In this episode, Casey and Jarrod discuss the parallels between taking risks in horse racing and managing a dental practice. While a long shot may have won the Derby, the same strategy doesn't always pay off in business. We'll explore the importance of making calculated decisions in your dental practice, avoiding unnecessary risks, and building a solid foundation for long-term success.
Announcer:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Millionaire Dentist Podcast, brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. On this podcast, we break down the world of dentistry finances and business practices to help you become the millionaire dentist you deserve to be. Please be advised, we do speak with an honest tongue and may not be safe for work.
Casey Hiers:
Hello and welcome. This is Casey Hiers back in the Billionaire Dentist Podcast studio.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Did you say, billionaire or millionaire?
Casey Hiers:
We're raising the stakes, dude. Billionaire.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Billionaire.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah, that's a little bit of a stretch. Multi, multi-millionaire.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right.
Casey Hiers:
Did you happen to watch the Kentucky Derby earlier this month?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
No, but I did see a ton of pictures of people who went to it and had dressed up and had the big hats on and everything and lots of mint julep recipes floating around.
Casey Hiers:
Mint juleps, they're terrible, by the way. So the winner, Rich Strike, was an 80 to one long shot. Did you know that?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I did not.
Casey Hiers:
No, so a lot of gambling and horse racing, right?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
Massive long shot. Didn't qualify for the Derby until the day before.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Oh, man.
Casey Hiers:
And I think they said it was under a minute before it shut off, in the last second, Rich Strike makes the Derby, which is a big win in itself right?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Like, cool, you made it to that level. Yeah. Great.
Casey Hiers:
And then they won. And I started getting out the calculator. What if I'd have put X amount on times 80. Wow. I didn't and we're not promoting gambling on this podcast.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Not at all. If it's legal in your state, okay.
Casey Hiers:
But it got me thinking, total long shot. Right? I mean, this horse was lucky to be in the race. Lo and behold, won the whole thing. Long shot. Every now and again, a practice owner can get the business and financial side of their practice done right, right?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Sure.
Casey Hiers:
Maybe one out of every 80? Probably more like one out of-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
800, I'd say.
Casey Hiers:
I think one out of 800. And so the long shot, while fun to watch the Derby, that's not the way to play the game in dentistry. But yet, so many practice owners do it.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Do you think it kind of correlates to the long shot as being like this one thing is what's going to turn everything around. If I put my money into this one crypto, is that going to be the thing that gets me above board?
Casey Hiers:
That's interesting. A lot of practice owners I talk with, they'll say things like if I can just get some marketing, if I can just learn one procedure, if I can bring on an associate to buy in, it's going to help cash flow to your point. They think maybe one thing will change course. It's many things.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It's a grey area.
Casey Hiers:
No, that's a great question. So let's stick with a sports analogy, basketball, Michael Jordan, Air Jordan, Chicago Bowls, right? They didn't just roll the ball out and win. Like they're really good. But they had the triangle offense, which is incredibly complicated. Phil Jackson, right? The psychology, all the preparation. I mean, Jordan was lifting weights with guys on the weekends on off days, the drive... And my point is so many practice owners think they can just roll the ball out and win. They think they can just practice industry and win.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Let me ask you, besides Jordan, who is your favorite team member during that time? During the heyday?
Casey Hiers:
On the bowls?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
So looking back, I'm a Horace Grant fan because I had beers with him at a bar in Orlando.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Oh, nice. Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
So it was 6 foot 10 Horace Grant, his brother Harvey Grant, a couple of their buddies. And then me. I'm not short, but I'm not 6'10". And they were so cool. Hung out for a while. We're having drinks and just hoot and hollered. And then we all sort of walked out to this limo and Harvey Grant goes, "Hey man, it has been fun, but this is where it ends." So yeah. Did some high fives, I felt pretty good about it.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's awesome.
Casey Hiers:
Horace Grant because of the personal interaction.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Mine was Scottie Pippen only because I used to play a lot of NBA Jam back in the day, that arcade game.
Casey Hiers:
No tip and Pippen [inaudible 00:03:50], but now he's taking shots at Jordan. Anyway, we digress. But again, tying this back to dentistry, systems and processes win the day. And so for practice owners that involves taxes and tax management, income, retirement, overhead, employee wages, hot topic right now. Subpar employees wanting more money because they think they have leverage. I had the conversation earlier today. But knowing what the benchmark should be having third audio-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
A lot of those are... Would you say those are maybe senior team members? Like the lady that's been out front for a hundred years?
Casey Hiers:
Correct. They mistake longevity for effectiveness sometimes. But yeah. The employee wages, insurance, cash flow, all these very challenging topics. Practice owners, you're not going to be one of those long shots that just happens to get these right.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
We're talking, this is more of a slow and steady win the race.
Casey Hiers:
With a plan. Again, Rich Strike, 80 to one. I think it was very rare that a long shot like that, I think it was like the second-worst odds or something of that nature. But the long shot as a practice owner, it's not going to happen. Yes.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
No. And that's why it's the long shot. The whole idea behind that word in itself is there's really no chance that they're going to win. But if you do big payoff
Casey Hiers:
And some conversations I've had with practice owners who maybe get it right on their own, well, they were lucky to buy a fee for service practice. That helps maybe they took a life insurance policy out on the older dentist they bought the practice from, and God forbid they passed away. There's typically, maybe the spouse owns a business or is massively successful. There's a lot of factors that are in play with the practice owner who gets it right on their own with little help. Do you think that's fair?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I do think that's fair. More than fair, Casey.
Casey Hiers:
So why do you think so many practice owners in dentistry literally think they can roll the ball out and win or be the long shot? Like why do you think that is?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Honestly, a lot of times I think they are their own CEO. So it's kind of a CEO thing where they're so used to handling everything themselves, being the one to provide answers, being the one to hire other people that they just assume either A, they can do it or B, either too nervous or scared to ask for help or ask other people's advice.
Casey Hiers:
I think you're very warm. I think that is... These high achievers.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well, I can even compare it to, and this is lame, but home life. I feel like my wife asks me for help more often than I ask her. And sometimes she'll come to me and be like, "Why are you in a mood?" And then I realize, oh, I'm in a terrible mood. But here's why if I'd only asked for help yesterday, this could have been better.
Casey Hiers:
Conversation earlier today. And the practice owner was talking about some of the frustrations and then I got to employees and I said, "A lot of our clients when they get these things right, all of a sudden their staff or team doesn't doesn't bother them so much." And they burst out laughing. I mean the practice owner I was speaking with, he goes, that makes actually a lot of sense. But when I've got to keep 10 balls in the air as the practice owner and the dentist and the CEO and all those things, he goes, my frustration levels get really high with everybody. That's a very good point.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I mean, if you're hurting for cash, if you're hurting with insurances, if you're hurting for employees, employee retention, and all those things. Every little thing's going to just compound that and make it worse. But if you're... Not everything's going to be a hundred percent all the time, no matter how good you are at things, sometimes you're just going to hire a bad employee and that's going to happen or, a bad egg. But if the money's coming in, especially money, things start to feel a little better.
Casey Hiers:
Well, and a lot of practice owners got some of that government money for COVID. And so they've got 2, 3, 5, $700,000 still in the bank. So they're feeling good about that, but there's leaks in some of these other areas that we mentioned. And so in a way they can almost get distracted because-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
We're just kind of seeing that money slowly leak dwindled down. Which is kind of a scary feeling because you can see it happening and you're afraid you don't know what to do and you can see just going down.
Casey Hiers:
I've said it before, the most successful people are really good at-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Delegating?
Casey Hiers:
Their niche?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Their niche.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
They're very good at their niche, but the things they're not good at, they hire someone else to do.
Casey Hiers:
That's it. That's right. But you mentioned ego and pride get in the way sometimes, and again, just thinking about some of the best athletes, some of the-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I mean would you pay someone 10 bucks to make 40?
Casey Hiers:
I'm not good with none. I'm kidding. Yeah. That adds up. I've said that before $250,000 is a lot of money. But if you're solving a million-dollar problem, well, then it doesn't seem like that much. I mean, it's a no-brainer. And that's how some of this is with folks. But yeah. Ego, pride, they're always solving problems. I think all of that comes into play.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
So to really wrap this whole episode up in a little bow and really put everything together, you're saying always go for the long shot. Just put your money all on that one. That 80 to one odds.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Sound investment strategy. Put it on red and roulette. No, I mean, again, don't be the long shot. Systems and processes, data-driven decisions. Be surgical with everything in your practice, not just the dentistry. I think it's the whole, a broken clock is right twice a day. Don't be the broken clock. Don't settle for it. And it's incredible. Once people get the courage to potentially have these conversations, they feel exposed. But ultimately they go, "I feel better because I'm addressing this and I should have done it sooner."
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, sometimes you just have to rip that bandaid off and really let it heal. That makes sense. But you get what I'm saying that... Don't let it sit there and fester and get worse.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. You might feel exposed, but ultimately it feels good to go through it. And in our process, one of two things happen. You confirm you're doing the right things, or you start fixing it now. Both are good outcomes. But it's having the awareness, having the humbleness to address it. Don't be the long shot. Don't be-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Be the short shot.
Casey Hiers:
Don't think you're going to roll the ball out and win. You've got to-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
You got to put the work in.
Casey Hiers:
Triangle offense, Michael Jordan.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right. And folks, don't forget that we have some upcoming events, we're going to be in Salt Lake City. We're going to be in Omaha. Make sure to go to our website at fourquadrantsadvisory.com. There's an events tab. You can check that out there. Also, follow us on any of our social medias. We've got Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, make sure to like, and follow us. Each like you give lets me talk to you more. Isn't that nice?
Announcer:
That's all the time we have today. Thank you to our guests for their insight and for sharing some really great information. And thank you to you, the listener for tuning in the Millionaire Dentist Podcast is brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory to see if they might be a good fit for you and your practice. Go on over to fourquadrantsadvisory.com and see why year after year, they retain over 95% of their clients. Thank you again for joining us and we'll see you next time.
