DR. ACE GOERIG
OWNER & CO-FOUNDER
There is no denying that endodontics is an advantaged profession. Dentistry is among the most desired educational paths, among the most trusted and respected occupations by the public, and among the most economically rewarding.
No endodontist achieves professional success without significant hard work. That includes hard work as a student to get into dental school, hard work in dental school to graduate, hard work to complete endodontic residency, and hard work to establish themselves in practice during the early years.
The average owner endodontist earns about 4 times as much as the average American family. That sounds great, but most endodontists enter their career with a huge level of personal debt, including educational debt and the cost of practice acquisition. Add to that even more personal debt for life events (home ownership, consumer spending, etc.) and the 4 times advantage is quickly eroded.
Paycheck to paycheck mindset
The American dream is that if you work hard, you will succeed in life. The American reality is that most families, including many endodontists, are often working to pay their debt for decades. The banks are succeeding wildly, but people live paycheck to paycheck with a great deal of financial uncertainty.
When you are stuck in the cycle of paying off debt, operational expenses and team salaries, you can have little to show for your hard work. And, unlike a salary, you just get whatever is left over at the end of the month. Taking a vacation, for example, means taking a hit in your cash flow.
That’s when the job of an endodontist takes over the life of an endodontist. The practice becomes a source of stress. Many endodontists find themselves constantly feeling they need to work longer or harder to meet all their obligations, and they are afraid to take time off when they would be unavailable for a referrer.
Time and money are determining forces in life. If you have a full picture of someone’s economics and schedule, you can reasonably infer certain fundamentals of their life. That includes things such as where they shop, how much they travel, what kind of home they have, what kind of school their kids attend, how much money they have saved, etc.
Living better through endodontics
It’s a given then that your personal choices in life are largely governed by your income level. That means that the practice, as a business, is vitally important. The best way to live better is to have a more successful practice. A more profitable practice lets you eliminate debt faster, reduce stress, and increase your lifestyle options.
Most endodontists are underutilizing the opportunities in their practice. In fact, most endodontists don’t truly understand the opportunities they have. The average endodontist completes only 3 to 4 cases per day. If you analyze how doctors are spending their time during the work day, 3 to 4 daily cases is not a very efficient or productive level.
In the right clinical environment, most endodontists supported by a fully trained team can easily do 6 to 8 cases per day. Some doctors can do more. And, because the focus is on efficiency for the doctor, completing 6 to 8 cases per day is less stressful than only 3 or 4 cases. It may be hard to believe until you experience it, but every Endo Mastery client will tell you that it is true.
More importantly, how does your life change with that level of practice growth and success? Each daily case you add contributes up to $250,000 to your bottom line at the end of the year. That’s because you incur minimal expenses to do one more case per day. Almost 100% of the fee flows to bottom line profits. Two more cases per day can add up to $500,000 annually to your income.
That’s a big life change and transformation. How quickly could you get out of debt? How much financial stress would disappear from your life in short order? How would your lifestyle grow? What family goals would be so much easier to achieve? How would you reorganize your time? You could work less even while earning more. Cut out a day a week or add another month of vacation.
Making the change
Every endodontist should be proud of their professional journey and achievements, including the business success of their practice. Endo Mastery’s goal is to help you professionalize and improve your practice and team to match your true capabilities as a doctor.
We are a week from the AAE24 meeting in Los Angeles. Come visit us and meet some of our clients to hear their success stories. If you’re not going to be in Los Angeles, start your practice and life transformation by scheduling a complimentary practice analysis today.