Having spoken to hundreds of dentists and specialists, we have seen three common frustrations that affect practice owners. Casey and Jarrod break each one down and discuss ways you can alleviate these issues and lessen your stress.
Announcer:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Millionaire Dentist Podcast brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. On this podcast, we break down the world of dentistry finances and business practices to help you become the millionaire dentist you deserve to be. Please be advised, we do speak with an honest tongue and may not be safe for work.
Casey Hiers:
Hello and welcome. This is Casey Hiers back at it again at the Millionaire Dentist Podcast. Jarrod Bridgeman is joining me in studio today.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I sure am.
Casey Hiers:
Jarrod, how are you, sir?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Good. How are you?
Casey Hiers:
Doing well. Interesting times. What do you want to speak about today?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well, first of all, I want to touch upon our Indiana weather we just had where two days ago it snowed in April, and next week it's going to be 80 degrees.
Casey Hiers:
Yes.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's a little ridiculous.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. There's definitely a couple jokes about Indiana weather. If you don't like it, just wait an hour and, no joke, sunny, beautiful, flowers blooming, then snow.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. And you know, and that leads to, I feel like a lot of people are excited about spring, it leads to some frustrations, right? Just frustrated about being able to go out and do things or maybe you planted your tomato plants already this year and, well, now they're gone. So that kind of made me start thinking about, you spend a lot of your time here speaking with clients, potential clients, people who are looking to up their game, so to speak, what are some of the most major frustrations owners out there have? What do you see? What's the pattern that you feel?
Casey Hiers:
Oh, that's a robust question. I like that. And you're right; when we present continuing education, the teaching arm of the firm per se, and we're doing some state meetings here this summer that we're pretty excited about, but I do get to hear from the practice owners and then folks reach out to us and we speak in some capacity here. And I do get to hear the straight juice from them, what's really going on. So what are you... Maybe the top three things?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, let's go with that. I'm guessing you've talked to enough owners out there to realize that there's a pattern.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Typically, nobody likes change. They clinically do their dentistry, they have their staff or their team, they have their external team that helps them with the business side or their finances or their accounting investing, so on and so forth. Ultimately, when I'm speaking with them, they either realize things could be better, or they're really frustrated; there's an event that has happened. So let's break it down like this, to answer your question. There's probably three top ones. We'll dive into each one. You ask me what you want to know, but the first one's probably tax management, accounting. They're going through their days, their months, their quarters, their years, and something comes up with accounting with their... They owe a bunch of money. That will typically get somebody pretty fired up to do some research and to see if there's a better way, that tax management situation.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right. So, coming from... I only file for myself, pretty easy to do, but I'm guessing that as a business owner in that sense, it's probably not that easy to just sit down for 20 minutes and figure it out.
Casey Hiers:
No, our listeners, this audience, people we speak with, practice owners around the country, their tax situation is more complex than most. That's a Mr. Obvious statement, but it truly is. And if you have somebody doing that who isn't proactive, who isn't more of a forensic dental accounting firm, you are vulnerable to issues and problems. So the $27,000 refund feels better. The same problems are lying beneath the surface ready to attack, but it's when that $30,000 tax bill comes, that people... That's when they'll talk to me because they're frustrated and they're hunting me down-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's a hefty bill.
Casey Hiers:
It doesn't feel good.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Especially at the end of the year when you are set and you're ready to go, and then bam!
Casey Hiers:
Yes, no, no doubt about it. And it doesn't have to be like that. There are, obviously here at our firm, but there are ways to monitor that so there's never a tax bill or a big refund. You want it as close to zero as possible. And we've talked about that on previous podcasts, the refund is no good. You want that monthly cash flow. You don't want to give Uncle Sam an interest-free loan, but yeah, tax management, tax issues, that's a big one. That's a big lightning rod topic that will get people fired up and will get them out of their comfort zone to to see why; to learn to educate themselves and see if there's a better way. I'll tell you what the second one is, this one's interesting. The spouse is frustrated. So the spouse of the practice owner is frustrated because they see their spouse who is the dentist or specialist, they've gone to the dental school and they've taken on the debt and they've bought the practice.
Casey Hiers:
They've sacrificed. They have busted their hump for success, and yet dentistry is not quite paying off the way that they want it to, and so the spouse is frustrated on behalf of the practice owner. Now, a little bit of it is they're frustrated at the cashflow at home and that, again, most people just kind of kick the can down the road, or if there is something that could be better, if it doesn't cause too much uncomfortable, they just move on.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well and this is human nature to worry about your spouse, worry about your kids, worry about the people that you love. And so the spouses who may or may not even have their own career or worry about their own thing, and then they feel bad because, as you said, the dentist has sacrificed, worked his butt off basically, and may not be getting anywhere and is just putting in the hours and hours and seeing patient after patient and not really bringing home the bacon, so to speak.
Casey Hiers:
Well, they see them doing QuickBooks at night, they see them pining overproduction reports or numbers, they see them physically exhausted from providing and producing the great dentistry, but that hard work maybe isn't reflected by income, and so-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Their day doesn't end when they leave the office.
Casey Hiers:
Unfortunately for most, no, they have a whole bevy of things to worry about. It goes back to practice owners are the CEO of their practice, yet they're at a distinct disadvantage. Most CEOs also aren't the primary producers, they are. So they have to put on their CEO hat after hours, before hours, to deal with a whole lot of things. Now, our firm does that for our clients, but for the majority of our listeners and dentists out there, they don't have that luxury. And so, yeah, their spouse sees them enjoying dentistry, but frustrated at cashflow, at account balances, at the time that they're spending on it. So that's probably the second one in terms of a complaint that I'll hear or when action might be taken. It's, "Dentistry is just not what we thought it was going to be. We live a good life, but we also know that it's not quite what we thought and we're frustrated."
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And I could feel that being the kick in the pants that sometimes people need to reach out for help is when your husband or your wife says, "I see you struggling."
Casey Hiers:
On our website, we have a lot of client videos, client testimonials, and you'll hear that sentiment where the spouse in that video will share their frustration that industry isn't better for them. They're not making more money that... Time, stress, and money. And so you'll hear that, that the spouse knows, that they know them better than anybody.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And I'm guessing is not easy then on the marriage too. If you're frustrated 20 hours a day, you try not to take it out on somebody else. But sometimes things kind of slip.
Casey Hiers:
All this stuff is connected, right? The practice, the personal, the financial aspect, but also to your point, the emotional aspect. And if somebody is a lot of stress, a lot of time, it's not paying off, cash flow's erratic at home, of course, that bleeds over into the family unit. And so while our firm helps with the numbers and with achieving more financially, it's that almost secondary benefit of having your financial house in order, there's less stress. You're happier, your home life's better. So no, that's a good one. If I had to say a third one, I mean money, but more specifically, because we've touched on that, retirement. How am I going to finish? If maybe somebody is on the back third of their career, back half of their career, that is a topic that will get people to have a serious conversation. How am I going to retire? What's that look like? How am I going to transition? Am I going to sell my practice? Am I going to sell out to a DSO? Which-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Because it's not as simple as you and I retiring where I don't own my own business, I'm just going to-
Casey Hiers:
There's a few more variables involved.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
There's a lot more involved with that.
Casey Hiers:
And that's stressful because unfortunately, a lot of practice owners live a very good life from the house, the cars, the vacations, the second house, things of that nature. Some can pull it off, others, they don't, it's a house of cards. They don't have the cash flow to support it, and so what happens is the closer they get to retirement, a new level of stress sets in.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Possibly trying to live how they feel is expected of people of the profession could be?
Casey Hiers:
A little bit and I think, "Listen I got into dentistry for a variety of reasons, but one of them was to be able to make good money." And so they're going to live like they wish they could, or they want to, or they think others want them to. None of those are good reasons, but that house of cards as a retirement approaches, that's another sort of significant complaint or situation that people will have an honest assessment of what's going on and want to improve things or talk to somebody who may be knowledgeable about it.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Which I get and we have to consider people are living longer than ever now. So when you retire, it's not, "Well, I have ten good years." You could live for another 40 after retirement.
Casey Hiers:
And most of us feel bulletproof when we're young, but a lot of listeners out there, once you get late '40s and your '50s, your arm, your shoulder, your neck, you have that awareness of, what if.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I'm in my late thirties and I was coughing this morning and hurt my back.
Casey Hiers:
Okay. Yeah, I get it. I'm going to leave that one alone. It probably has nothing to do with core strength. You probably have wonderful core strength.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, I'm known for it.
Casey Hiers:
But yeah, that factors in is, "What if something did happen to me? I haven't done the right things. I haven't saved for retirement. What if I had to sell out in two years because something happened?" So again, just to review, I like the question you asked, but a tax management, some sort of tax issues, situation, frustration, the second thing is a spouse frustration, a spouse bringing things to your attention or just being frustrated at the inconsistent cash flow at home, if there's a dentist out there taking what's leftover, skipping paychecks, having massive erratic distributions, that's hard on the spouse, and then retirement, how am I going to finish this out? What's that look like? A lot of people don't have a clear plan. And if they want one, it's up to them to push and prod their external business team to provide it and there's a lot of stress associated with that.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And from what I've learned, just from working here, it's a 401k or whatever isn't enough.
Casey Hiers:
Well put. It is nowhere near enough. And that's one of the first conversations I'll have is, "What are you saving for retirement?" "Well, I'm maxing out my 401k." That's great; if that's it, it's not even close. An old survey tells us that the average practice owner saves $26,000 a year for retirement, 96% of those surveyed agree that's not enough. And so there's a lot of savings vehicles for retirement. Those are on other podcasts, but, but yes, that is hard. And we've had oral surgeons saving $100,000 a year and they feel pretty good about it and then they ask, "Well, what should I be saving?" And after we've looked at things and done a full audit of the practice and the finances, they should be saving $240,000 and they go, "I knew it. I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach but nobody told me. Nobody could help me."
Casey Hiers:
But yeah, taxes, spouses, retirement, and money. Those are big buckets that are causes for change or causes for action. I appreciate that question, hopefully, our listeners will understand that. And, again, if not one or two or three of these, maybe down the road, it is, and if it's not, that's good, that's a good thing.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
If you're able to handle that on your own, more power to you.
Casey Hiers:
Yes.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's impressive.
Casey Hiers:
Unfortunately, most don't handle it well, they just compartmentalize it so it doesn't affect their mood. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I always joke about, even with retirement issues, I know I'm not saving enough right now and the joke is, "Well, that's future Jarrod's problem. I don't have to worry about it, future Jarrod does." Then future me is going to be kicking my past self.
Casey Hiers:
Practice owner opens their eyes and all of a sudden they're 53 years old and they have a sore neck or a sore shoulder, and then it's a different conversation. Well, good. Well, hopefully, that answered your question. Hopefully, our listeners understand that and again, if those aren't at the surface, sometimes some of those issues can be buried a little bit and it's better to address those early and often.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Especially, retirement's on people's minds, tax manager; I can see that I was really surprised by the spouse frustrations. That'd being number two.
Casey Hiers:
If people are honest with themselves, that's a call to action, and if a spouse sees it and has the courage to have that conversation and then be supportive. "What are we going to do about this? You're not in this alone. What can we do?"
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It's like being pregnant. We are pregnant, okay.
Casey Hiers:
Well, I'm not touching that one either. All right, Jarrod, thanks, man. I appreciate it. Be well.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Thank, bud.
Announcer:
That's all the time we have today. Thank you to our guests for their insight and for sharing some really great information. And thank you to you, the listener, for tuning in. The Millionaire Dentist Podcast is brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. To see if they might be a good fit for you and your practice, go on over to fourquadrantsadvisory.com and see why year after year, they retain over 95% of their clients. Thank you again for joining us, and we'll see you next time.
