Success Problems: Why Thriving Practices Still Feel the Pressure

Announcer:
Hello, everyone, and 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 at the Millionaire Dentist Podcast, in studio with co-host Jarrod I Love the '70s Bridgeman.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, what's up? Yes, today I'm rocking it like I'm from the '70s. My wife got me some shirts from this website I like, where it's all '70s-esque.

Casey Hiers:
In The Brady Bunch, what's the dad's name?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Was it Peter?

Casey Hiers:
No.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
It was Peter, Greg ...

Casey Hiers:
And Bobby.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Bobby. Those are the kids.

Casey Hiers:
Was it just Mr. Brady?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Mr. Brady, it could be.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, you look like you got a little Mr. Brady going on there.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
All right, I'll take it.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, a little throwback.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You look sharp in your jacket.

Casey Hiers:
Thanks.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You look nice. Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
Thanks.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's sexy, so they say. Casey, usually you and I come on here, and we have a good time, and we talk about a lot of things. One of the things I wanted to touch upon, we have some listeners out there who maybe sometimes think that what we're talking about may not necessarily apply to them right now because they've already moved up a level. They're already pretty successful. Mo money, mo problems. When you're successful, you're just trading problems. Now that may be less stressful, but I want to talk to you, and your experience, and your forethought on having these conversations with dentists and owners.

Casey Hiers:
There's different plateaus of success.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
There's different challenges. I was joking beforehand; this would be a stressful challenge. "Ugh, jet fuel price went up on my private jet, this is so stressful."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
That's stress.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
But that's different stress than most people have.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
"Ugh, what luxury car do I drive today? Gosh darn it, I can't remember which one needs to be driven."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
Well, that's stressful if you don't drive your car, and plug the battery in, you'll have problems.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right, right. But those sound like rough problems to have. See, and that's from my perspective, from someone who's not at that tier. It's like, "Wow, cool. Good for you."

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. From a personal perspective, Purdue Boilermaker fan, finally we go to the Final Four. Was I there? Did I cry? Yes. Not important. Here's what's important. When you get knocked as a one seed by a 16 seed, you have a set of problems: "You stink, get better."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
It's uncomfortable, you don't like those problems. Well, now, you go to the Final Four, you have a new set of problems.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.

Casey Hiers:
How do you get the fan base there? Flights, hotels, tickets. There is so much stress this week from so many people I've talked to who ... But yet, it's good stress, you want the stress, you're excited.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. You're stressed, and you're not even going.

Casey Hiers:
Who says I'm not going?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Are you going?

Casey Hiers:
We'll see.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
All right.

Casey Hiers:
But my point is there's challenges regardless.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
When I travel, what do I hear? "Oh, my staff and my team are so hard, and insurance, and there's just no way to be rich in dentistry," and so many people just want to stay in that place.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
But inevitably, there's people in that room who are like, "I collect one-eight by myself, my staff's fine."

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
They have different challenges. Let's get into those today.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right. Let me ask you. Let's say a practice has mostly moved on to fee-for-service, but is there such a thing as too many patients?

Casey Hiers:
Oh, I've had those conversations.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Okay.

Casey Hiers:
Now, here's what's funny. Most dentists who don't experience this problem haven't heard this problem, because those that have it don't want to share it because they almost feel a little guilty.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right.

Casey Hiers:
But I talk to clients and others, yeah, they're fee for service, they are producing and collecting a lot of dentistry, and they're booked out almost to eternity. That's a great ... Who doesn't want that problem?

...

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Don't be afraid to reach out and talk to anybody you can, anybody that's a professional in that area. If you're afraid of, "My CPA's not doing what they need to do," maybe start researching, looking into a new one, give Four Quadrants a call. You know what I mean?

Casey Hiers:
I'm going to get off my soapbox and go watch an episode of The Brady Bunch.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
All right, have a good one.

Announcer:
That's all the time we have today. Thank you to our guests for their insight and for sharing some really great information. 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.