Dr. Tom has incredible story of growing up in Chicago ,having paper routes at 9 years old and growing up in the family of 6. After completing dental school, Tom joined the Navy for 5 years and then spent some time in Seattle making $31,000 a year before landing in Weatherford Texas. He recently expanded to a new building, from 2200 SF 7 ops space to a 4000 SF 12 ops stand alone building. Dr. Novak shares his life wisdom on running a practice, raising kids and building incredible family. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9-tOG_2rE0[/embedyt] Timestamps: 2:00 - from 1963 7 ops space to a stand alone building with 12 ops and awesome team 5:40 - drive and ambition 6:55 - 10251 days story 8:50 - You have now idea what to do in parenting 13:30 - Best parenting advice 21:20 - Family is a unified front 24:30 - “The goals, I don’t think if I have any….” 26:10 - How to be happy with what you have 28:10 - Simple but Powerful life advice: “Savings has always been the Payment” 30:20 - “Is this a lot of money, son?” To learn more about Dr. Tom Novak biography: https://youtu.be/egNCFjQh4yQ To learn more about Beacon Dentistry: www.beacondentistry.com
Today my guest is John Demma, COO of a very unique DSO, Light Wave Dental Management. We discuss leadership, team culture, and leading through service. John has a unique story, growing up in the family restaurant business, learning important skills early on. As John said during the interview "When it comes to leadership and management, there is nothing new under the sun" it's important to establish your decision framework, principles and guiding values to become a great leader. We go into details and examples from John career at Sleepy's (10 year career path) and National Veterinary Associates (4 years) and how the idea of Servant Leadership has led John to the current role at Light Wave. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAAYfmtQh24[/embedyt] My Takeaways: - Good people do great things - First line of team and management is the most critical part of the organization and senior level management is the least important - Empower the front line management - Principles for growth: - Self Exploration - Decision Making Framework - Values - Work life balance always comes with the question: "What are you willing to give up to achieve X" - No Foundation leads to firefighting. Strong foundation, leadership, long term planning leads to high performance - One important skills to transition from junior management to more senior is to "Learn how to Story-tell" - Walk and take calls to manage Hope you enjoy it!
Elizabeth starts at 5am everyday at the gym to start moving and prepare for any challenges the day can bring. Then the work starts at 6:30am with one of the 6 locations at River Run dental. Her job role is a Clinical director, but she wears many hats to help achieve the goals. We spend a good amount of time discussing goals, and how to find a dental practice that has goals and focused on growth. Elizabeth shares her simple questions to identify the right practice for yourself. Know what you are looking for and find the practice that can help you get there. We talked a little about early days of the pandemic in 2020 and how Zen was able to help River Run during PPE shortages.
The bad news is that our industry has been and will be fundamentally and permanently changed because of the pandemic. A lot of the changes affecting processes, procedures and protocols (especially as they relate to PPE’s) will probably remain. One guarantee therefore, is that things will not be going back to “the way they were”. The good news for everyone is that a vaccine is being rolled out. The good news for employers is that the FFCRA has expired (as of 12/31/2020), which means one less thing to have to administer and manage. The good news for most practices is that they have successfully navigated the COVID crisis and survived! What’s that all mean? It means we are getting closer to some sense of new normalcy and with the crisis abating, now is the time to proactively change hats from crisis management (back) to leadership. Nowhere is leadership more important than with employees. Business success is almost always related to people success—your “Human Resource”. You can’t do it alone (as much as you might wish you could some days!). The foundation for people success is leadership. To build long-term organizational success, leaders must spend more time focusing on people and outcomes, not just surviving or results. One starting place is to take a serious look at these questions: What kind of employer are you? What Is your reputation as an employer/boss/leader? Is your practice/business one where people want to come to work? Would you work for you? A lot of marketing time, attention and money is spent on getting positive Google and/or Facebook reviews. But what would your Google or Facebook reviews be of you as an employer? Positive? Negative? Mediocre? Cheap? Supportive? Caring? The difficulties you may have finding, hiring or retaining employees are indicators of your reputation as an employer/boss/leader. Many practices and businesses don’t or haven’t had problems in the recruiting, hiring and re-employment process. Why? Because those practices and businesses have reputations as good places to work. This is a result of leadership that truly embraces the “human” in human resources. For these practices and businesses, employees are not an expense; employees are rather a resource to be truly valued and supported. Today, many practices are asking: “where have all the good employees gone?” Our economy goes through cycles where there are lots of quality employees available and times where there are not. We are clearly now in a time where there are not, and the reasons are many. Due to the pandemic, many former dental employees have changed careers, others have retired or decided to permanently stay home for childcare or schooling reasons. Whenever there is a tight labor market, employers look for some type of “magic bullet” for finding and hiring employees (the proverbial needle in the haystack). Sorry to inform you, but there is no magic bullet for that. There is a magic bullet though that can make a difference and help. That magic bullet is focusing on principles that lead to long term retention of your existing employees. Long term retention of quality employees is the holy grail of leadership. Leaders understand that turnover is a killer. Turnover impacts time, revenue, overhead, profits, performance, consistency and quality of service. The costs of turnover are insidious. There is an emotional toll, as well as a financial toll. The stress and impact on morale is a significant emotional toll. Financially, the costs of recruiting, the time reading resumes, screening applicants, interviewing, plus the costs for reference checking, skills assessments and background checking all add up. And then there is the financial impact of how long it takes for the new person to be fully up-to-speed. Ouch! Leadership’s goal is modeling and leading in ways that engages, appreciates, recognizes and supports employees, that results in performance and long-term retention, i.e., little to no turnover. Notice how you solve the problem, by eliminating the problem. Creating and fostering a safe and trusting work environment is another hallmark of people leadership. Trust is the life blood of any relationship and is a pre-condition for all teams. This is created by respectful and trustworthy behavior, which reduces mistrust, fear and insecurity. It is impossible for even the best of employees to thrive when the work environment is one of mistrust, fear and insecurity. This also requires communication because in the absence of communication: People will assume the negative; you don’t like them or didn’t like what they did Will be less likely to seek out assignments or tasks or offer ideas in the future If asked or assigned in the future, the effort won’t be 100% -- why bother? Confidence and engagement will go down Everyone “says” they’d like their turnover to be lower. But ironically most don’t invest time and energy in efforts that can directly lower turnover, i.e., people leadership principles. Turnover is otherwise accepted as a given. What do employees want? In answer to that question, many employers say: “money, all employees care about is money!” Yet study after study shows that that is not the case. Things like: Ethically sound business principles and quality healthcare. A consistent and fair management style. Policies that are friendly, frank, fair and firm. A pleasant and harmonious work environment-minimal stress. Adequate facility, instruments, tools, equipment and supplies. A competent and compatible staff/team. Assistance in learning: communication, decisions and initiative. Clearly defined job responsibilities. Recognition: acknowledgement contribution and appreciation. All rank higher than money in most surveys in the dental industry. Note how not only don’t these cost you money, they truly represent the embodiment of good people leadership. As we begin moving beyond the COVID pandemic, the level of success you experience will hinge in large part on your leadership. Leadership that is people and employee centric, i.e., “people leadership”. Where there is a strong commitment to create a safe and trusting work environment, built on communication and truly putting the “human” in human resources. Want to reduce your turnover through retention of your quality employees? Let me leave you with this “to-do” list to get the ball rolling: Become a better leader Give people the benefit of the doubt Approach employee absences (particularly due to childcare or school closures) with a positive problem-solving attitude Show appreciation Provide recognition Thank your team every day for being there Communicate, communicate, communicate Train, support, train, support Create a safer and more trusting work environment Seriously, become a better leader; most of the time your employees are not the problem, it is your leadership, don't take it out on them The end result will be less stress, less turnover, longer term retention of quality employees, a happier work environment, and greater financial rewards for everyone—now that’s a winning combination. -Tim Twigg Tim Twigg is the President and co-owner of Bent Ericksen & Associates. Bent Ericksen & Associates is the leading authority in human resources and personnel management in the healthcare industry, helping dentists successfully deal with the ever-changing and complex labor laws.
As we enter into a new era in the dental world, there are many changes that are happening. There is still a lot of uncertainty on what is to come. This can work both for us, and against us at the same time. We are seeing practices that are having a hard time getting their team to come back, and on the other hand, practices taking this time to slow down, and evaluate the flow of the office. So how do we move forward with what we have? Having this time off has been a great time to look at our team, where are we doing well, and where could we improve? In a sense, going back to basics. Let’s start by discussing “Titles” within the office. I like to use this term loosely because sometimes when we add titles to positions, we get a shift in responsibility. Let’s talk about how to organize the team, in order to maximize what we have! Positions in an everyday office include, Dentist, Hygienist, Assistant, Treatment Coordinator, Scheduling Coordinator, and an office leader. Sometimes the leader is the doctor, and sometimes the leader is a manager, or Business Lead. We all know the best way to get nothing accomplished, is to assign a task to multiple people :) How do we break down the positions, and hold our team accountable? Ultimately the scheduling coordinator is responsible for the schedule, and the treatment coordinator is responsible for presenting treatment plans. IF you are unsure of who belongs in what position have the team brainstorm the tasks they complete and decide if this should be under “Scheduling Coordinator” or “Treatment Coordinator”. Keep in mind this isn’t meant to be set in stone. This may change over time, based on what works and what isn’t working. Step 1: Start by setting up a meeting with the team, and have them write out their daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Here we don’t need to be super specific, just the tasks that are done, and when. What we are doing is…...building the positions in the office!! YES! Your TEAM is going to build their “Job Description”, “Checklists”, and “Objectives”, which will ultimately lead to our “training manual”. Again, our team will participate in what they help create! YAYY!! Just think, how many times have we hired a team member, and put them in the back (or front) without ANY direction? (We have all been there!) Step 2: Now is the perfect time to decide WHEN each team member should be able to complete that task, given their position. Go through and label each task as 1 (meaning they should be able to complete that task in 1 month), 2 (within 2 months), and 3 (within 3 months) of hire date. This will make training SO much easier! Now we can organize this list into our 30, 60, and 90 day objectives! You now have a layout for your next new hire!! Step 3: Have them write out 2-3 sentences explaining how to do each task. (IF this needs more explanation, we can build on that later). Step 4: The doctor, or Office Manager can now compile the job descriptions, checklists (daily, weekly, monthly), 30, 60, 90 day objectives and breakdowns of each task to be completed! The best part...THEY created it!. GREAT JOB! You are one step closer to maximizing your team! Within this simple 1-2 hour meeting you have created accountability within each position, with the help of your team. YOU are no longer the doctor wondering how you can get your team on board to do things YOU created for them. THEY are creating their own positions! Don’t forget to add lunch in there and maybe a fun team activity:) So just because we have downtime, and our teams are changing, some downsizing, it doesn’t have to be a time to panic. By organizing your team, and responsibilities in the office, you are able to maximize what you DO have. It also will create a better dynamic within the whole office. It may seem overboard at first, but I PROMISE you are doing more with less. ~Kellie Black, RDH Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion and research of the writer and doesn’t reflect the opinions of ZenSupplies.
WHEW! Have you taken some time to really think about all that has changed over the last 6 months? What a whirlwind! Every position in the office has been affected by this. Some have lower exposure risk, and some have very high exposure risks. But one thing remains consistent: The unspoken fear of what the future holds for dentistry. So many I have reached out to have one main question in mind, “Is this going to be our NEW normal?” Let's talk about what our new normal looks like and spend time thinking about our overall goal in the practice, and what we want to provide to our patients. This, of course, happens to be the main subject being brought up by every single office. As you know, most offices have run into some sort of an issue obtaining the proper PPE. Pre-Covid we were able to wear our scrubs, lab jacket, mask, and goggles. Now we find ourselves with N95, face shields, proper air flow systems, and lots of disinfectants we didn’t even know existed. Is this a bad thing? Were we too lax before? I do see the new standards sticking around for PPE. When you relate it to the goal, safety for all, taking infection control measures SHOULD be a serious topic. Not only is this keeping us safer, but our family, and patients, and our community. As healthcare providers, we have really had to step up, and do what is right for all. Great job all! As part of our protocol, we are pre-screening patients before they come in, to determine their exposure risk. Whether it's the Coronavirus, or another virus, it is always a good idea to do a thorough questionnaire on our patients prior to entering. Since we have already built this into our daily flow, should this become a permanent addition to our everyday practice? Temperature Checks It is recommended for all offices to document employee and patients temperature, prior to entering a dental office. There are a variety of ways we have seen these done, but one thing that remains constant is every patient, every time. Let's think about how this affects us as a dental professional. We know this virus is contagious, as are all viruses and bacterial infections, so keeping the temperature check as part of our daily routine may not be a bad idea. During any time, if a patient comes to the office with a temperature over 100, it may be okay to kindly ask to reschedule their appointment. After all, our overall goal is nothing short of providing excellent care to our patients, while keeping our teams and our patients safe. For me, this is a keeper:) Condensed Waiting Room Before the pandemic, we had a reception area full of families waiting for their appointment. Now, we are either still closed inside, or have very minimal seats, all spaced apart. Although we are not promoting “togetherness”, or “meeting thy neighbor”, we are promoting safety. Patients want to know they are safe. Will this stay around forever? We can continue the option of texting in, or phoning in when we arrive for an appointment, or have the option to wait in the reception area. For me, this is a no go:) Maintaining an AWESOME Patient Experience Has anyone missed the nice firm handshake when the patient arrives? To some extent, we have lost some personalization in the mix. The patient experience is always top priority so finding ways to maintain this during a pandemic can be challenging. We always want to make a good first impression to our patients so finding alternatives is key. A smile is a great way to make a good first impression. Being authentic, introducing yourself, being grateful, making eye contact, and acknowledging the patient in a positive way WILL leave a lasting impression! On another note, taking this time to reorganize your office has been instrumental in moving forward. The rise in outside dental ad ons has really seen an impact. We have seen many not return to the office, causing inefficiencies in the day to day tasks. Therefore, teams have been reaching out to 3rd parties to fill those voids. I do believe this is going to continue long term for the dental community. Call centers, and outside billing companies have seen a major increase this year. With all outside sourcing comes expectations. Setting up the services, and understanding expectations of outcomes, these sources can provide additional, needed support for your practice. All in all, the new standards may stick around for longer than we would like. The further we get down the road, the more these become our new “normal”. I send praise out to everyone in the dental community that has kept a positive attitude, while embracing all of these changes. None of this has been easy, and it may continue into a normal, so KUDOS to all who have made a difference in our world! Not only are you embracing it, but you are picking up, and moving forward to be the best practice you can be! ~Kellie Black, RDH Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion and research of the writer and doesn’t reflect the opinions of ZenSupplies.
Who likes to get up in the morning and DREAD going into the office? How many of us work for fun? (Being honest, MOST of us have to work)! So, how can we make this a great place to be? How can we make our teams feel secure, appreciated, and that each and every one of them MATTER? Over the years, as generations change, and studies are completed regarding mostly women in the workplace, we find that women don’t care about the money as much as we think they would. Their focus is more on feeling fulfilled As long as a team member understands their responsibilities in the office (See previous blog about creating checklists) Repetitive position- Show appreciation In order to support our team it is SO important to show them you care. Most offices consist of 12 or fewer team members, which can be so EASY to appreciate. We want to steer clear of making them feel like “just a number” or “just a warm body”. So how can we show them we appreciate what they do for the team, the office, and the patients? Bonus/Incentive-Offering an incentive or a bonus system is a way to show your team you care. If the team goes above and beyond, honor that. Praise, Praise, Praise!-Let them know how WONDERFUL they really are!! Recognize any team member that steps out of their role and does something special for a patient or a team member. We know how much you do appreciate them, so why not show it? Family leave benefits Being in a small office doesn’t mandate (In most states) that you have to offer any benefits for a team member that leaves for an absence, or a maternity leave. It can be difficult for an office to offer full family leave benefits when a team member is out of work for an extended period of time. So we can’t put the team out because we are losing one temporarily. So what can we do? Weekly Allowance- What about offering a small amount for a weekly pay? Maybe enough to cover groceries, or uncounted for baby supplies. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount. Anything you offer will show that you care, and that you would like them to return back to you. For the good of both parties, offer them to come back 1-2 days for the first few weeks, before coming back full time. Let them know you care:) Flexible work environments Most people today are looking for somewhat of a flexible schedule, or at least know they have the option when a particular time arises. Team members want flexibility. (One reason we lose team members over time). Are you too caught up on policy? Are you offering early outs, or days off to meet family needs, outside of vacation time? What could that look like to you? It can be hard to manage this in an office to make sure it doesn’t get taken advantage of, but it IS possible. Set deadlines, know how long they need to leave early on Tuesdays, and make it clear to the team. But get comfortable with saying no, when it can become a burden to the team. Early outs- Ask why? How long, and mark it on the calendar. Communicate it to the team and how we can make up for that extra hour of time. Rotated schedules-If you work every saturday, are you rotating your team so they can have a 2 day weekend every now and then? Stay Interviews Just as important as initial interview, and performance evaluations, are “Stay” interviews. We want them to stay, right?! How can we ensure that we are on the same page with them, and they are happy in their position. We conduct annual, or semi-annual interviews! It’s hard to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday, but connecting with your team and be very beneficial in the long run. You may find out some really great, quality information from them, and had you not sat with them, you wouldn’t have known!! Stay Interview-Ask your team what they LOVE about the office? What makes them come to work everyday? Also dive into what they would change if given the opportunity, and listen. You may find that they have some SUPER awesome ideas! This also opens up communication with your team, and they feel heard. Goals-Ask them where they want to be in a year? It may be the same place, and it may be somewhere you never would have guessed. They may be returning to school, in which you had no previous knowledge. They may be interested in another role in the office, and you may just be looking for that position to fill in the short future. My point is really to connect with them, building trust and open communication. Have fun! What are you doing for fun with your team? Are you sitting down once a week and having lunch with them? Engaging in conversations weekly? Do you know about their family, their kids names? Birthdays? Some of these things seem so easy to do, yet we steer clear of them in order to keep the office “professional”. You can still be professional, AND be involved:) Team Dinner-Set up a team dinner once a year, outside of the holiday, just for fun:) Community event-This can be inside or outside the office. Better yet, let that super excited, high energy dental assistant lead the project! She will LOVE it! Local Sports game-Go to a local sports game and invite the family. You can contact the company and ask about group pricing. Social hour-Have an after work social hour. Keep it 1-2 hours. Enough time to chat, eat, and be social:) CE-Go to a CE with the team, or host one right in your community with local offices. Bring in some education. Its a great time to learn, eat, and be social:) Read “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace” as a team-Set up some lunch hours and talk about this book. Either chapter by chapter, or as a whole. Write down appreciation languages for the team to see. This is so FUN! Getting to know what makes them tick is a really good way to show your appreciation! Do a drawing-Be creative! Whether its for accomplishments in the office, going above and beyond, or just because you appreciate them! Talk about it in the huddle and acknowledge them. Offer some swag- This doesn’t have to be done from above. Again, find that AWESOME team member that you know from the “stay” interview would like to be more involved. Ask her to work with a local company and design some cute winter hats, or workout shirts. Give them away. Maybe down the road you can even include patients with the swag? :) Maximize your team Now that we talked about our “Stay” interviews, and how to show appreciation, are you able to utilize the information you have? Maybe you found that your team member really isn’t fulfilled in her position and would like other a different opportunity within the office? Is that position available? Can we talk about a timeline? Maybe begin some slow training so when the position is available, she/he will be ready. Are they on the right seat on the bus? You may find they would like to take on more. We NEED that. Our roles are so heavy, take advantage of that opportunity. Be open to listening-Maybe they would like to be a leadership role. Can you offer that? This could be a good time to enter them into some outside leadership, or even management, training. Also, a good time to have them shadow your office manager and see if they would even be a fit for the role. Offer opportunities where/when available- try not to overlook your team when an opening arises. This goes for any size office. Offer your team the open position before you post it publicly. (Please reach out if you have questions regarding this in more detail). I hope you find this information helpful. If you can take one tidbit of information and use it in your practice, you are WINNING. It will show with your team, and with your patients. During times like this it is even more important to show appreciation and care than ever. Our team members can be down, and scared with all of the unknowns. There is no I in team, and no one is successful alone. Find ways to be productive, positive, and enjoy every day! Be the leader, and the boss your team is looking for:) Kellie Black, RDH Kelliemac5@gmail.com Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion and research of the writer and doesn’t reflect the opinions of ZenSupplies.
Are you struggling to keep up? YOU are not alone. There are more dentists than not having a hard time staffing for the surge of patients, especially hygiene. In this blog let's discuss some tips on how we can get GREAT team members in the door. Let's start with the ad. What does your ad look like? This is NOT as easy as you may think, and can determine what kind of people you are attracting. Starting with the title. Really look at it from the outsiders perspective. When someone reads this, will they want to open the post, or keep scrolling? Is it appealing? Attractive? Fun? Or is it boring, mundane, and like every other job posting right now? Make it stick out!! WE have an awesome team, so show it off!!! Appeal to the audience you are trying to attract! Is your first paragraph just explaining the job, or is it pulling the prospect in? Does it grab their attention? Are you focusing on the great qualities of your practice that make it unique? What do you have to offer that sets you apart? We all know there is nothing worse than a boring ad. As much as the title sounds amazing, we go to the next job because it just seems BORING! (Again, we have all been there:) ) Before you post the ad, ask for feedback. Send it to your team, and ask them, would you apply for this job? Any recommendations? How can we make it stick out? Are we offering a sign on bonus? Can we ask our team and create an internal referral bonus? (Feel free to email me for ideas on this!) When team members are given an incentive, they are MORE likely to participate and bring on like minded team members. Think about staggering this over six months to a year to extend the payments. A few tips for writing an ad: Make the title stick out Talk about your practice. Share your vision and/or mission. People want to work for an office that they can relate to. How do you stand out? What makes you unique? Be specific in what you are looking for in order to weed out extra candidates. Keep it organized, simple, and EASY! I think it's important to remember that we are all in the same boat, trying to add to our team. If you want quality team members who are engaged, energetic, and motivated, you may have to up the ante. If you settle to pay what the doctor down the street is paying, there is no strong incentive to bring new people in. Engage on social media! This is HUGE! Find someone in the office who is awesome at posting and hand the task to them! (With a little incentive:) ). Show your team off! Engage in a community event or two and show off what you are doing. You can even hire a company to do this for you, although amping it up can be done by the team! SHARE your posts! Show off the AWESOME things you do in the office. Hold a team event a few times a year (dinner, sports game, laser tag, spa day). We know you all have fun, and take excellent care of your patients, so let the world know!! People will WANT to join your team organically! If you are looking for a part-time team member, don’t be afraid to post for a temp.This helps to get some faces in the door and see how it goes. If you like them, offer them a permanent position. NO strings attached here. It actually can be very effective:) Lastly, where are you posting your ads? Take a minute to do a job search yourself. There are several places you can post the opening. Some I have used are Indeed, Dental Post, I Hire Dental, Zip Recruiter, Simply hired and craigslist. It seems as if different areas are more successful on different sites, so ask around. Ask what your fellow dentists in the area are using. Don’t be afraid to pay a fee for a posting. Again, if you want qualified team members, you have to put it out there. Post on social media and SHARE SHARE SHARE! Just some of my previous experience, mixed in with today's experiences on getting good team members in the door. Ask applicants that you do not hire, that you thought could be a good fit, if you may hold onto their resume. Building a bank of great team members will set you up for success. Always have options in case something doesn’t work out, or when you are expanding your team. Another way to bring in good people is to give your team business cards they can pass out. If you are out in public, and you meet someone you think would be a good fit, offer them a card. You NEVER know when you will meet the perfect person! I have provided a sample ad for a dental hygienist below!! Dental Hygienist Ad: Our growing team is seeking a motivated, professional Dental Hygienist who is committed to providing excellent, quality dental care to our patients. Our core values are centered around patient care, community involvement, and family promoted culture. As a growing office, we are looking for hygienists that are ready to take their career to the next level. If you are looking for a career change, where you can fully utilize your clinical abilities, please send your resume to:. Responsibilities include: Providing comprehensive dental hygiene services to patients Sterilization of dental instruments Proficient using current infection controls techniques Knowledge and understanding of periodontal disease Charting measurements for diagnosis with the Dentist Education Current License in the State of Illinois Minimum of an Associate’s Degree in Dental Hygiene Current CPR Certification Additional Benefits Free dental services 401(K) retirement plan Family and Team oriented events Vacation benefits Study Club Membership Continuing education offered throughout the year Volunteer Opportunities *Salary based off experience ~Kellie Black, RDH Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion and research of the writer and doesn’t reflect the opinions of ZenSupplies.
Dear ZenFamily, Happy Monday to all! We hope everyone had a fun holiday weekend. As we jump into another busy week, we’d like to share a recap of live events and webinars for last week (the week of June 29) as well as some exciting live events that we have planned for the week of July 6. So here goes! On Wednesday, July 1st Tiger hosted a live event on the Importance of Supporting US Based Manufacturers with Jen Guarino, CEO of ISAIC. Since Independence Day was last weekend, we decided to host a webinar on the importance of supporting US based manufacturers. There are a lot of discussions on US made products. Some were surprised with "why we don't make masks anymore" and "Why US made PPE is as expensive as from outside of the US". These and many more questions Tiger addressed with Jennifer Guarino, CEO of ISAIC (Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center), a fashion non-profit that changed their direction to making Gowns and Masks during the pandemic. Please check out ISAIC (Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center) here: www.isaic.org Here is the full webinar: https://youtu.be/ykI5AdTaiYY And here is the podcast: https://share.transistor.fm/s/bd2dd1a1 Since the Friday supply availability event fell 7/3 on Independence Day (observed) this week, we will be hosting our next 15 minute supply availability live event on Friday, July 10. For the week of July 6, we have planned the following events: Thursday, July 9 at 11 am CST Tiger will host a live event on How to use the new search? We listened to and noted all of the feedback from the 6/11 webinar and went to work. It is improved, it is smarter and hopefully easier to use. During this live webinar Tiger will share how to use the updated version of the search and reveal what we are working on next, as we call it "Search phase 2". Please join us for this live discussion and we will be inviting attendees to join, so please make sure your mic and camera is working! This event is only for Zen members. The benefit of the LIVE Webinar is that we will be able to answer YOUR questions during this time. So please join us at 11 am CST on Thursday 7/9! All you have to do is login to your Zen account, 2. And of course, per our new Friday tradition, on Friday, July 10th at 11 am CST, Tiger will host a 15 Minute Supply Availability Update with a Special Guest. Everyone is beyond ready to get back to work in a safe environment. The ZenTeam is spending countless hours every week doing due diligence, learning about FDA approvals, learning about product shortages, and sourcing new vendors. In addition, the landscape of the supply chain is constantly changing and so are the prices of PPE products. Therefore, Tiger will host a 15 min live event EVERY Friday at 11 am CST to go over what we learn during the week. We will share EVERYTHING-good, bad and what to prepare for.Simply login to your ZenSupplies account and join us there for all live events! Thank you to all for participating in our live events and we look forward to seeing everyone during this week’s webinars!
Happy Monday to all! As everyone starts out another busy week, I’d like to provide a recap of the live events and webinars we’ve had at Zen this past week as well as some exciting live events that we have planned for the week of June 22! On Friday, June 19th, Tiger hosted an Inventory Workshop. As offices begin to reopen, we have all been thinking about our inventory and staying as organized as possible during these busy times. So we took it to the next level and Tiger reviewed what brings you JOY the Marie Kondo style within a dental office! Here is where you can find the full webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn_0AJOfmsA&t=2557s Our very first Article on Installing Tip out Bins: https://www.zensupplies.com/blog/ready-set-get-your-dental-supplies-organized-with-tip-out-bins/ Our First Webinar on Inventory and Ordering: https://www.zensupplies.com/blog/dental-inventory-makeover-webinar/ And on Friday, 6/19 at 11 am CST, we started a new tradition with a "15 min Friday Supply Availability Update" for Zen Offices that is hosted by Tiger! Please join us Every Friday at 11am Central for a live update on what is going on on the market and availability of dental supplies. All you have to do is login to your Zen account, app.ZenSupplies.com For the week of June 22, we have planned the following events: On Thursday, June 25th at 11 am CST, we invited Tim Twigg to discuss with Tiger the Post COVID Hiring Challenges and PPP Forgiveness Update (1 HR CE). For many dental offices across the country it's been really challenging to bring the team back, adjust the schedules to the new guidelines and hire new team members. Also new guidelines for the PPP loan forgiveness were just announced. Therefore, we are extremely grateful to have Tim back on the live webinar to cover these and more HR related questions and challenges. To join the webinar, please follow this link: And of course, per our new Friday tradition, on Friday, June 12th at 11 am CST, Tiger will host a 15 minute supply availability update. Everyone is beyond ready to get back to work in a safe environment. The ZenTeam is spending countless hours every week doing due diligence, learning about FDA approvals, learning about product shortages, and sourcing new vendors. In addition, the landscape of the supply chain is constantly changing and so are the prices of PPE products. Therefore, Tiger will host a 15 min live event EVERY Friday at 11 am CST to go over what we learn during the week. We will share EVERYTHING-good, bad and what to prepare for. Simply login to your ZenSupplies account and join us there for all live events! Thank you to all for participating in our live events and we look forward to seeing everyone during this week’s webinars!
Dear ZenFamily, Thank you to all for participating in our live events and webinars this week! We had two live webinars with four awesome guests! Dr. Brett Gilbert joined Tiger on Monday 4/27 and they discussed why change is crucial for self development as well as the importance of a positive mindset. This webinar was eligible for 1 CE credit hour. To find more information on how to obtain your CE certificate, please check the notes section under these two webinars in your Zen account. On Friday 5/1 we had a dental assistants webinar, where Iryna, our ZenTeam member was joined by Julie, Ronda and John to discuss the potential side hustles for dental assistants! Here is a recap of what we talked about: Monday, April 27: We invited Dr. Brett Gilbert, an endodontist in Chicago, who has built a following on a simple message of accepting life challenges with a positive mindset. Dr. Brett and Tiger met at the Yoga workshop last December, hosted by The Dental Yogis, and since then we became good friends. During the webinar, we discussed what it means to have a positive mindset and stay optimistic during the time of uncertainty, why Dr. Brett started practicing yoga and steps you need to convert your passion into a creative and productive goal. Here is where you can find the full webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFHd7pRf0_M https://open.spotify.com/episode/7KgPZaQwmw0FKZw7KaVk44 Friday, May 1: After such a wonderful webinar with Julie Varney and Ronda Holman on 4/6, we invited them again to share some thoughts and ideas with us on side hustles for dental assistants! Julie and Ronda will joined Iryna, our ZenTeam member, and they went over lots of cool ideas on the matter! In addition, John from Dental Assistants Worldwide joined them to share what his side hustle is all about! We discussed various side hustles that assistants can discover for themselves and how to stay busy with your side hustle during quarantine. We also touched on ideas for expanding the dental assistants skill set and how to prepare for reopening your office! Please find the full webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLW_NZ66IoA https://open.spotify.com/episode/1QkkCMRlqEP75jJatbbxqF During each webinar, we covered numerous topics on surviving through COVID-19 and staying strong during the times of the unknown! There were quite a few awesome book recommendations that Dr. Gilbert mentioned so please find them here: 1. The Power of Now - Eckhardt Tolle 2. The Law of Attraction - Michael Losier 3. The Power of Intention - Wayne Dyer 4. The Five Second Rule - Mel Robbins 5. The Gifts of Imperfection - Brene Brown 6. Mans Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankel Here are the details on the two webinars coming up for the week of 5/4: Monday, 5/4 at 2 pm CST: Don't be Moody on Monday with Dr. Justin Moody https://app.livewebinar.com/121-694-682 Wednesday, 5/6 at 3 pm CST: Water Line Treatment Prior to Reopening with Mary Govoni, Mike Rust and Kelly (1 CE Hour) https://livewebinar.com/432-284-224 We hope everyone is enjoying the live events! Stronger together!
Dear ZenFamily, We had another phenomenal week full of exciting and informative live events! We invited 7 fabulous speakers to the live webinars who all shared lots of useful information for our members. Here is a recap of what happened: Monday, April 13: Tiger was joined by a dear friend, Vivek Kinra, co-owner/CEO of PPO Profits; co-owner/CEO of Verrific, and Zen Member (VIP Dental Lounge). On this live event, we discussed how to keep working on insurance and prepare yourself for seeing patients. We covered how to collect insurance claims during downtime, insurance work from home options during quarantine, how to collect 30K in insurance claims from home and how insurance pre-denials put the patient on hold. https://youtu.be/_HclUwqMZR0 https://open.spotify.com/episode/7IKoOCwVaX6RwEA8sgNCnp Wednesday, April 15: Iryna, our ZenTeam member, was joined by dental assistants from Zen Offices and they shared how their inventory and ordering processes happen! We invited Andrea from Sullivan Dental Partners in Nashville, TN, Brittany from Castle Peak Dental in CO, as well as Shelby, RDH from Southwest Nebraska Dental Center in McCook, NE and the ladies shared with us how they stay organized when it comes to managing their office's inventory. https://youtu.be/qu1M85y9ZNE https://open.spotify.com/episode/2QfzUrApVqmQNxaiMOcEI1 Friday, April 17: Since many of us have been wondering what the coronavirus situation is like for other countries, especially for dental practices, we invited Emilie from France and Dr. Nic Anderson from New Zealand to share what's been happening in their home countries. Emilie and Dr. Anderson were joined by Tiger and they discussed the following: what the coronavirus situation is like in each country, whether dental practices are open in their country or not, everyone’s outlook on COVID-19, and how to look at the bright side of the coronavirus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPuoQPgR5tA https://open.spotify.com/episode/46jsQYlvt1UXsy9ux861iw During each webinar, we covered numerous topics on surviving through COVID-19 and staying strong during the times of the unknown! There were quite a few interesting resources, books and recommendations made during each webinar so I’d like to share them with everyone here: 4/13 Live: Vivek Kinra on Collecting 30K in Insurance from Home: -CAQH: https://www.caqh.org/solutions/enrollhub 4/15 Live: Zen Offices Share their Inventory and Ordering Process: -3D Printing: Michael Scherer has an online course and 3d dentists is also starting a course this fall: www.michaelschererdmd.com/courses/ -Tip out Bins: https://simplastics.com/ And here are the details for the upcoming live events for the week of April 20th: 4/20 Live 2 pm CST: The HR Conversation with Tim Twigg (CE) https://app.livewebinar.com/626-143-007 4/22 Live 2 pm CST: Guidelines on How We Are Going to Protect Our Patients, Our Staff, and Ourselves. Understanding the Purchasing Constraints of PPE (CE) https://app.livewebinar.com/669-227-847 4/24 Live 2 pm CST: Dental Assistants Share Their Side Hustles https://app.livewebinar.com/982-547-546 We hope everyone is enjoying the live events!
(This letter was adjusted for public view, therefore financial and personal information has been removed) Dear ZenFamily, A few weeks ago I had a feeling this could be something serious, but honestly, I couldn’t even foresee the magnitude of the COVID19 virus. First and foremost, we hope that you are all safe and protect yourself during these tough times! My team and I got together over the weekend to plan “what could happen” since the last thing I want is to sit by the sidelines and watch how this unfolds. My message to the team was, “What can we do to help our offices to go through tough times? What is our unique position or what value can we bring?” As a small business that is fully funded by our user’s subscriptions (please see "Our Zen" section for more info on how are we bootstrapping), we are too concerned about what can happen, what if…. and so much more... So we had 2 choices: Think from a scarcity mindset of fear and uncertainty, with what could happen, etc… Think and ACT from a positive mindset. From a place of love and empathy :) If you know me and our team at Zen, we only operate from a positive mindset, so the answer is naturally - think and ACT WITH POSITIVE MINDSET. I truly believe we can get through this together. As a small business working with other small businesses we can help and bring value to each other. And, If the virus brings us down, at least we all go down together! Therefore, we decided to change attitudes, priorities, and think as we are in your shoes. Here is what we are planning to do in the next 2 weeks: We introduce the COVID-19 Resource Page that is available on top of the screen when you log in to Zen. The purpose of the page is: Provide most accurate/up to date information on product availability/ distributors limitations and provide easy access to add these products to the shopping cart Provide Access to Educational material, live webinars on subjects related to COVID19 virus and how to manage all infection control related issues Build a library of Trusted Sources of information related to COVID-19 and current developments. Lower Monthly SUBSCRIPTIONS to $****/month. As a small business, we know managing cash will be tough and if your current subscription is higher than $****/month we will apply promo codes starting Tuesday 3/17. We will bring it back once things settle. We will be shifting our limited resources from currently nonessential tasks (example updating free goods/manual client prices/nonessential distributors tracking numbers and ETAs) to researching distributors and providing the most accurate information that has high demand products in stock. Also, our team will be able to create new accounts for you with vendors if you never worked with them. Customer Support will continue working uninterrupted, Anastasia, Karina, and Iryna will be answering chats and phone calls. Anything related to orders/products/ where to source products in high demand you can chat/call and ask our team. Our Infrustruce is reliable and we do not expect any interruptions. All of our servers are located on AWS (amazon web services) and as long as AWS is working we should be able to operate as well :) We are planning to shift few things around to try to lower our infrastructure cost for the time being, but none of it should affect your experience using Zen. Price Comparison and Checkout Page optimization for product availability and shipping/delivery times. The last one is sort of strange, and I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way. If any of your offices are being shut down (or if it becomes required) and you have time to help us, we have work to do during this time (and it’s all online/remote): Sales Demo - we would love your help with getting new people on board Help us with Dental Catalogs by reviewing products Help with weekly brainstorming sessions What else can we do together? Please send me any ideas you might have and I promise to execute on them! Sincerely and with you through tough times, Tiger and Zen Team CEO, ZenSupplies Inc.
It's one of the older interviews (from 2017) but still holds so much value. If you haven't watched, listened, please invest 22 min of your life to hear this. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxtUxIRSrtY[/embedyt] I will do injustice trying to write a short bio on my friend Dr. Dave Maloley, DDS. Just give it a listen. Recording in Vail, Colorado with Dr. Dave Maloley. Born in Omaha, Nebraska growing up in a very hard working family and not knowing anything except books. The first book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, helped Dr. Dave to push himself to a dental school, spend time in Europe and learned what’s possible. A true story of someone finding a journey and turning life around. Find Dr. Dave Maloley, DDS on inst: @relentlessdentistcoaching relentlessdentist.com __
[embed]https://www.slideshare.net/TigerSafarov/why-is-4-dental-supplies-overhead-impossible-or-is-it-180509514[/embed] Last week I was invited to talk at the Vivid Dental Progression Conference organized by a good friend of mine Daniel Johnson, Founder/CEO of Lucent Spot Marketing and he is also Director of Marketing for an emerging group in Texas, AcreWood Dental Care. It was exciting to finally share what we've learned at ZenSupplies in the last 3 years, but also challenging. The challenging part is to put it all together in a cohesive approach that makes sense. Most dental practice when hearing" Ohh, your overhead is too high. You need to work on your supplies" do not even know where to start. Should I negotiate with my rep, go to cheaper places, or what else? So I wanted to put a few slides together where we can at least show the path to where to start, how to approach it, how long will it take and what are the critical parts of each phase (yes there are 3 phases to lowering your overhead). My goal for the talk was to bring as much VALUE as possible and not Sell ZEN. I thought if I could have at least one person go back on Monday morning and say "Overhead is the choice" and I'm in control, and most importantly I know what are the steps - then I accomplished my goal. Ok, what I didn't expect was what happened after my presentation. Again, my goal wasn't to sell Zen at all (see slide 4), so after my presentation, Dr. Benjamin Johnson presented steps on how to scale from 1- to 3 or more locations and what are the critical elements of scaling. As you can imagine, supplies were one of the elements and followed by a live demo done by Dr. Johnson. What can be more exciting to watch your product being presented by one of the best clients of Zen! Enough of the humblebrag, let's get to the actual presentation! Hope you enjoy it!