86 I Comfortable Doesn't Build a Business — Desperate Does

What if the very thing making you feel safe is the exact thing keeping your business stuck?

Hi friend,

I want to tell you about the year I started smoking in the parking lot before I even clocked in for my hygiene shift. Not on the drive home anymore, where nobody would ever know. On the drive there. I had heart palpitations three mornings a week and I was turning into a version of myself I did not like and barely recognized. That was not a breakdown. That was desperation, and desperation is exactly what got me out of hygiene and into the business I run today.

Here is what I want you to sit with this week. Comfort has consequences. Every month you stay comfortable inside your safety net, your business stays parked exactly where it is. I watch this happen constantly with trained therapists who have the skills, who know what to do next, and who still are not doing it. Not because they lack information. Because their dental hygiene paycheck is giving them just enough to tolerate the failure.

Desperation is not the same as crisis. You do not have to wait until you are in financial ruin to decide that enough is enough. I set a five year goal to leave hygiene and ended up doing it in thirteen months, because the moment I got honest about what staying comfortable was actually costing me, waiting stopped making sense. Your safety net is not protecting you. It is the villain keeping you small, keeping you scared, and keeping you making excuses.

In this episode I walk you through why comfort is the real reason your business is not moving, what desperation actually looks like when it is identity driven instead of financial, and what it takes to pull that safety net out from under yourself on purpose.

This episode is for the trained myofunctional therapist who has done the work to get her training and is still waiting for the moment she feels ready enough to use it.

Grab your ☕coffee and your courage — and let's dive in!

Xo,
💙 Carmen

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Transcript

Who This Podcast Is For

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Secret, I didn't love hygiene. Okay, I loved helping people, it didn't have to be hygiene, and until I gave myself permission to really understand and believe that, I just kept thinking that because I had done um all the work to get my hygiene license, that I had to do that forever. If you're a burned out, bored dental hygienist who knows that you can't do this forever, or you've already taken myofunctional therapy training but feel stuck on how to actually start, grow, or simplify your business, welcome my friend. You're in the right place. I'm Carmen, a dental hygienist who once sat exactly where you are. Overworked, physically tired, mentally done, knowing that there had to be more, and wanting the fastest, simplest, most organized path forward with someone holding my hand along the way. This podcast is for women who don't want more information. They want transformation. They want clarity, consistent clients, predictable income without building a business that takes over their life. They also want support while they do it. So if you're ready to stop spinning, start moving, and finally make sense of what comes next, grab your coffee and your courage, my friend. Let's build a business that works for your life, not one that runs it, so that you can build a life that you're genuinely bonkers about because that's my superpower. Hello, friend, and welcome back to the episode. Ooh, today is going to be a stinger because we're talking about being uncomfortable, which nobody loves to do, all right? So today we're talking about comfort doesn't build a business, desperation does. So why did I choose this topic today? I chose it because a lot of you guys have your dental hygiene paycheck as a safety net, okay? And it is really the villain in this situation. And it is keeping a lot of you guys stuck and comfortable because until you get desperate, you don't want to do the work. You don't, or or maybe you don't want to do the consistent work, is what I should say. So my promise to you with this episode is that you are going to understand why comfort is the real risk reason that

Comfort Does Not Build Businesses

SPEAKER_00 3:53

your business isn't moving. Okay, so first we're gonna start with what I like to talk about my desperation story. You might have heard it um before, but that's okay because you're going to if you if this is you, you're going to resonate um with this. So my desperation story, you guys, it's not a secret. I didn't love hygiene. Okay. I loved helping people, it didn't have to be hygiene. And until I gave myself permission to really understand and believe that, I just kept thinking that because I had done um all the work to get my hygiene license, that I had to do that forever. Uh, but I got I got desperate, you guys. Uh, and so part of that desperation was I was commuting an hour and 15, an hour and a half each way to work. I was working 12-hour shifts. Um, initially, when I went to work at the dental office, I liked it. Okay. Um, the first year I've

Carmen’s Burnout And Desperation Story

SPEAKER_00 4:59

shared this story. The first year I was the amazing employee. I did everything. I was the rock star. If they gave me, you know, one hour for four quads of scaling, I was the one making it happen. I was killing myself. I was good at what I did. Um, and I loved the recognition about, you know, oh, Carmen this and Carmen that, and Carmen can do everything. The thing is, is that, you know, once you work a miracle, they expect that miracle. So, you know, if I did those, all of those quadrants, then the next time they were like, well, why do you want an hour for two quads? You can do four in an hour, or, you know, whatever the example was. Or why do you need an hour for a full profit when you have shown us that you're done with a lot of clients in 35 minutes? So can we, um, you know, if somebody else does your x-rays for you or does your medical history review, could we start giving you 30 minutes? And my friend, if you want to know what's gonna burn you out fast, that is, okay, especially if there's no financial reward for you. So, first year I was a rock star. The second year I was smart, okay? So my boss had brought in a new consultant and a new manager, and both of them had the attitude that hygienists were earning too much money. We were just prima donnas in the office, we weren't a team player, you know, all of those things. So they wanted to change the bonus structure, which they did. So they took, they, they built a moat, you know, here was the office staff, and then now the hygienists were in a life raff on their own. Not only that, but to compound it and add insult to injury, they also gave the boss a 6% cost of living raise. So I didn't get a cost of living raise of 6%, but the boss did. So now our production numbers had to cover her raise. Okay, you guys, I have a master's in business. I'm not a freaking idiot. Everybody else in the office, oblivious to it. And me, I'm a numbers girl. Okay. So I went from being the rock star of the office to being in my second year being called the cancer of the office. I mean, at my second year review, she had nothing good to say to me, told me I was the cancer of the office, that I was causing the toxic work environment. And perhaps I was. I don't know. But, you know, suddenly I found that I had a spine. Okay. Uh prior to having a spine, I think I had a chocolatey clair in my back, and now I had a rod. So they didn't like the fact that I was pushing back. The other thing about all of this process, so I hated that, but I was really dreading work. Okay. I know a lot of you guys are in this situation. You have that Sunday night dread. I just did uh an interview with somebody the other day, and she said, I literally work my guts out for four days a week. And then on Friday and Saturday I breathe. And on Sunday, I don't even enjoy Sunday because I'm already dreading what's going to happen on Monday. That is no way to live. But it was happening to me. So when I was driving to work on that Monday morning and Tuesday, well, actually, I wasn't working Monday. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, um, I was having heart palpitations on the way to work. I thought it was going to kill me. And I think long term it was. But you know what was gonna kill me? The fact that I was a dental hygienist and I had started smoking. First, as just uh a stress reliever on the way home from work. Okay, like I would get so far out of town that nobody would ever see me, and then I would puff away on the way home, nobody would ever know. Then, because I was so miserable and I hated it so much, I was smoking on the way to work. Well, no, let me back up. I was smoking when I left work, like I'm telling you, lighting up that old cancer stick before I even got out of the parking lot. Like I did not care. I was so miserable. And then by the time I would get home, like I'd chain smoke all the way home and I'd get home and I'd have a headache and I'd smell like an ashtray, and blah, it was terrible. Um, and then pretty soon I was not only just a closet smoker on the way home where nobody would ever know, but now I was that person. I was smoking on the way to work. You know, first it started, okay, I'll just have one cigarette on that hour and 15 minute drive, and I'm gonna have all the windows open and I'm gonna use all the nasty body spray. Come on, we're hygienists. We know what that smells like. I was completely oblivious. I didn't care. Okay. Uh, and then pretty soon that one cigarette was two, and then I don't know, maybe it got up to three. The point is, is that I was becoming somebody I did not love. I didn't even like her, I didn't even know her. And that was desperation. Okay, so that's my story. So we're gonna just talk about a few things. Let me look at my notes here. Yep. Okay, number one, comfort has consequences. So every month that you stay comfortable in your business, it stays in park. So many of you guys, you hear me say this all the time like you have to get your car out of park for me to be able to help you. Okay, this is it. If you have a business that's stagnant and it's doing nothing, are you comfortable? Gotta ask yourself that. And the reason that I I see so many of you guys struggling is because you're comfortable and you have that paycheck. So you don't have to do that, that scary thing. Safety note. We're gonna talk about that here in just a minute. Um, desperation is not the same as a crisis. So I was desperate to stop becoming somebody who I didn't recognize. Do not wait until you are in financial ruin before you start something. If you start it now, you get to control the gas and the break. Because the truth of the matter is most of you guys are not Carmen. Some of you are,

Comfort Has Real Consequences

SPEAKER_00 12:56

some of you are already not practicing hygiene, some of you are already injured. Okay. But where a lot of you guys are is unhappy and you're thinking, I can't do this for the rest of my life. So start now so that you can get your clinical training, you can start building your business, and then it's kind of just like a runway, not a cliff. Okay. I set a five-year goal to leave hygiene, and thank the Lord, I was blessed enough to be able to do it in 13 months. Because you guys, I was gonna have, I was gonna have a smoker's cough and be so miserable. Okay, so do not let it become a crisis. If you are identifying with this, I am speaking to your heart for a reason. All right, the third thing I want to talk to you about is that safety net being the villain. Okay. The safety net, your hygiene paycheck gives you enough to just tolerate the failure, to tolerate how uncomfortable you are. And many of you guys, especially if you're listening to this and you're already trained, I challenge you, pull that net out from underneath you and you are going to figure out how fast you need to get your butt in gear to get this business off the ground. Okay. When I have students who are looking at closing their business, and we, you know, I have them jump out of the nest, they're learning to fly on the way down. So a lot of you guys who complain that you've taken your myofunctional therapy training, you know, you've spent all this time and money, but have you really? Sure, maybe you've spent the money, but have you put the effort in to actually do the work? Many of you guys, and and maybe you that I'm talking to, you're complaining

Why The Paycheck Becomes The Villain

SPEAKER_00 14:54

about the outcome, you're complaining about the results that you have, and you're not putting in the effort. So time to get real with that. Um, but that safety net, your dental hygiene check is keeping you small, it's keeping you scared, it's keeping you making excuses. In my case, it was keeping me smoking and doing all the things. Like I don't even recognize that woman now. Okay. So, my friend, is this you? Because if you're still listening, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be. So, what do I want you to do with this? If this is you, I can help you. I'm gonna push you out of that nest. Okay, we're gonna take that safety net away. It's not like you're gonna quit hygiene tomorrow, but you're going to, if you're Lola, if you are already trained and you're not doing the things, you're gonna start doing the things. You're gonna know exactly what things to be doing, and you're going to build your wings on the way out of the nest. Okay. So many of you guys. And you guys, this is by nature because we are dental hygienists. But the longer you wait for things to be perfect, the longer you wait for that life first business. The longer you wait for a life that you are bonkers about. So if this is you and you're already trained, book your Unstuck call so we can talk about what the Profitable Myofunctional Therapist program looks like. Um, how it how what I'm gonna do with you, how it's gonna benefit you, uh, and then make sure that you join the boot camp. Because if you're listening to this, in real life, boot camp is coming right up. Okay. The boot camp is going to give you tactical things to leave with from your business. Okay. You're gonna

Get Unstuck With Clear Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 16:46

learn how to set up your AI. I'm gonna show you some really cool things. So you're gonna want to be in the profitable myofunctional therapy program. Trust me on that. Um, you're gonna leave having a clear idea who your Lola is. Um, we're gonna talk about pricing, all of that stuff that's gonna help you get your car out of park. Okay, uh, so you can get moving. And then if you're not trained and you're my Sarah, see you guys, I use these terms, Lola and Sarah, so you know and understand. I walk the walk. I walk the walk that I talk to you guys. Okay, I have a very distinct ideal customer. Okay, one's trained, one's stuck. Sometimes they're both. But if you're Sarah and you're not trained, you have to get into LMT60, learn malfunctional therapy in 60 days or less, you got to get in there because having your clinical knowledge is the prerequisite to get into PMT. Okay. So that is it, my friend. If this was on your heart and you are Lola and you are stuck, and you're also using your hygiene check as your safety net, storm the island and burn the boats, my friend. That is exactly the mindset that you have to have. Like, if you have plan B, you are not serious about plan A. And while I said you do not have to just, you know, quit hygiene tomorrow. Maybe you need to. Maybe you need to quit that job, find a part-time job. You know, there's a whole bunch of different scenarios, and of course, we go over that at your unstuck call. So that is a wrap, my friend. I'm going to land this plane. I will be back soon and we will be talking more. My gosh, I'm talking like I'm having a stroke here. We will be talking more about growing, uh, starting growing, simplifying and AIing your myofunctional therapy business. Go work on it, and I will be back soon, my friend. I will see you then. I hope you loved today's episode, friend. I pray that it lifted you up, motivated you, and taught you something. If so, would you stop right now and go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review? And lastly, make sure you've joined the profitable myofunctional therapist Facebook community. Links to all the goodies can be found wherever you're listening to this podcast. That's it for now. Cheering you on, my friend, and we'll chat soon.