Let’s talk about the business side of dentistry, shall we. There is one core objective to owning a business and that is to make a profit. It’s not a bad thing, it’s not a debatable thing, it’s not an optional thing. It is the idea of business.
The reason, in addition to the obvious benefit to an owner, is you can’t run a business, pay other people, serve the customer (in your case patients) effectively, or remain in operations long-term without doing it profitably.
No Doctor would actually say they want to do all the work and make no money. Every Doctor I’ve met has always desired to be paid what they are worth, to utilize their skills fully, and to be appreciated for it.
My Doctors also want to be in control of their lives and nearly every variables in it. That’s why they chose to practice dentistry on their terms by OWNING a practice.
Still, here’s what most Doctors learn the hard way… It is impossible to practice dentistry on your own terms if in fact you are not running a profitable practice – as a business – first.
And I’m not talking about just a little bit of profit that’s enough to get by. The less your profit is, the less your ability to withstand challenges, overcome obstacles, and even stay in business.
It gets even worse than that. You can’t work the schedule you want, take the vacations you want, and have the peace of mind you deserve without running a profitable practice as a business as well.
So, what’s the big deal? You say, “Scott, I get it, I have to have profit at the end of the month in order to have stability and be successful.”
And there in lies the entire problem and why many Doctors fail. If you look at the average net worth of a Doctor after 10, 20, 30, 40 years and you divide it out to find their average investment per year for all of their sacrifice, you’ll need either lots of Kleenexes or a bottle of the hard stuff or maybe both.
Add in the fact that Doctors in Dentistry have one of the highest average incomes of anyone in professional practice and you get even more frustrated.
You ask, how can this be? Sure, you live a nice life along the way but that is only half the battle. The business is supposed to deliver a profit that leaves the practice and goes into your personal wealth to multiply.
There are two types of money: the income you are paid to do the dentistry and the profit you create to own the business.
If you want to really reach your potential, you must take responsibility for building a practice that will generate both types of money (and all the additional benefits that go along with that).
This happens to be the foundation behind all successful Private Practices when you look at the ones that make it, the ones that last, the ones that deliver it all for their Doctor Owner.
Here is the good News – and my big announcement – I have just released my newest book entitled “Built To Last.”
It, not coincidentally, happens to be the most timely book I’ve ever written and I surely don’t have to explain why.
You can grab your free copy of my new book here …
Inside of this book, you will find your roadmap to do more then comeback strong from the shutdown, you will find your battle plan for building the most profitable practice of your life; one that will truly serve as a vehicle for your success in all ways. Imagine a practice that provides more time for your family, more rewards for your team, and more opportunity to build wealth outside of dentistry.
As I say, your practice is supposed to be a vehicle to take you where you want to go, not just today, but for your future as well.
So, you might ask yourself why and how does all the money dissipate into thin air? I will tell you exactly why.
Here’s the big challenge in dentistry: the profit is always a complete afterthought. And I’m not kidding.
Go to any trade show, look at any journal, scan your email box, look through your mail, surf the dental web – everyone wants you to buy something else for your practice.
You are your industry’s customer. If you aren’t careful, the industry will become a pack of hungry hippos and eat all the money inside your practice. The industry’s job is to extract as much of your money as possible.
You must be a protector of your practice and an investor of your profit. You do that by ensuring every decision in your practice is anchored against these four principles…
1. Does this enhance the experience and outcomes for ALL the people involved (including you)?
2. How does it fit with your personal and clinical philosophy?
3. Is it going to disrupt your lifestyle, autonomy, or peace of mind?
4. Is it an investment (which returns a profit) and matches my life and wealth plan?
This is how you make a decision about anything in life, why not dentistry and your business too?
It should not be anyone else’s to dictate. It is yours and without a clearly defined plan, a vision of the future, and a sound practice profit structure, you can’t really make any decisions with confidence in the first place.
This can be a difficult topic of some. I suppose it’s because some doctors feel guilty thinking about the profit of their practice. They think it means that they are not thinking about the patients – but in fact, it is the opposite.
By not focusing on a profitable practice, you are by default causing the greatest harm to everyone involved (patients, team, and doctor) because you are building something that is not sustainable as it sits on a broken foundation.
Think about this… right now, every practice is experiencing amazing patient flow from two months of pent up demand and patients’ sensitivity about their health. You might very well even be making more money than you were before this all happened.
The question is: where is the profit? And how do you sustain it?
If it is NOT on purpose and achieved with a deliberate plan, then you won’t be able to repeat it. You risk coming back for a few months of busy just to end up stalling out in the second half of the year where some months are black and some months are red but you never really know until it’s over.
If you are ready for a different reality, one that is predictable, dependable, and sustainable, then…
Request Your Copy of My New Book “Built To Last” >>>
Next week, we’ll dive deep into the components of practice profitability and how to get the most out of the assets you invest in each and every month. In the meantime, grab my book and dive right in.
