Latest / Hey Docs! / Overcoming Remote Staffing Fears with Amanda Ketcham, My Mountain Mover

Transcript

Overcoming Remote Staffing Fears with Amanda Ketcham, My Mountain Mover · Hey Docs!

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hey Docs podcast with your host, Jill Allen. Today,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I am joined by Amanda Ketchum, CEO of My Mountain Mover.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Amanda works with orthodontic and dental practices to help them
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: expand their capacity through remote staffing solutions, allowing teams to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: work more efficiently without sacrificing culture and patient experience. As
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: practices continue to navigate hiring challenges and increasing demands, Many
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: owners are discovering that growth isn't always about adding more
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: people under one roof. It's about building the right team.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: In this episode, we're talking about overcoming the fear of outsourcing,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: creating a successful remote culture, and how virtual team members
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and AI.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Are shaping the future of orthodontic practices. So let's jump in.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: And now a word from the sponsors who make this
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: podcast possible. Want a cleaner workflow for orthodontic cases? Meet
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Clarity Solutions from Solventum, formerly 3M Healthcare. The Clarity portal
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: puts aligners, digital bonding, and retainers in a single streamlined platform.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: One workflow, fewer handoffs, and more control for planning through retention.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Simplify your next case. Reach out to your local Solventum
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: sales rep today or visit us at go.solventum.com forward slash clarity. Again,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that is go.solventum.com forward slash clarity to learn more. Hey docs,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: if your new patient follow-up depends on someone remembering, it's
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: leaking revenue. Grayfinch automates new patient follow-up, texts and emails
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: go out automatically, and your treatment coordinator just checks their
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: tasks list to see what needs a quick call or
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: a more personalized message. That is one of the many
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: reasons I recommend everyone take a look at Grayfinch.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: It isn't just a follow-up tool.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: It's a complete practice management software built to help you
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: grow and scale. Stop leaking revenue and get $ 500 off
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: your startup fee with the Jill Allen special at grayfinch.com
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: forward slash Jill Allen. Amanda, I am so excited to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: have you here. And hey, docs, thanks for being here today.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Of course. So happy to be here. I'm really excited
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: for our conversation today.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: So it'll be fun.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, it will.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: So you know the way I like to start off
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Hey Docs, especially when I've had a guest that I
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: haven't had on before.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I would love it if.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: You would do a little bit of introduction of yourself,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: share a little bit about your background and what has
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: led you to create My Mountain Mover.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Sure. Yeah. So a little bit on the personal side,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: I am the oldest of three girls. My sister just
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: had a baby about a year and a half ago.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Auntie is my favorite title right now. I love that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: She's the absolute cutest little girl. So just enjoying a
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: lot of family time. I love to travel. I have
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: a life goal of wanting to go to 100 countries.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: By the time that I die.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: So We'll see how many I can get to in
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: my life.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Very cool.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: business management economics. And I think I've always had an
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurial spirit. I just didn't really know what it would
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: turn into. And that's kind of where my mountain mover
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: came into the picture. I was fresh out of college.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: I was working for what I like to call a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: serial entrepreneur. And I was 22 years old. He came
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: into my office one day and said, I need you
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: to stop everything you're doing and start this company for me.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I have this idea. And I kind of looked at
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: him and was like, sure. This seems a little crazy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: He had already had eight companies at the time. And
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: he said, yeah, I see something in you. I think
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: there's a need in the market. He said, I don't
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: really want to be involved in the day to day,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: but I think you could do it. And that was
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: March of 2020. So I said, okay, let's see what
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: we can do. I said, yes, even though it was
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: nerve wracking. And three months later, we launched my mountain
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: mover and right during the middle of the pandemic. And
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: six years later, we have over 1600 virtual assistants working nationwide.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: For over 500 healthcare practices.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: So it's been an incredible journey so far.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, that is exciting.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Just to think, I mean, number one, like just your
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: journey and to be given this opportunity to launch something
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and during a time where things were a little bit
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: crazy and all of that anyways, and then to see
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: where you guys are at, that's pretty exciting. So I'm
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: wondering if you can just talk to us a little
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: bit about My Mountain Mover. And one of the ideas
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I know that you often talk about is that practices
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: don't necessarily... have a staffing problem, they have a capacity problem.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I agree with you. I think a lot of.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Times it's just, do they have the capacity to move
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: to the next level or a scaling? Can they scale
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to that, to that next level? So I'm wondering if
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you can kind of explain what you mean by that
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: when you talk about that and why the shift in
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: thinking is so important there.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Great question. I think that's really was the heart
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: behind My Mountain Mover when we started. So we are
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: a healthcare outsourcing company. So we have remote talent who
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: live in the Philippines, who we connect with doctors here
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: in the United States. So any sort of back-end admin
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: task that dental office or private practice or a psychologist
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: might need is what we provide. And during the pandemic,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: we noticed that a lot of the health care practices,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: they didn't know how to be remote. It was kind
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: of foreign to offer remote care. And that opened up
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: the door for us to fill a need in the market.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: And one thing that we noticed during COVID, especially even now,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: is that doctors go to school to provide patient care.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: But what's happening is that they're also business owners and
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: it's hard to do both. It's hard to excel casting
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: vision for your business. And then also, you know, they
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: didn't go to school for that. And then also trying
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: to provide really good care for their patients as well.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: And I see it more of an ROI problem. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: just finished reading this fantastic book called Buy Back Your
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Time by Dan Martell. And he has a concept in
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: there that he calls his buyback rate. And it's basically
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: where you calculate your hourly rate. Let's say it's $ 250
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: an hour, whatever it is. He said that if you
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: divide that by four and you could find someone to
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: do that task for you for a quarter of what
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: your hourly rate is, that is a huge investment in
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: you and your business and your time. And that concept...
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: really transformed my thinking about how I view staffing and
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: how I view my own capacity. Because if you're getting
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: paid $ 250 an hour and you're doing basic level admin
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: tasks that you could outsource, that is not the best
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: use of your time. In my mountain mover for my
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: own staff, we talk a lot about like living into
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: your superpower. What is your unique ability that only you
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: can do? And I think business owners and practice leaders,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: we have a really hard time delegating. We want to
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: do like 101 tasks every single day because we're good
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: at it. That's why we got into business in.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: The first place.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: But it's not the best use of our time. And
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: so I think we can wrap our brain around seeing things. outsourcing,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: seeing staffing as an opportunity for us to step into
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: a higher ROI for our business, we would be more profitable.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: We would grow our practices more. We'd be able to
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: invest in our staff more. So it's something that I'm
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: passionate about, obviously, and want to be able to help
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: practice owners with.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I could not agree with you more. And I
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: definitely see when I work with practices that are doctors
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: that are in more of the startup phase to midlife,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: five year to 15 year to eight years to retirement.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: So many times there's such a distinction. a lot of
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: times in doctors, depending upon which phase they're in. But
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I do see that there is also some common denominators
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: in practices that slow down or stunt out growth. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: many times it does come back to exactly what you're saying,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: where unfortunately a doctor has not been able to get
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: out of their own way and they become the cog
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: in the wheel of you know, when you're a startup, yes,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: of course, you've got to kind of do everything, know everything.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: You got to be scrappy. You got to, you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: you got to.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Do all that, but that does not bode well when
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you're a million dollar practice, a $ 2 million practice. And
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of times you can't get to those numbers
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: as long as you stand in that gap of moving forward.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: So when we think about what my mountain mover is
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: doing and just outsource in general, I think in our industry,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: especially in orthodontics, and I know you're working in a.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: It still feels.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Like kind of a foreign concept to think about. I
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: have my brick and mortar practice and I need to
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: have all of my employees in my brick and mortar practice.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And I grow my practice and I'm, you know, maybe
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I even show success by the amount of team members
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that I have in my brick and mortar practice. And
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I think that this concept of of outsourcing and thinking
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: about our core roles and our orthodontic practices and saying, hey,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: does this have to be done in a traditional manner
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: that maybe has been done in our industry year after year?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Or is it okay for me to be a doctor
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: that maybe thinks outside of the box a little bit
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: and maybe moves in a different direction? So what I'm
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: wondering if you can kind of break down for us is,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I think when I talk to doctors about this, I
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: think it can feel really intimidating. I think it feels
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: like it's hard enough to manage somebody when they're in
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: your practice, let alone somebody that's maybe in another country. Yes.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: How do you put safeguards in place? Can you just
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: talk through all.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Of these things that I know you probably hear and
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: encounter and deal with every day? in objections or concerns
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: or whatnot, but talk to doctors about just how do
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: we think differently about this and feel comfortable about utilizing
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: an outsourced team member and still have them be a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: part of our team?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Yes. Great question. We see this all the time. There's
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: a lot of fear around outsourcing, which to be fair,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: like it's a different way of managing. And I think
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: what I love about My Mountain Mover is that we
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: provide help along the whole entire hiring process because you
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: need it. We want to educate and to be able
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: to provide the tools and resources as necessary for our
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: doctors to see success. And I would say we definitely
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: see this And well, what is the culture going to
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: look like for our remote employees? Or how do you
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: know if they're actually going to be working the whole
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: entire time if they're remote? Or what if the quality
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: of talent is not the same as a stateside person?
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: So we hear those concerns a lot. And I will
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: say that whatever you invest in it is what you're
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: going to get out of it. And so if you
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: are willing to be intentional, And really commit to setting
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: up good onboarding processes and resources for your remote team members.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: And if you can have the same view of them
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: as you do your stateside employee, that's where we see
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: the most success is that the doctors don't just view
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: them as like a temporary solution or something that they're
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: not on equal footing with their stateside employees. That is
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: where we see our virtual assistants or our staff members
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: thrive because they can feel it. They can sense it
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: if they feel part of the culture, if they feel
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: part of the team, if there's a weekly check-in that
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: they're getting accountability from, there's KPIs in place, there's a
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: strong onboarding process. Just all the things that you would
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: want to do for a stateside employee that sometimes I
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: think maybe doesn't happen as much with remote unfortunately but
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: if you can just I always just encourage our doctors
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: just view them as you would put the same amount
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: of effort as you would a stateside employee and you're
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: going to see a better return on your investment.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: There yeah yeah for sure something that I hear a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: lot from doctors is when they do recognize that I
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: can use the help I think sometimes it's hard to articulate,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: but I'm not even sure the help that I need. Like,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I know that I need help in this, but I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: don't know how to direct somebody else to do something
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: that they have been doing.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Or there may not be.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the SOPs in place to have this team member. And
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: so again, it can feel very scary to be like, oh,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I'm going to let this person figure out the SOP
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: or I'm going to let them figure out. And I'm
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: sure you can kind of speak to that and how
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: you've helped docs with that also.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah. One thing that we try to do at My
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Mountain Mover is just make the hiring process simple. And
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: so we will just spend work with you on crafting
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: a job description. Sometimes we get in our own way of,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: oh man, I don't really know.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: What I could outsource.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: But we also operate on a framework called EOS, stands
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: for Entrepreneurial Operating System. And it's just an amazing way
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: to run your business that has helped us scale phenomenally.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: I recommend it to any and all business owners. And
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: they have a concept in there called the laundry list
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: and delegate and elevate. And so if you're kind of
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: struggling with where do I even start?
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: What can I actually do?
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Yes. I recommend like looking at your calendar for the
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: last two or three weeks or thinking about the tasks
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: that you do and just creating a whole laundry list
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: of everything that's consumed your time for the last two
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: to three weeks. So you get your list and then
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: you write down how long each task has taken you
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: to accomplish. So maybe you're with patients for four hours
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: out of the day and then you're doing charting and
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: then you're answering phone calls or emails, right? And then
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: from that laundry list, you basically delegate and elevate. You
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: decide what tasks are incredibly important for you and only
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: you to do because you do them better than anyone else.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Maybe box those. And then circle the ones that you
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: would feel comfortable outsourcing or delegating to someone. And that
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: can form your job description and get you started. So
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: if you don't really know where to start, I always
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: recommend doing something like that because sometimes we're our own
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: worst enemy where we get in our head and we
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: just kind of have to log it down on paper.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: At least I know I do. So I would say
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: start there and start with something simple, like an administrative
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: task that you know is not the best use of
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: your time, but is very time consuming. Outsource that, see
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: how it goes, start with something simple. And then if
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: you have success with that, then you can start working
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: on more specialized roles. Yeah.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Tell me if you would agree with this. I think
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of times it isn't just the doctors, but
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: you could be doing this with your team members as well.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: You know, when you've got that team member, I'll use
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: front office. Let's just say one of our front office
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: team members, that is. you're just feeling like they're a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: fantastic team member, but they're dropping the ball because they
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: are just, you know, there's so many things that are
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: on their laundry list of things to do. And I
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: think sometimes as leaders and business owners, we have to
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: kind of help our team members too, to be able
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to say, okay, going back, I love what you were saying,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: you know, what things do I need this team member
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to keep doing?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: What are those core things?
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Components that really make the success of my practice important
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: because they're doing it? And then what are the things
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: that are maybe those tasks that are bogging them down?
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I'm going to think about, here's a perfect example, unless
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: we have a financial coordinator, calling insurance companies and verifying insurance.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: We could literally spend hours and hours a week and
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: a day without highly talented team members in our office
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: who are much better spent meeting and greeting and making
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: eye contact with the people that are walking in their
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: door instead of hiding away or putting off the people
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: in front of them because they finally just got on
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: with an insurance company. I'm just using that as an example.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: But listeners, I want you to think about this. It
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: isn't just about you and thinking about outsourcing for you,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: but how do you make the most efficient team where
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: you Maybe you are really leaning into the core players,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the high talent in your offices, and then saying, do
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I really need another body in my practice? Or is
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: this something that thinking outside of this box, is this
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: a position that maybe could be outsourced to another person
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: where I'm still going to get the results that I need,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: but I'm redirecting time and time management around the things
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that are important.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: To the success of my practice?
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: Great, great example. And time is finite. We only have
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: a certain amount of time in every single day. So
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: we have to use it wisely. And we are already
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: stretched as business owners. The speed at which things are
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: advancing is insane. And it puts so much more pressure
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: on business owners nowadays than more than ever before. And
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: so how do you navigate that? You have to delegate
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: and elevate or else you get left behind. So... I
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: loved that example.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: It was great.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: And now a word from the sponsors who make this
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: podcast possible. Are you thinking about opening an orthodontic practice?
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I know it's a big decision, but saving 25% on
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the ADEC equipment you need to get started.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: That's an easy one.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Because ADEC has a special program called Smart Start designed
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: to help you launch your first practice. You get up
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: to 25% off your ADEC orthodontic equipment and furniture. You
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: also get complimentary discounts. services to help you run and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: grow your business. And my favorite part, access to the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Smart Start pricing for two whole years after you open
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: your doors. That gives you flexibility to add more chairs
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: as your cash flow grows.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: It's pretty smart.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: As an orthodontist, you care about getting all the little
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: details right, and ADEC really got it right with this program.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: So if starting off with a big savings on ADEC
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: equipment sounds good to you, the ADEC Smart Start is
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: definitely worth a closer look.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Just follow the link in the show notes to learn more.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: So here's something that I think a lot of people
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: think about is we work so hard in our practices
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to build a great culture. In the beginning, I've worked
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: with a lot of startups, you know, we're just working
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: on processes. It's like one foot in front of the other,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and we're figuring out our front office process, and we're
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: figuring out our TC process, and we're figuring out our
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: clinical process. But then there comes this shift where we've
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: got the foundation in place, and now we're going to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: start building our culture. And making hires that fit the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: culture and the vision of the practice that we are hoping.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: To build upon. And I'm wondering if you can.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Talk about how does successful practices build those strong relationships
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and accountability and engagement, not only within their own practices,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: but with and when they're engaging and working with remote
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: team members so that those team members still feel like
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: they're part of that practice where they aren't just the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: remote team member, but they still get to be a
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: part and get to feel the loves, feel the feels
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of the culture of that practice.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Great question. I kind of alluded to it earlier.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: I think the first step is if you're going to outsource,
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: really check your mindset and say, am I viewing this
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: person as an equal to my stateside staff? I can't
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: stress that enough because we see that the people who
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: invest in our staff as truly their own employees, if
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: they can view them like that, They are the ones
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: that are seeing a higher tenure for their staff members,
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: higher productivity, higher efficiency. And make sure that you're relational
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: with them, get to know them, just like how you
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: would have, you know, your water cooler time. You have
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: that time where you're saying, hey, how's your neighbor? How's
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: your wife? How's your husband? How are the kids? You know,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: make sure you establish that rapport with your remote people
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: as well. That's really, really important. Another thing that we
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: do too, because my staff, we are 97% remote at
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: my Mountain Mover as well, our internal staff. And one
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: thing that we do, we have a session once a
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: week called Elevate. And it's basically an all company gathering
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: where we just gather, we talk, we hang out, we
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: have games. It doesn't need to be an hour. It
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: could be 15 minutes, you know, just something small where
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: it's a team gathering where they're not isolated and they
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: get to know.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Your other stateside staff.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Members, make sure you're processing issues and opportunities with them.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: I think it's really important for any staff member to
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: want to be heard, want to be seen, want to
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: be valued. And they are incredibly bright people. And I
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: think any remote employee wants to feel like they are
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: contributing to the practice, even if they are physically not there.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: So I would say definitely that's very important. And also
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: phenomenal book called Culture Trumps Everything by Dr.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Gustavo Grudinsky.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I'm a big reader. I love to read. I think
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: it's one of the best cheat codes in getting ahead
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: of life in life. So definitely recommend that book as well.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And then my mountain member, we are fortunate to do
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: an annual retreat and summit, which is very fun. So
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: even if you can't meet in person, do something quarterly
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: where you maybe are giving out awards and recognitions or
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: you're casting vision for your team members that they all
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: feel like they're rowing in the same direction. Yeah, I
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: think those are a couple of tips and tricks that
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: I've learned along the way that can really help you
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: build that culture, even if you have people remotely as well.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I think those are great tips.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: So as you look ahead, and I would say that
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: remote staffing is going to just be part of our
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: culture in businesses, just like AI is part of our
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: culture in businesses. Now, how much each individual business chooses
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to adapt or not, that'll depend on the business. And
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: how you kind of see remote staffing and AI working
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: together to just kind of shape what we're going to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: see in our orthodontic practices. And where do you think
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: our biggest opportunities are going to come from for our
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: businesses and our business owners?
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're wrestling with this extensively at My Mountain Mover.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think AI has definitely been a disruptor,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: but I think how you view AI, it's going to
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: be something that we all have to face. It's like
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: the internet, you know, it's going to be a tool.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: It's like the iPhone.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: And the more that you resist it, the less that
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: you are going to be able to understand it and
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: use it to your advantage. And I view that kind
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: of the same way with our virtual assistants. I do
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: think that AI will handle maybe 90% of the basic
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: administrative task in the future. I do think that just
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: with the technology and the speed at which it's advancing,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: we do have to be mindful of that. I think
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: for any staff member, stateside or remote, we need to
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: train our people on how to use the AI and
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: almost kind of be like the supervisor of it. So
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: be baseline foundation, right? Have it do all the admin
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: tasks that you don't want to do. Checking your emails.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Maybe you built an AI agent that's going to respond
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: on behalf of you or whatever you have in your workflow.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: But then I think it's really important for the staff
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: to be level two. They are the ones who are
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: overseeing the AI. They're making sure that the AI is
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: not hallucinating. They're watching out for any red flags. It's
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: not a perfect system. It's the software. And we have
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: to use our intelligence as human beings to understand the nuances.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: So level one, AI, basic admin task. Level two would
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: be staff members who are overseeing it. Maybe AI is
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: escalating problems to them that they can't handle.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: I would imagine that's kind of going to be what
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: the future looks like.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: I think what I would really love practice leaders and
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: owners to understand too, is that being really good relationally
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: and having great communication skills are going to be essential.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: And those people who have those skills are going to
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: be the ones that get ahead because that's the thing
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: that AI can't do right now. It's not relational. And
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: we have to live into our strengths as human beings,
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: I think. So that's what we're trying to do with
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: our staff members too, is teaching them those relational skills.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: communication skills using their brains and showing initiative having empathy
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: and care for our patients i think all those things
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: will become that much more vital to the success of
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: businesses in the future.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to take you down a rabbit hole
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: for a minute because I'm sure a lot of my
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: listeners are like, let's talk about maybe some of the
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: risks involved. If there are, you know, many, I can
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: think of maybe what could be potential risks, but I
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: want you to just talk to me a little bit about,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I think some of the scariest thing, just in general,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: it's hard to be a business owner and have team
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: members and manage them when they're in your office.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: We were talking about this a little bit earlier.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I think it's also hard to think about, well, what
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: do I do or what happens if I have turnover
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: in this role that I have outsourced? Am I starting
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: over again? Do I have support in getting this role
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: filled again? What if there's some, I don't know, just,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: you know, like life happens and sometimes team members and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: doctors or just don't mesh the way we had hoped.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I wonder if you can talk about that. And then
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: also just knowing from the very beginning, you know, you
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: said a lot of times our team members are not
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: stateside team members. And I think this can happen whether
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: we have stateside or not is do we have to
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: worry about HIPAA compliance or are there certain things that
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: we can feel more comfortable outsourcing than other things that
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: we have to maybe have a little more safeguards in place?
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: And I know I'm kind of putting you on the
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: spot on this, but I'm wondering if you can talk
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: to that because I think that is sometimes that's kind
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of the first thing where doctors are like, oh, I
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: don't want to open myself up for an issue. And
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: so therefore, I won't even dip my toe into the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: water of maybe this could be a good solution for
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: my practice.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's 100% a valid concern. And we see this
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: concern often. I would say that if you're going to
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: dip your toe into the outsourcing world, please choose a
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: reputable company. There's a lot of companies that are out
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: there with outsourcing, remote people they are not all the
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: same so that would be my caution would be choose
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: someone that's reputable that's well known that has more than
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: 500 remote staff members they have a proven process they
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: have a reputation to uphold read their business reviews do
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: your due diligence. Don't just go with the cheapest option.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Go with a company that has support, who has an
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: account manager, who has a HIPAA... We have a HIPAA
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: compliance officer because we want to make sure that every
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: single one of our virtual assistants is HIPAA trained. They
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: get quarterly refresher trainings on it. We have an IT
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: manager who helps you get set up. So choose a
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: company that You have resources beyond just the remote staff member.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: You can hire someone yourself if you want. I would
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: say for your first time, I would not recommend that.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: I would choose a provider that can be more of
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: a long-term solution and have resources that you can utilize.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: But it's definitely invalid. So choose someone that's HIPAA compliant.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: Choose someone that signs a BAA. That's a big one
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: if you're wanting to decrease your liability. Choose someone that
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: takes HIPAA very seriously. Just do your due diligence. Ask
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: really good questions if you are in that hiring process
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: and make sure that they have a plan for a
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: replacement as well for you.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's great.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I'm a novice here. What's a VAA?
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: B-A-A, it's business associate. Oh, B, B, sorry.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: I heard it as a V as in Victor, not
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: as a B as in boy.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: No worries, yeah. It stands for business associate agreement. And
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: so in the HHS world, they don't require you to
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: sign a BAA because technically if you're hiring a remote employee,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: it's that relationship with the business But at My Mountain Mover,
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: we do sign a BAA because we want our practice
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: owners to know and our practice leaders to know that
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: we're putting our stake in the ground too. And we
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: are saying, hey, we are going to be there for
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: you if anything happens. We want to make sure that
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: our virtual assistants are quality, that you're getting the help
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: you need. So look for that as well if you're
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: looking for a remote employee. Yeah.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: It's so fun to talk about, I think, these kind
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: of emerging roles in our industry. And I'm a big
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: proponent of looking to think outside of the box and
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: how do we do what we do better. And efficiency
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: to me is key in an orthodontic practice when we're
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: looking at overhead to expenses and how do we get
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the most out of the squeeze there. And sometimes it
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: is just moving away from these very traditional way of
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: thinking about things. And I'm going to take it all
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the way back to your idea of thinking about whether
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: it's you as a doctor or a team member. Are
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: there things that you want and need your team members
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: to do in the office? And are there tasks that
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: can maybe be outsourced? So we're still checking all the boxes,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: doing all of the things, but also being mindful of
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: our overhead issues. And profitability, not only profitability, but sometimes
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: just getting our time back and finding that balance for
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: everybody in work and life balance. So as we finish
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: up here, I know we could just talk and talk
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: about this because I think it's just such a fun
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: thing to talk about. But Amanda, if somebody wants to
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: learn more about Maybe ask you some more questions. Our
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: discussion has kind of piqued some interest. What's going to
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: be the best way that they can find out about
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: My Mountain Mover? Or maybe just pick your brain a
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: little bit on this kind of something I might be
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: interested in.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if anyone's interested, our website is a great resource.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: It's mymountainmover.com. I know it's a little bit of a mouthful,
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: three triple M's, mymountainmover.com. Or if you want to follow
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: me on LinkedIn, Amanda Ketchum, I'm over on LinkedIn. You
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: can message me. I'm happy to talk to you guys
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: if you need any resource.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great. That's great.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: And now a word from the sponsors who make this
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: podcast possible. Hey docs, let's talk about SmileSuite because it's
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: not just another scheduling system. It's a game changer in
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the world of new patient management. And as a proud
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: SmileSuite partner, I've witnessed the incredible impact it has on
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: practices of all sizes. SmileSuite means your new patient calls
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and web leads are expertly handled seven days a week,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: even during nights and weekends. And they offer top-notch customizable
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: presentation software and seamless post-consultation follow-up. It's like having a
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: secret weapon for your practice's success.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: Curious?
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Dive into the revolution at GetSmileSuite.com. And don't forget to
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: mention HeyDocs to unlock some extra goodies. Elevate your practice
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: with SmileSuite because every smile deserves a suite of excellence. Well,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: you know, Amanda, the way I love to finish up
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Haydox is I always love to finish this up with
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: a little speed round. So are you ready for the
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: speed round challenge?
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: I'm ready.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: All right, here we go. What is one business trend
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: that you think more people should be paying attention to?
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: Pay attention to buyer behavior and.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: How ai is affecting it that's.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: A good one all right what is one industry challenge
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: you think will shape the future of our work.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: Ai for sure it's going to change the game in
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: every single industry Yeah. Yeah.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: I'm going to agree with you right there.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: And then here's a fun one. If you could give
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: I would say, say yes to every opportunity that comes
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: your way. Even if you're scared, I was 22 years old,
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: given the opportunity to start a company. You never know
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: what your yes will turn into. It could be the
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: catapult for your life, the transformation of your life and
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: being able to bless and serve those around you.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: So, yeah. Oh, I love that.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Amanda, for being on Hey Docs.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: This was a great episode. And I just think, you know,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: you just teased it out perfectly for us about what
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: we should be thinking about in our practices.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: And thank you for today's discussion.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, likewise, Jill. So nice to meet you. This is
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: such a fun topic. I'm so passionate about it. So
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: thanks for giving me the platform to talk about it.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Yep. All right, till next time. Are you ready to
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: start a practice of your own? Need a new fresh
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: set of eyes or some advice on your existing practice?
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: If so, reach out to me, Jill Allen, at www.practiceresults.com.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: If you like what we're doing here on Hey Docs
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: and want to hear more of this awesome content, be
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: sure and give us a five-star rating on your preferred
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: listening platform and subscribe to our show so you.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Never miss an episode.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Remember, new episodes drop every Thursday.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: See you next week.