Gene St. Louis walks through three mistakes new practice owners make: spending beyond budget instead of phasing improvements, skipping the right professionals like attorneys and realtors, and setting unrealistic income expectations for fee-for-service models.
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Let's talk about the three mistakes that occur in a startup. One being that you go over budget. When you go over budget, that's a problem. It's like buying a home. If you bought a home and it was used, you wouldn't fix everything in one clean swoop. Within the first few months, you would budget it out and create a wish list. Same thing with your startup practice. The second mistake that I see is doctors that don't know how to choose their right team. A team of professionals surrounding you is going to make you successful. Just like you as a dentist maybe choose not to do. Third molar root canals with a crooked root. The same thing is true why you would choose a great attorney, a great coach, a great healthcare realtor, a great banker partner, a great a great website designer, marketing company, insurance credentialing. All of those team members as part of your team can launch you into success so you don't have failure right out of the gate. The third mistake I often see in a startup journey is mismatched expectations. And what that means is expecting that you're going to do what you were doing as an associate in your practice. The practice you likely came from was an established practice and had been around for a while. So just have realistic expectations. Also, if you're going to do a startup that is fee for service only, that comes with its own set of expectations. It doesn't mean it's wrong, but it just means that it's going to take you a little bit longer to ramp up and a little bit more dollars in the marketing budget.
