The Dental Billing Podcast

Billing, Burnout, and Building a Life That Feels Like Yours

• Ericka Aguilar • Season 12 • Episode 1

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The entrepreneurial journey can be isolating even when surrounded by loved ones who don't fully understand what we're building. Success looks different for entrepreneurs than those in traditional jobs, and the lack of understanding can create a divide between our business reality and personal relationships.

• We often downplay our professional wins because they don't translate well to those outside our industry
• Traditional security (401k, benefits) looks different for entrepreneurs but is equally valid
• True entrepreneurial success is about freedom and peace, not just financial metrics
• Building a community of like-minded people is essential to combat the isolation
• Office managers experience similar isolation carrying the emotional weight of practices
• Finding your "biz bestie" or mastermind group provides crucial support and understanding
• It's okay to build your business slowly and intentionally
• Even when you question yourself or face setbacks, you're still moving forward

If this episode spoke to you, please share it with someone who needs to hear they matter. Let your office manager, business friends, or team know they are appreciated and seen.


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Speaker 1:

Hi friends, welcome back to another episode of the Dental Billing Podcast. Today we are going to take a little detour from claim forms and appeal letters, because something has been weighing heavy on my heart, and I know I'm not the only one who needs to hear this. Where this all stems from is this past Father's Day, I kind of had a moment, and it's the kind of moment where you're surrounded by people you love. We were laughing, eating good food, catching up on each other's careers, but I still felt distant, and not because anyone did anything wrong, but because I realized I have felt something for a long time in my world as an entrepreneur. It really hit home when we were sitting around the table asking each other about our careers and my significant other is going to be retiring from law enforcement this year and we were just kind of talking about what that's going to look like, how he's going to fill his days and all that good stuff. What I realized is that nobody really asked me about how my business was going. There was no curiosity around what I do, and it's not because I felt excluded from the conversation. It was just that I don't believe anybody really knew what to ask, and I have amazing people in my life. You can be surrounded by the people that you love and still feel like you're walking a path no one around you quite understands. Today's episode is for every dentalpreneur, every billing boss, every practice owner or side hustling biller who feels like no one gets what you're building. I see you, I feel you, and today we're going to talk about it.

Speaker 1:

Here's the thing. I did not become an entrepreneur because I thought it would be easy. I became one because I saw a need. I saw a need within my industry. I saw a gap. I saw the confusion around insurance. I saw money left on the table. I saw office managers and dentists, overwhelmed, losing thousands to billing mistakes and I thought, hey, I can help. Fast forward to today. I run a dental billing company. I teach, I coach, I speak all over the country, I have trained hundreds of dental teams and I've helped offices clean up six figures in AR. And that should feel amazing, right, and it does.

Speaker 1:

But also sometimes it doesn't, because here is what nobody tells you Success can be isolating, especially when your wins are so specific to your world that they don't translate at the dinner table. Let me give you an example. When your family asks you how your day went, do you really say something like oh, we just overturned a large denial using section eight of California's prompt pay law and submitted a complaint to the department of Managed Healthcare. That's exciting to me, that's exciting for my client, that's exciting to my colleagues. But when we're talking about people close to you and you answer with exactly what and how your day went, it doesn't translate. And that's exactly what I'm talking about. That's the moment. That's where it happens. It's the gloss over the quiet retreat that we make, the downplay of our day and over time it builds this strange divide between our reality and the people we love the most.

Speaker 1:

I remember my brother asking me genuinely from a place of love sis, why don't you just get a job? You're an amazing office manager? Not because he thought I wasn't experiencing success, but because he was worried about my retirement. We were actually on the way to my place. He had just picked me up from the airport and we were on a long drive back to dropping me off at home. And we were talking about retirement structure and he couldn't see the structure behind my business, my plan or my vision. And I totally get that. I could never hold that against my brother because everything we were talking about was coming from a place of love.

Speaker 1:

We were raised in a world where stability meant benefits, 401k, paid time off, vacation time, where risk is a four-letter word. So to someone who's been conditioned to believe that security only lives inside of a W-2, entrepreneurship looks like cliff diving with no parachute. But here's the truth. I do have a retirement plan, I have an investment portfolio, I have intellectual property portfolio. I have intellectual property. I run a company I plan to sell in 10 years. I have options. Security just looks different for entrepreneurs. The problem isn't the question. The problem is lack of understanding and what makes entrepreneurship lonely. Even when you're winning, it's like nobody knows how to celebrate with you, not because they're haters, but because they just are not on the same path. What success looks like for one can look completely different for another, just as security looks for one looks completely different for another.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about what success really looks like for people like us as entrepreneurs. It's not six figures in a Stripe account although, yes, that's great too. It's not a hundred thousand followers. It's not even scaling your business. Success to me looks like no longer fearing judgment when I share a win, not over explaining myself when a client unexpectedly terminates a contract, choosing peace over productivity when my nervous system says slow down and I've had to work on that one quite a bit.

Speaker 1:

Paying attention to my nervous system has been key to the company's growth and personal growth that I'm experiencing every single day, sometimes taking Mondays off just because I want to take my mom to brunch, hiring a team that protects my time and energy, letting go of people and things that no longer fit, even if they once did. I once had a mentor that told me the team that gets you here will not be the team that gets you there, because we are always evolving and growing and sometimes our business and the direction that our business is going is no longer in alignment with the team that we have chosen to get us here. And I have lived by those words and I'm okay with the fact that sometimes team members aren't going to be in it for the long run because we align for short term. They serve their purpose and we serve in their world as well, our purpose and everybody moves on. Success, friends, is freedom, but freedom is heavy when you're carrying it alone, and that's why I created community around me, because I couldn't keep walking this journey by myself.

Speaker 1:

It was getting way too lonely. Let me just take a moment and shout out to my mastermind sisters. These are women who are smart, fierce, unapologetic about their dreams and who show up for me in ways I never knew I needed. They've let me vent about being ghosted by a potential client after three very long Zoom calls. They've celebrated with me when a client's insurance collections jumps from $30,000 a month to $80,000 a month. They've sent me voice notes that literally rebuilt me on the days I wanted to burn it all down and go work for Target. This group has become a space where I can say I am so proud of myself. I'm so proud of myself without shrinking.

Speaker 1:

So if you're listening to this and thinking I don't have that in my life, I want to encourage you. Go, build it. Find your people. Start with one person, somebody who inspires you. Tag them and say I need you to be my biz bestie. Send a DM. Go to that event that you've been stalking online, because in a world where entrepreneurship feels like you're always either climbing a mountain or building one, you will need people who are going to sit with you when you're tired and cheer for you when you're crushing it.

Speaker 1:

Now, before I keep going, I want to take a moment and talk to my office managers. You may not own the practice, but most of you carry it like you do. You're the one staying late to cover the front when someone calls out. You're the one staying late to cover the front when someone calls out. You're the one who has to explain to patients why their insurance didn't pay Again. You're the one who's training new hires while trying to learn the new software the doctor bought because a rep said it was easier and the truth is you're tired. You're also likely underappreciated Not always intentionally, but in the day-to-day whirlwind people forget that you are the glue holding everything together. And then you go home and you hear things like you're always at the office. They don't pay you enough for what you do. Why do you care so much? It's not your business.

Speaker 1:

Let me pause and say something you might need to hear right at this moment. Thank you, I see you and I get it. I have been that office manager. You don't have to be an entrepreneur to feel entrepreneurial loneliness when you carry the emotional weight of the office, when you lead a team, advocate for patients, juggle billing, drama, fight with insurance companies and still try to keep a positive culture. That, my friend, is leadership, that is service and that is sacred work. You care so deeply and sometimes that care becomes quite a burden, one you feel like you can't fully talk about because it feels like no one will understand. But hear me, you're not alone. There are thousands of office managers just like you, burning the candle at both ends, creating just one person to say you're doing a damn good job. So let me be that person for you today. Whether you're crushing goals or barely holding it together, my friend, I feel you. Whether your doctor says thank you daily or forgets what you do behind the scenes, you matter. This episode is for you too. Keep showing up, keep leading, keep learning and when it gets too heavy, take a breath, delegate something or call someone who gets it.

Speaker 1:

You're not just the office manager, you're the heartbeat of the practice and even if no one says it, you are seen, you are appreciated and you are making a difference. And to my fellow dentalpreneurs, whether you're just starting out or several years in, like me, you're not crazy out or several years in like me, you're not crazy for wanting more. You're not selfish for hiring help. You're not irresponsible for taking Fridays off or building your business slowly and intentionally. You are building something that didn't exist before you and that is so powerful. Even when the money is tight or the team is struggling or you lose a client you were super sure was a perfect fit, you are still moving forward. You are the kind of person who leads with vision. Don't forget that. And to the one listening who hasn't started yet, but you're thinking about it Maybe you want to start your own billing business. Maybe it's coaching or consulting or launching a product, whatever it is you're feeling that pull.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you this, and I hope you can hear my smile Do it scared. You don't have to be ready. You just have to be willing. You will have slow months. You will question yourself sometimes your sanity too. You will want to quit, but you will also grow in ways you never imagined. And the freedom it's so worth it. I know this wasn't our typical episode. We'll get back to fighting PPOs and insurance games next week, but today I just wanted to remind you you're not alone. You are not invisible. You are doing something extraordinary. So breathe, reconnect with your. Why, then, get back to doing what you do best Serving, leading, building and loving this wild profession we've chosen. It is the wild wild west out there right now. If this episode spoke to you, please share it. Send it to someone who needs to hear that they matter. Let your office manager, your biz bestie or your team know that they are appreciated and seen, because we're all in this together. Until next time, keep going. We'll see you in the next episode.

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Ericka Aguilar

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