Anne: Hi everyone. It's Anne Duffy and welcome to dental entrepreneur, the future of dentistry podcast. I am so happy that you're with me today. I've got a very special. Guest and a new friend, Ben Lund. Hi, Ben. How are you?
Benjamin: Hi, Ann. I'm doing great. How are you?
Anne: I'm just doing great. I'm so glad that you're our guest today.
I love your questions and I can't wait to dig in, but before we get started, let me tell our listeners a little bit about you. As a senior writer and PR specialist at Productive Dentist Academy, Benjamin Lund is dedicated to infusing the dental profession with engaging content. Formerly the editor of Dentaltown, Magazine, he has 20 years of dynamic content and key opinion leader development experience in dentistry.
When he's not busy writing, he's either hiking in the desert of Arizona, reading voraciously, or hydrating while spending time with his lovely wife, Jill. There are four children and three grandchildren. Ben, you are quite accomplished already.
Benjamin: Just busy.
Anne: You're busy. Dad, grandpa, what do they call you?
Your grandkids?
Benjamin: They call me grandpa and that's okay. I mean, even though I'm in my mid forties, I can handle it.
Anne: Well, you know, you got some gray going there, you know, I think it's very debonair and you know what, it's kind of nice to have them, to have themat a young age when you can get up off the floor or lift them up.
All those things that Tom and I are actually struggling with right now. , . I just lift weights, mom lift weights. I'm like, yeah, that little guy. We've got a little
Benjamin: grandson
Anne: so
Benjamin: I can kind of keep up with them. Yeah, Yeah.
Anne: Kind of keep up with them. I forgot that you were the dynamic editor.
of Dentaltown. So that's so cool and we came across each other with Productive Dentist Academy. It's just, it's an honor to get to know you see what you've done because, you know, Dentaltown certainly is Goliath, if you will of dental magazines and really set the tone for so much.
So you're a big part of that and kudos to you for. That machine going keeping it strong all those years. It's really cool.
Benjamin: Yeah. My time there was a blast and, at the time we were just kind of this unknown entity. You know, the internet was sort of this little baby and nobody really knew what to do with it.
And Howard Foran figured out a neat little formula in getting people engaged with his community by using a magazine. And then when I came on board, we decided to take the magazine to number one in direct request readership. And yeah, that was the goal. And we hit it within like, Gosh, five years and it was such a cool ride to be part of that too.
It was just phenomenal. Yeah.
Anne: That's so cool. And also kind of set the tone for so many other, certainly magazines, communities. I mean, when I think back on it, gosh, I knew Howard before he started it. I met him in Charlotte at a meeting when he was just getting started. You know, he's,always just delightful.
And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. full of them and vigor, if you will. I love
Benjamin: him. I love the guy.
Anne: Yeah. And he really set the tone for open conversation. I think of nachos and lot of other forums now that have really kind of mapped that on. And it's so important for the general community to be able to talk amongst their peers in now time.
So forward thinking of you guys, I mean, my gosh, that was 20 years ago, right?
Benjamin: Yeah. Gosh 1999 was when they started,
But yeah, you know, it was, almost like when dentists would go on fishing trips with their buddies from dental school none of them were competing with each other.
So they could talk about all the problems that they were having with their teams or. Patients that were driving them nuts or, new technologies that were on the horizon that they were really interested in and they could have those honest conversations. We just kind of took the fishing trip and put it online.
There's no fish and you get to talk to people that are dealing with the same issues that you're dealing with Dental town was That was such a fun part of my career and I'll always really cherish that time. Yeah.
Anne: Oh yeah. And, honestly, a big part of dentistry during that time and lifting dentists up and having a safe place for them to chat and talk about the good and the ugly, which is, really helpful to bring it in from all over the place.
And I mean, it was international, right? I mean, it's like still, right. all over the world. Yeah,
Benjamin: like, I was at a dental show in Chicago once and this group of, I actually think they were from Iraq and they were all dentists and they all approached me and they all asked me to sign a copy of dental town magazine.
And I was kind of. Taking it back. I'm like, I don't understand. They said they've learned all of their skills through their phones. Via Dentaltown, they learned everything through Dentaltown and I was like, well, that doesn't sound very good, but I mean, they were doing amazing dentistry. They were doing incredible work and they're only access to dentistry.
To that kind of education was through their phones and they thought we were like superheroes and I'm just like no, but thank you. That's really nice.
Anne: That's I'm just Benjamin Lund. You know what though? You're not just anything because when you think about it, Ben, it's like, as a publisher and we'll get into that, it's like, is anybody reading us?
Is anybody taking this? Right. And here you have around the world and making such an impact in their lives. Because, you know, if you're practicing dentistry well and you're successful from a business standpoint, you can have a really great life. Right. It all kind of works, together. I think it's important for dentists to realize that they can write and they can be published and they can show themselves as experts.
So for dentists who want to write, what matters most when developing a story? Because I know our listeners are saying, Hey, I might want to write for dental entrepreneur, the future of dentistry.
Benjamin: first of all, I think you need to know your audience.
you know, I think you need to understand exactly who you're writing for. And you know, there are so many different dental publications out there and now there's a lot of specialties that, maybe they don't have a, an actual print magazine. Maybe it's just like an online forum or something like that, but knowing your audience and really kind of tailoring.
Your stories that resonate with that specific audience to make sure that your content is relevant, of course, but you know, storytellingthat's what everything's about. Everything's about storytelling. I mean, it's almost the only reason why anybody does anything anymore is to tell a story about it.
And in order to do so, you really need to make that emotional connection. know, facts and statistics, all of that. That's, one thing. And can support a really good story, but you got to hit somebody in the heart. stories that evoke humor empathy or anything that can inspire, especially in dentistry where everybody feels alone in dentistry.
If your story can inspire or get somebody to change their mind about something, that's where the real connections that's where they're truly made. Of course you want to provide value. I mean, don't want to write a story that doesn't, but you also want to be authentic andbe yourself.
If there's something that happened to you specifically, and you can tell it in a way that either entertains or a way that people can identify with, it's like, especially if you're sharing failures. I'm actually working with one of our dentists right now. I don't want to say her name because don't want to embarrass her or anything.
But she's putting together this really cool article about her. I don't want to say failures as a boss, but she really had a lot of struggles. And she's putting together this really interesting article about it. And she's talking about the revelation that she's had and how she's made a change in how she manages her team.
it's awesome. And I think even if just one person reads this and they. Realize kind of what they're doing and how manage their teams and that they can change. if it just changes one person I think it's worth writing for sure.
Anne: stories actually are what make people want to read something too, right? I mean, it's not just like we want to tell our story, but I think as far as, you know, our job as publishers and editors is to give them something they want to read, but then also to your point, have some takeaways that they can implement into their own life to make their own life better.
But like, when you're talking, okay, so for instance, this. Particular dentist. How do you approach that to get them to get into the story? Do you have a zoom call with them? How do you like to start something off like that?
Benjamin: my favorite eight words, I think it's eight words is Ben. I have an idea for article It's really depends on how comfortable they are. If they want to do something via email, I'm happy to work with them via email. A lot of times I like jumping on a zoom call and just kind of reading things with them. If they have an idea that we can flesh out and we can kind of.
Put it together way it needs to in order to get the point across. And like I said, really hit them. Emotionally as well. You know, I'm happy to do that. A lot of times they'll have something written and I'm happy to actually read through it. And revise it for them. And I try to keep it in their voice, which it's very helpful to have that zoom call just so I can capture who they are their cadence when they're speaking maybe some phrases that they've used a couple of times that maybe somebody else doesn't.
And I want to make sure that I'm getting their voice. properly. So zoom calls are great. It really depends on how comfortable the writer is. I'm so flexible. It doesn't matter.
Anne: Yeah. So you've got the experience. I love having a zoom call because so often, and I don't know, you'll probably find the same thing is that after the zoom call, when I receive a story, cause in our publication, We ask our authors to write their story.
is almost verbatim what we talked about in the zoom call. You know, sometimes you can just flesh it out during the call and go a little deeper. And they, you bring up some things that maybe they hadn't thought about, but I just love getting article after that, but that's cool. What's your background though, Ben, because you know, my background's a dental hygienist.
So I was just curious, what is your background?
Benjamin: I graduated from Marquette university with degree in communication. They actually stopped providing a journalism degree, like two years before I graduated, which really kind of ticked me off. So I've got this piece of paper that says communication, but I spent my entire four years at the Marquette Tribune office.
That's probably where I got most of my education. Um, Spent a lot of time with. The school paper. And thenI did some freelancing for some local communities like the East Troy news out in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin. And then you know, after I graduated I got picked up as an associate editor by building operating management magazine, where I was writing Cost effective restrooms and
Anne: that was around nine 11 too, which was really interesting time to be in working for that publication. I was speaking to people that I think CNN was trying to get a hold of as far as building security andescape options for people that work on the 130th floor of a giant high rise, you know, stuff like that.
Benjamin: Yeah.And then I moved over a year later and worked for the National Funeral Directors Association as the associate editor for their magazine called The Director. And our editor, Chris Raymond. I put together monthly magazine for funeral directors and that was awesome.
it's kind of hard to walk into work every day and deal with your mortality. kind of like a day to day basis, but you kind of get over it. And funeral service is a really interesting profession. And I really think the world of funeral directors, it's not just a job it is, I think they would all agree, it is a calling.
It is a calling to be funeral director. such hard work but I think it's rather rewarding know, you're dealing with people that kind of like their lowest point.
Anne: I mean, talk about someone that if you're interested in telling someone's story everybody that comes in has an incredible story and then the families around them.
And yeah, that must've been a very interesting. Opportunity for you and then, was the next thing Dental Town or no,
Benjamin: next thing was Dental Town. I interviewed for the job. flew down to Arizona and they offered me the job on the flight home and I spentIt was about eight years as the editor. And then once we hit that direct request readership goal I spent some time still as the editor. was editing dental town magazine at the time we had hygiene town magazine,
Anne: there
Benjamin: was ortho town magazine. And for a couple of years, I was editing hematology and oncology news and issues.
We had purchased a magazine, on oncology. I had to get an education in oncology real quick. And we had that magazine for a little while and then I helped Dr. Farhan put his book together and that was wild. But yeah, I kind of had my hands full But, you know, every, every single day was different.
Every single day was a blast yeah, there was a dentistry
Anne: Oh, yeah. I'm in love with dentistry. Right. I mean,
Benjamin: that's so cool. Dentistry is my home. This is exactly where I want to be. this is the profession that I mean, it's given me A lot. And I'm really just trying to give back.
Anne: Oh, that's wonderful. all good for us, but I mean, obviously where you sit, the trends, in dental media, as you, with your experience, I mean, what trends do you foresee shaping the future of dental marketing and the dental practices in this time?
Benjamin: Well, I mean, AI just seems to be on the tip of everybody's tongues, and the more we learn about it, the more it evolves.
So I think you are going to see a huge shift toward aiand all of the technologies that I think it, can help produce, but there's a lot of static. Out there. There is a lot of noise out there. And I think when it comes to dental marketing, authenticity is the answer truly, I think if a dentist in their team can Get across who they are, what they're all about a way that makes people comfortable to either want to pick up the phone or schedule online and there's so many different ways you can do that radio ads, website, all that, fun stuff. But I think if you can get across exactly who you are, what you stand for and the kind of dentistry that you want to be doing, you know, if.
you want to do implants, but all of your patients our kids, there's something wrong. Know your audience,
Anne: right?
Benjamin: Exactly. Know your audience. I think that's of the reasons why joined on to PDA was to help dentists kind of figure out who they are and what they want to do so they can live the lives they want to live.
Anne: And that's so important too. Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels and you look back and you've had 20 years and you're still not where you wanted to be because you never figured that out in the very beginning, right? It's so simple. But in dentistry, and I think I found this, you know, just working with women in dentistry as well, they don't have the time or they've never known that they should take the time to figure that out, right?
Early on, it's just, nose to the grind, it going. Right. in some way, maybe toward the end of their career when they find burnout and they can't do anymore, then they realize, you know what, maybe I need to take a look and see what I really do want.
Benjamin: Well, usually by the time, they hit burnout, it's almost too late.
going to work every single day and stressing yourself out with every single little thing. there is a better way to work. There's a better way to operate and. PDA has cracked the code.
they figured it out with their coaching marketing.
I speak highly of my time with dental town, but. I think, do they call them? The salad days. I'm living those right now.
the stuff that we have been able to do since I've been with PDA, just celebrated only, two years with PDA. The stuff we've been able to do in the last two years has been mind blowing.
am working with some of the most intelligent, brilliant, Kind amazing people. don't think productive dentist academy needs to be that little secret that people are kind of keeping to themselves. the Work that's going on here is incredible. And the lives that we're changing I don't even have words for it.
Anne: I just love that because see, I came to my first PDA meeting, Predictive Dentist Academy.
Benjamin: Yeah, we were so happy to have you.
Anne: invited me and Victoria Peterson invited me and I love Bruce. All those. And boy the buzz, the love, The excitement in the room was powerful.
It was just everybody there was so happy to be there. They were happy to share with each other. And the other thing that I loved was that you guys were doing some filming and trying to, extract from these dentists, their authentic self. They're like, no one's ever asked them that Ben when I saw you being the director, How did you get them to like divulge and build on those communication skills because I don't think you should minimize that. Communication is everything. It's magic juice now in this world. If you can communicate well via speaking, writing, Acting, you know, you name it and I could see them light up from your direction during the video taping that you were doing in those beautiful rooms and giving them their story to share on their website.
How do you do that? How did you get that extracted from their, personalities?
Benjamin: it's actually kind of easy the one thing that everybody in the world knows the most about is themselves. if you can get somebody talking about themselves. By asking direct questions.
And I there's a way to ask these questions, of course, but, you don't want to just like hit them hard, like, you know, hard hitting journalists or anything like that. You want them to be comfortable, back when I was working for the Marquette Tribune and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and everything I was interviewing rock and roll bands.
my line of questioning was juvenile because I was 19 year old idiot. And, you know, here I am talking to, you know, Aerosmith and metal bands, like Slipknot, like those creepy guys that put masks on and stuff. And percussionists from Slipknot pulled me aside and he told me to relax he was just like, just make us look cool, man.
And for the last 20, 25 years, that's been, my job is making sure that I'm making people look cool,
Anne: That's all I want to do. I want, I want everybody to be as authentic as possible and doesn't matter what people think of themselves. Everybody can be cool, man. So,it's all about asking questions, asking, you know, open ended questions.
Benjamin: And having them
Anne: feel safe to give
Benjamin: those answers to you when you get a little bit deeper. Precisely, you know, I'm a hugger, man. I want to make sure that everybody's feeling like they're getting a giant hug and that we're all going to get through this. And if they screw up, it's okay.
We've got the edit button, man. It's all cool. that's kind of the nice thing about what I do. this is maybe the first time I've actually had an opportunity to talk about this kind of stuff, which is, I fun. But. I can revise every single thing that I want to say all the time, all I'm doing is sitting here writing and making sure that the content that I'm putting together is some of the best content that I can generate.
And so. you know, you write a sentence and then you walk away, have a cup of coffee, come back to it, say, Nope, that sucks. We're going to change that. We're going to revise that. We're going to move this around. And, it takes a little time to massage, but that's kind of the nice thing.
Anne: Well, you're obviously good at
Benjamin: it. Yeah. Thank you.
Anne: Cause you're in it. And you know, you, you've been just only two years in PDA and I've actually seen. Like I've known them for a long time, but I have seen a, like a burst of energy coming from Productive Dentist Academy.
I mean, there, there is no stopping that train now, how did you find them then? So you're, did they find you or did you find them?
Benjamin: so.PDA started before I started with Dentaltown, but they started marketing with Dentaltown and putting together little articles here and there and, you know, I would see Bruce or Victoriaat conventions and we would say hi.
And when I moved over into sales and business development over at Dentaltown, PDA actually became one of my clients. So I was working with Reagan and Kashmir For years putting together, advertising packages and all that kind of stuff with them. I actually never met Reagan Robertson in person until the day I was hired.
I met everybody down in Tucson, Arizona for uh, PDA workshop.
Anne: Wow.
Benjamin: And they would reach out to me every once in a while and just say, so are you happy at Dentaltown? Andwe had a really cool relationship for a very long time, and when I left Dentaltown, I knew that I wanted to hitch my wagon to somebody that.
Believed in the same things that I did, you know, when I started at Dentaltown I don't know if you remember Diamante driverhe was 12 years old. He died in like February, I think 2007. He died from a massive brain infection that was caused by untreated.
Anne: Periodontal.
Benjamin: Yeah, periodontal disease.
And It was a huge story at the time, it didn't just highlight poverty. It highlighted issues with Medicaid and access to care. And I struggled with that story that there's no reason that any child in this nation should pass away because they had a cavity.
I just thought it was the most awful thing. A couple of years later you know, I was approached by a townie Who he was going down to a mission in South America. And he said, Hey man, I've got a problem. All of the film that gets shipped down to this village for their x ray machine, it all ends up getting developed somewhere along the line, and we can't get any x rays at all.
And because I had certain connections with, with Companies with other dental imaging companies. I reached out to some of them and just said, Hey I got a proposition for you. What if we put together an article about this really cool thing that you did for this village, sending one of your machines down there.
And one of them actually said, you know what, whether we do an article or not, this is something we want to do.
Anne: Wow.
Benjamin: And this village ended up with a brand new digital imaging machine. They could get rid of all of their film you know, it was, making those connections, things like that, that's what inspired me to create the do good section,
Every May in dental town where we talked about not just missionswe talked about, you know, charitable dentistry eco dentistry, like going green, that kind of stuff. that's what we highlighted every single May.
And when it was popular, some of the companies actually changed some of their campaigns and some of their focus on their products that were considered. Green or renewable. And I even joined the media board, I should say for the eco dentistry association for a couple of years.
And I knew that PDA had the same heart And the way that PDA changes the lives of the dentists that we work with in order to not just provide better dentistry to give them their lives back or to give them the lives that they deserve. You know, a lot of these dentists are working six or seven days a week and they are on their way to burnout.
For
Anne: And
Benjamin: that's not fair you went to dental school, because you wanted to not just take care of people, but there's a reward for that and you should be able to obtain that. PDA actually helps, yeah get them there.
Anne: Yeah. You could tell that in the room. I mean, it was like, there were so many stories that.
The dentist that were working six days a week, they cut back to five days a week, they cut back to four days a week and they were still successful and some cut back to three and some, it is doable and it is still, not only doable, but it's,It can happen and you can still be even more successful from a profit standpoint, but also just again, giving your life back.
I think that EDA gives them their life back and shows them a roadmap, a recipe on how to get there. and you can see it because it's not just a couple of the dentists. It was about every dentist in that room was either there already or on their way.
Benjamin: And on the way, you're right. 100 percent correct.
Yeah. And,
Anne: you know, going through PDA and I'm thinking about that and being in that arena, you really get to see them grow personally. can see the offices that come in, the dentists that come in, their teams that come in, see them grow and just, be so energized with the profession, which is what we really need in dentistry today.
Because, you know, the pandemic kind of. Soured a lot of people on our careers and on the profession and, you've got so much to make up, but there's a way to do it. That is not only profitable and successful, but fun and aging and, you know, most importantly fulfilling.
I mean, we all want to, have a career because we spend so much time in our career. To be fulfilled in and you can tell that you have that now, because now you've got a whole other group of people and stories to share.
Benjamin: Oh, I love it.
stories that we get to share now through PDA and.
because now get to play in other sandboxes like Dentistry Today or Dental Economics. I still get to hang out with Dentaltown every once in a while. I still get to spend time with my friends over there play in their sandbox a little bit. But stories that we get to tell are, you know, life changing, man.
I mean, it raises the hair on your neck to watch some of these people come into ourworkshops or our upcoming PDA conference in September you can tell. The new doctors they're still trying to figure this out. They're still unsure. But when they leave it's like a weight has been lifted or there are answers and they know that this may take a little time, but there's the road, that's the one you need to be on.
it's like, so cool to see,
Anne: Not only that, but they leave and they're tethered. Their test CDA. So it's not like you're going to, okay, bye everybody. Good luck. actually stay with them until they succeed.
Benjamin: We're holding their hand all the way through.
And it's not just us. They're networking with other dentists and teams that have gone through this before or are going through it. not alone.
Anne: Yeah.
Benjamin: And it's, like the coolest thing to see.
Anne: And one of the keynotes from Maggie Augustin, Dr. Maggie Augustin was like, look, if I can do it, you can do it.
And it was true. And it, didn't take her long. You know, again, if you have people that have your back, that have, your best interest at heart. Heart and you know, that's what love is. Willing good for others. I think PDA is just a big old heart and a love not only for dentistry, but for the people in it.
And so, you know, Ben, How do we get in touch with you to find out more, like maybe, a story that they might have or how they would like to maybe work with Productive Dentist Academy
Benjamin: Well, I'll tell you what, you can always find us at ProductiveDentist.
com. You can check us out online there. If you want to reach me, email is always the best way. I'm at Ben at ProductiveDentist. com. I'm also on LinkedIn if you want to send me a message on there. can find me at Gosh, I don't even know what the address is. But Benjamin Lund.
Just look for a goofy bearded guy. A good looking
Anne: guy that's, you know, that's
Benjamin: got a lot of
Anne: energy and a beautiful smile. That's right. Thank
Benjamin: you. Thank you. But but yeah I'm happy to talk to anybody who says, Hey Ben, I've got an idea for an article.
Anne: There you go. Eight words. All right. Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much for being with me today. I learned a lot about today. So that's what I love this time together. And for all of you out there that are listening to us, remember the most important thing to do is to keep doing you. Thanks everybody. Have a great day and we'll see you next time. Bye.
See you Ben.
