How to have a practice that fits your life, from someone who has actually built one.
FROM ALLISON
I’m so excited to share my monthly musings with YOU! Once a month, I will send you one big thing that's been on my mind and a book, podcast, audiobook that I’m loving. I am so glad you are here. Let me share what I have been thinking about.
THIS MONTH
I built this practice. Why is it running me?
True story. For years, my sister (the doctor) and I ran a family dental practice with three locations and three doctors. It seemed like a success from the outside, but in reality, it sucked. We were tired, stressed, and more locations and a larger team just led to more headaches and less time with our family.
So we decided to do something crazy. We sold two of the smaller locations and kept the larger one. Today, we work a compressed schedule and produce multi-seven figures - more than the three locations combined! And as a bonus, we get to leave by 5 and have more time to be with the people we love.
Were there operational changes? Yes. Did we streamline our schedule and implement new systems? Absolutely. But all that took time. The real shift that changed everything happened in my sister's head.
Finally, after practicing in our father’s model for over 10 years, she gave herself permission to want a practice built around her life. The hustle and grind worked for our dad, but it wasn’t working for us. Oddly, no one talks about this notion of having a practice that complements your life. And I know it can be done, because we did it!
After 22 years in practice management, here are a few things I know for sure: I know that practices can grow without doctor burnout. I know that practice owners can make more AND do less. And I know that the secret key lies in the doctor’s mind. You can have all the systems, binders, fancy software and tech In the world, but if YOU, the doctor, are trapped at the center of every decision, you are on the fast track to burnout.
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ACTION ITEM
Write down five things that landed on your desk last week that did not actually require your expertise as a doctor. Flag the ones your team brought that 1. They already know the answer to or 2. Someone else is capable of figuring out. For each of these, decide who, besides you, can take ownership, then give it away. Now Repeat!
Notice how much time and mental energy you take back when you stop being the answer to every single question.
THINK ABOUT THIS...
TIME is your most valuable currency.
Get your time back by deciding that you are no longer available for
things that do not require your expertise.
What are you no longer available for in your practice?
PUT THIS ON A POST-IT
The first step to getting anywhere
is deciding you are no longer willing
to stay where you are
ON MY NIGHT STAND
Buy Back Your Time
by Dan Martell
If you are the person your team comes to for every decision, then this book is for YOU! Dan Martell makes one very uncomfortable argument: Most successful owners hit a ceiling because they spend too much of their time on work someone else should be doing. The secret? It’s not about working harder or finding more time to do work. It’s about designing the freedom to engage in the high-value work that brings you energy and fulfillment. This is at the heart of the message that has made Dan Martell the world’s most popular SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) coach. Trading money for time—that is, literally buying back free space in your calendar—will give you more financial success than you ever dreamed was possible.
WHEN YOU ARE READY
Feeling like you get it, but don’t know how to DO it?
I coach female dentists and dental specialists who are ready to get out of the hustle and grind and take back their freedom. If that is you, reply to this email and tell me where you feel stuck.
I also speak at meetings and study clubs on mindset, leadership, systems, and the neuroscience of a high-performing team. If you book speakers, hit reply.
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