The year is more than half way over and now is a good time to re-assess where you are with your goals. If your goal was to own a practice by the middle of the year and you're not there yet, then we've got a few great opportunities for you that are listed below. Many times, I see dentists looking for the exact/perfect practice. Unfortunately, those are very hard to come by. An existing practice with 25+ new patients, new equipment, great staff, salaries are in line with the market, nice building that is also for sale, remodel done on the practice and building within 7 years, etc... Sounds great, right? I've been doing transitions for over 10 years, participating in 150+ transactions. That practice doesn't exist.
You have four choices to make:
1. Keep waiting until the perfect practice comes along (you'll be reading this same article and still looking at my listings 20 years from now).
2. Buy an existing practice that is in a good location with decent numbers either through a broker, or directly from a selling dentist.
3. Build your dream practice in the location of your choice.
4. Hire a consultant (Omni) to help you locate an existing practice.
This is not to say that you should buy the first practice that comes on the market, nor run out and lease the first building in your area. It is to say, if you desire to own your own practice some day, there's no time like the present.
A few steps to consider are:
1. Do an assessment of where you want to practice, how big of a practice do you want, what type of practice, etc...
2. Contact a bank to get preliminary information (we can give you contact information of the banks that do a good job)
3. Build your team - if you're going to buy, get a CPA, attorney, etc... lined up. If you're going to do a scratch start, get your commercial broker (we specialize in dental leased space), contractor, designer, etc... on board.
4. Hire a consultant to help you locate a practice not yet on the market. Omni is one of the few that does this service and have helped a number of dentists find great practices not yet on the market.
With July-August being a typically slow dental period, now is the time to sit down and analyze your situation. You can start by putting your team together and getting in touch with experts to help you work towards your dream of some day owning your own practice.