If you are like most people, you might be asking yourself, “What can a dentist teach me about business, life and success?” Many think a dentist gets out of dental school, opens his or her practice and goes home rich and happy. The sad reality is this is not at all true. It may have been that way 50 years ago, but today a dentist has the same challenges as any other business owner.

As with any business that is going to succeed, we have to attract and keep customers; know how to market and sell; and provide quality customer service in order to become and stay profitable. Dentists, just like any other business professional, have to follow certain principles to be successful both personally and professionally. Many dentists are successful in business but not in their personal life. Many business professionals are successful in their work; yet often lack balance or a happy life. Therefore, they don’t have TOTAL SUCCESS.

The daily challenges for dentists are the competition with other dentists and for discretionary dollars. Dentists also deal with pressure from insurance companies to participate in their plans. As part of an insurance plan, we are required to accept a lower payment for our services and are not paid our normal fee. With a lower reimbursement rate comes the increased stress of having to see more patients per day in order to make the same amount of money. To be insurance independent, we must have a well-run practice.

Unless we follow certain principles and systems in our business it is hard to survive and be as successful as we want to be. Chances are this is the same in your industry.

Business success is part of the equation of Total Success. Success in one’s business comes from having systems in place that will give predictable and consistent results in both your business and personal life. It also comes from understanding the relationship of your Product or Service to your Internal and External Marketing and the relationship of these to your Sales Calls and Presentations. It also comes from understanding the relationship between your personal life and your professional life.

In order to have Total Success, you must have success in your personal and business life. Success is fleeting at best if you have it in only one area but not another. In addition, personal and professional success are a direct result of developing a healthy lifestyle, a strong spiritual foundation and respectful and loving relationships in all areas of your life.

Total Success is a direct result of the choices one makes on a day-to-day basis. It is not living with the belief that one day you will make changes you intuitively know you need to make now. It is recognizing areas of your life that are out of balance and making choices today to move closer to a balanced life. Choices that may not always be easy, yet they are wise and beneficial to living a quality of life filled with abundance, joy and happiness beyond most people’s wildest imaginings.

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Copyright © 2009 Good Books

What can a dentist teach me about business, life and success?

About the Author

Brent Kessel was named one of the top 250 financial advisors in the U.S. by Worth magazine and his company, Abacus Wealth Partners, which manages more than $800 million in client assets, was named one of the “top 250 wealth management firms in the U.S.” by Bloomberg’s Wealth Manager. Dubbed a “Financial Soul Searcher” by Research magazine, Kessel has been featured in Newsweek and Yoga Journal, and has been widely quoted in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal. After meeting the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa as a young man, Kessel began practicing yoga and meditation and skyrocketed to success in a career that uniquely combines spirituality and wealth management.

In the Book

Part One: First we have to understand what is happening inside on an emotional level before we can work on outside circumstances.

Part Two: This part focuses on recognizing and understanding your core money personality.

Part Three: This is the intellectual side of money management. Here is when It’s Not About The Money gets into investing, financial planning and using your core story to help you make money.

Part Four: This is the nuts and bolts resource section. Here you will find pages of valuable information which standing alone is worth the price of the book.

Brent Kessel did a great job of marrying the emotional, spiritual and practical aspects of money, financial planning and wealth management. It’s Not About The Money is the type of book you’ll want to make time to read, study, work the activities and absorb the material on both an emotional and intellectual level.

You may want to revisit the concepts after an initial reading, but that will be efficient because the book is easy to follow. The book is well organized with chapters & sections for various archetypes, so that in the future the reader can just refer to the pertinent sections.

This book might be appealing to perhaps a college freshman with a sudden profound interest in psychology and finance and absolutely no prior experience.

Overall a good read!!

Copyright © 2009 Good Books

It’s Not About the Money