Anne: welcome to Dental Entrepreneur, the future of dentistry podcast. I'm very excited today because I have a return guest, one of my favorite people in the whole world, we were, uh, judging the, uh, Dentistry's Got Talent, uh, in Nashville, a couple, about a, oh, I don't know, a couple months ago, maybe a year ago, I don't even know, Karan, but, uh, you are a, one of the dearest people I know, and you are working with the, the dearest people I know, and, um, Coming on the scene, um, blazing, blazing, uh, your beauty, your insight, your generosity, and your genius.
You help entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants host profitable retreats and micro events. If you have knowledge that can help people overcome challenges, retreats might be the missing piece of your business model that can help you make an extra 100, 000 K a month. A year. You're the master at that. And I'm really happy to have you here.
Your article, and I'm going to hold this up, is in the, the uh, winter edition of Dental Entrepreneur, the Future of Dentistry. We both just got our publications. There's your article. What page is that? This
Karan: is page 18. 18
Anne: and 19. So go to dentalentrepreneur. com, find the article, and You will be amazed at the the information that you probably I can guarantee you have never thought of.
That's what I love is new information, new ideas to think about to build your business. We were talking just as before we got started, you know, I know so many coaches, consultants, guides, and you were saying, hey, what do you call yourself, whatever you are, but basically. I think, I don't know what word is going in and what's going out.
I like the, I like the, the idea of a coach, but I like a guide, a mentor. I mean, you know, more than a friend, it's somebody that's dedicated to you. A lot of them are struggling to make sales in 2023, you know, after the COVID, you're going to have to regenerate, you know, restart your whole mindset process, uh, sales cycle.
What is that about? And how can we help them get back on track to making the money that they deserve and desire?
Karan: Great. First question. Thank you so much for having me. And you're all the things you said about me. I feel 10 times more the same way about you. You're just incredible. Thanks for all that you do.
I think a lot of coaches are such incredible human beings. They've gone through some level of transformation in their personal life. And now I find a lot of coaches and consultants are really just helping people that were like them maybe five years ago. Right. Like I'm really helping people that are in the exact same position or similar position than I was when I was in a job that was paying the bills and I was getting by and I was going on my couple of vacations a year and I was like, you know what, next year I'll get a slight salary increase and then my problems will disappear.
Well, we know that making money does not always work. Solve your problems. But I always thought that they did. Cause again, I grew up in a household that was very money oriented and scarcity and things like that. So to me, I was like, make as much money as you can save it for a rainy day. And if you don't, you're a failure.
So again, from like age seven onwards, I was taught to just save, save, save and make, make, make. And I quickly, Was climbing up that corporate ladder. And I remember making my first six figure salary and I was like, Oh my God, I'm making 110, 000 a year. I've made it. And then, you know, two weeks after I started the check came into my direct deposit bank account.
I was like, Oh my God, I made that much money in two weeks at 110, 000 salary. And I literally thought I was set for life, but I was miserable. miserable. In fact, I left a job that paid me half of that. And I was so happy. I actually left a job where I was making 60, 000 a year to take one that was 110. I was way happier at the 60, 000 because I had a different level of fulfillment.
So when I, when I see coaches now who have this desire and I know money is important and they're trying to make their next income level, which is, let's say you're at 5k a month, maybe your target is 10k a month. Let's say now you've gotten yourself up to 10 K a month. Now you want to shoot for 20 or, and then you get to 20 and then you want to shoot for 25.
I love that, that ladder, but I see a lot of coaches are playing it safe. What do I mean by playing it safe? They don't want to ruffle any feathers. So they just try to blend in with the market as just another consultant or coach who does the exact same thing. Well, if you have, if I line up 10 people that offer the same service, And you, you, you, you, you just blend in with the market.
You're you don't look different. You're not speaking anything different. Your, your information is all roughly the same information. It's like, what's going to make somebody pick you as a service provider. If your nine competitors virtually offer the same thing as you, the unfortunate thing is that begins to price you as a commodity.
And in any commodity based business, it all comes down to, well, let me just undercut, let me low ball my services. So I see a lot of coaches then lowering their service in a dollar value, even though their service is like a 10 out of 10, but their price confidence and their worthiness confidence and their wealth frequency is like, well, the only way for me to make money is if I'm the cheapest.
And then they do that and then they start to attract non ideal clients and all of a sudden you've got 10 clients that are all your cheapest client and none of them are your ideal avatar. And all of a sudden you're like, I didn't sign up for this business. So then you rebrand and let me position myself now as this person and then you make the same mistakes again and again And it's just this vicious cycle that unfortunately a lot of coaches get stuck in and then they think what's required Is that they need to have a big name or a big presence or a big market or a big social media following?
So they start to do what the big people do right when I say big coaches You might think of maybe like Tony Robbins or Russell Brunson and Brendan Bouchard These are people with multi 10 figure businesses that have ample amounts of money to waste on marketing initiatives. They can create books that they don't write and produce them.
They can launch events where all they have to do is show up. Cause they have a team. And I find a lot of solopreneur type of coaches. Well, they're like, well, I need to do all of the same things that they're doing,
Anne: but you have
Karan: a fraction of the resources and a fraction of the time. So again, I think the first thing is, is that a lot of coaches.
They're blending in and there's nothing unique about them. There's this book by Seth Godin called the purple cow. And the very basic principle is if you're driving and you're driving past a farm and you see 15 white cows and then you see one that's purple or you're going to stop your car and be like what what something about this cow is different.
So it's like, how do you make yourself a purple cow? How do you position your business as a purple cow type of business? And my, it just so happens that one of the ways I happen to do it is other coaches that may do something similar to me. Well, but I do retreats and micro events that immediately is a very different branch of my business.
So I think what, what coaches and consultants could do if they want to stop blending in and actually get noticed, number one, don't underprice your services. In fact, there's this quote that says, if you think hiring an ex, uh, if you think hiring a pro is expensive, wait till you hire an amateur.
Anne: Hmm. Wow.
That's a good quote. Cause then
Karan: you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to redo the work. You're not gonna be satisfied. It's going to cost you more time, more money to redo it. Whereas if you just hired a pro in the first place, and also you have to be clear on what type of client are you looking to attract yourself?
Are you looking to attract the price shopper? Who's just shopping around. Are you looking to attract the tire kicker who just let me think about it for six months at a time, or are you looking to attract a high end premium client? Who doesn't want your little itty bitty services. They want a full transformation, change my practice, change my business, change my relationship, change my money history, change my relationship with, with alcohol, uh, help me become a better father.
Like they're looking for the, for the full transformation and people that are looking for a full transformation. They don't want to read a book anymore. They don't want to join your webinar. They don't want to necessarily read the 50 blog articles on your website. They want to talk to you. Cause they're ready.
Cause they've been in pain for way too long. And you're their savior.
Anne: Yeah, that makes, it makes perfect sense. And it also speaks to me the value of having a business coach in this arena. Because when you get started, you do need somebody to say you're worth it. Don't cut your price, stay on track. I mean, those are all things that you're not, that's the gremlin in your head.
That's going to say, no, lower your price. That's better. Everything you said just makes perfect sense. And, you know, it's interesting. I did watch something, um, this week, current that was with all those guys, you know, the Tony Robbins and all, and Matthew McConaughey, 10 minutes of it. They had a big thing that, you know, they were like.
I mean, the marketing that goes in that is like, I'm sure you got a notice on it as well. Everybody I know probably had a notice on it.
Karan: I did.
Anne: I was watching it and I saw the thing, and I'm not going to mention anyone's name. I was like, they're just like everybody else. Everyone has something really unique.
And so again, we put them on a pedestal because everybody knows them and they've got the money and the machine and all that behind them. But. I would say people that we do know that are getting even started in coaching that have that exceptional emotional intelligence and have been through a lot of crap and on the other side of it.
are actually really in a position to be great coaches, great guides, if you will, and they need to get paid for it because otherwise they're not going to stay in that. They can't stay. They can't sustain it. And so I think that someone having someone like you to actually, uh, understand it and push them and, and, and, and let them know that they are worth the money and the time.
And that they've got something special to provide is, is really priceless on their growth. And, and again, do you start that in the beginning or do you wait until you failed and failed and failed and quit started, excuse me, start again, you know, quit again, or do you just start out from the, from the beginning with somebody that's going to help you get where you want to go?
And I would say they need somebody like you to help them get where they want to go.
Karan: Well, whether it's me or someone else, I think if you know that somebody has keys to the lock that you're currently experiencing. And you've been locked behind this door, whether you've been trying to get in better shape, whether you've been trying to better your marriage, whether you've been trying to host your first event and you've never hosted an event before, whether, if I wanted to learn how to create and publish a beautifully produced magazine, I wouldn't go to Google.
I would go to you and I'll say, Hey, what do I have to pay you for a week of your time? Just give me all the shortcuts that's taken you how many years to figure out all the knowledge you have on the printing how to find a guest authors. How do you produce it? How did you figure out the page size? How do you ship it?
What are the shipping costs? I'm like, are you kidding me? That is like years and maybe decades worth of your knowledge. That I could just get for like a little p like, I just have to pay you a little bit of money or, or a lot of money. It doesn't matter. It's like, I'm saving myself five to 10 years. That's true.
That is trying to figure it out myself. Or I just go find somebody who has the thing that I'm trying to achieve and pay for the shortcut. And a lot of coaches and consultants, they feel guilty paying for their shortcut. I was reading this book. I don't want to say the name because it has profanity in the title, but it's called rich as F.
That's the title name, Rich as F, and it's a book, oddly enough, it's a book for women that are struggling with, uh, financial confidence is, and I've actually recommended it to a lot of my clients, uh, men and women, I've read it and I've got so much value from that book. And one of the things she talks about the author, she says that people often feel, especially like coaches and entrepreneurs, and she was talking about women because it's, it's a book for women.
And that's what her company is all about, is that we feel like we haven't suffered enough. Well, you know what? I need to suffer a little bit longer. I need to go through the ranks a little bit more. I need to get a couple more reps in and then I'll be ready. I just haven't suffered yet. You know, like, I haven't quite hit rock bottom yet, but I'm about to.
So like, call me back in three months because then I'll be at rock bottom and then I'll be, then I'll be ready. And it's just like this. We just keep delaying and delaying and delaying because we feel like, and I felt the same way, is like, I thought I had to make a certain amount of money before I could make double that.
And that is true to a degree, but you have to realize you can jump levels in life. Right? If you're at 5k a month, your next milestone doesn't have to be 6k a month. Your next milestone could be 10k a month, the next month or the same day. You could go from 5k a month to 30k a month in the same 30 days. If you just started thinking about money and value and started positioning yourself differently and a framework that anybody can use who's watching or listening to this is a framework I developed called the implications framework.
And this is how you become a purple cow and stand out amongst a sea of competitors. Because if I was to say, and how many consultants or coaches do you know that help dentists and their practices become more profitable or with their operations or with their systems or with their human resources team?
Anne: A lot.
Karan: You probably know a lot of these people and when you follow them on social media, which is where a lot of people get clients is through Instagram, which is what I call organic ways to get content. Meaning you're not paying, you're just posting. You're posting a really educational, entertaining, engaging post, hoping that somebody sees that.
And it's like, you know what? I've been following this person for long enough. I'm ready to, I'm ready to hire this person. But Again, a lot of coaches play it safe. So they might just talk about, let's say we're talking about a dental practice. They might just talk about here's how to reduce stress at work and get everybody on the same page.
Very, very generic, very vague. And any coach or consultant in that market could talk about that. It's a pretty surface level. That's what I call the first implication. Is your team's unhappy? Well, what's an implication of an unhappy team? What might happen if the team remains unhappy for the next six to 12 months?
Anne: Disaster.
Karan: Disaster. But let's, let's talk about that just in a little bit more detail. Yeah. Like disaster is a great word, but explain to me why that word came to mind. So if a team is unhappy and they've been unhappy now for six to 12 months, and now it's a disastrous, team culture, what might be another implication of that?
What if that disaster culture does not get fixed for another six or 12 months? What might happen?
Anne: Unhappy people continue to be unhappy unless something changes. Yeah.
Karan: Right. It could lead to turnover. It could lead to bad patient reviews. It could lead to the dentist just being Having to take out a line of credit because no, no, no more patients are coming in.
But what happens when a dentist starts taking a line of credit? Well, now they're stressed and maybe they start introducing alcohol into their personal life. Well, then what happens when they start, well, what if they get a DUI? And like, and what if that, what happens if the dentist gets a DUI? Well, then their practice, I mean, they're going to be all over the news.
So if I was teaching, if I was helping practices become more efficient, I wouldn't talk about culture necessarily as a surface level topic. I, my, my literal copy of my post would be, are you a dentist who's gotten away privately with a DUI when you know you could have been caught?
Anne: That'll make somebody look at your post.
Karan: That'll make someone look at your post. And there's this false engagement in social media in the form of just a simple like really doesn't mean much. Of course, you know, people are supporting each other's posts and I appreciate that. But when you start digging into like the implication of the implication of the implication, like we just went to like layer seven, right?
I typically stop at layer three, but if you went to layer seven, yeah, you might not get a dentist comment on your post being like, that was me. That was me. But that dentist will message you privately. And say, Hey, I don't know how you thought of that story, but like that's, that's happened to me. And the types of people that tend to message me, quite frankly, most of my clients never engaged with my content because they didn't want to self identify as somebody that was struggling and that's okay.
That's totally cool. But those types of posts were leading to very serious business inquiries. And I want coaches to get and consultants to get more serious inquiries. And not just engagement that ultimately doesn't do anything for their businesses revenue, right? Like a comment a share. I love that stuff.
I love that community support But if we're talking about how does a consultant begin to make more money? Well, they need to have more sales calls
Anne: Yeah, but also you need to have somebody, um, hold you accountable for that. Cause a lot of times you don't hold yourself accountable. And then also, again, it reminds me of like, just be unique, be that purple cow.
Everybody's everybody's a purple cow in their own way. Right. And so I think you're right. I mean, I think now, I mean, gosh, you can Google half that pivoted from dental entrepreneur. Business beyond the classroom, because it was just really getting boring. It was like I, this is the same stuff, just regurgitating over and over again.
So to be authentic, you have to be able to, um, you know, share different stories. And that's where we, we did pivot. And so I agree with you though, as far as helping them find a way to stand out and also be true to themselves, because that's when you have it. Pure joy in what you're doing and you don't really, I mean, um, it's, you don't give an F so to speak because you know, you're true to yourself, but I also like the idea that you've, you've plugged in some other, like truly, um, financial, uh, opportunities.
To your coaches to actually get to know them better. The retreat thing is very interesting. And that's what your article is about is like how to put on a retreat. And I think that is something that, uh, people want to get together now. People want to touch each other. They want to, you know, touch their souls, if you will.
And, um, and feel like they're not alone. And it's, and we're getting sick of, of this, you know, I, I love seeing you on zoom. I really do.
Karan: I get it.
Anne: The beauty of our relationship started sitting next to each other, you know, on a stage. And, um, And I think that really cements it. So I think what you're doing with the retreats and, um, and teaching people how to do it and hosting their own events, big, small, however, whatever feels great to them and feels like they can, you can start anywhere, right?
I think that is, is just genius, um, and very generous for our community and dentistry.
Karan: Well, I think, You're right. Events are definitely coming back, especially after the pandemic. And you're right. I love seeing you, but man, I am, I'm zoomed out most of my weeks, right? I'm like too much zoom. I, instead of, and I'm trying to take more phone calls, so at least that way I can go out for a walk, walk my dog while I'm still on a call with someone.
And it's just as productive, quite frankly. But the whole thing about events is like as an event organizer yourself, what do you love the most about events?
Anne: You know, what I love the most is seeing those people walk in the room the very first time that is like, it's such a rush. Cause I feel like I always forget honestly, current who's coming.
Cause you're so busy right up to the time. So our event, our do thing, our do retreat is 150. So when they start walking in, I'm like, Oh my God, it's like long lost family members and I'd start crying. So that's my favorite part. The beginning of that. How about you? What's your favorite part?
Karan: Yeah. It's that one idea or that one relationship that can completely change your life.
That to me is like whether I'm at an event of six people or sixty or six hundred, like some of the ones we've been at. I'm trying to find one person, one idea, one really good relationship, and it doesn't have to be a business or transactional, by the way. It could just be like, wow, I met someone who's really beautiful.
Like, they're such a beautiful human being, and they're just such a giver. And whether we do business or not ever is so irrelevant because you found someone who you have this like soul connection with and I don't mean romantically, I mean, you could just really appreciate someone else's presence and say, wow, I really see you and I respect what you're doing in your domain.
And I love what you're doing for your people. And as an observer, this is so fun for me to watch. And it's so fun for me to watch people that are so tapped into what they know their gift is. And most people, and I can't, this goes back to this whole like purple cow thing. It's like, most people just hide behind their gift because again, they don't feel worthy or they don't want to be, they don't feel like they're ever going to be on stage, so they'd rather just be.
offstage or backstage or as an attendee. But I think everybody deserves to have their own stage. Everyone deserves to have their own platform. And by stage, I don't necessarily mean hundreds of people. You could have a stage with six people, a metaphorical stage. Your stage could be a dinner table, right?
You can start organizing dinner parties and all of a sudden you get to facilitate this beautiful conversation. So the reason I like micro events in particular, and I love big events too, but my, my, my specialty is in smaller events. 15 to 20 person type of events is because it would 20 people, you know, all their names.
You know who's coming, you know why they're coming, and you can facilitate some really cool transformational experiences in what I call triads. Triads simply means groups, groups of three. I always create a lot of breakouts where I send people off into groups of three and I position a question for each of them to answer.
Some of the most life changing stuff that happens at my events is not even my content. Yeah. Yeah. It's them talking to each other. Be like, Oh my God, I had that problem too. Or Oh my God, I was struggling with my son too. Or Oh my God, I played basketball in college too. Like the craziest things that you could never predict, like for example, somebody came to my event and now that was in September, so we're talking about eight, seven, seven, eight months ago and they have not had a sip of alcohol since the event and just decided, you know what?
I don't want to drink anymore. I want to get sober. Not that this is this person, this person was not an alcoholic, but alcohol was enough of a conversation in their house. Where his wife noticed his kids were beginning to feel it. I didn't know coming into my event that that's what I was meant to help this guy with.
I had no idea, right? I host business events and life events. I don't know what someone's struggling with, what they're going through, but to hear him say now, and I mean, We talk every week, but to hear him say, he's like, dude, I haven't had alcohol in 47 days. And then, dude, it's been 90 days, still nothing.
And then dude, it's been six months. I'm like, wow, man, this is so beautiful. And he's not paying me. We're not in a business relationship. It's just so awesome to hear that he's now bettered himself as a father and a husband and as a business owner, because he decided he made the decision of, he was clear on his value.
Anne: Something clicked. Something clicked. That's what it's, a lot of times you just don't know where it's gonna come from. But I, I also agree with you and, and we'll wrap this up, is that the answer is always in the room. And that when you put, and that's why you're, you're loving dentistry ke 'cause I know that you're new to our profession and you're like in like Flint now.
I mean, you, you're just, you, you know, you, we've, we've, we've wanted you here for a long time. Embracing you is a great profession because the people in it, um, they're, they're special. And I don't think they knew it. I think they're so busy doing all the clinical and the perfection and all of that, that somewhere along the line, they lose their, their chi, if you will, their mojo, and that's what bringing them together and having those conversations.
Intimate micro events and retreats, I think helps bring bring out in them is the goodness that there is that is in them that they want to get out and you give them that opportunity that that, um, the confidence, you know, to do it. And, um, and I think after they leave your event, they, they're committed to it.
So I think a lot of times you have to commit before the confidence follows, but you've got a group, you know, you've got that group of everybody knows everybody is going to cheer you on. I mean, that's what I love. It's kind of like little pods going all over dentistry right now of people supporting people.
And it's just a beautiful thing. And I'm so happy that we're In that group of people supporting people and when you and I support each other and, um, and how can people get in touch with you? Cause you know, I know a lot of the people that, um, especially the dues that are working with you, that I've seen them transformed and how do people, how do our, how does our audience get, how does our audience get in touch with you?
If they've got something they, they want to do, maybe, uh, start a side gig, get a, get a retreat going. How do they get in touch with you?
Karan: Uh, I appreciate that so much. And you know, earlier we said the word coach and mentor and this and that. I, I really, the, the, the term that's always stuck with me is I'm your partner in expansion.
Anne: Love that.
Karan: I'm not the hero. I'm not the coach. I'm not the one with like a rule book saying, okay, this is the rule book. No, no, no. It's like, I'm your partner. And like any partners do, they get to know one another. And they decide, okay, what is, what is our joint goals together? And then what are our individual goals together?
And I'm their partner in expansion because the opposite of expansion. is contraction. And I don't think humans were meant to play small. I don't think humans were meant to hide behind their superpower and their light. I really don't. I feel like you're the biggest gift you can give to someone is you fully self expressing yourself, being 100 percent authentically you with your unique talents that only you have of the seven or eight billion people.
And it'd be a shame if another week went by. And you didn't choose to just fully be you and own that. So I love, I love supporting people. And the reason you're seeing my clients being, being successful is because I just unlocked a little bit of their, their window of possibility of what they didn't think was possible for themselves.
And I would ask questions like, well, why not you? And they didn't have a good response. They wouldn't know what to say back. Well, why not you, Laura? Why can't Laura Collatz have a sold out retreat? Well, she has one now. And guess what? Six months ago, she didn't know how to plan retreats. And a year ago, she had never thought about retreats.
And two years ago, she thought she was just another dentist who had to go down that path. Yeah. Hey, we don't know until we, until we ask questions. So where, where people can find me, well, every month I have a free webinar that I, that I teach live on zoom. It's not pre recorded where I teach you the, the, the frameworks and the secrets of how to host a profitable event.
Uh, so for that, you can just message me on Facebook or Instagram and just say, sign me up for the next webinar and I'll send you the link. Other than that, I teach people in group settings, how to host their own profitable retreats at current and javan. com, which is my full name. com slash profitable retreats.
And we have events of all different types. We have events in Peru, uh, that are masterminds. We have a golden ticket summit in Mexico for coaches that are really looking at doubling their revenue. We have roses and thorns that I collaborate with other dentists on, on really getting transparency back in dentistry.
Um, I love events and I've started to theme my events more and more, but again, I say the words events, but that word means so much to me because there's so many times in my life where people didn't see me for my gifts. They didn't believe in me. They wrote me off because of my business title at the time.
And I thought, wow, how sad is this that somebody just judged me with a couple of words that were on my business card. Wow. I never want someone to feel like that again. So quite frankly, there's just one rule at all my events, there's no business cards allowed.
Anne: Wow. I, yeah, I remember you telling me that the very first time I met you too.
That's so cool. I gotta, I gotta remember that. That's, that's just awesome. Awesome. And you know, it just lines up so much. With how I believe of everybody has special gifts and my gifts are not your gifts, but together we can make some great things happen. So Karan, thank you so much for being here today.
Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being my partner in expansion and um, everyone that's listening, keep doing you.
