employees. Did a whole bunch of work for folks. We ended up seeing about 10,000 patients a year as far as delivered services.Joseph:So, we got a chance to really head up the finance arm, got a chance to really understand the medical billing side. We used HCPCS codes in the prosthetics business, and got a chance to see and learn ICD-9, and then that became ICD-10, and everything in between, and got a chance to understand the difference between a usual and customary fee, or a UCR fee and allowed fee. I was having a conversation the other day with somebody about how to measure your revenue, but got a chance to spend 12 years in the prosthetics business.Joseph:And then, actually, just got reminded on LinkedIn the other day that it's my three-year anniversary at Tooth & Coin. I had all these people say, "Hey, congrats on your work anniversary." And I'm like, "What in the world are they talking about?" Sure enough, February was my three-year anniversary at Tooth & Coin.Jonathan:My wife can tell you that dates are the things that I forget the most. So, I was not one of the people that congratulated you. So that's on mem though. So it's a little dirty laundry for the listeners there. So, cool. So you were in the medical industry. For the listeners, what would be the equivalent of a small to mid-size DSO pro office, somewhere that had eight to 10 locations doing somewhere in the eight figure range of revenue? Is that about accurate?Joseph:I'd say that's pretty close. Yeah. Yeah.Jonathan:Yeah. So, that's what you did in terms of a CFO type role. By the way, one of the episodes that we're definitely going to record is, what is a CFO and what do they do? Because I get a lot of calls about that and I try to explain it, and I'd love to hear what a CFO actually does compared to what I think that they do, since I've never actually been the CFO of somewhere.Joseph:Sure.Jonathan:So, cool. So you're a CFO and you've been at Tooth & Coin for three years now. What else is relevant in terms of your accounting, CPA, financial background?Joseph:Well, I think it's always interesting for me to tell people how I ended up working for you at Tooth & Coin. I think that's always an interesting story. So, I moved to the Dallas, Fort Worth area a couple of years ago, and I was interviewing for a couple of different jobs and working with recruiters. And I ended up getting a call from a recruiter to talk to them about being the CFO for a big dental services organization, or DSO, here in the metroplex.Joseph:I think they had about 80 or 90 offices across Dallas and throughout north Texas. And anyways, Jonathan, you and I have been friends for a number of years, randomly sat next to each other at a continuing education in Little Rock, and struck up a conversation and became friends. That was what? 15 years ago, I think.Jonathan:Yeah.Joseph:But anyways, we'd stayed in touch and stayed friends over the years. So, I had this interview coming up with this DSO and I thought to myself, "Who do I know that I can pick their brain about the different stuff that I need to study and prepare for this interview?" So I called you and reached out to you and said, "Hey, I've got this interview coming up. Would you be willing to share some stuff?" Anyways, and we started talking and you told me... a couple of days later you were like, "Man, if he's interested in making a move, maybe he should come to work for us."Joseph:So that started that conversation. So, been with you at Tooth & Coin for the last three years. Got a chance to do all kinds of really, really cool stuff inside the CPA profession on both the professional level and also on the volunteer level. Education is something that is near and dear to my heart, so I've done continuing professional education and taught continuing education across the country for both the AICPA, and I think I'm up to 16 different states across the U.S. that I've taught in.Joseph:I've taught in two foreign countries. I got a call from the AICPA and they said, "Hey, do you have time on your calendar to come teach in the Caymans?" And I said, "You know what? Something just opened up. I do have time to do that."Jonathan:"I think I can make that work."Joseph:Yeah. Yeah. I got another call to say, "Would you like to come speak at The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants?" And I said, "Absolutely. I think that would be good." So, I've gotten the chance to teach and coach at the CPA level and certainly with lots of other entrepreneurs across the dental industry and across a number of other industries, and I really, really enjoy the educational part of what we do, because... Warren Buffett, I think, said it best, that accounting is the language of business and it's up to us to figure out what the story is.Joseph:The numbers do tell a story, and we've got to figure out, number one, make sure the numbers are right, but number two is to figure out what story that's telling. And one of the things that I'm passionate about is I really, really want to help small businesses grow and succeed. That's something that I figured out early on in my education, is that as an accountant, we're going to have that ability, and I'm trying to simplify that even more, Jonathan. And what I really want to tell them is, "I want to help you win with money," which I think is near and dear to our hearts as CPAs.Joseph:So, I've gotten a chance to travel quite a bit. I've been to, I think, 30 countries or something like that, been to all 50 states, hope to come visit your state, whoever you guys are that are out listening, and come hang out, teach some stuff, and that kind of thing. So I think that's all certainly relevant to our discussion here. At this juncture, I'm getting ready to become the chair-elect of the Arkansas Society of CPAs.Joseph:It's a volunteer organization that I've been a part of since I became a licensed CPA, and we're doing lots of great stuff inside the Arkansas Society, and to get a chance to share that's an honor. I was telling you this the other day, I'll be the youngest chair in the history of the Arkansas CPA Society, which is a really, really great honor for me to have.Jonathan:Another honor that you had recently bestowed upon you was the AICPA Young CPA Leader of the Year Award? Did I get the title right of that?Joseph:Yeah, so that was really cool. It's funny. My wife was kidding with me the other day. She was like, "Are we still young?" I was like, "Yes, we are still considered young." But it's the AICPA Young CPA of the Year in honor of a guy named [Maximum McColloughby 00:11:20], and it was named in his honor. And it's an award that sets out to recognize volunteerism in the profession, who's helping capital markets and who's helping the profession move forward from every angle, both from a professionalism standpoint to a volunteer to, what kind of impact are we making inside of our communities?Joseph:So, I was awarded that in the middle of a global pandemic and we were supposed to go to Las Vegas for this big convention. And of course, all that got canceled, and we ended up having... the AICPA did a great job, and we ended up having a really cool virtual ceremony that went out on Facebook live that you could go check out where I got a chance to come talk about volunteerism and what it means to me and hear some of my friends talk about the profession and the awards and all that stuff. But yeah, that was a big honor that I got from the AICPA.Jonathan:Really was. And just for people that are listening, that's the equivalent of the ADA giving out a Young Dentist Leader Award, and they only give it out to one person a year. It's not like the thing that you get in high school where you get to sign up for the who's who-Joseph:Who's who.Jonathan:and pay some money to be a part of it. It's a big deal, and we're really proud of you for it for be able to do that. So, cool. So, for anyone who has not listened to Start Your Dental Practice or is not aware of Tooth & Coin, my name is Jonathan van Horn. I am the CPA and the owner of Tooth & Coin, which is a CPA firm. We are located in Arkansas, but we help dentists everywhere in the country in the United States. We have clients in just about every state. We have around 250 offices we help out.Jonathan:And our mission is to help bridge the gap between you being a successful dentist and you being a successful entrepreneur. We do that in ways that we can help. We try to not venture outside of the realms of the things that we don't know how to do. We find that a lot of people make the mistake of trying to get their hands in too many cookie jars. We've learned through experience that the best way to help our clients is to give them the advice that we know the most about, and that is the accounting, tax, and business financial world, so to speak.Jonathan:And from a numbers perspective, that does mean a lot of things. And what we hope to do on this podcast is talk about a little bit about those things and help solve some of the problems that are out there in the industry that seems to stem from the fact that most dentists spend about 15,000 hours learning how to become a dentist and almost zero hours learning how to be a business owner.Jonathan:So, this podcast is hopefully going to be informative and help a bit with that problem. So, a little bit more about me. I was driven to the CPA world from a young age. I was from a small business family. My parents owned a small business, my grandparents owned a small business. My parents owned a furniture store, my grandparents owned a manufacturing company. And whenever I was in the eighth grade, my parents sat us down in the living room.Jonathan:My dad sat down on the fireplace, and he said to us, "Jonathan," and my sister and my mom. "The business had failed. We are going through bankruptcy. We're going to have to sell the house. We're going to have to move away from our family home that we lived in since I was born, and leave the place that I had known and grown up and loved."Jonathan:And so we had to move halfway across the state from one Arkansas town to a more rural Arkansas town, and if you think that you live in a rural place, I went from a town of about 25,000 people to about 8,000 people, and moved out of a four bedroom, two bath house that was in a pretty nice area to a two bedroom, one bath apartment that was in an area that wasn't the best. And it was a really rough time for my family.Jonathan:And my dad always said, "Jonathan, the reason that the business failed wasn't because the business wasn't working. It was because I didn't keep up with the numbers. I didn't know about the business side." My dad was the sales and marketing person. He was not the business guy. He was the person that made the sales happen, made the revenue come in, but he didn't ever keep up with the business side of things, the financial side of things.Jonathan:He'd actually relied a lot on my grandfather, the one who owned the manufacturing company, to do those things. But unfortunately, my grandfather died about... I guess it was at this point almost 35 years ago. So, he wasn't around very long to help out with that furniture store. And my dad always said if he had had somebody there that could have kept an eye on the numbers, could have kept an eye on how the business was doing from a business standpoint, that we would have been okay, the business would have survived.Jonathan:It went through a bit of a hard time, but we would have made it out of there if he just had a better eye on the numbers and a better eye on the business side of things. So, he always said that. He even says that today still. Actually, we had a discussion about this about a month ago, and he's still saying the same thing about coulda, woulda, shoulda stuff.Jonathan:So, I grew up thinking that that's what CPAs did, because that was what my dad said CPAs did. And I went into school and I got real close to becoming a math professor. So, a big fan of numbers. Always enjoyed math as a subject and had way too much nerdy fun with it, but did end up going the route of CPA, much like Joseph said. He wanted to make some money in the world. So I figured being a teacher was probably not the best way to make money in the world. So I thought, "Let's go with the CPA route," and also I could also be able to help a lot more people. When I got out into the CPO world, very quickly found out that's not actually what CPAs do, as I find a lot of people are surprised about.Jonathan:CPAs don't typically really help with businesses. The CPA industry was created around compliance. It was created around making sure that you filed and paid your taxes so that you don't pay penalties and interest or go to jail. We call that compliance in our industry, and I didn't want to do just compliance. I wanted to do more. So, after working for five or 10 years in the public space, helping out people with compliance, I said, "Enough is enough. I'm going to go and start this new business." And that is how Tooth & Coin was born, and our mission statement of helping dentist bridge that gap of being a successful clinician with being a successful entrepreneur was born.Jonathan:So, that's the story of Tooth & Coin, my personal story of how I became a CPA, why I became a CPA, and just a little bit more into the mind of who it is that's talking to you through these things. There is a podcast out there that you can go and listen to. It's called Start Your Dental Practice. Our CPA firm does specialize in new practice owners, so we have about 250 offices we help out with as of today, which is the beginning of 2021, and over 200 of those were new practice owners whenever they came on with us and our firm.Jonathan:So if you're a new practice owner, someone who's within five years of ownership, we'd love to be able to talk to you about how we can help you out with your dental practice as well. But to this podcast, the Tooth & Coin podcast, what are we here for? Why are we doing this? Why are we talking today? The purpose is fairly simple. I discussed it briefly before I went with my intro is that there are a lot of problems that need to be faced inside of the dental industry and a lot of the lessons that need to be taught to people in terms of what business is and how to approach it.Jonathan:There's a lot of confusion around a lot of different subject matter, and who better to talk to you guys about those things than a couple of guys that have experience running a CPA firm that helps out 250 offices around the country, someone who acted as a CFO for 12 years for a very big medical organization, and has helped lots of our clients right now that are dentists, help get their way through the business of dentistry and be able to talk about the things that we know how to talk about?Jonathan:So, the purpose of the podcast is that. We're going to be highlighting problems, we're going to be talking about the solutions to those problems, and we're going to be trying to give you resources around ways to be able to solve those problems. I think one thing that Joseph and I do not want this podcast to turn into, just for full expectations for you so that you guys can hold us accountable is, we don't want this podcast to just be informational only.Jonathan:We want this podcast to be actionable. We want it to be something that you can execute based off of. We want it to actually solve problems, not just highlight them. Anytime you do any type of content, it's hard to sometimes bridge the gap between educational, entertainment, and action. And we're going to do our best to focus on highlighting the problems, and then giving you the solutions and giving you the resources to be able to take action on those solutions. So to me, that's the reason for the podcast. Joseph, what are some of the things you're wanting to solve with this podcast, as well?Joseph:I think at a high level, Jonathan, you and I, we've got just such varied and similar experience of the business of healthcare here, and as we sit back and think... I'm as guilty as anybody else. I think everybody knows the stuff that's in my head, and as we have new team members come on, as we have new dentists come on, I find that there's a whole lot of stuff that's inside my head that not everybody knows, that everybody's not read all the books that I've read.Joseph:They haven't listened to all the same stuff that I have. And I forget that. So, I look forward to getting a chance to just really share some insights and some things that we see, and some things that each individual listener can take home with them and can digest and see how does it apply to their individual practice, their individual situation? So we've got all this knowledge and expertise. We want to put it out into the world. We want to help you build a better business, a better practice, a better life, eventually. That's really what we're trying to do, here. We're trying to help you reach your entrepreneurial dreams and goals and help you with all those things.Jonathan:Yeah, exactly. And another important piece of all of it is, I find a lot of the times, when a client asks us a question, there is the book answer, and then there's the contextual answer. And I feel like we're in a unique position to be able to give a lot of context around some of these, about how to approach the book solution versus the real life solution of what we've seen happen. Other things that we're going to be looking to do with this podcast...Jonathan:So, we're going to be looking to have this be an engagement platform with other dentists that are out there in terms of ways that you guys have solved the problems we're talking about. So, this isn't only about us sharing what we know. It's also about you sharing what you know` with the rest of the people that are out there so that we can all have a prosperous and full lives, so that we can all do better.Jonathan:We all can live a life of abundance, and there's always information that can be shared. And so, we're going to be having ability to grow a community out of this podcast, and we're also going to be using real life questions from real life dentists that are having these real life problems, and talk about ways that could potentially have solutions, things that could be answered. We're going to be literally pulling questions from clients of ours, of course, with permission from the client, or have it be anonymous.Jonathan:We'll be pulling real questions that clients are having so that we can answer those things, because if our clients are asking those questions of us, I know that the people that are listening are probably having those same questions. They need to be answered by somebody. And hopefully, we can give that answer and be a resource to the industry. So, that's the problem that we're trying to solve. That's how we're going to try and solve it. Is there anything that else you wanted to add, Joseph, in terms of what we're trying to do here with the podcast?Joseph:I'm looking forward to going on this journey with you, Jonathan. You and I have been friends for a long time, and we both have two things that are inherent in us: we want to serve and help other people, and we want to educate. I'm looking forward to doing both of that to our audience, with our audience.Jonathan:Absolutely. So, to give some of our audience members some ideas of the different topics we're going to be approaching whenever we come down in these episodes, some of the topics that we've already highlighted that we want to talk about. Understanding the business model of dentistry. We want you to know how much cash do you really need to have in your business. How to pay less in taxes while your net worth is more important than you think and why it matters. What's a dental practice's true value?Jonathan:Fixed versus variable expenses and your breakeven point. Analyzing your overhead. Staffing percentages, personal finance. Recurring charges, and do you actually use them? The purpose of continuing education. How to understand your financial statements, and why it's also a total waste of time. How to manage expectations whenever it comes to leadership. How to lead people. How to handle turnover in your office. Training protocols. Crucial conversations. Understanding what your sales and production actually mean in your office. Understanding how to handle new patients and how to measure your growth and how to measure your marketing expenses and calculate your ROIs.Jonathan:And just tons of more things that we're going to try and talk about. Those are the ones that we've literally just brainstormed off the top of our heads over the course of a few conversations that we could give full and really good information on, as between Joseph and myself. For areas where we are not expert subject matters... or subject matter experts, rather, we plan on reaching out to the industry and finding the best people to be able to talk to you about those subjects.Jonathan:So for example, we will not be talking to you about how to increase your hygiene revenue. That's not something that we're going to be talking about because neither Joseph or I has ever had to talk to a hygienist and tell them how to do their job. Now, we could have a conversation about how to talk to an employee and how to manage an expectation, but we're not going to talk to you and say, "Hey, this person needs to be doing... 30% of their patients need to be receiving fluoride treatment, because that's an industry standard."Jonathan:Now, I can tell you that may be an industry standard, but how you go from where you are today to that standard is anyone's guess for Joseph and I. And so we're going to have somebody on that's going to be able to actually answer that question and give you some guidance and help you with those things. So, that is what we'll be doing in terms of the episode breakdown. Again, the current format that we're we're working with is, highlight the problem, talk about the solution, and then give resources.Jonathan:That's what our content's going to be about. We're going to try and keep our episodes somewhere in the 20-to-30 minute range. We don't want you to have to devote a full hour of your day just to listen to our podcast. That is giving us some accountability to keep the episodes on point and not to go down too many rabbit trails in terms of conversation, and so that we can really make the time that you're giving to us and putting us in your ears to be as high-value as possible.Jonathan:So, that is our plans with Tooth & Coin podcast. We hope to have you guys on the journey with us, and if you would, make sure to follow us on all the social media, and we will see you on the next episode.Jonathan:That's it for today, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Tooth & Coin podcast. If you are going to be a practice owner or a new practice owner, and you're interested in CPA services, head on over to toothandcoin.com, where you can check out more about our CPA services. We help out around 250 offices around the country. I would love to be able to have the discussion about how we could help your new practice.Jonathan:We do specialize in new practice owners, so people that are about to be an owner of a practice they're acquiring, about to be an owner of a practice they are starting up, or has become an owner in the past five years. That is our specialty. We'd love to be able to talk to you about how we could help you in your services with your tax and accounting services.Jonathan:And if you enjoyed today's episode, again, go to the Facebook group, talk to us about what we've talked about, join in on the discussion, and let's create an environment where we can talk about some of these things so that we can all help each other get through these things together so that this adventure of business ownership is more fun, more productive, and better in the longterm.Jonathan:Lastly, if you want access to those resources that we are currently building, just text the word "toothandcoin" to 33444, that's "toothandcoin," no spaces, T-O-O-T-H-A-N-D-C-O-I-N to 33444. Reply with your email address, and we'll send you the instructions on the Facebook group. We'll send you the resources when they're available, and we will see you next week.

Jonathan created Tooth & Coin to solve the problem facing many dentists – they have complicated business and their time is stretched way too thin. Most dentists spend 15,000 hours learning to be a dentist but ZERO hours learning how to be a business owner. Tooth & Coin aims to completely automate and outsource the bookkeeping, financial reporting, and tax portion of the dentist's business so that they can focus on what really matters in their practice. By creating an automated workflow for the dentist and by focusing on showing dentists what numbers they need to be watching, Tooth & Coin has allowed dental practices around the country to raise profits by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. When not interviewing dentists on his podcast Start Your Dental Practice, coaching dentists on being a better business owner, or just needing it up with business owners about ways to be more profitable Jonathan enjoys spending time going to the lake with his wife April, daughters Harper and Bailey, and son Finn. He's also been known to play golf (poorly). Weird facts about Jonathan – he was once ranked in the top ten in the nation at whiffle ball, played bass guitar in a rock band for eight years, and spent his college years playing semi-professional poker.

Kiera is the owner and founder of Dental Placement Pros and Kiera's Dental Consulting. She is partner in Zen Dental Supplies, consults in 50 client offices NATIONWIDE, recruits for over 60 dental offices nationwide, owns dental offices, and has decided that she would find a way to POSITIVELY CHANGE the world of dentistry and constantly pushes herself to hold true to this vision. Kiera has been featured on podcasts including: Dentalprenuer podcast with Mark Costes, The Thriving Dentist with Gary Takacs, Start Your Dental Practice with Jonathan Vanhorn, Shared Practices with Richard Low, and Growing Dentist with Naren Arulrajeh. Kiera is PROUD of the for purpose business models implemented in her businesses and is passionate about making a difference in the day to day life of people just like you! Contact info: kierasdentalconsulting@gmail.com www.thedentalmasters.com

The Dental Amigos host Jonathan VanHorn, CPA, a dental industry-focused certified public accountant and the founder of DentistMetrics who focuses his practice on representing dentists, especially new practice owners. Jonathan is also is the host of the very popular podcast, “Start Your Dental Practice.” In this episode, Rob and Paul chat with Jonathan and benefit from the perspective of a dental-focused accountant as they tackle the ever popular issue of what to do first - buy a house or purchase/start-up a dental practice. They also discuss considerations surrounding a dental practice owner's decision of whether to purchase or lease the dental office's real estate. Paul's new catchphrase is to remember that “moving is the opposite enjoyment of eating nachos.” Rob reinforces the importance of being purposeful with all dentist life decisions. Our listeners can contact Jonathan VanHorn at jonathan@dentistmetrics.com or through his firm's aptly titled website at www.DentistMetrics.com.

Jonathan is a dental specific CPA and the founder of DentistMetrics and host of the Start Your Dental Practice...Continue Reading...

Kiera is the owner and founder of Dental Placement Pros and Kiera's Dental Consulting. She is partner in Zen Dental Supplies, consults in 50 client offices nationwide, recruits for over 60 dental offices nationwide, owns dental offices, and has decided that she would find a way to positively change the world of dentistry and constantly pushes herself to hold true to this vision.     Kiera has been featured on podcasts including: Dentalprenuer podcast with Mark Costes, The Thriving Dentist with Gary Takacs, Start Your Dental Practice with Jonathan Vanhorn, Shared Practices with Richard Low, and Growing Dentist with Naren Arulrajeh.    Her recruiting company is for purpose and sponsored part of the Midwestern University Glendale, AZ's College of Dental Medicine's mission trip to Tonga along with sponsoring a student to continue to grow and impact the world of dentistry by providing scholarships to up and coming students.   Furthermore, Kiera is passionate about helping new grads and soon-to-be grads know how to find jobs in private practice, how to buy great practices, and give those new dentists the help and resources needed to be successful early on.  She is also partnered with a very successful female dentist and they have created an online Women In Dentistry community to help mentor female dentists as students, brand new grads, and those in associateships or wanting to transition to ownership.   When she isn't working, Kiera loves to travel. In 2017 alone she visited all 50  USA states, traveled to 6 countries, and ate some really incredible food while traveling! She loves to meet new people, relish in new cultures, and finds joy in seeing the world through new perspectives. She's an avid runner and will always say yes to cotton candy ice cream and a day trip to the beach.    www.kierasdentalconsulting.com, www.dentalplacementpros.com, www.widconnect.com, www.becomingdentalmasters.com

With April drawing nearer, there’s one thing that's sure to be on all of our minds: taxes. Understanding financial reports and navigating the tax code can definitely feel daunting, especially with recent changes to consider, but thankfully we have Jonathan VanHorn back on the show to share his insight. The founder of Dentist Metrics and the man behind the Start Your Dental Practice podcast, Jonathan has helped dental practices all over the country grow their businesses by gaining control of their finances. In this episode, he discusses common financial mistakes he sees dentists making, his advice about what to look for in an accountant, and what dentists should know for the upcoming tax season. You can find show notes and more information by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/2FBCdn3

Ambitious dentists, Today I am very excited to share with you episode 100 of the Start Your Dental Practice podcast. What an incredible journey it has been. When I started the SYDP podcast just a few years ago, I had no idea what to expect, and I couldn’t be more happy with the community we have built. I’m incredibly grateful for the support of the DentistMetrics team, my friends and family, the amazing guests, and all those who have tuned into SYDP. I’ve learned a lot over the last few years since launching SYDP, and for episode 100 I wanted to share my 7 biggest takeaways. Whether you’ve considered launching a podcast yourself, or are just looking to grow your dental practice, I hope these 7 lessons point you in the right direction and help you build the dental practice and business of your dreams. To celebrate episode 100, I've also put together the 7 Lessons I've Learned from 100+ Hours of Interviewing the World's Best Dental Practice Owners And Consultants Guide. The guide breaks down everything I've learned as well as highlights all past guest episodes for easy consumption. If you're looking to catch up on some missed episodes, you won't want to miss the guide.

Kiera is the owner and founder of Dental Placement Pros and Kiera's Dental Consulting. She is partner in Zen Dental Supplies, consults in 40 client offices nationwide, recruits for over 60 dental offices nationwide, owns dental offices, and has decided that she would find a way to positively change the world of dentistry and constantly pushes herself to hold true to this vision. Kiera has been featured on podcasts including: Dentalprenuer podcast with Mark Costes, The Thriving Dentist with Gary Takacs, Start Your Dental Practice with Jonathan Vanhorn, Shared Practices with Richard Low, and Growing Dentist with Naren Arulrajeh. She is currently helping to sponsor the Midwestern University Glendale, AZ's College of Dental Medicine's mission trip to Tonga along with sponsoring a student to continue to grow and impact the world of dentistry. When she isn't working, she loves to travel the world. In 2017 alone she has visited 43 USA states and will visit all 50. Year-to-date she has visited 6 additional countries. She loves to meet new people, relish in new cultures, and finds joy in seeing the world through new perspectives. She's an avid runner and will always say yes to cotton candy ice cream and a day trip to the beach. Kieras Links: https://www.kierasdentalconsulting.com https://www.dentalplacementpros.com/ To contact our hosts please email them at help@veritasdentalresources.com.

Welcome to the twelfth episode of The Making of SMILE & CO.! Listen to Dr. Ashley Joves' story as she talks about how much better she feels now that her insurance system is in place. This week's episode is life-changing, and perfect for anyone thinking about starting their own dental practice. Tune in and listen carefully, because you won't want to miss this week's episode!Sponsor of the ShowStream Dental Staffing Solutions is The Making of SMILE & CO.'s new sponsor! They provide human resource services that will help you create a strategy, and find the best employees for your practice. They also help write policy manuals and employee handbooks. Use special discount code TDM25 to get 25% off their store!Time-Stamped Show Notes1:20 Last Saturday was the VIP party.2:00 Delta Insurance finally gave the green light to be included in their network.3:43 The new receptionist started on Tuesday and she's amazing.7:00 How did Ashley get email addresses for the VIP list?10:40 Why Ashley hasn't called anybody from her Intel company picnic list.14:26 Studio 88 has made the website absolutely beautiful. Check it out at Smile and Co.17:00 Why Ashley's hubby is the most supportive person she's ever met.17:45 Why Studio 88 is so amazing.19:25 Why she hates having to call businesses to make appointments and reservations.20:01 Why she uses Local Med online scheduling platform.25:28 What are the cons of online scheduling?28:36 What's going on with the construction on her building?29:55 Scannable has been a life-saver for faxing.30:16 What was her biggest concern this week?31:05 What should she have dug more into?31:50 Why consultants are not lying about how long it takes to be included in an insurance network.33:00 Why Ashley is no good at writing procedural manuals.34:52 Why she feels she needs to entertain the sales people that come to her business.40:58 Why she forwards all reviews to her team members.41:30 She suggests taking a moment to meditate and being grateful for the experience.42:00 Ashley was a guest on Start Your Dental Practice podcast by Jonathan VanHorn.42:09 What has been her biggest resource? Joshua Austin, who had an amazing presentation about reputation on social media.43:14 How to get more Google reviews.44:25 Why being a good public speaker makes you a better leader.46:34 The grand opening is next Friday and Michael will be there podcasting for listeners of the show.48:25 Closing.3 Main Ideas1. Have Integrators in Your BusinessAshley talks about her personality and how she's always thinking about the next big thing with her business and marketing. But running daily operations and following protocols are a pain point for Ashley.Most entrepreneurs are visionary people, and that makes it difficult to do day-to-day business and get things done. If you are a visionary person, aim to hire integrators who will be excellent at taking care of daily tasks.2. Just Say NoMichael and Ashley discuss how hard it is to say no. This week, Ashley noticed that she had a hard time saying no to salespeople that wanted to take up her time. She later realized that by entertaining the salesperson and not telling him to come back later, she was taking time away from her family.Permitting others to steal your time may mean disappointing the people you care about, or not being able to do what you want to do in life. It's your day and no one else's, so it's up to you to take back your time by just saying no.3. Ride the WavesAshley admits she was down and stressed out last week, but many people Facebooked her and told her to keep her head up.She explains, ���When I say ���ride the waves', there's definitely going to be highs and lows, and you just have to keep your head up and look at the horizon. Because it does get better.��She is better this week and has reminded herself that she's providing an excellent service and that the practice has gotten great reviews on Google.Find Out MoreThank you for listening to The Making of Smile & Co. podcast. If you enjoyed it, please share with anyone you think will gain value from the show by clicking on one of the sharing tabs above.Also, please consider leaving an honest review on iTunes. It helps other listeners find the show, and I would be forever grateful.Questions or comments? Feel free to contact me here.Follow me on Instagram or Facebook and improve your dental practice every day!Have you subscribed? Don't miss a single episode!Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Email | RSS | MoreListen to podcasts and learn more about The Dental Marketer on the website.Remember that Ashley's revolutionary dental practice is being built in real time. Follow her incredible journey and message her through Facebook or Instagram to say hi or to ask questions about her experience. Email her at drashely@smileandcompany.com.

Whether you’re just about to start your dental practice or looking to take your current practice to the next level, it all starts with building a good team. In dental school, you learned how to fill a cavity and spent thousands of hours studying dentistry… but I’m guessing you didn’t have to take a course on how to build a great team. Which is why I’m so excited to introduce today’s guest  Alex Nottingham, CEO of All-Star Dental Academy. For those of you who haven’t heard of Alex, he is one of THE experts when it comes to building a great team and has provided hundreds of dentists all across the world the training and resources to set your dental practice up for success. As I mention in the interview, Alex and I have been wanting to do this interview for over two years, and I think it was definitely worth the wait! Here are a few things you'll learn: Why building a team is so important, and the 2-3 things it takes to succeed. The importance of “coaching” and why you need to make it a priority. Alex’s “Business Growth Formula” and how you can apply it to your practice. Why not investing in employee training now, can actually cost you thousands of dollars down the road. And much more. Quotes "Price is important… but you’re changing lives. You’re SAVING lives." - Alex Nottingham Resources All-Star Dental Academy  LAST Chane To Enter The 4 Books Every Dentist Should Read Giveaway! We're excited to announce our very first book giveaway here at Start Your Dental Practice, my way of saying thanks for being a part of the SYDP community! To enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to receive four of my favorite books that I recommend to my clients. This is your last chance to enter before our drawing on Thursday. There's no catch to join and in a few weeks I'll be picking a subscriber at random and sending the books their way! Already have a copy of the books? No worries -- if you win I'll send you a $50 dollar gift card instead. Again, to enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to win! I'll also immediately send you the list of books in case you can't wait and want to invest in the books today. Support The Show Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Today I'm really excited to be sharing part two of my self-hosted episode on how to acquire a dental practice. There's a lot that goes into buying a practice successfully, and in today's episode, I'll expand on what it takes to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. If you enjoy these self-hosted episodes, be sure to let me know what you would like me to cover in the future and I will do my best to do so! We also only have a few more weeks to enter the "4 Books Every Dentist Must Read" book give away! Be sure to listen to the entire episode to find out how to enter! The Exact Steps of Buying A Practice And The Best Practices A Long The Way. How To Find The Right Practices For Sale That Will Save You Both Time And Money. The Importance of Knowing Your Strengths and Weaknesses When Buying A Practice. Why Looking ONLY at Cost Can End Up Hurting You In The Long Run. Some of The Most Common Frustrations Many of My Clients Have Faced And How To Avoid Them And much more.   Quotes "Understanding your strengths and weakensesses is very important when buying a dental practice." - Jonathan VanHorn "Don't always start with the lowest costing practice" - Jonathan VanHorn Enter The 4 Books Every Dentist Should Read Giveaway! We're excited to announce our very first book giveaway here at Start Your Dental Practice, my way of saying thanks for being a part of the SYDP community! To enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to receive four of my favorite books that I recommend to my clients. There's no catch to join and in a few weeks I'll be picking a subscriber at random and sending the books their way! Already have a copy of the books? No worries -- if you win I'll send you a $50 dollar gift card instead. Again, to enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to win! I'll also immediately send you the list of books in case you can't wait and want to invest in the books today. Support The Show Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

One of my favorite ways to stay “up to date” with the dental industry is to be active in a few high-value Facebook groups. And though “social media” often gets a bad rap for being a waste of time, I often find the discussions and comments highly valuable. When done correctly, Facebook groups help you stay on top of the latest trends and build meaningful connections with other dentists and professionals. Were it not for Facebook groups, I wouldn’t be introducing today’s two very special guests, Dr. Glenn Vo and Dr. Vinh Nguyen of Nifty Thrifty Dentists. When I first joined the Nifty Thrifty Dentist Facebook group a while back, I wasn’t sure what to expect. “Nifty thrifty dentists?!?!” but I quickly learned that Dr. Glenn and Dr. Vinh are the real deal and have created an amazing community in a short period of time. I’m excited to share my conversation with them and what they have learned from building such an incredible community. Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode How Their Popular Dental Facebook Group Transformed into A Podcast and Beyond What it means to be a “nifty and thrifty” dentist. Why you should always seek out “veteran” docs… and what they can teach you. The “Dental Brand” tax and how to get your essential items for significantly cheaper… Nifty Thrifty Dentists - Time Tested Strategies For Building A Successful Dental Practice Quotes: "Anyone can be a cheap, not not everyone can be thrifty" - Dr. Glenn Enter The 4 Books Every Dentist Should Read Giveaway! We're excited to announce our very first book giveaway here at Start Your Dental Practice, my way of saying thanks for being a part of the SYDP community! To enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to receive four of my favorite books that I recommend to my clients. There's no catch to join and in a few weeks I'll be picking a subscriber at random and sending the books their way! Already have a copy of the books? No worries -- if you win I'll send you a $50 dollar gift card instead. Again, to enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to win! I'll also immediately send you the list of books in case you can't wait and want to invest in the books today. Support The Show Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

As we gear up for some exciting new changes coming to the SYDP podcast, I wanted to share a self-hosted episode I put together discussing everything you need to know about how to acquire a dental practice. Having talked with dozens of dentists about the process, I think you'll find this solo episode a great resource if you're in the process of acquiring your first practice or needing some guidance. Even if you've already had a few acquisitions under your belt, I cover some common mistakes as well. Many dentists I've spoken with equate the acquisition process to having your first child... you won't know what it's like until it happens, but being prepared goes a long way. Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode How To Know When You're Ready To Acquire A Practice. And When To Hold Off Why Choosing The Right Location Is So Important, And How to Ensure You Choose A "Winning" Location The Best Tips And Tricks For Finding The Perfect Practice On Sale Why Not All Practices Are Created Equal And What To Look For When Buying The Importance of Having A Wide Diversity Options To Purchase And much more. How To Acquire A Dental Practice Quotes: "The greatest acquisition opportunities come from personal relationships.." - Jonathan VanHorn Enter The 4 Books Every Dentist Should Read Giveaway! We're excited to announce our very first book giveaway here at Start Your Dental Practice, my way of saying thanks for being a part of the SYDP community! To enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to receive four of my favorite books that I recommend to my clients. There's no catch to join and in a few weeks I'll be picking a subscriber at random and sending the books their way! Already have a copy of the books? No worries -- if you win I'll send you a $50 dollar gift card instead. Again, to enter the contest just text " fourbooks " to 33444 and you'll be entered to win! I'll also immediately send you the list of books in case you can't wait and want to invest in the books today. Support The Show Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Aside from graduating dental school, there are very few moments in the course of your dental career that are more important than when you sign the lease for your 1st (or 3rd) dental practice location. It’s scary. It’s exciting. And if we’re being honest, a little overwhelming. Did you pay too much? Did you choose the right location? Did you protect yourself legally if anything goes wrong? At the same time, purchasing a practice means you have tremendous opportunity to grow and scale your services and patient base. Which is why I’m excited to introduce today’s guest Norman Gelfand. Norman is the founder and president of Gelfand Group and is an expert in commercial real estate with over 20+ years of experience. He’s helped hundreds of dental practice owners negotiate a lease that gives them the best chance to succeed. In our chat today, he shares everything he knows about how to ensure you sign a lease that makes sense for you. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Looking to lock down your dental practice lease? Make sure you ask these questions first. Click here to get access. [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode The 3-4 things Norman looks for in every dental practice lease when helping dentists find their new location. Why Norman insists on asking several very specific questions when working with his clients. The biggest mistakes most dentists make when choosing their lease terms and how to avoid them. How Norman has helped dentists save hundreds of thousands of dollars in the life of their lease. And much more. This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus Negotiating a dental lease is a complicated process, and just one mistake can affect you for many years to come. Fortunately, there’s the information and resources out there that can help you make the right call. As a bonus for today, Norman has offered to share his article “The Questions You Must Ask Before You Sign Your Lease.” If you’re in the process of purchasing a new dental practice location, you’ll definitely want to check out the tips he shares. To get the bonus, simply text PRACTICE to 33444. Again, that’s PRACTICE to 33444 or visit startyourdentalpractice.com/bonus if you’re outside of the US. You’ll also receive updates on the latest episodes of Start Your Dental Practice, helpful tips for owning and running a practice, and promotional opportunities direct to your inbox. Click here to access bonus.   Resources: Gelfand Group  Support The Show Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Chances are if you’re listening to this podcast, you have some student loan debt. Having worked exclusively with dentists for most of my professional career, it’s not common for me to see aspiring practice owners coming out of school with 400-500k in student loan debt, and that’s only for a dental license! While we can debate whether or not the large costs are justified, the reality is, without a student loan plan of attack, you’ll be stuck making payments for the rest of your life. Which is why I’m excited to share my conversation with Travis Hornsby, founder of StudentLoanPlanner.com Travis has helped hundreds of professionals take control of their finances and student loan debt -- and has an incredible track record of helping his clients become debt free. Even if you’re fortunate to have paid off your student loans, I know you’ll find a lot of actionable insight from our conversation. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Need help staying on top of your student loans? You'll love Travis's Student Loan Calculator designed to help you pay off debt faster. Click here to get access. [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: How Travis got into helping others with their student loan debt (hint: it involves his significant other) How being featured in Business Insider skyrocketed his career. What he’s learned from advising over 82 million in student loan debt collectively amongst his clients. Practical ways anyone can save money to help pay off their student loans faster. And much more. This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus A special thanks for Travis coming on the show. Chances are good, you may need a hand with your student loan debt. While many choose to “worry about it later” as Travis shows, taking action now can save you a ton of time and headaches later down the road. Travis obviously knows what he’s doing, having helped hundreds of people pay down their debt and as a bonus for today, he’s offered his incredibly popular student loan debt calculator which helps you get clear on how to pay your debt off. I spent some time playing around with it, and it’s fantastic. Click here to access bonus. Quote:  Being debt free is incredibly powerful psychologically - Travis Hornsby Resources: Student Loan Planner Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

According to recent statistics, 55% of American’s don’t have dental insurance. And if your practice is only serving the 45% of patients that do, you’re leaving a ton of money (and profit) on the table. One way to serve those without insurance is to offer an in-house membership plan, but when done improperly, it can often be more of a headache than a plus. Fortunately, there’s a method to the madness when it comes to in-house membership plans, which is why I’m excited to have today’s guest Jordon Comstock on the show. Jordon is the founder of BoomCloud a membership plan software that helps you focus on what matters. If Jordon's name sounds familiar, you may have heard Jordon and his partner Ben have me on the Navigating Dental Insurance podcast in which discussed dental insurance. What I love about Jordon’s story is how he created a software based on his own needs, and in our conversation, we discuss in-house membership plans in depth. Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode How Jordan got involved in the dental industry. The biggest problems most practices face who have in-house membership plans. Why Jordan’s love of technology and dentistry allowed him to create a product that dentists need. The many benefits of recurring revenue and why that should be a focus. What Jordon learned from developing and testing his software and how it applies to growing your own dental practice. And much more.This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus: A special thanks to Jordon for coming on the show. Whether you already have an in-house membership plan or are considering adding one to your practice, knowing what mistakes to avoid can help save you both time and money. As Jordan mentions, staying organized is one of the key factors in having a successful membership plan. Don’t be that person keeping everything in a google doc. For a bonus today, Jordan has offered his free membership plan ebook which walks you through the dos and dont's of membership plans. Trust me, just by doing one or two of his suggestions will save you a ton of headaches in the future. Also be sure to request a demo with Jordon and his team at BoomCloud if it’s something you might be interested in. Click here to access bonus. Resources: BoomCloud Dental Membership Software  Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

As technology continues to transform the dental industry, the world of insurance and credentialing has become increasingly complex. As a result, dentists are spending more and more of their valuable time trying to figure things out. And if we’re being honest, most dentists don’t exactly get excited about dealing with insurance and properly codifying their services. Which is why I’m so excited about today’s SYDP guest Harold Gornbein, Harold is the founder of Apex Reimbursement Specialists, which helps put money back in dentists pockets and saves tons of the time in the process. With over 20 + years of dealing with insurance, Harold knows exactly what it takes to give dentists the winning edge. I think you’ll enjoy his refreshingly honest take on the world of insurance and negotiation. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Want to learn more about negotiation? Check out Harold's super helpful 5 Steps To Negotiating PPOs Guide here. [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: How to get the most reimbursements back from insurance companies. The mistakes most dental practices make that can cost your practice tens of thousands of dollars. The proper way to codify your services, and why it’s so important. How to put money back into your practice have it work for you. The biggest lessons Harold has learned from dealing with insurance for over 20 years. And much more. This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus: A special thanks to Harold coming on the show. Just making a few tweaks in how you deal with insurance and negotiations can have a lasting effect on your practice's bottom line. As a bonus for today, Harold has shared his 5 Steps To Negotiating PPOs Guide, which is super valuable regardless if you’re a new practice owner, or have been around the block a few times. I highly suggest you take a look. Click here to access bonus. Quotes:  "Everyone needs to understand, the time frame for credentialing negotiations are 30-90 days."  -Harold Gornbein Resources: Apex Reimbursement Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

One of the best parts about running the Start Your Dental Practice podcast is all the interesting opportunities that it has created for me, both personally and professionally. I get emails and phone calls from listeners all the time sharing their successes, failures, and all the big things they want to accomplish. It’s such a great feeling and an incredible honor. On occasion, some listeners will reach out in hopes of coming on the show and to pitch their latest product or service, but as you know, that would go against everything I believe here at SYDP. However, sometimes I get a request from a listener who absolutely blows me away with their story and accomplishments, and that would be today’s guest Dr. Darold Opp. Dr. Darold is a  now retired, former practice owner, who was able to see some great success over the years in the dental industry. He now spends his time helping other dentists get to where they want to go. In our chat we cover a lot of ground, mistakes he’s made, things he did well, and why creating a family-friendly practice is one of the best things you can do. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Enjoyed my conversation with Dr. Darold Opp and want to learn more? Get the How To Create A Successful Dental Practice PDF here. [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: The unbelievable story of how Dr. Darold went on to became a dentist. Why searching for shortcuts can actually hurt your dental practice, and what to do instead. How Dr. Opp went from 500,000 in debt in 2010 to building a wildly successful practice Why making your office kid friendly should be your number one priority. How being creative can really set you apart from your competition. And much more. This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus: A special thanks Dr. Darold for coming on the show. I really enjoyed his approach on how to make your dental practice family friendly and think doing so can help your practice a ton. Sometimes we get so caught up in our “bottom line” we forget about truly serving our patients. As a bonus for today, Dr. Darold has shared his super in-depth powerpoint on how to build a successful practice. There are over a dozen gems that I know you’ll find valuable. Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Quotes:  “If you want to be successful… Life is work.” - Dr. Darold Opp“You have to be creative” - Dr. Darold Opp Resources: Aberdeensmiles.com Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Jonathan created DentistMetrics to solve the problem facing many dentists – they have a complicated business and their time is stretched way too thin. Most dentists spend 15,000 hours learning to be a dentist but ZERO hours learning how to be a business owner. DentistMetrics aims to completely automate and outsource the bookkeeping, financial reporting, and tax portion of the dentist's business so that they can focus on what really matters in their practice. By creating an automated workflow for the dentist and by focusing on showing dentists what numbers they need to be watching, DentistMetrics has allowed dental practices around the country to raise profits by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. When not interviewing dentists on his podcast Start Your Dental Practice, coaching dentists on being a better business owner, or just nerding it up with business owners about ways to be more profitable Jonathan enjoys spending time going to the lake with his wife April, daughter Harper, and son Finn. He's also been known to play golf. (poorly) Weird facts about Jonathan – he was once ranked in the top ten in the nation at whiffleball, played bass guitar in a rock band for eight years, and spent his college years playing semi-professional poker. To learn more about Jonathan's work please visit his websites: www.dentistmetrics.com www.dentistmetrics.com/thegoal - go here to receive a free report about “The Fifteen Numbers that Will Make (or Break) Your Dental Practice” You can email Jonathan at jonathan@dentistmetrics.com. For questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this podcast please email our hosts at help@veritasdentalresources.com.

There are many things that go into building a successful dental practice. Good marketing helps get patients in the door. A high-quality team makes sure things run smoothly. And delivering great service ensures your patients leave happy. But there’s a huge factor, that many small businesses owners, especially dental practices, often neglect, that can have a huge impact on your bottom line. What’s that? Your office design. Look, the second your patients step into your office, you want to make sure you’re leaving a good impression. Which is why I’m excited to have Cheryl Janis founder of Cheryl Janis Designs on the show. Cheryl specializes in building high nurturing environments for purpose-driven physicians and healthcare businesses helping them get the most out of their office space. While we talk a lot about increasing revenues, marketing, and SEO, here on SYDP, I really think Cheryl will make you rethink the importance of design and your office environment.  [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Looking to make some tweaks to your office? Learn what colors are right for your practice here. [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: The biggest mistakes most practice owners make when designing their office, and how to fix them. How to humanize your dental practice and make people love the Why good office design can have a direct impact on your practice revenues. The color that inspires “trust” and how you can implement it in your office today. How just a few additions to your office can transform your patient experience. And much more. This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus: A special thanks for Cheryl coming on the show. Office design is something that isn’t talked about much in the dental industry, but as Cheryl shares, it can really make a difference. Not knowing much about office design myself, I really enjoyed Cheryl’s perspective and hope you came away with a few takeaways as well. As a bonus for today, Cheryl has generously offered her free report on how to choose the right paint colors for your office. If you’ve been meaning to make some office modifications, I highly recommend you give it a look. Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Quotes:  “Building relationships is key in building a profitable practice.” -  Cheryl Janis Resources: Cheryl Janis Designs  Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

We all know, getting on the front page of Google or Bing can have a huge impact on your business, especially when it comes to getting more patients in the chair. But how exactly can you improve your practices SEO? That’s not quite as clear. With no shortage of SEO advice and grand promises from shady marketers, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction with regard to SEO. Which is why I always love talking with marketers and SEO experts who have the results to show. Justin Morgan is one of those experts. He’s the founder and CEO of Dental Marketing Guy and has helped hundreds of dental practice owners improve their SEO. If you’re active on DentalTown or any of the other popular dentist Facebook you’ve likely seen him adding value and engaging with the community. Justin doesn’t just share a bunch of theory of what works, he has the clients and testimonials to back it up. I think you’ll find Justin’s approach to SEO easy to understand and very actionable.  Get The Intro To Invisalinks SEO Video Here Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: How to generate high-quality backlinks without being spammy. The right time to “focus” on SEO and why it’s important. How a strong SEO presence can help you get top dollar if you ever decide to sell your practice. The latest SEO tweaks that actually work… How to get into the psychology of patients to deliver them a better service and experience. And much more This Episode Was Brought To You By... As a CPA for dentists, I get a lot of questions about which banks offer both the best rates and service for current and future practice owners and I virtually always recommend Bank of America. As such, I've teamed up to with Bank of America because I believe they are the best at what they do and want to help you get the best dental loan possible. If you're interested in learning more based on what I discussed on the show, simply text "BankLoan" to the number 33444, and I'll put you in touch with my direct contact at BOA. There's no catch, or obligation if you decide it's not for you after learning more. I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have. Full disclosure -- If you move forward with this goes to help me continue making the Start Your Dental Practice podcast the best podcast and resource for dental practice owners. Free Episode Bonus A very special thanks for Justin coming on the show. I hope you enjoyed our conversation as much as I did. If you’ve been slacking with your SEO efforts, it’s time to start putting the work in so you can get results. As a bonus for today, Justin has offered an exclusive 41-minute introduction video for his upcoming course Invisalinks Dental SEO. It’s jam packed with value, even if you end up not purchasing his course, I highly recommend you give it a watch. To get the bonus, simply text PRACTICE to 33444. Again, that’s PRACTICE to 33444 or visit startyourdentalpractice.com/bonus if you’re outside of the US. You'll also receive updates on the latest episodes of Start Your Dental Practice, helpful tips for owning and running a practice, and promotional opportunities direct to your inbox.    Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Quotes:  “ Getting into the psychology of the search is the future of SEO.” - Justin Morgan “ One of the best ways to improve your SEO, is get links through high quality website.” - Justin Morgan Resources: DentalMarketingGuy InvisalinksMethod Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Anyone can grow a successful practice with the right strategy, attitude, and a little bit of luck. I truly believe that. But being a dentist is about more than just padding your pockets. It’s about service. It’s about community. It’s about making a difference, while also building a life of financial freedom. No one starts their dental practice wanting to just get by. But unfortunately, that’s exactly where many practices end up. And I want to help change that. Of course, everyone has different metrics of success, but at the end of the day, you want to make a difference while being financially free. Which is why I’m so excited to have Dr. Chris Phelps back on the show… you may remember him from episode 6 over two years ago… Not only is he an incredibly successful practice owner, he is truly one of the “good guys” in the dental space… Dr. Chris is the owner of Carolinas Dental Center of Matthews, and founder of Call Tracker ROI. And since we last talked, he’s continued to grow his practices and give back to the community. I think you’ll really enjoy our conversation. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Learn How To Increase Case Acceptance Through Ethical Persuasion   Click here! [/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: How To Reduce No Shows And Increase Your Revenues Virtually Overnight Dr. Chris’s Best Tips And Tricks For Effectively Managing A High Performing Team How To Ethically Persuade Your Patients And Team Why Dr. Chris Started Golden Goose Scheduling The biggest challenges dentists face with scheduling… and how to overcome them. How To Do More With Less… And Why It’s Important For Your Practice And much more… Free Episode Bonus A special thanks to Chris for coming back on the show. It’s been great to see how much he’s done in the two years since we’ve last talked. And it just goes to show, when you focus on the right things… you can see great success with your dental practice. As a bonus today, he's offered to share some of his best tips and strategies to increase case acceptance. To get the bonus, simply text PRACTICE to 33444. Again, that’s PRACTICE to 33444 or visit startyourdentalpractice.com/bonus if you’re outside of the US. You’ll also receive updates on the latest episodes of Start Your Dental Practice, helpful tips for owning and running a practice, and promotional opportunities direct to your inbox. Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Resources: Golden Goose Scheduling  Call Tracker ROI  Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

It turns out, many dentist practice owners need help getting their retirement plans in order, based on the incredible response we received from SYDP 75 with Tom Zgainer from America’s Best 401k. I received dozens of personal emails from SYDP listeners saying how informative the episode was and how it really helped them to start thinking about their future. And I wanted to have Tom back on the show to dive deeper. In today’s episode, we get a little more technical and go in depth on everything you need to know about 401K’s as a dental practice owner. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Get your personalized plan for retirement options. Click here![/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode: The many types of 401K plans, and how to decide which one is right for you. How To Maximize Your Retirement Opportunities How To Build The “Habit of Saving” — Yes Saving Is A Habit The Differences Between A Traditional IRA and ROTH IRA. Why Some Action Is Better Than None When It Comes To Retirement Free Episode Bonus A special thanks to Tom for coming back on the show. Planning for the future is one of the best things you can do to ensure both a successful practice and life. When it comes to retirement, things can be a little bit tricky. But as you learned on the show, inaction can cost you.. Especially if you’re young and just starting out. So if there’s one episode you take action on this year, make it be this one. As a bonus for today, Tom has generously offered a personalized illustration plan of various retirement options, regardless of where you stand today. To get the bonus, simply text PRACTICE to 33444. Again, that’s PRACTICE to 33444 or visit startyourdentalpractice.com/bonus if you’re outside of the US. You’ll also receive updates on the latest episodes of Start Your Dental Practice, helpful tips for owning and running a practice, and promotional opportunities direct to your inbox.   Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Quotes: “You have to plan for the sunny AND the rainy days...” - Tom Zgainer “ Retirement is daunting if you procrastinate.. But not if you start today…” - Tom Zgainer “You have to be willing to commit to this….” Tom Zgainer Resources: America'sBest401k Email: Tomz@americasbest401k.com It's Your Money   Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this show wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

As we say time and time again here at Start Your Dental Practice, building a successful practice is many years of hard work. And where there’s no shortage of tips and strategies to help take your practice to the next level.. There’s something that isn’t often talked about in the dental space. The topic? Retirement. Look, even if you just graduated and are just now beginning your journey.. Or if you’ve been at it for a decade -- it’s never too early (or too late) to get your ducks in a row -- especially when it comes to retirement. You can have the most successful practice imaginable, but without a solid retirement plan, in the end, you’ll be asking yourself “what happened?” I want to help change that. Which is why I’m excited to share my conversation with Tom Zgainer CEO and founder of America’s Best 401k. For the last 30 years, he’s helped small and large business owners craft the perfect retirement plan, while specifically focusing on the power of 401K’s. Even if you haven’t even begun to think about the “R Word” I know you’ll get a ton out of our conversation, especially if you’re just getting started. I even took a ton of my notes myself. [su_note note_color="#028000 " text_color="#ffffff " radius="5"] Get your personalized plan for retirement options. Click here![/su_note] Here are a few things you'll discover in today's episode Why Starting Your 401 k  Plan NOW Is the Best Thing You Can For Future Wealth The Power of The Compound Effect And How It Affects Your Business And Life The “Sunny Day” Philosophy And How To Get Started Today. 3 Alternatives To 401K’s That Will Help Get You And Your Money On Track Free Episode Bonus A special thanks to Tom for coming on the show. Planning for the future is one of the best things you can do to ensure both a successful practice and life. When it comes to retirement, things can be a little bit tricky. But as you learned on the show, inaction can cost you.. Especially if you’re young and just starting out. So if there’s one episode you take action on this year, make it be this one. As a bonus for today, Tom has generously offered a personalized illustration plan of various retirement options if you're starting out and a quick review of your plan if you already have one.  Click here to access bonus by just following the instructions. Quotes: “We never worry about our money.. Until we do” - Tom Zgainer Resources: America'sBest401k Email: Tomz@americasbest401k.com  Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this should wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Back again from the Voices of Dentistry Podcast Summit in Nashville, TN as Gabe and Justin interview Jonathan VanHorn, CPA/ABV, the Chief of Accounting, Tax, and Coaching at DentistMetrics, about the financial side of dental practice management. Jonathan shares his thoughts and advice on starting a dental practice, financial mistakes, loans, interest, and taxes. To learn more about Jonathan VanHorn's company DentistMetrics, visit: http://dentistmetrics.com/ Listen to Jonathan VanHorn's podcast “Start Your Dental Practice here: http://dentistmetrics.com/category/podcast/start-your-dental-practice/

Check out this interview I just had with Jonathon Van Horn. He is a Dental specific CPA who I feel like really does provide his clients enormous benefit. If I were in the market CPA he would for sure be on my short list. Give him a shout and tell him you heard him on the podcast. Special thanks to him for taking time out of his super busy season to join us. Below is from his website www.dentistmetrics.com and his email is Jonathon@dentistmetrics.com. Jonathan created DentistMetrics to solve the problem facing many dentists – they have a complicated business and their time is stretched way too thin.  Most dentists spend 15,000 hours learning to be a dentist but ZERO hours learning how to be a business owner. DentistMetrics aims to completely automate and outsource the bookkeeping, financial reporting, and tax portion of the dentist's business so that they can focus on what really matters in their practice. By creating an automated workflow for the dentist and by focusing on showing dentists what numbers they need to be watching, DentistMetrics has allowed dental practices around the country to raise profits by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. When not interviewing dentists on his podcast Start Your Dental Practice, coaching dentists on being a better business owner, or just nerding it up with business owners about ways to be more profitable Jonathan enjoys spending time going to the lake with his wife April, daughter Harper, and son Finn. He's also been known to play golf. (poorly) Weird facts about Jonathan – he was once ranked in the top ten in the nation at whiffleball, played bass guitar in a rock band for eight years, and spent his college years playing semi-professional poker.

Dr. Domingue and Dr. Moody interview Jonathan VanHorn, CPA/ABV, the Chief of Accounting, Tax, and Coaching at DentistMetrics, about the financial side of dental practice management. Jonathan shares his thoughts and advice on starting a dental practice, financial mistakes, loans, interest, and taxes. To learn more about Jonathan VanHorn’s company DentistMetrics, visit: http://dentistmetrics.com/ Listen to Jonathan VanHorn’s podcast “Start Your Dental Practice here: http://dentistmetrics.com/category/podcast/start-your-dental-practice/ For more information about Care Credit, visit: https://www.carecredit.com/ For more information about Lending Club, visit: https://www.lendingclub.com/   The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual participants and not necessarily that of the AAID. Register for upcoming District Meetings: Northeast and Southern District Meeting, April 7-8, 2017, Pittsburgh, PA: http://www.aaid.com/education/2017-Northeast-and-Southern-District-Meeting.html Central and Western District Meeting, June 9-10, 2017, Chicago, IL: http://www.aaid.com/education/2017-Central-and-Western-Districts-Meeting-Solving-Dental-Implant-Dilemmas.html Founded in 1951, the Academy is the first professional organization in the world dedicated to implant dentistry. Its membership includes general dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists, prosthodontists and others interested in the field of implant dentistry. As a membership organization, we currently represent over 5,500 dentists worldwide. Want to be a guest on the podcast? Email us at podcast@aaid.com. Subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Podcasts, SoundCloud and, of course, check out our website at www.aaidpodcast.com.

This special episode, presented by Alan Mead of The Dental Hacks, features a round table recording featuring five of the presenters that will be featured in the upcoming Voices of Dentistry Summit in Nashville, TN on January 27-28th! We feature Dr. Justin Moody from the "Dentists, Implants and Worms" podcast, Jonathan VanHorn from the "Start Your Dental Practice" podcast, Dr. Bilal Saib of "The Passionate Dentist" podcast and Dr. Jon Rogers of "the Dental Guys" podcast. We have some laughs as well as talk about how we started as well as what we see are the main problems facing dentistry as a profession.  Go get your ticket to the Voices of Dentistry Summit! All your favorite dental podcasters in one place doing the thing they do best!

Dr. Josh Austin gets to try a lot of new stuff. Some of the stuff he tries, he keeps using. And that's what he's going to tell us about in episode 118. Josh is the co-host of the Accidental Geniuses podcast and he writes the "Pearls for Your Practice" column in Dental Economics! Here's some of the things he likes: Orascoptic loupes Apple Mactinosh computers OperaDDS Ivoclar Adhese Universal (pen)  3M Tru Def Scanner Oral Arts Laboratory What would you do? That's what we ask in the Brain Trust segment in episode 118. Jason and Alan were joined by Dr. Jason Luchetefeld, Dr. Will Wyatt and Dr. Rich Weber to play a game of "what would you do?" Here's how it works: Alan throws out a plausible situation that could happen in the dental office and the Brain Trust takes turns deciding how they might handle the situation. In episode 118 we talk patients with untreated hypertension, patients who slide through financial arrangements and a bunch of other fun stuff. Listeners, let us know if you liked this segment! Some links from the show: It's time to join the Dental Hacks Nation closed Facebook group! Interact with other Dental Hacks listeners, guests and Brain Trust members every day, all day! This is an absolute blast! It's time to buy your ticket to The Voices of Dentistry dental podcasting summit! The lineup is going to be amazing! All of your favorite dental podcasters in one place! Last week we released a Hackisode that featured Dr. Justin Moody of the "Implants, Dentists and Worms" podcast, Dr. Jon Rogers of "the Dental Guys Podcast," Dr. Bilal Saib of the "Passionate Dentist Podcast" and Jonathan VanHorn of the "Start Your Dental Practice" podcast. Cosmedent is the premier manufacturer of tints and opaquers for modifying color in resin materials. They're simple to use and can make a huge difference in your composite and provisional esthetics! Cosmedent is offering our listeners 10% off any orders for the month of October. Use "October" at checkout and you can try some of the terrific materials and instruments that Jason and Alan are loving! Go Hack Yourself: Jason: Cosmedent tints Alan: Google Pixel smartphone If you have any questions or comments for us please drop us an email at info@dentalhacks.com or find us (and like us!) at www.facebook.com/dentalhacks. Or, if you prefer...give us a call at (866) 223-5257 and leave us a message. You might be played in the show! If you like us, why not leave us a review on iTunes? It helps us get found by like minded people and might even help us get into "What's Hot" in the iTunes store! Go to this link and let the world know about the DentalHacks! Finally, if you aren't an Apple person, consider reviewing us on Stitcher at: stitcher.com/podcast/the-dentalhacks-podcast! If you would like to support the podcast you can check out our Patreon page! Although the show will always remain free to download, our Patreon supporters get access to special bonus content including (at least) one extra podcast episode every months! Also be sure to check out the Dental Hacks swag store where you can find t-shirts, stickers coffee mugs and all sorts of other things that let the world know you're a part of the Hacks Nation!

Hackisode 9 features a round table recording featuring 5 of the presenters that will be featured in the upcoming Voices of Dentistry Summit in Nashville, TN on January 27-28th! We feature Dr. Justin Moody from the "Dentists, Implants and Worms" podcast, Jonathan VanHorn from the "Start Your Dental Practice" podcast, Dr. Bilal Saib of "The Passionate Dentist" podcast and Dr. Jon Rogers of "the Dental Guys" podcast. We have some laughs as well as talk about how we started as well as what we see are the main problems facing dentistry as a profession.  Go get your ticket to the Voices of Dentistry Summit! All your favorite dental podcasters in one place doing the thing they do best!

Jonathan VanHorn is a CPA for dentists, a podcaster (Start Your Dental Practice) and an overall smart guy when it comes to improving dental practice revenues. In today’s podcast we talk about ways dentists can gain control of their practice, and have a better understanding of where to go to set your future up with … Continue reading "Jonathan VanHorn – CPA For Dentists Episode #26" The post Jonathan VanHorn – CPA For Dentists Episode #26 appeared first on Dental Internet Marketing & Website Design.

Running a dental practice is hard. Every day you have thousands of things that are vying for your intention. And sometimes, in our desire to make things happen we neglect the the basics. Which is why I’m so excited to have Kerry Straine, the CEO of Straine consulting on the show today. Kerry has helped hundreds of practice owners master the fundamentals and take their practice to the next level.   Go here to get today’s bonus – a complimentary one-hour consultation and Discovery Tools through the Strain Dental Practice Analysis with Kerry [/su_note] Here are a few things you’ll discover in today’s episode: How a single lunch changed Kerry’s career. The largest expense for dentist practices today and how to soften the blow. How to calculate supply and demand for your practice and why it matters Why picking the “Low Fruit” is so important for your practice. The importance of finding your “number” to thrive.. Not just survive. Discover the “patient flow litmus test” The number one indicator of dental practice success. How to use the profit formula for your practice. What makes a good business owner in general and how to apply to your practice. When to expand your practice to multiple locations. How to make the most of your dental practice Why your balance sheet matters more than your income statement.   Free Episode Bonus: As Kerry mentioned, you must master the basics to really move the needle in your dental practice. Today’s bonus is exclusive for Start Your Dental Practice listeners. It’s a complimentary one-hour consultation and Discovery Tools through the Strain Dental Practice Analysis with Kerry. Go here to access that now. Quotes: “If you don’t have a plan in place, you’re planning to fail.” – Kerry Straine Resources: Straine Consulting Kerry Straine’s personal cell phone number – 916-765-7200 Strain Consulting Contact The Strain Consulting Blog   Support The Show: Without you, Ambitious Dentists, this should wouldn’t exist. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please go here to give the show an honest rating and review in iTunes. This allows me to evolve the show as it goes on, and also helps spread the word to other podcast listeners since iTunes promotes shows with active engagement.

Listen or Subscribe on iTunes     Welcome to another episode of The Dentalpreneur Podcast. Joining us today is Jonathan VanHorn. Jonathan is a CPA, founder and creator of Dentists Metrics—a coaching and virtual accounting firm for dentists, and host of the “Start Your Dental Practice” podcast. After years as a corporate and small business […] The post 050: Jonathan VanHorn – Inside The Mind Of The Dental CPA appeared first on Dental Success Institute Blog.