I suppose there are many secrets in life, health, business, leadership, but everything in life doesn’t boil down to just one secret. Anyone who tells you there is but ONE thing you have to do, think, believe is crazy.
As the saying suggests, if only it were that easy, everyone would do it, have it, be it.
But of course, that’s not true either, because most are complacent, small-minded, and satisfied with the status quo. They prefer boring, lame, predictable to change, growth, ambition. Predictable is a wonderful concept when you’re talking about wealth and retirement income, but not when you’re talking about business, leading people, getting rich, and doing dentistry on your own terms.
The secret I am going to give you today is multi-faceted, but it is the first step. It’s the initial domino that needs to fall. The foundation for everything else you will ever do or achieve.
So, like a magician defying industry traditions by exposing how the illusion actually functions, I will reveal the hidden trapdoor, pull back the curtain, and take you behind the scenes of the most successful, most sustainable, most profitable dental practices in all the world.
(Make sure to note, however, that what I’m about to share builds upon the absolute mandate of running your practice like a BUSINESS, which is a philosophy that can’t be lived without.)
The secret to your success and truly having the practice of your dreams and your ideal set-up; the secret to achieving more wealth in a shorter period of time; the secret to transitioning or exiting on top of your game for maximum value; the secret to an amazing team, to the dentistry you are passionate about, to the schedule you want, to the income you deserve—all comes down to these two simple words…
Reverse Engineering
This is far more mission-critical than you may ever realize—that is, until you embrace and own this concept, this technique, this way of doing business, leading, growing, making money, and practicing dentistry. It’s a foundational operating principle you can’t afford to put off doing even one day more.
Setting aside time, energy, mental effort to REVERSE ENGINEER your future is the foundational key to success. But sadly, practically no one does this. At least most dentists never think about taking their practice vision and working backwards down to the tiniest detail.
Most…live in the practice they have always known.
Most…keeping going through the motions year after year.
Most…want things but don’t know how to actually make them happen.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, many dentists (you I hope), have goals, have a vision, have frustrations they would like to change and money they would like to make.
But it all stops there and goes no further than Goals + Daily Routine = Same-Old Same-Old.
No progress, no proactive adjustments, no decisions, and no changes that would lead you towards this ideal future vision. Zero reverse engineering.
I always explain it like this: when you want to build a house, you don’t go pick up a hammer first—you create a blueprint: an architectural plan to follow to ensure that you end up with the vision you had in mind.
This is reverse engineering.
I can explain it even better than that… let’s bring it even closer to home…
How about your patients and your treatment plans? You begin with a vision of the end result, then you move backwards. You first need to know where to start, where you want to end up, and then you begin work on the foundation.
Anyone can throw on some composite and cement the crowns. But you have to ask yourself: how is what I’m doing to this tooth going to affect all the others? How is the bite going to work? How is all of this going to look? So many considerations.
Of course, way too many dentists are still practicing one tooth at a time, step-by-step dentistry without any vision or reverse engineering to their treatment plans. Naturally, they are getting exactly what they are creating for themselves and their patients. Which isn’t much.
Reverse Engineering, when done properly, means that your business gets constructed based on the way you want it to be; what I call “the state of ideal.” Anything short of that is your own fault—at least once you know, and now you do.
If you are just going through the motions—you are going to be disappointed, you are going to end up further from your goals, and most certainly you are going to work way too hard for what you are getting.
If you first know what you want, only THEN you can create it.
So, what do you want…
- Your Schedule To Be?
- Type Of Dentistry To Do?
- Daily Responsibilities You Have?
- Amount Of Your Income?
- Your Lifestyle Structure?
Now, the trick is, you can’t disconnect these items from each other.
Here is the good news: reverse engineering isn’t just a fancy word pair or a made-up business term. It is a specific process and formulaic approach that will allow you to truly customize and make your practice your own, while keeping intact the integrity of sound business principles that will never fail you.
That’s right. NEVER FAIL.
The two most important “wants” to define involve reassessing Lifestyle and Responsibilities—because they both link together. Then you have to determine your Income and then build the Schedule and get the type of Dentistry you want to support all of this.
Everything can and should be determined, not just happenstance, come what may, and later on somehow dealt with.
You might have a sense of what you want this to be one year from now or a few years from now. You might want to change it based on your reality of what and how it is right now in this moment in time.
The key is that you know what you want—First. Determine this and then we can work backwards to align all components and parts of this for your success.
I can promise you, when you start with a blank page and you outline your state of ideal, you will be more excited and invigorated in your daily execution than if you are just grinding it out and living through it.
Hey, it’s Springtime, so why not do a little spring cleaning in your habits, your life, your schedule, and your dentistry to clear all of the anchors in the way of your state of ideal?
To each their own and that’s just fine with me. I don’t care what your goals are, only that you have them and then take the responsibility to actually deliberately reverse engineer them to success.
What I’m telling you is this:
You HAVE to have a plan, or it’s never going to happen. Otherwise, you are never going to get all you can and deserve from the investment you have made in your career, team, patients, practice, and business.
The entire point of reverse engineering (the key to business success and to acceleration), is that it prevents waste, frustration, and detours along your journey.
Your assignment and your homework is simple: lay out and reverse engineer the structure you wish to have for the items I have discussed and listed above. Rethink this at least once a year and probably more often.
The key is to get ahead of it, not behind it. Be thinking about the future now, so you can work backwards into today. Only then can you know for certain that you’re headed in the right direction and progressing towards the ultimate kind of practice you want to be living and experiencing every day.
