THE MILLIONAIRE DENTIST PODCAST

EPISODE 15 TRANSCRIPTION

Announcer:

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Millionaire Dentist Podcast brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. In 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. Now here's your host, Alan Berry.

Alan Berry:

Welcome back to another episode of the Millionaire Dentist Podcast. On today's show, we have Dave Butler, a super talented oral surgeon hailing from his hometown of Madison, Indiana, where he has practiced for over 30 years. Dave is an Indiana University graduate, plays in three bands, and every year, he scouts out the best blues players from Madison, Indiana's yearly Ribberfest. Needless to say, this man stays busy. Dave, hey, thanks for stopping by. Tell me something that you've seen change in the dental world. Maybe it can be something that you liked, or something that you haven't liked since '85.

Dave Butler:

A lot of things have changed obviously. But competition seems to be a big thing nowadays more so that seems like when I started. Of course, I'm in a small town. It was a little more collegial. And I would say still in my town, it's still we're very collegial. But seems like there is this underlying competition. Everybody is focused on the dollar, and getting their share. And which they should be to a certain point.

Dave Butler:

But you just see it more and more, and especially in some areas around me, I see it seems a lot more aggressively with all the ... Or aggressive with all the advertising and stuff. That's the biggest difference I think I've seen.

Alan Berry:

So do you think is it more corporations moving into the dental world?

Dave Butler:

I think that has probably spurned a lot of that. Yeah, exactly. That's added to the competition, and the fear of the private practitioners that these guys are going to come and try to overrun the place. But that's definitely added to it.

Alan Berry:

So one thing I've noticed about your world that I think is unique, and you don't have to do ... At least, I don't think you have to do something that others have to do. And that's have to worry about your web, your internet presence, right.

Dave Butler:

I have no internet presence.

Alan Berry:

Is that something you're happy about? Or tell me a bit so the listeners know, why is that? Why don't you have to have a website, and have to pay money for Facebook, and all those types of things?

Dave Butler:

Well, of course as an oral surgeon, I'm the only one in a fairly large area. And I really have no budget for marketing or anything. I just don't have to do that. Excuse me. I think I've wanted to set up a website. I mean, I guess I have a one page little website, just gives you the basic information. And I would like to do that. And in fact now that I've brought in a partner, it's probably going to be something on the horizon we'll do, because I'm sure being the younger surgeon, he's going to want that.

Dave Butler:

But it's not really been necessary for me to do that. It's funny though now that you've brought that up, I hadn't thought about that. I have had patients that have moved into town, and were looking for me on the web, and I wasn't there. Because people don't necessarily get phone books anymore, so it actually dawned on me a couple weeks ago, maybe I should do that. Yeah, but-

Alan Berry:

I'm sure there's a lot of dentists that are listening that's like, "Oh, I wish I didn't have to deal with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and having to SEO, and just having your websites all in the spend." That's got to cost a lot of money too.

Dave Butler:

Sure. Sure. And I'm not a particularly techy person. I mean, I get on Facebook, and I can certainly surf the web. But I don't Twitter, and those kinds of things. That's just probably ... I was just going to say a functional age. But there's a lot of 64 year old people who are really into that stuff.

Alan Berry:

You're moving into a different stage in your life.

Dave Butler:

Right.

Alan Berry:

You're about ready to move into this ... Or you are in the transitioning phase of going from working every week to retirement.

Dave Butler:

Right. Right. I'm already down to working just two days a week.

Alan Berry:

Tell me about that process that you're going through right now to transition out. And then also tell me, what are you looking forward to in your retirement? What are you going to do with all your time?

Dave Butler:

Well, the process has started. And we're just in that, I guess you'd call the dating stage, trying to learn whether we're going to really work out together, which seems to be very good right now. He's got a temperament like mine. He's fairly low key. And so I think I'm confident it's going to work out really well.

Dave Butler:

So we decided to go down to two days a week to work, to give him more available time to work, and to start building his side of the practice up to help in this transition so that when I step out, he's going well. And it's working well so far. It's hard always in this sort of setting to get patients that, I've been there so long, to come to me that they want to stay with me. They don't want to be seen by anybody else. And so that's always probably the main challenge you have in a small town like I'm in.

Dave Butler:

But it seems to be working out. The words gotten out that he's very nice, he does a good job, the patients like him, my staff really likes him. And I think that transitions going to be smoother than ... Or maybe sooner than I thought as far as him getting patients, and me being able to send my patients to him.

Alan Berry:

Well, what's some of the things that you're looking for? So you're saying it's a dating process right now, right.

Dave Butler:

Right.

Alan Berry:

So that means that there's no signed, permanent contracts, or anything. At this point, either one of you could-

Dave Butler:

Right. We still have the ability to say that it just didn't work out, and we can split up.

Alan Berry:

What are the things that, when you're working with him, or when you're talking to him, what are the things that you're looking for to make sure that he's going to be a good fit? Because he's taking over your legacy.

Dave Butler:

Right. Well, I mean, there's a number of things. Number one, skill. And he's extremely well trained. And so I've been ... Even though I'm working only two days a week, I've been going every day, because I want to make the transition easy for him. And so I've been able to observe him since he's been there, and he's done a great job. He handles patients very well. I'd prefer somebody to be somewhat like me as far as temperament, just because the patients are used to that. And I think he's going to fall into that very well.

Alan Berry:

So tell me, as this process happens, and you're looking closer and closer to retirement, what do you daydream about doing that you're going to be able to do that you can't do now? I know you're only down to two days. But you still got to be around in the area. So is there something that you're looking forward to?

Dave Butler:

Well, sure. Travel more than anything. Because we've done a fair amount of traveling. But we were talking not too long ago, really there's a ton of the United States that we have not seen. And being by myself all these years, I never took over a week off at a time. And one of the things I've always wanted to do is drive coast to coast. And I'd like to drive Highway One the whole way. I just think that would be awesome.

Dave Butler:

My daughter lives in Brooklyn, and I'll probably spend more time traveling out to New York and spending some time there. And then of course, I play in three bands. So that'll probably expand a little bit. I might play a little more.

Alan Berry:

Looking back on your career, do you have anything ... Any regrets, or any advice that you would have given to a younger you?

Dave Butler:

Well, I have really no regrets being an oral surgeon. I think dentistry, and for me personally, oral surgery, was a great fit for me. It's funny that I ended up by myself. I did that only because I wanted to go back to my hometown, Madison. And I would have probably been better off overall, in retrospect, joining a group. Because practice management part of it was not my favorite part, and I let that lapse. And that would be the thing I would tell young people right off the bat.

Dave Butler:

And since this is a Four Quadrants thing, the one thing I wish I would have done is done this earlier, because I really didn't want to put the time into it, and they really ... They've had to play so much catch up, to get me to a point where I can transition and retire. That would have been much easier if I would have done it at an earlier age of my practice. And so that's one thing I do regret, that I didn't get on board with somebody like that and start putting some money away early on.

Dave Butler:

You get out, and I probably was not anywhere near in the debt these young dentists are today, because of the loans, and the cost to go to dental school now. But even at that time, I thought, "Oh my God, I'm so far in debt. I can't save any money." And that was my thought process. And some of my oral surgery colleagues would say, "You got to take whatever you can right now and start putting some away." And I'm saying, "I can't. Everything is going to just raising kids, and trying to live."

Dave Butler:

And that was a mistake. I should have listened to them. And I wish I would have come across something like Four Quadrants ... Or of course, Four Quadrants [inaudible 00:09:32] with them, because they weren't available at that time. So we started with them when Jason started. But that's one of the things I would say, whomever, to do that early on, because it really takes you through your transition, through your practice life, I think it would make it so much nicer.

Alan Berry:

Good point. Start putting money away today.

Dave Butler:

Absolutely.

Alan Berry:

Even if it's a small amount, just start getting in the habit of doing it.

Dave Butler:

Whatever you can do. One of my friends used to always say, "The magic of compound interest."

Alan Berry:

It's true though.

Dave Butler:

It is true.

Alan Berry:

But you usually only hear that from older people. And then you think [crosstalk 00:10:09]. I got tons of time to put money away.

Dave Butler:

Exactly.

Alan Berry:

And then before you know it, you're like, "Wait, I'm 50. Now I'm 60."

Dave Butler:

When you're in that early stage of your practice, especially if you're married and you have kids, it flies by so ... And believe me, at the time, you don't think so, you're right in the middle of it. But I'm telling you what, it flies by in a blink. And then you think, "Oh my gosh, what happened here?"

Alan Berry:

So you're here today at the Four Quadrants new headquarters.

Dave Butler:

Yeah, beautiful.

Alan Berry:

How'd your meeting go today? And was there anything that you learned that you're happy to hear?

Dave Butler:

Oh, yeah. It's great today, because we're talking about the transition, and it looks like I'm actually going to have actually really a nice amount of money to retire from. And we've talked all along, because we got a late start like I've said, really. And Jason had set goals early on, and we've been working with Brogan a lot over the years, and the investments have done well over the years. And surprisingly, they're even surprised how well we're set up right now to go. And I think they're going to be an important part of this transition with my new partner. And I think if everything goes the way they're thinking it's going to go, it's going to be great.

Alan Berry:

Let me ask you one other question I forgot to ask. How did you meet your perspective partner?

Dave Butler:

Well, actually I had put an advertisement on the American Association of Oral Surgery Journal. I put an ad in there. And I actually had two or three different oral surgery residents approach me. Most people it seems like ... Of course, most oral surgeons are in big cities. So most of them were put off a little bit by the fact that it's a small town. My new partner, John, is actually from a larger city, but he knows this area because he went to school at the University of Louisville. And he looked at it as karma, it's meant to be. And it has seemed that way a little bit.

Alan Berry:

But typically, that's what a dentist, or oral surgeon would do, is put out an ad?

Dave Butler:

That's one way you can do it. I mean, I'm sure technically, the internet is probably a lot of ways. I just had run this one, I thought, "I'm going to try this." And it worked out great. But we were prepared. I had already talked to Brogan about that. We were going to use some other companies that do the searches, and that sort of thing, and seek people out for you, and that type of thing. But this worked out for me.

Alan Berry:

So you lucked out.

Dave Butler:

Yeah, I think so.

Alan Berry:

Beautiful. I'm looking at our clock. He gave me 15 minutes. That's where we're at.

Dave Butler:

Oh, 15.

Alan Berry:

Let me see if I can crowbar in one more question for you, Dave. With your 30 odd years of wisdom in the dentist world, what do you see younger dentists getting bogged down with?

Dave Butler:

I don't know that I have that much wisdom. My whole thing was, I feel like people, they get bogged down on the money thing. And it is scary. But dentistry is just a great field. I mean, if you're willing to get in there, and you enjoy it, and you work hard, you're going to be fine. And I think it's good to have somebody that can help you along the way, which I think Four Quadrants has done for us. That takes a lot of that off your plate, and lets you concentrate on what you want to do. And just enjoy treating your patients, and enjoy your patients, and it's going to work out.

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.