WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.980 Welcome to Bite Size Dental Marketing. Today 00:00:01.980 --> 00:00:05.980 I have Dr. Craig Spodak. It's rare that you get 00:00:05.980 --> 00:00:08.900 to meet someone who you immediately vibe with 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.880 and just feels like in your tribe. And as Craig 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.699 was talking today about what he's done at Bulletproof 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:17.879 and what he and his partner have built, it resonated 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.320 very much with what we stand for. And we kicked 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.059 off the conversation today with their approach 00:00:22.059 --> 00:00:29.329 to dental practice leadership. At Bulletproof, 00:00:29.390 --> 00:00:33.210 we don't really love the idea that there's this 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:35.909 one -size -fits -all approach to dental consulting. 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:38.530 You know, dentistry is a beautiful profession 00:00:38.530 --> 00:00:41.030 that it can express exactly what the practitioner 00:00:41.030 --> 00:00:45.350 wants. And there's a very one -size -fits -none 00:00:45.350 --> 00:00:48.570 approach, you know, dropping the insurance and 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:50.130 stuff like that. There's so many different models. 00:00:50.549 --> 00:00:52.570 You know, we find dentists that want to expand 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:54.530 their practices and go to multi -location or 00:00:54.530 --> 00:00:56.250 maybe exit the chair because their body's hurting 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:58.740 them. And they sign up with Acme Consulting and 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:00.799 Acme Consulting tells them like, hey, drop all 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.560 your insurances, which is fine if you want to 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:05.680 maximize the value of each patient that you particularly 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.180 serve. But if your model is expansion minded, 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.239 you may want to not shut the front door. So, 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:14.420 you know, and also the sales pressure in dentistry 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:16.480 is a little disheartening. You know, there's 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:17.819 a lot of dentists that are out there trying to 00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:20.099 rack up multiple locations so that they can sell. 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:22.659 When you talk about that one size fit all, we 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:26.200 see it in marketing all the time. Where are you? 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:29.170 As a dentist, where are you seeing it the most? 00:01:29.230 --> 00:01:33.290 Is it there just the trying to grow a sellable 00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:38.030 entity or is it something different? So unfortunately, 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:40.670 most dentists don't know what they want and they've 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:42.909 actually just hijacked someone else's idea of 00:01:42.909 --> 00:01:45.849 what they were told. There's a lot of industry 00:01:45.849 --> 00:01:48.530 pressure, whether that comes from supply houses 00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:51.629 or just the narrative in dentistry that you must 00:01:51.629 --> 00:01:54.719 do this and this and this. So at Bulletproof, 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:57.299 we wind up catching these people later on in 00:01:57.299 --> 00:01:59.700 their career. We've taken 200 people through 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:01.680 our mastermind. We've done eight summits with 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.500 a couple thousand people. And there's this recurring 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:09.900 theme of this dentist that pursued a plan, a 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:11.819 business plan, a vision for what they wanted. 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:14.860 They got that, and they're really unfulfilled 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.900 and unhappy. And the disheartening thing is that 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:21.360 in dentistry, we're leading. in all the wrong 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:24.379 categories, depression, divorce, drug abuse, 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:27.340 burnout. When you look at the polls on Facebook 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:31.900 that are fairly large sample sizes, the overwhelming 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.020 percentage of dentists are not happy with where 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:38.699 they are economically, fulfillment -wise, their 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:42.139 body's hurting them. They were coached or told 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:44.659 to open up their own practices. We didn't get 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:47.840 a single minute of business training, a single 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.080 minute of leadership training. And just because 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.159 we're a dentist, the team is kind of circling 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.240 around us that we're the expert of all domains. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:58.919 And if we're being honest, we just have to kind 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.699 of fake it till we make it. And it leads dentists 00:03:01.699 --> 00:03:05.360 to, unfortunately, a well -worn path of unfulfillment. 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:09.000 It's funny you talk about that. There was a year 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.460 that Andre and I, my partner, I want to say about 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:16.419 40 % of our revenue was private equity -backed 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:22.750 DSOs. Man, it's miserable. And I'm sure they're 00:03:22.750 --> 00:03:26.650 fine. I'm not anti -DSO, just like I'm not anti 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:33.710 -anything. But it was so hard to market because 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.090 they would turn over the front desk, they would 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:39.469 turn over their admin staff so quickly that you 00:03:39.469 --> 00:03:41.349 just couldn't get your feet under you as a marketer. 00:03:42.150 --> 00:03:45.870 And I came in one day and... I was really unhappy. 00:03:46.169 --> 00:03:48.650 I mean, I was like, look, I'm tired. Like, I 00:03:48.650 --> 00:03:53.789 don't want to do this anymore. We ended up, you 00:03:53.789 --> 00:03:56.969 know, terminating our engagements with all of 00:03:56.969 --> 00:03:59.389 our problem accounts, top to bottom. I mean, 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:03.530 in one day. And it was scary because we gave 00:04:03.530 --> 00:04:08.710 up around 36 % of our revenue overnight. And, 00:04:08.729 --> 00:04:10.789 you know, agencies, if you don't know a lot about 00:04:10.789 --> 00:04:13.669 agencies, you know, I'm not rocking a 50 % net 00:04:13.669 --> 00:04:18.920 profit. It can be pretty lean in a digital agency. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:23.620 It was so scary, but it was one of the greatest 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:26.519 things I ever did because the company had become 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:30.100 an albatross around my neck. I was no longer 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:35.660 free. My time wasn't my own, and it was really 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:38.180 tough. I find the same thing, but I have a lot 00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:43.319 of hope for the DSO. I get the opportunity to 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:45.420 see so many dental practices and visit them and 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:47.120 coach with them. And the one thing that I can 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:52.639 tell you is that a moderately run, the average 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.839 private practice that I've happened to see, the 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:57.339 average, so not the avatar of people that would 00:04:57.339 --> 00:05:00.060 call your marketing firm or call Bulletproof. 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:02.660 Because right there, that's a different person. 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:05.439 A person that listens to this podcast or a person 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:06.740 that listens to the Bulletproof Dental Practice 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:11.699 podcast is a top tier. person, a top tier entrepreneur 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:15.019 aspiring. They want to double down on their career. 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:18.120 Let's face it, the average person who's not interested 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:19.699 in growing their dental practice, you never get 00:05:19.699 --> 00:05:21.540 to meet them because they're like, what do you 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:23.079 need marketing? I don't need marketing. It was 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:25.699 ridiculous. But when I look at the average dental 00:05:25.699 --> 00:05:28.439 practice versus the average DSO run practice, 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:32.500 unfortunately, I would say that the average DSO 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:36.720 run practice is run better and has better standards, 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:39.790 unfortunately. than the average private practice 00:05:39.790 --> 00:05:43.569 i've been in private practice offices that are 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:45.550 just like kind of run in the mill when i'm like 00:05:45.550 --> 00:05:47.569 and they don't even know that they have to change 00:05:47.569 --> 00:05:51.230 the fluids in their autoclave so they haven't 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:54.269 they you know the the bare minimum standard unfortunately 00:05:54.269 --> 00:05:56.850 is not oftentimes there for us private practitioners 00:05:56.850 --> 00:06:00.790 so i'm hopeful of the dso i'm hopeful that um 00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:03.589 there's going to be new generations of dsos that 00:06:03.589 --> 00:06:05.939 will actually be Kind of like hotel management 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:08.680 companies, you know, like the Rich Carlton. I 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:11.560 think there's room for that DSO 3 .0 in our space. 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.519 We've seen it already, right? I mean, the first 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:19.779 breed of marketers in DSOs were elevated office 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:22.680 managers and, you know, people who, hygienists 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:24.399 that were interested in social media. They did 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.639 a fine job, but they were not multi -channel 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:29.579 attribution marketers. They were not looking 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.079 at cost of goods and acquisitions and all these 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.139 things. When you look at who's running DSOs today, 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:39.680 they are putting in place legitimate marketing 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.639 professionals from consumer packaged goods companies 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.540 and from SaaS software and places. And they, 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.519 while I don't have intimate knowledge of what 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.959 happens in the practice, I can tell you that 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:56.300 the quality of marketing from DSOs has continued 00:06:56.300 --> 00:07:02.860 to increase dramatically in effectiveness. Right. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.360 And I think that translates to Eric, by the way, 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:07.420 not only in marketing, but in the quality of 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:10.939 the CE that's available, the standards, the retention 00:07:10.939 --> 00:07:13.759 of top tier talent. I mean, let's face it. If 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:16.040 we have a top tier admin person in your local 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:18.680 private practice and they're kicking butt and 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.300 they're doing great, chances are there's not 00:07:21.300 --> 00:07:24.060 a lot of opportunity for upward mobility in your 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:26.800 seven person dental office. Whereas if you're 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:30.459 a rockstar admin person at a DSO, You could rise 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:33.779 to managing one or two offices, to territories, 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:39.980 to regions. So, yeah, I'm threatened and hopeful 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:45.079 about DSOs. Yeah, yeah. When we started, you 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:49.439 know, what, 2017, 2018, you know, buying, DSOs 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:51.379 are buying all the rage and it's certainly slowed 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:55.160 down. What do you see as the big shifts in not 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:57.939 just the industry, but in the dentists themselves? 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:04.620 17 when 14 15 16 17 era to today you know dentistry 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:08.459 was on a fairly level playing field historically 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:13.319 so you know when i became a dentist uh geez it 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:15.800 was back in 98 when i got out of school i'm aging 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:19.939 myself but i was the first one of the first dentists 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:22.480 in my community in the early 2000s that decided 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:24.740 to use marketing you know i bought television 00:08:24.740 --> 00:08:27.290 ads and We were messing around with a website. 00:08:27.350 --> 00:08:31.670 And I just remember the animosity that that generated 00:08:31.670 --> 00:08:33.870 for my community. They were so mad at me for 00:08:33.870 --> 00:08:38.409 doing that. And really, there wasn't... My dad's 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:40.570 a dentist, so I got a chance to grow up in a 00:08:40.570 --> 00:08:45.809 dental household. And earlier, I'll say from 00:08:45.809 --> 00:08:47.750 the low 2000s all the way up through the mid 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:51.169 -teens, like 2014 -15, there wasn't too much 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:54.870 differentiation. Your dentist was nice. The dentist 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:57.309 had... a dental chair. There wasn't too much 00:08:57.309 --> 00:08:59.309 separation in what type of dental chair, but 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:03.690 there wasn't much degrees of separation to different 00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:06.509 service offerings. So we didn't have scanners 00:09:06.509 --> 00:09:08.809 per se. We didn't have same day dentistry wasn't 00:09:08.809 --> 00:09:12.309 as readily utilized. CEREC was in its early iterations 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:16.269 of it. So I think it was more challenging to 00:09:16.269 --> 00:09:18.850 market the difference. You could market that 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:21.529 Dr. Jones really cares or whatever, but there 00:09:21.529 --> 00:09:26.610 wasn't this massive category separation And I 00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:28.750 think over the last 10 years, what we've seen 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:32.769 in all industries is this race towards innovation, 00:09:33.090 --> 00:09:36.190 technology, patient experience. And those who 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:39.830 don't have not embraced that change are disgruntled 00:09:39.830 --> 00:09:43.690 and left on the sidelines and upset. So I see 00:09:43.690 --> 00:09:46.490 a lot of dentists that are, you know, not happy, 00:09:46.649 --> 00:09:48.629 you know, really kind of commoditizing the patient 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:50.990 saying these patients don't really care. And 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:53.169 it's so frustrating. And team doesn't want to 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.529 work hard. And people don't have the same work 00:09:55.529 --> 00:09:58.049 ethic. And then I see the opposite of the people 00:09:58.049 --> 00:10:00.389 that are flourishing with like, there's so much 00:10:00.389 --> 00:10:03.710 opportunity. These are underserved areas. But 00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:05.909 the commonalities are the people that are willing 00:10:05.909 --> 00:10:10.230 to invest in their businesses. So business requires 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:12.850 investment, investment of time and leadership 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:15.629 of developing your people, investment of technology 00:10:15.629 --> 00:10:17.509 and infrastructure, making the experience better. 00:10:17.730 --> 00:10:20.629 And then you have to... put that message out. 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:23.850 So it's innovation and marketing. You can't just 00:10:23.850 --> 00:10:25.929 innovate and just hopefully the word catches 00:10:25.929 --> 00:10:29.429 fire, unless you go viral for a TikTok dance 00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:31.690 or something. But for us mere mortals, you're 00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:33.129 going to have to get some horsepower to spread 00:10:33.129 --> 00:10:36.149 the message. But I think that the separation 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:39.750 of services and when I think about the first 00:10:39.750 --> 00:10:42.769 Starbucks I went to, that was a life -changing 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:44.590 experience. I walked in there trying to order 00:10:44.590 --> 00:10:47.710 a coffee and they... Had me using different words 00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:51.230 I never heard of, grande and cafe, flat white. 00:10:51.309 --> 00:10:52.549 I didn't even know. I'm like, I just want a damn 00:10:52.549 --> 00:10:55.250 coffee. But we see what happened with that. So 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:58.190 the category expanded because of Starbucks. Or 00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:00.710 just thinking back to 10 years ago when I had 00:11:00.710 --> 00:11:03.929 to take a check into my teller to deposit it. 00:11:04.809 --> 00:11:07.429 Now I just do it from my phone. So for those 00:11:07.429 --> 00:11:10.440 dentists that are... really resenting the change. 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:12.840 It's like, don't resent the change. Just understand 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:14.700 the consumer's been trained by all these things 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:16.419 and they want to translate that to your dental 00:11:16.419 --> 00:11:20.480 practice. I know dentists will say, well, my 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.600 patients don't mind a goopy impression. They 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.340 don't mind the fact that we're only open six 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:27.440 hours a day, or they don't mind that they have 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:29.879 to call in to confirm their appointment. But 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:33.980 if you had to return your video at Blockbuster 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:36.399 and then get hit with a $25 rewind fee, you're 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.850 going to learn about Netflix pretty quick. Or 00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:40.690 are you going to find a bank that will allow 00:11:40.690 --> 00:11:42.429 you to deposit your check with a mobile? They 00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:46.549 don't miss the teller experience anymore. Is 00:11:46.549 --> 00:11:48.909 that the biggest barrier to people joining Bulletproof 00:11:48.909 --> 00:11:55.210 Practice? Is it the abundance mentality in getting 00:11:55.210 --> 00:11:58.649 them to the education? So the ethos of what we 00:11:58.649 --> 00:12:03.100 try to do is that we believe that... Yes. Dental 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:05.860 practices are all a snowflake. And if you want 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.620 to be like, my father's 84 years old. He's here 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:10.679 today doing exams. He's still doing a little 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:12.899 bit of work around the office. But if you ask 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:14.720 my father, what's your biggest, what do you miss 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.600 the most? He'll tell you that I miss actually 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.120 doing crowns and working on patients. I really 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.860 miss the actual dentistry. And God bless him. 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:27.190 He's 84 years old. So that was, you know, if 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:29.070 I would have met my dad at 27, if he would have 00:12:29.070 --> 00:12:30.549 been in the Bulletproof ecosystem, I would have 00:12:30.549 --> 00:12:32.409 said, what do you really want? And he would have 00:12:32.409 --> 00:12:34.330 probably told me, I love seeing patients. And 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:36.669 I would have just doubled down on that. You know, 00:12:36.769 --> 00:12:38.409 I would have designed a practice that would support 00:12:38.409 --> 00:12:41.509 that. But there's other dentists that are like, 00:12:41.610 --> 00:12:44.509 look, I love the dentistry and don't get me wrong. 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:47.169 I love it. But, you know, I'm 45 and my back's 00:12:47.169 --> 00:12:49.289 starting to hurt. And every time my wife and 00:12:49.289 --> 00:12:51.590 I take a vacation, you know, for two or three 00:12:51.590 --> 00:12:54.690 weeks, I'm never really away because the practice 00:12:54.690 --> 00:12:58.710 kind of owns me. I feel trapped by it. I just 00:12:58.710 --> 00:13:00.730 need freedom. You know, I thought I wanted a 00:13:00.730 --> 00:13:02.809 lot of money. And now that I'm making a hundred 00:13:02.809 --> 00:13:04.990 or two or three, whatever money, I really want 00:13:04.990 --> 00:13:08.809 time. So that type of avatar of dentist, that's 00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:11.230 really uniquely suited for the Bulletproof ecosystem 00:13:11.230 --> 00:13:15.450 because we can help them build a profitable business. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:19.659 that doesn't rely just upon their hands. And, 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:22.340 you know, when you have a dental practice and 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:24.500 you own that business, but it depends on you 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:29.000 to make it run, there's liabilities there. You 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:31.139 know, when you go skiing and you hurt your wrist 00:13:31.139 --> 00:13:33.600 or something, you know, it all hinges on you. 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:35.980 So it's an existential threat for the business. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:37.460 And there's a lot of people in our practices 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:40.820 that have hitched their wagons onto us, you know, 00:13:40.820 --> 00:13:42.659 hitched their futures. Our hygienists and our 00:13:42.659 --> 00:13:45.389 support team have all... said, I'm going to work 00:13:45.389 --> 00:13:47.470 with you. And I think it's kind of incumbent 00:13:47.470 --> 00:13:50.009 upon a practice owner to build a little bit of 00:13:50.009 --> 00:13:51.830 resiliency into the business model such that 00:13:51.830 --> 00:13:54.950 it doesn't depend on you. Now, I've heard you 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:59.110 speak in your podcast on culture. How does that 00:13:59.110 --> 00:14:04.470 overlay with this hardening of the system and 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:07.950 the practice? So culture really is a buzzword 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:12.029 for what your leadership is so if you you know 00:14:12.029 --> 00:14:14.970 we've all gone into restaurants before and we've 00:14:14.970 --> 00:14:17.149 met a waitress and said hey you know i'm really 00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:18.809 confused about the menu i don't really know what 00:14:18.809 --> 00:14:21.169 to order here do you like the fish or do you 00:14:21.169 --> 00:14:23.669 like the steak and the waitress says you actually 00:14:23.669 --> 00:14:27.110 i've never eaten here before um but i'll be right 00:14:27.110 --> 00:14:31.090 back right versus a person the same waitress 00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:33.669 like oh my god you know you this this the fish 00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:37.440 is amazing you know we we Actually, the chef 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.500 actually likes to spearfish and he went off the 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:41.779 coast here in Florida and he spearfishes a whole 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:43.980 bunch of snapper. And I saw them come in today. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.899 It's amazing. I would get the snapper. Steak 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:48.679 is great. Don't get me wrong, but I saw him bring 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.279 in the fish today. So what does that really mean? 00:14:51.379 --> 00:14:52.919 When I meet a person like that in a restaurant, 00:14:52.980 --> 00:14:55.799 I'm sure you've met people like that. I am so 00:14:55.799 --> 00:14:59.919 anxious to meet the owner. And every time I meet 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:02.639 the owner, I'm like, uh -huh, that makes sense 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:06.990 now. So leadership. is expressed through culture 00:15:06.990 --> 00:15:09.629 and culture is really just the vibe you get. 00:15:09.950 --> 00:15:12.669 You as a marketer, Eric, you can do a phenomenal 00:15:12.669 --> 00:15:16.350 job for a dental practice. Phenomenal job. You're 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:18.269 making the phone ring. It's amazing. And guess 00:15:18.269 --> 00:15:20.529 what? They fire you. They say, you know, Eric, 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:23.210 it's just not working for us, man. It's not working. 00:15:23.289 --> 00:15:24.590 We're spending all this money with you. And you 00:15:24.590 --> 00:15:26.070 know, you're telling me these results are happening. 00:15:26.149 --> 00:15:27.809 You're like, yeah, let's look at the call data. 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:32.190 So you have a tough job because you can be successful 00:15:32.190 --> 00:15:35.610 in your endeavor. and not translate to business 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:37.809 for the practice because the practice is dropping 00:15:37.809 --> 00:15:41.129 the ball. So all the best marketing in the world, 00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:43.190 if you can't execute when the phone rings and 00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:45.750 do the job to get the patient in and deliver 00:15:45.750 --> 00:15:48.690 the experience and help the patient discover 00:15:48.690 --> 00:15:51.330 the value, they're going to fire you. The worst 00:15:51.330 --> 00:15:53.029 thing in the world is to spend a bunch of money 00:15:53.029 --> 00:15:55.820 on marketing and not improve the P &L. Right. 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:58.620 But you don't control that, though, is what I'm 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:00.659 saying. You don't control that. You can put the 00:16:00.659 --> 00:16:03.179 brakes on the car, but if the proper driver doesn't 00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:05.480 use the brakes, they're going to crash. But it's 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.000 hard because dentistry, the dentist actually 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.080 thinks it's all about the dentistry. And yes, 00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:13.840 I'm not here to tell you that your margins don't 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.519 matter and a careful treatment plan and conservative 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:18.919 treatment is not important, but patients don't 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:21.450 understand that. So patients are going to our 00:16:21.450 --> 00:16:24.590 practices and trying to figure out the perception 00:16:24.590 --> 00:16:27.250 of value. And how do they do it? They do it by 00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:29.929 the culture. So when you have good culture, when 00:16:29.929 --> 00:16:32.669 the person that answers the phone is kind and 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:35.429 the hygienist is caring, and then the communication 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:38.110 is hand -delivered from the doctor to the hygienist 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:39.889 and then to the treatment coordinator, and the 00:16:39.889 --> 00:16:41.909 patient's questions are all answered, the finances 00:16:41.909 --> 00:16:45.570 are disclosed and handled professionally, the 00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:48.289 crown tends to be better. for the patient because 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:51.090 they perceive the value there. So if I could 00:16:51.090 --> 00:16:54.250 give one piece of advice to dentists is just 00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:57.690 understand it's not about you. It's crazy, but 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:00.710 it's actually not as much about the perception 00:17:00.710 --> 00:17:02.870 of the outcome. Patients presume you're going 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:05.509 to be good at what you do. That's why they call 00:17:05.509 --> 00:17:07.910 you. They figure there's laws to make sure that 00:17:07.910 --> 00:17:10.549 you're good. And when we look at data from the 00:17:10.549 --> 00:17:13.210 hospital and general medical system, the number 00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:16.119 one indicator of why a patient would refer another 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:18.660 patient to a healthcare setting is not in the 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:21.180 perception of outcome, which is fascinating to 00:17:21.180 --> 00:17:24.259 me. It's actually on the perception of like how 00:17:24.259 --> 00:17:26.460 the team gets along and what does the environment 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:29.059 look like? Because they just presume you're going 00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:31.259 to get a good outcome. If you look at consumer 00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:37.859 behavior in marketing, say to dentistry, we ask 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:42.019 a rank and file consumer, you have no ability 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:45.309 to judge the quality of dentistry. i can tell 00:17:45.309 --> 00:17:47.190 you how it looks i can tell you if i like it 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:52.230 or not um if a crown lasts two years or a crowd 00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:55.589 lasts 28 years as a consumer i would never know 00:17:55.589 --> 00:17:59.490 because my experience is uniquely myopic to my 00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:02.430 experience like i just don't have data available 00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:04.789 to suggest the quality of clinical care that's 00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:09.410 happening to me um and you know simon sinek and 00:18:09.410 --> 00:18:11.339 others have talked about you know it's not What 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:13.079 you do, it's, you know, people don't buy what 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:15.460 you do. They buy why you do it. And we're seeing 00:18:15.460 --> 00:18:19.119 that in marketing, especially in 20, 25, the 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.079 distrust on the Internet, the inability to relate. 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:24.099 We're lonelier than we've ever been. I mean, 00:18:24.140 --> 00:18:27.599 you know, all these things happen. And even if 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:30.940 it's just about just a dentist, which I have 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:32.900 to put in quotation marks because I think it's, 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.319 you know, incredibly intimate to have that that 00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:37.299 that relationship with with, you know, someone 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:39.140 so close and working on something, you know, 00:18:39.140 --> 00:18:42.990 going to have one set of teeth. We tend to associate 00:18:42.990 --> 00:18:47.589 trust with people we connect with, and 90 % of 00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:50.450 what we do is trying to accelerate the curve 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:53.349 of connection. And it's not about the dentistry. 00:18:53.829 --> 00:18:56.750 I don't care. I certainly care that you have 00:18:56.750 --> 00:18:59.710 ateros and all these other stuff, but I care 00:18:59.710 --> 00:19:03.349 in so much as you can relate that to the patient. 00:19:03.450 --> 00:19:06.710 Most dentists love to talk about what a hero 00:19:06.710 --> 00:19:09.440 they are. And it doesn't matter how much CE you've 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.720 been to or what technology you have. It's do 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.279 you connect with these patients? And in fact, 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:17.619 making the doctor the hero, just to kind of double 00:19:17.619 --> 00:19:20.059 click on that, is the worst possible thing you 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:22.980 can do. So that's what typically we all do. Like 00:19:22.980 --> 00:19:24.579 when you look at a dentist's website and it's 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:26.599 the doctor with his arms folded and the crew 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:30.019 of people behind him. And Dr. Jones went to prestigious 00:19:30.019 --> 00:19:33.380 blah, blah, blah and got this award. you know, 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:36.099 as Academy of this and that it's great, but like, 00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:38.579 it doesn't move the needle for the patients. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:41.859 Like, how does this benefit me versus some simple 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:44.099 thing of like, Hey, I'm Dr. Jones. I got into 00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:46.339 dentistry because I wanted to help people. I 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:48.539 know going to the dentist is sometimes an unfortunate 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:52.019 experience and I get it. I was that guy, you 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:53.980 know, I don't want to judge you. I want to welcome 00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:55.839 you and blah, blah, blah. And why did you do 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.990 it? Like, how does this relate to me? So we need 00:19:58.990 --> 00:20:01.250 a lot of help us dentists. So I'm happy that 00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:04.230 we're talking about this. Hopefully this opens 00:20:04.230 --> 00:20:06.410 the eyes of some people listening to this. Now, 00:20:06.470 --> 00:20:10.670 we were talking earlier about, you know, kind 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:12.630 of the lies we tell ourselves of, oh, my patients 00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:14.650 just would rather me pull it. They don't really 00:20:14.650 --> 00:20:18.490 care. I mean, my area has gone downhill, whatever 00:20:18.490 --> 00:20:24.170 it is. How are you helping dentists break that 00:20:24.170 --> 00:20:29.490 paradigm of thinking? That's a hard one. How 00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:31.730 are you helping people break their paradigm of 00:20:31.730 --> 00:20:34.609 thinking, Eric? You know, I'm letting them fire 00:20:34.609 --> 00:20:37.630 me and I'm giving them a hug and they're going 00:20:37.630 --> 00:20:39.329 somewhere else and then they're coming back. 00:20:39.470 --> 00:20:42.049 I don't have a good answer. That's kind of what 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:44.730 happens to us too. So like, look, the hardest 00:20:44.730 --> 00:20:47.809 thing to do is to change someone's belief system. 00:20:47.950 --> 00:20:50.509 But we know intellectually that's what needs 00:20:50.509 --> 00:20:53.450 to happen. I can give you so many examples, but... 00:20:53.819 --> 00:20:55.819 I remember lecturing for Invisalign, you know, 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:57.880 as faculty for Invisalign. And I went out to 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:01.059 this place in Southwestern Florida. I don't remember 00:21:01.059 --> 00:21:04.680 what city it was at. And it was about 10 years 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.700 ago, 15 years ago. And I was doing a lot of lecturing 00:21:07.700 --> 00:21:09.480 at that point. I was coming into the cities very 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:11.779 quickly and just barely paying attention and 00:21:11.779 --> 00:21:14.599 winding up at the Ramada or wherever I was. And 00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:16.299 I remember this one person saying to me like, 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:18.200 hey, you know, this is great about Invisalign, 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:22.650 but I practice in an area that is... blue collar 00:21:22.650 --> 00:21:27.269 and they don't have the money or the desire to 00:21:27.269 --> 00:21:31.609 want to straighten their teeth so in that sentence 00:21:31.609 --> 00:21:36.170 is a lot by the way so and i think they might 00:21:36.170 --> 00:21:37.690 have mentioned like they don't care about how 00:21:37.690 --> 00:21:40.569 they look okay so that's a perfect example so 00:21:40.569 --> 00:21:43.049 look at all the presumptions the first presumption 00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:45.970 is people don't have the money right so i actually 00:21:45.970 --> 00:21:48.829 asked this person i probably um this is why i 00:21:48.829 --> 00:21:50.470 realized i had to do my own thing because i can't 00:21:50.470 --> 00:21:53.680 like I have to be honest more than gentle, I 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:55.900 suppose, sometimes. But I said, hey, doc, just 00:21:55.900 --> 00:21:57.880 curious, how far away do you practice from this 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:01.640 hotel? They said about three miles. I'm like, 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.240 three miles, three or four miles. I'm like, okay, 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:06.819 cool. And I'm like, you know why I'm asking you 00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:08.980 that? She goes, no, I mean, this is Ramada. I'm 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:11.920 like, yeah, but on the drive in, I noticed there 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:13.460 was a Mercedes -Benz dealership and it looked 00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:17.089 fairly new. And you think Mercedes -Benz. just 00:22:17.089 --> 00:22:19.450 pops in dealerships like randomly? Or do you 00:22:19.450 --> 00:22:22.109 think they do an exhaustive demographic and financial 00:22:22.109 --> 00:22:25.109 set of research before they plop one of their 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:27.730 dealerships? Because I'm sure they do that. I'm 00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:30.349 like, so if Mercedes thought this is a good area, 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:33.809 why do you believe it's not a good area? And 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:36.369 moreover, the language you're using to your team 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:39.789 is saying we practice in a bad area, financially 00:22:39.789 --> 00:22:44.009 limiting area. So your team cannot exceed the 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:46.410 vision and beliefs that the leader has. In other 00:22:46.410 --> 00:22:48.630 words, getting back to the culture thing, your 00:22:48.630 --> 00:22:50.849 culture cannot exceed you. You're the rate limiting 00:22:50.849 --> 00:22:53.630 step. If you're a big thinker and you are a broad 00:22:53.630 --> 00:22:55.930 and abundant thinker, your team will tend to 00:22:55.930 --> 00:22:58.130 be more. If you're limiting, they won't go past 00:22:58.130 --> 00:23:00.470 your limits. You're the rate limiting step. The 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:02.690 second thing I said is, are you presenting Invisalign 00:23:02.690 --> 00:23:06.509 as a cosmetic thing? She said, yes. And this 00:23:06.509 --> 00:23:08.809 is the time when we're just getting into scanners. 00:23:08.849 --> 00:23:11.769 But when you show a younger patient that the 00:23:11.769 --> 00:23:13.769 teeth crowding and the amount of wear on their 00:23:13.769 --> 00:23:17.000 teeth. you know 24 year old girl who says hey 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.240 congratulations becky you have no cavities no 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:22.319 prayer disease get out of here we're not doing 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.200 the right service for patients because if you 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:26.559 can show becky that girl that has no cavities 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.920 and no prayer disease you can show that the incisors 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.960 have worn off a millimeter or two already and 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.380 she's 24 so she's only had those incisors for 00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:38.539 like a decade or 13 years or 14 years you can 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:40.819 prognosticate the wear or you can show them the 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:42.720 wear of what's happening and putting the teeth 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:45.579 in a better position can prevent future dentistry. 00:23:46.099 --> 00:23:48.940 So the belief system and the language that we 00:23:48.940 --> 00:23:54.859 use is the largest predictor of future success. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.579 And I've done this so long that I can talk with 00:23:57.579 --> 00:23:59.440 the dentist for 10 minutes and be like, I got 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:01.599 it. I think I got a good idea where to start. 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:03.759 And that's why people in the Bulletproof world 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.099 tease me. They call me the dental whisperer. 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.960 I don't know if that's... But I could just hear 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.319 by your language what's going to happen. And 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:13.400 I've been blessed because I had these amazing 00:24:13.400 --> 00:24:16.059 people in my life. You know, I didn't come up 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:17.960 with this stuff on my own. I'm not that smart, 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:22.000 but God put like amazing people in my life, not 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.200 just dentists, but business people. And I start 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:26.480 to observe how they think and how they speak. 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:29.400 And it was like, just like, whoa, I got a lot 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.839 of work to do. Now, who's been the most influential 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:37.069 in that? geez i don't know most it's every i 00:24:37.069 --> 00:24:40.430 got so many my buddy john my buddy mike uh my 00:24:40.430 --> 00:24:43.230 buddy randy i got tony robbins in my life you 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:45.049 know he's a patient here the practice i can say 00:24:45.049 --> 00:24:48.230 that because he says it himself um and he's frequently 00:24:48.230 --> 00:24:52.950 here um but uh you know just having just amazing 00:24:52.950 --> 00:24:56.329 people and recognizing the patterns uh that they 00:24:56.329 --> 00:24:59.150 all have and there's a lot of commonalities the 00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:02.240 way they think the way they treat people It really 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:04.680 made me think like, wow, I got a lot of work 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.720 to do. So I was this burnt out dentist at like 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:11.299 40, like trying to do everything myself and thinking 00:25:11.299 --> 00:25:13.059 I'm the smartest one. I'm the only one that cares. 00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:15.059 I have to be the nucleus of everything. And I 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:17.380 noticed these patterns in these people and the 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:19.420 way they all treated their teams and the way 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:22.619 they were just larger thinkers and more complimentary 00:25:22.619 --> 00:25:24.779 and better leaders. And it just made me like 00:25:24.779 --> 00:25:28.220 acutely aware of how poor I was at this stuff. 00:25:29.020 --> 00:25:33.339 So I started changing my style and doubling down 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:35.779 to the people and creating more bandwidth to 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:39.099 work on the business. And by the way, when I 00:25:39.099 --> 00:25:41.519 say work on the business, a lot of dentists will 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:43.579 tell us that, like, we want to work on the business. 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:45.700 I'm like, what does that mean? And they'll tell 00:25:45.700 --> 00:25:47.900 me something like, on Friday, I want to do payroll. 00:25:48.099 --> 00:25:50.380 I don't do payroll. That's not working on the 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:52.099 business. That's a clerical position. What I 00:25:52.099 --> 00:25:54.900 mean by working on the business is creating clear. 00:25:55.849 --> 00:25:58.809 a clear mission, a clear strategy of how we want 00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:01.089 to get there. And then working with people to 00:26:01.089 --> 00:26:03.130 help them understand the opportunities that they 00:26:03.130 --> 00:26:05.430 have, where they could fit into this new business 00:26:05.430 --> 00:26:07.950 plan that we want. When you work on the business, 00:26:08.029 --> 00:26:10.630 you're really working on the people and the people 00:26:10.630 --> 00:26:13.029 will grow the business. But those are the people 00:26:13.029 --> 00:26:14.930 that I had and that God placed into my life. 00:26:15.089 --> 00:26:17.690 And there was so many at the same times and so 00:26:17.690 --> 00:26:19.670 many recurring lessons all happening at the same 00:26:19.670 --> 00:26:22.329 time. I'm like, okay, this is like divine guidance. 00:26:22.450 --> 00:26:25.670 I got to either... call it quits and sell to 00:26:25.670 --> 00:26:29.029 acme dso or figure my crap out now is is that 00:26:29.029 --> 00:26:31.750 when the bulletproof practice came along that 00:26:31.750 --> 00:26:34.589 time frame yeah it's a cool story so peter was 00:26:34.589 --> 00:26:38.150 um in a bat my partner peter bolden who has seven 00:26:38.150 --> 00:26:41.109 practices in atlanta um unbeknownst to me at 00:26:41.109 --> 00:26:42.690 the time because he just reached out to me on 00:26:42.690 --> 00:26:44.430 instagram and said hey i really like what you're 00:26:44.430 --> 00:26:46.250 doing it was actually my birthday was august 00:26:46.250 --> 00:26:50.990 26 2000 2016 he reached out to me and said hey 00:26:50.990 --> 00:26:53.339 just big fan of what you're doing You know, if 00:26:53.339 --> 00:26:55.799 our paths ever connect, let me know if you're 00:26:55.799 --> 00:26:57.079 going to be in Atlanta or something like that. 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:00.240 And unbeknownst to him, I was in a I was I was 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:02.559 like observing him and using the marketing company 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:04.400 I was using at the time. I was mimicking what 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:07.700 he was doing. And then we wound up connecting. 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:10.400 And, you know, later on, I found out that was 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.240 a cry for help from Peter because he was in a 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:14.400 really bad place. He didn't tell me, you know, 00:27:14.420 --> 00:27:17.039 at that moment, but he was looking for a dental 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:21.180 buddy. And we had so much in common and so much 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:24.359 suffering in our past of doing things improperly 00:27:24.359 --> 00:27:27.079 and hiring consultants that took us down the 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:28.940 wrong path and charged us a lot of money and 00:27:28.940 --> 00:27:31.740 had poor motives that were like, hey, we should 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:34.259 really do this ourselves. And we wrote a book. 00:27:34.980 --> 00:27:37.500 The book became an Amazon bestseller, The Bulletproof 00:27:37.500 --> 00:27:41.190 Dental Practice. Um, I joined his fledgling podcast, 00:27:41.329 --> 00:27:43.529 which totally sucked until I arrived on it. He 00:27:43.529 --> 00:27:45.190 had three episodes. They were all crap until 00:27:45.190 --> 00:27:48.210 I showed up. I'm joking. If he ever listens to, 00:27:48.210 --> 00:27:50.329 he's not going to listen to me here, but maybe 00:27:50.329 --> 00:27:53.190 he will. But, uh, I joined the podcast and then 00:27:53.190 --> 00:27:55.690 he came out and saw me do a speaking event and 00:27:55.690 --> 00:27:57.970 he's like, let's do our own thing. And that was 00:27:57.970 --> 00:27:59.650 eight years ago. We did our first event. We had 00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:01.829 like 70 people there at the St. Regis hotel in 00:28:01.829 --> 00:28:05.099 Atlanta. And then we just completed our eighth 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:07.640 summit at the Ritz -Carlton in Orlando, August 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:10.240 8th and 9th. And it was completely sold out. 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:13.180 We had 40 doctors on our waiting list, which 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:16.460 is crazy. And the fire marshal said, you can't 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:19.019 have any more people in this room. So some of 00:28:19.019 --> 00:28:20.500 the sponsors had to be out of the room. It was 00:28:20.500 --> 00:28:23.799 standing room only. So eight years of toiling, 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:25.880 it finally is clicking. And we're transforming 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:28.279 the lives of dentists and teams. And I feel super 00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:31.130 fulfilled. You know, like you said, Eric, earlier 00:28:31.130 --> 00:28:33.069 when we were talking, like, I feel kind of called 00:28:33.069 --> 00:28:34.690 to do it. So if I'm going to go through this 00:28:34.690 --> 00:28:36.609 miserable time and Peter's going to go through 00:28:36.609 --> 00:28:38.329 this miserable time, we might as well pave the 00:28:38.329 --> 00:28:40.109 way for others that wish to learn so they don't 00:28:40.109 --> 00:28:42.829 have to endure the struggles that we did. It's 00:28:42.829 --> 00:28:45.890 an interesting time in the Internet because when 00:28:45.890 --> 00:28:50.869 you watch someone's rise, it's often just their 00:28:50.869 --> 00:28:54.190 highlight reel. And, you know, they never get 00:28:54.190 --> 00:28:58.289 to the events, you know, personally that led 00:28:58.289 --> 00:29:02.650 to it. What I don't tell very often is that, 00:29:02.750 --> 00:29:06.609 man, I was not in a good place. And that's easy 00:29:06.609 --> 00:29:10.210 to say, but I had taken a job out in California. 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:13.930 My wife and I are from Texas. And it was going 00:29:13.930 --> 00:29:22.170 to be this dream job. And it was incredibly painful 00:29:22.170 --> 00:29:25.470 because I moved my small family out there. We 00:29:25.470 --> 00:29:29.390 had two young girls under three. My wife and 00:29:29.390 --> 00:29:30.869 I have never lived, you know, she had never lived 00:29:30.869 --> 00:29:32.730 out of Texas. And at the time, we needed all 00:29:32.730 --> 00:29:34.750 the support. And, you know, goodness, we were 00:29:34.750 --> 00:29:38.109 on the precipice of divorce. And, you know, we 00:29:38.109 --> 00:29:40.009 had no family support around us. And we gave 00:29:40.009 --> 00:29:41.549 up everything to move out here. And it turned 00:29:41.549 --> 00:29:43.009 out to, you know, I was working for literally, 00:29:43.190 --> 00:29:48.650 you know, a crazy person. And, you know, we just 00:29:48.650 --> 00:29:50.410 decided one day that we were going to move home. 00:29:50.990 --> 00:29:53.369 And, you know, like I literally abandoned my 00:29:53.369 --> 00:29:56.470 job. In the craziest words, like I just walked 00:29:56.470 --> 00:30:00.599 away from my job. uh uh everything to just move 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:03.059 home one day you know obviously my life's turned 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:06.279 around but that's not the highlight reel that 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:10.039 we like to tell uh when we talk about real change 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:13.220 in our lives and that's the one you know you 00:30:13.220 --> 00:30:16.359 said earlier if you had one advice to to dentist 00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:18.700 you know when you gave it i think mine would 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:25.940 be as much as unfun as it is to be truly authentic 00:30:25.940 --> 00:30:28.740 not just pretend we're being authentic that is 00:30:28.740 --> 00:30:31.039 what your patients want and that is what your 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:33.700 team wants because it is incredibly lonely uh 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:39.480 to run an organization and not have someone to 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:43.900 do it with oh yeah yeah we are unabashedly authentic 00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:47.519 the breakdowns are in the book in every podcast 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:51.670 in every in every summit No, I'm a completely 00:30:51.670 --> 00:30:55.730 open book. You're doing a disservice to fellow 00:30:55.730 --> 00:31:00.130 colleagues and, frankly, to humanity to whitewash 00:31:00.130 --> 00:31:03.930 your struggles because the suffering that it 00:31:03.930 --> 00:31:08.029 compounds is, number one, it's completely untrue. 00:31:08.230 --> 00:31:11.990 The commonality I have in all these great people 00:31:11.990 --> 00:31:15.740 that have mentored me was massive failure. And 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:18.339 I know what people are saying when they say dark 00:31:18.339 --> 00:31:22.140 place. I know what that means. And my goal is 00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:24.799 if you're in that dark place, don't do it alone. 00:31:24.900 --> 00:31:26.420 Get a group. It doesn't have to be Bulletproof. 00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:29.400 It could be YPO or it could be an entrepreneurial. 00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.039 Grab one of your entrepreneurial friends or patients 00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:34.539 and take them out to lunch. But don't suffer 00:31:34.539 --> 00:31:38.099 in silence. And I think one of the biggest, most 00:31:38.099 --> 00:31:40.619 beneficial aspects of being in the Bulletproof 00:31:40.619 --> 00:31:44.829 ethos is this. unbelievable, authentic nature. 00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:48.250 Like even at our summit last week or two weeks 00:31:48.250 --> 00:31:49.630 ago, I should say in the beginning of August, 00:31:49.690 --> 00:31:53.789 it was, you know, who here also feels like they're 00:31:53.789 --> 00:31:56.950 like not good enough or not capable enough or 00:31:56.950 --> 00:31:59.349 has these dark thoughts of that. They're not 00:31:59.349 --> 00:32:01.849 whatever. And like, I'm like, look around the 00:32:01.849 --> 00:32:04.609 room, you know, Hey guys, we're in human school. 00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:08.009 This is what being a human being is. It's this 00:32:08.009 --> 00:32:11.450 feelings of being a fraud. And frankly, I got 00:32:11.450 --> 00:32:14.490 up on the eighth summit. Peter and I, before 00:32:14.490 --> 00:32:17.210 we get on stage, we kind of just have a prayer 00:32:17.210 --> 00:32:21.230 or whatever just to give us the capability to 00:32:21.230 --> 00:32:24.630 help the people. That's the net. If everyone 00:32:24.630 --> 00:32:26.710 there takes one thing and implements one thing 00:32:26.710 --> 00:32:28.529 that improves their life, that's a massive success 00:32:28.529 --> 00:32:32.289 for me. But I also have a little voice in my 00:32:32.289 --> 00:32:34.210 head, and Peter had it too. This was our biggest 00:32:34.210 --> 00:32:37.640 summit. There's like 450 people. There's hundreds 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:41.079 of, you know, there was massive amounts of money 00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:43.039 spent and time taken away from families and we 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.759 don't take it lightly. And we're like for a millisecond, 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:49.380 like, are we going to be okay here? Are we a 00:32:49.380 --> 00:32:51.960 fraud? And it's like, no, you know, we're here 00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:54.319 to help people. And it's not about me. It's not 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:56.859 about whether you like me or not like me. I've 00:32:56.859 --> 00:32:59.880 got, you know, thousands of people that have 00:32:59.880 --> 00:33:01.859 been transformed by the teachings that we've 00:33:01.859 --> 00:33:04.480 had. And I got my ass kicked learning it. So 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:06.619 frankly, if I could help somebody or even if 00:33:06.619 --> 00:33:09.319 we plant a seed, even if this podcast is just 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:11.079 planting a seed for somebody that's like, you 00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:12.539 know, I'm going to tune into this thing, but 00:33:12.539 --> 00:33:15.200 I'm in a dark place. This is not for me. I don't 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.220 like Eric and I sure as hell don't like Spodak, 00:33:17.220 --> 00:33:19.299 but I'm going to listen to this thing. And you 00:33:19.299 --> 00:33:22.059 and I have just planted a seed and that seed 00:33:22.059 --> 00:33:25.779 may take years to grow. It's still a noble endeavor. 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:29.789 And I think that it's... It doesn't matter what 00:33:29.789 --> 00:33:31.970 it manifests immediately. If you don't hang this 00:33:31.970 --> 00:33:35.069 up or you put this podcast down and make immediate 00:33:35.069 --> 00:33:37.730 changes, it doesn't matter. But if this podcast 00:33:37.730 --> 00:33:39.950 grows and you listen to it again or something 00:33:39.950 --> 00:33:42.049 else or you pull it up again or you find some 00:33:42.049 --> 00:33:43.970 words that either Eric or I said and it plants 00:33:43.970 --> 00:33:47.789 something in you, that's just goodness. And you 00:33:47.789 --> 00:33:50.250 can do really well in life by doing good. I know 00:33:50.250 --> 00:33:52.230 it's cliche, but it's just really cool. And Eric, 00:33:52.250 --> 00:33:53.849 in the limited time we spent together, I can 00:33:53.849 --> 00:33:56.460 hear that and feel that in your voice. That you 00:33:56.460 --> 00:33:58.640 have this alignment to help people and to serve 00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:00.660 people. And that's really kind of the secret, 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:03.759 honestly. Get out of your own way. Give more. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:08.599 Serve your patients. Serve your team. Admit. 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:11.219 Go to your team and be like, hey guys, I'm sorry 00:34:11.219 --> 00:34:14.260 if I'm blah, blah, blah. I got no leadership 00:34:14.260 --> 00:34:16.460 training. I'm just doing the best I can. I'm 00:34:16.460 --> 00:34:19.599 scared. I need help. I'm a dentist. I'm a damn 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:21.500 good dentist, but I don't know how to run a business. 00:34:21.699 --> 00:34:24.260 Help me. What do you guys see that we could do 00:34:24.260 --> 00:34:27.030 better? That would be magic for your practice. 00:34:28.590 --> 00:34:30.369 Your office manager might tell you something 00:34:30.369 --> 00:34:32.230 like they tell me, like, actually, it's better 00:34:32.230 --> 00:34:34.690 when you're not around. Well, thank you for telling 00:34:34.690 --> 00:34:37.250 me. Go to your ranch, go hang out, do something 00:34:37.250 --> 00:34:39.090 else. I'm like, okay, cool. I'll do it. Yeah. 00:34:39.369 --> 00:34:41.030 I mean, I always wanted to build an autonomous 00:34:41.030 --> 00:34:43.409 practice, but it does feel like a little bit 00:34:43.409 --> 00:34:44.949 of a kick in the teeth when they say we don't 00:34:44.949 --> 00:34:47.969 need you that much anymore, but it's what I wanted. 00:34:48.030 --> 00:34:50.920 So it's cool. Study after study after study show 00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:53.760 the pursuit of happiness of an ever self is not 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.880 a noble cause. It's, you know, happiness is an 00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:00.880 outcome of serving something. Yeah. It's an unattended 00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:03.599 byproduct. It doesn't show up. When you chase 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:07.260 happiness, it eludes you. When you're at peace 00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:09.199 or at flow or serving others, it just kind of 00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:11.659 shows up. It like just snuck in when you weren't 00:35:11.659 --> 00:35:14.039 looking for it. Yeah, I agree with that. That's 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:17.139 cool. and it it sucks because had you told 35 00:35:17.139 --> 00:35:19.780 year old me that or even 40 year old me that 00:35:19.780 --> 00:35:22.739 45 year old me i would have told you 45 yeah 00:35:22.739 --> 00:35:26.679 yeah i would have not understood uh what you 00:35:26.679 --> 00:35:30.559 were talking about and it did it took it took 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:34.840 me growing this watching you know john barroso 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:37.320 through his evolution and you know he sold his 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:41.880 practice to heather majors and um it took it 00:35:41.880 --> 00:35:45.579 took me witnessing other people going through 00:35:45.579 --> 00:35:49.260 this journey to really define my own. And that's 00:35:49.260 --> 00:35:51.320 part of it too, by the way, it's totally part 00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:53.300 of it. Like you couldn't, like if I could go 00:35:53.300 --> 00:35:56.300 surgically remove the trauma and the struggle 00:35:56.300 --> 00:35:58.699 and those years of you eating glass and just 00:35:58.699 --> 00:36:01.079 hand you this place that you are in right now, 00:36:01.159 --> 00:36:03.219 you wouldn't want it. So it's like, you know, 00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:05.639 the struggle's good for you, but just know that 00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:08.340 we all went through it. The suffering comes in 00:36:08.340 --> 00:36:10.840 and it'd be like, well, geez, if I had what Craig 00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:13.769 had or Eric had, yeah, of course. No one would 00:36:13.769 --> 00:36:17.289 really want my last 20 years. I don't even want 00:36:17.289 --> 00:36:20.949 my last 20 years. It was good for me, but it's 00:36:20.949 --> 00:36:22.869 the same thing with the kids. You know, I have 00:36:22.869 --> 00:36:27.530 two children, 16 and 13. And, you know, and my 00:36:27.530 --> 00:36:29.809 daughter yesterday, 16 years old, was going through 00:36:29.809 --> 00:36:31.429 something. I said, listen, you know, this is 00:36:31.429 --> 00:36:34.530 a breakdown. And I said to her, her name's Sage. 00:36:34.630 --> 00:36:38.170 I'm like, Sage, this is breakdown. But breakdown 00:36:38.170 --> 00:36:42.030 always precedes breakthrough. So I don't like 00:36:42.030 --> 00:36:43.809 to see you going through what you're going. It's 00:36:43.809 --> 00:36:45.469 emotional. I know you're crying and I know you're 00:36:45.469 --> 00:36:48.110 feeling a lot of pain, but I'm not sad for you. 00:36:48.449 --> 00:36:51.110 I know this is good for you. This is meant for 00:36:51.110 --> 00:36:55.829 your benefit. And I really believe in that. You 00:36:55.829 --> 00:36:59.730 got to go through it. So for those that are suffering, 00:36:59.969 --> 00:37:03.010 if we have the random sampling of dentists that 00:37:03.010 --> 00:37:06.849 are listening to us, there's 40 to 60 % that 00:37:06.849 --> 00:37:09.480 are really not happy, Eric, right now. So to 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:12.559 those people, you know, we've gone through it 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:15.380 and it gets better and it's for your development. 00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:18.039 And, you know, I have a feeling that you'll, 00:37:18.039 --> 00:37:20.599 you know, you'll, you'll find your way and there's 00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:23.380 places that you can grow and there's great entrepreneurial 00:37:23.380 --> 00:37:25.480 groups to get in, but watch where you watch, 00:37:25.579 --> 00:37:28.440 where you're watch your group too. Cause I also 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:31.639 love going on these Facebook groups and I see 00:37:31.639 --> 00:37:34.900 these dentists venting. I just like to look at 00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:36.599 it. Cause it's like touching the hot plate that 00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:39.199 everybody tells you shouldn't touch. And the 00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:40.920 dent, there's a lot of dialogue out there that's 00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:43.780 really caustic and toxic. Get out of that group. 00:37:44.019 --> 00:37:48.000 I believe it that you are an average of the five 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.219 people you spend the most time around and you've 00:37:50.219 --> 00:37:54.239 got to improve that. And that's so hard to say 00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:56.820 because they're my friends and they get me and 00:37:56.820 --> 00:37:59.699 yeah, they may get you, but that's not, that 00:37:59.699 --> 00:38:01.539 doesn't mean it's healthy. I think the other 00:38:01.539 --> 00:38:05.960 thing that I've really had to learn is because 00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:10.159 The first iteration of me and starting a company 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:13.840 was very clumsy. I was constantly trying to catch 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:16.639 the cool thing or like pivot to what I think 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:20.320 it was. And, you know, you just can't, at some 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:24.199 point you have to be, you have to know what you 00:38:24.199 --> 00:38:27.519 want and you have to be able to articulate your 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:30.780 own happiness. And once you articulate your own 00:38:30.780 --> 00:38:36.059 happiness, you cannot. forget in the darkness 00:38:36.059 --> 00:38:39.000 what you knew to be true in the light and you 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:41.679 know that is such a complicated thing because 00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:45.059 we feel in our dark times we need to pivot in 00:38:45.059 --> 00:38:47.599 reality we just you know have to remember who 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:52.400 we are and it's tough yeah it's very hard that's 00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:53.920 the probably the hardest thing to figure out 00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:57.480 what you really want um i was fortunate to have 00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:00.619 written that down in 2008 like this really i 00:39:00.619 --> 00:39:02.420 had a person in my life named michelle and she 00:39:02.420 --> 00:39:04.760 was working in my office and You know, she's 00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:06.079 like, what's your plan? What do you want to do? 00:39:06.199 --> 00:39:09.059 And, you know, she really guided me to write 00:39:09.059 --> 00:39:11.579 it all down. And it's such a creative exercise 00:39:11.579 --> 00:39:13.420 because when you're writing down, it's a bunch 00:39:13.420 --> 00:39:17.380 of BS. You have an ability to BS yourself. So 00:39:17.380 --> 00:39:18.920 I'd write down, I want all this stuff. I'm like, 00:39:18.980 --> 00:39:21.239 that's not me at all. And I write down the next 00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:23.440 version. It was like really cool. And it was 00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:26.219 a guiding light as a North Star for me. And it 00:39:26.219 --> 00:39:28.119 really helped me shape what I got. So there was 00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:30.099 a lot of intentionality. I was very intentional 00:39:30.099 --> 00:39:32.659 of what I wanted to create. And I wrote it all 00:39:32.659 --> 00:39:35.179 down and, you know, no wonder why I created it. 00:39:35.260 --> 00:39:37.579 And I love it. I mean, it doesn't mean that there's 00:39:37.579 --> 00:39:40.239 certain days where I don't like it, but, you 00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:42.579 know, nine times out of 10, I'm just, you know, 00:39:42.579 --> 00:39:45.460 I don't have to be in the office today and I 00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:48.559 want to be here. And that's really cool. And 00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:51.719 if some, you know, big, bad PE company came over 00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:54.019 and gave me triple what it was worth, I would 00:39:54.019 --> 00:39:56.019 not want to sell it right now because I actually 00:39:56.019 --> 00:39:58.820 like my life. And I think, you know, getting 00:39:58.820 --> 00:40:01.550 what you want and then liking what you got. That's 00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:06.070 awesome. That's awesome. It's a good place to 00:40:06.070 --> 00:40:06.849 wrap it up right there.