Why Uncertainty May Be Your Startup Opportunity – Episode 257

A startup practice may be the ideal way of making your ownership dreams attainable.

On this episode of the Dentist Money™ Show, Ryan interviews Jayme Amos, founder of Ideal Practices. Have you wondered if you’re cut out to start up a practice from scratch? Or maybe you’re nervous about opening your own practice during uncertain times? 

On this show, Jayme shares stories about those who’ve taken the ownership plunge in 2020. You’ll hear about lending trends, why associates are jumping into ownership from DSOs, and advantages to a startup you may have not considered.

 

Show notes:
www.idealpractices.com
www.startupdentist.com

 

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Podcast Transcript

Ryan Isaac:
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Dentist Money Show. Thanks for tuning in. Today, good friend of the show, long time friend, experts at dental startups, Jayme Amos from Ideal Practices joins us. Man, we cover everything from how similar 2008 is to 2020. We talk about why the startup path works so well for so many people. We talk about how banks are responding right now. If you have any questions for us, go to dentistadvisors.com. Click on the book, free consultation link, or go post a question in our Facebook group, the Dentist Advisors Discussion Group. You can find that at dentistadvisors.com/group. And thanks again to Jayme, he’s a great interview. Thanks for tuning in everybody. Thanks for the support. Enjoy the show.

Announcer:
Consult an advisor, or conduct your own due diligence when making financial decisions. General principles discussed during this program do not constitute personal advice. This program is furnished by Dentist Advisors, a registered investment advisor. This is Dentist Money. Now, here’s your host, Ryan Isaac.

Ryan Isaac:
Welcome to the dentist money show where we help dentists make smart financial decisions. I’m Ryan Isaac, sometimes affectionately referred to as Sir Ryan Isaac, here with a special friend, special guest, it’s Jayme Amos from Ideal Practices. Jayme, welcome to the show. How you doing, man? Thanks for being here. What’s going on?

Jayme Amos:
It is good to be here, and you know, I am never referred to as Sir Jayme Amos, but one of my very first businesses was actually Isaac Imports.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh really?

Jayme Amos:
Well, it was my first kind of legitimate business, has nothing to do with today’s podcast, but I think it might be cool because I’m staring at your name, like dang, not only do I love the name, Isaac, it’s like I imported a bunch of sweaters from Puerto Rico, pardon me from Ecuador. I studied in Ecuador for part of my college undergrad business studies.

Jayme Amos:
And while I was there, I was like, whoa, these sweaters are incredible. Do you remember like the bulky sweaters? How it was cool to have a big stripe across the chest?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, oh yeah. I’d wear one now.

Jayme Amos:
While it was still cool to have a stripe across the chest for the big, bulky, wool sweaters. I was flying down to Ecuador and bringing back giant duffle bag fulls. Like some people would bring back bags of like cocaine. I brought back sweaters.

Ryan Isaac:
And you’re like getting stopped. Like, are you really bringing sweaters in?

Jayme Amos:
Sweaters? [crosstalk 00:02:17] Can’t you think of anything better to bring back? So Isaac Imports-

Ryan Isaac:
Isaac Imports [crosstalk 00:02:21]

Jayme Amos:
Was a sweater company.

Ryan Isaac:
That sounds like a Seinfeld episode, if I’m being honest. Isaac Imports, exports.

Jayme Amos:
Nice, nice.

Ryan Isaac:
[inaudible 00:02:28] I’m in the import, export sweater business. But thanks for being here, man. Just a quick reminder for everyone listening and thanks for tuning in. Thanks for joining us. The Dentist Money Show is sponsored by Dentist Advisors, a comprehensive fee only financial planning firm, just for dentists across the country. Check us out at dentistadvisors.com.

Ryan Isaac:
So, Jayme, let’s jump into this year. If you don’t know Jayme, I don’t know where you’ve been for a long time, but Jayme let’s give a little intro instead of me reading like a paragraph about you, which I always think is the most awkward thing ever, how about you just tell us who you are, what is Ideal Practices? What’s your mission in life and in business, and what do you guys do?

Jayme Amos:
Startups, the end.

Ryan Isaac:
Startups, that’s it. Dental startups.

Jayme Amos:
Dental startups. No, yeah, startups, that’s what we do. And so we’re a team of 17 experts at Ideal Practices. Ideal Practices is the name of our company. Some people say like, wait, do you just do startups? Yep. Just for dentists. Yep. That’s it?

Ryan Isaac:
Niche in a niche.

Jayme Amos:
Yep. Just startups. And it’s amazing because when we get to work with associate dentists, we literally get to help associate dentists realize this thing that they’ve been dreaming of for years, but, rightfully so, feels freakishly risky.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
So before dental school, coming out of dental school, going into a job, it’s scary thinking about a startup. Like, wait, you’re saying you want me to open a dental practice for hundreds of thousands of dollars with no patients? So we’ve created- [crosstalk 00:00:04:06].

Ryan Isaac:
…a million dollars of student loans, too. Okay.

Jayme Amos:
Great. And on top of that dental school.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
So it’s been incredible, incredible, incredible, incredible to see, not just the growth financially of startups … I mean, I can tell you, we’ve helped open more startups than anyone in dentistry, more private practice startups than anybody in dentistry. I’m proud of that. Sure. But on top of that, we have so many that have opened up practices they’re … do a hundred thousand in their first month, or a million dollars in their first year. And it’s not all about the money, but you need good systems and good protocols and good hiring and marketing strategies to make that stuff happen. But then more importantly than all that, we love opening practices that stand for something in communities. That’s why, actually, I don’t know … if you had one of our shirts, you could actually see, it says practice, profits, purpose. That’s our whole business model-

Ryan Isaac:
That’s a cool shirt, by the way.

Jayme Amos:
Thanks. If we had a business model, it would be three Ps, practice, profits, purpose. It’s the whole business.

Ryan Isaac:
Very cool. Yeah. That’s cool. Okay, so let’s go back to Isaac Imports, very partial to that name.

Jayme Amos:
It’s a good one.

Ryan Isaac:
How did this begin, and like when and how did this begin? How did you know, not only dental, but dental startups only?

Jayme Amos:
Well, I learned quickly that sweaters don’t pay the bills, even with a really good name.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, dang.

Jayme Amos:
So here’s something funny about dental startups in general, there are a lot of misunderstandings like, well, if I just have a great name, wink, wink. If I just had a great name like Isaac, then my business will take off. There are a lot of things that are perceived to be necessary or imperative with dental startups that just aren’t. So, we have found a way to break those down and then to apply things that actually work, that aren’t just about dollar and cents. Like opening a practice you’re proud of, not just a practice that has the smallest operatories, where you’re squeezing every last nickel out of patients.

Jayme Amos:
So anyway, to answer your question, where do we get started? After undergrad, I started a company with my cousin. That was amazing. We grew really well, really fast, had nothing to do with dentistry. It was scientific people, engineers. I sold that company and then started buying some real estate, and I started noticing some patterns between my small business experience and this real estate stuff, like seeing how demographics and small business kind of intersected to make things happen and grow really fast. And I got called by a couple of dentists, old friends, one of them said, “Do you think what you do would work to do a startup dental office?”

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, cool.

Jayme Amos:
And I said, “Ah, I actually have no idea. Let’s try it.”

Ryan Isaac:
Let’s see.

Jayme Amos:
So we did. It worked, but it was brutal. Whew.

Ryan Isaac:
Mm. What year was this?

Jayme Amos:
It was like that whole DIY method that people talk about, like trial and error or DIY.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh yeah. What year was this?

Jayme Amos:
That was in ’01, 2001.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Long time ago.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
So, ’01 was the first one. It’s kind of funny how many dental businesses start because-

Jayme Amos:
Oh, no, no, no. ’01 was the year I started my company with my cousin. Sorry.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh yeah, okay. So the first dental practice, when a friend came to you was a couple years later.

Jayme Amos:
2006, 2007.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, right, right. Before the other worst time in the economy that we’ve seen in our career.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. We can talk about some comparisons [crosstalk 00:07:28] now. But yeah, that was right before. Even so even in the middle of all that stuff, that guy that started, his name’s Dan, in his first 18 months, he did over a million bucks, so.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, awesome.

Jayme Amos:
What I’ve loved is being able to create these systems that make for good business sense. So.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Jayme Amos:
After helping that dentist, a couple of years later, we ended up starting what is now officially Ideal Practices, with high-level consulting experts from around the country, guiding dentists, one-on-one through this incredible journey to open a startup. And again, that’s all we do. Just startups, just dental startups.

Ryan Isaac:
So let’s go to this one, one of the first questions I wanted to ask then, if people aren’t super familiar with what you guys do. Since that’s all you do, startups, what do you see as the advantages of a startup versus just going out and buying one? You know, like why would somebody do that versus buy something that’s kind of known?

Jayme Amos:
It’s different for everybody. I mean, admittedly, I don’t think startups are inherently better, but you ever eaten a Chick-fil-A?

Ryan Isaac:
Yes, yes, sir. I can tell you what I ordered-

Jayme Amos:
Awesome, right?

Ryan Isaac:
Yes.

Jayme Amos:
Get ready, play along with me.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Jayme Amos:
If you get a refill of your peach lemonade or peach iced tea.

Ryan Isaac:
I’m a Dr. Pepper guy, so I’m going to the fountain.

Jayme Amos:
Okay. Dr. Pepper. You get your refill and you go up to the lady who filled it up, let’s say, real nice woman who filled it up for you, and you say, “Oh, here’s my cup. Hey, thank you.” What does she say back to you? You say, thank you. What does she say?

Ryan Isaac:
It’s Chick-fil-a. They’re like giant beaming smile. And it’s like, thank you. Have a great day. I don’t know. They’re just like the nicest, most [crosstalk 00:09:01]

Jayme Amos:
Okay, ready? You’re going to have to test this out and see if it’s true, because it is true. They say my pleasure.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, they do?

Jayme Amos:
They say my pleasure. It’s trained across the country. Every Chick-fil-a in the country. Try it out some time, test it.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. They’re just like the nicest … I mean, every time you go to a Chick-fil-A, you’re like geez, you guys are like the nicest people ever. It’s awesome. My pleasure. Okay.

Jayme Amos:
You know, it’s crazy at Chick-Filet. If you do an internet search for your local newspaper and Chick-fil-A … just try it out, try typing in your local newspaper and Chick-fil-A.com or whatever you will, it’s crazy, you will find to your point, like the nicest stories about the most incredible employees ever. I remember seeing one of like, there’s a picture of this kid holding up a diamond ring, standing in a sewer hole. Like what? It’s a kid in a Chick-fil-A shirt and has a picture of him smiling up at the camera, through the sewer hole, holding a diamond ring, and the story said, “Chick-fil-A service customer service employee finds customer’s diamond ring in the sewer drain right outside the store.”

Jayme Amos:
Okay. So why am I saying this about Chick-fil-A with startups? You get to preplan your reputation. So you could go to like a Burger King, but no one ever said, Ryan, I mean, nobody ever says the stuff you and I are saying about Burger King.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
It’s not that they have bad food. It’s just-

Ryan Isaac:
It’s Burger King.

Jayme Amos:
It’s a very different reputation, different experience.

Ryan Isaac:
I don’t remember it. Yeah. You don’t remember it. You might have a, you might be partial to the Whopper, which that’s a unique sandwich, the Whopper. The King is unique marketing, but you never go, oh, the customer service. I mean, that’s the first thing you say about Chick-fil-A. It’s like, everyone’s so nice. The customer service is incredible.

Jayme Amos:
Everybody’s got a story about how Chick-fil-A is amazing, and that was pre-planned. That doesn’t happen by accident in thousands of locations around the country. That’s not an accident that that happens. That’s part of their business. It’s pre-planned. Unfortunately, most, I feel horrible about this, but most associate dentists, when they open up a practice, they’re told like, through this Facebook advice or whatever they’re told with like me too, Facebook advice, DIY style, they’re told things like, get open. It’ll take a while, but you’ll figure it out. Good luck. Hang in there. Like what? No, that’s not a real business. That’s a hobby, that you-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, it is. Do you think that used to be true in dentistry? Like you kind of, maybe I’m talking decades ago, maybe that was a true norm. When there wasn’t a lot of marketing that was kind of taboo and you did just kind of be like, I’m your friendly neighborhood dentist, and I’ll be here for 40 years. Just come see me. And do you think I used to be true? I don’t think it’s remotely true anymore. It’s so competitive, marketing has changed the game completely. I mean, it’s a business owner’s world now.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. Well, it’s not only a business owner’s world, I think patient perception has changed. Now, here’s the difference. There’s patient perception, and then there’s patient relationships.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
Patient perception is before they meet you, relationships is the result of after they meet you.

Ryan Isaac:
Sure.

Jayme Amos:
It’s interesting. The retention rate once a patient is in the door, the retention rate is still as good as it’s always been in dentistry. But the patient perception is before they get in the door, what is their perception of dentistry? And we all know consumers at large are much more price sensitive, they’re much more skeptical across the country. So-

Ryan Isaac:
Shopping it, oh yeah.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. So I believe that one of the best parts about having a startup versus an acquisition is let me speak to the associate dentist here, ready? Like, hey, associate dentist, if you’re thinking about owning a practice, let me guess, you’ve probably looked at half a dozen or maybe even a dozen practices for sale. And each one leaves you walking away thinking, oh, I feel like I’m settling. I feel like I’m settling.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
With a startup, you don’t settle. With a startup everything is you dream it up and then you make it real. So the problem, though, going back to the three Ps practice, profits, purpose, the problem is most associate dentists, most of the struggles in startups, most of the heartaches, even some of the bankruptcies that you’ve heard about in startups, they happen because people focus on the practice piece. Practice means you’re fighting to get open. You’re fighting to have a practice and that’s necessary. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of choices in the practice topic. Like your lease negotiations, your demographics, your financing, your real estate, like millions, potentially, of dollars of decisions just to get open to practice. So it’s right to focus there.

Jayme Amos:
But sadly, most associate dentists, especially if you’re just snooping around online, where people say, you can do it, you can do it, then they’re left with, wait, oh crap. What about profits? If you don’t have profits, you’re going out of business. So we have, what’s called the startup MBA part of our consulting program, whether or not you work with Ideal Practices is irrelevant. We only work with six or seven applicants into our program per month. Anyway, if you were one of our clients, you would go through this startup MBA process where you go through 10 elements of genuinely setting up a real business structure, all the systems, the hiring, the protocol, the financial policies, the marketing strategies, everything that’s pre-planned months and months before you even opened. So you literally open with profits, like no joke. You open with profits. That’s why we call it profits.

Jayme Amos:
And then thirdly is purpose. So I like structuring a startup so that all three of those things are accomplished even on your opening day, which is why you see our startup clients in newspapers and on TV shows literally months before opening day. So, that’s the stuff we love. There you go.

Ryan Isaac:
We wanted to take a break for just a second. Remind you how easy it is to book a free with one of our dental specific advisors. What you do is you go to dentistadvisors.com and you’ll see a big green button that says “book free consultation.”

Reese Harper:
Can’t miss it.

Ryan Isaac:
Click that button and book a time that works for you, or you can just call us at 833-DDS-plan. Let’s start a conversation about how we can help you with your finances.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s been a crazy year. So let’s just talk about that first that’s top of mind for a lot of people. Has it changed? If so, what things have changed? What are some of the new risks that have been introduced? Do you give new advice to people now based on this new thing that can happen in the world and the economy? How have things changed for you guys?

Jayme Amos:
There were there probably about 60 days where everybody felt it. Dentistry just stopped. Right? Like I think the whole world kind of like went, errr.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh yeah.

Jayme Amos:
And then stopped. So those couple months were very fear-filled for everybody. You know, Ideal Practices included, the startup dentists who were in the middle of the process, included clients who had recently opened, not too long before that whole mess in that timeframe. Interestingly, the ones who, at least our clients, I don’t know about all startups. I can’t speak for all startups, but the ones who had been started with the right structure and the right foundation before everything came to a screeching halt, most of them have had, I’m going to knock on some wood, but raging successes since then. And I’m talking like-

Ryan Isaac:
Yes.

Jayme Amos:
In even July. [crosstalk 00:16:33] Ready? Dr. Ben Freeberg in the Carolinas. He just crossed over his twelfth month, twelfth month like now, October-ish.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. October ’19 to October ’20.

Jayme Amos:
Million dollar first-year practice. And in October, which means half of his first year was the middle of a pandemic. In July of this year, so rewind a couple of months from right now, he did 160 grand in July. July, like right after the pandemic started. Right?

Ryan Isaac:
So looking back then I loved the idea of building the strong foundation of reverse engineering things that could happen in the future. Any new risks that you see coming out of this year, that you’ll start incorporating like, Oh, now that we’ve seen this as a possibility in the world, we will do X, Y, and Z. Any new risks because of this year, at all, that you’ve seen you might incorporate?

Jayme Amos:
Yeah, here’s one in particular. So everyone and their brother is concerned about infection control at a completely new level, right?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Obviously.

Jayme Amos:
Even so much so that like Domino’s Pizza advertises, how they’re going to show up with gloves and masks. Like that’s literally part of their advertising campaign. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. I’m just saying it’s a reality.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s today world.

Jayme Amos:
That’s today’s world. That’s just what people, the general population is now attracted to and looking toward. So if they’re interested in that for Domino’s Pizza delivery, the question becomes how much more sensitive are they to that topic in your dental practice? Right?

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Jayme Amos:
So what we have found, we call this, the seeking patient opportunity. The seeking patient opportunity is pretty simply this recognizing patients are more sensitive to that topic, I think it would be wise to make part of your communication with your community, a topic of infection control.

Jayme Amos:
Now, listen, it might be the same exact gloves that you’re using before the pandemic, but I would recommend-

Ryan Isaac:
Educate people. They don’t know.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. Listen, your patients don’t know always that you replace every set of gloves. Like maybe they hope you do, but they don’t know. What if you had a video or a communication tool that literally showed patients, look, here’s what we do. The gloves are kept over here. And after every patient, we take them out and we do the thing and then wash them and then we mask up and it’s always a different mask. Actually look up here when we use the thermometer thing, we do it this way. If you have your patients come in, wait in the waiting room or only so many per hour or so many at a time, communicate that. Because if they’re not in your practice yet, it means they’re just a perspective, potential patient. They’re a seeking patient. If you can educate them ahead of time, it will give you an advantage from any other practice as they compare you to other practices.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, that’s really smart.

Jayme Amos:
They don’t know your crown prep technique. They don’t even know how to spell occlusion, but they certainly know the topic of infection control, because Domino’s Pizza taught it to them.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, it’s everywhere now. And, man, such a good point, even if it’s the exact same as it’s always been … like me as a patient, I don’t know what the processes are, but now I’m interested. Now that it’s just the world we live in, now I’m kind of interested in what do you do with those gloves and disposables and the stuff that goes in my mouth and then the next person’s mouth. Like what actually happens there?

Jayme Amos:
So this is why it’s relevant to startups. Startups have a unique advantage and listen, any practice could communicate that. And most practices, if they’re established practices, I’ll speak to established and startup practice concepts. For established practices, the vast majority of an established practice population, established practice will communicate to their existing patient base. That’s fine. If you want to educate your existing patients, that’s cool. They’re probably going to stay committed to you 92 to 90% of the time anyway, but feel free to go do that.

Jayme Amos:
For a startup practice, they’re trying to attract the seeking patient. There’s the seeking patient opportunity again. They’re trying to attract the seeking patient. For those patients, you have a unique opportunity as a startup to define your reputation in the community before you open your doors. In other words, you can be known for something before the doors open.

Ryan Isaac:
You build [crosstalk 00:20:39].

Jayme Amos:
And what’s fascinating is. Yeah, what’s fascinating is any time you make a new introduction, that introduction will likely live through the entire life cycle of that relationship. Here’s what I mean. Here’s an example. Ryan, you and I haven’t done a whole lot of interviews. We haven’t had a whole lot of conversations before, but I bet you, I bet you for most of the rest of our friendly relationship in dentistry, we’re going to be like, hey, remember the sweater company? Like Isaac Imports.

Ryan Isaac:
My might buy a T-shirt, and just like an Isaac … and make one. No, it’s such a great-

Jayme Amos:
But why is that? It’s because this conversation was introduced on that topic, right?

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Jayme Amos:
This relationship sort of like took root with that at the beginning. So remember very carefully if you’re considering doing a startup for anybody listening to startup concepts, remember how you introduce your startup is likely how it will be remembered forever.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
Which is a pretty heavy topic, when you start thinking about what that implies.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Forever, in the community that you’re not moving from. You’re staying there, you’re building your business, your reputation for decades there. Let’s talk a big part of the startup life, lending and banks. What are you seeing with banks with dental lending? Is it different across different types of lending products or projects? Is it different from real estate lending for dentist spaces now versus just practice equipment, build out, that kind of stuff? What are you seeing in banks?

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. Bottom line easiest description is banks are more selective, banks are more careful. One of the biggest banks, I won’t use names, but one of the biggest banks that has like a pretty strong reputation or historical reputation in dentistry, they literally pulled out of all startups. So they said, we’ll finish paying off the ones that we started. We’re one of the biggest in dentistry, we’re literally not taking any more startup applications.

Ryan Isaac:
Interesting.

Jayme Amos:
So that has changed. And of the six or seven doctors who are accepted into our program each month, we have yet to not get somebody funded with great interest rates and great terms, and great repayment structure, all well negotiated, my team negotiates all that.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Jayme Amos:
But I can tell you, the banks are, they’re looking for the doctors with plans, and I don’t just mean business plans, but that doesn’t hurt. I’m talking about legitimate plans. They’re asking more questions, they’re looking for more detail,. They want more information, they want more confidence in the associate dentists. One thing I can tell you is when doctors are applying for a loan, now more than ever, we say it’s a bit like getting prepared to go on the stand at a jury trial. Like, you know, in the movies it’s like the lawyer before they get to the jury stand, the lawyer like practices with the questions and answers, right? They practice [crosstalk 00:23:37]

Ryan Isaac:
Like, no that’s wrong. Don’t say that, don’t ever say that. And then that’s all you can think about the whole time.

Jayme Amos:
That’s totally what it is. So we actually do that with our clients. We do like the back and forth and we train and we practice before they get on a call with the bank. Because just like in a jury trial, the jury cannot un-hear what you said.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
Even when the judge is like jury, you need to pretend you didn’t hear that. Strike it from the record.

Ryan Isaac:
I always wondered about that.

Jayme Amos:
Right? The jury’s like, ppbbbff, I heard it. Now, I’m going to remember it, because you told me to forget it.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, even more, yeah.

Jayme Amos:
I think it’s a little like that with lending and startups right now. Are startups still getting funded? Yes. The approach is different, and one of the biggest funders has temporarily left the game, but we’re finding some … in some ways it’s opened up more negotiation opportunities for us to, to negotiate for even better terms, but that doesn’t answer to your question.

Ryan Isaac:
Let’s go back to something we’re talking about a few minutes ago. You obviously had years of working with dentists before the downturn in ’08. And you’ve seen how that went and how it recovered, how dentists reacted, how it maybe changed the industry a little bit. We’re in a similar situation in some ways.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah, sure.

Ryan Isaac:
And we’re going to have to expect to recovery, and there’s still a lot of uncertainty. What kind of things are for new dentists that, and we see this on the investment side, where people are investing money for their future selves in their retirement plans for the first time. And this is the first time they’ve seen economic uncertainty on a, on a bigger scale. What kind of, what are you guys talking about with your dentists based on your experience, having seen a big one before and how people not only recover, but you know, thrive after this stuff kind of goes away and we get back to what feels like normal life again?

Jayme Amos:
I think, yeah, really good question. One of the biggest things that I remember from the previous downturn was the insanity of real estate deals. You know, everybody talked about foreclosures and bankruptcies. Everybody remembers like, whoa, there were real estate, homes foreclosing left and right. And that was awful and sad and heartbreaking. I predict over the next six to 12 months, we’re going to see a lot of vacancies on commercial real estate. You know, the little nail salon that wasn’t doing so well in the first place, the pizza joint that didn’t have any business sense.

Ryan Isaac:
Or restaurants. Such a bummer.

Jayme Amos:
Or restaurants, right? Like restaurants. Okay, if Uncle Sam comes into your dental office today and is like, hey, dentists, you have a 25% capacity, good luck. Like, you can’t, like you close.

Ryan Isaac:
Take a million dollar practice down to 250, and like, keep working.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah, you’re done. You’re done. And that’s what’s happening to restaurants. So think about what that means across really any town, but nationwide there’s certain pockets that are going to be more gravely affected than others. This will create a massive opportunity for those who are ready, but like in 2009, 2008, those deals are going to get snapped up and then they’re gone. It’s a very, it’s going to be a brief window of time when it comes. So I’ve been proposing, get ready. Getting ready doesn’t mean like, just start thinking about it, because that’s not ready. Getting ready means get your business plan in place. If you’re one of our clients, let’s get your vision calls scheduled. It means getting your financing in place so the banks are begging to work with you. It means let’s start looking at your demographics. Let’s start looking at some potential real estate deals, and when that pizza joint needs to ask for permission from his landlord to move on, that’s a sad story, but, hey, how cool for you as the dentist in the community to be able to backfill that opportunity?

Ryan Isaac:
What about the idea that I don’t know if this is controversial or not to say, but the idea that not every dentist is cut out to be an owner, like a business owner. I don’t think that’s too brash to say.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah, sure.

Ryan Isaac:
I’ve certainly met a lot of people who became a lot more happy when they got rid of ownership. You know, they went from ownership to really well-paid associate or they split their ownership with four partners and they offloaded a lot of work. You know, how do you help people through that when you … I’m sure you’ve met unhappy dentists or people who were like forcing that path, like, oh, ownership’s the only way in dentistry to make good money and have a good career, and they force it, but they’re super unhappy doing it. How do you deal with that and work with that?

Jayme Amos:
I think that the previous question and this question are actually similarly aligned. What are some of the changes now and who’s right for startups versus not. And here’s how I think they tie together for those who have been dreaming of practice ownership for years. Like many of our clients have actually said, I’ve been dreaming of becoming a practice owner since I was a kid.

Ryan Isaac:
Right.

Jayme Amos:
Right. For them, or, I mean, hey, associate dentists if you’re listening, if you’re one of those doctors who is like, yeah, I’ve been thinking about this since my first year of dental school. Okay, if that’s you, that’s probably not going to go away, that desire. So now you need to decide how much longer do you want to wait? So for those, there is a path to successful practice ownership. It’s called practice, profits, progress. There is a path to successful practice ownership where you’re not just open. That means you have a practice. You’re not just making money, which means you’re profitable.

Jayme Amos:
But I want, I desire that you are absolutely on fire and passionate and rewarded and fulfilled for the kind of practice you have. You’re one of those associates, who’s like, oh crap, my practice was bought by a DSO. I literally got an email like this from a doctor, I’ll call her Dr. B, because she’s still an associate at this DSO. She’s like the DSO came in, because they just bought my employer’s practice. And, if you want me, I can read you the exact email that she sent me. She said, I can’t believe it. The DSO came in on a Monday morning and they took all the supplies out of the office, almost literally out of our hands, if they weren’t on the special pricing list that they had negotiated with the corporate chain or the corporate entity or whatever, she said, I knew right then and there, I didn’t have autonomy. I was done. Like I need to get started on that day. She’s like, I filled out the application to work with Ideal Practices at 1 a.m. on that Saturday morning, and later that month we ended up starting to work with her.

Jayme Amos:
I would say if you’re one of those doctors, who’s like, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and this whole COVID pandemic crap, like I don’t like how my patients are being treated in this environment. I don’t enjoy the feeling of bringing my family in this place. No, thank you. Like if you’re one of those that’s not going to change just because more time goes by.

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Jayme Amos:
So I would say this, if you’re one of the doctors who desires to be a community leader of sorts, if you desire to have a platform of influence in your community, if you’re somebody who wants the autonomy to choose how to practice on your terms, or if you want to lead a team and treat them a way that you know is going to be best. If you’re one of those doctors, then I would say, look into practice ownership, and don’t be afraid of what the unknown is because that’s the unknown. Like even since 2009, when things were horrible, practice owners have thrived. That doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee. It is not a guarantee. You still need practice, profit, purpose. You need to still need a system.

Ryan Isaac:
Foundation, yeah.

Jayme Amos:
You still need a foundation, you still need policies. If you’ve got this desire to step out of the associateship role. And if you want to be one of those people who’s respected and admired for your standards and your community, I would be the one to say like your town is begging for someone to be a leader of leaders and an entrepreneurial values-based person in the community. I would say that there’s always a place for those people to round together other values-based leaders in a community and serve them at your highest level. I would say that there is limitless opportunity for those who structure their startup the right way. So, that’s how I think those two things together.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s really cool, man. I think that that also ties in the idea of purpose, which is what I want to end on here. Tell us a little bit about the purpose and mission of ideal practices, some of the ways that you guys get involved and give back. And I know that’s kind of a big part of your philosophy.

Jayme Amos:
Yeah. So not everybody knows this, but one of the things I’m personally most proud of is every time we open a startup dental office in the United States, we simultaneously provide the funding for 10 startup businesses in third world countries.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Jayme Amos:
We literally donate the money to create a nonprofit loan, so that entrepreneurs in 10 [inaudible 00:32:32] towns and dirt road towns in some of the poorest countries in the world, they can actually get a small loan, where there are no traditional banks, so they can do something like, I don’t know, buy a few dozen chickens so they can then get the eggs and then take the eggs to market and sell the eggs and then get a return on investment and then repay this little loan.

Jayme Amos:
So I am so proud of this for years, we had on our shirts and on our swag, a math equation that said 2000 X 2021. So it’s said 2000 X 2021, which to us, it doesn’t say much, but to us it means something. For us it means by the year 2021, we will have opened 2000 businesses.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, cool. Yeah.

Jayme Amos:
And we’re really close to 2000 by 2021. Well, get this, Ryan, this is the first interview I’ve ever done about this ever.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Jayme Amos:
Like here you go. Big announcement ta-da. Ready? So July 3rd, like what I’m about to tell you sounds like too good to be true, but God’s honest truth. This is awesome. July 3rd, I’m on my laptop on my couch. The kids not awake yet. And I get an email right before the 4th of July weekend. And the email is from the organization that we partner with to do the micro lending.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Jayme Amos:
And they said, Jayme, we know you’ve had a goal for years set on 2,000 businesses by the year 2021. Well, as of today, July 3rd, you were at 2065.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, cool, man. Awesome. That’s so cool.

Jayme Amos:
I was like oh, are you freaking kidding me? Like I got chills. I’m getting chills now thinking about it. Like I’ve literally, I’m getting chills in my back. I’ve dreamed of this moment for the better part of a decade, and we hit it. Like, ah, are you kidding me?

Ryan Isaac:
So cool.

Jayme Amos:
So, the weird, like irony or beauty or fate, whatever you want to call it, is that was right before 4th of July, like Independence Day, and with startups, I look at this as a matter of massive freedom. It’s freedom, when you’re doing startups. And actually you can’t see my shirt because you’re listening by audio, but I’m sure Ryan Isaac can read this number. What’s it say now?

Ryan Isaac:
4,000 X 2024. You’re going to double that in the next three years, basically

Jayme Amos:
We’re going to fight for more. We’re going to do 4,000 by the year 2024. So my team is incredible. We live by three letters. So if anybody cares, these are the three letters. If you want to use this as inspiration for your business, your dental practice, your associate ship, this is what we gauge ourselves by it’s E T G, elite, trusted, give. E elite, we’re going to perform at our elite level, no matter what. Trusted, we’re going to earn the trust of our clients every day, even if nobody’s looking. We’re going to be trusted. So we’re going to be elite, we’re going to be trusted. And G, we’re going to give, we’re going to give as much as we can, we’re going to give them their whole heart. We’re going to give with everything we got. So elite, trusted, give that’s how we gauge ourselves, and I hope that inspires some people to live at their best.

Ryan Isaac:
Love it. ETG, PPP, 4,000 X 2024. If you know, you know. Man, thanks for being here, Jayme. Where can people find you and Ideal Practices and learn more about all this stuff?

Jayme Amos:
Well, Idealpractices.com, of course. But I think for those who are interested in startups, sure, you can go to our page on that stuff, but check out, we made a full documentary. It’s a five-part series of an actual doctor who opened a startup, and even in his first year, it’s one of the million dollar startup stories. But he is one of the most values-driven doctors who is in his first year, the largest donor to a charity where he tells his whole town this, watch. Go to startupdentist.com. His name’s Brian, you’ll be blown away by his whole story.

Jayme Amos:
He tells his whole town, this, he says with every new patient who comes to this practice, we help sponsor another family of a child with special needs. And he says, because, true story, because when I was a young boy, he says, I lost my baby sister to a special needs condition. And he says, my family really struggled with that, we hurt for years, and I don’t want that pain inflicted on anyone in our community, he says, and that’s why with every new patient who comes to this practice, we’ll be supporting another family of a child with special needs.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s amazing, man. Thanks for sharing all this. Thanks for spending time. This has has been really awesome and informative and thanks to everyone for tuning in and listening. Thanks for the support. This has been great. Jayme, thanks for being on, and I look forward to surfing in small waves near your house sometime in 2021, if that’s possible.

Jayme Amos:
Thank you, Ryan. Hey, man, here’s to the next round of sweaters. Isaac Imports.

Ryan Isaac:
Isaac Imports. Thanks, everyone. Have a good one. Take care.

 

Practice Transitions