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In this episode, Dr. Dave Bender (Fishers, Indiana) shares his entrepreneurial journey with us and explains how he balances both managing his three dental practices with living a healthy, active lifestyle. 
His early-set goal to own multiple practices was challenged with the difficulties of clinical dentistry, but he shares how his bigger vision for what he projected his business to become was the driving force for his success.
Dave carries with him a powerful message that can transform the way we run our practices. His progressive thinking coupled with his early childhood influences pushes him to always “be comfortable with being uncomfortable”.
In this episode, he shares how his experiences in corporate dentistry at Heartland Dental surprisingly counter the attitudes shared by most practicing dentists. He describes his continuing education courses with Heartland Dental as a value that he, otherwise, would not have experienced in a smaller practice. He later explains how he was unhappy with starting an associate driven practice because of the demanding high capital it required. He now thrives, in multiple aspects, with a co-partnership business model.
Key Quotes:
- Let us live so when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry. – Mark Twain
- With my early struggles – I was forced to be a better marketer, I was forced to run my practice a better way.
- I was forced to do whatever it took to make the patient experience what it could be so that they would tell their family and friends – and that’s honestly how we grew.
- The difficulties we had in the first couple of years forced me to be better and more intentional about our growth process.
- In 2013, I started an associate driven practice and that was a major mistake.
- Some will be good, a few will be great, but only one will be the best.
Featured on the Show:
- Contact Dr. Dave Bender
- Village Dental at Saxony
- Heartland Dental
- It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, 10th Anniversary Edition
