Archive for December, 2009
Schuster Holiday Party 2009
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday was our team holiday party. We did a potluck at Dr. Schuster’s house. Patti played the piano, we sang Christmas songs and smiled between each other because no one could sing that high of pitch. It was fun. It was a time to be in each other’s company without hearing the phone ring, emails to send and answer or meetings to attend. It was a time of togetherness.
Such is the nature of The Schuster Center. It is a place of belongingness…and of higher learning. Our students are like-minded spirits with a synergistic goal. And we, the Schuster team, are impacted as a whole with the life-long relationships created under our roof.
The food was great. I mean, who would bring something mediocre to a holiday potluck?! And behold! A miracle happened right before our eyes. Brenda Penwell actually took seconds!!!
All kidding aside, it was a time for appreciation and joy. We are all feeling very thankful to be able to have career posts within such a meaningful place. The team is a dedicated group and 2010 will be a stellar year for students and staff alike.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! May your holidays be filled with the love and joy of the spirit of Christmas.
I’m RICH!
Posted by: | CommentsSilver in the hair, gold in the teeth.
Stones in the kidneys, sugar in the blood.
Lead in the feet, Titanium in the joints.
Iron in the arteries, and an inexhaustible supply of natural gas.
I never thought I’d accumulate such Wealth!
–The Schuster Center offers serious practice management education, but occasionally enjoys a good laugh or two.
Thanks from The Schuster Center
Posted by: | CommentsIt is at this time of year that we often take time to think on those things for which we are thankful. Our list usually includes family, friends, our home, our careers in dentistry, etc. And it is true that I am thankful for all of those.
However I would like to take this time to express how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to work and interact with you, our clients, our friends. It has been my privilege for the past twelve years to coach, teach and befriend hundreds of you.
When I accepted this position at The Schuster Center, I never dreamed the impact it would have on MY life. You see, every time I have an interaction with one of you, it affects me personally in some way.
I have often told those of you whom I have been fortunate enough to coach that I learn as much from each of you as you do from me. I have been blessed with friends that will be life-long friendships. As with the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, there are sometimes great cultural differences between us. But we have been able to see that we can learn from one another in spite of those differences.
I just want to say to each of you and to Dr. Schuster how very THANKFUL I am for the gift of working alongside each one of you to bring you to a place that you and I can celebrate. May I continue to see and acknowledge how blessed I am for the beautiful people that The Center allows me to guide.
“Thankfulness is not something God gives us. It is not a spiritual gift and it is not a spiritual fruit. We can receive God’s peace, joy and love, but thankfulness is something that we give to God and to others. It is a choice that we make. Let us thank Him today with songs of celebration, hearts of strong devotion and acts of admiration.” —Roy Lessin
—The Schuster Center is a business school for dentists where development of the dental practice aligns with the development of self. It is a lifelong network of like-minded professionals in community and spirit. Call us for more information: 1-800-288-9393. Or visit: www.SchusterCenter.com
Simplicity and Harmony this Holiday
Posted by: | CommentsOn the wall in our coaching department hangs a quote from Einstein–
Three Rules of Work:
Out of clutter, find simplicity
From discord, find harmony
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
I pass by it every day many times, but today I stopped to read it. I was waiting to speak with Dr. Schuster while he was taking time for discussion with someone else. The wait caused me to stop and look up and there was this sign on the wall that I see every day. Today it jumped out at me. It said, “Read me!” so I did. More than that, it begged me to take heed so I am. I am trying.
It is always this time of year as the holidays approach that life can get hectic, and schedules can fall apart, and ahhhh…stress enters the once calm life! How does that happen? Is it the clutter of life? How can I find simplicity? Am I in discord? How can I find harmony? Will my difficulty really bring opportunity?
The holiday season should bring joy and celebration. Yet instead it brings frazzled nerves and crazy emotions. There are three areas that trigger this holiday stress: Finances, Relationships, and Physical Demands. Relationship stress has a way of boiling over during the holidays as our expectations succumb to disappointment. The cost of travel, entertainment, and gift giving leads to overextending the budget. The commitment to all of the holiday events along with the guilt of eating all those holiday sweets surely taxes our physical well-being.
All this stress doesn’t have to rob you of your joy this holiday season. Prepare yourself spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically before the stress arrives so you will be able to ward it off ahead of time. When it comes to relationships, you are only in control of yourself. Come into relationships with no expectation from the other person. Give your family and loved ones some slack and if you are feeling down, talk with a trusted friend. Get counseling to find some strategies to help you cope. Take your finances seriously and plan for the holidays in your budget. Set monetary limits on gift giving and consider giving to charity in someone’s honor as an alternative gift. To maintain your physical well-being, keep your exercise routine or start one if you haven’t had one recently. Eat those holiday sweets in moderation and get outside for some fresh air. Remind yourself that it is okay to say “no” sometimes so that you are not over-committed.
Recharge your inner spiritual batteries. Take the time to read, pray, meditate, listen to music or just take a power nap. Remember the “Reason for the Season!” And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) Put the Lord first this Christmas. You will find this is the best “de-stressor” of all time.
Barb Stackhouse
(Special thanks to Family Life Radio for their Inspirational Messages)
Change is Good
Posted by: | CommentsSmall changes will significantly impact your dental practice and life for the better.
–Small changes in Cash Flow Management will give you immediate control of money and peace of mind.
–Small changes in Time & Energy Management will impact your practice within just one month!
–Small changes in your Sales Effectiveness will provide you an immediate increase in Production!
–Small changes in Marketing will take 18-24 months to take effect.
–Small changes in the Right People can make an immediate impact on your practice and life.
–Small changes in the Organization will take 3-6 months to take effect in your practice and life.
–Changes in Purpose will have a profound and long term effect on your Practice and your Life.
CHANGE IS GOOD. Pull yourself up and get at it now.
—-For help with dental practice management, dental case presentation, hygiene as a profit center, business plans for the dental practice, dental continuing education seminars and more, go to www.SchusterCenter.com or call 1-800-288-9393
Getting Rich vs. Creating Wealth
Posted by: | CommentsIn 1986 I met an orthodontist at a workshop I was doing in Colorado. We went for a walk and he told me this story:
“My practice wasn’t going as good as I had hoped and when a friend of mine came to me with a business proposition I got involved thinking that owning an auto repair franchise would be the key to me getting rich. Two years later repair franchise went bankrupt and my partner skipped town and the bank pinned the $570,000 debt on me.”
So there he was, in 1986, $570,000 in debt plus the debt for his practice and home which totally exceeded $1.4 million. Something happened on his way to ‘getting rich’…he almost ended up in the trash dump.
The rest of the story: He became a student of mine and when I say student, I mean it. He was diligent, dedicated and determined to do something different, and that was to ‘create wealth’. And ‘creating wealth’ is totally and completely different than ‘getting rich’.
13 years later, my student and friend had a net invested worth of over $4M and no debt. He took me to a Warren Buffet Conference in Omaha. It was a great experience for me to witness the growth, the personal evolution and development of this fine man.
The impact of becoming a ‘Wealth Creator’ versus just striving to get rich can be dramatic. And to add to this story, the first question that was asked of Warren Buffet after he opened for questions was the following…
Q: “Mr. Buffet, what’s the difference between getting rich and wealth?”
A: “Wealth is a state of mind. People that are trying to get rich never have enough. Most people that are trying to get rich are doing it out of fear. The fear that they will never have enough – and that’s exactly what happens to them. They make if and then they lose it. (read the introduction in The Science of Creating Wealth™) Wealth, true wealth is about abundance.”
Well stated by the wealthiest man in the world.
—Dr. Michael Schuster
