If you find that your dental practice has stagnated in any area: growth, teamwork, innovation, or even your own vision of what is possible, you will not be able to get out of that stagnation the same way you got into it.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
— Albert Einstein
How do you get out of that level of consciousness at the root of your current predicament? You must change your level of consciousness by uprooting the very ideas that created your current circumstances. As a leader, it takes tremendous courage to say, even to yourself, “Well, I got us into this. I must be the one to steer us out.”
Let me tell you a story. The following is an excerpt from my book, Extraction: The Surprising New Formula to Systemize, Scale and Sell Your Business.
Within three months of owning my practice, and while working at two other practices as an associate, my office manager abruptly resigned from her position. I quickly realized that I had not just lost an office manager, but also our ability to bill and collect the money we earned. The administrative process for Medicaid claims is highly sensitive and tedious. It took months for me to be able to find, hire, and train a new office manager, during which time I felt like I was running out of oxygen and gasping for air to survive.
Cash for a business is like oxygen for the body. My cash flow was diminishing, and, at that time, I did not know how to accurately obtain data to diagnose the problem. Anxiety took over and I started having frequent panic attacks. Once again, my poverty mindset and my fear of overcoming destitution was at the forefront of my mind. I had finally opened my own practice with the opportunity to achieve the financial freedom I desired since I was a child.
And then overnight, this dream had quickly transformed to feel like a noose around my neck. I spent countless nights succumbing to the terror that I would not be able to live up to the many financial obligations that loomed over my head.
I realized that my only way out of my panic was to diagnose the problem, and to do that, I needed accurate data. Our practice was filled with manual charts and paper claims. I knew that I had to invest in digital systems so that I could gain control over the data which, in turn, would help me to diagnose and treat the cash flow disease of my practice accurately. At that moment, I was so grateful for the bank underwriter who had insisted that I get an additional working capital loan.
-Chapter 1: Choosing What Defines You, Extraction: The Surprising New Formula to Systemize, Scale and Sell Your Practice.I invested in updating our practice management software and digitizing my whole practice. I also bargained with my cousin for IT and networking services in exchange for free lifetime dentistry. Eight months after my office manager had abandoned us, we finally started getting real data, and the truth was painful.
The Most Critical Lesson I Learned
I was in quite a pickle, but my stressed out mindset was not going to get my dental practice out of the situation it was in. I had to change my mindset; I had to change the actual operations in my practice in order for me to understand the data; and finally, I needed to ask for help.
These were not easy lessons or actions for me to take but they were necessary in order for me to understand my problem, diagnose it and then solve it. I had to change myself before I changed by business strategy.
How to Apply Point A to Your Dental Practice
Every meaningful journey starts with clarity about where you are today. Before you can set a compelling vision for your dental practice, you have to honestly assess your Point A: your current reality. Taking the time to step back and look at your practice from a higher vantage point creates awareness, perspective, and often, new solutions where obstacles once felt immovable.
Clarity comes from intention. It requires the right mindset, a clear look at your practice’s data, and a structured way to connect where you are today with where you want to go. That’s exactly why we created the Extraction GPS.
The Extraction GPS is a practical tool designed to help dental entrepreneurs clarify their values, define their current state, and map a clear path forward. It turns abstract ideas about vision and growth into something tangible you can work through, revisit, and use to guide decisions as your practice evolves.
At Optimize Practice Alliance, we believe the future of dentistry belongs with dentists and that future is built by leaders who take the time to define their direction with intention.
Ready to gain clarity on your Point A and chart a path forward?