“Have you been flossing?”
That irritating question gets posed by my long and faithful dentist every six months for as long as I can remember.
Each time, I tell her the same porky, and she gives me a stern warning that I need to get into better habits. (Hardly breaking news for anyone who knows me.)
At the end of every six-month check-up, my dentist hands me a piece of paper entitled ‘Urgent Treatment Plan.’ This is supposed to consist of the work she wants to perform. What it really consists of is lots of codes, numbers, and names which mean absolutely nothing to me.
My fortunately numbed jaw starts to gape at the bottom line of $3,200 and the thought of having to spend yet another 4 hours in her chair.
So, every 6 months, it’s the same old story:
– Go to dentist.
– Get asked if I’m flossing. Lie and say ‘yes’.
– Depart with my Urgent Treatment Plan.
– Make promises I won’t keep: “Yes, I’ll floss more,” and, “I will definitely
make a booking for this Urgent Treatment Plan.”
So far, I’ve survived six visits to my fluoride farmer without my face falling off even with my broken promises. This has deepened my suspicion that my real-life tooth fairy is upselling me a plan that will fund the next Mykonos trip or newest Porsche. Other than a piece of paper with lots of confusing numbers and symbols, there’s been no evidence that things are getting feisty in my fangs.
Quietly, I was feeling confident after my last visit with her that all was well in the ol’ North and South.
Fast forward 5 months later.
Forgive me father, but I am weak of flesh and, in a momentary lapse, I strayed from my porcelain polishing friend and ended up in the reclining chair of a different dentist. (In my defence, this new dentist had a vacancy that wasn’t 3 months away and he offered exceptional car parking.)
Lying back in the chair, I had an eerie moment of déjà vu. The first words from Billy, my newfound man of molars, were…you guessed it…
“Have you been flossing?”
(Is this the dental version of ‘How’s the market?’ And has anyone ever said, “Yes,” and meant it?)
Anyway, I lied and said I had. He suggested I needed better habits. I nodded. He nodded. Both of us knew that I hadn’t and wouldn’t.
Then, it was business as usual. My new dentist poked and prodded, took X- rays, said ooh and ahh a lot, and gave my trusty choppers a buff and polish, making them sparkle again.
Visit over, on cue, he printed off my “Urgent Treatment Plan.” And yep, this one had all those mysterious codes and unrecognisable words and the total of $3200.
This time, though, something different happened. While I was still firmly strapped down in the dental chair, spotlight shining directly in my eyes, Billy turned on his ceiling-mounted TV and, tooth by tooth, showed me each and every stress crack, broken filling, and gap hiding behind my velvet lips.
Yowza! What I witnessed in that cavernous enclave had more holes than St Andrews.
Armed with this evidence, and with eleven simple words, Billy was able to book his next Santorini holiday: “Would you prefer to start your urgent treatment plan today or Friday?”
What could I say? What could I do? I couldn’t deny it any longer. The evidence was right there. The cakehole had definitely seen too much cake. My oral orifice was overdue for some observation. What Billy showed me, up close and personal, was that my once magnificent molars needed some serious renovation if I wanted to continue indulging my deep love for a medium rare 500gram rib fillet.
That Urgent Treatment Plan I’d, in the past, dutifully filed in my trusty rubbish filing bin wasn’t just another piece of paper with an unsolvable and easily ignorable puzzle anymore. No, seeing is believing, and I commenced my treatment plan with Billy that day.
Is this tome really about teeth? What am I really rambling about here? This Tale of Terrible Teeth is a metaphor.
We kid ourselves every day that everything is AOK in our personal and business world. But what has served us well for the last 20, 30, 40 or 50 years probably, despite our protestations or how much we try to kid ourselves we’re immune to this rapidly changing world, doesn’t serve us at all anymore. Our personal and business lives are in need of some attention.
Maybe you’ve acknowledged this already. Maybe you’ve even seen your own Urgent Treatment Plan for your business but, up until now, it’s been indecipherable to you. And maybe, just like flossing, you swear you’ll do it moving forward, but keep putting it on the back burner.
If you’re an avid reader of mine, you’ll know I’m more than a little obsessed with the sustainability of existing business models. Of more recent times, I’ve been specifically focused on the effective use of VAs (virtual assistants) in real estate businesses.
You see, I’ve heard successful real estate agencies and agents talk about how VAs have totally transformed the way they do business. But, just as I was skeptical of any Urgent Treatment Plan fixing my fangs, I was also dubious whether VAs trained in real estate and located in the Philippines could honestly have the skills, knowledge, and capacity to truly support the admin, property management, and sales support functions of a modern Australian real estate business.
There was only one way to make me believe, and that was to see behind the scenes – all the details – with my own eyes.
So, I traveled to the Philippines and Cloudstaff’s offices to spend real quality time with Cloudstaff VAs specialising in real estate. I can now say that I’ve been able to witness firsthand their work to help streamline the back-end engine rooms of hundreds of Australian businesses.
I can also confidently tell you that if you’re looking for your own Urgent Treatment Plan for your real estate business and cost-effective, reliable solutions to your PM, Admin, and Sales support problems, it’s time for you to face facts for yourself.
Whether you’re cautiously curious or simply skeptical or just plain sitting on the fence about VAs and how they can:
a) rid you of your HR woes;
b) help streamline your systems;
c) grow your culture; and
d) free up your PM leaders to focus less on leaky taps and more on positive growth;
then you should join me on my next study tour to the Phillipines in December. We’ll fly into Manila, visit the impressive and secure Cloudstaff buildings, soak up the amazing culture of the Philippine’s #1 Workplace, examine case studies of businesses just like yours, and, if you’re ready, meet and interview your own VA.
There’s a saying, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” If you’re going to continue to crumple up your business’ Urgent Care Plan and refile it into your own ‘special bin’ instead of directly addressing your business’ problems, which part of your business are willing to let go of?
Seeing is believing.
Like to know more?.. Give me a call on 0417630962, visit Cloudstaff online, or join my webinar on October 4th and let’s fix those cracks, broken parts, and gaping holes in your business today.
