Bad brokers are annoying, but you may think the underlying practice is worth dealing with them. If you’re looking at a practice that has that kind of broker involved, I want to give you a tool in your arsenal that you can use to negotiate with.
30
Aug
Aug
Both are great ways to make more money, pay off student loans, and build real wealth over your career. So for young dentists the question often comes up: should I build or buy? There’s no shortage of opinions in dental forums, but let me give you my two cents as someone who has spent over a decade helping dentists buy practices.
23
Aug
Aug
On average, a dental practice owner in the U.S. makes $414,223 per year.
Now hold on, don’t leave just yet! As with other average numbers we’ve talked about, the answer without context isn’t really an answer at all. So let’s dig into this one. How much can a dental practice owner expect to make?
23
Aug
Aug
The average dental practice in the U.S. costs about $520K. But I don’t like national averages here, because it’s misleading for your specific situation and practice. There are just too many other factors in the mix. How many operatories does it have? How many doctors? Is it a specialty practice? What city is it in? Which neighborhood? And so on. You get the idea.
So let’s look at it a different way.
16
Aug
Aug
The average dental school grad in 2023 came out of school with a whopping $296,500 in student loan debt. Woof.
In one way, those loans are great! They got you into a great career with high earning potential. On the other hand, we don’t have to pretend that they’re not a huge drag. So how best to get rid of them?
08
Aug
Aug
A dental practice ought to look good, right? When someone drives past, they might notice the signage, the landscaping, the general look of the practice. Is it inviting? Is it dingy? These things matter!
But as a prospective buyer, you’re probably young enough to understand something instinctively: as much as the physical look of the practice matters, its online presence matters even more.
02
Aug
Aug
When buying a dental practice, you’re going to assemble a team to help you out. As I’ve said elsewhere, the most important member of your team is your dental-specific attorney. Next is your accountant. But there are others as well. A banker, a broker, equipment reps, insurance agents, and possibly some other consultants as well.
With so many people involved, which voices should you turn to first?
26
Jul
Jul
If you’ve been reading my stuff for a while, you know about the “80/20 rule” already. When looking for a practice to buy, spend 80% of your time networking with other dentists and 20% with brokers.
But I might call it the “79/19 rule,” which just isn’t as catchy. What I mean is that there are other methods for finding a practice, and while they’re usually not as reliably effective, I have seen plenty of cases where it worked out.
19
Jul
Jul
Dentists buying a practice often get caught up in the state of the equipment. But they shouldn’t, because that rarely matters to the purchase. Here’s why.
12
Jul
Jul
The dentist I was talking to argued that starting a practice makes more sense because (I’m paraphrasing here), “Tons of patients loyal to the seller will leave anyway, and I’ll have to build a patient base again. I might as well start from scratch.”
There’s wrong, and then there’s completely, totally wrong. This dentist was the latter.
I know many dentists share this fear, even if they’re not as adamant about it as the doctor in this story. And it’s not a crazy fear! But it is wrong.
