Mastering the Business of Practice

Book excerpt: What does it really take to have a highly successful practice? You might think that having a thriving practice takes knowing the right way to run your practice as a business. And to run your practice as a highly profitable business, you might believe you must have precise scripts, the best business processes, and the most well-defined and highly calibrated systems. Sorry to disappoint you, none of these delivers success. Practice success goes far beyond knowing how to produce the results. Practice success isn't the result of the right information, prescriptions, recipes, tips, and formulas. There is another domain to master without which success will not occur. And that is what this book is about. This domain is about who you need to be as an owner, as a manager, as a leader and as a marketer. If you can't be a powerful owner, if you can't be an effective manager, if you can't be an inspirational leader, if you can't be someone who attracts patients, then whatever information you have and whatever actions you take will not be effective. In order to access this domain of who you need to be in the practice, I have written this book using the most commonly asked questions culled from my 25 years as a practice management consultant. By standing in the shoes of dentists who have asked these questions and by thoughtfully considering the responses, you will see yourself and how you are in your practice. You will see how the answers in this book teach profound lessons about yourself, which will allow you to change, resulting in you being more highly effective and powerful in your practice. Lao Tzu once said; "Mastering your enemies makes you strong. Mastering yourself makes you fearless." This book is about mastering yourself in the business of practice. This book will give you insights, revelations and a much deeper understanding of yourself as a leader, manager and owner. These insights will help you to think and act in new ways that allow you to produce much better outcomes and results. This is your path to mastery. Let's take these first steps together.