Starting a dental practice can be a rewarding and lucrative venture that will give you the opportunity to help patients achieve a better, healthier smile. Working in your own dental practice will allow you to help people achieve more self-confidence through a better-looking smile, which is something that draws many people to this exciting and rewarding industry. The following are a few tips to take into consideration when starting your own dental practice…

1. Choose a Populated Area

I can’t stress enough the importance of choosing a well-populated area to start your new dental practice. Common sense should tell you that clients translate into sales and ultimately profits. Leasing buildings and areas in populated city areas certainly costs more than a rural location, but it’s a small price to pay for a constant stream of patients. There are several free tools around, such as Wikipedia, that allow you to gauge the population density of regions.

2. Look For Financing Options

Spend some time researching the different financing options before purchasing a dental practice. You might be surprised to learn just how much capital is required to start a dental practice from scratch. The good news, however, is that financing options are readily available.  A dental practice consultant like 1st Med Financial can help you understand all the different financing options available to you.

3. Do Not Enter a Competitive Area

Going back to the importance of choosing the right location to start your dental practice, you shouldn’t try to force your way into an already competitive area. Once you’ve found a possible location for your practice, check the local phone book or do an on-line search to see how many other dentists are around. Most clients continue to go back to the same dentist for each procedure; therefore, you won’t receive many clients if you try to muscle your way into an area with several other practices around.

4. Don’t Run a One-Man Operation

Some people may attempt to run their dental practice themselves or with a single receptionist. Although this may save you some cash on payroll, it will likely result in poor performance while increasing the chance of mistakes. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t try to run a one-man operation in your new dental practice. Instead, place help wanted ads in the newspaper to look for experienced staff members.

Whether you intend on starting your own dental practice or purchasing a preexisting one, you’ll need to come up with the appropriate capital to cover all of your expenses. It’s not uncommon for preexisting practices to sell for several hundred thousand dollars, and that’s not including its employees’ payroll. Thankfully, there are loans available to help dentists and entrepreneurs finance their dental practice. Here, we’re going to take a look at the top 5 things you should to before applying for a dental practice loan.

1. Business Plan

Before you even think about applying for a dental practice loan, you should first draft up a business plan. This will show the bank or financial lender that you are a serious business person who’s going to work hard to create a successful practice. Place yourself in the shoes of a lender and ask yourself who you would rather hire: someone with a clean business plan demonstrated on paper or someone with ideas in their head.

2. Gather Financial Documents

You’ll also want to gather any and all financial documents pertaining to the dental practice. If you’ve already invested some of your own personal assets into the practice, locate these documents to the show the lender. This will give you some credit in their eyes since you are willing to invest some of your own money. If you intend on purchasing a preexisting dental practice, request that the current owner provide three years of filed tax returns for the practice along with a copy of their year-to-date profit and loss statement. 1st Med Financial can provide a detailed checklist of all the information you will need from the current owner.

3. Check Your Credit

It’s not a bad idea to check your credit before applying for a dental practice loan. Some financial institutes will look into your personal credit, so checking it beforehand will give you the opportunity to address any discrepancies. If you see any debtors wrongfully claiming that you owe them money, don’t be afraid to give them a call to settle this issue. Allowing these unpaid debt claims to remain on your credit report will only hurt your chances of acquiring a dental practice loan.

4. Decide How Much You Can Pay

Of course, you should also decide exactly how much you are willing to pay each month on a dental practice loan. During the application procedure, the bank or financial institute will likely throw some figures out there. Biting off more than you can chew with an expensive monthly payment could place you in deep trouble, so avoid making this mistake. If you intend on purchasing a preexisting dental practice a consultant at 1st Med Financial can assist in analyzing the cash flow. This will help you see what payment amount will be practical.

5. Be Professional

When you begin the dental practice loan application process, the single biggest piece of advice I can give is to present yourself in a professional manner. Carry yourself with a professional attitude. This will go a long ways in conveying your desire to succeed as a new business owner.