The Practice Purchased Podcast

Brian Hanks has spent this whole season nudging associates to stop waiting. His own data says the average associate buys five to seven years later than they wish they had. In this solo finale he admits he’s the biggest hypocrite on the show: he knew he wanted to be his own boss at 18, sweating through a summer of construction labor, but he didn’t do anything about it for twenty years. What finally moved him wasn’t a plan. It was 5:12 p.m. on a Monday in March 2017, walking out of a meeting he’d set up to ask for a raise, fired twelve minutes in, locked out of his email before he reached the parking lot. Four kids at home, a hotel room, and an extra muffin from the free breakfast bar because he suddenly had no income. The book, the business, and this podcast all came out of the 4:30 a.m. mornings that followed. This is the episode for anyone whose reasons for waiting sound perfectly logical. Brian’s did too. In this episode: The 18-year-old on a construction crew who swore he’d never work for someone else, and the twenty years of very reasonable excuses that followed The raise meeting that ended in twelve minutes, and the detail Brian still can’t shake Why being “responsible for six people” is the most convincing reason not to start, and what it was actually covering Everything is figure-outable: the first crown, the first implant, the first time a client paid him over Venmo Steve Van De Graaff’s test from episode 3: problem solvers look for reasons to do it, problem finders look for reasons not to Readiness isn’t a mood you wait for. It’s what shows up on the other side of taking the step. The action step: write down what you’re actually afraid of, every item, and why the list isn’t permission to keep waiting What’s coming in Season 10 This week’s homework: Write down what you’re actually afraid of. Be specific. One thing or twenty-five. Then send it to Brian: [email protected]. No pitch, no follow-up unless you ask for one. He’ll read it and tell you which items someone in your dental school class has already figured out. Thinking about owning someday? Get Brian’s free Ready Kit for the steps leading up to buying a practice: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ready More resources: Read How to Buy a Dental Practice: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/how-to-buy-a-dental-practice-book/ Book an introductory call with the Dental Buyer Advocates team: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/schedule-a-call/ Thank you to this season’s guests: Len Tau, Steve Van De Graaff, Mike Pakula, Josh Matthews, Matt Mulcock, Jonathan VanHorn, and Brady Smith. Season 10 is dentists who bought: a year later, what did they learn, and did they wait too long? Practice Purchased is hosted by Brian Hanks, MBA, CFP, founder of Dental Buyer Advocates and author of How to Buy a Dental Practice and Taxes for Dentists. It’s ad-free and under 22 minutes, the average American commute. If it helped, forward it to one dentist.

Dr. Brady Smith, comedian and dentist, bought into a practice straight out of dental school, made more in his first months than most of his classmates would in years, and spent twelve years as an owner before he learned the one thing nobody told him: the practice he "owned" couldn't be used as collateral for anything. He found out when he tried to buy a house. Brady is a multi-practice owner, the host of Laughing My Gas Off, and the most-followed comedian in dentistry. He's also the rare owner who'll tell you, on the record, that he's had months in the last two years where he didn't pay himself. In this episode of Practice Purchased, Brian Hanks and Brady get into the question this season is built on: how do you know you're ready? Brady's answer comes from the comedy stage as much as the operatory. Nobody feels ready the first time. You go on, it goes okay, you find out what you didn't know, and you get reps. Ownership works the same way, except the reps are months. One thing worth noticing: Brian describes the two associates he talks to every day, the one who's terrified and the one who's furious at their DSO. Brady's read on which one is closer to ready is not the one you'd guess. In this episode: The worst reason to buy a practice, and why it sounds perfectly reasonable when you're an associate What Brady wishes Comfort Dental had told him before he bought in, and who the franchise model is right for The Caesars Palace moment: opening for Sebastian Maniscalco in front of 1,800 dentists, and why he still needed reps afterward Why "there's no practice run for ownership" is wrong: month one, month two, month twelve Months with zero owner income, months with six figures, and why associates never see either The angry associate versus the scared one: the questions Brady would ask each before saying "go" Rapid fire: toothpaste, favorite comedians, the adult treasure box, and the best dentist to follow on social media Thinking about owning someday? Get Brian's free Ready Kit for the steps leading up to buying a practice: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ready More resources Read How to Buy a Dental Practice Book an introductory call with the Dental Buyer Advocates team About the guest Dr. Brady Smith is a general dentist, multi-practice owner, and comedian based in Portland, Oregon. He hosts Laughing My Gas Off and performs at dental conferences across the country, including opening for Sebastian Maniscalco at Thrive Live in Las Vegas. Find him on social media and at https://www.drbradysmith.com/. Practice Purchased is hosted by Brian Hanks, MBA, CFP, founder of Dental Buyer Advocates and author of How to Buy a Dental Practice.

He was fired after his first tax season, in the middle of the 2008 crisis. Fifteen years later he runs Tooth and Coin, one of the best-known dental CPA firms in the country. So what did Jonathan VanHorn actually know about running a business before he started one? Less than you'd think, and more than he gave himself credit for. He'd never run payroll for his own firm. He had run it for a hundred clients. That gap, between what you've never done and what you've already done a version of, is where most associates get stuck. In this episode of Practice Purchased, Brian Hanks and Jonathan get specific about the financial side of feeling ready: where new owners actually fail, what a dental CPA should cost, and why the spreadsheet is almost never the problem. One thing worth noticing: Jonathan says failure comes down to two numbers, patients seen and revenue per patient, and in most practices it's obvious which one is off. If you can figure out which one, you can fix it. In this episode: How Jonathan went from fired first-year CPA to founding Tooth and Coin The associate's "I've never done that" list, and what's actually on it The two numbers that explain almost every practice that struggles Why startups should obsess over new patients, and what a healthy count looks like The acquisition mistake nobody sees coming: buying a practice whose treatment philosophy doesn't match yours What a dental CPA should cost in year one (and what you get for it) Brian's one tip on how to be a client your CPA wants to keep Thinking about owning someday? Get Brian's free Ready Kit for the steps leading up to buying a practice: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ready More resources Read How to Buy a Dental Practice Book an introductory call with the Dental Buyer Advocates team About the guest Jonathan VanHorn, CPA, is the founder of Tooth and Coin, a dental-focused CPA firm serving practice owners across the country, and host of the Tooth and Coin podcast. Before founding the firm he worked in public accounting and as an assistant CFO for a manufacturing company. https://www.toothandcoin.com/ Practice Purchased is hosted by Brian Hanks, MBA, CFP, founder of Dental Buyer Advocates and author of How to Buy a Dental Practice.

Most associates assume they need a down payment to buy a practice. They don't. What they need is cash in the bank, and a lot less of it than they think. Matt Mulcock has spent his career advising dentists on exactly this question. In this episode he gives Brian the number: roughly $50,000 to $75,000 in liquid savings, and retirement accounts don't count toward it. That's the financial bar. The harder one is the other half of the conversation. Brian and Matt work through both. Whether the math actually supports buying now, whether you should clear student loans first, and why the feeling of readiness almost never arrives before the decision does. In this episode: What lenders actually want to see, and why it isn't a traditional down payment The liquidity number Matt gives associates, and what doesn't count toward it Why the 20 percent savings rule is good general advice and bad specific advice Buying now with student loans outstanding versus waiting years to be debt free, and which one usually wins Why uncertainty, not risk, is what actually stops people The traits Matt sees in dentists who do well as owners What changes financially in the first year of ownership This Friday, October 2: Brian is doing a free live session, How to Find a Dental Practice for Sale, including the ones that never get listed. Noon Mountain / 2pm Eastern. The recording goes to everyone who registers. Register here: https://info.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/free-webinar-how-to-find-a-practice.html Thinking about owning someday? Get Brian's free Ready Kit for the steps leading up to buying a practice: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ready More resources Read How to Buy a Dental Practice Book Schedule an introductory call with the Dental Buyer Advocates team About the guest: Matt Mulcock, CFP®, leads Dentist Advisors and hosts The Dentist Money Show. His firm works exclusively with dentists on financial planning, and he has spent years on the same question this episode asks: when do the numbers actually say yes. https://dentistadvisors.com dental practice acquisition, buying a dental practice, practice ownership, student loans, dental associate, practice financing, dental practice valuation, first practice purchase, financial planning for dentists, practice transition

His employer offered to sell him a dental practice for $75,000. He could write a check and own it outright. So why did Dr. Josh Matthews turn it down? Josh was already moving toward buying another practice when his DSO’s CEO made the offer. The price made him reconsider everything. But he knew the office’s problems firsthand, and his wife asked a question he couldn’t answer: What would he do differently to make it work? In this episode of *Practice Purchased*, Brian Hanks and Josh walk through the decision, how Josh found the practice he ultimately bought, and what ownership has actually been like. One thing worth noticing: the practice Josh bought was listed with a broker and didn't sell that way. He heard about it from a supply rep who'd called on that office for years. That's how most good practices actually move. If you're searching for a practice right now, Brian is doing a free live session on Friday, October 2 at noon Mountain time / 2pm Eastern: How to Find a Dental Practice for Sale, including the ones that never get listed. Register here: https://info.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/free-webinar-how-to-find-a-practice.html **In this episode:** - How a local banker and a dental supplier helped Josh connect with a seller - Why the $75,000 offer was so tempting—and what the price didn’t tell him - How his wife’s perspective and a review of the financials helped him decide - What changed after the seller became his associate - Why Josh has no regrets, even with the extra work and unexpected challenges - The first-day alarm mistake that brought police to the practice **Thinking about owning someday? ** Get Brian’s free Ready Kit for the steps leading up to buying a practice: (https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ready) **More resources** - [Read *How to Buy a Dental Practice*](https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/how-to-buy-a-dental-practice-book/) - [Book an introductory call with the Dental Buyer Advocates team](https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/schedule-a-call/) **About the guest** Dr. Josh Matthews Josh Matthews is a passionate general dentist and the owner of Matthews Dental Group in Brookfield, WI. A Creighton graduate and former Army dentist, he worked in private practice and a DSO before becoming an owner. https://dentistbrookfield.com/about-us/ Practice Purchased is hosted by Brian Hanks, MBA, CFP, founder of Dental Buyer Advocates and author of How to Buy a Dental Practice.