The Nifty, Thrifty Dentist: A conversation with Dr. Glenn Vo
Episode Description
Join us as Dr. Glenn Vo shares his unique path into dentistry, from reluctant student to dental industry leader. Learn how his immigrant background, sister’s intervention, and focus on relationships shaped his approach to practice ownership and community building. Dr. Vo offers valuable insights on practice management, mentorship, and creating lasting impact in dentistry.
Episode Navigation
- 00:16 – Introduction to Dr. Glenn Vo
- 00:25 – Dr. Vo’s unexpected journey into dentistry
- 02:55 – Building a personalized practice approach
- 04:28 – Immigrant perspective on professional careers
- 07:42 – Evolution beyond clinical dentistry
- 11:47 – The Nifty Thrifty Dentist story
- 45:49 – Career advice for tenure dentists
- 49:22 – Financial guidance for practitioners
- 52:09 – Tips on simplifying dentistry
Key Takeaways
Career Development
- Plan your exit strategy early, even if not ready to implement
- Focus on building relationships over purely clinical skills
- Maintain work-life balance while growing professionally
- Seek mentorship and guidance from experienced practitioners
Practice Management
- Create a practice model that aligns with personal goals
- Invest in team relationships and leadership development
- Master fundamentals before pursuing advanced initiatives
- Focus on building patient relationships over technical perfection
Featured Guest
Dr. Glenn Vo: Founder of Nifty Thrifty Dentist, practice owner, and dental community builder. Known for creating one of dentistry’s largest online communities with over 60,000 members. Focuses on helping dentists achieve success through resource optimization and relationship building.
Featured Discussion Topics
- Journey into dentistry
- Immigrant perspective in healthcare
- Building dental communities
- Practice ownership strategies
- Career planning and exit strategies
- Financial management
- Leadership development
- Mentorship importance
Connect With Simplify Dentistry
- Website: simplifydds.com
- Podcast: Available on major platforms
- Social Media: Follow for updates and community engagement
Topics: dental practice management, dental community, mentorship, practice ownership, dental career planning, immigrant dentists, dental leadership, practice exit strategy, dental relationships, financial planning
Transcript
00:02
Intro
Welcome to the Simplify Dentistry Podcast. Join us as we discuss clinical, operational, and financial aspects of your practice, help. You enjoy life, and dare to Simplify Dentistry.
00:16
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Glenn Vo, thank you for being with us today. We really appreciate you coming in, kind of for our listeners. Tell us a little bit about. About you. Tell us your story.
00:25
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, well, I’d like to tell people that I got into dentistry a little bit different now. My wife, who’s a dentist, she’s always wanted to be a dentist. And that’s a lot of stories we hear about other doctors.
00:38
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
I never wanted.
00:39
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Not me.
00:39
Dr. Glenn Vo
Okay, so now we’re all has something in common. And I was that person. I was like, that was never on the radar, right. When I was in college, I was just kind of having fun. And I was at. Actually at grad school, I was going for hospital administration, right. I was doing that program for that. And why did I choose that sound like a good job? I mean, make decent money, what not. So my. My sister, who’s a dentist, she was practicing in Falls Church, Virginia, and I was visiting her. I was helping her out, and she was like, hey, why don’t you come down, help me out during your break? You know, one of my assistants was going on vacation, but little did I know that she had an ulterior motive.
01:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Full on intervention.
01:21
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, she had a motive. And like any big sister, right, Any older sibling, I mean, they feel like they can say whatever they want to you, right?
01:30
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
I know nothing about that kind of relationship.
01:33
Dr. Glenn Vo
So I was assisting her, and she stopped what she was doing. I think I was assisting on a. Like a composite or something. Stop what she was doing. She looked at me and she said, glenn, do you want to be a loser the rest of your life?
01:49
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Wow.
01:50
Dr. Glenn Vo
And, you know, only an older sibling can say that. And you know, when she said that, I was like. Like a loser.
01:56
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
That’s pretty damn aggressive.
01:58
Dr. Glenn Vo
She looked at me. The patient sitting there looked at me, too. The patient wanted to know that patient wanted to know the patient.
02:06
Dr. Richard Offutt
Did patient need to get up and leave?
02:08
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
I mean, like helping.
02:10
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, she. She wanted to know, did. Does he want to be a loser? I said, no. It’s like the reason why I brought you down here is I felt like you have some more potential than what you’re doing. Like you have potential to be a doctor. Smart guy, great personality. And that’s when she put that seed in my head, like, hey, why don’t you look at dentistry? And honestly, I didn’t think about it. I mean, come on, teeth. I mean, what yeah. But what she sold me on is not the teeth, but the person attached to the teeth, right? The people being, mentoring people, educating people, being a pillar in the community. And that’s actually how I got into dentistry. So what happened was, is that after that trip, I was like, okay, well, I gotta take some prerequisites.
02:55
Dr. Glenn Vo
I got a degree in psychology. And honestly, I just got it because I had to pick a major. You know, my sister was always the smart one. So I’m like, okay, well, I’m the middle child. I can kind of fly under the radar and know my folks were giving me a hard time. Like they felt like I had more potential as well. And so went back to school, literally got another degree in biology and, you know, went to dental school. And the rest is history. The rest is history. But the big thing is that a lot of times people don’t realize that when you get into dentistry is not just because of one thing, it’s because of multiple things.
03:34
Dr. Glenn Vo
And so what I tell dental doctors, whenever they want to create a practice that they like, I tell them, you don’t want to create a practice like I had, or like, maybe how you guys had it. You got to figure out what works for you. And maybe that’s nishing it down to particular procedures. Maybe you’re doing more surgery or whatnot, or maybe you become like an entrepreneur like you guys, right?
03:56
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
So, you know, it’s interesting you say that. I’m obviously first generation, you know, kids are first generation immigrants. And both my parents are physicians. And the thing was always with them, and maybe it was same thing with your sister is you have to have a career that nobody can take away from you. And they always viewed if you work for the bank or if you work here, somebody can take that away from you. And it’s the holy triumvirate. Doctors, dentist, lawyers is kind of how immigrants look at it. Do you see it like that?
04:28
Dr. Glenn Vo
Well, that’s definitely something that my parents really pushed. And what I’ll say is this, is that obviously my sister, just smartest person in the family, she graduated early from high school. I mean, she. She graduated from dental school when she was like 20 years old. Okay. And that’s unheard of if you’re going to school here in the States, right? You hear, you know, foreign doctors coming in, and they can do that. So she was an overachiever. And so I was always kind of in her shadow. And, you know, so I never really just had the belief in myself, like, hey, I could do something more but she is somebody like, again, a good sibling. She saw that in me. She was like, man, you’re wasting your talents. And that’s what she said.
05:11
Dr. Glenn Vo
And for me, it’s like sometimes you just kind of need that, that belief, someone kind of getting behind.
05:17
Dr. Richard Offutt
You, someone to say that, someone to say that.
05:20
Dr. Glenn Vo
And again, you know, as, as a, you know, immigrant that came over here, you know, the mentality is a little bit different, right? My dad was. You know, my family came here because of the war in Vietnam. We’re Vietnamese. And so my dad came from a situation where he was respected, who was in the military. And he came here and he ended up being a janitor for the first few years here and moving his way up. So he came with a toughness, right? And again, it’s just different generations and whatnot. And so for me, just growing up in that, you know, I was born here in the States, I wanted to be like my friends who, you know, like, had like the kind of like the all American upbringing. That, and just coming with the immigrant mentality, that was really tough for me.
06:13
Dr. Glenn Vo
You know, my dad was the type of person who, he didn’t mince words. He said it how it was, in your face type of thing. My sister was a little bit different. She couldn’t understood. She understood. She grew up here. And so that’s when she came back and said, hey, look, you know what? You don’t have to be like me, but I feel like you have a lot of potential. And so that is something. That’s all I’ve always kept in myself now as a parent, you know, always making sure that my kids, I say, hey, I got your back. Whatever you want to do. I feel like if you want to do this, if you want to win the state title in wrestling, right? I will do whatever I can. I can’t wrestle for you.
06:52
Dr. Glenn Vo
I always told my son that I can’t wrestle for you, but I can find you the best coaches. I will drive you to all the practices. I will take you to whatever tournaments needed to. To help you accomplish your. Your hopes and dreams, right? So. So I lived, I always tell people I lived in a world where I had one foot in two different worlds, right? Which is here in the States. And hear the immigrant mentality, like, hey, you gotta come here. You gotta grind doctors, dentists, lawyers, right? Like, yet it makes something that is like, no, you can’t be something in. Look, liberal arts degree. That was unheard of for us, right? Like, unheard Of Right, so. So yeah, no, I’m glad that you brought that up because that’s something. But I think that’s also shaped my perspective.
07:42
Dr. Glenn Vo
Like I’m, I think different from the average dentist who, you know, want to open a practice. You know, they want to do their ce, they want to do all those things. For me, I’ve always looked at it from a different lens. Like, hey, I didn’t get into dentistry because I like teeth or I liked, you know, science or whatnot. I actually got into it because I liked relationships. I like the business aspect. Right. I like the fact that you can go there and you’re not confined to just doing one thing, having only one practice you can do multiple practices you can do. Obviously things are changing a little bit now. Right? Just a little bit. But when I was growing up, dentists were like the entrepreneurs in the health profession.
08:26
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
It gives you opportunity to do all kinds of different things. And when I was looking at it, one thing I always wanted out of my profession is to be able to deliver care and be a healthcare provider. Know what did that? I always thought that MEANT Being an M.D. You know, once I discovered, you know, dentistry, I was like, well, one, it’s the ability to do that. Two, I don’t work all the time. And three, I can do other things. And I think that’s the biggest thing that people miss about what we do is it allows you to do other things if you want to.
08:55
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
08:55
Dr. Richard Offutt
You have so much flexibility in your life. You know, it. I’m, I’m in the category with your wife that I was raised by a dentist and the father, my, one of my best friends. But it gives you total flexibility.
09:11
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Well, the quality of life thing is the biggest thing too. You, you have your work life balance in a different structure than our medical friends do.
09:19
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
09:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
And we can decide, you know, you can go to your kids wrestling match or soccer game, you know, you can adjust your schedule as a practice owner.
09:27
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah.
09:27
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
To do the things that fit that timeline.
09:29
Dr. Richard Offutt
The thing that’s interesting that I think that all of us are talking about one way or another is regardless of where you came from, is that it was through education that gave the first generation families here, they weren’t going to be, they weren’t going to be the social elites in any town.
09:51
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Right.
09:51
Dr. Richard Offutt
But what it gave us is the chance to go merit is the big leveling, a leveling event in life. Right. You know, can you do it?
10:05
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Right?
10:05
Dr. Richard Offutt
Can you do it? Can you do it better than the other guy.
10:07
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
10:07
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, and are you. Are you tough enough to stay in the game? I think that’s. That’s the. In anything we’re talking about, whether we’re talking about a dental practice or whether we’re talking about. About any. Anything, any endeavor that you do in your life, it’s. Do. Do you have. Do you have the pure grit to stay in there when the others whine and go home?
10:26
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, that’s why. That’s why this country is the greatest country in the world, right?
10:30
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Absolutely.
10:30
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, nothing’s perfect. And I think it’s in style to complain about what’s going on here in this country. But if you really think about it, this is the greatest country in the world, Right. Where you can have an opinion and not get put in prison for it. Right. You can. No matter how absurd it is. Right. We’ve heard a lot of absurd things, but also for someone who, you know, you literally can come here with nothing.
10:58
Dr. Richard Offutt
Right.
10:59
Dr. Glenn Vo
And it’s been proven time after time, every single generation. Right. There’s stories. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can make something of yourself. And then there’s a lot of places that you can. It’s the.
11:14
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
It’s the American experiment, and it works.
11:16
Dr. Richard Offutt
And the truth is the people without the grit stayed in their native country.
11:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
11:20
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah.
11:21
Dr. Richard Offutt
The truth is.
11:22
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
11:22
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Well, I mean, that’s what my dad came.
11:23
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
11:23
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
My dad came here because, you know, there wasn’t the same opportunities india, and even he was a physician in England, and the same opportunities. That’s why he came here.
11:31
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
You know, it’s all about going to the top. Yeah.
11:33
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
I feel like looking at your career, you know, Dennis, almost seems like a long time ago. Yeah.
11:40
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah.
11:41
Dr. Glenn Vo
What?
11:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
It’s one day a month, right? A busy month. Day and a half.
11:46
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
11:47
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
So. So you still have your hands at it a little bit, but you. You’ve kind of gone into other things, Right. You know, nifty. I mean, everybody is probably that’s listening to us has probably heard of Nifty Thrifty Dentist.
11:58
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
11:59
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Talk about that.
11:59
Dr. Glenn Vo
So Nifty Thrifty Dentist is. You know, honestly, it’s not. It’s not a slogan. It’s not a. Like a catchphrase. It’s actually. It was a way of life for me. Me. And so, again, being just, you know, first generation immigrant here, there was a lot of things that we had to do to get by again. When we came here, there were times where sometimes, you know, money was tight and it was. Sometimes I wonder if, like, hey, what are we going to eat today? What kind of food are we going to eat today? I tell a story a lot. My mom, when she went grocery shopping, she would collect the receipts at a grocery store. And they’re on the receipts of the grocery store, sometimes there’s coupons for like a buy one, get one free Big Mac, right?
12:49
Dr. Glenn Vo
And I remember as a kid, every once in a while, my mom would take us to go eat McDonald’s and we would all get Big Macs. And I thought, man, this is amazing. We’re going to make this Reynolds.
13:00
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
13:01
Dr. Glenn Vo
But it wasn’t until when I was a little bit older. We’re at a grocery store. My mom, I got the receipt, I turned it over. Hey, mom, remember you used to collect these coupons, right? And she’s like, let me tell you a story about it. And the story behind that was, when money was tight and we didn’t have enough for groceries, my mom would pull out of her purse these buy one, get one free Big Mac coupons. And so what she would do is she would go to. Not the McDonald’s by her house, she actually across town. And I always wondered, like, she went there because maybe she was friends. She was friends with managers. The manager is always nice. But on those coupons it says which location? Well, it says limit one per customer.
13:42
Dr. Glenn Vo
But she went in this particular McDonald’s when he looked and he saw five, she came in with five kids. It’s okay. It’s okay. So literally, those coupons and eating a Big Mac is a way for us, like, when money was tight, we go eat there. So when I say nifty, thrifty, being resourceful, it’s not a slogan. It’s a way of life. And so for me, having that mentality and when I went to college, look, my parents did what they could, right? But I had to fill in the gaps, right? So I worked two jobs. I worked as a dental assistant. When I went back to school, I went dental assistant and I waited tables. And actually, I’m going to go off on a tangent here.
14:25
Dr. Glenn Vo
For anyone who ever wants to level up their communication skills waiting tables, I’m actually going to make my kids do it.
14:34
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
My wife did it.
14:35
Dr. Glenn Vo
And I mean, and that was never a problem for me, building rapport with new patients because literally whenever someone sat at my table when I was at the restaurant, I had, like, one minute to get on Their side to have them. Like, because my. My tips depended on it.
14:51
Dr. Richard Offutt
Like, bar. That’s like bartending.
14:52
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh, yeah, exactly. Like, I literally had to figure out, like, right away. And a lot of times, whenever a patient sits down, you almost have that same thing. And so just me being resourceful, I was always nifty, thrifty, even when I did my startup practice, right? Buying used equipment, you know, doing a lot of the things myself. And so nifty thrifty dentist is something that came up because that’s actually how I practiced, you know, so it’s not about people think, okay, nifty, thrifty, being cheap. No, it’s not about being cheap.
15:24
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
About being smart.
15:25
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
15:26
Dr. Glenn Vo
It’s about being smart and using your resource on the things that really matter. Right, right. And so that kind of started up, and now, I mean, that community just kind of grew. And from there, I just saw opportunities to, you know, do good for the profession. And that’s the thing. Like, a lot of times people are like, okay, well, what are you getting? I say, look, you can’t approach business or relationships like that. Like, what you get, you got to figure out, like, what you can do for other people. When you can figure out what you can do for other people, the money is going to come.
15:58
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Sure.
15:59
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
15:59
Dr. Glenn Vo
And that’s the thing. So that’s kind of like the story behind nifty Thrifty. It was something that was part of my life.
16:06
Dr. Richard Offutt
Way of life.
16:07
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, it was a way of life for me.
16:09
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah. And, you know, that’s. So we’re simplified dentistry, and we chose that name because that’s what we want. We want to simplify the practice of dentistry for docs, you know, because it can be too hard, it can be too daunting. So what are the things that you can do? So we try to set up aspects of how do we simplify it clinically, how do we simplify it operationally, how do we simplify it financially for people? And we get the same question, so what. What are you out to do here? And like, look, we are out to build a community, and we’re out to help the profession. And after you do that, opportunities will come.
16:46
Dr. Richard Offutt
If most people look at it, they’ll realize that the profession has given them so very much, and that with the opportunity, with what you’re doing, what we have done, what we’re trying to do at present, it’s given us so much that. That I think the message that you just said, Glenn, is really lost on many people about what can you do for this greater community, because if you do, it’ll come back tenfold. And that’s true in life, in almost every aspect of life.
17:19
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
If you’re successful in something, you should do things to help the greater community.
17:23
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Well, it’s like how you approach practice, push crowns on people all day long. I can try to increase productivity all day long, but what is going to have a substantial long term effect is if people understand that you’re in it for them and you’re trying to help them, then they’re going to trust you and then it goes long. That’s kind of the same thing in Nifty. I think that’s the same thing in simplify. Look, provide things for people and then there are going to be other things.
17:55
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
That you can do with.
17:56
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
That’s kind of the way I look at it.
17:58
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, you know, if you lead with value, people are going to see that and you’re going to attract the right people. Right, the right people. And again, that’s whether it’s in, you know, your practice, your personal life or any of those things, or if you join a new organization, if you’re the person who, hey, look, what can I do for other people? You’re going to attract the right people. And so it seems like a simple thing to do. I think it’s. But it’s really hard to, for people to.
18:29
Dr. Richard Offutt
It’s hard to live that way.
18:30
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh yeah.
18:31
Dr. Richard Offutt
I mean, absolutely. It’s not an easy process.
18:33
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
There’s always going to be inflection points where you’ve got to decide which path.
18:36
Dr. Richard Offutt
You want to take.
18:37
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
And if you stick to that path, it works.
18:40
Dr. Richard Offutt
What decision do you make when no one’s looking?
18:42
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, exactly. That’s really the deal.
18:43
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
It’s too many times and I’ve listened to it and I’ve heard it. There are too many people that want to take advantage of dentists. There are opportunities to take advantage of dentists. There’s opportunities to get into their pocket all the time. And I’m like, you know, that drives me crazy.
19:00
Dr. Richard Offutt
When Dr. Chukan and I were doing previous business things, I always referenced it like that the dentist is at the beach for a swim. They don’t realize the sharks that are circling around trying to take a chunk of them. Right. And the dentist is just having a nice day at the beach. And you know, and it’s like the Jaws movie out there, you know, we’re chomping on them.
19:23
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
You can’t talk about sharks too much or moose. Now start Freaking out.
19:28
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
But, you know, that’s where we’ve had success, and I think that’s where you have success is when it comes from dentist versus when it comes from a outside MBA or something like that, who’s kind of leading the charge. It’s a different deal because we’re in the trenches. Oh, yeah, we understand what it is. So we understand how to make something make sense for a doc, you know, and how to help the doc, you know, because we look at it, you know, we’ve always done what. What do I want to work with? I only want to work with things that. Or what do I want to promote? Only things I want to work with. You know, that’s. That’s the bottom line.
20:00
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, Glenn, we had. We. We were. Dr. Chukan was working on. On a contract at a supply company one time, and. And. And their marketing people came and. And we’re Dennis. And were selling to Dennis. Marketing person came and said, we think we should lead with mops and brooms. Dr. Moose says. Moose says that’s just not on the top of the list for most dentists now, you know, everybody needs a mop and everybody needs a broom, but mops and brooms probably shouldn’t lead the damn list. Right?
20:34
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
I don’t care what the price of the mop or the broom is.
20:36
Dr. Glenn Vo
That’s right.
20:36
Dr. Richard Offutt
I’ll buy one. One.
20:38
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Tell me what the composite.
20:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah.
20:42
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
You get your hands on a lot of things. What are you passionate about right now?
20:45
Dr. Glenn Vo
Wow. I mean, I’m really passionate again, about creating relationships. Right. Relationships with you 3. Relationship with other doctors meeting other doctors. Everything that I’ve ever done in my life has been relationship driven. Even in my practice. You know, I mean, if you think about your best patients are coming there because you have a great relationship. Relationship with them. They’re not timing you like, hey, dog, took you an extra five minutes on that crown prep, right? Or anything. I mean, they might be. Hey, that kind of hurt and stuff like that. But, like, as far as, like, oh, let me look in the mirror here. Let me look at that. That finish line you did on that prep, right? They don’t care about that. They care about the relationships.
21:26
Dr. Glenn Vo
And so I’ve always told doctors that if you take care of the relationships, if you really care about your patients, your patient’s gonna sit there and they’re gonna refer people there. Now, the clinical side, of course, that’s very important. You gotta be proficient, right? But for me, building these relationships are what’s gonna bring Other opportunities. But I’ll tell you what motivates me to keep on pushing forward. And the reason being it’s actually my kids, because I can’t tell my son or my daughter. My daughter, we talked about my son a lot. My daughter also is a competitive swimmer. She plays water polo. And I can’t go to them and say, hey, you know, if you want to get to the next level, you got to put this effort in. I can’t tell them that if I’m sitting there drinking pina coladas all day.
22:13
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Exactly.
22:13
Dr. Richard Offutt
Watching the Weather Channel.
22:14
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh, yeah. Do you know, do all those things.
22:16
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
They learn a lot more from.
22:19
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, right. And why am I so, you know, just protective of my schedule? I’m just trying to always find more time for them is because how can I tell them, hey, let’s put our phones down, let’s sit here at dinner time, let’s talk. This is important for us to catch up. How can I do that if I’m never around? And so for me personally, having kids was one of the just best things in my life. Not only just on a personal level, on a spiritual level, but on a professional level. Because you talk about someone who. Accountability partners.
22:56
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
22:57
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, your kids are there, no filters. And they will remember everything again. I, I want everyone to think about all the memories you had as a kid. Like, I remember everything while I was in elementary school. I remember the times where my dad forgot to pick me up. Like, I remember all those things. I remember all those things. Your kids remember it, too. And so during this time, you know, we talked about the trip to the Grand Canyon, and now they’re like, hey, dad, you’re driving the whole time. Like, yeah, because I enjoy doing these things.
23:26
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
23:27
Dr. Glenn Vo
I want them to remember those things. That’s what they’re going to remember. Yeah, right. And so that’s what I’m passionate about. I’m just passionate about just creating more relationships. Because again, you create strong relationships, the opportunities come.
23:39
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, Yeah. I had a great mentor in dental school who, she ran a successful practice and know, we talk all the time. And she’s like, look, it’s. We’re, we’re in the relationship business. She’s like, you can, you know, the dentistry all figures it out, but if you don’t have that relationship with that patient and they’re, you know, your, the team you work with, oh, it’s not going to be successful.
23:59
Dr. Glenn Vo
How many times have we all saw. And, and it probably gets a little annoying now. Right. But how many times you see on social media or just hearing other doctors talk about. And they’re always complaining about, like, hey, my team does. My team that. You know, all that. Right. And they’re. And it’s the same thing over and over.
24:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Right.
24:20
Dr. Glenn Vo
Like, I have this team member and, oh, they just want a bunch of money or they just want to leave here. They’re going. They’re leaving for an extra quarter or whatnot. And at some point, you’re. You’re thinking to yourself, like, okay, hey, Doc, maybe you should just kind of look inside and see. I mean. I mean, again, you know, we’ve all had the team members that were kind of different. They leave and people leave for one reason or another.
24:42
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Right.
24:42
Dr. Glenn Vo
But when it becomes like a. I call it like a. A consistent issue. Yeah, right.
24:49
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Revolving door.
24:50
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
24:50
Dr. Glenn Vo
Then. Then there’s something there. And I think that as dental, you know, dental professionals, seasoned dental professionals, I mean, that’s. We have to just kind of tell our team, like, look, we talk about leveling up, and you’re thinking about leveling up your clinical skills. Hey, I took the ce. I got, you know, my fellowship, and I’m trying to get my mastership. But how much time are you putting into just being a better business person, being a better communicator? Because if you’re leveling everything up that’s lacking, then that’s going to cost being.
25:25
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
A better team leader. I mean, you’re the leader of the team. You’re the CEO.
25:28
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, the big. The biggies are. You know, you touched on more our mentorship and leadership. I mean, those are two huge.
25:35
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
25:35
Dr. Richard Offutt
Huge events that have that. That need that everyone needs. I mean, you need to have. At some level, you need to be a leader, and at some level, you need to mentor others. And so it’s.
25:45
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
He didn’t sign up for it, but he, you know, became a mentor to me and to him.
25:48
Dr. Glenn Vo
Well, well. And. And here’s.
25:50
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s why I look like hell. This a bit of tough.
25:53
Dr. Glenn Vo
It’s been a tough p. Deal dealing with these two. I know. No, but, you know, again, whenever you decide to put your name on the loan or on the lease to become a practice owner, you signed up for it.
26:09
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
26:09
Dr. Glenn Vo
Just like whenever we decided to have kids and become a father, you signed up for it.
26:15
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah.
26:15
Dr. Glenn Vo
You signed up for every. No, you didn’t sign up for.
26:18
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Not just the good stuff.
26:19
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, you didn’t sign up for good.
26:20
Dr. Richard Offutt
You.
26:20
Dr. Glenn Vo
You signed up for all of it. All of it. Same thing. Being married, too. Right. Let’s Just be honest, right? Like, I mean, it’s the, and every year becomes, there’s something different as you go. Different, different stages. Right. And so being a practice owner is the same thing.
26:35
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, I agree.
26:36
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, when you have relationships with your team and they’re going through life, they are changing, right? Just like in a marriage, like, you’re changing, they’re changing, your patients are changing. And so if you’re not mindful of that, then you run into this situation where you’re always complaining online about this, all these things and stop.
26:57
Dr. Richard Offutt
The whining, stop it.
26:59
Dr. Glenn Vo
And you have to put the work in. And I think unfortunately there’s, it’s not the majority, but there’s some dentists that just like to, I call it like abdicate. They kind of like want to just throw those responsibilities on someone else. Like the office manager. Hey, the office manager, you do the hiring and firing, you deal with the team, blah, blah. And you simply just cannot do that. And, and, and just, and be happy. Right. Because what’s going to happen when the alpha manager leaves?
27:27
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah, then, yeah, then what?
27:29
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah, then, then you’re just, you know, your hair is on fire and whatnot. And so I know we’re going off a tangent, but I think that’s something that, especially now with these younger dogs where maybe the relationship aspect is not as strong. Where before I could probably just call you up on the phone and talk to you, and now maybe a younger doc will send you a one page novel.
27:54
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Exactly.
27:55
Dr. Glenn Vo
Right. Yeah, those things. And, and that’s the thing. I think in the future, as it’s easier to communicate in different ways other than using your voice and talking in person, those skills, they’re slowly, I mean, we can see it, you can see it right now with our, with the young people, it’s slowly eroding. And healthcare is not something that you can just send a text message. I mean, you’re gonna lose that aspect that makes your practice. I think the doctors that understand that they’ll thrive in this next generation, the ones that don’t, they’re gonna be like, why didn’t my patient just not show up? Why did my patient just, you know, send me, didn’t even respond to me or what?
28:37
Dr. Richard Offutt
They, they sent me a text.
28:39
Dr. Glenn Vo
They sent you a text. And you check your text. Why didn’t they tell me something?
28:42
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Right.
28:43
Dr. Glenn Vo
It’s because they’re missing that aspect.
28:45
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Well, it’s that personal touch that you have to have in that relationship.
28:50
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
And we try to do that with. My oldest is 20, so she’s sophomore in college. And we’ve tried to put this in. She’ll be like, hey, I sent so and so an email that didn’t respond. And I was like, well, Amalie, get up, go to their office, knock on their door and talk to them. And you’d have thought I told her to take a knife and stab somebody, but she’s finally got through that, and she did it. And she’s like, that it works.
29:19
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Well. When you guys talked to Charles, Loretta, about that, Charles, you know, talked about that same thing. He’s like, you know, be the person that is aggressive and wants to follow through on things. Don’t be the. I mean, I sent them the email. They didn’t respond.
29:32
Dr. Richard Offutt
They didn’t respond.
29:33
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Go do something. Go talk to them. Pick up the phone. Go visit them. Do the things that show that you’re willing and engaged on these things.
29:42
Dr. Richard Offutt
It was so interesting on these young docs in the DSO that I built that were needing to hire some dentists. And you’d get exactly what you said, a text back. I always say I’ve gotten texts from these guys where I answer them. Too many words. Just too many words. It’s too many words for me. And I’d get these texts back from these young docs that were trying to hire, and it’d be a whole thing about what they were, about what they wanted and all these things. And then my answer would be, 704-609-8939. Give me a call. Let me talk to you. Because if you can’t talk to me, you can’t talk to anybody. Now, I always have a lot to say, but if you can’t.
30:32
Dr. Richard Offutt
If you can’t pick up the phone and tell me a few things and let me ask you a couple questions, then it ain’t gonna work.
30:40
Dr. Glenn Vo
And, you know, sometimes, I mean, I understand sometimes people don’t want to have a difficult conversation. Right? Especially with your team. That’s why it’s easier to have your office manager to do it. But difficult conversations is a way of life.
30:52
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yes.
30:53
Dr. Glenn Vo
You’re going to have it with your spouse, you’re going to have it with your kids. Heck, you might have it with the guy that does your, you know, takes care of your landscaping. Who knows, right? And you’re definitely going to have it with patience.
31:03
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Ye.
31:04
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, Glenn, you talk about your children. I have four wonderful kids, and I always push them to do things. Most college Kids, they look towards spring break to go somewhere, and we see kids gone wild and all these different things. So I knew that wasn’t going to happen. So my kids, especially my youngest, who was very polite, she’s the only nice one of us in the family. She was. There may be two. There may be another one somewhere in there. But the thing is, is so she would, her spring break would be coming up. And I go, sarah, I, I, I think you should set up some mock interviews. She goes, well, with who? And I go, do you want me to set up some? So, like, she’s the kid’s 18, 19 years old, she’s got spring break comes up.
31:55
Dr. Richard Offutt
She’s got a morning and an afternoon interview all week. You know, mock interviews with friends of mine that run companies that are, you know, managing directors at the banks, doing these different things. And so the first couple, she’s real nervous. She doesn’t, I said, look, I said, do your research on the person, do your research on the company. Go in there and have a conversation. So the first couple, she was all nervous and twitchy about, by about Thursday, I’d say, sarah, are you ready for your interviews tomorrow? She goes, I got these. And it’s just the difference of the growth over being forced to talk, being forced to communicate.
32:29
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
32:29
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
You know, she’s an off it. She, she knows how to talk.
32:31
Dr. Richard Offutt
She knows how to talk.
32:33
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
You know, creating relationships, you know, building these kind of connections. Like, like what we’re doing today, somebody said that we had on a podcast, they were like, you know, look, if you want to be successful, you know, surround yourself by people smarter than you, and then you have to rise. You have to better than you think you can be. You know, I mean, I’m gonna just go ahead and say you’re smarter than both of these guys.
32:58
Dr. Glenn Vo
I don’t know about that. I don’t know about that.
33:01
Dr. Richard Offutt
Maybe the three of us gang up on. We try top him out.
33:06
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah. When we came down to PodFest, which I thought was great, and you. We learned so much and learned so much from talking to you. You know, one thing that you talked to us about, you have simplify is like the baby brother of Nifty and these other things, you know, you have these huge population, 60,000 people. You know, we’re just.
33:25
Dr. Richard Offutt
Which is just amazing. Glenn, without mentioning and telling you how amazing what you built is, it would, we would be unfair.
33:32
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
For us, it would be seeing the struggles to build ours. I mean, what you’ve done is amazing.
33:36
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, it’s. Again, we’ve talked about grit. We’re talking about putting the time in. I mean, that. That started in 2017. Right? It started in 2017. And also it was something different in the way I ran the group and brought the vendors in and whatnot. And whenever you do something that’s different, and this goes with. With anything in life, whenever you do something different, you’re always going to run into people who either don’t understand, maybe don’t maybe are a little jealous of it or whatnot, but you’re going to find detractors. And I think that part of grit and putting in the work is also blocking out, like, the naysayers.
34:16
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Sure.
34:16
Dr. Glenn Vo
I think that’s all the background noise so important. And again, translating that to owning a practice. Look, you’re going to have a lot of people give you different advice. Some good, some bad. Some vendors might tell you something, some consultants might tell you something. But if you have a vision, if you believe in something, you’re going to have to just block it out, because that’s what’s going to happen. Right. And it’s going to distract you. And so with the whole nifty, thrifty dentist, if you hang around long enough, Right? So again, if you, if you open a practice, you’re going to have a lot of naysayers and whatnot. But if you, by year five and you’re doing good, those people start getting quieter and quieter. Right. And so what you guys are doing, I think is amazing.
35:02
Dr. Glenn Vo
And maybe someone has said, like, why are you doing another podcast or whatnot? That’s not the type of people you want to listen to. Yeah, you want to listen to the people who are like, hey, join the club. You got something to offer. This is just gonna make everything someone with abundance mindset. And what happens is, over time, the background noise gets quieter and quieter. And now, I would say, I mean, I still hear a few things here, but definitely now, like, I don’t hear way less than I had when I first started.
35:29
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, yeah.
35:29
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
And, you know, you were kind enough, you know, when were talking about this, you’re like, hey, look, he goes, listen to me or don’t. You know, but here’s what I think. I think you guys need to find the niche that is not served in the community world right now. We’re never gonna be nifty, thrifty dentists. We’re never gonna be dental nachos. We’re never gonna be in those kind of places. But so what is it that is necessary? And you’re like, hey, you guys don’t realize, but you’ve probably forgotten more than a lot of people have done.
36:02
Dr. Richard Offutt
Oh, some of it with. Not on purpose. I’m just telling you, man. You know, were talking this morning about. About working on living off of lists.
36:10
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah, but you know, it’s kind of one of those. Is one of those things where you’re like, you know, you guys need to capitalize on your skill set, you know, And I think your skill set is, you know, call it whatever you want. And we’ve kind of looked at it as seasoned, experienced and aspirational dentists, you know, and. And that’s kind of. That’s kind of what it is, you know. How would you define a seasoned experience, Doc?
36:33
Dr. Glenn Vo
Well, I mean, I would just say a seasoned experience, Doc. I mean, obviously we would. We have to put like a time frame, right? Like, you know, maybe 10 years in. Yeah, right. Maybe 10 years in. Who has gone through all the struggles from starting the practice, growing, scaling the practice, dealing with all the changes that comes with a growing practice. And again, you get all those things by putting time into the profession. And so that’s why I brought that up. It’s like, look, you guys are amazing. What you’ve done in your professional careers and what you’ve done with your families as well. Because, look, I mean, that’s a huge component, right? Look, I’m not saying that anybody can do it, but a lot, most people, they can grow a successful business if that’s all they had to do.
37:25
Dr. Glenn Vo
The people who really impressed me are the ones that are able to balance everything. Right. I mean, how many times have we, you know, we’ve seen somebody like, amazing entrepreneur. Maybe they’re, you know, maybe they’re the richest person in the world. Right. And they have like five ex wives or something like that. Yeah, right. So. So again, like a season. Going back to your question, a seasoned dentist is someone who’s been through the experiences of growing, starting a practice and growing a practice. And. And again, you guys are a wealth of information. We talk about, like, giving back. What better way? I mean, I’m. Maybe this is something where I can work with you guys on is.
38:11
Dr. Glenn Vo
I just feel like there’s got to be a better way of the doctors who’ve had a great career, who’ve been through it all, to maybe mentor the next group. And I think that’s something. Unless you’re working side by side as an associate, I don’t think there’s anything like that right now. And so, especially with these newer docs who will send you a novel instead of call you on the phone, I think it’s hearing it from doctors like yourself that they’ll take to it, as opposed to, like, they’re not going to listen to their parents. We all know about that, right? They’re not going to listen to their parents, but they might listen to the three of you.
38:50
Dr. Richard Offutt
Well, you know, it’s interesting, too, I think that.
38:52
Dr. Glenn Vo
That.
38:53
Dr. Richard Offutt
That benchmark that you said is important because then you also have gained. Had enough time to gain a little clinical humility.
38:59
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, right.
39:01
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, and. And that. That’s something that goes unspoken quite a bit, you know? You know, you know, 100 of everything in your first six months out of a program, and then you progressively realize that. That maybe, I don’t know, 100% of everything. And I always. I just kind of reference it as clinical humility. And it’s there.
39:23
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Oh, yeah.
39:23
Dr. Richard Offutt
It’s there for all of us. And so. But that’s such a good point, Glenn. I really appreciate it.
39:28
Dr. Glenn Vo
Well, you know, think about, like, the first few times when your work came back, right? You know, your first recall, or let’s say, like three or four years down the line. And that crown that you did, like, hey, that crown’s gonna last, like, you know, forever.
39:43
Dr. Richard Offutt
A good. A good six months, okay?
39:46
Dr. Glenn Vo
We say forever when were fresh out of school, and then we see the reality of it, and then we’re like, oh, my gosh, like, I did that.
39:53
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
You look at the bike wing, you.
39:55
Dr. Glenn Vo
Tell your assistant, take another one. You know, like, maybe something happened.
39:59
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Turn that angle just a little bit. Oh, man, that looks great.
40:01
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s right.
40:03
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
My clinical mentor made this statement one time. He goes, there’s levels of competence, and he stole it from somebody else. And they said, when you come out of school, there’s unconscious incompetence. You are so incompetent that you don’t even know how incompetent you are. Then that progresses into conscious incompetence. You start progressing, and now you understand that you are incompetent.
40:28
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, that’s right.
40:29
Dr. Richard Offutt
So then you take other bad habits.
40:33
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
And then it becomes. It progresses into conscious competence as you progress on. Now you’re competent, and you understand you’re competent. But then when it really progresses, and we really get on top of your profession or whatever you’re doing is when it becomes unconscious competence you’ve progressed through. Now you’re unconsciously competent, and then the final one is the unconscious super competent where you were at the top of the profession. And I think, not that we’re unconscious competence or unconscious super competent.
41:06
Dr. Richard Offutt
I don’t know, Moose. I don’t know if I can follow all that consciousness, unconsciousness. You’re making me unconscious. You’re making me unconscious.
41:12
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Right now I’m unconsciously competent. But it’s having that pool of resources that I think can help docs. I think they can lean on these groups and I think that’s what it is. And I think that’s where we want simplified dentistry to be. We want it to be, hey, you know, you may have 60,000 people in Nifty thrifty dentists and some of them are in those other things. So you guys do a lot of things, but maybe there’s a place for them and Simplify to progress in this and to lean in kind of on the experience is where we look at it, you know.
41:45
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, I mean I’m the newer out of the four of us, I guess so, you know, I’m at that tenure point. You know, my 10 year reunion is next weekend, so.
41:55
Dr. Glenn Vo
Wow.
41:55
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
So you might be consciously incompetent.
41:57
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, exactly.
41:59
Dr. Richard Offutt
Tbd.
42:00
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
I’m just surprised Moose was humble enough to say that he’s unconsciously competent. Super. I thought for sure it was.
42:06
Dr. Richard Offutt
I signed up, I signed on just unconsciously.
42:10
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
But it’s, you know, it’s that type of, you know, when we started this and I was reaching out to a bunch of my peers and classmates and you know, still texting and all that stuff too, but they’re like, oh my gosh, you know, something will get posted. I’m like, man, you know, I was having this issue yesterday in my office. I texted two guys that are our age that didn’t know what to do. But the people you had involved in Simplify were able to give me a much better view due to their experience at this. And it helped me figure out this issue and how to move forward with it.
42:39
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
But you know, the funny thing I think, and Rick and I talk about this all the time, you have a lot of friends in the profession and you have a lot of people you went to school with, you have a lot of people that you play golf with that are the profession. It is amazing to me how few of them want a friend to be successful. And I think it happens in dentistry all the time. You can have the best idea and people aren’t that, you know, aren’t going to participate because they don’t want.
43:05
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
They don’t want to build it up. Yeah.
43:06
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
And it’s. It’s tough, you know.
43:08
Dr. Glenn Vo
You know, a mentor of mine explained that to me. That phenomenon, Right. I’m like, why. Why is it that sometimes the people who don’t know who I am are, like, the raving fans?
43:19
Dr. Richard Offutt
They’re cheering for you.
43:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
43:21
Dr. Glenn Vo
And the person who maybe I grew up with, went to high school with or. Or went to dental school with. They’re. They’re kind of, like, quiet right now. I. I say this. This is. This is not a generalization. That’s not everybody. Okay. Obviously, I have friends and people I went to school with that just. Hey, they’re just very happy for me. But I always. I. I didn’t understand that phenomenon. And my mentor told me, this mentor is like, well, because they are acknowledging if they give your flowers, if they praise you, they are acknowledging that you have gone to another level, that you’re no longer here.
43:57
Dr. Richard Offutt
You’re not one of them.
43:58
Dr. Glenn Vo
You’re not like, hey, I. This is a guy that went to high school with. And now he’s doing that. And so when he told me that, I was like, wow, that made a lot of sense, but also motivated me to be like, I don’t want to be like that. Yeah, I don’t want to be like that. I want to be. I want to be. I want to be the guy that’s like, that’s amazing. That’s inspiring to me.
44:19
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
44:20
Dr. Glenn Vo
Like, you came from, like, my hometown or went to my dental school. And so. But.
44:25
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
But I’d rather work with the guys I know, the girls I know. You know, I mean, that’s what I. Who I would rather support than somebody kind of way outside.
44:32
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah. Yeah. But. But again, that’s. That’s a. A phenomenon. And when he explained that to me, I was like, oh, that.
44:37
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
That you start realizing you have that tighter group that is willing to help you and rely on you and, you know, build you up and let you build them up as well. They’re the other ones that are, you know, celebrating your failures more than they are your successes.
44:51
Dr. Glenn Vo
Yeah.
44:51
Dr. Richard Offutt
And. And I think. I think a big part of. Of maturation in life in general is a dentist, for sure, is. Is you. You have to realize. You have to shut out the naysayers and the background noise people, because if you listen. If you listen to the herd mentality or the herd conversation, they’re going to all be over here eating grass, whereas you’re sitting there going, hey, I think there’s something else to eat out here. Let’s go find it. And they’re going to be looking at you going, hey, man, but the grass is over here. And I think it limits your ability to be creative on your own behalf. If you listen to the, to the. I mean, I think you listen. I guess I’m. You don’t shut them out. I guess you listen, but you don’t. You don’t let it bother you.
45:40
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Glenn, we’re going to lean on you while we have you here with a bunch of questions that I think our listeners would appreciate. What’s your advice for a tenure, doc?
45:49
Dr. Glenn Vo
My advice is figure out what your end game is. And what I mean by that is, in dentistry, this is something we can all understand. When you tell a patient you need a crown, you already imagine what that looks like at the end. You don’t go like, hey, let me prep this and let’s see what happens, right? But yet in our careers, that’s literally what people are doing. They’re like, I’m just gonna keep working until I just fall over. Like, literally. I’ve heard people say, I’ll just keep working. And I tell them, die in the chair. Yeah, literally. And what I tell them is like, look, you got to look at your career as a dentist as a career like a professional athlete. Okay? I mean, you know, you have only a certain amount of time until your skills start going down.
46:35
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Right?
46:36
Dr. Richard Offutt
X number of reps. Yeah.
46:37
Dr. Glenn Vo
Your skills are going down. And so. And they’re like, well, I’m not ready to sell or any of this. I say, no, no. I’m not telling you to sell it today, but you got to have that plan in your head, because if you wait until your skills are going down, yeah. We’re going to buy your practice at a lower amount. So you have to almost think about that, and then you have to think about, okay, well, what does that, like, look like? Okay. Okay, you want to make, you want to get X amount at an exit, right? You got to look at, okay, the exit strategies. Are they going to ask you to stay on for a few years? You got to add that into your calculations, right? You can’t wait until you’re ready.
47:15
Dr. Glenn Vo
You have one foot out the door, because then you have no leverage. And so 10 year dog, you need to figure out, like, how much more time are you going to practice realistically. Realistically at a high level. Not like, I mean, look, my wife, she’s a dentist. She loves being a dentist. She will practice forever. But even she says, like, I mean, I want to cut down, but I still want to do dentistry. Well, if you’re going to do that, then your lifestyle is going to change and whatnot. So I would say at the 10 year mark, you really need to think about your exit strategy. Not getting out of dentistry, but possibly moving on from what you’re doing right now. So that’s my big advice. Too many doctors, they wait till the end and that’s when they get you. You’re desperate.
48:00
Dr. Glenn Vo
I mean, it’s just like going to buy a car when you don’t have a car. Right? You want to buy a car when you have a nice car and you can wheel and deal and if they say no, okay, I’ll just keep driving my car.
48:09
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Exactly.
48:10
Dr. Glenn Vo
That’s, that’s what they need to think about.
48:12
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
What do you wish you did earlier in your career?
48:14
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh, gosh. Wow. You know, that’s a, that’s, that’s a tough question because I feel like I, I’m blessed with a lot of opportunity. I have a blessed life. Things were hard. I made a post about this on social media. I mean, when I was younger I used to think like, why me? Like why do I have to work two jobs? I have friends who are like, their parents are paying for it. I used to complain about all those things and now as I’ve gotten older, I’m like, those things really shaped who I am. You know, maybe have kids earlier. Yeah, you know, maybe that’s it. You know, I mean, because my wife is like, you know, we have two kids. And I kept on bugging her like, hey, I mean, I think three is a good number.
49:01
Dr. Glenn Vo
She’s like, no, were too old for that. I’m like, so maybe like we started earlier, I would have like my three. I, I, I, I grew up with four siblings. Yeah, so it was fun. And so yeah, maybe that’s it. But I’m pretty happy with how life turned out for me.
49:18
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
What’s one piece of financial advice you would give to practitioners?
49:22
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh man, this is a big one. Just because you’re a good dentist, just because you grew a successful practice doesn’t mean that you are a financial genius. Okay. You have to lean on the advice of not just any financial professional, someone with a track record. I think in general, if you’re going to work with someone with a track record. Not, hey, I did a couple of things for a few years, like a season. And I think dentists unfortunately, because, you know, you have to be somewhat intelligent to be a dentist. That they figure like, oh, you know, I’m smart enough. I can figure it out myself. And those are like some famous last words for a lot of dentists on a financial aspect. They think like, oh, I’ll just. I’ll just start flipping some homes. Well, how hard can it be?
50:13
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh, you know, I’ll just rehab this home until you actually get into it. And so learn from, from seasoned professionals and work with seasoned professionals.
50:24
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
What’s a mistake you made that you learned from and change your career?
50:30
Dr. Glenn Vo
Oh, gosh, that is a feeling like, I know everything. I don’t need any. I don’t, you know, I don’t need a mentor. I. I can figure it out on my own. If you, if you want to move fast, you work with people who’ve been there before, you know, if you want to. You want to massage your ego, then do it yourself. I much rather move faster. And so I’d work with us. So that was a mistake I made early in my career that made some bad mistakes with trying to figure it out on my own.
50:57
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
We know why our guests are here. We invite people here because we want to lean on them and we want to get their advice and we want to get it out to our listeners. Why are you here?
51:06
Dr. Glenn Vo
I’m here to be honest, because I wanted to get to know you guys a lot better. You guys are. Been amazing for our profession. For those who are watching right now, you’re wondering, like, wait a minute, these guys just started. No, they. They’ve been around. They’ve accomplished amazing things. And for me, I just want to be people who are doing amazing things, who have abundance mindset. I want to be around those people. So honestly, I wanted to come here because. To share a little bit of my knowledge, but I enjoyed my time and spending the magic happens. And for those who are watching this, why you want to be on a podcast, the magic happens after the recording. So I’m looking forward to that.
51:47
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah.
51:49
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Nice.
51:49
Dr. Richard Offutt
Thank you.
51:49
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
51:50
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Well, thank you again for being with us, Glenn. We really appreciate, we appreciate you taking the time to come all the way here from Dallas. I think our listeners will definitely benefit from what you said. The last question we like to ask everybody is, what’s your advice on how our listeners can simplify dentistry?
52:09
Dr. Glenn Vo
Man, I would say. I would say just always focus on the basics, Right. A lot of times people want to over complicate their practice. They want to buy this new piece of a technology they want to add all these different services. And honestly, if you’re really. If you have the basics down, clinically dealing with people, communication, if you have the basics down, that’s more than enough for you to be successful. So I think a lot of times people are always looking for the new tactic, that shiny new object that just distracts you. Make sure you get the fundamentals down, get the basics down.
52:46
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Thank you very much again, Glenn. We appreciate you had a great time.
52:49
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Thanks, Glenn. Great, man.
52:51
Dr. Mustafa Shah-Khan
Yeah, thank you.