The Lifestyle Practice Podcast For Dentists

Hosted by The Lifestyle Practice Coaches

Business Entrepreneurship Health Fitness

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Episodes

300

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

The Lifestyle Practice Podcast was created to help dentists obtain their desired life by creating uncommonly successful dental practices. Ready to work with us? Visit thelifestylepractice.com for more information

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60 recent

September 28, 2026Episode 3287 min

327. How to Stop Procrastinating: The $15 Timer Productivity Hack for Dentists

Do you put off small tasks until they weigh on your mind for days? In this episode of The Lifestyle Practice Podcast, Dr. Matt Vogt shares the $15 dial kitchen timer that transformed his productivity at his dental practice, in his coaching career, and at home. Dr. Matt explains how to use a simple productivity timer to build focus, gamify your to-do list, and stop procrastinating. You will learn how timing yourself makes you aware of every distraction, why tasks expand to fill the time you give them, and how to finish dreaded admin work in minutes instead of days. Whether you are a dental practice owner, an associate dentist, or a dental student, this time management strategy can help you build efficiency at procedures like crown preps without compromising the quality of care. It can also help you manage your practice more effectively and protect your time outside of work. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com #ProductivityHacks #StopProcrastinating #DentalPractice #LifestylePracticePodcast

September 21, 2026Episode 32710 min

326. Why Financial Freedom Isn't the Finish Line for Dentists

In this solo episode, Dr. Derek Williams reflects on life after selling his dental practice and spending two years on the road in an RV with his family. After years of chasing financial freedom, he's now working through a different question: what do you do with freedom once you have it? Key takeaways Freedom in your practice creates room for the decisions that build wealth. Working three days a week gave Derek the time to invest in real estate and start coaching. Most dentists plan how to reach financial freedom but never plan what their days will look like afterward. Once more money stops changing your daily life, the question shifts from how to earn more to how to use it: giving, volunteering, family experiences, or buying back time. Financial freedom doesn't remove difficulty. It gives you the freedom to choose which challenges are worth taking on. Healthy influence means offering perspective without demanding that someone adopt it. Your problems don't disappear when you reach the goal. The principles you practice now are the ones you'll rely on for the rest of your life. Resources mentioned Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

September 14, 2026Episode 3268 min

325. Stop Complaining About Dental Insurance and Start Playing the Game

Dr. Raheel Haider takes a deliberately contrarian position on the most-complained-about topic in dentistry. Instead of joining the social media pile-on about denials, write-offs, and impossible reimbursements, he argues that a negative mentality about dental insurance spreads through a practice — to the front desk, to the billing team, to the patients — quietly costs the office production. Key takeaways Dental insurance is a feature of the field, not a bug — in network or out Your team and patients mirror your attitude toward insurance Complexity is the insurance companies' strategy; understanding it is your job EOBs are the training data for fixing your estimates — and they're sometimes wrong A patient should leave with either a zero balance or a credit, never a debt Credits create goodwill; balances create bad reviews Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

September 7, 2026Episode 3258 min

324. The Simplest Dental Team Training That Actually Works

Dr. Steve Van De Graaff hosts an episode on the single most common struggle he hears from dentists: leading and managing a team. His answer isn't a culture overhaul or an offsite — it's a training you can run in fifteen minutes and start using the same afternoon. The handoff has two rules. First, tell the patient what's coming next, so nobody sits in a chair wondering why they're waiting. Second, build up the team member taking over. "Erica's going to take care of you — she does the best cleanings." "Sarah's really good with insurance; she'll find a way to make this work." "Kate's in here with you today, and she's great with kids." Why it works — three effects Patient confidence. Patients stop guessing what happens next. Instead, they see a polished, organized office running a system, and they trust the practice more. Team performance. When you praise a team member in front of the patient, you're really talking to your team member. It's a Dale Carnegie principle: give someone a reputation to live up to, then praise them when they get there. Culture. When people build the habit of saying something good about a co-worker out loud every day, respect and teamwork rise with it. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

August 31, 2026Episode 3247 min

323. Why "Hire Slow, Fire Fast" Is Terrible Advice for Dental Practice Owners

Firing a team member is one of the most uncomfortable parts of owning a dental practice — and according to Dr. Matt Vogt, most of the advice out there makes it harder, not easier. In this episode, Matt takes apart the popular "hire slow, fire fast" cliché and shares a real coaching conversation with a client who recently acquired a practice. The client inherited a front office where four team members had no clear roles and no defined expectations — including "Kathy," an employee who'd been shuffled from position to position for years without ever being told what a good job actually looked like. When the team pushed for Kathy to be let go, the client's gut said the same. But Matt's coaching reframed the situation: before you fire someone, you owe it to them — and to yourself as a leader — to give your absolute best effort. That means clear roles, clear expectations, real training, and honest accountability. Dr. Matt's core philosophy: people fire themselves. When you've laid everything out on the table, and someone still can't rise to the standard, the decision becomes clear, guilt-free, and fair. And the bonus? The better you get at creating clarity, the less often you'll ever need to fire anyone. Key takeaways: "Hire slow, fire fast" skips the leadership work that actually solves the problem Underperformance is often a symptom of unclear roles, not a bad employee Trust your gut on fit — but do the systems work before deciding Give underperformers a genuine, well-defined chance to succeed Clarity removes the anxiety and second-guessing from firing Systemize your office, and you'll rarely reach the firing point Ready to build a practice — and a team — that runs on clarity? Take the free lifestyle and practice assessment and start a no-pressure conversation with Derek, Matt, Steve, or Raheel. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

August 24, 2026Episode 32324 min

322. How I Paid Off $300K in Dental School Loans in One Year (The Full Breakdown)

Dr. Derek Williams paid off $300,000 in dental school student loans within twelve months of graduating — then got accused of faking it. In this episode, he addresses every criticism head-on and walks through exactly how it happened. Fresh out of dental school in 2016, Derek bought a practice doing $570K at 50% overhead after evaluating close to 100 practices. In his first year of ownership, he nearly doubled production to $1.3 million — not through one big move, but through hundreds of small operational decisions: fixing the practice's visibility with a digital sign, going comprehensive with patient care, training an underdeveloped team, and bringing extractions, grafting, and implants in-house. He's honest about the cost, too — the emotional weight of a brutal first three-to-six months, dropping his daughter at a new school with no friends or family nearby, and questioning whether he could even do it. Derek also breaks down the tax timing that freed up early cash flow, the psychology behind choosing to pay off debt over investing, and how he rolled the momentum into real estate. The takeaway: paying off the loans wasn't his best investment — learning to build an exceptional practice was. The debt disappearing was just the first visible result. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

August 17, 2026Episode 3225 min

321. From $800K a Year to Bankrupt: What Went Wrong

In this episode, Dr. Raheel Haider breaks down the exact red flags that turned an $800K practice into a bankruptcy — sky-high rent eating into profit margins, $10,000/month in marketing that wasn't converting, a saturated market with brutal competition, and a seller he didn't trust. This is a real case study in dental practice acquisition, practice due diligence, and the numbers every dentist needs to check before buying a dental practice. If you're a dentist considering practice ownership, a dental student planning your future, or a practice owner trying to figure out why your margins feel this tight — this episode shows you exactly what to look for (and look out for) before you sign. What you'll learn: The 4 red flags Raheel found before walking away from an $800K/year practice Why high fixed costs (especially rent) can quietly sink a profitable-looking practice How to evaluate a seller's marketing spend and patient demographics before buying Why trusting the seller's numbers isn't optional — and how to catch red flags in a P&L The difference between "not defaulting" and actually thriving as a practice owner Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Free ebook — "How to Achieve Financial Freedom in Seven Years or Less": https://the-lifestyle-practice.com/home-page-page Email Raheel at raheel@thelifestylepractice.com Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

August 10, 2026Episode 32149 min

320. He Bought a 3-Chair Practice With ZERO Patients on Day 2 — Now It's Doubled | Dr. Eric Palmer

Five and a half years ago, Dr. Eric Palmer bought a three-operatory dental practice about 20 minutes outside one of the most competitive dental markets in the United States. The practice had no insurance verification process, no real treatment plan presentation, and a hard credit check on every new patient. Today, that same practice has doubled its production and collections on the same three chairs, runs on a three- to four-day clinical week, and is being built out to eight operatories to support a future associate hire. In this conversation, Eric and Steve walk through the entire arc: discovering practice ownership through a podcast episode during residency, finding an off-market practice through direct mailers to retiring dentists, navigating a financing gap when a home sale fell through days before closing, fixing broken front-office systems in the first weeks of ownership, and building a billing strategy that profits inside a low-fee-allowable PPO state using CEREC same-day dentistry. Key topics covered: Finding off-market dental practices for sale through direct outreach Bridging a financing gap with seller financing during an acquisition Fixing insurance verification and treatment plan presentation as a new owner Managing staff transitions and turnover after a practice purchase Billing profitably as an in-network PPO practice Using CEREC technology to improve Class II procedure outcomes and reimbursement Planning an 8-operatory build-out for future associate or specialist hires Defining your lifestyle vision before choosing a practice ownership path Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

August 3, 2026Episode 3209 min

319. 2026 Is Halfway Over: Are You Winning or Losing as a Dentist?

2026 is officially halfway over — and if you're a dentist or dental practice owner, that means it's time for an honest mid-year check-in. In this episode of The Lifestyle Practice Podcast, Matt Vogt breaks down the real difference between dentists who are winning in 2026 and dentists who are losing, based on patterns he sees across practice ownership, dental practice management, and everyday life. Dr. Matt shares three signs you're losing this year: being reactive to every up and down in your dental practice, blaming your team or "bad luck" instead of taking ownership, and coasting through your career without intention. Then he flips it — the three signs you're actually winning: staying the course through the ups and downs of practice ownership, taking extreme ownership of your results (including how you handle a tough Google review or patient complaint), and leading your day, your team, and your practice with real intention instead of drifting. Whether you're a general dentist, a specialist, or a practice owner working on treatment acceptance, staffing, or burnout, this episode is a reset for the second half of 2026. If you want to build a practice and a life that actually feel like a win — not just look like one — this one's for you. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com

July 27, 2026Episode 31912 min

318. The 3 Problems Killing Dental Practice Profits in 2026 (And How to Fix Them)

Every dental practice owner is facing the same three problems in 2026: insurance reimbursements that haven't kept up with inflation, a staffing and retention crisis, and overhead that keeps climbing no matter what you cut. In this episode of The Lifestyle Practice Podcast, Dr. Derek Williams breaks down why these dental practice management challenges have gotten worse — and more importantly, what the highest-performing practices are doing differently to grow production, protect their margins, and build a team that doesn't leave. You'll learn how one practice increased production by 40% without changing their insurance mix or seeing more patients — just by fixing how they diagnosed, communicated, and followed up with patients. You'll also get a practical framework for improving staff retention (without a bigger payroll budget) and a simple way to tell whether an expense is actually an investment in your practice's growth. If you're a dental practice owner trying to increase profitability, reduce overhead, and build a team that sticks around, this episode gives you three action items you can implement in your practice this week. Connect with us: Take our FREE lifestyle and practice assessment: https://thelifestylepractice.com/practice-assesment/ Learn more about 1-on-1 coaching: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get access to TLP Academy: https://thelifestylepractice.com/coaching-services/ Get the TLP Student Academy for $20 (lifetime access): https://the-lifestyle-practice.teachable.com/p/studentacademy Subscribe to The Lifestyle Practice Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tlp-podcast-for-dentists/id1476544801 Email Derek at derek@thelifestylepractice.com Email Matt at matt@thelifestylepractice.com Email Steve at steve@thelifestylepractice.com