This is the second blogpost in the Business of Owning a Dental Practice series.  Today’s topic is to talk about Technical Training vs Business Training in a dental practice. 

I don’t want to sound cliché because I know you’ve heard it before that most dental schools don’t spend enough time training dentists on the business side of owning a practice.  Some schools do a better job than others, however, most dentists still share with me they feel ill prepared for stepping out in business.  And this is not to put down any of the schools.  They have a job to do and that is to train up dentists in the technical skills so they can confidently go out into the public and do dentistry. 

I love the technical side as well.  I’m a dental hygienist and have also done my share of assisting on some technically advanced dental care.  It’s amazing to see a patient love their smile again or be able to function correctly.  It’s life changing. 

My focus now is to help dentists realize the benefits they so deserve when owning a practice.  The business side of things can get messy and out of hand quickly without some solid systems in place.  Far too often I see dentists handing off the business stuff along with critical decisions to someone else. 

We all need bookkeepers and accountants.  We couldn’t do it without them, however, they should not be making the critical decisions about your business.  If you are not actively seeking out and understanding the business side of the practice, you are most likely running things by the seat of your pants. 

Back to my point about Technical Training vs Business Training.  Even after dental school when all of the technical training has come to fruition and you get a license to practice dentistry, there’s still more.  I would bet if I asked you how much of your Continuing education is focused on technical skills vs business systems, you would say the majority if not all is focused on technical training.  I understand.  You love the technical stuff.  The business stuff is just not as much fun. 

Without solid business training that teaches simple systems for effective money management, dentists can find themselves chasing the next ‘thing’ to help them grow their practice.  If you’ve ever made a purchase that ended up sitting on a shelf, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.   I believe the more technical training you receive, the more business and leadership training you will need. 

I’ve spent my coaching and consulting career developing simple money systems for dentists.  Profit First for Dentists is the system I use.  If you want to learn more about this system, you'll find a tab above this blog post called the ‘Free Resources’ tab.  There you will find a download of the first 2 chapters of my book, Profit First for Dentists – completely free. 

Check back next week here on this blog.  I’m going to talk about Debt and how to use the Profit First system to get out of debt faster.