Episode 718: Making Success Manageable 

 Kiera is introducing the Dental A-Team’s latest consultant, Denae! Together, the two talk about Denae’s love for dentistry, her consulting strong-suits, how to make your goals manageable, having the right mindset to succeed, and a ton more.

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Transcript:

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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 over 165 different offices coaching teams. 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.

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0:00:50.6 Kiera Dent: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And you guys, I am so excited for you to meet someone that I am obsessing about. She is a new consultant to our team, but she's not new to consulting. Denae Black is an incredible consultant. She has been around the block, guys. And she told me the other day, she said, "Kiera, I'm just really good at what I do. I'm able to grow businesses successfully, consistently." So I am beyond honored. She's on the Dental A Team, and she's on the podcast. Denae, welcome to the show today. How are you?

0:01:19.8 Denae Black: I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me, Kiera.

0:01:22.5 Kiera Dent: Oh my gosh. Of course. So Denae, you've gotta tell the little bit of background. I teed you up a little bit. You've got a pretty impressive dental story, so just tell us who is Denae, how did she get from, where she was to Dental A Team. Kinda just give us your dental story.

0:01:37.5 Denae Black: Yeah, absolutely. So I started out in dental answering phones. Actually, that was my sole responsibility. It was a really large group practice, and we had about six providers, probably about eight hygienists in that location. So it was a really high-volume practice. My only job was to answer phones. [chuckle] And eventually, I took on different roles within that practice. I eventually took on a treatment coordinator role. I was checking patients in, checking patients out. And over time, I became an office manager. So the office manager role is where I really fell in love with the platform that it gave me to be able to empower my team and grow my team members in ways that they didn't think that they could even grow. From there, I then went on to a Director of Operations position for another kind of smaller group practice. Did that for a few years. I've also sat in a position as a Regional Manager for a DSO. And then I've been doing consulting for about five years now. So over the span of about 17 to 18 years, I've sat in a lot of many different seats in the dental industry. So that's kind of my background.

0:02:55.8 Kiera Dent: That's awesome. And I loved Denae when we interviewed her. I was like, "Alright, Denae. I love your experience. I love your passion." You guys, her first day... Which I shouldn't share this, 'cause those of you offices, she's got consulting down, guys. Don't even panic. But her first day was actually Dental A Team Summit. So you know Denae is jump right in, do whatever it's gonna take. So if you guys saw Dental A Team's summit, Denae is amazing. So Denae, tell us, what do you love about dentistry? Like, why... You started answering phones. Probably not dentistry where you wanted to go. I think you're working retail, if I remember your story, right? And you're like, "Aah." And switched over to answering phones. But what about dentistry has just kept your passion alive over these 17 years? That's a long time to stay in an industry. What keeps the passion? Why do you love dentistry? What is it about dentistry for you?

0:03:40.6 Denae Black: So I love dentistry because of what we do. We're changing people's lives every single day, and we're doing it both from our patients' perspective, and we're doing it from our team's perspective. So that's what I love so much about dentistry. And the industry is constantly changing. We're constantly growing. We're constantly improving our ability to make impacts, both, again, with our patients and with our team members. So that's really why my passion is there in dentistry. And personally, I continue to grow and challenge myself and have to overcome different things that I never thought that I could do. So for me, it's a personal and a professional thing. Dentistry, I am super passionate about it.

0:04:26.6 Kiera Dent: I love it. I love it. So Denae and I got to meet in person. It's funny. Like, Dana, I don't think I even met her for almost a year. She'd work with us. That's the craziness of working in a virtual company, is we actually don't get to see each other all the time. So it was super fun to meet you in person. Guys, Denae is good time. She's our kind of people. We were talking about hiking and all the different things, going room-to-room. Dana's got that on her objective this year. But I just love Denae is a really strong ability within dentistry. And so Denae, kind of just tell us, like, in dentistry, there's so many different areas that we as consultants, I think, kinda gravitate towards. Like, I feel I'm a miracle grower for practices. I love to grow them, I love to evolve them, I like to expand, I love profitability of businesses, I love to develop leadership teams, implement traction, things like that. What about for you? Like, what do you feel are your consulting strong suits within practices that you really love to just dive into the nitty-gritty on?

0:05:21.2 Denae Black: My favorite thing to do, what I have a burning passion for is helping business owners, helping the owner dentists figure out what is it that they want from their practice, what is the unique thing that... Why did they start their business, and what are they trying to get? Are they looking at... Do they wanna take home more money? Do they want to be able to take more time off? Are they looking at carving out more money to put away for their kids' college funds? What is it that they're working towards over the next year, three years, five years? What are the things that they want out of their business? And then breaking that down into smaller goals so that they can see that it is attainable and that we can make that stuff happen. So for me, that's my favorite thing to do, is big picture, what are we trying to do here, and then help them see that it is possible. Being able to take a few months off every single year combined, it's possible. You can have that balance. You just have to have a strategy behind it.

0:06:27.9 Kiera Dent: Yes. And that was actually something Denae and I were talking about yesterday, was... Which is why we decided we were going to hop on the podcast. And of course, I want you guys to meet her. She's amazing, guys. I feel like any office who gets to work with Denae is beyond lucky. I think anyone who works with any of our consultants is super lucky. Denae just has this really awesome edge and niche to her. But something that we were talking about is, I do feel Dental A Team Consulting is different than other consulting companies. And Denae, I have never worked for another consulting company. I literally made up Dental A Team out of my brain and said, "I wish I would have had this as a business owner. I wish I would have had this as a team member." And so we've kind of evolved and morphed. But you and I were talking about something that I think does set Dental A Team apart, is that personal piece, that we're literally sitting here all the time, starting our calls off, talking about that personal piece. But Denae, again, you're coming from... You've worked in different consulting companies. You're joining Dental A Team. What do you see are different pieces...

0:07:22.6 Kiera Dent: Again, I don't think any consulting company is right or wrong. I think all consulting companies have so many valuable pieces they can offer. And I really think it just gels and jives with who you are as a person. But Denae, what are some of the pieces... Again, you're coming in with fresh eyes. You're seeing things differently. What are you seeing the Dental A Team does differently than maybe some of the other experiences you've had in the past?

0:07:43.1 Denae Black: Yeah. So I have spent the last several days really diving in and listening into a lot of the other calls with all of our consultants, and the one thing, the one consistent thing that stands out to me that does separate the Dental A Team from any of our other consulting agencies is that we put the human beings first. As soon as we got on a call with some of our clients, it's, "Hey, how are your kids doing?" "Hey, how's your spouse doing?" "Hey, were you able to... Are you still able to do whatever you're trying to do while carving time out for your basketball games?" It's, first, human beings and then the business. And honestly, I think that's what separates us from anybody else, is that it truly is about the relationships and recognizing that we're working with humans, we're working with humans that also happened to own a business.

0:08:37.8 Kiera Dent: Right. And I'm so glad. It was actually really empowering for me as a business owner to have new team members come in and to hear them say that, because for me, I don't believe that you can separate business from people. I don't believe that the business trumps you as a person. I feel like the business should serve you as a person. It should give you the lifestyle you want. It should give you the team and the culture that you want. And I feel the business should work for you, but you have to know who you are first. You have to know what you want to achieve. You have to... And not be afraid of that. I love, Denae, what you said is your passion and what lights you up, is helping doctors really, truly, and team members, get the lives that they always dreamed of having and realizing it's possible. And that's something that I'm obsessed with, because I think so often, we play small. And I would ask the question of, are you playing small right now? Are you sitting here taking it and saying, "You know, this is the life I've got. I'm a dentist, and I need to work six days a week, and it's okay if I'm making less than I was as an associate."

0:09:31.7 Kiera Dent: I would say, raise your standard. It's like, Let's dream big. What do you actually want to achieve? Because to Denae's point, we've both coached hundreds of practices. Anything you want can be achieved. Denae, do you agree with that statement? 'Cause I do. But I'm curious, this is Kiera Dent here, do you, Denae, believe that anything doctors want and team members want, you can achieve it, we just have to work backwards and then create the strategy? What are your thoughts around that?

0:09:54.8 Denae Black: I wholeheartedly agree with that. And I think that it starts with the mindset, right? If you don't believe that something is possible, if you don't believe that you can achieve something, because you don't see a path, or you can't see how it's gonna work, it's never gonna happen. But if you think your mindset is more of a broader scheme, if you say, "I definitely can do X, Y, and Z," and then work with a coach to make it happen, it can happen. But it starts, first, with your mindset.

0:10:27.2 Kiera Dent: So Denae, I'm gonna just dig a little deeper on that. How do you get the mindset right? 'Cause I'm sure people listening might be like, "Okay, I believe that. I understand I need a coach," 'cause I do agree. I think a coach pairing has helped me a ton. Because I can sit here all day long in Kiera Dent's brain up here, and I'll be like, "But I don't really deserve that." And I get other people do that, but I can't. But a coach literally has helped me say like, "Kiera, why not?" And they've shut down all of those limiting beliefs. But Denae, how do you get that mindset to believe that you're worth it, to believe that you can have whatever practice you want? How do you empower people, or what have you done personally to get that mindset right? 'Cause I do agree with you. I think it's 80% psychology, 20% skill. How do we get that psychology?

0:11:07.6 Denae Black: Typically, what I do is I sit down with my practice owners every single year, and I say, "I want you to close your eyes, and I want you to forget about all of the barriers. I want you to forget about all of the what-ifs, or "I can't do this because of." And I want you to tell me if you could have everything that you want in the next 12 months. Or in the next three years, or in the next five years, what would that look like?" Just forget about all of the reasons why something can't happen and tell me if you could have it Christmas, like, what would it be? What would that look like? And then from there, break that down into the smaller segments and show them, "These are... This is possible. All you need to do is make a minor change. You just need to do one... " Like, Kiera, what you were talking about before, it's, 1% change actually ends up being 30 or even 33% change over a year. So helping them remove any of the barriers, any of those thoughts in their mind that are telling them they can't do something, that for me is the first step.

0:12:14.0 Kiera Dent: I love that. And I would say for all of you listening right now, like, let's have you actually do that. I mean, if you're driving, please don't close your eyes right now, [chuckle] But really close your eyes and just dream. And I think so often for me, I know I sometimes get scared 'cause I'm worried about what people say about me, if they're going to judge me, if they're going to think I'm being too lofty or too ambitious on my goals, but this isn't a time for us to justify any of what we want. This isn't the time for us to say, "Well, gosh, is my team gonna be supportive of that?" At the end of the day, I found that when your team is the right team, they want you to flourish, because they're bought into that same thing, and that's winning for them as well. If they're not there and they want you to play small, it's probably time for you to upgrade your team. And team members, if you're holding your doctor back... There's a difference between holding back and being realistic. I will be clear on that, right? Sometimes [chuckle] it's a little bit crazy of a goal. But right now, I do agree with you, Denae, like, dream of whatever you want it to be with no judgment. And I think that's something I try to convey all day long to our podcast family, to our current clients, to future clients. There is no judgment here. Whatever you want, you can achieve.

0:13:20.1 Kiera Dent: If we wanna have a three-day work week and we wanna produce 5 million, guess what? That's a reality. We could create that. If you wanna work six days a week and you wanna have seven different locations, that again is a reality. And so I think once we know, and you can just dream... And I believe you've gotta dream bigger or differently every year. Maybe it'll stay the same. Maybe it'll look different. I know what I want Dental A Team to look like on day one compared to whatever day we're on today, radically different. But I'm a different person too. And so it would be a dream and all team members' dream. What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your future to look like? What do you want... With none of those objections, I love how you said that, like, get rid of all those pieces and dream for that. And then Denae, okay, we've dreamed. We've created it. Now, how do we become tactical? How do we make that dream become a reality? What are some of the things that you do or you recommend for practices you've worked with or for you personally?

0:14:13.7 Denae Black: So I always base it off of scorecards. I wanna be able to track, am I making progress? Am I actually doing the things that are going to allow me to have the additional time off or allow me to buy that additional location? You wanna be able to track it, because if it's getting tracked, you know how you're doing. You know where you need to pivot, you know where you don't need to pivot, you know what's working really well and what's not. So once you dream big, once you can outline and say, "This is where I'm going to be... " Not even, "This is where I want to be," "This is where I'm going to be in the next year," then you can break that down, and you can say, "In order for me to get there, I need to collect X, which means I need to produce X. I'm gonna need to bring on how many team members." Break that down and then look at it at an even smaller segment and say, "When do I need to produce that? When do I need to hire the additional team members?" So it starts first with the mindset, then it goes into... And this is actually a part of the Atomic folks habit, but then it goes into recognizing and saying, "I am this person. I am going to have this happen." And then break that down into a strategic plan, what are the things... The minor things that you need to do over that period of time to make that happen?

0:15:37.5 Kiera Dent: I love that. And I love, Denae, how you broke it down so simply, because I think people feel like these goals are so far removed. And I remember I was at an event and I did an exercise and they said, "Just dream big. Whatever you want can be yours." And it was one of those things where, guys, I just decided to be a crazy town, and I'm like, "What if I bought a plane for Dental A Team?" That seems so lavish an outlet. But we travel a lot. And I just thought like, "What is it... " And I remember this event. It was so crazy cool, because they said if you don't actually go in and write down what it is and figure out how much that costs... Like, I didn't know what a plane costs. I didn't know how much this would cost. If you don't know what another practice would cost, or you don't know what it would cost to bring on an associate, it's really hard for you to then make a plan, because you don't even know that costs. I remember the day... You guys know I'm a car girl. I'm like, "How much does a Lamborghini even actually costs."

0:16:25.2 Kiera Dent: I don't even know these numbers, so it seemed so far away. But if you break it down... I remember when I bought my Tesla, I was like, "Now, how much do these things even cost? What does that look like?" But if you break it down and you figure it out, then you can make it attainable and achievable. Or you might say, "Right now, I can't. But if I got X, Y, and Z, then I could." And for you, Denae, I love that you said, Now, we create a plan. But then there's a when to it; when are we going to do this? When and how are we going... Because I do believe there's a lot of strategy behind. It's not, "Let's go buy the Lambo, let's go buy the plane, let's go buy the associate... Or bring on an associate or buy the next practice," if we're not even collecting 100% right now. There are steps and sequences that definitely can make or break this. But I love that you said, "I am this person." And dreaming and seeing yourself as this person... And again, to the Atomic Habits book, it was so cool in that book. I just did a book club. If you guys missed that podcast, be sure to go snag it. But I loved how they said like, start... Ask yourself, a person who has multiple practices, what decisions would they make? A person who has associates, how would they treat their team, and how would they run their meetings? A person who has a three-day work week, what would they need to delegate to be able to have that three-day?

0:17:33.1 Kiera Dent: Because then you start to think differently. And you're going from who you are today to who you ultimately want to become. And I think that that's just magic. And like Denae said, I feel like in Dental A Team, there is strategy all across the board with consulting. Across the board, everyone's gonna track things, they're gonna build plans with you, but it's, do they care about you as a person? And do you resonate with that company? 'Cause for me, I will tell you all day long, if you're failing as a person in your marriage, in your life and your relationships are failing, I believe success without failure, truthfully is the ultimate failure in life. Like... Excuse me. Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Like, you can be successful and you can have all these great dreams, but if you're failing as a person and you're not even fulfilled, why are we doing this? We get one life to live. One shot at this. Are you living who you want to be? Are you living that dream of life?

0:18:19.6 Kiera Dent: I remember, and I said this before, I wrote on my mirror when I was little, "Don't just dream, do." Are we actually living up to our true potential of who we want to be? Not what our parents want us to be, not what our spouse wants us to be, not what our team wants us to be, but who we want to be. And if so, rock on. And do you have a coach, do you have someone in your corner that's actively advocating for that life? So that's something that I love. And Denae, I was so giddy when you told me this yesterday. I was like, "We are podcasting about that tomorrow so things are getting on the podcast." But any last thoughts you've got around any of this? 'Cause I feel like for people to go take this, implement. But again, it takes discipline. Another client, and I'll do a podcast on this, he said that change comes through consistency. So we can build... We can dream. We can build out a plan, but if we're not consistent, stay accountable to it, the plan is going to fail. So those are kind of my last wrap-up thoughts. Denae, any last thoughts you've got? I'm super jazzed you're on the podcast. So thank you for that.

0:19:12.8 Denae Black: Absolutely. I would just say, if you could walk away from this podcast with one thing, it would be close your eyes, figure out who do you wanna be tomorrow, who do you wanna be next month, who do you wanna be next year, and then identify as that person, identify as the person that you wanna be tomorrow, identify as the person that you wanna be next month, and the person that you wanna be next year, because once you can identify and say, "I am this person," not, "I wanna be this person," that's your first step.

0:19:46.0 Kiera Dent: I love it. Denae, guys, super jazzed she's with us. [chuckle] I love learning from her. I'm excited to have her on the podcast more and share all of her nuggets. I'm excited for her to coach offices that really wanna go to that next step that really do want to change. And so to Denae's point, you are that person. What are the steps that person would do, execute on that today, and then realize that you deserve and you are worthy of that life of being that person. And I really would just encourage you to believe that you are. If we can help you on that, by all means, reach out, [email protected]. Go to the website, book a call. I would love to chat with you. And Denae, thanks for being here. I'm excited that you're on Dental A Team. Guys, I know you love Denae. If you love Denae, email me in [email protected], give her some love. But truly, guys, this is your life. Be sure you're living it. Take that tip that Denae just gave you. And as always, thanks for listening, I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.

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0:20:39.4 Kiera Dent: 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.

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