We first consulted with Four Quadrants seven years ago, and it’s blown by extremely fast. But we didn’t know what we didn’t know at that point. We came to them for help with the building, and there’s been so much more they’ve offered us.
We first consulted with Four Quadrants seven years ago, and it’s blown by extremely fast. But we didn’t know what we didn’t know at that point. We came to them for help with the building, and there’s been so much more they’ve offered us.
Dr. Wes and Tina Booker have been with Four Quadrants Advisory for seven years. They stop by to go over the results of their time with us and plan for year eight and beyond.
A 2003 graduate of the University of Louisville, Dr. Wes Booker, DDS, had big plans to establish his dental practice upon graduation. He loved dentistry and looked forward to practicing as long as he could, but he didn’t know much about running a dental practice enterprise.
After establishing a practice in Owensboro, KY by renting space from another dentist, his patient ranks swelled, and he was ready for a stand-alone space. He was referred to Four Quadrants as a resource that could help with the sticky details of building terms and contracts. But he quickly realized there were other places he could use financial advice and ended up hiring us as financial advisors.
That was seven years ago. Wes and Tina stopped by recently to go over the results of their time with us and plan for year eight and beyond. He’s excited about the future, realizing some of the forecasts we showed him in his first year are becoming reality. It’s created a peace-of-mind “I didn’t think was possible so early in my career.”
Dr. Wes Booker - It was a very young practice, and we were leasing space from another dentist. We were getting ready to build our ideal practice and felt we needed an office building. In the process, we were referred to Four Quadrants to help with our financial situation to make sure we were building an office of appropriate size and that we were doing it properly without going into debt too much. Things have just blossomed from there, pretty much.
Tina Booker - Thinking back on the whole process, we first consulted with Four Quadrants seven years ago, and it’s blown by extremely fast. But we didn’t know what we didn’t know at that point. We came to them for help with the building, and there’s been so much more they’ve offered us. In the beginning, we were both very young and it’s just been a great experience since then.
Dr. Wes Booker - When we started the practice, the goal was to break even initially, make a little money, and start something that was ours. And then as we started to grow, we began thinking about needing our own building and in the process of doing that we were making money, but we weren’t concentrating on saving it. That’s also the time when we started talking to Four Quadrants. The next thing you know, we were having an actual conversation about retirement at the age of 32 or 33. And seven years later we’re in a much better position.
Dr. Wes Booker - It feels great to me. The biggest thing — especially after just finishing up our meeting today — is thinking that I could retire at age 55. That’s pretty mind-blowing to me. I want to work a lot longer than age 55, so that means I’ll be practicing my last ten years just for fun! That’s without having to be concerned about the financial situation. It makes things a lot easier and exciting.
Tina Booker - It’s given us a peace-of-mind knowing that we have a solid plan in place. And it’s so exciting seeing our growth from year to year. It always exceeds what we thought we could accomplish at this age.
Dr. Wes Booker - For me, I think the biggest value — and I just discussed this earlier with Jason — is the mindset that we don’t have to worry about it. There are friends of mine talking about whether the market is up or down. They’ll ask me, “Are you watching it?” And I’ll say “No.” And they’ll ask, “Well why not?” And I’ll say, “I have people who do that for me.” I’m not concerned about what the market is doing because I know for the next 20 years, things will be okay if I keep on the track I’m going.
Tina Booker - Definitely the biggest value for me has been peace-of-mind; knowing that we have people we can trust, and they want to see us succeed. We have a solid plan in place, and Four Quadrants can tweak it as needed. They always talk to us about our own personal goals and everything is connected — from the accounting standpoint to the numbers at the office.
Dr. Wes Booker - Just the different strategies I use every day. With the help of Four Quadrants, I can know when to buy equipment, how long we should wait to do something, when is it a good time to implement this strategy in a given situation. For example, we dropped Delta Dental, which is a large insurance company, last November. That’s something I never thought I’d be able to do and because of Four Quadrants, not only did they encourage us to do it but they had the data to support it. They could show why now was the right time to do it. That’s something that is beyond measurable.
Dr. Wes Booker - From our discussion earlier today, the biggest thing for us will be transitioning from some of the insurance-driven patients we’ve had to more of a cash-pay situation. It’s going to allow us to have more money hopefully in the practice and will allow us to save more. You know we’ve got a step savings plan over the next five years that should take us from a good position to a great position if everything trends the way it has been for the last 10-12 months.
Dr. Wes Booker - Oh most definitely. And with Tina, she’s a hygienist in the office with us, but she has two sisters who are both dentists also. We have a large dental family so being around dentistry all the time is a natural thing for us. Being able to concentrate on just that and not having to worry about the financial situation is important. I just focus on patients and that makes dentistry much more fun.
Tina Booker - Being a clinician . . . I have several aunts and uncles who are also dentists and some cousins too, and then I ended up marrying a dentist. It’s been so fun working with Four Quadrants and seeing the business side of it as well. You learn how to work on teeth in school, but you come out not knowing how to run a business. So it’s a lot of fun seeing the numbers month to month and how they have changed our course from being stressed out about it, to working toward goals and meeting those goals. We’re working on lowering overhead, and it’s just really fun seeing those numbers, meeting those goals and seeing the other side of it.
