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924: From Educator to Entrepreneur: Dr. Jeff Henneberg’s Journey to Dental Practice Ownership – Dr. Jeff Henneberg

Being a dentist isn't easy, and neither is being an entrepreneur. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Jeff Henneberg, co-founder of Smile Source Spokane, to share his path from being an educator to entrepreneurship and offer his words of wisdom and encouragement for current and future practice owners. To learn the essential tools and skills of entrepreneurship, listen to Episode 924 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Dr. Henneberg:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

Main Takeaways:

  • Entrepreneurship is a learnable skill, not something innate.
  • Whether it’s Smile Source or not, find a community to be a part of.
  • Balance your time and your life. It will make you a better human being.
  • Keep on giving. It’s when you're giving that you’ll feel like you're truly living.
  • Figure out who you are and what is important to you about the role of dentistry.

Quotes:

“Can [entrepreneurship] be taught? Can it be something you see and go, ‘Oh, I want more of that. Show me how to do that’? I think we all have the ability to change. I think we all have the ability to think about life differently, move therapeutically, whatever it is, in a direction that's more healthy, fits who you are, and who you want to be. So, I would say yes, it's teachable. It's great with those guys that have it from the get-go. They seem to get ahead of the game. But I'm still learning.” (12:00—12:32) -Dr. Henneberg

“I think, in general, dentists are pretty isolated individuals. They’re in their little practices alone, working alone. If they’re fortunate enough to have a partner, or maybe they’ve hired an associate and they’re their mentor, that’s a pretty common scenario to be in if you own your own practice. You're grossing $1 million to $2 million, somewhere in there, and that's where you live. It's hard outside of anywhere else, in my experience, to find connection, to find people that you could really ask the hard questions with, or share the hard things you're going through with, and be vulnerable about that, and know that your best interests are at least at heart too. You might have that with a couple of guys or girls, but [Smile Source is] a unique community that came about from this because, as an entrepreneur, you're alone. I think you'd be hard pressed to not think that you need a lot of self-motivation, a lot of positive, half-full thinking a lot of the time, because if you let that other negative side take over, you won't be able to grow. You'll wallow in your own mess. There will be times when you need the lift to get you out of that lower 50% to that higher 50%, to the half-full part. And, man, I've found a group of people that I can really lean on that way.” (23:11—24:42) -Dr. Henneberg

“It's so great to have a community. The time that you get spending there and the therapy of that is priceless, actually. Yeah, it takes a bit to grow that, to have the trust. But I think Smile Source has done really good, probably indirectly, just by the way they designed who they wanted to be. That's happened in our groups. I think you'll find in all the groups around the United States that get together and share in that way, it's been a very reliable way to — yeah, your wife doesn't quite get it. She's going to listen, hopefully. You can't talk to your team about all this stuff — that's inappropriate. So, you need some people to bounce ideas off of, those that have been through it longer. And then, when you get to be the guy that has been around a little bit, it also teaches you some things. So, it's a wonderful community for me.” (26:30—27:36) -Dr. Henneberg

“I think the first thing you want to figure out is who you are. Like, what is important to you about the role of dentistry? If you are the precisionist who spends time with your hands and that's where you find joy in doing the work, then know that about yourself. You can do that every day, as many days of the week as you want. But if you also want more than that and you understand that about yourself, then I think go into that a little bit more. Find out ways that that can be who you can become, that entrepreneur spirit, by owning your own practice. Then, find people who do that already and ask questions. Explore that with all of them, and you'll find people that you'll connect with more. I think you can find that, obviously, with the group I'm in. We would all be helpful in that regard, even if you didn't own your own practice. But ask the questions, ‘What does it take? What does it mean? What do you struggle with? What are the wins, the losses, the successes, and the failures? Tell me about all of that,’ so you can see who you are and envision yourself in that way. Because I think, coming out, a lot of guys have the idea that, ‘Oh, those guys make more money than me. They can have all these things, and they can do all these things,’ and that's not true, man. That's not true. It just gets spread out. It doesn't mean you make more. You’ve got to like it. You’ve got to like it.” (28:28—30:09) -Dr. Henneberg

“What we learned was — and anybody who is thinking about buying a practice, or a second location, or any of that — what you can't really grasp is the culture of the place. You can't really know all the dentistry and what that entails as well. So, is there really great dentistry going on? It's hard to know that right off the top. You can do some auditing and those things, and you can't really get a sense of the culture unless you’re able to be there day in, day out, for a while, which isn't feasible. So, you’ve got to know that there's going to be quite a bit of change that is probably likely, which is what my partner and I didn't know, exactly. We thought we could just bring in some systems and enjoy the way we do things. Wouldn't that be heaven for all of you? So, we learned a lesson there, because that team no longer exists in any way, shape, or form.” (31:34—32:28) -Dr. Henneberg

“This idea of retirement is another concept I'm not quite sure about. I like where I'm at. I like doing what I do. I don't want to do it five days a week — no. But I don't want to stop doing it either. So, do I have an end date? . . . I don't know. My dad was an OB/GYN. He’s always said, ‘As long as I'm not hurting anybody and I'm a contributing member of my practice and community, I want to keep doing it if I like it. I don't want to disengage from it.’ He just retired at 76, and that's because he couldn't see very well anymore or something. So, it was a little harder to do all that. So, I don't know. I don't have a stop date. I like doing these surgeries. I like growing people. If I can continue making a difference that way, then I'm all in.” (35:07—36:03) -Dr. Henneberg

“As an entrepreneur, someone who wants to be in their business, you could spend every waking moment in that mindset and not balance life a little bit. I found myself being forced to not being able to balance it. It was just, if I'm going to be as effective as I can be in this principal thing, it's going to take all my time. So, I wanted to have control of that. It doesn't mean there aren't times when, ‘Oh, man. The business needs me more than I really want it to at the moment.’ But the concept and the balance of that — you can't lose sight of wanting it for yourself too. Like, you've got to have those times [for yourself]. You'll never be effective, you'll never be a better leader, a better mentor, a better husband, a better father — none of those things — if you don't keep that in mind.” (37:03—38:02) -Dr. Henneberg

“I think we all have something to contribute to another human being, and we do that as dentists indirectly and directly.” (41:09—41:19) -Dr. Henneberg

“Somebody once said giving makes you feel like you're living. I found that to be very true. The more we can give, indirectly, things just happen, and they're happier. It makes you feel really good inside. When you start taking and thinking about how you can get, I think you lose sight. So, no matter what you're choosing to do, if you can think about how you can be a better human to another individual, in whatever capacity, I think it's worth it.” (41:39—42:11) -Dr. Henneberg

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:40 Dr. Henneberg’s background and what pulled him into dentistry.

11:12 Can entrepreneurship be taught?

12:42 Bumps in the road and lessons learned.

19:26 The community of Smile Source.

22:08 The dark side of entrepreneurship.

25:08 The importance of finding a community.

27:50 Figure out who you are.

30:11 More bumps in the road and lessons learned.

34:03 The future for Dr. Henneberg.

36:04 The importance of controlling your time.

40:57 Final thoughts.

Dr. Jeff Henneberg Bio:

Dr. Jeff Henneberg is the co-founder of Smile Source Spokane. Smile Source Spokane helps people from all over the state and Inland Empire achieve oral health and feel confident about their smiles. For over 15 years, more than 3,000 people from over five states in the West and Canada have trusted their care to Smile Source Ellingsen-Henneberg Dental.

Dr. Henneberg has been an educator for dental students through the University of Washington Dental School and has hosted educational events in various subjects regarding oral care. He is a charter member of the Inland Empire Perio Study Club, which is one of the longest running educational clubs in the country. He provides implant, surgical, and consultation care for the Benewah Medical Clinic and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. He is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, the ADA®, WSDA, SDDS, and serves on the dental advisory board of Smile Source.

In his spare time, Dr. Henneberg enjoys spending time outdoors golfing, skiing, and hiking with his family. He is married with two children.
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