The Dr. Chris Griffin Show – Season 1 Episode 16

“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field.” Now who said that?

Welcome to the Dr. Chris Griffin Show. Your resource for leveraging systems and technology to easier workload, increase productivity and provide you with the time off you deserve to live the life of your dreams. It’s time to practice productivity in the passionate pursuit of a better life with your host, Dr. Chris Griffin. The Dr. is in.

Let me tell you guys, anytime I get a chance to throw out a quote from a theoretical physicist, I’m going to take that chance because I guess it’s not every day that overlaps with the world of dentistry. But here you go, that quote was by none other than world famous doctor, Neils Bohr. Now Neils Bohr was a theoretical physicist like I said, he’s from Denmark and I mean this guy’s done, he did so much. I mean this guy developed all these theories about Physics back in the 20’s. You know, then along comes…and he wins a Nobel prize by the way for all that. And then comes along World War II, the guy fights the Nazis, the Nazis gets after him, he runs away to Sweden then he ends up in England. He becomes part of the Manhattan project that won, eventually won World War II for the Americans. And then after that you know it’s just off to the race as he founds the Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and it just goes on and on from there.

So this is one of the smartest guys that ever lived on the face of the planet. Now why did I throw that quote out? Well because today’s show is a lot about being an expert in what to do if you are an expert and recently, I did a project with Penny Reed. Now Penny is someone I’ve known forever. Of course I’m about to introduce her in a minute, of what I’m going to share with you but we, for years, wanted to do a project together. But you know, hey, we both coach dentist and it seemed like we’re going to compete with each other. It seemed odd and weird and so we could never find a way to do it until now. So we both have a passion for motivational speaking and just speaking in general. And both of us have kind of pulled ourselves up from the boot straps and become speakers in this dental field. Just you know, basically on the force of our will and so we want to share with everyone how that we did it. And how that we think it’s very possible but there’s a formula that you could follow and you could also become an expert in this field and the speaker and author and all that stuff if you want to.

So, we held a live training on April 19th. So I just took the body of that live training which I had to edit it a little bit because let me tell you, there was just some comedy of errors. Just a lot of crazy stuff happened with me having to update apple right before the webinar because it’s something that, I don’t know why and then it has some conflicts with the webinar program. And anyway, there are a lot of editing but I got it down to reasonable time frames. So I’m going to go ahead and I’m going to share this training with you guys. I hope you get a lot out of it. If you’re interested at all in being an expert in the field, this is for you. Okay? If you want to hear about implants and fillings and stuff like that, hey maybe just fast forward in next week, but I think there are a lot of people out there who are interested in this topic. And so I’m really proud to share it. Please forgive the audio quality, like I said it has some crazy technical difficulties but we fought through it and the content is just killer. Okay? So I’ll see you on the other side.

Hey everybody, this is Dr. Chris Griffin and welcome. Now you are in the right place tonight if you are looking for the training on the top 7 mistakes that dental speakers make when launching their careers. I know this is a little bit of a different topic usually on this training webinars. We’re talking about you know, improving your dentistry and all this stuff. Well tonight, this is a special thing that’s just for dental professionals and we’re trying to help as many people as we can and learn about this career. Now let me throw out a little stat out at you, okay? There are about a 130,000 general dentists in America. There are about 1 million dental professionals that support the dental industry. Now if you think about it, there are about 2,000 speakers in the USA that focus primarily on just speaking to dentists. Okay? That means that less than 1/10 of 1% of all the dental professionals out there have taken advantage of this opportunity that we’re talking about tonight.

This amazing opportunity for a second income; a second career in some cases, and in just a whole lot of significance in contribution to our profession. So by the end of this session tonight, you’re going to know what that top 1/10 of 1% know. Or what, or tonight really kind of what they don’t know but as we go through that, you’ll learn also what they do know that allow for this type of opportunity to happen. Now tonight, in a minute I’m going to talk about our co host, can you read and I’m going to explain why she is absolutely perfect person to be part of this training with us. But right now…

Dr. Griffin: Hey Penny! Are you there with us?

Penny: Hi! I’m excited about being here with you tonight. And boy, I think we’ve pretty much got both of the ends of the spectrum covered for the dental professionals, with you being the dentist and me being a former office manager. I’m super excited about working on this project with you. Chris, I’d like to tell them how we met. Can I tell them that story?

Dr. Griffin: Hey, go for it!

Penny: Alright. Yeah, I remember pretty much the time when we first met by phone because my daughter who will be 17 this summer, hard to believe, was about 8 weeks old. And Dr. Griffin had called, he’d been in practice for probably a little over a year. Because Chris, looks like you graduated from dental school in around ’98. And he called me and asked about us possibly working together and I said, “You know I got this sweet little baby that I’m enamored with and presently I’m not taking any new clients.” But he wound up working with another one of our team members which was awesome. And I did get the opportunity to work with him and Boy, he has…I knew he has the potential. He has really exceeded the expectations that I think most dentists and dental school would…Chris I’m going to go ahead and brag about you a little bit. I believe your first speaking engagement occurred in 2002 in Houston, Texas. And some of you may or may not now that Dr. Griffin started out wanting to be an Engineer. Isn’t that right, Chris?

Dr. Griffin: That is true. That is true.

Penny: Now that’s true, right. So what’s awesome about this and what really has helped build his dental business outside of the practice, is the expertise that he has in efficiency. He thinks differently than some of the rest of us too, which is great. That means we have a lot to learn from him. And then he founded in 2008, Effective Dentistry LLC and the Capacity Academy and he teaches his concepts both of the Clinical Efficiency and Practice Management to other dental offices. And he has spoken all over the country and what else I think is really cool is that Dr. Griffin hosts AGD approved hands-on training courses at his practice in the Metropolis of Ripley, Mississippi; which I actually have relatives that live in Ripley, Mississippi. Which is nearer him over there. And dozens of dentists and I know that they brought some team members with them, so I’m sure hundreds of dental professionals have travelled from across the United States and Canada to Ripley, Mississippi to learn from him. So he has got a lot to offer, expertise-wise, not only as a presenter but also as a meeting planner and a dental business coach. So I’m super excited to be working on this project with you Chris.

Dr. Griffin: Yeah you know that ever since that fateful night of 17 years ago when Penny rejected me of when I was (Penny laughs) seeking out for help and begging her for help with my brand new practice, you know. It’s time for us to finally work together. But hey, it’s finally happened and I’m looking forward to…you know, Penny, it is amazing to me. I think we have had dentists down here that have traveled. I mean like you said, Ripley population 6,000. We got all sorts…I already know how many provinces there are but I believe all other provinces in Canada have been represented here in over half the States. It’s just shocking if you think about that.

Penny: Wow!

Dr. Griffin: You mentioned 2002, just a quick little tiny story about that. I owe all my speaking career really to Howard Farran because he was on the front row in 2002, when I gave my first presentation and I was so you know, exhilarating that I looked down about 5 minutes and I’m thinking “Oh my gosh, Howard Farran, one of my heroes on the front row!” Howard Farran is dead asleep; arms fold and head back. About 15 minutes into the 1 hour lecture, he starts to audibly snore. So he is snoring and snorting, the people around him are looking and laughing and he sort of chapping and poking. They look at Howard, you know and I just, I’m like “Oh, my gosh! This is awful, I’m going to die and I’m never going to speak again.” And so I end my presentation, you know mercifully the slides go black. The next guy is getting on the stage and Howard snaps to attention and wakes up, stands up on the front row, turns to this crowd of about a 100 dentists and starts waving his arms up in the air like a basketball player to give me a standing ovation and then he turns around and gives me the loudest standing ovation I’ve ever heard. And from that moment on, I was absolutely hooked on this crazy thing, right?

Penny: That’s awesome!

Dr. Griffin: So no matter what Howard Farran does to the rest of his career, and he is a little bit you know, he can be a little comfy at times but he’s aces in my book and I’ll be you know, I’ll be his guy from now on. But Penny, if you don’t know Penny, let me tell you…you are in for a treat tonight. Because now Penny, like she has done it all. She’s been a, you know office manager extraordinary. Now a lot of people on this call, you guys maybe some…there maybe some office, I think there are. In fact, I know there are some office managers out there who signed up for this thing. Now she went, she was so amazing at that course. She got a little taste of this up and she, she ventured out into coaching and it’s turned her into now she’s an author, she’s been a dental management consultant. Obviously more than 17 years, she’s began her career in 1992. Like it says, as a manager from ’94 to 2001, she was a franchise owner and a director of training for a dental management company that was founded by none other than Tony Robbins. Now that’s the one that I called her and tried to get her to help me. You know, Tony Robbins is a big tall guy with a great smile you see on late night T.V. So then 2001, she launched her own dental coaching business. You know, hey, God bless you Penny. You know dealing with dentists, if the majority of your income comes from dealing with us, every day of the week, God bless you. You know if you’re a dentist you know how hard and difficult it can be to deal with you sometimes. She has written articles by mail for most of the major dental publications. And she’s been speaking to audiences all across America too since 1999. Penny is also a long standing professional member of the National Speakers Association and the book that she wrote, which I am currently holding in my fingers is…you hear me flipping the pages? Is “Growing your Dental Business” okay? It’s a really good book, I can honestly say. I have read this book and I can like every word, Penny but I have read a good bit of it. And it is pretty awesome, you got some good quotes in it too from some dentists that I know. So I thought that was pretty good. And as a result of all these worksheets put in, her clients are more focused, they earn more and they have more confidence about their business and they have happier teams to support them. That’s a big thing too having happier teams because it certainly makes your life better when you have a happy team. So that’s it Penny. You’re head’s probably gigantic by now.

Penny: It really is. My headset’s a little bit tight but I guess we’ll keep on going here. Thank you for all of those kind things and it really is amazing how this journey has led us up here and really I think in a nutshell, and I won’t necessarily read this next slide all together immediately for you. But here’s why I’m so excited about tonight’s course. And that is when I think back to 1997 probably. When I approached my first meeting planner, and while you know, I took a big deep breath, swallowed hard, and walked up and said, that was an exhibit at that meeting. I said, “I would love to be a speaker at one of your meetings in the future.” And he was like, “Oh really? What do you speak on?” And I don’t even remember what I said. It probably didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but now looking forward and what many of the conversations that Dr. Griffin and I have had together our whole world when putting this course together and this training together is to save you not only the pain. And I would say some of the embarrassment, probably. If some of the things that I said and maybe we’re just lucky enough or nice enough to get booked anyway. But also call for the mistakes, you know time is money that we made when we were launching our speaking careers. So I think we’re going to have a great time tonight, stay with us, you know through to the very end. We’re packed a lot of tips in here for you. And Chris, I don’t know if there’s anything you want to add before we tell them what mistake number 1 is.

Dr. Griffin: Well for my point of view, what I would like to see everyone. Everyone that gets under this field and by the way, I see a couple of people signed in that I know really well. So if you’re on and I know you really well, Hey! It’s good to see you signed in. But at the end of the night, I would really like to see everyone that mostly get into this field to be able to conquer the fears and doubts that hold you back you know. For pursuing what I think is an amazing opportunity that’s fun, that’s profitable, is significant and I would really feel like you’re doing a wonderful service of contribution to your profession. That is absolutely what I would like to see happen. Now also that and of course if you’re ready to get into the, and we probably need to get into the 7 mistakes. Time is going by but I feel like what Penny and I are trying to do is really pull back the curtains to a lot of people who are afraid to share and don’t know ways to share with people. Because hey, like I said, there’s only 2,000 speakers out there that’s less than 1/10 of 1%. So a lot of people don’t want you to know what’s going on. Well Penny and I have been there, done that, we want you to know what’s going on. So hang tight and at the end of this 7 mistakes tonight, we’re also going to give you a place where you can go grab the night slides. So I encourage you to take a lot of notes but absolutely we’ll give you the resource if you need at the end of the night to get what you need. So hey, are you ready to jump into these?

Penny: Absolutely!

Dr. Griffin: Okay, so mistake number 1. Now if you’re on tonight’s call, there’s a good chance that you are in possession of the, what I’m going to, okay I’m just going to go right up. I say one of the best special reports that’s ever written, right? The report that Penny and I wrote about how you can find or pinpoint the absolutely perfect topic that can make you a sought after dental speaker. I’ve seen so many people out there, when, I’m sure Penny will back me up on this. When I’m going to speak, a lot of times you’ll speak right, you speak for a couple of hours, 4 hours, 8 hours sometimes if you will. At the end of the thing, there’s always going to be 4-5 people coming up, they want to talk to you, ask you questions; most of the time it’s about what you just spoken about. Now there’s always somebody, maybe a couple people kind of lurking behind that initial group. And once you’re through answering those questions, they sort of come up to you and the question that they usually ask is, how could I learn to do what you just did? I would really like to get into this field but I just don’t know how. And so inevitably, what I will do is I’ll say, “Okay, well hey what’s your message? What do you talk about?” and the response I get usually “Oh, I can talk about a lot of stuff. We did a lot of stuff that’s really good and awesome. You know.” Well that’s the problem. That’s the mistake right there. Most, if you can’t clearly define like how about a like a micro niche, if you will, of an area of expertise, then it’s going to be really hard for you to get your foot in the door because you’re going to just you know, you’re going to look like just whatever else you know, the same old same old copy cat stuff that everyone’s talking about. For me myself, I would say when I was picking out a niche, I was really passionate about people, you know, not succumbing to this idea that anybody, anywhere can have a really high end expensive boutique type practice, right? And so we developed a way where you could make a really high amount of income, just seeing regular folks. And so I chose dental efficiency and productivity is sort of my niche. Now you know looking back, I picked out. I certainly picked out a very micro niche. There was not a lot of competition, I feel like there’s a reasonable chance I’ve planned near the top of the heap of people that are trying to talk about that. But the downside is of course that’s not a huge niche. So you know, I’m not getting, I’m not getting that…I’m not the guy that’s talking about implants; like you know I’m no implant guy. But if somebody’s looking for the productivity guy, I’m on the shortlist almost every time. Penny, I know you got a story too just like that, right?

Penny: Oh, absolutely! And one of the things that I...