Let me guess: when you went through dental school, you got all the training you could possibly need on the clinical side. You absorbed all the information you would need about fillings and crowns and root canals so that you could provide your patients with outstanding dental care... but nobody ever said a word about starting and running a business.
Starting a business!?
Yes, when you opened your dental practice, you started a business! You invested money to rent an office space, hire employees and purchase equipment so that you could practice dentistry.
At the end of the day, if that entity (your dental practice) doesn’t turn a profit, pay the bills and provide a lifestyle for you and your family, you’ll feel the struggle. It’s time to start seeing your practice for exactly what it is: a business.
Know Your Numbers - Financial Literacy
Warren Buffet says, “The language of business is accounting.” If you can’t read the scoreboard, you can’t tell the winners from the losers. I don’t want you to be an accountant/CPA, but every successful business owner knows their numbers. When you understand how much money you’re really bringing in versus how much money you’re really spending (“the cost of doing business”), it’s easy to see if you’re actually profitable. When you know the numbers, you can make informed decisions about your fees, your salaries, and your marketing investments.
When I conduct seminars for dental offices like yours, I have a little motto: Ruthless Honesty. That means looking at the numbers without any kind of sugarcoating. It means assessing everything (Are you paying your employees the right salary for the amount of work they’re doing? Are you spending enough on updating equipment? Are you getting a great return on your marketing investment?).
Your office is more than a dental practice. It’s your business and it’s your financial future.
Step Out of the Doctor’s Chair
I’m asking you to step out of your role as a dentist every once in a while and take a look at your practice, as a businessperson (as a CEO) would see it. Looking from the vantage point of “outside and slightly elevated”, observe the workings of your practice. Look at your employees and systems in action. What do you see? What’s working? What needs attention? Where does most of the money come in, and where does most of it go out?
A crucial component to Ruthless Honesty is in looking at your employees. You’re paying them to perform, which means they need to know their roles, responsibilities and what is expected of them. Many Dentists feel their team is over-paid. Are they over-paid or under-performing? And by the way, you are one of your employees; do you know exactly what your role is in the office? Are you supported or are you doing most of the work yourself?
You Still Get to be a Dentist
Once you take a good look at what’s really happening in your business and take the appropriate action, you’re welcome to step right back into the dentist’s chair and continue doing the work you love. When you’re willing to play CEO every once in a while, you’ll find that your practice is more profitable and things run a lot more smoothly.
What do you see when you step outside the role of “dentist” and view your practice from the role of “CEO”? Leave a comment in the area below to share your findings.
Are you ready to stop struggling and view your practice as a business? |
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