We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Trey Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Trey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

On Ma5 5th of 2020 I opened my General Dentistry practice in Harrisburg, North Carolina (a Charlotte, NC suburb). To overshadow the myriad of typical complications associated with opening any business, the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 made this event ever so slightly more complicated. Heightened CDC and OSHA protocols, reduced or mere non-existent workforce, patient reluctance and hesitancy for treatment and economic uncertainties to name a few added constraints. Not to mention this was a scratch start-up dental practice, meaning we were opening with zero patients. Well all except for my wife, our 1 year old little girl (who had no teeth) and our 6 year old little boy.

Regardless of the challenges, I stayed positive and convinced myself (and my team…of 2) COVID was going to be the best thing that ever happened us. Fast forward 3.5 years, with 2 expansions and now employing over 25 people I still believe that one of the hardest times in my life couldn’t have turned out any better.

My best advice for any young professional starting a business would be the following:

1. Be positive (even when you aren’t on the inside).
2. Be flexible
3. Change what isn’t working. You are the boss, you make up the rules.

Trey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am 38 years old, I am married to my beautiful wife, Hannah. We have 2 children. A 9 year old boy named Max and a 5 year old girl named Sophie. I grew up playing multiple sports, and played NCAA Division 1 baseball in college. Afterwards I raced professionally/semi-professionally as a road cyclist (bicycles), and always had a drive for things that were hard and challenging with an above average amount of adrenaline producing capabilities mixed in. I have also always been an outdoor enthusiast my whole life. I bought my first fly fishing rod when I was in 6th grade and played with it for hours in the back yard with no instruction or direction since my father did not fish. Now I’ve traveled all across the US fly fishing from trout and salmon in Alaska to fishing for redfish in the inlets of the Atlantic Ocean. As a child I took up hunting as early as my father would allow me to hold a bb gun and shoot a bow and arrow. I currently own 3 pointing dogs and in the winter we travel across the country hunting game birds (mainly ruffed grouse).

I started my career in dentistry later in life (graduating dental school at 33 years old). I, like many of us, fell into it and sometimes I look back on it and wonder how anyone falls into dentistry. I always was intrigued by the medical field and at the last minute decided practicing as a medical doctor was not in the cards. Finally through a family friend, who was a dentist, suggested I give the thought a consideration. After much thought, I realized I have always enjoyed beautiful smiles. I love solving and fixing problems. I love detailed work and working with my hands. I loved the thought of owning my own business, which is much easier to do as a dentist than a medical doctor. And lastly, everything about being a medical doctor I didn’t like, wasn’t involved in dentistry. Fast forward 10 years and here we are.

What sets me apart from other dentists? I have a drive for winning. A drive for perfection. A drive to be the best. A drive to be the expert in my craft. And a need for a team that functions and operates like a family. When you combine those elements I feel you can have something powerful. Adding in quality dentistry, a strong marketing strategy, and abilities to adapt in a changing business environment are what sets us apart from other practices. My personal mission is give great people a great place to work and to give them an opportunity to grow. That philosophy is one that I feel a lot of businesses should adopt.

I am most proud of my team. We currently have 3 doctors (including myself) and over 25 employees. It’s my firm belief that my team has gotten us to where we are and I’m the least important part of the puzzle. My team carries me when I’m stressed, the set me up for home runs with patients. They stay late or come in early when the job needs to be done and they are there for our patients no matter what the situation is. Teams make us or break us and I am proud to say I work with one of the best teams in all of dentistry.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had a period of time early on where our office became so busy, so quickly, that I was becoming depressed and burnt out. Everything fell on my shoulders and it was becoming too much to handle. Luckily I was part of a national mastermind at the time with dentist all across the United States. I had one particular mentor that made me do an exercise that I will never forget. Create a box on a piece of paper and divide it into 4 squares. In the top left box write “Things I hate to do that I’m NOT good at”. In the top right box write, “Things I hate to do that I’m GOOD at”. In the bottom left box write, “Things I like to do that I’m NOT GOOD at” and in the bottom right box write, Things I like to do and I’m GOOD at”. I came back a week later and he said, “OK, now as fast as you can get rid of everything in the “Things I hate to do that I’m NOT good at” box. A week later Payroll was gone and my life was better instantly. It was at that moment I realized I am making up the rules of this game and how my office was run. I made the rules of the day to day operations and I could choose to be miserable and bogged down and couldn’t dig my way out of a paper bag. Or I could simply change things. This mental pivot helped change my perspective on business!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Without a doubt shooting to #1 in the area on 5 Star Google reviews was the biggest and has had the most significant impact on our reputation building. We send every patient that comes in our practice a direct link to our Google Review “stars and comments” section at 7:00 PM every evening. This “free” advertising gives us so much credibility with patients before they walk into our doors. Also, while no-one knows Google’s algorithms we definitely see an increase in calls when people leave a review mentioning a specific dental service like I came into Smile Solutions Dentistry to have my “wisdom teeth extracted”… The second piece of advice I would recommend doing is investing in video marketing and campaigns. Videos on social media can be repurposed and can live forever. They can be paused and played 1- 10 years later as a new video. It’s an expensive space to get into but if done and done correctly I feel the ROI for most businesses is worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://harrisburgdental.com/
• Instagram: @Smilesolutionsharrisburgnc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086258994887
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJmyXetDwg6CzAxJhqFVrow
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/smile-solutions-dentistry-harrisburg