Kiera shares a personal experience of reaching an incredible milestone but feeling depleted — and how she changed what being fulfilled meant.
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Transcript:
Kiera Dent (00:01)
Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I feel like today's podcast is going to be, I don't know, we're about to find out how it lands. So I hope it lands incredible. It's a space of a little bit of vulnerability for me. And ? it's going to be something where I'm probably going to read it more than I just riffed podcasts. I was asked by our marketing team to write some of my stories, some of the founder's stories, some of the pieces of my life journey. And as I wrote it, the first one, ?
the bulk of our team members said, Kiera, you should actually make that into a podcast. And I have thought about it and I decided, you know, I think I'm going to do it, but I don't know that I can rift it. Every single podcast I've ever done has been a nice rift for you. It's all knowledge, it's experience. I want to make it engaging. So I'm super curious how me reading one is going to land versus me telling you. And I might add some few embellishments because let's be real, I didn't write all the pieces of the story. And so I hope that it inspires you. ?
It's called the empty millionaire. And I feel like it's hopefully very relevant for a lot of you and maybe just walking you through the journey because as I've talked to a lot of different people about the millionaire journey, so many of us want to hit a million dollars. And so that's why I titled this one the empty millionaire. And so we'll see. Like I said, I have no clue how this is going to land. It's my first one. feel like very
really vulnerable. If you're even like watching this, my team's probably going to clip this part. Like my shoulders are hunched, like my arms are, my hands are in my pocket. Like my hands are a little sweaty. I hate when this happens. Like I don't really get sweaty hands thankfully, but like they're, they're a little more clammy than usual. ? but I think it's because it's my story. It's my life. And, ? I think on Dental A Team, one of the biggest things I've really always committed to is that no matter what I share on the podcast, you should always be able to peel back the curtain of Dental A Team and see exactly what we're doing, exactly who we are.
never wanted to make up stories because I feel like then you're trying to chase a false reality. And so this is my story, the empty millionaire. So hopefully you love it. And if not, then I'll never read a story again. So give us some feedback and we'll hear if you loved it, send it an email. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. If you didn't also send it an email. Don't worry. Our team fills that so you can be honest. They feel that they tell me so you won't hurt my heart. You won't break my feelings. But at end of the day, this podcast is for you more than it is for me. But thank you for allowing me to have a space to share. So
The Empty Millionaire by Cara Depp. So I had always envisioned what it would be like to hit $1 million. You live on the yacht or the beach house or the incredible mansion overlooking the ocean while drinking the fanciest drinks with your head back laughing and truly living life with zero stress. Happiness exploding on every level and feeling like you're on top of the world. This, in my opinion, was living. This, in my opinion, was the mountain that I was destined to climb and hit. This was my future. I literally imagined I could see myself like, ha ha ha, like sitting back there laughing like,
what you see, driving these fancy cars, looking at these exotic views, that's the million dollar ? mission that I was destined to climb. And then I hit a million dollars in my bank account. I remember the day, it was in September, and where was I at? I was sitting in my apartment on my futon alone, like literally alone. My husband and I were talking about this story last night, and he's like, Kiera, tell me more about it. And I was like, Jace, you were actually at your niece's wedding.
There was a mariachi band, so when I tried to call and tell you, like, here, I can't hear you. There's this huge band playing in the background. Can I call you later? I had just finished an event with my team. My whole team had flown out. I was exhausted. I remember sitting on this futon. I saw our blinds swaying. And I was like, I hit it. I hit it. And I'm in an apartment, sitting on a futon alone, completely and utterly alone. My family wasn't there. I wasn't laughing. I felt empty.
I felt spent. I felt overwhelmed. I felt the weight of what I had created crushing the air out of me. Like I was so exhausted. I literally remember sitting there on my futon. Like I said, like I was laying on my futon. The reason the futon was there is because we'd had people come visit and our house was like so small that we had to like move our futon around to have it there. So I wasn't even sitting on our couch. I was sitting on this futon and I remember just laying down and I thought, hmm, I truly did not think that this is what this moment would feel like. I didn't think I'd be sitting here feeling like it took every ounce of energy to smile.
to show up for work, I was depleted, exhausted, overwhelmed, crushed, and empty. And the best word I think I have to describe was just hollow. Like I just felt hollow. And I'm like, yeah, I climbed this freaking huge mountain. Like I did it. Where was the yacht? Where was the laughter? Where was exploding happiness? Where was my fancy drink where I was sitting there overlooking the ocean, like laughing and being so just in pure euphoric bliss? And this was the moment I realized one million wasn't the destination.
Instead, it was all those feelings of exploding happiness and joy and carefree and totally living, like living, not just living, but living that I was chasing. ? and I had been grinding away at an empty hollow dollar amount that was met with unhappiness, met with like sadness, met with loneliness. And it was this number and I'd been grinding away at it. And then I had this freaking lightning bolt moment. So it probably was such a blessing that I was sitting there. My husband's off to a wedding. Like, I was like, gosh, like I couldn't even go and be there because I'm grinding for this number.
But that wasn't actually true. These were just rules that I was pretending to tell myself that weren't true. And I had this lightning bolt moment. I call these lightning bolt moments because I feel like they hit you in an instant, they rock your soul, and they change the trajectory of your life. And I said, living is having your family and friends, relationships, being fulfilled, laughing so hard that your sides hurt, or whatever your variation of being utterly fulfilled and happy looks like. That's the million dollar life. And so a few things that I wanted you to consider as I wrote this out is,
What does your million dollar life look like? Create it, imagine it, really feel it. What does it look like? For me, it was sitting on this ocean balcony laughing so hard. ? But what are the emotions that you really wanna feel? And if I look back and we listen back to what I said about the, it's being carefree, it's having a ton of fun, it's laughing so hard, it's being with family and friends, it's traveling the world, that to me, those are the emotions. I wanna feel free, I wanna feel fun, I wanna feel fulfilled.
I want to feel loved. I want to feel care, kindness, like expansion. Those are all the feelings that I wanted. And then the question is, what are you already doing that is your million dollar life today? Like, what is it? Even if you've hit a million and now this is your two million or your five million dollar life, like what are you already doing today that's a million dollar? Are you laughing? Are you happy? Are you having a good time? Like, I want you to see how much closer to this reality you are than you thought you were.
? And then my question is how can you create more of the million dollar life emotions today? So looking at my life I'm like, okay, if it's me sitting on this yacht, like I don't even know where I get this stuff. This is rifting. This is not reading anymore, just so you know. But I'm like, where do I even get these thoughts? Like, is it from the movies? But I'm like, no, what it is is it's fun. Like fun is one of my number one core values. I want to just have fun. And so I'm like, how can I create more fun in my life? How can I create more love and laughter? How can I create more deeper connection?
How can I create more travel and experiences of experiencing the world? And I'm like, wow, well, an easy way to experience is to like just experience around me in my own community. Like I have like Tahoe literally 20, 30 minutes away from my house. Why don't I go experience that and enjoy it? I have a lake just like not far away that I could go boating all the time on. That's something like instead of a yacht, like it's not quite the yacht. Cause honestly I don't want to yacht it. I just want to be on a boat on water. So how can I get more boat and water time in my life?
Well, great, we go to Hawaii all the time. It's so fun. We go surfing over there. Like that's what I was wanting to do. What if I, what can I do for more fun? Every single week there is fun put in my calendar. So when I talk about like what we do in our masterminds with our consulting, I tell people like figure out your life categories that are super important for you to feel fulfilled and like a balanced human, not equal, but balanced. Like where you're just, you feel an equilibrium, I think is a better way to put that.
And for me, fun is a huge portion of it. So every single week I make sure there is something freaking fun. It's written in pink in my journal because I know it's going to be like the fun and the highlight of my life. Those are the million dollar emotions that we're truly seeking when we're looking after that $1 million mark. Yes, there's financial gain to it, but the reality is like, I don't like to sit on a futon by myself. I don't like to be alone. I don't like to feel depleted. I don't like to feel exhausted. I don't care like the number of money.
I want to feel happy. I want to fulfill, be fulfilled. And what's wild is those emotions, the more you feel the emotions of that million dollar life, it actually is the momentum to create the million dollar life. You don't create the million dollar life through grinding it. Like clearly you can, but when you reach that summit, you reach that peak, it's actually not freaking fun. You actually want to feel those emotions and those emotions will fuel you because that's your soul. That's what you're looking for. That's the intention. Those are the moments that you're actually seeking. It's not that top summit peak.
So then my last question on this for you to consider is what are you going to do when you become a millionaire? And I want you to create the fire and excitement today and make the reality for you today. So like, what are you going to do for me? I'm like, I wish I would have done that. I was like, I just wanted it. Like I wanted to see it so hard. And then I got it. I'm like, sweet, my husband's gone. I didn't even attend the wedding. I'm exhausted. I'm tired. I'm sitting on my freaking futon, which by the way, I still have the futon and I still love this futon. It was just like, I think it's so funny that like of all the places, of all the things.
That's where I was the day I did it. And I closed my phone and I'm like, huh. So it's like, why do you want to become a millionaire? I had never thought it was like for me, honestly, if I look back, was because I wanted to prove to people that I was worth it. That was it. That was literally why. Like when I look back at it, it's because someone told me once that I would never be anything more than a insert F word dental assistant. So they told me that I would be and it set me on this path to prove, to prove my worth.
to prove who I was. So for you, what is it for you? Is it, why do you wanna be a millionaire? Like truly, don't lie to me. I just told you my honest, ? it was to prove myself. It was to prove my worth. And I realized, screw that. The person who said that's not even in my life anymore and yet I'm like chasing this summit versus like, why do I wanna, what do I wanna do with that? Well, gosh, Dental A Team's live to give is one of the greatest.
blessings in my life and it helps me see how I can give back for the beautiful life I have. Creating a space at work for all of my incredible teammates, like to give them their dream lives. my gosh, like that is so fulfilling for me to have that, to be able to ? give my family like things that they never experienced and opportunities like, wow, like that's so much more like screw the yacht. Like let's be doing that. Like let me create experiences that just create magic moments for other people in my life that are going to just be so special for them.
To be able to do that, like that's the fire and excitement for me, but what is it for you? And I want you to start creating this million dollar life now. Million dollar lives are not something you stumble into when your bank account finally hits that million. Instead of being like so many millionaires, commit to truly living and loving that million dollar life today. There's no need to scale the million dollar mountain and hit the summit and feel unfulfilled, hollow and empty when you reach the top. Like truly that is so sad. And Tony Robbins has an incredible quote where it says, success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. And I had it.
literally had it. And I feel like there's no need for that. Instead, you can feel the emotions that you're seeking today. And all those emotions will fill you, fuel you to reach that million dollar summit and hit that summit and have it where instead of being like Kiera sitting on the futon where my family's like nowhere around and I'm just like, wow, this is it. You actually can have the insane happiness, fulfillment, growth, whatever those emotions are. You can hit that and you can commit to that. That like when you pop the confetti, when you celebrate, you are doing
the million dollar life because you've already been living it. Now it's just like another milestone that you've achieved in your life. I want you to have like truly cheers to that million dollar life today. Start living, like living this today. Why wait? Why hold off on this happiness and all these emotions? Like why not just live it today? So I want you to commit to being happy, fulfilled and the joyous millionaire today. And just so you know, this is like truly very vulnerable of me. I'm on a mission.
to create a hundred happy fulfilled millionaires in the next decade of my life. I've really been thinking of what do I want in the next decade? What do want my 40 decade to be? And it hit me that I'm like, I used to say I wanted to help create a hundred millionaires, but I actually had a friend and she's like, here, I actually don't want the million dollar life that you've talked about so many times. Like you're stressed out on your mind all the time. You like never have time to work out. You're exhausted. She's like, I actually don't want that. And I was like, yeah, me neither. She's like,
but I want to be the happy fulfilled millionaire. And so I decided I'm on a mission to create a hundred happy fulfilled millionaires in the next decade of my life. And I'd honestly love for you to be one of them. like join us and like truly, if you want to be a part of this, join me, join us, join our company. Dentistry is our platform. Life is my passion. And truly I want you to start feeling all the happiness today on your journey to the million dollar summit ? together. Like why not do it together? Why not have somebody who celebrates you? I'm like, what the heck? Like I sat there.
by myself. What? Like, no, there should be people that are celebrating, they're rocking it, that are like celebrating all these pieces. And so for you, if that sounds fun for you, you wanna be a part of it, join us. I'd to have you be a part of it because there's no reason for you to reach that. And even if a million dollars is not your goal, maybe it's 200,000, maybe it's 500,000, whatever your goal is, whatever that summit is, again, why do you want it?
Let's create it. Let's figure out those emotions that you're chasing. Let's create more of that. Let's give you that fuel and that fire to create more of that in your life because life is our gift. Like truly I think about, get this one life to live. And when I think about when I'm 90 or 100 or 150, what do I hope the feelings and emotions are that I feel? And I want to start creating that because to me, that's living. The million dollar mark is not living. The life and the person you become is living. So let's create that. Join us if you want, like I said.
Tell me if you loved this, tell me if you didn't. But this is my story. This is where I was. This is what I felt. And this is what I decided, forget that. I want to help people become happy, fulfilled millionaires in the next decade of my life because I believe that it can be so fulfilling because I know the person who does that is going to give back to this world, is going to have great impact, is going to serve their community, serve their patients, serve their team. Like now I'm on a mission. Like how can I help all my team members become this? How can I help the people that are around me become this?
Like let's give it because there's no limit at the top. Like it's not a summit, a peak where only like 10 people can be there. No, this thing is a freaking next level euphoria that we can create and we can change this world. There's no limit to the amount of money in this world. There's no limit to the growth and the goodness that we can create. And I want people who want to give back to create, to build this incredible world together ? because that's where fulfillment is. That's where life is. So join us. And as always, I hope you think about this. I hope you reflect on it.
Team members, dentists aligned. ? Let's figure out how we can have those million dollar lives. There was a survivor, I'm a big fan of survivor, and there was a guy on there, I think his name was Keith, and he always said, he had like a tattoo on his booty, like I'm not even joking, and it said, livin', L-I-V-I-N. And I've thought about that so much, and what am I doing today to be livin'? Like this is livin', and looking at all the magic moments in my life right now that are my million dollar livin' life.
Again, million dollar I think is a societal piece. The reality is we want the rich, fulfilled, happy, living life today, no matter what our bank account is, no matter what our financial state is, because that is going to create more of that. I'm not here to say that striving for the million dollars is not a great goal, ? but it's something where I really want you to see why do you want it. So when you reach that summit, AKA the euphoria space, that you are so fulfilled, that you are so happy.
that you are vibrant rather than hollow, bleak and unsatisfied. There's no point to grind your life away. We get one life, it's our gift, it's our special opportunity. So let's make it the most magical version of you. Join us, I'd love to help you. It's truly a huge passion of mine and something so special to be able to share, share everything I learned, share all the pieces. So that way, instead of your story of being the empty millionaire, your story is the fulfilled, the vibrant, the exuberant, the...
Like, whatever it is, the victorious, the so happy, whatever it is, millionaire is you. And as always, thanks for listening. And I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.