A childhood shock can hardwire a lifetime of choices. When both of Eric Roman’s parents lost their airline jobs at the same time, an eight-year-old decided he’d build a life he could control. That thread runs through everything we unpack here: the grind of building and exiting dental groups, the humility of losing a practice in a regulatory fight, the resilience to rebuild to $40 million in revenue, and the hard-earned belief that dentistry only scales when dentists do.
We dig into why DSOs and group practices often stall despite strong marketing and growth plans. Leaders look up to the next location and forget the unit of scalability: the dentist, the manager, the hygienist. Eric and longtime partner Josie Sewell built Dental Associate Growth to solve that gap with simple, repeatable clinical leadership systems and direct coaching for associates. Expect specifics: how to make a practice “associate ready” before recruiting, what a documented recipe for dentist success looks like, and why owner-dentists struggle to performance manage peers. You’ll hear a standout win—a doctor jumping from $37k to $75k in monthly production in three weeks—and the mindset shift behind it: show up like a true professional, review your game, and embrace feedback that sticks.
If you’re a high-producing owner who can’t sell because you’re the single point of failure, this conversation shows the way out. Build the playbook first, then hire. Establish clinical standards, run consistent reviews, and let a neutral coach say the hard things that move behavior. We also talk about the power of aligned communities—masterminds where ideas multiply and leaders can be human, not just “on stage.” The throughline is simple and practical: codify what works, make excellence easy to follow, and protect your business from the heroics of any one person.
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