Hey, Voices of the Bench community, Jessica Love here, giving me a shout out from Utah. As many of you know, I am passionate about creating natural-looking, beautiful smiles, and I also believe in simplifying systems without compromising on aesthetics. I am honored to be part of Ivoclar's development team to bring you a new stain and glaze system with structure paste. IPSEmax CeramArt. With this system, you can create beautiful works of art with depth and color in as little as one firing. Join us as we continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change, one smile at a time.
All right, Barb. So we're in Dallas for the D-Lat. And while we've got a bunch of episodes coming out in the next few weeks, let's play a quick pop-in from the show.
Great idea, Elvis. Roll the tape.
Hey, Barb. Hey, Elvis. Great to see you guys.
What the hell? Who's this? Absolutely. It's Jordan. What's happening? So quickly for our listeners, we've got Jordan Greenberg here, more commonly known to us as the Hyperdent dude. That's me.
Look, I haven't put it on my badge this time around.
Nice.
Managing director doesn't have the same ring to it.
So Jordan, you're here, but no booth this time. Give it up.
No booth. I'm just here to support our dealer network, spend time with some partners, and check in with a few labs that want to expand their use of HyperNet, that kind of thing.
You know, that makes a lot of sense because walking around this big, huge show, you're going to see everybody.
Yeah, right. It's definitely a nice change of pace from an event like Lab Day Chicago, that's for sure.
No doubt.
It certainly sounds like it. Barb, I think we need to start following Jordan's program at these shows. He looks so relaxed.
Very relaxed. Ain't that the truth?
Well, if it makes you feel better, I did take the long way here. Oh, is that so?
Starting from New Hampshire, right? The home of CAM.
The Granite State. That's right. Well, I mean, technically flying out of Boston, but I first stopped at Zubler USA. They're near Atlanta. I met with Jack and Ryan over there. They're awesome.
Good people.
Yeah, they are. They have a new line of milling equipment that's running with HyperNet, of course. And then I snuck over to Birmingham, where we have a longtime customer. At that facility, we're in the final stages of implementing a fully automated custom solution for preform abutments, which basically means no human nesting whatsoever, which is a huge benefit to any production facility that's milling a high volume of parts every day.
Wait a minute. Now, I can only imagine this. How does that even work? You said it's custom, so it's not built into Hyperdent already.
Well, yeah, Yes and no, Hypernet already contains a ton of automation logic. For example, in our newest release, before you pull a preform abutment into the fixture, we already know if it's too big for a 10 millimeter blink, which is typically the smallest preform size. And if that's the case, we only give you the option to nest it in a larger or a 14 millimeter blink. So we're not only tapping into those existing features that every Hypernet user can use and benefit from, but we're adding a whole other layer of custom programming to their specific workflow, along with a production dashboard for visibility.
Wow.
Let's just say I'm very fortunate to have super capable software engineers on our team.
I'll say.
Yeah, they carry a very heavy load with this project.
I would say that's true. I know you, and we know you're not there in that load, ain't that?
This stuff is so cool, Jordan. Sounds like you guys are really, really pushing the envelope. Thank you for dropping in. Enjoy the show without your booth.
Will do. Thanks, guys.
I'm so jealous. Welcome to Voices from the Bench, a dental laboratory podcast. Send us an e-mail at info at voicesfromthebench.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Greetings and welcome to episode 420 of Voices from the Bench.
My name is Elvis. And my name's Barbara Live from DLAT. Yeah, I know.
I was going to say, we probably sound a little different because we're using professional recording equipment, but we are taking a little minute out of the DLAT show to talk about this week's episode. This is an amazing show.
You and I love this show. These guys put the amazing show on together. They treat you like kings and queens. There's a ton of people here, a lot of energy, a lot of buzz and great conversations.
Absolutely. We've recorded a lot of great attendees, some other vendors, a couple of people up on stage this week. But I got to tell you, we sit in a lot of exhibit halls recording all over the country and the world a little bit. And I'll have to say, this is one of One of the busiest exhibit halls I have seen in a while, minus Chicago, just because that's packed. But they've done a great job getting people here, getting people excited about it. Just hats off to the board.
I was going to say kudos to the board. They sold this floor out.
Yep.
And super proud of them. They're coming back and they're coming back strong. So we're going to be here next year too. They invited us back.
Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it for the world. If people remember, we talked to Matt Douglas a while ago, the president of the the board talking about this meeting and he mentioned karaoke. I mentioned I'd never done it before.
I heard somebody might have done that last night.
Yeah, I did karaoke for the first time.
You not only did karaoke, you performed karaoke.
I said to myself, I'm not going to be able to sing well, so I might as well. How did you pick the song?
Or did they pick it for you?
No, no.
What was the song?
Well, I mean. It's no secret having the name of Elvis kind of, I'm an Elvis fan and he does a song called If I Can Dream on the 68 Comeback Special and I just thought it was a good song to do. Good for you.
We're going to be seeing that all over social media very shortly.
Yeah, maybe. We'll see. But again, thank you to everyone, the DLAT board.
Yes.
They invited us out here. They gave us the space and just thank you and good job and can't wait till next year. But this week we're actually talking to a certified Exocad designer and a social media guru.
And a good friend.
Yeah, Seth Potter.
Yep.
As we get ready to attend Exocad Insights 2026 in Mallorca, Spain, which in what? Gosh, it's two weeks.
Two weeks.
Two weeks. Yeah, yes. Seth is getting ready to present on stage there.
He's a keynote.
He is. He's a big wig. Yeah. So Seth comes on the podcast to talk about getting his calling to become a dental technician. This is crazy. Living with his family of eight on a sailboat.
As a young teenager, young kid.
Yeah. Building the digital department inside of a dental lab, taking the time to teach himself Exocad, eventually starting his own design center, and now he's sharing what he's learned while pushing Exocad to the limits. So join us as we chat with Seth Potter. Hey, Voices from the Bench listeners, Elvis here. Ready to supercharge your digital dentistry skills? Then mark your calendar for Exocad Insights, taking place April 30th to May 1st, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. We know it's stunning because Barb and I were at the last Insights, and it was amazing! Whether you're just starting your digital journey or looking to take your Exocad skills to the next level, Exocad Insights has it all. Now get this, we got keynotes from Global Pioneers, in-depth software lectures, hands-on demos, product showcases from top industry partners, and of course, voices from the bench. We're going to be there doing some on-site interviews. Plus, they're adding some more fun stuff to do too. They can count Barb and me in on the first Insights 5K morning run along the coast. That's right, a running race in another country. country on the coast on a nice island. A minute to win it. And we're not going to miss the legendary Exo Glam Night, which is sure to be the most epic party of the year. Tickets are going fast. So head over to exocad.com forward slash insights dash 2026 to grab yours today. You can also find that link on this episode show notes. And here for a special treat just for our listeners, 15% off. That's 15% off with the code VFTBPALMA15. That's VFTBPALMA15. And we will see you in Spain.
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April Fools.
There you go. We are going to be in Mallorca, Spain for the Exocad Insights. So excited. The second reason we're excited, we're talking to someone we talked to at the last Exocad Insights.
Yeah.
No, Exocad Insight. Oh, in Chicago. In Chicago. Yeah. Seth gets around. Seth Potter, how are you, sir?
I'm doing great. You guys can't get rid of me. I'm at Insights. I'm at Chicago. I'm like a, you know, a bad, you know, a bad smell you can't get rid of.
Stop following us.
We can't get rid of. Let's say.
So you mentioned what, you're in Paraguay right now?
Yeah, I'm in Paraguay. So yeah, for those that don't know, I kind of live this crazy life because you only live once, no sense living a boring life. So I spend half the year down here. I, feel like I've paid my dues with the Northern Canada winters.
You spend half the year down there? Like you live there six months?
Yeah, I'm a resident and everything. I have my driver's license down here. I have bank accounts. I'm fully integrated.
How did you find Paraguay to spend six months out of the year?
Good question. I mean, I've been traveling for a while. I think when we connected in Insights, like a couple of years back, I think I was talking a little bit that I, you know, sort of travel around and blah, blah, blah. I mean, a lot's changed since that insights and I'm sure we'll get into that in the episode. But yeah, I've just been traveling around Latin America and honestly, Paraguay, just like it, it's hard to describe. It just, it just sort of felt like home instantly. Wow.
Interesting.
It's not like a very splashy, sexy place. It's, kind of boring. You know, kind of for my like American friends, I kind of explain, it's kind of like the Oklahoma of the United States. It's kind of like boring, but it's like, it's safe. The people are super down to earth and friendly, probably a pretty decent place to raise a family. I've never been to Oklahoma, so I guess I'm kind of just going off of what I've heard.
Yeah, you should go to Oklahoma sometime to check it out to make sure this is a relevant connection.
When I'm talking to Canadians, I always refer it to my home province as Alberta. But no, Paraguay, it doesn't, like it's landlocked. So it's got no beaches and it's got no mountains. It's kind of flat.
That was my next point.
Sound like Oklahoma. Yeah.
So it's, but the main industry is farms, is agriculture. But they have some of the best steak in the world. And for those that you that follow my Instagram, you know that if you watch my story.
Oh my God, you do.
It's like, it's food, it's steak, it's gym, it's, you know, a bunch of stuff. So, but I guess the short answer is Paraguay is just like a chill country. The people are incredibly friendly. Yeah, it's safe here. So it's just a good place to just work from.
All right, Seth, we got to find out how does one become a dental technician that can live in two different places? How'd you get into this?
Yeah, great question. I mean, it's not something that every technician gets into. It definitely took a little bit of creativity and thinking. You know, I started my career just, you know, like any other technician. I went to school. You know, I'm Canadian, for those of you that don't go, so. Yeah, so you have to go to school pretty much, right? Yeah, it's more, I think, from my understanding, it's more common in the US to sort of not go to school. And that does happen in Canada, but it's maybe a bit less so.
Yeah.
But yeah, so, there's really only two, Canada's big country, but small population. There's really only two schools in the whole country. I'm a big mountain lover. So I went to the one that's closest to the mountains. So I moved out west and that's where I went to school and, you know, started at a small, how many employees was there? was.
How did you get into it? Why did you even know of a school to go to?
Yeah, good question. I mean, man, we might need a multiple hour episode for this. So I'll try to keep it concise, but no, my dad was a dentist, so I was exposed to dentistry from a young age.
And how was that for you growing up? Just real quick.
Yeah, like in terms of just growing up with a father as a dentist.
Yeah.
It was good. I mean, I got to experience, and I'll get into it here in a second, I got to I feel like more dentistry than maybe the average child of a dentist. But so my dad had a practice for, I think he owned it for 13 years, something like that. And so you go into the office, you get your teeth cleaned and whatnot. So your dad's dentist, but it didn't get too much exposure to it. It wasn't till I was 12 years old. So it started right kind of close to the end of when he had his practice. But my dad had this mobile dental setup. So he had this mobile dental chair that was made out of corrugated plastic that could fold up into this little box.
He was way ahead of his time.
Yeah, it's true. My dad, I mean, I could tell crazy stories about my dad. He's an absolute legend, taught me a lot. I love him to death.
So what did you make house calls?
No, so what we did, so we had this mobile dental chair And he had this mobile dental setup. And what we would do is we, every year for about a month or two, we'd fly down to the Dominican Republic and we'd go into these rural, these rural mountain villages. And he would work on these poor kids' teeth, these kids that had never seen a dentist before and had just been fed candy their whole life because it, you know, candy's cheap.
And he got to go back a little further. So what inspired him to do that? Like, that's incredible.
Yeah, I mean, my family, like we're Christians, so we grew up, going to church, all that sort of stuff. So missionary work is sort of, fairly common within the church and whatnot. But my dad wanted to sort of take that, sort of join two worlds, sort of join, our faith and helping people in that way. And then also helping people like physically as well, like with their teeth. And obviously he had the skills and, There's tons of organizations out there that do dental relief work. And so that was kind of the inspiration. But in true my dad form, he didn't want to go with an organization. He wanted to do it all himself and he wanted to do it his way. Of course. So that's what we did. So we weren't, we were.
He dragged you down there.
It was a whole family affair. And I have a big family. I'm in the oldest of six kids.
Wow. Okay.
So it was an adventure for sure. But that was honestly like super impactful because, so we'd go to these poor villages and, so dad would be working on the kids' teeth and my mom and my siblings would be, doing arts and crafts and teaching Bible stories, stuff like that, right? And then I kind of would float kind of in between. Sometimes I would help my mom, but then sometimes I would just watch my dad. And eventually I started playing assistant, handing him instruments and whatnot. So that's what I was saying earlier, where I feel like I got a lot more exposure to dentistry than maybe the average from a young age. I literally got to witness many different extractions, many different fillings and whatnot.
Which I would suppose, like if you were into it, that would be awesome.
Yeah, it was great. I loved it. I mean, I liked it, but I also didn't have like a crazy desire to be a dentist. But so then getting into the dental technician side, and actually I don't think I've ever told anybody this before on a podcast, but this is another big aspect of why I became a dental technician. So I mentioned that, you know, we're a family of faith. So I would say when people ask me, you know, Why did I become a dental technician? It was a combination of many things. It was a combination of my upbringing, the dental exposure and the inspiration for my dad. There's also a faith aspect too. What we used to do as a family on Friday nights is we'd sing, we'd get together, we'd sing some songs together and we'd have some prayer and dad would sort of pray over all of us kids. At one point, one night, my dad sort of felt like he got kind of like a download from on high. And so he sort of felt like he got a word from God and basically said, Seth, I kind of feel like you're going to be a dental technician. I was 10 years old at the time. No, I'm dead serious. Dead serious. So that was kind of like, I didn't know what that was, being 10 years old. And I was just kind of like, okay, we'll kind of see how it goes. And kind of in the back of my head all through high school and everything, kind of had that in the back of my head. And so when I graduated high school, I was like, okay, God, like if this is a legit thing, I'm going to apply to school. And if I get accepted, then I'll just kind of take it as this is what you want me to do. And kind of the rest is history.
Does your dad remember telling you that? Have you guys?
Oh yeah, absolutely. We talk about it quite a bit, actually.
Come on.
Well, what was your dad using for a lab back in those days? I mean, he must have. had a lab or one that he really thought you would be like a fit for or I mean, something must have sparked on it. I understand that, but you must have had a relationship with a dental technician.
No, it's true. I mean, it was a little bit complicated when I graduated. I mean, we're going to get into some crazy stories here. So I mentioned that my dad had a dental practice for 12 years. And so he sold it when I was 13 or 12, I guess 12 and a half. And so what we did from then on, so this will blow your mind. So my dad kind of had a bit of a midlife crisis, but different from a other midlife crisis, he actually took his family with him on his midlife crisis. So what he did is he sold his practice. We sold our house in Northern Ontario and he moved all of us, all eight of us onto a sailboat. And we sailed down the Erie Canal down the Hudson River, down the East Coast of the US. And yeah, no, 100%. We lived on a sailboat.
For how long? How big was this boat?
So our first year, our first year, it was on a 50 foot, like regular kind of sailboat. And just like the regular sailboats, like they're called monohulls, like just the regular ones that you see. It didn't really have enough beds for all of us. So it was a bit of uncomfortable that first year. After the first year, yeah, for for a year, we upgraded to a different boat, to a catamaran. Those who are in like, who know boats will know what I'm talking about, but it's basically a boat with two hills.
I've heard the term. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
I'm going on one in Majorca.
Oh, perfect. Oh, you're going to have a blast. That's a great place for that.
But so how long did this you live on a boat?
So it was all of my high school. And even after I left home and when I was becoming a dental technician, they kept going. I think they lived on a boat for a total of 10 years.
my gosh, how does one do
that? We have never heard this, Seth. There you go.
Look at all this awesome content here. Wow.
So what, were you like homeschooled on a boat?
Yeah, actually, and that's a very common, that was actually an easy transition because yeah, when you live on a boat, you can't go to public school. So you got to be homeschooled.
Yeah.
That was actually an easy transition for us because even when we were still land lovers, when we were still living, you know, a regular life, we were homeschooled from from the beginning. So that was an easy transition.
Okay, got it.
But yeah, I never went to public school. My first sort of quote unquote public education was when I went to Northern Alberta Institute of Technology for dental technology, for dental tech.
That must have been quite a shock. I mean, to go from homeschooled your whole life to.
being in a classroom.
Yeah, now with people that you're not related to.
I was used to my classroom being on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, you know, so it's definitely quite a contrast.
How long did you go with periods of time where you couldn't see land?
Oh, we played it pretty chill, honestly. Like because I had younger siblings and, my dad did a really good job at keeping us all safe. So I think the longest ocean passage we did, we went from Beaufort, North Carolina straight to Fort Worth, Florida. And that was about, I think it was, it was three days, two nights straight. It's a long time. We all, of us kids had, we had our night watch, like different watches at different points of the night to, watch to make sure the boat doesn't run into cruise liners.
Oh geez.
Wow.
You had Titanic watch.
Yeah, pretty much. Exactly. Watch out for icebergs and stuff like that.
Oh, wow. I got to ask one last question and
then we'll move on.
Yeah, we'll move on from the boat. So he stopped doing dentistry period and just was like, all right, I'm going to go and I'm going to do this.
Yeah, so basically, yeah, I can answer a bunch of different questions at once here because the, so yeah, how the year would work is we were actually only on the boat for about 8 months a year. So the summers, we would be back in Canada, visiting family and stuff. And as I got older, I'd work summer jobs and stuff like that. And that's when dad would work. So he would basically work hard for the summer. He'd go, he'd work up in these northern communities, you know, at these indigenous reserves and work up there. They paid pretty well. So he would do that for the summers. And the boat lifestyle was pretty cheap. So that would keep us going for the whole year. But getting back to a question you were asking before is how did the lab connection work? Because My dad was not working in his, in the hometown that we grew up in and had his office. He didn't have like a regular lab. So my first lab experience was when I was 17 in 2012. My dad was working at an office in Winnipeg in Canada. So I was working at my uncle's farm for the summer. And then at the end of the summer, I took a bus out there. And so I shadowed some local labs there. So I visited like a bigger kind of commercial lab and then I visited kind of a small two-man lab. So I kind of got both experience. So those were labs that dad had kind of connected with in the summer that he was working out there. So he didn't have a long-term relationship with them, but he did. He said, oh, my son's, you know, looking to going into dental technology. Cool if he comes, hangs out for an afternoon. So they were very gracious.
You had a calling seven years earlier.
Exactly.
You don't turn that employee away.
Can't say no to that.
So you're enrolled into school and that's what, a two, three-year program?
Well, there's the two schools. So the one in Toronto, that is a three-year program. The one I went to was two years.
Okay.
So I think the only difference is one had like a practicum. or a co-op sort of thing. But Nate, the one in Alberta that I went to, that is, that was no co-op. So it was just two years. So I went, so I graduated high school in 2013 and then I graduated from Nate in 2015.
How'd you do? Did you like it? I mean, did you take to it easy?
I did. I mean, you know, obviously it was a bit of a transition, but no, I adapted pretty quick and the instructors were great. Like I have nothing but great things to say about the program there and the instructors. I still keep in touch with them. And it was a small class too. So it didn't feel, it's not like your traditional university class, like you're taking, Econ 101 and there's 200 students, in the lecture room. for the dental technology program, I think the max occupancy is 22, but our class was only 12. I believe.
wow. Do you live at the school?
No, we didn't. The school wasn't like the school didn't even have dorms. Like it was kind of a smaller sort of tech school. No, I had some friends out there that I rented a room from. So I would like commute in every day.
I was going to make a joke about your dorm being bigger than the boat, but I guess not.
Yeah. And that would be accurate. the boat. I definitely learned how to, live in small spaces for sure.
minimally, I imagine. Yeah. So you graduate. Where do you go?
Yeah. So I graduated and there's, you know, the city that I live in or lived in was about a million people. So it's not a massive city, but it's a city. So there were some options. I knew that I wanted to work at a lab where I would learn everything start to finish. I didn't want to be somebody on an assembly line. I didn't want to be the standing glaze guy.
Yeah.
So I wanted to kind of learn everything. I had two desires. I wanted to kind of learn the analog workflow. And I also was hearing rumblings of digital because in 2015, like digital was kind of just getting rolling. It wasn't mainstream yet.
You got exposed to it a little bit, because it sounds like it was there.
Yeah, Like we did, while we were in school, we did a couple, like we did a tour of one of the bigger labs in Edmonton and they had a digital setup and whatnot. So we did get to see it. But again, kind of another like God thing, but the church that I went to, a buddy of mine, his neighbor owned a lab. And so we kind of connected that way. So that's how I got the interview with Jeff, the lab owner. And it just was sort of a match made in heaven sort of thing. Like he was looking for somebody to sort of train up. And he was also looking for somebody that would take the initiative on digital stuff, because at the time, he was fully analog. About 25% of the work that he did was analog. And so then I said, well, you want to go digital and blah, blah, blah. So we actually tag teamed and I helped him.
Which I think is brilliant to be honest with you, because if I was that person being my age, I would want somebody to come in and take it and run with it and just build it.
Yeah, absolutely. So it was- Would you do a three shape? No, actually we didn't. We did get Three Shape a little bit later, but we started with Exocad. So basically he was just like, he said, like, I just want to get this going. You know, he did a little bit of research. I did a little bit of research. We sort of tag teamed it. And then when we were ready to bite the bullet, he bought all the equipment and the software. I built a custom PC to run it. I installed the software and learned how to, I did everything. I'm a bit of a geek for sure. So I grew up, In a special way. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, exactly.
All geeks are special.
That's right. But yeah, so I had built a few custom PCs in my life prior to that, so it was very easy for me to do it. I enjoyed doing it, plus I was able to do it a bit cheaper for them, save them some money.
Sure, yeah. And he went with Exocad, And he went with Exocad. Was that your suggestion?
Well, it was it was a bit of both for sure. It was. kind of a tag team effort. I think we were both, we both wanted sort of freedom and flexibility. And that's why we landed on Exocad. It's just because that's such a big part of the software. So yeah, and kind of the rest is history. I learned how to use it. I taught all the staff how to use it. I was kind of the go-to guy there. And how did you learn how to do it? All self-taught, honestly.
I was just going to say what you taught yourself. Yeah.
Back in the day, there wasn't, you know, there wasn't that many, that much material out there for learning how to do it. So there wasn't really training and all that sort of stuff. So, but honestly, like I also just love the challenge of it. I can pick like this tech stuff up pretty quick. And so, and that's what I did is I just stuck with it and I'd watched a couple of YouTube videos enough to sort of give me a foundational knowledge and I just took off from there.
And did you have any experience of any design software in school or was this your first time?
No, at the time. the school didn't have any digital design stuff. They only taught analog. Obviously, I sat on like the advisory board, like the industry advisory board for the school for many years. And this is something that we pushed for a while was we got to get digital technology into the school. So that eventually happened. But it wasn't until I think like.
You graduated.
Yeah, it was like 3, four years after I graduated.
Yeah, it takes a while, but that's interesting that you're able to get this software. and just learn all on your own without any prior experience.
Yeah, I'm definitely, blessed. I kind of had the skills, I guess, from whatever, just messing around with computers, my life, and so, familiar with software, so I was able to pick it up pretty quickly. And obviously it speaks to the designers that, like the coders, the architects at Exocad is, designing a software that is, easy to pick up and easy to learn.
Yeah. It also helps that, initially those people that made it aren't really dental technicians. You know what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
So it has that aspect of it. What else did you get? Just like a mill and...
Yeah, what did we get? We got like a desktop scanner. We got a mill, sintering furnace, and then the Exocad software. That's kind of what we started. The 3D printer didn't come to later.
Pretty much everything you need to make a tooth.
Yeah, exactly. Just the bare bones base. It was a smaller lab, like it was just just me at that time, it was just me and one other employee. So it was kind of a smaller boutique crown and bridge lab. So we focused on kind of implant restorations, aesthetic restoration, stuff like that. So, which was, which was great experience.
Do you remember your first crown? Did it go? Did it go? Did it deliver?
Do I remember my first crown?
Or how many times did you have to do it before it was right or dial in or I mean, without any help? It just seems like it'd take a while, but maybe not.
I definitely have some some memorable cases for sure. I don't remember my first crown, but I remember when I started, I just started doing wax ups. So I would just be waxing the teeth and going back and forth with Jeff and he would sort of critique things. And so that's kind of how it started.
Digitally, you would wax them?
No, this was just analog, like hand wax.
Oh, yeah, okay.
Yeah, I had to learn the analog stuff first, you know. Learn how to, you know, wax up a tooth and vest it, press it, you know, fit it, stain and glaze, all that stuff.
So how long did you stay with him doing Exocad?
That was, so I graduated 2015, started with him that year, and then the... So in 2019, Jeff was gracious to give me a month off of work and I traveled with my brother to New Zealand. This will make sense in a second. So taking that step away from kind of the daily grind sort of reignited kind of some of my initial sort of passions. Like I kind of had knew ever since I was younger that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and own my own business. And I kind of, lost sight of that just in the daily grind. So going to New Zealand, we, were just camping and hiking all over the country. And there's something about nature and being in the mountains. for me especially, you're in
Paraguay.
Yeah, exactly. No mountains. No mountains, but the mountains are close here. They're only like a short flight away. So I get my mountain fix when I go back to Canada in the summertime. But so I went to New Zealand and I was just like, my life is good, but this is not what I want to do forever. So I sort of came back from New Zealand with a mission. So all of 2019, I was kind of brainstorming, figuring out what I want to do next.
Wasn't that right before COVID or right at that time?
It was, yeah. So the story kind of ties into that. So in February of 2020, I had a talk with my boss and said, hey, I want to go down to working part-time because I want to have some time to start a business. And so I was going to start that on March 1st. So I did one week of this part-time hours and then everything shut down. Wow.
So did you tell them what business you wanted to start?
No, because I didn't really know at the time.
That is so weird. You just want to start a business. You don't know what it is.
Yeah. I mean, I had a couple ideas, but nothing sort of concrete.
You just needed more time.
Hence I just, yeah, I just needed more time to brainstorm.
Well, you got all the time in the world.
Well, exactly. So COVID kind of came at the perfect time for me. I really can't complain. So pretty much I spent all summer brainstorming. I did a five day trip, like I wasn't working. So I just went in the middle of the week and I just went into the mountains. Again, you're seeing a reoccurring theme in why I love the mountains. I just disappeared into the mountains for five days, just camp solo and, you know, just spent some time, you know, in prayer and brainstorming and just trying to figure out what I want to do. Again, I feel like, here's a God element again. I feel like I kind of got this download. I had about five different options written down on a piece of paper. And I was just sort of praying like, God, which one, you know, which one should I pursue? And I kind of felt like he was nudging me to start a remote design business.
And that was right ahead of the curve. So you were early in that.
I was like, it was like, I didn't even know that this kind of job. job existed. It wasn't until I got started that I started seeing other people doing it. So I was the first in Canada to do this remote design business. And then...
What were the other things on the list? Do you remember?
That's genius.
I think e-commerce was one of them, like drop shipping was one that I was thinking about.
Not as exciting or sexy.
Yeah, not as exciting and not related to the industry.
Depends on who you ask, Elvis.
Yeah. That's true. I'm sure some people really get into it. Yeah.
That's all I remember, honestly. There were two, there were a couple others. But that was it. Anyways, so then, so that was in June, and then in September, I bought the software. I bought my first license, I bought a laptop, and I started, reaching out to people to see if they needed help with designs.
So how did, I mean, who do you reach out to? It was just in other labs.
How do you lose people?
How do you find out?
People you already knew or...
Yeah, I actually, I did it in kind of a bit of a sketchy way. Like, I've told this, like a couple, like, of my friends this story, and they always laugh at it. So I was racking my brain the same way, like, how am I going to get clients? So my idea was I would go on Indeed and I would look for dental labs that were looking for CAD CAM designers. And I would send my resume in and my cover letter wasn't really a cover letter. It was basically an advertising thing. I'd basically say, hey, I'm actually not looking for a job. But while you're looking for a technician, why don't you outsource your designs to me and help you out in the in-between? So that's actually how I got my first three or four clients.
Interesting. Wow. I imagine a lot of people just deleted that. Anytime we're trying to hire someone, you get 400 emails of people in other countries wanting to do the work. I imagine you hit a lot of resistance.
Yeah, like I just got ghosted A lot. But I sent out a ton of applications and obviously because it was online, I could apply all over the US and Canada and whatnot. So I just needed a couple of clients. And so. That's how it started. And from there, I just got momentum. And eventually I got other ways. How I got most of my clients back in the day was I just partnered with a few or made connections with a few of the equipment companies that were selling mills and printers to labs. And so quite often they would just say, hey, here's the mill and the printer, whatever. We've got a designer, feel free to send him work.
Interesting.
So that's how I got most of my work back then.
How did you handle file sharing? I mean, did you just use like Dropbox or something?
I used Dropbox. I used WeTransfer. I used a bunch of different stuff.
Okay, so you didn't have your own setup or anything?
No, I didn't. I just tried to keep it simple.
Sure.
You know, just try to focus on just doing more cases and whatnot. So yeah, I kind of just accommodated whatever the clients needed, whatever platform they preferred.
And you don't have to talk about pricing, but how did you come up with pricing? Did you do per unit, hours it took you to design?
Yeah, I did it on a per unit. I'm trying to remember how I initially started. I think at the time, so there was at the time full contour hadn't been bought out by Three Shape and they were a remote design service. I think I just Googled. How much they charge? How much they charge and just went off of that. And that's how I started. And then from there, I would increase my pricing and blah, blah, blah.
But the difference is it's you versus full contour, which was like a whole bunch of people.
Yeah, it's true. So, but I kept my expenses very low at the beginning. Like I was just living in a basement suite with a roommate and And so I didn't need that much income to sort of pay the bills.
But by doing that, did you like send them pictures and they were able to tweak it and send it back to you? I mean, was it easy or was it hard?
I mean, any business is, has its challenges, but I mean, thankfully I had the analog experience and the design experience from my time at the lab prior. So there was really no skill gap. So honestly, like I got almost no remakes, no issues. She was like, sometimes a client would e-mail and say, hey, can we make this, tweak this adjustment? And I would do it, no problem. But because I had that prior experience, I grew very fast. I never advertised that business. I just grew organically because my designs were just high quality and really good.
So you work for yourself, so you didn't have to deal with that overhead.
Yeah, I had no employees or anything.
But it's only you. had to have turned away work. I mean, you had to have been like, so busy right now I can't do it.
Yeah, this is actually something I'm going to talk about in my lecture at Insights in a month from now is I'm going to talk about sort of like a period of time where I was... swamped, where I was struggling to keep up with all the work and keep my clients happy. And people who are at insights will find out. But the short answer is basically, I had to get creative. I had to push the, figure out a way to push exocad to its absolute limit and maximize the efficiency. I can do that.
You've got to give me a snapshot of that.
Yeah. So it really just comes from a knowledge of the tools, and this is, with me being a certified Exocad trainer for the past few years and working with hundreds of clients from around the world, this is quite often what I see is people know how to design most restoration. They know how to design a crown, a night guard, even a denture and all an X. But where I see most people lacking is they don't have a system that they follow and that is repeatable. And what this does is it creates massive inefficiencies. Yeah, makes sense. So this is basically the topic, the overarching theme of my lecture is about efficiency. And for me, it was a complete game changer because once I... Once I figured out a way to use the tools that most people don't know about, let alone know how to use, once I figured that out, I was able to optimize my case study and increase efficiency by 80%, which is no small number. Like that's a game changer. Basically at that time, this was in the fall of 2022, I had this one client that was sending me about 5 to 10 cases a day that were all full arch, either single arch or dual arch. So it was like hundreds of units of teeth A day. And so, and plus I still had all my other clients. So I was waking up at 6.30. I'd literally like roll out of my bed, get into my chair, design until 11.30 at night. I would only get up to go to the bathroom and throw food in the microwave.
I do that now.
Yeah. I mean, it's, I mean, technically I still do it too. It's just maybe I have maybe a bit more flexibility, but I was just there at the commuter just pushing hard to just maximize efficiency all day. I would be behind by the end of the week. So Saturday and Sunday, I would be designed, I designed all day Saturday and then about half day on Sunday. And that would just be enough to catch up. And then I do it all over again the next week.
I hope you are making millions, man.
And you had fun, right? I mean, like you were enjoying yourself, of course.
It was a challenge for sure, but like I had nothing to complain about. Like I would do that any day of the week, then go back to working, you know, 8 hours or 10 hours at a lab. There was some satisfaction, like in it. Like, I was breaking records in terms of how much I was making, but I had no life. So.
Yeah. And I think that's a really good message to tell our listeners is that you had no life. You loved it. was good. You were making money, but like, what else is there, right?
Yeah, I mean, I love dental and I love our industry, But I also like other stuff. I like hiking. I like camping. I like going to the gym, eating good food, hanging out with my friends, playing soccer. And when all you're doing is teeth, you don't have time for that other stuff. So having a balance is nice and ideal.
All right. So how'd you get away from that? I mean, there's a problem if you get more efficient. Most people says you can just do more.
Yeah.
So you must have balanced that.
I say get balance.
Yeah, exactly. So what I did is that period of time, that pain that I was feeling, just grinding day in and day out, that forced me to sort of, I need to do something. And so I really just dug in deep. I mean, the fact that I was doing these many arches, I was just getting all these reps and I was getting faster, I was getting faster and I was learning new tools. And each time I was designing, I would try something a bit new. And eventually I found a way to where I got that 80% efficiency increase, where I was, I went from doing these repetitive tasks over and over again, and instead making these presets, these systems, and using these tools that would do what I was manually doing, and it just would do it automatically. So basically, there were kind of two things I did in that period is I doubled my pricing, And I and I came up with this efficiency tool. And so that was a completely transformative thing for me. I went, I lost a few clients from it, about 25% of my client base, but I was still making more and I was working less. Why?
Because you because I doubled.
Yeah, because of the pricing. Yeah, the pricing change.
But now you can do less for the same amount.
Exactly. So it worked out perfectly. Just give me two seconds, Elvis. I just got to paint my cleaning lady.
Yeah, you're fine. Cool.
Just give me two seconds.
I want a cleaning lady. He.
Told me that from when we started. I was like, what?
I got a new oven and I got my deck painted. They always say, bring people over for any sort of holiday, because then you'll get done that you won't normally do.
Oh, yeah.
So that's me. You just said si. Si, senorita. Thank you.
All right, I'm back. Thanks, guys.
That was awesome.
Yeah, you're fine.
Yeah.
I might leave that part in. No worries. So you found that balance. You doubled your pricing. You found a good level of work. At what point did you start talking with Exocad more?
Yeah.
Did they notice you or did you reach out?
No, so it was in 2020, so that was 2022, and then it was at the end of 2023. I felt like I had kind of, I was at a turning point with my design business. And 2023, that was when, or was it 2024 was, I guess, the last insights. 2023 and 2024 is when I started to feel like I was at this turning point where I couldn't scale anymore. So as we said earlier, I have this love for technology, I have this love for dentistry, but in the process of becoming an entrepreneur, I fell in love with business as well. And so I love the game of business and always trying to be the best version of myself and whatnot. So I was at a point in my design business where I realized that I was kind of getting to the limit of scaling. If I wanted to scale, I would either have to hire on staff. I did another like pricing double and whatnot, but I was kind of getting to the point of where I couldn't increase my prices anymore. Plus, to be perfectly honest, I kind of got bored a little bit. Like I wanted a bit of a new challenge. Like designing was no longer a challenge for me.
And that's a very fair, honest thing to say. So you had to up your game a little bit. So where'd you do?
I wanted to go to the next level, whatever that looked like. It just so happened that I connected with Ben LaRoche from Exocad and connected with him. We went out for dinner and Ben kind of inspired me. And he said, Seth, you should become a certified Exocad trainer. And I was like, that's a thing? I didn't even know that was a thing. I just had my head down, you know, just working, grinding out designs for years. And so that was kind of the push that I needed. And so I got that in 2023, early 2023, but I didn't do too much with it initially.
When you said that.
What does it take to get it?
Sorry, what do you have to do to go through to become that, I guess?
Yeah, good question. Yeah, so it's an application process. The ExroCAD get quite a few applications. ExroCAD might correct me on this, but I believe the last I heard is they only accept about 10% of applicants.
Oh, wow.
So it's a, you know, it's definitely competitive. they definitely do an evaluation of you. They want to make sure that you would be a good fit for the program.
You fit the bill.
Yeah, that you fit the bill. They want to know. What do they do?
Send you some scans and you have the design on them.
Yeah, so here's the, so good question. Here's what they do. So first of all, they want to kind of know what your plan is. So like if you do get certified, how are you planning on using this? You know, are you going to open up an in-person location online? Like what is sort of your plan? So they want kind of like a mini business plan. Oh, I love that.
So that's your entrepreneurism going?
Exactly. so they wanted that. obviously there's a fee associated with it. So you obviously have to be able to afford the fee. And then there is also a testing process. So you have to go in person to one of the XCAD headquarters. So either to Germany or to Massachusetts.
So you've got spin in the game. I love that.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, it's not it's not free, that's for sure. So you definitely pay to play.
Yeah.
But yeah, so you go there and you spend it. I spend a couple days getting trained. They go through all the software. Now, a lot of it is review, but it's just to make sure that you know every aspect of it for any, maybe, and fill any gaps in your knowledge that you have. And then they test you.
On what they just taught you or everything?
Everything. They test you on your actual knowledge as well as your ability to actually present and speak in front of people.
Yeah.
Who's the testers?
Yeah, I mean, there's a few testers. I got tested by Lucas. And Lucas is a legend. I love Lucas. He's super chill. He's a super nice guy. We get along well. But that's who trained me. He trained me twice, actually.
That's fantastic.
Yeah. He trained me twice. So I got my initial certification and then I ended up getting the Exoplan certification a couple of years later.
Did you pass it the first time?
I did. Flying colors.
Of course I did, Elvis.
Yeah, I mean, did I get, did I ace it? No, I got, I think I got like 1 wrong or something like that.
Oh, come on. Nothing.
You know, there's always room to grow.
Not bad.
So you got this certification and you said you didn't use it?
Yeah, so I got it in 2023 and it was in that 2023 where I was kind of figuring out what to do. Like the design business was still good, but I was still kind of figuring out what to do. It wasn't until 2024, like the beginning of 2024, it was actually shortly after Insights. Like we did the podcast and whatnot and, you know, we met and whatnot. And it was pretty much after that, summer where I decided, you know what? I'm going all in on this training thing.
And did you send yourself to the insights? Was that your first one last time?
That was my first time last time. I for myself two.
Years ago.
Yeah, two years ago. Yeah. Ben was awesome enough to look after the entry ticket for me. But yeah, everything else I paid for the flight, the hotel, everything. And it was a great experience.
And you just went as an attendee, right?
I just went as an attendee. Now I'm speaking on stage.
And now I'm speaking on stage. What a crazy contrast. What a crazy difference.
Oh my God. So you gotta like rapidly take us through the two years since we saw you at Exocad Insights to now being on stage. It's gotta be like a rapid trajectory, I guess.
Yeah, it's honestly been a whirlwind. It was crazy. So yeah, as I said, like after Insights, I kind of made this decision to kind of like, I'm going all in on this. So I started sort of planning, and it was also 2024 that I started investing more into my own education. 2025, for example, I invested 20% of my income into self-improvement, business, coaching, just whatever, you name it, just learning, right? Courses.
Hold on, take me through that, because I'm an ever learner. So you said, this is how much I make, and this is how much I'm going to put forth to classes or counseling or what? Like, how does that work?
I'd love to say that I was that organized, be like, I'm going to allocate this percentage, blah, blah, blah. That's just kind of what it added up to. Basically, just as it came up, I was like, this is going to help me, this is aligned with my goals, so I'm going to invest.
Wow, so smart.
So I'll hopefully get more organized in the future where I have, I doesn't.
I was thinking only myself. So I was thinking, well, damn, I got to put this much towards this. So that's what it ended up being for you. Got it.
That's what it ended up being. But you know, as an educator myself, if I'm expecting people to invest in themselves to become a better version of themselves and improve their skills, but I'm not doing that myself, I mean, then I'm A hypocrite. Interesting. that's the mentality that I have is I want to be the best version of myself and always improving. And I can also teach other people what I've learned as well along the way.
Got it.
Love it.
But yeah, so in 2024, I started investing in business coaching and started just sort of figuring out how I was going to grow this certification that I had. One thing that I didn't want to do, you know, I'm definitely a bit stubborn with some things. I didn't want to open an in-person location. I wanted to maintain my online You've already made a name for yourself.
Yeah.
Smart.
So I didn't want to be tied down to one location. I wanted still to have the freedom to move around. So that did create some extra challenges in terms of creativity. But long story short, I came up with this idea of my online academy, which I launched in March of 2025. But it took me most of 2024 and that first part of 2025 to build it.
Yeah.
And essentially what it is, is I was looking at the industry and how education was done. I was looking, people are doing these in-person workshops and I was looking at all the pros and cons of that. And then I was also looking at all the pros and cons of other people who were just selling online videos and whatnot. And I created a hybrid of those two because the online videos are good because you can watch them many times. So you don't need to worry about forgetting stuff. The videos are always there for you to rewatch. The benefit of the in-person stuff is just like the in-person support. Like you have a question, you raise your hand, somebody comes over, helps you. Like you can really delve deep, you know, when you're in person, you know, learning together. So I wanted to combine those two elements. And I came up with my academy dental CAD school. which kind of combines those two things. So it has these concise, structured, recorded videos and also has a big support system in it. I call it my three pillar support system. It's like on-demand text-to-base support. Every week I hop on a Zoom call and people just show up and ask questions. I demo it for them live. Those are recorded so they can watch the recordings after or if they miss it. And as well as just one-on-one calls as well. So when people have specific workflows that are unique for them or have unique challenges, then I can work with them one-on-one. So it's essentially private coaching that with also these pre-recorded videos and structures and systems and workflows and there's other stuff too, like files. Like I give away all of my tooth libraries that I have. I think I have over 174 tooth libraries.
Oh, geez.
Stuff like that. And all the workflow videos have like practice files. So you can watch the video, but then you can download the files and actually practice it yourself. A lot of us dental techs are hands-on learners. So that's huge. I would agree.
Yeah, it's hard to watch a video and not be able to do it.
Exactly. So I'm A hands-on learner, so I wanted to make sure that people had access to the files in the videos so they could do it themselves or design alongside the videos.
What's the name of this website?
Well, the platform that it's on, it's called Skool. It's S-K-O-O-L. There's a bunch, you can learn a bunch of different stuff on there. There's all these communities there. You can learn how to crochet, you can learn how to skateboard, just whatever. But so that's the platform that I host my Wow.
How'd you find that?
It's a great platform. One of the business influencers that I follow and have supported over the years and learned a lot from is, his name's Alex Hermosi. So he is a investor in that platform. So that's how I got connected with it. So I launched that in 2025, but it took most of 2024 and 25 to sort of construct it all, to record all the videos, because I have over 200 videos on the platform. So it's a lot of content.
It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work. But yeah, so that was one pillar of what's changed in the past few years. The other pillar is content. I've always been a bit of a private person. Like if anybody is able to find my private private Instagram, which I'm not going to give away or whatever, but you'll see that A, I have no followers and B, you won't even, you won't even really see my face. Like I just post, posted landscapes. Like I was never somebody to just like take selfies or post myself online.
Sure.
Unlike Elvis.
Yeah. So this was.
I don't do a lot of selfies. Go ahead.
But no, if you create content, if you have an online business, you know, like yours, like mine, you know, building a personal brand is important. So this is something I had to come to terms with. And when I went all in on this, when I was making this academy, I knew I had to have a way to market it. And I knew social media was the way to do it.
Yeah.
But I was hesitant, because I didn't, I was scared to talk to a camera. I was scared to post myself online and look like an idiot and whatever, right? You know, anybody who, you know, interacts with social media or post stuff, like, you know what I'm, everybody can relate to this. Yeah, for sure. And so I resisted for a long time. So it wasn't until September of 2024 that I finally got the courage to start posting some content. And even then, it was very sporadic. It was like a post here, like maybe one post a month or something. But then in January of 2025, I said, look, I got to go pro on this. I got to just, you know, let my insecurities go and just send it. And so I connected with a good friend of mine, Sam, who's my videographer and my editor. He's the guy that does all my current Instagram stuff. So.
We met him in Chicago.
You met him in Chicago. He's a cool guy. So I had been friends with him. I knew what he had done. So I approached him and said, Sam, I'm going all in on this content thing, but I, you know, I'm a tooth guy. I don't know how to edit videos. I don't know how to, you know, record content. Can you help me? And he's like, yeah, absolutely. So we've partnered up. So he has his own business and so he helps me with that and he's crushing it right now. I owe a lot of the growth that I've had over the past year to him. But so I connect with him and then we just started doing content. So that's the other thing is I just started, I made a decision that I was going to just post content consistently. So I started with one video a week, then I went up to two, then I went up to five videos a week, and then now we're at seven videos a week.
Damn, man. Where do you find the time? You just said you like balance.
Yeah.
I'm not sure I agree with you.
You gotta be consistent. You gotta...
It's tough. I talk about balance, but I'm definitely, it's kind of like do as I say, not as I do. I still wake up, work all day, and then As soon as I'm done work, I'm already in bed and I just go to sleep. So I do squeeze in other stuff that's important, like Jim and eat steak, but.
That's awesome.
So is this when Exocad started noticing you from social media and says, we need to get him on stage?
Yeah, so that's actually what it did. So I never reached out to Exocad. I just started posting content. And it just grew. And then Exocad reached out to me and they're like, We love your stuff. Like, can we collaborate? Can we do some more stuff? And anyways, we, that's how I started getting, getting more connected with XCAD. And they were like, we want to, you know, we want to promote you. We want you speaking here. We want you speaking there. And I was just like, yeah, sure, let's do it.
XCAD's unbelievable. Like sincerely, I really mean that. Like they are just years ahead of anybody.
Absolutely.
I swear.
They've been a blast to work with. So down to earth. Like I love all the staff there, like the conferences and. Same. Yeah. I mean, you guys know, like it's always a laugh. It's always a blast. It's not like, you know, they can get down to business, you know, when needs be, but then they know how to let loose and have fun too and keep it chill and casual.
You've got to have a combination of both, to be honest with you. Especially nowadays, you've got to have a little bit of fun, Seth.
Yeah, 100%.
I don't want to do it unless I can have fun.
Yeah, I'm hoping 2027. This year I'm head down, I'm laser focused, I'm locked in as the kids are saying.
So did they ask you? Or did they recommend what you talk about or did they give you free rein?
They have been great. They just give me free rein. They were like, your content is great. You know your stuff. Like we trust you. Like just do like your content is crushing it. Just do that, but just in lecture form. Like we don't, they've said to me multiple times, we don't want to give you suggestions, Seth, because we don't want to like what you do is just authentically you and authentically awesome. So we don't want to mess with that. I love it.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, definitely very thankful to, yeah, have the relationship with them, have the partnership with them. And yeah, it's been a wild journey. I was just looking at all my numbers the other day. And so I've been posting content consistently for over a year now. And across all social media platforms now, I've gotten over 3.6 million views, which is great.
That's insane. Wow.
I never, if I would have talked to, 2020 Seth or, whatever, you just pick an age or whatever a year, like I would not have believed it. It's very surreal is what I'll say.
It says a lot for Our industry, everyone says how small it is. Well, it doesn't sound very small to me.
It's growing for sure. Like with digital technology and how easy it is to get into dentistry and specifically digital dentistry, it's growing rapidly.
Yeah. Have you ever spoken on stage on an island off the coast of Spain?
Yes.
No, this is new to you. This will be a first. This will be a first.
What day, what time, what topic? Fill us in.
Yeah, good question. So touched on it a little bit earlier, but I'll be speaking about, you know, basically efficiency. That's kind of my, I like to say that's my speciality. So the title is Mastering the Game of XCAD, Transforming Efficiency into Profit. So, because at the end of the day, you know, if you're running a business, you know, you need profit. Yeah, I'll be speaking on May 1st, so on the Friday, and that'll be at 3.40 in the afternoon. So I'm actually one of the last lectures. So we're ending the conference with a bang. Oh, hell yeah, we are.
I love it. We're gonna be there, just saying, watching you.
I love it. I'm trying to get, it's not confirmed yet. But I'm trying to get my videographer out there too, so.
Oh, you're going to have to. I mean.
Yeah, it's a big deal. It's weird that like, you know, talking about flying my videographer across the ocean to capture content, like that's crazy. But yeah, just at the level I want to be at and got to give the people the content, the valuables, you know?
So have you ever spoken on stage or is this your first time? Because I don't think you mentioned any time you were on stage.
Yeah, good question. So this is a conversation that came up with Exocad when they initially sort of proposed this stuff, because they approached me and the first thing they started with says, Seth, we want to have you speak at Insights. And they were like, no pressure. It's only in front of 1000 people, you know.
All Exocad fans. Well, yeah. Human Exocad fans.
Like some of the best, the best minds in digital dentistry, you know, in the whole world. You know, so no big deal. And they were like, yeah. And they asked me, they said, do you, have you ever spoken on stage before? And I was like, no. And they were like, okay. They were like, honestly, we don't care. We trust you. We know you're going to crush it. So, but what we did as we talked more, they were like, you know what? Like, we'd also love you to speak at these other events. And it has this other benefit of being able to kind of be a stepping stool. So last fall. So that's kind of what we did. So last fall, I did a one day workshop at the Excellence Center. Like just, I think we had just 10 people in the room.
Perfect. You got to get used to it. You got to feel it. Like that's so important.
Yeah, so that we started with that. And then I was at Greater New York. I didn't speak there, but. It was just captured content for them. And then, we just finished up Chicago. I mean, I guess it's still a while ago, but it feels like it was just yesterday.
Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
Yeah, but with your personality, do you feel like you're a natural just by talking to you? Like you can go on stage and crush it, like literally.
Honestly, like the creating the content has definitely helped. Yeah.
Oh, sure.
So that's good. Yeah, so technically, speaking at Chicago recently, that was my first time like doing like a presentation in front of people.
Yeah.
And you loved it.
And it was great. I mean, I loved it. It went well. I got some great feedback. Exocad were gassing me up. And yeah, the people who like were attended were very, they've given me tons of compliments. A true sign that I knew it went off well is when, when you're at a conference, it's busy, at the end of the lecture, a lot of most people just get up and then they leave. When I finish my, if they hang around, it's good. When I finished my lecture, I asked if there was any questions or that we were going to go into a question and answer period. Nobody moved a muscle. Everybody was locked in.
Wow.
So I knew that, okay, I didn't bomb this presentation. So.
Good for you. I'm so proud of you.
This is exciting.
Yeah.
I can't wait to see your presentation at Insights. And I got one last question, and maybe you don't know this yet. But as you build this presentation, are you a it's going to be done the week before or are you the I'm working on it 5 seconds before I go on stage person?
No, I mean, I think we all have a bit of a procrastination streak in us.
I do.
But I don't like that feeling. So.
No, tweaking it the night before, you don't want to do that.
I mean, of course, there's always room for kind of making some final tweaks, but no, I'm going to have it like I'm I'm actually almost done.
I had a feeling you were that type.
I'm gonna practice it 500 times before you get on stage person.
Yeah, that's that was pretty much my goal is finish it up in March and then just practice for the next month. So that's, I love it. That's my goal.
Can't wait.
One thing that I'd love to say, just to wrap it up, we were talking about systems and all this sort of stuff. I'd love to sort of like, as a thank you to you guys and as a thank you to the listeners for getting through this presentation, I have one workflow I get a lot of questions on is Smile Design and Wax-Ups and converting wax ups to final crowns. And a lot of people struggle with that and getting kind of consistent results. So what I did for your listeners is I created like a little blueprint, like just a PDF that they can get for free for listening to this podcast. Oh, very cool. So just, yeah, just a free gift for the listeners here. If that is something that's, if you're listening, if that's helpful, if you want my, I call it my, I have a fancy name for it. I call it my wax up workflow system. So taking you from doing your initial wax ups, smile creator, smile design, and then transitioning that into final in the most efficient way possible. So if people want a copy of that, just find me on Instagram. It won't work on, Instagram is kind of where I spend most of my time. Just find me on Instagram and message me just the acronym for Voice from the Bench. So just message me VFTB And I'll send the free gift over to you.
And here's a hint for people listening. If you click on the guest, you'll see a link to his Instagram. Just wink, wink. There you go.
Exactly.
I love this. I'm going to do it myself. Perfect. Awesome.
Me too. Elvis is going to show me.
Yeah, thank you, Seth.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for all the rescheduling we had to do.
No worries.
But I guess we're going to see you in, I don't know, like 20 days or something.
Yeah, just a few weeks. What time are you guys arriving?
I'll be there.
We get in way early. I'm getting in like a week before because we're going to travel before.
Oh, that's right. Okay.
We're doing Madrid and then hanging out on the island.
I'm going early too because I got to do some setup with extra cat and rehearse. So I think I get there on the 27th, I think. Like 3 or 4 days before.
Yep.
I leave on the 28th, get there on the 29th and I'm so excited. I cannot wait.
It's going to be a blast.
Can't wait. Thank you so much, sir.
Yes, thank you. Can't wait to see you.
Always good catching up with you guys.
Yep, we'll see you then.
A big thanks to Seth for joining us from Paraguay, right? That's where he was, all the way in Paraguay. He's not a busy man. To talk about his amazing journey to speaking on stage on an island at Exocad Insights. Time is running out, everybody. We've got less than three weeks to join us and Seth especially at Exocad Insights 2026, again in Mallorca, Spain, and it's from April 30th to May 1st. Book your flights, book the hotel, head over to exocad.com forward slash insights, forward dash.
Just dash.
Dash 2026. to register. And if you use the code VFTBPALMA15, you save 15%, which is substantial. And if you want to learn more from Seth, hit him up on Instagram. He's really, really a great guy and happy to help.
Absolutely. He's all about helping out fellow Exocaders.
Yes, sir.
All right, everybody. That's all we got from you live from Texas. Yeah, we'll talk to you next week.
See y'all.
Bye. Hey, that's nice.
All right.
The views and opinions expressed on the Voices from the Bench podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the host or Voices from the Bench LLC.