The Truth About Selling Your Dental Practice

On this episode of The Dentist Money Show, Matt and Christine break down the biggest misconceptions dentists have about exiting their dentistry careers, from unrealistic timelines to overestimating practice value and underestimating the emotional impact. They talk about the three key elements of a successful exit: personal finances, business readiness, and personal readiness. Because leaving dentistry isn’t just a financial decision, it’s a personal one too. Whether you’re early in your career or approaching retirement, this episode will help you understand how to build a practice and a life that allows you to exit on your terms.

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Podcast Transcript

Matt Mulcock: Welcome to the Dentist Money Show where we have Dentist make smart financial decisions. I am Matt and I am joined with the beautiful and brilliant and amazing Christine Uhen Christine, how are you?

Christine Uhen: I’m good. Let’s make that a new word. Brutalent. ⁓ Let’s make that my new nickname. Brutalent or something like that.

Matt Mulcock: I like that. ⁓ Chris, how are you doing? How are feeling today?

Christine Uhen: That’s a good day. Thanks for asking. Happy to be here. Excited to talk about this today.

Matt Mulcock: Yes, we are talking about a very, very important topic for dentists. Something that’s coming up a lot more, feels like for various reasons, but I think a lot of it’s just, you know, we work with people, dentist advisors all across the spectrum of career life cycle of career from just exiting dental school and getting into the first associate ship to growing a practice. And then on the back end of a career exiting a practice and we’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now. And the first dentist, the very first dentist who ever hired us is still with us, which is amazing. ⁓ but I think this just speak, these conversations coming up more speaks to a lot of our kind of core clients who hired us 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago. You know, they’re now at a stage of career where these conversations are are coming up and we’re so grateful to have someone on like you on our team to help with these conversations. And because they’ve been coming up so much, thought, man, we should just be talking about this on the show because we know there’s a lot of dentists who listen to us, but maybe are not clients that need help on this topic. And that topic being exiting dentistry. spoke around it a lot, but exiting, exiting dentistry.

Christine Uhen: Thank you Well, this is something. Right. Well, I think that post-COVID, a lot of people did start thinking about selling during COVID, that this has probably accelerated this topic. The consolidation wave that’s been hitting dentistry now has also accelerated this topic. A couple of years ago, personally, I took the time to invest in some more training about exit planning because I knew our client base was starting to really face this decision.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: And part of that is the truth that ⁓ our population in general is aging. So we all age, right? But it’s like right now the dental population is also significantly a larger group of doctors that are looking at retiring, selling their practice. We’re also seeing part of the research that we’ve done here at DA is that many of our doctors are thinking about selling earlier than later. And yet so many dentists can’t afford to retire at the lifestyle they have and the lifestyle that they want to have continue moving forward with the sell of their practice. And that is heartbreaking. So that’s also why we’re motivated to have this conversation now because this is not an event. Selling your practice isn’t something you do at a moment in time. We recommend that you look at this as a process. And don’t we talk about that with financial planning personally too?

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. This is all a process and this is just, you know, the transaction itself is just one part of that, of that whole process that is much more extensive and brings in a lot more aspects of your life than maybe dentists think about. You know, it’s, so we’re going to talk about that today. So I should have started with that. We’re talking about exiting dentistry today. I had that whole preamble and then was like, ⁓ exiting dentistry. ⁓

Christine Uhen: Yeah.

Matt Mulcock: So while we’re on this topic though, we talk about this, this kind of life cycle of a dentist’s life. ⁓ I would be remiss if I did not mention the dentist’s money summit as a natural segue or just discussion point here as we get into this, because this is a lot of what we’re going to be talking about. We’re finishing the, the whole summit with a panel with four, ⁓ dentists for active dentists in their career. ⁓ we’ve put a lot of thought into this of ending the whole summit because the theme being practice on your terms.

Christine Uhen: Mm.

Matt Mulcock: And really that being around what is the life cycle of a dentist look like and what should it look like for you? But the very end of that summit with this, with this, ⁓ panel will be a dentist early career, kind of mid growing type dentist, a dentist who’s more mature. That’s kind of on the back end of their career. And then Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, who’s really exited clinical and is like moving on to this next phase of her life. So I just bring that up that this is, if, this is an interest to you. As you listen to this and think, man, I really would love to talk more about this. This is basically the entire theme of our, of our summit, dentist money summit. So we’d love to have you there in June in midway. can check it out at dentistmoneysummit.com. So with that, Chris, let’s jump into this. ⁓ you, we’ve alluded to this with there’s so much that goes into this, but I want to talk to you about, you know, you’ve worked with hundreds of dentists over your career, maybe thousands. don’t know. Maybe we don’t know. It’s been, it’s been a long time.

Christine Uhen: Maybe.

Matt Mulcock: You have so much knowledge to share, which is why you’re here. What would you say to start this off is the biggest misconception the dentists have around selling a practice and exiting dentistry? Let’s start there.

Christine Uhen: Oh gosh, that’s a whole podcast in and of itself. But I think, well, but we got more to talk about than this one thing. So the idea, what are they, you know, the misconception is that they’re going to, it’s going to be easy. It’s going to be simple. It’s going to be quick. Those sorts of things are the challenge that we face. And those are some of the worst calls I’ve ever had from a doctor saying, Hey, I’ve got six months before I, I’m

Matt Mulcock: Well, that’s what we’re doing. This is it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: ready to go, I’ve hurt myself or some injury or something and I need to sell my practice. And by the way, I 110 % of my collections to fund my retirement. And you’ve got six months and that is not doable to the extent of what they were looking for. So unrealistic expectations, the idea of the personal attachment to the business and being ready to let that go. So there’s the business side of it, the

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: personal, the actual financial sale, but then the emotional side of the sale that I don’t think enough dentists, actually I know dentists don’t put enough time and thought into. And that’s heartbreaking too, to have someone drive by their practice every morning and drive by it and know that they’re not a part of that anymore. That can be very hard. And it is hard, but it’s also something that’s manageable. And that’s the point is that these things are all manageable.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: when you have the right mindset and enough time to do it well. So that I think too, just going back to that process. And I really love, let’s just weave that whole theme of practicing on your terms into this conversation. You should also exit on your terms, right? That’s really what we wanna have happen too. It is, we do have to exit. Whether you pass away with the handpiece in your hand or not is…

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, that’s Yeah. Exit on your terms. Yes.

Christine Uhen: know, where your choice is, at what point do you end your career as a clinical practicing dentist, and when and why are really critical.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, love that. There’s so many threads to pull on there, but you talk about, you just said there at the end of the exit is coming, whether you like it or not at some point, right? ⁓ I think this similar, a similar concept to something like an estate plan, nerd alert, financial planner here for a moment. But when we talk about estate planning, one thing that we often all often share with dentists or clients will be, Hey, listen, you have an estate plan, whether you like it or not. It’s just a matter of whether you want the state to control the specifics of that or whether you want to control that yourself because you have an estate plan. It’s called probate if you don’t actually set something up yourself. So because of that, like once you get that out of your mind, the same concept applies here to your point. You have an exit plan for dentistry. It’s just a matter of whether or not you control that plan or you’re letting something or someone else control it for you.

Christine Uhen: Hmm.

Matt Mulcock: And so that’s really what we’re exactly, exactly. And you should be thinking about this. We’re going to get into this, a lot sooner than you think, I’d say almost when you’re starting your career, you should be thinking about the exit.

Christine Uhen: reactive versus proactive at this point yeah Yeah, almost. And if we go back to the idea of what is the growth cycle of a business, a business, not even a dental practice. Yeah, you start out, whether with it’s a de novo start, hang your shingle, acquisition, whatever, but then you’re in growth mode. And then you get in that it’s all, there’s a whole idea about, you know, what do I have to do to grow and how do I grow in those sort of systems and optimization? Then I get to enjoy that for a little bit, but then I’ve got another decision, right? Do I diversify, differentiate, continue to grow, expand? before I even think about exit. So again, it’s important to know that you should go through most of these cycles of your business and you get to do it on your terms. And again, that includes that last one. So really thinking about how soon, well, you maybe not when you hang your shingle, but soon enough that you can, the more time you have, again, I believe this is in alignment with financial planning, right? The more time you have, the more options you have, right? When you.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: Start thinking about your plan earlier. You have more options throughout your entire lifespan in terms of options for investing, for growth or for district or, you know, exiting that sort of all those options. You’ve got more of them. The sooner you have this conversation, get started.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. And I think there are themes here to financial planning. And I think there’s a huge misconception with financial planning that kind of overlaps with this in general. And there’s this tension that’s created that we feel as advisors as well, which is this starting with the end in mind, the classic Stephen Covey started with end in mind. I think the misconception or the tension that that creates sometimes is people think I need to have every detail figured out when I’m 30 years old of what my life’s going to look like in 30 years from now.

Christine Uhen: Okay.

Matt Mulcock: That’s not at all what we’re saying. At least that I don’t think that’s what either one of us are saying when we say you should be thinking about this early, early, early. It’s more just directional. It’s, it’s, I think when you start with that end in mind, quote unquote, as they say, it’s, ⁓ it’s gives you direction of how you want to grow your business and design your life and also giving yourself the freedom and flexibility and the grace to know things are going to change all the time. And that’s okay. And then you can pivot and change your direction or your goals from there. But you got to start with which lens am I looking through kind of the lens of that end point that I’m kind of shooting for without putting too much pressure on yourself. So I think that’s kind of what we mean.

Christine Uhen: And the one thing that’s constant in this, so yes to everything you said, and the one thing that’s constant here is you’re a practice owner. You are an entrepreneur. You’re a business owner. It is never a bad thing to stay focused on the growth of your business, to stay focused on the fact that this is your biggest asset, your biggest asset for current wealth creation as well as a long-term exit strategy. It’s about your business. So this is about focusing

Matt Mulcock: Yep, should be,

Christine Uhen: on your business and how it funds your lifestyle now, future investment opportunities, as well as what is the value of this current, very illiquid asset that at some point you will liquidate in a transaction of some sort. So the one constant here is reinvest back into yourself, into your business, and keep it growing. And the more that happens, the more opportunities you have.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: in terms of options for exit.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, love it. So to come back to this idea of the misconception, you’re saying thinking it’s easy, thinking I can think of it later. I’ll figure it out when I’m ready down the road. think these are things that, is a misconception. Again, I just think pushing it off and not, thinking about it and having it, again, be that part of that growth strategy that you’re thinking about. And if we compare this to investing, you just mentioned this that, Kind of this idea of give yourself the most options possible, increase your probability. That’s the whole idea around investing. And if you wait until the end, or if you push this off and think, just do it when I’m ready to retire mentally or emotionally, ⁓ you limit your options. And I think that’s a huge part of this too. ⁓ I think it’s a good point you make. ⁓ so, and we, think we’ve hit kind of what happens when someone waits too long. just said, You limit your options. You start making decisions out of, from a place of stress and fear. I think that’s what DSOs come in and prey on you. Like that kind of mentality of if you, you know, a classic term we’ve used a lot is you start making random acts of finance. And we don’t, we want to limit that. And the way you limit that is preparedness, planning, giving yourself as much time as possible. ⁓ Diversification. We’ll get into all these types of things.

Christine Uhen: Fear. All I love that term. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock: So speaking of that, speaking of this idea of diversification, I think one thing that’s worth mentioning when we talk about this topic is a real risk that I think a lot of dentists face around this topic being what we would call over concentration in an asset class. So when we talk about, we fully believe this, everything we do with our clients is built around this idea that your practice

Christine Uhen: Mm.

Matt Mulcock: You and your practice, your business is the engine of your entire wealth. Uh, strategy, right? It’s the entire engine that leads to you being able to, to build and grow and diversify your wealth. It is to us practice ownerships, the clearest path to a fulfilling life and financial freedom. But with that comes some risk being over concentration. Can you talk to this a little bit about kind of, you know, I think you’ve mentioned this before that a the average dentist, a good portion up to like 80 % of their portion of their wealth, oftentimes is tied up into their practice, their business, which to your point is very illiquid. You want to speak to this a little bit?

Christine Uhen: A couple of things are about that 80 % being wrapped up in the business. The idea that they’re not taking cash out now and investing it in other financial strategies, whether that’s real estate, the market. Too often they’ll reinvest it back into their practice or spend too much. There’s the other thing. This is that creep of spending as I’m making more money. We have to have to factor in taxes. There’s just no way around that. And again, if I got it, I get in trouble a lot from accountants going, you put my client into a new tax bracket. And I’m like, sorry, they made more money. again, success also means I need to rethink about what am I doing with my assets as they’re the income that’s coming out of this. We often can spend more as our income goes up. So again, that’s also where good financial planning is. Don’t forget.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: you know, taxes come due, debt is still there. We still have to look at all of those other expenses outside of the living expenses. And there are other diversification opportunities for that net income. So managing spending and making sure we’re looking at different asset classes for investing. So it is necessary to invest back into your practice to continue to grow. But that’s also, you know, we’ve had some fun conversations about when you go to a convention, don’t take your credit cards because those deals will still be there, right? So those random acts of finance, those random acts of spending, working with dentists advisors financially on the personal side, as well as us on the business side, what is a good investment back into your practice at what cycle in your business? So I think it’s gonna be a great conversation with our panelists at the summit. That’ll be a great ending to that event and understanding how to look at return on investment, not just within our practice, but within the market and all of that, those all matter, right? The lost opportunity of not taking cash out of your practice now and investing in something diversified, that’s hard to measure, but it’s there, right? And so we do have to look at that. And then the fact that so often, if I haven’t done well and grown the practice over time, the value I think my practice has over time.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: Right? And at a certain time, how valuable it is to me in my heart and my own soul is very different than what it looks like to a different buyer. And I think many people can relate to the fact that when I go to sell my home, but I built the tree house in the backyard and look at the little marks on the wall where the kids grew up and all the value that’s in my home. And yet to a buyer, it’s like, well, where are you located? How big is the property? How long, how old is the hot water heater? Things a little more.
third party observation, and those are harsh realities. So that assumed value is also a mistake on the part of the owner, unfortunately too often.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah. Such a good point. This is a psychological condition called the endowment effect. It impacts all of us to your point, whether it’s a house or your practice. I just had a conversation with a client who Chris, you and I are working closely with to help them with their exit over the next year or two. And he admitted this to me. He, he, he’s very introspective. He’s done an amazing job, built an amazing portfolio, built an amazing practice. And as we start talking about these conversations of exit, he starts doing the kind of tree house effect, kind of like, well, you know, this and that and how special it is. Yeah. And he kind of stopped himself in the middle of his comments and he said, man, I know this is just me. I feel so connected to this. How could you not, by the way, he’s been in this, he’s built this business over the last 25, 30 years, all the memories and trials and pains and experiences. Of course you’re going to have exactly.

Christine Uhen: Yeah, but Right and experiences and life-changing dentistry.

Matt Mulcock: And then the buyer comes in and they’re starting fresh. They don’t have all those experiences that you’ve had. So they’re looking and that sometimes alone can create some tension in the purchase itself. So I think being aware of that’s a really, a really good point. I want to come back to something else that you mentioned as we talk about this concentration risk, which is the other side of the, you know, two sides of the same coin. There’s the amazing part of this, you having this incredible asset, but again, the risk being
that this is your biggest asset that can create some risk. And one of the riskiest things out there is sole producer, one location. That’s a risky proposition. And so you mentioned something and I’m really glad you brought this up because we talk all the time about growing your practice, maximizing cashflow, which is awesome. And I think a lot of dentists take that to heart. The second part of this is what are you doing with that money? and being really thoughtful about protecting your future, which all that’s all investing is. And the way you minimize the risk of at the end of the day, having 80 % of your portfolio of your balance sheet being in your, in your practice, the way around that is through to as what you said, growing, maximizing that cashflow. Step two is taking that cashflow and investing in other assets. It’s going to take some time. But that’s how you minimize is we, do not want to see a dentist ever trying to exit where they have 80 % of their balance sheet in their practice. That’s a really scary proposition. So we, that’s something we need to be always aware of, of what are we doing with this income to reduce the risk of the future.

Christine Uhen: Yeah. And that’s, that’s what’s, that’s what’s unique about Dentist advisors as a financial planning company is you realize this and the impact of this. And that’s what’s great about, you know, looking at the business and how it is tied into the personal financial side of things. They go together so beautifully. And can we talk a little bit more about risk and how we grow and build? I’m going to, I’d like to really get into more about what you do to grow and grow successfully and to grow well.

Matt Mulcock: Yes.

Christine Uhen: and why. And it really starts out with again, so I’m going to assume I’m a little bit further along. I’m in my kind of stable business cycle and I am a solopreneur and I’ve got that 1.2, two hygienists, two assistants, two admin, things are jamming along, right? Things are going good. And I’m now actually having this… do they? Okay. We’re moving and grooving. We’re doing our thing. That’s what we say.

Matt Mulcock: think they say moving and grooving is what they say. More moving and grooving. Yeah. That’s what we say.
Christine Uhen: So we’re moving in groove and things are going along, right? And I’m at good take home. I’m taking home maybe 35 % of what we’re making. Things are going well. Now, I’m at a crossroads at this point. So do I keep doing what I’m doing? Do I look at diversification? Do I look at… adding on another doctor. What are my options? I’m now here. I could stay here forever. Things would be great. That would be fine. But the riskiest number in dentistry is one. One. One dentist. And let me tell you, I’m going to stop you from going heli-skiing. I’m going to stop you from going dirt biking down the mountain in Big Bear. ⁓ yeah. But again, these are all, these are these risks now as a solo.

Matt Mulcock: You’re never going to stop me from heli skiing. Never.

Christine Uhen: dentist and that is a truly risky number and The other side of that coin is well the same side of that coin is if something happened to you What would happen to the business what would happen to your team? What would happen to your cash flow? What would happen to the long-term value of your practice? So this is when it becomes risky that we need to think about Okay. Yep. I could float along here and continue on or do I look at de-risking the business which means thinking about growth expansion
whether that’s, like I say, another dentist would be a great way to de-risk the situation that you’re in there. And again, that then ultimately will create more value long-term for the practice too. And the other, even if we think about, now’s the time to also start thinking about what is my walk away number? And boy, this is where Dentist Advisor shines in terms of at what value do I need to have this practice?

Matt Mulcock:Yeah.

Christine Uhen: bring in in some transaction in the future that my financial freedom, my choice to work or not happens at the time that I want to. Well, this is the right time at that stability stage of your practice to start having that conversation. Right. And one of the ways to raise the value of this very illiquid asset now might be to grow, might be to expand, might be to de-risk. So, all of that conversation and then you have more control over the timing of the exit as well as what the financial potential would be to that practice.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, I love this, Chris. I think it’s a good framework. I’ve started to shift my approach in these discussions and podcasts or client meetings or talking to dentists at events when it comes to the idea of growth or investing kind of both go hand in hand. So investing, whether it be in real estate or in public markets, something outside the business or growing the business, you’re highlighting it perfectly. That growth is a way to de yeah. Brush that shoulder off. ⁓ the

Christine Uhen: Thank you.

Matt Mulcock: But growth is a de-risker, like it de-risks your future. so, and, and on the flip side of that, we want to be careful. We’re not saying, I’d add a caveat here, growth with intention to your point, both on the balance sheet and in your life. So there’s the balance sheet piece you’re talking about. There’s this spreadsheet answer we’ll say of what is my retirement readiness number? This is something we’re constantly talking to or multiple times a year talking to our clients about is. Where are we on track to that retirement readiness figure? But that’s the spreadsheet piece. There’s also the life piece, the design of our life. And does this fit with the life that we want to live? Because you might, if you only favor one or the other, if you’re a, a fire person, let’s say, and you’re like, you know what? 10 years or seven years, and I’m just going to grow. I’m going to work 15 hours a day, non seven days a week. I’m going to grind. You might hit that figure where you, right?

Christine Uhen: I’m grind.

Matt Mulcock: but you’re gonna give up the rest of your life and the stuff that actually matters in most cases. So you have to kind of find the intersection between those two things as we have this conversation about growth. But again, coming back to this idea of think of it, intentional growth is a way to de-risk your future, is a way to remove risk from the future where something like insurance protects you from risk currently in the present, investing, growing your practice, investing in the stock market.
building a real estate portfolio. That’s a way to de-risk your future.

Christine Uhen: Financially, for sure. Well, and again, the idea of I love the growth with intention. I will say that as most offices that I’ve worked with in the past and some currently aren’t maximizing their facility. Right. That’s and so even without adding overhead, if you will, adding services and being more efficient and actually, you know, making your systems within your practice more optimized with efficiency and effectiveness, that alone can increase the value of your practice. And that again is what other buyers are looking for. That consistency, stability, 80 % of the wealth of your practice is tied up in team. Are they going to stay? Are your systems in place? Your patient base, are you continuing to grow? And are you retaining? Meaning I do have to expand. And do you have a great reputation? Right, your social presence. The value is there. That’s where 80 % of that value is intrinsically in your practice. So staying focused just on that will automatically increase the value of others who are looking at your business to purchase.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, I love this, Chris. I kind of knew this was going to be the case that this is we’re telling a story of exiting, but really we’re having a discussion about growth because these two things are so interconnected. And no matter where you are in your career right now, listening to this, you know, the, pertains to you, whether it be your just starting out mid career, end of career. This is really a discussion around how do I maximize intentionally. And effectively the growth of my practice and my business, ⁓ in order to exit. let’s, let’s, we’ve already alluded to some of this, but I want to kind of put some framework around this as we kind of talk about the core piece of this discussion around exiting. again, you’ve alluded to a lot of this, but let’s, let’s maybe just again, maybe put some organization on this. So three-part framework that you’ve talked about a bunch, and I think it’s really helpful.

Christine Uhen: Mm.

Matt Mulcock: Kind of in the core part of this episode to talk about. three pieces, number one, uh, I mean, we want to hit each one of these individually, but number one, personal finance. so seller readiness comes down to three factors. Number one, personal finances. We’ll talk about that. And what’s that wealth number, as you alluded to the retirement readiness figure. Number two is, is your business ready for sale? Have you maximized the space? Have you gotten it ready with systems? And we’ll talk about that. And then number three.
personal readiness, are you emotionally ready for this? Have you done the work required to start climbing that second mountain as David Brooks would call it? So let’s talk about number one, let’s come back to this idea of personal finances. We’ve again alluded to a couple of things, but let’s come back to this. What do you think of when you talk about personal finances being kind of the first ⁓ pillar of this ⁓ seller readiness?

Christine Uhen: Yeah. We’ll call seller readiness a three-legged stool. And this comes straight from, I’ll give a shout out to my training, the Exit Planning Institute, EPI, program I took was a certified exit planning advisor. The three legs of the stool that have to be addressed in terms of seller readiness, personal finances. What is the wealth gap where I need to know my number? There is a number that will fulfill it. When I achieve that, it will close the gap of my financial retirement, right? My retirement readiness. So it’s important to know that number. And with the help of the advisors at Dentist Advisors, you can get that. But until I know that, then you’re growing for the sake of growth. what is, ⁓ who is it who says that? Yes, the I, right? That’s what cancer cells do. Growth for growth sake, growth without intention. That sort of thing is just, that’s a waste of energy, time, and most often money.

Matt Mulcock: The ideology of a cancer cell.

Christine Uhen: So really that’s the first issue is what do I need to know personally, financially to get as a sale price in the business? in your business is your dental practice? So again, that’s the first thing to know and that is where an advisor will make the biggest impact on that piece.

Matt Mulcock: And the smaller that number, the better off you are, right? So again, we want that percent. If you figure out this, this cellar readiness figure, what that number is to you, the ideal situation is I don’t have like, well, zero, sure. You’d want, you’d want it to be gravy, of course. But if we’re talking about reality for most dentists, we know that yes, ideally you’d get ready to retire. You’d be nearing that. You’d be work being optional.

Christine Uhen: Zero

Matt Mulcock: In your fifties and you wouldn’t have to rely on your practice. We’ve seen that we have clients that are in that position. It doesn’t happen for most it’s aspirational, but

Christine Uhen: It’s aspirational, but yes, you are correct in the smaller the better, right?

Matt Mulcock: Yes. But reality would be if we can get that number below 40%, 30 % in the 25 % range, you would be doing fantastic. Meaning 25 % of closing that gap, like your 75 or 80 % there before you sell your practice would be the ideal scenario. And then that practice just closes that gap. I’d say that’s probably the case, the ideal case that’s realistic for most dentists out there. That’s what you’d be shooting for.

Christine Uhen: That would be a great goal to shoot for. 40%, 50 % is more often what I am seeing, and particularly with our client base that have done well with investing outside of their practice. But that’s not the case with most general dentists. It is closer to that 80%. Yeah, yeah. So, but that is why, and again, from my training, exit planning is good business planning. That’s all it is. So this is not a thing.

Matt Mulcock: No, it’s like double that usually. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: I was looking for the magic bullet. want you all to know that I was looking. I went to that training going, there’s one thing I need to learn and I didn’t need to learn anything other than exit planning is good business planning. And that is what we are really focused on here. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, it’s a great point. just, well, we have to, think, speak to this a little bit. ⁓ we wouldn’t be having a dentist money show podcast if we didn’t talk about the power of organization. And I think that’s a big piece of this too, is to know what this wealth gap is. You’ve got to be tracking this. You’ve got to be organized. You have to be intentional. but again, the intention only matters so much. You’ve got to kind of marry that with data and information. And that requires you being organized and actually knowing that figure, knowing your spending, knowing your balance sheet, tracking your net worth, knowing where.

Christine Uhen: What’s getting in the way of you accomplishing your goals and being really honest about that? Yeah. But the accountability partner that we do offer to our clients is also where we’re honored to be the ones to say, let’s bring this up. Let’s not bury your head in the sand. Let’s not wait to have this conversation. Time is on your side. Use it. Don’t avoid it. And they’re just conversations. It’s just data.

Matt Mulcock: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. That’s huge. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Christine Uhen: And you now, the sooner you have those conversations, you get to make an impact on it. You can change your trajectory much easier the sooner you actually realize what you’re shooting towards.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, exactly. ⁓ I’d say when we talk about retirement readiness, we’ll get onto the next part here, but we talk about personal finances, kind of the first leg of the stool. and we talk about organization. You’ve got to know what your spending number is, what your lifestyle need is. That’s huge. You’ve, you’ve got to know that it’s pretty much everything. If you really boil it down to one figure, it’s what lifestyle do you want to live and maintain to know that figure of what, what’s that wealth number that I need? to, to satisfy that, that lifestyle. So that’s huge. ⁓ let’s move on to part two of the second leg of the stool, which is business attractiveness, actually having your business itself ready.

Christine Uhen: So there’s again there’s value in owning your own business. You can create your your own ⁓ cash flow and living expenses and paying a good salary. It’s a great salary that dentists make and they should and they deserve it and you also have a significant amount of debt. That’s one of the unique things about a dentist versus many other ⁓ careers. So you have to address that. You also you know can have a great lifestyle. So again, that goes back to that spending and making sure that you’re living, you know, the lifestyle you want and deserve and still are able to continue to take some of that asset and reinvest it. Right. So at different phases in the business, you will be reinvesting back into the business. So that’s also where a strategic advisor, a business planner, all of us can help make those, advise you on those decisions as to when, where that reinvestment should occur and looking at creating an attractive business is about creating profit, not just cash flow. That’s one piece of it. But then again, someone else was looking at your business, is it attractive to them? What creates that attractiveness is the profit margin, right? The EBITDA. There’s the truth. Again, we’re to go back to that hot conversation about EBITDA. It’s still important to know that is earnings, you know, basically, earnings.

Matt Mulcock: I need support.

Christine Uhen: minus depreciation, interest taxes, of that. So, looking at everything in addition to your salary, there needs to still be more profit after that. And really finding out, know, am I at 8 % profit? Am I at 15 %? Am I at 20 %? Anywhere from 15 to 25 % is where you want to be after you’ve paid yourself. Now, that’s attractive to a buyer, right? And then there are multiples that would be offered for that. But you don’t get profit without having these four intangible assets, a solid team, right? They’re committed to you. They’re staying with you. You’re paying them well and they’re being effective and efficient with the systems you have in your practice. Every system from phone conversion, recall, patient reactivations, scheduling, revenue cycle management, all of that is efficient and effective. You’ve got great patient flow. So we’re not taking your foot off the gas with new patients. You’re retaining the patients as well. So your patient base is growing and then your reputation in the community. Right. But again, at different times in the, in the business cycle, you have got to think about diversifying your time. And again, as we get more mature, I’m going to say not older, we’re looking to trade off, you know, wiser, mature. You’re looking at trading time for money too. And so can I share.

Matt Mulcock: Wiser, we get wiser. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: Can I create something that is big enough to support other providers? Whether that’s additional hygiene, additional associate, potential partner. Again, if you’re looking not to sell to a larger group, you are looking at other options and an associate’s a great option to be the buyer as you’re ready to go out. Associate to partner to buying you out and you’re the associate. That’s a great model. It’s been around dozens of years. It’s a wonderful model. But again, that takes time. So again, why are we having this conversation sooner than later? Right. So again, that is what is attractive to a buyer that somebody else could. And again, as you leave, you need to be replaced. So I love my super producers. I think they’re amazing humans that are producing a thousand fifteen hundred two thousand dollars an hour. And yet to replace you.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: I’m going to need two doctors most likely. all of those and that’s part of the risk mitigation with a second doctor. Right. And nine times out of 10 to grow the bottom to grow the profitability. We really have to grow the top line that you can only cut expenses so much. And yes, it’s important to look at that. But increasing the productivity from the top down collections, that’s what’s going to drive profit.

Matt Mulcock: Really hard. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Chris, every time we talk about something like this, I can’t help but think about an interesting paradox that is created here. And we’ll call it, I’m just making this up right now, but the business attractiveness paradox. When you go through this, you talk about this dentist, like maximizing attractiveness of a business to sell, it’s to sell, you know, 15 to 20 % profit margin after you pay yourself. That’s a, that’s a really, that’s a, that’s a pillar practice, right? You’ve got your teams dialed in. You’ve got scalability. You’ve got systems. You’ve got all these, you’ve got the, the, the fly wheel is, is going, right? You’re moving and grooving. You’ve got maximum attractiveness to sell this thing. But though the paradox comes in of that’s the practice you don’t want to sell because you are right. Like this, always think about this. There’s, there’s gotta be this, like, it’s this irony of once you kind of

Christine Uhen: moving and grooving.

Matt Mulcock: Gone through the pains and the trials required to get to this level of like, man, I am killing it. Why would I want to sell this thing? Let’s say you brought an associate who is now you’ve, you’ve, you’ve been able to kind of mold and mentor and you still loan the asset. Like obviously there’s pressure, maybe there’s pressure from like that associate. get that, but it does create a bit of a paradox, right? Of once I’ve gotten to this point, why would I sell this thing?

Christine Uhen: But what a great paradox to be in. Again, now you’re at choice. I’m going to say that’s a good, you’re welcome.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: But it’s also, this is when you’re going to get those letters though too, right? People are noticing you, you are doing well. Buyers, whoever they might be, know, DSOs, private groups, other doctors looking to, you know, add a location, they’re going to come courting you. And you know what? Take the win. Congratulations. You’ve been complimented. People want to dance with you. Your dance card’s full, right? These are good feelings to have.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, take the win, but maybe not the sale. Let’s just say that.

Christine Uhen: Take exactly. But again, then, and please call us when that happens. Cause we’ve done some math on that, right? We’ve, we’ve used a couple of different case studies of you really will not be, you won’t take home as, as much in the sale too soon because there are holdbacks or, you know, commitments you have to make and compromises that you have to make when you are not the owner. No more, you know,

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Christine Uhen: Welcome to America. run different things through our businesses and that’s we should. Right. So but it’s it’s a trade off in every sale. There is a trade off whether that’s I’ve I’ve achieved the liquidity but now I don’t have something to do on Tuesday morning at eight o’clock kind of thing. So there’s trade offs for everything. But again this is where you get to start selling on your terms.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah, exactly right. And to your point, it’s a great paradox to be living in. ⁓ shout out, I’ve already mentioned her and she’ll be at the summit, but Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, by the time this episode comes out, I believe her episode will have come out that I just recorded with her. Every time we have these conversations, she pops in my head because she has such a unique approach to this of where she’s been able to create a way to maintain a good, ⁓ piece of ownership in what we’ll call the seeds while maybe giving up some more of the harvest. She talks a lot about that and she’s a really unique case and someone to be engaging with or be thinking about or listening to others ways to talk to her and engage with her team. She’s a really good example of this, of showing people talk about doing it on your terms. She is quintessential done it on her terms. And I think that’s a good thing to be thinking about that was you think about exiting. There’s no one way to do it. And she’s, she’s shown that when you’re, especially when you’re in this paradox of like, I’ve created this incredible practice. ⁓ third leg of the stool, Chris, personal readiness. This is probably, we’d say the most important really, at least outside the balance sheet is, and you mentioned this earlier, that fight that kind of that founder syndrome, I built this thing. I don’t want to give it up. I’ll talk or I’ll mention really quick. The data that supports retirement is not as cool as people think.

Christine Uhen: No. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock: Data supports this, especially if you’re not doing it intentionally, thoughtfully and really properly planned, not just investing your money, but investing your time and energy into doing the work to create hobbies and social connections and finding purpose at your next stage. This is a huge part of this, of being personally ready.

Christine Uhen: And again, these are the heartbreak stories that ⁓ very successful, wonderful entrepreneurs made a great business, whether they ended solo career or multi-doctor. Ending a career is a significant milestone in anybody’s life. until you actually, well, you’ve been in some of these conversations with doctors. So what’s retirement gonna look like for you? I’m gonna golf and I’m gonna travel. Maybe go see the grandkids a lot three things that don’t fill 24 hours a day, right? And ⁓ I know one person that can golf every day, but most people don’t and can’t and won’t and that’s not fulfilling, right? Yeah, we work with them, but I’m married to one. That’s what I’m just gonna, I will put that out there. My husband could golf every day. And the idea of what am I gonna do with my time? And how do I give my identity is so wrapped up in this.

Matt Mulcock: I know a couple of those too, yeah. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: And heaven forbid I’ve kept my, you know, not heaven forbid, maybe my name’s been on the door the whole time. And now I’ve sold that. And to be, you know, to go through the emotional, these are also emotional events. The selling itself is an emotional event and people are trying to, you know, buy, pay less and the negotiations, yeah, but you didn’t do this right. Or this is bad. Or I don’t like this thing that you’ve done in your office. ⁓ these are, you’re being told your baby’s ugly. That is a difficult thing to go through. So that in itself is emotional. But until a doctor can sit down, and I encourage this at least a couple of years before they’re going to sell, map it out. What are you going to do? Find something that who are the people you’re going to spend time with? What are the passions you are going to pursue? What is the purpose? Some maybe volunteer, some organization or group that you’re committed to doing and giving of your time and experience. I have doctors that commit to doing like ⁓ going on mission trips once a year with their dental services, things like that. Right? There’s, but that’s, you need to, I can’t say this enough. You need to think about the 16 hours a day that you now have, that you used to spend eight hours of it at the chair.

Matt Mulcock: Shout out Elevation Association. They do a ton of that.

Christine Uhen: And then as solo practice owners, as private practice owners, you worked on your business, not just in your business. So think of all that time. And what are you gonna do? So what I also wanna say too, that retirement can be part-time for a long time. If you are still clinically, physically able to do this and enjoy it, then we really need to find a sale opportunity that’s gonna allow you to do that. Where again, that…

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: bringing in an associate, they become partnered, they buy you out and you stay on as an associate or that agreement that you are gonna stay on. Practice again, how much you want to, the kind of dentistry you wanna do, for how often you wanna do that. That’s all negotiable and that’s important. But that emotional side of it, the personal side of retirement, too many and too often do they brush over that.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah, it’s all practicing or exiting on your terms. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: I’ll figure it out and then the regrets set in and they’re sad and that’s hard to see. I’m financially secure. I’ve done well in my transaction and I’m like, am I doing with my life? And that’s hard to see.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have seen this both people very close to me that are not clients, just like family and people close and clients and dentists that end up realizing, like most things in life, it ended up not being what I thought it was, better or worse. So I think asking yourself, who am I without this is really critical. Who am I without this 20 or 30 year career? And this thing that I’ve built and to your point, wrapped my whole identity into, and this is where we have never formally formalized this part of our work that we do, but I’ve become really kind of passionate and getting more passionate about this part of this. We talk a lot about financial planning. talk a lot about investment management, all big pieces of this. But the third part of this, I would say that we’ve again, never formally talked about, is life design and shout out again, Dr. Jared Hill, Dr. Dan Nelson elevation association and Ryan Passy, do such a good job of this discussion, bringing this in around designing your life. ⁓ there’s an actual book called designing your life, but this is a huge part of it. And to your point, Chris, not letting the first two legs get all of the stool, get all the focus. Okay. My number looks great. Okay. My business is growing and my EBIT is maxed out and my systems are in place and I’m getting

Christine Uhen: the attention.

Matt Mulcock: top dollar for this thing and you’ve put no work into the third leg of the stool. Well, that stool is not going to hold up. You’re not going to be to sit on that thing. It’s not going to be stable. If you’ve put no work into what does my life look like outside of this? And to your point, we’ve seen this too many times. This can’t just be like, yeah, cool. Yeah. Woo. Woo. Got it. No, this takes a lot of intentional work to figure out what your life looks like. It’s hard. It’s the hardest part.

Christine Uhen: And it’s harder, I’ll be honest with you. It’s harder.

Matt Mulcock: It is the hardest part.

Christine Uhen: It’s uncomfortable and challenging and I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to think about this, but if you don’t take the time before the sale and to get a couple of years would be great to create passion, to experiment with different things, to find what you’re really committed to doing more of when you have the time to do it. And again, we’ve seen people put things off for a long time.
over their careers and I’ll do that when I retire. And maybe now I can’t. Maybe that was going to be, you know, water skiing. And I can’t, I’m physically not able to do that when I’m, you know, 65. But maybe you could still get into boating of some kind or some real or swimming or something. But you have to find that before it’s upon you. You have to face that.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And to that point, I really hope we try to push this. really hope you’re not putting off things to retirement in general. We hope you’re not, that you’re kind of, that you are falling prey to the kind of the disease of I’ll do it later. I think that can, yeah, I’ll be happy when, or I’ll do that later when I can retire, have more time. You know, that’s a whole lot of discussion, but we hope that’s not the case. I don’t even know if that’s really what we’re saying, which is there’s a lot of time and energy and work that goes into what does my life look like? And again, coming back to the, who am I without dentistry? Who am I without that? Kids are grown up, right? It’s just you, your spouse or partner and your hobbies and hopefully some friends, but who, who are you without that, without being the boss? I think that’s a big thing to be exploring and it takes a lot of work.

Christine Uhen: Well, and think about them as equally weighted, right? That three-legged stool, each of them is equally as important as the next.

Matt Mulcock: Yes. Huge. And things that are constantly talking about this idea of growth to exit. You should be putting it. This is, this is a process. This is a process. All three of those legs are, are things that you’re working on continuously along the way. And also things can change along the way too. So give yourself some, some grace there. ⁓ let’s start wrapping this up, Chris, with a couple of things. Let’s talk about, ⁓ and we can just kind of quickly hit this. We’ve alluded to this a little bit, but if we talk about. Logistics and technicalities of like the actual exit options and maybe where that, depending on the options, like what the trade-offs of those options are. So for example, we know there’s obviously the DSO space out there. There’s the DSO, ⁓ private equity backed or not, but DSOs there’s the DPOs. ⁓ there’s a, I’m just going to find my buyer when I’m ready to go sell it and move on. Then there’s like the internal transition, what you’ve alluded to. We don’t necessarily think there’s one right or the other. We have some opinions. Like I have some strong opinions on the DSO space, but I’m not saying it’s wrong for everyone. Let’s talk about wrapping this up and then we’ll jump to the last section of just what should they do right now, Dentist, right now. ⁓ let’s talk a little bit about this kind of trade-offs of each of these options or thoughts that you have on that.

Christine Uhen: Well, and I think it’s fair to say that they’re still looking, DSOs are still coming to private practices and looking for them to sell as acquisition to the DSO. I think if you’ve seen a deal, you’ve seen a deal, right? Every offer is unique. I think there’s been a lot of information over the last couple of years. think we’ve seen doctors be much more educated on the fact that I do need to look at the details, that what is the commitment, how long am I staying, am I required to meet certain benchmarks, can I make those benchmarks, the equity that they’re offering me at different levels, is it within my own practice, is it at the highest corporate level, all of that and all of those are unique to every offer. what you’re looking, and again, I wanna go back to closing that wealth gap, right, in terms of when I am,
selling and this applies to all sales, but there is the liquid that you get the cash portion of it. And with the DSO, there’s going to be equity. Well, let’s stick with the cash side and does, and when I do, I’m gifted this check. So I’ve got a $500,000 check. I’m going to get the other 500,000 over here in equity and future earnings. So this $500,000 check is now given to me. It’s cashed. But with that, have to pay off all that. by the way, there’s some taxes that Uncle Sam might be wanting a piece of that.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, your tax before you pay the debt off, by the way. Huge misconception.

Christine Uhen: So thank you for jumping in on that one. So taxes first and then I pay my debt. Now what’s left over and is that going to satisfy my wealth gap? Cause the rest of this is a, a pro not even a promise. It’s a hope, right? So really looking at, you comfortable with what happened on the front end with that buy that first half, that first bite of the apple, all of that. Be really clear on that. This is not a, this is a hope. This is not a guarantee. The equity and the roll ups and the rollovers and the cash outs and the recaps and all of that. That’s definitely slowed down. We can, we can say that to be sure. Tune into a previous episode. We talked about that with Mike in great detail and, and yet that might be what you need to do because you need to get out now. Right. But again, it’s those trade-offs of

Matt Mulcock: Yep. Yeah, Mike Baird.

Christine Uhen: staying and working for somebody else. Maybe it’s not simple. think Mike said that very clearly. It’s not, if it seems easy, it’s probably not real, right? If it seems too good to be true, it probably is, right? So just be very cautious about that when you’re going into that. But that’s true with every sale. Taxes first, debt, you still have your own debt on that. You pay that off just like as if you were buying a home. You still have to pay off the first mortgage.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah.

Christine Uhen: So those things are important too, just to realize that that check is not the number that you walk away with. From private equity, DP, any of that, that is definitely ⁓ not the bottom line that you’re gonna walk away with. So it’s important to, again, know that wealth gap back in that first conversation.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah. Good to be thinking about again, early and often, because to your point, what I, although I’ll say none of these are necessarily right or wrong, where I don’t want a dentist to ever get to is that they feel the pressure to sell to a DSO because the DSO is the biggest number on paper and they have the biggest wealth gap to fill. If you are at that point and making a decision out of desperation, that’s where we see a lot of these situations go really, really poorly. Like if you haven’t put enough time and energy into early on, again, closing that wealth gap. The quote unquote right way to do this is to be making this decision from a complete place of optionality. And you don’t need one, one, one or the other to work out because it, and to your point, Chris, I think this has happened a lot now, Dentist are wising up that DSOs have always kind of been thought of over the last several years of like, yeah, you’re gonna get the most money out of a DSO. ⁓ maybe not. You might get the biggest figure on paper from a DSO doesn’t mean you’re going to end up with the most money. the end of the day, we’ve seen this time and time and time again, and what you’re giving up for that compared to the other options. I think I’m now giving into my biases and saying that. ⁓

Christine Uhen: It’s OK. But if this all comes down to it, when in my career am I having this conversation? Right. Am I giving up 20 years of my own personal ownership of if I’m 40, let’s say, and I’m being courted by a DSO? That’s potentially 20 more years of me owning an asset that is still going to grow, going to give me the cash flow, going to give me the profit that I can do something with. I still own the asset after 20 years. Right. So things like that. And again, that’s where we can be helpful. Bring your offers to us. Let’s talk through this. Let’s help you make a really wise choice for your particular situation. That’s also, know, personal financing is very personal. Your business is your personal, is very personal as well. So there are no musts. We want you to have more choices. And, but again, when it is a must, like that call that came in that said, I need to sell because I need to get out in six months for my own.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: personal reasons health-wise, that’s unfortunate. Those are the hard ones. We don’t want that to happen.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, that really is for sure. I totally agree. And I’m to actually own this Chris. I’m going to, I’m going to, I’m going to take a stand on this and own my opinion. I, I was trying to be all diplomatic and political and say, there’s no right or wrong way. And that is true. But if all else being equal, I’m going to, I’m going to put a flag in the ground, for various reasons, all else being equal, generally speaking, I do think the best approach to this for most dentists is an internal transition. to pass on, to bring in an associate in some form or fashion, mentor and pass it onto the next generation. just all of us being equal there. I’m like, don’t give this to private equity. Don’t let private equity take over your, take over your, your industry. I will, I can say that pretty confidently that in general, you want to pass this onto the next generation of small business owners in the medical space. Dentistry is an incredible career. Don’t sell it out. That’s what I’ll say. Is that too, is that too strong?

Christine Uhen: Well, if I disagreed with you, I’d tell you you were. So no, I will stand on that hill with you. And again, this just reiterates what we’re saying. Please start thinking about how to grow and to support. And really ultimately it’s about taking care of patients, right? That’s why we went into this to begin with as a dentist, as a dental professional, a healthcare professional. We want to take care of more people. More providers help you do that, right?

Matt Mulcock: Hahaha! Yeah.

Christine Uhen: So again, this all goes back to am I thinking about if my long-term strategy is to grow and share with another dentist, then I shouldn’t be buying a four-op practice, right? Things like that. This is where starting earlier is so critical because, and again, if I do have four, I can maybe build it out or buy another one, something different. But the idea of really thinking about, we’ll go back to the end in mind, right? If this is my commitment, if I am committed to continuing to

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: pass on this great career, then I need to be thinking, you know, making these decisions along the way of my career, not at the end of my

Matt Mulcock: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Be intentional, thoughtful, earlier than you think. Love it. ⁓ let’s wrap up here, Chris, just things, action steps, things that Dentist should be thinking about now. Like what kid, like kind of the whole, like, tell me what to do with my hands. You know, what should I be doing right now? ⁓ to get ready for exit. I think we’ve already highlighted that the, those thoughts should be happening sooner than you think around exiting. Uh, even if you’re not going to do it anytime soon, like the actual transaction, uh, first thing that I’ll say, and I want to throw it to you would be get organized. You got to get organized. You got to know your business numbers inside and out. Uh, you’ve got to know your personal numbers inside and out. What are you spending cashflow? Where is it coming from? Where’s it going? Your assets, your balance sheet, your net worth, your insurance, like you, you got to get organized. You have to know that have that 10,000 debt.

Christine Uhen: Thank you, Det.

Matt Mulcock: The only way you have an intentional strategy is if you’ve had the proceeding step before that, which is where do I stand? Where am I on that map? That’s that step number one. What else would you say as far as action steps or things that Dentist should be doing right now?

Christine Uhen: Well, growing a business does have organization and structure to it. First is the identify. Where am I at? And that’s what you’re talking about. Get organized. Don’t avoid these numbers because that ignorance is not bliss in this scenario. I need to know where I’m at. I need to know what I’m producing, what I’m collecting, what are my overheads, what am I taking home, what’s my debt, what’s my spending? Know your numbers, right? That’s the title of one of my programs for a while. Know your numbers. So that’s first.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah.

Christine Uhen: Then protect, make sure you are de-risking as much as you can. Do you have the right insurance, disability, life, if you’re a partnership key man, things like that. This is so not sexy. I get it, I know it, but you need to protect what you’re currently at and plan for growth from there. Growth then is you get some help. Again, I do believe, and I will quote Victoria Peterson, the more successful you are, the more support you require. So as you grow, get, advisors, financial advisors, business advisors, consultants, marketing advice. These are, you’re a fantastic dentist. Get some help on the business side. But growing with intentions, systems, team, reputation, make sure you’re managing all of that in your patient base. Then you can talk about what it’s gonna look like when I actually can go to sale. So there are steps along the way to do that. Organize, protect, then grow.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. think having a team around you is huge. I love that quote and just this idea of the more success you’re going to have, the more help you need. And, and you should be delegating the things that allow you to focus on the only thing you can’t delegate, right? Which is you and your skillset, your leadership growing that business. So I love that. ⁓ have evaluation philosophy. I would also add.

Christine Uhen: So stabilize first, grow.

Matt Mulcock: So meaning have a way, it doesn’t have to be getting evaluation all the time, but have a philosophy. Am I tracking my profit and I’m a multiple of that to track on my balance sheet over time? Or is it, I’m going to track my top line and just do a percentage of that? Have a philosophy evaluation and stick with it. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be the end all be all. That’s going to prove to you what, what the end of the day you’re going to sell for, but it’s a philosophy that you can have a part of your system to track your progress over time. And again, I think the easy way to do that is either top line or your profit margin. ⁓ and then put that time and energy. Both are huge.

Christine Uhen: Yeah. Both are important, right? And again, that profit, right. So we need to look at both of those.

Matt Mulcock: Yep. and then lastly, what we talked about, put the time, put, put in the work required to live a, ⁓ an intentionally designed life that only you can decide what, you know, what success is to you and what, that means to you. Don’t let anyone else tell you what is right and what is wrong. I guess, except for me, when I tell you to don’t go with the DSO, that’s my fault. or go to the summit. Yeah. You should do that though. You should do that.

Christine Uhen: Or go to the summit. Well, and again, yeah, that’s what I’m saying. We should listen to that. So the idea of comparison is the thief of joy, right? That’s where this is your business. You went into solopreneurship for a reason. Maximize what you can from that, personal, know, that you feel good about what you’re doing, that personal satisfaction, as well as professional development, and then having a great lifestyle.

Matt Mulcock: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. If you don’t, if you don’t define what you want your life to look like, you’re going to end up optimizing for a number that doesn’t actually support your life. And it’s what we like that imbalance is going to be going to, going to come out, you know, at that time of that transaction. So we’ll be thinking about that. So Chris, this is amazing. ⁓ I’m so glad we had you on here to share your knowledge and years and years of doing this and sharing your experience. So valuable.

Christine Uhen: Along the way. And don’t forget to live.

Matt Mulcock: I’m sure this will be one of many conversations around this topic, but really appreciate it. if you’re out there listening and you’re struggling with anything we talked about today, organization or, or figuring out how you want your exit to look, even if you’re mid career, we are here to help. can go to dentistadvisors.com Click on the book free consultation button, share your story. Ask us questions. We’re here to help you along the way. ⁓ even if it’s just answering your questions and sending you in the right direction, we’re happy to do that go to the dentistsadvisors.com. We’d also love to see you at the summit. Come hang out with Christine and the DA team, listen to cash GPT, listen to our panel and engage with like-minded dentists who are all struggling with the same thing you are. If you’re out there listening, that we’re all here to help and we’re in this together. So we’d love to have you there. dentistmoneysummit.com for now. Christine, thanks for being here. Everyone thinks. Yeah. Thanks for listening everybody. Appreciate it till next time. Bye bye.

Christine Uhen: Always a pleasure. Bye y’all.

Keywords: Exit planning for dentists, selling a dental practice, dental practice transition, dentist retirement planning, practice valuation, exit strategy, practice lifecycle, seller readiness

Practice Management, Practice Transitions