How would you like to get inside the mind of the legendary Howard Farran, founder of Dentaltown and author of Uncomplicate Business? We've got an enlightening chat with Howard on this episode, revealing the inspiration and journey behind creating Dentaltown, an empowering online community and mobile app for dental professionals. Howard unpacks the power of Dentaltown's resources including interactive message boards that serve as a hub for advice, support, and professional growth within the dental industry.
We don't stop there, we also delve into the critical aspect of creating a healthy work environment in the dental industry. We speak candidly about the destructive impact of toxic team members, the vital need for mentors, and the role of management in cultivating a positive work culture. Addressing and eliminating toxic behavior stands out as a major topic, with a fresh perspective on why it's better to strive for 'B players' who bring harmony, rather than 'A players' who may be toxic.
Finally, we circle back to our guest, Dr. Howard Farran, CEO and founder of Dental Town. His insightful take on the significance of networking and peer-to-peer learning in the field of dentistry is a must-listen. We encourage you, our listeners, to join Dental Town, contribute to the practice management message boards, and share your wisdom with your peers. And don't forget to download the Dental Town app for instant access to these invaluable discussions and resources at the end of this episode. Find your tribe, elevate your practice, and enhance your professional journey with us in this episode.
Connect with Ericka on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dentalbillingcoach
How would you like to get inside the mind of the legendary Howard Farran, founder of Dentaltown and author of Uncomplicate Business? We've got an enlightening chat with Howard on this episode, revealing the inspiration and journey behind creating Dentaltown, an empowering online community and mobile app for dental professionals. Howard unpacks the power of Dentaltown's resources including interactive message boards that serve as a hub for advice, support, and professional growth within the dental industry.
We don't stop there, we also delve into the critical aspect of creating a healthy work environment in the dental industry. We speak candidly about the destructive impact of toxic team members, the vital need for mentors, and the role of management in cultivating a positive work culture. Addressing and eliminating toxic behavior stands out as a major topic, with a fresh perspective on why it's better to strive for 'B players' who bring harmony, rather than 'A players' who may be toxic.
Finally, we circle back to our guest, Dr. Howard Farran, CEO and founder of Dental Town. His insightful take on the significance of networking and peer-to-peer learning in the field of dentistry is a must-listen. We encourage you, our listeners, to join Dental Town, contribute to the practice management message boards, and share your wisdom with your peers. And don't forget to download the Dental Town app for instant access to these invaluable discussions and resources at the end of this episode. Find your tribe, elevate your practice, and enhance your professional journey with us in this episode.
Connect with Ericka on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dentalbillingcoach
Did you know that I had a dental front office podcast that I started in 2018? It was called Front Office on Fire and there is an interview that I did with my good friend, howard Faran, the founder and CEO of Dental Town. Howard and I go way back and we actually have a rule of thumb when we catch up because sometimes we can only catch up a few times a year we typically stay away from talking anything dental. We talk about life and we just talk about how things are changing and so on and so forth, and we are both grandparents, so lately our conversations have evolved around talking about the grandkids and exchanging pictures of family. This episode is from 2019. This was the very first interview I did on my old podcast, front Office on Fire. Now you cannot find that podcast any longer. It has been taken down. It was a lot of fun. Post COVID. I've decided to just focus on everything dental billing. I am going to dip my feet back into Front Office for the next few episodes and we're going to talk about office management. We're going to talk about artificial harmony and we're going to talk about a lot of management principles that I was recently reminded of and wanted to share this episode with you. So, without further ado, I want to showcase an oldie but goodie. On with the show.
Speaker 1:
Friends, in this week's episode I have the pleasure of interviewing a legend in Dentistry. He is the founder of Dentaltown and the recent author of Uncomplicate Business. Now I do want to give you a little heads up. The connection was not so great at times while we were recording this episode via Zoom. So if you want to see the face to face interview that I did with my guest, howard Ferrand, you can go to our private Facebook group or you can go to our website, frontofficeonfirecom, and you can see the face to face interview. If not, continue to listen and you will hear a few glitches along the way, because the internet connection was not as stable as I wanted it to be. I'm not sure if it's because it was a Zoom interview, but nonetheless it's still a great episode, and I decided to leave a blooper in the episode.
Speaker 1:
In the beginning of the episode I had this great introduction planned and I just blanked out. I don't know if it was because I was face to face with my guest and I just completely lost my train of thought, and so I did say I was going to have my producer edit that out, but at Howard's request, he said just keep it all natural and leave it in. So you're going to see the blooper, you're going to hear it. If you're listening to this on the podcast, let me know what you think. But overall, this was a very fun interview and we talk about how dentaltowncom or dentaltownthe app, has these message boards that you can access for different reasons.
Speaker 1:
More specifically, for us in the front end of dentistry, we would be accessing a lot of the practice management message boards. Under the practice management message board, you can submit a challenge that you have within your practice and you will get responses from other front office team members from all over the country. So this is a very powerful resource and I encourage you after this episode, to go check it out. Create a profile on dentaltowncom, download the app, and the more you use it, the more you're going to realize that this is a very powerful resource for you to have in your pocket. So, without further ado, let's get on with the show. Hi friends, welcome back to another episode. In this week's episode, I get to interview a legend in dentistry. He is the founder and CEO of dentaltowncom, an online community that is dedicated to dental professionals and, by the way, they now have a mobile app that I'm positive you're going to want to download after this episode. He's also the author of oh my God, I just blanked out.
Speaker 2:
Uncomplicate business Uncomplicate business.
Speaker 1:
I'm going to have my producer edit that out.
Speaker 2:
He's keep it all natural.
Speaker 1:
Oh, man, you're going to make me keep it natural, all right. And he's also the creator of the 30 day dental MBA. May I introduce Howard Peran Howard, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:
Hey, it's an honor to be on your show. I've been asking you for advice for at least what? 20 years, I mean how?
Speaker 1:
long was it? I think we met in 2011, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so it's only 10 years then? Yeah, but anyway, it's an honor to be on your show. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:
I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for asking. So I wanted to have you on the show because I have done lectures across the nation on topics related to front office and when we get to the resource section of the workshop, I talk about dental town and mostly everybody in the workshop knows about dental town but they don't know how dental town can be a powerful resource for them. So I want to dig into that. But before we do, I want to know where did you grow up and what was Howard like as a child?
Speaker 2:
I was born in 1962 in Wichita, kansas, and my mom and dad were Irish Catholics, so they had seven kids in three days and we were so poor we didn't even know we were poor. I mean, I was 10 years old before I knew that anybody had an air conditioner in their own house. I thought that's something that grocery stores have and my dad delivered a rainbow bread for $11,000 a year. But he saved his money it doesn't matter what year and is what you save. And he saved up because Eisenhower, after World War II, built all these interstates and so franchises started popping up, because when you got to the next town you want to be something familiar. And so he saved up for a Sonic Drive-In franchise and he bought a Sonic Drive-In franchise and he went from making 11,000 year to 60,000 the first year and he eventually, by the time we got four, we moved from.
Speaker 2:
Well, we first moved to the summer, which was a 10X, but he moved to the nicest area, hidden Lakes Estates, where my next-door neighbor was Kenny Anderson the dentist, and I would go to. I would. I always went to work every day, because the alternative was to stay home with five sisters and play Barbie dolls. I was going to work with my dad. I was the only boy until my brother was born. He was born at 17 because, again, my parents were Catholic and so you know I would just go to work with my dad. But I would go to work with my dad, made hamburgers, fries and onion rings and Kenny was taking that x-ray and could see through the tooth and I would sell my boys. I said you know all this, all this stuff that you think is cool technology for me?
Speaker 2:
Right when I, when I was little, it was the cool technology was the x-ray, and I remember seeing my first Radiograph and telling Kenny that so you're looking through the tooth and then he would do a root canal. Then they back then they all had their own lab in Opitory because all the crowns were gold and In fact I should ask you that question why do girls wear gold all over their body? All the crowns in the 50s and 60s were gold. There's superior restorations, but they don't want to go to tooth. That is so bizarre.
Speaker 1:
You're asking the wrong girl. I'm not a big jewelry girl.
Speaker 2:
So so then. So then my dad End up having five sonics in Wichita, one in Abilene, kansas, carnie, nebraska, childers, texas, louisville, kentucky, where I lectured last week in Louisville and so. But I knew I wanted to be a dentist. So when I got a dental school I didn't realize that I learned all the franchise fast food business from tenure, my dad. So I opened up a dental practice and I had best demographics, best location, best marketing, so we had a million dollar practice out of the gate back when a million dollars was a hell of a lot of money back in 87. And so then, three years out of school, I Started getting asked to lecture about the business of dentistry, and the only reason I did it is because I knew the power of Networking. I knew that I'd make a lot more money staying home in my office doing a ten thousand dollar dentistry day than lecturing somewhere for $500 or $1,000,.
Speaker 1:
But I knew.
Speaker 2:
I knew that if I went out there and lecture I'd tell them what I know. But now I'm on the map and all these dentists would start telling me what they knew. And then and then it was in 1994. The internet started coming out and it was about 98. I was on a ESPN website and I saw some people talking about football and my heart stopped Because I just thought, oh my god, if I could be talking to a dentist about a root canal. And this was five years before Facebook. So we hired Ken Scott, who's still here, and I said I want to. I want to ESPN Football message board format just for dentistry.
Speaker 2:
Wow and we named it dental town, not dentist town, because I knew I wanted the assistance, the receptionist, the manufacturers. I wanted everybody in dentistry. And now it's. And the difference between dental town and what you see now in social media is, if you go to Jet Propulsion Laboratory or any science, engineering form, it's always a message board format because everything's categorized, an index.
Speaker 2:
If you said something really profound on Facebook and a year later I thought, oh, you know, erica said something about that. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Go to your page and just scroll back for a year, whereas in dental town, 50 categories. If I said you know patient financing, it opened up every thread on page find it. If I broke a File in the MB2, I Just find it. If, if I thought maybe I should start recording my, my incoming calls at my front desk, I would just have to search Recording calls so that that.
Speaker 2:
So Twitter, instagram, linkedin, facebook they're all life. Oh, last in, first out. It's a fun read and feed Right if you have to look up everyone. Still word format, which is what we still use. And the other thing is a lot of people thought when Facebook came out that it'd be the end of dental town, and what's funny is dental town has grown 1,000 new members a month since Facebook went public in 2004, because nobody has one social media app. They average about 25 different apps and they use them for different things, and so so you. So you have someone dental town that needs to have 5 million post categorized exit. It's kind of like a Wikipedia, I mean, if you say, see, if you want to do dashboard, and say there was some you use, but in dashboard and you get to see what a quarter million people said about all the dashboards.
Speaker 1:
Wow.
Speaker 2:
So the whole motto was with dental town, calm, no dentist will ever have to practice solo again. And it's, it's still, it's still just, I'm still addicted. That's why I love the most about dental town is I'm the owner and I'm still addicted to it. I mean, I'm on it about four hours a day.
Speaker 1:
What's your addiction? Um most of your time on dental town.
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, when you grow up with five sisters and a brother and you grow up in poverty, you realize that what made America great was we didn't make like an expensive car for a king, henry Ford, mass produced cars for the middle class. So, you know, like Southwest Airlines, before Southwest Airlines, a middle class Grandma couldn't afford to fly to her granddaughters first confirmation or baptism five states away. But but Southwest Airlines, by keeping one eye on the customer and one eye on cost, they drove down their cost so much that now everyone has the freedom to afford to fly. That's why I love Jim Glide.
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean, when I get out of school it was so I mean you would go to the Panky Institute and you would go listen to these legends. They, they would start off lecture Well, there's an, a patient, a B patient, a C patient, a D patient and the ones you don't even want to know. And then they would describe them and I thought, man, this first day of thinking, and my entire pedigree is a CD or F patient, and these people don't even want to meet these people. So so I was the guy who liked Jim Glidewell, who gave poor people the freedom to save their tooth.
Speaker 2:
So what I'm always been focusing on? I just hold up to my hand. You know my boys have all these ideas. I say, well, what's dad's hands? I is it faster, easier, higher quality, lower cost and smaller? And if it doesn't answer at least four or five of those fingers, you're wasting your time, because someone who can do anything Faster, easier, higher quality, cheaper, smaller is is going to beat you in the end. And so I love giving people the freedom to afford to keep their teeth.
Speaker 1:
I. I love that philosophy about you and that's why I think we connect so well is because we share that philosophy and that's why I started this podcast for dental front office teams and a community specifically for them, because I've been in the trenches with them. I wanted to bring you on the show so that they can understand exactly how this has, maybe even enhanced, say I Her name escapes me right now, but there is a consultant on Dental town who used to be an office manager and she's just started going on and posting and helping other dentists and now she's a household beam in dentistry and her name escapes me.
Speaker 2:
Sandy Pardue.
Speaker 1:
Yes, I was hoping you would help me out there.
Speaker 2:
And here she was, in Lafayette, louisiana. Yep, you know, if your patient has shoes on, you know they're high class and she served her market well.
Speaker 1:
Yes, she did, she absolutely did. So you kind of answered my question, which was the why behind Dental Town. But can you walk us through the journey in getting Dental Town launched, Because I know that there was there've been some hiccups along the way and now that it's a household name in dentistry, what has that journey been like from the beginning and now?
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, it's kind of funny because, um, so the um, we started that night in 98, I got the idea and but but you know, most people listening to this podcast weren't even born in 98. And um, it was a AOL dial up, so you had this little router and make a ringing noise and, and you know, it rings six or eight times that it picked up. And when I told everybody my idea I mean they, I mean every single person told me it was stupid.
Speaker 1:
And in fact my sister.
Speaker 2:
I don't want to embarrass my sister because I don't want to get back to Shelly, but she stood, she spent the day in my kitchen crying because I had finally paid off all my debt and I'd saved $1 million. And so I hired a bunch of programmers and I burned all the way through my million dollars, and it was only half done.
Speaker 1:
Wow.
Speaker 2:
I had to go borrow another a million dollars to finish it. So I went from having no debt a million in cash to a million dollars in debt. Everybody thought I was insane, but the reason I stayed true to it was because I wanted it for me. I was in there doing a root canal and a crown and a filling and I didn't want to wait till like, like, like, come around the corner is the ADA meeting in San Francisco, right? I don't want to wait two or three weeks to go answer a question and then I'll say maybe I went to a root canal lecture and I listened to them all day and he didn't even talk about my question. I mean, again, I saw it on ESPN. They were talking about how the Arizona Cardinals was the greatest team and football and uh no, they didn't even just but the bottom line is I think it's a lot of.
Speaker 2:
Angeles Raiders. But yeah, I just, I just wanted. I said, well, I know this will work because I have to have this for me. And then the other thing I like about a dental town is our dentist. The profession dentistry in general, is that everybody that enters it they, they chose a career to help people with their hands get out of pain, get out of cause.
Speaker 2:
Medical, it's a caring, nurturing type of group of people. Right, and very different from from seriously from people who go into politics, law, law I mean, I'm crazy people that go into politics and law and things like that. There's a lot of studies, even studies showing that a lot of people that go to become a policeman, it's like they have one of the highest levels of domestic violence in their own home. It's some power control thing. But I always love dentists. Man, it's a weird group of people who, when a two year old kid is crying, most assistants should say you know what? There's got to be a better job than this crap? But who's that assistant that's got her hand on the baby and it's okay and it's a loving, nurturing deal. So building a community where everybody's trying to help each other was just amazing. So, during all the thick and all the thin and all the hard times. I knew the mission, the purpose was perfect, so I never blinked, I just slugged through it.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. That's awesome. So give me an example of how Dental Town even though there's awareness among my audience, my audience doesn't really know how to utilize Dental Town to be a powerful resource. So what would say a dental biller? Use Dental Town for as a resource?
Speaker 2:
So there's 50 categories. I mean anesthesiology assistance, cad-cam computers, cosmetic dentistry, endodontics, equipment supplies, finance, hygiene, implants, insurance, labs, lasers, law, magnification, marketing, office design, oral surgery, oral path orthodontics, pediatrics, periopractice management practice, transitions by or selling prosodontics, radiology and TMJ or TMD, sleep apnea, storm. So let's say, front office on fire. You're probably mostly dealing with receptionist, right?
Speaker 1:
I'm dealing with predominantly front desk office managers, billers, treatment coordinators.
Speaker 2:
So that's all practice management. If you open practice management, it's front office discussion ideas to make your practice go, patient communication, staff management issues. So I would say half the people just open up Dental Town and they're reading the today's active topic. So when you study any social media like, go to say you're on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn. Go open up your contact of everyone that you follow. And, by the way, the owner of Facebook, mark Zuckerberg, is dad, is the dentist.
Speaker 1:
I know, I remember that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and he comes on the show once a year, and so it's very human, can?
Speaker 1:
I tell you what my experience was with him. Yeah, he introduced himself. You introduced me to him and he introduced himself and said hi, my name is Mark Zuckerberg's father, formerly known as Dr Zuckerberg, and I thought that was hilarious.
Speaker 2:
And what? 90% of people don't ever post original content on any social media platform, whether it's engineers, scientists. So 90% of humans say I'm just going to listen to what all the other people say. So one per cent of all humans post almost all the original content and then 9% engage, reply like LOL or yeah Well, erica, what about this? You know just some little fine tune point. 90% won't post or engage, I know, and because the reason so is a social animal is very complex.
Speaker 2:
So you want to live in a big community, because you know you're safer living in this big tribe of Phoenix or LA. Okay, but you know, the number one thing that kills humans are other humans. So you lock yourself in a house, you lock yourself in the car, so you want to be living next door to somebody, but not enough to leave your front door unlocked and your garage door open and all. So all animals, they're always predators. You're always trying to kill something for a resource a cow, a chicken, a plant, a corn. So you're always predator on something. While you're being preyed on something, things trying to kill you microorganism, eukaryotes, prokaryotes, fungus something's trying to kill you. So you are in this balance. So, when it comes to social media, 90% of people say I'm not, I'm not climbing up the flagpole. And then I climb up the flagpole someone will shoot me down.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:
And then that 1% because you and I have the same personality, which is I don't give a shit, I don't, I never have cared ever. Because if I say something like some people say, well, what if I say it's wrong, well, I mean, you have all these editors who are free, working hard to find anything wrong in your brain and bring it to your attention. I thought that was the biggest luxury I remember when even something so silly like I remember one of my first articles in Dental Town I referred to a general I think it was Patton as a five star general. I got this back in the days of snail mail. I got 100 letters to the US Post Department telling me that he was a four star general.
Speaker 1:
Wow, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 2:
That's an incredible luxury to sit there, because I thought MacArthur and Patton were both five star generals. Well, I could never forget that Patton was only a four star general. Because so I love it when I'm wrong and someone corrects me all for free. And the best thing that I like about it is the networking, because when you start a show like you're starting, when you start lecturing, when you climb up the flagpole, the networking opportunities just skyrocket Endless. Yes, yeah, I mean every day. I mean I mean every day.
Speaker 2:
I'm getting all these amazing emails saying hey, so-and-so is gonna be in Phoenix or your podcast, you this, that. So I'm like one of the most well connected guys in dentistry, right, because I wasn't afraid that I would say something and somebody would disagree or wouldn't like me. In fact, that's why I called it dentistry and censored. And when someone sends me an email, that's just like being really, really rude. I always have the same reply. Or if I've actually said hey, buddy, I think someone's hacked your email because I know you wouldn't, I know that you're not this big of an asshole, but I would tell your IT guy that you've been hacked because read this shit, you gotta be either a credo or hacked, and when it was letters, I used to take a big red magic marker and just write get help and mail it back to him Because you're not, you don't even.
Speaker 2:
I mean, look at your own mom. Do you agree with your own mother? 100% Hell, no. Yeah, you got a daughter. Does she agree with you? 100% no, no. So why do you care if someone in dentistry doesn't agree with you, I mean. But what I like is the power of networking. It just opens. It's not what you know, it's what you know and who you know.
Speaker 1:
Well, I agree with that and you seem, as you go through your dialogue, you're answering all my questions. So now I just wanna have a conversation with you because you've answered all my questions. I wanted to ask you about your show. I wanted to ask you why you chose dentistry uncensored. But you answered that question, which is you really don't care what other people think about your opinion.
Speaker 1:
And to add to that, with front office on fire, I really just I've been in hundreds of dental offices and I've lectured and heard team members talk to me about things that they go through with their doctors and there's really no voice specifically for the front office.
Speaker 1:
I mean, yes, Dental Town has a message board where we can go and share each other's challenges, but I really wanted to advocate for my coworkers because, like I said, I've been in the trenches with them, I've been the office manager, the regional, I've done everything you can possibly do in the front office. So with that, I know I'm gonna come across some heat, because some of the things and some of the points that I make on this show are very proactive team. They're pro team and so I know that some people are not gonna agree with my philosophies and it's probably gonna be the managers that are the bullies. I'm advocating for those that are being bullied or under managed. So I totally agree with you, but I'm moving forward anyways and I really could care less about the opinions of those that are going to disagree with me. So thank you. Thank you for bringing that to light, because that's something that Well you know you have plenty of time to be silent in the grave.
Speaker 2:
You know what I mean. You'll have hundreds of millions of years to keep your mouth shut and not say a thing. But while you're above ground, walking in the present is not the time to be silent.
Speaker 1:
Right, exactly, I agree with that 100%. So is there anything that you can, a takeaway that you want my audience, my listeners, to take away from this episode, that you could maybe give them some advice as they work in the front office?
Speaker 2:
Well, yeah, yeah, thanks to the opportunity to give my advice. This device comes from 32 years of sticking my tongue in every light socket trip. I mean, I learned some things easy way and a lot of things are way. But number one you only have one life. Let's say the average person lives 100 years, so you're born with 30,000 days.
Speaker 2:
Life's too short to spend it on a toxic team. So when you join a team, they always ask Well, how much are you going to pay? Is there benefits? What are my hours? Okay, those are three questions I don't care about, because would you want to marry the richest guy in the world who is verbally abusive and talk to you down? Or would you rather live in a trailer with your favorite drinking buddy where every night, come home from work and just giggle till one in the morning, right. So you have to eliminate toxic Like. People come out of school and they'll say I just got out dental assistant school. And there's three places. This one's closer to my home, forget, closer to your home and further away. What if one office? Nobody has stayed there two years? Right, your office. There's a bunch of girls that have been there seven, ten, 12, 15 years. One place makes you feel good about yourself and one place you're getting, like you said, bullied. It's toxic.
Speaker 1:
It's closer to home and that's why you chose it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and they pay 75 cents more an hour. So I'm going to go in there and get abused and spit on and lose my self-esteem and then after work she'll go have to spend $12 at happy hour, get the Medicaid herself to go home. So that toxic environment is everything. And the red flags on the toxic environment are you know why is someone being toxic? Well, there, you can see it. There's. They got massive staff turnover. They got three or four you know lawsuits. They, you know they. You know there's something driving it could be. They need the money for a spending habit, a drug habit. You know something's going on, but you, you know it's really weird. Like when you go into a dental office, a consultant can figure it out in like a minute. Right, You've been working here for two hours and you don't know. This is a dysfunctional environment.
Speaker 1:
You see your coworkers crying and you don't know. This is dysfunctional.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, I agree. And you asked the dentist a question and he and he just said something verbally abusive, right, so you should. So so what I would do is I would just wait till he needed me the most and then walked.
Speaker 2:
That's coming straight from Howard Brand Wait wait, wait till that, wait till that toxic asshole needs you so desperately. You're coming in Friday for the big case. No one else can work that. Oh yeah, I'll be there and that'll be the day that you leave a no asshole. So so, number one, get in a place where you're going to be mentored, you're going to be managed, you're going to and you all have purpose. So what is the purpose? Is the purpose just? The doctor wants to make a whole bunch of money because him and his wife spend way above their lifestyle limits and they're trying to have too big a house, too big a car too. So we're all going to live in stress that they can live in Beverly Hills. And you know that's not meaning that that's not.
Speaker 1:
And the team members are the hamsters on the wheel keeping that going. So they put the pressure on the team members to keep that wheel going to support that lifestyle.
Speaker 2:
And when your dentist is overspending, he can't give the proper money to staff salaries because he's spending too much on too much house, too much car, too much vacation. So so get a happy environment, get mentors. And half half the planet thinks in fear and scarcity and doesn't want to have anything to do. Yet About half the planet thinks in hope, growth and abundance. And if you walk into an office and you say, hey, could you show me how to do that? And she says you know, I thought you went to dental assisting school and walks away. I mean, I mean, how many you know when you're, when you prove to me you're a jerk, how many times do I have to prove it to you?
Speaker 1:
I mean exactly.
Speaker 2:
So I have a lot of words and I play baseball with all the employees three strikes. Everybody has a bad day. Some people are unlucky at two bad days, but the third time you just struck out it's baseball and, and, and that's why we have I get a whole bunch of employees that have been here 20 years, stay with you 20 years in a toxic environment. Right, exactly. So if you get rid of the so, so where management fails the most is they like well, I know me and Erica, we're good, we're cool. The assistant's cool, but yeah, that high genus fans, she has some issues. So you look the other way and you look over her toxic stuff and her toxic stuff. So I always think that the, the, the toxic environment is because either the CEO is toxic or he's spineless and can't deal with so, so you cannot. There's nothing you can do in an interview to find an, an, a player. I mean the hell, michael Jordan, with the sixth round. How did you miss that? Well, six rounds, they missed.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so aim for B and stay with your 10, 20, 30 years A C player. You know, c just happens sometimes. But what's inexcusable is when you know Sally is a D or an F or toxic, and you allow her to stay on the team. I imagine the NFL. Imagine the NFL if everyone knew that every time the quarterback threw it to that one guy, it would always be intercepted. So so why am I going to play my heart out and dive for the ball when? When you know the coach? And? And why does the coach keep them on the team? Oh, it's family, it's nepotism, it's his wife, I know.
Speaker 2:
And as far as the wife working in the office, it's real simple. There's only one litmus. So she's walking there, you pull her off into the corner and you say, hey, is this where you want to be or do you want to be at home? And 90 times, just, oh, my God, I hate this place. I want to be at home. I got three kids in daycare. So then I go back to this. Okay, so you made three babies with this woman. She wants to be at home. So why is she here? Oh, I need her. No, no, you need a spine. Yeah, I don't want anybody leading the team that doesn't want to be here. I don't want any employees that don't want to be here. So just find happy people that want to be on your team. They share the same purpose and it just happens to be nice that they get paid good wages, benefits and all that. But what they really like is they feel like I'm making the world a better place by doing something faster, easier, higher quality, lower in price, and and we just focus on that.
Speaker 1:
Right, you'll be, I agree with that. I I 100% agree with you, and I love all the all of the thoughts that you shared with us today. You answered all my questions and I didn't have to ask them, so thank you for that. I love it and I always enjoy interacting with you. So thank you so much for being on the podcast. I'm sure that my listeners are going to love hearing about dental town, how it can help, but really I just wanted them to get to know you as the founder and connect with you on a personal level, because I really hope that they use that a lot more. So, with that, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Speaker 2:
It was an honor. Thank you for all that you've done for dentistry.
Speaker 1:
Oh, thank you. Okay, friends, that was my interview with Dr Howard Ferran, the CEO and founder of dental town. I hope that you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed creating it and interviewing Howard. Now there's a few takeaways that I want you to get out of this episode. One please do go to dentaltowncom. If you don't already have a profile, and create one. Go into the practice management message boards and just snoop around and see what others are posting. Feel free to reply to one of the posts if you have the answer to one of the challenges that are posted or listed in there. And two, download the app, because once you get used to participating in the message boards, it becomes addicting. I will see you in the message boards as well.