Dental Business Mastery Podcast

What does it take for a team to kick four goals in the last four minutes of a grand final and win? In this episode, I'm joined by Charles Kovess, Australasia's Passion Provocateur (and my husband), to unpack the lessons from the Brisbane Lions' extraordinary 2026 AFL Grand Final win and what they mean for your dental practice.

We talk about the two words behind the Lions' success, brotherhood and belief, and why coach Chris Fagan's love of developing people matters so much. Charles explains the difference between skill mistakes and attitude mistakes, why the best businesses hire for attitude, and a simple "most valuable mistake" idea you can bring into your huddles and team meetings this week. We also look at why your team will only care for your patients as much as they feel cared for themselves, and why that has to start with the practice owner.

If you'd like more of Charles' insights, visit https://charleskovess.com/ or search for The Charles Kovess Show on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CharlesBKovess

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Julie welcomes back Rebecca (Bec) Van Zutphen and Dr Heath Fraser, co-founders of AirSmile, for their first appearance since 2021. 

A lot has changed since then. AirSmile started as a patient-facing marketplace connecting people with dentists (now sitting at over 15,000 patients), and has since expanded into secure, compliant ways for practices to send sensitive patient information.

The conversation covers two newly launched features: a digital record release tool that replaces the old paper form and email chase-up when requesting patient records from another practice, and a secure correspondence platform built for sending x-rays, treatment plans and other sensitive data without relying on non-compliant tools like Dropbox or standard email. 

Bec and Heath unpack just how exposed dental practices are when it comes to data breaches (healthcare tops the list of notifiable breaches in Australia), why human error accounts for so many of them, and why the old habits of emailing records around are riskier than most practices realise. 

They also touch on what's ahead for hyper-compliance in healthcare and why building secure systems now will save a lot of pain later.

Find out more at airsmile.com.au

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Julie sits down with Dr Simon Franks of Insight Dental Consulting, a dentist with 25 years in the industry and a growing side career pulling apart the numbers behind dental practice profitability. 

After a failed attempt to buy up ten practices (COVID had other plans), Simon and his colleague Jeremy ended up assessing the financials of over a hundred dental businesses, and what they found was eye-opening. Fees have stayed flat against inflation for decades while wages, equipment and marketing costs have climbed, and even practices turning over a million dollars can leave an owner unable to take a day off. 

Find out more about Simon's work at Insight Dental Consulting: https://insightdentalconsulting.com.au/

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Most dentists only see their accountant once a year, usually just to get the tax return sorted. Julie sits down with Boris Feldman of BT Corporate Advisory to talk about what happens when that relationship becomes something far more strategic. 

They cover the difference between deductible and non deductible debt and how getting this wrong can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, why loyal clients often end up paying more on their loans than new ones, and why succession planning should start on day one of practice ownership, not five years before you want to sell.

Boris shares real examples from his years working with dental clients, including a case where getting the business structure wrong exposed a dentist to millions in unnecessary risk. 

A great listen for any practice owner who wants a second set of eyes on their financial position.

Find Boris at btcorporateadvisory.com.au

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Guest: Dr Ryan Hungate, Chief Clinical and Strategy Officer at Henry Schein One

From designing Apple's in-store customer experience during the launch of the original iPhone, to building and selling a dental patient engagement company, to now shaping the technology behind Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend and Dentally, Dr Ryan Hungate has one of the most unusual paths in dentistry. In this episode, Julie sits down with Ryan to talk about what AI actually means for dental practices right now, not in some distant future.

They cover how AI is changing revenue cycle management and insurance claims, why patient trust is built (or lost) in the tiny human moments AI can now help protect, what the "Gen Z stare" is doing to patient communication, and why Ryan believes dentistry is heading into its golden age.

Connect with Dr Ryan Hungate

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryanjhungate
• Henry Schein One: henryscheinone.com

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Rochelle Fisher of Dental Assisting and Beyond returns for part two on why four-handed dentistry should be standard in every practice. 

Rochelle and Julie talk about what it looks like on the ground, the flow-on benefits for patients, teams and the dentist's own body over a long career, and the personal trainer who inspired her VIP program. 

Connect with Rochelle Fisher

• Website: dentalassisting.com.au
• Find her on Instagram for tips, tricks and her free weekly tip via email

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Rochelle Fisher of Dental Assisting and Beyond joins Julie to talk about the thing that makes or breaks a dental practice, communication between dentists and their dental assistants. They share the surprising places they each learned to give and receive feedback well (a yoga studio and Toastmasters), why so many practices avoid the small conversations that would make everything easier, and one simple question that can completely change how feedback lands.

Keep an ear out for part two, where Rochelle and Julie get into why every practice should be working four-handed.

Connect with Rochelle Fisher

• Website: dentalassisting.com.au
• Find her on Instagram for tips, tricks and her free weekly tip via email

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

In this episode Julie is joined by Julia Riese, founder of Bright and Bold Consulting and author of Beyond Dentistry, Mastering the Four Pillars to Succeed with Your Dental Practice. 

Julia spent ten years in the dental industry, including growing with a company that scaled from a handful of practices to twenty locations, and she shares what she learned along the way about building a genuinely successful practice, from getting your team on board early, to having a real plan behind your marketing rather than just being active on social media for the sake of it. 

They also chat about Julia's new course, Levara AI, which helps practice managers and owners build their own customised AI systems, and wrap up with some great advice on mindset and how to move through overwhelm by focusing on the one thing that matters most.

Find out more: https://brightandboldconsulting.com.au/
Levara AI course: https://brightandboldconsulting.com.au/levara-ai-course
Beyond Dentistry on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Beyond-Dentistry-Mastering-Pillars-Practice/dp/1764285506

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Julie shares a story from her early days as a practice owner, a performance conversation she was so worried about getting wrong that she completely softened the message and the team member walked away thinking she'd just been praised, and uses it to explore the difference between being nice and being kind, drawing on Kim Scott's Radical Candor to explain why niceness prioritises comfort while kindness prioritises growth, and why avoiding hard conversations doesn't protect anyone, it just delays the cost. 

If you've been putting off a conversation with someone on your team, this one's worth a listen. 

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].

Amy has spent close to fifteen years in the dental industry, starting as a dental assistant before moving into practice management, consulting, social media, and recruitment. In this episode, she shares what led her to create The Rise - a growing organisation dedicated to exciting, supporting, and retaining dental assistants across Australia.

Find The Rise:
Website: therisedentalco.com
Instagram: @therise.dentalmagazine
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584585047016

Email: [email protected]

Interested in taking your personal, team, and dental practice to the next level? Contact Julie and Ameena today to explore the possibilities for growth and success!

Visit our website, Dental Business Mastery, at https://dentalbusinessmastery.com.au/, and book a complimentary, obligation-free Discovery Call to discuss your specific needs and goals. Schedule your call here: https://tidycal.com/3l298p1/30-minute-meeting

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us via email at [email protected].