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Does the DIY approach lead to success in the dental startup world? This Monday Morning Episode launches into the realities of starting a dental practice with insights from Stephen Trutter, president of Ideal Practices. Throughout the conversation, Stephen dispels common myths surrounding DIY methodologies and unveils critical insights into building a successful practice from the ground up. He emphasizes the indispensable role of demographics, advising against relying solely on generic ratios when choosing a location. Instead, understanding competition, patient trends, and the unique characteristics of a community can create a foundation for lasting success.
Real estate considerations and marketing strategies also take center stage in today's episode. Stephen cautions against the temptation of skimping on real estate investments and stresses the role of thorough representation in negotiations. Moreover, he discusses how DIY marketing efforts often fall short, advocating for a balanced strategy that incorporates professional guidance to maximize long-term ROI. As the episode wraps up, Stephen invites listeners to deepen their knowledge with additional resources like his two-day "Startup Practice Blueprint" course and his insightful book, "The Startup Dentist."
Tune in now to discover if the DIY approach is right for your practice!
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Website: https://idealpractices.com/
Startup Practice Blueprint Course: http://www.startuppracticeblueprint.com/
Stephen's Book - The Startup Dentist: http://www.thestartupdentistbook.com/
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Michael: Hey, Steven. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning.
Stephen: The one piece of advice I give you, Michael, is DIY practices are cheaper. There you go. DIY do it yourself. It's going to be cheaper.
And I know that feels awkward because. Wait a minute. Like, I am the owner of ideal practices. And if most people don't know who we are, like we are one of the largest, if not the largest startup dental consulting in the country. What I'm saying is you don't need me. You don't need anybody.
You can do a DIY practice. It can be cheaper. Now I did look this up this morning. You and I were laughing a few minutes ago in the Oxford dictionary the Google Oxford dictionary, whatever there is one cheaper means inexpensive because of inferior quality. So can you build a cheaper practice on your own?
Sure. I think the challenge is that's kind of the undercurrent that's, existing today. So can you do it yourself? Absolutely. Can it be cheaper? Depends on if that's what your goal is and depends on if that's who you want to be in the community or are used to be known as that cheap dentist on the corner.
most people when they ask ideal practices, there's like 3 things that are on most associates mind. There's these 3 areas of. Their startup that they're most concerned about and it's demographics. It's real estate and marketing. These are three hot buttons
Here's what you need. You need space money and chairs. There is a practice you can start a practice tomorrow with space money and chairs, but there's a lot more layers that are there when I talk about these three layers of demographics real estate marketing These are probably the three biggest Components or probably the mosthot buttons that mostassociates think about now funny story.
I was just in one of the facebook's groups And doctor was asking about some questions about buying a practice he said, Hey, this thing is going to fall through. What do you think? And this and I responded and I gota DM from I'll call him Dr Jake Dr Jake said, Hey, that deal is going to fall through.
I was looking to do a startup. Can you help me? I contacted this company that does demographics and they said, basically, just best ratios are the best thing to go for. But that's what everybody says. Everyone thinks that demographics is about finding the best ratios. thing is, you could get a demographics report, find great ratios, and the best ratios are going to be somewhere maybe you don't want to be.
They could be rural areas. a lot of people say, go for, if you're a general dentist, a 3, 001 ratio. So that means 3, 000 patients for every one provider. of the almost 1, 000 startup practices I've been a part of, maybe less than half have attained that great industry standard, yet we have highly successful practices, million dollar practices in 12 months.
So you got to look beyond the ratios when it comes to the demographics. You got to look at things like, who is that competition? Is that my competition? How many other startups are in that marketplace? What are the travel patterns within the area? Here's a big one. Are my patients actually there? If you just chase a ratio, folks, because somebody on some forum said, chase ratios, then you're going to find yourself in an area that you don't love.
And I've seen a couple of posts even recently this week where doctor said I'm here. I'm making great money It's an underserved area, but my marriage is taking a toll My marriage is suffering because my wife doesn't want to be here. My kids don't want to be here. So If you just want to open your doors and find some high ratios, you can go do that, but it may not be the best area for you, for your vision, or not even have the patience there that you want to serve.
Michael: So that's number one. Demographics is the big part. And I've seen that so many times where they're like, hey, the demographics don't make sense. But this is, I love this town. Like I, this is where I grew up. This is what I want to do. Yeah. So they go against the forum, say, right. so there's a lot more to it.
Stephen: Yeah. And sometimes the advice is I see people out there say go rural. Not everybody wants to be in the middle of. Central Illinois, by the way, that's where I grew up. Like it's great. That's home. I'm surrounded by windmills and, cornfields and bean fields.
Is it underserved? Yes. But if that's not where you want to be and that's not where you want to grow up, or maybe that's even not the patient base you want to go for, then don't do that. So be aware when people say go find high ratios. It may not be the best place for you or don't skip over demographics.
A lot of DIY doctors, what they do, they chase the second big thing. They chase real estate So the second big topic is real estate. Most people skip demographics because they think it's expensive. Cheaper save money. Don't. Hold demographics, just go chase real estate. All right, real estate, big signs and visibility.
What most people say is, you'll be successful if you find the space with big signs and visibility. But, you could overpay for that real estate. Sometimes a DIY means, I'm gonna go negotiate it myself.
Unless you have transacted hundreds of commercial real estate associate dentist, don't do it because you may think you're going to get cheaper because someone told you somewhere That the landlord won't have to pay for the commission for your agent if you negotiated it yourself.
No, what the landlord did was take that money that they were going to pay somebody that's going to represent you and slide it back in their pocket. Because they're going to save that money themselves as opposed to saving an agent. don't chase the big signs when it comes to real estate. The other big thing on real estate is Ownership so many people i've had clients that have been at dental society meetings one of our clients up in connecticut He said want to own and I said, okay cool.
You want to own real estate? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to own. Well, why well, I was at a meeting and this doctor told me I should own Said, oh, okay. Why? She said, I owned my real estate and I bought it 12 years ago.
What happened 12 years ago is irrelevant to that doctor today and what this doctor's looking for.
So I think real estate. you're chasing the big signs of visibility, you may actually, instead of being less expensive, you may end up saying, Oh, I'm not properly represented. maybe I don't have an attorney. Okay. You can save money. Maybe negotiate with an agent, but agents are paid to transact.
And the other part about this is at the end of your lease, let's say you end up leasing space. What most people don't understand is If you skimp on things like legal representation or you hire an attorney that says charge a flat fee for a lease negotiations, that attorney is built in only a certain amount of hours to negotiate that.
Once they hit that mark, they're going to say, good, here's your lease. It's good enough. Good enough may be a really big death sentence for your practice 10 or 15 or 20 years from today. Because one of the biggest sticking points that I see with acquisitions is this. Everybody agrees to the deal. one doctor is going to buy another doctor's practice But there's a lease problem.
The lease is not transferable. The landlord won't transfer the lease. So folks, DIY your practice. Find out what happens 10 or 15 years from today. What you save today, you may lose hundreds of thousands of dollars tomorrow. Or maybe you've got to pay a huge buyout to a landlord or proceeds of the sale of your practice because you thought, if I did it myself, I will save money today.
You save money tomorrow. You lose. Hundreds of thousands of dollars when it comes to real estate. So be aware, make sure you're properly represented when it comes to your real estate.
Michael: man. Okay. So then the first one would be demographics, right?
Stephen: Demographics. Don't chase ratios,Don't just look at the number and say, yep, that looks good.
Michael: Gotcha. Okay. And then second is real estate.
Stephen: Real estate don't chase big signs and visibility and make sure that you are properly represented. Do not do it yourself. So actually I'm saying, sure, it's cheaper to do yourself, not pay an attorney, maybe an agent does it, but the agent, whether it's representing you or not, they are paid commission based upon how high the rent is in the total economics.
Michael: And then what's the third, would there be a third?
Stephen: There is a third marketing without marketing, Michael, we don't have patients. And here's the thing I see all the time. seen this and I cringe. They go online, they go into one of the groups and I'm not talking about groups as a bad thing.
I think doctors go for free advice. They go into a group they type in this question. Hey everybody, this is a question I've seen before. I'm opening my doors in a month or two. who's everybody using for marketing or what's everybody doing for marketing? Marketing is not just about an agency.
Michael, you, of all people know, ground marketing is so key to a successful startup. But what I also hear is, ooh, marketing's expensive. Okay, maybe you can bootstrap it. Maybe you can figure out a way to build your own website, do your own Google ads. Now, when do you have time to then actually go out and get More patients.
How do you train your team? How do you go out in your community? Marketing is not about Trying to save money because you have two choices when it comes to marketing either spin less or earn less make a choice
you need to understand your marketplace when it comes to marketing diy approach to marketing isn't just hiring an agency simply and saying I hired an agency Now i'm going to sit back and wait for all these patients to come through And then a couple months later, you're going to say, I'm looking for a new agency.
This one stinks. No, the agencies don't stink. You stink. You stink at ground marketing. if you're not in your community and if you're not in your community with a bigger purpose to make connections with other business owners, to make connections with the community, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to drive more patients into your practice.
So what you'll end up is the typical startup, typical practice in America gets in a roughly 25 ish new patients per month, 20 to 30. That is the average dental practice in America. You could be that average one. You could DIY and to say, I hired an agency, check the box and say, I have marketing or I built my own website or found it on online source.
They could build a website for 500. Cool. You have a 500 website. That isn't responsive, doesn't drive patients there, has no information, doesn't tell your story, doesn't connect to your community, but you opened your doors. Congrats.
Michael: Interesting. So, Stephen, do you feel like sometimes we're just trying to run a race to open the doors?
we're not really taking the time to meditate to okay. Marketing. If I really did it all on my own, probably gonna not be the best where's my mind gonna go with real estate? Where's my mind gonna go with? We're only one person. Can't do it. That's right.
Oh, on your own. So do you see, the mindset fall here?
Stephen: I think the mindset falls in if IDIY, this practice. I'll probably save because I want to pay for all these other services or I'll find free advice online But where's that free advice rooted in? Is it rooted in your vision? Is it rooted in hundreds of examples or hundreds of experiences with startups or is it rooted in one person's one time experience?
Like my client in connecticut 12 years ago. So a dentist bought a building 12 years ago. That is not applicable to today's advice And I think there's a rite of passage or a bragging opportunity that I see sometimes it's like maybe there's that one doctor who says, I built my first startup for 100, 000.
Michael: Yeah.
Stephen: That is not reality. know nothing about the story of like, okay, was the space already built out? Was there chairs in there? Was it technically a shell practice? There's so many things that I think people chase like cheaper will get me open and beLess risky. . Mm-Hmm. . What if you skimped on your budget in the wrong areas?
What if you didn't prioritize marketing? What if you ended up with the wrong space on the wrong side of town? What if you chased the wrong demographics because you found a ratio? There is the race to DIY, but there's also a little bit of a blind spot for some associates where it's like if I trudge through over a couple of years, I'm going to feel better about myself. No, you could have just had a fast track. There's a lot of great people that are out there that are skilled at guiding startups. They're skilled at what they do. while it may have a greater investment, what is the return that you get?
there is the race of the DIY of getting open faster, but there's also the blind spot that most people think is like, if I do it myself, I will have a greater sense of pride. I pick on people like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and lots of other people in the world.
Elon Musk, you think about they all have coaches, they all have advisors. Why? Because they want somebody that's smarter than them that can say I've done this hundreds of times. Dentists, you're trained by dentists at dental school that have done, what, hundreds of crowns? So think about your first crown. If they've done one crown, they don't have experience.
If they've done it hundreds of times or someone's mentoring them, then they're going to have a faster path and an easier path. So ask yourself where this advice is coming from. Is it rooted in hundreds of experiences that applicable to me, is it just, fished for information.
Michael: If, If Steven, one of the last questions here real quick, it just might be going a little over time, but I just want to know, for owners who are concerned about upfront savings versus long term ROI How can they balance both without cutting corners?
I think there might be some areas when it comes to maybe equipment, maybe there's some elements there. If you find some used options that are out there when it comes to equipment, you can find a balance of some savings on some hard things.
Stephen: But for example, when we look at demographics, I have analysts that look at hundreds of demographics studies For a year, we look at hundreds of real estate transactions. pulling upon those experiences. Demographics. If you have never looked at a demographic study, you may just be looking at numbers going.
I don't know what these numbers mean, but I think they're good. think by skimping on that, you're missing out on a big piece. So could you save some money on maybe some equipment elements? Yeah, I think so. But at what cost, what other things are losing on a long term basis?
Michael: is
Stephen: a marathon.
Michael: Yeah. I like that. I like that analogy. It's not like a super sprint, right? It's just, it's a long marathon, but awesome, Stephen, I appreciate your time. And if anyone has further questions, you can definitely find them on the dental marketer society, Facebook group, or where can they reach out to you directly?
Stephen: I say this, if you wanna learn more about a startup, I got a couple spots for you. You can either attend one of our courses is atwo day course called Startup Practice Blueprint. You can go to startup practice blueprint.com to register. Do it twice a year with 30 Associates immersive.
We're gonna feed you with a fire hose, or you can check up my book, the Startup Dentist,at the startup dentist book.com. Pick up a free copy today.
Michael: Nice. That's all gonna be in the show notes below, so definitely check it out. And Steven, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning episode.
Stephen: Thanks, Michael.