This Is Critical If You Want Your Practice To Thrive

Maintain A White Belt Mentality!

To be studious is a state of being. There is something next-level about being a student. The most successful people on the planet operate with a beginner’s mindset. Always be learning and you will never miss an opportunity to grow personally or professionally.

That being said, we must apply what we have learned in order to make change. As dentists, more information and knowledge can be addictive. The key to progress and growth is to continue learning and executing simultaneously. Learn, apply, measure results, course correct if necessary, and repeat. You will learn equally if not more in the execution than in the gathering of information.

I know I’ve already mentioned this, but I believe it is important enough to mention again. Something a lot of dentists have in common is they hear or read something like always be a student and they think…

“I am and always have been. I do a billion hours of Continuing Education each year, I am diplomat of XYZ, I have a cone beam, laser and cerec capabilities in my office. I have learned, learned, learned. My office is still only breaking even or it’s losing money, I don’t have enough patients or my staff sucks. It’s everything else, and it has nothing to do with the fact I haven’t learned enough”.

I agree with them. It is frustrating to have all this knowledge you want to apply and not be able to do so because of a lack of knowledge in other areas. That’s right. They are unable to do so because they have been focused on the wrong things, like more dental CE and more technology instead of leadership, culture, communication, marketing and management training.

They have been in the wrong rooms and have surrounded themselves with the wrong people. There is nothing wrong with more dental CE or more technology and I endorse both. However, I am just saying you must learn at least as much of the other stuff, the stuff that will grow your business ten times and allow you to actually pay back the vendors for your fancy equipment or pay down your student loan or CE tuition.

If you don’t want to learn about the other stuff, be an associate for someone else who has, form a strategic partnership with someone who does or come to terms with the fact that your office will be a constant stress in your life.

I have been fortunate to mastermind with numerous millionaires and elite performers in both business and dentistry. Each has had a major impact and contribution leading to where I am now. Had I not paid to learn from them, I would not own a fraction of what I now have.

There is a massive amount of information available from people that you can get for free. I happen to pay for much of it because I want to sit down and talk to people and have conversations. One of the best ways to get all the pearls from anyone is to invest in their products or services. I did that because I wanted front-row seats to them.

I also learned so much from these folks. But my number one lesson was that the job of an entrepreneur is to become a problem-solver. The bigger the problem you solve, the more people you help and the more money you make. At the end of the day, it’s not about the money as much as it’s about the impact you’ve had and what the money can do for your family, your team, and your community.