This podcast is not financial advice, please talk to your financial adviser or tax planner or people that are certified. 

Shannon Blackmon is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, highly trained in financial planning and investment management. Helping others not only survive but flourish and live full, prosperous lives is her goal. Shannon enjoys co-creating custom financial plans with her clients’ well-being at the center. 

Shannon earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona and her Certificate in Financial Planning from Boston University. Shannon is a Registered Life Planner® through Kinder Institute. She is also a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I™ Practitioner. She serves as Co-Chair for the Horizons Foundation’s Professional Advisors Council and is a member of Dental Speaker Institute, and Dental Speakers Bureau. 

Reach out to Shannon: [email protected] 

Resources:

• Link for Shannon’s Assessment: https://measure.datapoints.com/survey/842/iIRZck0XLr0dpzJBy9bT
• Robo Adviser (we do not earn any commission) https://www.wealthfront.com/
• Online Brokerage Firms (we do not earn any commission) 

We cover so many topics ranging from:

Timestamps:

(01:32) What do people get wrong about the finances

(04:31) How Dental Assistants can get on the path of creating wealth

(07:22) How start setting money aside for Emergency Fund (Rainy Day fund)

(10:45) Emergency Fund gives you a boost of confidence 

(12:51) What to do if the practice you work for doesn’t have 401K offering

(14:37) Traditional vs Roth IRA differences 

(17:36) How and why to choose Certified Financial Planner 

(19:13) What is the cost of working with a Certified Financial Planner

(24:20) People hide bigger problems behind Money Problems

(28:50) How to discover your goals

(36:10) Modern platform to manage your finances

(39:11) Real meaning of Paying Yourself First

In this episode I have a special guest, Cassie Kellner, who I met 4 years ago and was immediately impressed by. Cassie has been in the dental field for 20 years and started as a general dentist assistant when she was 19 years old. After 4 years she moved to assisting at the Ortho office and since then she’s been in love with orthodontics. After years being in the field she moved to Hummingbird Associates as a Clinical Systems Consultant. We cover so many topics ranging from:

(5:45) How to transition from general to orthodontics

(7:18) Misconceptions of transitioning from General to orthodontics 

(13:05) Why dental assistants do not see dentistry as a career path

(19:05) What do you do when you feel stuck?  

(20:40) What’s the right way to complain and is best to talk to? 

(24:40) Create 90 Day Onboarding system

(27:15) Asana in Dentistry

(31:30) Just jump! It’s an incredible ride

(33:33) Parenting and Dentistry 

(36:00) Our industry needs to be be doing more for employees with kids 

(37:05) What would the Stellar Maternity Leave package look like? 

(43:13) Day to Day challenges of being a mom and trying to keep the job

(49:20) How to have difficult conversations?

(51:30) Parenting advice, the good and bad advice we both received? And some strange questions that people ask you 🙂

(55:25) Best Parenting advice from Cassie

(58:18) Real Life scenario of balancing home and work and how to communicate with your office? (sorry for my language here) How do we support people that are going through rough times? 

Around (33:33) we switch gears to Parenting since we are both parents. Cassie’s kids are 4 and 3. My kid is almost 8 months old. So we felt there is a lot that needs to be said about parenting and dentistry.

In this episode, I sat down with Colin Ambler (LinkedIn) who is co-owner of Noble Dentistry, 14 ops with 50 staff members, with his wife and also a founder of a new dental startup Team Care (teamcaredental.com). We discuss why reward/incentive programs are important, key elements, and the effects of the productivity of the practice. 

We also touch on how he and his wife grew the practice from scratch and what important checkboxes you need to check in order to grow and never lose sight of details.   

Towards the end of the episode, Colin shares one nugget that any practice can take and build their successful practice. 

In this episode, Jillian from ZenOne interviews Celeste Izquierdo, Assistant Manager and Treatment Plan Coordinator at Triangle Family Dentistry-Morrisville in North Carolina. Celeste is not only a skilled dental professional but also a talented self-taught artist. In this interview, she shares her journey of discovering her passion for art at a young age and how it intertwines with her career in dentistry. From Bob Ross to animation, Celeste's diverse artistic influences have shaped her unique style and approach. Be ready to be amazed by the way Celeste incorporates her artwork into the dental office, using it to communicate complex procedures to patients and create a welcoming atmosphere. This captivating dialogue truly shows the fusion of creativity and oral healthcare as well as the beauty that emerges from their harmonious combination.

In this episode, Delaney Barber, Customer Success Manager at ZenOne, discusses with Amanda Garthwaite, Regional Director Of Operations at Lightwave Dental, the story of how Lightwave offices got acquainted with ZenOne and started their journey towards efficiency and transformation. The journey wasn’t all smooth and effortless. But due to the challenges they faced, Amanda and her team understood the importance of constant analysis, communication, trainings, and support. Amanda describes how ZenSupplies helps them stay under budget and consolidate all their needs in one convenient place. No more juggling multiple systems and vendors, they now had a unified hub of resources at their fingertips.

Amanda’s advice to other dental practices is that technology is not something to be feared but embraced. It is a key that would unlock doors they never knew existed, changing the mindset and paving the way for efficiency.

I met Christin during the Launch event in Durham in April and I was immediately amazed by her positive personality, the smile and when I asked just a few questions about her career path I knew I needed to interview Christin for the ZenOne podcast as soon as possible. Her story is incredible, she has an immense level of Emotional Intelligence and perseverance. In just a short amount of time she was able to grow from starting as a dental assistant, then Hygienist, then to director of operations and to a current position at Light Wave Dental as a VP of Fields Operations. She’s been through some difficult life challenges but with “ Above and Beyond” attitude and “Always say Yes' '' she was able to overcome it all. We discuss many subject including Ambitions, How to reward the team, Personal Life and the cost of achieving goals,  Work life balance for the leaders, and much more. 

Books and Quotes:

Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People (Amazon Link)

“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It’s what you think about it.”

Andy Andrews- The Seven Decisions (Amazon Link)

“To be great at whatever it is that you do, it's going to take some discipline to separate yourself from the average.”

“Ask yourself this question: What is it about me that other people would change if they could?”

Short Bio:

Northcutt Dental

2001-2003- Dental Assistant

2004-2011- Dental Hygienist

2011-2016 - Director of Operations

2017-2022 - President / COO

2022- Currently Present- VP of Field Ops , Lightwave Dental

During the Light Wave Launch Event in Durham I got a chance to interview one of the minds behind marketing efforts for Light Wave supported offices, Lee Crawford. Lee is the Director of Marketing for the partnerships team. He is in charge of growth and creating awareness of the brand and getting people excited to join the Light Wave family. We cover so many topics on brand, marketing, creating unique messages and leadership. I truly think Lee is one the most dangerous marketers in the dental space! 

Guest's Bio:

“Lee Crawford is a Director of Marketing, Brand and Partnerships. He is Experienced Marketing Professional (12 Years) with a demonstrated history of product management, campaign management, marketing management, digital marketing (including social media marketing/management), sales, and managing people, brands, budgets and ideas. ”

On this podcast, I have a unique opportunity to interview Sandi Synstad, Clinical Director of Light Wave Dental, who is absolute rock star, heart officer of the organization and the energy sunshine of the Launch Event in NC. We talk about her career and how life setbacks can make you stronger. She shares her inspiring life story and how learning became the beacon of light for her during the tough times. This is an absolute gem and I hope you listen to this many times and take notes on how to set goals, create a career path and become the leader in your practice (even if you are not a doctor). 

Sandi’s BIO:

“I practiced as a clinical dental hygienist for over thirty years and have a true passion for my profession. I was able to expand my duties within my office to include managing our dental hygiene department, as well as a role in the office management team. My new role with Light Wave Dental allows me to take the passion and ideas that I have developed over the years and help our Light Wave Community! I love planning team meetings and implementing ideas to maintain a dynamic office culture. I seek to make each hygiene department the best by providing protocols that ensure excellent patient care. I thrive on new ideas and training that continues to move our offices in a forward direction. I truly believe a dental office is a unique and amazing place to work, and look forward to continuing to push the envelope of dental care to keep our offices ahead of the curve.”

Goals Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vfO79IPTPXt_14nX3EyPztQ4WIv5G0Fx/edit

We are attending a Launch Event in Durham to support our great client Lightwave Dental, Dental Leadership Organization, headquartered in Virginia. Samantha Julia and Samantha Vaccarello are here to organize our table and represent Zen in the best light possible. Tiger came to support and had a minute to sit down with both Sam’s (one on camera and one is shy) to discuss their journey, part time work with Zen and the side hustle they both created while working part time at ZenSupplies in 4 months. 

Today I am at the Wiregrass Dental Symposium in Dothan Alabama. Yes it’s south and I really enjoy it, from famous hospitality and accent, to how spacious dental practices are since the land is not an issue! In this interview I sat down with Haley, who started out as a dental assistant and has seen not only the growth of the practice but also her own personal growth and now she is a treatment coordinator. We go over the history, what makes their practice unique, how Haley says ”We implemented” and “We have grown..” instead of ”Doctors have grown the practice…” and how amazing that is. We touch on why the treatment presentation is not selling and why Haley really enjoys it. This is a warming and down to earth conversation about life and values, what is important in life and how doctors can see what Dr. Markham has built such an amazing team.