Dr.Todd Shatkin - How He Went From Dentist To Multi Million Dollar Entrepreneur!

Mike Hartman, performance mindset strategist. This is develop the Mindset of a Champion with former Stanley cup champion Mike Hartman. Welcome to another episode. Today, My guest is Dr. Todd Schakken. Dr. Todd, how are you? You're right on the air. We're going to get right to you. How you doing?

I'm doing great, Mike. It's great to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me to be on your show.

Oh, the pleasure's mine. I mean, we've known each other. We go back so many years, and we've known each other for, gosh, I think 25 years. 25. No more than that. More than 25 years.

We met when the kids were about a year old or a little less than a year, right?

Yeah, you're right. A year old and now you're right.

They're going to be 27. You're right. So 20, 26 years. Yeah.

They were rolling around in Buffalo, New York. I was in a Fridays one night hanging out with my. With my. I hate saying ex, wife, exes, but my former spouse. And next thing you know, my former spouse is talking to your wife. And next thing you know, we're. We're friends and hanging out, and you've.

Got Gabrielle in the high chair and I've got my twins in the high chairs, and we're all having dinner next to each other. And lo and behold, we became lifelong friends.

Yeah, lifelong friends. And. And I've also learned a lot from you. And this is what this show's about today. You know, we have. We talk about stories like, we talk about these different stories from professional athletes or I've had actors on to. To, you name it, people that have been on reality tv. And then we also have entrepreneurs. And you have a great story, Todd. I mean, just going back, you. You started off in dentistry, so. And obviously your. Your father is. Was also at that. Just share. Give us your background. Tell me a little bit about your story. Everybody would love to hear this.

I'd be happy to, Mike. Thanks. Before I do that, I want to just tell everyone that even though Mike didn't know me, I followed his professional hockey career. Mike, I followed your career because you were a Buffalo Sabre and I was a huge fan of the Sabres. So even before we became good friends, I knew a lot about you. So you were kind of a legend here in Buffalo. And it's just been a privilege and honor to be. I consider you one of my best friends. So it's really great to. To continue that relationship. To tell you about my Family. My father was a DDS md. He was a dentist, an MD medical doctor, board certified in plastic reconstructive head and neck and cancer surgery as well as maxillofacial surgery. So he did a lot of amazing surgical procedures. He was on staff at the University of Buffalo dental and medical school. And so he was really a tremendous influence on my life.

Well, I could tell you he's probably the reason you are where you are today. I mean, you're hard work, but I mean, he's the one that got you involved with dentistry. I remember talking to him years ago and he used to say, not only is Todd a fantastic dentist and one of the best, as I remember, he. He would say they have the. You had the fastest growing dental practice in all of western New York at that time. That's going back, that's going back many years. And then next thing you know, here you are, the entrepreneur and you built up just a huge business and you're always working hard. You're that entrepreneur that likes to take things to the next level. You've done over 30,000 mini dental implants. Tell us just a little bit about mini dental implants. And how did you get involved with that?

Well, so I've been in practice now for 30 years, 31 years, believe it or not, as a dentist. And about 1999 I started doing these small diameter, they called them mini dental implants. And they were originally developed to be used to stabilize loose dentures. And I started using them for that. And then after about a year or so of doing them for dentures, I realized that these things could be used for other purposes. And I actually invented a procedure and I applied for a patent on the mini dental implant procedure for crowns to replace missing teeth. And we started using the mini implants in 2002 to replace individual missing teeth. And I received my first patent in 2006 on that procedure. But back in 2003, after applying for the patent, we started a business. My father was instrumental in that as well. We started the business together, called Shatkin first and. Excuse me. And that company has grown by leaps and bounds. We now work with tens of thousands of dentists throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the islands, Caribbean islands, even over in Dubai. We have doctors in South America, Mexico. So we've really expanded this business to be very, very worldly used procedure. And like I said, tens of thousands of dentists use this. I've trained over 30,000 dentists on my procedures and we're really proud of it because it gives people the ability to replace missing teeth with a simple non invasive surgical procedure that otherwise they wouldn't be able to get done because it was either cost prohibitive or required too much time. With the mini implants, you don't need a lot of bone to do the procedure because they're smaller. So you can do them in areas of the jaw where people don't have a lot of bone. So it's really enabled so many people to get teeth replaced much more easily and readily.

Yeah, yeah. And I, I've watched and I was, we're going to get into this a little bit as well. How you, how you took me under your wing when I was just retiring and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do and I got involved with coaching and speaking and, and you brought me right in as friends and it's always good, good to know people. But yeah, working with over 25,000 doctors. Now remember, I'm, I'm on, I'm uneducated in this now. When people come to me and start talking about hockey and using terms that don't make. I used to watch you and this is what really impressed me. I would sit there and I, I think I would learn like something like you have the stent and the stent has to go to the right area of the bone and then the mini dental implant like clips in. And I was watching how you would have patients come in and you had like, I don't know, 2, 300 doctors watching and everybody just had their eyes on you. So not only are you, you know, a fantastic dentist and built up a multi, multi million dollar business, but you love what you do. I watch you and, and, and these dentists were mesmerized to the screen. And we did this in the, it was in Buffalo at one of your, at the facility where you, where you present and, and everybody was just sitting there almost in awe. And these are dentists, these are your colleagues. Like how does that make you feel?

Well, I'm proud. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy the look on the students faces when they see the procedures we can do and give them the ability to take that home to their practices, wherever they may be working and offer it to their patients. You know, Mike, I remember you've given some lectures to those dentists as well a number of times at different cities throughout the country. For me, when you've spoken about, you know, leadership and skills needed to be a leader and you always do a great job with your talks and I always love having you at those courses. So I'm Glad you remember that. And it really is rewarding. It's very rewarding to see the hard work I've put into this pay off for dentists all over the world.

Well, not only that. So I always liked. I use the sports analogies, especially with people that love sports. You said earlier you love the Buffalo Sabres. I appreciate the kind words. You're also a big Bills fan. But one thing about being an athlete, it's the littlest things in details. And if you make a mistake, it could be costly to a team. Now, I can't imagine with like, with many dental implants and working with people like, it's all about the littlest things in details. And there's has to be a lot of pressure within what you do.

Yeah, I remember you always saying that. Little, little things and details and, and you know, when I talk about the people who have influenced my life, I talk about my father, of course. I talk about my dean of my dental school, Dr. Art de Goni. And believe it or not, Mike, I talk about you as one of my mentors. And you said, I've taught you some things, but I've learned a lot of things from you as a leadership coach. For me for a number of years, you've given me great advice. And one of the things I learned about you is you never give up. And I know as a hockey player, you, you've told me the story that you were kind of the underdog. You never really expected to be in the league as many years as you were, and you never expected to have the opportunities you had, but you lasted. You outlasted so many players in the NHL for so many years because of the tremendous work ethic that you have, the hard work you put into your skill, and also having a good attitude every day. And you mentioned earlier, I've been in practice 30 years. I still love what I do every day. I can't wait to get out of bed, get up to go to work and do the things I do every single day. It's been wonderful.

No, I could see a lot of that. But hey, this is about you, Todd. The show's about you today. And I really appreciate the nice, kind words. Like I said, you built up this practice. So I was with you in Palm Springs last year. That was, was that. I think that was just last year. And I've done a few of years. I used to do a lot over time, but what people have to understand is when they say, well, what's an entrepreneur and what makes you difference? I always, and I asked you. And this is what you taught me. So I remember the first year I came in to Buffalo and I was presenting. So the people have to realize you're doing this from. You're up at five in the morning and you're not home until midnight because with all the, with everything that's going on and throughout the day and I'm going on for one hour. So for me, that's, it's not a lot of work. But one thing that I was amazed at as you made sure that all the dentists were, were taken care of. And they're, they're, they're learning and they're happy and on top of it, you always did these great things. Like, I remember you took everybody to Niagara Falls. We went, we go for a really nice dinner. Then we, all of us go. We were at the, the Maids of the Mist.

Right.

I think that's what it called. So you all, you always did these little things for people and you do everything first class and you don't take shortcuts. So where did you get that from? Like not taking shortcuts? Where did you.

It's.

Was that from your family? Tell me where you got that from.

Well, I think my father, he's. He had tremendous work ethic his entire life and, and he taught me always to put your best foot forward. Put the. Give everyone your best impression you possibly can when you first meet them and when you work with them and in business. And so when we have doctors come to Buffalo for our training courses, we want to put our best foot forward. We want them to feel like they're part of our family and we treat everybody as if they're family, whether it's a patient in my dental chair or a doctor who's coming to take a course from me. I want them to feel like they're treated as if I was treating my own family member. And so that's how I've always lived my life. And it's rewarding because they become your friends and they become your colleagues and they enjoy coming back for more training knowing that they're going to feel very warm and welcome.

Well, I share this story as well. So one of the first times I was at, when you were doing your seminar in, in your, your course in Buffalo, you had everybody that you were introducing. So you've introducers probably. I don't know how, how many staff members do you have total right now?

Yeah, we used to introduce every single staff member, but now we have so many it would take too long. But we have about 40 now, so.

You have about 40 staff. So I remember you're. You start calling people up, you say, oh, this I want to welcome. I can't remember her name. This is Stacy. She actually went to school with my daughter. Hey, this is so. And so I went to school with him. I knew him from Buffalo. Oh, this is. And everything in life is built around relationships. And then you introduced me as a. Is a good friend. And this is what people have to realize, that you've had all these relationships with, with different people. And, and you're very loyal to the people that are with you on your team. And, and that was also really noticeable because when we had the Buffalo Sabres, eventually this past year in Buffalo, just before things got really bad with, with COVID we were in Buffalo and it was a cold night. You had your Christmas party there and we were there for the introduction of these Sabers. It was the 80s night or 90s night. And everybody you could see, and, and my girlfriend Cheryl said, look at everybody. Just loves Todd. Like as a boss, he'd be so great to work for. And, and I think that's what I like for you to tell some of our listeners now. And how important is it to be a leader to your staff and have that relationship?

Well, Mike, thank you. And it really means a lot to me that you said that we had about 150 people at that party. I remember. And it was great to have you and Cheryl there. And yes, my, my Shatkin family is not just my wife and my three children who I adore. You know, my wife Leslie, and I've been married for 31 years. My daughter and son are twins, Jared and Juliet. They're going to be 27. And my youngest girl, Jade, who's going to be, is 21 now. And they're just amazing kids. I'm proud of them. My son Jared is in dental school. He's in his third year at Tufts University in Boston. My daughter Juliet is in a postbac pre med program at Columbia University, and she wants to be an OB gyn. I'm trying to convince her to go to dental school, but she wants to deliver babies right now. That's her plan. And then my youngest, Jade, who's an artist. They're all amazing kids and I'm so proud of all of them and so happy to have a wonderful, supportive wife. And I will say that without Leslie's support all these years behind the scenes, I wouldn't have been able to do the things I do. But that family extends to my practice and to my employees. And I've now got 40 employees for Shatkin first and about another 40 employees in my dental facility. And we now have our mask making factory to make N95 masks. I have another 40 employees there. So I've got a lot of people working for me and I know every one of them by first name. So that's over 100 people. I know every one of them. I say hello to every one of them as much as I can every day. I try to make them all feel like coming to work is coming to home. So when they walk in the door, they feel like they're in their second home and building that relationship. You said loyalty. Loyalty is everything. If you can get loyal people to surround yourself with who are going to be there for you every step of the way, you're going to be successful in anything you want to do. But the only way to gain that loyalty from them is to give that loyalty to them and to be. To be there for them when they need you and when they don't need you. Yeah.

And that, and again, that was so noticeable, especially. I knew it anyways. But Cheryl, who worked for a big company, Chobani, and she was one of the original 70 employees, like, she always would talk about the culture, but she. I'll just leave it like this without saying anything. She said, she says, wow. In the car, she said, did you see the eyes of everybody, how they respect Todd? And, and, and I go, well, I go, wait, I've been with him on his events. And you're always talking to everybody. You take time for everybody. Like I said, you're at these events. I remember I was at. In New York City with, with you maybe eight or nine years ago. And you made sure that every last dentist and every last professional, whether it was the high dentist or the office manager, you would take the time to sit and help them. And, and that's called leadership. Now listen, we're not perfect. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. We're all going to have setbacks. We all do things in life that. Why are we doing it? Like I do it in my life. I mean, who doesn't? But no one's perfect. But it's really something that everybody should have. And I'm going to re. I'm going to turn the clock way back. You might laugh when I say this, but I do remember that it might have been your mother who was in marketing, because you have that. It's in this gene that she was one of the. Or your family or was one of the first people to bring Labat's bear into America, or was that like.

It was my grandfather. He bought. He brought Labat's beer. My mother's father brought Labat's blue to the United States from Canada.

So that's. That's amazing. And I think you remember you told me the story. I don't want to kill the story, because everything's about stories. You could share a little bit more. But what I think I remember is that they wanted the borders. They wanted, like you, that, like Canada and USA borders, and they were trying to bring in.

Yeah. So I'll tell you real quick, Mike. It's a fun story. So my grandfather used to go to the horse races over in Fort Erie, Canada, and he became friends with John Labatt Jr. Who was the. The family of the Labat family. And they. They bet on the races together, and they became friends, and they sit together and they'd share a beer. And my grandfather one day said, hey, John, how come you're not selling Labatt's beer in the United States? And he said, because they can't show people consuming alcohol on television in the United States, but they can in Canada. So I don't think I can sell beer in the United States because nobody's going to buy it if they can't see people actually consuming it. And, you know, even to this day, the FCC does not allow television commercials to show people consuming alcohol in the United States. But back then, they had black and white TVs. They didn't have the televisions we have and the special effects to make it look like women are coming out of the ice on a mountain with hardly any clothes on. And that's how they sell beer today. But. But back then, they didn't have that. So my grandfather said, give me a dime for every beer I sell in America, and I'll bring Labatts to the United States and I'll pay for all the advertising. So what my grandfather did is he made a deal and he bought the TV ads in all of the bordering cities in Canada and showed the Canadian commercials. And he beamed those commercials over to the United States on the big Watt TV stations. And so people in northern US could see the Canadian ads. And at the end of the ad, it said, now available in America. It really was only available in those cities that bordered Canada, but it sounded like it was available all throughout America. And it trickled down from the northern states to the Midwest and down to the south over the years. And for. For more than 30, I think 25 years he had that account and, and soldier. Wow.

How brilliant is that?

So.

Well, I'm sure you have, you know, the gene is passed down to, to you. That's, that's, that's a great story. That really is, that's so inspiring. So how can you give some of the entrepreneurs like, like, like, let's say if somebody came to you and said they like, like a dentist, hey, Todd, how can I be a better leader? What answer would you give them?

Well, you have to think outside the box, number one. You have to have an open mind. And if you think of something that, that's unique or that could be benefit the world, you got to go for it. I'll give you a little bit of an example. Governor Cuomo in end of March went on TV and he said, any New York State businesses that can retool their business to make any type of PPE protective equipment, personal protective equipment, New York State will help them to do so. And so within a week I was contacting companies who manufacture, who make N95 mask making machines and equipment. And within two weeks I ordered a machine from China because that's where they make this stuff, to manufacture our own N95 masks. And then I bought additional equipment and machinery from them. And within about six weeks to eight weeks, we had a factory put together here in our facility to manufacture N95 masks. After I got that thing going, I applied for a grant from New York State because the governor said they would help. And sure enough, I was one of 12 companies in New York State to receive a grant to make PPE. Only one other company in New York state is making the N95 mask. So that's just one example. You've gotta, if you have an idea and you're a little bit timid because people are gonna be a little bit scared to take a, take a chance, right? If you want to be an entrepreneur, you've got to go for it. You've got to take that chance. And not every single one will be successful. As you know, Mike, you and your brother Ricky and I were involved in some business stuff early on that wasn't as successful. We've all tried different things. Like you said, you're not always going to make it successful and you're going to make mistakes along the way. But the important thing is just get back up and try again. Can't give up.

That's a great point. That's true. We try things and sometimes people would say, oh, you've tried different things. Like in our coaching Practice or. We've given seminars, and we. We.

We.

We've tried a few different. Different ideas, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But it. It doesn't make you a failure.

Or.

Or you don't. It's not like you failed. You know, you could fail, but doesn't make you, like, a failure. Like, someone who quits is. Like, to me, that's. You know, it's okay to fail, but being a failure, like, failure is a little bit different. Like, I'll try.

What did Wayne Gretzky. What's his. What's his line? Mike, you can't. Something about you're gonna miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

That's right. That's right. And that's true. And you have to. And that's one thing you do. You take. I mean, you've taken this chance going way back with, you know, you had a great dental practice, and it was thriving. And some people would say, you know, I'm gonna be in my comfort zone. So that's what we have to do in life. Sometimes. We have to get out of this comfort zone and do stuff different. So is there anything that you would change? Like, you said you were happy. You wake up every day with a great energy. You bring that great energy into your office. I've seen it so many times. But is there anything that you would change?

Well, you know, when you're a workaholic, like I am, and like some people are, and by the way, there's nothing wrong with being content and being comfortable and not being an entrepreneur. If you. If you're comfortable in your dental practice or medical practice or whatever job you have in life, that's the most important thing, is to be happy and comfortable. You don't have to be always striving to do something new. And there's nothing wrong with people who are very comfortable. They're probably happy and maybe more relaxed than I am. But the one thing that happens when you are this type of an individual is it does take you out of the house more. And so the one thing I think. I've always been a good father, and I love my kids, and I think they love me, and we have mutual respect for each other. But I think if I had to do it over, I would have tried to spend a little bit more time at home as they were younger, because you don't get those years back. You know, once they grow up, you can't go backward and say, oh, geez, I should have been to that dance. Recital or should have been to that hockey game or football game. I think I did a really good job of trying to make everything I could. But as a businessman, I was out of town at times. I was traveling, I was working long hours to build these businesses up. And so, you know, something's gonna give or take, there's gonna be a give and take everywhere you go. So I probably, if I had to say I do something over differently, try to spend more time with my family, my wife and my children.

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot, a lot of us look back, you know, even as an athlete, sometimes you're gone and it's a short career. I used to have to explain that sometimes, hey, listen, this career could be a year, three years, five years. But something like with your career, it's been, you know, it's been like 30 year, right? About 30 year career and building and it continuously builds. Now, how do you handle adversity sometimes? Like there's. There's always adversity or doubt. Like, because you are like, now you built this factory and you're building these masks. Do you ever have doubt in your head or. Or how do you deal with that?

That's one thing you can't let yourself get into. Because if you, if you fall down that rabbit hole, then. Then that's a bad thing to get into the doubt. But I always am. I'm a serial optimist. I always believe everything will work out in the end if you work hard enough. And I've tried to instill that in my kids, and I'm really proud of all my kids. But I will say, Jared, like, you were a little bit of an underdog. Jared was an underdog to get into dental school, and he worked so hard through a master's program in biomedical science and did really well. And he got himself into dental school even though he had some learning difficulties growing up. And I just believe anything is possible if you set a goal and you set your mind to it and you just keep plugging away no matter what, nobody can stop you if you never give up and keep plugging away. And I think that's how you made it in the NHL, Mike, from the stories I've heard from you, and it's how you got there and how you stayed there. So long as you just can't. You can never think you're gonna fail. You always have to think, I'm gonna make it no matter what. I'm gonna keep working. I'm not giving up.

Yeah. In south talks and proud of Jared. I mean, because I remember there was times that he had his setbacks and.

You coached him along the way.

Yeah, yeah.

And personally.

Yeah, and I think it's great. And, and that's what happens some. And it's like I, I tell my own kids, you know, my daughter made it through nyu. Like she went to school. And then my son struggled, but he's on the six year plan. And I said, that's okay.

Yeah. Everybody has to take their own path in life.

That's right. Everybody's on a different. So I gotta ask you a couple things because now I, I'm speaking from something. I don't know, but. Do you sell these masks? Because I'm having a hard time finding masks. I'm buying the clothy ones that I can't breathe on and then they put them on my ear and they fall apart. I don't, I don't. Maybe you don't sell onesies, but do you. Is there a place that you can get masks or am I just speaking?

No, we sell them. We have a website. Just since you asked, Mike. MyOnlineMask shop.com MyOnlineMaskshop.com is our website for individuals and businesses and doctors and whoever else to buy our masks. They're pretty reasonable.

My online shop.

My online mask. Shop online.

Okay, I'm gonna write that down for myself, definitely. And then, you know, not that. Oh, no, absolutely. I would love that. I would love that for sure. Definitely would love that. Because I'm gagging here. I'm in Charlotte. I was living just outside of New York City for the past three years up until recently. And we are afraid to go outside. It's a little bit more, more relaxed here in Charlotte now for, for people that want to look at shackin first. I mean, not that I need to promote you, but I know some people are gonna say, hey, tell me about Dr. Shatkin and where can I read about him? Can, can you send people to. Is it shaken first.com?

Yeah. Shatkinfirst.com is our company website. But if anybody out there, and I know thousands of your listeners, are missing teeth. Mini Dental Implants Centers of America is a business that I started. And we've got 75 dental centers throughout the country that focus their practices on mini implants. MDICA.com MDICA.com mini dental implant centers of America is the website. MDICA.com and 866 get minis is the phone number. But if anybody has missing teeth, I'd encourage you to check out that website and find a dentist in your community who can help you. And those are all dentists that I've trained.

Yes. A lot of my listeners would know I don't do a lot of commercials. And this is not. The people say, oh, is this a plant commercial? This is absolutely not. We've been best friends for so many years, and I know you can help so many people that you know what I'm going to do with this episode. It's on Apple podcast, it's on Spotify and many of the. The. The podcast directories. I'm going to add your URL to the show. So I'll add the URL here to the show so people can click on it and see it. I've done that for a few people. I've had a few different people that. And we're going to do that for you. Todd, it's. Or Dr. Todd, it's been such a great time interviewing you. We've been friends for, for so long and everybody could learn from you. Definitely. And I definitely have as well. So it was so great having you, Mike.

Always a pleasure to be with you and I look forward to seeing you and give my best to everybody in your family.

Likewise.