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This podcast covers from START to FINISH How to Acquire a Dental Practice. Michael Dinsio, founder of Next Level Consultants has literally seen hundreds of deals as a banker in the industry & he has personally consulted hundreds of dentists as a Buyers Representative. Michael talks with GUEST SPEAKERS about Due Diligence, Legal, Demographics, and more... He invites experts to the show to help you avoid those headaches and heartbreaks. So start at the TOP w/ Episode 01 and work your way through the transition process. We break it down step by step in a true #UNSCRIPTED and genuine way.
00:00
Oh yeah! Here we go! Practice acquisition! I love when either the buyer or the seller think they can get through this process on their own. There are pitfalls throughout the entire process. I have seen a ton of these deals. If you want to buy a practice, this is how, folks!
00:32
Acquisition Uncensored, the truth when buying and selling a dental practice. And now your hosts, Michael Dinsio and John Bertagni. All right, all right, here we go. Dental Acquisition Uncensored, season two, John Bertagni, Mike Dinsio here. Thanks so much for being a part of our program. I'm really excited about Dr. Cindy Pauley.
01:00
She brings a lot to the table and this is just one of those pieces that we will be filling in for you as we go through the journey. So John, what are you excited about today? What I'm excited is her experience, right? She's bought her family, her and her husband have bought, sold and bought practices and throughout that process. So what we have to understand is she's going to give an incredible perspective from her mind, her psyche going into it, her staff.
01:29
making sure they're good, any issues that they might, or pitfalls. That's the main thing that we want to focus on here. And she brings an amazing experience that we want our buyers to understand on that sell side so they can bridge the gap at that closing table. Yeah. Pay attention. So many goodies in this episode. Remember, follow us, get on Facebook, interact with us. We've got
01:56
all kinds of amazing people this season. I'm super excited about it. With no further ado, let's bring her in. All right, all right. Welcome, welcome. Season two, dental acquisition uncensored. I gotta get used to that rolling off the tongue, John. We're in season two, and I know I'm gonna screw up by saying startup uncensored at one point. So when that happens, yeah, make sure you call me out, all right?
02:23
Mike D'Incio here with the show. We're super excited, founder of Next Level Consultants. And as always, my friend and partner in crime, John Bertagni, thanks for joining the show, brother. Thank you. This is fun. This is a new frontier, but it gives a different perspective to our listeners and people that are out there that were thinking about, OK, do I have to do a startup?
02:51
or do I buy a practice? And what does that look like from an economic standpoint, from a feasibility standpoint, but also from a headache standpoint? There's all different headaches. And as always, when we go through this process, we bring in great references and people that have been through it, whether it's doctors or industry experts. And today we happen to have a doctor that went through this, Cindy Polly,
03:21
Hello, Cindy, how are you? Thanks for having me today. Thanks for joining us. But Cindy went through the process and our game plan here is to kind of pick her brain, to get an understanding of her mindset, how it shifted when she was the seller in the practice. But we want to give that perspective for people to understand that psyche. Because Mike, this is not, you know,
03:48
a land grab and fight. This should be something that our listeners, if they're going through this process, that it's a fun transition and everything's out on the table. I call it fair exchange and I learned that from a mentor of mine. I think that will be the theme of this entire season is there has to be a win-win, buyer and seller.
04:15
on every deal. There can't be a lose win and anybody going into the transition and Dr. Polly will probably get into some of this as she went through the process. it just can't be. There's got to be a win win. And that's the whole theme of this show is really to help buyers go through that process with a level head. And I think as a consultant, half my job is making sure that client does keep
04:45
a level head through the whole process and oftentimes the practice brokers will help the sellers keep a level head and we could get into that too. let's get Dr. Polly here. Cindy, do you mind if we call you Cindy? that okay for the show? Perfect. So Doc, give us what you're doing today, just real quick, two minute.
05:13
What's your story? Tell us about you and your journey through this whole dentistry, then you sold your practice and what you're doing today. Well, first of all, thanks for having me. This is really fun. And I'm excited to be a part of your broadcast. I watched many of your episodes last season. They were really well done. And so it's really fun to be today. So thanks for having me as a guest. I really appreciate it. I was a
05:40
Private practice dentist for 28 years. I practiced first with my mom who established a practice in Bellevue, Washington. And then my husband is also a dentist. had an independent practice in another town called Edmonds. And about a little over a decade ago, my mom retired, my husband sold. So that was our first sale of a practice. We sold the practice in Edmonds and then he took over.
06:05
per part of our practice in Bellevue, which I always referred to as a tandem bike. I really couldn't run it alone and we had little kids, so I didn't want to associate. So long story short, he came and we worked together for the next 10 years. But the first sale that we went through was at that point, him selling a practice, a really nice practice in Edmonds and sort of that process and what that looked like. And then it came to a point in our career where we had
06:36
done other things, didn't done other investments and we just decided to pursue those and to go ahead and sell our dental practice, not the building. Let me ask you a question, Cindy, hang on a second, because he sold the practice, right? And then did he buy into the practice? sell him her practice? Yes. All right, so there was, right? So there was a sale, buy, and then a sale again.
07:04
So this is really cool. Yeah. I had no idea you had that many transitions in your career already. And we haven't even talked about yours yet. So yeah. Yeah. So it was it was very positive, obviously very easy because of the fact that he was able to.
07:23
That practice was in a nice area and it sold well. It was well positioned. He was a young dentist. wasn't an, you we can, we're go, I'm sure you'll go into that, how practices age and that becomes a little more challenging, but he was sort of at the peak of his career. So it was a very desirable practice and he was able to pick the, you know, the buyer that he wanted. He had quite an array of buyers to choose from. So that was, that was nice. And I think he picked a nice fit for his practice. So that really was a nice transition.
07:53
And then fast forward, then we sold, think a little more challenging practice to sell. was a really big show in, this area. was, um, uh, my husband and myself, it was three hygienists. was Sarah. It was, um, it was just a big production. It was a big show. And so we needed to find a little more, a little, maybe a little less traditional buyer. And we ended up selling to a really nice, actually husband and wife. Um, so it fit.
08:20
as perfectly very similar to us and practice philosophies and all of that. So it did transition very well. Let's get in. Let's get into that. Actually, that walks me right into our my first question. What doc like going into trans you had had some experience up to selling your practice. What were your what were your expectations going into it like?
08:44
that it was gonna be easy or hard for you. And you knew this was gonna be your final sale, like you were done with the game, right? Yeah. I felt very done. I mean, one thing about, I think one thing about being a dentist who sells a practice, and this is probably, I like to say what I think I know or learned is when we're selling a practice, we're not selling, we're selling our goodwill and we're selling that area that we've developed. There's usually a covenant not to compete and all of those things that interact.
09:13
But it's not as scary as say your whole family is invested in a widget business and now you sell the widget business and you are out of business because without that business, you don't make widgets. You still walk away with your dental degree. So it's not as terrifying because you sell the practice that you're ready to sell, but you always think in the back of your head, if I have to, I can do this in another place and another space, whatever the covenant not to compete is. I won't bother these people, but I'll do this. So it's a, it's a really.
09:42
safe feeling. never was scared. We both thought we can always do this in another capacity. We could, you know, go somewhere else, maybe buy a smaller practice, something like that. So we never did. But at that point in time, we were done. Yeah, we were very done. We were physically done. My neck. Yeah, I mean, every day my husband had a thumb problem. We could have muscled it out for another 10, 15 years, but we felt pretty done. And I mean, that's something that that happens. And, you know,
10:12
I'm gonna recap a couple pieces of what you kind of talked about so our listeners can kind of understand how to dilute this information into something that they could actually drink. sometimes those larger practices, let's dissect a couple of the things that you talked about. Those larger practices are harder to find individuals. Not only from philosophically, right?
10:39
can they actually do the workload because banks look at that and say, can they actually do that work? Right? And then a young dentist probably can't buy a $3 million practice right out of school. So they're off the table. So these practices, it keeps on getting funneled down, funneled down, funneled down. you know, as our listeners know, I ran an M &A firm out of Chicago that did healthcare M &A, specifically dentists.
11:08
And we did large groups a lot of times. That was my focus. And those have very finite end users that they can sell to. Sometimes that sale process is longer. So that expectation that you had of, was done. Sometimes people say, hey, I'm going to sell this right away and I'm out of this picture. Guess what? Finding that right buyer sometimes can take a little bit longer.
11:37
and that process takes a little bit longer. So from our listener standpoint, the buyer, they have to understand the psyche of the seller, right? And what their needs are and what is happening with them because they have to figure out philosophically, treatment plan wise, economically, what this transition is going to look like on both sides. And I think we're going to, I think through the season, we're going to hope, I hope we hit that.
12:07
17 times in every single episode. That's why I'm bringing it up like early on because she brought this up in her soliloquy to start. Yeah. Come on. She just nailed all of these points. Yeah. So the question is, and I always said, yes, you know, I was president of that firm. But more than that, I think I was a psychologist for the dentist that was selling that psychology that, you know,
12:36
that I was to these these sellers. Did you use a broker in your process or did you do it on your own? Transition one transition to both both of them. We use brokers and both of them different brokerage houses. Oh, this is good. This is good. So we're going to go into Shark Week with all the practice brokers and Cindy, now you represent a brokerage and we're going to interview your firm later on in the season. But
13:05
Um, that, okay. So you used multiple brokers. Well, one for Brian's and then my husband, one for ours in my situation. Okay. So some of that was a little bit more nuanced in the sense that I was going to pony before I, was going to pony back to the idea of what I, I love saying what I learned as a broker, as opposed to what I knew then and what I learned as a broker that
13:34
kind of amazed me. And I think as dentists, we're very self-centered. I mean, I think you guys recognize that we live in this very insular orbit where, you know, we write the paychecks for everyone around us and the patients that come to us generally like us for the most part and the ones that don't leave. And so we start to get very... sun. Yeah, right? We're like, you know, we start to lose a little bit of maybe even understanding. And so we just think the whole world kind of works like us, you know, that's...
14:03
Everyone's going to do it the way we do it. So my husband had walked away from his practice, you know, and turn key and left, you know, he left on Thursday and the dentist took over on Monday. And that's absolutely the expectation we had in our practice. That was what I've been surprised by as a broker is how many dentists don't necessarily want to fully retire. They want to sell the practice, the business end of it, and they don't want to work as much, but they definitely want to keep working. And to be honest, that
14:32
just was like, Because the business end of it and the running the business, that was never as much of a burden to me as the four days a week of physical dentistry. But that's my perspective. That's not, and I had a husband to help me run a practice and I always had parents to help me run the practice before that. So the business end of it was not a problem. The physical part of it was a problem. So that's the opposite of what I, in my experience, not the working back part. I agree. I think
15:02
To me, that's a lot of having your cake and eating it too because running the business and managing people is the hard part that all of our clients have challenges with. So why wouldn't they wanna just hang out, do some crowns, make some money, and not deal with that crap? Why wouldn't they? And oh, by the way, oh, by the way, get a check for selling this amazing practice. so, yeah, doctor,
15:32
many people do want to walk away, but a lot of people don't. And that was for whatever it's worth. These are all things that I was like, oh, well, that's interesting. You want to hang around and let someone else manage everything. I mean, that's I'm a little bit of a control freak that would not have worked well with my personality. So there's no way that whole world, you know, that whole world is, know, why Wall Street?
16:01
is coming in at 25, 30 % of the market only dental practices because they're, you know, whether they like it or not, my dad was a dentist as the listeners know, he was a horrible business guy, right? He was an amazing dentist, but, that's why people like to hand over those keys. These, you know, Wall Street and Harvard grads that can run a business really, really well. And you know, that's, that, that also is the impetus of
16:31
these doctors saying, hey, I want to stay on for two, three years, maybe five years. You guys run it. I get a paycheck. That wasn't your world, but a lot of times this actually happens. Absolutely. Yeah. And really, and sometimes it's hard because if you have a practice, if you're selling a practice, that's really a one doctor practice and really only has enough patients for one doctor schedule. Yeah. That's a challenge because
17:00
they need to pay their bank loan back. They can't afford an associate at that point. Yeah. So those expectations of those buyers, you know, that has to be set up well in advance with that LOI, distinct timeframes that doctors are going to be there, distinct timeframes of, you know, how many days a week they're going to work and then when they're gone. And with a clause that states upon a mutually agreed upon or a
17:29
agreed upon timeframe, I can give you notice on both sides. But I do want to get back to this because that's part of that LOI piece. I asked about eight minutes ago, did you use a broker? I understand why you use two different brokers. Before you answer that, before you answer that, can you pull some pieces out about what worked well and what didn't? You don't have to talk about which broker or whatever.
17:57
Which I'm really, I'm really interested. I'm really interested in like why it helped, why it didn't help. Like get into some of that because I mean, selfish plug, you're a broker now, but forget that part. I'm just simply saying like there's a lot of value having brokers involved. There is some value and not there's and it's usually monetarily for the seller.
18:23
I just want to break that down just a little bit, maybe in this segment. So I will tell you that both brokerage situations were just great. So there was no there's no I don't have any complaints about either situation. I would tell you that I cannot imagine going through either transition without a broker. Part of the reason why I'm doing what I do now is I recognize recognized that it was a skill set. I did not.
18:53
in any way understand how complicated it is to be a broker until I became one. I did not understand what they were doing completely. I knew it was important. I knew that I had my dentistry to do. I knew that I had my world to take care of. I did not have contact with banks. know, there's a laundry list of things that a broker does that I cannot in my head, truthfully, even imagine doing as a dentist. So I'm not exactly sure how
19:22
Now, I'm not saying if you sold to, you your associate or if you sold to someone that you knew, but just a blanket sale of a stranger dentist who you've never met to come in and purchase your practice. The laundry list of things to do is so enormous that I could never imagine having sold that without a broker. And I would say that both brokers did a great job. I think they were both really professional.
19:50
And both of our experiences were really positive. Well, started this company one slight difference. Well, still staying on the same vein, I said in the beginning of the show that both sides need to stay very even keel and need to keep their expectations in line and have the appropriate things done. And both sides have their their role. And so now as a buyer's rep on the buyer's side,
20:21
having someone in your corner all the way through from start to finish on both sides, it just makes the deal so much smoother. So did you have a point that you were adding to that? I cut you off, Doc. No, I think that actually, so we didn't work with the, we worked with the brokers, but we didn't work with a buyer's representative. And the reason we didn't do that is a lack of knowledge. So I just really want to emphasize that.
20:46
If there was a mistake to make and if there was an error to take, I feel like we did that. So I feel like there was a lack of preparedness. There was a lack of understanding of the process. It's a whole new concept. mean, the market doesn't even know how to handle a buyer's rep now. if you selfish plug, you think about real estate every single day, there's a buyer's rep and that makes total sense. And so I
21:16
The buyers come in on Dental Town and listening to podcasts like this and they just have their preconceived ideas about what this process is gonna be and it's all wrong, quite frankly. And then they have bankers' perspectives and attorneys' perspectives and CPA's perspectives, which are all good perspectives. We're gonna interview all these people. But they all kinda are coming from an angle.
21:42
if that makes sense, and no one's sitting in the shoes of that doctor. And it's the angle that's fulfilling their box that they live in. So from an underwriting standpoint, that banker is going to tell that seller this, what needs, you know, your world needs to look like, and buyer, hey, this doesn't fit our world. So that seller then has this, or that buyer has this idea of, oh my God, something's wrong with this practice.
22:11
But in reality, nothing's wrong with the practice. It could be the underwriting box that the bank fits within. There's so many levels of true understanding of buying a practice and selling a practice that it is insanity. And controlling all of those people as a dentist on the buy side and the sell side,
22:40
doesn't necessarily fit their train of thought in my mind. didn't my dad's train of thought when he sold his practice to his associate. His mind was, you know, very proud of what this is. And these are all my friends and can this guy do what he's going to do when he takes over? Thankfully, he's an amazing dentist and he was able to do it. But there is a psychological, you know,
23:10
ego that is surrounded on the seller side, that the buyer in some senses has to pay deference to what they built. They're essentially buying profitability. That's insane. That's how the seller or the buyer has to look at this. This person built this behemoth. I need to pay deference from what they're doing. I need to pay a fair price. And that seller has to say, well,
23:39
I need to make sure there is some goodwill, there's some tangible assets and this needs to make sense for them. I think that's the overall piece. I wanted to ask Cindy, during the negotiation process as a seller, was that a frustrating thing for you? John kind of touched on it as like the seller feels like they created this
24:07
business, the goodwill's theirs. It's their baby. I hear that all the time, right? And they think it's worth X, whatever, right? And then you got the- And their practice is how very different from- Yeah. I laugh all the time with Rod and my boss and say, oh my gosh, I said that. I actually told you what now I hear so much. It's like-
24:37
Yeah. And was out, was that was that hard? Yeah. I think one problem we have as dentists and I can be very self critical is that we don't recognize that this is done over and over and over in every state, in every place in this country, in the world. You know, I don't know. You know, obviously they don't all operate quite the way ours do always in every country. But we are not that unique. I mean, we unique practice and that it's in a unique location. It's a
25:06
and one facility and all of those things. But we are not as, and I don't mean this to be negative, I meant more to be positive. We're not as unique as we think. Therefore, there is a buyer for our practice. There's going to be someone who's interested and they are going to be successful. And one thing that I like to say, to let people know is that
25:30
Your your patients love you. They do love you. They they trust you and they love you. And that's part of what you're selling your goodwill. And at the end of the day, they will miss you, but they will learn to love the next dentist. So your practice is very saleable. It is OK for you to go. And then you will be surprised that they will never forgo but move along. And so that I think that's something that is hard in the beginning. It is something that
25:59
to feel like you're very, like you say, everyone says it's their baby. They're very protective and you should be, you should be proud of what you've built, whatever that value is that you're selling. mean, how blessed are we to be able to sell that? I think one of the reasons on the second transition, I was more prepared to be replaced was because I saw how quickly my husband was replaced in Edmonds. Dennis moved right along and the patients missed him, but so be it.
26:26
I was not as emotional maybe as you would be on because it was my second time selling something. But your main question was something else. I we'll just just just just the mindset. So let's get into that. So you you sold that first practice. Your mindset was different than the second time. Tell me more about that.
26:53
Yeah, the second time I recognized that you are replaceable and as valuable as you have been in that situation and as potentially good or bad or indifferent of a business owner that you have been, you are replaceable. And I think that that allowed me to take a little bit of the emotion out of quote unquote, giving my baby. If I've noticed another theme with dentists that are selling and maybe I've just been only blessed to work with them.
27:19
you know, all the really great ones and wonderful people, but they are so concerned about their staff. It's really, they're so concerned that the next dentist has the same benefits and are they going to have the same vacation? Will they have the same wages? It's really, uh, it's a selfless and I think really unique for this industry and speaks highly to the dentists out there that are selling that they care so much about their staff. And of course they care about their patients, but they're going to find a good.
27:46
fire for their patients, but that's another recurring thing. Cindy, we have to understand this. Staff and salaries, which makes up 20 to 25 % of the actual overhead of a practice, right? Sometimes more. is giving me more, but literally that can be a deal breaker. And a lot of times someone is getting overpaid.
28:15
And so I understand where these dentists come from, right? I get it. But from an empirical data, I understand there's some brokers out there that love to talk about the new carpet and the new chairs and the bullshit on the walls. I don't care. A true M &A firm focuses on empirical data, which is numbers, right? So someone is going to beat up that seller based upon the fact
28:44
that their staff wages are too high or their rent is too high. And that's where getting a broker involved or a lawyer involved, if you're not using a broker, to help hammer out all these details well in advance before the LOI. So that way there's no fighting post LOI and everyone is dancing to the finish line. That's how a true transaction happens in the business world. Unfortunately,
29:14
in dental land, it doesn't work that way. It's a fight to the end. And that's why a lot of these things actually don't close when they're supposed to. Because egos get involved, or my babies get involved, and those expectations aren't taken care of well in advance. So I love the fact that you went through it twice. Both were great experiences. And it sounds like they both transitioned well.
29:43
Well, they were great experiences, but they weren't without stress. Well, exactly. And remember, don't want to sugarcoat it too much. It was stressful. Yeah. You guys dropped the keys at the closing table, as they say, as opposed to some of these guys that stay on six, nine, 12 months. Part of our closing for the second practice was to stay on for two months. I was picking that up. It sounded like that second time. Two months is different than a year. Yeah.
30:11
Like are you kidding me? This guy's running this business this way. That's yes, you know, I Love that you had that transition play because it looks that's perfect to to to kind of put a crescendo on this episode last Question we could spend some time on it here post transition issues. So It's hard to ask you questions doc because you have two examples that I'm one of them. I didn't even know about so
30:39
And now that I've learned a lot about your two transitions, I'm actually interested in the first transition because you just said you stayed on. And actually those have issues too now that I think about it. let's take two minutes, two and a half minutes, let's talk about the first one, issues.
31:00
because there's always issues post-close and John, you got into the legal, legalese of the whole deal. The whole point of legal and we're gonna get into that. We're gonna have Den-O-Nachos himself, Robert Montgomery, gonna be, we're gonna interview on the legal side of this season. But they try to do everything that they can to make sure that all of the fighting happens, fighting happens during.
31:28
the transition so that when we're done that there aren't any issues. And if there are issues, it's already spelled out. That's a that's probably the most simple way to say it. So what issues did you have or what expectations did you have post close first time and second time? The first time I think it went well. I think that potentially maybe there wasn't enough of a
31:54
communication with my husband and the new dentist to really help solidify the staff. didn't, the new dentist did end up losing quite a bit of the staff. And although very successful and still fine and all of that, I think that for me led itself to really wanting to secure the staff for the next, for the next transition and really make sure that I did things that I've actually noticed some other dentists do now, but I made sure that
32:22
When we closed, actually paid out a bonus to my staff post-close. I actually took them out and paid out a bonus to kind of ensure a goodwill and help them feel good about the position and do some extra things along the way that really tried to help that. then- second. Did you have a bonus program in place already or- Yeah, we had a-
32:50
I know people are going to say you're crazy. I had a daily bonus that I did calculate every day and not everything, you know, for each payroll, but I did have a daily bonus. I didn't really have as much of a big thing, but I kind of gave them something substantial to try to really foster the. you. About it. So that post-closed bonus, that's interesting to me. I like that. Was that just something that.
33:19
you had brought up into the transition that you thought would be great for the buyer? Did you leave money on the table there? mean, what was the thought process? Well, my thought process was I really wanted to make sure that I got a good jumpstart for them in a loyalty transfer. So I felt like...
33:39
This was a way for me to say thank you for everything you've done. had a really long-term staff. had a dental assistance for 23 years, hygienist for decades, three hygienists with me over a decade. So I really felt like doing that was really saying thank you for every bit of goodwill that you've brought to this practice. And as we all know, 80, and I don't know if all your listeners know, but 80 % of what you're saying, cause I know we think a lot that it's the physical building. 80 % of what you're selling in most situations is goodwill.
34:08
And so I really wanted to carry that forward. So that was, think I wouldn't have necessarily done that if I hadn't have maybe felt like it was a little bit of that peak. Like I didn't want people to feel somehow that I abandoned them or left them. And I've noticed actually I've had, I've actually had two sellers do similar idea. didn't suggest it. It's not something that a broker is going to suggest to you, but they've done that. And it's, I think it's a helpful, positive thing. So I'm going to say right now, I'm going to say right now,
34:38
That's not probably gonna happen. Cindy, Cindy, that is super sweet and I love that. Being on the side of the buyers most of the time, I wish all the sellers would do that. you did it. You did a class A deal there. Like that, that is awesome. That's almost worth a higher price. So sellers out there, consider putting a carrot out there for maybe a higher price point for that. That's huge. That's huge.
35:08
So that's great. That's great. Everyone really stayed on. mean, they did not have, they had good trans. Something I would recalculate in the future, both my husband and I would recalculate in the future is that we were, we did stay on as associates for two months and we did not look at the associate agreement very well because we weren't interested in it. It wasn't part of our focus. We were just kind of staying with goodwill. I would encourage people who are staying on if it's
35:35
two weeks, two months or six months or a year, make sure that you are extremely confident in what you're signing in an associate agreement. And I am very good with that with my sellers, if they are hanging on, we just didn't focus on it. I don't think it was anyone's fault. I think it was a sort of standard associate agreement, but it really didn't, it didn't really work out. It caused a little more back and forth than
36:01
than really probably you need in that situation. So I would just encourage people to really look at their associate agreement and make sure that. That's Cindy, that is, I always would say the employment contract is more important than the asset purchase agreement for the actual, especially if they're staying on. Spot on with that, like that, I would hammer that home so much because ultimately
36:30
especially for a million dollar seller of a practice, right? If they're staying on for three to five years or whatever that might be, they might make up that dollar amount also in their employment contract on the backside. so understanding the nuances of that from a buy side, sell side of what that looks like, it's really important. But once again, you brought it up earlier, Cindy, you got to make sure the numbers are there, right?
36:59
The numbers have to be there from the buyer perspective for this practice, whether it's big, small, even if they want to make sure they've retained patients, then they say, we have to have this dentist here. Guess what? Everything's going to be okay. Like you said earlier, Cindy, this happens more often than people understand. Let the people that understand the process help navigate those waters.
37:28
Cindy, you gave great insight from really both perspectives in my mind. You gave it from, you know, obviously the seller's perspective, but you know, we had that other side there that, you know, for that dentist and your husband had to buy into, you know, your practice and you built something big and that psyche of what happens to that seller and, you know, that egocentric world that dentists work in. Thank you for it, you know.
37:58
realizing it and letting others know that that's a reality. you know, I always say, you know, it has to be a fair exchange and people really have to knock out these nuances well in advance of that LOI and that closing date. But you did a great job of helping us understand that from your perspective. We only have our own perspective. Yes, I sold practices. Yes, I sold my own practices.
38:28
Um, but it's also great having a, uh, a dentist perspective and we appreciate you being a part of it. Thanks for letting me be a part of it. It's been really fun. Yes, Cindy, Merry Christmas for the background. Do you live in the, by the way, do you live in the North pole by chance? Yeah, I know, right? It's like that. Although the snow all melted, but it was a lot of snow up here for a while. No, you were, you were great. Exactly right. So thanks. Thanks again, followers, uh, tune in next. Well, we, we're going to try to drop these every two weeks.
38:57
Follow along Facebook, subscribe to YouTube. We're working our way through the process and Cindy, you got us going really well here. Thanks so much. Thanks Cindy. Alright guys, see you later. Bye.