Episode 9
72 ::: Kim Mack › The Dreamer's Journey: From Hygienist to Multi-Practice Owner
In this inspiring conversation, Kim Mack shares her remarkable journey from dental hygienist to multi-practice owner and founder of Practice Strategies. Starting as a dental assistant before becoming a hygienist, Kim pursued an MBA while still practicing, driven by her vision of being more involved in the business side of dentistry. Together with her husband Ken, she built a successful dental practice management company focused on preserving private practice dentistry. Kim's approach combines risk-taking with practical business sense, emphasizing culture-building and leadership development. She discusses the importance of mentorship, the value of complementary partnerships, and her mission to help dentists maintain their autonomy while achieving both clinical and financial success. Throughout the interview, Kim emphasizes the importance of finding joy in one's work and living with intention.
Transcript
So guys, today I could not be more excited to get to interview the one and only Kim Mack. Kim, not only are you a dear friend, but you're someone that I've admired just in my journey of getting connected in dentistry and seeing what's out there. I respect everything you're doing. If people don't know about you, I know you're famous in these parts, but you are a hygienist turned multi-practice owner.
And you also own a practice management company called Practice Strategies. So before I set you up, let me just say thank you so much for letting me interview you today.
Kim (:Thank you for inviting me.
Shawn Zajas (:So Kim, this is a part of a whole new podcast. My original podcast was called Innovation in Dentistry. And now it's the Sean Zayas Show just because it can transcend simply innovation and simply dentistry. But I tell people, like, I'm fascinated by innovation, not necessarily the technological innovations or the business model innovations or even the clinical innovations. I'm fascinated by the actual
innovator by the actual influencer that decides to say, why not me? The person that says, Hey, I'm crazy enough to be the one that steps up and pioneers positive disruption. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into just getting into dentistry and how you went from, again, hygienist to all of a sudden multi-practice owner. And you don't have to,
Fill in whatever details you want. How about that?
Kim (:Okay. So I started my career as a dental assistant and went on to become a hygienist. And I realized pretty early on that I was probably going to get a little bored with hygiene for my whole career. So I went back to school and I got a business degree.
And for me, I really believe that all of my successes, most of my successes are a result of the people who I got to mentor with. And so for every stepping stone that I had, I look back and I definitely had a mentor who helped push me there. And to say, you can do this, it's different. And so I actually started my consulting career in Hawaii
told me that I had the skill to do that. The practice ownership piece came much later.
Back then, back in the early:and it was super fun, it was super easy, I knew how to run it and then so then we bought another one and that's just kind of how that happened. I was doing consulting and you know most of the practices that we acquired were doctors who were in over their head financially and they didn't want to leave their office, they wanted to stay but they just weren't good business
Kim (:ultimately partner up with them and take on all the administrative aspects of running a dental practice and allow them to be the dentist, which is what they wanted to do. And so I think a lot of the brokers in the area started to look at Ken, my husband, and me as people who were an option for...
sellers that they had who they knew really wanted to stay on. And it just it just worked. We never really had a big business plan and we still don't really have a major exit strategy. We just love what we do and get to do it with a lot of great people and here we are.
Shawn Zajas (:So Kim, you shared some really interesting things. The first thing that just set off my whole like, wow, that doesn't seem common is you're an assistant, you then become a hygienist, and you say like, hey, why don't I go back to school and get a degree because I'm probably gonna get bored of this. What business degree did you get? Did you get like a?
Is this an undergrad degree?
Kim (:a master's degree in business.
Shawn Zajas (:So you got your, I didn't realize, so is it a master's or is it an MBA? Okay. So why from, I mean, again, I'm in the dental profession to all of a sudden let me decide to get an MBA, like where did your interest or desire or passion come from that you thought going after an MBA? Like that's so uncommon. I don't know if I've heard too many, hmm, hygienists to MBA. Why not?
Kim (:and MBA.
Kim (:I mean, I think it was a journey. I didn't just, I didn't, I did it part time and it took, you know, several years to accomplish, but I think I could see my, the vision that I had of being more on the business side of dentistry rather than the clinical side is what pushed me in that direction.
Shawn Zajas (:Do you feel the NBA prepared you for the business side of dentistry? I know my undergrad in business marketing was much more of a corporate expression of how I could be a marketer. I'd be managing big million dollar ad budgets as if I worked for General Mills or Southwest Airlines, not Happy Smiles or something like that. How much of it?
did you feel like actually directly translated to, well, I guess you already had the experience though, so you were able to make those connections as you're in the classes.
Kim (:and
Kim (:I think that education, any kind of education, higher education, is you can apply it to what your passion is. And so I don't know that I'm a better dental practice owner because of it. I think that it just opens up doors and opportunities and meet people and networking and things like that.
Shawn Zajas (:So when did you stop clinical?
Kim (:Hmm. Oh gosh, I don't know, maybe 15 years ago?
Shawn Zajas (:So in the timeline though, was it before the NBA? Was it after you got the NBA? Like did you ever still temp?
Kim (:L.
No, it was after. It was, I mean, I always did clinical part-time. I never, I had that like kind of a mental block thing. Like you went to school for this, you can't get this up completely. And of course, hygiene is one of those.
field that you can always get a job and I knew that and so there was just that little bit of insecurity in me that don't ever give up your license because it's always something that you can fall back on and do. Additionally it gave me, it gave me and continues to give me more credibility at the practice level when I'm coaching and working with the clinical teams and the hygienists that we coach. I'm able to say I'm there with you. I know what you're experiencing.
I know what you're doing. And so it also requires me to stay up in my continuing education. Like I would think that I would want to either way, but when you have to, it's just a little bit of a different motivator. We also would do, my husband and I would put together dental missions in the Philippines in Cambodia. And
I would keep my license current because of that as well, because they were pretty stringent on making sure that the people coming and doing dentistry were licensed professionals. So I always wanted to make sure that I could still provide that community service in another country. So, yeah. I gotta say, like, it just says last year.
Shawn Zajas (:I mean Kim it seems like-
Kim (:When I renewed my license, one of the, someone from the dental board wrote back, I had missed a check box or something, and she wrote back and she's like, do you want to have the retirement license? You'll save this much money. And I was like, am I ready for that? And I said yes. So, I mean, it was a significant savings. And I mean, you know, I'm 63. I doubt that I'm going to be needing that.
that license anymore. So just it's just this year that I moved to a retirees license.
Shawn Zajas (:So Kim, you so naturally transitioned into thinking like, you know, I'm a dental professional, but at the same time I'm going to pursue this MBA part-time on the side. So much of the reason why I have this podcast isn't just to highlight amazing people, but it's so that the listeners, between the lines of what we're saying, if they find themselves,
in their story, similar to where you were at. And they were like, yeah, maybe it's embarrassing for me to admit that I'm a little bored. Maybe I feel bad about that because my friends and family and my community know that I made so many sacrifices to be a hygienist or to be a dentist. And I'm not fully fulfilled in this. What are my options? And here you were, you found yourself in that and you had the courage to be like,
Hey, I don't know what the future is gonna hold, but why don't I go and seek out and get an MBA? And just like any decision point in someone's life, you don't have the crystal ball. You don't actually know that you're going to be able to graduate, that you enjoy that sort of higher learning with that specificity on, again, business. And that's what's just so encouraging to me that without certainty,
knowing that there's risk, knowing that maybe you spent money and time in the wrong direction, you still pursued it and you finished it. Was there ever a time when you were insecure about that decision as you were going through the schooling?
Kim (:No, because I don't think I was, I wasn't, I was doing it more for my own self-knowledge. I wasn't really doing it to advance in my career. I wasn't relating the two together. One was just I wanted the knowledge, I wanted the higher education, and I just, I also happened to be in the business arena. So I don't, I don't, I really don't think that they were together. I don't feel like it was a big risk because I was, I was solid in what I was doing in my career. And this was just...
of a personal goal for my own education.
Shawn Zajas (:So as an outsider, it's so obvious that you are very entrepreneurial. You're incredibly successful as an entrepreneur. Did you know that growing up in high school and college? Like when did that become apparent to you that you're like, oh my gosh, like I'm an entrepreneur?
Kim (:I don't know that I still think of myself as an entrepreneur. I think of myself as a risk taker and a dreamer. And my husband and I...
People laugh all the time, like how is it possible that you guys are together, because he's just the complete opposite. But I guess that's what attracts us, and we somehow meet in the middle, because I'm just like, let's just do it. What's the worst that can happen, right? That's always my mindset. Like, what's the worst that can happen? And if I can live with that, and enjoy the journey on the way, then I'm like, let's do it. I guess I'm a risk taker, I would say.
But it all starts with a dream, and I like to dream of the possibilities of things. And I think that that's what pushed me throughout the last 25 years of buying dental practices and working with dentists and grooming staff. I like to look at the potential and the possibility of things. Like, just, if that makes sense.
Shawn Zajas (:Yeah, yeah. You know, so in my observation, looking at lots of different married couples, I feel like if given a certain disposition, it could be like you're saying, creativity or a dreamer, if one of them is like 51% the dreamer and the other one's 49% the dreamer, it almost seems like at some point they have to go more toward the extremes because...
if your spouse is more of something than you, you almost feel like you have to be the one that almost provides the balance. Because the more mature person is going to be the one that tethers the less mature person. So almost like in Ken's stability, it seems like it gave you the freedom to stay and be encouraged in that place of being a dreamer and a visionary.
Kim (:Yeah.
Kim (:Yes, I would say that.
Shawn Zajas (:Because it's like if both of you pull up the anchor and decide to just believe the crazy dream, I feel like that happens sometimes, but it's not very common. You know, maybe that's where you get like the Bonnie and Clyde's, I don't know.
Kim (:Right.
Kim (:Well, I think it was a good fit because he's the naysayer. He's like, this isn't going to work because of that. And it just made me define even more clearly my vision with somebody who was saying, you can't do it. You want to do it all the more, right? And so he would always push me to maybe just to make sure I was really clear in my vision. I don't know.
Shawn Zajas (:I think it's rare to find a combination, Kim, where you have a dreamer and a risk taker. Now you might say, well, hey, that's like Richard Branson. That maybe is the entrepreneurial mold. Because at times, I'll have dreams, and I'll have a vision of the way the world could be. But it doesn't mean that I'm still comfortable embracing the risk necessary to pursue it. I still.
Kim (:Yeah.
Shawn Zajas (:back down and I don't always yield to courage and let it have its perfect way expressing itself in the pursuit of some sort of goal of mine. Sometimes I still get comfortable on the sideline. Sometimes I still play things safe. Is that foreign to you or are you a human like me in that way? Because I don't know if I've ever heard someone actually say, I'm a risk taker.
Kim (:Yeah, I'm a wrist checker. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?
Kim (:I mean if you can always live with the worst that can happen and you think you want what's over there, go for it. Try it. Because what's the worst that can happen? You can fail.
You can, I mean, you know, sometimes the worst that could happen is you could lose your life savings. Well, that risk isn't, that risk is too high, right? And so I'm still, I'm still logical in my risk taking, right, but I'm willing to risk.
I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk reputation. That's a big one. I've had to ask myself that in the past, whether I'd be willing to risk reputation. And I think there's some things I wouldn't risk. I wouldn't risk my family's financial security on a dream, unless I was real sure. But yeah, what's the worst thing gonna happen?
Shawn Zajas (:So was there a mindset that you had to let go of over the last 25 years as you've been growing with practice strategies and everything that you've been stewarding in order to be as successful as you are today?
Kim (:Sure, I think everybody's mindset changes over time as long as you're open to self-reflection and all of that. Back when Ken and I started to buy dental practices, DSOs were just barely getting started. And I remember after we had acquired maybe our fifth or sixth dental practice, we started to have people meet with us and saying, you know, you can sell these and make,
know, six times EBITDA and it was all just so foreign to me. And I'm like, why would I want to sell these? Like, they're my family, right? And so I didn't understand DSOs at that time. And so at the peak in which we had 15 dental practices that we owned and we weren't structured like a corporation. We were individual small family practices where dentists were failing and they wanted a business partner.
at all of these 15 different locations operating independently, and yet being the direction being provided by practice strategies, right, the consulting company. And so I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but what was the question?
Shawn Zajas (:Um, the question was, or like, is there a mindset you had to let go of in order to keep growing?
Kim (:Oh, has my vision changed, right? And so.
Kim (:No, because I didn't, I wasn't stuck in a, like I didn't, remember I said earlier, we didn't have a
this big marketing plan. We just were buying dental practices and running them and it was just fun and it was easy and we were good at it and we were changing the quality of life for a lot of doctors. That a lot of doctors were, they still got to have this ownership and there's the autonomy that comes with that and why they went to dental school and they got to provide quality dentistry and have a quality life because at five o'clock, when they put their hand piece away, they went home
be with their family. And so that's, I think, more than anything, what was driving me personally. And because we were good at running dental practices, we were thriving financially as well. And we were able to create healthy work environments, you know, we changed the cultures, and it was just fun. Like, I don't know how else to say it. I didn't have this vision that I was building this big DSO, right?
But then over time, when DSO started to take over, like they have, so many of them have entered into the Arizona market, I think I started to realize what we had just done together, right? And then we were probably approached by at least two to three people a quarter.
interested in looking at our practices. And it just was never anything I wanted to do. So I didn't, my mindset didn't shift. I wanted to continue to provide a good work environment and quality of life for dentists who were struggling. And that's what we did, and that's what we still do. I mean, we have since sold off many of our dental practices. We have only four right now that we own. We manage quite a few others, but we own four.
Kim (:And it's still my passion to make private practice, make private practice great again. I mean, that's kind of like a theme that we have running through the practice strategy. But it's tough right now. Like everybody, a lot of dentists just see the corporate entities coming in and that's their only option. And I like to show them that it's not, that they can still have the...
the reasons they went to dental school and they can still enjoy that by having some good business philosophies and practices. That's what we do and that's what I love doing.
Shawn Zajas (:Well, I think that's why I love your story. It's because you pursued a certain direction and realized, you know what, I think there's more. I think there's more to what I'm seeing. I think I wanna learn the business side because I'm finding that I'm probably gonna be more fulfilled not simply holding a handpiece and doing cleanings, which there's nothing wrong with. And yet you pursued it, and because of that, you've been able to bring so much fulfillment.
to other dental professionals that did get stuck because dentistry is just downright hard. Now, was there ever a moment for you then, professionally, Kim, where almost like the dark night of the soul where, I don't know, maybe things were really difficult and you didn't know you guys were gonna be able to get through it? Because I think what's common to me and it might be common for other people out there, like you even said when you're about to jump into something, well, what's the worst that could happen? Well, sometimes...
somewhere close to the worst happens. And I think a lot of people don't get in the game because they're afraid that they'll either be embarrassed for trying or humiliated or just end up failing.
Can you share a time when maybe things weren't just wonderful and great and maybe there was some adversity? Because I'd love to find out how you got through that.
Kim (:I mean, the obvious answer is yes. It hasn't been all, you know, butterflies and rainbows, of course. There's times when some practices were struggling. There was times in our economy where things were rough and people had to be laid off. There was the Corona period. Like, certainly there's been lots of times where business has been rough.
just from a business perspective and being able to pay the bills. And I just, I'm blessed because my business partner, my life partner is the financial guru of the relationship. And he's always managed that and helped me feel secure. And we talk openly and honestly about situations and.
Kim (:I've never felt hopeless if I can say that, like I would. I just have been so fortunate and I have so much gratitude of the people I've got to work with. I mean, this hasn't, I didn't build this company. It's the people on the team who built it and the people that I work with. And I just got to lead them along the way.
Shawn Zajas (:So Kim, from what I know about you, I knew that'd be a hard question for you to answer because I think you keep a short memory of things that aren't good simply because you know it doesn't serve you. Or I bet if I asked Ken that question.
Kim (:Yeah.
Kim (:Oh yeah, he'd have a long laundry list. Ha ha ha.
Shawn Zajas (:If he was listening right now, he'd be like, Kim, what about that time? We looked at each other and we were just like, man, are we ever going to get out of this? The point wasn't to bring you back down into those moments. It's more like in the midst of the valley, were there any keys that you discovered that helped you as you were back up on the mountaintop or as you were back to climbing?
Kim (:I'm sorry.
Shawn Zajas (:It's not our successes that end up equipping us for life. It's really what we find out in those moments of challenge. Sometimes those are the most defining moments where we really look around us and we find, wow, I'm more capable than I thought I was, or I have a gift in me that is worth sharing. Did you ever have a moment like that?
Kim (:I mean, we all do. I just, I really do think you hit it on the head where I don't have a memory for those kinds of things. It doesn't serve me. I mean, I could tell you story after story about doctors that we got in relationships with that were.
ruining a self-destructive role, a self-destructive path for themselves and consequently the dental practice and having to make really tough decisions that way and how to end these relationships without being detrimental to the business. There's all kinds of stories like that, but we just deal with it. We just do what we try to always do what's right by the people.
that we serve and just do what we have to do. I don't, yeah. I mean again it hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies but I really do, I struggle with trying to remember the bad times but there have been I'm sure.
Shawn Zajas (:Kim, you are-
Shawn Zajas (:You know, you're just a beautiful person in every way. And I even just appreciate how heart-centered you are, how spiritually discerning or sensitive you are. And I remember just one time having lunch with you, with my dad, and I think he went off to go to the bathroom. And you looked at me and you said something like,
Do you feel like this is it for you? Because I really feel like you'd be a great coach. And it was a really influential moment in my life because I feel like you were seeing something that was beyond Sean the product guy. Sean the guy that has a product company that is interested in just talking to people about products and programs. And I would say.
I'm probably only even here doing what I'm doing right now because of the role that conversation had with me, where you just got to validate and see something in me that you saw a passion or a gifting for. And I'm sharing this because I feel like this is how you approach your team, and this is how you approach the practices that you serve, is that you see people.
and you're faithful and loyal to people and you believe the best about people. And that's why people, your team loves working for you. Um, like it is evident in everyone that I've talked to that works for you. They just, they just love you, Kim. Um, and that's why I'm saying you, you're just such a beautiful person. Um, what would you say is your gift that you think you get to share with the world?
And I know you don't like talking about yourself, so I just love making you laugh. Ha ha ha. Gotcha.
Kim (:You told me we weren't going to do that.
Kim (:You know, I don't know. We have, we both practice strategies and consequently in the same time the dental practice is around this set of core beliefs. And I've always called them the core beliefs of a highly functioning team.
And really, they're the core beliefs of a very successful life. And there's six of them. And we make our teams repeat them all the time. And people have come back to me long after our work relationships have been over. And they say, I'm still using those core beliefs. And it feels awkward always to me when people come, like you're doing right now.
Kim (:praising me, but it fills me with pride when somebody shares with me that something that I shared with them has changed their life. And I believe so strongly in those core beliefs in every aspect of our life. And so...
I love sharing that. I carry them around in my purse and I pass them out whenever it seems appropriate to do so. I also just love getting to know people.
Kim (:I don't let people call me their boss. I feel there's just such a separation with that because people don't wanna be managed, people wanna be led, right? And so when you call me your boss, it just, it's unsettling for me.
Kim (:Yeah, I like connecting with people. I like knowing where you come from. I want to know what your dreams and aspirations are and what my role is in helping you reach those. Maybe it's to work side by side forever and maybe you're only here to work, we're only here to work together for a short period and we both serve a purpose for each other. Everything that I give to somebody,
equally giving me something in return and helping me be a better person as well. And then I have a responsibility to continue that, right? Pay it forward. And so I think more than anything that's how I have, for the last 25 years, that's how I view my role is to pay it forward. I've been fortunate enough to...
like I mentioned earlier, I feel like I am where I am because of the mentors I've had. I could sit here and name them, but just that every...
Kim (:like milestone in my career, there's somebody that I, there's a human that I can point to that said, it's because of that person that I'm here. Like you shared that thing just now about something that I shared. I've had so many of those opportunities, so many of those things given to me, where somebody saw something else in me that sparked me, that I said, okay, this is good, I can do this. So I think more than anything, people need to stay
alert to the signs around them, right? Not the mystical signs or anything like that, but people come into our lives for a reason. Some come to stay a long time and some come for just a little while. But they're all there for a reason, to teach us something, to give us something, to guide us in some way, and to be vigilant about that and what those reasons are.
in recognizing that I also have a responsibility to provide that same thing back to other people.
Shawn Zajas (:Yeah, I was going to say one of my foundational beliefs and the idea of abundance, I've heard people often refer to it when it comes to resources, right? There's abundance thinking, meaning there's enough room for all of us. And yet, I think of it more in terms of our unique light or our gifts. And when I think of everyone that's advancing
our industry or the community that we're in. You know, I look to the left and the right and I still see sometimes that there's vacancies, that spots where people could occupy it, but they're afraid, they second-guess themselves. And yet, I know it's a harder thing for me to say to myself, but it's easy for me to tell other people. I know that nobody wins, Kim, if you don't own the light that only you can shine.
Like no one wins when you downplay who you are. And I'm not saying you're doing that, but I'm saying thank God you haven't. Like thank God you haven't said, you know what, like who am I to own practices? I'm just going to, you know, I'm just gonna own two because I can't do more than that. I'm just gonna limit myself, talk down, like not believe. And it's like, for whatever remaining time you are in the game shining your light, I hope, pray, and believe that you're gonna shine as bright as you possibly can.
unashamedly because it's beautiful, it's glorious, and it's what the world needs. And yet I feel like that's exactly the permission you give people in your life, to be who they're called to be. It's like you mother them, you nurture them, you see them. And that's why there's that almost sense of belonging in the team. So I know sometimes it makes you uncomfortable because you know about me, like one of my gifts is I love people's strengths.
And I love celebrating their strengths. I don't get intimidated by them. I just wanna call them out and be like, wow, Kim, you're fricking strong, you're amazing. Let's just celebrate you because...
Shawn Zajas (:It's not always easy to own who we are. It's not always easy to step out and do something different, to let our gifts shine or to let our lights shine because sometimes with that visibility, it comes a target and people are like, well, why do you think you're special? Or why do you think you can do that? You know, and there's all those negative people. And yet you are such a beacon of positivity and your story is a beacon of hope to anyone that...
Kim (:Thank you.
Shawn Zajas (:Anyone that's hearing, that's not doing their life work. That's not pursuing their life's mission. The encouragement is so obvious. Like, just do it. Like, I feel like that could be like a tagline for, your book is like, I feel like you don't live with regrets because you live in such a way so that you're not going to regret 10 years ago because you knew you went for it.
Kim (:I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Kim (:Yeah.
Shawn Zajas (:You didn't play it safe. Kim Mack, the woman that played it safe. That's not true. You're the woman that the game at risk.
Kim (:But I have the opportunity to do it. Like, I mean, Sean, let's be real. Finances hold a lot of weight in people's ability to do what they want to do, right? And so again, I'm going to credit Ken, who kept the financial piece of our business together like that.
I'd have been bankrupt with the doctors probably if I didn't have him as my business partner, right? So I had the operational genius and the...
Kim (:Yeah, just the vision of where we could go. And he had the constraints of what we really could do financially. And so there's so many hygienists who will call me and say, I want to buy a dental practice. Can you give me some advice? And I'm honest with them. It's not cheap. It's not without risk, right? And the dental industry has a very small profit margin.
running a dental practice. You have to really...
Kim (:Be diligent about how you spend your money and where you spend your money.
And so I just, again, I just feel fortunate. I feel blessed more than anything that I have a partner who together we were successful. I think any one of us, me alone, would not have made this and Ken alone definitely wouldn't have made it. You know, he's just not a risk taker. He would have never thought to do it, right? And it's really the doing it together that made it work.
Shawn Zajas (:I think that is so insightful when it comes to who you work with, who you align yourself with. Like none of us, and I love it, it's almost like none of us are given all the pieces of the puzzle. And there's like an innate opportunity to almost like embrace humility and look for those people that might be around us to be like, hey, you might have the missing piece that together we can do something.
Because not, no one person has all the answers or is equipped with all the gifts. Typically, people have lots of strengths and then they have areas that are liabilities. And if someone else can't fill in those gaps, we're not able to together create something amazing. So I think that's just a beautiful picture of our need for each other of just, and you've embraced it in such an honoring way. Like I don't hear anything.
about Ken's different and he's held me back. It's this beautiful honoring of him and how, because he's strong in the way he's strong in, that allowed you to be strong in the ways you got to be strong in. And together it's such a beautiful harmonious thing. And practice strategies exists and has impact because of that harmony. What's next for you? Like what do the next five years look like? Or if you don't wanna answer that, like what's your take on dentistry?
and where you think it's going, because you have such a valuable perspective because of your just wisdom and the experience that you've had.
Kim (:I do have, I think for the first time I have a five-year plan before we were not going by the seat of our pants but I said we didn't really have a business plan but I really am very passionate about
making private practice great again. I think that, you know, I don't know what it's like in the other parts of the country. I only know what it's like here in Arizona.
and I'm not anti-corporate, it's just a different industry, it's a different animal. And I get to work with team members who have come from that work environment, and I get to talk to doctors, dentists all the time, and specialists who are working in that environment. And...
They're not happy, they're not thriving. And what I hear frequently is it comes at the expense of not so much patient care, just at the expense of autonomy and personal growth and personal satisfaction in what they do.
Kim (:I love leading people, I love leadership, I love helping people be the best they can be and really finding out what that is. What is it that you want to do? What are you good at in helping people find that? And I think when you're working more in a corporate structure entity, it's just less. It's less of that. It's less of that personal...
I don't know what it is, like not dedication, but empowerment of individuals. And so I want to help the dentists who are struggling.
I want to help those who went into this business, went into this career with two things. Typically a dentist will say, I wanted to be a dentist because of the autonomy and I wanted to help people or I wanted patient care. And so you can do that and you can still make a very lucrative income and not have to work under a corporate structure. And um...
And that's what I love doing and that's what I want to do for the next five years is having those dentists who want to keep their private practice and they want to make enough money that it meets their family, meets their financial needs or wants more than needs.
Shawn Zajas (:So what I'm hearing is, like, there's a lot of dental consultants, dental practice management companies, and yet what you in practice strategies does is that you find, or the dentists find you, that had the dream. They had the dream of autonomy and finding fulfillment and getting to live life and do dentistry on their terms, and yet they were confronted with the cold, hard, brutal facts that dentistry sucks sometimes.
Most times, not sometimes. And not equipped to figure out what to do to overcome, to somehow scale that insurmountable wall, they meet you and practice strategies, and you guys come alongside and actually help them realize that the dream is possible. And together, you actually let them experience that again, where they can...
Like you said, like disengage with the chaos when they go home because all of a sudden their practice is in good hands. And now they can be present with their kids or their spouse. And when they lay their head down, they don't have to need to be worrying and staying up all night about the patients that might come back or whether, you know, that metaphorical fire is gonna happen that they won't be able to put out. But they know that the team...
the company that's in their corner, it's like you really, you have their backs. And you have that proven track record, which is just amazing. So Kim, if I'm listening right now and I'm a dentist and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I just love what this Kim Mack is saying. What's the best way for them to get in touch with you? Like where do you want their eyeballs to go?
Kim (:I mean, the obvious first step in most businesses is our website. I think our website really depicts who we are and how we approach dental practices and clients. Every practice is so different. I think that what we learn, what I've learned mostly is that.
It's within the culture, right? I think that almost every dental practice that we have either acquired or just came on to do consulting, we always start with the culture.
it seems like their cultures are broken, mostly because they don't know how to create a culture, right? Like, I remember one practice that we walked into, and he's just like, the electricity was getting shut off and everything was just crumbling. And he's like, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. And it took me about, it didn't take me very long to understand that. Like, it was fun when we went in there. Like, everybody was laughing all the time, and the team loved their jobs.
I mean, loved the office and they loved their patients, but yet he wasn't making any money. He wasn't paying the bills. And early on I was like, you know what, doctor, this is a circus and you're the ringleader, right? There was, the culture was fun, but it wasn't.
sustainable, wasn't paying the bills, right? So we had to help him change the culture to keep the funness, but create some structure too, right? And so once you can change that culture within a business, a small business, and you start to hire the right people who fit within that culture, everything changes pretty quickly after that.
Shawn Zajas (:So for those that don't know your website, it's practicestrategies.
Kim (:Net.
Shawn Zajas (:prac I love that you keep saying it was fun. And that's come up a few times in this interview where it's like, you just can't help but let us know. It was actually just a lot of fun. Like you were having fun. And I feel like that to me, they say like the closer we get to our zone of genius, which is the work that really only we can do.
Kim (:It is fun.
Shawn Zajas (:It's more like play. And I feel like that's kind of what you're describing and that's why it's so beautiful to see someone that stepped out of their zone of competency. You're probably a very competent dental professional and above the zone of competence is zone of excellence. And you might've even been excellent, but you never would've found the true fulfillment that only comes from that zone of genius. That's like the work that we were meant to do.
And that is where work becomes play. And that's why you're such a great leader because it's inspiring and encouraging to me once again to know that as I'm on this journey, I'm going to find out, even for me, in my own process, Kim, the work that is fun and play. Now, this is actually part of it. I love interviewing people. I don't know if you can tell.
Kim (:I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Shawn Zajas (:So thank you for the way that you've played such an important role in my life. Okay, so are you ready for the final question? Okay. So Kim of today is walking down the street and off in the distance you see 18 year old Kim. So metaphorically speaking, you have one moment to communicate a brief sentiment to her. What do you share?
Kim (:Yes.
Kim (:Gashun.
Kim (:I'm gonna say it, just have fun. Do, follow your heart seems just to...
doesn't, like, I don't think you should always follow your heart. I think that.
Kim (:Whatever you're doing, make sure that it's what you want to be doing, that you're having fun. Right? Like fun isn't always, you know, party hats and streamers, right? Fun can just be a, for me it's a...
It's enjoying what I'm doing, like really at the heart of it. Like, you know, people, sometimes our doctors or my team, would go, you just work, you work too much. You're working all the time. And I was like, I am? I don't feel like I am. And I realized later, because I'm enjoying what I'm doing, whether it's putting a spreadsheet together or creating forms or analyzing numbers. It's like, it's not work to me. I just genuinely like it.
As much as I generally like vacationing with my family, it's just, I like what I do. And I don't think anybody should do something out of, whether it's habit or what am I trying to think of, the, out of guilt, right? I have to do this because somebody else is expecting this, right? I mean, of course there's some things in life that just is, but.
Yeah, just make sure you're enjoying what you're doing. Because you can get into just the rut, right? You can get into that day-to-day rut and grind, and I gotta get up, and I gotta do this, and I think that's when life stops being fun. Like just to be aware all the time of what am I doing? Live with intention, there you go. Live with intention.
Shawn Zajas (:So I love that to the listener, that's been hearing your story. Not only does your story inspire, but I feel like at the end there, there was such a great plumb line of like, well, how do I know maybe whether there's something more for me? It's like, well, are you having fun in what you're doing? Or is work really, really work? And really brings you down. And the energy of it is that you're depleted all the time.
you know, maybe that's a clue, maybe that's a little bit of a flag or a signal that there's more for you. And, you know, Kim, your story has just been so inspiring. And like I said, like you've been such an inspiration to me in my journey at times when I wanted to give up on dentistry because it's such a crazy industry. And I don't really feel like I belong because I'm not, I'm not a dentist. And people know that they're like, Oh, you're not a dentist. You don't understand this. And, and yet some
amazing people have come along and you're one of them that's just really just been refreshing, been insightful and been inspiring. So it's just been easy to honor you as an innovator, someone that's just very influential in the field. I love the impact that you're making and I'm deeply thankful for just the impact you've had in my life. So Kim, thank you so much for letting me interview you today.
Kim (:Well, I get to give a shout out to you, it's not even a shout out. Like I feel equally as blessed to have you in my life and we've got to have lots of long and deep, serious conversations and I so respect your viewpoints and your ability to share your heart the way you do. I aspire to be able to do that the way you do.
Shawn Zajas (:Well, thank you so much, Kim. I appreciate you.
Kim (:Thanks for having me here today.
