New Year Strategies for the Overwhelmed Dentist

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 with The Millionaire Dentist Podcast, in-studio with co-host, Jarrod Bridgeman.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, I'm so happy to see you this morning. It's been a little over a week since I've been graced with your presence in this office. Did you have a good Christmas and New Year and all that kind of stuff?

Casey Hiers:
Oh, what a setup. You make me feel so special.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
You know just what to say.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I do.

Casey Hiers:
No, man. Time with friends and family and time to rest and reflect. Sometimes, the kids I get in a room with, not all my kids, it's like, "What's the next gift? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing?" And I'm like, "Let's focus on being grateful, gratitude, and gratefulness and joy and all those things."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Or the next day, when they tell you they're bored, I'm like, "Didn't you just open like 37 presents?"

Casey Hiers:
I may have threatened to put some things in the fire pit. No, I digress, not spontaneous fire.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right, right.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, it was a great time off, and again, time with friends and family, relax and reflect.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes, and it was just-

Casey Hiers:
Did you reflect?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I did. And it was just enough time to realize how much I would just like to go back to work. No, I had a great time visiting my mom and my family there, and having my kids, and just being able to not have to worry about other aspects and just be like everybody's here just to chill and have food and have a good time.

Casey Hiers:
Now, on the male side of things, that's easier to do, I will say. I've been working hard to give my... A lot of times, the women in our lives are the ones that... Now, it's twofold. Number one, they put a lot of work in to make Christmas magical, like moms, grandmothers.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Oh, for sure. I remember my grandmother was always hosting Christmas Eve and had a bunch of food and all kinds of things, and it was just a-

Casey Hiers:
And they deserve praise. However, I also talk to them, and they put a lot of that pressure on themselves.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes.

Casey Hiers:
And so, for better or for worse, it's great.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Leading to the thoughts of the new year, and then looking at practices and all the people that you speak to and your team works with, how much pressure do you think dentists actually end up placing on themselves that maybe shouldn't be all on them?

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. If you're hosting or just attending holiday events, there can be pressure sometimes as a practice owner. Is that what you're getting at?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
There's pressure to do it all.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes.

Casey Hiers:
Some people like the pressure of hosting, and while they complain, it's the cross that they like to bear.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes. Look at all the stuff I did for you.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, yeah. And some practice owners out there, a lot of times, they'll carry that burden of busyness, and in a weird way, they kind of like it, and they say, "Well, if I could find somebody to do it as good as me, then I would." And I think what's entertaining sometimes, it's like, "I can do a task, but it might not be to the liking of..." And some practice owners use that as an excuse to never-

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I would also compare it to people who tell me they like to work out. Working out just sounds awful to me. So you get into the habit, and you do it so much that it becomes a part of your routine. Are some of these practice owners putting so much pressure on themselves and do all these things on their own, that after 10, 15, 20 years, "No, no, no, I like it now, that's just how it is," instead of not knowing that there is a golden rainbow over there.

Casey Hiers:
Yes. Stockholm syndrome, right? People that get kidnapped if they, in their mind, think that they're going... If you look up what Stockholm syndrome means, it's basically conditioning yourself in a negative state that you're a part of it, and it's okay.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I've seen Beauty and the Beast.

Casey Hiers:
There you go, yeah. But this time of year, we talked about gratitude, and it's interesting, because a lot of people, they're either more frantic or more grateful this time of year. A lot of our clients they're very grateful for us, but boy, they've just been oozing with gratitude. I don't know if it's the time of year or what, but we've had some amazing client meetings and folks that have been here for two years, five years, 12 years, and they were just over-

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Overjoyed.

Casey Hiers:
They really wanted to share, "Hey, I remember struggling through this, and I look back on what we've done in four years, five years, I wish I would've found you sooner." It comes back to that when you deliver on results.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well, and some of those differences that people feel, too, you have to experience it. You can only tell someone so many times, "Oh, you'll be less stressed, you'll feel better." Okay, but once they have that tangible feeling... I guess tangible is not the right word. But you know what I mean? Have that feeling and actually experience it, they're like, "Oh, shit, there was a better way. Why didn't I do this 20 years ago?"

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, no, that plays into it. And it's been an emotional time; we've had a lot of happy tears from clients recently. Even at some events we went to, there was some emotion, and afterwards, I'm like, "I don't know if I struck a chord in a negative way or a positive way." The feedback was, "I feel like I've been hiding this secret of being overwhelmed with these things, and I just thought I was supposed to figure it out, and hearing you talk about it and how the dental community struggles..." And that was helpful to them, it was good and bad emotion, but ultimately it was good.

And I think during the holiday season, if some people are disappointed, or put a lot of work into something and are disappointed, it's sometimes nice to hear from others, "Hey, it's hard for me too." Okay, but let's not be miserable moving forward; let's make 2026 the best year.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
For sure.

Casey Hiers:
Don't harbor it.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Too many people in general, not just practice owners, but people living, tend to, especially in our society, hold in a lot of that stuff. And so, they keep all this in and don't really talk to anybody else, and they kind of make themselves feel like they're on this island when there are people available on some levels.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Well, and this is in our mutual vetting process, or with clients, but a lot of emotion comes out when you get vulnerable and actually talk about what's hard, which, in our case, a lot of times, it's financial, stress or financial. And boy, when you start talking about it, it just feels better than that holding it in. I think the parallel here is, over the holiday season, it's high stakes, but if you do it the right way, it can be a great time. If you don't, you might find yourself unsatisfied or feeling like you missed something, or regret, or whatever it is.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Or to attack the younger generations here, a sense of entitlement, like, "Oh, I deserve this because I did these things."

Casey Hiers:
I deserved the best Christmas, why... Yeah. And again, to pivot to the practice owner, the emotions that we see and hear from people all through, clients, non-clients, people that go through our process, ultimately, if you are vulnerable and you're honest and real, we call it the straight juice, good things are going to happen. And that's, I think, with family members stressed over the holidays, well, if they're talking about it, they're probably okay. Practice owners, they don't get to talk about some of the challenges, and when they go to their study club, they're probably not talking about their cash flow and their stress and this, that, or the other.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
No. Why would you tell your peers about that?

Casey Hiers:
Well-

Jarrod Bridgeman:
"I'm doing great."

Casey Hiers:
... it's being vulnerable. But boy, people that go through our process, even we determine, or they determine this isn't the best use of time or the right fit, they're typically better because of it, just having that opportunity to talk about it and not-

Jarrod Bridgeman:
They came away with some talking points, or they came away with some stronger numbers that they actually ended up doing some research on to approach their CPA or their financial planner that they may have.

Casey Hiers:
A lot of people like to try to tell me how great everything is, and it's like, "Okay, why are we wasting each other's time?"

Jarrod Bridgeman:
"Why are you talking to me?"

Casey Hiers:
Once we get real, like you said, even if we don't work together, well, at least they have some direction with their current team, or a standard of care that they're going to demand from them, or maybe engage with us or somebody else, knowing that it can't be the same. If every holiday season is a train wreck, well, maybe you need to tweak what you're doing as a family. And I think that's with the practice owner, things don't get better, they get worse.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I liked when you pointed out maybe a higher level of standards of practice, and that makes me think about, a lot of times, smaller business owners, their CPA, their accountant or their planner is someone they might have known from college or their uncle's buddy, and the question becomes, the main focus is, are the results of what you're wanting? Sometimes, too many people get wrapped up in, "Oh, he's a nice guy."

Casey Hiers:
They're a patient, yeah.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. "We grabbed a cigar and had a drink together. He's good to hang out with."

Casey Hiers:
More than one thing can be true. A lot of times, people... I'll speak about our clients. The people that they worked with before, they weren't bad people; they liked them. But is that relationship worth $150,000 left on the table a year? Is that relationship worth multiple millions of dollars over the course of a career? We've been talking about a lot of that this year. What is that relationship worth? And ultimately, if somebody's being honest, they're like, "Well, no, it's not worth $3.5 million over the course of my career." But they can also be nice people. You just have to ask, "Is it going to be me or them?" And everybody has to ask that question.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
And if they get shitty with you for ending that business relationship, they really weren't your buddy to begin with.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, yeah. If you take your kids to a family gathering, and everybody's putting them down and cussing and kicking stuff and fighting, well, eventually, you might not go there.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Have you been to my house?

Casey Hiers:
And unfortunately, sometimes, it takes a big thing to cause change. But hopefully, during this time... We get busier, more referrals, more people that just generally attend our event, people that are frustrated at the next tax surprise that's not a surprise, and they just heard from it. But this time of year, typically, people take into effect serious things, and they want change one way or the other.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right. And I'm not a big proponent for New Year's resolutions-

Casey Hiers:
New Year's resolutions.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
... because I don't think they work. I think I'm more of a proponent of new year, new change, but it's a plan. You've got to give yourself goals and little points, even if they're small steps to work through, because I think everybody needs that sense of, "I checked this off, I checked this off," and not just the end goal of, "Well, I'm going to lower overhead this week."

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Course correction's important. It's a marathon, it really is. And too many times, "Well, I'm going to try this one new thing, and everything's going to be better," and it's that hopium that practice owners are on. But the hamster wheel, doing the same thing, wanting something different, if you're that practice owner that's just going through the motions and you're producing great dentistry, and you're not ready to admit that it could be better, because then it might look bad upon you, and, well, change is weird, all that is is excuses, and inevitably, somebody's going to... It's going to hit them. God forbid it's when they're 66, still can't retire, and they have that epiphany that, "Maybe I should have-"

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Now, they're back's killing them.

Casey Hiers:
... "done better," and they... Everybody gets it eventually. But we've had a lot of people we talked to, maybe a year, year and a half ago, they weren't ready. They heard about us, something happened, and then they reached back out and said, "Hey, boy, I've been thinking ever since we heard you speak. We weren't ready, but I've never forgotten it. And then, this happened, and this happened, and this happened, and I've had enough. Let's change the plan, let's change course and see." And ultimately, we're pretty good at it. If we can't help somebody, we tell them.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
For somebody that's listening to this podcast, or maybe has been poking around on our website, or maybe attended a conference at Yankee Dental, maybe last year, and they heard you speak, my question for you is, honestly, what's the worst thing that can come out of scheduling a phone call? What are they losing if they schedule a call?

Casey Hiers:
You're setting me up for an easy one. The obvious answer is nothing, except if people want to not be vulnerable, I might make them uncomfortable by asking them questions that they don't want to ask themselves. If somebody's not willing to get real and have an open, honest conversation about important things, they might not feel as good. But sometimes, it might take... When you work out, it hurts, but you're better because of it. Sometimes, it might take some pain to get a greater result. And so, there's really nothing. You either confirm you're doing the right things, or we can show you how we can help you a lot, unless you get ass-hurt easily and you're just like, "Whoa."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
If you can't take those kind of calls, you're obviously not ready.

Casey Hiers:
No.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You're not going to be able to work with anybody.

Casey Hiers:
No. If you're rationalizing why your tax management's just the way it is for everybody, no. Example after example.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You don't know my county, dude, okay?

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But no, there's no negative outcome if people are real. That's why we talk to a lot of practice owners, because we're only looking for the ones that are achievers, they're ready, the practice has lots of opportunities, and beautiful things happen. There's no secret, it's a lot of hard effing work.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. That's the secret to most things: hard work.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. It's weird, isn't it?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
And patience.

Casey Hiers:
A correlation there.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, speaking of, I mentioned Yankee Dental, I mentioned some of the events that we do, we've got quite a few things, it's the new year, all kinds of things are starting to roll out. We're going to be in Frisco, Fort Worth, Texas, on the 22nd. I'm excited for you guys to go to there. We're also hosting a really fun social event for dentists and practice owners out there, and specialists, the night before the Yankee Dental. Go to our website and check that out. We're coming to Alabama. We're going to be in Arkansas. We are stacked to the guilds, because we want to educate people, we want people to come away with ways to make themselves more money, make their practice more profitable, and find a little bit less stress, have a little bit more work-life balance.

Casey Hiers:
More money, less stress.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right. More money, less stress. Casey, thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a good year. I'll see you on Valentine's Day.

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.