How Your Success in Dentistry Can Be a Catalyst for Failure
When things are going seemingly well with your practice, it's natural to take your eye off the ball. You can pretend that everything is going well with the non-clinical parts of your business without your involvement, but you would be kidding yourself.
What made you successful early on in your career?
Were you a hard charger working long hours, six days per week to build your practice and pay off debt?
Were you watching your income and expenses closely?
Were meeting the needs of your family, your staff and your patients, paramount?
If you only remember one thing from this article, remember this: the success that you have had in your career can distract you from focusing on those things that helped you be successful in the first place.
Three non-clinical areas where you may not be focused
When things are going seemingly well with your practice, it's natural to take your eye off the ball. You can pretend that everything is going well with the non-clinical parts of your business without your involvement, but you would be kidding yourself.
Consider these three non-clinical areas where you may not be focused:
Regularly reviewing and acting on practice management reports.
Managing income and expenses of the practice.
Planning for the unexpected.
Important:
1. Regularly reviewing and acting on practice management reports. There are practice owners who do not know how to log onto their computer software and who never see practice management reports. Some are even afraid to ask a staff member to generate reports for fear of what might go through that staff member’s mind.
2. Managing income and expenses of the practice. Some practice owners don’t have any idea what their annual collections are. Nor do they know what their expenses are. They have no idea if their expenses fall within the key performance ranges for dental practices or not. Therefore, they don’t make needed changes.
Of Highest Importance:
3. Planning for the unexpected. Let’s say that these practice management and financial management issues do not apply to you. You are good to go, right? If you think so, you are dead wrong.
Where did this narrative start? It started with meeting the needs of your family, staff and your patients. If because of something unexpected, you are out of the picture and can no longer practice dentistry, how will the needs of your family, your staff and your patients be met?
Sadly, we see dental practice owners who have not prepared well for the future who experience unexpected career ending health issues. It’s far easier on loved ones if you plan ahead for the transition of your practice to new ownership rather than after the horse has left the barn.
Will your success in dentistry cause you to plan for the future, so that you can at least be prepared for an unexpected event, or at best be well prepared for an inevitable event? Or will you fail to act and allow your success to be a catalyst for failure?
Practice Value Acceleration
“Although I may be a long way off from selling my practice, I found that a service called Practice Value Acceleration℠ has been invaluable in several ways. PVA℠ identified weaknesses in my practice that I can work on, personal factors that I need to consider and what I might reasonably expect to receive when selling my practice and real estate. I now have a plan in place if something unforeseen happens to me and a plan in place whenever I decide to transition out.”
– Scott McMillin, DDS – Fairborn, OH
Don’t take your eye off the ball and get distracted from the non-clinical things that helped you be successful in the first place. Contact us today to start establishing a wise plan for the future.
J. Robert “Bob” Brooks, CEPA, CBI
J. Robert “Bob” Brooks, CEPA, CBI, leads Practice Endeavors, an Ohio-based practice brokerage and dental realty company. His company provides practice owners with the tools they need to prepare well for life after practice ownership and to find the best price/best fit buyers for their seller clients. Bob was integral in starting the first of its kind dental practice broker credentialing for the International Business Brokers Association.