495: Becoming a Dental Entrepreneur - A Conversation with WDA Executive Director Mark Paget

Becoming a Dental Entrepreneur

Episode #495 with WDA Executive Director Mark Paget

Owning your own practice will always be challenging. But with planning, hard work, and amazing mentors, you can be successful. There are many people out there who have your back, and Kirk Behrendt brings in Mark Paget, Executive Director at Wisconsin Dental Association, to talk about the upcoming business training program by WDA/ACT/Marquette designed to support dental entrepreneurs. To hear more about the Dental Entrepreneur Program and how to get involved, listen to Episode 495 of The Best Practices Show!

Episode Resources:

• Mark’s email: mpaget@wda.org 
• Mark’s phone number: (414) 755-4100
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Links Mentioned in This Episode:

Register for the Wisconsin Dental Entrepreneur Program: https://www.actdental.com/dental-entrepreneur-program

WDA’s programs: https://www.wda.org/wda-foundation/programs

Do You Really Know Your Family? board game: https://toytooth.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1491477&srsltid=AR5OiO1Ljp_umnoc-nfKM-05eiot9k0sqERNM_oCnYTpK-oQMmJeV6c_4tk

Main Takeaways:

Entrepreneurship is the only way to real job security.

Become confident in the business side of dentistry.

Create the life that you want with this profession.

Invest in building up the people around you.

Be leaders in your community.

Quotes:

“We hear young dentists coming out of dental school with really good clinical skills. They have good hand skills. They're really, really good dentists. But the thing that they don't feel confident about is the business side of dentistry, whether it’s IT, whether it’s HR, whatever it is, running the business side of it.” (12:31—12:51)

“The only job security is owning your own thing. There is no such thing as job security anymore. I think you creating value in the world, being able to call your own shots, dentistry is the perfect vehicle to be able to do that.” (17:06—17:21) -Kirk

“Owning my own practice was challenging — still is challenging. It’s the best thing in the world, and I would never change it. And if I can do it, anyone can do it. It’s not that hard. But it takes some intentionality, it takes some effort, and it takes some mentorship.” (17:49—18:04) -Dr. Straub

“Your life works best when your business worries are at your least.” -Kirk (20:54—21:00)

“[Dentistry] can be anything you want it to be. You are not going to be pigeonholed. You're not going to be put in a corner. You're not going to be labeled. You can do anything you want to do in this profession. If you want to own a practice, if you want to work for someone, if you want to work in public health and make a difference in the world, or whatever your calling is, to go in the military, there are so many opportunities out there.” (25:27—25:49)

“Dentistry is one of the few jobs/professions that allow you to truly create the life that you want. A lot of people, unfortunately, their job gets in the way of the life they want to live. Dentistry, and as a private practicing dentist, I'm going to say own your own practice. Why? Because literally, you can create the life you want.” (26:43—27:06) -Dr. Straub

“[Dentistry is] a fantastic profession. So, anyone considering it, I'm going to say go do it. Go into private practice, buy your own practice, and live the life you want. No one is going to tell you how to do it, only you.” (27:39—27:50) -Dr. Straub

“A lot of people want the medal from the marathon, but very few want to do the training. They just want the medal. They don't want to understand that the 16 weeks of training is really — that's your reward. The medal and the race, that's the cream on top. That's the fun part about them.” (28:17—28:35) -Kirk

“There are people that change lives, and there are people that fix teeth. It’s not the same profession.” (31:48—31:54) -Kirk

“My [leadership] style is, let people do their job and get out of their way. Hire the best people you can and get out of their way. If they need you, be available for them. But don't micromanage because that’s going to be a problem for you. Because if people know they don't have the ability to make decisions, they're not going to make them. And then, you have paralysis set in, and nobody does anything.” (32:37—32:59)

“Leadership extends beyond the dental practice. We have a lot of dentists who are leaders in their community. They're leaders in their town, they're on bank boards, they're on the little league board — they're leaders of the community. So, we always stress, when we do our leadership training, think beyond the practice. Now, that's a big part of what you do, your practice, but we can help you, and you can be better leaders in your community.” (33:00—33:26)

“Get outside your four walls and get to know the community and be leaders.” (33:51—33:55)

“Other than the freedom, other than owning your own practice, dentistry gives you the opportunity to be a leader. And there are lots of different ways to be a leader. We always talk about what's in your two columns. So, when you pass away, your whole life is going to be summarized in two columns in an obituary. What goes in there? And at the end of the day, it’s like, what impact do you have in life? What's your legacy? What are they going to tell around the campfire? And dentistry gives you such an easy opportunity to make an impact on people’s lives.” (34:04—34:34) -Dr. Straub

“The dentist’s job is to be a dentist. We want to be there to help them with all the other things.” (36:33—36:38)

“The WDA in Madison is representing all of dentistry, not just the members. So, one of our core values is give greater than get. WDA does that every single day. They're in Madison, they're in Washington, and they're fighting for the patients and the profession of dentistry, whether you're a member or not. And I think that says a lot.” (38:28—38:47) -Dr. Straub

“In the last budget cycle, we were able to finally get an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates. The fee schedule that dentists get for seeing Medicaid patients, that's going to allow more dentists to see Medicaid patients. So, if you're someone on Medicaid and you've had a hard time finding a dentist, this 40% increase might open up some chair time for you. So, even though we advocate for our members, we also advocate for the public.” (38:48—39:12)

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:37 Mark’s background.

4:03 Current state of organized dentistry.

6:12 Dentistry is the best profession.

9:29 How the WDA fits into dentistry.

11:47 The motivation behind the dental entrepreneurial program.

16:15 Biggest fears and challenges for dentists.

24:25 Advice for prospective dentists.

29:37 Spend time creating other leaders.

34:46 More about WDA and their five-year plan.

39:23 Producer Andy’s topic for the day: vacations.

44:48 More about DEP and ACTs upcoming programs.