Key Points at a Glance

• Gary Takacs, Founder of the Thriving Practice Academy, in conversation with Naren Arulrajah
• Has beennick named the ‘PodFather’
• Started in the dental profession in 1980
• Started the Thriving Practice Academy in 1989
• Hosts the Thriving Dentist Podcast Show
• Not a practicing dentist, but owns a dental practice – Life Smiles
• Encourages work / life balance for more family time
• Uses the term ‘thriving’ because dentists can change people’s lives and it means dentists and others can achieve personal, professional and financial satisfaction
• 6 goals for a Thriving practice:1- Overhead no higher than 60 %, ideally 50 %, 2-The ability to create financial independence for yourself thru the practice, 3-All technology that makes dentistry fun, and still control your overhead no higher than 60 %, ideally 50%, 4-High performance team that you truly love and enjoy working with, 5-Patients you enjoy taking care of,6- a treatment mix that gives you satisfaction
• Unplanned expenses
• Abundance vs scarcity mindset
• Moving towards a thriving practice; 1- digital photos for patient education, 2-morning huddle, review patient headshot to remember who you are taking care of that day, 3- work on getting Google reviews (you must have a gmail to write a review, look to see which of you patients has a gmail), 4- KPI: key performance indicators to monitor the performance of your practice