What Dentists Want to Know — Listener Q&R #1 – Episode #391

What advice would Ryan and Matt give to a startup about how to use their early funding—especially if they find themselves with access to extra cash? And, what traps might await a dentist who is in practice accumulation mode? On this listener Q&R (Question and Response!) episode of the Dentist Money™ Show, Ryan and Matt answer financial questions from our loyal listeners.

 

 

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Podcast Transcript

Ryan Isaac:
Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Dentist Money Show, brought to you by Dentist Advisors, a no commission fee only comprehensive financial advisor just for dentists all over the country. Check us out at dentistadvisors.com. Today on the show, Matt and I do a couple questions from the dental community at large. First question we had was about a startup where this person had some extra cash in three or four places where it could potentially go extra debt, an emergency fund, more purchases, more growth, expansion. This was a really cool question and they had asked like three or four different points on where their money could go. So, Matt and I had a discussion about that. That was really kind of a fun one to have. And then, we talked about another question that came in, someone sent us where someone is expanding from three to four practices.

Ryan Isaac:
So starting to get in that kind of mid-range multi-location practice situation. And the details of that and is that a good idea? Is it good timing? What are the pros and the cons? Well, what are the red flags? What are you missing? That was a fun question to discuss. So, first of all, many thanks to the people who sent us questions. If you have any questions you want us to cover on the show, email us, DM us, contact us on our website, whatever we’d love to do that. Thanks to Matt as always the man himself for spending some time. And thanks to you all for listening. If you ever have any questions, you just go to dentistadvisors.com. Click the book free consultation link. Thanks for being here. Enjoy the show.

Jess Reynolds:
Hey there, it’s Jess with Dentist Advisors. Did you know we recently launched a new service called the Dentist Money Membership? It’s an affordable way to support your personal financial strategy with cutting edge technology and guidance from dental focused CFP advisors. The Dentist Money membership includes the Elements financial monitoring app and annual financial checkup, CE courses, an automated investment platform and more. To learn more about the Dentist Money membership and to get started, go visit dentistadvisors.com/money.

Announcer:
Consultant Advisor, 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 or 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 am Ryan and I’m here with Matt. Welcome Matt. Welcome Ryan, welcome all.

Matt Mulcock:
Hello…

Ryan Isaac:
Hey buddy.

Matt Mulcock:
Ryan we’re getting ready for Cinco de Mayo.

[chuckle]

Ryan Isaac:
It is almost coming up actually.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
My favorite thing about Cinco de Mayo is actually the day before, which is May the 4th. Little Star Wars-ish because Space Mountain at Disneyland, which is your favorite thing in the world.

Matt Mulcock:
Absolutely.

Ryan Isaac:
They transition to some version of like a Star Wars ride on Space Mountain. It makes it so much better. It’s really good.

Matt Mulcock:
And oh, because you just like the dad joke of May the 4th, typically.

Ryan Isaac:
Well they do it, they transition a few…

Matt Mulcock:
Oh. Just for that day?

Ryan Isaac:
No, they do it a few weeks before and then they leave it up through June almost…

Matt Mulcock:
But it’s all about that.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. On Space Mountain…

Matt Mulcock:
Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s like the whole theme is like, you are in some fighter ship. Dude, Star Wars fans are gonna crush me on this. I don’t really know, but you’re like in a ship and you’re chasing bad guys and you’re l shooting down bad guys. [laughter]

Matt Mulcock:
Shooting down the Star Wars bad guys.

Ryan Isaac:
I clearly don’t know my Star Wars…

Matt Mulcock:
You’re super excited about it even because you’re such an obvious Star Wars fan.

Ryan Isaac:
Here’s the real… Here’s the real thing is I have a affinity for novelty in my life.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay.

Ryan Isaac:
And that’s really what gets me going in the morning.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. [laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
That’s basically it. I’m a golden retriever puppy.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Like shiny object squirrel. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Welcome everybody to the show. Excited to have you here. Thank you for being here. Today we’re doing some Q&A and…

Matt Mulcock:
We gotta point out we’re live, we’re in person together. We’re breathing the same air.

Ryan Isaac:
We’re live and in person. The air is being breathed. It’s mutual air.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s mutual air being breathed together, we’re in the same room.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, it’s respectable.

Matt Mulcock:
So if I sound extra giddy, that’s why.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
We’re laughy, although, okay, I’m just gonna stay. It feels more comfortable. This is the second one of the day we’ve done it feels weird right out of the gate though, right when we sat down. We do this over Zoom so much. It feels like it flows. Now we’re like knee to knee on couch to couch. And then we’re like staring at each other in an empty room.

Matt Mulcock:
No one else is here.

Ryan Isaac:
We’re hoping it’s being recorded that we push the right buttons.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
And it felt weird for a second.

Matt Mulcock:
It felt… The first 30 seconds or a minute or so I was like, this…

Ryan Isaac:
This feels weird.

Matt Mulcock:
Feels very different, but no worry…

Ryan Isaac:
It’s different.

Matt Mulcock:
We’re just in the flow.

Ryan Isaac:
I’ve got caffeine in my veins way too late in the afternoon and okay, we’re gone.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I had trouble sleeping.

Ryan Isaac:
Two questions. One of them actually, I just wanna give a shout out to Sonny and his group dental Investment Group on Facebook.

Matt Mulcock:
What a great group. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. If you’re somehow not a part of that, go check it out. I mean, there’s some wild shenanigans that go on over there on DIG.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s entertaining for sure.

Ryan Isaac:
It can be entertaining. I’ve seen some really cool stuff lately and Sonny’s done a good job of building a really useful community for people. Good job, Sonny. We gotta have him on the show soon actually.

Matt Mulcock:
Have we had him on?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. He’d be a great dentist for people too.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. He would.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay, so here’s the thing. I’ve got a, he… Sonny posted an anonymous member question. So, we got two questions today. One of them is from this group and I thought, it’s a question with three or four parts to it that I think will lend to some really good discussion.

Matt Mulcock:
Are we gonna start calling these Q and R’s, by the way.

Ryan Isaac:
By the way.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Let’s just bring that up. Why are you saying that? Yes explain.

Matt Mulcock:
You brought it up to me, I think on one of our last podcasts, I think, and I don’t know the origins of this, but someone brought up to you. You brought…

Ryan Isaac:
It’s a podcast I listen to.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh yeah. Podcasts you listen to from these super smart…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Nutritionist exercise guys.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. They’re PhDs.

Matt Mulcock:
PhDs.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
They don’t… They call it Q and R. Question and response.

Ryan Isaac:
Not…

Matt Mulcock:
Because, Q and A, question and answer is a bit presumptuous as if we like have the answer for you. But a lot of times with money and nutrition and health, it’s like we’ll respond based on everything we know, but we’re not gonna assume…

Ryan Isaac:
That’s your answer.

Matt Mulcock:
That we have the answer.

Ryan Isaac:
I don’t know. Unless it’s like a math problem in even in that case, I probably can’t get it right. I gotta calculate it now.

Matt Mulcock:
Yes, we can’t. So I like this. Let’s start calling it Q&R.

Ryan Isaac:
Q&R. This is a Q&R. By the way, speaking of that, I interacted with my fitness health guru hero, Marcus Philly on Instagram. He’s gonna come on the show.

Matt Mulcock:
What!

Ryan Isaac:
He’s gonna come on the show and talk about what he’s done over 20 years in principles of health and fitness and longevity and how that’ll apply to financing.

Matt Mulcock:
This has gotta be a big moment for you.

Ryan Isaac:
I’m so excited. He was kind of like, are you sure you want me to do this? Because I’ve never been on a podcast that. I’m like, no, the principles that you teach and have put into action for millions of people and yourself, they apply straight across the board.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s amazing. I love that.

Ryan Isaac:
So we’re gonna do that. It’s set.

Matt Mulcock:
That’s really cool.

Ryan Isaac:
Anyway, back to Sonny’s group, Dental investment group. Here’s the situation. I’m just gonna read what this person was saying. They kind of just give some context. It says, “I’m looking into some serious advice for my situation, I have a new startup, and this is all I know too, by the way. I have a new startup, five Ops equipped, only three for now”. Okay. Loans, “I have working capital of 100 grand remaining and the bank wants to give it to me. In TI Money, he’s got some TI money, I’ve got another 100 grand”.

Matt Mulcock:
Just in case anyone doesn’t know what that means, Tenant and…

Ryan Isaac:
Tenant Improvements to build out the space.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s for the build out.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. So startup, three Ops, room for five, he’s got a couple 100 grand and some cash he could take that are loans from the bank.

Matt Mulcock:
Sorry, the 100K is locked and loaded, ready to go from the bank if he wants it.

Ryan Isaac:
If he wants it.

Matt Mulcock:
Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
He’s gotta start paying on it, ’cause it’s a lot.

Matt Mulcock:
Sure.

Ryan Isaac:
Line of credit kind of deal. He says, “I have a new house and I’m paying for it. Practice monthly expenses are high and I’m still working on marketing to get more patients”. So this is a new practice, cash flow is tight, probably not taking much home for himself if anything. New house, just pretty typical beginning of career dentist stuff. He’s got four questions. Question number one…

Matt Mulcock:
Holy!

Ryan Isaac:
I’ll read these and then we’ll hit them. Yeah. These are good points. You said holy, four questions?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay, good. That’s a lot. That’s good.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s a lot. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
This person thought ahead.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, this is great. I love it.

Ryan Isaac:
They came prepared, they understood the assignment. Question number one, “Should I take the a 100 grand from the bank and invest somewhere?” that’s like margin investing basically.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay.

Ryan Isaac:
And in parenthesis says, “I have no idea where to invest it”. If I invest the 200 grand with the TI money as well, ’cause he can take a 100 grand in working capital and he’s got a 100 grand… Another a 100 grand in the line of credit that he could use towards TI, but he’s saying, “Should I take a 100 and invest it?” Or “Should I take 200, all of it and try to get a higher ROI, but with high risk in the area?” I don’t know what that really means, but he’s just saying, should I take this money…

Matt Mulcock:
And invest it.

Ryan Isaac:
On a loan and invest it? That’s interesting.

Matt Mulcock:
Alright. Alright.

Ryan Isaac:
Number two, “House interest rate is less than the loan interest rate, should I take the loan money and pay off the house?” Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay. Alright.

Ryan Isaac:
Number three…

Matt Mulcock:
I’ve got my answers ready to go.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, your responses.

Matt Mulcock:
Sorry. It’s gonna take some time. I’ve got my responses ready to go.

Ryan Isaac:
You’ve got your responses locked and loaded as they say. Number three, or it’s follow-up for number two, or “Leave the a 100 grand loan so that I don’t have to pay interest on that account… On that amount”. Okay. So don’t touch it, don’t take it. Number four, “Use some of the a 100 grand for advertising and equip the other two Ops”. Okay, so…

Matt Mulcock:
That’s number three?

Ryan Isaac:
That’s number four. Three and four.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. So I’ll recap this. He’s got new practice, money’s tight, he’s got a new house. I don’t know what else is going on. And he’s got the availability to take up to $200,000 in a line of credit, that he can use for anything, working capital, marketing, more operatory growth or take the money and invest it somewhere or pay off the house. I doubt it’s pay off the house.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, but probably just put towards the house.

Ryan Isaac:
Pay down, put towards the house. The other details that we know are that the house interest rate is lower than the interest rate on the loan on these lines of credit that he would take. Where do you wanna start? What would you say… [chuckle] What would you say to this? Where would you begin with analyzing this situation, giving a response to it?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, so…

Ryan Isaac:
There’s probably like 40 more questions you would ask if you had the person in the room.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. 100%.

Ryan Isaac:
What would you ask, actually?

Matt Mulcock:
I don’t know what, so he’s got the… He’s got the line of credit 100th grand. Okay. He kind of alluded to this as far as the rate on the house being lower, I’d wanna know, “Okay, what is the rate on the line of credit, the business capital? Is this a fixed rate, is this a floating rate?”

Ryan Isaac:
It’s a pretty new question, so I’ll bet that rate’s gotta be in the fives.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s gotta be decently high.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, this is three days ago.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay. And is this… Again, just what’s the structure of that loan? I’d wanna know. I’d wanna know a lot more about the practice. So, okay, you’ve got three Ops, he alluded to… He’s making, or we’re assuming maybe money’s tight just based on the way he’s describing himself.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. What was the line? He said, “I have a new house and paying for it, practice monthly expenses are high…

Matt Mulcock:
Are high.

Ryan Isaac:
And I’m still working on marketing to get more patients”.

Matt Mulcock:
Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
So he’s in the beginning of all this stuff.

Matt Mulcock:
So I’d want to know…

Ryan Isaac:
He didn’t say things are tight, but I’m assuming.

Matt Mulcock:
We’re just assuming.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
But we do know based on what he’s saying, that he’s early on in his practice.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, three Ops, startup, new house.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay. So I’d wanna know a lot more about the practice, and we’re not gonna go to maybe like line by line of these questions, but what’s his overall vision for his practice? What’s his monthly collections look like as far as growth goes? My guess is he’s got three Ops and capable, or space for five. Is he… How close is he to maxing out those three? He mentions needing new patients or struggling there with no patients.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. So probably has time on his calender.

Matt Mulcock:
I imagine.

Ryan Isaac:
Not hitting capacity yet.

Matt Mulcock:
Not hitting, it doesn’t sound like he’s hitting capacity yet.

Ryan Isaac:
And capacity on a three Op practice, I don’t know what specialty is, general dentist maybe? Didn’t say, but he could probably push between 700,000 and 800,000 on three Ops.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, I would think so. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. But not there yet.

Matt Mulcock:
No, I can’t imagine he’s there yet.

Ryan Isaac:
You know what’s crazy though, dude? There’s a tangent, but these days everything’s so expensive, especially with team that I swear even a $700,000 practice isn’t breaking even, or it’s breaking even but it’s not super profitable yet.

Matt Mulcock:
No. I would agree with that.

Ryan Isaac:
Those numbers used to feel lower. It seems like people used to break even and become profitable after 500 in collections, maybe close to six, but people in the seven and eights now are still struggling to have some profit on top.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Don’t you feel like a million is kind of like that line?

Ryan Isaac:
It’s like the new bottom level baseline. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I agree with that, I do.

Ryan Isaac:
Which makes sense with everything inflates when it gets bigger.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. So I’d wanna know those things, but my…

Ryan Isaac:
What about at home personally, what would you wanna know? Personal finance and stuff.

Matt Mulcock:
Kind of the same thing. Okay, is money tight? We’re assuming, but I’d wanna know what does your spending look like? What are your overall goals, again, same thing with the practice, what are you… What are you shooting for at home? He has a home, okay, is this a starter home, is this a forever home?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. You gonna stick around for a while?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Stick around for a while. What’s his family situation look like?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Do you have any liquidity?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. What’s your liquidity look like?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, what’s in the business checking account right now? I mean, if you’ve got a practice on three Ops and they’re not full yet, you’re probably doing 400 or 500, which probably means. I don’t know. Your overhead’s like 30 grand a month maybe?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Assuming like not that great of profit could even be higher, could be 35, 40 grand a month. I don’t know. It could be that high.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I think…

Ryan Isaac:
Actually it could be 40 grand a month.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh yeah. It could be for sure.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. On a practice like that. So it’s like how much…

Matt Mulcock:
Depending on where he is.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Where you’re at. It’s like how much cash is in the business? Do you have any at home? Do you have an emergency fund?

Matt Mulcock:
I keep lean… I always lean this way, like just again, what I spend a lot of time with him on is like, what is your vision for this?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Meaning there’s a huge difference between your overall kind of what we’d call like your success metric, right? Like what are you… Is success to you as a dentist, single location, single producer for the next 20 years?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Or is it, I’m gonna build this out, I’m gonna add a partner, or an associate, I’m gonna go build another location at another location?

Ryan Isaac:
Totally.

Matt Mulcock:
These are very critical questions to be asking when it comes to your investments today planning for tomorrow type of thing.

Ryan Isaac:
For sure. Like if you got to that, if you max out your three and then hit your five Ops, are you fine? Do you like being a solo provider in one? Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah exactly. Is that your max? Or is that just the starting point?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Are you like, “I wanna get outta clinical and have like four locations and I don’t wanna do any clinical, I just wanna manage this thing.” And it’s like, oh, it’s different. Okay. Those are good questions. And, part of these like, Q&Rs here, I wanna take these situations and not just specifically answer them, but just give some a template for what other things people would want to ask themselves or somebody else. If they’re helping someone else make this decision before they commit to where this is going. If I also wanna point out, I think the tendency in this situation, like the most pressure that they’re gonna feel here, funny enough, I think, is to take some of that money and just put it on a loan.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
If I’m just stereotyping the situation.

Matt Mulcock:
You think the house, like…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I… He said the house, but I’m gonna say a loan in general.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
So if I’m stereotyping the situation, I’m thinking early career budget’s tight.

Matt Mulcock:
You’ve got student loans.

Ryan Isaac:
Student loans, startup new house. He’s like a new dentist, so I’m assuming. So student loans are high. Today’s balances the… It’s funny because the pressure is to like even though it wouldn’t even pay off a house or student loan, is just to give 200 grand to one of these lenders.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, for sure.

Ryan Isaac:
When that’s probably the least, helpful place to put money at this point in career.

Matt Mulcock:
Least productive.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Least productive.

Matt Mulcock:
Sure. Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
So I… Would you rule out then I think I would rule out taking the money and putting it on the house.

Matt Mulcock:
Absolutely.

Ryan Isaac:
Mathematically, it doesn’t even make sense.

Matt Mulcock:
No.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. Let’s say the house interest rate was higher and the line of credit was lower. I’d still rule it out. I’d still say no.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. So, “No way.”

Matt Mulcock:
I would too. Because if we talk about the word productive, we talk about this all the time. If you think about your little, your dollars as little workers for you, like you want them to be working, you want them to be doing something, they should have a job and anywhere you put those dollars, they’re gonna be serving a job. Right? They’re gonna be doing something. Even if that’s just sitting in cash. But if you take that money and put it towards your house, yes. Again, they are serving, they are performing a job, but that job is far less productive.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Than if you were to go invest those dollars. Yeah. And they can replicate themselves. They’re not gonna replicate themselves in the house.

Ryan Isaac:
No. And when you say invest too, you don’t just mean like putting them in a investment account.

Matt Mulcock:
No.

Ryan Isaac:
Maybe, but back into the practice is one of the questions.

Matt Mulcock:
That was my quick easy answer.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. What the…

Matt Mulcock:
The first question he says is, should I invest this money? Right? Something like that?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Yes.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah but where?

Matt Mulcock:
But not in what you’re thinking. I get the… I get the sense and maybe this is again unfair, but that when you read that question, I get the sense he’s alluding to taking that and putting it in like the stock market, crypto something like that.

Ryan Isaac:
I think that’s what it, I mean that’s what it sounded like. That really sounded like that.

Matt Mulcock:
That’s what I was getting out of that.

Ryan Isaac:
Well, he said, yeah, should I take it and invest and then in parentheses, I have no idea where to invest it.

Matt Mulcock:
So, here’s my…

Ryan Isaac:
You mean… Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
My response to that is should I invest that? Yes.

Ryan Isaac:
But.

Matt Mulcock:
The question is, where should I invest that? Back into your practice.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Like into yourself, into your practice. You have two Ops ready to go. You alluded to struggling with patients.

Ryan Isaac:
Three.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, sorry.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh Yeah. Three ready to go.

Matt Mulcock:
He got two ready to go to add to it. Right. And I’d imagine he’s meaning like they’re plumbed or they’re…

Ryan Isaac:
I don’t know. Five. It says five equipped only three…

Matt Mulcock:
Only three be in use?

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, no, no. Five Ops equipped only for three now.

Matt Mulcock:
Got it. Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
So, the other two bays are probably empty. They’re probably plumbed, like all the infrastructure’s probably done. He’s probably just missing like chairs and equipment and stuff.

Matt Mulcock:
Got it. So to me that is a pretty easy response.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
When it comes to should I invest it? Yes.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Depending on rates and all that. The where to put it? Easy, back into your practice.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I would agree.

Matt Mulcock:
Roll that thing.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
That’s going to be far more productive. Those dollars replicating themselves…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Than anywhere else you put it right now.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Well that practice is the machine…

Matt Mulcock:
Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s creating your wealth, giving you your income, providing your future. Your house won’t do that.

Matt Mulcock:
No.

Ryan Isaac:
Giving the more… I have no idea what the mortgage is, but let’s just say it’s an… What’s the average house, value in the country right now?

Matt Mulcock:
Oh…

Ryan Isaac:
I have no idea where they relatively.

Matt Mulcock:
We just did this is relatively recent, but it’s somewhere around.

Ryan Isaac:
Four something. Four?

Matt Mulcock:
I think it’s somewhere around like 375.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. Even if that’s the case, you can’t pay it off.

Matt Mulcock:
But let’s assume you could for a second.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Assume you could.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh I like this. I like these… Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So, let’s assume you could.

Ryan Isaac:
You know what they say about assuming, but we’re doing that here because we we’re already there.

Matt Mulcock:
I think it still makes sense?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
‘Cause we’re saying.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Even if you could, I…

Ryan Isaac:
Take your 200 grand…

Matt Mulcock:
I still wouldn’t.

Ryan Isaac:
And you could pay it off, I wouldn’t do it either.

Matt Mulcock:
‘Cause what does it do? Let’s say it opens up, let’s say it frees up.

Ryan Isaac:
2,500 bucks a month.

Matt Mulcock:
2,500 Bucks a month.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Still wouldn’t do it.

Ryan Isaac:
No way.

Matt Mulcock:
You’re way better off like that…

Ryan Isaac:
‘Cause he said new house. There’s no way that this thing is a cheap house. He said new. Maybe it’s a condo and it’s not an expensive city, but still there’s no way.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
You free up a couple grand a month, still no way.

Matt Mulcock:
Still not productive enough for you.

Ryan Isaac:
No.

Matt Mulcock:
Just take the a hundred thousand put it back into your practice. He mentions that he uses the term ROI.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Return on investment. Your return on investment 10 out of 10 times.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Going into that practice is way better than paying off a personal residence debt.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. We’re big fans of paying off debt.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. At the right time.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s the right time. It’s own time and place. Going back to the practice, I wonder what like a practice consultant would say. I would wanna hold on to some cash. Just operating capital, to keep some liquidity in the business. Based on what he’s saying here, we don’t know a lot of things, would you try to grow through some marketing and fill up those three Ops before you install your other two? Or would you want to equip all five, get those ready and then try to build into the five?

Matt Mulcock:
I’m assuming based on… We’re doing a lot of assuming today.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. We need to get this person on the line.

Matt Mulcock:
We do. Bring him on.

Ryan Isaac:
Anyone know this person’s number? Sonny, what is this person’s number?

Matt Mulcock:
I get the sense that, I think it’s a pretty fair assumption that the two chairs that are not equipped yet are pretty close, ready to go.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. What does it take to equip an Op? 30 grand?

Matt Mulcock:
Probably. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
A chair and some equipment, a little bit of stuff. If it’s already plumbed and the infrastructure’s already done.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Which it sounds like it is.

Ryan Isaac:
It sounds like it’s already done.

Matt Mulcock:
So, maybe he’s missing chair and some equipment in there.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. You can do that fast though.

Matt Mulcock:
Fast. So I would air on the side of he’s… It sounds like he’s not maxing out those three chairs right now.

Ryan Isaac:
No, no.

Matt Mulcock:
Struggling with new patients. To me it’s get to a place where you’re begging for more chairs. You’re begging for more space.

Ryan Isaac:
You’re starting to get booked out. Your calendar’s getting too full. People are booking out way too far. Maybe even complaining a little bit.

Matt Mulcock:
And you’re dialed on processes.

Ryan Isaac:
: Dialed.

Matt Mulcock:
You’ve got your processes and systems dialed and you’re still maxed out.

Ryan Isaac:
What if you tap, you got 200 grand sitting there, you keep… Well, I’m assuming overhead could be up to 40 grand a month in… We’re assuming so much, but maybe you keep 80 grand around, and then the other 120 you’re using for… Well, 80 could include money you already have there too. Just make sure you’ve got a couple months.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Make sure you’ve got a couple months sitting there. Use the rest of your money to efficiently grow some marketing that… Which I understand the struggle there too, because you can go blow through tens of thousands of dollars in marketing and be like nothing happened. You can do that really easily. And you can do that with your big consulting projects too. But if you find the right person that you click with that really understands your location, your goals, visions, values, that can help you grow for some new patients.

Ryan Isaac:
And even maybe, I don’t know if a consultant’s the right time here, but it could be for processes, systems, on a small project basis. You don’t need to sign in for like a whole year probably or two year commitment, but just get a few little pieces in. So, I agree with you. I think that’s where I would want the money to go. No, don’t pay off your debt. Yes. Invest it, put it back into practice. Keep some liquidity. I would say max out those three chairs or get close to it before you put in the other two. The other two will cost you maybe 50, 60 grand. And you can get another loan for those other two probably.

Matt Mulcock:
Sure.

Ryan Isaac:
Especially if your collections are growing and that could happen quick. You can get those done quickly. I think within a month you could have chairs delivered and installed and everything.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
I think so.

Matt Mulcock:
I would think so. I guess we’re maybe not with… I think things have gotten better with supply chains.

Ryan Isaac:
Supply chains probably a little better.

Matt Mulcock:
The other thing, he’s got the TI money. Again we don’t know how much cash he already has in the bank on the business side. I don’t think he would take that much to your point with a little project with a consultant. Start testing some things, build the foundation of systems now, before things get too outta control without… In some ways he’s in a really good spot where he’s a… Did you even say this is a…

Ryan Isaac:
Yes.

Matt Mulcock:
A gentleman?

Ryan Isaac:
He is a gentleman. So I’ve been saying he… Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So I figured that. That was a fair assumption.

Ryan Isaac:
Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
But it wouldn’t take that much money for him to do a project with a consultant to lay the foundation of systems, to build as he’s growing. Because part of the problem of him just throwing money at marketing is… Yeah, it might work. Hopefully it would. But if he doesn’t have the existing place, then what?

Ryan Isaac:
Exactly. I don’t want any of our consultant friends they be texting me, “Don’t say these things publicly.” But I think you could probably spend less than 20 grand, maybe less than 15 grand and get a project done with a consultant over a few months. Get just some core stuff going. That’s not a ton of money considering what you’re putting this. You’re putting this into a possible multimillion dollar business that’s kicking off. It can kick off maybe upwards of 50% profitability one day with you working in that. It’s an incredible machine. It’s worth the money, it’s worth investing in.

Matt Mulcock:
Totally. Here’s another one outside of consulting and marketing, CE.

Ryan Isaac:
Totally.

Matt Mulcock:
If you’re a newer doc, let’s say he’s a GP. I think CE and improving your skills to up, again, assuming that’s your vision, that’s what you want, but spending some money. And I know to your point of 15, 20 grand, I know for sure you can throw 15, 20 grand at some CE, based on what I’ve seen with other clients. And increase your skillset and start adding some procedures in your office.

Ryan Isaac:
Totally.

Matt Mulcock:
 The The bottom line is…

Ryan Isaac:
And marketing those, letting your community know, “Hey, I’m the person. I’m doing this in the community. I’m the person you need to see for it.” People have to know about that. It’s more marketing.

0:24:53.5 Matt: So the direction is easy, in my opinion, is in the practice here. So you invest it. Yes. Back in the practice. The nuance of that varies depending on the situation, but that to me is a pretty easy response. But just the general high level.

Ryan Isaac:
Q&R.

Matt Mulcock:
Q&R.

Ryan Isaac:
Response given. Here’s a second one. We will protect the anonymity. Did I say that right?

Matt Mulcock:
Anonymity?

Ryan Isaac:
Anonymity.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Anonymity.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s like on Nemo when he’s like, “Where do you live? He’s like, “Anoninini. Anoninini.”

Ryan Isaac:
That’s how it sounded like too.

Matt Mulcock:
You know I have little kids and I’m quoting Disney things like that.

Ryan Isaac:
Nemo?

Matt Mulcock:
Nemo.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s so good. This is a client, doing great. Life’s good, practice is crushing. And I wanna just get your thoughts on this. Again, this is a specific question, but there’s some principles in here that people ask themselves frequently in their careers. This is a specialist, with three offices. Main office been open a while it’s crushing. It’s maxing out capacity. It’s doing everything it’s supposed to do. Second office is doing well. It’s growing. It’s three plus days a week. And there’s multiple producers. It’s him and some associates too. And then a third office that’s under construction, big, fully staffed, ready to go, marketing plan. Demographics… This wasn’t a crapshoot. Demographics were done growing part of the town.

Matt Mulcock:
All generally in the same area?

Ryan Isaac:
Pretty close. I think all three. I think they’re spread out linearly and they’re probably like 45 minutes to an hour.

Matt Mulcock:
Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
End to end all three of them. So, basically this is a three Op, or a three location business with an owner and a few associates. This owner knows what they’re doing with processes, with marketing, with team, with training. They know what they’re doing. Well I won’t say this part, ’cause I wanna hear what you have to say. Here’s where the kicker comes in.

Matt Mulcock:
Kicker.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Hit me with the kicker.

Ryan Isaac:
He says… He’s clearly acknowledging I got a lot going on and we’ve been talk… Even office number three still is under construction, still not open yet. And then he goes, “I have the opportunity to snag another office [laughter] in a direction, I’ve always wanted to go”. “In a location…

Matt Mulcock:
Geographically.

Ryan Isaac:
Geographically, I’ve always wanted to go.” I don’t wanna give too many details here, but it’s an office that is being put back on the market and it’s a fairly new practice. It’s fully equipped, ready to go. It’s modern and it’s in the spot. The community is growing. It’s buzzing. There’s hype, there’s love.

Matt Mulcock:
Buzzing.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s a hive of activity. But like, it’s in a… It’s just one of those things in life. Okay. This is where I always think about financial planning is not a freaking plan. It’s not a printout. It’s not one standalone report from software.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s not a leather binder.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s not a binder. It’s literally every quarter of your life, every few months, you’re just checking in with your life, with your advisor, with your business yourself. And you’re like, “oh, what’s changed?”

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Because this is an opportunity that came up that was not planned. This is… He’s building office number three, it’s not even open yet. And then office number four, opportunity comes up in a place where he’s wanted to be for years, but it just wasn’t happening and he was moving in a different direction. And now it is. And so this always makes me think like, “Well, how prepared were we along the way with being liquid? How have we done, what job have we done managing debt appropriately?” Meaning did we get too much of it?

Ryan Isaac:
Did we put any of our debt on too short of schedules where our payments are really high, especially now when it’s hard to refinance and you can’t go back and fix that. Luckily in this situation, this person has been really good about a high savings rate, high amounts of liquidity, tons of consistency. Has managed spending debt, taxes, savings, liquidity really, really well. But had he not, he can go take advantage of this and I wanna get your take, I don’t wanna put words in your mouth. Because this will have some cost to him…

Matt Mulcock:
You don’t assume.

Ryan Isaac:
Obviously, I’m not gonna assume anything. We don’t do that on the show.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
But, this makes me think of the road that led to this point that he had no idea was coming. And whether or not he’s in a place now to take advantage of this, because this other location that is already up and running, will make a very huge impact in a big difference in his life and his business, his cash, everything. Right? But whether or not he can do it sustainably, take advantage of it has everything to do with what we’ve been doing along the way for years now. And so kudos to him for having you on this anyway. So yes.

Matt Mulcock:
Sorry, quick. This is cool…

Ryan Isaac:
Jump in.

Matt Mulcock:
To what you’re saying is he’s now able to make a decision. I just got something in my eye there.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Are you crying? Was that an excuse? You’re ex… You’re excited, you’re emotional about this.

Matt Mulcock:
You talk about the hive of activity and it got me really, I was feeling it.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
No, but he’s making a decision. He’s able to make a decision for better or for worse from a place of control. It’s a hard decision to make but it’s way different than what we hear sometimes, which is he’s trying to make a decision out of desperation.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
He doesn’t have to do that.

Ryan Isaac:
No.

Matt Mulcock:
There’s still a decision to be made.

Ryan Isaac:
Totally.

Matt Mulcock:
But financially it sounds he’s in a good spot.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Where he at least has the option.

Ryan Isaac:
So, in our elements process, for everyone it’s familiar, there’s a score called LT, liquid term for people who are not… We built this financial planning system, shout out to Reese Harper. He’s worked as bought off in his team at Elements for five years now, building the software to accompany this system that we’ve built in Dentist Advisors. And, it’s just a series of scores that tells us how financially healthy you are in different areas of your life. One of these scores is LT. An LT that’ll help you sleep at night is a one. And that just basically means you have acce… You have have access to money without a penalty that’s equal to how much you spend in a whole year. That’s a big milestone. A 0.5 feels good.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
An adequate technical, emergency fund is a 0.3. So a 0.5 is great and a one is, one feels great. This person is, not quite double digits LT, but getting there.

Matt Mulcock:
Pretty close.

Ryan Isaac:
Great liquidity. And the rest of this question or situation is like, it’s minimal input. The office is kind of ready. It’s less than six figures that he and his partner are gonna have to put in to basically take over this whole thing.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
And just get going. So that’s the context. We can answer this specifically obviously, but like, just generally as people are considering these kind of moves, what are some questions that come to mind? What do you think his risks are in doing this? Like, what would worry you about this client knowing you don’t know him?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Like I know him, but like, what would worry you? What do you think his risks are? What would you caution against? What would you, what questions would you want him asking himself?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
What comes to mind?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I think the number one question, you gave me some good context…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
From the financial side of things. I’d obviously you have questions around that, but again…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Where…

Matt Mulcock:
You just kind of check those boxes of financially he’s in a position where this can make sense.

Ryan Isaac:
And you can repeat what questions you thought were relevant if you want.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Liquidity, total debt profile. You alluded to what his current locations are already doing, what type of systems does he already have in place at the office?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
All those kind of things.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Just overall cash flow at the office and at home.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Does he have a good profitability number? All those kind of things.

Ryan Isaac: Right.

Matt Mulcock:
But after that, I’ll be honest this comes down to me like, what are you doing this for?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
I don’t say that with any assumption. I’m saying like, genuinely are you asking yourself, why am I doing this?

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
At some point I would imagine you’re gonna call, you’re gonna call it from a growth standpoint.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
I would, I would imagine whether that be five locations or 10 or a hundred.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Yeah. There’s a… You’re saying there’s a ceiling of where you want to just kind of be done?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
On that point though, do you think that’s a changing target, a moving target?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Because, I think I would’ve told you six months. I think this person would’ve said six months ago that three, that’s why they’re opening the third was like,”I’m done there.”

Matt Mulcock:
So, that’s what I’m saying is like, I would come back to this and say, “I think one of the biggest mistakes that you can make in life, but specifically with money, is falling prey to FOMO.” Or falling prey to status chasing.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
And I’m not saying he’s doing that.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
I’m saying I would want him, you’re asking what I want to reflect on?

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s why are you doing this?

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
What are you optimizing for?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Is this a wealth play?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Is this gonna make you that much richer and that’s what you’re focused on. Or is this gonna make your life better?

Ryan Isaac:
And this person, was… Could have just kept the one main location forever year for 30 years.

Matt Mulcock:
And still crush there. Eventually. Got it.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. [laughter] Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So again, I would, yeah, I just…

Ryan Isaac:
There’s been a very deliberate growth plan. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So I would want to just have that conversation around, why? Again with nothing but curiosity.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
I’m just like, why are you wanting to do this? What are you optimizing for? Coming back to this idea we talked about in the last episode of which I don’t know when these will come out, like into tension…

Ryan Isaac:
I have no idea either.

Matt Mulcock:
No idea.

Ryan Isaac:
I think we have five in the bank and I have no idea which ones are releasing. Yeah. We don’t know.

Matt Mulcock:
It might be fall by then.

Ryan Isaac:
It might be 2027.

Matt Mulcock:
But we talk a lot about lately with…

Ryan Isaac:
It might not even be recording right now.

Matt Mulcock:
It may not be recording, so.

Ryan Isaac: We don’t know.

Matt Mulcock:
We could be talking to Aaron.

Ryan Isaac:
I push the button, so we’ll see. That was on me.

Matt Mulcock:
But this idea of your values, right?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
And are you aligning your money and your growth plan with your actual values?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
I’d wanna have a pretty detailed conversation around that.

Ryan Isaac:
What risks do you think knowing the profile, like his elements profile, what risks do you think he’s taking here?

Matt Mulcock:
Well, it doesn’t sound like… I would say debt.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Like getting over leveraged.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Would be like something I’d be… Or somewhat concerned with. I’d also, you mentioned liquidity.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
How much liquidity is he having to use to do this?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
So, is all of a sudden gonna take his LT score from close to, you said close to double digits?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So he’s close to double digits.

Ryan Isaac:
I could look it up in my Elements app.

Matt Mulcock:
So, I’d wanna know what impact is that gonna have? But again, you’ve mentioned it that it’s not gonna take a huge cash outlay to get this other practice.

Ryan Isaac:
No.

Matt Mulcock:
So, I think the maybe non-financial risks I would wanna know again, is like, are you gonna be able to handle this from a work perspective? Are you gonna get burned out? Schedule…

Ryan Isaac:
Schedule, burn out. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Do you have a good balance right now? Is this changing that at all?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
That kind of stuff.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Okay. So perfect. I’m gonna recap what you said. The risks that you would think about is debt load, cash flow, liquidity. Which we’re answering some of those along the way. And non-financial is just the burnout.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Can you physically, emotionally, mentally handle this? Because you’re not even in the third one yet. And now pick up number four. And we’re living in a time where finding team members is really hard.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Your staff’s bigger.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
What’s the number one problem we hear from dentists every single time? It’s always staff.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s team.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s not only that, but the bigger you get, you kind of become a victim of your own success. When it comes to exit. So now, he’s basically gonna have one exit strategy which this is a great problem to have by the way.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
But still a problem where you’re not just gonna go find some solo dock to come buy your enterprise.

Ryan Isaac:
No, no.

Matt Mulcock:
You’re going DSO.

Ryan Isaac:
DSO or maybe multiple partners along the way in a staggered strategy challenge.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. You could do a staggered strategy.

Ryan Isaac:
Still really hard.

Matt Mulcock:
That plan is always there for sure.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
But think about the moving parts of that.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
But if you go DSO level, like, so I think in this case, number one option would be DSO. Exit down the road whenever that is.

Ryan Isaac:
So you’d have this on the list of risks?

Matt Mulcock:
Yes.

Ryan Isaac:
Or things to consider?

Matt Mulcock:
Yes because…

Ryan Isaac:
I did the risks in the quotation bunny ears.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Little bunny ears.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Easter bunny ears, right?

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, it’s, yeah. Good call. Good call.

Matt Mulcock:
Again, don’t know when this is coming out, but…

[chuckle]

Ryan Isaac:
It’s recording the day after Easter.

Matt Mulcock:
There you go.

Ryan Isaac:
There you go.

Matt Mulcock:
So yeah, I think a risk to consider is thinking longer term. We got to think about what your exit plan looks like.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Chances are you’ve already alluded to his total term is killing it. He’s gonna be at a place where easily exited sometime in the nearest future.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I’m not worried about that.

Matt Mulcock:
So, okay. If you talk about DSO, what are the consequences of that? You’re gonna have for sure a work back of some kind.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Lose control. There’s gonna be some negative consequences of going that route.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Pros and cons.

Matt Mulcock:
And maybe he’s not thinking about that right now.

Ryan Isaac:
Totally. Yeah. I love that. And you said this earlier, my big thing that I was worried most because I know him.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
So we’ve been able to answer a lot of these questions along the way.

Matt Mulcock:
So you’re cheating?

Ryan Isaac:
I’m cheating.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
I have a cheat sheet, which is the easiest way to get the right answers. [laughter] Or have a Casio calculator watch, which I am currently supporting. I had someone ask me if this was like some kind of collectors edition, like super expensive.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. You’re like…

Ryan Isaac:
I was like, it’s literally $19 on Amazon.

Matt Mulcock:
And you’re like, I’m pretty sure it’s broken.

Ryan Isaac:
And it doesn’t work. And I’ve wanted it since 1987. [laughter] Literally my mom wouldn’t let have one so you could have one. Yeah, my biggest thing having answered a lot of these questions with the data from the Element stuff is just can he handle the schedule? I’m like, you’re going from a point where, like I was just saying, your one location, your savings rate was like a 30% plus. Your liquidity was just growing like crazy. You had a lot of time on your hands. You went to two locations, building out a third. Now a fourth, staffing is tight right now you’re gonna go back to that six day a week grind.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
And I don’t know if that’s six months, a year, two years, but you’re going back to it. He’s still pretty young. Late thirties, early forties. Not gonna be a problem if his why aligns with that?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Like you said. So he is gonna be fine. Geographically he’s not gonna have to be getting on a plane going in another state driving hours and hours, but he’s gonna be back to six days a week, man.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Not all clinical.

Matt Mulcock:
But just managing…

Ryan Isaac:
Managing this beast.

Matt Mulcock:
Beast of a business.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Because these aren’t locations where one’s shut down, one’s open. We’re rotating staff through all these traveling staff round. These are fully staffed different locations. Maybe a couple of the producers associates will travel. But that was my biggest concern just to use this as a template for decision making for other people. All the stuff you said and are you okay with your time? Giving your time and kind of getting back to that mental grind again, is that worth it? And it all comes back to your values and your why and if it aligns.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. And maybe this is one of those things, like a lot of things in life and money where sometimes you don’t know the answer to that from where you sit.

Ryan Isaac:
No. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
And it’s like…

Ryan Isaac:
You’ll find out.

Matt Mulcock:
He’s gonna find out.

Ryan Isaac:
You’re gonna find out.

Matt Mulcock:
You’re gonna find out. But it’s how much risk are you taking on? It’s like are you leaving the door open to change your mind?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
I think that’s a big thing as well. It’s like…

Ryan Isaac:
How do you do that? What are the ways to leave a door open for… Like you’re saying, are there options on the table? You’re not backed into a corner.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, exactly. So for example, in this situation, Or in any situation.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Liquidity, right? Liquidity is basically…

Ryan Isaac:
LT.

Matt Mulcock:
Change my mind insurance.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh… Woo.

Matt Mulcock:
That’s really what it is.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, LT is changed my mind. Insurance.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I think we’ve talked… Haven’t we talked about that before?

Ryan Isaac:
I’ve never heard you say that before. That’s the new T-shirt.

Matt Mulcock:
May be pulled out. But it is. That’s what cash in the bank is.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Or in a brokerage account.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Liquid assets is, change your mind insurance.

Ryan Isaac:
Wow.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s like…

Ryan Isaac:
That’s the next podcast.

Matt Mulcock:
There you go.

Ryan Isaac:
LT, change your mind insurance.

Matt Mulcock:
Every podcast we’ve done so far in person has led to another podcast.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
This is why it’s so much easier to podcast in person. ‘Cause we just come up with more on the spot.

[overlapping conversation]

Matt Mulcock:
Exactly.

Ryan Isaac:
All right.

Matt Mulcock:
But, so leaving the door open. Again, we were saying earlier, there’s a big difference in making decisions out of control versus out of desperation. So, and again, I think this is probably one of those things. I’m guessing he’s going forward with it?

Ryan Isaac:
I think so. Well, he is less so. I asked him all these questions. I knew, we knew the answer to a lot of the data. So my biggest question was, can he hack the new schedule? And so he…

Matt Mulcock:
Has he responded yet.

Ryan Isaac:
He has, he’s just says, he kind of just verified that time is the crunch. Him and his associates partner, they’re all on the same page. But it’s the time commitment that scares him the most. And he said, this is why this guy makes such great decisions. He says, I’ll sit on this, and let’s talk in the next few weeks. He’s gonna sit on it for a few weeks.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
So, exactly.

Matt Mulcock:
I think that’s a great way to approach it. It’s like…

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, totally.

Matt Mulcock:
Sit on it, sleep on it. Talk to your family about it.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Talk to your partners about it. Your friends.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Imagine yourself going from your three day a week to your six day a week situation for the next 12 months, 18 months.

Matt Mulcock:
Honestly. If possible, before he does it, practice. Meaning practice that or put himself in a position, like if he’s working three days a week right now, up it to five, up it to six right now. See what happens, see how you feel though. Go to the office.

Ryan Isaac:
See what happens. Get up happens and leave the house and just go to an, go to a location and sit there and work on some market something. [laughter]

Matt Mulcock:
Seriously. Because I think the other thing about this when it comes to life and money in general is people confuse the idea of things with the reality of things. And it’s really really easy to fall in love with the idea.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
‘Cause, he’s thinking of, I would imagine he’s a human. So he, we all…

Ryan Isaac:
He is, I can verify.

Matt Mulcock:
He’s a human.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, he, yeah. He can pass the little Captcha.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. [laughter] Captcha things.

Ryan Isaac:
Are you a robot? No, he’s a human.

Matt Mulcock:
He can hit like the little car on… Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Identify the cars, identify the fire hydrants.

Matt Mulcock:
Which by the way, now AI can do this. Guys that’s a scary scrap.

Ryan Isaac:
Dude. AI just passed the medical exam and diagnosed a one in one 1000 chance, diagnosis in like 10 minutes.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. It’s, let’s not go there right now.

Ryan Isaac:
I am probably fudging some of those. [laughter]

Matt Mulcock:
But it’s scaring the crap out of me a little bit.

Ryan Isaac:
We’re doomed as humanity [laughter]

Matt Mulcock:
But I think all humans do this where we get enamored with outcomes. I would guess, and again, he wouldn’t be human if he didn’t do this, of thinking of maybe the esteem or the…

Ryan Isaac:
Sure.

Matt Mulcock:
The outside…

Ryan Isaac:
Already living in the future success of it.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Kinda like I’ve got four locations. It’s way better than one from an outside perspective.

Ryan Isaac:
Totally.

Matt Mulcock:
So, I think that’s very natural and normal to get enamored with outcomes. But it’s, so any chance he can get to dive into the actual process of getting there.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
So, in practicing the extra weeks.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Matt Mulcock:
Extra days.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s a good idea.

Matt Mulcock:
To see how it feels. He might get to that point and be like, I don’t actually want this.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I don’t really wanna do that.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
I should practice. My dream would be to just be able to surf all day. So, I should start practicing that and just like stop working. I’m just gonna, I’m gonna test that out as a good theory.

Matt Mulcock:
Get to test it out. Well…

Ryan Isaac:
It’s, really smart though.

Matt Mulcock:
The reason I say this is I have a client similar situation, not to that degree. Really quick. He’s a partner in a killer practice doing really, really well growing. He’s making a lot of money. He had an opportunity to buy a second location as basically an investment. He wasn’t even gonna work it. Kind of a crazy opportunity in another town. He bought it and just has been managing it, staffed it with an associate, just been managing it. He’s less than I think 18 months in and maybe even less than that. I think it’s about a year in. And he called me and was like, Matt, I don’t want this.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh.

Matt Mulcock:
Like I can’t…

Ryan Isaac:
Wants to downsize then.

Matt Mulcock:
He wants to, he’s selling it. He’s selling it to his associate.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Because he’s… And he basically said almost verbatim, “The idea of it was cooler than the reality”.

Ryan Isaac:
This was the second location?

Matt Mulcock:
Second location that he wasn’t even working. I had a full-time associate. I only bring this up to say to this point, it’s like you might think you want it until you’re in it and then all of a sudden you’re like…

Ryan Isaac:
Smart.

Matt Mulcock:
I don’t really want this.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s really good. This makes me wonder a question. I’d be cool to have more data on this, but I wonder the transition from one to two is the same from like a three to four?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Two kids.

Ryan Isaac:
One to two is like always, one to two practices. One to two kids felt easier than zero to one.

Matt Mulcock:
So, it happens to beat all the time with people. Cause we’re two?

Ryan Isaac:
Two to three?

Matt Mulcock:
And working on…

Ryan Isaac:
Murder. [laughter]

Matt Mulcock:
Possibly going to… Is it.

Ryan Isaac:
Two to… My experience of children? We had four kids under five years old though, so I was, I…

Matt Mulcock:
But two to three was the kicker for you.

Ryan Isaac:
Dude. Two to three just set me back two years of my life.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh my gosh. That scares the crap outta me.

Ryan Isaac:
It was so hard. Zero to one was huge. One to two was a no-brainer. Like yeah, let’s do it. Give this kid a friend. Three to four felt fine. Two to three, nuts.

Matt Mulcock:
Thank you for that.

Ryan Isaac:
Two to three was harder than zero to one.

Matt Mulcock:
Thank you for this. I’m really glad we did this.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
So hold on. According to your theory, [laughter], you should just go get a kid at a local park and pick him up for a while and hang out with him.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
And then just see and then bring him back though. I mean.

Matt Mulcock:
Bring the kid back.

Ryan Isaac:
But just hang out with a third kid for a while and see.

Matt Mulcock:
I think that’s…

Ryan Isaac:
Don’t do that.

Matt Mulcock:
I probably should do that.

Ryan Isaac:
We advise, we don’t advise this.

Matt Mulcock:
Maybe a better way is, babysit my nieces and nephews before…

Ryan Isaac:
Babysit your nieces and nephews.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Don’t get a stranger’s kid.

Matt Mulcock:
I think that’s the step I would take before I go get a kid in the park.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

[laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
I love how getting, picking up a kid… Well you gotta get off that topic.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. [laughter]

Ryan Isaac:
So, I do think there is a different, like the, one to two practice thing. I think there’s a lot more question marks and regret and struggle than someone who’s gone two to three and then three to four is probably in a different boat. But I think these are all really valid questions. As a template for someone in a different spot, but considering similar kind of growth, what was involved in all this? Lots of organization, lots of data. Slow decision making, a history of successful practice growth and ownership.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. The systems in place. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Systems in place. Reaching out to a third party to get some kind of feedback and another pair of eyes on this. More questions asking, going slow. That was the template he’s using and the template before this was high savings rate, maximizing each practice before he moves on. Lots of liquidity. Smart with debt spending, all that kind of stuff. So, that was the template. Shout it to Sonny and the question from Dental Investment Group.

Matt Mulcock:
Is a good question. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Those really good questions. Thanks to, thanks for everyone for always, posting questions. You can go to the, Dentist Advisors with the Dentist Money, Facebook group, something official, now.

Matt Mulcock:
Dentist Money, Facebook group.

Ryan Isaac:
Dentist Money, Facebook group, Dentist Money, Facebook group on Facebook. Check that out. Post a question in there. We love using these as templates and email us. DM Matt, Matt’s in his DMS all day long. No, he’s not. That’s a huge lie.

Matt Mulcock:
That was very sarcastic.

Ryan Isaac:
Super sarcasm.

Matt Mulcock:
I’m never in my DMs ever.

Ryan Isaac:
Matt’s not… Matt’s living the highway.

Matt Mulcock:
If you actually reach out to me on social media and I don’t respond, it is, to please…

Ryan Isaac:
He’s just not there.

Matt Mulcock:
Not take it personal. I’m just never on it.

Ryan Isaac:
He’s never there. He is really smart. But, good to be here, Matty.

Matt Mulcock:
Always good to be here.

Ryan Isaac:
Breath in the Salt Lake air. And, thanks for everyone for tuning in. If you have any questions, dentistadvisors.com. Catch you next time on another episode of The Dentist Money Show. Bye-bye now.

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