It’s incredibly tough being a mother, but when you add the extra challenges of being a dentist and an entrepreneur on top of that, it becomes even more complex.
What does a dentist and fisherman have in common? They both love to tell fish stories. Dentists make their practices sound bigger, better, and more successful than they actually are! Get tricked by a convincing fish story, and you’ll start to doubt your own practice.
When you’ve filled your seats with the right people, it’s amazing how much better your practice is. But no matter how great they are, sometimes they leave. The reasons can vary, but the result for you is the same: you’re down a rockstar and feel like everything is falling apart.
Every dentist has that patient who thinks they’re always right. You know who I’m talking about! They say things like, “Ten o’clock? I thought my appointment started at eleven.” Or, “I’m pretty sure I paid that off last time.” Patients get details wrong all the time.
You know the value of your practice. Your patient care is incredible, your procedures are professionally done, and you have the best team you could ask for. Sadly, patients don’t care about all that stuff. Crowns and fillings are all the same to them.
As a small business owner, you want to have money left over every month to put in the bank. Yet, I’ll bet there have been times when you scratched your head because you were producing lots of dentistry with less money at month’s end to show for it.
Your practice belongs to you. You’re the one in charge, and it’s your job to lead the pack. Sounds like a lot of pressure? That’s because it is! Dentists feel obligated to energize their teams all on their own. And let me tell you, that can be a real challenge.
If you’re like most dentists, you’ve got a long to-do list. You stare at it and wonder, “How the heck am I gonna get all this done today?” The truth is, you won’t. There just aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything you want to do.
Unfortunately, we find that most young dentists have some assumptions about how they need to practice in order to be successful. They set up their practice to follow those assumptions, but then down the road, they find themselves working harder and harder while not making as much as they feel they should be.
Picture the tree growing next to your home. One day, you go outside to inspect it. You notice little diseased spots on some of the leaves. So, you trim them off. A few weeks go by, and the leaves grow back the exact same way. You can’t get rid of the problem!
