I’m often reminded that owning a business is not an act of charity.
There’s blood, sweat, and tears involved a lot of the times.
Yet some people think that owning a business is like, a license to print money.
Some people go into business because they think it’s a way of not having to answer to their boss.
Because they don’t like their boss, and they don’t like the fact that all of the money that they earn for the boss’s business does not come back to them.
There’s almost a resentment….
Which is kind of crazy because the business is actually supporting the employee.
Not the other way around.
So when these employees go out on their own, they’re sometimes in for a little bit of a shock as to the reality of what owning a business is truly like.
“Work hard at your job for forty hours per week and soon you’ll be able to own your own business and work hard for eighty hours per week…”
Have you ever heard this said?
Because sometimes, it’s the truth.
Sometimes, after all the hard work is said and done, the dividend from that hard work involved in owning the business could well have been achieved by simply focusing a little more on something small.
I hear of Dentists who open up a second office that turns a profit of say, fifty thousand dollars a year.
Which on it’s own is quite good.
Imagine having a stand alone machine that spits out $50,000.00 each year, on its own?
But $50K is one thousand dollars per week, which is really two hundred dollars per day…..
Is there some little tweak they could have performed in their core business to create the same return, without the risk and capital outlay, and without the headaches, and without the ulcers and drama?
Of course there is….
But of course, McDonalds Corporation could not keep pumping out burgers on a global basis out of one location …
Sooner or later there is a need for McDonalds to build more outlets.
But it’s not just two.
And it’s not just ten.
In dentistry, is the leverage gained from being a business owner, or multiple site owner, worth all the extra angst?
I once employed a new graduate dentist for a twelve-month period. Every week we’d meet for an hour to go over her cases, and I’d mentor her.
At the end of the year I calculated that if I’d have just drilled teeth for that hour each week I’d have earned more money than the commission that I collected from having her work for me…
Without the drama.
There’s a lot to be said for looking at the acres of diamonds under your nose before trying to build an empire.
I’ve heard reps say that Dr. So and So is always busy when they call there.
But seeing lots of patients does not always mean being profitable.
Having a waiting room full of people who are there on insurance only may not be as good for the bottom line as having one or two patients having good old quadrant dentistry being performed.
Or one cosmetic case per day.
There’s smoke and mirrors and there’s smoke and mirrors.
One of my clients has turned a two room Dental Office from collections of $700K p.a. into a nearly two million dollar a year practice, in a quiet suburban street location, in less than two years.
With a few minor tweaks, she’s almost tripled her collections in an eighteen-month period, by tweaking her lot rather than expanding her empire.
All done working only four days per week.
A very nice “under the radar” style operation.
Looking from the outside doesn’t really tell the true story.
But the bank account tells the story.
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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com
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