Latest / Hey Docs! / Navigating Practice Acquisition: Dr. Richard Clabaugh’s Journey

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Navigating Practice Acquisition: Dr. Richard Clabaugh’s Journey · Hey Docs!

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Haydocks Podcast with your host Jill Allen.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Today I am joined by doctor Richard Claybaugh, who shares
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a first hand look at what it really feels like
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to step into a practice acquisition, not the polished version,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: but the real one. The uncertainty, the pressure, the moments
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: where things don't go as planned, and the decisions that
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: shape what comes next. His story is a reminder that
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: growth doesn't happen all at once. It happens through small shifts,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: tough days, and the willingness to keep moving forward. In
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this episode, we're walking through that journey, from the early
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: challenges to where things stand today. So let's dive in,
• 0:42
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• 1:35
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• 1:39
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• 2:02
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• 2:06
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• 2:09
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• 2:12
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• 2:17
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• 2:20
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• 2:24
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• 2:28
  Speaker 1: sounds good to you. The AdEx Smart Start is definitely
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: worth a closer look. Just follow the link in the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: show notes to learn more. Richard, thank you so much
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: for being on Haydocks today with me.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a huge privilege. You are one of my
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: favorite people, your whole team. This is a crazy experience
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: for me because if you had told me nine or
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: ten years ago that we were going to sit down
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and do a podcast together, Hey, I'm not sure I
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: would know what a podcast was, but b I would
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: have never thought I could have been here.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: And really it's probably because of you.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Oh well, thank you for saying that. So the way
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I like to start off the podcast is just to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: have my guests talk a little bit about who they are,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: how they got to where they're at, and I think,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: especially for you, it's always a really special episode for
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: me when I get to have a previous client on
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and talk about the journey that it took to go
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: from the decision making component of am I going to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: pursue a startup? Am I going to do an acquisition?
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: So I'm wondering if you can just start us off
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: by a little history in case somebody doesn't know who
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: you are, and then also where you're at now.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah for sure.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Well, my name is Richard and I grew up in Lincoln,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Nebraska and started out in college thinking I was going
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to be an engineer.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: And ultimately changed thought I was going to be a dentist.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Then, and I practiced journal dentistry for a couple of
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: years and I loved it, but kind of fell in
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: love with Ortho. So went back to school and for
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: a while had a plan to go back to kind
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: of the middle of Kansas and practice. And the longer
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: I got into residency, the more it became obvious that
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: that practice was not going to work out.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Doctors was changing some plans.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So really thought to my time in general dentistry. When
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I got to practice for a couple of years after
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: dental school, and I learned a lot of things from
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: that doctor was very high functioning practice. He did just
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: awesome work, awesome guy. Patients loved him, town loved him.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: I learned a lot of things. But as an associate there,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I had kind of felt this pressure where I had
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: like all the responsibility but maybe not the authority. I
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: wanted to make some of the decisions that I felt
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: like for me to do the best job for patients
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I wanted to do, and so I kind of carried
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: that with me a little bit that maybe the next
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: step I wanted to try and own my own practice
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: so that I could have equal parts of authority and
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: responsibility together. So really that led me to think I
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: wanted to buy, so then really got down that path.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I'd sent out a bunch of letters towards the end
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: of Orthodonical residency, kind of blanketed all the areas that
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: we thought we were going to go to and had
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: a few bites things that were working. I was set
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: to buy a practice and then it fell through the
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: week before graduation, so I had kind of this string
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: of things that just led me to have to say, like,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: am I really in on this or not? And all
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in all, like long story short, I kind of ended
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: up looking at about thirty five practices. So that sounds
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: like you're buying a house, not a practice, you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: but it was like thirty five practices. My wife and
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I had to come back on this and make sure
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: that wasn't a lot, and ultimately my heart was just
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: set on buying. So I ended up buying this practice.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: It's been ten years now and I'm really thankful. It's
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: a bunch of work, but there's a lot of really
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: really good things that come from it, and the heart
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: and sould what I wanted, which was being able to
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: make some of the decisions that go along with the practice,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: but also having the authority to make the changes I
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: thought were important. That's been there, and so I'm thankful
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: for that. Some days are harder than others, some days
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: are better than others. But it seems like every time
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: that there's a dark day, there's always a bright corner
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that's coming. And part of that is people like you
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: that have been a big help along the way.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, thanks for saying that. And I think what's so
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: fun about your story is we've known each other for
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: ten years now, and this is a decision that I
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: think almost every orthodonist wrestles with. Am I going to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: partner into a practice? Am I going to buy a
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: practice and do an acquisition? Am I going to do
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a startup? Or maybe I don't see this as much,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I'm going to spend my career as an associate. I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: mean I think that it may start off thinking that
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that looks great, but usually by about that eight year mark,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: if somebody's been doing that for a while, they're like, Okay,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I think I'm ready for one of the other three
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: options here. And the reason that I wanted to have
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: you on is number one. I think I'm pretty well
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: known for doing startups in Orthodonic Consulting realm, but we
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: also do a lot with acquisitions, and I just think
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: that it's such a different story because I think a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: lot of people think, and you'll have to tell me
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: what you thought, but an acquisition is easy. I'm just
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: going to go in and I'm going to step into
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: somebody else's practice and I'm just going to be able
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to just jump right in and things are going to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: be wonderful, and the team is going to love me
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and all of those things. And what you and I
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: both know, and I think anybody who's listening who's done
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: an acquisition is it is a lot of hard work. Sometimes,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I think, from my perspective getting to see both, probably
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: more work doing an acquisition than it is a startup.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And so I want to just take a walk down
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: memory lane with you and have you think back to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: when we were talking and when you were thinking about, Okay,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: I'm making this decision to do the acquisition. I think
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you definitely didn't step in there where it was just
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: rose colored glasses, you know, from the beginning, And I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: want to talk about your journey as we have went
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: through this in the year that we work together, but
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: then as you have went year after year growing into
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the business owner that you are now.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think you're exactly right. There's parts that
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: are easier and then there's parts that are harder, and
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: so it is kind of, you know, which of those
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: sets of pros and cons do you want to take?
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: My mindset with buying something that was already running, I
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: felt like there was already some systems in place, there
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: was already cash flow, there was already some reputation, there
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: was patience for me to see, there was structure of
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: some degree, and I felt like that would help me
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: just hit the ground running when I thought about a startup,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: just with my personality and what I didn't say in
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: my story there was I had a couple of large
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: gaps between graduating Orthodonic residency and then actually getting to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: this practice.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: There was a couple of very large gaps because I was.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Just looking looking, and as you know, you got to
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: do due diligence, You got to look at the profit
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: and laws statements. I had an accountant that was helping
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: me the whole time to evaluate all this stuff.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Is this a viable opportunity?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: So as I thought about these practices that I was
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: looking at, I was kind of asking myself a few questions.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: The first one was am I going to practice the
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: same way as this person that I'm looking at their practice?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Because those are two really different things.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: If they're going one way and I'm trying to go
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: a different way, you're kind of fighting headwinds that you
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have had to fight maybe if you had done
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: something a different way. You know, it's going to sound oud.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Are they driving the practice like a Ferrari and you're
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: going to drive it like a Honda, you know, because
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: you're going to pay big, big money for a practice
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: that's maybe being pushed to the max, And if you
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: don't have that desire, you're going to pay for it.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: But then you're not really going to maybe reap the
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: benefits because you're going to do something different.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: So ultimately I settled on to a practice that I
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: felt like had great bones. I think we talked about
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: houses that way, like it's got good bones, but we
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: can knock some walls out and do stuff and make
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: it our own. And so I settled into something that
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I felt like had great Bones. I don't know what
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: else to say except I just had a gut feeling
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: after looking at all those different practices that I said, Okay,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I think this.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Is the one.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: And there were many that I had gone to that
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I just said, it's not for me. You know, there's
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: nothing wrong with the practice or the doctor, the staff
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: was great, but for whatever reason, maybe it's location, maybe
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: it was too much money. I didn't want to get
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: into that much debt. Maybe it was how they practiced.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to do that thing. But ultimately, I
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: just sort of had a gut instinct. And I think
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: it may be crazy to some people, but I think
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: our instincts are worth listening to.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying we should trust all of our.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Feelings, because you know, a feeling could just be a
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: bad taco from the night before, So you got to
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: be a little careful with what you what you feel
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: and go for. But yeah, I just I settled into
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: something that I felt like was good bones. It had
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: a reasonable price tag on it that I felt like
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I could pay that debt back without being unnecessarily burdened,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and then really I had an opportunity to go up,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: so I felt like with me putting my fingerprint on it,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I could begin to do that and make changes in
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: a positive direction. Again, if you buy something that's so
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: highly efficient, so perfect from the start, it almost feels
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: like you got no place to go but down. And
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: that really wasn't a place I wanted to put myself
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: in right off the bat. And so the decision to
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: try and purchase for me was really this felt like
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: a good fit.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: It felt like I could do some good here.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: It felt like I could settle in with a skill
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: set I had and grow with the practice.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: And I think ultimately that's why we pulled the trigger.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think number one, this is unheard of
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I think nowadays. But to think you had what did
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you say, thirty five practices that you looked at potentially
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: had an option.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: And some of those were obviously more detailed than others, right,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Some of them were just like an initial call, but
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: some of them were I mean, we looked at a
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: lot of you and ls for a lot of places.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I visited a lot of practices.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: What a blessing to be able to even have that opportunity.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I think nowadays a lot of my dogs are like
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I'm lucky if I can find one in the area
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: that I'd be interested in. So what a blessing to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: have that plethora of practice opportunities, but then to be
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: able to see an opportunity and have the fortitude within
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: yourself to say, hey, if I just it's hard work,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: I can take this into something else. And I'm curious
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: if when you're looking back at some of the decisions
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: that you were making with even just that, are there
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: things that you look back at now and go if
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: you were to say, hey, peer, who's listening, these are
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: some things that having done this, that I might have
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: put more emphasis on, or I may have ten years
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and now I may have maybe cared less about or
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: more about when you look back that way, Yeah.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I think that's probably a mark of being a humble
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: person that you look back and you say, I kind
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: of messed that up a little bit, and I'm trying
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: to grow in that humility.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: But I think there's things we did well.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: The things we did well, I think where we came
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: in with a mindset that was this isn't perfect, but
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: we're gonna give it all all. I remember spending late
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: nights here. This is going to sound wild, especially to
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the newer graduates. But the doctor that was here had
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: to submit blaster models for a large number of his
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: patients to have the insurance approved, and so he made
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: those and so there was a big backlog. He had
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: been sick, he had had cancer, and he ended up
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: passing way shortly after I bought the practice, But I
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: was here till midnight for I think it was weeks,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: just like catching up on plaster models and that kind
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of stuff.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: And really I was excited.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I was excited that I finally had the opportunity to
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: use the skill set that I had trained all these
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: years for that I put all this money into. Honestly
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: don't remember being like bitter or anything in My wife
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: was so supportive in that, so I think we came
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: in with the right attitude on that. The changes I'd make,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I think one of the biggest ones would be where
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: is my focus during the day.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: So I came in feeling.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Like the biggest focus had to be on patient care,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and that wasn't wrong, But I think I unnecessarily maybe
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: overlooked the health of the team that was shouldering alongside
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: me to make this all possible. And I probably didn't
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: think about as much as I could have how I
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: could help them, because that's a big change for the
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: team too, you know, to go from one doctor to
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: another doctor, And I probably could have asked more questions,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: you know, like how are you guys processing with this?
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: You know, like this is obviously a big change.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I probably could have been a little bit slower to
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: make changes to like the employee manual or the time
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: off policy, or the vacation policy or the PTA, you know,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: all of that stuff. I think I think I could
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: have been slower to do that and just really prioritize, like, hey,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: this is my core group of people, and how can
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I help you feel comfortable in this process? Because if
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you get there and you've got a bunch of patients
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: and you got things rolling, but you have nobody to
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: help you, it's a pretty lonely process.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: If I could go back and talk to my younger self,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I think I'd go back and just emphasize the value
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: and worth of the people that are shouldering alongside you
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: to accomplish the same goals that you're trying to get after,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: and how you can support them. Be sure that all
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the ripples in the waters have kind of settled for them. Meanwhile,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: you also have to be great at what you're doing orthodonically,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: But I think that that's part of the burden of
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: just being captain of the enterprise, you know, like you're
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: driving the shit. So if you want to be done
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: at five pm and out and zero responsibility until tomorrow
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: morning at eight am, it's probably not going to be
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: a super easy adjustment, at least on the acquisition side,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: you know, because there's a lot that I could have.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Done better on that.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think you know, again, we all have
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: those moments when we look back, you know, the farther
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: we get in our careers, I can say the Jill
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: who owns Jill Allen and Associates twenty years in is
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: very different than the Jill who owned Jill Allen and
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Associates twenty years ago, Right, And things that I thought
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: were important were important, but maybe the focus, you know,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: energy could have been you know, maybe distributed differently. And
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I think that's the beauty of growing into yourself as
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: a leader and as a business owner that we get
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: to have the grace to be like, yeah, I could
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: have done that a little better, but you know, I'm
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: still here and where I'm at Yeah.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I think you brought up a really important word and
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: I love it, and that is energy. And you probably
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: emphasized that while you were here, but it really I
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: think that walking in in the morning, there's days I
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: would definitely take a deep breath before I open the
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: back door.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: And just I think you said it this way.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: You said you have to realize that when you walk
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: in the office, you're on stage. And I've never forgotten
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: that you've said that, because it's really is true. And
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: so I think you have to be willing to adopt
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: that mentality, not in a way that you have to
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: spend your life trying to be somebody or not, but
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: in the way that you recognize that all the little
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: things matter and you're the leader that's helping set the
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: tone for how everybody's going to act, how everybody's going
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to treat everybody else, how your patients are going to feel.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: And it's a tiresome thing. Leadership can sometimes be tiresome
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: and lonely, and that's not a fault of leadership, it's
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: just kind of how it goes. So I might not
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: have been as ready for that as I thought I was,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: but having great people like you and other doctors that
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I've talked to along the way, I think has helped
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: reduce some of those feelings. But it is like during
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: the day, you are the top of the food chain,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: and so you need to be willing to accept that
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: to own it and have people be able to look
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: at you and say like, Okay, where are we going
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: and you have a clear vision and direction because people
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: want to know what we're doing, you know, like the organization,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: where are we going and how are we going to
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: get there? And if you have the deer in the
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: headlights look and you're like, I don't know, yeah, yeah,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: the team isn't going to feel super great. So your
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: idea of energy, like I love the energy because you've
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: got to bring it every day because.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: You're on stage.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, that's funny that you remember that, because that
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: is something I say a lot. So let's think back
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: to those first years, especially in the first couple of years,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and just that reality of ownership is kicking in and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I've got this group of team members that may or
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: may not be going in the same direction that I am.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about what were some of those bigger challenges
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: that maybe you didn't expect we're going to happen, or
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that you were kind of like, huh, didn't see that coming,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: or you know, so let's talk a little bit about that.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I remember exact dates, and I don't remember exactly, but
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: I think you joined us maybe like nine months into
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: ownership and we were a year together. I think in
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the review I wrote for you after it was all over,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I wrote something about your almost prophetic abilities, because when
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: you came, you talked about just the changes that could
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: happen with the team, and they were scary to me
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: to think about that, because you were talking about, like
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: you could face some pretty significant turnover here, and I
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: had just taken it like for granted that these people
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: are going to be here to do the jobs that
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: need to get done so that I can take care
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: of patients. And that's like one of the biggest things
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I missed. And so to answer your question, you know,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: there was some good stability for a matter of months,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: but then there was some changes that began to happen
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: as we started to implement some of the things that
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you had kind of instructed us with no fault of yours.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: It was good stuff that had to happen, but there
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: was just a different mindset between where we were going
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: and then where maybe other people felt like they wanted
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: to go. And I've tried, over the course of time
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: to learn to actually feel this way. Sometimes I have
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: to still just tell myself. But I don't think that
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: any employee is ever out to like get me, right.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: I don't think any employee, for the most part, is
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: probably out to get anybody. Everybody's probably out to the
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: best they can for themselves, and I don't think there's
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: anything wrong with that. So when things happen that don't
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: go my way, like, how do I respond to that?
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: And do I learn from it? Do I say, Okay,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: what could I have done better? And I've tried to
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: get better at that over time. But probably the hardest
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: thing to answer your question was I think I started
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: out with eight seven or eight staff.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: There was some part time helping there. I honestly don't remember.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: It's been a while, but about the time that my
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: second child was born in February of twenty seventeen, I
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: think I had four resignations within like two or four
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: week period, and it was pretty significant, Like it was
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: the office manager, it was the treatment coordinator, and a
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: couple of assistants. So what ended up happening was my
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: wife had to come in and help in the office,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: and she was two weeks postpartum doing all the jobs.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: She had no idea what she was doing. And then
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: we hired a lady who had never been in ORTHO
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: office before, and so between my wife and this other lady,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: they had a grand total of I think two weeks
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: of experience, you know, and they're running the whole show
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: up in front. And so the biggest challenge at that
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: point was how do we just keep the ship moving forward. Meanwhile,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: you got all the clinic load in the back. You
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: were a big help in that. But I mentioned the
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: clinical load. The hard part is meanwhile, you've got all
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the patients that need care. Yeah, the practice I stepped
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: into it was like nine hundred active patients, and.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: There had been some challenges along the way.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: I think that with the prior doctor maybe having the
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: cancer diagnosis and stuff, things had just gotten behind.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: So there were some challenges just how do you keep
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: the day moving.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: And you probably remember this, but our schedule was made
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: out every day in my Microsoft word.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Yep, I do remember, yeah.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Microsoft Words.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: So it would literally just say like eight am and
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: it would just have three patient names. You didn't know
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: what you were doing, you didn't know why they were there,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: and it was every I think fifteen minutes that you
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: just see this list of names. And I was, you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: seeing like seventy five patients a day, and some of
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: these people had been in treatment eighteen months and they
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: didn't have braces on the bottom teeth yet.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: It was just there was a lot of things, and
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: so my mind was very.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Busy with the clinical side, but I think that that
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: kind of distracted me from the important parts on the
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: just the team health side. And ultimately we were able
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: to make it through that God provided for us in
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: that and I hope at some point we're going to
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: talk about just like how did you get those great
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: people and what did you look for? Because I've got
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: some things to say on that. But yeah, that was
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: probably the biggest one. You know, four resignations and two
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: to four weeks. That was just I think I would
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: go home and just say like, are we going to
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: survive or are we just going to be done?
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: What's happening?
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, Well, and I can remember a lot of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: those conversations and the hardest part and I tell this
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: to a lot of my docs that are doing acquisitions.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Is the reality of it is, there is a good
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: chance that by the end of your first year you
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: could have an entire team turnover. And I think that
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: is such a scary thing to hear. And the reality
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of it is it has nothing to do with you
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: necessarily as the doctor, but it has to do more
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: with the situation of the change. And a lot of
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: times the employees that come along with the practice were
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: maybe the dream team employees for a different doctor who
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: had different goals, views and visions. And when you come
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: in as a new doctor and you have different goals,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: views and visions and you just assume that a team
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: is going to assimilate into your goals, views and visions,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: it doesn't always go well. And I just want to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: point this out for anybody who's listening. That doesn't mean
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: that you as a doctor are doing it wrong or
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: that your goals, views and visions are wrong. But we
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: do have to understand and you made this point that
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I do believe everybody, each one of us has our
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: own core values, our own core vision of where we
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: want our life to go, and they aren't always going
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to line up a team that especially. I see this
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a lot in acquisitions where I've got a team that's
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: maybe been coasting with the doctor. There isn't a lot
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: of demand. They're kind of winding down their schedule there.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You know, it's pretty comfortable. That's a very different work
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: environment than when you get a hungry young doc that's
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: coming in and saying I got loans to pay and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I got you know this, that and the other end.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: We're going to breathe life. We're going to put some
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: oxygen onto this fire here, and we're going to take
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: it in a different direction. And so I think you
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: definitely had to experience this, and you walked through the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: fire for sure. I can remember training with Heather and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: training you know, with the new TC that had no clue,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and even with some of the turnover, and just not
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: only are we training team members, but now we're building
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a schedule that accommodates, and you know, we were doing
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: some treatment modality shifting around too, taking the practice from
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: one kind of vision of how the practice was being
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: run to another. So I think why I especially wanted
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: you on to talk about this was you went through
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the fire. And I think so many people think that
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: just stepping in. And I don't want it to sound
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: like it's doomsday by any means, because I think once
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: we get past it and through it, it's beautiful. But
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: you're definitely doing the hard work in those first couple
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: year to write the ship.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is going to sound wild.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: But even though you told me there's a really good
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: chance you're going to turn over your team, and even
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: though you're telling people right now there's a really good
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: chance you're going to turn over your team, I still
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: thought inside of me, that's okay, you think that, but
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: it's not going to happen.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: You know. That's kind That's still what I thought.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And so I think that the earlier that I had
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: come to terms with the idea, that that was not
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: as secure as I thought it was, and that it
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: was no reflection on me, And so I almost just
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: to say, like, yes, this is going to happen. I
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: think that would have been better for me mentally. And again,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: like nobody's out to get you, I don't for the
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: most part. You know nobody's out to get you, but
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: you need to be out to get the right people
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: because you've got to go places.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: And so I think I would have just sat down.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: You know, I'd probably go back and I'd sit down
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: individually and I'd probably say, look, I'm super glad you're here.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: I know this is a big change for you. It's
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: a big change for me too. Here's what I understand
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: that you do here. I would love for you to
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: keep doing that here. I want to share with you
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: where I see this going, and I want to know
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: if you're on board with that, if you also see
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: that vision, or if you feel like this is the
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: time where you'd like to make a change. And that
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: almost sounds like a scary conversation, but I'd rather know
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: than just wonder, like for a while what's happening. Yeah,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I think just telling somebody I want you here and
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: leaving it in their court, like what do you want?
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: And if they're like no, I'm out, Well at least
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: let's get that out of the way, you know, and
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: then the people that are there, it's kind of like
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: a purifying event where what's left is this is a
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: really good group of people and let's go Yeah, but
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: everything's out on the table and we're kind of ready
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: to launch into what you're going to do. So yeah,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: great point. That's a challenging part of the purchase, at
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: least my story.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I just want to say this, I think it's most
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: doctors in an acquisition. If we're in a million or
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: less practice, maybe a little different story if you're that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: two million plus practice, But if you're that million and
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: a half million or less practice, there really is this
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: moment where everybody's got to make these decisions. And the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: other thing that I just want to say to this
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: point is, I think it can be really easy for us,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: especially when we're new owners, like to take it really
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: personal that oh my gosh, they're leaving and it's me,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: And the reality of it is maybe you were the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: catalyst to it, but it's usually not your person that
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: they're leaving because of. I just try and give and say, like,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: if we've got those team members that it's time to
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: make that change, like send them away with love, don't
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: harbor this negative energy. Like number one, who's got time
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: for that? But number two, they're getting back to Okay.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Now we've opened up a space to get the right
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: people in that are going to be on board with
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: my values, my vision and where we're going with the practice.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: And that leads me into the point that you just said,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I would love to hear how that change happened for
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: you when you started really focusing on Okay, I'm going
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to make lemonade out of lemons here. I've got openings,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: We've done some hard work, but now I can start
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to identify who's the right people, who do I want?
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: What am I looking for out of employees to really
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: build that team that becomes this foundation for your vision
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: of your practice and the culture that you now have
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to completely and totally cultivate.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think in the beginning I was a
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: little shell shocked and probably just made me a little
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: gun shy of like, where's this going? And when you're
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: down that many people, you need people, And I probably
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: felt more of a need almost to sell myself on
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: the people that were interviewing with me.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: They need to want to be here, like they need
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: to like me, They need to And that was like backwards.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: So what should have happened is to recognize and this
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: is I think this is true and Olive Ortho, we
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: do amazing stuff and we have an amazing gig to offer.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: These are great jobs and we should be proud of
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: what we have to offer to people and how we
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: can help hopefully make their lives full, because it should
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: be way more than just a paycheck. I think if
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: all I see is my team members as people that
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: get paychecks and they check things off the list, for
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: me missing out, they're missing out. My attitude is way wrong.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: So when it really started to get better for me
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: is when I realized the kind of jobs that we
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: have to offer. I want to find people that want that,
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: that value that, and I see people that I just
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: want to be around all day and so I would
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: rather almost scare somebody away on the day of their interview,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: because if they still show up, I know that I
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: can be the worst version of myself and they're going
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: to stick around, you know.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, I think now I'm kind of at
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: a point where I'm just like, I'm going to tell you.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Exactly how it is on day one and maybe even
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: make it a little cloudy, and if you're still in, hey,
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: we're going to do this thing together and it's going
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: to be great.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: So I think things started to change when I got
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: a couple people that saw that and wanted in on
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: it and then stuck around for a long period of time.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: And what I didn't expect was that sometimes after people
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: would leave, some terminations, some resignations, I thought that'd probably
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: be the end of our time talking. And what I've
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: realized over the course of time is I still talk
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: with some of these people for various reasons.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: You know, they reach out.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: They're working at a different office now, and they kind
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: of remembered we did something this way.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: They liked the way we did it. Can you tell
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: us how we can do better? Oh, well, that's cool.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Or people that are maybe like, hey, I'm thinking about
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: maybe coming back, what do you think. Or people that
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: just thought it was greener on a different side, And
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: I totally get why you'd think that, but they wanted back.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: So I think what you said about not earning bridges
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: and leaving things in a really good space, You're so right.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: You're so right. I like that a lot.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's hard, right, it's hard to again not
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: take it personally and to be like, oh, well, they're
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: quitting or they're leaving or whatever away with them, you know,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: you sean versus just like, yep, maybe this is the
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: best decision for their life right now. And I truly
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: believe things will always work out. They will always find
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: their way to a better Even the best employees sometimes
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: they need to leave us and it's it can be
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the best decisions and opportunities for our practices that we
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: just can't see until we have that rear view perspective
• 32:41
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  Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about as you have matured
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: in your position as a leader and an owner over
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the last ten years. Let's talk about how you started
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to shift the mindset of team members and really start
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: to bring in. What does it look like to bring
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: your vision in and what you want patients to experience
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: out of the practice and the interaction that they have
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: with you and your team. Now, let's talk a little
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: bit about that, because I think, again, when we're taking
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: over a practice, you're kind of working into or backing
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: into somebody else's vision, somebody else's patient experience, somebody else's
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: mindset on whatever culture means or lack of culture. And
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: as you have come into this and walked through this
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: and started to why do they say burn it down
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: to build it back up again? To a point, let's
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: talk about how that has changed for you as you've
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: been moving into your ten years of now doing this
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and really coming into yourself as a senior doctor in
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: a practice with a solid team, and what that has
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: looked like over the years.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I say all of this with a cautious
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: optimism because I know that tomorrow can bring anything right.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: I love my team so much right now, they're just fantastic,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: both as team members but also as friends. I know
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: there are folks that would say you should not be
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: friends with your coworkers, especially when you're the boss, and
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: I understand that, and I think that there are proper boundaries.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: But I think the fact that we care about each
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: other in a genuine way, with proper guardrails and all
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. Don't hear me wrong. But the
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: fact that we genuinely care for each other helps us
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: work harder for each other too, and we want to
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: pull the weight for each other. We know that we
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: see the task as a whole, and nobody's above any job.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: So if I need to help out some night and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: take out the garbage, I don't have a problem with that.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: If I need to do some stuff that normally I
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: wouldn't do, I don't have a problem with that. And
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: I try to model that from top down so that
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: other people are also. I'm happy to pitch it anywhere,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: and then the more tenured people then continue to model
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: that for the ones that are younger and things. Just
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: a mindset overall that hopefully we begin to set as
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: doctors to say like, here's how I see the vision,
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: and I'm not above these things, and I don't expect
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: anybody else to be above them either, So I think
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: it starts at the top.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: That's my mindset.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: And then we have a set of core beliefs that
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: we periodically recite and try to just recenter ourselves.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: So we just talked about it this past week.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: You know, like an NCAA coach, there's pride times a
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: practice that they go back to basics and things that
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: these players have heard thousands of times. They do them
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: again because you need to come back to this stuff.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: I was watching the Duke game. End of the game,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Boozer gets the ball, makes a pass that I know
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: instantly he wishes he could have taken back, and they
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: end up losing the game. He ends up losing the game,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: I mean breaking a press right, something they've probably taught
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: about a million times. But going back to the basics
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: for us and what we believe, so things like we
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: believe in our mission. We believe in the Golden Rule.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: We believe in a patient centric gratitude. We believe in honesty.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: We believe orthodox is a team sport. We believe the
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: excellence is not an accident. We believe that rebounding for
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: mistakes is essential. We do not believe in being mediocre.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: So we go through these things of the team so
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: that everybody hears the same stuff and we're always thinking
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: the same thing. So we try and do that in
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: a morning huddle or an evening huddle and just constantly
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: come back to this stuff. So I think when people
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: started to hear the same things, I begin to see
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: a shift. And then now I've been super thankful, and
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: I'm just so fortunate.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: I praise the Lord for it.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: I'm just thankful to God for giving me some team
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: members that have been around a long time and that
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: just do fantastic work, and so they're kind of guiding
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: the younger ones, who I'm also super thankful for. These
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: girls kind of grab a piece of your heart and
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: you just want to do your best for them, and
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: they want to do their best for you, and sometimes
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: they break your heart and that's just the.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: Way that it goes.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: But I always say, it's my name on the door,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: But you guys are the heart and soul of this
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: whole thing. So I love it when we get reviews,
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: and we kind of read reviews at the end of
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: the day, you know, And so when we get a
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: review online, I love it when that review highlights one
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: of the team members. Yeah, because I love to make
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: a big deal about it and I love to just
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: I try to make a blush if I can. You know,
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not always successful, but I love that. So I
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: love the ones that don't even mention me. It's all
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: about the team, you know, the whole thing is just
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: about the scheduler up front and the ladies in the
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: back and whoever got to start it. I love it
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: when I'm not even part of it because that tells
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: me that everybody's doing what they should do.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: You know, if I just fade into the background, mission accomplished.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I love that. And I just really appreciate
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: you saying this because I really do believe that we
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: don't always see this, I think, as brand new business owners.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: But as you mature and as you come into that
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: leadership role in real life, start to do exactly what
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: you've done, cultivate what it really means, the values that
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: you are making a part of your in and out
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: daily practice. It really becomes the foundation of your business.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: And I have got to believe that having all of
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: these pieces in place now also makes it very easy
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: for you to see if you happen to hire somebody
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: or bring somebody onto the team, that just kind of
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: is rubbing against the grain, kind of makes it easier
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: to see that maybe. You know, again, we all make mistakes.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: We all think somebody is going to be great and
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: maybe something in their life changes, or we miss something
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: along the way and they just don't end up being
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: the best fit, and again we send them away with
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: love and find the right person. But has it become
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: easier do you think too? In working with knowing you
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: know those values, those what did.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: You call them? Core?
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: Our beliefs our beliefs?
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, core believe even from the lens of I'm
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: hiring somebody to kind of come into my family, come
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: into that fold. Have you noticed that that has even
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: made it easier now that you've really got those solidified
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and in place, It's.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: Definitely helped provide clarity for me.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: And I think the last two hires we've done, I've
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: actually had the team do the majority of the process.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not even involved, and they basically get to a
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: spot where they kind of come down to one or
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: two people and they say, this is who we'd like
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: to work with. So that's been a real great thing
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: for me because now they're taking everything that we are
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: and also looking at who this person is as a person,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: like do we want to spend time together because we
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: should want to do that. Yeah. And I think that
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: our current team members have a vested interest in not
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: wanting to see somebody pull that apart. You know, we
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: have had some that new hires that were wonderful people.
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: They were honestly wonderful people. If we were going to
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: go have coffee together, we could for a couple hours,
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: it'd be awesome. Working together was maybe a different story,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: and we just saw things different. And that doesn't mean
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: that I'm right and that they're wrong. It doesn't mean
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: that they're right and I'm wrong. It just means that
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: we're not rowing in the same direction. So I was
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: a little afraid the first time I terminated somebody, you know,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: I felt like lightning might come down and get me.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: But that's also a purifying event.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: I can think of some situations where if I had
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: not terminated somebody, it would have been problematic for the
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: rest of the team to see you continue to tolerate
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: less than what everybody else is held to yes, And
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: so I think that there has to be a bar
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: that whatever our practice name is, like, this is our bar.
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: This is we never go below, this is it's only
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: here and up.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: And if someone just can't get there, you've helped them
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: as many way as you can and they can't get there.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: My experience has been that it's probably better to say, like,
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: you're an awesome person, but this is your last day.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: I had a wonderful teammate at one point in time
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: who was honestly just one of the kindest people. But
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: she couldn't wake up on time. And I'm embarrassed to
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: tell you how many times she was late. It would
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: make me look bad, so I'm not going to tell you,
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: but I will say this. I bought her an alarm clock.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: I remember this.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: So this alarm clock, I think it was called clocky.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: It had wheels and you'd set it on the nightstand
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: and when the alarm went off, like lights flash and
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: it flew off the nightstand and just like buzzed around
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: the room until you got up to get it off,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: you know, to turn it off. And so I I remember,
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: I just distinctly remember this event. I pulled her into
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: my office. I was like, look, I'm giving this to
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: you today, and this alarm clock has a name. Its
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: name is Grace, because I am extending a major of
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: grace to you today and you have to show up
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: on time.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: You can't be late.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: But ultimately I wanted it more than she did, and
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: that never ever works. And that's true with patients wearing
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: rubber bands, that's true with patients brushing their teeth, that's
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: true with outcomes. It's truth success in the work. If
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: you want it more than somebody else, it's probably not
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: going to work. So anyway, she's still got the alarm clock,
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: and hopefully she thinks of good things when she sees that.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: But it just didn't work out. You know, I don't
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: buy alarm clocks for everybody.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: I remember that story and thought it was so wonderful,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: But I think to your point, though you wanted it
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: more than her, And I think a lot of times,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: especially when we're newer at managing team members, being in
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: the role of being an owner of a practice and
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: having employees, we tend to, I think in the beginning
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: sway or bend a lot more than we need to.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: And we don't want to become so rigid that it
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: becomes a toxic environment on the other side of it, either,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: but there is definitely I think team members are looking
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: for our doctors to stand in their space as the
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: leader of the practice and lead the charge in whichever
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: direction we're going. And what you just don't want is
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: everybody moving in their own direction because they think that's
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the direction that they should be going, because there is
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: nobody leading from the front. And I just watched from
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: afar as you have matured and come into this. I'm
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: not meaning it as if you were a young nubie
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: even when you were stepping into this, but it is
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: just so fun for me as a consultant to watch
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: my doctors blossom into these amazing leaders of their practices
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: and have a team that will literally follow them. You know,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: they're like, you say left, and we're going left. I mean,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: we're not even questioning it. That's the way we're going.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: And I hope that for all of my doctors that
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: they're able to really come into that. But it's definitely,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: I think even more challenging in an acquisition because most
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: of the time you're not getting to pick who starts
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: out on your team and you're not getting to have
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: all of the decisions from the beginning.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: I know we've talked a lot about employees, and I
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: definitely don't want to make a sense. I'm like, I'm
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: an HR expert. I'm not, you know, I just I'm
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: a small practice with a small team, and God's just
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: been really faithful to bring some great people along. Seventeen
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: twenty five says that God gives us life and breath
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: and everything. So any good team members I have or
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: because God has brought them to our office and they've
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: continued to want to be here. And I'm not the
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: most gregarious guy. I was never a life of the party.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: I was never a popular kid. But I do deeply
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: care about people and I want the best for them.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: So I hoped it for all the faults that I
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: bring to the table, maybe some of those redeeming qualities
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: are things that make up for it a little bit,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: because like I said, I genuinely love my team, and
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: I would love that for everybody, because if you don't
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: like your team, I think the first question you got
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: to ask is like, well, why am I still doing this?
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: Am I leading in a way that's not right?
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Or am I unwilling to make the hard decision to
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: get a new team or did they just not see
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: the vision? But that's a really hard thing if you
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: go to work every day and you don't like the
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: people that you're with. So again I just say with
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: all thankfulness that I love the ladies that I work with.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: A part of my heart that will always belong to
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: those team members. So I'm thankful for that. But I
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: am a sample size of one. Okay, So I'm not
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: saying I'm an HR expert. I just and tomorrow, like
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: the wheels could come off.
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: I have no idea.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: And that's the crazy part about this whole thing is
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: that you don't know what tomorrow brings.
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: You don't know.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: So maybe there's a follow up to this podcast when
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: the wheels come off, and then you can ask me.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: How I'm doing.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: I know that even if the wheels come off, you're
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: going to get through it. You're going to walk through
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: it and will always come out on the other side.
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: I'll have to have you back for another year.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly, let's do that. So as we finish up,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I know you and I could just talk and talk
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: and talk, but as you look back ten years in review,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: let's talk about to anybody that's out there, what would
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: you say if somebody's considering doing an acquisition or you know,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: maybe even a startup, but especially an acquisition, because you know,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: you hear it like I do. Oh, the industry, you know,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: great clouds, Oh, you know, it's maybe this isn't the industry.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: You know, you guys wasted your money and all the
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: different things. And I want to shout hooey from the
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: rooftops about all of that. But what would you say
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: to somebody if they're really considering, you know, I might
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: have a great opportunity or I'm willing to bet on
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: myself and take an opportunity to move outside of something
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: that feels comfortable, like a guaranteed paycheck at an associate
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: ship job. What would you say to them?
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: I think instincts are worth listening to. You know me
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: well enough.
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: I am a Christian. I think prayer for me is
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: a big part of this. Thinking about what you're doing,
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: committing it to the Lord. Speaking counsel in the wisdom
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: of many counselors is success. The lone wolf strategy generally
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: isn't a great one. So ask people that know you well.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Do you think I am a good fit for this?
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: Do I have the personality for this character for this?
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: Do you think I can make this happen? I think
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: often what we jump to is just the money, Just
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: the money. Is it going to cash flow?
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: Can I make money? Can I pay my bills?
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: But my parents always told me, there's at least four
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: parts to every person that you have to attend to, spiritual, mental, physical, financial,
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: And too often I think we get stuck on just
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: the financial. And even if you get a great practice
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: and you make gizzillions of dollars, but you've neglected spiritual, mental, physical,
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: you're not going to be happy. I just talked with
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: a friend recently who was telling me somebody that he
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: had connected with who makes far less than him. But
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: that guy who makes far less than him is wanting
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: to check in on my friend who makes more money
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: to make sure he's doing okay. And I just think
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: it's a recentering moment for us to realize that the
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: money's never going to make us happy. I think it's
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: Proverbs that talks about money sprouting wings and flying away.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: These things that we have we have to hold loosely.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: But we need to make wise decisions too. We have
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: to count the cost before we do it. So what
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: advice would I give? Sorry, that's kind of a sidetrack,
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Ask yourself what you want. Think that the ownership part
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: can be very very rewarding. It's hard, but life is hard,
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: you know, Like I think sometimes the voices, especially the
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: big voices in our industry. They're frustrating to me personally
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: because they make it sound like everybody should just be
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: rolling around in money and if you're not, you're doing
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: something drastically wrong. And they don't even need to know you.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: They can tell you what you're doing wrong. And I
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: think that that's just unhealthy. It's unhealthy. And you know,
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: if you have a wife and kids, or you have
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: a husband and kids, your first ministry is at home,
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: like take care of your family. If you make all
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: the money in the world but your family falls apart,
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: how much would you give to put your family back together?
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: So do it for the right reasons.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: If you want this because you care about doing things
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: the way that you think is right, you want the
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: autonomy to do that, and you're willing to take some
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: of the blows along the way to make it happen,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: then do it. You got to have a bank that's
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: going to loan you the money unless you're independently wealthy.
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: You got to have an accountant that says this is
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: going to work. You got to have a lawyer that's
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: going to draw stuff up. You got to have jill
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: to make sure that you can survive when the wheels
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: fall off, but you can do it. Like we do
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: great things, we have great outcomes for people. We change lives.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: I was a college student when I got braces, and
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: my orthodonist probably didn't feel like he did all that
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: much for me, but he closed a diasthma in the
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: front for me, and that was a game changer for
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: me confidence wise.
• 50:47
  Speaker 3: So I think our.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Mission statement says that we exist to improve lives by
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: improving smiles. That's the whole reason we exist. Love that
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: If that's what we're really trying to do, and this
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: is how you think you can do it, then great.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: I just think what bothers me a little bit is
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: that we've kind of like commoditized our what we do
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: and it's just become you're hiring something out.
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: I'm hiring an orthodonist. This is just so much bigger
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: than that. Here, I got to show you something real quick.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: I have a folder.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: This folder is titled personal notes, and these are all
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: things that patients have given to me, and I keep
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: those because some days they're better than others.
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: You know, sometimes you need to read a note. Yep,
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: remember why you're doing what you're doing.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think it was Jerry Sampson that said,
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: we're in the business of improvement, not in the business
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: of perfection. And that's been such a helpful thing because again,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: we can't take biological beings and make them robots, but
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: we can take where we're at and try to restore
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: to something that's better, and you can change lives. Yep.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: So I know it's not doctoring in the same way
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: as cardiovascular surgery or brain surgery or I had back
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: problems this past November and had to have some help.
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: It's not doctoring in that way. It can be really significant.
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: You know. I've got a folder fuld of stuff to
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: prove that. So I think, if that's what you want,
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: and you want more than just the paycheck, I go
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: for it. Like an acquisition is a great thing. It's proven,
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: it exists, somebody's been doing it for however long. Yeah,
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: you're gonna have some ups and downs, and it's probably
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: gonna be like buying a house. You know, you get
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: the inspection, you think you know what you're getting, and
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: then you get in there and you find out, oh,
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: I didn't realize this was happening, and then you got
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: to change stuff. But you own a house you know,
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: and you're not renting anymore, and there's good things with that.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: So you can't be terrible at your job.
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: No matter what you do.
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: You have to be good at your job. You can't
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: go off and just be terrible. Even if somebody's paying
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: you to do. They're not gonna keep you. They're gonna
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: fire you. So I think whether you want to work
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: for somebody, which is fine, I'm not saying it's not
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: fine to make money, especially coming out of school.
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: You got debt, you got stuff. I did it.
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: But I would say, don't be afraid because you have
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: a marketable skill, You've worked really hard. You're probably a
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: great person because you've made it past all these interviews.
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: Don't sell yourself short. Yeah, just give it everything you got.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: If you're a spiritual person, I'd encourage you to entrust
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: it to the Lord and recognize that he wants to
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: give good gifts.
• 53:30
  Speaker 3: Sometimes the gifts look different than you think they'll look.
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: And I think it's proverb sixteen nine that says in
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: his heart, a man plans his way, but the Lord
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: determines his steps.
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: So life is going to take some left turns and
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: some hard right turns, and.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, we got to decide
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: if we're going to trust ourselves or if we're going
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: to trust in something bigger, of which I do and
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: I've shared that before, so I'd say, go for it,
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: get your ducks in order, do the hard work to
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: prepare for it is best as you can. But one
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: of the most freeing things my wife told me when
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: we were making a lot of these decisions and I
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: was kind of in vapor lock for a while, she said, Richard,
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: you need to give yourself the freedom to make a
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: decision and then if something changes, make a new decision. Yeah, lovely,
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: And that was so liberating for me because we're so
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: perfectionistic that we think that everything we have to do
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: has to be perfect the first time or we've failed.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: And that's just not how life so far forty two
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: years in has worked for me.
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe for some it has gone different, But I'm trying
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: to grow in that mindset where I want to make
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: decisions that seem good at the time, and then if
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: something changes, you make new decisions, and to be gracious
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: with yourself and that because even though I said you
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: had near profetic abilities, none of us as a prophet,
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: we don't know it's coming, and so stuff can happen,
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: stuff can change, and then you just got to be
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: ready for it as best as you can, you know,
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: makeing new decisions. So yeah, that's what i'd say.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thank you, And I just love that you're
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: so candid and honest and raw with this because it really,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: it really is all of that. And I would tell
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: anybody to who's listening, if you're willing to take that
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: step and stand in that space, you're going to do
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: just fine. You're going to have to do the work.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to have tough days sometimes, and you're going
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: to have really great days sometimes, but darn it, that's
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: just part of being a business owner. It doesn't matter
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: what we're in and that's also just life to a point,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: some are going to be better than others. So again,
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking us on your journey.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: In the event, you can tell me how you feel
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: about this. But if somebody was listening and maybe they've
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: gone through a similar experience, or they're just needing kind
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: of a safe space to talk to a peer or
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: bring up maybe a thought or whatnot. If somebody wanted
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: to reach out to you, what would be the best way,
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: or find out a little bit more about your practice
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: or whatnot.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well they need to lower their expectations for whatever
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: they're going to, you know, expect to come back. Lower
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: the expectations. But email is probably just the easiest thing
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: to give over this kind of thing. So just Richard
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: at play about orthodonics dot com. Just say who you
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: are and I'll do my best to get back to you.
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: But yeah, lower your expectations. We are just fellow pilgrims
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: trying to navigate the way together. So I don't have
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: all the answers and I'm an end of one. Yeah,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: but I wish I would have had something like this
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: ten years ago when I was getting started and somebody
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: that I knew would be open to talk about it.
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: And that's one of the reasons I did this.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: I probably would have just normally said no, but I
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: would have killed to just hear somebody kind of might
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: not paint it in a perfect way or make themselves
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: sound perfect, because my story definitely wasn't perfect. My story
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: was far from perfect and it still is, you know.
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: But yeah, if I can help somebody, then praise the
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: Lord for that. And if we get to be friends
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: out of it. That'd be awesome and we can laugh
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: together and cry together. Things might go great, things might
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: go terrible, but I don't think that that defines you
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day. Now, I've tried as
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: time it has gone on, you know, and people say, like, hey,
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: tell us about yourself or whatever. I've tried really hard
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: to not lead with I'm an orthodonist, because I think
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: we do that and it really boxes us in and
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: we begin to think of ourselves in a really narrow way.
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: So I think we need to start by saying things like.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: I'm a husband, I'm a dad, I'm a son, I'm
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: a member of my church, I'm a boy Scout leader,
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: whatever it's going to be. But like, start with those
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: things because those are things that are probably going to
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: make you far happier than just saying I'm an orthodonist.
• 57:39
  Speaker 3: You got to make money, and this is how you
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: chosen to do that. You've gone through the school and
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: now you got to do it. But you get to
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: do it.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: But your identity has to be in something bigger than
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: your practice or us. I think you're going to live
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: kind of a narrow life.
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed, totally agree. It can't define you for sure,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: or it definitely becomes pretty lonely at the end if that's.
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: All that you have.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: So and now a word from the sponsors who make
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: this podcast possible, Haydocs. Let's talk about smile Sweet because
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: it's not just another scheduling system. It's a game changer
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: in the world of new patient management. And as a
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: proud smile Sweet partner, I've witnessed the incredible impact it
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: has on practices of all sizes. Smile Sweet means your
• 58:24
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• 58:27
  Speaker 1: days a week, even during nights and weekends, and they
• 58:31
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• 58:36
  Speaker 1: follow up. It's like having a secret weapon for your
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: practice's success. Curious, dive into the revolution at getsmilesweet dot
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: com and don't forget to mention Haydocks to unlock some
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: extra goodies. Elevate your practice with smile Sweet, because every
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: smile deserves a suite of excellence. Well again, thank you
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: so much for such a great talk. And I don't
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: know if you remember this or not, but the way
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: I like to finish up haydocs is do a little
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: quick speed round. I got a couple questions for you.
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: If you're ready to jump in.
• 59:10
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm nimble, I'm ready.
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, here we go. What is one of your go
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: to strategies for getting unstuck if you're facing a tough problem?
• 59:19
  Speaker 3: Mm hmm, well, you've heard me say it before.
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: I think instincts are worth something, So whatever your first
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: instinct is, I would lean into that.
• 59:26
  Speaker 3: One of my team members of the course of time
• 59:28
  Speaker 3: also told me she's like, you know what, we should
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: pray about that. I'm like, dang it, you're right, I
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: should pray about that. So instincts and prayer, I'd.
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: Go with that.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, great, great, all right, how about this one. What
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: is one piece of advice you wish you had followed
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: earlier in your career.
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: Do everything you can to prioritize time with your family.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: I know stuff has to get done at the office,
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: but kids grow up way too fast. I've got eleven
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: nine and two at home, and my third born is
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: already in heaven, so time just goes way too fast.
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: So you got to prioritize that and don't miss the memories.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: You know, take pictures, try to say yes to as
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: many things as possible.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that well, Richard, thank you again for
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: being here and sharing your story with us. I cannot
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: tell you how valuable this is, and I know that
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: this is hit home with some listeners out there. So
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: God put you in the right place and put you
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: on the right path, and I know that you're just
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: to breathe into somebody's life.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: So thank you for sure. Yeah, thanks for your help
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: a decade ago. Thanks for continuing to just be a friend.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: I value your whole team and really thankful for who
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: you are, for what you bring, for how you helped us.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: You've been the same person for as long as I've
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: known you, and same infectious laugh, same smile, same everything, and.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 3: I just I'm really thankful for it. Thanks for the opportunity, yep,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 3: thank you.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to start a practice of your own,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: need a new fresh set of eyes or some advice
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: on your existing practice? If so, reach out to me
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: Jill Allen at DEWW dot practice results dot com. If
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: you like what we're doing here on Haydocks and want
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: to hear more of this awesome content, be here and
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: give us a five star rating on your preferred listening
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: platform and subscribe to our show so you never miss
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: an episode. Remember, new episodes drop every Thursday. See you
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: next week.