Episode 228 – Dentist-ing, Innovation & Community

“Being a dentist can feel very lonely even though you’re surrounded by people.” ~Dr. Paul Goodman

In this engaging episode of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast, co-host Regan Robertson and trailblazing guest Dr. Paul Goodman discuss a plethora of happenings with Dentist Job Connect, Dental Nachos and the upcoming “Private Practice or DSO: Which Way Should I Go?” event, which is happening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this weekend. 

Regan and Dr. Goodman explore the importance of community and support networks in the dental profession, the challenges dentists face in transitioning from a solo dental student to being part of a team, the need for training and support in developing effective teamwork skills, and the role of continuing education and mentorship. 

This episode provides a comprehensive and exciting exploration of key issues facing dentists today, and provides valuable insights for navigating dental practice management and career satisfaction.

As you listen to this episode, think of the following questions:

• Are you actively engaged in a professional dental community – be it online or in person – that fosters collaboration and support?
• What significance does effective teamwork play in dental practice management, and how can you enhance collaboration and communication within your own dental team?
• Are you actively seeking opportunities for continuing education and mentorship to enhance your skills and knowledge?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan 0:01
Hi, Doctor. Regan Robertson, CCO of Productive Dentist Academy here and I have a question for you. Are you finding it hard to get your team aligned to your vision, but you know, you deserve growth just like everybody else? That’s why we’ve created the PDA productivity workshop. For nearly 20 years, PDA workshops have helped dentists just like you align their teams, get control of scheduling, and create productive practices that they love walking into every day. Just imagine how you will feel when you know your schedule is productive, your systems are humming, and your team is aligned to your vision. It’s simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. We can help, visit productivedentist.com/workshop that’s productivedentist.com/workshop to secure your seats now.

Dr. Paul Goodman 0:47
So dental school is kind of like taking a bunch of four-year-olds and making them compete over who can eat m&ms the fastest, you can jump the highest and yadda yadda from Seinfeld, you wind up not really liking people when you leave, not liking each other when you leave. So to me that’s super sad so I tried to reframe this recondition us to collaborate instead of compete.

Regan 1:09
Welcome to the Everyday Practices Podcast. I’m Regan Robertson, and my co-host, Dr. Chad Johnson, and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results using practical proven methods you can take right into your own dental practice. If you’re ready to elevate patient care and produce results that are anything but ordinary. Buckle up and listen in.

Regan 1:42
Welcome to another episode of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. I am your host, Regan Robertson, Chad is off the dentisting today and in his place I have a very, very special guest, which he’s never met me before but I know all about him and I reached out on a whim yesterday and said, “Hey, I would love to talk about your upcoming event. Would you like to chat,” and Bing Bing boom we’re here. I’m joined by Dr. Paul Goodman. Hi Paul

Dr. Paul Goodman 2:09
Arigon thanks for being here. I love that you use my one of my phrases dentist thing I am the creator of that phrase. I describe it dentistry as full-contact arts and crafts. Don’t want to be there or pay for it. Pretty much the exact opposite of the Broadway play Hamilton, people do not want to be there pay for it. So that is my phrase for dentisting, it’s a full body experience for both the dentisting and the patient emotionally baggaley physically mentally. That’s dentisting.

Regan 2:37
That is dentist thing I agree I call it art meets engineering and arts and crafts I like better that’s gonna stick in my head. So I first heard about you Paul to your dental nachos. So it’s been years now I think you’re hanging out in the Facebook group all of the time and I had no idea that you were also part of Dennis Job Connect, which is very interesting because I just heard a colleague of ours hired an associate through Dentist Job Connect and was like a huge raving fan. So when we popped up if you’re listening to us on video, you’ll see Dentist Job Connect behind Paul’s head here. So tell us about Dental Nachos, Dentist Job Connect and how you got involved in all of this and I guess you love nachos, I’m assuming.

Dr. Paul Goodman 3:20
It all started with my failed dreams because drunk growing up I wanted to play professional basketball in the NBA. I keep this basketball round to remind me of my failed dreams. Someone sent me one that says Dr. Nacho, but when you grow to this size and have this speed you got to get new dreams different dreams. So this is my backup dream of ima dentist I own multiple practices. I founded Dental Nachos, Dentist Job Connect, I’m a speaker, I’ve helped people buy and sell practices but most of all, I’m a human being just trying to figure this out like anyone else. When people ask me “Hey, what is dental nachos?” because if you have any of our swag, you will get asked about it. On the street at the airport popular places I say, “Hey, that’s a great question.” Many people ask me that. So one of my tips is to teach people how to talk to people to seem more likeable, to seem more receptive. So when a person want to ask you a question. That’s a little bit weird, a little bit difficult patients, team members, I would say, “It’s a great question. A lot of people ask me that.” Dental Nachos is like a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for dentist.

Regan 4:18
Oh, stop. That’s the best anchoring ever. The pastor Rogers,really?

Dr. Paul Goodman 4:23
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for dentists because dentists are really good at being nice to patients, but not so good at being nice to each other. Dental School runs us through the dental student Hunger Games. I have a five-year-old I picked her up from her school yesterday. So dental school is kind of like taking a bunch of four-year-olds and making them compete over who can eat m&ms the fastest you can jump the highest and yada yada from Seinfeld, you wind up not really liking people when you leave, not liking each other when you leave. So to me that’s super sad. So I try to reframe this recondition us to collaborate instead of compete. We have an ABC to FLA mentality. Always be Connecting to feel less alone. My good friend Dr. Mark Costas, I know is great friends with Bruce and Victoria

Regan 5:06
Mark is great.

Dr. Paul Goodman 5:07
He loves this line that I have. So I says, I always say, being a dentist can feel very lonely even though you’re surrounded by people and the reason why it feels lonely is I will describe it like being a parent, having to take care of multiple children by yourself would feel very lonely even though you’re totally surrounded by people. So you may have a great team that supports you like aunts and uncles but when you are the dentist, you are the only person licensed to do the thing and that thing is often drilling on teeth and when you’re the only person licensed to do that thing, it’s overwhelming inside the operatory stress outside the operatory stress. One time Regan um, I was interrupted from a patient by my team, you know, obviously no question too small for Paul. Glad to help them and they said, “There’s a bat in the attic. What should we do?” I did not that was not covered in dental school. Actually, call the bat people and the bat people showed up that you expected I think they had like a racquetball racquet and a catcher’s mitt.

Regan 6:02
Did you throw the basketball at it? Yeah.

Dr. Paul Goodman 6:04
So dental nachos is designed to help everyone attached to dentistry feel less alone, especially the dentist and it’s been a lot of fun can be frustrating to, you know, people. Have you ever heard people say, Regan that their team is like a family? They treat their team like a family?

Regan 6:20
Yes.

Dr. Paul Goodman 6:21
So I say, “Oh, good,” because that means three days into your family vacation are all fighting over who took the last ice coffee, right? Because that’s what families do

Regan 6:27
Sure opens up a heck of a lot of definition, a very wide swing of family for sure.

Dr. Paul Goodman 6:31
Yes, I say families about you know, loving each other, caring for each other and a lot of friction. Right? There’s friction in my home this morning with my nine-year-old. So I think that it’s normal and I need we need to normalize that. One of the things I share with dental notches is dental students do everything by themselves, lone wolves, and then they get thrust into the real world and they’re expected to know how to act as part of a team without any training on it at all. So I’m not sure this helps solve part of that problem.

Regan 7:01
What is the ladder to that? I’ve seen that in so many presentations, because you’re an individual contributor and then there’s the step all the way up to leader and there’s a lot of steps in between that but if you get stuck in individual contributor, and don’t you think too, I mean, like you said, “If your job is the sole job in the practice, associates or not you you want to, you want to present yourself as the best,” and I hang out on dental town forum a lot and what I see in that in the different Facebook groups, there’s lots of different Facebook groups that I see too, that need to protect your identity and your pride makes it very difficult to break down those walls and be vulnerable, to ask for help in the right kind of ways but to get under the surface. I’m curious from all the years you’ve been running dental nachos, especially what’s one of your favorite stories that you’ve seen where a doctor was really able to drop their shoulders and be open and, you know, ultimately be transformed by this environment?

Dr. Paul Goodman 7:56
I mean, one you know, when people ask about stories, I love stories. I always say stories of the star. You know, my one of my awesome sponsors and friends, Student Aid, people remember stories more than facts they always talk about in their presentations. So one is Dr. Encore Gupta

Regan 8:10
Encore?

Dr. Paul Goodman 8:12
Yeah, yes. So Dr. Encore Gupta. First of all dentist, I would like people to I like to use this as a chance to kindly annoy the bankers of the world. When someone does something really nice for you. How about you thank them, and stop for a minute and say, “Thanks.” I’ll get to that in a second because many of us as dentists feel really frustrated Regan. Well, we sweat on the outside crying on the inside over your filling. We’re working in the back of your mouth. We have a little million things out. We’re trying our best and then I go at the end of the appointment. I just got my beard trim and haircut the other day, the stylist of the barber help gave me the mirror and said, “Paul, look at the back.” I just want to tell you not once Regan have I made a suggestion about the back not once have I said take more but like a normal person. I go, “Oh, looks good.” Right, right. I have handed patients mirrors and go, “Oh, do you want to see your filling?” And they rip off their bib and say, “No thanks,” and run out of there, really and it’s pretty more demoralizing, even though they’re paying you. So I’ll get back to why Encore should have thanked me in a minute. So we’re at an Eliza Desmin event, we’re at the gym on course very tall guy. I never met him in person and I go, “Hey, Encore,” and he goes, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” he goes, “You found me an associate.” I go, “I used Dentist Job Connect. You found me an associate.” I go, “Oh, I’m so pleased. You know, you could have told me this earlier.” He said, “Because of Dental Nachos. I have an associate working with me And I really appreciate that.” I kind of joked with him and said, “I would have loved if you would message me when you hired the associate,” because they’d been working there for a few months. So it took us seeing each other at the gym for him to remind himself but he tells this story where he had a patient in the chair and he had a problem with their dental implant. So he went to his op office and I think the screw was stripped or broken. There’s a screw that holds the implant ground in place and he typed on Dental Nachos. “What would you do?” and people gave him enough, enough advice while the patient was in the chair for him to fix it. So to me, that is the best right that he solved the patient problem in Ohio, with people from around the country helping him with clinical things. Then my other example is the person you had on recently Dr. Maggie Augustine. I am friends with her because dental nachos exist, she makes my life better because dental nachos exist. I’ve got to meet her in person and what really inspires me that’s clinical stuff is the connections people have made. There are people meeting each other face to face around the country, from the Facebook group Dental Nachos, and I have not met them in person. So there’s my two really proud stories because running Dental Nachos can also be frustrating. People on the internet say weird things to each other. I want to share just because you think something in your head, you don’t have to type it. There’s no rule, right? There’s no rule thinking head type. It’s a sometimes it’d be like my amazing wife was a kindergarten teacher. I was like, “Hey, you don’t have to tell people that the stupidest person that you’ve ever met, right,” They go, “But I think they are.” “I understand, keep it in your head.”

Regan 11:05
Well, it does it, meet, people in person are obviously vastly typically different than when they’re online and you’ll find someone being a lot nicer in person. Those are two exceptional stories and Maggie is well known for her vulnerability, her openness and her, she’s definitely the first one to throw her hat in the ring and say here is my bare soul and self and once people do that, you’re able to open up and get further on in life. You have an event coming up. Just in Gosh, a week.

Unknown Speaker 11:34
Yeah, a week from today.

Regan 11:35
Yeah, a week from today and I’d love to talk about it and why you put it together and I think it really does fall under the vein again of that camaraderie, teaching each other helping each other understand so that fear can be reduced and you can really know what’s best for yourself as a as a clinician and business owner.

Dr. Paul Goodman 11:52
I love this and thanks for giving the opportunity to share. So I like my favorite book. If I could tell someone to do two things to make their life better it would be to listen to “How To Speak” by Patrick Winston. It has 17 million YouTube views. I speak at an opportunity speak often and I listened to it. I listened to it start to finish at least 20 times a year. So it tells you how to present your ideas, talk to people. it’s magical and it’s free because dentists love free right and if you’ve noticed, dentist 114% of dentists like a deal their crown preps are works of art

Regan 12:22
As long as it’s high-quality right, free-for-free steak is not, not I don’t know.

Dr. Paul Goodman 12:25
I know dentists though you ever see him at event they’ll take free, any free. Then if they could spend $19 to “Sell His Human” by Daniel Pink is one of the best books I’ve ever listened to and read the reframes how to sell it reframe how you think about it. So it talks about agitation versus irritation. So I can’t control if people if I say something like if I type online, “DSOs are buying the best practices,” and they get the first look at practices that collect over $2 million a year. So it’s really hard for a private practice dentist to get a look at a $2 million practice before DSOs have said no or you may have magically met someone at a sea event that you have relationship with and the main reason someone who has a $2 million practice will not sell to a DSO is just this one reason they don’t want to work for three more years. Now all the things I said were accurate statements right? If I type that online, some people hear it as Are you saying I can never buy a practice poll? Nope. I’m not saying that. Are you saying DSOs are better than private practices? No, I’m also not saying that. So my, my mission with this event is this The title is private practice or DSO, which way should I go? I like rhyming and acronyms. Dr. Bruce Baird is an awesome speaker and sponsor, and we are going to have this, I love sitcoms, you know, like family ties Modern Family, we

Regan 13:40
We had Mr. Rogers. So

Dr. Paul Goodman 13:44
these are the people in your neighborhood, right? So we’re gonna have Dr. Bruce Baird, who is like, you know, the wise owl of this private practice to selling to DSOs to putting groups together to Productive Dentist Academy. I had introduced Maggie to the Productive Dentist Academy over the pandemic when they were sponsor, so I’m very proud of that. Yeah, so that’s how you guys know Maggie through, through Nachos.

Regan 14:04
Wow this is a small world and how I’ve never met you so far, except on this podcast. Yeah. Pretty crazy.

Dr. Paul Goodman 14:08
Yes. So we have people who are experts in the DSO and private practice space. I’m a big fan of this guy, Gary Vaynerchuk. I’m a big fan of or so it’s not DSO versus private practice, DSO or private practice. I have Dr. Ashley Azadi and her husband who are fantastic practice owners in Maryland and they have a group practice and they’re going to talk about how private practices grow. We have Brian Hank, some dental buyer advocate talking about buying your first practice. We have McLaren and Associates talking about what’s the deal with DSO deals. How much money can you get? We have a financial planners, attorney. So basically I put this whole big fan of like, first of all, one of my favorite people is Lin Manuel Miranda. He is an international treasurer who she protect, protected at all times. Hamilton in conto. So I kind of role model this after like these Broadway play things where you see these characters we put a show on for you to learn, laugh, feel less alone and also have uncomfortable conversations with yourself. You know, there’s many dentists, I know because dentistry is such a cave profession I describe it like I’m on if you ever saw a Game of Thrones, but it’s like,

Regan 15:15
I made it through a couple of seasons, and then it got pretty heavy for me.

Dr. Paul Goodman 15:18
Yeah, I didn’t like my end but dentists are kings and queens are their own castles and that comes with a lot of stress but it also comes with I don’t have to ask anyone permission to do anything and that mentality inside of their dental practice as a leader may help them be successful but when they step out of it, and start to learn about business, and other things, they’re often threatened by ideas that just exist. De, dentists would be threatened by gravity, if it wasn’t inside of their practice, right? They’d walk outside and be like, “I don’t like this gravity thing,” and I go, “Well, it’s just the thing, dentists.” So DSOs, buying some of the most productive practices is a thing. Productive practices, looking to partner with private, other private practices and things. So we’re going to talk about all this on not to TV, live studio audience in Philadelphia, people who are listening this later can get the recording for free, and they’re going to learn about this is what we’re trying to help Regan did. I always like Avatar stuff, right? I am a 47-year-old private practice owner. My practice collects $1.5 million a year. I have six operatories, I’m successful, and I’m very stressed and I want to pay attention to what’s happening over the next decade so I can be well-informed as to what I want to do.

Regan 16:35
Your books pay off all, all everything that you read 20 That was the best elevator pitch I’ve ever heard Donald Miller would call it your, your one liner. That was that was it. I’m so grateful for what you’re doing right now. Unbelievably so because of being, being ill-formed can it can make or break people in the worst way possible and, and I’ve been with PDA for this is my 13th year now and so to see, the dentists that were lucky enough to prepare well, that’s great. When I saw that, I think it was an ADA statistic that said, “You know, 95% can’t retire and maintain their lifestyle,” and when they get to that point, and you’re out of time. That is the worst feeling. I think it has to be one of the worst.

Dr. Paul Goodman 17:19
I love what you’re saying, my goal is for people to be proactive instead of reactive. Yeah, Maggie hire an associate proactively, but I don’t think if she knew me, she would have been as proactive, because I kindly annoy people into good decision. So if you’re a solo GP, and you don’t have an associate dentist, you should be fearful that if you get injured, no one can be in your practice. That’s just a fact. If you’re a group practice with three associate dentists right now, you should be fearful that one of them’s thinking of moving across the country to follow their spouse, or one of them’s thinking of starting their own practice. So I want dentists to be proactive and it’s the same with the selling of your practice. If you say to a dentist, when do you want to sell your practice, Regan? Many say, “I don’t know.” They do. They always say they don’t know and then you say, “Do you want to practice to your last day on earth?” They say, “God, no.” So I say now we have to talk about what is the most reasonable treatment plan for you, not the dentist’s down the street. And that’s what we’re going to talk about at this show. With all my expert friends, they know more than me, these people are living this all the time.

Regan 18:20
You should, I know. It’s not titled treatment planning for your practice, but it really should be titled that. So the real deal on what it means to sell your practice to DSO or keep it and grow it yourself. Chad Johnson has joined us. Dr. Chad Johnson I see

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:33
I am fresh in off the road. Hey, everybody. Thanks.

Dr. Paul Goodman 18:39
Hey, Chad.

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:40
Hey, Dr. Paul, good to see you.

Dr. Paul Goodman 18:41
Good to see you too.

Regan 18:42
We were just talking about the event that, that Paul is hosting and it is the real deal on what it means to sell your practice to a DSO or keep it and grow yourself.

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:51
I know, that is so cool

Regan 18:51
I know he Oh, get buckle up if you’ve not, have you met Paul before? I don’t think you two have met

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:57
Not in person or anything. So yes, this is about the most interactive that we’ve had. So basically,

Dr. Paul Goodman 19:05
2D face to face.

Dr. Chad Johnson 19:06
Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Paul Goodman 19:07
I’ll ask you Chad. You’re a dentist like me, you know, we’re professionally weird. We have to school for it. Why do you think dentists like, it’s always bugged me from dental school till today, you know 9099 They’ll tooth at 2024, why do they seem to be threatened by new ideas? I’ll explain. You know that if there was Dental Nachos during the amalgam to composite thing, people would be yelling at each other saying if you try composite, you are the worst dentists on our surmount into composite. I am very passionate about how I think a three-unit bridge where you prepare two teeth to replace one is an idea that doesn’t really make sense. In my practice, we refer those to prosthodontist because we offer people a dental implant, no treatment, or some type of removal clients but dentists now we’re talking to DSOs or they get emotionally threatened by a new idea and adopt as my mind, why do you think that is?

Dr. Chad Johnson 20:02
Because there’s a cost associated with it. And so I think that if a business owner sticks around long enough, they’ll have tried a failed idea and that failed idea has an expense to it. That’s my that’s my only general thought is that, you know, they get jaded over time to be like, “Oh, you want me to try this 10th thing.” Now, if dentists were honest, they’ve tried 10 things, and four of them have worked, or eight of them have worked but not all 10 of them have worked and so they’ve been burned. I think that’s my, what’s your thoughts on that? I mean,

Dr. Paul Goodman 20:33
I mean I live in this world, when I might be people have called me gullible to easygoing people take advantage of me. That’s my wife, she says that about me, right? I personality. If you told me, young dentists, I’m going to do a lunch and learn and I can stick around for another, you know, I’ll stick around to the end of this lunch and learn. I want to talk to these dental students and many of them say, “I don’t want to do a GPR because I heard my friend did a terrible GPR,” and I go. “Why are you thinking the two out of 10 is going to happen to you?” I’ll say, “Take, take 10 C courses. Five will be okay, three will be great, two will stink and live for those three.” Great.

Dr. Chad Johnson 21:13
Yep.

Dr. Paul Goodman 21:13
Are they trying to make sure nothing ever stinks for them? Yeah. Which is impossible to do?

Dr. Chad Johnson 21:17
Yep. I’ll give you two examples. One for dentists when we explain to patients that they need their wisdom teeth removed. People go, “Oh, I heard from my uncle how horrible of a situation it was,” and, and I just go, “Yeah, but you know, the biggest, the biggest complainers are the ones that are going to make sure everyone in their mother heard about how horrible it was, right?” So there’s one situation where I just go, “Listen, you can’t just listen to the minority stake stakeholders and be like, well, therefore no one should get their wisdom teeth, right,” or another one is if someone goes yeah, you know, like, “I’ve, my aunt told me that having kids was so hard and so I’m just not going to have kids.” It’s just like, “No, it’s worth it. Listen, it’s you know, it is tough, but at the same time, just because some woman told you that, you know, childbearing was was a horrible experience for her doesn’t mean that therefore we should you know, humankind should just stop having kids. It’s like that’s not true.” So there’s a couple situations for dentists and for you know, people in general listening to this it’s fair enough to say if we listen to the naysayers we would never progress.

Dr. Paul Goodman 22:24
Yeah, we live your life, we say we’re gonna live your life in the most not the lightning. Dentists always think that the, the, that one negative thing will happen to them because they heard a story. I mean, Regan, I am going to ask you a crazy question. Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had a not so great meal? Has that ever happened? Course you stopped going to restaurants forever, right? Because that’s,

Regan 22:43
No, of course, I didn’t stop going to restaurants I what you’re describing here is the stages of adoption. So the five different stages of adoption. There’s an interesting demographic, when you speak to dentists, specifically, I lived in a bubble for the first few years in dentistry, because I’m outside of dentistry. So the doctors I met Paul were all productive dentists, I thought all dentists were productive dentists and by that, I mean, they had an abundant mindset, we are co founded by two founders that are innovative early adopters and that’s exactly what you’re describing Paul, they will try it, they have no problem with the cost, they’ll take it. That is not the majority of dentists at all and I even identify myself at times, as all the way at the end of the stage, which is late stage adopter, if we can and what you’re doing, Paul, what I see is you’re being a beacon of light, and you’re helping pave the way for those late stage adopters to see at a very low level of risk, and reducing the fear by letting them know here are your options, here is the full story for if you’re going to stay in private practice, or you’re going to go to a DSO or if you’re going to adopt a new technology piece, you just have to go about it in a different way. So I do think you’re correct. I think the majority of dentists are more late-stage adopters, self awareness on their part would help a lot, which I don’t always see, I have met some dentists,

Dr. Paul Goodman 24:06
What happens is no one’s there to help them be self-aware, because you’re the king or queen of your own office, and you have to run it and you have to be that person. That’s why I encourage people to go to face-to-face CE and come to events and be, you know, have friction, I would say there’s difference between friction and fighting and friction is normal. That’s uncomfortable discussion. And, you know, I say to dentists all the time and listen, this is an easy answer. “Hey, hey, Chad, do you want to be the first person just try doing root canals with Nacho Cheese? Because we’ve heard better, you want to be the first person to try that?” And you go, “No, I don’t want to be the first person. I want to see if other dentists do it first.” Yeah and it sounds like you’re a good guy to do that. But then if you think about it, we’d never try anything new. No one would have tried a dental implant. Nobody would have tried a composite fillings. And then the on the other side, you can’t be irresponsible about trying new things. You know, like, dentists will say to me, “I’m never going to use a coach or consultant, right my friend and give someone $100,000 and they scam,” like, “Oh, first of all, who told someone to give a coach $100,000.” I do as much coaching out there, business, personal, this, I’ve never said, “Here, here’s $100,000 check.” Already that was a problematic way to get engaged with coaching and you see this and it’s a you know, I don’t know, Chad, we’re not very cool. Sometimes we’re like your grandmother hiding behind their their blinds, saying everyone’s out to get us out there. And I like I’d like to toughen us up a bit.

Dr. Chad Johnson 25:31
I’m all down with that. In fact, I had an ADHD moment, I realized you’re holding a basketball.

Dr. Paul Goodman 25:36
Oh, yeah, we talked about my failed. While I’m in this, we talked about my failed dreams of playing in the NBA. So that’s why I’m here. So if I do better basketball, none of this would have existed and if you make a senior NBA,

Regan 25:46
You mentioned height, like right in the beginning, Paul, and I was gonna I was gonna say, “Hey, Dana Barrows was point guard for the Supersonics.” I am not much of a sports guy but my mother is and so I had to watch. I had to listen, if it wasn’t on TV on the am radio and Dana Barrows was my guy. So

Dr. Paul Goodman 26:01
I remember him. Well, he’s a small point guard too. So I mean, you know, that was a, but I also use this example, as we took, you know, top of these, if you think of dentistry, like basketball, the challenging part for dentists, Chad and give Regan example is like, we don’t get any practice. What I mean is, you can go practice three-point shots, and then go playing a game and one of the challenging parts for dentists, especially new dentists, who have kind of been I don’t know, what’s a word is for that Chad, scammed by their dental schools and not given any experience sure that they are now thrust into the real world and they everything’s an in game scenario.

Dr. Chad Johnson 26:36
Yeah, they’ve theoretically learned but they’ve not engaged in like, the last minute, like, you know, I mean, if you’ve played basketball, then the last two minutes if you’re down 10, and you’re going, “Okay, do you guys want to win this? Are we all in? If so, do you have kind of, do you have a history of the last 100 games where maybe I pulled it off once? Well, then this is gonna be easy,” but it’s like, “We’ve never played in a game before where we’re down by 10.” It’s just like, “Oh, we’re hosed.”

Dr. Paul Goodman 27:03
And what I’ll share is, and I have some pretty funny see, and this is, you know, when you go to have a baby at the hospital, in Philadelphia, they bring in a resident, a chief resident, and attending, and everyone’s learning from this experience and that’s how doctors get better. Yep, that’d be for dentist. If you bring another dentists into your operatory and private practice, the patient freaks out, you’re even if you’re trying your best and I think it’s really hard, especially a new dentist to develop clinical competence and confidence because no one really wants to give them a chance to be there test out case and I think that’s the biggest challenges we have.

Dr. Chad Johnson 27:40
Yep.

Regan 27:40
So how do we build those little proof points for them? What’s the best thing getting involved in Dental Nachos?

Dr. Paul Goodman 27:44
Well, what is Nachos is great for I always say you have your dental core, your mind skills, your word skills, and your hand skills back in the 1980s, and 90s all you did was benchpress and bicep curls and we found out hey, that is not a good way to get fit. You now do pilates and core activities. So not just helpful a lot of you know mind skills, patient communication skills, someone who’s at the Productive Dentist Academy meeting and my sponsor, right global is they have created a practice basketball court for people to learn fillings, crowns, implants.

Regan 28:16
Oh, that’s awesome.

Dr. Paul Goodman 28:16
Yeah, they basically show that you go into your operatory to think what’s cool about this, Chad is we’ve got to see courses at a, at a Ritz Carlton, and I’m drinking coffee, and I’m listening to the Dr. Bruce Baird and it’s great infotainment but when you get back to your office, how do you implement it? So this is like they teach you to cook in your own kitchen, your own operatory with your own materials on WebEx and when you do the crown prep bootcamp, you do 14 Crown preps in one day, by the end of it, they say, “See you’ve gotten more efficient.” So it’s not just for new dentists right now that people really embracing, right global, our new practice owners, because they know they got a lot on the line, they have a key to their office, and they’re saying I better get more efficient, like Dr. Nathan, a DSO, I’d love to introduce you to he’s a solo practice owner and doing right has allowed him to fit in more emergencies, get home to his family earlier, but that is one of the basketball courts that’s being created by them.

Dr. Chad Johnson 29:06
I love that. Regan, Ripe was at our last meeting and I had been following them on Facebook and Instagram for a few years. I recommend every dentists just on your Instagram, Facebook, whatever social media look up Ripe and what’s cool is yeah, they send you modules they send you modules to do in your office and it’s just the CEE practice that’s the engagement that you’re given a mentor that online basically you can get a report card of sorts, you know, to show your show your work, and that’s really cool. It’s really I think, I actually found it funny that you said that it’s a lot of owners, like first time owners and stuff like that. I would have thought it was dentist owners giving their new associates not doing

Dr. Paul Goodman 29:53
Well they are doing some of that but I just as we finish up so I just signed up my two associates for the ownership accelerated with Aaron Nick Listen, he’s awesome. He’s a sponsor and that’s all zoom and it’s mainly mindset and efficiency, no models but I have empathy, compassion for these associates. It’s a lot for them to process something new and take it after hours. So what I think is the owners that are successful in the I have this group in Delaware, they take it with their associates, meaning like they’re all in together. Like, “Here’s the keys to my office go in on Saturday and start prepping crowns.” It sounds good and I think they need to solve that but right now, that’s what seems, and one of the things I’ll share is, you know, with job connect, I tell owners, “Let’s say, Chad, you want to pay an associate $200,000 a year.” Here’s what you offer them as a base, right? $175,000 base, and I’ll pay for the right global continuum for you, which is your brand and then you both win, because sometimes left to their own self, they won’t pay for it and now you guys have both won. So that’s what I think is their next step is for people to bake that into their associate contracts.

Dr. Chad Johnson 31:01
How that also wins is then the associate isn’t paying for it personally after they’ve paid taxes but you as the owner, if you’re allowing yourself to pay for that you’re doing it as a business expense.

Dr. Paul Goodman 31:12
I used to like staying for 16, 18 months or something, right? It doesn’t have to be any punitive. Like, “Hey, if we do this thing together, and you don’t stay for this amount of time, you got to pay me back for the course.”

Regan 31:22
Man, that’s almost like a qualifier to because if somebody says no to that you have a big red flag right away on education.

Dr. Paul Goodman 31:29
Well, actually, I want to tell you a good story because he’s one of our associates we found for an office, I’ll keep a HIPAA, I’ve HIPAA for associates, they offered this to their associate, they said they didn’t want to spend the time doing it and now they no longer work there. They didn’t get fired because of it but it’s kind of a good test. It’s like, “Hey, I’ll get you this gym, I’ll sign you up for it. You just got to go to the gym and do it,” and if you don’t want to do it, they’re probably not the right mindset for you.

Regan 31:51
Yep, that has been one of the best secrets of PDA for me as an employee for 13 years is has been anything I want to take anything that’s going to help me anything that’s going to aid in my growth or help me do the job better. They have invested, they will invest in education and that has just locked me in. So I think that’s that is such a brilliant tip. That’s great.

Dr. Paul Goodman 32:11
It’s the abundant mindset. So I love this kind of focusing on helping the next generation do better with the the agenda of helping everybody the patient, the office, the team, the assistants, it all helps everybody.

Regan 32:24
Well, Paul, thank you for taking time out of your day. I know you are busy preparing for your upcoming event. Where can people find out more about Dental Nachos, Dentist Job Connect, and your upcoming event?

Dr. Paul Goodman 32:36
Awesome, well, our two websites dentalnachos.com and dentistsjobconnect.com are the easiest ways and if you’re listening and you want to see the awesome Bruce’s lecture from this event, please just reach out to me through Dental Nachos or Dentist Job Connect. I’ll be glad to send you the recording. So if you happen to have missed it, you can learn, laugh and feel less alone.

Dr. Chad Johnson 32:56
Very cool. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for letting me join late.

Dr. Paul Goodman 33:00
Oh, my pleasure. Great. Great, great conversation guys.

Regan 33:05
Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. Chad and I are here every week. Thanks to our community of listeners just like you and we’d love your help. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more awesome? Drop us an email at podcast@productivedentist.com and don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentist.com/podcasts See you next week.