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Choosing Courage Over Comfort to Build Your Epic Life

Choosing Courage Over Comfort to Build Your Epic Life - RD PodcastToday’s episode is going to be a little different; instead of hosting an interview, I’m going to share an interview I recently did with Reese Harper from the Dentist Money™ podcast. The conversation we had really highlighted the message I want to spread about how to achieve high-performance days in our practices and what it takes to create the lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

Listen in to hear my discussion with Reese about the habits that have helped me stay focused on my goals, make time for gratitude, and achieve my own epic life.

Key Quotes:

  • “I think most people are really shortsighted because they want to get through the week, the day, the quarter, whatever it may be, and those building blocks may or may not build the superstructure they want for a life.”
  • “It is clear to me that the achievement mindset really gets in the way of fulfillment because we’re always chasing that next goal, and it’s something that I really have to work at.”
  • “High achieving dentists want to be like the hall of fame quarterback of their business, but they’re not taking care of themselves like a hall of fame quarterback.”
  • “The demands that dentists I know put on themselves are extreme because they’re usually hardworking and kind-hearted, and so they want to be everything to their team and to their patients and to their families, and if you’re not devoting that time for self-care, that’s where we get into all those spirals that we hear about—substance abuse, suicide and things like that.”
  • “One of the things where I see dentists taken a lot is marketing…We’re being oversold on marketing, so that really concerns me about dentists outsourcing too much of that and not really understanding where the ROI lives.”
  • “When I was seven years old, I couldn’t have dreamt this life, and I want [my son] to not have those mental barriers.”
  • “Deceiving yourself that the status quo is going to serve you is delusional, and so my challenge to listeners is when you come to that fork in the road, to choose courage over comfort.”

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Start Living Your Best Life NOW with Tim Rauch

Start Living Your Best Life NOW with Tim Rauch - RD Podcast

Today’s guest has followed an unusual career path, to say the least. From going into undergrad as a football player to training to be a fighter pilot, Tim Rauch hadn’t even considered working in dentistry when he was growing up. Yet nowadays, he has the kind of successful dental career—and lifestyle—many dreams of, including shorter, flexible work weeks, frequent travel, and more.

In this episode, Tim shares the inspiring story of perseverance and intentionality that led him to where he is today. Listen in to hear how he created his ideal work-life balance and how you can overcome excuses and start designing your own epic life.

Key Quotes:

  • “[In] about a four-year stretch, I went from brand new startup owner to multi-practice with associates owning a practice management guy to selling everything and starting over.”
  • “A ton of  professional and financial success—really more than I ever thought was possible as a dentist—and I had this total come to Jesus moment with how and why and to what end.”
  • “I wanted to be able to stop and say that if I died any day now, I’d be doing exactly what I wanted to be doing.”
  • “My new mantra was: I’m going to live every week, every day, every month, and plan every year like, hey, this could be it because things slip away quickly.”
  • “Start today. Think very clearly about what your ideal week, or your ideal month, or the ideal year of your life could look like, and then identify what you need to do to get there, and then work your ass off until you get it.”

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Chasing the American Dream with Tiger Safarov

Chasing the American Dream with Tiger Safarov - RD PodcastTiger Safarov is a firm believer in the American Dream. After coming to the United States when he was twenty years old—with the plan to earn enough money to buy a BMW and move back to his home country of Russia—Tiger was thrilled to learn that starting his own business in the U.S. was as easy as filing the paperwork and opening a bank account. Knowing firsthand how difficult it was to start a business in Russia, he jumped at the chance to start a company here.

Now the founder of Zen Supplies, an inventory management platform for dental supplies, Tiger has realized his own American Dream. In this episode, he shares his entrepreneurial journey, as well as why he sees being an immigrant as a huge advantage.

Key Quotes:

  • “People talk about the American Dream—it’s truly alive because you can still start a business with a bank account … you can start a business without having a business.”
  • “I said, ‘What if I start my own company?’ and the professor said, ‘Don’t even think about it, it’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.’ In two days, I had my own company.”
  • “School was not easy for me, and I wanted to prove that I’m good at something.”
  • “A key take-home for listeners is that sometimes things won’t be as opportunistic—the economy, local markets, staffing issues, patient issues—and being a little scrappy, being willing to do what other people aren’t willing to do is the upper hand.”
  • “There are two types of entrepreneurs: there are ones that are trying to pull out of their rear end an idea and do something about it, and there are other entrepreneurs that are trying to scratch their own itch—and I believe in the second one.”

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What’s Holding You and Your Business Back with Peter Shallard

Being self-employed and running your own business can bring some incredible rewards. It also tends to bring many dilemmas and issues your way that other people may not understand. There are things that entrepreneurs tend to sabotage themselves and their business with that can easily be managed and avoided.

What’s Holding You and Your Business Back with Peter Shallard

Peter Shallard, the “Shrink for Entrepreneurs” is here to share some insight on common issues entrepreneurs have and how to fix them.

On this episode, Peter tells us his story on how he ended up working mainly with self-employed entrepreneurs and why he loves what he does. He sheds some light on issues like self-sabotage, perfectionism, over-optimization syndrome, and discomfort avoidance. Peter explains how these issues can negatively affect your success and how to avoid thinking and acting in ways that bring on these problems.

Key Quotes:

  • “The problem with self-employment has always been that it’s this very lonely place to sometimes be because you’re doing an incredible amount of work and you’re wrestling with problems and challenges that other people by nature of what they do just can’t quite connect with or understand.”
  • “There are a huge number of small business owners that have an execution problem.
    Who just don’t have the capacity or focus to take action on all the good ideas they have.”
  • “The self-sabotage kind-of kicks in because the human brain isn’t really that well optimized for operating in a state of kind-of social isolation.”
  • “Perfectionism is a danger because it’s a false narrative, sort-of a self-deception, that we tell ourselves as a way to sort-of keep ourselves in the comfort zone and prevent ourselves from having to do work we fundamentally find scary.”
  • “It’s more comfortable to be working on something than it is to finish it and put it out there in the world and find out, Oh this didn’t go quite as well as we thought it would go.”
  • “Entrepreneurs learn and get the best kind of insights and experience from executing.”
  • “There’s nothing of value or substance created in the business world without somebody leaning into discomfort and uncertainty and doing courageous work to make it happen.”
  • “We’ve almost gotten so comfortable that we believe it’s bad to feel uncomfortable.”

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The Entrepreneurial Journey of a Dentist with Dr. Dave Bender

In this episode, Dr. Dave Bender (Fishers, Indiana) shares his entrepreneurial journey with us and explains how he balances both managing his three dental practices with living a healthy, active lifestyle. The Entrepreneurial Journey of a Dentist with Dr. Dave Bender

His early-set goal to own multiple practices was challenged with the difficulties of clinical dentistry, but he shares how his bigger vision for what he projected his business to become was the driving force for his success.

Dave carries with him a powerful message that can transform the way we run our practices. His progressive thinking coupled with his early childhood influences pushes him to always “be comfortable with being uncomfortable”.

In this episode, he shares how his experiences in corporate dentistry at Heartland Dental surprisingly counter the attitudes shared by most practicing dentists. He describes his continuing education courses with Heartland Dental as a value that he, otherwise, would not have experienced in a smaller practice. He later explains how he was unhappy with starting an associate driven practice because of the demanding high capital it required. He now thrives, in multiple aspects, with a co-partnership business model.

Key Quotes:

  • Let us live so when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry. – Mark Twain
  • With my early struggles – I was forced to be a better marketer, I was forced to run my practice a better way.
  • I was forced to do whatever it took to make the patient experience what it could be so that they would tell their family and friends –  and that’s honestly how we grew.
  • The difficulties we had in the first couple of years forced me to be better and more intentional about our growth process.
  • In 2013, I started an associate driven practice and that was a major mistake.
  • Some will be good, a few will be great, but only one will be the best.

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Passion, Challenges, and Courage in Dentistry with Dr. Bilal Saib

Passion, Challenges, and Courage in Dentistry with Dr. Bilal SaibToday’s episode is a little different. Instead of me interviewing our guest, Dr. Bilal Saib of The Passionate Dentist podcast, we interview each other about the highs and lows of our careers and the joys of podcasting.

Dr. B is a fellow dentist and podcaster based in North Carolina. He’s also a frequent missionary to the West Bank, where he performs free dental work in communities in need. In this episode, we talk about how our shows have given us a greater sense of community with other dentists, and dig into our careers.

Dr. B and I talk about the lack of confidence among dentists, which is exacerbated by our tendency to only talk about the good things happening in our practices. We discuss the self-reflection that goes into building your own practice and learning how to manage a team, and how it’s made us better people. Dr. B also shares some of his experiences with missionary work, a unique but meaningful challenge he feels compelled to undertake.

Key Quotes:

  • When you decide to own dental practice, you have to step up to the plate and do what is required of you.
  • The thing that makes us more fulfilled and makes our practices grow is the psychology of you, the owner, and there’s nothing more powerful in psychology than confidence.
  • What the practice requires of me has made me such a better person.
  • I go on mission trips because I’m sharing my gift. And my gift is all these little tidbits of things that are lined up perfectly to create this perfect environment.
  • I chose to have a low volume, high-quality practice even before I started my practice.
  • Dentists are sometimes so benevolent that we forget the time and energy that we put into our education, hiring and firing staff, and patient relationships – there’s a lot of equity there – either because we come from humble beginnings or because we come from a place of give, give give.
  • One of the first questions I ask dental students is: “why did you choose to become a dentist?”
  • The first check I ever wrote myself was $100. It was a symbolic gesture of my three year anniversary.
  • You learn a lot from practice management because when you have a busy practice, you learn what you want and you learn what you really don’t want. And there’s huge value in knowing what you want.
  • Don’t treat insurance patients differently than non-insurance patients. Don’t cut your quality short. Do your very best with every patient, even if they’re on insurance.

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