Hello, everyone. It's Anne Duffy welcome to the Just Do It podcast. I'm so happy you're here. It's lovely to have you listening to us today. And I'm so excited because I have a new, young, beautiful friend, that is my guest today, Julie Booher. Julie,
Julie: hello. Welcome. Hi, thanks for having
Anne: me. I'm so glad you're here.
It's lovely. I remember seeing you the very first time up on stage, women in DSO. And I'm like, I got to get with this gal. Tom met you in the elevator, I think. So we were like big fans of yours from the get go. So you get the seal of approval from Tom, you know, easy to get Julie.
So I'm just saying good for you. But let me tell everybody a little bit about you before we get started. Julie Boor is the chief strategy officer from Pepper Point. Partnerships based in Lexington, Kentucky. She has more than 14 years of experience in brand management, public relations, and marketing communications, working with corporate and brand leaders to create platforms, programs, and partnerships that deliver on a company's purpose and makes a positive impact in the world.
Julie has been the driving force in PepperPoint's growth, providing leadership and strategy and business development. She led the formation of PepperPoint's four group practices in 2019, 2020, and 2022, helping to ensure the of doctor ownership practice legacies. and thriving cultures.
Pepper Point currently supports more than 80 practices with 135 office locations, nearly 150 doctors and nearly 1000 staff members. Julie sees her opportunity to share the amazing story behind the organization's mission as one of her greatest privileges. She is also accredited in public relations by the Universal Accreditation Board.
And the public relations society of America. You are one amazing young lady, uh, do extraordinary, I like to say, welcome to you and thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. It's an honor. you know, it was so funny when we got started. Julie wrote this article for dental entrepreneur woman.
And it is our spring edition, 2023. And so if you go to D E W dot life, you'll be able to find this particular article called the power of alignment in supporting growth. And I was so thrilled when Julie wrote this. I go, Julie, do you like to write?
She goes, I like to write. Okay. So it's a great. When I ran into you at Women in DSO, and that was amazing, you know, Amonkar started this organization. We were in Vegas at the ARIA and I'm like, oh, Julie, can't wait to have you tell your story. And you're like, oh well, wait, wait a minute. I'm on the plane.
I've already figured out what I'm going to write about. Right. And I was like, Oh, that sounds really good. You're going to write about alignment. And all of you listening to us today, whether you're running a dental practice, you own a dental practice, or you run your business, like so many of us in the do community, you will learn so much from this article.
It sounds so simple yet. I'm sure it's not that easy to implement, but Julie, tell me, Why did you choose to write alignment as your topic instead of what I actually wanted you to write was your story?
Julie: a sexy topic, right? But I really feel like alignment is where it all begins, and where it all ends.
And it's so foundational a great culture, to a healthy workplace. Increasing your brand image and reputation to decreasing employee turnover to increasing productivity. Customer loyalty. from my perspective. It's foundational to all of those things. So if you want a great company, you have to have alignment.
and so I just kind of wanted to share a little bit about that from my perspective and then share. Hopefully some helpful tips on how to create that alignment. What it looks like for the leader, what it looks like for the team members and then talk a little bit about how you maintain that because it's, a living and breathing thing, right?
It's not something that you create and then you just. Set aside. It's something that you have to be so intentional about and put so much resources and time and support into, because if you don't it's so easy to get off track, especially when you're a growing company and a growing dental office, and, you're being pulled in a lot of different directions, and your goals are big and alignment, I believe is just really crucial in all of that.
you know, it's like you were saying in your article, row the boat, everybody's got to be rowing way, same way, right? Yeah.
At the same speed, you know, it's also
Anne: so important. Well, when I first met you, how many offices did you have? mean, This is a couple years ago.
Julie: When I started in 2018, we had 20. Locations. Wow. And now we have 135.
Anne: That's insane. I mean, I can't even imagine because I've always worked for a private practitioner, so I can't even imagine having that many offices to get everybody rowing the same way. Is it the same way? Same speed, I guess,
Julie: here at Pepper Point, we had a team of maybe 13 and now there's over 100. Staff members that support all of those locations. So, you know, Exponential growth, really awesome, wonderful growth. But when you're moving that quickly and when you're growing that fast, you have to be so intentional in everything that you do, but really in creating organizational alignment because there has to be a mutual pursuit of those company goals.
Anne: I also saw in your article that you don't just come up with these things and tell everybody like a mandate, you bring the team right and have a discussion and you revisit that, and those policies that you put into place quite often, that must work well for you.
Julie: Yeah, our leadership team has spent a lot of time trying to lay a really solid foundation. And I think a key is consistent meeting pulses. Our individual departments meet together, every single week and then, we really encourage same page meetings, one on one meetings with individuals regularly.
Every department has a quarterly meeting our leadership team has a quarterly meeting. And then our leadership team also has an annual planning session. That's two days and link. So when you think about how much time and energy is set aside just for planning and conversation and working through.
issues and opportunities. We believe it's so important to keep that alignment. Those meeting pulses are so important.
Anne: Oh, they sure are. worked in this one office for 27 years. don't remember a time when the doctor said, you know, he'd like to sit down and talk to me about anything.
I would go back and talk to him. Oh yeah. Yeah. Listen, I'd like to say a few words, but I never remember having that we know we did the morning huddles and we did do meetings, and bring the team together, but they would fall by the wayside quite often, you know, and then they would say it's production time.
And so they didn't value that as much as I think. It would have helped them, to stave off the attrition that a lot of offices are finding in the wake of pandemic. How have your offices held up, with that, with keeping your employees engaged?
Julie: I think, this foundational work has been crucial to supporting our lack of employee turnover.
We've grown significantly through the pandemic and come out so much stronger. you know, I think our culture is one that really cares about its people. And I spent a lot of time talking about that in the article too, about making sure that you really understand and appreciate the different.
Strengths and weaknesses and opportunities each individual has. And we think a lot about right people, right seat and thatHopefully our goal is that it trickles down into every single office that we support. Because. It's really all about the people. Everything in life is right.
But in business our team and the support that they provide to our patients and our communities, it matters. And so they need to know that they matter and we need to be really leveraging them for success because, these times are a lot harder and so we've got to be able to do more with less.
Or we've got to be able to really empower our people to do more and become everything that they want to be, or the best version of themselves. You know, It looks different for everyone that you support and you serve. But through alignment, through great communication and just caring about people, you know, I think that's made all the difference for our organization.
Anne: You said when you got started with PepperPoint, I mean, you remind me of the chief people officer and your public relations, but you've really grown with this company, obviously, 13 to start with, and now you got 100 people. Did you come in on the human resources side? how did you come in how did you grow through the company?
Our chief
Julie: people officer would love that you said that she really is the people person. And I think her great mentorship and her great leadership is probably why I'm saying all the things that I'm saying. But, Dr Greg white, our CEO is a visionary a really amazing leader in the dental industry and has always been really forward thinking,
and I actually started with the organization in a unique way. I was working for a national nonprofit and told my Bible study at the time that I really wanted something different. I was working remote and traveling a lot. And so one of my friends texted me after and said, you should meet my boss.
And then I was like, okay. So I met Dr. White and Offered me a job on the spot and I left still confused about what it is. I was going to do. I texted her and I was like, so he offered me a job, right? And what was the title? And what is the job? And, we laugh about it now, but as pepper point has grown and changed.
I think my role has. And everyone, honestly, here at the organization, just filling a need and stepping in to help create something really unique and really special. But started in kind of a marketing business development role. And then that has grown into chief strategy officer role. Supporting doctor relations, kind of account management, business development, doctor recruitment.
event planning and marketing of Pepperpoint. So it's been a really fun ride.
Anne: That's so cool. I mean, well, a couple of things there. It does take a great leader, I think, to do what you guys have done. you know, I could tell. By meeting some of your coworkers and, being on Zoom and then meeting them in person, everybody is like this big team.
it who was speaking at Women in DSO and you were all sitting there cheering around the
Julie: table. Chrissy Fiskus, our chief financial officer. Yeah. And that
Anne: was just so cool.
I mean, it was, everybody was like, when she was smiling, you see everybody's like nodding their head and smiling. And that is like, very DeWish You know, to support, the women around you. And obviously it takes, strong women to recruit strong women and then to actually, advocate for them, bring them up hold them accountable, but also give them room to grow and show them there is a growth opportunity, which is so cool.
With your business. I mean, if I was living in Lexington Kentucky, or any of these areas where Pepper Point is, I would love to come, work in your office
Julie: we'd snatch you up and
Anne: you set me up. I still, my life, unless you do I, I never got a license in Kentucky, but I didn't get Kentucky, but I do have that.
I think I'm probably. Grandfathered in at this point. I think they changed some of the rules. So I'll, consider that. I've still got some instruments.
Julie: You're always welcome. You're always
Anne: welcome. Oh, I would love that. I would love that. Cause I love to see the growth you can tell that you really respect your company and that Pepperdine is just the place that you are happy to be at.
And That's a gift. That's a gift for the leaders. It's a gift for everybody that's working, above you and for you and with you, in the company. So I think that's really cool. PepperPoint's a unique organization. I mean,this is the other thing, Julie, when I started I switched gears with dental entrepreneurs.
It used to be the business beyond the classroom and really for the private practitioner, right? it was always like DSOs were all bad. And so when I started to delve into that, I'm like, no, there's some good DSOs, just like there's some not such great dentists out there and private practice.
So I totally did a 360. And especially meeting someone like you, in the leaders in your company, so the woman leaders and the woman doctor owners, that's a big makeup of pepper point. I was curious about that. How have you seen this and them impact your company's growth and the ability to create alignment?
Julie: Yeah, so what's really unique about pepper point and unlike any other DSO is that our doctors own the DSO. We have no private equity involvement. so they, control it. we really report to them and serve them versus. Other DSOs where, you know, the structure's a little bit different, and about 50 percent of our doctor owners are females.
Wow, which is just really cool. And then 2 3rds of our leadership team are women. 2
Anne: 3rds. Okay. Yeah.
Julie: Wow.
And it's been, you know, media orgrowth and it's taken everyone male and female and everyone brings something different to the table. But, you know, I think. Even more incredible than amount of women that we have is just focused we are on finding passionate team members to want to contribute and want to make a difference.
I think we are really intentional as an organization when it comes to making the time to get to know them, develop them, leverage everyone's strengths. For our common purpose. It just so happens that a lot of those really great awesome people who want to be here at women, which we love.
But, I don't believe anybody has that job because they're a woman. I just think for the best for the job. And we're going to keep. Empowering people to be their very best and promoting people when we can and, just making sure that where they work is a place where they also love, you know, it's just you spend so much of your time with these people and doing this work.
I want to make sure we're doing everything we can to make sure they love it, too.
Anne: That's so beautiful because that overflows into life, doesn't it? Like, You love where you're working and you love the people you work with. You're going to get home and you're going to be happy. You're not going to be crying, holding on to the steering wheel in the garage, you know, before you go into the house.
you know, I hear that too, from some different, organizations and just private practices and things like that. And that just to have that mindset, you can't help but be successful. I feel like, start there and then everything else will come play. One of the things you said in your article, which I love, and don't forget to read this, ladies listening.
At PepperPoint, we believe that when like minded individuals with a shared vision excuse come together, Great things happen. And also what you talk about, you say it loud and say it clearly and say it often. Right. And I'd love also, because that, just shows you that's a mantra that I think.
Most everybody will be refreshed to get behind,
that's
Julie: what Dr. White says. He says everybody needs to hear something seven times, seven ways. say it loud, say it proud, say it often. We try to make sure that the key messages, goals, our core values, everything is shared loudly and proudly and often.
Anne: That's beautiful. What's in the future? Are still looking build? Are you going to take a little break here?
Julie: No, no breaks for us. We'll close another group practice in December. And then we're helping another one form hopefully by the end of March.
So lots of exciting stuff in the works. As we just kind of expand on this mission of ours to create an opportunity for more doctors to become owners in a group supported by the team here at Pepper Point.
Anne: Okay, so say a little bit more about doctor owners, because that's very enticing. if you're listening here, because how does that work? If you acquire like 30 offices
Julie: Pepper Point doesn't own anything. We just help people come together in a specific area and form their own group practice.
We help them set up the structure needed to work together as a team and as a group, but also still within their individual office. So they'll still make decisions about their specific practice, but they'll benefit from the group. As a whole so we can negotiate on behalf of the group, create a lot of savings, we can recruit on behalf of the group.
So there's a lot of synergy that's created. And then pepper point comes alongside them to support the management you know, overall success of the group, but the doctors continue to be leaders, they keep all the profits of the group. And so like just putting the traditional DSO on its head and creating an an opportunity for doctors an opportunity for the next generation.
Something still with a lot of financial security, but that's competitive in today's environment, which is ever changing.
Anne: Yeah. Oh, my God. That just sounds like little bit nirvana there. Okay let's, look at that. That's a great way tobuild our dental communities and to build the profession, right?
Because I think that, you know, most often you go into your dental school and, you know, you decide you want to be a dentist, but it there is that ownership aspect that I think every dentist has a little bit of entrepreneurship in them. I know that for a factor they wouldn't have gone to dental school.
They didn't really go into dental school saying, Oh, want to work for somebody else for my entire life. And all the transition articles that we've had in dental entrepreneur all these years, they say, that's how you get ahead so much further and so much faster is when you are an owner. And so this sounds like you give them the best of both worlds.
Julie: Yeah. we have written on our wall over there that the right thing to do and the hard thing to do are probably the same thing. this model's complex and it's challenging and it's so different than what everyone else is doing, but we believe it's the right thing to do. We believe that when doctors truly own their practice.
It's what's best for the patients and the staff and the communities and there's continuity of care that's created there. That we believe is so important. So, Yeah, for folks who are interested in being a part of that. We're helping them create their own group practices and different markets across the country.
And, again, to that article, does take like minded individuals, right? Folks who can think about things a little differently, who are excited about growth, who are looking forward to sharing best practices and sharing ideas, but still want to lead and create alignment in their own practice. So it's been really fun.
Anne: watch the docs grow, isn't it? It's really rewarding in that respect. And then I also like the idea of the camaraderie. like we say, the do's, you know, the answer is always in the room, right? And so this is with your community. You have open conversations.
Everybody can learn from each other. And then also. Like minded people find like minded people, don't they? So true, yep. You guys are walking the walk, and you are attracting people like you, that like the vision, the alignment that you've created, and the fact that they can count on you. and boy, you're making dentistry a better place.
Well, We got a great team here, that's
for sure. So how if somebody's listening to you and they want to know a little bit more about Pepper Point, a little bit more about Julie Booher, how do they get in touch?
Well, I
Julie: encourage them to check out pepper point dot com. And then pepper points really active on LinkedIn. So encourage you to check out our company page there. Would love for you to, talk to me on LinkedIn or shoot me an email. [email protected] Always excited to meet a new 1.
So thank you so much. And for just the light that you shine in this industry for sure.
Anne: It's so my pleasure. I found good dues find good dues. We like to say when I spotted you, I'm like, That's a do. I need to talk to her. Look at you now. I can't wait to follow your career, Julie. I'm just excited that all women and the men that you're going to bring along with you to really have fulfillment, not only in their career, but in their life.
So thank you so much for all you do. And thanks for joining me today.
Julie: Thanks, Anne. It's been a pleasure.
Anne: I'll see you next year. I'll see you. when DSO for sure.
Julie: See you in March. See you in March.
Anne: All right. Thanks so much, everybody. And listen, if you're here listening to us, let's see, this probably will come out after our retreat, but we sold out.
five weeks before the retreat. So next year, get your, tickets early. Cause we want all of you to be there. And most importantly, everyone keep doing you. Thank you. And we'll see you next time.
