395: Climbing Out of the Business Rut

Stuck in a rut? We’ve been there.

Never fear, Kiera’s here to help you climb out! This episode’s topic: Seeking the right personal and professional frequency. Applying these tips into your daily grind will put you in a creative space more often, where you can feel that inspiration.

The tacticals:

1. Where are your zen areas?

2. How can you add more positive frequencies in your day-to-day life?

3. What goals and desires do you want out of those moments?

When you’re done listening to this episode, share where your own best frequencies are! Email us, [email protected] to share.

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Podcast Transcript:

Kiera Dent:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, biller, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants, where we have traveled to over 165 different offices, coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are here. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.

            Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and you guys, all right, let's chat. I am pretty excited about this podcast. This is going to be Kiera's riff time, which I hope you're super jazzed about, because I'm excited to bring it to you. I was actually talking the other day with Joshua Scott. He is the owner and founder of Studio 88. They are one of my favorite companies. They hosted our events. They're super rad. And honestly, if you've seen our most gorgeous photos on Instagram or on our newsletters, definitely shout out to Studio 88. I feel like a million bucks. So if your office is looking to revamp your website or to get amazing photos of your team, videos of your team, you guys, I will say Studio 88, hands down. This is not even a commercial for them. It's literally just one of my favorite companies. And they're just the best people.

            So Studio 88, I was chatting with Josh the other day and he and I were talking about what I'm going to call business frequency. And he said, "Kiera, do you ever get into that spot where you just kind of feel stuck in business?" And I said, "Amen. Yes. Hand up right now." Anybody out there with me, where you kind of just get into that business owner rut? We talked about what do we do as business owners to get that creativity moving and to get out of those ruts? And he termed it, I termed it, I don't even know who it was. Regardless, we came up together with this title of business frequency.

            Because as we were talking, I said, "Josh, honestly, some of my best ideas have come when I am flying," and I said, "or when I was hiking." The podcast literally came to me when I was hiking half dome in Yosemite with my husband. I said, "Jace, I'm going to make a podcast." It terrified me. I'm still scared, guys. I still get anxious when I get on the podcast.

            But Josh and I were talking about this business frequency and how, when you're at different frequencies, you have different ideas that come to you. So for the example of, when I'm flying, think of where you are when you're in a plane, you're above the clouds. You have this clarity here, with the birds, you're free. The imagery and the feeling that have when you're in a plane versus when you're driving on a car, just think of where your body's at, physically space-wise, and then mentally, where does that put you? And they often say, when you want to have ideas come, get your body in motion, start moving because progress equals happiness.

            And so for him, he said, it came to him at the beach like that Zen. And the ocean is such a crazy cool place where there's the Zen and the calm of the colors. And then there's also the adrenaline rush of how terrifying that much water and mass can be.

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            And so thinking for you guys, when I hike mountains, I'm high, I'm high up in a space of limited distractions and clarity. I've had some of my best moments come to me when I'm hiking. And so I've really just been pondering on this and thinking about this business frequency and how I can channel more of that in my life. And I realized that often I make myself so busy that I actually don't have time for this higher level business frequency, or even just higher frequency living.

            I'd mentioned to Josh, I feel often I need to have, I call it white space. The white space in my world, where I actually don't have anything going on, where I don't have appointments or meetings. And dentists, I've heard for some of you, that white space actually comes when you're prepping. It's kind of your solitude, maybe not for your new grads, but for some of you docs who have been doing it for a while.

            I know sometimes, it doesn't happen when I'm consulting, it definitely happened when I was assisting and I could move into autopilot, almost meditative state. But it's getting into that place that's not your day to day and why, at least for me, that's important. And what I found is, it takes me from the day in, day out grind, to creative space, to thinking of where I want the business to go, thinking of where I want my life to go. And so really just challenging and inviting each of you to look for your own business frequency. So I'm going to break this down into tactical.

            So first and foremost, where do you feel like are places and spaces that you get your most energy? It could be downtown. Some people love going to Starbucks like Rachel Hollis. I remember reading a lot of her books and she mentioned she'd go to Starbucks because she wanted the energy of the space. For me, it's hiking and it's flying. The beach is awesome. I don't feel like my ideas come [inaudible 00:06:02] probably because I was never a beach girl. You guys, I'm a red head with very, very fair skin. And I sit under an umbrella shaded most of the time. So it's usually not the most relaxing place for me, because I'm applying sunscreen every 15 seconds. That way I don't burn this fragile skin over here.

            But I think flying, flying is a time that forces me to turn my phone off. It forces me to disconnect. I mean, of course I can always connect to the internet. And there are actually certain times where I will intentionally not connect to the internet, because I want my mind to have that higher frequency level. I want to give myself space. During those moments, our ideas where we're writing a Dental A Team library and thinking about our give back. Last year we donate, I think 25,000 meals, which was awesome, and now we're onto the next challenge. And I've been contemplating if we want to donate and create a billion gallons of fresh water, or if we want to work on suicide prevention. Those are the fun ideas that ignite my soul, light me up and make the day in, day out grind, all worth everything. I think it almost provides the meaning to the life I'm living when I get into these higher business frequencies.

            So I want you guys to think of where do you get your most inspiration? Like I said, for me, flying and when I'm hiking. My phone's off. I actually secretly love when I go to places when I have no cell phone service. Also, when I travel. So it's been a little tricky through COVID, but I travel a lot. You guys, if you haven't heard, I went to Antarctica literally right before the shutdown happened. I had some of the most Zen, amazing times when I was traveling because my phone was off. I was in a different space. I was in another country. I felt like my sights and senses were all heightened, because I'm in a place where I really don't know where I'm at. And so those are my Zen areas, the areas where I feel like I'm just at a different frequency than my day in, day out.

            It's not usually when I'm driving. It's not usually when I'm road tripping. It's not when I'm at the office. Also for me, early in the morning, like when I'm watching a sunrise, sometimes I'll go hiking. Sunrise hikes are always a really good space for me. And this isn't saying that we always have to receive our business inspiration. It's just, where are you at in those higher frequencies? Team members, you can do this too. This isn't just for owners. So where are you at for these higher frequencies? Because then the next thing is, how can you create more of that in your life?

            So for me, after I talked with Josh, I started thinking, "Okay, I need to go on more hikes, because that's something I can do." Also flying, I love and hate. It's become this amazing space, also stressful space, because I know I'm about to leave the business. The business has gotten a lot larger since Dental A Team has started, which kudos to you guys. Shout out to all of our Dental A Team family out there. If you're not a Dental A Team family member yet, join us. I'd love to have you guys. It's really fun. We get to come see you in your practice. We get to coach you, you friends and family. It's very intimate, and we've got really fun things for our clients. I mean, you get fun swag. We just shipped out The Humanized Leader to all of our clients, which I'm so jazzed for them to get.

            So with that, how can you get more of that higher frequency your life? So thinking about where do you get it, number one, you got to identify that. Then number two, how do you plan that into your daily life? If you want it, you don't have to. For me and Josh, when we were talking about this, it's intentionally setting space for that.

            So I decided I wanted to start mapping out every single quarter, at least one day dedicated to higher frequency. That might mean I'm going on a trip. That might mean I am hiking. That might mean I'm going and booking myself a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Don't worry, it's not creepy, not that creepy cabin, but somewhere where I'm literally in nature. I love being in nature. Boating, boating's also another good place for me. It's a Zen place. I have a lot of great ideas that come to me there.

            And then after that, what do you want in those moments? I don't try and force the creativity. I just go and give myself that space, because I've found that most of the time, my best ideas don't come when I'm trying to force them. I feel like these business frequencies, if you will, almost become a meditative state. So like hiking the half dome, guys, when you're on a hike that long, that treacherous, you definitely just start to get into this meditative space. Running, for a lot of people, running can be meditative. I know when I was training for my marathon, I had a lot of fun ideas that would come to me because it was just a long time by myself just thinking and I was progressing and moving forward.

            Flight, how can you do that? You guys, I'm not going to go book a flight, but maybe I'll look for my flight times and a lot of times on my flights, I'm very productive during my flight time, but just having time where it's a shut off time and allowing your mind to just wander and to think and to get yourself in those places more often.

            So that's kind of been just a fun topic. I would love to hear from you guys. I think this could be a really fun pen pal of what are your business frequencies? Where are you living your highest, best frequency? Where do your best ideas come to you? I would love to hear it. It would be such a fun topic. You guys can post it in our Facebook group. Also email me [email protected] because I feel so often we sit in our own little silos of our world, and if we would just share a little bit with one another, fantastic.

            You guys know any emails that come through, of course, if it's private, I won't share. But if I can, I will happily share and give it back to you guys. We're also getting ready to start doing collaborations amongst colleagues, which I'm really excited. So these ideas can be shared amongst all practices and we can really start to abandon grow together as teams, so we're not siloed out there.

            But just think, number one, where are you the most productive with your thinking? Where are you at that higher frequency of living? Number two, how can you add that in more? And then number three, what are some of the goals and desires that you have that you want to achieve in those higher frequencies? Maybe you don't have them. Maybe it's just a matter of putting yourself there.

            I know for me, I don't want to set a goal for that higher frequency time. I don't want to say, "Okay, Kiera, you've got to go figure out what the business needs next." Instead, I want to just have more of those higher frequencies in my life more often, so I allow myself the space to create, the space to dream, the space to build, the space to just be free, if you will, and in my creative playground that I get to call my job, my business, my career, my life.

            So guys, that's just a topic. Like I said, Joshua Studio 88 and I came up with this. Definitely wanted a podcast about it. Hopefully, it just inspired you to get out there in that higher frequency. And remember that we get to live the life we want. So let's make it the best life we have and our reality, you get to create your own reality, so create the best one there is. And as always guys, thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

            And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.