Why
I do what I do
Changing people's lives by changing people smiles and
creating champions from challenges.
When I
was 19 one Sunday afternoon in September my father drove me to London, to my
halls of residence and to the beginning of my life at university. The following
Sunday I was viewing his body in the chapel of rest, not knowing anything of
his illness in the intervening week. That same day my mother threw me out of
the house and told me that I was welcome any longer. Just before the end of the
Christmas term I realised that what my mother had said was not just a reaction
to the death of her husband, but she meant that I was never welcome back home.
Just before my end of term exams I discovered that I was homeless and had to
move out of my halls of residence. I was alone and felt like I had no one to
support me. My years at university would the worst five years of my life, as I
look back at that time I don't recognise the person I was. I'm not proud of
many things I did or the person I became. During college, I worked hard and
played even harder, and at the end of five years at an astronomical amount of
debt. I was alone and struggling.
Within a
few years of qualifying I brought my own practice and life became much
better. Then I discovered my manager was
embezzling very large amounts of money. I discovered practice was technically
insolvent. I had many staff who were dependent on me for their income, and I
felt a massive responsibility to them and my patients. I was single with no
family to fall back on, the only thing I had to get me through with my
resourcefulness. Once again, I was alone, didn't know what to do, didn't know
who to turn to and this time I had a mountain of debt.
I had
the realisation that I knew how to deliver great dentistry and yet I knew
nothing about how to run a successful business. There was no reason why I
should do how to run a dental practice as a successful business, as there was
no heritage of self-employment in my family and dental school does not teach
business skills.
This
period of my life was one of the longest and darkest times and yet the most rewarding.
I was lonely, isolated, ignorant, frustrated and felt helpless much of the
time. My free time was spent in seminars and reading, learning how to run a
successful dental practice. I worked with a coach and implemented everything
that I could. To this day, he tells me that what made me different from all the
other clients was that I acted, and I got results. The truth was I didn't feel
I had any other choice, my practice was failing, and I had to blindly trust
that my coach and other mentors knew what they were doing, I had no choice.
There were times, many times when I doubted myself and was distrustful of those
around me. It was bleak.
My
ignorance of how to run the business had repercussions in other areas of my
life, I was overweight, unfit, drank too much alcohol. I cut myself off from
friends and those I did see got the worst of me.
So why
do I now work as a business coach, trainer and mentor?
I do
what I do so you and nobody else has to
go through the ignorance, pain, frustration and loneliness that I went through.
Within a
short period, I transformed a failing business into a profitable rewarding
practice the staff felt was like belonging to the family and the patients loved
coming in and kept returning and we were financially profitable and stable. We had
created a fulfilling practice and balanced lives.
I
transformed the practice because I learnt how to run it as a business, no
ordinary business, one that put it patients and the team at its heart.
Dental
schools still don't teach business skills and I have yet to find many other
business owners who have learnt how to run a business before they go into
business themselves. Each day I talk to business owners, dental principals and
team members tell me they are experiencing some of what I went through, no
money. Lonely, exhausted, disillusioned,
frustrated and depressed, not to mention being unfit, failed relationships and
unhealthy. I passionately believe
that this pain, frustration and isolation that you and so many business owners
experience is entirely preventable, and I am here to heal it and prevent it.
Throughout
my life, I often felt the only person I had to rely on was myself. Some of the
experiences I went through could have broken me and yet whenever I thought
things couldn't get any worse I realised I had a choice, to give up or to find
the strength inside to overcome my circumstances. I believe that given the
right support and encouragement everyone has the potential to lift themselves
out of a poor and unhealthy to fulfil their unrealised future. Consequently, it
is my mission to spend a minimum three months a
year working in Third World environments transforming peoples experiences for
the better, and an enabling individuals to become self-reliant and achieve
their life goals.
Would you
like me to share the wisdom gleaned from
blood, sweat and tears with you so you can take the short cuts?
Call today 07989 757 884 or e mail Jane@IODB.co.uk
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