It’s Halloween night, you’ve taken your post as the candy — err, healthy treat — dispenser as the rush of little ghosts and goblins eagerly collect colorful packages of confectionery delights. Harmful sugar effects aside, you remind yourself to set aside a piece or two of your favorites to savor when the mini mobs are home enjoying their spoils.
The evening marches on. You hand out more and more. And when it appears the last visitor has come and gone, you look down at the bowl and realize all the “good stuff” is gone. Given away. Never to be enjoyed by you.
While this analogy of giving away the “good stuff” may seem a bit silly, especially if you’re not into candy, the same comparison could be made to your practice’s profit — which can have much more frightening consequences.
Let us explain. Most financial experts agree that paying yourself first above all others is perhaps the most important step to financial freedom. It’s sound advice that when done consistently puts you in a secure position should things turn sideways. And we’ve all witnessed that in the last few years alone.
The same prioritization and consistent “feeding” of your financial coffers should be applied to your practice. If you’re busy chasing after patients with a bloated marketing budget, you could be spending as much as you make. It’s a wash. And you still might not attract the patients you want.
Believing you need to open up another location to accommodate a growing clientele without first finding ways to maximize production, attract higher value cases, or increase profit in other ways could be asking for trouble. You might end up with a mountain of debt, more low-value patients, and not much else to show for it.
Staying extremely busy does not always equate to higher profits, and the toll it would take on your physical and mental health should not be discounted.
Feeding, more like paying, your practice first is not selfish. It’s smart planning for your future, your family’s future, and your team’s. A hungry practice can be considered a failing practice.
If you’re not sure how to nourish your business above all else, then we’d like to share our very popular report, Positioned for Profit. In it, you’ll read about Dr. Ben Watson, who, like so many dentists, was working himself into the ground. He reconfigured how he did business and increased his monthly production by over $200,000, all while cutting his time at the office.
It’s time to stop starving your future. Grab your copy of this report, and start enjoying the “good stuff.”
Like this topic? Then check out our sister company's, illumitrac software, latest blog on using the right tools to build wealth.