You might expect that a business known for assisting doctors with practice openings would say “Of course you should!” but that isn’t necessarily the case. Not every doctor is ready to open his/her own practice and some doctors aren’t really ready when they think they might be.
First and foremost, be aware that opening a new practice is a great deal of work. Actually, running any small business is a great deal of work, and if that sounds just plain awful to you, you might want to keep that associate position for a while, or at least look for an established practice to purchase.
Understand, I’m not discouraging anyone from opening their own practice because the rewards are wonderful…..just be sure you know yourself before you jump in. Here are a few key areas to consider…..other than that hard work part I mentioned earlier.
• Can you stay on a budget? Opening a practice is one of the largest exercises in budgeting you will ever encounter. You get what seems like a massive loan from your local bank and you’re ready to jump in and buy all the latest in IT and office equipment….and you’ll have more salesmen than you knew existed telling you their product is an absolute necessity! Before you do that, however, you need to realize that massive seeming amount from the bank is designed to cover the basics for an office and little more. All the bells, whistles and toys will need to wait until the practice actually starts making money. If you have poor impulse control, you could be in financial trouble before the doors ever open.
• Are you ready to put in long hours? Your new business will need both a clinician and a business owner….and both of those folks are you. You will get assistance from your consultant, accountant and attorney, but the majority of the day to day work is going to fall on your shoulders. Are you ready to spend evenings and weekends away from your family and friends as you get your systems in place and your business going? Remember a full time bookkeeper is a luxury newly opened practices cannot afford.
• Is your spouse/life partner ready to partner with you in this project? This is a vital piece of the puzzle that many doctors forget. Partnering with you doesn’t even mean he/she needs to do anything for the office, it just means they need to be patient about all the home things you have no time for right now.
• Finally, how do you handle life’s ups and downs? Can you can roll with things when everything isn’t quite going as expected, or does the slightest glitch make you nervous and upset? Opening a new practice can be stressful, especially when something isn’t going as you expected. A good consultant can mitigate this, but it can still happen.
Knowing these things about yourself are vital pieces to opening a new practice. And for those of you who say “I can do that!” give us a call, because a good consultant will work right beside you, in our case working as hard as you do, to help you open that amazing practice you dreamt about when you decided to become a dentist.
