The Dental A-Team Podcast has been around for seven years, if you can believe it! Kiera reflects on her original goal with the pod, how that goal (and dentistry in general) has changed since. It's been an evolution of leadership, systems, culture, and growth, and the ball is still rolling.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:02)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and happy birthday to the Dental A Team podcast. guys, gosh, if this was a child that I would have had, Dental A Team podcast today is seven years old. We started this back in 2019. So is that right? 2020 would be one, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, seven. Guys, seven years. We've been hanging out together. Like gosh, I would have a seven year old child. Like that's insane. And I just think like, thank you.

is what I is my biggest piece of ⁓ if I was blowing out the candles today, which I usually actually do. ⁓ That thank you for going on seven years of a journey. Thank you for listening to me when I used to car cast and I didn't have video and I was so new. I remember like one of my first ones was like nailing jello to a wall. And like, gosh, I just think back to don't break up with me and so many of the podcasts over the years and the guests that we've had and the

people that I've met because of this podcast, like I get emotional, I get grateful of, gosh, like we just think that these things happen. We think that, it was just right time, right place, but I believe that there's something far greater than that to where all of us were working, we were being prepared, we were being put into place where it didn't just slip into place and happen. It was something that was magical, it was euphoric, and it was meant to be able to reach each other, to be able to talk to each other, to be able to serve you.

to be able to have you implement and put things into your place in your practices, to be able to be right time, right place, but due to lots of preparation to be here. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I had this crazy idea to create a podcast that helps dentists and teams come together. Being a team member myself and being a business owner, guys, like this is the perfect platform to bring that together. And I think I have such a special vantage point to be able to share with you doctor and team members perspectives. And so today I just wanted to think about like,

growth doesn't happen overnight. And what the podcast was versus what the podcast has become, it's crazy to see how far we've come and how much we've evolved. You guys, have like 1100 plus episodes, never in my wildest dreams that I think I would hit record that many times and talk to you for this many years and hang out with you and travel across the globe with you. But it's one of those things of today is going to be reflecting back and a forward looking episode. And this I think very much applies to practices, team member evolution and how it goes. And I think

days often feel long and years seem short. And when we can do this, we're gonna look at like, gosh, what the journey has been in seven years and how fast it goes and how slow it goes and hurdles and challenges. But you guys, this is about how we reflect on the growth we've had on our practices and how it's gonna be able to serve you guys moving forward. So as we go through this truly, I hope that today, I don't know, just wrap your arms around yourself, give you a giant hug and pretend that's me giving you a hug.

a hug for listening, a hug for sharing, hug for ⁓ leaving reviews, a hug for ⁓ giving ideas, a hug for sharing in Facebook groups where we glean information, a hug for ⁓ being a pen pal to me, a hug for ⁓ allowing me a space to share my life to the podcast. It's been something where I will wake up in the middle and I'm like, my gosh, I got a great idea. I'm gonna go like podcasts this of sharing tips and tricks and things that I feel you guys would really benefit and serve. So just giving you like,

Just give a squeeze because I adore you. love you and I'm so grateful for this. So as we reflect back, ⁓ I think oftentimes we see growth as much easier if we look back, right? Like little kids, you don't see them growing day on day and day. But when you measure on a wall, you're able to see the growth. And it's like, wow, we have this. And so when I started the podcast, my goal was like, let's give teams, let's give tactical. And we stayed that stayed true. ⁓

But over time it's expanded and I recognize the needs of practices. mean, hashtag COVID, things changed, it became radical. We went through the great migration together. We've gone through team members and the evolution of hiring and firing and culture and going from like dentists and to where it's like, wow, we aren't just here at Basic. We're now looking at CEOs and we're running these multimillion dollar businesses. We've got startup practices. I've got practices doing 30, 40, 50 million in their locations like.

It's an evolution of leadership and systems and culture and growth. like, all of this is like, we can't say stuck. I mean, now we've got AI introductions. It's like, gosh, like the crazy cool stuff. And so it's something to see like how both industry and conversations have matured over time. And I think also for you and your practice, think today, one of when you started that might be this year. Kudos. There's some of you I know that just bought your practices and I'm so freaking proud of you. Hashtag my Midwestern students. I'm so proud of both of you ⁓ and you both know who you are.

You might be on day one of your practice ownership. You also might be on day like, I don't know, a thousand. Gosh, like, is it crazy to think that day a thousand's only about three years in? You might be on day 20,000. Shoot, how many years is 20,000? I'm gonna do some math, because 20,000 divided by 365 days, you'd be at 54 years. Some of you actually might be there. Some of you are maybe like 10 years in, so you're on day like 3650. I don't know, that was so hard for me, okay?

3650, 10,000, what'd we say on that? If you're at 10,000 days, you're at 27 years in the practice. A thousand, like just think about that. Sorry, I know my math earlier was a little off. A thousand days, that'd be about like just over three years. That's what I meant by the 10,000. 10,000, shoot, you're in 27 years plus. But when we look at this, we think about how everything's evolved. And I want you guys to really look at like.

How have things evolved in dentistry, even since the time you became a dentist? And if you're a dentist in school, like look back, it's an evolution. And so I think it's like, the goal is always like growth, but I think it's expansion and impact more than it's growth. Like we can just grow, but we can be unhappy. But expansion is not just about size, it's about reach and influence. And it's one thing like we could have thousands of followers, which honestly, you guys, I'm blown away when I look to see where our podcast reaches and the countries and the international impact and the...

the state side impact and the number of offices. You guys like that is such a blessing to me. That was the goal. The goal was how can I have a...