52: Principles of Success w/Guest host Dr. Charles Moser

Welcome to DSO Secrets. I know what it's like to be an entrepreneur in the dental industry. I've had my ups and downs, just like you. There's so much opportunity to be excited about, but so few resources to get answers. From here on DSO Secrets, we get you those answers so you can change the lives you're meant to bless and achieve your personal success. When I was working as an associate rat at a school, I never imagined I could own these many practices with this amount of support. So thank you. You have helped build my marketing mind

to a whole new level. You have this natural talent, this unique ability. Hello, and welcome to DSO Secrets. My name is Charles Moser. I'm the Vice President of Community Management for the deo and I'm an entrepreneur. But right now, I'm more excited to be your guest host for today's podcast. Big thank you to Emmett Scott for letting me hijack his show. So, the topic of success formulas and pathways that lead to the Holy Grail is nothing new. In fact, you could probably Google it, YouTube it, podcast it, and even look it up in the Dewey decimal card catalog system and find thousands, if not tens of thousands of articles on the subject. So why am I on the Earth thinking that you should listen to me? Well, I don't know. What the heck, give me a chance. Just about 20 minutes won't keep you long. And just maybe you'll find something in here that strikes a chord that can propel you back on your way or put you on the right track. Now, I'm not going to bore you with my story until some of it becomes contextually relevant. But for that courtesy of me not boring you, I'm going to ask you for a little latitude. Just believe me when I tell you that I've had a fair amount of success defined in conventional measures, both business and sports. So just sit back for the next few minutes, enjoy your drive, and see if you recognize any of these steps to success and what, if anything, you should be doing to re engage. By the way, just by listening to this, you're engaging. So good on you. Now, success does not come from one big decision or one major move. Success isn't guaranteed just because you've had success the past or you're partnering up with a successful person. Success doesn't know color, race, gender, age, history, or net worth. It doesn't discriminate or owe you anything. Success is nearby, yet slippery and elusive. So think about that. Are you one of those that's wondering why your current endeavor is not delivering the goods like your past ventures? If so, drop the attitude. Take a look at your processes. Are you doing the things that got you to the finish line previously? Ask yourself, am I using the same methods and being smart, using research and evaluation? Or have I cut some corners and maybe even gotten a little lazy? Past Success doesn't matter now. Jim Rohn says success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently a applying the basic principles. He even goes on to say that success is not complicated, but it isn't simple either. It's that successful people are willing to do the things that unsuccessful people don't and won't do. One thing I know for sure is that I'm willing to do those things. One thing I sure didn't want to do but had to do was learn open dental practice management software. But we lost a key front desk person at one of my offices and that's just what it took to get the job done. And now guess what? I know. Open dental. So let's take a look at a few things that I think build success. Number one Successful people read books. Reading books will really help you get ahead in life. There are several studies to support this fact, but the amounts may vary. But what is glaring is that successful people read on average of 30 to 50 books per year. That's about 20 times more than most people. So step one take a look at your library. Some of my favorites, if you didn't have enough already to read, are Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Group. Anything from John Maxwell's Good and I utilized a lot of Malcolm Gladwell's advice from the Tipping Point. Interestingly to me, the type of books isn't really that important. If you're reading that much, sooner or later you're going to stumble upon something great that resonates with you. Additionally, while reading is super important, don't feel as if you have to muddle through and finish everything you start reading. If you're not hooked by 25 to 30% into it, put it down and find something else. One reason people don't read is because of that. Feeling compelled to finish everything makes reading a chore. And that seems ridiculous to me. There's enough out there on just about every topic to find something you can enjoy. And I'm betting that when you start to read and enjoy reading, you'll read more. Number two Success requires evolution and growth. With growth comes pain. Lots of pain. Frankly, most people are just not willing to endure the pain. Now, I think that this one is my favorite and also One that I relate to the most. Some of you may know that I enjoy extreme endurance sports. The pain can be excruciating at times, but when I'm in those situations, I can sometimes feel my body moving from weak to strong. We like to say pain is weakness leaving our bodies. Growth means making mistakes, lots of mistakes. And the older we get, the less we enjoy this. Some would even say I'm too old to go backwards. But is it really going backwards? I would suggest that if you aren't growing, you're shrinking. So you have to grow. There are countless examples and stories of people who nudge up to the growth pain threshold and then retreat back to their comfort zone. So if you aren't struggling and feeling that burn, then you aren't growing. So you are going backwards. Maslow said you can either step forward into growth or backwards into security. I say the comfort zone offers no comfort. I have a friend who's always investigating what his next move should be. Looking at this business, examining that franchise. But when he starts to get too close to the flame and feels the heat, it's back into the turtle shell. Success isn't a straight line up. It's a rocky sine wave with peaks and valleys. Friends, you're gonna have to get dirty. That's all there is to it. Let's try to turn this negative into a positive. Most of a person's educational growth actually happens between the ages of 6 and 22. Remember those times? They were great. We were young and fearless. Well, let's rekindle that youth inside and go back to the learning years. Go back to school. You might discover your wild side again. Embrace the fact that you don't know something that spells opportunity. Go figure it out. Become a student again. Ask why lot. Let others help you learn. Arrogance is the enemy of this step. And ego will flat out kill your learning experience spirit. Don't ever say, yeah, I already know that. Heck, there's probably a book you can read on that subject. Number three, Success requires you identify the obstacles in your way. Take a look at all of the things that could be holding you back. Evaluate your time management skills. Evaluate your energy management. Can't find time to read? Nah, you just haven't mapped it out. No one said you have to sit down and read the book from COVID to cover. Find 30 minutes a day that you can consistently sit and read. I love to read for 30 minutes. When I wake up still in my jammies, I plop down on the couch and grab my iPad. I've even been late to work a few times because I've gotten so involved. Maybe you lack leadership skills. Nothing could be easier than to raise your leadership lid, as John Maxwell would call it. Heck, I bet you can find a book to help you with that one. Not enough money? Phooey. Don't even begin to use that as an excuse. I could use every last minute of every podcast for the rest of the year finding countless success stories that start with I had no money, so I Education your problem Nope. See the money example above. Skills, Location, physical ability, Relationships, Timing, Economy, fear. All excuses. And let me just say nope, nope, nope and nope. All just obstacles to be overcome. Easy Nope. Doable, of course. Try to not to get too far out in front. Just work the problem at hand. Like learning your practice management system. Just do it now. One that I've left out for later is friends and family. We'll come back to that one. The important part is the process in which you identify with radical candor the obstacles, thus affording you the ability to deal with them one by one. You see, without authenticity in creating the obstacle list, you could very well end up moving in the wrong direction and dealing with an obstacle that really isn't there. Success requires systems that will ensure success. Different ideas and businesses will need different systems, but they all need them. When building your system, make sure that they work to a single end. If it's a system to evaluate something, make sure that at the end of the system you should be able to make a decision that gives you 99% certainty on whether or not you want to use or buy the product. Some systems are built to get a result. Make sure the system gives repeatable, consistent results or it's not the right one. How to Create Great Systems Read a book on how to create great systems. It's not rocket science. Now one more word on systems. They're almost never done. With softwares and programs like Google Docs and others, you have the amazing ability to continually carry around your systems and improve them almost in real time. Think of it like Create a system, get a result, evaluate the result, refine the system to get a better result, implement the refined system, and do it over and over again. That will create killer systems. Creating a bunch of systems, printing them, and putting them in a manual that never gets opened is not a system. That's what everyone else is doing. And remember, we already said that successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don't want to do. Now I've spoken to hundreds of people who have told me, oh yeah, we have a manual then they go on to tell me that they really don't know where it is or the last time that anyone even looked at it. Nice job. Success requires surrounding yourself with the right group. Jim Rome also says we are the average of the five people that we spend the most time with. Think about that now. Think about who you spend time with. If you're spending time with people complaining about what they don't have or why they don't have much, chances are you're going to start complaining too. And if you hang around with people that are comfortable where they are and don't seek to improve, guess where you're going to end up. So who should you add to your mix of people? Scarier question is, who might you need to exclude or at least minimize? See, your friends determine what you speak about, how you speak about it, and whether or not you gain or lose social capital. Your friends are the ones responsible for a project to work, a meeting to happen, and a problem to be solved. The bigger, the wiser and more intelligent your friends, the bigger, the wiser and more intelligent you will become. Miscellaneous friends lead to miscellaneous results. Chances are if you have kids, you've even said to them, don't hang around with that kid. He's trouble. And while that might sound a bit judgmental for the sake of this podcast, I think you understand what I'm saying. This could be extremely difficult with family. There are those that just believe you get your lot in life. If you have one of those in your family, I suggest you just nod and move on. Success is not something that is dropped on you or something you're born into. Success is available to all who are willing to be committed. Success is available to anyone willing to be consistent, and success is available to anyone willing to be relentless. It's not about willpower, intensity, or even hard work. It's about getting knocked down and getting back up. So surround yourself with people who believe the same and can encourage you and support you to get back up when you get knocked down. Successful people have a purpose, a why, and a vision. Because it's so hard to succeed on your own, you must employ others to help achieve your goals. The use of human capital is critical for your success. But how do you get others to build your success? It's easy. A compelling why. Every great leader has had followers that bought into the why of the corporation, business, or group. Heck, even looking at history's worst villains and despots, you'll see they had a why that they could get others to follow. While I'm certainly not advocating these types of plans. I'm merely pointing out that people will follow you if they understand and agree with your vision. I worked at South Texas Dental. The founders built a huge organization by creating a culture where everyone wanted to work hard for the patients. Actually, it's hard to explain why Simon Sinek says people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Look at Starbucks, Browning, Farris, Apple, all have a clear vision and mission that is easily stated and understood. Spend lots of time curating your why. Ask others how it feels to them. Say it, write it, read it often, and if at any given time it stops resonating with you, change it. Well, that's all the time I have for now. I know that there's much more on this subject and this list is not complete, but I do hope in some way it has been helpful. Whether you believe what I have said or not, the value here is that I have you thinking and that's good. If you'd like to reach out to me, My email is cmosereodentalgroup.com that's cmoseredental group.com I'd be happy to help in any way possible. Lastly, as a fairly accomplished triathlete and ironman, I can tell you our motto in one sentence and it's the same in business. Keep going, don't stop, and never ever quit. My name is Charles Moser and I wish you great success.

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