Latest / Hey Docs! / Partnering in Practice and Life: Drs. Sarah & Tanner Clark’s Orthodontic Journey

Transcript

Partnering in Practice and Life: Drs. Sarah & Tanner Clark’s Orthodontic 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 doctors Tanner and Sarah Clark,
0:13
Speaker 1: the husband wife team behind Clark Orthodonics, and two doctors
0:18
Speaker 1: I've had the pleasure of getting to know and work
0:20
Speaker 1: alongside throughout their practice journey for many years now. It's
0:24
Speaker 1: been so rewarding to watch the vision take shape and
0:27
Speaker 1: see how much they've grown, both as practice owners and leaders.
0:31
Speaker 1: But as we all know, the growth doesn't come without
0:34
Speaker 1: some hard sessions along the way. Today we're talking about
0:37
Speaker 1: what it's really been like to build practices together, the
0:41
Speaker 1: challenges and surprises they've faced, and what those experiences has
0:45
Speaker 1: taught them. I'm excited for you to hear their story
0:48
Speaker 1: and hopefully walk away with a little encouragement that the
0:51
Speaker 1: hard seasons are often where some of.
0:53
Speaker 2: The biggest growth happens.
0:55
Speaker 1: So let's dive in and now a word from the
0:58
Speaker 1: sponsors who make this podcast possible. Hey, docs, if your
1:04
Speaker 1: new patient follow up depends on someone remembering it's leaking revenue,
1:09
Speaker 1: Grayfinch automates new patient follow up texts and emails go
1:13
Speaker 1: out automatically, and your treatment coordinator just checks their tasks
1:17
Speaker 1: list to see what needs a quick call or a
1:20
Speaker 1: more personalized message. That is one of the many reasons
1:24
Speaker 1: I recommend everyone take a look at Grayfinch.
1:27
Speaker 2: It isn't just a follow up tool.
1:29
Speaker 1: It's a complete practice management software built to help you
1:33
Speaker 1: grow and scale, stop leaking revenue, and get five hundred
1:36
Speaker 1: dollars off your startup fee with the Jill allenspecial at
1:40
Speaker 1: Grayfinch dot com forward slash Jill Allen. Are you thinking
1:50
Speaker 1: about opening an orthodonic practice. I know it's a big decision,
1:55
Speaker 1: but saving twenty five percent on the ADEC equipment you
1:58
Speaker 1: need to get started, that's an easy one because Adeck
2:02
Speaker 1: has a special program called smart Start designed to help
2:06
Speaker 1: you launch your first practice. You get up to twenty
2:09
Speaker 1: five percent off your Adeck orthodonic equipment and furniture. You
2:14
Speaker 1: also get complimentary services to help you run and grow
2:17
Speaker 1: your business, and my favorite part, access to the smart
2:21
Speaker 1: Start pricing for two whole years after you open your doors.
2:25
Speaker 1: That gives you flexibility to add more chairs as your
2:29
Speaker 1: cash flow grows.
2:31
Speaker 2: It's pretty smart.
2:32
Speaker 1: As an orthodonist, you care about getting all the little
2:35
Speaker 1: details right, and Adck really got it right with this program.
2:39
Speaker 1: So I starting off with the big savings on Adeck
2:42
Speaker 1: equipment sounds good to you. The AdEx Smart Start is
2:46
Speaker 1: definitely worth a closer look. Just follow the link in
2:49
Speaker 1: the show notes to learn more. A Tanner and Sarah,
2:58
Speaker 1: I am so excited I to have you on Haydocks today.
3:01
Speaker 1: I think that the show has been a long time coming.
3:04
Speaker 1: I feel like you guys are just old time friends.
3:07
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been working together for so long now,
3:09
Speaker 1: and I would love it if you guys wouldn't mind
3:14
Speaker 1: starting off. Obviously I just did the intro here, but
3:16
Speaker 1: if you could tell us a little bit about yourself,
3:20
Speaker 1: each of you, your practices, and just kind of your
3:23
Speaker 1: journey on how you got to where you guys are today.
3:27
Speaker 3: Sure, Jill, I'm gonna probably take this question and I'll
3:30
Speaker 3: kind of help out with Tanner here too.
3:31
Speaker 2: But we have been married for over twenty years now.
3:36
Speaker 3: We live in sul In, Iowa, which is just kind
3:39
Speaker 3: of in the eastern side of the state, kind of
3:42
Speaker 3: right by Iowa, sitting home of the Hawk Guys, home
3:45
Speaker 3: of Kaitlyn Clark.
3:46
Speaker 2: Kaitlyn Clark, We've got three boys.
3:50
Speaker 3: Our oldest is going to be a freshman in high
3:52
Speaker 3: school now and then we've got a thirteen year old
3:55
Speaker 3: and eleven year old, so they keep us busy, they
3:58
Speaker 3: keep us moving, try to keep us young, so that's great.
4:01
Speaker 3: Both of us enjoy kind of endurance events. We've done
4:04
Speaker 3: some tries, we've jumped some long you know, Tanner's done
4:07
Speaker 3: some tenor mile races, so yeah, endurance events.
4:10
Speaker 2: We do like to travel.
4:11
Speaker 3: We just recently were over in Germany and Switzerland, so
4:15
Speaker 3: that was great.
4:16
Speaker 2: We took the kids over there.
4:18
Speaker 3: We also like to just kind of relax, relax by
4:20
Speaker 3: a lake, an ocean, something like that, something fun.
4:23
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's kind of a little bit about us.
4:26
Speaker 2: We met at Iowa.
4:27
Speaker 3: We both did our dental school there back in the
4:31
Speaker 3: early two thousands. I graduated a year early earlier than Tanner.
4:35
Speaker 3: I was a year ahead of him. We both had
4:37
Speaker 3: military commitments, so Tanner was had an army commitment. I
4:42
Speaker 3: ended up my first year of dental school having grabbing
4:45
Speaker 3: on to an Air Force scholarship, so we had that commitment.
4:50
Speaker 2: Once dental school was over, I went down to Keisler
4:52
Speaker 2: Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
4:55
Speaker 3: So I spent one year down there with an AAGD
4:57
Speaker 3: residency while Tanner was finishing up.
5:00
Speaker 2: We ended up getting married that year back in March.
5:04
Speaker 3: Kind of spent our semi honeymoon at a dental conference
5:08
Speaker 3: in Atlanta, Georgia, so.
5:10
Speaker 2: That was kind of fun.
5:14
Speaker 3: So after Tanner graduated, we both went over to Germany
5:19
Speaker 3: and spent four years over there practicing. I was in
5:22
Speaker 3: the Air Force at Ramstein Air Force Base. Tanner was
5:25
Speaker 3: at launch Jool Hospital and.
5:27
Speaker 2: We were just general dentis in the military there. Got
5:30
Speaker 2: to do some fun things.
5:32
Speaker 3: I went down to Africa spent a month down there
5:35
Speaker 3: with some Army rangers. Tinner was kind of in charge
5:38
Speaker 3: of the hospital dental department in that sense. Four years
5:42
Speaker 3: went by fast. We kind of really that was our honeymoon.
5:46
Speaker 2: That was great.
5:48
Speaker 3: After military commitments were up, we decided we both wanted
5:51
Speaker 3: du Ortho, so we decided where we could potentially go
5:55
Speaker 3: to school and in this relatively the same area, so
5:57
Speaker 3: we just kind of went back to our roots, back
6:00
Speaker 3: to Iowa and applied there. Tiner was able to get
6:02
Speaker 3: out of the Army sooner than I was, so he
6:05
Speaker 3: started his residency a year before I did. So when
6:09
Speaker 3: I worked as an adjunct with the fourth year dental students,
6:13
Speaker 3: and I also worked in a private practice just twenty
6:16
Speaker 3: minutes away from Iowa City for that one year, so
6:19
Speaker 3: he got done a year earlier than I did, and
6:22
Speaker 3: he stayed on his faculty. He worked with those students
6:25
Speaker 3: and just kind of took care of some private practice
6:27
Speaker 3: patients while I was finishing up my second year at work, though,
6:30
Speaker 3: had our first exposed expecting that last year of residency,
6:35
Speaker 3: expecting our first child, so kind of a high stress
6:38
Speaker 3: situation that.
6:39
Speaker 2: Last year with.
6:41
Speaker 3: Getting through residency and just unknowns with a little one
6:45
Speaker 3: on the way. So then we decided we were going
6:48
Speaker 3: to go up to Madison, Wisconsin and we're going to
6:51
Speaker 3: purchase a practice up there. That ended up kind of
6:54
Speaker 3: falling through as we were up there for the summer
6:57
Speaker 3: the three months in the summer.
6:58
Speaker 2: During that time, were trying to figure out what are
7:01
Speaker 2: we going to do.
7:02
Speaker 3: I've got a kid on the way and no practice,
7:06
Speaker 3: So we made a few phone calls. I ended up luckily,
7:11
Speaker 3: I received a phone call from a colleague of mine
7:14
Speaker 3: who was working with me as when I was adjuncting
7:16
Speaker 3: at the school.
7:17
Speaker 2: She was like, Hey, have you guys.
7:18
Speaker 3: Ever considered coming back to Iowa City area because I've
7:23
Speaker 3: got a friend who's an orthodonist who wants to retire
7:26
Speaker 3: in the next couple of years, and we're like, well,
7:29
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, we thought around the Iowa City
7:32
Speaker 3: might be our best but of knowing people and starting
7:36
Speaker 3: up our own potentially, So we made a couple extra
7:39
Speaker 3: phone calls and then decided that, you know what, this
7:42
Speaker 3: is the best for us. It's kind of between both families.
7:45
Speaker 3: We're going to go back to the Iowa City area.
7:47
Speaker 3: We kind of picked North Liberty, just outside of Iowa City.
7:53
Speaker 3: It was a kind of a growing area at that time.
7:56
Speaker 3: So we decided we're going to go for it. We're
7:59
Speaker 3: going to build our own practice, and then in two
8:02
Speaker 3: years we are going to purchase the other practice, which
8:04
Speaker 3: was about fifty miles away.
8:06
Speaker 2: So that was our decision.
8:08
Speaker 3: We moved back, and yeah, that was twenty twelve.
8:13
Speaker 4: We built that.
8:13
Speaker 2: We built that practice. We had one employee. She was great.
8:17
Speaker 2: She'd had no dental experience whatsoever.
8:20
Speaker 3: She had a communications degree, which you know, at that
8:24
Speaker 3: time it was huge for us, and she had just
8:26
Speaker 3: a huge work ethics so for her to you know,
8:29
Speaker 3: figure out insurance scheduling, everything to start.
8:32
Speaker 2: With the business. We kind of relied on Heather to
8:36
Speaker 2: help us out with that.
8:37
Speaker 3: So during that time, you know, we had this little
8:40
Speaker 3: little sun and we needed some income. You know, we
8:44
Speaker 3: had one patient one day, a couple patients maybe in
8:47
Speaker 3: the next week. So we worked basically as an associate,
8:51
Speaker 3: but an hour, hour and fifteen minutes south of where
8:54
Speaker 3: we were practicing, so we would go down there, each
8:57
Speaker 3: of us would work a day a week and we
8:59
Speaker 3: would also do some military exams on the weekends for
9:02
Speaker 3: some income. So, you know, some harder times there, but
9:05
Speaker 3: we made it through.
9:05
Speaker 2: And then knowing that.
9:06
Speaker 3: We had this practice in two years to purchase was
9:10
Speaker 3: a little bit comforting. So yeah, I got through those
9:12
Speaker 3: two years and purchased a practice in twenty fourteen. So
9:15
Speaker 3: now we have the two practices, one in Liberty, one
9:18
Speaker 3: in Muscatine. We've got ten employees at the moment which
9:23
Speaker 3: help us run that practice, and we work four days
9:27
Speaker 3: a week between the two of us, and we travel
9:31
Speaker 3: once or twice a week down to that other office.
9:34
Speaker 2: Between the both of us.
9:35
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, that's kind of where we were at
9:39
Speaker 3: these days with the two practices and ten employees and.
9:43
Speaker 1: Just yeah, it's so much fun to hear the story
9:45
Speaker 1: and the reason I wanted you to talk about this,
9:47
Speaker 1: and we're going to really dive into this for our listeners.
9:51
Speaker 1: Everybody's journey, Like we can look at if anybody knows
9:54
Speaker 1: you guys are doing very well and things are going
9:57
Speaker 1: really great from the outside. You've been able to and
10:00
Speaker 1: not only go through almost like a startup, to acquisitions
10:04
Speaker 1: and then growing out of a practice and then being
10:08
Speaker 1: able to build your dream practice and moving into that
10:12
Speaker 1: and still having that secondary satellite location. And I think
10:16
Speaker 1: what's fun about this and I want people to hear
10:19
Speaker 1: is that there's never this straight line to where you're.
10:23
Speaker 2: Going to be.
10:24
Speaker 1: And I know we have worked together for so many years,
10:27
Speaker 1: as I have said, and it has been so much
10:29
Speaker 1: fun to watch the how do we grow the practice
10:33
Speaker 1: in North Liberty, how do we grow the satellite practice?
10:37
Speaker 2: What do we do? What decisions do we make?
10:40
Speaker 1: And then to be like, wow, we're outgrowing the one
10:43
Speaker 1: practice that started off as our baby, you know, our
10:46
Speaker 1: flagship practice, and now we're getting to design and move
10:49
Speaker 1: into another practice. And so what I really want to
10:52
Speaker 1: focus on today is just kind of what it is
10:56
Speaker 1: like to be partners because I have a lot of
11:00
Speaker 1: doctors that come to me, whether it's a husband wife
11:03
Speaker 1: team or it's a friends from dental school that want
11:07
Speaker 1: to come together and do a partnership. But I really
11:10
Speaker 1: want to kind of dive in a little bit to
11:12
Speaker 1: the husband wife dynamic because that is what you guys
11:16
Speaker 1: know and talk about what that's like running and building
11:22
Speaker 1: a practice together. Because I do have a lot of
11:25
Speaker 1: my docs too who the husband or the wife maybe
11:29
Speaker 1: the orthodonist, but their spouse is working in the practice
11:33
Speaker 1: and really digging in and helping them build that practice.
11:36
Speaker 1: Where each of you were obviously both orthodonists, so not
11:40
Speaker 1: only are you navigating that clinical side of it, but
11:44
Speaker 1: it's just that we're partners and we've got to work
11:47
Speaker 1: together and put on the professional and live together. So
11:53
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you can just give us some of
11:55
Speaker 1: your wisdom, you know, over the years, what that has
11:58
Speaker 1: been like, what you have learned, and how have you
12:00
Speaker 1: been able to silo maybe some of the personal in
12:05
Speaker 1: the business. Has that gotten easier harder over time? Give
12:09
Speaker 1: us some insights into that.
12:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, Jill, I mean, I think Sarah and I got
12:13
Speaker 5: on today and I think we made an agreement that
12:15
Speaker 5: we're not going to bicker back and forth.
12:16
Speaker 4: We're not going to fight, you know, we'll save that
12:18
Speaker 4: for home. So hopefully that doesn't happen. But I'm to
12:21
Speaker 4: be honest, I mean.
12:23
Speaker 5: I was really nervous about working together. I don't think
12:25
Speaker 5: Sarah really was per se. I mean, at home, we
12:28
Speaker 5: can't even agree on the best way to fold laundry,
12:31
Speaker 5: you know, who makes the bed right. You know, we
12:33
Speaker 5: never worked together, you know, in the Army or the
12:35
Speaker 5: Air Force when we were General Dennis, and even when
12:38
Speaker 5: we were in residency together. You're not really working together
12:41
Speaker 5: per se. So being business partners was just a new challenge,
12:45
Speaker 5: you know. I think the idea of running a business
12:47
Speaker 5: together really felt like it had like the potential for conflict.
12:52
Speaker 5: But for whatever reason, I think once we open the
12:55
Speaker 5: practice and starting working together, I mean we've always really
12:59
Speaker 5: been pretty locked in and really on the same page.
13:02
Speaker 5: I think we laid out like the same long term
13:04
Speaker 5: vision for the practice, and I think it just comes
13:07
Speaker 5: down to trusting each other. I think we trust each
13:10
Speaker 5: other completely to make decisions in the practice, and I
13:13
Speaker 5: think that's just been really big for us in getting
13:15
Speaker 5: to grow the practice and getting it to where it is.
13:18
Speaker 5: Now I think maybe just that trust is just a
13:21
Speaker 5: huge advantage maybe that you don't get with like a
13:23
Speaker 5: traditional business partner, you know. Being a husband and wife,
13:26
Speaker 5: we have that already just built into our relationship. Yeah,
13:30
Speaker 5: there's been a lot of different things, you know. I
13:32
Speaker 5: think that's been challenging working together. But I think one
13:36
Speaker 5: thing that we've learned is just how we divide the
13:39
Speaker 5: work together. I think we've kind of taken the approach
13:42
Speaker 5: of like dividing and conquering really. You know, it's like
13:46
Speaker 5: I think Sarah's taken on the lead of more like
13:48
Speaker 5: the clinical side, you know, yeah, all.
13:50
Speaker 2: Of the clinical side. Tana will do more of the
13:52
Speaker 2: admin stuff.
13:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think, you know, another thing that we
13:56
Speaker 5: found too, is that it's very rare that we're working
13:59
Speaker 5: in the same off on the same day. And I
14:02
Speaker 5: think that's been healthy for us really, you know. I mean,
14:05
Speaker 5: we're not having to see each other all the time
14:07
Speaker 5: at home and then all the time at work, so
14:10
Speaker 5: I think kind of staggering the time that we're together
14:12
Speaker 5: is healthy for us, you know. And I think on
14:14
Speaker 5: the days that we do see patients together, whether that's
14:17
Speaker 5: like a debond day or just a day that we're busier.
14:20
Speaker 5: I think we really try to make sure that that's separated.
14:23
Speaker 5: One of us may just run the treatment columns and
14:27
Speaker 5: then the other handles just the new patients and the
14:30
Speaker 5: observation patient columns, you know. And I think that just
14:33
Speaker 5: avoids confusion on the clinic floor. Our assistants and our
14:37
Speaker 5: other team members aren't they don't know who to go
14:39
Speaker 5: to in those situations.
14:40
Speaker 4: I think that just eliminates that.
14:42
Speaker 5: So, I mean, I think another aspect, Jill, is that
14:45
Speaker 5: the harder part of what we do is that work
14:47
Speaker 5: and home. You'd like those to stay separated, but they're
14:51
Speaker 5: just not orthodonic talk, business talk, dentist three. I mean,
14:54
Speaker 5: that's just part of our daily conversation at home, you know,
14:58
Speaker 5: at the dinner table.
14:59
Speaker 4: Like Sarah Man, we got three boys.
15:01
Speaker 5: I think kind of the running joke in our house
15:03
Speaker 5: is that they're either going to all going to become
15:05
Speaker 5: orthodonis because they've been around it so much, or they're
15:09
Speaker 5: going to have no interest in it at all, you know,
15:12
Speaker 5: So who knows. I mean, I think it changes each week,
15:15
Speaker 5: but you can't separate it. We try to do the
15:17
Speaker 5: best to set boundaries, but.
15:20
Speaker 3: And we tried to you know, our commute back from Muscatine,
15:23
Speaker 3: that's our time to kind of talk work, talk shop
15:26
Speaker 3: that fifty minute road trip and Colin tein are on
15:29
Speaker 3: the way home or he's calling me, we're figuring out
15:32
Speaker 3: more of like treatment plans or anything that happened in
15:35
Speaker 3: the office that needs to be addressed in that amount
15:38
Speaker 3: of time.
15:39
Speaker 2: So when we get home.
15:40
Speaker 3: We can totally you know, focus on the kids, focus
15:42
Speaker 3: on what we need to as opposed to trying to
15:44
Speaker 3: figure out it.
15:45
Speaker 2: Once we get home.
15:46
Speaker 3: So I mean that is one good thing about a
15:48
Speaker 3: commute kind of get some work stuff done without having
15:50
Speaker 3: to talking about it at the dinner table.
15:53
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And I think there's also helpful to it.
15:57
Speaker 1: And I love that you guys brought this up that
15:59
Speaker 1: having two locations and being able to split your time. Definitely.
16:04
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of doctors who have this
16:06
Speaker 1: opportunity when they have multiple locations and they're working together,
16:10
Speaker 1: it does kind of help a little bit with that.
16:14
Speaker 1: Too many chiefs in one spot, and to your point,
16:17
Speaker 1: Tanner of on the team who takes lead and I
16:22
Speaker 1: want to just talk about that for just a second,
16:25
Speaker 1: if you guys can unpack this a little bit for
16:27
Speaker 1: me because I think this is super relevant is I've
16:30
Speaker 1: worked with a lot of practices where we've got partnerships,
16:33
Speaker 1: and I have found from a consulting side that the
16:37
Speaker 1: more that you can make your systems the same, even
16:42
Speaker 1: between the doctors, the easier it is on your teams.
16:47
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if you guys can talk to that
16:50
Speaker 1: just a little bit and what you have seen as
16:53
Speaker 1: you guys have kind of evolved into these roles and
16:57
Speaker 1: who's taking one on which days. Now, again, you aren't
16:59
Speaker 1: working to other as much as you might have in
17:02
Speaker 1: the past where you might have both been at offices together.
17:05
Speaker 1: But can you talk about that in the impact that
17:08
Speaker 1: you see. I know I'm kind of asking you to
17:10
Speaker 1: go down a rabbit hole with me, but just what
17:13
Speaker 1: you have seen and how that has helped with your
17:16
Speaker 1: team members when you're both there. Because you may each
17:19
Speaker 1: have your own you know, there may be some things
17:21
Speaker 1: that you each do individually that may be are slightly
17:24
Speaker 1: different than each other, but yet what you've done to
17:27
Speaker 1: kind of help the team out there.
17:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, I can answer that, Jill, and I think from
17:31
Speaker 5: a clinical standpoint, we share patients, so patients certainly have
17:35
Speaker 5: the choice to see one of us if they want,
17:39
Speaker 5: And to be honest, it seems like they prefer Sarah
17:41
Speaker 5: more than me.
17:42
Speaker 2: They can maybe there are some I don't seems to
17:45
Speaker 2: be a little bit more patient.
17:46
Speaker 3: So those high media's patients, those are those manios, I
17:50
Speaker 3: will say with.
17:54
Speaker 2: But yeah, then some of them just like would rather
17:56
Speaker 2: have like maybe like a female.
17:58
Speaker 5: So we share patients, but you know, we trained in
18:01
Speaker 5: the same residency, you know, so our treatment philosophies are
18:04
Speaker 5: very very much the same. We do the same wire sequences,
18:07
Speaker 5: we use the same bracket system. We're in lockstep like
18:12
Speaker 5: with our clinical decisions. I mean, well, and that's the
18:14
Speaker 5: advantage of working together is that we can talk about cases.
18:18
Speaker 5: You know, I'll see a patient maybe one week and
18:20
Speaker 5: then six weeks later, ten weeks later, Sarah I'll see
18:23
Speaker 5: that patient and she's got a different perspective on it.
18:25
Speaker 5: We're still going to treat the same the patient the
18:27
Speaker 5: same way. They're going to get the same elastics, they're
18:30
Speaker 5: going to get the same archwire progression, the same finishing mechanics.
18:34
Speaker 4: But there's a different set of eyes looking at the treatment.
18:37
Speaker 5: So I think sometimes our team thinks that we're so
18:40
Speaker 5: different in how we treat our patients, but really we're
18:44
Speaker 5: very similar. So I think that's been a huge benefit
18:47
Speaker 5: to the patients and then really to the team because
18:49
Speaker 5: I think it just makes it more efficient in the practice.
18:52
Speaker 4: And I think I.
18:53
Speaker 3: Think what I was just going to say, I think
18:54
Speaker 3: that what the team sees is just the minor little
18:57
Speaker 3: things like Okay, well Sarah wants to reposition this, Brack
19:00
Speaker 3: Tanner wouldn't do that, or vice versa, you know, type
19:02
Speaker 3: of things. So they're seeing little mayer things, but like
19:05
Speaker 3: the overall philosophy, treatment is yes, spot on.
19:10
Speaker 4: Yeah.
19:10
Speaker 3: From a standpoint of when we are in the office together,
19:14
Speaker 3: it's usually I will be in the clinic, Tanner will
19:17
Speaker 3: do new patient exams and recalls, and that's kind of
19:20
Speaker 3: how we split it.
19:20
Speaker 2: So then they know if they have a they're the
19:22
Speaker 2: clinic team.
19:23
Speaker 3: They've got a patient who has an adjustment, they're coming
19:26
Speaker 3: to me, They're not going to Tanner, and vice versa.
19:28
Speaker 2: So they know that at.
19:30
Speaker 3: The beginning of the day who's doing what and which
19:32
Speaker 3: one of us they need to go to to to.
19:34
Speaker 2: Have that patient taken care of.
19:36
Speaker 3: And again, like you know our new patients, we are
19:40
Speaker 3: I'm treating his patients that he has seen, and he's
19:43
Speaker 3: treating my patients that I've seen. So treatment plans, I
19:46
Speaker 3: don't have any question on whether he was, you know,
19:49
Speaker 3: take out some teeth or not.
19:50
Speaker 2: We're going to try to do it non extraction.
19:52
Speaker 3: Yep. We just go with it because we know that
19:55
Speaker 3: we trust that that's the right treatment for that patient.
19:58
Speaker 3: So but from a team standpoint, they know who to
20:00
Speaker 3: go on those days, debond days, we have our morning huddle.
20:04
Speaker 3: Tanner takes three columns. I'll take three columns, so then
20:07
Speaker 3: I know who what assistance I'm working with.
20:09
Speaker 2: They know is who which dock they're working with, and
20:12
Speaker 2: we just go with that.
20:14
Speaker 3: Occasionally, you know, someone patient cancels and I'll grab one
20:18
Speaker 3: or Tanner will grab another patient. But for the most part,
20:21
Speaker 3: it's these are my three columns, those are your three columns.
20:24
Speaker 2: Let's get through all these debunds and go from there.
20:27
Speaker 2: So they're flexible, but they know what.
20:30
Speaker 4: To expect as well.
20:31
Speaker 5: So yeah, I think, you know, looking at just like
20:33
Speaker 5: the workflow of the office and how we've made in
20:36
Speaker 5: both offices really and how we've made them kind of
20:39
Speaker 5: systematized and really mirror each other. And I think it
20:42
Speaker 5: started out with using Ortho two edge, our practice management software.
20:47
Speaker 4: It speaks to each other, the offices do.
20:49
Speaker 5: I mean, it's obviously cloud based, but it really works
20:52
Speaker 5: well with a multilocation practice.
20:54
Speaker 4: So I think that's.
20:55
Speaker 5: Really been beneficial. And we started that from day one
20:58
Speaker 5: and we've never changed. So I think that's just made
21:00
Speaker 5: it really seamless. When we ended up purchasing the Musketine practice,
21:04
Speaker 5: I think we've really looked at like dialing in, like
21:07
Speaker 5: making everything as similar as we can. I mean to
21:10
Speaker 5: the point where you know, we had the same digital
21:12
Speaker 5: pan sef, we have the same chair side laptops, we
21:16
Speaker 5: have the same clinical camera, so when we go to
21:19
Speaker 5: that office, there's not a huge change with what we're
21:22
Speaker 5: doing the previous day or the next day when we're
21:25
Speaker 5: in North Liberty. So I think it just makes it
21:27
Speaker 5: easier when you bring new team members on, and then
21:30
Speaker 5: it just makes a systematized process that everyone is understands
21:34
Speaker 5: what to do, and it just makes it easier throughout
21:37
Speaker 5: the day to do things.
21:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, going back, I can remember as we were
21:42
Speaker 1: kind of systematizing different things, you know, just you know,
21:46
Speaker 1: some of the obstacles of well, where are we going
21:49
Speaker 1: to do a new patient exam, and how do we
21:50
Speaker 1: do this the exact same in both offices, and how
21:53
Speaker 1: are we going to make this totally different office the
21:57
Speaker 1: say you know so, I think again, going off of
22:00
Speaker 1: your point, it makes such a difference, especially when you've
22:03
Speaker 1: got team members that are moving between locations, you've got
22:06
Speaker 1: doctors that are moving between locations. If you've got even
22:10
Speaker 1: something as simple as the same X ray machine or
22:13
Speaker 1: the same scanner, the same computers, you just want to
22:16
Speaker 1: be able to close the door in one place and
22:19
Speaker 1: open it in the other. And it's just a continuation
22:23
Speaker 1: of what has been going all along. And now a
22:27
Speaker 1: word from the sponsors who make this podcast possible. When
22:33
Speaker 1: a cleaner workflow for orthodonic cases meet Clarity Solutions from
22:37
Speaker 1: Sylvenum formerly three M Healthcare. The Clarity Portal puts the liners,
22:43
Speaker 1: digital bonding and retainers and a single streamline platform, one workflow,
22:48
Speaker 1: fewer handoffs, and more control for planning through retention.
22:52
Speaker 2: Simplify your next case.
22:54
Speaker 1: Reach out to your local Sylvenum sales rep today or
22:58
Speaker 1: visit us at go dot org, Soulvenum dot com. Forward
23:02
Speaker 1: slash Clarity again that is go dot so l ve
23:08
Speaker 1: n tum dot com forward slash clarity to learn more.
23:18
Speaker 1: So I want to look at a closet here when
23:20
Speaker 1: you guys, you know, kind of think back over the years.
23:23
Speaker 1: I am sure. I know we've talked about things. There
23:26
Speaker 1: are hardships, hard seasons that we go through in this
23:31
Speaker 1: practice evolution, going from brand new doctors in practices where
23:37
Speaker 1: you're taking over somebody else's dream office and somebody else's
23:41
Speaker 1: team members into growing into gosh, I think we might
23:46
Speaker 1: need to purchase our own property and build our own
23:49
Speaker 1: building and move into something a little different to team
23:52
Speaker 1: members that come and go. All the things that I
23:55
Speaker 1: think we've worked through a lot. But I'm wondering if
23:57
Speaker 1: if you guys can just think back and and think
24:00
Speaker 1: about maybe some of the bigger obstacles that you've faced
24:04
Speaker 1: along the way, and what kind of helped you guys
24:08
Speaker 1: work through those.
24:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there's just have been, you know, several
24:12
Speaker 5: hard seasons that stand out.
24:14
Speaker 4: I mean there's not just one.
24:15
Speaker 5: I think the first I think we've already alluded to
24:18
Speaker 5: is just welcome to business.
24:19
Speaker 2: We're all exactly business.
24:23
Speaker 5: I think the first was just starting our practice. You know,
24:26
Speaker 5: it was the both of us, you know, we're all in.
24:28
Speaker 5: We're both Orthanonis. We had no outside income, we didn't
24:31
Speaker 5: have a safety net. We knew it was going to
24:33
Speaker 5: be slow for a couple of years as we built
24:34
Speaker 5: up our patient base. That reality was stressful to us.
24:38
Speaker 4: It really was.
24:39
Speaker 5: And we're not the only ones that are in that situation,
24:41
Speaker 5: but when it's you, it's stressful. We supplemented our income
24:45
Speaker 5: working as associates, We did the military exams, and like
24:49
Speaker 5: Sarah said, we had one team member that helped us out.
24:51
Speaker 5: So ultimately, you rely on on those people that you
24:54
Speaker 5: bring on and you make it through those seasons. And
24:56
Speaker 5: I think that was the first introduction to it. I
24:59
Speaker 5: think we wish it ended there, but it didn't. You know,
25:03
Speaker 5: I think a couple of years later, it wasn't starting
25:05
Speaker 5: a practice.
25:07
Speaker 2: It was purchasing an old practice.
25:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, purchasing an old practice in an acquisition and so
25:13
Speaker 5: buying the Muscatine office in twenty fourteen.
25:17
Speaker 3: It was Jill in that office, you know, I mean,
25:20
Speaker 3: we was we had to redo the whole thing. We
25:22
Speaker 3: had our parents down actually, and they were painting, they
25:25
Speaker 3: were doing a whole bunch of stuff just to kind
25:27
Speaker 3: of update it. We had leopard print chairs, and we
25:31
Speaker 3: were like, we.
25:32
Speaker 2: We can't do this.
25:34
Speaker 3: So there was a lot of just getting the office
25:36
Speaker 3: ready and just you know, as all paper charts, so
25:39
Speaker 3: really just starting from scratch, taking over patients and really
25:44
Speaker 3: kind of getting into our system getting doing them because
25:46
Speaker 3: a new patient exam on all these people getting panaxes,
25:50
Speaker 3: I know, the orthodontics we bought it from the pictures
25:54
Speaker 3: he had were basically patient with a sticky note on them.
25:57
Speaker 2: So, you know, just really updating.
25:59
Speaker 3: That whole office was stressful at times, being up till
26:03
Speaker 3: one or two o'clock in the morning down in Muscatine
26:05
Speaker 3: and then having to come back. Sometimes we kind of
26:07
Speaker 3: thought we might just well, I think we did sometimes
26:09
Speaker 3: just run a hotel and just spend the night and
26:11
Speaker 3: then work the next day.
26:12
Speaker 5: So yeah, I mean I think, you know, we learned
26:14
Speaker 5: a lot from that. I think it was a different
26:17
Speaker 5: learning experience and learning curve versus starting up a practice.
26:20
Speaker 5: But I think we really learned that we need to
26:23
Speaker 5: make slow changes. I mean, I think if you go
26:25
Speaker 5: in and if you're taking over an existing practice, I
26:28
Speaker 5: think you want to make it how you want to
26:31
Speaker 5: right away. And I think we were able to do
26:33
Speaker 5: that by starting out our practice, but it was a
26:36
Speaker 5: different situation. We had employees or team members that were
26:39
Speaker 5: already there, we had patients that were used to a
26:41
Speaker 5: certain way of doing things. So I think we've we
26:44
Speaker 5: took the approach of let's make slow changes and maybe
26:47
Speaker 5: let's just implement like one change a year, you know,
26:50
Speaker 5: and a big thing. Let's bring on you as our consultants,
26:53
Speaker 5: and let's just start from scratch and let's just build
26:56
Speaker 5: things from the ground up. Or maybe let's work on
27:00
Speaker 5: digital workflow like we did a couple of years ago.
27:02
Speaker 5: We have a scanner that we rely upon, or we're
27:04
Speaker 5: sending everything out to the lab. We're doing digital de bonds,
27:08
Speaker 5: you know, We're doing those types of things in the
27:10
Speaker 5: practice to make it more efficient and streamlined. And this
27:13
Speaker 5: year we're implementing indirect bonding, you know, and custom braces
27:17
Speaker 5: into our office. So it's those big changes, but just
27:20
Speaker 5: doing it systematically and doing it in a controlled way
27:24
Speaker 5: so you're not burning out your team, you're not overwhelming them,
27:28
Speaker 5: and I think it really transitions the office. We're in
27:32
Speaker 5: five or ten years, you look back and you're like, hey,
27:34
Speaker 5: we've made a lot of good changes.
27:36
Speaker 4: It's a different practice, but it's our practice now.
27:39
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess.
27:40
Speaker 3: And then you know, another hard season that we've got
27:43
Speaker 3: coming up upon us right now is we've got three
27:45
Speaker 3: girls on attorney woh we on from attorney leave, all
27:47
Speaker 3: almost at the same time.
27:49
Speaker 2: So I mean, what do we do. Yeah, they all
27:53
Speaker 2: say they're coming back.
27:54
Speaker 3: Hopefully they do that, but it's just kind of designating
27:57
Speaker 3: their duties to hopefully somebody in the office that they're
27:59
Speaker 3: going tocomplish them, or you know, potentially bringing somebody on
28:02
Speaker 3: short term or doing like a virtual assistant type of thing.
28:05
Speaker 3: I mean, luckily we have you guys to help help
28:08
Speaker 3: us work through those.
28:10
Speaker 2: Issues and that time that we can get through.
28:13
Speaker 3: So that would be another thing, you know, just with
28:15
Speaker 3: girls coming and going, I guess, and then dealing with
28:18
Speaker 3: their duties and designating and delegating those to other people.
28:22
Speaker 2: So that would be another heart season that we're going
28:24
Speaker 2: to be going through.
28:25
Speaker 4: I guess.
28:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
28:26
Speaker 5: And I think looking back on it too, I mean
28:29
Speaker 5: just I think everyone had an issue like during COVID
28:32
Speaker 5: or after COVID, and for us it was no difference.
28:35
Speaker 5: I mean I think we look back at like the
28:37
Speaker 5: six month time frame after we reopened after the COVID stretch.
28:42
Speaker 5: I mean, we lost six of our ten team members,
28:45
Speaker 5: you know, and just for various reasons.
28:47
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, not due to COVID, but just moving
28:49
Speaker 3: to a different Yeah, going to go work somewhere else,
28:53
Speaker 3: or moving, you know that.
28:54
Speaker 2: Type of thing. So yeah, it was a turnover.
28:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like a domino effect.
28:59
Speaker 5: It was like, I mean, we felt like we had
29:00
Speaker 5: someone coming in the office every day telling us that
29:02
Speaker 5: they're doing something different.
29:04
Speaker 4: And that's great. You know, you want your you want
29:06
Speaker 4: what's best for your team members.
29:08
Speaker 5: But it makes it difficult to run a practice when
29:11
Speaker 5: you have everything happened like that at once. And I think, honestly,
29:14
Speaker 5: that was probably one of the most stressful periods that
29:16
Speaker 5: we had because you know, suddenly we were trying to
29:18
Speaker 5: maintain two offices, you know, in a high standard care
29:22
Speaker 5: and we were running a skeleton crew. But it allowed
29:25
Speaker 5: us to reflect and really get clear on who we
29:27
Speaker 5: wanted to be on the team, like moving forward, We
29:31
Speaker 5: really wanted to rebuild our team in a systematic, careful
29:34
Speaker 5: way rather than just like throwing people and filling those
29:37
Speaker 5: seats quickly. So I think those are just a lot
29:40
Speaker 5: of different things. I'm sure our hard seasons aren't going
29:43
Speaker 5: to end. I wish they were.
29:47
Speaker 1: I wish I could tell you they were, but you know,
29:50
Speaker 1: I think that's right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we've kind
29:55
Speaker 1: of talked about the seasons. I'm curious, and you guys
29:58
Speaker 1: have been great about laying it all out there because
30:00
Speaker 1: I think it's so easy, especially for younger doctors who
30:04
Speaker 1: are looking at it, to look at somebody and look
30:07
Speaker 1: at their success and be.
30:08
Speaker 2: Like, ah, that was just easy.
30:10
Speaker 1: I'm doing this and I should be there, and twenty
30:13
Speaker 1: years into my business, I can look back and think,
30:15
Speaker 1: you know, like, gosh, it sure looks easy to be
30:19
Speaker 1: where you guys are at in your practice life. But
30:22
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen overnight. And there are so many hurdles
30:25
Speaker 1: and challenges and things that you go through, seasons of
30:29
Speaker 1: growth and enlightenment that you that you go through, and
30:33
Speaker 1: hardships too, you know, as you're getting to it. I
30:36
Speaker 1: think we're always always going through that. And I'm curious,
30:40
Speaker 1: is there anything that has maybe surprised you or things
30:45
Speaker 1: that maybe you weren't prepared for when you kind of
30:49
Speaker 1: look back and think about.
30:51
Speaker 2: From where you were to where you are now, that you're.
30:54
Speaker 1: Like, man, that was something I wasn't expecting, or I
30:58
Speaker 1: thought I was going to have a forever team from
31:00
Speaker 1: the beginning, or you know.
31:01
Speaker 3: What I mean, Well, really, Jill, I mean getting rid
31:06
Speaker 3: of somebody. I mean, I would say that was what
31:09
Speaker 3: was one of my big surprises of like how hard
31:12
Speaker 3: it was going to be to let somebody go.
31:15
Speaker 2: I mean, you think, like, okay, if.
31:16
Speaker 3: They're not doing a good job, okay, well see yuh no,
31:22
Speaker 3: sitting down and trying to have a little conversation. You know,
31:25
Speaker 3: I maybe more than Tanner, get more connected with those
31:29
Speaker 3: girls and kind of learn some things about them, and
31:33
Speaker 3: you just feel bad and just that you know, you
31:38
Speaker 3: know they have to go. You know, it's not the
31:39
Speaker 3: right place for them. There's they are probably gonna they'll.
31:42
Speaker 2: Succeed somewhere else, but it's just not this isn't where
31:46
Speaker 2: they are at.
31:47
Speaker 3: I guess we've learned over time that it's easier to
31:50
Speaker 3: let them go early than to keep them around because
31:53
Speaker 3: of that personal connection and just kind of sometimes the negative.
31:56
Speaker 2: Impact they have on your team.
31:57
Speaker 3: They just if they stick around too long, then your
31:59
Speaker 3: team is just slowly going kind of going downhill. People
32:02
Speaker 3: start to talk and you got some more drama in
32:04
Speaker 3: the office. So it's just better to get rid of
32:06
Speaker 3: them earlier than later. But in my mind, I still
32:08
Speaker 3: want to give them a chance also, but it's just
32:12
Speaker 3: there comes a time.
32:13
Speaker 2: And so that was I think has been.
32:15
Speaker 3: One of my most surprise of how hard it is
32:18
Speaker 3: to let someone go in those situations.
32:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, they certainly don't teach you that in
32:24
Speaker 5: dental school or orthodonic residency, and nothing really prepares you
32:29
Speaker 5: for that part of ownership. We even manage people in
32:31
Speaker 5: the military, I mean in the army and the Air Force,
32:33
Speaker 5: but when it's your name on the door, it's a
32:36
Speaker 5: different way you have to approach things. And I just
32:38
Speaker 5: to build on what Sarah said, I mean, I think
32:40
Speaker 5: it's one of those necessary.
32:42
Speaker 4: Evils or necessary things you have to do.
32:45
Speaker 5: Like there's a quote that we always come back to
32:47
Speaker 5: that we heard from Dino Lott where he said that
32:49
Speaker 5: the quickest way to lose a good employees to tolerate
32:51
Speaker 5: a bad one. So I think he always need to
32:53
Speaker 5: kind of keep that in the back.
32:54
Speaker 4: Of our mind. And we've learned that the hard way,
32:57
Speaker 4: you know.
32:57
Speaker 5: I think, you know, we sometimes have kept people too
33:00
Speaker 5: long and that just hurts the practice. You know, it
33:03
Speaker 5: drains the good people around you know, it really does.
33:06
Speaker 5: And it's not ever something that you want to have
33:09
Speaker 5: to do, but it just comes with a territory. But
33:11
Speaker 5: it makes the practice better. The change is usually immediate.
33:14
Speaker 5: It's like a big cloud has been lifted when that happens.
33:17
Speaker 5: I mean, oftentimes people know it's coming. You can almost
33:20
Speaker 5: feel like the positive change like an energy in the
33:22
Speaker 5: practice when you do it. So you just have to
33:25
Speaker 5: keep it quick, professional, and then just wish them well
33:28
Speaker 5: and not everyone's meant to be, you know, working in
33:31
Speaker 5: our practice or someone else's, and that's that's okay, you know,
33:34
Speaker 5: And I think that's that's what we started to realize.
33:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm so glad that you guys kind of
33:40
Speaker 1: brought this up because this is as a consultant, probably
33:44
Speaker 1: one of the things that is an area I have
33:47
Speaker 1: to consult on a lot for doctors because I think
33:52
Speaker 1: so many times we feel like everybody should be our
33:57
Speaker 1: forever employee and everybody should have this same vision and
34:01
Speaker 1: the same drive and the same direction that we do
34:05
Speaker 1: as business owners. And I'm going to ask you guys this,
34:08
Speaker 1: but from what I see as a consultant and working
34:10
Speaker 1: with doctors you know all the time.
34:12
Speaker 2: Is that I feel like.
34:13
Speaker 1: There are seasons for employees, and there are different seasons
34:18
Speaker 1: within our practice where we need different things out of employees.
34:22
Speaker 1: And sometimes as our practices are growing and we're evolving
34:28
Speaker 1: and we're moving into new stages, the person that we
34:33
Speaker 1: had doesn't always fit where we are the culture of
34:39
Speaker 1: what we are growing into or where we're pivoting. And
34:42
Speaker 1: I think that you guys are saying that to some
34:44
Speaker 1: extent too, But would you agree with me that there
34:47
Speaker 1: is kind of this evolution sometimes where it's the team
34:51
Speaker 1: member that's evolving out of they need to make their
34:54
Speaker 1: move into the next thing. But also a lot of
34:56
Speaker 1: times it's the practice and you as business owners that
35:00
Speaker 1: a kind of coming into what your vision is for
35:04
Speaker 1: where you're going, and just not everybody is meant to
35:07
Speaker 1: come along on that journey.
35:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, even just like with digital now, it's
35:14
Speaker 3: like they're not willing to learn new digital to they're
35:19
Speaker 3: not willing to do some indirect bonding or that seems
35:22
Speaker 3: to be like a harder process for them.
35:24
Speaker 2: It's like that's just the direction we're going. That's where
35:27
Speaker 2: our practice.
35:28
Speaker 3: Is leading that might be a stepping stone, or that
35:30
Speaker 3: might be or not a stepping stone, but it might
35:32
Speaker 3: be a hurdle that they're not willing to jump over
35:35
Speaker 3: and learn if that's the case. So yeah, I mean,
35:38
Speaker 3: I feel like we've had some that have left, and
35:41
Speaker 3: some of them just have decided that wasn't the practice
35:44
Speaker 3: for them, or they're moving on for some other reason.
35:47
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, I think our practice is changing
35:50
Speaker 3: and you just need to have those have them come
35:53
Speaker 3: along with you or else. Yeah, there is no potentially
35:56
Speaker 3: no spot that they can for a fill, but I
35:59
Speaker 3: mean to try, you know.
36:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
36:02
Speaker 3: We've hired in the past as for an assistant and
36:06
Speaker 3: found out that, you know what, she's not a great assistant,
36:10
Speaker 3: but she's got other qualities good personality, cheerful, Maybe she's
36:15
Speaker 3: a great front desk person. Okay, so we move her
36:17
Speaker 3: to the front desk. She's great at scheduling. Now we
36:19
Speaker 3: find out that she's great at collecting money. So now
36:22
Speaker 3: she's our fan financial coordinator. So she went from an
36:24
Speaker 3: assistant to a financial coordinator and working our front desk,
36:28
Speaker 3: and that's a perfect job for her. We're not just
36:30
Speaker 3: going to get rid of people as we evolve, but
36:33
Speaker 3: we're going to try to move them into positions that
36:35
Speaker 3: they succeed at or they thrive at, that they.
36:38
Speaker 2: Enjoy doing, even though it might not be something where
36:41
Speaker 2: they started.
36:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, you know, you want to try to
36:44
Speaker 5: get the right people on the bus, you know, the
36:45
Speaker 5: right people in the practice, and then you want to
36:48
Speaker 5: get them in the right seat, you know. And I
36:49
Speaker 5: think if you get that combination, I think that's where
36:52
Speaker 5: your practice really takes off. And I think we haven't
36:55
Speaker 5: been there, and then we have been there, and I
36:57
Speaker 5: think that's where we are now. But it's been a
36:59
Speaker 5: process to get to. And I think when you have
37:01
Speaker 5: those team members, you want to try to keep them,
37:04
Speaker 5: you really do you know whatever that means. And I
37:06
Speaker 5: think you've always told us and Annie you know, and
37:09
Speaker 5: Jen in the past two is that you want to
37:10
Speaker 5: try to encourage the team to like make Orthdonys a career.
37:14
Speaker 5: You know, you want to give them like a path
37:16
Speaker 5: to progression. You know, you don't it's not just a job.
37:19
Speaker 5: You want to make it more than that. Maybe they'll
37:21
Speaker 5: be here for a year, maybe to maybe ten or fifteen,
37:23
Speaker 5: maybe even more than that. So I think if you
37:26
Speaker 5: lay that out if you give them a dedicated role
37:28
Speaker 5: in the office and what their duties are and specify
37:32
Speaker 5: that and then show them that this is where you're
37:35
Speaker 5: at now.
37:36
Speaker 4: But who knows.
37:36
Speaker 5: If you want to do more, great, you know, we'll
37:39
Speaker 5: provide you the training, the ce the resources to get
37:43
Speaker 5: there if you want that. But if not, keep doing
37:46
Speaker 5: what you're doing. You know, you're a valuable part of
37:48
Speaker 5: our practice. We want you here and we value what
37:51
Speaker 5: you do. And if you can relay the value that
37:54
Speaker 5: they're bringing to the practice and the appreciation and tell
37:57
Speaker 5: them that and tell that to other people in one
38:00
Speaker 5: of them, I think that goes a long way.
38:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love that.
38:04
Speaker 1: So, as you guys are talking about this and we
38:06
Speaker 1: have worked through a lot of this, I think what
38:08
Speaker 1: this really comes down to is also just growth that
38:13
Speaker 1: each of you have had, you know, being able to
38:15
Speaker 1: stand in your position as leaders in a practice and
38:20
Speaker 1: being able to kind of come along and see what
38:23
Speaker 1: that looks like from where you started to where you
38:26
Speaker 1: are now to where the practice is going. And I'm
38:29
Speaker 1: just curious if you guys could give some advice to
38:33
Speaker 1: a younger doctor or a doctor who's done an acquisition
38:38
Speaker 1: or is just starting out as a startup, if you
38:40
Speaker 1: could give some advice on what they should be thinking
38:44
Speaker 1: about or doing, especially if they're kind of in a
38:46
Speaker 1: harder season.
38:47
Speaker 2: I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
38:50
Speaker 3: Just to be yourself, keep focused on who you are
38:54
Speaker 3: and then not change it because it makes it harder
38:57
Speaker 3: as the years go past, or you do face that
39:01
Speaker 3: season of hardships, I guess.
39:03
Speaker 5: But yeah, I think you know, one thing that we've learned,
39:06
Speaker 5: you know, from starting out, is that we had to
39:08
Speaker 5: do everything ourselves. And I think you get into that
39:10
Speaker 5: mindset when you start out is that the only way
39:12
Speaker 5: that it's going to get done is that.
39:14
Speaker 4: If I do it.
39:15
Speaker 5: And I think as you grow your practice, as you
39:19
Speaker 5: you know, build your business and you bring other team
39:21
Speaker 5: members on, I think you really have to learn the
39:24
Speaker 5: skill and it's a skill of.
39:26
Speaker 4: Learning how to delegate.
39:27
Speaker 5: You just really do you know, and you need to
39:29
Speaker 5: know when to get help and that's okay, you know.
39:32
Speaker 4: I mean I.
39:33
Speaker 5: Think as business owners, I think you want to try
39:36
Speaker 5: to control everything. And like I said, when you start up,
39:39
Speaker 5: you're wearing a lot of different hats. You know, you're
39:41
Speaker 5: the clinical aspect, you're the marketing coordinator, the hr. I
39:45
Speaker 5: mean I think I remember us even answering the phone
39:47
Speaker 5: for crying out loud. I mean that's theory, you know,
39:50
Speaker 5: I mean doing that, but we had to, you know,
39:53
Speaker 5: and it comes with the territory. But as the practice grows,
39:57
Speaker 5: I mean, those things need to shift. You need to
39:58
Speaker 5: offload some of those things. So I think we've been
40:01
Speaker 5: much more comfortable finding people who are stronger than we are,
40:06
Speaker 5: maybe even smarter than we are, you know, in certain
40:08
Speaker 5: things like the soft skills, those things where you have
40:13
Speaker 5: a certain personality that just connects with people that can multitask,
40:18
Speaker 5: that can run the office, they can do a lot
40:20
Speaker 5: of different things, And those are the types of people
40:23
Speaker 5: that you need to give those duties to and delegate
40:26
Speaker 5: to and just let them run with it, you know,
40:28
Speaker 5: because I think, you know, it ultimately is going to
40:30
Speaker 5: make your practice better and it's going to make our
40:32
Speaker 5: lives as the owners easier where they don't feel like
40:35
Speaker 5: they're being micromanaged. Yeah, So I think that's been a
40:38
Speaker 5: big thing for us.
40:39
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then I think the other thing I guess
40:40
Speaker 3: I can add is that just don't sacrifice the things
40:44
Speaker 3: that matter the most to.
40:45
Speaker 2: You during those hard times.
40:47
Speaker 3: I mean, it's going to be your family, it's going
40:48
Speaker 3: to be your kids, it's going to be your health,
40:50
Speaker 3: it's going to be your spouse.
40:52
Speaker 2: But don't sacrifice.
40:53
Speaker 3: That and put them aside to just figure out everything
40:57
Speaker 3: in the office and dive one hundred percent into that
40:59
Speaker 3: because they need your time to and keeping your emotions
41:03
Speaker 3: under control and not letting them wander, and just being
41:09
Speaker 3: focused on that one thing that's really hard at the moment.
41:12
Speaker 2: I mean, that's going to pass that, it'll get over it,
41:15
Speaker 2: you'll figure it out.
41:16
Speaker 3: It might take you a little couple of months longer maybe,
41:20
Speaker 3: but you haven't solely focused on that. But just not
41:23
Speaker 3: sacrificing what really matters to you and your practice is
41:27
Speaker 3: always going to be there.
41:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what you never know. You never know.
41:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I think that's such sage advice, learning to
41:36
Speaker 1: find those It's kind of like the unicorn balance right
41:40
Speaker 1: between work and personal. But really, truly, I think most
41:44
Speaker 1: people want some balance and being able to do the
41:48
Speaker 1: best that you can and work on the business. I
41:51
Speaker 1: always say, work on your business while you're in your business,
41:54
Speaker 1: so that you can work on your family and your
41:56
Speaker 1: life while you're in family and lifetimes and Kenner, I
41:59
Speaker 1: think your point is so spot on that I think
42:03
Speaker 1: all of us as business owners start off, as you know,
42:06
Speaker 1: with this superman superwoman's syndrome. We have to do it all.
42:10
Speaker 1: And there is a point I mean, as business owners,
42:12
Speaker 1: we do have to initially start off doing it all,
42:15
Speaker 1: but then we have to think we kind of get
42:18
Speaker 1: in that. I love that book Who Not How where
42:21
Speaker 1: we have to start thinking about I don't need to
42:23
Speaker 1: figure out how to do this, I need to figure
42:25
Speaker 1: out who.
42:27
Speaker 2: Can do this.
42:28
Speaker 1: And I think when we can make that shift, as
42:31
Speaker 1: you said Tanner and Sarah as well, but you know,
42:33
Speaker 1: if we can make that shift and do who is
42:36
Speaker 1: the best person that I can put in place, I
42:39
Speaker 1: still need to have the understanding of what is happening
42:43
Speaker 1: within those positions as a business owner. That is really,
42:46
Speaker 1: in my opinion as a consultant, when I see practices
42:50
Speaker 1: really take off is when the doctors I think so
42:54
Speaker 1: many times become their own parachutes and really hold themselves
42:58
Speaker 1: back because they have to have their hands in everything
43:02
Speaker 1: and are not able to put those who's in place.
43:05
Speaker 1: And I think when you can start to do that,
43:07
Speaker 1: and I've watched you guys do this over the years.
43:10
Speaker 1: It makes a huge difference and where that ceiling is
43:14
Speaker 1: in what you can accomplish.
43:16
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think just to piggyback off of that, Jill,
43:18
Speaker 5: I mean, once you find the people that you want
43:22
Speaker 5: to delegate and you develop that trust with them, you
43:25
Speaker 5: involve them in the decision making processes of the practice
43:28
Speaker 5: and the problem solving issues that you have. I mean,
43:31
Speaker 5: so if you have a team member that comes to
43:33
Speaker 5: you with a question, you flip it around on them,
43:36
Speaker 5: you say, you know, what do you think what do
43:38
Speaker 5: you think is going to the solution of this issue is?
43:41
Speaker 5: And then that gives them ownership of that problem. And
43:45
Speaker 5: then you know they're going to take that and because
43:47
Speaker 5: they've helped make that decision, and it may may not
43:50
Speaker 5: be the best suggestion, but at least you're involving them
43:54
Speaker 5: in the practice, in the decision making and they're going
43:57
Speaker 5: to take ownership of that. And I think it just
44:00
Speaker 5: helps build trust and it just helps the practice grow
44:04
Speaker 5: and it's just been really a beneficial thing for our team.
44:06
Speaker 5: I think doing that.
44:07
Speaker 3: Well, they just feel more important, they feel part of
44:10
Speaker 3: the practice, as opposed to mean.
44:12
Speaker 2: They work harder for you. I guess that's if they
44:14
Speaker 2: feel like they are part of the practice. They're going
44:16
Speaker 2: to work harder for you.
44:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they're invested. Well, guys, I know, we could
44:21
Speaker 1: just keep going and going here and you know, you
44:23
Speaker 1: guys so much wisdom over all the years and all
44:26
Speaker 1: that you guys have done, and as we kind of
44:28
Speaker 1: finish up here, if somebody wants to hear more about you, guys,
44:32
Speaker 1: just hick your brain. Gosh, they've done two practices and
44:35
Speaker 1: a ground up build and all these different things. If
44:37
Speaker 1: somebody wanted to reach out to what's the best way
44:40
Speaker 1: that they can get in touch with you guys?
44:42
Speaker 2: Probably email, Jill, I mean, we've got our office email.
44:45
Speaker 3: It's you know, mine is Sarah at st Clerkortho dot
44:49
Speaker 3: com and just you know, Tanner's as Tanner at Stclerkworthrow
44:52
Speaker 3: dot com.
44:53
Speaker 2: But probably email.
44:54
Speaker 3: I mean they can always call the office where there
44:57
Speaker 3: someone will get us the message too, if that's easier.
44:59
Speaker 3: But yeah, Emil is our office email is probably the easiest.
45:02
Speaker 1: Perfect And now a word from the sponsors who make
45:07
Speaker 1: this podcast possible.
45:10
Speaker 2: Heydocs.
45:11
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Smile Sweet, because it's not just another
45:14
Speaker 1: scheduling system. It's a game changer. In the world of
45:18
Speaker 1: new patient management, and as a proud smile Sweet partner,
45:21
Speaker 1: I've witnessed the incredible impact it has on practices of
45:25
Speaker 1: all sizes. Smile Sweet means your new patient calls and
45:28
Speaker 1: web leads are expertly handled seven days a week, even
45:32
Speaker 1: during nights and weekends, and they offer top notch customizable
45:36
Speaker 1: presentation software and seamless post consultation follow up. It's like
45:41
Speaker 1: having a secret weapon for your practice's success. Curious, dive
45:45
Speaker 1: into the revolution at getsmilesuite dot com, and don't forget
45:49
Speaker 1: to mention Haydocks to unlock some extra goodies. Elevate your
45:54
Speaker 1: practice with smile Sweet, because every smile deserves a suite
45:58
Speaker 1: of excellence. Well, you know how I like to finish
46:03
Speaker 1: up Haydocs, I like to do a quick little speed round.
46:06
Speaker 1: Are you guys ready for a few questions?
46:11
Speaker 2: All right? It's random? Yeah, all right, So let's start
46:15
Speaker 2: with one here.
46:16
Speaker 1: What is one business trend you think more people should
46:19
Speaker 1: be paying attention to.
46:20
Speaker 2: Hmm, I'm going to say the digital practice.
46:23
Speaker 3: I think digital marketing, fully digital clinical workflow, indirect bonding
46:29
Speaker 3: with custom brackets.
46:30
Speaker 2: I think it's growing roll in AI. I guess, and
46:34
Speaker 2: then that shift I guess.
46:35
Speaker 3: I mean it's here to stay, it's not going away.
46:37
Speaker 3: So just I would say that the digital practice.
46:41
Speaker 2: Okay, perfect. How about this one.
46:43
Speaker 1: If you could give your younger self one piece of
46:46
Speaker 1: career advice.
46:47
Speaker 2: What would it be, don't change who you are? All right?
46:50
Speaker 2: I love that?
46:51
Speaker 1: And then the final one, if you had unlimited resources,
46:54
Speaker 1: what's one big idea you'd bring to life?
46:58
Speaker 4: So, Jill, I think we all do it.
47:00
Speaker 5: To the fact that we're having three team members now
47:02
Speaker 5: that are going to be on maternity leaves, so I
47:05
Speaker 5: think Sarah and I have been brainstorming like a new
47:07
Speaker 5: office idea and we haven't talked to you or Annie
47:10
Speaker 5: about it, but maybe Annie knows about it. But we're
47:13
Speaker 5: going to build a new office with a daycare connected,
47:16
Speaker 5: so we're going to brand that as Braces or babysitting
47:19
Speaker 5: or as.
47:19
Speaker 2: Annie has suggested, Clark's Kids. So I love it. I
47:23
Speaker 2: love it. Well, you know what I think this is?
47:26
Speaker 1: You know, it is something that we need to constantly
47:29
Speaker 1: be thinking about, for sure, because in our industry, most
47:32
Speaker 1: of our employees are females, and most of our team
47:36
Speaker 1: members are you know, usually kind of in that age
47:38
Speaker 1: where we're always going to have new family members entering
47:42
Speaker 1: into this world and mamas and dads.
47:45
Speaker 2: That need to take some time off. So I like
47:48
Speaker 2: that idea.
47:49
Speaker 1: Well, you guys, thank you so much for being a
47:52
Speaker 1: part of Haydocs and just just for taking time.
47:55
Speaker 2: To be real and talk to myself and the audience
47:59
Speaker 2: about what has been like over the last year. So
48:01
Speaker 2: thank you. I appreciate it.
48:03
Speaker 4: Thanks, We appreciate all you. Thank you.
48:05
Speaker 1: Yeah.
48:07
Speaker 2: Are you ready to start a practice of your own?
48:10
Speaker 1: Need a new fresh set of eyes or some advice
48:13
Speaker 1: on your existing practice. If so, reach out to me
48:16
Speaker 1: Jill Allen at www dot practice results dot com. If
48:22
Speaker 1: you like what we're doing here on Haydocks and want
48:24
Speaker 1: to hear more of this awesome content, be sure and
48:27
Speaker 1: give us a five star rating on your preferred listening
48:30
Speaker 1: platform and subscribe to our show so you never miss
48:33
Speaker 1: an episode. Remember, new episodes drop every Thursday. See you
48:38
Speaker 1: next week.