Dentists – Be smart with money
ByYou change the way money behaves in your life by changing the way you think about it. I bet every dentist has read Psycho-Cybernetics by Maltz. At the very least, you have all heard of it. It’s one of the granddaddies of the human potential movement. Chapter two may be the most powerful chapter in any book I have ever read.
Maltz’s work simply says this: We are goal striving mechanisms. The sum total of chapter two is the following statement: “Once we know what the target is, we can reach it, we can accomplish it”. On the other hand, he says, “Where the target or the goal is not known, all the energy is spent trying to find out what the answer is”.
That, to me, is what explains why so many dentists, in spite of making millions and millions of dollars over the course of their careers, end up with little or nothing to show for it. They’ve never had specific goals.
In our practices, we know when we’re having a bad month because we feel it. We can almost sense how much is being collected and whether it is above or below what we need. Maltz is saying to program it. Put it in your mind so you understand how many dollars you need to collect. Know how much your practice needs to be profitable and live within that.
To change the way money behaves in your life, reprogram your thought processes. Abundance means that there is enough for everyone, and that everyone can and should prosper. We’re not competing with one another. There is plenty to go around.
A number of years ago, I heard Peter Dawson say that there is probably a practice within most practices. How much dentistry do you think exists in your own practice right now that has never been completely diagnosed or hasn’t had a complete treatment plan created? We are not competing with each other. We are creating the relationship; we’re creating the diagnosis; we’re forming the communication process; and, we’re helping patients accept the dentistry that’s consistent with their needs, wants and values. But, what happens if we don’t do it? It doesn’t mean that it can’t be created by someone else.
A question that I don’t doubt many of you have asked at one time or another: Why do jobs that seem to contribute the most to people, seem to pay the least? Do you ever ask yourself that question? Why is it in our society that people who seem to be contributing the most, get paid the least? Must I choose between material well-being or serving humanity?
Money is extremely powerful in people’s lives. It’s only when you pause to really think about it deeply and what it means to you, that you can finally stop chasing it. Money is never going to bring you happiness
Many of the most important things that you have in your life right now, like satisfying relationships with your spouse, your children, your staff and your friends, cannot be bought. But, too often, we sacrifice our relationships and health to get more money.
In my experience, being a dentist offers me the potential to have both. Being a dentist has availed me the opportunity to have deep, important relationships with not only my family, but my patients and my fellow dentists. At the same time, I am able to live in the material world and make good money.
Money does demand that you be aware of it at all times, not only in your personal life, but in your practice life as well. Money doesn’t have any intelligence, though, does it? It will do exactly what we order it to do. Money doesn’t have a mind of its own, but we do. When somebody says to me, “Gee Mike, I don’t have very much money”, what do you suppose I’m thinking? I’m thinking they’re not very smart when it comes to money.
My challenge is not to teach you how to make more money. My challenge is to teach you to want what you have and be happy with what you have. When you get happy with what you have, and when you can apply certain principles in your life, then, and only then, will the universe give you more. The only way that you’re going to have more of anything in your life is to be satisfied with what you already have, to control what you have now.
You need to know where you are with money on a day-to-day basis. When a person gets into trouble financially, it’s because he isn’t aware of his financial situation. They don’t know how to work with their accountants. They don’t understand money. They don’t understand what it is costing them to practice. I’m not sure what came first, the lack of attention to money or the lack of money. My experience is that they go hand in hand. So, dentists! Be smart with money.
–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
