# MyStory: $6M, 35 Employees, and a Leadership Problem

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bulletproof-dental-practice-419453/mystory-6m-35-employees-and-a-leadership-problem
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bulletproof-dental-practice-419453/mystory-6m-35-employees-and-a-leadership-problem.md
Podcast: [Bulletproof Dental Practice](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bulletproof-dental-practice-419453)
Published: 2026-05-12T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://bulletproofdentalpractice3715.libsyn.com/mystory-4-your-team-needs-a-leader-not-a-friend
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bulletproofdentalpractice3715/riverside_copy_of_tommy_new_bulletproof.mp3?dest-id=426879
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bulletproof-dental-practice-419453/episodes/mystory-6m-35-employees-and-a-leadership-problem
Duration seconds: 2834

## Resource

Dr. Tommy Dooley bought a low-reimbursement practice in 2017 doing $1.3M with $600 crowns. Eight years later, he's at $6.1M across two locations with three partners, 35 team members, and 47% overhead. He followed the Bulletproof playbook to the letter: dropped from 10 insurance networks to three, expanded from 7 to 12 ops, brought in partners, and hit 20% year-over-year growth for five straight years. But then he hit a problem growth could not solve: he's redlining. Not clinically. Not financially. Psychologically. Tommy thought the next level of leadership meant knowing every team member personally, remembering every birthday, and becoming the emotional center of a 35-person operation. Craig and Peter challenged that. In this real-time coaching conversation, they unpack the leadership identity crisis that hits practice owners when the business scales past what one person can hold. They cover why your definition of "good leadership" might be wrong, why the skill set that built your practice can eventually break it, and why the best leaders stop pushing their team toward a vision and start building a team that is pulled by one. If you're growing fast, feeling stretched thin, and wondering whether you're doing leadership wrong, this episode is for you. CASE STUDY: Growing dental entrepreneur focused on leadership development and scaling beyond operator dependency. Transitioning from solo producer to business leader and team builder Learning how to scale leadership while maintaining practice culture Navigating the challenges of delegation and accountability Balancing practice growth with personal fulfillment and freedom Building systems that empower teams instead of creating dependency Redefining success beyond production and revenue numbers Understanding the difference b…

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## Transcript

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