3 Mindset Shifts That Separate 7 Figure Owners from the Rest

Ever wonder why certain dental practice owners effortlessly navigate challenges while others remain perpetually stuck? The answer isn't superior intelligence or working harder—it's a specific mindset that separates extraordinary dental entrepreneurs from the rest.

Through years of coaching dentists, I've identified three crucial characteristics that define the most successful practice owners. First, they absolutely refuse to live in ambiguity. While average owners accept problems as "just how things are," exceptional leaders view uncertainty as unacceptable. They embody the principle that those with the highest standards should lead, refusing to tolerate persistent issues or knowledge gaps. When faced with burnout or inefficiency, they don't resign themselves to it—they methodically find solutions.

Second, successful dentists continuously ask bigger, more ambitious questions throughout their careers. Their inquiries evolve from basic operational concerns to optimization challenges to transformative questions about leadership and delegation. This progression drives continuous growth while others plateau at "good enough." The most successful practitioners regularly examine all aspects of their practice, constantly identifying improvement opportunities rather than becoming complacent.

Finally, extraordinary dental practice owners leverage the right guides to multiply their growth. Whether through coaching relationships, mastermind groups, or mentorship connections, they understand that accelerated development comes from learning through others' experiences. They extend this problem-solving mindset throughout their organization by cultivating a culture of resourcefulness where team members bring solutions rather than just problems.

Ready to transform your practice experience? Implement these three powerful mindset shifts: establish a "no ambiguity rule," dedicate regular time for reflection and bigger-picture thinking, and invest in shortcuts by seeking guidance from those who've already navigated similar challenges. Your path to exceptional practice ownership isn't about working harder—it's about developing the resourcefulness to work smarter. Visit dentalpracticeheroes.com to schedule a strategy call and discover how to fully systemize your office while inspiring your team in ways you never thought possible.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The X Factor of Successful Owners
• 2:14 Refusing to Live in Ambiguity
• 4:28 Questions Get Bigger, Not Smaller
• 7:12 Finding the Right Guides
• 9:21 Tactical Takeaways for Practice Success

Transcript

Paul Etchison: 0:43

Do you ever wonder why some things look so easy to others but not to you? And why do some people just blow through challenges but then you have the same challenges and sometimes you get stuck? Or do you ever wonder why some things in ownership are just so hard to figure out and you get so frustrated trying to find all the answers? Well, if you said yes to any of these, this episode is for you Now. I've been coaching dentists for years and I can tell you that I figured out what that X factor is that makes some of my clients so easily coachable and why they have such great results versus others, who still get results, but not as profound. The good news is, I can tell you exactly what it is, and it's really that easy, and that's what I'm going to share with you today. What is it about these people that makes them so special and what is it about others that just keeps them stuck? Let's get into it Now.

Paul Etchison: 1:38

You're listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast, where we teach dental practice owners how to create a team-driven practice that doesn't require them, that runs without them and allows them to take a ton of time off. I'm your host, dr Paul Etchison. I'm the author of two books on dental practice management, a dental coach and the owner of a large group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago, I want to teach you how to create, run and manage a practice in a way that completely changes your life from the inside out and has echoes through every single thing that you do. All right, let's talk about what makes these successful owners different than the other people that get stuck. The first point I want to express to you is that these successful owners, they refuse to live in ambiguity, and what I mean by this is the ambiguity of not knowing. Now, average owners, they look at issues in their practice and they accept them. They say you know, that's just how it is, that's what it is running a practice, no big deal. And you know what? It reminds me of the time I heard Alex Hormozy speak and he says that whoever has the highest standards should be in charge, and I totally agree with that, and I loop this back to this idea of not living in ambiguity, because somebody with high standards would never stay, would never stay in that ambiguity. They wouldn't allow it. Their standards are too high, they're the people that care the most and they're not gonna say that's just how it is. They're gonna say let's figure it out. I don't like not knowing. I want to solve this issue. This is an issue worth solving. So I'll tell you a story.

Paul Etchison: 3:13

In my own practice development, there was a time where I said you know what? Practice ownership is stressful and that's just how it is and you know what? To some extent, I do think that is true, but I just thought you know, this is the way it is and I can't run my practice without being completely burnt out. And as I added the leadership systems and built a leadership team, I realized that it wasn't me. It was the way that I was managing my practice, what I was doing way too much by myself. That's why I was burning out. So this is that thing. This thing is. I said, you know what? This can't be true. It can't be the way it is. I need to find a solution. And I tried things and I solved it with a leadership team.

Paul Etchison: 3:50

And I remember back in early in my career, whenever I had a case where I got stuck maybe it was like some complication or I didn't know, like something went wrong with the case I would write down what happened in my phone and then when I went to a clinical course for whatever was applicable to that case maybe it was ortho, maybe it was endo, maybe it was surgery I would go up to the instructor in between breaks or at lunch and say, hey, I had this really weird case. This happened to me. I was wondering if you can give me some advice. Don't let there be ambiguity in your life, whether it's practice ownership or whether it's clinical. If you've seen an issue, there is always a solution, and don't ever All right.

Paul Etchison: 4:29

Moving on, point number two, their questions. The successful dentists. Their questions get bigger, not smaller. Now, as you grow as a practice owner, your questions cannot get smaller. You need to keep asking questions and you need to keep asking bigger questions. There is this idea that I hear from a lot of my coaching clients. When they start working with them and I start sharing stories from my practice that are very recent stories, they're always surprised Like I can't believe you have these issues at your practice. I would figure all the systems, all that other stuff. You would have everything figured out by now. That's not how it works. You don't ask questions, you don't get solutions and you run out of problems. Your questions get bigger. So let me explain what I mean by that.

Paul Etchison: 5:10

At first, when you open up, it's like how do I send an insurance claim? How do I get an insurance breakdown? How do we run some reports? How do we do this and that, make this equipment work? How do we turn on the compressors? Very basic, foundational, operational things. And then it starts to become how do I optimize this system and how do I optimize this system and how do I do this better? How do we perform? How do we make sure that we get higher case acceptance? How do we convert more people over the phone? And then it evolves into how can I delegate more to other people? How can I build a leadership team so I don't have to manage it all? How can I step out of the practice clinically? How can I open up more practices? So your questions get bigger.

Paul Etchison: 5:49

In my practice, one of the biggest ones I ever did was I asked myself what do I not like doing here? And it was I don't want to see any more new patients and I don't want to check hygiene anymore. I just don't want to put on my happy face that many times anymore. I felt like it was getting really hard sometimes I think it was because I was seeing so many patients and I was doing so much. I know that sounds horrible. I didn't want to smile and talk to my patients, but it's the truth. That's where I was. So I said that was a problem. How can I stop checking hygiene, how can I stop seeing new patients? And most docs would say that's how it is, bro, you got to do it. But, dude, I tell you, I figured it out. There was a way to do it. Some patients didn't like it and some of my team didn't like it, but they got over it and I lived a better life because of it. So at first you might think you can't stop doing that. That's crazy, but you can. You just have to ask a bigger question.

Paul Etchison: 6:45

And one of the biggest differences I see in my coaching clients is that the successful owners keep asking bigger questions at every stage. That's why, with a lot of my coaching clients, I do this exercise called the seven systems exercise, where we look at all seven systems, all the seven system categories in a dental practice. This is from my first book. We ask what's working, what's not working, and then we pick one thing in each of those seven system categories to improve on this quarter. The questions never stop. They evolve All right. The last thing that I notice in my coaching clients that do really well is they find the right guides to multiply their growth.

Paul Etchison: 7:20

Of course, etch, you're saying this is so self-serving. Hear me out, I know this sounds completely self-serving. It doesn't have to be a coach. You can get a coach. I suggest you get a coach.

Paul Etchison: 7:32

I've had coaches. I mean I have literally had six different coaches in the past year. Four, I have literally had six different coaches in the past year, for I have a speaking coach, I have a podcasting coach, I have a mastermind coach, I have a marketing coach. I mean I've been working with tons of people as I lean more into this podcast, into coaching and trying to transform my clients. But I've had coaches in dentistry too.

Paul Etchison: 7:51

I've worked with consultants and I mean when I had three associates and I had a huge team, one of the things that always bothered me is that there is not a lot of help in the dental industry for bigger practices. There's just not. You can talk to people like how do I make my front desk balance the responsibilities and like, well, you split it up between these two or three people and you're like no dude. We're open like 65 hours a week and I have like 11 people working at my front desk. That doesn't work. In my office I have different problems. I've got a bigger team, so I remember being really frustrated with that.

Paul Etchison: 8:23

But the mentors that I was able to lean on people like Dr Josh Cochran, dr Justin Buller we used to do the Dental Business Mentor episodes together Dr Steve Markowitz, dr Jason Tenori, henry Ernst I mean they were all ahead of me and they helped me get to the next level. And that's why I'm so excited about this DPH Mastermind that we kicked off just this last September. I mean we got 15 badass doctors who are going to transform their practices in 12 months. Each of them is now going to have 14 other people to lean on for the rest of their careers and the growth that we've already seen in this group dude absolutely awesome and I can't tell you how excited and how much I'm loving being a part of it.

Paul Etchison: 9:05

So find the right guides that help your growth. Maybe it's a coach, maybe it's a course, maybe it's a book, maybe it's an online workshop, I don't know. Get help, do things so you can take it to the next level. It doesn't have to be in dentistry. So here are your tactical takeaways for this episode.

Paul Etchison: 9:21

I want you to create a no ambiguity rule. Anytime you're unsure, I want you to write it down and commit to finding an answer this week, next week or this month. Just don't let it sit. Number two I want you to build a learning habit. I want you to block 15 minutes to an hour every single week for just thinking time, to reflect. Maybe read some books. Think.

Paul Etchison: 9:42

Readers are leaders. I mean every problem that you face. There has been somebody who has studied it extensively and had written a book on it. Make sure you're setting up the time to do that. Make sure that you always have a learning habit. And three invest in the shortcuts. Read the books. Hire the coaches, join the masterminds. Whatever it is, somebody already knows the solution. Learn from them and skip making all the mistakes that they made.

Paul Etchison: 10:06

You don't have to figure it out on your own, and don't just keep this mindset for yourself. Teach it to your team. I mean, reward them when they bring you solutions instead of problems. Encourage them to solve issues before looping you in. This is how you can slowly build a culture of problem solvers. The more problem solvers you have on your team, the less you have to be the problem solver for everything. So, in closing, success doesn't belong to the smartest people. It definitely doesn't belong to the hardest workers. It belongs to the most resourceful people.

Paul Etchison: 10:37

So, reflect this week where are you tolerating ambiguity right now? And what's the one question that you need to get answered today? And if you want some help with your practice, go to dentalpracticeheroescom. Set up a strategy, call with me. I'd love to talk with you. I'd love to take you through full systemization of your office and teaching you how to lead and inspire your team in a way that you never knew was possible. I guarantee it. Give me a chance I can show you. And thank you so much for taking the time to listen to the podcast. I do appreciate all my listeners. Thank you so much and we will talk to you next time.