Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 23

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Josh Robbins / America's Best 401k

Key Takeaways:

• The 401k is a massive liability for any business owner.
• As the business owner, you are in charge of setting up the account for the sole benefit for your employee.
• The providers of 401k are broken. There are too many so you need to choose the right one for your team.
• There are many funds within a 401k plan. You need to know what and why it is being offered and what fees are being charged.
• The best scenario is a level playing field where there are no middlemen and you get access to all funds regardless of how big your plan is.
• You can hire a fiduciary to handle your 401k liability for your employees.
• Investigate the fees being charged to your 401k plan. Most can be cut off.
• Dentists are easy prey for 401k brokers because of several factors: high income, recession proof, want to look out for their teams, etc.
• Brokers don’t earn from startup 401k plans so they give a different kind of plan that will earn them a lot. You can save on these fees by going to a fiduciary company.
• The earlier you start your 401k plan, the better – you’ll save more for less equity / contributions.
• Auto-escalate your contributions to your 401k fund.

Resources Mentioned:

www.freetonybook.com - Unshakeable by Tony Robbins

Tweetables:

“The 401K is a good thing. You just need to have the right one.” - Josh Robbins

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 22

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Craig Cody

Key Takeaways:

1. Mistake 1 - Failing to plan. Like buying a car or a house, you need to make a plan how you’ll pay off your taxes.
2. Mistake 2 - Choosing the wrong entity to operate. You need to understand the different types of entities available before deciding which entity you would choose.
3. Mistake 3 - What-if Paranoia. Do not be afraid of the questions of the IRS as long as you follow the tax codes and everything is documented. Don’t be afraid to take a legitimate deduction.
4. Mistake 4 - Getting the wrong retirement plan. Understand the different plans available to your employees and those that they’ll resonate to. Ask for advice from your CPA.
5. Mistake 5 - Missing family employment if you have kids. Kids can become employees of your business and you can pay them wages to cover other non-deductible expenses.
6. Mistake 6 - Not implementing a medical expense reimbursement plan. This works for some entities and can be used to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses.
7. Mistake 7 - Missing legal deductible items such as:
   1. a health care facility for your home office like a pool or a home gym
   2. vehicle expenses when the vehicle is used for business
   3. meals and entertainment
8. Mistake 8 - Failing to rent out your home for business meetings. Just be careful not to go overboard.
9. Mistake 9 - Not depreciating properly all the costs to set up your practice.
10. Mistake 10 - Not consulting with professionals. Be proactive and ask for advice. Choose a CPA who is proactive.

 This episode is not intended to replace the professional advice of your tax preparer or CPA.

Resources Mentioned:

10 Biggest Tax Mistakes That Cost Business Owners Thousands - by Craig Cody - www.craigcodyandcompany.com/bulletproof - Receive a free copy of the book!

Secrets of a Tax-Free Life

 Tweetables:

“If you’re doing something and it says you’re allowed to do it in the tax code, let them (IRS) ask you about it. As long as you’ve documented why and how you’re doing it then you’re ok.” Craig Cody

“Tax evasion is blasting through the toll booth and not paying the toll. Tax avoidance is taking side streets around the toll legally to get to your destination.” Dr. Peter Boulden

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 21

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Key Takeaways:

• Find fulfillment in helping others.
• Today is the golden age of dentistry.
• To create a raving fan culture, your team must know how to make creative solutions within a given paradigm.
• Self-managed teams - they know what to do and they manage themselves. This results in more fulfillment.
• Tell your employees the WHY of the job. Make it results and performance-based.
• Learn to be self-sufficient first then learn to delegate the job.
• Referrals happen organically.
• Recognize your culture and explicitly define it.
• Self-managed team can hire their own people.
• You have to talk about your culture and give examples about it daily.
• Talk about the most important thing to your people outside their annual review. You’ll find out it’s not really about the money.
• Concept of peer-to-peer rewards. Focus on giving your people experience.
• Customers mostly review the culture.
• Make it a safe environment for your team and customers to give you honest feedback.
• Own the honest feedback you get.

 Tweetables:

 “You don’t get burnt out because of what you do. You get burnt out because you forgot why you do it.” - Dr. Craig Spodak

 “Insurance is the penalty you pay if you do not build a raving fan culture.” Dr. Craig Spodak

 “If we are not creating the millennial experience, the millennials won’t be our patrons in the future.” Dr. Peter Boulden

 “Be dynamic. Don’t think that what worked 6 months ago will work again today.” Dr. Peter Boulden

 “Everyone has a culture. It may not just be the one you want.” Dr. Peter Boulden

Resources Mentioned:

Books:

Making Money is Killing Your Business by Chuck Blakeman

Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea by Chuck Blakeman

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 20

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Michael Levin 

Key Takeways

• Dentistry is a crowded marketplace. You can distinguish yourself by writing a book.
• You can target niche audiences using a book and build your credibility in that niche.
• Writing a book is easy using the right resources. You don't even need to write the entire book. You can hire ghostwriters to write it using the knowledge you have.
• Patients who buy your books and become fans can be your sales force. They become advocates of your practice.
• You can market your books by giving them as giveaways.
• Write books that will educate your market. This will create value for your customers.
• You can write books about your legacy as a dentist.

Resources Mentioned:

Books:

Sober Dad by Michael Graubart

River of Doubt by Candice Millard

The Hundred-Year Marathon by Michael Pillsbury

App:

Headspace

Tweetables:

"People are grateful to the educator." Michael Levin

"If you create enough value in the first 95% of the book, you are entitled to a call-to-action at the end of the book." Michael Levin

This is a republished interview from The Relentless Dentist. I met Dr. David Maloley of Avon, Colorado - at the Voices of Dentistry conference in Nashville, TN this February.   His energy and story that I heard during his presentation  almost compels you to live that EPIC life....and the relentless pursuit of it.   It was an incredible conversation-  check it out!

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 18

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Key Takeaways:

3 Reasons for Doing a Morning Huddle

1. Bring your team into alignment
2. Allow you to discuss opportunity
3. Provides transparency. You can share your numbers with your team.

Tips for a Good Meeting:

• Meetings should be done by the office manager or a team member
• Start on time and when everyone is ready.
• Meetings should be 15 minutes max.
• End the meeting on a motivational note.

 Top Things to Discuss in a Meeting:

• Look for same day opportunities
• Look for outstanding treatments
• Look for outstanding balances
• Look for any marketing opportunities

Tweetables:

If you’re not doing the morning meeting, I highly recommend that you start ASAP because it will change the game. - Dr. Peter Boulden

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 17

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Dr. Brady Frank

Key Takeaways:

• DSO (Dentist Service Organizations) were created to address legal challenges presented by corporate dentistry. Dentists can take advantage of this.
• Dentists should learn how to become owner-dentists then hire an associate to do heavy lifting of clinical dentistry.
• Equity harvesting - find a value-added practice, acquire it and convert it to cash
• Knowing your business value may not necessarily have an impact to your retirement fund
• How to have cash from investment and use it: (1) Find a value-added practice (2) grow the value-added practice and (3) find a way to receive cash from this asset
• Get a dentist partner to work on the clinical side so you can work on the business side
• Continuous exit strategy works with equity harvesting
• If you acquire another practice, operate it as one business with your existing practice
• Add dentist partners as you acquire more practices
• The founding dentist becomes a private equity company also
• Continuous exit strategy means you own a portion of your company (the DSO) and earn from it continuously as it expands to other regions
• Hire dentists who want to work as partners vs those who want to just be associates. They are go-getters.
• Dentists can compete with corporate if they understand how DSOs work.
• Multiple Incomes available to dentists: management income, clinical income, income from building lease, residual income from regional DSOs, etc.

Tweetables:

Staying in the game will make you more energized and give you more cashflow. – Dr. Brady Frank

Resources Mentioned:

• Multiple Streams of Income by Robert Allen

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 16

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Matthew Lewis

Key Takeaways:

• Corporate often invites dental students to join them although it feels that they only present ideal scenario most of the time.
• Deciding to sell to the corporate model is a tough decision to make.
• Corporate dentistry can compete on pricing but not on relationship factor.
• Dental students should keep their options open whether they'll go corporate or pursue a private practice.
• Corporate dentistry can help dental students get a job and learn practical dental skills.
• Huge dental debts encourage students to go corporate after graduation.
• The more in-debt you are after graduation, the fewer choices you have.
• Fewer students now want to start their own practice after graduation.
• Corporate offers $500-a-day baseline pay to dental students.
• Dental associates who are willing to hustle their pay after six months are good for a practice because it means they are interested to be in a win-win situation.
• When selecting where to practice after graduation consider market saturation. Don't just go with the herd.
• When looking for a CPA, look for someone who can give you personalized attention, especially if you are running your own business.
• For contract reviews, you only need the simple services of an attorney.
• When looking for people to work with - like a CPA or an attorney - look for someone who you are comfortable working with. Interview if necessary and ask for recommendations.
• Corporate dentistry will make sure you work hard for the money they pay you.
• Be awesome in something that you are passionate about. Don't force yourself to do something you do not like.
• Try different procedures first in order to find something you love. You may like a procedure that you hated during school.

Tweetables:

• Force yourself to back out and look at the big picture.
• Keep an open mind at the things coming at you. Open mind is key.
• Attitude is everything.

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 15

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Garrett Gunderson / Wealth Factory

Key Takeaways:

• Big Mistake: putting money too early into investments for retirement and not having enough liquidity for your business.
• Grow your business first by investing in it. Invest in what you know.
• Diversification for a dentist is bad. Learn to be comfortable with having a lot of cash.
• 5 Part Formula that will give you financial independence in 5 - 7 years

1. Be more efficient with your money by keeping more of what you make.
2. Strategically engineer wealth to eliminate diversification.
3. Accelerate investment by finding ways to make them produce cash.
4. Scale your business revenue.
5. Treat yourself as your greatest asset.

• Hire a good accountant in order to learn how to pay less in taxes.
• How to save on taxes:

1. Be proactive with your team and communicate with them.
2. Find all the related expenses to your business and write them off for tax deductions.
3. Reclassify your income.

• Focus on abundance, than scarcity. Abundance creates value while scarcity destroys wealth.
• Investments are in relationships, in knowledge and in our own capacity to create value and make money not just money making money.
• Having a money problem is a symptom of not having the right ideas or the right network of people.
• Financially stay humble by cutting back, being more efficient or expanding your means.
• Invest in a great team that share the same philosophy.
• "Pay yourself first" is the fundamental financial foundation.
• Invest in becoming a better investor.
• To download your FREE copy of “What Would the Rockefellers Do,” Text WWRD to 801-396-7211

Tweetables:

“The real road to wealth is to own a business.” – Garrett Gunderson

“Invest in what you know.” – Garrett Gunderson

“Automatically save and deliberately invest.” – Garrett Gunderson

‘Abundance is about exchange; human innovation.” – Garrett Gunderson

“Scarcity will say ‘I can't afford it.’ Abundance says ‘How can I afford it?’” – Garrett Gunderson

Resources Mentioned:

Books:

What Would the Rockefellers Do? by Garrett Gunderson

Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Productivity App:

Omnifocus

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 14

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden / Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Charissa Wood / Atlanta Dental Spa 

Key Takeaways:

• Create an appointment flow that will ensure consistency
• Consistency is one of the biggest reasons for her success
• Give customized care to every patient
• Find the balance between consistency and tailored care
• Educate patients about the process and the value you offer
• Be aware of your patient's situation and empathize where they are
• Be open to change - either new technology or new processes
• Assess your hygiene department and be willing to make changes if you're not happy with its production
• Fuel the fire by exposing your hygienist to further learning
• Create a plan together with your hygienist and be collaborative
• Hygiene can be a standalone income source and not just a "loss leader" / necessity
• In every hygiene step you do, help the patient understand where they are so they can make the best decisions for themselves

Tweetables:

"We're not there to fix teeth. We're there to help people." - Charissa Wood

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 13

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden

Atlanta Dental Spa 

Key Takeaways:

• We have to be very strategic with our goals and reverse-engineer them.
• Writing down your goals is exponentially more effective than not.
• Strategically measuring your goals is reverse engineering your written goals.
• Reviewing your goals on a daily basis ensures a higher chance of achieving them.
• Qualifying your goals with a "why" purpose makes them more attainable.
• Get in the habit each morning of doing the 5-minute miracle:

1. Write 3 things you are grateful for. Gratitude is super powerful in your life.
2. Spend a few minutes sitting in a quiet place and focusing on your breathing.
3. Visualize your agenda for the day in your head including what you feel.
4. Review your goals.

• Tip: Fill out a personal balance sheet.

Tweetables:

"Gratitude has been proven over and over to be super powerful in your life because anxiety, scarcity and fear cannot exist in its presence." - Dr. Peter Boulden

Resources Mentioned:

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Pranayama breathing app

Headspace

Personal Balance Sheet

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 11

Host: Dr. Peter Boulden

Atlanta Dental Spa

Guest: Dr. Steven Rasner

Realizing the Dream

Key Takeaways:

• If you're young, you should invest first in yourself by mastering a specialty.
• Meet with the top people in your top department regularly and discuss your company's challenges and strategies.
• Create something that will inspire people to come to you
• Build relationships with your patients
• Get your oral sedation certificate in your local state
• Two skills to learn: (1) atraumatic extractions and (2) implant dentistry
• Create an atmosphere where dentistry becomes easy
• Do a 5-point exam than a comprehensive exam
• Offer dental x-ray for free if you can to be able to get them to agree to a complete exam
• Give people a chance to see how it is to have complete dental treatment
• Increase acceptance by requesting the significant other to be at the first visit
• Speak honestly and sincerely to patients
• Create scripts that work and memorize them
• Treat all patients equally and with respect
• Don't beat yourself up as a dentist and work in as many places as you can to gain experience

Resources Mentioned

Book: Success Principles by Jack Canfield

Tweetables:

"Be good doctors and be right with people. Treat your patients with respect." - Dr. Steve Rasner

"Every successful person in the world has mentors." - Dr. Steve Rasner