Had an awesome opportunity a couple weeks ago to sit down with Dr. Ernie Johnson in Scottsdale, AZ. We were both on the Spear/Cerec doctors campus at the Scottsdale training center. Everyone should make an effort to take a course out there. The campus is amazing! Dr. Johnson is a mentor for cerec doctors and I was at a training course. After a long days work we both sat down over a cold beer to discussthe importance of having a financial plan as we go throughout our career.
Dr. Johnson has a clear passion for personal finance and specifically investing. I think we could have talked all day about everything. He has gone so far to actually create a website that he specifically markets to dentists to help them get a leg up on investing. At Dentist Market Alert, he provides evidence based reasoning on how timing being in the market, out of the market, or on alert. It’s simple, but can make a huge difference in investment returns if your able to avoid drops like the dreaded 08 crash.
Take a listen, check out his website, and feel free to contact him with questions. Currently he charges only $200 a year to be apart of his online community.
Hopefully you all enjoyed Part 1 of our Hinman journey! I think it gives a snapshot into a lot of these companies if you weren’t able to be there and may convice you that next year you should go to it or another big meeting like it.
Part 2 kicks off Hank Barton, the president of Forest Dental. I was showing Peyman their dental units because he is still looking for a couple and we found them super affordable when we remodeled our office last year. This old guy in jeans walks up to us and introduces himself! I was like wow, that’s really cool! So a couple minutes later we sat down and got a chance to hear about his journey working with ADEC for 25 years before buying Forest Dental. When you look at there website you will totally get that his other passion is hot rod cars because it comes out in the chairs…they are really sharp! What we really wanted with this part was to dentists to make sure they look at all options when they are remodeling an office or opening one up. As Hank will talk about, check out their 7000 series at ForestDental.com
Next up is Alex Nudel, the founder of Revenue Well. It’s hard to even describe what revenue well does in a paragraph! Basically it is like having an additional front office team member. The system can read codes so it knows every patient that you have diagnosed a crown on that didn’t schedule. It then allows you to send emails to all those patients talking about importance of crowns. You can do this with everything so its pretty neat. They also help with reviews, social media, confirmations and everything in between it feels like. For $299 a month it will be hard to find something that all encompassing!
Finally, we wrapped up our Hinman podcast tour with Dr. Charles Blair. A retired dentist, he now spends his entire time helping dentists deal with dental coding. This is something we all get no experience with in school and immediately have to learn on the fly when it comes to dealing with insurance! His books are not that expensive and are a must have for any new graduate in a practice. We don’t push a lot of product here but its that worth it. Little teaser for an upcoming episode is Dr. Blair is currently doing a in detailed look at our office over the past year. We are going to record the entire thing and post it as an episode so you can see where we have been messing up and losing money! Practicebooster.com
Remember everyone, work smarter…not harder!
After doing lots of recording from the ole homestead here in Nashville Peyman and I decided to head south to ATL for the Hinman Dental Meeting. We actually did a neat video for Hinman on why Peyman and I are passionate about going to these large dental meetings! We love digital learning like the rest of you, but it doesn’t replace these meetings! Check it out first so you see what these episodes are all about.
So yeah, at Hinman we went around to different vendors that we thought were interesting and got them on the podcast. We wanted those who couldn’t attend to hear about some of the new companies out there as well as their take on different aspects of dentistry.
First up we have Dentist Chats who were great to talk to. I am currently using a different chat company, but these guys were awesome. I am a big believer only a month or two in that a chat person on your website is a must! They are doing a special deal for our listeners in waiving the first month fee if you mention us!!
Secondly, we interviewed Weave. Weave is basically a company that replaces your phones and integrates with your practice management software to maximize your front desk team. I am personally a user and a big fan. We saved a good bit of money by dropping AT&T. The biggest complaint your going to hear about Weave is if internet is down, so is your phones. Having good internet is key and Ill say for us personally that the amount of good things about weave outweighs the minimal outages we have had over the past year. However, everyone should look into some sort of software that helps your team up front! Skye said mention us and get your first month free and no contract!
Thirdly, we got a chance to catch up with Rohit, the founder of Practice By Numbers. I am a big believer in the fact that all practices need some software that helps track numbers. If your not tracking it you can’t improve it, its that simple! I am currently a Dental Intel user, but both would be worth looking into. Rohit is offering your first month free here as well!
Our last interview was with Banyan, a social media/review company. Everybody is starting to see those new signs pop up at dental offices. They are using a company like this to help market on social media. Although I love the idea and their concept I think its a bit overpriced as you will see. Unfortunately, we havent heard from them so you will get a good laugh at the end!
Thanks for listening and please share with your friends and give us a review on iTunes!!
Super excited to have the chance to interview one of dentistry’s most influential people in the area of sleep dentistry! However, we took a turn from most interviews Dr. Elliott has done and focused on her life as a dentist, who happens to be a female, her transition from associate to partner, how to avoid being a “princess” associate, and what her plans are for the future of her own practice!
Dr. Elliott was born in Southern California and was apparently quite the athlete! She played soccer in college before heading to Creighton University for Dental School. She has a passion for treating sleep apnea and is the past president of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy.
You can reach Erin at ErinElliottdds@gmail.com.
It was a privilege to get to spend some time with Peyman’s good buddy Dr. Matt Koepke. Dr. Koepke is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in West Virgina. You will find that in listening to the interview with Dr. Koepke that at first he may seem like your typical millennial that graduates dental school with lots of loans and then tries to figure out what to do next…guess again! He just got back a couple months ago from a trip of a lifetime taking him around the world! Capping it off with spending 2 months in Australia where he planned his start up Oral Surgery office, Appalachian Oral Surgery Center.
In this one of kind episode we see what confidence, drive, and determination can really do. Dr. Koepke has not only defied expectations but also the norm! He has taken an out of the box approach to putting emphasis on happiness, helping others, and providing top notch patient care. Best part about the podcast is he is completely open and honest about his debt load, his experience with a start up, and how he got to where he is.
And just when I thought I had finally figured this guy out he lets us inside another passion of his, medical ethics. Dr. Koepke made some great points on how us as dentists and other medical professionals have fallen off the wagon in giving and maintaining the best possible ethical care for our patients. In his brand new book, “Ethics under the Knife: Patient Care and Disservice in the Medical Industry” he tackles these questions head on.
To hear more about Dr. Koepke check out his instagram @drmattkoepke and follow his youtube channel! As always spread the word and head on over to iTunes and give us a review! And remember….Work Smarter, Not Harder!
First time we have had one of these “Senior Dentists” on the episode and I felt like it should be none other than my dad. Probably one of our favorite episodes we have recorded so far because it really gets at the core of why we started this podcast.
In the episode, Dr. Rick Sullivan, a 3rd generation dentist shares his experience over the past 30 years in practice, transitioning to a partnership, and working with a Millennial. Here how are practice has grown over 150% in two years, the keys to our success, and why he is loving dentistry more and more.
Dr. Pey Ray takes the lead in interviewing Dr. Rick on why as a seasoned dentist in his mid 50s he has continued to invest in technology. Great questions ranging from why he loves dentistry to the secret to keeping long-term staff. If your interested in dentistry or gun collecting follow him on instagram @tngunmaster and if you have more questions you would like to personally ask him his email is drsullivan@comcast.net!
As always thanks for listening! We appreciate your support and your itunes reviews! If you want a free Millennial Dentist coozie send us your name and address and we will get one in the mail to you!
Check out this interview I just had with Jonathon Van Horn. He is a Dental specific CPA who I feel like really does provide his clients enormous benefit. If I were in the market CPA he would for sure be on my short list. Give him a shout and tell him you heard him on the podcast. Special thanks to him for taking time out of his super busy season to join us. Below is from his website www.dentistmetrics.com and his email is Jonathon@dentistmetrics.com.
Jonathan created DentistMetrics to solve the problem facing many dentists – they have a complicated business and their time is stretched way too thin. Most dentists spend 15,000 hours learning to be a dentist but ZERO hours learning how to be a business owner.
DentistMetrics aims to completely automate and outsource the bookkeeping, financial reporting, and tax portion of the dentist’s business so that they can focus on what really matters in their practice.
By creating an automated workflow for the dentist and by focusing on showing dentists what numbers they need to be watching, DentistMetrics has allowed dental practices around the country to raise profits by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
When not interviewing dentists on his podcast Start Your Dental Practice, coaching dentists on being a better business owner, or just nerding it up with business owners about ways to be more profitable Jonathan enjoys spending time going to the lake with his wife April, daughter Harper, and son Finn. He’s also been known to play golf. (poorly)
Weird facts about Jonathan – he was once ranked in the top ten in the nation at whiffleball, played bass guitar in a rock band for eight years, and spent his college years playing semi-professional poker.
In this episode Dr. Peyray, the Holeshot, and myself divulge the current state of our loan affairs. When you graduate its super easy to get bogged down with student loans. I think it can be one of the biggest hindrances to people’s early success. There is such a balance of living with the debt and having a strategy to pay it off.
We look at the different government options such as IBR, REPAYE, and others. We talk about refinancing and some of the programs that do this like SoFi and DRB. However, we spend most of the time talking about whether it’s a smart idea to aggressively pay your loans down or not.
The most discussed resource in this episode is something we mention very often. Best thing you can do is check out the White Coat Investor! At the end of the day we want to encourage our listeners to think about retirement vs. paying loans down early. Make sure you educate yourself on all the options. If you are one of those people who just wants to pay your loans down as soon as possible then make sure you have a plan on how your going to save after and be able to give a good reason why this is your strategy!
As always thanks for listening, subscribe, share with your friends, and follow us on instagram @millennialdentist!
This is our first non dental topic that we have had on the podcast! In fact, if you have a “High Deductible Health Plan” then no matter what you do, this episode is for you! One of the best tax advantaged accounts people can have is a a Health Savings Account or HSA, and if you have a high deductible health plan then you and your family are eligible to open up an HSA. The beauty, as we will discuss, is that the money goes in tax free, grows tax free, and if used on medical expenses comes out tax free! Thats triple tax free folks!
Of the various non dental topics to consider this was the first one I wanted to tackle because for me personally its had some relevance of late. In the episode, I discuss my wife’s recent knee surgery and what it looked like for us to have a high deductible plan and the choices we had having opened up an HSA last year. Even if your a seasoned veteran on how an HSA works I think there are some little caveats you will take away that make it worth the listen.
As we discuss in the episode one of the biggest resources for me has been the White Coat Investor. If I can recommend one site to get non biased personal finance advice this would be it! Dr. Dahle has multiple articles written about HSAs and I would urge you to take a look at his site. Remember, that as of February 2017 the contribution limits to an HSA are $6,750 for families and $3400 for singles.
Also I wanted to give a shout out to Dr. Ryan Cregger aka: Daniel’s boss, for jumping on a call and being open about his status on using an HSA. The hope is that this episode gets all of you from talking about it to actually putting money into it! Thanks for listening and remember to check us out at www.millennialdentist.com and follow us on Instagram @millennialdentist!
In episode 2 we get to hear Dr. Peyman Raissi’s story! @Drpeyray on instagram and his website is www.mynewsmiledental.com.
If you're a D4 in dental school and its the spring semester and you don’t know what your going to do…don’t fret, listen to this episode! Dr. Raissi had no clue what he was going to do until he went with a family member to an Affordable Dentures and Implants clinic. Three days later he had a job. Some hundreds of hours of CE later and lots of hard work had Peyman on his way to placing over 1,000 implants in his first two years out of school!
Myself included often gave corporate dentistry a bad rap. However, its great to hear such a success story and I personally have a new outlook on them. If your considering a corporate office you need to hear how it really molded Dr. Raissi and catapulted him into early dental success.
Now two years out of school Dr. Raissi has opened up a niche general dentist office focused on implants and a complex restorative approach to full mouth rehabilitation. Sit back and relax and hear what Dr. Raissi has to say about hanging his shingle!
Follow us @millennialdentist on instagram and check out our website at www.millennialdentist.com
Welcome everyone to the Millennial Dentist Podcast inaugural episode! My name is Dr. Sully Sullivan and I am a general dentist in Brentwood, Tn. Myself and two of my good buddies Dr. Daniel Holsinger and Dr. Peyman Raissi have started this podcast to help our generation climb the ladder to dental success as quick as possible! Ultimately the three of us are having so much fun practicing that we want to share what we are doing to be successful.
We are going to be talking about everything from graduating dental school, planning for retirement, using technology in your practice, how we started placing implants, to how to travel around the world for free. We hope this podcast can be a little beacon of entertainment in your crazy day to day life where you can sit back, have a cold one, and maybe learn a tip or two for your practice!
In this first episode your going to hear more about this idea in detail, how Dr. Holsinger became a pediatric dentist, and a little about my story.
We would love to hear your thoughts on the podcast such as things you like or dont like. We figure the more conversational this can be with our listeners the more fun it will be for all of us! Check us out at www.millennialldentist.com, instagram at @millennialdentist, and on twitter @millennialldds!
-Dr. Sully