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This Dental Specific Podcast is dedicated to the Dental "Entrepreneur" Michael Dinsio, Founder of Next Level Consultants, delivers #TRUTH when starting up a dental practice. From the very first step to getting the keys of a dental practice, Michael shares his raw & unscripted playbook with you. Not only does this podcast provide you with "What To Do" but more importantly "What Not To Do". With over over 15 years of experience & over 150 past clients, Michael delivers an educational and informative program in a real and genuine way. Start w/ Episode 01 - as we go through a STEP by STEP process.
Startup Unscripted.
The questions you have with
the truths you need to hear.
And now your host, Michael D'Incio.
what up what up guys hey
welcome back to another
episode of startup
unscripted this is mike
dinsia as you guys know
founder of next level
consultants and we are in
the midst of kids week uh
kids week we do shark week
this is kids week
I'm super excited about the
guest we have today because
very rarely do we have an
opportunity to talk to
someone that's been through
the startup journey is a
pediatric dentist.
His name is Dr. Jared Johnson.
He's the owner of Arctic Dental,
a professor at Iowa University.
I met him at the AAPD.
Uh,
while I was there this year in Toronto
and, um, uh,
I'm super excited to interview you doc,
but before we get into you
and your story and your journey,
I do want to do a shout out
to the sponsor of kid week, uh, which is,
uh, as you guys already know,
it's a super mouth.
It's a fantastic system to
incorporate into any dental office.
I'm a big fan of SuperMouth, you guys know,
and you've seen it in other episodes.
My kids are absolutely
obsessed with this stuff.
And my most favorite thing
about the SuperMouth system
is that it creates a
residual business within your business
Not very often.
You guys are always talking
about how difficult and how
grinding dentistry can be.
Well,
start creating a residual business
within your business so
that you don't have to work
so hard for your revenue
and forget the business side of it.
The kids love it.
They're brushing.
They're obsessed with brushing.
If I tell them, oh,
don't worry about just go to bed.
It's late.
They're like, no, you know,
the superheroes are telling
me that I'm going to get the bugs.
So I just I just really endorse it,
which is why they're the
sponsor of this particular week.
So check it out real quick.
Another special announcement.
If you guys have been following,
we are going to.
merge and rebrand our
podcast into one brand.
It's going to be called
Dental Unscripted soon.
So today it's Startup Unscripted.
If you guys are going down
or thinking about going
down the startup path,
we also have Dental
Acquisition Unscripted.
Of course,
that's buying a practice and all
about buying.
it started getting a little crazy guys,
managing two podcasts, two things,
two YouTube channels, all of the things.
So we're just gonna bring it
all into one hub called
Dental Unscripted.
And the other cool thing is,
is I've helped a lot of you
guys get into ownership.
And now you're looking for
practice management tips.
And so you're going to get a lot of those.
I'm going to be splashing in
the eight to ten coaches
that Next Level has to
start giving you guys tips
on AR and team management
and culture and leadership
and billing and all the things.
And so that's going to be a
really good resource for you guys.
So Dental Unscripted,
go subscribe to it now.
We're going to get that set up.
But anyways, without further ado, sorry,
Doc, I had to get all that out.
You have a podcast, you understand.
Welcome to the show, Dr. Jared Johnson.
Yeah, Michael, thanks for having me.
And just piggybacking on
what you're talking about,
the residual business with
inside of your business,
I kind of felt guilty selling toothpaste,
but I don't anymore.
It's a benefit for your patient.
When I looked at the facts,
if you're going to write a prescription,
less than half of your
patients are going to pick that up.
where they can go ahead and
take the toothpaste that
you already have at your office.
They take it home.
And if you've got a program
where they're excited about it, I mean,
it just makes sense.
I don't feel guilty.
And it's a benefit to the patient.
If they're going to use it
and have fewer cavities,
that's a win for them, a win for you,
and a win for everyone on your team.
It's definitely a win.
And the SuperMouth system,
they have non-fluoride and fluoride.
They got all kinds of options.
So whatever your patient base is,
they're going to have a
product that fits.
SuperMouth did not pay Dr.
Johnson to say that.
So that's great.
It just makes sense.
I don't bring people on if I
don't feel like it makes sense.
And so that's a great program.
But
Doc, tell me a little bit about you,
my friend.
So I already kind of gave
everybody the heads up here.
You've been in the game for a minute,
nine years in dentistry.
You did a startup,
and we're going to get into all of that.
But just kind of give me your background.
Let's get to know Dr. Johnson real quick.
Yeah, so I'm a pediatric dentist.
I went out to University of Nevada,
Las Vegas.
I had a great experience out there.
And during my first year is
when I decided I wanted to do a startup.
And my family's from Iowa,
and we knew we wanted to
come back to Iowa.
And when you're looking for a place to go,
it's about location.
And I personally, I didn't want to be
where everyone's going now.
I didn't want to be in the
big city and have to
compete with everyone.
So we looked at communities
that had a need in the
state of Iowa and we located four.
And one of them happened to
be pretty close to where my
wife and my family are from.
And so we decided to pick Muscatine, Iowa.
It's about forty minutes
from where we're from.
And we started looking for
buildings and we were off from there.
So I was planning in my
first year residency,
planning layouts and build
outs and financing and- All the things.
All the things.
I think my camera's having problems here.
You're okay.
We can still hear you great though.
So it records separate.
So we're good.
Let's just keep rolling with it.
So one thing that you just said,
I'd love to dig into, Dr. Johnson,
and that is how you picked your location.
But big picture, guys,
why you might want to
consider listening to Dr. Johnson.
He is now at a place where
he's got over four thousand patients.
He's trying to figure out
how to cut down on infections.
insurance so he's in a
really good place he's
going to share his woes I'm
sure but um he did this and
you guys can do it too and
so um let's get let's get
into some of that if you don't mind um so
doc when you chose your
location just because you
said it you just keyed in
on something that I really
uh appreciate and liked and
that is you reverse
engineered where the need
for dentistry was is that
what I heard yeah I mean
it's if you look at where
all the grads are going the
pediatric grads now they're
all going to the biggest
city in iowa and it's like
you're gonna be fine,
but you're gonna be
fighting for those new patients.
And I think there's also
something to be said about
giving back to the community.
And then also, in a smaller community,
you're gonna have more
opportunity if you're
interested to serve on
boards and be a part of
other things that can
really bring a well-rounded
and balanced life to you.
With the location,
I actually was in Las Vegas
when we were trying to find it.
So I ended up hiring a
company that worked with
Build Outs for Dental to
actually go in and they
didn't know it was a
dentist that was coming in
to negotiate the price of
the building with them.
But we were able to look at
a few different sites and we found one.
I was very lucky.
I got one right next to a supermarket.
So great visibility from an
aspect of marketing.
First few years,
I just had a tin sign on
the wall before we put the
big one out there.
Just pediatric dentist.
That's it, right?
I took the sign off the
building that was there
from the previous owner and
painted it and had a local
company put my logo on it.
And that was about it for a while.
What you just said was
interesting because a lot of my clients,
they want to be where everybody else is.
And so what you just said is
exactly what I try to get
my clients to think about.
And that's really just
reverse engineering.
Where's the need in an area
and be willing to go there?
And you're going to have a
fantastic lifestyle,
a fantastic business.
And I think if you look at perspective,
where do you spend most of your time?
You spend it at work and
then probably during the week,
you're probably at home most of the time.
You're not out.
doing all these things that
you want to be doing on the weekend.
And you still have that
opportunity if you're close
enough to travel and be
there on the weekend if you want to.
Yeah, I mean, it one thousand percent.
And I think the key is,
is are you willing to are
you willing to live pretty
much anywhere or any maybe
more in a rural area?
And I think it has just some major,
major benefits.
And by the way, when we say rural,
it doesn't mean like in the
middle of nowhere where
there's like no nothing to do.
Like like there's a lot of
like what I would call
fringe fringe markets or, you
uh areas where uh they're
emerging and that might be
like twenty thirty forty
minutes even into the the
major the major cities and
you can kind of have both
so if you're willing to
kind of stretch those
limits that's that's that's
awesome um let's pivot though doc um
Let's pivot because I want
to get back before we kind
of get into the mechanics
of the startup itself.
That's what this whole program is about.
I really want to tap into
you and like how you felt
and all the things that you went through.
Uh, and, and then,
and then now kind of where you're at.
So like, there's like,
there is a light at the end
of the tunnel.
You have a successful business,
you're kicking butt,
but let's get back to like
some of those challenges.
If you can take yourself
back at almost a decade now,
and let's talk about like
some of the things that you
thought about after you opened,
because startups are hard and scary.
And, um, like what are, what's,
what are a few things that
you can remember that were extremely like,
um, uh,
just extremely difficult or
scary for yourself.
Do you remember?
Can you take yourself back to that?
Yeah, I think just getting patience.
I mean, you're obviously new.
You don't have the
reputation that you may
have had at a previous job
or maybe you're just coming
out of school and you have no reputation.
And that can be a challenge
coming into a new community
to try to build that base
because a lot of it's word of mouth.
People say...
had they had a good experience with you.
And I think that's really picks up,
but that's going to take
time because you have to build that.
So I remember we were,
when we first started,
my assistants and I were
out at the mall and Walmart
putting flyers on the
windshields of cars.
I mean,
we were doing everything we could
to hustle,
to try to get the word out that, Hey,
we're here,
here are the services we offer.
And we can really give your
child a great experience.
Yeah.
So did you find that like,
did you find like the grassroots efforts,
the ground marketing, as they say,
worked the best or it was a
combination of all of it, but like,
Like what works the best for you?
I mean,
I don't want to make it a marketing
episode, but at the same time,
I don't feel like my
clients give the grassroots
and ground marketing efforts enough,
like enough juice.
They really rely on external marketing.
And I think you have some
ideas and comments about that,
but they just don't give it enough.
Yeah, I think, I mean, it's work, right?
It's definitely not easy to go out and do,
you know, an event and have a booth.
I remember we had, when we came,
we went to the farmer's
market and just had
information and we were
putting tattoos on the kids.
And lo and behold, you know,
we come back and some of our patients,
that's where they came.
We find that out eight years later that,
oh yeah,
we met you at the farmer's market.
And it's like,
Well, I guess it did work.
Maybe you don't,
maybe you don't track it as well,
but I think it's super simple.
Um, when we do,
if we go to like a Halloween thing,
we take an iPad and sign
people up for give away something.
You give me your email.
Hey, by the way,
now we shoot you one a week or two later.
with just a promotional or, Hey,
here we are.
You just created a lead there.
And I don't know if Dennis
realized how hard it is to, you know,
get those leads,
but it's definitely an
opportunity for you to give
away something nice.
Maybe it's a Bluetooth
speaker and just collect
their email and follow up with them.
It's super simple.
And you'd be surprised how
many people would be
willing to give you their
email for a chance to win something.
Yeah,
any tips on the verbal skills of that?
Because it sounds like
you're the type of guy that
just goes and gets it done.
A lot of my clients are just like,
what do I say when someone walks up?
Or they almost make it a
little bit too complicated.
And to me, that...
Those conversations just come natural.
It's like, oh, you know, whatever.
How what is she about six years old?
That's great.
Like, what is she into?
Like, I just start talking.
It comes so natural from a
dentist to to the audience,
dentist to dentist.
Like,
how do you even start those
conversations?
And like you said,
it sounds like it is easy
just to get information from folks.
Yeah, I think, I mean,
obviously you can start
with what you're giving
away and you're probably
gonna have something kid friendly.
I would say probably
balloons are one of the
biggest hits that you could get.
you could do for a kid kids
love balloons a balloon on
a stick with your logo
super simple super cost
effective yeah great way to
start the conversation
temporary tattoos are
another hit that we've done
kids love those we just had
the state fair in iowa and
all the kids are coming to
my office now and they're
just it's like they've got
their own sleeve on of
tattoo these businesses are
they branded for you
No, these are from like the fair,
but we have ones,
we have Arctic dental ones
that we did too.
And I love that.
He doesn't even care what
that farm thing is.
They just got the tattoo and they love it.
It's not even,
it's like the idea behind it.
So just having like something like that,
you can even do it, you know,
something as simple as a sticker,
but something to,
give to the kid to engage
that conversation.
And I'm guessing if you're a
pediatric dentist,
you're probably going to be
able to have a conversation with the kid,
maybe about something they're wearing,
their shoes.
You can pick up anything on
a kid and give them a compliment.
And that's a great way.
And if you're not comfortable,
you can have one of your
assistants do it that's comfortable.
It doesn't have to be you.
And then after you do that conversation,
say, oh, hey, by the way,
we were giving away this
Bluetooth speaker if you'd like to enter.
fill out this simple ipad
form that's I I love that I
love that you've at you're
asking because again having
conversation being there
being part of the
experience is one thing and
it's good for branding but
but the key there uh there
there's no surprise doctor
has over four thousand
patients the key is is
asking asking people hey do
you have a pediatrician I'd
love to love to be it if not and and
please sign up and get on
our VIP list because when a
lot of these startups are
doing a lot of these
activities before they even open.
And the best case scenario
would be you have like, you know,
a hundred,
two hundred kids on the list
before you've even opened.
There's Halloween coming up.
There's all kinds of fun things.
But so you actually have an
iPad and you have people
just go for it right there.
Yeah.
Just set up a Google form.
If you wanted to not even have that,
you could have a QR code
they scan on their form
that goes to the Google form.
You don't even have to have
the iPad anymore.
I guess that's just what
I've done in the past.
Maybe I need to update things a little bit,
but it's super simple.
It's just to say name, email.
I love it.
I think that's great advice.
It is simple.
It is simple.
It's not overcomplicated.
And let's just get out and
start shaking hands and
quote unquote kissing babies.
I think that's great.
So clearly that was a big thing for you.
Of course,
the normal direct mail and
pay-per-click and all the
things that the marketing companies,
we have a whole shark week on that.
But organic and ground marketing,
we're just not talking
enough about and doing enough.
It's blood, sweat, and tears.
Let's take it back even more
before something that you
said before we even started this episode.
And that was that feeling, Doctor, of...
Am I going to make it?
What is this supposed to feel like?
How busy should I be?
I find that a lot of my
clients have this expectation of just,
you know,
ten kids a day right out of the gate.
And that's just not how startups work.
Did you have a lot of those expectations?
feelings when you started like, oh,
my gosh,
I'm super slow or we're not going
to make it kind of think
about those first six months,
because I just think
there's a lot of those panic attacks.
You usually come from like a
really busy office like
yours as an associate.
And then you do a startup and you're like,
whoa, what is going on?
Any tips there or thoughts
about mindset or grit that
you can think about that
you can say or give give the audience?
Yeah,
I don't know what the situation is
now with the banks,
but less than two percent
of dental practices fail.
So you're a pretty good bet
for these bankers.
When I opened up,
I joke with my my
colleagues that I was a
reverse millionaire when I
opened my office.
I had four hundred thousand
dollars in student debt and
about one million in practice.
Yeah, that sounds right.
And I put no money down.
Yeah, no, that's the same money down.
That's the same.
It's the same million dollars.
So
That is kind of a good thing
to have in your back of your mind.
You're going to get some working capital.
I was lucky I didn't have to
dip into any working
capital with my startup.
But you're going to start out.
You're probably going to be
maybe two patients a day.
I mean, on a good day, maybe six.
And, you know, I was lean.
I was doing the cleanings
myself at that time because
we had one assistant that
was helping out with the
phone and the front desk.
And if they had a sibling in,
I'd do a cleaning next to them.
We'd do the treatment on
another time off until we started –
to grow the needs and it can be scary,
but every patient that
comes in your office is
another opportunity to get
that word of mouth going.
It's so simple.
We don't do it enough.
It's just, just have your assistant,
your front desk after
they're done with the appointment,
how did things go for you today?
And they rave about it.
That's the time to ask for the review.
That's the time to ask for, Oh,
who else do you know that
could use our help?
Yeah, no, I don't have an answer.
Well,
then just who specifically came to
mind that you thought of?
We would love to have you reach out.
Here's a card.
Here's our information.
We'd love to have you reach
out to to have them have
the experience that your kid had with us.
That's super, super, super simple.
But too many people are
afraid to ask for that.
And that is.
on top of getting the patient,
they know so many people.
They get involved in the community.
They do.
If you make that wow moment
and a kid's experience and
parents appreciate that
you're really trying to
help that kiddo have a good
experience and all the
things are clicking and it works.
Of course,
we always have those one
patients that just
everything goes wrong on,
but that's not normal, right?
And so when you have those
incredible experiences,
I think you're right.
Like parents and moms and dads,
they wanna almost share and
tell other moms and dads.
It's like a thing with kids
and parents is like,
that's all we know how to
talk about because we work
and take care of our kids.
That's all we do all day.
And so when you're with friends and family,
like that's the best,
they're the easiest ones to
start talking.
Do you have some internal
marketing programs that,
that um that entice or
inspire people to to refer
refer into your practice
yeah we don't have one
going on right now we have
in the past we um would
give away starbucks gift
card with a nice thermal
insulated mug with our logo
on it um that was something
that we did for a while um
kind of hard to
Kind of hard to track,
but you got to have a good
system down to make sure
you're getting people when
they do refer the credit
that they deserve.
But that's one thing that
we've done in the past.
Right now, we're trying to cut back.
We're trying to get to be
less busy and more
profitable with the fewer
patients that we're going to see.
So we're not really trying
to grow in that sense right
now until I can get the
schedule back under control
where I'm comfortable.
Yeah, let's let's hit that in a second,
because they're at about that.
Like you said,
that that a seven to ten
year mark doctors are
looking to scale or become
more profitable.
It's you're starting to have
more options to to to do that.
And you start playing with
the puzzle pieces and and all of that.
Yeah.
but, but real quick, um,
when was it in your experience?
Again, you went rural, you,
you did it right.
You waterfalled upwards.
You started with an area
that need needed a pediatric dentist and,
and built it from there.
So you probably had a really fast start.
A lot of people that go
right downtown Seattle,
right downtown Denver,
they're just going to grind
a little bit more, but in your
In your mind,
when did things start feeling like, gosh,
I'm going to be okay.
I'm breaking even.
How quickly did you hit that mark?
I think probably year two
was when it finally got to
be comfortable.
And then, I mean, four and five,
I was getting one hundred
seventy two new patients a month.
What?
It was just again, demographics matter.
If that's not the theme of
today's to today's episode
is demographics matter.
But but you also you did a
lot of really good things.
So I can't take that away from you.
Yeah.
But one hundred and seventy
five new patients a month.
That's crazy.
But but you said after about a year,
things started really feeling good.
Did you quit your did you
keep an associate job
before you quit totally?
Or yeah, no,
I went in and I think what you
got to also keep in mind is
your recall system is going to hit.
So every six months, it's a huge jump up.
Yeah.
And you've got to keep that in mind.
So it's not like you have
that recall bill.
You're starting from nothing.
Yes, that's right.
So every six months,
you're going to essentially
have double the patients on
your schedule.
That's a good job.
If you've got a ninety percent recall.
Well, even if you don't,
I love that you said ninety percent.
That's that's our target.
But even if you had seventy
five or sixty percent,
which I would be terribly
disappointed in that.
But still, to that point in six months,
you should have double the patients.
And then I love that you said that, Doc.
I literally just got off the
phone with a GP, not a pedo.
I'm not supposed to talk
about GP's kids week,
but a GP that that was kind
of hovering at the twenty
thousand a month mark in production.
He's actually just hit thirty.
So let's just say he hit thirty.
He's in month five and he's
just kind of like bummed a little bit.
And rental rates are so
expensive in downtown
Phoenix where he's at again,
downtown Phoenix.
But I just remind them, like, dude,
you're about to hit your sixth month.
And then all of a sudden,
your schedule is going to feel full.
And then you're right, Doc.
It does it again in the next six months.
So I love that you said that.
You said a year in.
So technically, that's two hygiene cycles.
So now you almost kind of
have like that triple
patient count in a day, give or take,
right?
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that mindset
will help give you a little
more confidence too,
that you can look at your
schedule and know it's
going to essentially for the first one,
double,
and then maybe a quarter size that
the next time it's just,
it gives you a peace of
mind and they're going to
keep coming back if you're
doing the right thing.
What was, um, I love this.
This is like speed round.
Let's just tap into everything.
Have you had a coach before
you're saying all the right things?
You had a consultant in your,
in your career?
Yeah, so we have a consultant right now.
Awesome.
So what do you get out of a consultant?
You're really hitting all
the points that a consultant would say.
What have you seen the benefits of that?
Or maybe you haven't.
Maybe you're working with a
terrible consultant.
I'm joking.
Totally joking.
Yeah,
so I think you go to school to learn
dentistry.
You don't go to learn the business stuff.
And I think...
It's nice to have someone
helping you to know what you don't know.
And you're a smart person.
You may not need the consultant forever.
And you may want it just to
have someone there to help
out with your team.
Because they can do other things,
not just the business side of stuff.
They can help with team and relationships.
But I think that really
helps you build relationships.
a profitable office where
you're not having a ton of
money that's not being
collected you're being
profitable you're able to
pay the overhead I mean
you've got a a practice
note and maybe you have
rent I mean you gotta you
gotta pay the bills a lot a
lot of expenses there's a
lot of expenses yeah if I
mean if you look at what my
office costs to run a month I mean it's
it's most people drop their job.
They knew.
Right.
Right.
And it's all keeping that
all in a balance and making
sure you get yours.
Accountability is a really
big thing that I hear.
You know, even if it's just, you know,
you know, all the answers,
but you just need somebody to,
to hold you accountable.
Oftentimes I hear that.
So that's the, thank you for,
for sharing that.
Kind of as we,
land or pivot to the last
kind of segment of this episode,
what are some things that
you're thinking about today
that is going to help you
take your practice to another level?
I think you mentioned
earlier when we were
talking that you're going
to consider cutting insurance.
I think it's really important to note that
almost every one of our startups,
if not all,
start with a full PPO
credentialed with all
because you need that volume.
Would you agree?
Did you regret that decision?
I'm assuming that's what you did.
Yeah, we took everything.
I mean, it's like, you're at the point,
get one of my assistants was saying,
get the bodies in the chair.
I mean, get them, get them,
get them in the chair.
And then, you know, once you,
there's so many different
types of software out there,
we've got practice by the
numbers and you can get
into dial down and see what
each insurance is paying
per month and what percent of write-offs,
what your plan analysis mixes.
You can have companies solutions.
One-on-one will come in and
analyze all your EOBs.
There's just so much data out there,
but we're, I mean,
I was at the point here and,
And we'd have a patient call
that has good insurance
that has an emergency and
we can't get them in for three months.
And how is that going to go for you get,
I mean, four thousands too much.
I'd like to get down to
around two thousand,
but we got to have room to,
to be able to take care of
the people that we have.
It's not a service to them
if they have to wait three
months to be able to come and get,
get their toothache fixed.
So the analysis we're doing
with the practice by
numbers really helped.
And,
know what we're finding
michael is that a lot of
the right now it's mainly
the medicaid plans we're
getting rid of a lot of
them are going out and
becoming self-pay patients
so they're actually staying
with us because they want
because they want to be
with you and and and you
can do that because you
have a great relationship and
your, your, your,
your experience in customer
services on another level.
And so I, we do find that when,
when offices are really in
tuned to that customer
experience that we're looking for,
insurance becomes less of a,
less of a barrier.
So that, so that's awesome.
I, I believe it or not,
folks going all in with the PPOs,
building your practice, building it out,
filling out,
Hit your, you know,
find that those break even points,
find that profitability
that you want to want to hit.
And then you get to do these
analysis is that Dr.
Johnson speaking of where, hey, look,
maybe this year doesn't
make sense to have these three carriers.
The next year,
these three carriers and so
on and so forth.
And to some point,
you might end up with just a handful,
if not two or three or none.
and you're running the most
profitable practice you can.
And I always have the
conversation and actually
walk me through this with you.
I think one of the biggest
pitfalls is opening days too soon.
What did you start with?
I mean, you had some quick success,
it sounds like,
but three days was what
most of our clients start at.
And then I don't want them
to move off of three days
until they hit some pretty big numbers.
What are your thoughts about all that?
Yeah, I think I mean,
it probably depends on your
your family situation.
I was open five just because
I didn't want to commute
and go work at another
office somewhere else.
I mean,
that's I think that's a great
option for you to be
profitable and have some
sanity if you're coming out of school.
But I was lucky my wife had
a job that we were able to
support where we were at the time.
And I think it's it's
definitely a good idea to
make sure that you when you
take that leap,
that you are ready for it.
And you're going to have
your days filled because if you're,
I mean,
if you're not working in another office,
I mean,
that may be a thousand to fifteen
hundred dollars that you're
not guaranteed a day.
And you only have one
patient on your schedules
and you're paying a team
member to be there.
Probably not not the best move.
That's that's exactly it.
Right.
That's exactly it right
there is the team member.
You know,
once you give a team member four
or five days,
you can't you kind of can't
retract that back to three.
So you got to be ready to to
to doctor's point.
Again,
it sounds like you had quick success
and had a lot of patients fairly quickly.
You can do that with that
volume and yet a support partner.
I I talked to a lot of
doctors and they hear
things like this podcast or
another podcast or
something they read and.
Be careful about following
Dr. Johnson's path or
following somebody on
Facebook or whatever.
Everybody has a different situation,
a unique situation.
If you're the breadwinner,
you got to be a lot more calculated.
If you've got someone to share the load,
you can take a little bit more risk,
but every single person has
a different situation.
Um, well,
anything else to add as it
relates to startups or kind
of like your journey,
anything you'd like to
share to the audience that
you feel like would be pertinent?
I mean, think about, I mean,
our audience mainly is
think doctors thinking
about taking the ownership leap,
whether it's startup or acquisition,
any tidbits.
I mean,
you talking to yourself nine years ago,
what would you say?
Any last tips?
I would just say that you
need to be open to doing
every single job and
learning every single
responsibility at your office.
Nothing's below you.
Once you master and learn the system,
then delegate it.
But you should know how to
do every single thing at
your office because there's
going to be a time where a
team member is going to be
gone and there's going to
be a breakdown in the
system and you're going to
have to step in and do that.
And
having done it before for a
little bit is great,
but definitely learn it,
but then don't be afraid to delegate it.
I think I kind of hung on to
too many things too long and, um,
delegating things to your
team will make it a little
bit easier for you to go on and,
and look at the other stuff.
I mean, when I was starting out,
I wasn't looking at this
practice by numbers, right?
We're on the other end now.
So now I'm learning that.
Yeah.
Um,
did you find that you were a better
manager or you were able to monitor, um,
the activities better by
knowing each of those
functions that you just mentioned?
I mean, for example, front office duties,
did you immerse yourself in
the front office doc?
Yeah.
I mean, I was entering the EOBs,
entering the write-offs, the adjustments,
figuring out the numbers
when things didn't come
back and look right.
I mean,
that's a great skill to be able to know.
I mean, where, if there's,
if someone's writing off
something they shouldn't be, I mean,
you're going to get EOBs back and,
You may have signed up for a
leased network and you got
to know which if that is an
actual write off for the
patient or if it's not.
And if the lease network's not on there,
that's not an adjustment
that you're going to write
off at the office.
That's going to be billed to the patient.
So knowing those things,
that might be a small nuance.
But think of if you've got a
lot of patients on that plan,
you're out of network and
all of a sudden some Susie
at the front desk is
writing off all the adjustments.
You got to be careful.
But knowing that and how to monitor that,
it just makes you smarter.
You look better with your team.
You can make sure things are
being done right and have
accountability at your office.
I bet with that that that
great great tip uh I bet
when someone isn't doing
something appropriately
you're not afraid to let
them go in any in any uh
position is that a true
story yeah we've only had
to let one person go and I
think it's it helps to be a
coach to them and help them improve and
Point that out and do it in
a constructive manner where
you can have your team
members not feel belittled.
My team knows I don't yell at them.
We work together.
And if something's not done right,
we correct it and do it in
a way that's compassionate
for them and explain why
things are done in a
certain way so that we can
all be successful.
I love it.
I think I think a lot of docs,
they don't learn all the aspects.
And so then they're
therefore they feel held to that person,
even though they might not
be performing to standard,
but they don't know better.
So they feel kind of hostage
in some situations.
So learning each one of
those duties and actually
doing some of that insurance stuff
does pay dividends.
So great tip.
Doc,
I just want to say thank you so much
for being on the show today.
I had a little technical
difficulties this morning,
but we got through and I
thought it was an excellent content.
Doc, if you're willing to,
we'll put some contact
information below in case
someone has any questions.
If you want to mentor somebody,
my audience, whatever.
But if you're willing,
we'll do that down in the description.
But
Other than that,
thank you for investing
your time and giving back
to the community that you're a part of.
I appreciate you.
Yeah,
it's been a pleasure to be on the show,
and I'm thankful that you invited me,
and I hope your listeners enjoyed today.
It was great, man.
It was great.
All right, thanks,
and have a great rest of your year, okay?
SuperMouth is whole mouth health.