Dr. Rob Gardner’s Story
“In my view, dentists leave practice ownership for several reasons. Those reasons include:
Health
Ready to do other things in life
Burn out, including dislike for the business side of practice ownership
My story is #3.
I very much dislike the business management side of dental practice ownership.
I still love dentistry, but I did not work the business side of my practice as I should have. As a consequence of this, when I had an opportunity to go into the next chapter of my life, practice performance was low enough that it made it very difficult to sell.
I did, however, find a buyer on my own with whom I thought everything would work out. Unfortunately, that buyer bailed out on me and I was in a pickle.
I already committed to a new job and still owned an unprofitable practice for which it would be virtually impossible to find a buyer and for a buyer to finance. I had a lot of debt, an expensive lease and an unprofitable practice in which I was not permitted to work due to my new employment contract.
That is really when Bob Brooks kicked in with Practice Endeavors.
Through Bob, we had an analysis performed of the practice that showed all the low hanging fruit of which a buyer could immediately take advantage.
That analysis along with Bob’s contacts resulted in finding a willing buyer that purchased the practice for a reasonable price and that buyer was a cash buyer. The practice buyer accepted assignment of my lease, and the landlord approved it with Bob’s encouragement.
Since my recent practice sale, I have moved onto the next chapter of my life. My clinical skills are good and I am teaching at O.S.U.
In hindsight, I should have done a better job preparing for my transition out of practice ownership. But I am satisfied with the way that things have turned out, especially in spite of great adversity. There are no more sleepless nights.
Hopefully you can do a better job planning your transition out of practice ownership than I did.
You might not be so lucky.”
Sincerely,
Rob Gardner