510 - FIftteen Years, 760+ Episodes, and a Business Transformed by Podcasting

In 2011, Gary Takacs joined my four-week Podcasting A to Z course with an idea for a podcast specifically designed to serve dentists.

Gary was certainly not new to his profession at the time. He had started his own dental practice management consulting firm in 1989 after spending the 1980s learning his craft with two larger consulting organizations. His marketing model consisted primarily of writing articles for dental publications and speaking at conferences around the country.

Then he discovered podcasting.

Gary saw the potential for audio to give him an ongoing way to share useful information with dentists beyond the people who happened to be sitting in the room when he was speaking.

That decision changed his business.

The Thriving Dentist Show now has more than 760 episodes and has reached dentists in 188 countries. Gary shared that he has published weekly for 748 consecutive weeks without missing a single week.

Even more significant is what happened to his business as a result.

By 2012, Gary says the number one reason dentists contacted him about his coaching and consulting services was because they listened to his podcast. The podcast also became the number one reason he was invited to speak at conferences. Eventually, those opportunities expanded into an international speaking career.

Gary explained that meeting planners could listen to the podcast and essentially "sample" his thinking and communication style before taking the risk of putting him on their stage.

What surprised Gary most about podcasting

One of my favorite parts of this conversation had nothing to do with downloads, clients, or revenue.

Within the first year of producing the show, Gary realized that he would continue podcasting even if nobody listened.

Creating the podcast made him a better thinker.

It caused him to read more, develop his ideas more deeply, clarify his perspective, and continually work on his own professional development.

That is a benefit of podcasting that I believe is often overlooked. Sometimes the person who benefits most from creating the podcast is the person behind the microphone.

In this conversation, Gary and I talk about:

The first podcast Gary ever listened to and how Podcast Answer Man helped convince him that he could create a show of his own

What his consulting business looked like before podcasting existed

Why choosing an extremely specific audience can actually create more opportunities rather than fewer

Being one of the earliest podcasts specifically serving the dental profession

Apple's old "New & Noteworthy" era and the role it played in helping The Thriving Dentist Show gain early exposure

Building an international audience that now reaches dentists in 188 countries

Why Gary committed to publishing every Wednesday

What has allowed him to maintain that consistency for hundreds of consecutive weeks

Why Gary says producing the podcast became valuable to him even independent of whether anyone listened

How podcasting became a primary source of coaching clients, workshop attendees, and speaking opportunities

The unusual intimacy created by audio and the stories Gary has heard from dentists who spent years listening to him during their commutes

Why both of us still believe deeply in audio-first podcasting

Where video adds value and where Gary believes audio remains the better medium

Gary's Less Insurance Dependent Podcast

His upcoming Great Minds in Dentistry podcast

Why Gary wants Great Minds in Dentistry to highlight people who genuinely love dentistry and inspire others about what is possible in the profession

His abundance mindset and why he has actively encouraged other people in dentistry to launch podcasts, even though they could theoretically be considered competitors

Why neither Gary nor I believe someone who wants to start an audio podcast in 2026 has "missed the opportunity"

Gary told me that he has now watched more than 70 podcasts launch within the dental profession after encou