Bulletproof Dental Practice

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 77 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Reese Harper, DentistAdvisors.com   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: There are big differences between fee-based and fee-only financial advisors. People assume “fee-based” means you only charge fees, but advisors who say they are fee-based generally also take commissions. Bad financial advice comes from product salespeople who get paid commissions. Good advice generally comes from people who get paid for their time, or percentage against an investment account. Make sure your financial advisor is disclosing ALL FEES UP FRONT. Everyone who is commission based have a strong conflict of interest. They are incentivized for pushing products that may not be in your best financial interest. Your financial advisor should be a registered investment advisor, and an independent, fee-only fiduciary, and nothing else. If your broker/dealer/advisor is spending a lot of money on you it is a red flag. The more you learn about finance the more you’ll know the current financial market model is crazy. For dentists who have “found money,” the first & best thing you should do is invest it in your business. Dentistry is an amazing career, but there’s a huge barrier to entry. Use your money to work toward at least a 20% operating margin beyond your production. If your practice is good and doesn’t need investment, you can use your money to: Build businesses Buy liquid assets (minimum 6 months of living expenses) (cash, mutual funds, anything you can pull out that isn’t tied up) Work on retirement plans Buy real estate To be a serious investor you have to take risk. In order to take risk you have to be liquid. Pay attention to your debt-to-income ratio. In a calendar year, do you have more than 20% of your gross income left over? If you’re not accumulating 20-25% liquidity every year you haven’t earned the luxury to reduce your debt on an accelerated basis. Your income can only go to: Savings Spending Debt Taxes The ratio of your income mix dictates what you can do. It’s more important to get into the right working situation than it is to pay down your student loan debt. Not everyone is cut out to be a practice owner. There are a lot of benefits to being an associate, and you don’t have to be an owner to max your earnings. There is a correlation between income and ownership. Owners tend to make more, but that’s because 30% of owners manage their practices really well and are killing it. 70% of owners really struggle, to the point where it’s probably a wash whether they should be an owner or not. If you’re smart, your first associate hire will cut your income. As an owner you have to go through periods where you make less than you would as an associate. You have to have a net worth that is about 30x your annual spending in order for work to be optional. Dentists don’t invest their liquid assets aggressively enough. They’re too conservative, and it costs millions of dollars over a 25-year career. The 3-factor model says investments grow more than average because they are: Smaller vs. bigger High value companies vs. high-growth High quality & profitably vs. low-profitability Run if your CFP is telling you to get out of the market now because a correction is coming. You know you’re too conservative if your investments didn’t beat the S&P return. Your investments can earn 10-13% every year if you invest wisely. Keep tuning in to Bulletproof Dental Practice podcasts for the next interview with Reese!   References: Fama–French three-factor model   Tweetables: It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. – Upton Sinclair The things that drive owners are not always financial. – Reese Harper No business tries to pay down debt as their first goal. – Reese Harper Money is an emotional thing, it’s not logical. – Dr. Craig Spodak As long as you’re loving what you do and you’re not oppressed by it, that is freedom. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 76 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Elijah Desmond, Driven Dental Marketing & Smiles At Sea   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: The next Smiles At Sea cruise is in September, then there’s another in March. Changing someone’s smile will often change their whole life. Focus on life-changing moments. Finances are the #1 impediment to enrollment. Team mindset is #2, #3 is contact rate. Your team can develop mindsets about certain types of people that lead to not giving 100% for every patient every time. Go into treatment presentation with he mindset that EVERYONE offers opportunity. Offer multiple financing options so the highest number of patients can accept treatment. CareCredit is the go-to. Marketing is useless if your contact rate is low. Potential patients want information NOW. Consumers expect convenience for EVERYTHING. If you treat people with empathy they’ll think you’re the best dentist ever. Personal referrals are everything. Social media is for engagement. It’s the modern-day word of mouth, on steroids. The number of reviews – and the frequency – are both important. Dentists should not be spending all their time doing consults. Offer a minimum of 2 implant options.   References: Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen Lead Owl Bulletproof Summit 2018 Proceed Finance   Tweetables: Treat everyone with empathy. – Dr. Peter Boulden Every dental professional should be an educator. – Dr. Craig Spodak Change someone’s life and they’ll be a walking billboard for you. – Elijah Desmond

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 75 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Reposted From: Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: Statistics show that if new dentists work in a DSO for more than two years, the statistic probability is they’ll stay there for 7-10. About 70-80% of new dentists who go into DSO’s right after school will leave within two years. When everyone is pulling on the rope at the same time it creates better team alignment. People are always the biggest stressor in businesses. You’re always one employee away from starting the whole process over. Storybook leadership isn’t the most effective leadership. Real leaders come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. Patients are looking for experience. If your team is disengaged your results won’t be as good. Create a raving team and your patients will follow suit. The American public is dumbed down to think that if it’s legal, it’s always safe. People are waking up to the reality that you have to be discernable with your consumerism. For marketing, craft a story that’s compelling enough to talk about. Make yourself worthy of being talked about and treat that as your marketing plan. Focus on net patient growth. You have to differentiate yourself. Business is innovation. You need to flip everything on its head and create a value proposition that’s unlike everyone else’s. Realize that patients are grasping at value. They don’t understand the quality of your work, they judge you based on how you treat them and how your office looks. All-Star Smiles provides dental care services to children in need throughout the U.S.   References: Uncomplicate Business by Howard Farran All Star Smiles   Tweetables: Real leadership is putting other people’s needs above yourself. – Dr. Craig Spodak The best leaders are the ones you don’t even feel. – Dr. Craig Spodak A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. – Lao Tzu Your patients can feel loved if your team doesn’t feel supported. – Dr. Craig Spodak Give people a reason beyond your dentistry to like you more. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 74 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Shiven Gandhi, Atlanta Dental Spa   Key Takeaways: Right now, Instagram is everything. You’re either a consumer or a producer. The more you can get your mind around the fact that you’re a digital marketing company that does dentistry, the better your message will be amplified. The more attention you can get, the better off you’ll be. Ask yourself what kind of content you can put out that will attract the type of person you want to bring in. Don’t focus on creating content, focus on documenting. By doing that you have genuine stories, people will want to tune in to learn or because they are intrigued. Take photos, take videos, whatever you can put together. Write on your photos. Label things. Draw arrows. Make them engaging. Storytelling marketing is the future. Make your patient the hero, and yourself the guide. The emotional story and the journey is everything. It resonates and draws emotion. Instagram has 3 major components; the feed, stories, and live. Live is easiest to do but is also the most intimidating. Make it simple – and doable. Do something as simple as verbally documenting a case. If you’re not comfortable documenting yourself it would be very beneficial to find someone who is excellent at helping to create and manage content. People don’t want to see static ads. They want to see content that is engaging or helps them be better at what they want to do. It’s not about how many followers you have. It’s about the engagement. You never know which posts will have the most engagement. Just keep consistently putting content out. Hashtags: If you have a hashtag associated with your post, that’s how your post populates in the algorithm. Instagram will allow you to post up to 30 hashtags. Have broad hashtags to pull you into certain arenas, then have very specific ones so you can find your post directly. Hashtags are used primarily for search. You can search hashtags on Google. Social media is hard, because people tune out – and unfollow – anyone who they don’t want to see. It’s hard to be relevant and put out content that people want to see. When you start a page, decide what you want your aesthetic to be. Do you want a theme? Do you want certain types of photos? Do you want your posts in a specific cadence? Decide before you start and use that as a guideline for your content. The cost to advertise on Facebook and Instagram is cheap, compared to Google AdWords. Social influencers are huge. If you can get the right person to post on their page with their story about YOU, it can be amazing for your business.   References: Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk ownR Magazine Dental Influencers Alliance 2018 Conference   Tweetables: You most likely have content, you just don’t share it. – Dr. Shiven Gandhi

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 73 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Thor Conklin, Founder & CEO of Peak Performance Group   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: Before you can fix your business, you must decide first where you want to go. You have to figure out what’s getting in the way of your success, and what are the lynchpins to solving your problems. It’s generally stopping or removing something rather than adding something. Often, what we want most in life is what’s most painful for us to get. Gratitude is one of the biggest and best ways to improve your fulfillment. It’s about getting back to what’s really important to you. Meditation and gratitude should be the first things you do in the morning. Try writing everything down that you’re stressed about. You’ll already feel less stressed. Put on your calendar a reminder to spend 20 minutes to work on taking an action to move one of those things forward. When doing something you hate, fake liking it and it’ll get easier. You can physiologically fool your body. People who want to stay pissed, will stay pissed. Just stay away from them. Every top performer has a pre-event ritual. They set their body, their intention, and their mind before they walk in. Take a deep breath and put a smile on your face. Set yourself before starting. 80-90% of communication is non-verbal. Focus on your mental fitness. Doing something physical helps break bad mental patterns. Get your bad energy out physically. Try to make your life as streamlined as possible. Clutter in your life tends to slow you down. Schedule time to allow yourself creative thinking time. High performers have a default of “no.” Know what your overall mission is and say “no” to anything that doesn’t serve that purpose. Figure out what your lane is going to be. Pick that lane and go deep.   References: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle Muze   Tweetables: People confuse happiness with fulfillment. – Thor Conklin The only way to combat stress is action. – Thor Conklin Your emotions do not dictate your physiology, your physiology dictates your emotions – Thor Conklin Anytime you want to change your emotional state, simply change your physical state. – Thor Conklin Every “yes” is a “no” to something else. – Thor Conklin Don’t start running until you know where you’re going. – Thor Conklin You achieve more when you’re happily achieving, then when you’re achieving to be happy. – Dr. Craig Spodak Figure out what your lane is going to be. Pick that lane and go deep. – Thor Conklin

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 72 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Jairek Robbins   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: 80% of workers feel stress on the job, 50% say they need help learning how to manage stress. This equates to 300B annually that it’s costing companies in the US. Job stress leads to accidents, lost work time, lack of productivity, etc. As a business, job stress is expensive. Lack of sleep breaks you down mentally and physically. To optimize sleep, look into various plants, blackout curtains, monitoring, and increasing movement during the day. No sleep monitoring device is perfect. Aim for perpetual movement vs short, intense workout bursts. Think about ways you force yourself to walk more in your office, even if it means redesigning your office layout. Get outside early in the morning to get great vitamin D from sun exposure. Blue light from electronics at night hampers sleep. Short morning routine to be a super-human version of yourself: First thing in the morning, start with a clear mind. Do a short meditation and/or breath practice. From there, go straight to the shower and take a 3-minute ice-cold shower. This will activate your adrenal glands. Ease into it! If you want to activate fat burning you can alternate between 20 seconds of hot and cold water. Sign up for Jairek’s Udemy course @ discounted rate of $29.99:   References: Live It!: Achieve Success by Living with Purpose by Jairek Robbins Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson Ben Greenfield f.lux Muse Spire Mel Robbins The Complete Guide to Activating High Peformance by Jairek Robbins Viome Bulletproof Coffee

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 71 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Brian Colao, Dykema   Key Takeaways: Dentistry is undergoing a great evolution and a great consolidation. There’s also massive disruption within the workspace of dentistry. There’s a lot of fear out there, and it doesn’t have to be that way. A big part of the fear is lack of information. If you can understand what the changes are, why they’re happening, and what the legal options are, there is no reason to fear change. DSO’s allow dentist owners to sell their practice to the whole world, not just to another dentist in your state. If you’re a solo office, you don’t necessarily need to be a DSO. If you plan to grow and are looking for the largest buyout possible then a DSO setup will be a great benefit. After 3 offices you’ll generally see more favorable tax treatment under the new code. Check with your CPA for specifics on your practice. A lot of specialists are forming DSO’s as well. GP DSO’s are buying specialists as well. As the whole market starts to consolidate to DSO’s, strictly referral-based services will start to lose market share. Technology is making specialty procedures a lot more doable for general dentists. The next 3-4 years will include a lot of consolidation, but right now there’s room for everyone at the table. After 5-10 years the marketplace may change, and some opportunities won’t be there anymore. Seeing 14-15x offers will most likely become less common over the next couple years. Brian predicts 6-7x offers will be the norm. There is tremendous demand from private equity to buy dental practices. There is a bit of a gold rush in the dental industry; there’s high demand and low supply. Don’t give in to FOMO; sell when it’s the right time for you. For organizations under 5 offices, it costs around $20,000-$25,000 to set up a DSO. For restructuring DSO’s, 8 out of 10 times Dykema can rework the original DSO into a better structure. Dykema’s 5th Annual Definitive Conference for Dental Service Organizations is coming up July 18th-20th. Register NOW with and use code “BulletProof” to receive discounted registration for $350!   References: Private Equity is Pouring Money Into a Dental Empire

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 70 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Drew Byrnes, The FFS Dentist Podcast   Key Takeaways: FFS Practices take courage and planning. The first one is the hardest. You’ve already got your proof of concept. It’s super important if you’re a FFS practice to really make sure you’re creating an experience. Your online reviews are the truest barometer of who you really are. Marketing should be fun, especially on social media. Recessions are hard to weather but also offer great opportunities for growth. Always be auditing for the patient experience. Create your culture and make sure you hire the right people for the right job. Your team has to come first. Treat them like your family. Support them and they will support you. Don’t let anyone who is toxic come into your business; patients or team. Marketing is a big factor of growing your practice. Effective marketing amplifies your office culture and experience. Don’t spend a lot of money on fancy print ads. The bang for the buck isn’t there. Have a bulletproof patient experience process in place BEFORE you spend money on marketing. Reach out to any influencers you can find and offer them free services in exchange for them posting about you on social media. Have them publicize their experience about your practice. Master attention-based marketing. Find out how to get in front of people on their phones. The more you capture someone’s eyeballs the more you’ll capture their conversion. There’s no such thing as coasting. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.   References: Voices of Dentistry Under Armour Protect This House Bulletproof Summit 2018   Tweetables: The difference between success and failure is typically one more day. – Dr. Peter Boulden

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 69 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: A lot of general dentistry practices see a slump in the summertime. Kids are off school so parents focus more on their dental care. Boulden predicts what is done in March will predict business for April, May, and June. Cycles happen and they are normal. Oral surgeons tend to have busy months, so take advantage of those procedures. During downturns pay attention to pre-appointment rates. What % of your patients are leaving with another appointment scheduled? If you’re in the 90% range you have an iconic practice. Pre-appointment rates have the highest correlated number for profitability and overall practice size. Have your providers with high pre-appointment rates train those who are lower on how they do it. Also look at your revenue per patient and work on growing that number. Focus on the # of visits, avg production per patient per visit, and profit rate. Only 11% of what can be maximized on dental insurance is being used. Marketing isn’t print ads anymore; it’s influencer marketing, spending on patients, social media, etc. Focus your dollars on where people’s attention is. Today it takes about 20 impressions of an ad before people choose to act. Influencer marketing is currently very low-priced attention. Authentic testimonial videos are GOLD. Videos don’t have to be super-well produced. People respect unpolished testimonials and often weight them as more authentic. Find a dental advocate who wants success for you. Bounce your ideas off them and share tips and tricks.   References: Dental Intel Tribute Spodak Jeff’s Reaction   Tweetables: Use pain as a motivator. – Dr. Craig Spodak You get what you focus on. – Dr. Peter Boulden Influence is the difference. – Dr. Craig Spodak

Text ‘bulletproof’ to 345345 to stay in the know about our upcoming book release and the Bulletproof Summit on October 12-13th 2018 in Atlanta!   Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 68 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak Guest: Dr. Kyle Stanley, DSD, Speaker, Lecturer, Dental Expert   Watch full video of the interview by clicking here!   Key Takeaways: The Lip Factor – Dr. Stanley’s concepts regarding moving lips if needed. The lower third of the face has to be involved with smile designing. Dentists have a great opportunity to partner with plastic surgeons to create exceptional results for patients looking for facial changes. Oral surgery programs should include two roads; hospital and private practice. Bone sets the tone, but tissue is the issue. DSO mania is helping super high-end practices by differentiating them from “normal” dental offices. Rogue dentists can get away with terrible treatment in a way that medical doctors cannot. Dentists have to get away from what was being taught in the 70’s. Always over-communicate with your patients so they can’t ever feel you haven’t shared all education with them. If you give your patient a proper education, you’ll never regret it. Dentist are 500x more likely to commit suicide than the general public. Stress is a real killer. A lot of dentist’s stress is related to dental school costs, practice acquisition, and the enormous pressure of debt. Dentistry doesn’t do enough to change patient behavior and manage expectations. If we can put less pressure on ourselves we can be more open with our patients, it creates less stress and is a better patient experience.