📍     I was sitting at the kitchen table of my tiny home in Orange County, California. With nothing but an idea, laptop, me sitting at a kitchen table, with, I guess, a fire inside of me.

 I never knew that years later, I would always be thinking about how I wanted to be the best, the top company in the dental industry.  And not for reasons that you think, like the dopamine hit you get from being number one. I didn't even realize at the time   I was even creating something like this. But every time I chose to do something really hard instead of taking the easy route, every time I trusted but verified that my team was doing the right thing, every time I revamped a training when I didn't have the time to do it, I was choosing to build something bigger.

Something much bigger than even just me. And even when I chose to pour into people who at the time were probably not deserving of my energy,  even those that were creating similar businesses that just wanted to bounce ideas off people who shouldn't have gotten advice from me, I still did it. I was setting the bar at a totally different level because that's what makes a company stand out. 

That's what creates the top companies in any industry. the people who are willing to be servant leaders, the people who are willing to go the extra mile. And today I want to talk about how to be one of the best in the remote dental world, even in the remote world. I want to give you a real inside look at what it takes, what it requires of you, and what most people never talk about when they think of success.

And before we get into all of that,  I want to take a minute to remind you of something.  I want you to not get too caught up in the idea of being at the top of any list.  Because the truth is that most of these lists, someone just made them up.  There's no governing body that decides who the best is.  The only thing that truly makes you great is how you serve, how you lead.

And how you decide to make a difference every day, even when it's really hard to show up to make a difference.  If you're doing the right thing, if you're following real leadership principles, if you're showing up with integrity every single day, you will be at the top. Whether or not your name is on a list, it won't even matter.

So let's talk for a minute about what this really looks like.

 Here's my truth about being a top company in any industry. A lot of people, they chase this idea of being the best in their industry. They think that that means getting awards, being featured in articles, or even getting that public recognition, but I want to tell you something.  Public recognition being featured.

It's all great and it serves a place, a time and a purpose, but that isn't what success looks like. I have watched people burn themselves out, chasing a title instead of building a company. I've watched business owners obsess over the competition. What are they doing? What service are they adding? How can I make mine better?

Instead of just pouring into their team and their clients. And there's a hard truth in that, that kind of mentality, it isn't going to get you the length or the farthest place that you think it's going to get you. Instead of chasing some imaginary ranking, what if you just focus on doing the right thing every single day?

Because I promise you, if you build a company that is ethical, that has high quality, that is rooted in service, you will always be one of the best. And there won't be a list out there that has your name on it because you're going to define the list.  Now, how do you actually build that kind of company?

Well, let's talk about it for a minute.  There should be core standards of remote companies. For me, remote dental companies.

First and foremost, let's talk about what ethics and integrity mean.  Every single top tier company, they operate with one core principle. Every one of them.  Do the right thing even when no one is watching. Ask any company. They'll tell you that's how they operate. Remote dental companies, they handle private patient data, financial records, insurance claims, personal information, statistics about the business.

There is no room for cutting corners or questionable practices. So, there's a few things that I want you to make a list of. The first, HIPAA compliance. It's not optional. It's mandatory. The next, accuracy in insurance verification. That is the foundation of trust that you are building with your client.

 Transparency in billing and collections. It's a nonnegotiable. Let me give you an example. I have seen companies rush through insurance eligibility verifications just to check a box and bill a task. They just want to get the job done.   A long time ago, I worked for a dental practice that was really close to Nashville, Tennessee, probably about 25 minutes.

 That practice hired an outsourced company to do our eligibility. They charged per type of verification, and it was mandatory that they verified everything. If we didn't want them to verify something, we had to notify them in advance. If we didn't notify them, they would do it and charge us.

Even though they knew we never wanted certain things verified, we would always do that in house. They just wanted to check a box. You see, the problem with that is that you lose credibility. You lose the credibility that it takes to lead a virtual company. When a mistake happens, practices suffer.  The patient suffers.

Your reputation suffers. Choose how you bill and how you operate. Don't just check boxes. And recognize that trust really is everything. If you want to be one of the best, you have to be obsessed with getting it right every single time. The second thing, in my opinion, that separates the best from everyone else is what I call relentless improvement.

 Are you consistently improving your processes?  Are you finding ways to serve your clients, your patients better?  Are you investing in training, training for your team so that they can be better than they were yesterday?  Because I promise you this, the companies that stay stagnant, they get left behind. I don't want that for you.

I want you to learn about things like scaling without losing. That probably sounds a little bit crazy when you think of the truth.

 Scaling without losing quality. Scaling without losing quality probably sounds a little crazy if you've never done it.  So, let's take a minute and talk about scaling.  Growing a business is one thing but growing it without losing the quality of what your work is, that's something a little different and probably a challenge worth celebrating once you've accomplished it.

 I want to take you back to what scaling means, and we've talked about this in a couple episodes before this, but I want to touch it again. So, building systems that can handle growth. Keeping your standards just as high with 100 clients or patients or customers as you did with 10.  Learning to not overload your team to the point where quality actually drops.

One of the smartest things you can do to scale Is to partner with the right people.  So, what I mean by that is you might have competitors in your industry that they're direct competitors. Maybe they've gotten clients you haven't serviced well, or you've gotten clients. They didn't service. Well, whatever that might be, you can partner with them. 

You might be thinking, uh, no, I will be doing that. Well, let me tell you that I exist in one of my brands in the virtual dental space. Maybe that's what brought you here to this very episode. I have four direct competitors that cannot handle any more clients.

They do not have the bandwidth. They do not know how to scale. They cannot figure it out, but they want to be seen as a leader in the industry. So, they don't tell people no. You know what they do?  They send that client to me. We totally support them behind that brand.  That might sound crazy to you.

Like, wait, are you joking? I'm not joking.  Similar to how one brand might own several small brands, but they're named different things, but they're all under this mother company. The same concept.

A virtual company like Dentistry Support We take over billing, insurance eligibility, dental phones. We take over what others can't do. Freeing up time with team members, time with patients.  Having strategic community partnerships helps your business become more scalable without overloading your internal resources.

Because scaling isn't just about taking on more work. It's about knowing what work belongs on your plate.  And what needs to be outsourced to experts. Now, you could do the same services that I do. Someone else can do the same services you do. Why not work with them?  So, let's talk for a minute why it's collaboration and not competition.

This will set you apart in every way. I don't think enough people talk about competition versus collaboration.  If you want to be the best remote dental company. Stop seeing other businesses as competition and start seeing them as potential partners.

Let's be real for a minute. No single company can serve every dental office in the country. Thank you There is room for all of us.  When I was growing dentistry support, I helped people who could have been my direct competitor, I gave them advice. I shared things that helped me be successful.

I shared perspectives they hadn't thought of.  And guess what? It made me better. It made my company stronger  You see that collaboration? That means you're deciding that the industry you serve is more important than you just existing in it. You actually want to make it better. My dream for dentistry support is that I would make the dental industry better than I found it.  As I found it broken, I found a lot of people who had a lot of expert opinions, but no expert results.  And that broke me because I just wanted it to be better.

I'm going to give you one last final mindset shift.  The best remote dental companies in 2025 will have the highest standards.  They will have the most integrity. They will have the strongest partnerships. They will have the best leadership. And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, I want my company to be the best.

You already have what it takes. There's nothing else you need to do because you've already got the idea in you. Now it's just about delivering because the best companies are built by the people who are willing to put the work in. So I need you to keep showing up. This industry needs you to keep leading.

Your team needs you to keep raising the bar.  And I know I'm going to see you at the top. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of No Silver Spoons. I'm your host, Sarah Beth Herman, and today is just all about you realizing the true potential you have to make a mark in your industry. As always, if you are challenged with needing to get through this episode a little bit faster, feel free to press the 1.

5 X or the 2 X on the menu below wherever you listen to your podcast, and you can hear me speedily get through this episode.

If you're looking for mentorship or public speaking opportunities where you want me to speak at your next event to teach you and your team or your group all about what it means to be a great leader, to scale a business, to grow beyond where you are right now and receive all that's meant for you. You can check the show notes for ways to connect with me.

If you'd like to be a guest on the show, I'd sure love to have you and I'd love to connect with you. The link to schedule a call with me is listed there too. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode. I'll catch you  📍 guys at the next episode.