FlossBites: Behind the Scenes of FlossNYC

We've been out of town for a while dealing with some family stuff, but we're back! Last time we talked, we were looking to hire a billing coordinator. Good news! We did it!

Normally we use Indeed to hire because we like their tools, but we were getting frustrated with how SO MANY OF THEM WOULD LIE about their dental experience. It was crazy, we'd get all these people with retail experience at Macy's and Sleepy's and others with irrelevant experience. Frustrating, to say the least.

So we took the advice of one of Ragini's friends: He puts a link in the job post that asks them a whole set of very specific questions with actual scenarios. This allows him to see how they would handle these situations.

So we created a survey in Typeform. We asked candidates to calculate copays and write sample emails given a set of circumstances. This was a great way to not only gather specific information about the candidates, but also weed out the ones that were too lazy to carefully read our post.

This saved us a tremendous amount of time. We received 215 applications in two days, but 209 were garbage. Only 6 filled out the survey and of those, we liked 3. We emailed those three and two replied. We did phone interviews and then working interviews and made our selection.

I highly recommend doing this to make your job posts more effective and gather most of the information you need without any effort!

Episode Show Notes:

00:12 - Catchup: we were in the process of hiring

00:19 - We HIRED someone!

00:27 - Hiring hack we learned

00:43 - Indeed.com allows you ask questions

00:58 - People tend to lie on questions

01:17 - Hundreds of applications with no relevant experience

01:36 - Waste of time to even look through them

01:46 - Ragini's friend shared a hiring tip

02:03 - Link to survey in job post

02:12 - Good for two reasons

02:27 - Automatically weeds people out

02:48 - We created an application with Typeform

03:03 - Asked candidates to calculate co-pays

03:20 - Extracted so much info without wasting time

03:33 - From 215 applicants - we whittled it down to 3!

04:24 - We'll use this for all hiring in the future

04:40 - Great way to bypass irrelevant candidates

Last week, someone referred an associate dentist to us. But we didn't need another dentist at our practice, at least not yet. But Ragini decided to meet her and feel her out. Turns out she was great! She's a couple years out of school, has real compassion and might be a great culture fit at FlossNYC.

As we talked about it more, we realized that we have some big things coming up that could warrant having an associate dentist coming on board. At some point, we want to start a family, so having another dentist would allow Ragini to take a comfortable maternity. We're also looking at purchasing another practice so having another set of hands would be huge for us to keep FlossNYC running smoothly. While we don't need her right away, our long term goals will definitely require another dentist.

So we decided to give it a try and hire her on a part time basis for 1 day a week. We hemmed and hawed about it for a while, but then realized that it's not permanent. If it's not working out, we can terminate the arrangement. But trying her out allows us to increase the number of options we have available. It also helps move us towards our long term goals.

We're excited to welcome her to our team and explore how she can help us grow the practice!

Episode Show Notes:

00:04 - Dentist Referral

00:15 - But we don't need one...

00:35 - Decided to meet her anyway

00:36 - She was GREAT!

00:52 - But what about the future?

01:00 - Starting a family, buying a new practice

01:40 - Taking the plunge - hiring her part time

01:57 - Learning - this moves us towards our LT goals

02:26 - LT goals aren't always obvious

02:44 - Want to establish mentor/mentee relationship

As we've mentioned, we cancelled all our DMO insurance plans because the reimbursement rate was too low for us. So the terminations will be going into effect soon and we've been informing our patients through an automated campaign to allow them to click a button and update their records. It's a great way to make the process less manual. That's the good news...

The bad news, is that our new patient rate has dropped pretty substantially since we dropped the plans. We feel it's the right thing to do - long term, because right now, we're working too hard for far too little money. But while we're still confident in our decision, it never feels good to see your new patient count drop.

Our plan is to use our Dental Membership plan to drive growth. I had an idea to appeal to small businesses that might not have dental benefits for their employees. This would be an inexpensive way for the companies to provide a perk for their staff and give them access to discounts at a high-end dental practice. There are tons of shared working spaces all over the city that house thousands of companies. So I'm going to reach out to them to see how I could advertise or host an event to get these types of companies interested.

Episode Show Notes:

00:04 - Termination Notice from DMO plans

00:10 - Emailed patients with options

00:40 - Automated links to update our records

00:48 - New Patients rate is lower now

01:02 - Scary but a good trade-off

01:15 - Want to increase patients through FlossClub

01:44 - Appeal to small businesses via co-working spaces

02:23 - Co-working spaces may have some ideas as well

So Ragini and I were excited to be invited to an exclusive rooftop dinner party in Brooklyn. Farm to table, tour of the gardens - all that stuff. A no brainer, right?

So you can imagine our horror to find out it's on a Tuesday at 3 PM. What to do? We had to take a long, hard look in the mirror... Actually, it wasn't that hard. We decided to go.

Autonomy means lots of things to different people. But when it comes to Practice Ownership, one of the lesser-known benefits is the ability to give back to yourself. It's not just about production and cash flow - it's about being able to take advantage of being your own boss.

Episode Show Notes:

00:02 - Exclusive Invite

00:20 - BUT...

00:36 - The practice enables us to attend

01:00 - Metrics on ownership assessment surveys

01:14 - Autonomy wins by far

01:23 - Traditional definitions of autonomy

02:30 - Lesser-known benefits

03:14 - Not ALWAYS about production

03:41 - Let the practice give BACK to you

I let TWO people down this week! And while I hate disappointing people, it was instructive and also helped me clarify my thoughts around being disagreeable and what it really means. Being agreeable all the time means you are putting others' before yourself. Nothing wrong with that - in the SHORT TERM. But if you're doing that ALL the time, then you're probably falling short of your potential. Sometimes it's necessary to put yourself first to move forward - just be prepared to disappoint. But knowing that I'm prioritizing myself eases that pain.

00:13 - I'm a disappointment on two fronts

00:35 - Disappointment #1

01:25 - Breaking the news

02:00 - Her perspective vs ours

02:28 - Disappointment #2

03:20 - May not have been an easy way out

04:05 - Unwritten social contract

04:35 - Breaking down disappointment

04:55 - Agreeable people are taking a backseat

05:40 - Letting people down is prioritizing YOU

Certainty is something we're all looking for. But the truth is - it DOES NOT EXIST. It's just a lie we tell ourselves based on prior experiences. For future situations, we can NEVER be certain. That's what makes being an entrepreneur so scary. And things that are scary can paralyze you from learning more and realizing real opportunity.

Once you see how ownership allows you to pull levers and affect real change, it's intoxicating. But you don't have to go ALL IN. You can dip your toe in and start learning piece by piece. This helps ease you into being comfortable with risk and uncertainty. And that's when you win.

Episode Show Notes:

00:10 - Recap of consulting calls

00:22 - Fear of Failure is a recurring concept

00:33 - Certainty is a complete fiction

01:15 - My FlossClub uncertainty

02:00 - Certainty isn't in the idea...

02:36 - Steve Jobs' certainties

03:25 - Elon Musk's certainties

04:43 - Practice Ownership is not walking the plank

05:22 - Prove or disprove the idea

05:39 - Envision the success

06:16 - Understand the process

There's only a few days left for our 20% off promotion. Definitely take advantage if you're interested!

August is my starting block for the year. I use it to get ahead while everyone else is getting the last bit of sun out of summer. And I wanted to make you an offer... If you want to do a 20-min consult with me to talk about your fears or next steps in Practice Ownership, I'm going to make myself available after Labor Day to anyone and everyone that wants it. Click the link below to schedule a call with me. There's no cost or obligation - I just want to help you conquer your fears that are holding you back.

https://calendly.com/flossnycpracticeblueprint/consult

Fears are a funny thing. We all have them and they hold us back from getting where we want to go. I've been taking the advice from Nassim Nicholas Taleb who wrote Anti-Fragile. It talks about how systems that are anti-fragile (or durable) have the element of risk built in. Instead of trying to avoid risk, designers of systems should tackle it head on. This allows you to plan for problems and randomness that are inevitable anyway. By planning for this, fears reduce and you can start living as if you weren't afraid.

https://flossnycpracticeblueprint.com

Episode Show Notes:

00:04 - 20% off promotion ends in a few days

00:27 - Most common fears from aspiring practice owners

00:49 - My offer to help...

01:52 - My August secret to get ahead

03:19 - Conquering your fears with Anti-Fragility

03:43 - Embracing risk as an inevitability

04:16 - Approaching problems with risk as an assumption

04:29 - Problems we anticipated with our 2nd practice purchase

05:08 - Decision tree for risks we encountered

05:39 - What if you weren't afraid?

06:00 - Planning for contigencies vs a negative attitude

06:40 - Our failure at practice purchases and home purchases

08:00 - We're growing...

I've already written about organizational debt before so you'd think I would have been more prepared for the situation that came up this week! Oh well, always learning...

One of our staff members is going back to school and it revealed some inefficiencies that we weren't paying attention to. They're hard to find on your own, but if you keep good processes in place, you can avoid them from flaring up constantly. This one educated us about the importance of improved operations manuals.

Don't forget about our 20% off promo code for Practice Blueprint products this month.

https://flossnycpracticeblueprint.com

Episode Show Notes:

00:12 - What I learned

00:28 - Staff issues

01:15 - Staff training wasn't occurring as planned

02:03 - Organizational Debt - small problems that bubble to the top

02:37 - Solution: Improve our onboarding process

02:55 - Write their own manuals

03:02 - Add videos as well - no guessing

03:30 - Have a library of training content

03:53 - Reminder of our discount through August

What are some of your life goals? Is owning a practice one of them? Because if so, let me STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. A practice is NOT a life goal. It's an ENABLER for your REAL life goals. For instance, maybe you want to travel 4 times a year, or pay off all your debt, or see your family more...

Once you set your goals and reduce them to the smallest parts, then you'll realize that TIME and MONEY are generally the solution to achieving them.

I'm not going to lie, figuring our your life goals isn't always easy. The good news is you've already done the much more difficult work: you're already an expert at dentistry and have hard skills in a well-paying occupation. Now you just need to figure out how to maximize the time and money you get out of it.

Lucky for you, we've built a program that does JUST THAT.

https://flossnycpracticeblueprint.com

Episode Show Notes:

00:03 - Reminder about 20% Promo

00:30 - Practice Ownership is NOT A GOAL

00:47 - It's an enabler like money

01:06 - Time or Money...

01:25 - You already have deep skills

01:42 - Set goals first

01:50 - The goals Ragini and I set

02:30 - Practice provided time and money to achieve our goals

02:50 - Ask why - distill your goals - reduce the fraction

03:20 - Don't focus on the enablers

Due to our emergency last week, we had to be out of the office and we let our staff steer the ship for the week. We were pretty nervous about it, but they did a killer job! They provided care for our patients, generated revenue, collected payments and we were able to focus on ourselves.

It also made us realize how much Practice Ownership provides outside of just income and lifestyle. In this emergency situation, we were able to keep the office running and continue paying ourselves! This is just ANOTHER reason why we're so hell-bent on helping others become Practice Owners. 

If you're even THINKING about Practice Ownership, NOW is the time.

And here's why: 

We're about to launch the 2018 version of Practice Blueprint. We've added additional content and made it even easier to follow. We also streamlined our product plans to make it more flexible and practical depending on where you are in the process. And through August, we're offering a DISCOUNT to all our FlossBites members as a thank you for hanging with us! Check out the episode for the discount code and let us help you impact your career and lifestyle in ways you can't even imagine!

2018 Practice Blueprint Info:

https://flossnycpracticeblueprint.com

Episode Show Notes:

00:15 - Left office in staff's hands last week

00:24 - Staff picked up everything - we checked out

00:46 - Thanks to the staff for helping us out

00:59 - Staff allowed us to deal with our situation

02:05 - BIG NEWS on Practice Blueprint Soft Launch

02:30 - Simplified product offering (Monthly and All-In plans)

03:45 - Discount and Promo Code