429: It’s OKAY to ____ Your Job

Kiera is giving you permission not to enjoy being a business owner or a team member all the time. Yup, you’re dealing with the ebbs and flows of being a working human — the entrepreneurial pattern! But Kiera also has a solution to your bad situation which will help you love your job longer before getting to those downward swings:

1. Look for patterns

2. Identify them

3. Take massive action

4. Have a brain dump

5. Find someone to look outside your situation

It’s important to give yourself space when these emotions arise, and know that it’s normal. Kiera just had her own challenging week to endure, but she’s back on top! You can be, too.

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Podcast Transcript:

[music]

0:00:05.8 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent. And I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective. Because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices, coaching teams.

0:00:31.9 KD: Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

0:00:50.6 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera, and you guys car casting for the win. Yes, I'm literally driving in my car with a microphone by myself, got headphones in both ears right now. Don't worry, everything safe over here. One ear for directions, [chuckle] another ear to hear the podcast, and I love it. It's a beautiful drive.

0:01:12.7 KD: And the reason I like car casting is because I feel like I can really get in the zone, and you guys are helping me out. I get really tired. Don't worry, I'm not gonna die. It's in the middle of the day. But I get really tired and time sometimes can feel like it goes really slowly. However, if I get to chat with you guys, podcast with all of you, it becomes a lot more fun, and I feel like this is where some of my best podcasts actually come from.

0:01:35.9 KD: Because I'm in a space of... Just clarity. So today's podcast... It's going to be on... This is a fun one... I'm in a business mindset right now, so you guys are gonna get some business out of me. I'm gonna pop over into systems next, but it's on the ebbs and flows of a business owner and how it's okay to not enjoy being a business owner. [laughter] You guys heard me right.

0:01:57.4 KD: Okay, I'm giving you provision not to enjoy being a business owner, not to enjoy being a team member. It's okay guys. This is called the ebbs and flow of life. This is called... This is just it. And I don't know, I just didn't feel like people really were telling me that it's okay to hate your job. [laughter] You guys... I just literally said that.

0:02:20.0 KD: The path of an entrepreneur and having days where you hate your job, having days where you just... I get angry sometimes, 'cause I think, "Kiera, you should love your job. You made your job."

0:02:32.5 KD: Yeah, I said it. I said it. I said it out loud. Maybe this podcast isn't for me. Maybe it's for one of you. I don't know who this podcast is for, but it's hit me really strongly for the last couple of weeks to let you know that it's okay to hate your job. It's okay to have bad days. It doesn't mean you're a failed business owner. It doesn't mean that you're failing at life.

0:02:51.3 KD: I've started to watch patterns and habits of my clients. If you guys don't know, I'm gonna share... We have Dental A Team Consulting, where we help dentists and teams grow their practices. But not just their practices, we also have them grow personally as well. So being balanced. Then we also teach you how to be a freaking awesome business owner to where you're profitable and you have freedom in that arena as well.

0:03:12.7 KD: So if you're interested in systems and being top to bottom, really rocking on your systems in your practice and having a systematized practice that runs without being dependent on people. And then we have teams where we develop you as leaders. We develop you personally and professionally. Rock on, let's do that. And then also to make you a really, really, really fantastic business owner, where you know how to read a P&L, you know how to have a profitable business, and you know how to make this something that's actually going to leave you a legacy.

0:03:39.1 KD: If that resonates with you by all means, join us. We'd love to have you as part of our Dental A Team family. We have... You can either be virtual or we can come to your practice. Either one, you're gonna see massive results and I know you're gonna have a completely different life. So email us any time, [email protected].

0:03:53.0 KD: And if you've been thinking about it for a while, just do it. Just do it... Take massive action because you're always just one decision away from a completely different life, for a positive or a negative.

0:04:04.7 KD: So, with that said, I've just been thinking a lot about our clients, a lot about myself, and I wanted to pop on today and just let you know, it's okay to have bad days. I think so often we as business owners and entrepreneurs and team members feel, "If I don't have a great day, then that means I hate my job, that means I have a failure." When I think we have to have the ebbs and flows in life as well. We can't have all rosy awesome days. That's not how life works.

0:04:31.9 KD: And if we did have all rosy glossy days, we wouldn't appreciate them because we didn't know the opposite of it. Everything in life has an opposite side to it as well. And so with that said, so many people... I talk to a lot of clients. I have a lot of coaching call clients, that go, "Kiera, "I just feel like I'm in a rut." Hi five. Me too. "Kiera, really? Are you sure." Like, "I'm not a failure. I'm not doing all these things wrong?" No, you're... It's called being a human being. And you're going to have ups and downs all the time, and that's okay.

0:05:01.8 KD: I just think sometimes we need to be given permission. Now, don't get in that rut for so long. Reach out. Ask for help. Be able to grow. Be able to go to different levels, making sure that you're not just sitting there in a yucky rut, versus growing from it. But allow yourself the space to... There are some days where I'm just bitter. [chuckle] Even though I tell myself, "Hey, Kiera, you should love your job."

0:05:21.5 KD: Well, guess what I should also enjoy eating vegetables and working out, and I don't enjoy those things either. [laughter] So I think when you're having those days where you don't enjoy your job, or you're just feeling stuck... Number one, give yourself the space to fill that. Give yourself space and not make yourself wrong for it. Not make yourself wrong for the fact that maybe you don't love doing this anymore.

0:05:40.3 KD: I have a client right now who just told me, "I don't enjoy being a dentist." Well, okay, let's talk about that. Let's think of all the other possibilities that you can do. You don't have to be a dentist. You don't have to hate your day every single day. You could hire an associate. You could actually sell it off. You could bring on a completely different doctor. Or you could just manage the business part of it. Or we could bring on a manager so you don't have to do the managing.

0:06:05.2 KD: What part of being a dentist don't you enjoy. Is it the actual physical cutting teeth, or is it the managing of a business that you don't enjoy. Because both of those are going to lead to completely different outcomes. So number one, be okay with the fact that you're human, and that you're feeling this.

0:06:19.5 KD: Hey, Dental A Team listeners, we decided to get a little unconventional and come to all of you guys. Because guess what, the Dental A Team, is hiring the best of the best for traveling consultants. So if you know of somebody that you work with, that you've worked with in the past, that you think would make an incredible Dental A Team consultant, please email us, [email protected].

0:06:42.9 KD: We do not hire people working at offices that we work with. So we're just putting that out there. But we do want you guys, if any of you know of anybody who you think would be an incredible consultant that would love to positively impact the world of dentistry, that they've worked with the front office as an office manager, a treatment coordinator, a scheduler, a biller, and they have back office experience, send them our way, [email protected].

0:07:04.7 KD: And guys like you, we're looking to hire our unicorn. And thank you all for helping us out. Here's and cheers to hiring all of our unicorns and making this year our year to build our most incredible teams.

0:07:19.1 KD: Number two, let's dive into what is it about this that you're not enjoying and let's see if there happens to be a solution. So I just told you about that client I have who realized he just didn't enjoy the management side of it. 'Cause I'm like, "Look we could sell it." Just so you know, if we sell it, this is probably what you're going to get for it. Which to me... You've already done the hard part of it, so let's see if we could go around it.

0:07:39.1 KD: Number two, what's your outcome? What do you want? I just... I wanna be happy. I wanna enjoy going to work. Fantastic. What do you not enjoy about going to work? Let's see... Is there a social work you could do?

0:07:49.0 KD: So when you guys are having the time where you're not enjoying your job or you're not enjoying work, even if you created it, even if this was your dream job, team members, that's fine. Let's look and see what is it about it that you're not enjoying and could we possibly hire it? Delegate it? Change it?

0:08:03.8 KD: So for me, a lot of times when I don't like my life, which was this week... Confession. I have a journal entry that says, "I freaking hate my life. Xoxo, Kiera."

0:08:14.6 KD: That is really what I wrote. And I stopped and I'm like, "What is it about my life I don't like?" And I said, I don't have space or time to work on all the business problems, so it feels like it's stacking on top of me. Well, guess what? Right? There is my solution. I just need more white space in my life. So I talked to Shelby. She blocked me admin time every single week. I told her how many hours I need a week, and that is now blocked. I don't hate my life.

0:08:34.8 KD: I took Friday as a day to just recharge. I don't hate my life anymore. I don't hate my job. I love what I do. And it was a simple shift, just right there that went from hating it to loving it. And it's okay. I don't think we realize as business owners, as team members we will have pendulum swings. It's just how do we minimize those pendulum swings and how do we quickly identify what's causing that pendulum swing. And how do we fix it to where we have less and less pendulum swings. Meaning, going from the highs of loving our job to the lows of the lows of just being like, "Pack it up. I'm done." [laughter]

0:09:08.3 KD: How do we minimize those? And I think one is giving yourself space to have down dates. Giving your space to just shut off and recharge. Are you booking it enough vacations for yourself to recharge mentally and relationship? Are you giving yourself space in other areas of your world of fulfillment, doing service for other people, not just so focused on work every day, day in, day out?

0:09:33.3 KD: Are you establishing habits? Or hobbies? I had an office manager who said, "Kiera, I'm just feeling burnout." And I said, "How many hobbies do you have?" 'Cause she's like, "I'll just go work on this at home." And I said, "Do you have a hobby?" She said, "No, it's pretty much work." And I said, "I'm gonna challenge you over the next six weeks to develop a hobby."

0:09:49.4 KD: On my last call with her, she said, "Kiera, guess what? I've picked up photography, and I'm really loving it." Do you see how we did a pendulum shift. She was feeling burnout, exhausted at work, and all she needed was to have another hobby besides work. Pendulum shifts happen. They occur. And it's okay... It's okay to go from the side to side, but let's figure it out and identify it quicker and faster.

0:10:10.8 KD: Sometimes having a coach can help. Sometimes I ask my coach, like, "What is going on?" Other times for me, I call it my brain dump time. So one day I was very frustrated, things were getting to a boiling point on me... And start to recognize patterns in you. So what I mean by boiling points, is when you're just getting that exhausted, stressed out... Let's look to see what is causing this boiling point and how can we avoid it in the future.

0:10:31.0 KD: So for me, a lot of it is due to a lack of space and time. You guys... Clients and consulting is something I am so passionate about and I love. I will also tell you, taking care of a lot of people's problems can be a drain on a human being. [laughter] And so I have to make sure I build in time, like mountain biking, hanging out with Jason, cooking, baking.

0:10:51.6 KD: I really, really, really love those things. And so I have to make sure I physically block those times into my week, otherwise I can get really burned out really quickly and not even realize it. Same thing with you guys in healthcare. You're taking on other people's problems, you're dealing with it, you're dealing with people not liking coming to see you. So you've gotta make sure you check to see what are those boiling points.

0:11:09.1 KD: So for me, mine tends to come when I've been working a lot with no recharge time for me. So the simple fix was I needed to build in time for podcasts, I needed to build in time for my own personal development, and I needed to have time that's just down shut off time. Great, that's my solution. That's what causes my boiling point. Any time I get to a boiling point, I've been able to identify my pattern of, I have been running too long without my quiet white noise time.

0:11:37.7 KD: As soon as I get that into play... Guess, who's a lot happier and a lot more fulfilled? I am. So check to see you for you, what are your boiling points.

0:11:46.0 KD: Then the second thing I've done is called the brain dump. So the brain dump came, like I said... I was super frustrated. And I called it all the shiz, with the Z as in Zebra. All the shiz. I was really, really, really mad. And I just wrote all the problems that were happening. I typed it up on a Google Doc. And it was really, really clarifying for me, because then I send it over to my business coach and I said, "I don't know what needs to happen, 'cause I can't even see what my next step is to solve the problem. But here are all the problems I am facing."

0:12:12.7 KD: Sometimes just the exercise of dumping it on paper gets it out of your swirling head and gets it onto paper so then you can identify what's going on and where is the problem to see, "Could we find a different solution? Is there something else that we could do?" So for me, I realized and I started to chunk it. Once I had all those problems listed out, I then could put things under it.

0:12:30.5 KD: What I found on that was I needed to figure out our CRM. So that's how we manage our clients, our marketing and our success team was struggling. And so we needed to get that into play. Great, I got that into play. I was able to direct my success team and my marketing team. They've taken it on. They're implementing it. They're going through all the training and we're making massive progress.

0:12:50.9 KD: Our clients are better tracked, our phone calls and our services are better tracked, the whole thing cleared up, but that was one of the first things I had to do. The next thing I needed to do was possibly hire basically an operations manager. Well, guess what, guys, I tried it... Three times.

0:13:05.3 KD: [laughter] It did not work out. Period. Don't worry, Dental A Team Kiera Dent, is not immune to the hiring a snafus of the world. But what I did realize is I've got a girl on my team, named Shelby, who's a freaking rock star. She came to me and said, "Hey, Kiera, I think I wanna be the operations manager. Do you think you could grow me into that role?"

0:13:22.2 KD: Well, hey, I've got a team member who actually wants to do this and is driven, and now all I need to do is help give her the guidance and direction. So I'm guiding her and directing her. She's taking on so much and doing amazing at it. It turns out that she's actually going to school for business and project management. Well, that's pretty convenient that she wants to do that in our company.

0:13:40.6 KD: I have a gateway right in front of her, a perfect path to exactly what she's going to school for and conveniently, I couldn't hire three people. That was a boiling point in my life. And now I've got a solution to it. It wasn't that I needed to toss everything in or turn in the keys. It was I needed to find the solution within.

0:13:57.7 KD: Some of you get really frustrated because you don't know how to get more new patients. Well, cool, there's a ton of marketing companies out there. But is it that we actually need new patients? Is it that your revenue is not high enough? Do you possibly need to drop your overhead? What's that boiling point? What's causing that stress at night? And how do we avoid that... That other doctor, "Hey, I just don't enjoy being a dentist."

0:14:15.6 KD: Okay. Well, let's find out what is it. It turns out he just doesn't enjoy managing. He doesn't have a manager. And I said, "Well, what's $50,000 to you? That's easy. Once you become a business owner, with $50,000, you hire an office manager who's incredible. You might not be as profitable right now, but I promise you'll be a lot less stressed and you're gonna do better dentistry, better exams, because you don't have that... Let's hire that.

0:14:37.7 KD: So finding out where those boiling points are and realizing, it's okay. It's just a cycle. I call it the entrepreneurial pattern of, I love my job. Things are going super, super well. We're climbing the mountain. Plateau. Have a massive dip. Hate my life. Wanna pick back up. Find the boiling point. Correct it and get on to the next level.

0:14:54.3 KD: That's a pattern. Once I start to identify that pattern, how can I make the I love my job, my life, climbing up the mount and feeling fulfilled a longer swing and a less of that downward swing? And how do I correct in those downward wings faster and learn from them faster? The answer is, number one, look for patterns.

0:15:13.9 KD: Number two, identify them. Number three, take massive action to correct it. Like put in the admin time, hire an office manager or whatever it is. And number four, do the brain dump. Get it out of your head. Number five would be hire a coach or somebody who can look outside of you and give you the direction and the clarity when you're spinning and circling to be able to help direct you and guide you.

0:15:31.5 KD: Those things are gonna massively help you guys. So I wanna give you one permission that it's okay. And number two, solutions on how you can improve it, so that way you get out of those downward spirals faster. Guys you've been put through a lot with COVID, with team members quitting.

0:15:46.8 KD: [laughter] Yeah, I don't know what the heck is going on. So give yourself some space and realize, it's tricky. But guess what, when it's tricky... Like Ryan Holiday, he has the book, The Obstacle is the Way. And if you have not read that or if it's been a while, reread it. The obstacle is the way, guys. And right in front of you could be a massive, massive, massive opportunity that you're missing because you can't see it.

0:16:06.3 KD: So remember, when it gets tricky, that's where the opportunity lies, if you're willing to see it. So go enjoy guys. Know that I'm rooting for you. If I can ever be a help to you, if I can ever give you guidance, please email us, [email protected]. Happy to do so. And as always, guys, thank you so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

0:16:29.6 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.