Episode 665: Elevate Your Peer Group

 Having a community of like-minded people is essential, but it’s important to not be the smartest person in the room! This episode is about surrounding yourself with people who will inspire, challenge, and level up your life personally and professionally; people who you can take help from and ask questions of.

Kiera challenges listeners to inventory where they want to grow in their lives, and then seek out someone who will help you excel in that arena.

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Transcript:

0:00:00.3 Kiera: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys. I hope you're having an awesome day. I hope you're just feeling loved. I hope you're feeling excited and also if you're having a rough day, hey five, that's okay. I hope you guys just know that there are people around you that are here to support you. So that's actually what I'm going to talk about today. I want to dive into why having a community of like-minded people is paramount for success of a business. Why is this essential? So when I think about this, I think about, all right, Kiera look in your life. Where have you had success? Like where have you been able to grow and evolve and get this success? And I'm like honestly it's from a lot of the peers that I hang out with. A lot of times it's from the the events that I go to. So when thinking about that, I think about why. And I know for me in business, I oftentimes... This is bad, okay. So like I'm just gonna tell you like this part's not the great part. Don't worry it's gonna get great, okay. I oftentimes like to compare because I want to know where am I at? Like on a measuring... Like there's really no measuring stick if you think about it.

0:01:10.2 Kiera: Because this measuring stick is totally imaginary. I could say like well how am I comparing to a million dollar business? But like why the heck do I want to compare to that? Because maybe their life I don't actually want. So in reality this whole measuring stick and comparing is actually a totally elusive fraud because it's not real and it's not even actual. But yet we have these measuring sticks in our life because we're chasing after something that we think is going to make us happy. Notice what I said, we're chasing after something that we think is going to make us happy. When in actuality it's really not, but we think it is. We're chasing after some type of feeling and emotion. So I think it's super important to have people around us because we want to find out. Like for me, I love to be surrounded by an elevated peer group because they actually help me expand what I believe is possible. So I'm just gonna tell you guys a quick story. When I went to my first Tony Robbins event, okay, I love Tony Robbins. Guys like I really do. Maybe I will bring my like photo album where me and Tony Robbins had an intervention for like two hours and I went up on stage and I got a huge hug and it was the greatest day of my life, okay.

0:02:14.3 Kiera: But I remember when I went to my first one that did not happen. My first one, I was pretty new into business. It was in 2019. I started the business in 2016. So I was three years in and like 2016, let's just like make this clear, it was November 2016. So I'm about two years at this point. Brand new baby business. I don't even know how to look at a P&L. Don't know what I'm even looking at, but I decided I'm gonna go join Tony Robbins Business Mastery because I wanted to learn more about business. And I remember when I was sitting there, they had us do an exercise and it was trying to figure out like the costs on our business and like I had my P&L. I had been coaching doctors. I didn't feel as confident with it as I do today, but I remember sitting next to this guy. I can still like see his face and he basically told me in the most loving respectful way that like I needed to learn my numbers. And we had to share and I was like, "Well I don't like really know this or this or this." And then I asked him and he told me, "Yep I did this this this." Well guys if you know me at all, I'm really really really good at deflecting when I'm uncomfortable and I will just ask you questions about yourself and I will turn and be like, "Let me help you."

0:03:23.9 Kiera: I'm a really really really fantastic consultant. I can solve people's problems on a dime. So instead of asking this person for help, I pivoted and was like, "Okay perfect tell me about your business." Guys I don't freaking know what the heck I'm doing. My paper is pretty much blank. I talked for about three minutes and realized I feel like an idiot and I don't know what I'm talking about. So I quickly pivot and I say, "Hey like why don't we talk about your business. Tell me about your gaps. Let me see how I can support you and give you tons of value." And I think back to that and this guy was like super nice and he told me a little bit. I remember being like, "Oh my gosh I don't know any of this." I know nothing. I don't know anything about what he's talking about. And then he said, "Hey let me help you." And I felt really really really really really uncomfortable because I felt so stupid. I felt dumb but at the same time like I wanted this. This is why I signed up. This is why I paid $10,000 to go to an event. Ten grand guys and I'm freaking like very brand new in business. But I wanted to be there and I wanted to experience it. And so I just like learned a few little tips from him. So that was event number one. Fast forward to 2022.

0:04:31.0 Kiera: Okay so I went 2019, 2020, '21, '22. 2022 I go to an event okay so I've grown a lot in business. I think from when I went in 2019 to where I am today I think I had about a 500% increase in business. Like I learned a ton of things there. I met a lot of other friends. Not the person I told you about. Met a really awesome friend. We're still friends to this day. We talk at least once a month. We've considered doing a business venture together. He keeps me really accountable and he's somebody that I feel... Like I remember sending him. So this is the second friend from that first event. I remember sending him a spreadsheet. I remember he wrote back and he's like, "Kiera, who writes numbers across... " Guys like I'm doing a P&L going horizontal when most of the time P&Ls go vertical. He's like, "Kiera, who the heck does this?" And I'm like, "Hmmm I do." And he's like, "Okay let me just teach you like this is how you normally set it up." And it was super super nice of him. Okay so then fast forward 2022. I go to another event. It's Tony Robbins Platinum Group. I'm in his event Wealth Mastery. At this point guys I'm feeling a little bit better. I know how to read a P&L. We've got a lot more clients. I can help people with business decisions. I've helped to merge people. I've owned my own practices. Like I have a lot more experience under my belt so I felt a lot more confident.

0:05:44.7 Kiera: We show up to this event and I remember sitting there feeling like an absolute idiot. They were talking about all these things with investments and stocks and bonds and I remember sitting there thinking, "I'm a complete idiot. I don't even know what they're talking about." And I remember there was someone sitting next to me. His name is Brian. Brian turns out to be a wicked smart CPA. Like we're talking multi-bajillionaires are who he works with. I remember Brian we were sitting there and I was trying to figure out my numbers for how to know if like what my net worth was. Guys I don't know. This felt like the hardest math problem to me that I'd ever tried to solve. I felt dumb. I felt embarrassed. I felt so small. Back to 2019 Kiera who's sitting there not even knowing how to read a P&L. Not even knowing if I'm profitable or not profitable. So then Brian we have the same exercise and what do I do? I'm embarrassed so I talked for like a minute and then I'm like, "Brian let's talk about yours." And I remember Brian pushed back on me and he said, "Kiera I'm here to help. This is what I do and I want to help you and I want to show you like let's talk about this. Let me walk you through like let's make sure yours is actually figured out."

0:06:56.1 Kiera: From that moment guys I realized why I need to have an elevated peer group. I need to have friends around me that are smarter than me. I need to be in events and experiences and spaces where I'm not the smartest one in the room but I'm also humble enough to take help. I'm also humble enough to ask questions. Brian became one of my best friends. Brian and I so I have two friends from these... Well I've got lots of friends but two that I talked to on a pretty consistent basis. Brian and Pierce. Pierce was my friend from the first event. Brian's my second friend. I asked Brian about CPA things. I asked him about real estate. I asked him about how can I help clients that are in high wealth categories. How do I figure out my net worth? How do I... Like what are all these things with rep status for individuals when it comes to real estate? I don't know these words guys but I made a friend because I was in an elevated peer group that knows more than I do. And guess what? Brian comes to me he's like, "Kiera how do you create a podcast? Kiera how do you coach these different people? We want to start incorporating this into our CPA firm. What are some things that you do?"

0:08:02.7 Kiera: And I realized that no matter what your elevated peer group looks like you equally bring value to the table. Even if you don't know what it is but you need to be around people that are inspiring you, that are challenging you, that are pushing you. If you're the smartest one in the room you need to get a bigger and better peer group. It's actually why I'm so excited because Dental A Team we just created our platinum offices, our doctors. And we have a doctor group where they literally get to come and work together and share with each other and mentor each other. That's also why guys I want you to pick something this year where you're gonna go to it and you're going to find an elevated group of people. Because one of the greatest things that ever happened to me in my entire life was meeting Pierce and meeting Brian. And where did I meet them? At an event. At a place where I didn't expect to make a friend. And then yes I keep the relationship going. The event was half of the battle and we learned things so I could have common things to talk to them about but the bigger piece was that we kept the relationship going. That I realized hey I don't know what I'm doing with this and they do and I need to be humble enough to go and ask them.

0:09:07.9 Kiera: I need to be humble enough to say I don't know what's going on. This is how guys you grow. This is how. Like you can have it from the school of hard knocks or you can find people who have been there done that and done it successfully and ask them. And bring value yourself. Guys I didn't think I had a lot of value but I found out a lot of people don't know how to podcast. They don't know how to produce 12 podcasts a month. Guess what? I do. I do and I love it and I can share. I know how to make online courses. I know how to consult. I know how to have businesses in three different states with people I don't even see. Literally I don't see Tina. I think I've met her once in my entire life. Twice. Twice. Two times. I lied. Tina she works with us guys. She's literally an employee of ours and I've never really even hardly met her. I know how to do that. That's a skill that I bring to the table. You have skills even to multi-million bajillionaires. Like people who are in my opinion like so far out of my league. But I want to be friends with those people. I want to learn their habits. I want to learn what they do differently. I want to pick their brains. I want to find out what they do differently. Because if I want to be like them and I want to get there.

0:10:11.4 Kiera: And again I check to see what their life is like. Pierce has a really awesome life. Brian really awesome life. I always watch to see the things that they do that I don't like. But they're really good mentors for me of how to be successful in business. How to do things differently. How to live life on the fullest. They do things differently. And so I picked him out of a crowd and said, "I'm gonna be friends with you. And I want you to teach me and I'm gonna teach you. And we're gonna have a great time." Guys I'm real witty and I'm a lot of fun. So that's oftentimes how I build friendships. But what I found is if you just get yourself into a group you're going to find commonalities. You're going to find ways to elevate. You're going to find ways to grow and evolve. So I'm gonna ask you where is your elevated peer group? Where are they? Where are you at? Where are you active? We have our Dental A Team consulting. So if you want to join our peer group guys come. It's super fun. Once a month all of our doctors get together. Once a month all of our office managers get together. Our doctor one is called Think Tank Tuesday. And it's a blast. Our doctors literally get together. They learn. I made them get pen pals last month because I wanted them to learn from each other.

0:11:17.1 Kiera: Or come join our Summit guys. That's another zone the Dental A Team is putting on for you guys. You listen. You like us. Come be with the people that we're attracting. Like-minded people come together. It's gonna be a blast. It's April 28th and 29th. It's gonna be a blast. Come. I literally give you guys an opportunity to meet other offices. Yes it's virtual and I figured out how to make you guys become friends with people virtual. Because if you can find someone that's elevated. I'm also bringing on some of my most elite practices to literally share exactly what they do personally and professionally and with their teams. They're not holding back any secrets. They're literally coming to tell you. Because what I want you to have is a mentor a role model and somebody that you can call on that's a friend to elevate you. So if you're looking for that guys there are peer groups out there. And Dental A Team doesn't have to be the only one. There's tons of them. There's tons of amazing ones out there. There's tons of dental ones and there's tons of non dental ones.

0:12:12.8 Kiera: But I want you guys to commit right now that you're gonna elevate your peer group. You're gonna elevate the people you're around. You're gonna take an inventory of the people that you spend the most amount of time with. Literally I want you to look in your phone right now. Do it. I'll do it with you. Okay. In my phone it's a little unfair because I had to talk to the bank today. My top people I have Tiffany Trader, Jason my husband, Shelby and if I go down Brittany Stone and Liz my coach. In my phone just scrolling through my top ones. Don't worry I had to scroll a little bit. There's like 888 numbers guys that was the bank, okay? Those are my top five people. But if I scroll those are my top five people in my phone right now. Who are your top five? Who are the top five people? And how can you elevate? No Pierce and Brian they're not in my top five. But Pierce talked to him last week and I've got a call with him next week. Brian I talked to him last week as well. They literally are in my life at least every single month. I call and ask. I'm not talking to them every day. We're not that good of friends. But we are good enough friends in business and in personal. We are great enough friends that way. So I want you to take inventory right now.

0:13:16.7 Kiera: Where do you want to grow? For me I wanted to grow in business in real estate. I wanted to learn more about that. I want to learn more. But guys I really wanted to learn because I work with a lot of really really really wealthy doctors. If I can figure out assets and avenues to help them with net worth, with real estate, with systems, with teams. I become a better resource for them. That's why I go in there. Guys I don't know this stuff. And I want to be an amazing resource for my doctors and our teams. I have to elevate and push myself. So what about for you? What do you want to learn? Do you want to learn a hobby? Do you want to be better at business? Do you want to have better systems? Do you want a better teams? Better culture? Better leadership? Where do you need to take inventory to level up? To rise up that's gonna make your life even that much more magical? And then I want you to go find a peer. I want you to go find someone that you can be real and honest with. Guys I have literally cried in front of Pierce. I it just happened actually last week and I felt so embarrassed and I felt like a baby and I literally texted him and I'm like, "Pierce I don't know why I get so embarrassed. But I don't like being wrong. I don't like being dumb. I don't like feeling dumb."

0:14:15.8 Kiera: And do you know what Pierce said? He said, "Kiera you're one of the most brilliant business owners I've ever met. So keep your chin up. This is tricky and you're gonna get through it." Do you know how nice it is to have a friend in business who gets my life? Who understands it? Who I can call him back. "Pierce I don't freaking know what I'm doing. Help me out with it." And he's not a client. He's not one of my family members. He's literally a friend. A friend that I know I can call when I'm having a hard time. A friend who's literally grown with me over the years. So who do you have that's like that that pushes you? Guys Pierce is a freaking bajillionaire. He is so brilliant in business. He is exactly the opposite of me. He's not like me at all. That's why I picked him out of a crowd. Pierce is like a type-a entrepreneur slice your throat. He's gonna win. And I'm like, "Hey let me be your best friend." Pierce is different. Brian's different. And I picked them because I needed to elevate who I was. So how are you elevating you? I want you right now to commit that this year you're gonna find one friend that's gonna push you outside of your comfort zone. That's going to grow you in the area that you need to grow the most.

0:15:18.2 Kiera: They might be great with relationships and you're terrible at them. They might great with having like downtime, chill time and you're not. They might be really good with reading P&Ls and growing businesses and having a cash flowing practice. Get into an elevated peer group. If Dental A Team can be that place for you, rock on, I'm gonna welcome you with open arms if you're our right culture fit. I don't let all practices in. You gotta qualify for it. So reach out and I'd love to see if you're a good fit for our company or not. But commit right now, that you are gonna elevate. Or come join us at Summit and meet people. But I want you to commit right now. You're gonna go to one place without anybody, no other friends, you're not going with your buddies, because you're gonna hang out with them. You're literally going somewhere where you don't know them and you're gonna find somebody that's gonna elevate you, that's gonna push you, that's opposite of you. That way you can get to your best self. Commit to me and if you're committed, email me at [email protected].

0:16:08.6 Kiera: Join us if we're a good fit for you, April 28th and 29th. Go find an elevated peer group. If you wanna join us, head on over to thedentalateam.com/summit and I'd love to see you guys out there. I'm gonna help you get better friends, all those different pieces, but right now commit. Email me [email protected], say, "Kiera, I'm elevating this year." And I can't wait to be a support if I can help you or tell me where you're going. Tell me what group you're gonna go find. Where are you going 'cause I'd love to hear great groups as well. I'd love to share those resources. Guys, this is your time, but it just doesn't happen. You have to actively seek it. And with that guys, just know that I'm here for you. I'm rooting for you and I know that if you take this step, you will literally have your life change. You will grow and evolve as a person. And this isn't just for doctors, this is for teams, all of us. Go find someone that's gonna push you, that's gonna grow you. And they don't have to be a paid coach. They can literally just be your friend. And with that guys, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.