How Teresa Duncan’s Leadership is Inspiring and Empowering Dental Office Managers
Join AADOM founder Heather Colicchio as she sits down with members of the AADOM Influencer Program to help you get to know the faces behind the influence!
Hear from these inspiring dental leaders as they share their unique stories, career paths, and what drives their passion for leadership in the dental industry. Heather and the influencers discuss what it means to be a trusted resource in the field, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their roles, insights, and advice for success.
Join us to meet the AADOM influencers and discover what makes each of them an integral part of the AADOM community!
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John: What’s going on, AADOM Nation? Thanks for tuning into a special episode here on AADOM radio.
Alright, so today’s episode will be hosted by AADOM Founder and President, Heather Colicchio, as she sits down with one of the newly anointed AADOM Influencers, Teresa Duncan.
Teresa has been known by AADOM Nation for many, many years. And so Heather turned around the microphone and spent some time having Teresa share her story. So here is Heather’s conversation with Teresa Duncan.
Heather: Hello AADOM Nation, AADOM Tribe. This is Heather Colicchio, Founder and President of AADOM. Thank you for joining me today. We’re recording today as part of the AADOM Influencer series, and I am utterly delighted to have with us today, Teresa Duncan.
Welcome Teresa.
Teresa: Hey, Heather. Thanks so much for having me.
Heather: I’m so glad to hear your voice. Long time, no see.
Teresa: Same. Yes, always a pleasure.
Heather: Yeah, right?
So, the reasons we’re doing this influencer podcast series is to introduce the AADOM tribe to the AADOM Influencers. You, I feel, need no introduction to the AADOM tribe. They know you as well as they know me as well as they know AADOM.
But on podcasts, what we’d also like to do is take a deeper dive into our influencers. Today we’ll talk about your background, how you got into dentistry, your thoughts on dentistry, all the good things.
So, you ready?
Teresa: Sure. This sounds—I’m actually a little nervous, oh my gosh!
Heather: Oh, I’ve never seen you nervous.
Alright, so let’s start. Teresa, tell everyone a little bit about, very briefly, who you are and what you do.
Introducing Teresa Duncan
Teresa: So, the company that I founded, Odyssey Management, provides a ton of insurance resources and helps offices, you know, recapture revenue cycle.
But, really, on a much more base level, I’m just helping managers untangle the insurance issues that they have and then helping them to be better managers along the way.
Heather: Yeah, that’s what you do, for sure.
So, let’s just have some fun with this. So, take us back. And how did you first—this is always fun because like, you know, Lorie Streeter says, you’re not eight years old and say, “Oh, when I grow up, I want to be a dental office manager,” right?
So, take us back and tell us a little bit about how you found your way to dentistry.
Teresa’s Journey Toward Dentistry
Teresa: Well, it was definitely accidental and I kind of laugh in classes. Like most of us, we were accidental dental people. And we don’t, like you said, you don’t kind of, even in high school, even if you knew somebody that was in dentistry, it’s not like you go, “Oh, that’s the best place to work,” which is really a shame because I think it’s pretty awesome. This industry is pretty cool.
But so, it was a pit stop for me. I thought it was going to be just a job in between cycles. So, what I had done was I had applied to medical school. I was wait-listed for two different schools and I thought, “Okay, well, you know what, let me just get a job in healthcare in the meantime.”
And I ended up staying, which, you know, my mom being very driven and all that was did not understand my decision. But it really was for the best.
So I landed in a good office, which honestly, if I hadn’t landed with him, I probably, you know, would have gone and pursued medical school. But, I was glad to work for somebody who was frankly good to work for, but also a good human.
And so that, that really set me down the path. He believed in CE. He had no problems sending me to classes. He supported me when I went to get my graduate degree. I mean, just such a super person, but also an amazing dentist. I got to see him, I mean, literally change people’s lives.
So that was really cool. And once you’re in, I think it’s hard to get out. So, I was stuck.
Heather: Yep. You’re a lifer. Yeah, and so how did you find that job? Was it just happenstance or were you actively—well, I know you said you wanted to stay in health care.
Teresa: Yeah, yeah. So, I just saw the ad in the paper back when ads were in the paper and I remember going to interview there and, you know, he was in the middle of taking over his dad’s practice and I remember walking in and the carpet was like a very light shag and it was like a very, like almost like a living room was the waiting room and it was a small office.
And he’s like, “Oh we have another office,” and I was like, “Wow, there’s two of these offices out there,” you know?
So that was that was pretty funny. And then I think just I didn’t think it was going to be a high stress job. So I thought, “Let me just do this. It’ll kill time for a year.”
And then just learning the behind the scenes in the business, it wasn’t stressful. It was just so eye-opening, the business side of it. So, the business side of healthcare to me is way more interesting than the clinical side. Not that I don’t, you know, appreciate the clinical, but just being able to make the wheels turn and keep the lights on and overhead and all those—like that really is fun stuff to delve into.
Heather: I totally agree.
So how long were you there when you realized this is— well, let me back up a minute. What was your title there when you first started?
Teresa: Receptionist. But it was back then though, but back then receptionist was also, you know, they need you to put some, you know, to put glove up, then that’s what you did.
So, you know, it was pretty much everything. I mean, I was cleaning instruments, I was stocking, I mean, everything. I mean, lots of managers will understand you’re pretty much a one-woman show.
And then it grows and it was kind of nice, though. I got to pick what I liked to do, instead of what I had to do. So that was nice.
Heather: That’s really special. I mean, not a lot of people get that opportunity. And I’m assuming when your title was receptionist, there was not an office manager. So, you weren’t the receptionist to an office manager.
Teresa: No. I handled anything administrative.
Heather: You were it.
Teresa: Yep. That was it. Yeah, and it’s funny because I was an assistant too for a little bit and, you know, to my boss’s credit, he realized that is not the place for me. I was terrible. I was absolutely terrible as an assistant. And we still laugh about it. He’s like, “Yeah, you needed to be up front, like fast.”
Heather: Where did you learn the assisting?
Teresa: It was all on the job. And I mean, I think it just wasn’t for me. I just wasn’t—I don’t mind blood. I don’t mind the grossness and all that kind of stuff.
It’s just that I really lit up when I was talking to patients about treatment plans and finances. That was way more interesting than, you know, stocking and sterilization and all that stuff.
Heather: So, like so many of our members, you were kind of thrown into the position. No formal training, no one to teach you, guide you. You were, you know, brand new. Didn’t know anything.
What in the world. Like, talk us through what that—and you didn’t have someone in the office you could turn to him and say, “How do I do this?”
Teresa: No.
Heather: Who is doing the management prior to you arriving?
Learning the Ropes of Dental Management
Teresa: He was. The doctor was. He was managing and doing the dentistry and, you know, he had purchased his dad’s practice. And his dad had to retire with disability. And so, he was pretty much running everything, which is why he needed help.
And managing two locations, by the way. So, he had a staff that was there. I replaced a lady. I’m not going to say her name, but she was not great. I mean, she really wasn’t. And she didn’t want a new person. She wanted to control everything. She’s the typical queen bee that we kind of joke about in classes. And, and it was hard to get her to even teach me anything.
So, literally, it was him and I him teaching me things. He was very good at enunciating what he was doing or verbalizing what he was doing in the operatory. And then he would explain things to me very patiently. Whereas, this lady over here was like, “Well you’re taking my job so, you know, good luck.”
And that’s not cool. But, you know, I think many of our listeners have had run-ins with people like that.
But I remember the first time I met somebody outside of dentistry in the wild and we just really hit it off. She worked at the dental office downstairs and we just were always going to the same—we had a pizza place in the bottom of our building. And I would just run into her, and we just started talking every now and then.
And, I remember thinking, you know, “Oh, I can’t wait to see her cause I have a question for her,” and vice versa.
So that whole thing of when you find somebody that you can talk to about things—you level up. You really do, cause you find out what else is going on in the industry and how you can improve.
Heather: So, I mean, this is fascinating. When you started here at this dental practice, title receptionist, what was the first thing that kind of hit you in the face? Like, what was the first thing where you said, “I don’t know how to do any of this, but this is the first thing I need to tackle.” What was that thing?
Tackling Challenges in the Dental Practice
Teresa: Well, it was the billing. So, there were bills everywhere. The billing system back then was what a lot of people call pegboard. Basically, the inside was all the clinical stuff, like X-rays just thrown in, right? And then on the outside was an accounting of what they did and then how they paid their bill.
So, that’s not ideal, obviously. But I remember walking in and his dad’s patients were separated, and they were all overdue, and they were all paying like 5 or 10 dollars a month on thousands of dollars. And then for him, he said, “I don’t want to do it this way. Let’s get that fixed.”
And so learning the billing and the statements and how to ask for money was really the first thing I had to get really good at. And it’s not easy to ask people for money when you’ve never done it before. I mean, luckily, it’s not something I’m nervous about, but I definitely said some dumb things in the beginning.
Heather: Well, it is a skill. I mean, for sure that is a learnable skill. It is uncomfortable, even if you’re not scared of it. So, definitely a learnable skill.
And, you know, kudos to the dentist for saying, “This is how my dad did it. I don’t want to do it this way.” Because very often we find dentists just do it the way it’s always been done. Credit to him.
Do you recall? What was his AR at that time? Do you remember?
Teresa: Oh, gosh. It’s been over 30 years. I have no idea. I can just think of the one lady in Virginia Beach where she was paying $5 a month and it was $13, 000. That I can tell you was something that just blew my mind.
And, you know, to understand that, though, way back, you know, there were a lot of doctors where they didn’t—first of all, they didn’t charge what they should have anyways, and they were very acutely aware that people couldn’t afford a lot of the services.
So you saw a lot more barter. It wasn’t on the books, but you would see a lot more—Well, I mean, I heard this too. Like, “She cooks meals for me twice a week, so I do her dentistry.”
Like, what?
Or the gardener, right? Like, it makes no sense. And then there’s part of you that’s like, “Is this even legal, all of this?”
And then, you know, there’s the whole thing of it’s been going on for so long. It must be legal, but you can’t depend on that, as you know. So, you know, just because it’s been going on for so long, it doesn’t mean that it needs to stay that way.
And that’s really hard. I mean, part of what a manager has to do is change management. And nobody really teaches you that until you either pursue it or until you’ve gone through it enough times. You realize, “Oh, I’m an expert in change management.”
Heather: Okay, so this, I think is going to help so many of our members out there. So, you realize at this point, there’s a major calamity going on with the billing, which my head hurts even just listening to it.
And what happens if like she cooks him a meal and he didn’t like the meal? Does she have to replace it? Like, I can’t even. How do you even track these things?
So, what was the first thing you realized? Because you are a revenue cycle expert now. I mean, this is what you’re known for. Insurance, revenue cycle. So, this is you basically teaching yourself, what people are now coming to you to learn.
So what was, if you can recall, what were some of the first things you did or instituted to say, “Let’s get this under control?”
Taking Control of the Dental Practice
Teresa: So, I remember writing a letter. And I had him double check it, of course. It was a very nicely-worded letter, just reminding them that the ownership of the practice had passed to the younger doctor. And this account has been, you know, outstanding for quite a while.
We gave them the opportunity to pay for the whole thing in full with a courtesy. And I even think we said something like a 30 percent courtesy because we figured 70 cents on the dollar is better than nothing.
So, a couple of people took advantage of that. And, you know, I was blown away because I thought, “Oh, people are going to call and get mad. And I would say half of the people took advantage of that.
And so, what that taught me was that they were paying what they were asked to pay. We could have asked them to pay more, right? But they didn’t.
Heather: Very interesting.
Teresa: Yeah. So, just by that, we probably cleared half of the balances off. And then the other ones, I understood they were on fixed incomes and we understood too, that there were going to be a significant amount of them that would be written off, right?
And so, we worked with them, we tried to bump it up. We got them to make more, regular payments, but also higher-level payments.
But I remember looking over the list with him and he was like, you know, we should just, you know, there’s bad debt. We can take a write off for it. Let me talk to the accountant. We should just write this off because it’s costing you. It’s costing me time to pay you to track these people down.
And, you know, honestly, a lot of these patients were retirement age, you know, 78, 80, you know. They have other bills they’ve got and they have no connection with him. So, the chance of default was pretty high.
So we went through all of this, you know, this rationalization, the back and forth. And, I would say the last payment that we got probably two years after I took over. So, it’s not like, you know, it was immediately fixed.
But we did threaten collections on the ones that had made absolutely no payments, and upon not hearing from them, those were sent to the collection agency, which is really just out of my hair at that point.
And then we started to focus on the patients that are coming in on a regular basis—they need to start paying their coinsurance at the time of service. So that was actually pretty easy to institute.
Plus, we had a ton of new patients coming in, and as you had turnover in patients, we were training the new patients coming in. And so that was a lot easier. But man, the old balances, whew, I just remember going, “Wow, what a nice guy, but wow, what a terrible business decision to have done it this way.”
Heather: Yeah, lucky he found you. So, I mean, case acceptance is taught now. It was not taught then. You are also an expert on case acceptance and asking for money can be uncomfortable for a lot of managers.
What are some of your, you know, top two, three kind of pearls of wisdom that someone could take away from this call if they are hesitant about asking for money or presenting, you know, cases?
Collecting Payments from Patients
Teresa: Well, I think that here’s the biggest, and I find that doctors, when they hear this, it makes sense, but for some reason it doesn’t occur to them and it’s just because they have different priorities. They’re scientists. They’re trying to do the work.
When your financial person, whomever is presenting treatment and finances, when they understand the procedure backwards and forwards, they are so confident in what they’re saying. And confidence is where the patients really trust you because they trust that what you’re saying is true.
They can tell when you’re fumbling, they can tell when you don’t know what you’re talking about. And that’s dangerous. It’s not just a disservice to the patients. It’s just dangerous because, you know, I don’t know what’s gonna fly out of someone’s mouth if they’re just trying to make it up.
So, my doctor was really, and it wasn’t even him too. When we started expanding, I sought out other doctors to explain procedures to me that he did not particularly do—a lot of specialist procedures.
But, in order for me to talk coding, in order for me to talk to a patient, I need to understand if we’re talking about scaling and route planning, what is going to happen if they don’t elect to do it.
And it’s not, “Oh, your gums are going to bleed more. You’re going to have this huge disease.”
We have to talk about it in a way that’s not scary, but very matter of fact. And I would not have these conversations if I weren’t comfortable. So, I can’t wave a magic want to make everybody confident. I would love that. But, the best way to build confidence is to have deep knowledge of whatever you’re talking about.
And so, for a new admin person coming in, if they have zero clinical experience, understand that that person should shadow your clinical team for probably, you know, once a week for a half a day for the first month or two that they work there. Different procedures, but also have them sit in during the conversations that the doctors have when they roll back in their chair and talk about treatment.
Because if you don’t understand why a crown should—you know why a tooth that has had endo, why it should be restored with a crown or in, you know, the way the doctor feels comfortable—understanding why that hat that’s a problem is gonna make you a better case presenter when the patient pushes back and says, “Oh, well, the pain’s gone. I don’t need to worry about it.”
So, there’s a lot that goes on clinically. We can’t all be clinicians, admin people. I’m not saying you learn clinical skills. But we do need to know what we’re talking about.
If the patient is asking us questions, I think it’s our duty to understand what it is that we’re trying to get them to pay for.
Heather: I agree and that’s a great point. I mean, if you come into dental with no dental background, it’s a whole other language, it’s a whole other universe, it’s a whole other everything. And I don’t know if many doctors allow the time for the education, like you’re talking about, even just basic terminology, basic procedures. And then why. Why it is so important.
And that really can be a game changer and level-up case acceptance.
Teresa: Yeah, and I understand that we want our new team members to be as productive as possible, as quickly as possible. But this pays for itself. It really does. And, honestly, like, why are we telling a patient that they need a crown buildup and a crown, and they don’t really understand why a crown buildup is needed?
Heather: What is a crown buildup?
Teresa: Well, when there’s not enough to structure to support a crown, then you need to add more to structure. That’s the most basic part of it, right?
Heather: Right. But I’m saying as a patient, they might not even know that much.
Teresa: They don’t know that much. Yeah, and not every crown needs a crown buildup too. So that’s another that’s another nuance that—you know, what if a patient says, “Well, I had a crown one time. I never had a crown build up.”
Well, they probably did, but no one called it that. So, we have to be very consistent with our messaging. Yeah, it’s not gonna make you the best insurance coordinator or financial coordinator, but it’s going to put you up there on the high level if you really can defend why they need the work that they need.
Heather: So, for a new manager coming in, what would you recommend? What would be the protocol that they shadow? I know you said maybe shadow the dentist or another clinician once a week. Like, if you could write the perfect script, what would that look like?
Help for New Dental Office Managers
Teresa: So, I would, you know, look ahead at the schedule and see what all the different procedures are. Sitting in on consultations is probably a better use of time initially because you get to hear the conversations.
But then there are certain procedures where it does help to see. Like a lot of admin people don’t understand how easy it is to place an implant. Like, an implant—there’s not a lot of pain most of the time. Patients walk out going, “That’s it?”
And so, if you are able to sit and watch that, you know, you don’t have to even—if it’s up on the screen, it’s even better. You don’t have to be, you know, chair side.
But a lot of times you hear the things that the clinicians say to make a patient feel more comfortable or to explain what’s happening. And those little key phrases—that helps you when you’re in the middle of conversation too.
So, I would say sit in on consultations when a doctor is putting together a treatment plan. If the doctor is, you know, able to do this. And this is why having a very good mentor type doctor is amazing. If you land in that type of office, you’re very lucky.
Have the doctor explained to you why they’re doing this. Put the X-rays up on the screen and go over it. Managers, if you’re onboarding somebody and you see a treatment plan and they’ve got a couple different things going, that’s a good case. That’s a good teaching point of view. You could sit and go over all these different scenarios as well.
You know, once a good manager understands all of this, then they may not necessarily need to have the doctor do it. A good manager who’s clinically minded could do the same sort of teaching.
Heather: Great advice.
So, it sounds like one of your biggest wins, when you were at this practice, was really just cleaning up the billing and, you know, instituting systems around the billing and the collections.
Just for everyone’s sake, what was your biggest mistake going into practice with no knowledge? Just for giggles.
Learning from Your Mistakes in the Dental Practice
Teresa: Yeah, the biggest mistake and this actually it might be painful for some people to hear, but I thought I could be friends with everybody I managed. That was my biggest mistake.
And not that I couldn’t be friendly, not that, you know. And, in fact, my best friend actually is one of the dental assistants who worked with me before she moved to Colorado. But, when she left our office, we were not very friendly with each other. We were not happy with each other.
But then, you know, we reconnected. Now, you know, we’re inseparable. But I really tried to be that. I’m a manager who would go out, you know, happy hour, who would, you know, talk to you and, “Hey, what’s going on? And, “Oh, you’re thinking about this,” and having all these great friendly conversations.
And, and I was, you know, as a manager, I was lonely too. I was like, “Wow, it’s my work fam. This is great,” and everything.
And you can have a work family, but there are boundaries. And as a new manager, it’s really hard. You’re going to get your heart broken.
When I teach management classes, this comes up in a lot of them and you will see the managers, my age, maybe even a little younger, they all nod their heads and there’s always this look of, “Yeah, I remember. It really sucked. It sucked to find out.”
Heather: Yeah, talk me through that. What does that look like? Where should the boundary lie? And, and when the boundaries aren’t there, what happens?
It’s Important to Recognize the Boundaries
Teresa: So, if the boundaries aren’t there, first of all, if you’re working with a small team, there’s a lot of, it could be favoritism. Maybe you get along with one team member better. Maybe one person is just more fun to be around. The other one’s a hard worker, right?
Well, if the other one that’s a hard worker sees you guys laughing, you’re doing a job, but you’re laughing a lot, could that start some feelings of isolation? Probably.
So, you had to pay attention as a manager on the temperature of everybody else in your office. Not, you know, you can’t just say, “Well, if there’s a problem, they’ll let me know.”
No, it’s on you to recognize that something’s brewing. I mean, you don’t have to be—you can’t be a psychic, but you do have to have some sort of, you know, fifth sense on this. That’s it.
And so what had happened was I was very friendly with a handful of them because we all did. We all went out after work Friday. We always went to the restaurant right down the street and some didn’t. You know, one had a young child, she couldn’t stick around. And so that started to fester a little bit, you know, that we would start joking about things that happen.
And even though we caught her up, we didn’t realize that there was some resentment going on. But also, you know, I mean, I don’t want to be too like anti-women, I’m not anti-women at all. But you know how it is. When you work with a lot of women, anything can happen. There’s a lot of, you know—women have to find their balance.
When you get a good group of people together, it’s fantastic, but there are definitely some dynamics there. And I was young in my twenties and those dynamics came right to the forefront. You know, there was a lot of witchiness,, for lack of a better word.
And so I tried to, instead of nipping that in the bud, like I should have, I thought I could gently mitigate it. That was a huge mistake. That was a huge mistake. Yeah.
Heather: Yeah. That’s something very difficult to undo once it’s done.
Teresa: Yep. And so I think it’s easier, honestly, to come into an office as a manager than to be elevated from the ranks as a manager, because that’s where you’re going to get your heart broken. When you come in and nobody knows you, it’s easy to kind of, you know, settle into, “I’m the boss. Here are the boundaries. Here’s what I expect. Let’s work together.”
But when you’re a new manager elevated up, you know, what worked before doesn’t work and when people don’t listen to you because you request them to do something.
Are they not listening to you because it’s, “Oh, Teresa, she won’t mind. It’s fine. I’ll explain it to her later.”
And you don’t nip that in the bud, you know? So, yeah, you might get your heart broken and it’s okay. If people are mad at you, it’s okay. It’s going to happen.
If you’re the manager and no one ever gets mad at you, I got to think what’s going on there. So they’re going to be mad at you. It’s okay. Give people space.
Heather: So now you’re in this practice and you mentioned you went for a master’s degree while you were there. What brought on that decision?
Getting a Master’s Degree
Teresa: You know me, I can’t sit still. I’m always wanting to learn more. And I think my doctor realized that. I think he was like, “Okay, if I don’t let her do that, she’s going to quit and do it.”
So, it was healthcare. It gave me a bigger understanding of how insurance plays a huge part in our industry. You know, I had seen it at a user level, obviously, but now seeing it from a policy level and on the medical side.
You know, we are, as much as we’re separated from the big medical engine, we’re still a part of it. And there’s still rules that apply.
And I think I went into that degree at a point where the regulations were starting to trickle down to dental. And so, it was actually very timely. You know, we had red flags rules. We had Medicare seeping into dental at that point. That was just, I think it was just good timing on my part. And it really just, I think, made me a better manager.
I was able to talk to patients a lot more about their benefits and being able to talk to H. R. departments about, you know, how can we help you pick better dental benefit plans? So that was very, very helpful.
And then, of course, that is where my understanding—and I don’t want to say love of insurance because that’s not the right word—but appreciation of insurance is part in our industry. That’s where that really took off.
Heather: And Teresa, you cut out on my end, just for a bit. So, if you could just tell everyone again, what your master’s degree is in.
Teresa: Oh, sorry. It was in healthcare policy and management.
Heather: Wow! I can see where that would really level-up anyone. And you said your dentist supported you right through earning that degree.
Teresa: Yep. He was very good with the schedule. And you know, being here in the northern Virginia D. C. area, I was going into classes with physicians and people who worked up on Capitol Hill. So, it was really a fantastic program.
Heather: That’s great.
,So now take us to Odyssey Management. How did that happen on the journey?
Odyssey Management is Born
Teresa: So, Odyssey really started when one of his friends wanted me to help him improve his office. And so that started out with me going into his office and fixing things and setting things up. Systems just weren’t set up correctly. And so, we fixed a lot of that—a lot of cleanup on AR as well.
But where it really happened was the local Arestin rep said, “You know, you guys do Arestin and all the time. What are you saying? What’s going on?”
And I said, “Do you want me to talk to your other office managers?”
And, you know, it was just fun. We went to a meeting and we were in a restaurant and I got up and started talking and it just, you know, that’s when it bit me. That’s when the bug really bit me and I was like, “Oh, I could do this. I like this.”
And then started putting me in front of more groups and then other groups started to hear and it kind of went from there. And that’s how Odyssey really started. I mean, there was a little bit of consulting on the side, but really it started when I started educating and speaking.
And then I started writing. And so that was, you know, back when it was not easy to get published. It’s not easy now, but it was definitely not easy back then because there was no blog online magazines back then.
I mean, it’s so stone age, it feels like. But you know, you had to really—like when you submitted an article, it had to really beat out like everybody else that was submitting an article. So, that was very, very, yeah.
Heather: I’m sorry. I was saying you were vying for real estate back then, you know?
Teresa: Definitely. And I was also going up against doctors. You know, usually clinical articles were, you know, what really led. And so, speaking and writing. And I had a blog at the time.
Then I hooked into the American, the ICOI, which they had an auxiliary program. So that was—she put me up in front of my biggest audience at the time, which was a hundred people.
She told me, you know, “Let’s have you talk about insurance.”
And I said, “How many people?”
And she said, “Oh, I don’t know—20, 30. It ended up being 100.
And so, you know, I went from doing, you know, kind of study club groups to like a hundred people, which I was like, Holy cow!”
But that’s when I knew like, “Okay, this is what I want to do.”
Heather: That’s so cool. So, it sounded like you were doing some in-office consultant for the dentist friend, right? What made you choose the path of kind of more of the speaking-educator path versus the consultant path of going into practices and implementing the systems?
What was the spark? I mean, even when you talk about it, you get excited. What was the difference and what was the spark?
Catching the Speaking and Educating Bug
Teresa: So, you know, I did. I was doing consulting because I grew up in dentistry thinking you had to do consulting and speaking. And that’s what all the other consultants did. And so, I thought you had to do that.
And so, I still was balancing working at the office. So I transitioned slowly out of the office, and I started doing consulting. I started going in offices and helping offices.
And I realized this is just not my jam. It really isn’t. I mean, I actually had two consultants working under me. We had a ton of offices that we were working with and I was also speaking cause you speak to feed the business. I mean, it’s, it’s not necessarily that way now. It’s a very different model.
But back then, like, I was out there speaking and you know, the people were doing the consulting and I remember waking up one morning and saying to myself, “Oh my gosh! If they left me, all those offices are mine. I have to work with them.”
And I just remember going, “This is ridiculous. What am I doing?”
And I, thankfully, you know, my husband has always been super supportive of everything. We sat down and I said, “You know, what if I just cut the consulting and focus on speaking and just do virtual stuff? Like if I just do virtual consulting, focused on insurance, could we make this work?”
We crunched the numbers, and he said, “You know, if we take a hit the first year, fine.”
It was really a good decision for me. So, we transitioned out, we got. We finished out our clients. The two consultants—they had plenty of time to go find, you know, other positions and they’re both very, very smart. One of them is really blowing it out of the water with her own company.
But, I needed to really take a look and say, “What can I truthfully handle?”
And the office manager in me is like, “I can handle anything.” But ,truthfully, I wasn’t happy. I absolutely wasn’t happy.”
And even now, I’m starting to think about, you know, how is Odyssey changing now too?
I think you have to really, in any career—manager career, assistant career—you’re probably going to be killing it for a couple of years, and then there is going to be a part of you that’s like, “What else is there? Can I enhance this? Do I stay in this lane? Do I make this lane bigger? And every couple of years you’re going to have that crossroads.
For me, it feels like it’s every seven, eight years is when I start to get this, “Okay, this is great. What else?” And I think that’s normal.
Heather: Like the seven-year itch.
So, I agree. I don’t know if newer managers can appreciate what a bold move that was because everyone I knew then was speaker, author, consultant. That was it. I’m sorry. Yeah. Speaker, author, consultant. Those were the three. You had to have all three. You couldn’t be one. It couldn’t be two. You had to be a speaker, author, and consultant.
And that was very brave of you to say, “I’m not happy. How do I change this and do just what I love?” So, that’s a great example for others to follow.
Meeting Heather Colicchio and Sharing with AADOM
Let’s talk about AADOM for a minute. So, I don’t remember how we met.
Teresa: I do.
Heather: I feel bad. I don’t, like, remember my kids’ birthdays.
Teresa: It was a speaking and consulting network meeting, I believe.
Heather: That’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure.
Teresa: We were in the bathroom.
Heather: Speaking, just like you were just saying—speaking and consulting. They all went together. Yep. And which is a great organization, by the way—in the bathroom. Okay.
Teresa: Yep. We were in the bathroom and I remember saying to you—cause I was getting ready to talk on—I was wanting to talk on fraud and embezzlement, and I was also wanting to talk on just management stuff. And I said, “Hey, what do you think of this?”
And you were like, “Oh, that sounds good. Send me everything.” And then that’s how it started.
So, I mean, you were early on. You were, you know, trying to figure things out too, but I was like, “Wow, AADOM! This is amazing. I’m going to speak at AADOM.”
And I remember like going there, and I mean, I forget where it was. I think it was Tampa was where I spoke. And it was just, you know, a room full of office managers. It was just unbelievable. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to not only be speaking there, but just to start meeting all of these people. It was wild.
Heather: We were lucky to find you because you’ve been such an important part of AADOM. You’re part of the AADOM core family. So, good thing we met in the bathroom.
And it’s funny. The side story—I was at an event with my husband and I went to the ladies room and I came out of the ladies room and I said, “Oh, there’s a woman there. She went to high school with you and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”
He said, “You know more about her in five minutes from the ladies room than I do. I’ve known her 20 years.” So, yeah, things happen in there.
But, we should probably start holding some like networking things in the ladies rooms—or maybe not.
Yeah, so I remember now. Yeah, we met and then you started speaking. You were new and I was new. So, I mean, you and I really grew up in this together and we’ve grown together, which I love. I’m so grateful for you.
I can’t say enough how much your participation with AADOM has meant for the members. You’re always so available to them and such a wealth of knowledge for them.
And thank God, we have you because you are so current and you keep yourself, like you said, so educated and so on top of things that I know I feel safe always saying, “Go ask Teresa Duncan.”
Teresa: Thank you! There’s something to be said for growing up with your, you know, with a core group of people.
I mean, how many times have you, me, and Lorie just been on a phone call? Like, just, you know, throwing things up in the air and saying, “This will be great.” And it ended up being great. Right? I think back very fondly to those early days.
Heather: I think fondly to those early days, middle days, and current days.
One of the things I absolutely love the most about AADOM is creating things. And I feel like if you look at our history, me and you, that’s kind of mostly what we’ve done is created things.
Like you said, just throwing it up in the air and either, you know, making it happen or saying, “Okay, that one didn’t work out. How do we change it and make it better?”
And it’s like an alchemy. You’re just take turning nothing into something. And watching it come to life is just so rewarding.
And we’ve done that, you and I, so many times, and we’re doing that actually today. I mean, we have other plans beyond this podcast where we’re building something for next year that doesn’t exist. And it’s magical. It’s like being around a cauldron and watching it bubble up.
And that’s what I love. And you are just such a good person to do that with. Like you are such a creator and builder.
We don’t have much time left. So, tell me, Teresa. Talk to the members. Just take a minute. You know them better than anyone. You were one of them. You are one of them. What words of advice do you have for them?
First, tell us, if you don’t mind, why you love office managers and practice administrators—why you love them and what kind of advice do you have for them.
Love for Dental Office Managers
Teresa: So, I definitely appreciate the passion that they bring. Many of them don’t own the practices, but they feel like they’re practice owners. And that’s just—that’s amazing for any doctor.
If you have a manager like, and I think I’ve said this before, it’s a gift. It’s a gift that you have somebody who’s willing to take on the burdens of the business and help you grow it.
But that passion is what I love. I love that, you know, they find a way to make things work. Like there’s no, “Well, we don’t do that.”
The AADOM members are like, “We don’t do that. So, how do we do that? What’s the next step?”
And I love that the members are always striving. I mean, AADOM created a fellowship program. Then it went into the different levels because that’s not enough for ADOM members, right? Like, they wanted more and more and more.
A lot of them are going on and doing their own educating. I mean, Stacey Singleton has a dental assisting school. There’s some others that do the same thing.
It’s really amazing that there’s this inner call—there’s this inner voice that says, “Spread knowledge, spread appreciation, spread love.” It sounds hokey, but that really is how to build a good office manager. Find somebody who wants to keep spreading knowledge.
That’s that really is not easy to find. And I feel like there’s a lot of things you can teach to an admin person. But to have that real fire of, “I want to elevate everyone around me,” that’s a manager. That’s a leader. And I love that. I see that all around me when I go to the conference and when I talked to AADOM members.
And I think the advice I would give to people is to make sure to take care of yourself.
I think since Covid, what I have really noticed is the amount of burnout. And I know it’s across all industries, but I just remember the first couple of newsletters I sent out after Covid, some of the people who unsubscribed, they unsubscribed with little messages of, “I’m out. I can’t do it anymore. It’s been nice knowing you and I left dentistry,” and those were always really heartbreaking.
I always send a message when somebody unsubscribes with that message. I always say, “Good luck with everything. Let me know if you ever need anything.”
And I’ve had some good conversations with these people who have retired. The burnout is real. It’s not easy to deal with people.
I would say, take care of yourself. Make sure that you’re not overextending because we want to please—we want to do well by our teams and doctors. But at some point, you’ve got to make sure that you come first. You do come first. And you can’t be a good family person. You can’t be a good human unless you still have that spark inside of you. And if you burn out, there goes. So just be careful.
I also know that when you find a good group of people to support you, that’s worth its weight in gold.
So, seek friendship. Seek camaraderie. And then also again, the knowledge. Just keep seeking knowledge because this industry is changing very, very fast. And the managers who thought they knew it all 10 years ago, we all are looking at each other, like, “What’s going on” We got to get another hold on this.”
So, it does change a lot. So, stay up with it.
Heather: Great advice.
And, last question: What’s next for Odyssey Management? As much as you want to share.
The Future of Odyssey Management
Teresa: Well, I have a group that’s in the works for revenue cycle, people, so stay tuned on that. You’re going to hear a lot more about that in the beginning of the year.
And I’m definitely going to slow down on the road, but do a lot more virtual programs. And part of that is there are a lot of good insurance speakers coming up and I’m trying to spread the love. So, if I don’t want to go to a part of the country, or if I don’t feel like I want to take this gig because of a family event, I have a good group of people who are really good at speaking about insurance. And so, I’m trying to elevate them and give them more gigs.
So, hopefully, you’ll see a lot more voices out there, a lot more new faces that actually know what they’re talking about. That’s definitely important.
So you’ll see a lot more virtual from me, a lot more podcasting. I’m doing a lot more on YouTube, so I’m doing a lot of educational videos on YouTube.
I definitely want to slow down and take care of me and also be with my family. I think a lot of listeners that I talked to a lot, they know that both of my parents have moved in with me. So, my husband and I are taking care of them and I wouldn’t miss any of that for the world right now. So, I want to try to be home as much as possible.
Heather: That’s wonderful! And you’re blessed that you are in a position to be able to do that.
I love how you’re putting new speakers, new authorities out into the world. And at AADOM, we’re all about empowering. And the fact that you’re doing that and bringing in kind of, the new crop and delighting in that, it sounds like is, you know, what drives everyone I know and work with. So that’s a beautiful thing.
And last, last question, Teresa: Give us a fun fact. Like, what’s your party trick? What is your fun fact?
Teresa: Oh, gosh! I am super good at Wheel of Fortune. Like, I’ll get the clues.
Heather: Are you really?
Teresa: Oh, yeah, like, give me three or four letters, and I’m done. It’s great. Yeah, and in fact, it’s funny because all my family has wanted me to go on the show. And I don’t know why I don’t. I just don’t. But yeah, I’m really good at Wheel of Fortune.
Heather: Alright. Well, we need to start a campaign here at AADOM: #TeresaOnWheelOfFortune. Now it’s out there. It’s in the universe, Teresa. So, we’re all looking forward to seeing you on the show. Don’t let us down.
Teresa: That’s right.
Heather: Well, thank you so much, Teresa. Thank you for everything you do and for everything you bring to dentistry. And especially for the lives of AADOM members. We all love you so much.
And thank you for being an AADOM Influencer and always just, you know, sharing and spreading the AADOM love.
Teresa: Thank you, Heather.
Heather: Oh, my pleasure. It’s great giving our members a chance to get to know you better and your background. So, I appreciate the time, and I will see you soon.
Teresa: Bye, everyone.
Heather: Alright. Take care. Bye.
