Scratch Start or Existing Practice?

With so few practices on the market, I often get the question “Should I just start a new dental practice?”  Since I am a commercial real estate broker specializing in helping dentists find new locations as well as being a practice broker, I can give you an educated answer.  That answer is “it depends”.

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself to see if you are a candidate to do a scratch start practice:

1. Do the demographics support another dentist in the area?  (1,500 people per 1 dentist)
2. Do you have the patience to do a startup?  (ADA says it takes 24 to 36 months to break even)
3. Do you have another income, or 12 months of cash reserves, to support yourself while you get your new practice going?
4. Are you good at project management – managing contractors, designers, vendors, etc., to get things going?
5. Have you hired staff before?
6. Are you good at self-promoting and marketing?  You may need to go door to door to get recognition and to get patients coming in.
7. Have you set up insurances, bank accounts, patient financing, etc., before?
8. Do you have good credit and some cash reserves in the bank to obtain a loan?
9. Do you have enough experience (minimum of 2 years) to jump in and get things going?
10. Do you have the fortitude to succeed?  There will be down times when you want to throw in the towel.  You need to fight through those down times to achieve success.

I have helped over a dozen practices get started in their new practices in the past few years.  From finding locations to consulting on the entire setup.  Each practice has achieved break-even in less than 18 months.  If you are on the fence on whether to do a startup, give me a call, and I can help with analyzing your situation.