We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Scheer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.

Brandon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

I feel like for most dentists and orthodontists I know, the story of how we got to where we are today after doing a startup is mostly a story of about all the mistakes we made along the way, how we didn’t really know what we were doing at first and had to figure it out as we went, the people that helped us, the people that took advantage of us, the personal growth and the transformation that occurred along the way, and the benefits we now enjoy of having gone through that experience. It’s a similar story in a lot of ways to Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey.” In Campbell’s book, the hero is first called to adventure, where they must leave the safety of their home and venture into the unknown. Along the way they encounter adversity, meet mentors, and at the lowest point there is a symbolic death and rebirth. After that is growth, conquering the unknown, and returning home with the rewards of the adventure, as well as being a changed person. The entrepreneur’s story is pretty much the same story, call it the “Entrepreneur’s Journey” if you will.

So for me, the call to adventure occurred about 9 months after I finished my residency program. My first job was as an associate orthodontist working for somebody else. It wasn’t exactly the way that I wanted to practice, and after 9 months we parted ways. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to find a way to own my own practice, and that would require me to either buy a practice or build a new one. I decided to build a new one. From that time until the time the practice actually opened, it was fun, exciting, and without any significant challenges. I worked with a commercial realtor, an attorney, an architect, a contractor, a banker, I.T. and equipment reps, etc. Really, all the people who are involved in the startup before it opens. The pre-opening phase was the time for me to be creative, I dreamed up a vision for my own practice and then put together a team of professionals to help me bring it into existence. And at that point, there were relatively few challenges, it was mostly excitement and fun. All of those professionals on my team involved were very good at what they do, and took most of the pressure off of me all the way up to our grand-opening, at which point their job was done.

Then, the business finally opened, and that’s when the adversity began in my story. That’s when I stepped from the known into the unknown. One of my favorite books for small business is “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. In it, the author comments that the reason most small businesses fail is because the owner doesn’t really know how their business works. And that described me and my business exactly. I knew how to do orthodontic treatment, sure, but that is not the same thing as knowing how to run an orthodontic office. My biggest failure at the beginning was failing to discipline myself to know how to run my business inside and out. Instead, I hired employees to do that. But that wasn’t really fair, I mean how could I have expected an employee to know how to run my business when I didn’t even know how to? But that’s the strategy I was going with, and I spent the next year or so really struggling.

At that point, about a year after opening, things weren’t looking good. I was starting to get desperate, and found myself wanting to try and just sell the practice. I even spoke to a broker about it, and luckily he convinced me to hang in there instead of selling it. But the situation I was in was a mess. Our practice management software was not being used properly, all of the accounts were a mess, there was tons of drama among my staff members, and collections were very low despite our production being reasonable. I was doing a lot of orthodontic treatment, but was not getting paid for it. That was really the low point in this journey, and this is the point where Joseph Campbell describes a rebirth of the protagonist.

There was a metaphoric rebirth for me. It was time to grow up and mature. I hired a great consultant who taught me how to organize and take charge of my business. I learned to stop trying to be a “likeable” boss and instead to be a leader. The staff don’t need a boss friend, they need somebody to lead them and give them direction, communicate clearly and precisely what they need to do, and to be fair. I had to let some employees go who were holding me back, and I got better at hiring and hired some really great new employees. I recognized the employees who were good, and put them in the right positions for their skills and empowered them. There was a whole rebuilding process involving new and improved systems, clearly defined operations, rebuilding the team, and correcting past errors. Imagine the Rocky theme song playing in the background during all of this. It took a long time, but we transformed the business from a chaotic mess into a well-organized machine. What it really took was a rebuilding of myself first, into somebody who could be the leader of a good business. I am definitely not the same person I was when I started the practice, not even close.

Looking back now, the journey was amazing. I encountered all sorts of struggle and adversity and learned how to overcome them, I learned new skills and new ways of thinking, I experienced a tremendous amount of personal growth, and transformed myself into something more, something bigger and better, than when I started. My practice is now in its fifth year, still growing, and is very successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been around dentistry my entire life. In fact, my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all dentists. I am the fourth generation dentist, and the first to become a specialist, an orthodontist. My great-grandpa opened his practice in 1918, and so we have literally been doing this as a family for over 100 years. My practice has a slogan that says “100+ years of designing smiles”, and that is where it comes from. For me, designing smiles is an art form, and I’ve dedicated the last decade to becoming a master artist. There is a lot of science to orthodontics too, which I know inside and out, but it requires a real talent in the artistic realm as well, and that is what sets me apart from others.

My practice is called Shine Orthodontics, and I opened it in 2019. It has been a wild ride to bring it into existence and to grow it into a successful practice, but I am so thankful that I did and it has grown into a really special place. My vision for the practice was a place that was clean, but not cold and sterile. I wanted a place that was warm, kinda hip, where patients can have fun and laugh during their appointments. We see patients as young as 7 years old, all the way up through 70-something. The majority are pre-teens, teens, and young adults. So I wanted to build an atmosphere that would be particularly appealing to people spanning that entire age range including the young adults, and I really nailed it I think.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

It’s a little bit cliched, but I really believe that treating people right is the only way to build your reputation. Our patients love us, and we love them. And we work really hard to make sure that is always the case, it doesn’t always come easy. But we want that relationship. I feel like the current atmosphere in business is so geared towards profit, profit, profit, that customers are really being treated poorly by a lot of businesses. Especially the big businesses. So we want to do the opposite. Of course we need to be paid in exchange for service, but that isn’t why we get up in the morning and come to work. People are smart, and they know when they are being treated right and they know when they are not. When they are treated right they tell their friends and family, and everything is all good when you have that happening.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Reading. Not just reading books related to orthodontics, but everything else, too. From business books, personal growth books, even fiction. Many of the world’s most successful people are avid readers, and being an avid reader myself I can see why. Learning to speed read is also quite helpful, so you can really fill your mind with new information and ideas at an incredible rate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shineorthodonticsco.com
• Instagram: @shineorthodonticsco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shineorthodonticsco