Episode 737: Pulling Back the Curtain on Dentistry

 Dr. Ashley Joves returns to the podcast to get honest about the chaos of dentistry. Dr. Joves shares her current experiences about low morale and not letting team members down. To that Kiera talks about how to fall in love with the growth process and remember that the bad days are only 10% of life. Kiera also gives tactical advice around knowing your practice numbers, setting up a slush fund, making a cut list, and more.

Owner of Smile & Co., Dr. Ashley is passionate about staying on the leading edge of dentistry and invests hundreds of hours into ongoing training each year. She is an active member of the American Dental Association, California Dental Association, Sacramento District Dental Society, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Academy of General Dentistry, and Doctors for Oral Conscious Sedation.

Dr. Joves also has two podcasts: The Making of and Dental Friends With Benefits.  

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera: [email protected] 

Listen to episode 254, Breaking Dentistry Norms

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Transcript

Kiera Dent (00:00.657)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kira and I have the one and only Ashley Hovis, a little black dress podcast. We're doing a little crossover podcast between the two podcasts today. And we were shooting the breeze before we hit record and realized we just need to hit record because this is real life, truly talking about who business owners are behind the scenes and who people are behind the scenes. And so Ashley, welcome to the show. How are you today? Real talk, Ashley.

 

Ashley Joves (00:27.049)

I am.

 

Well, welcome. I just said welcome. I'm so used to hosting. Welcome to the show. No, no, it's a crossover. Well, welcome to another episode of Little Black Dress Pod, ladies and gents. We have the one and only Kira Dan of Dental Aid Team, guys. This is going to be such a fun recording because before we hit record, Kira asked me how I'm doing and I asked her.

 

Kiera Dent (00:33.945)

You can host, do it, do it because it's a crossover. So it's you and us and mine.

 

Ashley Joves (00:58.03)

Do you want the real version or the social media version? And she's like, real, always, always. And that's why it's always so good to have these one-on-one conversations, Kara. I just adore you. Every time I talk with you, we just, it's like a therapy session and a very needed therapy session. So we're gonna pull back the curtains today. We're gonna talk about all the things, practice, everything. Oh man, yeah, it's been.

 

Kiera Dent (01:04.462)

always.

 

Ashley Joves (01:27.694)

It's been a lot. Ha ha ha.

 

Kiera Dent (01:29.753)

Yeah. And I asked you because I think in like friendships and in business, I feel there's a yin and yang. And I think sometimes as business owners, I don't want to come to the table and be like, Hey, here's my dirty laundry, Ashley. But I feel like with you and me, um, when you've got real friends, because in the, in business, you can have real friends and then you can have your social media friends. And that's why when you're like real version or social, I'm like, absolutely not. Like I don't, I don't want social media. Ashley. I want Ashley.

 

Ashley Joves (01:54.999)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:58.353)

like and Kira and yeah, I know we're recording this for the world, but at the end of the day, it's you and me talking as friends and talking as coworkers and talking as colleagues in the industry because I feel so often we isolate as business people. We're so like, I need to be this one. I'm like BS, we need to be us because we need people to help. We need to ask for that. We need to have friends that can to rally us. And I feel the same way there many times. I mean,

 

Let's go back to the podcast I did with you a long time ago about my divorce and anorexia and suicide. Like this is real and I don't think people realize the real side, which is why I love podcasting with you. So Ashley, how is Ashley for real today?

 

Ashley Joves (02:40.534)

Ashley for real, so overwhelmed. I think overwhelmed is just a really good word for it. We just opened this second office, this beautiful location, my dream practice, everything I could want and then some. It took two years to build.

 

So much blood, sweat, and tears went into this, and I'm not gonna get into all the nitty-gritty details, but at the time that we are supposed to be celebrating and just commemorating this occasion, I just feel like I am dropping the ball in so many different areas of my life.

 

Kiera Dent (03:28.361)

Ashley, why do you think it is that way? Because I feel that way a ton when we've got these big events or big things or things that are supposed to be these huge milestones. And I'm curious, is it like we put so much hype and expectation on us to be a certain way or is it truly the like, there's just a lot going on that we didn't even know was going to hit us.

 

Um, or is it like a combination of all and or other things that we don't even know? Cause I feel the same way you hit these events and I'm like, I should be happy. This should be the best day of my life. It's like weddings, right? I remember someone gave me good advice for my wedding and they said, Kira just enjoy the day. And I'm so thankful for that because I think I would have stressed out of my mind and not even enjoyed half of the day. And I'm like, you have this beautiful practice, Ashley. You have everything you've been working towards, but is it like that there's so much expectation or is it that we just don't even know how to handle?

 

Ashley Joves (04:07.948)

right?

 

Kiera Dent (04:17.401)

the new version of you. And like, I feel like it's a sloughing off and becoming a new version of you. That's also very painful to become who you need to be to now own two practices and to manage two practices and to have a bigger team. Like what's kind of your take on all that? I have obviously my own thoughts around it, but it's just kind of an exploration is to, cause I think it's real. And I think so many people like you have the making of group that I love to be a part of and how many people in there are so excited to build their practices and do their dream. And then they get it and they hate their life.

 

Ashley Joves (04:46.791)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (04:47.013)

like hate and they're depressed and they want to give it up. And so I'm like, it's not you. It's not special to you. You're feeling it right now, but it's everywhere. And I'm curious as to why we feel that way. I mean, you're in it right now. So what's your kind of, you know, we got all day, Ashley. I think Ryan can wait. We have another one with him. He can wait. We got time, Ashley.

 

Ashley Joves (04:58.599)

Okay, so how long do we have? How long do we have to add that? Well, I think you basically hit the head, wait, what? The nail on the head? The head on the nail? You know, you know what I'm saying. The nail on the head, it's basically everything that you just pointed out. It's this.

 

Kiera Dent (05:16.993)

Yeah. Nail on the head for sure.

 

Ashley Joves (05:26.818)

expectations versus reality, right? I've hyped up this practice in my mind and that it's gonna go seamless, but it's also adding that extra layer of pressure on me because yes, the first time we built Smiling Co, we already had people watching what we were doing and now there's even more people watching what we're doing, but also just the pressures I put on myself. Like in my head, I'm thinking, I...

 

I'm going to hit the ground running. We're going to have XYZ amount of patience from day one. Everything's going to be smooth sailing. And it's so not the case. Like we, we stumble and we, at the new practice, I changed everything. We had a different, uh, software integration. We had different x-rays, we have different chairs, all of the things that I put in Smiling Co. One.

 

I did not take with smiling coke too. So that is definitely a change. Um, navigating how it is running to practices. Like now I have to divide my team, my team who loves being together. Now it's basically like a breakup. They're only seeing their, their colleagues every now and then when we have team meetings, so that is definitely put a damper on.

 

Kiera Dent (06:35.166)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (06:43.506)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (06:52.434)

on the mood and motivation of the team. Like I went into Folsom yesterday because I haven't been there. I haven't been there because I've been so focused on getting our new baby up and running. And to describe the level of energy was just, it did not feel the same. And you could just tell that this team that was once engaged and thriving was feeling neglected.

 

and feeling like, well, and I actually spoke with one of the team members and she said, you know, it feels like we're the neglected step, redheaded stepchild. Like all the, all the bells and whistles went to the first practice and all the energy went with it and here we are not really knowing how to navigate communication between the offices. So, so morale.

 

Kiera Dent (07:34.908)

I'm sorry.

 

Ashley Joves (07:49.162)

It's definitely down in the first location. And when morale is down, as I learned from five amazing days at Tony Robbins, what is going to drive profitability is the engagement of the team. So if the team is not engaged, profitability is going to suffer. So I'm navigating that while now having overheads for two practices. So just, I feel like everything is.

 

Kiera Dent (08:03.322)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (08:12.069)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (08:17.382)

on my shoulders because the last thing I want to do is cut hours or cut anything. And I have to remind myself this is just growing pains. This is a moment in time. We are still an infant in the new practice. And we're still navigating all these different things, like all the changes, and change is never easy.

 

Kiera Dent (08:27.593)

Sure.

 

Kiera Dent (08:43.247)

Mm-hmm.

 

Yeah. I think you said so many things that, and of course I fall right into consultant mode. Like I'm like, all right, Ashley, we're going to fix this. I got solutions. Like let's, but I think, I think a couple of things, um, funny, you, you and I, um, are little Tony Robbins fans. Um, you asked me how it was. You went to business master. I was so excited. He went to business mastery and

 

Ashley Joves (08:55.754)

Yes!

 

Ashley Joves (09:03.808)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (09:09.305)

I was watching another one where Tony's wife Sage put on Unstoppable Women. I was just curious. I love to watch these virtual events to make us better for Denelea team. And, um, there was a quote and I stuck it on my computer right here and I'm looking at it and this is something that I feel actually we as a society need to learn more of is fall in love with what is, um, we fall in love when we think it's going to be this way, but it's like, how can we fall in love with what is, how can you fall in love right now with this mess in this chaos?

 

Ashley Joves (09:30.515)

Mm.

 

Kiera Dent (09:38.377)

how can we set that example for our teams to fall in love with what is? The morale being down. Yeah, it's like we just brought in a brand new baby into the family. Of course there's gonna be shifting. Of course there's going to be changing, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. That doesn't mean it's bad. That doesn't mean we need to fall apart at the seams. And so falling in love with what is, I love that because it kind of gave me this like, hoo, all right, I don't have to have it to be perfect to enjoy it.

 

I can fall in love with what is right now, right here, right today, I can fall in love with the growth process of me and I remember I had another coach tell me one time, she said, Kira, who you are today is not who you need to be to sustain these new projects you're taking. So she's like, it is painful when you have to slough off the old version of you, like the Ashley Hovas today is not the Ashley Hovas that's going to run two practices successfully, like that version of you has got to die off and this new version of you is being.

 

created right now as we speak, but we forget that there's a process to be from here and go to here. And we think it should happen overnight. And that because we're these successful business owners, we should already know the path. And it's like, we've forgotten to fall in love with learning, we've forgotten to fall in love with the failures, we've forgotten to fall in love with it being hard, because that struggle is ultimately what gives us the success. But yet we want all the success without the struggle. And I'm like, there is beauty in the mess. There's

 

beauty in the chaos. And so with teams, I also think as leaders, when we can show up as out of like, listen, this is freaking hard. Like I'm having a hard time, but I also feel as leaders, something I'm learning, like I just had an identity moment and my whole team, like I was super sick for our team's retreat and they all flew in there within three minutes of my house and I'm so sick that I'm in bed and they're running a retreat without me.

 

And I'm like, mom, is this what it feels like when you drop your kids off at school and you don't feel like you're needed anymore? And she's like, yes, like you need to be a part of the Boohoo Breakfast Club. And I'm like, please. But I think like I had this moment of realizing you've got to have a team that can do a lot because you as one person can't do it all. And even if you could, you're not going to be as successful as having set people. And so it's really like taking a step back. What is on my shoulders? What is that overwhelm?

 

Kiera Dent (11:52.601)

And truly who are the people I need to bring into play that can elevate? Like I had Shelby as my right hand, but the company's getting way bigger. And Shelby's skillset. We both talked about it. We both knew Shelby needed a mentor that could teach her how to run a multi, like very substantial business that's across platforms while Shelby's my right hand. And has helped me through so much. Brit unexpectedly, we were trying to hire somebody else and then Brit happened to just appear out of nowhere on our team.

 

Britt's a wizard at operations and Britt sees further down the line and Britt can build all these things that I used to have to take on. And so it's really looking inside your team and, or who do you need to hire while also making it fun. So for me, when I see this and I see new owners taking it on is one, realize it's a marathon, not a sprint. And like, let's fall in love with what is today. So that's number one. Number two is girl, you got to get some of the stuff off the shoulders because you're right. You can't take it all in and let's see what can we

 

versus what's fact. Like there's a lot of stories running on of, I should do this, I should do that, I should do this. And it's like, whoa, let's scale it back. What's real and what do we actually need to hit that's realistic? Not like what our idealistic goals are, but what are our realistic goals that don't cause you stress and chaos, but they're still gonna keep us profitable. I also say with new practices, I call it a three to six month shakeout. Like I don't expect a practice to be profitable for six months after opening to 12 months.

 

It's very normal, it's very real. We've got the capital in there. And as long as we can baseline it high five, you're doing great. And let's pull off all that stress of excess, but you've gone from profitable businesses, rocking and rolling to brand new baby and it's sucking the cash and you're like, what am I supposed to do? We hit this panic mode. You know how to run a business. Remind yourself, you know how to run a business and you're not going to fail. And every answer is within you like period, like cut the failure out. Whoever's sitting in your head telling you that you're failing, like

 

Thank you, you can go sit on the stairs, you're not helping me, and we're gonna go for who can help me. And then from there, it's really like, let's build up this leadership team, let's have the honest conversations. You are not going to make every team member happy, and I think as leaders, we have to realize that's okay. As a CEO, your number one job is to make sure the business is protected and running, that's number one. And then from there, people are either gonna follow you or they're gonna leave, and it's crazy, because as you go through these morphings, you're either gonna see who's like...

 

Ashley Joves (13:42.624)

Hehehehehehe

 

Ashley Joves (13:47.31)

Thanks for watching!

 

Ashley Joves (13:54.983)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (14:07.497)

part of your tribe or those who you don't fit with anymore. And they've either outgrown you or you've outgrown them and both are fine and they're gonna peel off. So your whole team's going to shift, Ashley. The whole team, the whole dynamics are going to shift into the team that can carry two practices rather than just one. It's not gonna fit every person. And that's a hard thing to let go of. But when we can realize like that's normal and that should happen and we need that to happen for growth, then it can be a little bit easier. It's not easy in the interim, it's hard.

 

And you've got to have people that can like keep you laser focused and targeted, which is why I'm super excited to come out and see you. Because I think sometimes that perspective of like, let's just pull these pieces. This is normal. It doesn't negate the feelings, but helping you realize perspective can also be very freeing during these times.

 

Ashley Joves (14:54.366)

I love that so much. I wrote so many notes that I'm just going to repeat back for all of you listening, because here is like a wealth of knowledge. Fall in love with what is. Fall in love with the failures. Take a step back. It's a marathon, not a sprint. There is beauty in the mess, and we need to slough off the old me. That is so... Gosh. I think...

 

I myself, there really is a period of warning that has to come with change because you are that old you. And I'm going to relate back to your podcast that you did with me. That old Kira, when you were going through yourself, she's not there anymore. This is the new Kira and I have to create her. I have to make her what she is.

 

Kiera Dent (15:24.541)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (15:42.492)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (15:46.106)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (15:48.646)

I know she has potential to me. And how do you reconcile being or wanting to be like that empathic CEO with obviously making the hard choices of, you know, we have to protect the baby, we have to protect the business. And that's a note that I kept writing over and over again in my note from Business Mastery is

 

Baby needs to eat first. Like, obviously, you have seen a tremendous growth period in your business, Kira. And I'm so happy that we're talking about this because I want to know what Kira has learned from when dental A team was a newborn to now like you're running a multi-million dollar consulting agency and you have over 35 employees now. Is that right?

 

one more.

 

Kiera Dent (16:48.269)

Oh, I wish we're like 10 girl. No, I'm always like, we should have 35. And I'm like, no, it's only 10 and we're like scrapping it. And I'm like, well, we're in forest dates and like, and I think like I've got this puny business like, oh, but I'm like, but it's not that it's not the comparison. Comparisons is going to steal it all. So no, I don't have 35. So continue on only 10 currently 10 still in the market for like five more. So if you know those people send them our way, but you know, we're always looking.

 

Ashley Joves (16:51.002)

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (17:07.799)

Only thing.

 

Kiera Dent (17:15.685)

Yeah, but go ahead.

 

Ashley Joves (17:17.979)

Nice. But what does your CEO mindset look like now? Obviously, I'm sure you've had some turnover, whether it was you or the people you've worked with. How involved are you now at making those hard decisions when you're looking at the numbers?

 

Kiera Dent (17:39.877)

Yeah, so it's funny we're talking this because truthfully, Ashley, I'm going through a sloughing myself right now and I'm shifting myself right now. And I feel like the identity piece, like my team coming in and realizing they can run a retreat as a company and not need me. Literally, I cried the two weeks ago cried because I just felt like, what is my place even? Who am I? And I realized I was going from a manager to a CEO. And I didn't like

 

That's an awkward shift to go. Cause I don't even know what a CEO looks like. Like I'm wandering around like in the clouds. Like I don't even know what the heck I'm supposed to do currently. But it's this moment of knowing I've been working so hard for this and then it's here. So baby Kira was, um, like baby CEO is trying to be a manager and trying to be everything to all people. Absolutely. We've had turnover. I've had turnover this year. I've had to make some really hard decisions this year. Um, but I also have been so committed that I'm like, no, I need a team that can carry this.

 

It's not reliant on me anymore. And that's a hard shift because that goes from me being like a teammate and I'm like a colleague with you and I'm here to be your best friend to, there's a lot of bigger pieces that I need to take on and tackle that I can't be your colleague. So this is like weird, like empathetic, but also I have a little sign here, came from Keith Cunningham that the road less stupid and it says, CEOs do your job.

 

Ashley Joves (19:01.61)

I love him.

 

Kiera Dent (19:04.281)

I love him. And he just said like, CEOs do your job. And I just thought like, well, what is my job? And a CEO's job is to like control culture and morale to always be looking at vision and to protect profitability. Like that at the end of the day is my core role and no one else in the company is doing it. And Ashley, when I realized no one else is doing that, but I could hire everyone else to do all the other things I was doing, no one's going to set culture like I will. No one's going to set vision like I will, and no one's going to protect profitability like I will.

 

Ashley Joves (19:14.809)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (19:34.141)

Those are my three core pieces. And yes, I'm still a consultant. So that's like the dentist piece of that. But realistically, I had to realize like, here, you have a choice here. Where do you ultimately want to go? And I really have to sink into what's the true vision Ashley. And then like, let myself have those sad days. Let myself have those hard times. Like you said, morning. Um, I remember my mom when I was going through everything, she's like, here, I just can't wait for the old care to come back and I.

 

I remember the day like I was so distinct. I was in my closet talking to my mom and I'm like, mom, that version of me is never coming back. And it breaks my heart just as much as I'm sure it breaks your heart. But I, like you said, it is a morning. It's this loss of like, it was comfortable. It was easy. Like having one practice is way easier than having two. Having one state of employees is way easier than four. Having the legal value of like, I've got to take care of four state laws versus just one.

 

But that's not what I was called to do. That's not what I feel in my soul. And I know it was greater and bigger things. And I know there's more people I'm there to serve. And so for that cause, I can sit here and I can either play smaller, I can play big and neither one's right and neither one's wrong. It's just right now, who do I wanna be and what am I willing to do to get there? And so for me, I'm like, Keira, you have to grow. Do you think as a baby, you had fun falling over constantly trying to learn to walk? No, but do I am so grateful that I know how to walk and run?

 

versus just crawling and sitting there. And I feel like that's how it is in business. Like I wanna be able to walk, I wanna be able to run and that's gonna require me to fall down so many times. And I'm going to have to fail. I'm going to have to make the wrong decisions. And guess what? Maybe some of the people I let go were wrong, but I made a decision and I moved forward and I learned more from making that decision than sitting there stagnant. And so realizing like, like there have been days I talked to Britt last year.

 

We fired someone at retreat last year, Ashley. I hate retreat. Like retreat feels cursed to me and it's supposed to be the happiest time. And I let someone go before they went to their first Disneyland experience. And I had a moment of Kira, you are the worst freaking boss in the world. Like, couldn't you just have let her go? And I'm like, I could have, I could have let this person come into our team, but my whole team watched this person not embody who we are as a company.

 

Ashley Joves (21:29.474)

Hehehehe

 

Kiera Dent (21:48.401)

completely blatantly disregarded our team, our culture, and our values. And I had a moment right there of you either are going to be the CEO or you're going to be a friend and who are you going to be in? What example are you going to show? And so I think it's also training too. I think it's building up the CEO muscle. That's not God given to any of us. Like this is learning, this is growing. And so it's constantly building that CEO muscle. And for me, I've determined I'm going to be empathetic. I'm going to be loving. I'm going to be a ton of fun.

 

And I'm going to protect the three things that I'm responsible for. Because if I show ownership there, my team will take ownership too. It's been two years actually in the making to find an operations person. I have like gut sweat tears. I've tried to hire people. I've gone to other industries. I've taken courses. I've paid exorbitant amounts of money, like huge amounts of money for people to come in and they still didn't work. And I realized like, but I'd rather keep trying than sit here and not try. So baby Kira was someone who was afraid to make decisions.

 

Baby Kira was like, I want to be everyone's friends and I'd rather be friends and take care of the business. And CEO Kira today who coaches people now it has learned with you is my job is to be a CEO and no one else is doing that. Let me empower my team to do jobs and tasks that I truly don't have time to do. Because my job is to create new ideas. Ashley, no one else in that company is thinking of building the next business.

 

No one else has that vision for it. That is Ashley Hovis is number one objective. And if you don't do it, no one else is going to. And we delegate and hire out the rest and we give ourselves time of like, it's going to take time. This isn't a flip of the wrist. Let's do this tomorrow. It's a, I don't want to say lifelong process, but it is the business is an ever-growing, breathing person. And when you see the business as like another person at the table, it becomes easier to take care of it becomes easier to, to feed it, to nurture it, to.

 

to give it what it needs for sustainability because the thing that keeps me up at night the most is if I let this business fail, I've let every team member fail. And so that is my number one job to do. And then you gotta also have friends. You gotta have people that you can have these convos with, the people that will build you up that will give you the tangibles. I call friends. And also my friend group has changed, Ashley. I have to keep, like, that's why I go to Tony Robbins because I need people that are in my shoes that have done it and done it successfully.

 

Ashley Joves (23:50.294)

and

 

Kiera Dent (24:12.733)

that can mentor me, that can walk me through it, that can hold my hand when I'm like, I am not firing this person. Like, here you got to let's move on. Or giving me the, the perspective of where I really want to go and reminding me of like these hard days are what I signed up for when I said I want to own a business. These hard days in these growth days, because there's about 10% of those days compared to the 90% of awesome days. And I think we often magnify the bad days and forget how many good days there are.

 

Ashley Joves (24:20.227)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (24:42.313)

Jason, my husband texted me the other day. He said, Kira, you better enjoy this while you can because this isn't going to be your life forever. I had not thought about that. I'm not going to have, like Ashley, you're not going to have a brand new business forever. You're not going to have this CEO role forever. This is a season that will come and go and who knows how long we get to ride this journey, but let's make it the best journey we possibly can. Overwhelm.

 

This is coming in a little spicier. And so I hope it comes with like spice, but like a huge hug of love. I feel overwhelmed as a choice because we're not willing to delegate and lean on our team because we don't think we can give it to them versus empowering our team or hiring the people we need and committing that we're not going to live in overwhelm, like breaking it down, spending the time, what do I need to get rid of, what can I shell off? What's truly important right now versus what can wait. And I think we take that on as perfectionist rather than realizing like what's the bare minimum that's going to keep me sane.

 

for the long haul and then I'll add on the bigger pieces later on. So I feel like there's a lot of pieces in there and hopefully something connected, but truly I just feel like. Your job's to be a CEO, your job's to ride the ride. Your job's to set that culture, your job's to set the vision and protect profitability. And I'm like, guess what? Profitability is maybe not going to look the same as it did. You, it shouldn't. You just brought on a whole new business. Let's keep it to where we like are going to sleep at night.

 

And then we're going to grow it and it's going to be exponentially blossomed, but we're not going to get there without the struggle first. And we can truly love the struggle while going through it. I think that that's a discipline and a mindset and a skill we develop. It's not one that we just naturally have.

 

Ashley Joves (26:03.138)

Thank you.

 

Ashley Joves (26:18.058)

I love that so much. I mean, here, whenever I listen to you, I feel like you're my Tony Robbins. Tony t-o-n-i. You're the female version for me. You're so, man, like, you're so level-headed in your thoughts and it's so nice to just bounce ideas off of you always because

 

Kiera Dent (26:26.909)

Hehehehe. Hahaha.

 

Ashley Joves (26:46.126)

So much of my mindset is peer-based. And I know that we need to hire another person, another admin in our new office. But then part of me says, okay, well, if we have to protect the baby, profitability is already going down because I've now opened this new office and that's not fair to the business. But...

 

Kiera Dent (26:58.391)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (27:13.438)

Like how do you reconcile when to take the leap of growing, and while still knowing that all of those, all of that ROI is going to come back to you tenfold? Because that's where I struggle with.

 

Kiera Dent (27:28.901)

Sure. Yeah. So numbers I love Ashley. And thank you. Like that's a huge compliment to be Tony Rob. Like I love Tony so much. And I love just, I love having people like you, like let's just talk about this and let's empower each other. And then let's have tactical pieces. So it's not just like mindset, but 90% of the game is mindset. So if we can get that straight and focus on where we're going, the rest of it's going to come. And so with that,

 

Ashley Joves (27:38.406)

Me too.

 

Kiera Dent (27:55.917)

I love numbers, Ashley. So right now I'm in a very similar spot. We are in massive growth mode at Dental A team right now. And I'm like, oh my gosh, squeeze my cheeks together and like grin and bear it. Like I'm scared out of my freaking mind. But what I do is I actually have all of my costs on a spreadsheet, like truth be told, because if I can see the numbers and I know exactly what my true bam, like bare ace, we said ace guys, minimum, then we know exactly where like

 

Ashley Joves (28:06.772)

Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (28:21.07)

Hehehehe

 

Kiera Dent (28:24.513)

Where is my break even point Ashley? And like, what do I have to do? And then I also, this is going to sound sick. Like I'm just going to tell you what's real though. I have a cut list, Ashley. So if the business gets to a spot, and I remember my coach told me that she's like, Kira, you have to know in order of who are you firing first. That feels disgusting because I love people so much, but again, business first, because I'd rather cut a few team members and keep 90% of them.

 

versus holding on to 100% and losing the business and losing it for everyone. So I have my whole cost list. Then I go through and I play around constantly of like, okay, if I hired this person, what's it going to cost and can I truly afford it? And for me, like minimum, no ifs, ands, or buts, I got to have like 20 to 30 grand. And now that could be skewed. We run about 150,000 of payroll. So just to give perspective, like it's very high payroll. I don't have a building. Like that's the bulk of my cost as a company.

 

payroll should be about 30% of it, but when you're hiring, it's going to be higher. And when you're in growth mode, your profitability is going to be junk. So for me, five to 10% profitability, like a really successful business, if they can hit 20% profit margins, rock on, they're doing great. That's different from overhead because that's paying doctors and there's like a bajillion different ways you can do it. But for me, I like doctors paid taxes, like all the shebang and we sit with a 20% profit so we can reinvest like that's a good, healthy, stable business. But from there.

 

If you're growing like as long as we're like two, three, five, 10% profit and you've got to determine what can give you the emotional ROI at night of where you can sleep. For me, I also have savings. So I have three to six months of savings constantly. And I know that three to six months, if I scrap down, could last me another seven to 10 months. And I know I can like seven to 10 months, I can totally recover within that amount of time. Like that's a doable timeframe for me, no matter what happens. So all of my expenses listed out.

 

put this new hire in there. And then like right now we're looking like bring on another consultant. Dang, those consultants are like more than doctors. And I'm like, sheesh, you guys are expensive but that's the bulk of our company. So I've got to have high quality talent. I'm like, all right, we need like marketing people. We need these things. But when I look at it, I also think how could I mitigate this? Like if cost is pretty high, I run my ideal scenario of who I'd love to have.

 

Ashley Joves (30:31.182)

Ha ha!

 

Kiera Dent (30:46.673)

and then I run like my must have scenario too. So I see the two different numbers, like your must have and your would love to have, and then you can figure out, okay, when I'm hitting these numbers as the business, let's bring on more people, or could I reposition someone else, and I don't have to hire this position right away. Could I outsource some things? But if you know those numbers and you've got some savings in surplus, that gives you a lot of wiggle room, and then you've got your cut list. So in case things go south,

 

You don't have to think about the plan of what am I going to do? The plan's already there for you. And so that to me helps me not have emotional or irrational decisions, but truly like thought out before I'm in the oh shiz moment of what I'm going to do then. Like I've got my, if we hit this line, Britt and I were talking the other day and I'm like, all right, Britt, here's our numbers. We hire these people and we're like 10 grand away from like bottom up. And I sit at usually a 50% overhead and I'm like, okay.

 

I'm like, is that too close for comfort for you? And she's like, too close for me. And I'm like, all right, so what do we do? So we strategized of how can we add more production or revenue? How can we justify these other people with easy things? Could you bring in another skillset? Ashley, could you go and bust it out with heavy production one, two, three days a month to offset that additional cost? Like, how can we make this number a reality? And maybe there is no way. And so it's like, yeah, we do need to sit and wait. But 99% of the time,

 

There is an easy way, especially within dentistry, consulting's a little trickier. Dentistry, I'm like, that's like a couple of crowns and you can afford a front desk girl. Like you go do two more crowns a month and your front desk person is paid for. And so in dentistry, I like to break it down of what's the cost, how many procedures do you realistically need to do? Let's make that happen. That's super easy in dentistry to be able to find. So that's how I would map it. Know your numbers, play with it of your ideal versus your top line.

 

Ashley Joves (32:37.129)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (32:40.197)

look to see what your BAM is, set up some slush, make your cut list and then jump in and go for it.

 

Ashley Joves (32:48.798)

Oh man, can I just, can I get super tactical with you? I'm gonna pick your consulting hat. Okay, so, this is why I want this, take some notes if you're a dentist, because from my first office, our first location, we were in network with Delta, and then we made the decision, we're gonna get out of network with Delta. That was last September. So basically, we're approaching a year now of being out of network.

 

Kiera Dent (32:54.089)

Of course. Go for it. I'm ready for it.

 

Kiera Dent (33:08.923)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (33:21.712)

Our numbers have dropped. I mean, we've had some, obviously we've had attrition because it's hard for people to, in California, you have to pay upfront for the whole shebae, not just the copay. And now we're just seeing, like, okay, so we went from running six columns, not even, at one point we had three full-time hygienists, Kira,

 

We could not even get our patients back for PTs, unless it was like six to eight weeks out. And then for new patients, we couldn't get new patients in for months. And now when I look at Folsom's schedule, there's holes everywhere. And then the doctor's production is also, it's just like, it's just really sad.

 

Kiera Dent (34:08.111)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (34:16.182)

to see what smile code used to be and now what it is. And now I'm wondering, okay, at what point, so we ran through the numbers and we did have, even though we lost people, we lost those patients coming in, the numbers itself have not dropped too significantly, which is also a plus for sure.

 

Kiera Dent (34:32.105)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (34:39.305)

Totally.

 

Ashley Joves (34:43.746)

But we are seeing more and more holes because now it's a year and so people are now noticing, okay, well, Delta's reimbursement does really suck. And now I don't know if I can continue to see them for care. Where do I make that line in the sand of pivoting? Like, do I get back in network? Do I cut hours? Do I cut days?

 

Kiera Dent (34:44.403)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (34:57.726)

Sure.

 

Kiera Dent (35:04.976)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (35:08.457)

Mm-mm.

 

Ashley Joves (35:12.158)

So that's where I'm at. And of course I'm coming at it like, oh my gosh, we need to make changes ASAP because I'm a dentist and I hate holes. I fill holes. That's what we do. That's what we do, we fill holes. So, and then Brian, my amazing husband is like, okay, can you just breathe for a second? Your numbers have not changed significantly. Yes, you are seeing holes, but you need to ride this wave and commit.

 

Kiera Dent (35:17.531)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (35:21.961)

Totally. Right.

 

Kiera Dent (35:36.741)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (35:41.814)

So as a consultant, how long do I ride this wave? Because he just says, you know, you just need to, you need to market more. You need to be targeting those ideal clients that you want to come in. So I'm curious as to what Kira Depp, the amazing consultant would advise.

 

Kiera Dent (35:43.517)

Ha ha!

 

Kiera Dent (35:47.42)

Ooh.

 

Kiera Dent (35:56.114)

Got it.

 

Kiera Dent (36:04.413)

Oh, well, your husband's super smart and kudos to you. Um, this is where numbers come back. Like I used to hate numbers and I'm just going to say like the numbers will tell you when you need to make the changes. And that's why I love it because numbers don't lie and numbers are the same in every language. So reality is we've got to know our BAM. Like how much do you actually need to make a month? Um, holes feel scary because you're used to having this jam packed schedule, but holes aren't necessarily bad.

 

if we're productive and profitable. Like I'd rather have a chill day and make the same amount of money than having the psychotic day and make less money. So we just have to look to see realistically what is the true number you have to make. And so for dentists, if your overhead is 50,000, my number for you is you gotta be producing 100,000. I like there to be a 50% overhead that's different than profitability. I've done two different numbers for you. But like for simplicity, if you're doing 50,000 in cost of the business,

 

you've got to be producing 100,000. That's what I like to do. It's not 100% realistic. Some people run it at 65% overhead. So just realize like, but I like to have a little more profitability cushion there because I might need to use that profitability to go then pump into the marketing to bring more patients in. Also, I'd look to see at my new patient numbers and I would track those new patient numbers, Ashley. Like we've got to figure out how many true new patients do you have to have? Dentists are obsessed with this.

 

like lovingly ego of like, I have this many new patients, but you might not need that many new patients to fulfill the number you need to produce. So we've just got to know those baseline numbers. Once you know, what do I truly have to produce a month? How many new patients do I need to keep that going? And the reason, the way you figure out your new patients is two things, especially in a fee for service practice, do we need X number of new patients that do X procedure? So like for some offices, they need like,

 

20 new patients because they're only gonna close two of those because they're doing these huge implant consults that are 50,000 each. Well, it's very different if you're not doing those, maybe we're attritioning out 15 patients. So we wanna make sure we're bringing in at least 20 patients a month. So the patients that are leaving, we're not declining, but we're growing. So really just look at your practice and what you need. Then from there, once you know that, yes, there are options to go back and network with Delta, but realize you go back and network with Delta, you've got to see more patients than you've been seeing.

 

Kiera Dent (38:26.789)

because you've got to offset the cost. So it's really this like balance. And when you go out of network, it can be hard and scary. But when you're out of network, you do have to work harder to bring in more patients, to retain those patients and to provide them a higher level of service. Like that's bottom line, they're paying for the experience. They're not paying because you're in network anymore. So those are some things as like team trainings that I would do of how can we get more referrals of these patients? How can we make these patients?

 

want to stay sticky to our practices at a membership plan. Can we do a VIP concierge service that doesn't cost us anything, but makes the experience for them more elite and more prestigious that they would want to stay with us. You've got to find a way to get them sticky to you because they're no longer sticky and they can leave at any moment. So on that, like once you know those numbers, then monthly, it's not like I got to fill the holes. We just have to hit these numbers and we'll be fine. That could be adding on extra treatment.

 

It could be going back through the archives. A lot of people don't realize your patient base is sitting there primed, ready to go, that there's so much treatment in there. If we just go back, like maybe you wanna run an Invisalign promotion if you do ortho in there. I've got some offices that literally crank thousands every quarter because they run these Invisalign promos. They go call the patients who are interested, tell them for this week only, and they get them to close. So that's when we get scrappy and strategic.

 

to figure out what is really the makeup that we need. How often do we need to run promos or different things versus just bringing on more new patients? Yes, targeting for fee for service is harder. Yes, not just taking every single person is harder, but we don't wanna just live on these harder procedures. We wanna have a good mix of general patients and then these other ones sprinkle in of higher production, but we don't live on these because we can make it on this. It's kinda like we live on our income.

 

And then those extra bonuses are like when you get tax, like I don't even know that's called cause I haven't gotten one in years, but like when you pay for taxes and then give you your tax refund check, I think is what it is. But like we don't plan our life for those. Those are just bonuses, just like we shouldn't plan our production based on these extra procedures. So that's how I would look at it. And I know that's a little maybe more in depth than you were looking for, but know the baseline number, know how many new patients you need to feed that. And then the holes, high five.

 

Ashley Joves (40:25.596)

I'm sorry.

 

Ashley Joves (40:39.222)

No, I love it.

 

Kiera Dent (40:45.557)

Do extra dentistry, do same day dentistry for them, give them an incredible experience. I don't usually think going back in networks the option for a new practice I might consider like in network because you can just pump a ton of new patients in there very quickly build it up and it's not as scary because you're not having to do the marketing plus trying to like run this business and you got high overhead. So sometimes being in network for new businesses can be easier but like you're there and then the answer is when do you stop riding the wave?

 

is if I go one to two months, my number one rule, Ashley, in business is I never lose money. So that's a rule, I don't lose money and I won't lose money. So if I'm getting close to my line, at that point, I'm going to know my cutoff. So what's my trigger? So if I get down to where we're only being profitable, say 5%, or my overhead's up to 80%, which to me, that feels like I would die, I would probably stop at 70% because I'm on a 30% buffer, whatever you are comfortable with. Some people will run to 70, some will run to 80.

 

but what's our game plan at that point? Is it we go back and network immediately and we've got that ready to go? Is it that we call all these patients like what's the game plan then? Because then you have freedom, you know exactly what you're gonna do at that trigger point and you have a trigger point and then it's not scary, ride the wave, but once the wave hits this point, this is what we're going to do.

 

Ashley Joves (42:09.226)

Okay, thank you Kira. I, man, I took so many notes. I wanna ask you, because you talked a lot about culture and I absolutely love your culture that you created. I think Shelby is amazing. Oh, thank you, thank you so much. I mean, I absolutely adore you and I adore Shelby. I was Helen Cullen.

 

Kiera Dent (42:26.117)

Thanks. I feel the same about you though, just so you know.

 

Ashley Joves (42:38.162)

and whoever I can talk to. And like, I will message Shelby on a Sunday night and that girl is emailing me back as soon as I hit send. What is the secret sauce to getting a team that is so engaged? Like, please spill the deets. Like I want that same engagement and motivation and just like owner mentality. It's.

 

Kiera Dent (42:45.833)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (42:52.509)

I'm sorry.

 

Kiera Dent (42:56.607)

Mm.

 

Ashley Joves (43:06.135)

What are you doing? Is it like, are you drugging your employees?

 

Kiera Dent (43:08.649)

Yeah.

 

You nailed it. A little Denali team sprinkling there. Well, you're really nice and I appreciate it. And genuinely, I look at your team too. I look at the pictures, I look at the team. And so just so you know, from the outside looking in, I'm like, what are you talking about? I feel like you already have that culture. So perception could be there, but I will say my team genuinely, who you see is who they are. And I would, I mean, Colin's amazing. You've got that same piece to it. I think something I did. So let's go back to COVID, Kira.

 

Ashley Joves (43:15.63)

I'm gonna go.

 

Kiera Dent (43:40.617)

I had a shiz, I said it with a Z guys, culture. It was crap Ashley, like it was pure junk. And I'm like, what is going on? And so I sat down, I looked at my core values and I'm like, something is happening. And I had a coach tell me, she said, Kira, this is all you and you need to fix it. And I was like, well, that was really rude and thank you, but like not necessary, but necessary. So I decided like, it's been.

 

Ashley Joves (43:44.834)

Hehehehe

 

Kiera Dent (44:07.993)

a three year journey and I don't think I'm doing everything right. And I think there's still so much growing, but I'll tell you specifics of what I've done and what I do. And so culture is a long term burn. Just so you know, it's not like an immediate, like you don't go do a sit up and get abs. Like that's how culture is. Like you got to freaking do those sit ups every dang day and you still don't get the abs. And like, you've got to be okay with that. So I reset all my core values. Every single one of them, I scrubbed them down to like, what am I missing? What's happening? And I said, that's it.

 

and I do it every quarter. I look to see where are my gaps in my company, and if so, I'm gonna change my core values. So core values have changed many times. Currently, it's dope gifts. So our core values right now are do the right thing, ownership, passion for excellence, ease, G is grit, I is innovate or die, and F stands for fun. And so those are my current core values, and I...

 

got really, really sticky on core values. So what we do now is core values are there. Then every Friday, I send out a Friday five and I highlight team members across the board of five highlights in the team. So people that have done things, I will also shout out people who are living the core values at a certain level, but I'm looking for five highlights or five things that I need to do every single week I send it. And that has been going on for two years and I

 

hated it when I started just so like, I'm not going to sugar coat any of this. Like full blown thought this was the stupidest email and I didn't want to write it and I'm like, it doesn't even matter to them. And then I found out it really mattered to them. And they're all looking to see like who gets the highlight every week and who's actually is Kira noticing and what is she noticing them for? And then from there I, and this is coming from so many different things I've trialed and aired. We now hire off of core values. Every month I make the team answer, how are they living to the core values?

 

And then every single Wednesday, our morning huddle is core value shout out. And so every team member selects somebody, every team member participates and they have to choose someone. So now it's not just cure a running culture, but all the team is running culture. And so what I did from there was every Wednesday, they're shouting someone out for a core value that they embody. So that's helped like bring this culture through.

 

Kiera Dent (46:22.041)

And then this year, and this came from Zeke with Swell, he and I actually had a nice chit chat at your event last year. Um, and Zeke told me what he does. Cause I think Zeke's a brilliant business owner. He has every person come onto his company and read extreme ownership. So I said, cool. If that's what Zeke does, that's what my team's doing. So this year I set it up to where we read ownership in January and we had a book club around ownership and we have a book club every month.

 

but that was a mandatory. I bought the book, I sent it to everybody and I had every person write their goals of how they were going to own their role personally and how they're gonna own themselves professionally. Like where are they gonna ramp up? And then every Friday five this year, I've actually put an ownership tidbit, every single one. And sometimes I have the team respond like, hey, how are you doing? This is what you said you were committing to in front of the whole team. So it's team accountability plus it's also ownership. But I pushed heavy this year of ownership, of owning your role, owning your life.

 

Um, and I do it personally and professionally and I set goals with all of them where I'm invested. Like I've got one team member who wanted to buy a house and I've helped her and she's buying her house and she's closing at the end of the month for it. And Shelby wanted certain things. And so I think also being personally invested in them, um, but then also lead by example, like Shelby knows that I will respond to emails and I will go above and beyond. Um, and that's our, that's part of our core values. Like we do the right thing. What is the right thing? Ashley emailed in.

 

I'm going to respond to her and I'm going to make sure she's taking care of. But you also got to put right people, right seats. Shelby is a master at customer service. Shelby loves people so much and like wants to make you happy. And so when I found her, I'm like, this is where you need to be. You need to be taking care of people. That's something that you are so good at, but she can then take pride in ownership and being the best at making our clients and our sponsors. And people feel so good.

 

Ashley Joves (47:50.542)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (48:11.557)

And then Brit, who's not that way, Brit's on operations and she's all things, numbers and spreadsheets and figuring out how we're going to run these HR protocols. It's right person, right seat as well. But really I have hounded this year ownership and I'm probably going to keep it going for next year because my team has elevated and I like in extreme ownership, he says there are no excuses. There are results. So I asked the team like, what is your favorite excuse that work that you just fall into the trap of? Um, I asked them like.

 

where are you not holding yourself accountable and what's the excuse you're giving and how are you going to overcome it? So like sometimes that's in a one-on-one sometimes that's direct, but I think the ownership and the core about like the Friday five and the morning huddles where they're working with each other and like they build the core values and then I make it really fun. People are like here at culture they're like you might have a cult running there and I'm like that's fine. Cult is culture like if you want to just call it what it is. So a couple

 

Ashley Joves (49:07.013)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (49:07.977)

a couple quarters ago, our team wrote, what does winning look like? And this actually came from Jason Tenori. I coach him and he's amazing, but I feel I get just as much coaching from him when I go out to see him. And he started realizing like he had departments that weren't winning. And like as a team, what does it actually mean to win? Like, yeah, we can hit these numbers, but like, what does it mean as a dental assistant department or a hygiene department or a doctor department? Like, what does winning really look like for us? So as a team,

 

My team, we created what does winning look like for our team. And they were super impressive to me of what they wrote. And the line that sticks out to me so much that I like hated when they first wrote it and then I was like, let you guys ride with it. It's like, I did everything I said I would. I owned my role to the fullest. I have 24 hour email response time. Cause I got sick of people not responding to emails. So I put that back in there to remind them like, this is our culture. Um, and it's like, I did everything I said I would, I had fun. I positively impacted someone.

 

and I have energy for me and I'm fully prepared to win tomorrow." And they say like, win tomorrow today, every other day and like forever. So they made it fun for them. But when they said, I have energy for me, I thought that was a stupid line. Like I was like, that's dumb. But the more I've said that, and we say it every single day, Ashley, I won my day quote and someone says it and we asked them, did you win your day yesterday? How much of your day did you actually win? Cause that's really showing them like, this is how we win as a company and how we win as a culture.

 

Ashley Joves (50:16.699)

I'm sorry.

 

Kiera Dent (50:31.889)

Um, and it's funny because them having energy at the end of the day for themselves and myself, I feel like I care more about them as people and like they're cranking for the company and I want to crank for them as people. And it's been interesting to watch the shift of them being more efficient with their time and looking for ways to simplify. And if they're running ragged, asking team members of like, Hey, how are you doing this differently? Cause I'm exhausted at the end of my day. And then.

 

another piece to culture Ashley, like this is the down and dirty. I've ripped my team and I've cut people that weren't fitting and we've shifted. And it's been like, that is the piece that cuts me every time because I genuinely love people and there have been team members I've had to like let go, or they've had to realize they don't fit and they've decided to leave. Um, but I'm so committed to a culture of ownership and a culture of people owning their role that will reach out to Ashley.

 

Um, and then those things get highlighted and highlighted in that team members way. So I'll do surprise and delights for them too. Um, I like to have a lot of fun. So like maybe Shelby will get this like random hundred dollar Venmo just periodically, or it will be a, Hey, like you should go to Starbucks. Like you're just crushing it or. But those don't happen all the time. I honestly think people love to just be appreciated and appreciated in their own way. So that was like whole ramble. Hopefully there were some pieces in there, but like, I want you to realize it's been a

 

three and a half year journey. And I don't think I'm perfect at it. Every, and another thing they do on Mondays, this is from Traction, every Monday, the whole team reads, what are the goals? What's the purpose? What are we working towards? Where are we at? And I have every one of them build rocks every quarter and they have to answer in front of their whole team. Are they on track or are they off track? And then rally with each other to own it. So I think there's like tactical of our goals and our pieces. There's the, the like soft skills of our core values of them like really trying to embody it.

 

And then like, it's fun, like at retreat we just had, I did show up for like a small part of it because I wanted to play Dental Team Survivor, but the games I made them play were like, how do we win our day? And they had to write it down and like, what are our core values and like little pieces of it. And then one last thing is I'm like rambling on it. Something else I've done is, I feel like embarrassed to share these things, but this is really what I do. Every Monday we go through and we say like, languages and how we speak. And so I like,

 

Kiera Dent (52:56.069)

We've all talked about how we want to do it. So like challenges fire me up and I live for breakthroughs. Like wisdom flows through me. I positively impact people. Like the stickiness for our company is the personal connection. And so it's like 10 bullet points of like, how do we speak? How do we talk? Like, cause I want them to realize like, I don't care if there's a challenge. Like I want you to like crush through that and like break through it because that's what people are going to complain about. And so.

 

And then I also have companies that we model after and I tell them why. So we model after Disneyland because they're just fun and it's attention to detail and they make you feel like a VIP. We model after Google and Amazon because they're easy and like Amazon's so good, you can't live without them. So how can dental 18 be so good, you can't live without us? And like chat GPT is for innovate or die. And so giving them like, I think I try to hit it on a tactical skill of like, here's the tactical if that's the kind of learner you are.

 

Here's the soft skills of our core value and like this culture piece of just loving in a community. And then I'm also gonna hit you on like, how do we actually speak? How do we win our day? How are we truly winning as a company? So whomever they are, something in their fits and I shoot, it might be cold and I am okay with that because the culture of ownership is bleeding through these people and then celebrating them on their one-on-ones or on their...

 

Friday five and telling them how proud of them I am genuinely. I think as a team member, so I can flip to that side, if I've heard my doctor saw that I rocked it some way, that's going to speak exponentially to me more than a raise more than a Starbucks gift card because you saw me in a moment. Like I don't do these big things. It's usually behind the scenes are the Friday fives of something small that team member did that maybe would go unnoticed, but their boss saw it.

 

And so I've thought about delegating Friday five to Shelby, like she could write that. And I'm like, this is culture cure. And as a CEO, you need to own that. So whatever pieces, but I started small. The first thing I started with was core values. Second thing was setting up quarterly. Like where are we going? Third thing was core value shout out at morning huddle, which I would definitely put those two together first. Like the core value shout out every Wednesday, I think is truly crucial. The culture then reading extreme ownership was super beneficial as our team. But I don't think my team was there.

 

Kiera Dent (55:09.693)

two years ago. I think if I would have incorporated that, it might have been too soon. I think now they were like, yep, we're doing this because we've been hitting goals, we've been tracking goals. And then from there, I think it's just you, like the Friday five, I think is as hard as it was, something super, super valuable. And I'm like, it takes me about 15 minutes every week. That 15 minutes will bless a culture. I think it's something I can do.

 

Ashley Joves (55:15.937)

Thank you.

 

Ashley Joves (55:34.43)

I want to just highlight also that you went on, I mean, when Kira talked about her culture, her face lit up and you can obviously feel the passion that she has poured into her company's culture and vision. And I want to highlight that not once did you say anything about the monetary.

 

motivation like you said you'll give like a gift card or what have you but it was it was not I'm paying them boatloads of money if they hit this they get that like it was it was all the other things around and so I'm curious well one I want to highlight my team too because I don't want um if you're on my team or if you're hearing this and you know my team my team is fantastic

 

They are amazing and I want them to know how much I love and appreciate them every single day. And this question that I have for Kira is, was more so, how do I maintain that same level of enthusiasm in the office that I was not in, the current Folsom location? And the fact that you can do this with your company who all work remotely.

 

Kiera Dent (56:49.95)

for sure.

 

Ashley Joves (56:58.614)

Like, and they're all, like, they have to work independently and they have to make sure that they are owning their roles and responsibilities. I want that, like, I want that fire, not just like being amazing, but I want them to feel like engaged and energized when I'm not there, when they can get on and reactivate the patients who haven't been in for a while. Like, that is, I mean.

 

Yeah, it's, but they're amazing. I just want to make sure that same level of enthusiasm is there when I'm not there and Judy's not there and Colin isn't there. Like how, like I don't want it to fall, you know? And you know this, yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (57:28.457)

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

 

Kiera Dent (57:47.013)

And it won't, I do. And it won't, um, if it's true culture, it will last if you're not there. So it will run, but you've got to put those systems in that structure in place that then they can lean on, give them the parameters and then let them fly. And also really, as you said that let them win in their positions, like let them be really good at their position. What is their position? What are their KPIs and let them freaking win. Like, I don't care how my team gets there. I say nothing illegal.

 

Ashley Joves (57:58.087)

And, okay.

 

Kiera Dent (58:17.145)

Nothing unethical and follow the core values and you've got free rain. Like do it. If you want to go try this or you want to try that like free rain. So you're not going to lose it Ashley, but truly the true sign of culture is can you be gone and your team can operate the same. And for me, I feel like all I need to do is put Friday five in and make sure every quarter I assess core values. Beyond that, the structures there, they can run. If I'm not on morning huddle, it runs the same. If I'm not there Monday, it runs the same.

 

So build those little systems for it. And then I show up for Friday five and I show up for like truly core values to make sure it's headed in the right direction.

 

Ashley Joves (58:55.246)

Oh my gosh, I just adore you, Tira. Have we already exhausted our time together? What time are we supposed to record with? With Ryan.

 

Kiera Dent (59:01.129)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

 

Ryan's supposed to be here now, but he's not here. So, you know, but that tends to be a Ryan like a total Ryan I'm definitely gonna text him and see where he's at. But I think like um Yeah He actually just messaged so we're good Ashley because he said I'm sorry. I have to reschedule So he's fine

 

Ashley Joves (59:08.098)

So do we just go, keep going?

 

Ashley Joves (59:23.734)

Oh, okay, wow.

 

Then I will say.

 

Kiera Dent (59:28.253)

So there we go, we have our time. I think it's been like fun, it's been a good, it's been a fun thing, but I think my last piece is like, we put bows on it, unless you wanna like dive into more consulting questions, which hey, we're here for it, we've got the time, is don't sell yourself short. Like Ashley, you do so many good things. When you were a business master, you texted me of how to win, and I don't know if you remember, but I'm like, you're a freaking marketing genius, Ashley. Use that superpower that you have. Like.

 

All of us have a superpower and like, don't sell yourself short. It's very easy to listen to these podcasts and be like, I'm not doing X, Y, Z. Well, let's do what am I doing? And what's the one thing I'm going to go incorporate? Because all these things I've shared with you have been over the course of six years. It's not like, oh, I listened to a podcast and implemented everything. But I feel like you've got to take knowledge and implement if you wanna see change. You can't just listen. That's not actually getting you anywhere. You actually have to take one piece, implement it.

 

and then come back and do the next piece. Cause that's really, I think the discipline that most of us lack. We're willing to listen. We're willing to say, yeah, yeah. But the true thing I've watched every single office, I'm like, I can tell if they'll be successful or not, is if they actually implement. You take what we say and do you implement at least one thing. I don't care if it's one tiny thing, because that shows me that you're going to stay committed to things. So don't sell yourself short and make sure you implement something. And also don't measure up to other people. Like live your own style. Ashley, I've...

 

I don't know. You don't know this, but I use your website of like the theme and the vibe. We're building a whole new website. And I'm like, I love how Ashley is. So like I pick and choose from different people constantly. And so like, don't sell yourself short. There's so many good things we do. It's the balance of like seeing that I'm incredible and I want to keep growing and not undermining myself to keep growing. Like I think there's two different motivations. Like I'm a freaking rock star. I'm going to add this two pieces in and we're going to be even better.

 

Ashley Joves (01:00:58.821)

Aww.

 

Kiera Dent (01:01:19.849)

or I suck at all of this and I'm failing everywhere, that one's not gonna motivate you. That energy's going to deplete you. The one of like, hey, I'm doing a lot of great things and like, let's high five and let me be my biggest raving fan and I'm gonna keep growing for the sake of myself and for my team, it's a different energy and a different motivation.

 

Ashley Joves (01:01:38.074)

I love that. And thank you. I'm excited. I heard you have a new logo that you're working on. Oh yeah. We'll chat more about that offline. But it's gonna be... Okay, so we've talked all about me and I have not even had a chance to ask you how is the real Kira Dent doing these days?

 

Kiera Dent (01:01:49.681)

It's gonna be fun.

 

Kiera Dent (01:02:02.693)

Ooh, well, I think I alluded to it. The Real Care Addent, gosh, it's been like a morphous right now. I'm like, I don't know what's coming on the other side of this, Ashley, but I feel like everything's being stripped down, like from religion to my identity, to like working out, to not being needed as a CEO, to, it's been weird. It's been super weird. And I'm just thankful for like really supportive people.

 

Ashley Joves (01:02:17.874)

No.

 

Kiera Dent (01:02:32.297)

through this to call and to have them be like, listen, you're just like in a shifting zone right now. Like, like stop resisting and start embracing and just surrender to what is and find the beauty within. That's why I think I love the quote of fall in love with what is because I, I don't know if I want to go to church anymore. I don't know if I want to like, I just hired a new personal trainer and she was all in like tracking macros. And I'm like, listen, girl, you don't even know who I am. Like tracking food and all that's not my jam. Like, so I think I'm just

 

Ashley Joves (01:02:57.674)

Yeah. Ha ha ha.

 

Kiera Dent (01:03:01.593)

I don't know. I think it's like, I've done this enough times. I haven't had a shift like this since 2020. And I remember the last like big shift I had. And so real clear dent is, I don't know, I'm just here for it. I guess like, whatever is coming, let's have fun and let's enjoy it. And I just go boating all the time right now in true honesty, because I love boating and I love being on the lake and it's fun. And then also,

 

usually in times like this, I know I need to disconnect and read a book. And so I've been reading a ton of just fiction books constantly because it allows my mind to shut off, like watch Lincoln Lawyer, like something that sucks me out of work and like just attaches to me. So fun. I love it. I love a good mystery because I still feel like I'm like, you know, but right now it's truly just like, I don't think I'm perfect at it. And I've definitely had some really hard days.

 

Ashley Joves (01:03:34.789)

Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (01:03:42.376)

Yep. Me too!

 

Kiera Dent (01:03:58.625)

Like, you know, I texted my realtor and said I'm selling my house because I don't want to go to church anymore like dramatic things Ashley that I know are just me trying to like escape whatever is happening But Just realizing like life is actually pretty awesome and so many good things are in play like not discrediting how I feel but Like alright, I want to get in shape and I want to get strong. These are the things I need to do to get there So instead of resisting it and hating it, like how can I embrace it and make it my own?

 

Ashley Joves (01:04:07.97)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:04:27.717)

and have fun with it. And that's really become a thing of just like, how can I make this fun? And realizing I live by guilt. I started picking up that theme. I feel guilty about this. I feel guilty about that. And so just kind of like diving in and wondering like, what's that guilt serving? And is there maybe a different way to have it? So like guilt of clients, guilt of not being at all these things, guilt of like, if I don't speak or if I don't podcast, is the company gonna fall apart? Or like I...

 

Ashley Joves (01:04:28.119)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (01:04:39.426)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:04:56.653)

I'm not going to travel as much next year. Is that going to destroy it? And I think when you're in your head, you're dead. Like Tony Robbins always says, and so it's like, follow your heart, follow what you know is true, but then like shell off every other thing that's not necessary and find things that just are fun. Like I'm like, sweet right now. I don't want to stress about things like let's go boating. Let's do Disneyland every single holiday. Like just find fun things and not to distract or numb, but to

 

Ashley Joves (01:05:04.263)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (01:05:23.209)

Just get me in a different place because I know if I can get myself out of my head and into a fun space, the answers always show up every time. So there's the real cure dent.

 

Ashley Joves (01:05:33.87)

I love that. I love that you are incorporating more play into your life. And I think that I've taken a lot of time outside of the practice, mostly for CE. We took like a little family getaway to Santa Barbara because Brian turned 40 and it was Cody's birthday too. But as far as like, even when I'm not

 

Kiera Dent (01:05:57.097)

fun.

 

Ashley Joves (01:06:03.198)

in the practice. Like, you know, that thing that you said, when you're in your head, you're dead. I am never really escaping the practice. Like all of my white space is thinking about, this is where I want to go. This is what I need to do. And then all of the tyranny of how starts to creep in. And then when that happens, nothing gets done. Because I am caught up in the details. And when I don't know...

 

Kiera Dent (01:06:09.58)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (01:06:24.066)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (01:06:29.979)

for sure.

 

Ashley Joves (01:06:32.81)

how to get to where I want to go, then I just don't move. And that is, to echo what you talked about, I have started reading just complete fiction books. And even then, just to shut off my head, I will feel guilty at the hours that I'm spending reading something that is not really.

 

Kiera Dent (01:06:38.638)

Mm-hmm.

 

Ashley Joves (01:06:58.658)

giving me business insights or leadership insights or developing me as a CEO. I need to stop thinking that way. Just really try to unplug. Now that you're business, you mentioned that it felt so weird and sad to not be at the retreat that your company put on.

 

Kiera Dent (01:07:09.077)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (01:07:27.182)

How did you reconcile that? How did you sit in those feelings and move forward? Because I totally get that. At the same point of I want this business to thrive without me, I also think, oh, god, I want to feel needed still.

 

Kiera Dent (01:07:30.357)

Mm-hmm

 

Kiera Dent (01:07:46.237)

Totally. I want to thrive. I want the business to thrive without me, but I thrive on the business. Like it's just like duo thing. So let's go back to the reading thing because I'm going to just like offer an idea that maybe will help you. And I tell myself like this free reading time is actually me still working on the business. So I kind of like trick myself because I think about like, I know logically if I were to go work out my body 24 seven.

 

Ashley Joves (01:07:48.152)

Hahaha!

 

Kiera Dent (01:08:12.901)

like my body would literally deteriorate. So like, I get it. Like if I work out every day at the gym, it's not gonna work out. Well, guess what? This little brain is like our muscles. And if it's constantly being worked out, it actually starts to become less effective. So just like, if I were to just like pump iron all day long, well, those muscles are going to actually deteriorate. They're not going to get stronger because I've overworked them. And so for me, I'm like, oh, me reading? This is just my brain's recharge time. Like phones go on batteries.

 

Ashley Joves (01:08:15.438)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (01:08:41.905)

computers have to get plugged in, cars need to get gas. The reading time or the disconnection time is just me fueling my brain. So that way I can be more productive when I go back to it. So if that helps at all, I just think about like, oh, she just needs a shutoff time up there. Let me give her, at first I called it my goddess charging time. And I thought that was like, I felt so awkward about it. But I realized it's just my CEO charging time, like me watching TV or me reading books that are fictional.

 

Like rock on, this is just my charging time. Like it's gotta have a shutoff time to recharge. Otherwise I'm just gonna be muck and schmuck going forward. So that helps you realize and like not be guilty about it because your brain has to have a time to shut off. It has to get a recharge. And truthfully, if you do that, like you're way more productive on the other side of it. So just like, that's kinda how I've been able to reconcile it. And like also why is it wrong to have fun?

 

Um, one of my words has been playful and like be more playful and have more fun because there are people that we all know in high school that were like total, just floozies, like they like never showed up really. They hung out, like they were the life of the part and they had, they pass all their classes and I'm like studious and trying to get it all that. Like there's two ways to live life. I can be this like gladiator that slays all day, or I can also be a magician. There's like playful and like hanging out and still crank it. And I want to be more magician in my life right now and more playful.

 

Ashley Joves (01:09:48.286)

I'm sorry.

 

Kiera Dent (01:10:08.645)

because I know I can get just as good of results if not better with less stress. And so if that helps you just like, play is actually really helpful. So that's one. And then you asked me how to reconcile the company not needing me. I don't think I'm quite there yet. I wanna give you the answers and I wanna say, I know. I think I've more just opened up to the idea of, okay, I've been working towards this goal and I just watched myself have it happen.

 

I'm going to cry my freaking eyes out and realize like, this is so sad for me and like not dismiss that. Because I think often when we dismiss it, it just stays with us. So I've just learned like emotions are like thunderstorms. Let them come, they'll pass through and they might come back and that's okay. I talked to some like really trusted friends and just like was really honest of how I felt and that was helpful. And then I just...

 

Ashley Joves (01:10:44.983)

Hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (01:11:03.465)

Like I had a coach and she's like, Kira, you're finally leading your team, not walking side by side. Like you're morphing into a true CEO, not a team member. And that perspective really helped me because I've been a team member for my whole life. I've been like, I was an assistant, I was an office manager. Like I know that role so well, a CEO role I don't actually know. So then I quickly Googled like Google's a best friend. And I'm like, what does a CEO actually do? Like, let me just look. And that was where it was vision, culture, and profitability. And I'm like, okay.

 

Like if that's where I'm supposed to morph into, cool. So I think right now it's more just, I'm truly in an exploration phase of asking like, who would I be if I wasn't at all the team meetings and team retreats? And honestly, Ashley, I'm a business junkie and there have been ideas starting to percolate of like new ideas and new business ventures. Some are associated with Dental A Team and others are not. And I realized like, that is my seat. Like,

 

That is the seat that I freaking love to sit in. I don't enjoy the managing. I don't enjoy the building protocols. Am I dang good at it? Yes, but that sucks life out of me. And so it's more realizing, getting to a spot where the tasks and the responsibilities I don't enjoy doing, I'm gonna pass those people who love them and give space to wander and to create more so than just be the same that I've always been. So I'm still not there, but that's me kind of like working through and how I'm working through it currently.

 

Ashley Joves (01:12:16.532)

Yes.

 

Ashley Joves (01:12:24.082)

Ugh. Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (01:12:29.97)

I love that so much. Okay, I need to know, what are your favorite books that you've read this year? Let's get some tactical recommendations. I wanna, can I be in your book club? No, but really, like that's a very serious question. Can we create a cura dent and whoever wants to be in our book club? Cause I just want an opportunity to have more cura.

 

Kiera Dent (01:12:39.531)

Oh.

 

Kiera Dent (01:12:46.113)

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:12:52.402)

Of course.

 

Kiera Dent (01:12:57.985)

Of course. Well, Denali team has a monthly book club that I release every single month. So those are like business and work and all that. So like I've done quite a few. So if you want to join there for sure. But then like if I pull up my audible, so like business wise this year, like right now we're reading profit first. That's next month's book club. And then the next one's the color code. And then the next one's going to be medical medium. And we've done like the happiest man on earth was just the last one with Eddie Jaco.

 

Ashley Joves (01:13:05.772)

Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:13:24.497)

And I freaking love that one. That one, actually, if you wanna like feel good about life, that's my go-to book that I read of just like, whoa, my life is, it's called The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jacu. He's a Holocaust survivor. So like trigger warning there, but oh my gosh. I love him. I listen to him. I just think like this man can be so happy going through so much, like, and not to compare, but genuinely just to be in awe.

 

Ashley Joves (01:13:30.143)

What is it called?

 

Ashley Joves (01:13:39.342)

Oh

 

Kiera Dent (01:13:52.201)

I leave that book, I read it several times, and I just feel like the happiest person. So yes, but like, oh man, some fun ones that I've read. Emily Henry, she's a good, easy beach read for me. So Happy Place, beach read, meh, it wasn't my favorite, but definitely like, but Happy Place, I did love some, it was controversial. Like the people we meet on vacation, those are just fun ones. Emily Henry, she's a good one for me to just like.

 

Ashley Joves (01:14:14.565)

Oh.

 

Oh.

 

Kiera Dent (01:14:20.625)

check out and like fall in love again. And like those ones are just like fun romance ones. And then the silent patient. If you want a spicy one that like creeped me out. And I definitely had nightmares, but like I'm a baby when it comes to scary things, I definitely was scared, but like it was so like that one. I don't know. I'm like, it was still good. I would just have to like hold Jason's hand a little bit while I was listening to it, just a little bit.

 

Ashley Joves (01:14:37.343)

Me too.

 

Ashley Joves (01:14:49.614)

Kira, have you read Verity by Colleen Hoover?

 

Kiera Dent (01:14:53.313)

Okay, Verity, I started it. So here's the thing. This is Kira, like, I told Shelby, because Shelby recommended it to me, and I was like, Shelby, I'm like a little sheltered of a little bit, like, that was a bit extreme for me. I need a little more tone down. So.

 

Ashley Joves (01:15:07.794)

It was so crazy. Yeah. I was like, so good.

 

Kiera Dent (01:15:14.957)

Yeah. So I've heard so many good things about it. Silent Patient is in that realm. But like I told Shelby, I'm like, listen, I like some like good juicy romance, but like I still need to feel like I can go to bed and look at Jason like normally. So that was my like line. And so some of these, like if I start and I'm like, oh my gosh, but like again, I'm a shy baby and like so naive, Ashley. I mean, I married a construction worker. Jason was in construction before and he's like,

 

Ashley Joves (01:15:21.482)

Oh dear.

 

Ashley Joves (01:15:31.448)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:15:44.021)

Kira, I love you so much because you are so naive. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, they said what? So just so you know, I have a little more reserved on that side, but that's Kira for real. This is real life Kira. I've heard it ends with us by calling Hoover is good, but again, I'm a little skeptical on that one. I'm not sure, because it's like same vein of Verde. And I was like, Shelby, is this like, I can listen to it and I'm not gonna blush the whole time on a plane?

 

Ashley Joves (01:15:47.395)

Aww.

 

Ashley Joves (01:16:01.806)

Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:16:13.549)

Or am I gonna be blushing the whole time? So Shelby's my like one to tell me if I should read it or not.

 

Ashley Joves (01:16:20.878)

Okay, so Verity was frightening for me. And it was like, I was scared to use the bathroom after Brian went to bed because just getting out of bed. No, I was just freaked out, but it was so good. It ends with us. Yes, it can be like PG-13-ish rated R, but not rated X. So.

 

Kiera Dent (01:16:25.422)

Okay, good to know.

 

Kiera Dent (01:16:45.405)

See, perfect. I mean, okay, that's helpful. Cause I mean, I was like, where is this like rating guide on books? Like this would help me a lot, especially for someone who's like blushes at, like people kissing. I mean, my parents were like very non like physical. And so I'm like, Jason, and he's like, Kira, it's like normal. But you know, there's my, that's like little, I mean, I've got business Kira, and then this is real life Kira. But two other books, if you, so I also appreciate a good like,

 

Ashley Joves (01:16:52.898)

Eheheheh!

 

Ashley Joves (01:17:03.947)

It's like...

 

Ashley Joves (01:17:08.629)

Oh, yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:17:13.661)

challenges my beliefs kind of book. So one book is called Small Great Things by Jodi, I don't know, Pickleot. Small Great Things is like a very controversial race. And I love it because it forces me to think in different ways. She wrote another one called Mad Honey, which I had been recommended. That one, I still feel angry about it, not because of the subject, but I feel bothered by how she wrote it.

 

but loved that it forced me to think so differently too. So just like, there's kind of my pieces. Some people might love me or hate me off of those, but those are some good, get out of your own way. But then if you want some good book, work ones that I thought were fun, Unreasonable Hospitality was such a beautiful book on how can I do, how can I, and if you don't wanna have to read these books, I have all these podcasted of quick snippets. I don't do the.

 

I don't do the fiction reviews, but the work ones. So unreasonable hospitality was super good. Just to think of how can we really enhance our patient experience in a fun way and get the team excited about it. I'm obsessed with profit first, so that one's surely on there. The EOS life, Ashley, you might enjoy. The EOS life is a good business one that talks about, we figure out how to run businesses, but we don't ever figure out how to run our personal lives and to have our businesses work for us.

 

So that one, I was like, I geeked on that one. I read that one really quickly. So those are like some fun ones, but those are mine. I feel like Ashley Hovis should share your book club side. And then every month we should have like a fun one that we read, cause like my fun one right now that I'm reading and I just started it. So if we want to like book club together, this is a fictional, Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams. It's totally fictional. It's in the same vein of like romance, verity, all these ones.

 

Ashley Joves (01:18:50.63)

Oh dear.

 

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (01:19:08.049)

So if you and I want to have like a girls book club on it, and if you want a business book club, which I don't think you should do, but if you want to, Profit First is my current one and I'm about to bust it out this weekend on like four times the speed on Audible. So that is my secret thing. I do try to like see how fast I can get it on Audible without missing every word that they say.

 

Ashley Joves (01:19:20.745)

effectiveness.

 

Ashley Joves (01:19:31.514)

I love that. Thank you. I love that it is such a great collection of books too. Okay, I wrote them all down. I've read so many books. I think I've probably read all the Colleen Hoover books. But it ends with us, it starts with us. Regretting You was so good. We, I'm currently reading 10% Happier.

 

Kiera Dent (01:19:44.168)

Ready.

 

Kiera Dent (01:19:53.893)

Ooh, I've heard that one.

 

Ashley Joves (01:20:01.858)

Um, by Dan Harris. Yeah. Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:20:01.917)

Oh, I love it. It's such, you have to read it. It's so good. And then I've got some, I also have some other ones in that same genre, if you're looking for some in that are just, oh, okay, 10% happier is there's.

 

Ashley Joves (01:20:12.647)

Yes, I love it.

 

Ashley Joves (01:20:17.959)

I

 

Kiera Dent (01:20:20.721)

Let's take.

 

Ashley Joves (01:20:21.694)

10% happier. Let me grab my audible because I don't have my Kindle next to it. I'm currently reading High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard. So good too.

 

Kiera Dent (01:20:31.991)

ooo

 

I do like him.

 

Ashley Joves (01:20:39.942)

Oh, one of my favorite all time audio books, you have to do it on Audible, is The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown. It feels like a therapy session. It is so good and she unlocks so many things that we think, but she also twists in her stories and it's funny also at the same time. So The Power of Vulnerability,

 

Kiera Dent (01:20:49.864)

Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:10.139)

Excellent.

 

Ashley Joves (01:21:11.263)

Um, I finished Outlive by Peter Attia, just the book on longevity. I loved it. And the last chapter, Kira is all about his mental health journey. And it even had Brian emotional. It's so good. Um, what else? Uh, um, creating magic by Lee Cockrell.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:15.173)

Yes. Do you love it?

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:27.858)

awesome.

 

Uh, okay.

 

Ashley Joves (01:21:37.17)

It is the Disneyland story. So good. Building a story brand. Donald Miller. So good. Don Miller, he's the man. Man.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:38.269)

So good. Yes. So good.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:46.953)

Don Miller.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:51.965)

He is.

 

Ashley Joves (01:21:55.702)

The High Five Habit by Mel Robbins.

 

Kiera Dent (01:21:58.974)

Ooh.

 

Ashley Joves (01:22:00.43)

that was also super good. Man, I just have so many, but those I think are the ones that I will repeat because they're some of my favorites. We're gonna get a book club. And if you want to.

 

Kiera Dent (01:22:18.265)

Okay, listening to you on your 10%. Go ahead.

 

Ashley Joves (01:22:24.019)

Oh, no, I want to hear 10% happier.

 

Kiera Dent (01:22:27.941)

If you want another one in the 10% happier, that's kind of fun. So I'll throw just a few more in that like same genre. There's a book called Die with Zero. It talks about how to like live and not just save for forever. Amazing. And then the happiness advantage is very similar to 10% happier, like super, super similar. But I also really loved, because this is my efficiency side, the book essentialism.

 

Ashley Joves (01:22:45.998)

Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:22:55.801)

and effortless. They're both by the same author, Greg McCowan, essentialism and effortless, I think are just good tactical ones. Not as much on the happiness side, but they are really solid in like, how do I make this happiness piece, but like cut out all the fluff in my life too. So I feel like they're a good pairing, like learn how to be happier and then how to like cut the fluff.

 

Ashley Joves (01:23:18.658)

it cut the fluff. Oh my gosh can you believe we've almost... yes! How do you do that if it's on audible? Can you do that?

 

Kiera Dent (01:23:21.261)

I always love a good book swap.

 

Kiera Dent (01:23:30.277)

Yeah, like book club it.

 

Ashley Joves (01:23:33.842)

Yeah, like I've never done anything like that before. Or can you borrow a friend's book and you give them?

 

Kiera Dent (01:23:38.985)

So usually book clubs are, I think you could, but normally a book club's like, okay, this month let's do, or this week let's all read essentialism. And then we're gonna meet on Wednesday the 23rd, and like in September, and we're all gonna share our ideas of what it was. So if you wanna join, if you wanna do a sample book club, Dental A Team actually does do, our team does a book club every month, and on Monday, you're probably working.

 

Ashley Joves (01:23:50.944)

Okay.

 

Ashley Joves (01:24:05.419)

Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:24:06.909)

but at two o'clock Pacific, we're gonna run our Profit First book club. So if you wanna like come join a book club and see it, and then ever like we do ours on the fourth Monday of every month is where we book club. So, but Ashley, you and I can set up our own book club time if we want to.

 

Ashley Joves (01:24:10.958)

Thanks for watching!

 

Ashley Joves (01:24:20.894)

Okay, I freaking love it. And if you're listening to this and you wanna be a part of our book club, message us. And if you wanna hear Kira, the amazing Kira Dance live in person, you guys, this is the plug for the retreat. This, she's gonna be speaking at our awesome retreat this November, November 15th to 17th is the date, but.

 

Kiera Dent (01:24:23.846)

Yeah.

 

Ashley Joves (01:24:48.162)

Having Kira, not just listening to her speak on stage, but just more of this, more of this one-on-one. Like let's just build community. That's what it's all about. So come join us. We'd love for you to experience Kira and all of our amazing speakers in person and just get what we're really looking for, I feel, in our practices. Like we don't get that.

 

the ability to bounce ideas off of each other because we're solopreneurs, most of us. So it's a meeting of the minds and it really is. It's become like a meeting of the hearts. I know that sounds so cheesy, but there is nothing that can fuel you up like this. Like it's just amazing. And I'm so happy that you're gonna be a part of it. And because Kira is amazing and what she's building with DEMO 18 is so...

 

Kiera Dent (01:25:22.385)

All right.

 

Ashley Joves (01:25:44.854)

I mean, it's inspirational. We're giving away free tickets to any new clients of Kira's and dental A team. So if you are interested in that, make sure to reach out to Kira and then Kira will give us your name and then we'll give you your ticket. That's gonna be awesome. Yeah.

 

Kiera Dent (01:25:53.648)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (01:26:06.445)

Totally. It is going to be awesome. And Ashley, your event last year was amazing. I've been to a lot and I tell everyone, I'm like, Ashley's is so fun because it was like business and personal. And I didn't feel exhausted at the end of them. It was really a good blend. So kudos to you guys putting that on. I feel like it's one of the best events in person of just like life and business. But I think like a good quote that we could end all of this on is, success without fulfillment is truly the ultimate failure.

 

And that's from Tony Robbins. And I just think about that. Like when you say the meeting of the hearts and it sounds cheesy, well, that's the fulfillment piece. And we can all have success and we can all have perfect PNLs. But if we're feeling like you were at the beginning of this podcast of the overwhelm, the discouragement, I feel like that's a complete failure if we wanna like really put the F failure word out there. Because if we are getting all the success and we are growing, but not fulfilled.

 

We've failed and I believe and I've seen it and I've created it with hundreds of clients that you can be successful and fulfilled and live life on your terms with ease and it doesn't have to be hard. And so let's create that and make that a reality too. So I think that's why your guys' event is awesome because I think it teaches how to be successful and fulfilled to truly live the ultimate life.

 

Ashley Joves (01:27:25.79)

Thank you so much for that. And I'm so honored to have you be a part of it. And I can't wait to have you in our new office in October. That's going to be fun. We should podcast again then. It's going to be so good.

 

Kiera Dent (01:27:39.725)

We will, we should do a live one, like right after. We'll do it together live, it'll be a good time. Maybe that's what, Ashley, we'll read these books. Which one are we doing? 10% happier and I'll text you the happy, or like perfect one, like we'll do a business one and we'll do a like fictional. And October when I come in person, so this gives us like a month and a half. So we'll read 10% happier.

 

Ashley Joves (01:27:42.598)

Let's do it. Yes.

 

Ashley Joves (01:27:53.834)

Okay.

 

Ashley Joves (01:27:57.49)

Okay, let's do it.

 

Ashley Joves (01:28:03.198)

Okay.

 

Kiera Dent (01:28:05.489)

and the one I'm in the middle of right now, like I just started so I won't be leaving you is practice makes perfect. So we'll have it and then we'll book club in person together. Dill?

 

Ashley Joves (01:28:12.786)

Okay. Let's do it. Deal. I wrote it down. All right, my friend.

 

Kiera Dent (01:28:18.185)

Okay, it's gonna be a fun time. And then we'll podcast about it. You guys can all join Ashley and I on our book club too, but it'll be super fun. So Ashley, I just appreciate you. It's been a ton of fun. Guys, we have like navigated from business to strategy to personal to book clubbing. Like it has been an all around incredible podcast. So Ashley, thank you. Thanks for being on the Dental 18 podcast. I've had a blast being on the Little Black Dress podcast. And I just appreciate you as a human and a person in my life.

 

Ashley Joves (01:28:22.219)

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (01:28:46.801)

and a friend in my corner that I know will always be real, always be raw. And I think that's your secret sauce that you should never, ever, ever let go of.

 

Ashley Joves (01:28:56.31)

Oh, right back at you, my friend. It's been such an honor and privilege getting to know you, being a part of your inner circle. And I, I'm so blessed to have you in my life as a friend, as a colleague, as one of those freaking bad asses in our industry. Thank you for being so awesome. Always being so real. And you continue to inspire me like every day. I'm like, what would Kira do? I should make a bracelet. Like.

 

Kiera Dent (01:29:24.135)

Hahaha

 

Ashley Joves (01:29:24.302)

Seriously, what would Kira do? And you're such a blessing. So thank you for allowing me to join you on your podcast and for crossing over to ours and for being a part of our retreat. And I can't wait to see you in October.

 

Kiera Dent (01:29:30.813)

Thank you.

Kiera Dent (01:29:40.517)

Likewise, it's gonna be amazing. Thrilled to be there. And as always, thanks everyone for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental Team Podcast.