“I was trying not to drown all day.”

That’s how Dr. Lindsey Zeboski describes how she felt in 2023.

From the day Dr. Zeboski bought White House Dentistry in July 2016 in her hometown of North Platte, Nebraska, she knew the practice needed a second doctor.

As a fourth-generation, well-established practice with an excellent reputation, White House Dentistry was extremely busy and financially solid. It was so busy that the previous practice owner considered expanding the practice but ultimately decided to sell it to Dr. Zeboski and retire instead.

As the practice continued to grow, issues began to pop up because of her success. Long patient wait times coupled with inefficient processes and “time suckers” in daily operations left patients frustrated and Dr. Zeboski overwhelmed.

“Patients were expressing super frustration, communicating to my front office, ‘We love you guys, but it shouldn’t take an hour and forty minutes just to get my teeth cleaned,’” Dr. Zeboski said. “We weren’t doing things efficiently. I felt like if I didn’t get this resolved, patients were going to leave and go somewhere else.”

Seven years had passed since Dr. Zeboski took over the practice, and she still hadn’t brought in another doctor. Constantly drowning in daily operations, she was at risk of burnout from excessive work.

“It just didn’t make sense that I hadn’t hired another doctor,” Dr. Zeboski said. “But I was so busy treating patients that I didn’t make time to do any kind of planning or organizing. I kept putting out fires instead of planning for the future. And I was mentally tired.”

Peer Advice Became Her Lifeline

While serving on the American Academy of Clear Aligners board, Dr. Zeboski shared some of her challenges with her peers. Dr. Rob Herron shared his positive experience with The Team Training Institute and encouraged her to get help from them. At first, she was apprehensive because of her past experience with a different consultant, which she said “didn’t give me a return on my investment.” Finally, Dr. Zeboski decided she was ready.

“I felt like there was away to take care of patients without it being so time-consuming,” Dr. Zeboski recalled. “We needed to schedule differently or communicate differently. I wasn’t sure what those variables were, but I just knew something had to change. I knew I needed a coach to help me get to the next level and hold me accountable because I was obviously not doing a good job of that myself. Not on purpose, but just because I was extremely busy.”

From Time-Starved to Time-Mastered

Today, Dr. Zeboski’s practice runs like clockwork. Her production and profitability are up significantly, and her team is helping to shoulder the responsibility of running the practice, relieving her stress. “The practice held steady for a lot of years because it was hard for me to do any more than I was already doing, ”Dr. Zeboski explained. “I had limited capacity. But now we are actually growing, and I’m excited to see what is going to happen.”

How a Reluctant Team Became Revenue Champions

In February 2023, Dr. Zeboski had The Team Training Institute (TTI) come to her practice to do Hygiene Explosion Training. Theresa Park was assigned as the TTI hygiene coach. After an initial adjustment period to the new protocols, Dr. Zeboski’s team increased monthly production from $149,000 to $240,000. Preventative care increased tremendously too. “On a scale of one to ten, before we were at like a one or two, whereas now we are at eight for sealants,” she said. “Fluoride, we were at a two, and now we are at a ten. We were at a zero for other preventative services because we weren’t even aware of them before TTI introduced us.” Patients also express liking the ability to do preventative dental care versus reactive dental care.  

“We instantly connected and hit it off,” Dr. Zeboski said. “Theresa is very relatable. She is smart, has it all together, and has great ideas. She explains things in a way that is easy to understand. She really impressed me from the time I first met her.”

Because of Dr. Zeboski’s concerns and her desire to address the time issues expressed by her patients, Theresa came in to observe Dr. Zeboski and her team at work before conducting the training.

“Theresa did a great job of opening my hygienists’ eyes to a different way of doing things,” she explained. “She was gracious and extremely sweet in helping them become more aware of how to be more efficient. In addition, she helped us understand how to offer adjunctive preventative services to patients, which has been huge for us.”

Initially, her team was uncomfortable offering additional services, believing they didn’t have enough time. Dr. Zeboski confided that it took a solid six months for everyone to get comfortable. However, once they became used to delivering the hygiene system and could see that it worked, everyone got on board.  

“At first, I got a lot of pushback,” Dr. Zeboski said. “They said, ‘We don’t have time to do that!’ However, once they got used to the new routine, they realized they had time to do sealants and fluoride during an appointment and offer services that were good for our patients. After we got our footing, there was a definite increase in production. Now, a year and a half later, it’s significantly more.”

Plus, despite offering more services during appointments, the new hygiene system has also made Dr. Zeboski’s practice run more efficiently.

“We are way more on schedule than ever before,” she said. “It’s a work in progress. However, we’ve improved tenfold.”

Future-Proofing Success

Dr. Zeboski knew she needed to tackle the other puzzle piece: the business side. She started with Executive GPS in October 2023 after getting the hygiene system running smoothly. “I don’t like to do stuff halfway,” she explained. “I joined Executive GPS because I wanted to have the entire plan—90 days, one-year, three-year, and five-year plans all figured out. I’m thankful I did that. It was extremely helpful to see the big picture. It helps me not to get bogged down with the day-to-day or month-to-month. Also, I knew if I didn’t make changes, I’d just continue doing what I’m doing.”

Building the Blueprint for Sustainable Success

Dr. Zeboski worked with her TTI business coach, Karleen, to focus on establishing clear systems and processes. She also defined roles and responsibilities and created department leadership structures.

"TTI helped me recognize that part of my struggle and why I was so busy was because I didn’t have real clear systems in place,” Dr. Zeboski said. “I didn’t have clear rules and expectations for my team. I had a great office manager and some great team members who were stepping up to do things, but with no clear rules or guidelines, they didn’t know what their responsibilities were. Now, we’ve been working diligently to establish ground rules. We’ve clarified our vision, our culture, and what that means for our office. We’ve defined what each person’s job entails and what responsibilities they have.”

Leadership Evolution: From Solo Operator to Empowered Team Leader

After defining responsibilities for each person’s role, Dr. Zeboski was able to establish leadership in each department. Before TTI, Dr. Zeboski had an office manager who also fulfilled front office duties such as scheduling and handling insurance, making her too busy to really fulfill that role. A couple of people in the back stood out as leaders but didn’t have the authority. Now, the office manager no longer splits her time between multiple roles, and the leads in the back have been given ownership of their department, taking the weight off Dr. Zeboski’s shoulders.

“It feels really good to know that I don’t have to handle all of it,” Dr. Zeboski said. “They now know Dr. Zeboski does not need to be responsible for all the meetings. You need to own your department. We talked about it for a while, and it took some time to organize and execute, but now they know they are responsible for handling their department. While this is a recent transition, mentally, I feel better, and in a few months, I’m sure I’ll notice a huge difference. It’s also a huge help to have my TTI coaches, Theresa and Karleen, as resources that my office manager and team leads can go to for questions and leadership training.”

Building A Strong, Vibrant Workplace

Establishing core values and an office culture has also been a big focus.

“It’s taken time to look at everything—to figure out what I want, what works for me, and what is fair to my team,” Dr. Zeboski said. “However, these are not simple questions like ‘Do you want your wall yellow or blue?’ They are big decisions.”

In addition to the hygiene systems, a new hiring system and training manual have created consistency and efficiency. Previously, no formal process, guidelines, or quality control was in place, creating inconsistent training. This lack of standardization caused gaps in knowledge when essential skills or information was missed. Now, every new hire receives systematic training, ensuring they receive the same protocols needed to deliver standardized care to patients, regardless of who is training them.

“My leadership team did a great job of writing out job descriptions and training criteria and creating timelines for when new hires need to be trained on each duty,” Dr. Zeboski said. “We never had that before. We just sort of did ad hoc training, so this has been huge for us.”

Tiger-proofing To Ensure Seamless Operations

Dr. Zeboski is working toward tiger-proofing her office to ensure all positions are covered regardless of any circumstances thrown her way.

“We went through tiger-proofing to make sure everyone is cross-trained, and every position is tiger-proofed,” Dr. Zeboski explained. “The only person left in the office who isn’t tiger-proofed is me, but I have someone coming. She’s signed a contract, and she’ll join the practice after she graduates in 2025. But she is worth the wait. She’ll be a great fit. I’m really excited about her.”  

Dr. Zeboski is starting a renovation project to add seven additional operatories, which will more than double her space from the current six operatories. She plans to add additional doctors in the future. She’s blending future growth with the desire to maintain a good work-life balance.

“My vision is to first transition into having another doctor by onboarding this new doctor that will start in 2025,” Dr. Zeboski said. “Then I’d like to get another doctor and evaluate where I’m at and how I feel. Like am I happy with my workload? Am I able to do the things I love and that I’m passionate about? But also, our town is experiencing a tremendous amount of growth. I expect a lot of growth in our town over the next five to ten years, so I want to be ready for it.”

The Path Forward

“The biggest revelation I’ve gained was understanding the power of true leadership within the practice,” Dr. Zeboski reflects. “Having competent team members who can take ownership of their responsibilities has been transformative. After seven years of financial success but personal struggle, I finally see a path to the work-life balance I’ve been craving. As a mother, doctor, and business owner, I was being pulled in countless directions, but now, thanks to The TeamTraining Institute, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The transformation hasn’t just been about leadership—it’s been about creating sustainable systems that work. “I’ve learned you’ve got to trust the process,” she explained. “We’ve mastered our hygiene protocols and weathered the challenging transition period. The results speak for themselves: improved patient care, increased production, and—most importantly—no more lengthy wait times. Our patients receive the same excellent care they’ve always expected, but now it’s delivered efficiently and on schedule. Watching my team hit their stride while producing more money feels great, and no more wait times is a huge relief."

Looking ahead, Dr. Zeboski sees a future filled with possibility rather than exhaustion. “The practice has evolved from overwhelming to manageable,” she said. “I’m finally in a position to focus on the aspects of dentistry I’m most passionate about, reduce my working hours, and bring another doctor on board.It’s the vision I’ve always had for the practice, but before, without The TeamTraining Institute, that was never going to happen, whereas now it’s becoming a reality."