One caveat about building a highly, successful dental office, with 14 employees and three doctors, is that the market for buyers shrinks. It’s similar to having a multi-million dollar house. There just aren’t many people looking to buy that kind of house. You want to get the best value out of your “baby,” but also, you want it to be taken care of and successful when you leave. Also, the time you want to spend in the office after you sell must be a factor taken into consideration. We quickly realized that the combination of the value of our practice, the size, and the time until we wanted … [Read more...]
My Family and The American Dream
50 years ago, on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 took off for the moon. Four days later, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. One of the signature dates in the history of the world. A little less famous, but for me, just as an important event took place in Cleveland, Ohio. A poor, farming, immigrant family from Croatia (then Yugoslavia) stepped off a plane and started a bit of history for themselves. My father, mother, brother, and I arrived the same day that the Apollo 11 mission left. I was 21 months old and little did I know that I was now in the greatest country in the world. The one millions … [Read more...]
How are Your Buckets Doing? Next Bucket: Financial Vitality
Last month we continued this series with Bucket #2: Financial Security. Bucket #3 is the Financial Vitality Bucket. If you didn’t complete Bucket #2, go back and complete each exercise as it will build on the previous month. The process will require you to figure out and calculate some monthly expenses, then goals and then dreams later. We will start simple and get deeper as we proceed. Bucket Three: Financial Vitality This bucket requires you to have all expenses covered in the first two buckets and now add three other expenses: entertainment (movies, dinners, vacations, etc.), … [Read more...]
What is Your Business Worth?
When the decision finally came that my partner and I would be attempting to either hire more associates or plain sell our practice, we first had to value our practice. We did so about 5 years ago on a smaller scale, but this time we utilized McGill & Hill Group out of North Carolina to do the job. They provided us with a 50 page intense, in depth valuation. They are a well-known company that helps dentists in many ways. We have been to their seminars and followed their newsletters for 25 years. We were shocked at the actual high value of our practice that came mostly from our … [Read more...]
Graduation…And Children
Many of us remember the day we walked across the podium and received our college degree. Some of us went on to even more memorable graduate or professional degree moments. However, all those moments put together will not equal the pride and joy of watching my child receive that college diploma. My daughter, Julianna, received her B.S. from the University of Mount Union in Early Childhood Education. Not less than a month later, she was offered a job at her Elementary School (Incarnate Word Academy) as a fourth grade teacher. It has been a lightening quick 4 years that was filled with hard … [Read more...]
How are Your Buckets Doing?
Last month we started this series with bucket #1: Financial Protection. Bucket #2 is the Financial Security Bucket. If you didn’t complete Bucket #1, go back and complete each exercise as it will build on the previous month. The process will require you to figure out and calculate some monthly expenses, then goals and then dreams later. We will start simple and get deeper as we proceed. Bucket Two: Financial Security This bucket requires you to have liquid assets to “protect” your monthly critical obligations. Basically, it means you must have enough cash somewhere so that you can … [Read more...]
When is it Time to Sell?
Every dentist and, in fact, every business owner has asked themselves at some point in their lives, “When is the right time to sell my business?” Many factors go into this type of decision including age, life situation, financial status, burn out, favorable selling market, etc. In many businesses, one is afforded the choice of selling or partnering with another company and still continue their daily work with less responsibility of running the business. Dentistry is famous for this as many practices sell to another dentist, a group or a corporation, and continue on as employees. This … [Read more...]
The Art of Decluttering: Part IV
In the last issue, I told you about the decluttering of dishes process I had started, using the Marie Condo’s method called The Art of Decluttering. Marie is the Japanese author that made this process popular on Netflix, in magazines, and in newspapers. The final, and most difficult, decluttering area for me was the books, papers, notebooks, etc. We stopped the decluttering process after this area for now but, there is one more area that I have to tackle which are souvenirs, knick knacks and memory-related items. We will revisit this area after my daughter graduates from college and comes … [Read more...]
How are Your Buckets Doing?
Many of you may have probably heard of the phrase, “You should have money in different buckets.” What does that really mean? What are these buckets? How many are there? How much should you have in each? I am going to start a series that will take us through several newsletters. Please complete each exercise as it will build on the previous one during the following month. The process will require you to figure out and calculate some monthly expenses and then goals and dreams later on. We will start simple and get deeper as we proceed. Bucket One: Financial Protection This bucket … [Read more...]
What Business are You Really In?
Sounds like an easy question. Of course, we are in the dental, coaching or retail business. Once I really thought about it and discovered that I was in the 'people' business, my entire career changed. Almost every business is, in some way, in the 'people’ business. People buy from you, trust you with their health advice or money, and rely on you for services. We built our dental business on customer service and have never looked back. Here are some other questions I would like you to answer that will help you plan the future. If you are an employee, please share this with the owner or … [Read more...]