Anne Duffy: Empowering Women in Dentistry Through Innovation and Community (E.246)

“My vision is that we don’t have to worry about those things anymore… That women feel the power within them to thrive, to own our finances, and ourselves.” ~Anne Duffy

In this illuminating episode of the Everyday Practices Dental Podcast, host Regan Robertson welcomes a true trailblazer in the field of dental publishing, Anne Duffy. As the CEO and publisher of Dental Entrepreneur and Dental Entrepreneur Women, Anne Duffy has spent decades shaping the conversation around dentistry, with a special focus on empowering women in the field.

Learn about Anne’s inspiring journey from clinical dental hygiene to pioneering dental publishing as she shares her experiences and insights into how the dental profession has evolved over the years. Anne talks about her innovative work with Dental Entrepreneur Women—a movement dedicated to supporting and celebrating women in dentistry, and also discusses the exciting Dental Media Roundtable at PDA’s 20th Anniversary Conference, where Anne will be joining an esteemed panel to discuss the future of dentistry.

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• How can I apply the strategies and insights gained in this episode to improve my own practice or career?
• What role do I play in supporting the diversity and inclusion within dentistry?
• What changes in dental practice management are on the horizon, and how open am I to adapting these ideas in my own practice?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan Robertson: Welcome to another episode of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. I am your host, Regan Robertson, and it is my absolute pleasure and honor to announce that we have a special guest today on our podcast, Anne Duffy. Anne Duffy is a very dynamic founder and CEO of Dental Entrepreneur and Dental Entrepreneur Women, which is really a movement dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and connecting women in dentistry. Is that correct, Anne?

Anne Duffy: Yes. So far, so far, so good.

Regan Robertson: Anne comes to us with a wealth of experience in dentistry and part of the reason that I, you know, I am really tickled to have you on the show today is two parts. One, because it’s a special opportunity for all of our listeners and myself to dive into your brain with all of the years of experience. You’ve seen a lot of changes in dentistry. You’ve seen, um, the different movements that have happened, the challenges that we’ve overcome, and the second piece is you’ve accepted the invitation to be part of our historic and groundbreaking dental media round table that’s happening at PDA’s 20th anniversary conference in Frisco, Texas and that’s happening this September 12th to the 14th. So you are part of five esteemed, um, panelists and, uh, and I don’t think this has ever been done before where we’ve had, I mean, magazines can get a little bit competitive with each other, but, uh, we’ve all agreed to come together and talk about the future of dentistry. So totally excited, honored that you are with us today and going to be with us also. In, in September. So Anne Duffy, welcome to our show.

Anne Duffy: Well, thank you, Regan. I’m certainly honored to be here and I, I, I just love, you know, doing anything with you and I have loved getting to know all the people at PDA. I mean, they’re just amazing people and the energy I was there at the last meeting, the energy and the, the vibe was, um, really just magnetic. It, uh, I, I’m really proud of all of what you’ve accomplished and we need to celebrate 20 years.

Regan Robertson: We should, I think, yeah, I think, I think milestones are important and you match the frequency and one of my questions as I wrote my questions down was how, like, tell us your secrets to maintaining a positive outlook on light, because to me, you are a glowing personality within dentistry and right now, I feel that dentistry really needs a glowing light and that is part of the reason for putting together this round table to look optimistically at the future and realize what’s possible. So, you know, everything is connected and vibrating on that frequency is really important. So if you could take us back to the beginning though, and, and let us know, you know, your journey in dentistry. I know you’ve been, you, you mentioned that over 40 years, you were a hygienist and you were in the dental industry, and then you made this big switch over to publisher. So be my eyes and ears. How, how did this all come about for you?

Anne Duffy: Oh, my goodness. Well, it’s actually accidental as are most things in life. Um, you know, Mary Tom, in fact, Tom and I met 51 years ago yesterday and so we were reminiscing, um, our journey

Regan Robertson: You don’t even look fifty one years old. So I find that to be very strange, but I gotcha. I know

Anne Duffy: We’re on zoom and I think there’s some, some, you know, uh, what do you call that? Um,

Regan Robertson: No, it’s not the filter I’ve met you.

Anne Duffy: Thank yo, the filter. Yeah. But anyway, we got married, um, out of, uh, college, uh, about a year after we both graduate, I would graduate from Ohio State and dental hygiene and he was in the chemistry, the chemical industry business as we’d moved 10 times before we got to Charlotte. I took seven state boards, always worked a little bit, um, you know, with the kids after we had, we were married probably five years before we had our first son and, um, you know, always worked a couple of days a week, one or two days a week and some, depending on the age of the kids, uh, just kept that going and I love clinical hygiene. We landed in Charlotte in, um, uh, 1993 and we’ve been here. over 30 years. And, um, so actually Tom came home from work one day and he said, “I’m going to quit my, my job and I’m, I’m going to, um, start my own business,” and I’m like, “That was great. I will be millionaires. He’s so smart. He’s cute and all that good stuff,” and so, uh, I had gone back to work two days a week, three kids, uh, taking care of them, soccer, all that sort of thing and I, At some point needed to make more money. Like most entrepreneurs doesn’t happen right away and we were really like kind of sucking wind and I’m like, “Holy shoot, I got to make more money,” and I started my first side gig. That’s how I started this journey.

Regan Robertson: So what was your first side gig?

Anne Duffy: My first side gig was selling toothpaste and mouth rinse, uh, through a company called Oxy Fresh, which was similar to me as a networking company. Um, I’m a hygienist. I, we were using the products at the office. I just like fell in love with the products. I couldn’t believe people didn’t know about alcohol-free mouth rinse and what it could do for fresh breath and all that And, um, someone reached out to me and, you know, gave me the business plan. I said, “Well, okay, I’ll do that because I still got to take the kids everywhere. Work for yourself where you want, with whom you want,” and went to the top of the company in that, uh, in that company and I knew a lot of women in, um,

Regan Robertson: You went to the top in that company?

Anne Duffy: I went to the top of Oxy Fresh. So I, I had the, the largest group of, uh, female dental professionals in the company because it was toothpaste and mouth rinse and I was like, “I’d love sharing it.” So about three years into that Regan, um, I met a gentleman, uh, that was slapping dental entrepreneur, uh, the few business beyond the classroom. It was called business beyond the classroom. Actually, at the beginning, it was just Dental Entrepreneur, and he wanted to go up against Dental Economics and then he switched gears and went to just the dental schools.

Regan Robertson: Okay.

Anne Duffy: Um, I met him at a trade show floor. The professional salesperson that he had hired didn’t sell anything and he met me and he says, “Wait, would you want to come on board and go to San Francisco to the ADA and sell advertising for us?” And I’m like, “That sounds like fun. Sure. Might I’ll, I’ll be the three kids with my husband in San Francisco.”

Regan Robertson: So this is kind of in your blood, like from, from side gig to top of the food chain in less than three years. Opened up this opportunity and you just went for it?

Anne Duffy: Well, it was, it was, it was another side gig. So I am doing two days of hygiene. I’m working the oxy fresh business and then I start selling advertising for dental entrepreneur of the future or the business of dentistry and so what that was about was it was a print magazine. We drop shipped to all the dental schools that only published twice a year. So it was, it was easy and we were really successful from the very beginning. That’s because as we know, students don’t get the Business acumen that they need to start their business or, or associate or any of that and that was, this was over 20 years ago, Regan. So it was a different, it was a different landscape back then. So I did that and then just, you know, as things just evolve and, uh, oxy fresh, the president decided not to pay anybody anymore. So that opened up more time for me and, um,

Regan Robertson:  I like how you just framed that in a positive way. So I’m already getting the answer to my question of how you maintain such a positive outlook. I love that. Decided not to pay us anymore, freed up my time.

Anne Duffy: And then I put more focus into dental entrepreneur business beyond the classroom. So I started putting more focus, going to meetings and again, because I, well, I bought it from him after three years. Okay. So let’s back up. I bought it from him after three years. He was a publisher and an editor for a newspaper in North Carolina and had no dental passion. So he was just going to give up on the whole thing. I said, “Oh, Frank, you owe me some money. Um, I’ll just take it over.” I mean, like how hard could that be?

Regan Robertson:  Right. It was a good deal. You didn’t have to, he owed you. So you didn’t even have to like put in.

Anne Duffy: Yeah, no change of no change of cash. I just, I just, uh, took it over and then, then I started to get to know the authors and, uh, the people in marketing, cause I, I still done that with selling, right? So you, you go to those managers and fast forward, I don’t know, uh, probably 19 years, um, Or so a good friend of mine who was in marketing for one of the big companies, I called her on a Thursday afternoon and she was crying hysterically and saying that her boss just wrote in her three 60 review that her smile was insincere and it looked like she was plotting something. And I’m like, what? That’s insane. Sue, you’re the most sincere person I know. Damn it. I’m going to start something for women in dentistry and in that moment, Uh, dental entrepreneur woman was conceived. I didn’t know, I didn’t really even know what I was doing. I didn’t know what I was going to call it, but I’m on the back porch with Tom, my hubby, and that night, and I’m like, you know what? I’ll just call it down to per woman. Cause I’ve already got dental entrepreneur and that’s how I got into dental entrepreneur woman and that’s how I got into publishing. So. It was by accident. Um, but I love telling stories, Regan and I love, I, I love hearing stories because actually I don’t write. I really gather. I’m a gatherer of information and I’m a connector. Obviously I love people and, um, and I love hearing the story. So it’s just, it’s actually been a wonderful ride and very fun and, um, and do that entrepreneur woman started out as just, I just wanted to highlight women in dentistry, anybody, I didn’t care what you were doing. If you’re a woman and you’re in dentistry, I want to hear your story and it’s turned into now, of course, the movement for raising all women and we’re highlighting and connection and it’s just as it’s just, it’s absolutely amazing. Um, what the women have, uh, accomplished by joining, by coming through the door that we opened and nothing more than that, you know, come sit at our table. So it’s just been amazing and we’ve, and then we’ve rebranded Dental Entrepreneur about three years ago to the future of dentistry, dental entrepreneur, the future of dentistry. We got the trademarks and everything because, um, we were, I mean, dental entrepreneur business beyond the classroom is getting a little boring. You know, it’s just like, you can Google it business one on one. So we wanted to expand and talk more about, you know, the business side of the future of dentistry, the innovation that’s there. I mean, there’s so much richness. In those stories of how you build a company or what, what technology you use, or who do you use to have a good practice? I mean, it’s, it’s just, um, there’s so many topics that we could, we could hit on now and I love that part of it.

Regan Robertson: I want to go back to the, the women focus for a second there, because you said a very, you left a very important little gold nugget. Now that, uh, the acronym for a Dental Entrepreneur Women is DUW and, uh, and there is a due retreat like every year, right? I have yet to beat a one, which I know I am vastly overdue to come to a due retreat, but every time. Uh, you hold a retreat, my social media lights up with fellow women in dentistry, that this is the event they want to go to every year. They have that sense of community to it and I am just as passionate as you are about storytelling. And, uh, and my background as well. I started out in publishing at a newspaper. So I, I journalism is,

Anne Duffy: What?

Regan Robertson: Yes, it’s so, so important to me. Um, and the relation to the hero’s journey and how we lift each other up. So I’m getting a clearer picture about you, Anne, but you had this one, you know, woman who came to you in tears about her. Was it Susie? What did you say her name was?

Anne Duffy: Sue.

Regan Robertson: Sue. Yeah, Sue. I, I, I don’t know if Sue even, she probably didn’t even know at the time that planted seed, what an amazing ripple that had, um, you know, that she gave to you as a catalyst and you bore this entire movement out of it. So I want to say with Sue, just for one second here, in that moment, When you heard her crying and saying that, you know, the doctor was being critical of her and felt that she was disingenuous and all of these different pieces of it. Um, tell me more about the feeling of that and what your intention was when you said, “I’m going to do something about this within my skill set.”

Anne Duffy: Oh, gosh. I was, I was literally livid. I, she’s a, she was a dear friend. She was the person that would put my box of magazines under her booth at the show. She’s actually worked for one of the big three, uh, companies. So I just, just always, and always returned my calls. Regan always returned my emails. I mean, she was just a wonderful person and I thought she was going to quit her job and join me. So I thought, Oh, in that moment, I thought, “Oh, we’ll do it together. Sue. We got this.” It’s really Aaron Brockovich. I have a little bit of Brockovich in me and so when there’s, when there’s, and I see injustice or something that’s not right, I, you know, I, I will go after, go after it to see if I can make it right and I, that’s just my, in my DNA and also the can do I, how hard could it be? I’ll just start another magazine. I mean, that’s really what it was. And, um, Yeah, it’s, it was about doing the right thing for the right reason for the right person.

Regan Robertson: You know, and you’ve, you’ve published so many stories in due and it’s always a pleasure to read them and now I understand a little bit better because in those stories, so many of them have a heartfelt tie to it and when you talk about your, it’s your philosophical reason, like the injustice you felt was just too great and you had to do something about it and Erin Brockovich is a great example for that and you get moved so beyond no, you know, a paycheck doesn’t, mean anything at that point. It’s not even about that. It is about changing this perspective. So when you think about and all of the stories you have published under DUW, and Dental Entrepreneur, are there some, is there like one or two that really stick out to you over the years

Anne Duffy: Oh my gosh, that’s such a great question, Regan. There were, there are just so many. I, it’s interesting you even ask that because we’re, we’re getting, we’re putting together the best of do and we want to do the best of DE. The difference is I think when, when I was publishing DE before we changed brands, it was more of the business, always business, always business. Nothing clinical in either, in either publication and then I started to do and all I wanted to do was share stories, which I’ve, I’ve mapped on now at the dental entrepreneur, because I think the stories are so powerful and, um, you can, you can Google facts, but you can’t Google somebody’s story, uh, to the point where you, you could, but you don’t know, like what I, I didn’t know there were so many beautiful women out there. I think we live in a bubble Regan and we’ve, you know, it’s, it’s often lonely. We’re working remotely when we, especially when you have your own business and even even working within a business. In fact, Victoria Peterson, uh, spoke about that at our very first retreat about being an entrepreneur.

Regan Robertson: Yes.

Anne Duffy: And all women are entrepreneurs, no matter what, who they’re working for, they’re going to take ownership in the task that is at hand that they were hired to do and so, um, and they also spin 10 plates on top of it, which is an entrepreneur. They, and you’ll, you know, the problems of, of raising a family, having a household, getting kids where they need to go taking care of the husband, uh, you know, taking care of everybody, um, that’s spinning plates and that is also solving problems all day long. So my contention is all women are entrepreneurial and so that made sense to me from the very beginning, even to call it Dental Entrepreneur Woman, what we found is that most women that walk through our door or a lot of our, the women that walk through our door are, have that are doing something entrepreneurial on the side of their clinical, or they’ve got two things spinning. Like I did, you know, it’s a couple of streams of income coming in. They love, they might love putting joy together or they might love painting. I mean, there’s just so many different things that could be outside of dentistry that could make a full, career. Uh, and then you look back after it’s all over and say, “Well, that well done. That was fun,” you know, because you want it to be fu and I think sometimes you need to, you know, tap into those creative juices that we all, we all have in some form or another. So it’s, it’s been, it’s been wonderful. I think the heart, the, the stories that really resonate with me more than any are the ones from being down to the bottom and then finding a way to stand up and then to stand up tall and that we don’t do that alone that we are surrounded by people we need to be surrounded by people that will lift us up that will take our hand and that will, once we get there, they’ll, they’ll continue to push us and that’s what women need to do, they need to come together. So I’m very, uh, I’m just so passionate about it and every day I hear another story that I couldn’t believe I was going to hear. Um, but most of them are from, from, you know, rise from the ashes, if you will and I have not met a woman in, in, in our organization or that I’ve talked to that hasn’t been able to do that.

Regan Robertson: It’s incredible to me, the amount of time that, that people spend isolating and trying the DIY approach. There are resources in dentistry and yet, and probably the number one thing that I see over and over again from both genders is dentistry can be isolating, which to me, I’ve worked remotely now for, oh gosh, 13, 13 years. So I, I have to really, I’ve had to sit in that comment since I’m not, um, a clinician and I’ve had to, to try to put myself in the clinician’s shoes because my first thought is always, well, you have, you have team, “Like you’re physically in a brick and mortar building. What do you mean that it’s isolating?” And then we start to pick apart the pieces in the business. Yes, it feels extremely isolating. There might only be one hygienist in an entire practice. So who do you, where are your peers? Where do you go to connect and, and have space to bounce ideas off of and have a thinking partner and, um, and then I started to get that whole entire picture. And I know for me and my career journey, when I stopped trying the DIY approach and I looked and said to find my community, that really shifted my mindset entirely. So is that what you see? How long has the do community and the retreats been running?

Anne Duffy: Well, we just celebrated seven years yesterday.

Regan Robertson: Congratulations. Happy anniversary.

Anne Duffy: Thank you. Thank you. Um, uh, we’ve had it, so we said seven years, a little over seven probably because, you know, by the time it takes you to get from the idea, hanging the phone up until the first magazine goes out, um, you know, that is the journey but, um, in seven years. So it’s, it’s not really changed much as far as the stories that come in, Regan, uh, because they’re, they’re about women and, and. As a hygienic, as a dental professional, there is that common thread and a lot of times you don’t want to call a peer that’s down the street or somebody that you know, even when you’ve got kid problems, you don’t necessarily want to call somebody that knows your kid. You want to call people call me all the time and ask for about their teenagers cause I’ve raised three and you know, I’m safe. You want a safe environment. We call it a vault. Um, okay and then we also, we just changed one of our principles at the last retreat. Um, one of the principles we have, we have 10 principles that I’m, I’m very passionate about, but the one that kind of never sat well with me was fake it until you believe it.

Oh, fake it till you make it. Yes.

But we’re not faking it, right? We are not faking it. We are really doing it and I mean, DEWing it. Um, So we replaced that principle, uh, number four with the answers in the ladies room. And I just, I, we, that resonates with me. That’s another focus for our retreat this year, because if you get 10 women in a room, if you get two women in a room, three women that want to hear what you’re saying and And can relate to you, relate to your, your issues, whatever it is, good, bad, or indifference, or want to celebrate with you. It’s not just problems. I mean, this is like, “Hey, I got to win,” um, and understand it. It’s just so much fun. It’s just amazing. And we laugh. I laugh my butt off because Tom and I, I adore him. We’re such, we got lucky meeting each other and getting married and being married all these years. But he doesn’t understand when I’m talking to him on the back porch after it’s all over how my day went. I mean, he thinks he does, but not, you know, he’s also reading the paper and watching TV and all those things. What if I’ll call one of my DUWs? Oh my God, we could talk for an hour about the highs and lows of the day and what we did and then, and then the brainstorming and the masterminding and all my gosh, the ideas that come from a conversation with another woman that knows you in as has been in your shoes in some capacity, that’s magical.

Regan Robertson: I think I think community is something that is often overlooked and so incredibly power. I’ve been watching, it’s a fictional representation of Julia Child. It’s on HBO Max. I think it’s just called Julia or Julia Child. So it’s a series. It’s phenomenal. Oh, great, great cast of, um, actors and in one of the episodes, uh, one of the, the young producers, she’s a, she’s a female and they have an episode where she creates another show. So she was responsible for Julia, you know, her huge success and so she creates this show and it’s like by women for women is what it’s called and it’s in the late sixties, early seventies, I think anyway, long story short, it makes one episode, and it was just women talking about women issues, huge hit, got good listenership or viewership. And in this episode, they said, you know, we really liked it, but the world isn’t ready for this yet and so we’re going to table it for now and that really wasn’t even that long ago when I, when I really sit and I think about it and so, and being in the space as, since that, you know, you would have been in that space when this was happening back then too, what is your vision? Because really you are an innovator and entrepreneur, I consider you a pioneer. So I consider you a pioneer for recognizing the value of community and building that community, uh, you know, along the years. So what is your vision for the future of women in dentistry? I mean, I know since like 2018, 2019, it’s, there was more women dentists coming out now than men.

Anne Duffy: Well, let me just back up a little bit because. I hear you about that, that issue for years ago. I saw it when we, when I started do that, we were further along. Yes, I cannot believe that we are still talking about the same things that happened 30, 40, 50 years ago, Regan and so my vision is that we don’t have to worry about those things anymore and that women feel the power within them to whenever, whatever situation they’re in, they can thrive. We don’t hold ourselves back. We feel worthy. We have a lot of, we own our money, we own our finances. We, we own our and that, that we love our men. They’re, they support us, but we can do this and we can be strong and we can lead. So I think that, um, that’s going to happen. We, there’s not that many seats at the table, but if we come together and help each other, we’ll get there. We don’t want to be a burden. push people away. We just want to sit there with them and be able to make those decisions, especially when women are taking over. I mean, I’m hearing 60 percent of the graduating dentist are female. So who’s making the decisions for the females in dentistry? They, they, the men need our help. And my job is to give women the strength and more strength in numbers. and strengthen community but I went, I, I just love dentistry. I mean, I loved my career. I loved clinical. So I’m one of those people that I think it’s just a super career. There’s so many things look at me that you can do with it. So, um, it, if you don’t like it, then maybe you’re not meant for it and that’s okay. You know, um, maybe find a different career path, but it gives you a nice, platform and a nice starting point to do anything you want. If you’ve been in dentistry, you got to be smart. You like to be caring. You’ve got to love beauty. I mean, there’s so many things that prepare you for whatever you want to do in your life and you want to find what you’re good at and then also what your calling is, because that’s what women really want. We, we want to do something that we’re meant to do and you said something in the beginning, like, “Oh, you’re so positive.” Well, I love strength finders, right? So that’s, we based, we based do on strength finders cause that was an assessment that I’ve taken many, but really changed my life and our family’s life, but I’m in my top five. I have positivity. So, you know, it’s, it’s a cliff. Is it the Clifton strength, the Clifton strengths? Yes,

Regan Robertson: I’ve taken so many of those assessments, different kinds, but I remember the Clifton strengths. So tell me what, what was in your top five?

Anne Duffy: Oh, my top five and I gotta, I can’t wait to hear what yours are. So number one, I’m a woo. So

Regan Robertson: Oooh

Anne Duffy: When I, yeah, when I heard that I was so bummed out because the downside, the basement I was like, you’re shallow. People don’t, you know, you’re really, you know, really, are you really like that? I’m like, you know, and I, I feel bad about it, but in the, in the balcony, you know, it’s, it’s wonderful and it’s, it’s, I meant to actually build people, win people over, win people over, you know, make a community that’s why I was going to network marketing because I believed in what I was doing and the same thing with this, I can, I can gather a crowd. So woo number two was activator activator. You, you immediately. That’s how I hung the phone up and said, “Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just start a man, I’ll just start another magazine. It’s not a big deal. Anybody can do it,” and so then three is positivity for okay. Force communication. So I should be, I should be a publisher. I should be gathering materials. I should be speaking from the front of the room, all of those things and number, and number five, So again, I don’t write the articles. I love arranging all the table of contents and the magazines and putting the pictures where I want them and anyway, I am, you were made for this basically. You, yeah, you were made for this. I am made for this and so when you find that out, and I found that out 14 years ago, that I was meant for this, what I was doing and I was so happy about it because you don’t want to waste your life. You don’t want to. I was, I took the course with somebody that was a kindergarten teacher. No, she, she was, I’m sorry. She worked for a big company, isolated in her office and it comes to find out she should have been a kindergarten teacher. That’s what she really would have loved and she really hated her career and worked until You know, the grind until she could retire. She’s retired now, but like, what a waste of talent, you know, find out what your, what your, what your God given talents are and then lean into them. And, and, uh, I really feel that’s what makes a fulfilling life. So tell me Regan, what are your top five?

Regan Robertson: Well, I love where you’re going with this because it’s, it’s the Japanese ikigai, which I, if I’ve butchered the pronunciation of that, I apologize. Some people call it the hedgehog. It’s that Venn diagram. And in the middle is, is where you are able to marry your talents with your passion with something that gives you purpose and meaning and you can receive value for it too. So that’s, you know, if you’re going a career route like that, I think that’s something that I have followed and searched. I think that personality assessments like that are subjective and, um, and I also believe that it’s important to marry the data with your emotional heart and impact, which is why sometimes assessments like this really do help us clarify and sometimes it helps us mirror back, um, and uses words that maybe we hadn’t thought of before. So I did, I found mine and my number one was connectedness and I do believe that everything is connected. Um, Probably why I am so passionate about PDA because the doctors that we help are very, very, very passionate about comprehensive care, comprehensive diagnosis. I actually, Anne, believe that my own health journey has been, um, a detective’s work, uh, investigation of finding my own comprehensive solutions. So very systemic. So connectedness is my number one strategic is my number two. So yeah. Why? Why are we doing this? And then I’ll understand why it’s connected and, and how we flow at the line. Input is my third and I think that’s where you and I connect greatly. Uh, I love to gather, just like you said, I am a gatherer. I think it’s important to hear people’s stories and be able to share it. Uh, which is why I went down marketing. So I appreciate that very much. Then futuristic.

Anne Duffy: Oh my gosh.

Regan Robertson: And learner.

Anne Duffy: Oh my gosh. So super, no wonder you’re doing these amazing things. Those are those again, it’s so nice to lean into that and say, “Oh my God, I’m, I am really good at this.” You’re very strategic. You have three in the, in the, uh, strategic domain, which is amazing. I have, I have strengths envy right now because my strategic doesn’t show up, doesn’t show up until number 11 and I was like,

Regan Robertson: It’s okay. That’s I, so that’s the other part. I think that’s amazing is that, is that when you realize I fought a long time in my own career path and this way, because I’m, I don’t feel that I’m strong and I break it down into the two categories, the data and the emotion. So I’ve always felt like my data lacks a little bit because I clearly think in full feel with my heart. And I like that because it gives us a lot of bravery. Like when I see you, that’s brave, what you did each step, even with starting with a side hustle and then taking advantage of the opportunities as they came about our brave steps to take and I can see why Tom’s been a great partner for you because you allowed him space to be brave and helped hold that space. So you guys have probably been amazing for each other and 51 years makes sense to me. Um, but those bravery things, um, I feel like where your community comes into play with this is I call them my blind spots now. I do not think they are not flaws and they’re not necessarily things that I need to suddenly become an expert at. I don’t believe that either. I think it’s important to equally value. Uh, everything on that CliftonStrengths report. Um, you guys can Google it listeners if you’ve never heard of it before, but each one has a very, um, a very valid power. They’re like little superpowers. Um, consistency is low for me. That’s the one and that got me. So how you might have a little envy when I see people who are super high with consistency, that makes me get itchy and I’m like, “Why can’t I have that?” Well, if I had that, I wouldn’t be as creative as I am now. I wouldn’t be able to use my other talents. So I, to me, these, these assessments, um, point to us that we cannot do everything alone, support, um, is necessary for success.

Anne Duffy: Yes and there, and, and, and we, you have other gifts. See, that’s just why you, that’s what your connectedness works so well, because you bring, you have a knack for bringing people together that have other gifts and that brings a whole bounty of goodness, you know, but I don’t look at them as a personality assessment though. I were, I look at this strength, the strength finders as God-given talents like he knew what he was making me in the womb and he knew what I was meant for and I take it on a, it’s, it’s on a different level for me that I know that, um, I can do this. I, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just, and if I, and things that I’m not good at, I give myself a break and I give myself a pass. I mean, my last one is individualization and, and I finally got to tell the kids, that’s why I’m not that great at giving gifts. I’m not the best buyer of gifts and that they, they, they look at the shirts from, you know, I’ve got tags are still on them. I said, “You guys, I, you know, just give me a break. It’s just not one of my gifts. I have other gifts,” and, um, it’s really helped the self-confidence and also understanding other people cause we took it as a family and so then it helped me really understand why Tom is an entrepreneur. And I begged him to go back to corporate. I mean, we were living the life. I was a corporate wife and I was darn good at it, you know, and I was like, “Oh, please go back,” and then I found out, you know, no, he’s, he’s all entrepreneur. Let him, let him do his thing. And, you know, And I will support that because that’s who he is. So it’s,  it’s a lovely thing to accept other people for who they are.

Regan Robertson: Yes. There’s that, that the, uh, Sean Zayas and I were just, I was just on his show, uh, earlier this week.

Anne Duffy: Oh, I love him.

Regan Robertson: I do too and, and we talked a lot about obviously authenticity and, and having the gift of being able to show up as you are and how difficult it actually is. I mean, it sounds so simple, but social constructs and cultures and there’s a lot of external factors that really, you know, make us put filters on and show up in different ways. And I’m wondering, you know, especially with Wu being your top one, which is just an incredible number one to have, uh, and the world. Feels more connected. Like there’s more technology that connects us. I’m able to work from, you know, zoom and I can, I can meet with doctors in New Zealand if I want to. It’s, it’s incredible gift.Social media exists, text messaging exists, group chats exists. Like there are lots of ways to, to be together and connect, which is wonderful for the woo, but I’m wondering what type sort of challenges you, you feel are on the horizon or you’re experiencing now within, within dentistry and community, um, that, that your eyes are, are, you know, that you’re observing right now, or, or fixing to solve in your way?

Anne Duffy: Uh, I just, you know, I, I don’t think there’s any big problems right now. I think that, you know, obviously the, with the practices and, and, you know, retaining, uh, you know, your team, I think we need to move away a little bit from, uh, Uh, the mindset of business, business, business, money, money, money, this, the soft skills, the culture people want to work with for somebody and with somebody that believes in something, it’s deeper than that. We just don’t want to show up for work and punch in and punch out. I mean, I would say that, and good people like that attract good people. So it’s not been hard Regan. I mean, I have done nothing other than open the door and, and good dues find good dues, so, we’re attracting these good people when they all come together and they’re not alone, they, they can actually maximize their talent and I think that’s, that is something that we need to really work on because women have historically have had the imposter syndrome or I’m not worthy or the confidence thing, you know, and so we as a community help build that up in somebody and help them to be successful, just like you do with PDA, you know, again, alone, they don’t, know if they can do it and we just did a podcast. I loved doing a podcast with Sarah and her, her sweet, oh my gosh. Jet was it. It’s her, uh, doctor. I’m sorry. I’m forgetting her name. She was

Regan Robertson: Dr. Amy Winninghoff,

Anne Duffy: Amy. Oh my gosh and she, one of the things that really resonated with me is that she should have started, she’s like, I should have started my practice five years earlier. I could have, but I didn’t have the right people around me. So, I do think finding your community and finding your tribe, and I don’t care who it is, you know, but find it. And, and I think that’s, again, that’s something that’s going to be the future of our success in dentistry, um, because we have to fight some of the things like the insurance companies and we have to fight, uh, you know, patient flow. There’s so many things that, that re that are involved in running a successful practice that we cannot do it by ourselves and we have to find out people that have other gifts that we can plug in. And I think that’s that’s that’s one of the problems that we’ve had in the past and one of the things that we’re going to solve in the future by building these communities because you see them popping up. Um, and, and I just think it’s, it’s marvelous for our industry in our, in our, in our career paths.

Regan Robertson: You know, the, there was the, I don’t know if you’ve heard in the news, the Arizona tea, the drinking tea, the iced tea, gentlemen, have you heard that story?

Anne Duffy: No, I haven’t.

Regan Robertson: Oh my gosh. So he, he was asked recently, the CEO, uh, he was  asked, I think he’s the founder also, he was asked recently, uh, why he was refusing to increase the price of his iced tea because everything else had experienced inflation. Somebody noticed that they hadn’t increased their prices. And he said, “You know, the sole purpose of life isn’t about greed. Yeah and we are a debt-free company. We are a successful company. I don’t understand why I would want to essentially.” I mean, he didn’t say this for quote, but I’m paraphrasing. I mean, why would you want to screw the consumer basically when we are doing well and in that moment, I do, I filter everything through the data lens and that’s, that’s your profit. That’s your overhead. That’s the business model. That’s the structure and architecture through the emotional heart and I realized this gentleman has it balanced and it is a Zen act to be balanced and give equal weight to the emotion around the person, the value, what it brings. And in healthcare, I think that’s one of the most fun puzzles for me and individually to solve, but as, as a dental community, because we all at our heart care about the health of the patient and want to bring that optimal health to light and, and also at the same time, we deserve to be successful. We deserve to be thriving. We deserve not to burn ourselves out. And when I see the pendulum swing one way or the other a little too hard, that’s when I start to see these, these problems and challenges arise. And, um, and I think all of our dentists deserve more than that. And I’m, Anne, I am so grateful that you are going to be with us in September and on our panel. It, it shows me that you definitely lead from the heart. And, and my, my last question for you. Thinking of legacy, you’ve already made a tremendous impact in our industry and the world, uh, what type of legacy do you hope to leave? You

Anne Duffy: know, it was just simple. The simple reason that I started DEW was, uh, I, again, I fell into dental entrepreneur. I will say that I purposely started DEW, and it was all about love. It was literally about love and the reason I put strength finders at the base of it is because what that did for me was help me fall in love with myself and the way I was made. And. I want people to love themselves, want them to love others, want them to love their careers. It’s just so simple. That’s all I really want and I, and, and I don’t have anything else. It’s, it’s, it’s, there’s nothing more than that. That’s, that’s basically it. I wish it was more complicated. It’s not that complicated.

Regan Robertson: I think that’s a beautiful answer. I don’t, I don’t think it needs to be complicated to be powerful.

Anne Duffy: More love in the world and, um, we’ll be a better place for all that. And you said something too, I want to just touch on. It’s not just the patients, Regan, it’s the team to the leaders. And that’s what I love about PDA, that you start with the leaders and the leaders that I met, they love their team. They’re there to boost their team along with their patients and, and that’s going to make dentistry great. That is, that is going to make dentistry great again. It, you know, and I, and I just think that your culture, the, the, um, Just flows into all the people that you meet and all the practices and the, and the dentists and the, their teams. That is something that’s beautiful and you just can’t get that by being alone. You have to get with people that are like you, that can lift you up.

Regan Robertson: Well, thank you, Anne. Uh, if you could be so kind as to tell all of our listeners how to, uh, get in touch with you, how to find out more about Dental Entrepreneur and dental entrepreneur women, uh, and anything else, give us all your social handles, everything.

Anne Duffy: Ah, golly, there’s so many, you can definitely find us. We actually have a website, dentalentrepreneurmedia.com, and you can go down the, uh, The dental entrepreneur the future dentistry and down for women Um through that or just go to de w dot life Not dot com dot life for dental entrepreneur woman and then dental entrepreneur.com for uh our other Publication and we have podcast and we’ve got instagram. I mean, you know, you’ll find us putting the show notes, but um, we’ve got uh, We’ve got all sorts of things. So, you know, free newsletters and, and, um, anybody that has a great story, please reach out because I want to tell it. And I, and I think it’s worth, I think you’re worth telling it.

Regan Robertson: So what is your, where do people tell you a story? Did they email you?

Anne Duffy: Yeah, they can email me at, uh, Anne Duffy at, uh, well, let’s go Anne at Dental Entrepreneur Media. If you can spell it. A NNE. Yeah, anne@dentalentrepreneurmedia.com. And, um, if you can’t spell entrepreneur, then you just go to Anne Duffy, a NNE, Duffy, D-U-F-F-Y at Dew Life. That’ll get to me. I mean, we’ve got, I’ve got like four or five emails that they’ll eventually find their way to  my inbox. So, um, and then you can reach out on LinkedIn and, um, Messenger, any, any, we’re, we’re all over social media. I’ve got, I’ve got a fabulous team. I could not do it by myself. I’ve got the best team ever. They, um, They have drank the Kool Aid, drunk the Kool-Aid, I don’t know, which would that be, I don’t know, as an editor, I don’t believe in that. They downed the Kool-Aid. They downed the Kool-Aid. And they believe in, in, in our mission, you know, of, of raising all dental professionals and men and women in our, in our country and our communities and across the world.

Regan Robertson: Thank you, Anne. So in addition to being at our 20th anniversary conference, the September 12th to the 14th in Frisco, Texas, is there also a do retreat coming up this year or events that you want to highlight? Yes, I’m so glad

Anne Duffy: Yes, I’m so glad you asked. is our sixth annual retreat. We have sold out every year. We have about a hundred spots left and, uh, we’re going to be 220 amazing women in Charlotte, North Carolina. Um, we know women don’t, and we will sell out. So just, you know, no one signs up until August. So, I mean, we’re really far ahead of it than, than we were, but it’s November 14. it starts at three o’clock November 14th and we’ll o at around 12 30 on that S get home to your family’s so yummy, so delicious. You know, if you’re not happy you’ll be happy when you actually doing some other uh, Regan, we’re putting uh, do classroom this year for, for how to start a business, how to run a business, how to get it ready to sell all those things and I’m, I’ll be reaching out to your, you and your team to help us build that. Uh, because everybody wants to know how to do that and we have the, we have the answers in the ladies room. Yeah. So, um, yeah, so please, please reach out, sign up for the retreat, get there, get your besties there. Regan, I hope you can come. You, you have a seat, you, I got a seat for you. So you, you definitely need to be there. So, you know, they’ve heard about you forever and they just need to meet you. And you know, it gets everybody out of theirs, out of their circle and one big circle of women supporting women.

Regan Robertson: Oh, excellent. Well, thank you. And I look forward to seeing you in person soon and thank you for your time today.

Anne Duffy: You’re welcome.  Thanks for having me, Reagan. I’ll see you in September, the PDA 20th anniversary. Yay.

Regan Robertson: Sounds good.

Anne Duffy: Best to everybody.