In an episode of The Savvy Dentist podcast, Geoff Currie shared a story that captures a vital lesson for any business owner seeking growth.
He had been working with a fish and chip shop owner whose business was generating $1 million a year in revenue. That owner eventually decided to sell the shop. A new buyer – also a fish and chip shop operator – purchased the business, assuming it would help him lift his own performance. His previous shop had been turning over $650,000 annually, and he believed that stepping into a million-dollar operation would naturally level up his success.
But within a couple of years, the once high-performing business had slipped down to a $650,000 turnover.
Why? Because the new owner hadn’t changed his behaviours. He brought his old ways of operating into a different environment – and unsurprisingly, got the same results.
This story echoes a fundamental truth in business and personal growth: what got you here won’t get you there.
It’s easy to assume that simply acquiring better resources – a new location, improved equipment, or more experienced team members – will elevate your outcomes. But unless your behaviours, mindset, and systems evolve too, the results will stay much the same.
One of the key lessons from this story is the importance of recognising and understanding the behaviours that may have served you well in the past, but which now hold you back from further success.
So how do we break through to that next level?
Start by imagining the practice you truly want. Picture it in detail:
- What kind of patient experience is delivered there?
- What systems are in place to ensure excellence, efficiency, and consistency?
- What are your team members doing each day – how do they communicate, what energy do they bring, and what values are evident in their work?
- What kind of patients does this practice attract and retain?
- Most importantly, who are you in that future? What kind of manager and leader are you? How do you think, respond, and make decisions?
Now bring that vision into the present.
Start choosing your actions and behaviours as that future version of yourself would. Lead as that person. Set standards, communicate, and problem-solve from that mindset.
Because real change doesn’t happen when circumstances improve. It happens when we choose to grow beyond the behaviours and habits that have defined our past.
If you’re serious about creating a thriving dental practice – one that brings both success and fulfilment – you must be willing to evolve. That might mean learning new leadership skills, rethinking your systems, training your team differently, or shifting how you engage with your purpose.
The future of your practice depends not just on what you do, but on who you’re becoming.