What a Chili Cook-Off Teaches Us About Dental 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 at the Millionaire Dentist Podcast in studio with co-host Jarrod Bridgeman.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, how are you doing today? You look wonderful.

Casey Hiers:
I'm hungry.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I'm hungry too.

Casey Hiers:
What are you cooking for me?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well, I made something just specifically for you. I've made you some chili today.

Casey Hiers:
Really? Am I going to dig your chili?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I sure hope so. Here's the deal. As a company, we're doing a fun little social today. We're having a chili cook-off, and we're going to have a little competition, and so we have a couple of our fellow cohorts bringing in their own chili. I brought one in as well. I made a bacon cheeseburger chili, so we'll see how that everybody else thinks of it, but the funny thing to me is, it's February, we're in Indiana, and today's going to be 67 degrees, and we're having chili.

Casey Hiers:
Three weeks ago we had a foot of snow. I think the line that really sealed the deal with me marrying my wife was when I told her I dig your chili as a figure of speech. I had heard that on a TV show. No, it's fun. We have the Golden Spoon Trophy.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right.

Casey Hiers:
There's bragging rights. I mean, I can't wait to try some CPA's chili, a CFP's chili, an NBA's chili.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Do you think the CPA puts together a little Excel spreadsheet, and has a little...

Casey Hiers:
I bet the preparation is much more organized than others, right? The process is probably different, but yeah, the old Four Quadrants chili cook-off is a good time.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
And what a nice little way for you and some of your team members to relax a little bit, let off a little steam, because you guys are traveling tomorrow.

Casey Hiers:
Shoot, where am I going? I'm kidding.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You're going to be in Fairhope, and you're going to be specifically in Fairhope, Alabama.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, flying in Pensacola, it's going to be 78. And to our listeners, we're in the Midwest, so...

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. That's going to be hot for us.

Casey Hiers:
It's going to feel great. And then going over to Fairhope, Alabama.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
And then we've got a couple other team members heading over to Birmingham.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. It's interesting, we've talked about this before, but it's fun to go to really nice areas that our subject matter is underserved. A lot of these geographies don't get CE opportunities or learning and training opportunities because they have to drive an hour and a half to the big city.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
And even then, half the time it's products, or some kind of...

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, basic. But yeah, no, we're going to some unique geographies, and we meet some great people who, they have a lot of gratitude. They're like, "We're so glad you came to..." Fill in the blank.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
How does that make you feel?

Casey Hiers:
Well, when I was younger, my life revolved around how things make me feel. Now that I'm older, it's much more irrelevant.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's a hard thing to battle, though, for a while.

Casey Hiers:
No, I get that. I'm looking forward to going, yeah.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's pretty exciting. So, the fun thing is we talked about there's a CPA, there might be a CPA chili, there's a CFP chili. It's so much fun to see, because everybody I've ever met that makes chili has their own distinct and different chili recipe, and there's different ingredients, and different, all kinds of things. I remember one year you made your own chili for whatever our competitions.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. That was a hoot. There are many different versions of chili, and I've participated in the workplace personally. And you'll look, and there's six different crock pots, and they all look very different. I mean, there's white chicken chili, you've got traditional. There's so many different versions of chili, and a lot of them can all be really, really tasty, but yet completely different on your palate. There's core ingredients to go into chili.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Sure.

Casey Hiers:
So if you're wondering why we're talking about chili, there is an incredible comparison to, there are many different types of dental practices. Some are, hey, we are cosmetic, or we're an implant, tough extractions, dentures; others more bread and butter dentistry, exams, cleanings, fillings, crowns. Then you've got your specialties, your specialists, maybe your multiple locations. Multispecialty. There's a lot of different versions of dental practices, just like there's different versions of chili. They can all be delicious, even though they're different. The core principles must be really good. So you mentioned when I made my chili. I didn't go ground beef. I went Wagyu. What a moron.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I remember you talking about you spent a lot of money to do Wagyu.

Casey Hiers:
I went and got this Wagyu, and brown that up, and that was my meat, right? That was a high-end, right? Maybe comparable to cosmetic or extraction, high-end dentistry. I used Wagyu. Very, very different. This Wagyu, I thought, was so special, and it's good meat, right? Well, how about the practice that maybe they build that Taj Mahal practice, thinking that that's going to be the winning formula. I thought the Wagyu was going to be the winning formula. It didn't win, right? It was delicious.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
It was good. There was better. I should say, not better, more successful.

Casey Hiers:
There you go.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right, because maybe they had a better balance of their seasonings in terms of, you can almost compare to how your tax situation is. Are your things kind of balanced in that way? Are you doing your quarterly estimates?

Casey Hiers:
Well, and then you've got your chili, and then you have some people like to put cheese on it, or Frito chips, or a dollop of sour cream.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Some people throw macaroni in it.

Casey Hiers:
Or think about, yeah, the heat, the smokiness. There are so many factors and variables to chili. The same with dental practices. There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer, but here's the bottom line of today: if your ground beef is spoiled or great... Tomato sauce, tomato paste, that's a good ingredient. Well, if you have too much, then it's real soupy. Maybe if you don't have enough-

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Now you've made basically a vegetable soup, almost at that point.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, you got your onions, you got your garlic, you got your beans, you got your spices, heat, your smoke, what kind of meat do you use? Want jalapenos? Do you want it sweet and savory? Do you want it hot? What is your perfect combination? It's good to have your vision as a dentist, but ultimately, those ingredients need to be fresh, they need to be excellent, and they need to be put in the right amounts and quantities at the right times. They need to be integrated again at the right times, because you can't just throw in smoky heat and Wagyu and expect it to be incredible. All these other ingredients are going to have to be really, really done well.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I mean, if you like your stuff spicy, I did this once in college, I was making some kind of meal, and I was kind of pre-cooking the onion and the garlic to get a little softer before I put the meat in, and I threw chopped habaneros in there, and it ended up smoking the entire place out. And I basically tear-gassed myself, and I was crying. So I mean, I put in that ingredient at the wrong time.

Casey Hiers:
Well, and think about quantity. Somebody could say, "My chili is really good, and I made a lot of it." So then their mindset or lens of success is, "Look how much I have. It can be frozen, and it can feed more people," but for others, maybe they have a medium-sized crock pot, but it is the best you've ever tasted. Again, one practice, four practices, there's not one type of chili that is just a hands-down mic drop dominant.

And that's the same with practice owners. And I get to talk to these practice owners, and it's good to have your vision, but have it your vision and then make sure your ingredients and how you prepare it and roll it out and all those things. If that's not done well, it doesn't matter that you put Wagyu in it. It doesn't matter that you have 28 gallons of soup or a half a gallon of soup. There's a lot of factors that have to be done right. If you are a practice owner, all of the things that we talk about on this podcast are going to have to be mastered for your practice to be successful, just like chili.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
What if you've got some ingredients in your chili that nobody in their right mind would say, that should be in chili, let's say green peas, or something kind of off the wall, would that be comparable to maybe having the wrong or a really bad relationship with an insurance provider or some kind of situation like that? Is there anything you can think of would be like, "This would be a bad ingredient"?

Casey Hiers:
Well, part of this can hit home, because when my wife, who's an excellent cook, is preparing food, my daughters will observe and be like, "Ew, I don't like. What's that? What's that? What's that?" Well, guess what? When you bring it all together, it tastes amazing. To your point, in practices, sometimes people might not love or it's not their vision a hundred percent, but if they incorporate it the right way, your practice is going to be successful. You're going to make between 500,000 and a million dollars in dentistry, and it doesn't have to be perfect, right? In corporate dentistry is like Wendy's Chili. Wendy's Chili is okay. Sometimes you find a finger, it's pretty good.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Sure. But let me ask you this though, is, what if you're just not a great cook? You keep trying. You've tried all these things, and maybe you just don't know how flavors should work together, but you have your overall vision of like, "Hey, this is where I would like my chili or my practice to be."

Casey Hiers:
If you're teachable and coachable, you can learn from experts who can help you. Again, a lot of analogies here, the older I get, analogies is the best way for me to communicate, yes. No, I think that's a good point. Just because of what you just said, if you're coachable, you can learn and have help. If you keep making chili that's not good, stop making that chili. If your practice has 73% overhead or more, you need to do something different.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Maybe you need to cut down on the 10 pounds of jalapenos you threw in there, because you're going to get burnt.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, there you go. I couldn't come up with a good one with staff and team, and what is that. I mean, the spoon is an important part of consuming chili, right? You need to have proper spoons. But I need to back off the analogies.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Sometimes, as you said, with the Wagyu, or maybe sometimes people will throw in all this extra shi,t thinking all these other "great ingredients" will improve it, in terms of maybe I bought that new piece of equipment that I didn't actually need, now it's costing me money.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, like you threw everything in, including the kitchen sink. If I just put all this stuff in my chili, it's bound to be good. A dentist who is like, "Well, if I just take all the CE and buy all this stuff and do everything and accept every insurance," it's going to work out. There's a lot of times your chili doesn't work out. Unfortunately, there's a lot of times with practice owners where they've tried everything, including the kitchen sink, and they're not where they want to be financially, emotionally, stress, work-life balance, overhead, right? It's frustrating.

And when I made that chili, and I remember that, that was a while ago, I made too much of it, I thought it was going to take me an hour and a half. I spent four and a half hours on it. It ended up getting sick the next day, because I got so stressed out. How many practice owners, they put everything into this practice, and it makes them sick or stressed out. I took my ball and one home, right? Like Jerry Seinfeld, I choose not to run. I choose not to compete in the chili. I'm just going to consume it.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
It's the same as dentists getting burned out and just closing up shops.

Casey Hiers:
Practice owner selling, going to be an associate. You hate to see that. I've talked to people that that's like, "You know what? I'm going to sell, and I'm just going to go be an associate and enjoy that life." And again, have that vision, but we hit on a lot here.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You did.

Casey Hiers:
This was fun. Did I have a latte? I mean, I was just like, auctioneer, just boom, boom, boom, boom.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Listen, I mean-

Casey Hiers:
There's a lot of meat here.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You're a smart fella. A lot of meat here. I get it.

Casey Hiers:
You get that?

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Nice. A lot of beans.

Casey, when people come to see you and your team speak, the downside is that you probably won't get a good chili recipe out of it, but you'll get some great information on how to improve your practice recipe.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah, it goes back to the coachability, and again, maybe somebody has really, really good chili, but they feel like it can be better, be open to coaching.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Maybe you need a little salt, maybe a little bit of a lemon juice to it. There's all kinds of things you can do to improve on top of something that was already at nine out of 10.

Casey Hiers:
Coming to our course, you're going to get something from engaging us in any way. You're going to learn something. Your chili is going to be better, your practice is going to be better. And for some, they say, "Listen, I'm looking for a chef to prepare excellent chili for me," that's probably the best analogy. We're the chef, we know how to do it, we've been making award-winning chili, helping make practices incredibly profitable and less stressful, hire a chef.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. And then just enjoy it.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, that sounds great, actually. This whole thing, I know we're eating later today, but I'm getting really hungry.

Casey Hiers:
Well, that makes sense.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
This is all just sitting here.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
You guys, not only do we say we are going to be in Alabama today, and then we're heading out to all kinds of places: Gainesville, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, Bozeman, Montana; we just threw out there Asheville, North Carolina, Johnson City, Tennessee, Hartford and Providence, we're coming there as well, we've got more and more events throughout the year. I'm stoked, and I'm excited to learn as much as some of our practice owners. I mean, they attend because I learn a lot when you come back.

Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Well, it's good. It's, again, feedback is important, and the feedback we get is, I go to a lot of CE, and this one's different. And again, we're not trying to work with everybody. We're trying to educate everybody. And full disclosure, maybe find a good practice owner or two who wants to engage and help us change their life, have the best bowl of chili they've ever had, served up on a silver platter.

Jarrod Bridgeman:
I love it. Thanks, Casey.

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 Dennis 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.