Cut The Tie | Success on Your Terms

“When You Lose the Job, You Find the Calling” — Allison Norris on Turning Setback into Startup

• Thomas Helfrich • Episode 277

Share episode

Cut The Tie Podcast with Thomas Helfrich
Episode 277

When Allison Norris had her paycheck pulled without warning and was tossed aside by a startup she helped build, she hit a wall—hard. Depression, doubt, and disillusionment followed. But in the rubble of burnout and betrayal, she made a decision: I’m going to build something of my own. In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with the founder of The Dentele Group to talk about what it means to bet on yourself when nobody else will.

Allison’s story is a real and raw account of navigating failure, reclaiming confidence, and breaking away from traditional career expectations. From dental hygienist to founder of a growing recruiting agency and AI-powered hiring platform, Allison shows that the worst moments in your career can spark the best chapters of your life.


About Allison Norris:

Allison is the founder of The Dentele Group, a non-clinical recruiting agency transforming how dental professionals connect with opportunities. A former hygienist who left clinical care behind, Allison has since built a business—and a soon-to-launch hiring app—that prioritizes values alignment, authenticity, and smarter tech. With a no-BS approach, she’s helping reshape how hiring works in the dental world and beyond.


In this episode, Thomas and Allison discuss:

  • From fired to founder: Allison’s turning point
    After being blindsided by a startup, Allison faced depression and doubt before deciding to build her own company.
  • Cutting the tie to old beliefs
    Allison shares how she had to let go of the idea that failure equals worthlessness—and instead learned to fail forward.
  • Family pressure vs. personal purpose
    The tension of choosing entrepreneurship over tradition, especially when your parents don’t get it.
  • Launching a values-first recruiting agency
    Why Allison prioritizes authenticity, alignment, and integrity in all her client and candidate relationships.
  • The hiring app that could change the dental industry
    From Calendly to background checks, Allison’s AI-driven app simplifies and centralizes everything hiring managers need.


Key Takeaways:

  • Betting on yourself changes everything
    Your future shouldn’t be dictated by someone else’s rulebook.
  • Failure doesn’t mean you’re not enough
    It’s redirection, not disqualification.
  • You don’t need permission to be a founder
    If you’re not meant to build someone else’s dream, build your own.
  • Charge for your value, not your time
    Your brain is worth more than a free “pick your brain” call.
  • The dream you’re chasing might be the one you never saw coming
    Let go of what you “should” do—and find what you’re meant to build.

Connect with Allison Norris:

💼 LinkedIn: Allison Norris
📧 Email: allisonnorris@thedentelegroup.com
🌐 Website: thedentelegroup.com

Connect with Thomas Helfrich:

🐦 Twitter: @thelfrich
📘 Facebook: Cut The Tie Group
💼 LinkedIn: Thomas Helfrich
🌐 Website: cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 instantlyrelevant.com



Support the show

Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Cut the Tie. Today we're joined by Allison Norris. Allison, how are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm good. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm delicious Allison. Where in the world are you living in?

Speaker 2:

Atlanta, Well, actually Marietta, which is right outside Atlanta.

Speaker 1:

I'm up in Alpharetta, so we're not that far away from each other. Yeah, I didn't realize that when we were just talking off camera that you were in the ATL Gorgeous day. Yeah, I didn't realize that when we were just talking off camera that you were in the ATL Gorgeous day. Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. Why don't you introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about your business?

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure. So I am a former dental hygienist. I left medical in 2018. And I started working at this dental billing company because, you know, as a hygienist, that's all we think we can do is go and do something with dental insurance, and and so I was fortunate enough to help build their consulting division over there. But it's a very political company and you know, there were a lot of, there were a lot of politics, let's say that. And so I quit and well, actually I didn't quit. There's a long story, but anyway.

Speaker 2:

So I started working at this orthodontic tech startup company, this aligner company, and I put my heart and my soul into that company.

Speaker 2:

I went to go pay my bills and my paycheck wasn't in my account, and that's when I found out that they were making me a commission-only employee rather than a salary, and so I had a very hard time with that.

Speaker 2:

I helped them launch the company to the Atlanta market and then just screw me away like trash right and um, and so I went through a couple months of depression, really bad depression, um, and we didn't even have Christmas ornaments on our tree that year. I was so depressed and um, and so one day I woke up and I was like I don't want to feel this way anymore, and so I said I'm going to, I want to, I want to create something of my own. I feel like I should do this, you know, and so I did. So I launched the Dentel Group, and so the Dentel Group is a non-clinical recruiting agency. We place candidates in non-clinical positions in the dental industry, and then, about 18 months ago, I started developing an app, and so the app is going to completely change the way that we hire in the dental industry. So yeah, there's my story.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. Good for you for bouncing back. I love that you found entrepreneurship as a way to focus the negative energy into something positive. In my course, I call that the big bang versus the black hole, and you go through a black hole of fear, of an excuse, heading rapidly towards a void that ends up being something in creation which is a big bang, and so the faster you can get through that, the faster you know sounds like it took you a little, not not well, probably took like it felt like a forever, which it would be in a back hole. But you're through the other side and you're like I ain't going back to that shit again. No, no, no. So good for you. I get you know and your story's unique, but why do people work with you? What makes you unique?

Speaker 2:

I'm honest to a fault and my integrity and I'm very authentic with people. When we have clients that are working with us, we're not just placing a candidate in a position. We are aligning our candidates with them based on their values, their vision, and that's who I choose to work with or companies that I align with. I'm very selective about the companies I work with, so I think that oftentimes headhunters or recruiters get a little bit of a bad reputation, and so what I've heard just from people that have talked to me they've said that I'm not like your typical recruiter. I have heart about it. So that's how I've always led my life and my business.

Speaker 1:

Are you, you know, just in these trying times, you know when this is airing here? It's, like you know, april 2025, right? Are you finding like the political turmoil and just the markets and the craziness is another time that you're trying to avoid the black hole of, oh my God, it's slowed down so bad.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a little bit. A little bit I mean. So in January I was slammed, slammed and it's been. It's been a little bit slow the past month and a half and that makes me super nervous, but I always bounce back, you know, and I've also. It's a little bit my fault too, I'll be honest with you, because I really haven't been putting in as much effort on the business development front as I should, because I've been focusing a lot of my energy on the app and getting that up and going so, um, so yeah, that's kind of my fault.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was taking a note there, cause I was like, um, you have a lot going on. You said, screw it, we're going to do it. And you know, now you're hitting every. You know you're in the entrepreneurial journey and it's, it's rough at times, as you know, and it's, it's insane. Uh, what would you identify as part of that journey? And it's, it's insane. What would you identify as part of that journey?

Speaker 2:

The B tie you had to cut. I had to let go of the belief that failure meant I wasn't enough, and so I had to learn to, to fell forward instead of you know, and to stop playing by the rule books. You know, and, and and stop letting other people dictate how my future looks. When I, when, when I fully started betting on myself was the day that I, I really found me.

Speaker 1:

So you had to believe in yourself. That was a tie to cut. You had to stop worrying what others thought and believe in what you thought you should do and what you could do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a hard step because there's a lot of people influence you. And let me ask you differently Do you feel like some people in your I don't presume people in your life who were trying to be supportive were doing the absolute opposite of being supportive?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, 100%. I mean my. So my husband, I'm telling you what like he was my rock through all that. I mean he's, and he's still, super supportive. Um, now, my parents not so much my parents are. You know the belief that you work for somebody, you're an employee, you get a WP, a W2 paycheck and benefits and yeah, and that's just how it is. And so I'll never forget the time that I was sitting in my living room and my dad looks at me and he's like why don't you just go back to something you're good at, like cleaning teeth?

Speaker 1:

And you're like, oh, I bought some for you. Did you reach your pocket and be like?

Speaker 2:

I know, I know I was like I just go the middle finger for those listening. I didn't even know what to say, I was just and that was kind of. And since then, you know, we've kind of have a drift in our relationship since I launched my company, which is weird.

Speaker 1:

So just identifying a tie to cut, it sounds like that's one you should identify and get that. You know what I say throw the turd on the table and then see how it cleans up. I'm going to throw a turd on the table today. Dax, I love you, you were insensitive and I think you were trying to be helpful, but that was a dick thing to say and I think you should apologize. And you might be like I didn't know. I'm from the 40s. I mean, what do I know? I'll see you in the 40s 50s, and so my point is don't let that one fester. There's no need to.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know, I know, but it did hurt. Oh yeah, I'm sure that one cut was searching for jobs and I was super qualified, right. But now, knowing what I know, now there was a reason that I wasn't getting hired right. I know those reasons now, but back then I thought that my work ethic and and my experience would get me a position, and it didn't. And anyway, long story short, I guess I just had a moment of clarity and it was. You know, I wasn't meant to build someone else's dream, I was meant to create my own.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, to be fair, when I started my company I it wasn't that I didn't apply for literally over a thousand jobs we got zero replies. I guess I was unhirable at that point, I don't know. And that's a you know, you get forced in the entrepreneur route a little bit sometimes too, and the same time you're, you do and you don't like you want to go there but you're still looking for that safety net, that crack cocaine. But once that safety net goes away and you figure it out, you're full on and it's scary shit. And I tell people this Don't go. If someone says, hey, here's a bunch of money to be running this part of a company and it's the right environment, I'd probably take it and just keep my stuff going on the side. I can adjust.

Speaker 2:

I'm not saying no to corporate, but I don't bet on it full time anymore. Hell, no, I don't. I don't believe in that lie anymore. What's a lesson you would give to the listener? Um, a lesson, um, that you know sometimes, um, sometimes, the dreams that come true are the dreams that you never even knew that you had, and so my entire life I worked for someone else and I thought it was supposed to be that way, you know, and I thought that I had to be on the same path. You know that my parents wanted me to be on, and I never, I never really took the opportunity to ask myself, you know, what I wanted.

Speaker 2:

And so let me get to my point. So, to the people that are listening or will be listening, the setbacks and the failures you may think that those things are disqualifying you now, and they may make you question your worth, and they may make you question who you are or your value, but, um, they're actually redirecting you. Redirecting you not, uh, dictating your future, essentially. So, if you're gonna fail, fail really humbly, you know, I mean actually I even say this fail any way you want I.

Speaker 1:

I humbly, loudly, quietly, whatever. Learn from it or it is a failure. Exactly. That's peace and listen. Once again. I'm terrible at giving. I'm great at giving advice and not fine. I fail miserably repeatedly in so many areas. It's I say like I have no creds, like at all. My wife's like read my book and she's like seriously, I'm like just go with it, so I'll leave it at that. It is triggering a small rewrite. Let's just say it that way. All right, rapid fire question for you.

Speaker 2:

Okay, who gives you inspiration?

Speaker 1:

My kids, why is that?

Speaker 2:

I don't know they inspire me more than anybody else does. I don't know they inspire me more than anybody else does. You know they're the reason that on hard days that I keep going. You know, on the days that I get out of a meeting that just went horrible, they're right there and they're really truly the reminderbacks and everything that they go through it almost reminds me of resilience Love it.

Speaker 1:

What's the best business advice you've ever received?

Speaker 2:

Resilience you know, love it. What's the best business advice you've ever received? I would say charge for the value that you provide and not necessarily the hours that you give, maybe. No, I was trying to think of something. You know it's what was. There's always people on LinkedIn that are saying let me pick your brain, let me pick your brain. And I had people pick at my brain every day. It felt like, you know, and I would get so excited and I would get on these calls. And then I realized, oh my gosh, I just gave them a ton of my intellectual property and they're going to take this and they're going to run with it, you know. So I mean, know your value, know your worth.

Speaker 1:

And then yeah, charge for it. Charge for it. Yeah, that's why this podcast costs $1,000 once you appear. Okay, okay, um, so, uh, um. You know, I think reading and educating yourself is part of a daily routine. Try to read like 10 pages a day on something related to something you're trying to get better at, or cut a tie to whatever. What's the must-read book from your perspective.

Speaker 2:

There was a book that I had started not too long ago and it was called the Mountain Is you, and so it basically helps you recognize the patterns that you go through and basically self-sabotage and how to take that self-sabotage and get over that. You know, like get over, stop self-sabotaging. You know it was by Brianna Wiest, I believe.

Speaker 1:

W-I-E-S-T. Awesome. I love that. If you could go back in time and change something and do something differently, when would you do that in your life and what would you change?

Speaker 2:

I would change at any point in my life, any point.

Speaker 1:

This is your show.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness gracious, I would. I'm a nerd. I would have leaned into more of the entrepreneurial, like I would have done what I wanted to do, rather than listen to what my parents wanted me to do. That's what I would do, and that would have been what I wanted to do, rather than listen to what my parents wanted me to do. That's what I would do, yeah, and that would have been starting like in college.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I agree, I'll share this. I remember sitting on the beach after three months of PricewaterhouseCoopers training, right Right after that, right as the dot com was kind of going and all these people were partying they're so excited to get going on their jobs. I to get going on their jobs. I'm sitting there. I was like depressed. I was like is this really what the hell I'm going to do for the rest of my life is sit in a cube and code and do shit like this? I was like there's got to be more to life. This one guy came up to me and he was like he was a friend of mine. He said why are you so? Whatever, I was like thought of myself higher than a cube guy anyway, and I and then you sit on it for 20 some years anyway.

Speaker 2:

So I, I feel, it.

Speaker 1:

You get these moments, you shut them down because you have school loans, debt, other stuff, and anyway, it's just yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, it's. It's crazy. Um, you know, if there's a question I should have asked today, but I didn't, what would that question have been and how would you have answered it?

Speaker 2:

um. The question would have been tell me about your app.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure a few of your website shows, but you can explain it.

Speaker 2:

Tell me about your app.

Speaker 2:

Well, no, the app is pretty cool. It basically provides hiring managers with everything they need in one spot without having to leave. Provides hiring managers with everything they need in one spot without having to leave. So, you know, companies will be able to drop all the different software systems like Zoom and Calendly. And you know, video the video, or that is Zoom, isn't it? The background check software, all that kind of stuff. It's pretty neat. It's all powered by ai and everything's ai these days, but it's really cool. I was. It's been a really great learning experience because I've got to learn about like algorithms and you know like it's been really neat to learn.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, it's. I would hope the links you're about to provide in the next question are going to explain all that. So how do people get a hold of you and who should do that?

Speaker 2:

Sure, anybody can get a hold of me If they want to talk. I'm very friendly, so I rarely check my website. To be honest with you, they can always email me. It's AllisonNorris at TheDentelGroupcom. Or they can find me on LinkedIn, of course, and it's just Allison Norris, awesome.

Speaker 1:

Allison, thank you for coming on today. I appreciate it. Thank you and for those listening, listen, go cut a tie to something holding you back. Get out there, Unleash the best version of yourself. Follow on Apple Spotify and, if you're a YouTuber, hit the subscribe button. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, go cut a tie.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Thomas Helfrich

Host