Hi there,

I'm going to say something that sounds wrong.

The principal who is in the chair five days a week, doing most of the dentistry and holding the whole place together, is often the one quietly destroying the value of their own practice.

Not the revenue. The value. Most owners only discover the difference on the day they try to sell.

Here's why. Buyers don't really care about your turnover. They care about a version of your profit called associate led EBITDA. To get there, a serious buyer takes your profit, strips out everything you personally take from the business, then adds back the cost of replacing you with an associate on market rates, usually around 40 to 50% of the fees they generate.

What's left answers one question: how much does this business make without you in it?

For a lot of owner operators, that number is brutal. The practice was never really a business. It was a well paid job with your name on the door.

And it gets more expensive. When one dentist, usually the owner, produces more than about a third of the practice's income, buyers typically knock one to two times EBITDA off the multiple. Same profit, same turnover, and the gap can be several hundred thousand pounds. It's the most expensive thing in dentistry that nobody talks about.

We once worked with a private practice owner generating around 40% of his practice's income. We flagged it early. He brought in associates and cut his share to around 10%, doing just implants. When he sold, his multiple came in well above market norms, worth an extra £300,000.

In this video I walk through the four moves that fix this: building your associate bench, putting a management layer in place that isn't you, giving your best people a reason to stay, and documenting everything. I also explain why you need to start two to three years before you sell, not six months.

Watch: Associate EBITDA Explained, What Buyers Actually Pay For

If you stepped out of the chair tomorrow, what would your practice actually be worth? Watch the video, then ask yourself honestly.

And if you find this useful, subscribe to the channel. Every week I break down the numbers that decide what you actually walk away with.

Make yourself unnecessary,
Arun Mehra