Growing up I had always been a storyteller through videography. Either as a creative outlet or just to escape reality, it had always been a passion of mine.
When you’re a creative type, such as an artist, a storyteller, or an author, it’s never about the money that drives you, it’s about seeing the reaction. You want your art to be appreciated. The fact that art can generate revenue is important, but what gets me excited is when I get a text from a dentist that says, “This is the greatest thing ever! Our whole staff is crying!”
At one point, Tim Rauch, a good friend of mine and a dentist, had seen some of the videos I had done.
He called me up and said, “Hey! I just opened my practice in Albuquerque. I want to stand out. Could you come and do a video and make me look cool?”
I thought to myself: “You’re a dentist! I don’t know if that’s possible. I don’t know anything about dentistry.”
I went to Tim’s practice, and I filmed a video for him.
He said. “Just do what you think would be awesome. I’m not going to give you any directions.”
So, with his advice in mind, I shot and created a video for his new dental practice. He loved it.
That was six years ago. Since then, I’ve never had to advertise. It’s all been through word of mouth.
Over half of the dentists that I have worked with in these past years have told me at some point while watching their video, that they got emotional. I even had a hardcore Texan who was an orthodontist tell me that he went to the car to cry after he watched his video. It was the visual he saw that reminded him of what he’s been able to accomplish in 30 years.
When I shoot video, I focus on the human side to show the audience. I want to show them who these dentists are; they are humans just like us.
Dr. Colin Lathrop was one I worked with in the past. As we were talking on the phone, I was trying to brainstorm with him. I wanted him to open up about his hobbies and pastimes so I could better understand him and his personality. He told me that he spends most of his time with his family when he’s not working.
“But do you have any hobbies?” I asked.
“Well … I recently restored an old bronco.”
After I found that out, I told him we should use that in the video. So, I ended up turning the whole video and his story of dentistry into a story about someone who took an old beat up car and restored it to its former glory. We related it to the fact that it’s exactly what he does with smiles. He takes broken worn-down smiles and restores them to their former beauty.
To this day, that’s one of my favorite videos I’ve ever done. It’s very compelling, and when people watch, it they can’t help but feel something.
The coolest thing I am doing right now is a TV Show, called Vibrant Living. I’ve filmed over a dozen dentists for the show, we are currently in the process of launching. Vibrant Living is structured as a talk show. What makes this show unique is that all our guests are dentists. We discuss dental topics ranging from implants, restorative dentistry, to displaying before and after photos from their practice and asking them what they did in each of these cases.
What we will be doing is buying early morning TV time on these dentist’s local markets. For the duration of the interview, their practice name and number will be displayed on the screen the entire time, so that way people can call in. Our goal is for Vibrant Living to have the look and feel of a nationally syndicated show. It will establish instant credibility and authority for these dentists, in terms of marketing to new patients.
Practice On Fire is also something that’s quickly coming up. I’ve been with POF since the very first show in San Antonio. I had the opportunity at that show to film all of the speakers, create a few highlight videos, and attendee testimonials. I just started MCing at the past show in Miami. I’ll also be MCing at this year’s show. They realized after doing a few shows that they need someone who has a lot of energy to keep things fun and exciting.
What I’m really excited about for at this year’s show is that POF will be donating 100% of their proceeds for me to take down to Puerto Rico and the islands to give away to all the people who have lost everything.
That’s what I did with Hurricane Harvey. I went down to Texas twice, raised a bunch of money through Instagram by just doing these fundraisers. My wife and I paid our own way to go down there, and we actually filmed stories, met people, and then shared these stories instantaneously on social media, so people got excited and kept donating. They could see their money going to these people basically in real time.
Image from Practice On Fire Website.
Dr. Mike Ling and Dr. Graham Dersley, who run POF, saw what I was able to do in Texas and loved that. So they said, “What if we gave you all of our proceeds and you go down to Puerto Rico, film it, and then we can show these dentists what kind of impact it has.” I was floored because that’s going to be a big chunk of money. I’ve been wanting to go down there. I’m actually meeting now with people who have already been down there and have a line up of families already organized that we can help.
It’s going to be wonderful. I mean there are a lot of dental groups and conferences that donate money and incorporate charitable aspects, but this is going to be big. It’s a lot of money to donate, and I’m really excited about it.
