Do you plan, or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Do you spend money and hope for the best? Are you a compulsive buyer, or do you wait and think about your purchases? In my umpteen years of experience working with dentists, I see one mistake that many dentists make over and over and over; they spend their money without a plan. Look around your practice. Do you see any rarely used equipment that you bought because it seemed like a good idea at the time or you couldn’t say no to a sales rep.? What about the endo system that you have abandoned? The storage shelving that isn’t the right size? The photocopier that isn’t quite adequate for your needs? Does any of this sound familiar? If it does, I am going to give a tool RIGHT NOW that you can use RIGHT AWAY so that you can stop wasting your money!
It’s called a business plan. I can already hear you saying, “Yah, right!” Well, I’m not talking about a formal document you’d use to impress an investor or a banker. I am talking about a business plan designed for YOUR USE. It can be written in 10 minutes on a prescription pad or a napkin. Really! It’s called the Bootcamp Business Plan and is the kind of tool you learn in my Business Bootcamp for Dentists program. This plan can be implemented any time you are considering anything that fits the ‘2R RULE’: does it involve RISK of any kind (money, patients, investment) or RESOURCES (time, workload, funds, quality, energy)? If what you are considering fits the 2R Rule, then you need a plan.
Get out your Rx pad and pencil and follow these simple steps:
1. State what you are considering in one sentence. Try for 10 words or less. (This makes you focus on the meat of the issue).
2. Ask yourself 6 questions. Be honest. Be real. Be thoughtful (full of thought). Remember, this is for YOU.
- What am I building (creating, purchasing, changing etc.). (This forces you to be clear about your venture).
- Why am I building it? (This makes you consider your motives. “Because I want to” is OK – just be honest about it!)
- What measurable result do I want? (This drops clarity right in your lap – what’s the return for you. Express the hoped-for benefit of your venture in terms of time, money, quality or quantity – or all four!)
- How will I build it? (This breaks the war down into battles or chunks. If it is a renovation, you would break the job down into Design, Quotes, Construction. If it is a purchase you would break it down into Research, Purchase, Installation, Training. Get the picture? These are your broad goals).
- What is the work that needs to be done? (Here is where you break each of those goals in #4 down into the actual tasks that have to be carried out to achieve each chunk. This step gives you the forward motion you need to get something done. It is your action plan)
- When will I do this? (This is the step that abolishes procrastination! Assign a timeline or date to every action in #5. This step makes you accountable to yourself!!).
3. Follow up. Set a time to measure your actual results against all those measurable ‘hopes’ in Question #3. Someone once said “That which is measured will improve”. Don’t wonder; know if you were successful.
That’s it! Just following those 3 steps and answering those 6 questions will give you clarity, purpose, a game plan, and a clear sense of what returns to expect. It will also cause you to stop, think and consider. That process will save you a ton of cash in the long run! You can use the Bootcamp Business Plan for anything from adding an op to buying an autoclave to hiring new staff.
It will save you a lot of money and be one of the most useful tools you will ever have on your instrument tray! A dentist who is currently taking my Business Bootcamp for Dentists program, and who has practiced for 3o years, told me that he wished he’s known about this method a long time ago – maybe he’d be retired now if he’d used it from the start! Watch the YouTube video here: Save Yourself a Ton of cash
