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Howard Farran:
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It is just a huge honor for me today to be podcast interviewing a mentor of mine for a long time, Bonnie Hixson of The Progressive Dentist. Her website is theprodentist.com.
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Bonnie Hixson is the founder and publisher of the progressive dentist magazine and network. She is dedicated to helping strong clinician and dental professionals build successful businesses where the best dental care can be delivered.
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Bonnie works closely with many of the most knowledgeable and respected dental and business experts to bring their messages to their practices throughout the US and Canada. She thrives on helping teams define their purpose, enhance their overall patient experience, improve practice profitability and live a life they love.
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She's right now at Lubbock, Texas, which brings back my memories because I grew up in Wichita. My dad had five Sonic Drive-Ins in Wichita. But he put one in Abilene, Kansas, Carney, Nebraska, Louisville, Kentucky, and Childress, Texas.
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My four summers between high schools was always on the opening team where five of us would drive down to Abilene one summer, Childress, Texas another summer. And I'll never forget Childress, Texas because my dad gave me his Lincoln Town Car and I drove to Childress and I worked all summer on opening this brand new store.
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And I think I was ... Well, I know I was 14 years old. Talk about how times are changing. You couldn't get a driver's license till your 16. I drove down there without a driver's license and spent the whole summer. I lived in a hotel. Anything I ate at the restaurant was billed to the room.
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I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world. I had a big old Lincoln Town Car, all the food I could eat at the hotel, working at Sonic Drive-In. I think that was absolutely the best summer of my life. To start off with ... How did you end up in dentistry? How did your journey take you to dentistry?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You know, it's one of those things that happened accidentally, and what I thought was going to be temporarily. It's such an amazing profession that once I got in, I couldn't leave. How many times do you hear people say that? It's the people that drew me to dentistry and it's the reason I stay.
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Howard Farran:
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And what is ... If my homies went to theprodentist.com, which stands for The Progressive Dentist, what are they going ... By the way, I just retweeted ... They're all driving to work. They're not taking notes. What I do is I go to my Twitter and I am @howardfarran and I retweet my guest's last tweet. And your Progressive Dentist on Twitter is @prodentist.
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And I just retweeted, "On Memorial Day weekend enjoy time with family and friends and please remember those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. #somegaveall." If they ... Beautiful post. If they go to theprodentist.com, what are they going to find on that website? What's it all about?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You know, the website, Howard, is really a place where we can profile and spotlight the people who do the things in dentistry that help people make a difference. They're going to see sample content from what we publish in our magazine. They're going to see some resources from our online platform and learning community. Lot of different things there.
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We've got a newsfeed there for important things that are happening in dentistry form industry companies and experts. Everything that contains to dentistry, but only the business side of it. We don't do anything clinical. There are some amazing clinical resources out there. A lot of them from Sphere to Dental Town, to a lot of other places. All we talk about is the business of running a productive practice and being able to have a practice that you really love to go to everyday.
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Howard Farran:
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You know where you can get the best online learning to do place implants and root canals, the very best?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Where's that?
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Howard Farran:
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YouTube. I have so many friends that they come home at night, they go to YouTube, they ... " How to place a dental implant." They watch videos from like two or three hours. I can't tell you ... If someone said to me, "How many hours of clinical dentistry are on YouTube?" I mean, I don't even know how I'd get my head around that number. The searches are infinite.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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That's the difference between today and when you and I started doing what we do, Howard. Media was a much tougher thing to produce 20 years ago. Today it comes from everywhere. It's the people who are consuming the media that are also doing the production. There's any number of resources out there that are great.
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But it's also kind of clouds the space to the point that you're not exactly sure of the level of expertise some of these people are posting have. It's kind of a double-edged sword. But I love that information is easy to find.
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Howard Farran:
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Now, is your magazine a subscription model?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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It is.
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Howard Farran:
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How much does that ... How do they subscribe? They go to theprodentist.com. I see, "request for a free trial."
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah. If they don't know what we're about, they've never seen a copy of the magazine, they can go request a free trial. Just give us your email address to send you a link and we'll let you see what we're all about and send you a sample copy. Otherwise, you can subscribe. There's a big green subscribe button on the website so you can subscribe right there.
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Howard Farran:
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And how much does it cost? Is it a monthly ... How much does it cost?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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It's bimonthly, so every other month. We publish digital content every month. Even when there's not a magazine coming out, there's digital content available. It's a bimonthly subscription. It's 167 bucks a year.
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Howard Farran:
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Nice. And then what is the difference, Bonnie, between theprodentist.com and you also have thepropractice.com? What's the difference between The Pro Dentist and The Pro Practice?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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The Pro Dentist is The Progressive Dentist magazine. It's where we started. That was the beginning of where our community started to evolve, where we brought what I feel like our vetted resources and some of the best consultants, coaches and corporate connections in dentistry that really provide great service for Progressive Dentist.
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On the magazine, it's all that type of content. It's articles. It's videos and interviews with different people around dentistry. Sometimes dentists, sometimes consultants, sometimes ... We have some things coming up that will be patients, too. Just talking about the new dynamics in dentistry.
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The Pro Practice is an online community where ... I guess I should say too, if you're a member of the Pro Practice, which is where our CE courses and podcasts and that sort of thing live ... If you're a member of that community, then the magazine is part of that. It's included in your subscription fee.
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We try to make it easy for people to be a part of our community, whether it's just the magazine, whether it's thought the learning community, which is the Pro Practice, or our live events that we do. It's all about being accessible and being affordable, but a great value for what you invest.
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Howard Farran:
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I want to say something to kids out there. If you're listening to this and you're cynical, you might be thinking, "Well, Howard, you have a magazine, she has a magazine. And all this stuff. Why would you be promoting a competitor?" Well, that's living in fear and scarcity. I'm a dentist. I don't know one single dentist on earth that only reads one magazine.
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I'll tell you, when you get out of school you're going to find out that half the dentists in your neighborhood think it very scarcity and think you're the competition and don't want to have anything to do with you. And the other half are like, "Come on over and drink beer and barbecue." And the people that think in hope, growth, and abundancy ...
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And just google for Pictures of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I mean, two successful men, fiercely competitors, but who else would they want to hang out with? If you were Macintosh and the other guys was Microsoft, obviously, you have more in common than anybody else on earth. It's the same thing.
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These young dentists are afraid to go ask the oral surgeon if they can watch him or her pull wisdom teeth. And they're too afraid, so they'll fly across the country and drop three grand to watch someone else and all they had to do was walk across the street.
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And if one oral surgeon did say no, well you don't even want to know that idiot anyway because he lives in fear and scarcity and it's bad karma. If you go knock on his door and he says, "No," thank God you're not going to waste time referring patients to him and go find someone that says ...
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All the oral surgeons I know and some 25 year old punk kid comes out of school and wants to learn how to pull wisdom teeth, they're excited. You're excited to teach some young kid how to pull a wisdom tooth. What more fun is there than that?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Well, and Howard, I have to say ... And I get that question a lot. "Who's your competition? Who do you compete with?" And the answer is we don't. We play our game. We do things a little differently. We talk about some of the same things you do in Dental Town, but we talk about a lot of different things, too. It's a different model.
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I am a firm believer in the fact that I wouldn't be here today doing what I'm doing if it hadn't been for you paving the way to allow us to have this space to communicate with people who have been in dentistry for decades or new dentists just coming out school going, "Okay. Now this is all great, but where do I start?" I appreciate you being back there cheering me on since the day we started. It's been good to share space with you.
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Howard Farran:
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Well, and it's funny. People say, "Well, do you recommend going to Panky, or Dawson, or Sphere, or Voice?" And I was say, "You know, I don't really know because I went to all four." They're like, "Well, which camp are you?" "Well, I don't even believe in camp."
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What I love about your information is $167 a year, that's not even one night in a hotel when they go to these $4,000 a weekend courses. I love it when you can use the internet to learn faster, easier, higher quality, lower price. Like I say, "If you want to learn how to place implants, and you have a smartphone and YouTube, what's your next question?"
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Right. People will say Dental Town's free and all the other dental publications are free. What's the point in ... Why do you charge a subscription. I would say that the biggest difference and maybe something really important for them to understand is that we chose this model specifically to be different.
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And I know that we all pay attention to what we invest in, right? Whether it's two bucks or whether it's 167 or whether it's 1,000, it doesn't matter. I want them to have some so-called skin in the game. So when it comes in the mail or into their inbox, they go, "Okay. Hey, I've invested in this. This better be good." And I want them to hold us to that.
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Howard Farran:
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Well, Dental Town is going to switch to a subscription where they have to pay to log on, as soon as I get married and divorced again.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah. I can't say I support that, Howard, but you're going to do your thing.
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Howard Farran:
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When I got to come up with another 3.8 billion, I'll have to go to the subscription model. But until then, I'm going to stay single and keep the website free. What are you ... Okay. This is Memorial Day and thanks for coming on to the Dentistry Uncensored Memorial Day barbecue and it's me and you.
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We have this coming Friday about 6,000 kids are going to graduate from six dental schools and they think they finished. They're too young and dumb to know they just started. The light turned green. They're going to walk out of dental kindergarten and start their journey across the street. But a lot of them have bad attitude, Bonnie, and say that, "Oh, Howard. You're 54. You graduated in the golden years and I'm coming out in the corporate dentistry years." And they don't even know if they made right decision.
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What would ... If you were given a commencement speech to all 56 dental schools, what would you ... And they probably could all fit in that Dallas football arena of yours up the street from you. If they were in that arena, all 56 schools, what would your commencement speech, what would it go like?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You know, I think the most important thing, if I could give one big piece of advice to dental school new grads or students, start now in building your own network. Yeah. You're 50 some years old. I'm 40 some years old. And we've been around this industry for a long time. And yes, things were different when we started, but things are changing so much faster today than they've ever changed. And they'll continue to do that.
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There's no one way to do this. There's no one right answer in terms of what type of practice is going to be successful or profitable or anything else. All I can say is start building your network early. Get to know people who know what you don't know and develop that network early on so that when you do have questions and you get into practice and realize, "Oh, wow. I don't know it all yet," you don't have to figure this out on your own like so many people did by being afraid to ask or having other people in their communities who wouldn't answer their questions.
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Ask the questions. There's a million people out there that will help you. But you have to be comfortable in knowing that you don't it all and you're never going to know it all.
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One thing that I've ... I had a post. You talked about Twitter earlier. One of the things that I love is a quote from Jim Rohn, which is, "You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with." And if you think about that, you can spend your time with any kind of people you choose, but they're either going to bring you up to a higher level of performance and higher code or whatever you want to call it, or they're going to drag you down. It's completely up to you. But building that network and expanding on it is the important thing that you can do starting out.
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Howard Farran:
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Well, if you're the average of the five people you hang around with the most, I am doomed because I spend all my time with my four boys. I don't have a chance. I don't have a chance.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Your boys are great.
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Howard Farran:
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Actually, Ryan, that means you should leave. Save yourself, Ryan. Run, run, run. You know, I love on your website how you talk about how the corporate dentistry models are evolving. That is so profound because the first round of corporate, Orthodontic Centers of America made it to the New York Stock Exchange, a dozen were on NASDAQ. They all collapsed, crushed. They're all gone. Then ten years go by, now they're all back. And now they're back and not one of them can go public.
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I mean, dentists think that corporate's taking over the world. Wall Street has zero interest in it. But I want to talk about a more profound question because the one problem with corporate and private practice is the old guys don't want to hire these kids that come out of school because they all leave your office after a year or two.
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You introduce them to all your patients. "Here, I want you to introduce the Bonnie Hixson. She's all that. You'll love her." And then a year or two later they come back. "Where's Bonnie?" "Oh, she left." The corporates, some of the chains average associate only stays a year. The better ones, the average associate only stays two years.
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And when you start talking to 50, 60 year old dentists that could hire ... There's 150,000 dentists. They could hire that whole 6,000 graduation class an hour just to work in their office the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that they're closed. Increase their convenience. Open seven days a week. I'll do my Monday through Thursday and if you just came in here with one assistant who could answer the phone and assist you and you just did one tooth ache a day, a root canal, build up, and crown for $2,000, we're all making money. We're all ...
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Dentists don't even want to deal with that because they say, "Every time I've had an associate, they hang out for a year or two then they want to start their own." What would you say to the old guys who don't want to hire them? And what would you say to the young kids who are trying to find a job?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Well, to the older guys, I would say-
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Howard Farran:
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And that's not me. I'm one of the younger ones. I'm talking about the older, older guys.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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The older guys. Maybe the guys who just don't get the new dynamics of the dentists that's coming into the market, I guess. I would say that you do have to communicate differently with younger dentists. It's a different generation. They value things a little differently or value different things than you and I did growing up. I think it's safe to say that when you came out of dental school, Howard, there was no question that you would own a practice, right?
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. I got it up running four months out.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah.
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Howard Farran:
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Graduated May 11th, opened up September 21st. And just had my 30 year anniversary at my practice a week ago.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Okay. Congratulations
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Howard Farran:
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On May 11th.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Congratulations. Yeah. That was your dream and you made that happen. You ran out and grabbed the bull by the horns and made it happen. Every dentist coming out of dental school now doesn't have an aspiration to be an entrepreneur or to own a practice. The finances of owning a practice are different. The load of responsibility is perceived differently. Every dentist doesn't want to own a practice. Some are happy to be associates. Some are thinking that they're going to go into the so-called Corporate Dental Method, or practice model.
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But I'll say two things. To the older doctors who are trying to attract younger dentists to come into the practice as associates or potential partners at some point, learn to speak their language. Learn what's important to them and be really, really sure about what your culture and values are. What's you model? And be clear on that with them so that you know that you're on the same page from the beginning and that you want the same thins. Otherwise, yeah. They're going to come in for a year and they're going to leave.
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To the younger dentists, I would say maybe one piece of caution I would offer is that a lot of the big corporate dentistry or bigger organized dental companies are in dental schools all the time talking about how great it is to come in, we'll give you this signing bonus, we'll give you a guaranteed salary. You don't have to worry about it. You just come in and practice dentistry.
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To the entrepreneurally minded dentist, it sounds great because you've got a guaranteed salary. You can start to work on those student loans that you've got to pay off and learn the business behind running a practice before you go and do your own. It's not how it works. If you got to work for one of these larger companies, the only way you're of value to them is when your butt's in the chair and you're producing.
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They don't want you looking behind the curtain and trying to figure out how to run your practice. They want you producing. If you're doing that simply to learn the ropes, probably not a good move. You're better off to associate with someone who you know has a common sense of values and direction for the practice and learn from somebody as you said, that really wants to mentor and teach you and help you get faster, get better at your clinical dentistry and learn how to run a business. You've got to be really clear about what you want and who you approach to help you get there.
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Howard Farran:
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A lot of their questions, though ... You know how sometimes you're not old enough to know what you don't know. You know? You're too young to not even know what you don't know. Seems like so many of their questions on Dental Town is like, "Okay. I'm going back to Lubbock, Texas and there's two jobs. One will pay me 30%, but I have to pay half my lab bill. And the other one will pay me 25%, but I don't have a lab bill. Which one will you go to?" It's like, "Really? It just comes down to that?" Do you want to be a mentor?
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What if one dentist, his average staff had been there ten years and the other dentist, average staff been there year and half? What if ... What should they be looking for? If she comes out of school ... I know what she's thinking. She's saying, "Bonnie, I have $350,000 of student loans. I got to make coin. I just want the most coin. I don't care about all that other stuff." What would you say to her?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I would say that's the wrong way to go about it. Howard, nothing makes me more sad than to see dentists who say, "I hate this. I hate being a dentist. I hate the practice. I hate being in the chair." It breaks my heart to know that they put that much time and money into an education only to get into situation where they hate to get up and go to work in the morning.
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That mentality, that type of approach to your dental career is exactly what creates that circumstance. I guess it comes down to do the right things and the money will come. It's hard when you're $350,000 in debt to believe that, I think. It's daunting. Of course, it is. It's looming over your head that you've got this super heavy debt load to carry.
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But if you go into it just looking at, "How can I make money?," you're going to get into that churn and burn mentality, into an environment where it's all about the money and, "get them in, get them out," rather than having an opportunity to go into or build a practice where it's all about the patient. Where you can focus on what they really need, what they really want and then giving them what they need instead of what you want them to have.
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Yeah. The allure of a steady paycheck is tempting. Of course, it is. But you really have to look at why you went into dental school in the first place and what do you want out of this. What do you want to create? Who do you want to be around? And what type of dentistry do you want to provide? It can't be all about the money and figuring out how to pay your student loan debt off, or you're destined for that early burn out and being one of those unfortunate dentists who just go, "Man, I chose the wrong profession. I hate this." Doesn't have to be that way. And for the most part, it's not. That's the-
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Howard Farran:
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It was profound, what you said. You said earlier that your whole personality is the summary of the five people you hang out with. If you're in this churn mill, churn 'em and burn 'em deal and everybody is not happy, they don't have purpose, they don't love it and everything then that's going to take you down.
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Whereas, if you found an associates of an office rule where they just truly love dentistry and they were happy and they were running red lights on the way to get to work, then you'd be totally happy. If you're not happy ...
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And that's what I liked the most about when I got my FAGD and my MAGD because when you went to those courses, everybody there was going for it. Whereas, your drinking buddies from dental school, half of them wanted to burn the school down. They were all, your buddies, drinking and saying, "Dentistry sucks," but you go find the group ... You go find five homies in your backyard that want to get their diplomat FAGD, any alphabet soup in anything, their enthusiasm is going to fuel you.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Well, and I think, Howard, you're a prime example in the fact that there's no such thing as burn out. You still love to do dentistry. You still love being in the practice, but you do some different things to make sure that not only do you stay engaged and on top on what's happening out there, but you're meeting people all the time. You're mentoring young dentists and colleagues that maybe you're dental school buddies, but you inspire each other to do more, to do better and to find a better way. Obviously, you're still loving dentistry. You're a great example of that.
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Howard Farran:
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I'm 54 and my best friend from dentistry at 54 just did his first all on four dental implant case. Tommy did. I couldn't believe. It's like, dang. The most inspiration I ever had where I almost fainted, I was lecturing in LA and a 92 year old dentist came up to me. He survived Auschwitz. He doesn't know one person that was still alive from Auschwitz. 92 years old, just upgraded his two-dimensional pano to a three-dimensional CBCT and told me he already sunk 11 implants and he said he's never had this much fun in dentistry. And he was 92 years old.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I love that. That's maybe something else that's different, Howard, about dentists who are just coming into the profession versus those who have been here for 20, 30, and 40 years is that people used to think that, "When I'm 65, I'm going to retire. I'll be done." I know a lot of dentists that are in their fifties and sixties that possibly it was financial circumstances with the whole mess of our economy and everything that has happened over the last decade or two, all these different things that have happened have changed their circumstances and the outcome that they thought maybe their careers would look like.
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They're still practicing well into their sixties, seventies, your buddy into his nineties. As long as your hands are steady and your mind's sharp and you got the skills, if you love going to work, why would you retire? It's really easy to create a plan and a strategy and a model now where you can retire whenever you want to in the practice instead of from the practice.
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Howard Farran:
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The other thing, a lot of people like to get out their miniature violin and have a pity party about poor, poor, poor me. I'll tell you what, if you're a 25 year old ... Who would you rather be? A 25 year old dentist, when in your career, their next 40 years. They're 65. They're going to have the biggest disruptions in the world from artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and robotics. Taxi drivers and going to go to driverless cars, semi drivers and going to go to driverless cars.
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The artificial intelligence ... Bill Gates and several PhD economists in writing in the Economist said, "This could destroy 25 to 50 million jobs." And what's the chance artificial intelligence, internet of things, or robotics could replace a dentist doing a filling on the [disila 00:27:41] number three?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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That goes back to your whole comment earlier one about scarcity minded people. Sure, it's going to automate some jobs. All the new technologies and advantages that we have are going to make some jobs obsolete. It's going to make some current models of the workforce unnecessary.
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But it also creates other opportunity. If you look at it from that perspective that it's just a change, and we can fight against it, we can stick our heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening, or we can figure out where it's going and get on the front edge of it and direct it. Be a part of making it a positive change and something that we want to be involved in.
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I think it's all mindset. And that's maybe something that we ... It takes a lifetime. I'm still learning. I'll always be ready to learn something new only because that's how it stays exciting and how you figure out how do you plug in and make a difference.
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Howard Farran:
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I'm going to practice until I finally build my dream office. And that's when I replace all my staff with droids. I'm going to replace with R2D2, C3PO, and I'm going to practice till that day, till I can just tell my staff, "You're all fired and you've been replaced by droids."
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I want to come see when that happens.
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Howard Farran:
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I wonder what Jan will say. I always tell people that when they say, "When are you going to retire?" And I say ... I still have my statement system for 30 years. I said, "Jan, if you ever quit, you got to tell me five minutes before you quit so I can quit first and then you quit after me." I'm going to go out whenever she leaves because the woman finishes all my sentences, she hands me stuff I don't even know I need.
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Sometimes she'll hand me an instrument and I'll look at it and I'll hand it back. Then she'll take it and smack my hand with it and that means, "Okay, dude. You're losing it. Think, think." And then I'm looking at the instrument thinking, "Oh, I do need that instrument."
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Do you know why she's that good?
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Howard Farran:
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It's what?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Do you know why she's that good?
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Howard Farran:
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Why?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Because that's the kind of people that you have brought into your practice. That's by design. It's not by default. You've designed a team that works well with you, that is intuitive and knows how you create value for your patients. It's a matter what you make it.
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Howard Farran:
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Let me go back to that. My key for when the associate's looking for a job is, back to that graduating class, they got to learn ... Take a job where you're going to learn the most important skill set. What do you think ...
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When you walk out of dental school and you're 25. What do you think she lacks the most? Is it leadership? Is it management? Is it how to do a filling, a crown, a root canal? What do you think she should be looking for in a job?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You know, it's ... The clinical dentistry is always going to be important and you've got a great basis for that when you leave dental school. But you still have to work on your speed. You still have to work on the quality of the finished procedures. That will come in time. You're not going to get that overnight.
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I think what can really set you apart more quickly than anything else is definitely developing some leadership skills and having a really solid foundation of what kind of culture do you want create. What do you want to be a part of? And when you hire a team, you're not hiring a dental assistant or an office manager, admin, or a TC. You're not hiring a role, you're hiring someone to share your vision and create this incredible experience and outcome for your patients.
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It's all tied to being able to be clear about what you want and define that vision in your practice culture and what you really love about dentistry to anyone who might want to be a part of your team. Learning how to hire the right people who bring the energy and enthusiasm and passion for dentistry and patient care is ... I can't emphasize that enough and it's something that we don't spend any time on in dental school. They're so rushed to make money and do the procedures that sometimes that's overlooked until well into their careers and they look back and realize they wasted an awful lot of time.
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Howard Farran:
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Bonnie, this 25 year old boy just graduated and they're in love themselves. They do think they're all that. They got their hair spiked and they got their mousse going and all this stuff like that and they don't even know they're not a leader yet. How do you ramp a kid up into leadership?
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Because remember when you're 25, I know you think you're all that, but you got to sell dentistry to people who are 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years old. And I can't tell you in the last 30 years how many second opinions I've done and the turn off was ... And a lot of it's old stereotypes.
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You know how many 75 year old men still come to me because there's a guy in my neighborhood that has a full beard and they just think it means you're unemployed and you're nasty and he doesn't want some grotesque beard hanging over him.
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How do you ramp a kid up to leadership? Plus when he buys that office, he's got to be a leadership maybe to the same age dental assistant, but he might have a 60 year old office manager. He might have a 75 year old consult. How do you ramp a kid up in leadership? What's the fastest way to become a leader?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are, whether you realize it or not. Being able to communicate effectively with people from different generations, it's never been important than it is now. At every stage of your career ...
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And if you think back, Howard, there's a downside and a challenge behind every stage of your career. Coming into dentistry, depending on how ... You may be super confident. You may have no confidence whatsoever. But you're going to get those comments of, "Okay. But where's the doctor cause you look like a kid? I'd like to talk to the real doctor." You get that stuff.
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You're also going to get people who don't feel comfortable because you couldn't possibly be old enough to do dentistry. They need to learn to communicate and learn how to calmly and articulately identify with a patient and help them understand that I get what you want, I understand what you're here for and I'm going to do the best I possibly can given whatever criteria or circumstances you've created in that discussion.
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Communication is the biggest. That and leadership, culture, those things are the fluffy stuff in some people's opinions. And all I can say is that's maybe more important at every stage of your career going forward than your clinical skills. That's got to be good. You've got to be good clinically, but you can't underestimate the importance of the soft skills, or the people skills.
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Howard Farran:
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I want you to put on your mom hat. Let's say you got a 25 year old daughter that just came out of dental school, which you're from Texas so it's possible. They have them young down there. I have ... Anyway. That story's too close to home.
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A lot of time their complaints are really emotionally hurt and you can tell they're emotionally traumatized because they got a job in the office, they think they're getting along with the assistant and the hygienist in the front office, but quote, "Them front office women, they keeping the patients to the old guy."
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And they try to go to lunch with them. They try to be their friend. They try to do everything and then when push comes to shove they give that toothache, that whatever to the old guy and they just feel like they're getting ... How do you get experience if you keep giving it to the old guy? What would you say to her?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I would say that life's not fair and they're not going to start referring to you overnight. You're going to have to be willing to meet people where they are and do a really good job of making sure that they understand that you are a great resource for them and someone who deserves their referrals.
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The great advantages that they have today are Google Reviews and all these different online review opportunities. It only takes one patient to rave and say, "That was the best dental experience I've ever had!" And, "Dr. Farran was so understanding of my circumstances. I felt like he heard me and understood what I needed and what I wanted."
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When people can start to see that young dentists are not ... You're interested in the best outcome for the patient and you're capable of producing them, you get more referrals. But they're not just going to pour it in droves unless you're in that ultimate pool of referral sources. Otherwise, go out there and get them yourself.
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Howard Farran:
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As far as the Google Reviews, I'll meet a 25 year old dentist out of school and she's got no reviews. I'm like, "You have nine drinking buddies. You have four sisters. You got a dozen aunts. Why can't you send an email to all your family, friends and relatives and say, 'Write me a Google review.'."
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I mean, it blows my mind. Sometimes you'll have a 60 year old dentist who's doing free dentistry on 12 different cousins, and he doesn't even have a review. It's like, "Well, at least just say no more free dentistry on the family until you all get me a review."
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Bonnie Hixson:
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It's so easy to ask for and it's so easy to make it easy for the patient's to do it that there's no excuse not to have some visible reviews out there. As far as developing those referral relationships, it takes time. You can't go in and just be a nice guy or a woman who's easy to talk to and expect them to start referring all their business. It takes time and they need to know that you're serious and in it for the long haul and not just looking for referrals. Take care of their patients too and make sure that you refer them back to place where you found them at times, depending on the situation. It'll come.
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Howard Farran:
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I really like that video you have on thepropractice.com. I think that's a really great video and it looks like you did it real well. If you email that to Ryan at dentaltown.com in like a YouTube format, we could put that on the end of this.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah, I'd love to. The video I think you're looking at is the one that ... I'll just to simplify for people. The Progressive Dentist is a couple of things. That's a great interview that we did. JoAn Majors is my colleague who developed the Pro Practice platform. And we do podcast and video interviews with people from dentistry but also in business. And then when it's a business guru or expert, we translate what that means for a practice.
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The video that you're referring to is with a psychologist. His name is Josh Packard. He talks about why it's important to develop relationships and why people won't just go to a dentist because he's got credentials out to here and has a great certificate on the wall that says he's a good dentist. People want to know that you understand them before they trust you with their care. That's a great interview and I'd be glad to send it to you so you can put-
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Howard Farran:
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Whatever video you want. I mean, you have other videos that explain your website, the magazine.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah.
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Howard Farran:
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Just any video. When you talk about other business leaders, my only stupid, really dumb and insane vice is the Arizona Cardinals football. I can't tell you how much time I waste every year watching football games. That's why I never throw anyone under a bridge who spends all their day watching Jerry Springer because at least on Jerry Springer, you know why they're all mad at each other. I have no idea why I want the Cardinals to crush the Dallas Cowboys. What do you think of Jerry Jones as a business leader?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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You know, I think he's done some great things. Whether you love him or hate him, he's made a name for himself. His players know where he stand and they know what he expects. That's hard to do for some people. Just because you're a great leader doesn't mean everybody's going to like everything you have to say or everything that you do. But they'll never question what your motivation is and what your ultimate outcome is.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. So many the young kids of 25, they're so obsessed what everyone thinks about them. That's something ... I think it's hard wired at birth that a social animal knows it has to work together. All the apes and monkeys obey the 400 pound gorilla. When you get out of line, it's supposed to make you feel bad.
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I guess the next question is do you think they're ... Take Jerry Jones. Do you think they're born leaders and that a lot of these 25 year old dentists really aren't ever going to be a leader? Or do you think you can ... Do you think you're born a leader or do you think you can learn it? Is this something you can train? I still have the same question about everything, from playing the piano to sports to whatever. Do you think you're born that way? Or do you think you can develop it?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Whether it's a franchise owner or a coach or a dentist leading a team, I think to an extent we're all born with certain levels of ability. Or maybe people are ... Some people are more wired to be great leaders or influencers. But what I can tell you is that none of the biggest gurus you'll ever either read or listen to got to be as great at what they do at inspiring and improving people's leadership skills. They didn't start out that way. They worked at it. They honed their skills. They really worked hard to create this existence in a place that they are.
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Are some people more suited to being strong leaders? Of course. Some people have personality types that are more suited to leadership. But I do believe that you can be at whatever level you're a leader. I think you can always to be better by surrounding yourself with people who can help you improve those skills.
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I also know that if you just decide that you don't want to be a leader, that it's not a role that you're comfortable in or that you feel like you can inspire to the level that you, then you need to find somebody else in the practice who can take on that role for you and work side by side with them so that the team has a clear leader in a clear direction.
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You have two choices. Either become a leader, or find someone that you trust at a level that they become that leader and fill that role. But a team can't function effectively without strong leadership.
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Howard Farran:
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A lot of these graduates ... Back to the graduating class. A lot of them ... One of their biggest complaints ... They're going to say, "Bonnie, can you believe I graduated $350,000 in debt. I didn't do one orthodontic case. I didn't do one Invisalign case." I know you've been a very big leader in the orthodontic field forever. What would you say to her if she asked you, "Do you think I should learn Invisalign?" Or, "Do you think I should learn ortho?" What would you say to her?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I would say that you need to ... Yes, you need to learn about it, depending on the type of practice that you're looking to build. I think it's important to be able to answer a patient's questions. Invisalign's a big thing. They did a great thing by creating the first major direct to consumer advertising campaign. And they were obviously insanely successful. Invisalign's a household word now. People know what it is.
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As a dental professional, whether it's the dentist or a team member, you better know what it is and how to talk about it. Whether you do it or not, it's your decision. But I would say if you decide to do it in your practice, either you need to become really, really good at it or have someone in the practice who is.
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Howard Farran:
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There are nine specialties recognized by the American Dentist Association. You live in Texas where they just had a lawsuit that said, "In the state of Texas, we don't recognize any of those specialties." And the state of Texas is right. The American Dental Association is a membership organization club. And Texas, who is the Lone Star State, and if you mess with Texas, they'll succeed from the Union. They already got their backup flag flying with the Lone Star State. And they said, "We don't recognize any of these specialties."
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And I think the local State Board of Dental Examiners are starting to get tossed around by the Supreme Court like that bleaching case in Tennessee that said, "Well, you don't want them to do bleaching at the mall because you're protecting your own economic incentive." Now all the courts from the Supreme Court to the state courts are saying, "Hey, you guys have these clubs to protect your profit margins and we're not going to play that way anymore."
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But I have to tell you the truth, and I know ... And you might not want to answer this because you have too many orthodontist friends. It seems like if you ask an endodontist, and you helped me learn endo, they would say, "Oh, yeah," because they know you're not going to be able to do any of your retreats, especially the second ones.
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You ask an oral surgeon, "Can I watch you learn how to pull a teeth," he says yes cause he knows there's a billion wisdom teeth you could never dig out. But it seems like orthodontist don't really like to share. It seems like if she goes and knocks on all the endodontists, all the oral surgeons, all the periodontists, "Can I come in on my day off on Wednesday and watch?," they'll all say yes. At least 80% will say yes. What percent of the orthodontists will say yes?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I will grant you that-
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Howard Farran:
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Or is this too close to home for you to answer?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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No. Not all. I think traditionally, you're exactly right. That specialty has been probably the least apt to share their knowledge and to help a guy out. If there are scarcity minded specialists, and hopefully they'll take this the way it's intended. Traditionally, the ortho specialty has been that specialty.
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But I do see it relaxing some. I do see people starting to realize that just because you help a general dentist out or just because you help another orthodontist out doesn't mean less for you. There's plenty to go around. And I do see people really starting to adapt that mentality more.
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We got a long way to go. But I think it's all what you said before, that you can either be the scarcity minded, "I got to keep it all to myself or they're going to take over my practice," or you can realize that there's enough to go along, or enough to go around. The more you can help people become better at what they do, the better results there are for the patients and everybody wins that way.
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Howard Farran:
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Since they're the most scarcity minded of all the specialists, by probably 20% of all the other eight specialists and 80% of all the orthodontists, it's the biggest ... Since that supply and demand, it's the biggest practice builder for orthodontists. They don't get it.
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Every time I find a young orthodontist that scales the two to four million over night, he set up a study club at his office once a month for all the dentists in ten mile drive of his office, to go over models and cases because what happens with most of dentist that get interested in ortho, it's all neat for a while. And they're like, "Man, I can make 2500 in a root canal, build up, and crown. I don't want to make $2500 over the next two years." They dabble with it. But if you're teaching me how to dabble, where do you think all my ortho referrals are going?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Exactly. I think it goes back to the ... We keep going back to this. But it centers on building those relationships. Teach them. Help them. And then when they need some help, where are they going to refer? It's going to be back to you.
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It's about creating those environments where people are comfortable asking you questions. They know that you'll offer the help. And the referrals will come back to you. Just, again, be selective in the way that you build your network and the people that you surround yourself with. If there's an orthodontist in your area that is completely against general dentists doing ortho or Invisalign or anything else and they're bound and determined they're not going to help you, then find another guy.
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That attitude is something that will transfer into the way that they communicate with their patients and their teams and everyone else. It's a toxic mentality. There's plenty of people out there that are willing and anxious to share their expertise and those are the ones that you need to find. Don't focus on the ones you can't get. Focus on the ones that are happy to help you out.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. I mean, yeah. Exactly. Another thing ... In fact, I'm also ... You keep talking about they need to develop relationships. They need to get a job that's a mentor. And find out what do they need to mentor on. Is it leadership skills? Is it running a practice? Maybe you want to be an implantologist. You want to work for some guy because he sinks 50 implants a month.
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Another thing that I'm really dead set against is I don't think the first five years out of school you're smart enough to put your crown and bridge in a box and mail it to another state or another country. You need to go to that lab. You send it to the lab. You need to go down there because the lab ... You need a mentor. And you need to see your impression in the tray box versus the other ten dental offices he's working for.
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And when I started my own office, I did something very illegal, like if it was an age discrimination. For every position, I hired the oldest person. The only one that was my age was Jan because that was the oldest dental assistant and she had been doing it for seven, eight years while I was in school for seven, eight years.
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I wasn't ... At 24, I couldn't train a hygienist so I hired one that was like 55. I got the most experienced people. You need to find a lab man in your area who's been doing it 10, 20, 30 years and go down there because the lab man is afraid of you because he knows doctors have big egos, they're all cowboy hat with no cattle, and he can't call you and tell you your impression sucks because he doesn't want to lose your account. You have to drive over there and say, "I am humble. I am hungry. I want to be better."
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Bonnie Hixson:
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And I know [inaudible 00:51:01] from you. Yeah.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. Same thing with specialists. Don't be sending people to some periodontist who doesn't let you in their office or some endodontist who won't let you in. If you're sending molars to an endodontist and he won't let you come in there and pull up a chair and be your assistant, find another one. You keep talking about making relationships, growing your networks.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah. That's at every turn. Some of the best dentists I know have those relationships with their lab techs where not only are they welcome any time in the lab, but on a big case or an important case or a difficult case, I see these lab guys show up in the practice the day that they're seating a crown, or the day that they're doing whatever the procedure is.
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The lab guy's sitting right there at the chair side so that they understand exactly what's going on, and they work that case together from start to finish. You got to have that even with the great materials that you have available to you now. Maybe it's easier to do certain things. That relationship with a really good solid lab tech is critical to the outcomes of your cases. Yeah. I couldn't agree more, Howard.
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Howard Farran:
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If she's coming out, and she wants to grow her network, why should she join, why should she subscribe to the Progressive Dentist magazine and join your network? How could she grow her network by joining your network?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Well, that's actually a great way to put it. The magazine is just the beginning of what the Progressive Dentist is. It's an introduction, basically, to a lot of industry experts and business experts that they may not have exposure to otherwise.
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Our goal with that and the whole reason that we charge a subscription is that we don't do any paid advertising in our publications. You can't pay us to say anything. You can't ... I guess that's it. You can't pay us to say anything.
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Howard Farran:
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Well, tell them the truth because some of them [inaudible 00:53:06]. But how many of these magazines they get at are office is the editorial paid for?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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A high percentage of it is. There's a lot of things out there that have great content, that get great clinical information and resources in them, but ultimately you read the editorial and woven into the message is something that someone's paid them to say. That's, again, why we-
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Howard Farran:
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What percent of the speakers are getting funded by corporate, I mean dental manufacturers?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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A high percentage.
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Howard Farran:
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You look at these speakers, you look at so many of these speakers and they don't know the story behind the story, but these people say, "Okay, we're going to rent this big space at your meeting. We're going to buy this big old booth space." And these four guys are going to speak, right?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah.
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Howard Farran:
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Does that happen or does that not happen?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Happens all the time.
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Howard Farran:
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Is that the norm, or the rare?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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It's the norm.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. That's the best question you should ask when you're at a seminar. You should just raise your hand, say, "Okay. You've mentioned this company's product 19 times. Exactly how do they pay you? I mean, are they paying you on the ram?" Get cynical. Get cynical.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I'm glad you brought that up. I'll just put this out there right now. No one pays to be in our publication, and we don't pay them to be there. They're there because they're vetted resources that we have seen these companies or products or consultants or authors or business experts, we've seen them produce great results for dentists. Are they perfect? No. But when they're not perfect, they do their very best to make it right.
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That's the reason we charge a subscription is because we're not supported by companies or our authors or contributors. It's about giving young dentists and established dentists alike a place to go to a place where it's completely genuine conversation about what's happening in dentistry and as a business owner what you need to know to run a practice. Everything that's in there is simply compiled to be resources.
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My goal through the Progressive Dentist or through the Pro Practice with JoAn Majors, or through another initiative that I'm collaborating with Dr. Jill Wade, who's on our current cover right now ... But she's got another closely titled platform called a Progressive Practice where we're all about bringing resources to dentists that you can trust and we're not paid to say anything. We're just simply putting it out there because there's no one size fits all.
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If somebody says, "Bonnie, who's the best consultant for my practice?" I got to know the back story because there's a lot of great consultants and coaches out there. But there's not a one of them that's right for everybody who asks me that question.
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Howard Farran:
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What's JoAn's name?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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JoAn Majors. With the Pro Practice, JoAn Majors is ... She's spoken in dentistry for 20 plus years, particularly on implant dentistry. I love her dearly. She is-
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Howard Farran:
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Is it one word? J-O-A-N-N-E?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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No. It's J-O, capital A-N. JoAn Majors. I'll send you-
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Howard Farran:
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J-O, capital A-N?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yep. Major.
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Howard Farran:
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Just one N or two?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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She's [inaudible 00:56:30] dentist. And she works in the practice, as well. She's got a day to day reference point. She was a dental speaker. An implant specialist before she married a dentist. Now she's married to a dentist and works with a team. She's got great perspective.
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I love working with her and I love the results that she gets. She's not a consultant, but she speaks on a one day or two day event. And we've compiled all of these different podcasts and pieces of information in the Pro Practice to give people exposure to people who can help them most. Again, the whole point is to help you build your network.
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Howard Farran:
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Last question. I can't believe we've already gone an hour.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I know.
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Howard Farran:
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What do these kids ... When I got out of school, I graduated May 11 and I opened up my office September 21st. The only reason I took that long was because the contractor ... I think he only worked three days a week on it. I mean, if you ever meet a contractor ... You need to meet as many as you can because when you die, you'll never see one again. They're all in Hell.
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A lot of them can't decide if they should buy or start one from scratch [inaudible 00:57:46]. What would you say to that kid who says, "Should I buy a old man out? Or should I just start one from scratch?" What would you say to that kid?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I would say it depends on how solid your plan is. If you know exactly what you want in a practice and feel like you have the resources and people to guide you to get it right, then by all means, start your own. People talk about you can't open a solo practice anymore, and a solo practice is dying. I don't believe that for a second. I think it's all about how you manage the opportunity.
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If Aspen Dental opened up across the street, use that to your advantage. It's a different experience. If you know how you want to be different, how you want to be unique in your community and want to go into practice, then I think you certainly can.
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If you're going to go it solo, your network's never been more important. Develop it. Call me. I'm happy to help point you in the direction of some different people who can help you develop the skills and the network that you need.
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Howard Farran:
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Okay. Well, how do they call you? How do they get ahold of you? Is it email, phone call, website? What's the best way?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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They can do whatever is easy for them. They can go to theprodentist.com and there's a contact page where they can email us. They'll get it to me. Ff it's something that they specifically say, "Hey, Bonnie. I need some help," they'll get it to me. You can email me at bonnie@theprodentist.com. Our number's on the site, as well. We're here to help establish dentists and-
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Howard Farran:
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What's your number?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Direct number is 806-392-3300. Yeah, go ahead.
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Howard Farran:
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No, I was just going to repeat it. 806-392-3300. Theprodentist.com, that's easy to remember. Bonnie, spelled the normal way, b-o-n-n-i-e. I've never seen Bonnie with a Y, have you?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I have, but she was from Colombia.
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Howard Farran:
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Oh, yeah. Bonnie@theprodentist.com. I can't believe that the hour went by that fast. I just want to tell you that we both have been in publishing. I've been a huge admirer of your work. I think you're amazing. And again, I've never met one dentist in my life that only read one magazine or went to one website. Even people think Facebook's all that. You know, when you see anybody on Facebook, they got 25 apps on their phone and they bounce from Facebook to Snapchat to Instagram to texting to email to phone. I mean, if there's 27 apps on the phone ... I'm really excited that LinkedIn ... Microsoft bought Skype.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Right.
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Howard Farran:
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And then they just bought LinkedIn. I'm hoping, I'm think that before long, when I follow you on LinkedIn, if I want to talk to you, I'll probably just be able to hit a Skype button and you can FaceTime just like an iPhone. Don't you think that's where they're going with that?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Definitely. I think we're trying to make it easier and easier to connect with each other. I agree, Howard. Like I said before, I couldn't do what I do today had you not gone first and done what you've done. [crosstalk 01:01:10].
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Howard Farran:
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You're too kind.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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No, I'm not being kind. I'm just saying that you've been inclusive and supportive along the way and I certainly appreciate that. I love what you do, as well. That's the great thing about it. Neither of us is trying to be all things to all people. There are so many people that I'll say, "Man, go to Dental Town. You'll find what you're looking for there."
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Howard Farran:
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Your buddy and partners, we podcasted, JoAn Majors, that was podcast 532 Develop Connections and Create Value With JoAn Majors.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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She's awesome.
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Howard Farran:
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Like I say, I've been a huge fan of yours. Very proud of what you work. I just want to tell the kids one thing. When she says you can join and follow all that for $167 a month, you won't do it, but you'll pay $300 for airfare to fly across the country to drop $3,000 on a course and learn something that you could have learned all on YouTube for free. My only beef with millennials is they spend money. They just spend money like they're printing it in their basement.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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But yet they'll say on educational type things they'll say, "Oh, I can find it free on YouTube." And you're right. We even talked about that at the beginning of this hour that you can find all kinds of things on YouTube. But you don't know the slant behind it and you don't know whether they're really experts or whether they're just good at producing a YouTube video. The benefit of being a part of the Progressive Dentist community or the Dental Town community is you know what you're getting.
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Howard Farran:
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I'll tell you the difference between Facebook and Dental Town. These dentists will post a YouTube video on their Facebook deal showing them do a gum graft or a gum surgery or whatever. And everybody says, "Oh, it's so beautiful. Oh, you're so great. Oh, you're so perfect," because if you say anything contrary, they unfriend you.
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Then other people will take that guy's video and on Dental Town, if you open up a thread there's a YouTube button dropped in the embed code and there's a video. And then you watch oral surgeons and periodontists just rip this stuff to shreds. And then they email me and say, "Oh, somebody's not being nice."
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On the thread, if you ... It has a report abuse button. If you think someone's being abusive, then you can click that. Then we got a bunch of [moniraries 01:03:37] look at it for free. You know what all the reports abuse are on? They didn't like what someone said. They live in a bubble.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Get over it.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Yeah. Parting piece of advice, get over yourself. [crosstalk 01:03:52].
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Howard Farran:
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Facebook is for people that want to live in a bubble. And every time they say something, everybody says, "You're Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton all wrapped up into one." And then on Dental Town they're like, "Dude, where's your throat pack? You can't use a high speed deal. You're going to get an air emphysema." And they'll just rip it to shreds. But they're just be honest.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Well, and they're trying to help. You asked for help. They're showing you what they see in areas that you need help. If you don't really want the help and just want a pat on the back, just be up front and say that's what you want. If you really want help, be open to the criticism or the advice or the conversation. I guess, on top of everything else you've got to develop a little thicker skin to be in this industry or any other right now when you've got so much access to video and instant communication. Yeah. Get over it.
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Howard Farran:
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Yeah. I get the same advice every time I ask my mom for help. She says, "Don't worry, Howie. I'll say a rosary for you tonight before I go to bed." No matter what problem I say. If I say, "Mom, I just got sentenced to 30 years in jail," she'll say, "Don't worry, Howie. I'll say a rosary for you before I go to bed." Hey, Bonnie, thanks for spending-
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Bonnie Hixson:
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[crosstalk 01:05:03], but thanks.
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Howard Farran:
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What's that?
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Bonnie Hixson:
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I said, "I'll never turn down a prayer, but I'll take any other help I can get, too."
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Howard Farran:
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Hey, thank you so much for all that you've done for dentistry, for helping so many dentists for as long you have. Thank you so much for coming on my show today and talking to my homies.
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Bonnie Hixson:
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Thank, Howard. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for all you do. And I'll look forward to seeing you somewhere soon.
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Howard Farran:
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Okay, Bonnie. Have a good day.
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