Last week I received a telephone call from a desperate
dentist that was very similar to many of the hundreds of calls I’ve received
over the last couple of years. His plight, like dental decay, could have been
prevented, and I share an anonymized version of his story in the hope that it
helps you or one of your colleagues avoid the same pitfalls that are destroying
his life.
Dr Smith has been working very hard as a dentist for the
last 45 years in a mixed NHS and private practice. He has prided himself in the
quality of care that is given is patients, the standard of treatment and the
fact that he has always put them first. Dr Smith has always wanted the best for
his patients, and as a result has been unable to find associates and practice
managers who are able to do the work they needed to do , to the same standard
that he was able to do himself. As the years have gone by, he has worked harder
and harder, longer and longer into the evenings and weekends to keep on top of
all the paperwork whether the clinical or compliance related. His patients adore
him, over the years they’ve become like friends and always pleased to see him
when he walks down the high Street with local town.
And then something happened that has destroyed his life
overnight. Dr Smith had a stroke, a near fatal stroke however he survived and
is now on the road to recovery. It is a shame that the same cannot be said for
his practice because in the same moment he suffered a catastrophic stroke, so
did his practice. He did not have an associate to pick up the slack and keep
the finances coming in, he did not have a practice manager who was able to
manage the practice and recruit a locum, he didn’t have any form of income
protection or sickness indemnity, his family were too preoccupied with his recovery
and that the practice has been allowed to die and continue to bleed Dr Smith
dry financially. A few months in, Dr Smith is on the road to recovery and has
realised as he now has a big problem, the practice is a financial millstone, he
is very aware of his mortality, he wants to hang up his handpiece and realise
his asset and enjoy his retirement.
Imagine Dr Smith’s frustration as he is told by practice
vendor after practice vendor that his practice has no value, the appointment
book has been empty for six months and any goodwill has evaporated and all he
has to show 45 years of hard work is a building containing some dental
equipment. Dr Smith is angry, very angry, he doesn’t understand why associates
would like to have the reassurance of a guaranteed income and a stable list; or
why a young dentist wouldn’t want to pay for practice that doesn’t have an
active book of patients. On numerous occasions during our conversation he shouted
“I have worked for 45 years in this practice it generated me a good income I
don’t understand why somebody can’t see it could do the same for them too.”
I understand that many of Dr Smith’s patients want him to
return to the practice and for him to continue to be there dentist, however Dr
Smith is tired and sick and doesn’t want to return to clinical dentistry.
Moreover, he’s lost his mojo and doesn’t want to spend any time or energy
getting the practice back into a saleable state. Dr Smith is in a Catch-22 his
practices and saleable and he doesn’t want to go back to work to put it in a
saleable position. What should he do? Or a better question what should he have done
20 years ago?
It is a harsh reality, Dr Smith created this situation more
by the things he chose not to do the things he chose to do. By his own
admission he focused on his patients and the dentistry and didn’t ever run the
practice as a business. “I wasn’t taught business at dental school, I was
taught how to be a dentist, I just worked hard at what I knew” How would you
feel if at the end of your career if you had been working very very hard, possibly
at the detriment of your personal finances your relationships or your health to
discover you had been working hard on the wrong things and your practice was
worth nothing?
Please learn from Dr Smith, make sure that you work hard on
the right things and that your assets are protected. If like Dr Smith you weren’t
taught business at dental school, now is the time to learn.
And you would probably be interested in joining The practice success formula , a one
day workshop which covers all areas of the
essential business of dentistry,
for more information, and to book your tickets visit.
Whether you are at
the early stages of your career and don’t want to become like DR Smith, or you
are at the end of your career and you fear you may be in a similar position to
Dr Smith, we can help you.
E mail Jane@IODB.CO.UK
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