Help Me Help My Dad

Educate him on fixing it.

I "get" that the "economy" has fucked over people. But I don't care what business you're in, or even if you're just an employee seeking a job, you can deal with the economy. Businesses can bank in a bad economy with the right marketing.

I know people that have been "job hunting" for two years now. I could go get a general labor job within days that pays $15+ an hour if I had to.

My point is that too many people blame the economy without taking a hard look at themselves. And I'm not talking specifically about your Dad either.

So educate him on making money...

1. Money management is the big issue (apparently). Cut the fat. Downsize. Eliminate all unnecessary bills. Don't buy shit on credit.

2. Get him hip on marketing. Spent too much times in small claims court? Send out letters/call the people that owe him. Tell them they have 7 days to settle before they'll be served and have their credit ruined. In the future, offer a discount for patients who pay upfront.

Most dentists (well, businesses) are horrible at marketing. My dentist does fine as far as I can tell. They never send me any mail, no promotions, no email, no followup whatsoever. If he's like most business owners he has a goldmine sitting in his customer list that he's completely ignoring.

I think I read "hick town" somewhere in there. If I were a localized high ticket service provider, I wouldn't be anywhere near a hick town. Go somewhere with prospects who have money live.

You say "people don't go to the dentist in this economy" (paraphrasing), no offense, but bullshit, yes they do. That's why I have to wait a month for my appointments. Some people don't, but a lot of people still do.

Best advice I can give you is your Dad needs to get hip to managing money and running a business.

Get him this: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Financial-Fitness/dp/product-description/159555078X]Amazon.com: The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness (9781595550781): Thomas Nelson: Books[/ame]

And I don't know you man, I assume you're pretty young, and probably have made most of your money running facebook to CPA offers. I could be wrong, but you probably don't know a lot about direct marketing beyond that.

Get your Dad into a real education on marketing a business. Dan Kennedy's stuff comes to mind.

There are probably guys who specialize in dental marketing, I'm sure some are worth looking into.

Get him out of being an employee, get a new practice opened up, market it right, he'll bank more money and if he can learn to manage it he can dig himself out.

None of this is meant to be offensive dude. It's just the problems I'm seeing from what you've posted.

Best of luck.
 


scottspfd82 said:
None of this is meant to be offensive dude. It's just the problems I'm seeing from what you've posted.
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Not offensive at all, as you actually attempted to diagnose the problem and offer suggestions for a solution. I appreciate that.


Moxie said:
If you just wanted ideas on how someone with his skills could make more money than you could have just asked for that. It appeared that you were looking for help with his overall financial situation.
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It did? from original post...

SUP3RNOVA said:
Is there any way you think he can either utilize his dental knowledge/skills in another way, or just something he could do on his own back home?
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EDIT: I can see where "just something he could do" could be interpreted as what he can do about his personal finances/expenses, but I was just speaking of ideas he can do as far as making additional income goes.

Regardless, almost every reaction that called out his financial misjudgments served to be completely useless.
 
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A dentist in my area has found the perfect way to get around the shitty economy: He built his reputation for 30+ years, then when the economy went into a slump he lowered his prices for non-insured customers (I.e. root canal for insured people = $1000, whereas non-insured customers can get taken care of for less than half that.)

Professionals have a hard time lowering themselves to less profits, but in the case of the dentist I mentioned above; he's expanding now and trying to get an appointment inside of two months is next to impossible (even with 2 dental surgeons, 10+ hygienists and office staff.) -- less profit and more volume has made this guy the most successful dentist for miles.

* I agree with Scott about people using the economy as a crutch. I've never been without work, but I'm also not afraid to swallow my pride now and again. There's always work for those that want it.
 
scottspfd82 said:
Most dentists (well, businesses) are horrible at marketing. My dentist does fine as far as I can tell. They never send me any mail, no promotions, no email, no followup whatsoever.
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Yep. I agree. That's exactly why I suggested this.

Then, Paul's dad can start pumping out marketing materials for other dentists. Brochures, emails, etc. Sell a marketing system to go along with the membership site.

At Paul: take a look at this, this, and this. Lots of ideas there.
 
SUP3RNOVA said:
He's a general dentist, and I think he can do whitening (which is good to advertise). I'd say the best part about is skillset is his touch. He can take a person afraid of needles and give them a couple novocain shots without them feeling it. His old practice used to be called Gentle Dentistry.
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My gf is a dentist and does a bit of marketing on the side. Last year we helped one of her professors get patients for his new practice w/ Adwords. Campaign is doing alright. You can do some serious damage with a well thought out/executed online campaign.

He also does local advertising in the paper (i.e. official dentist of town's youth sports team, gives away free mouthguards to new patients, etc...)

Also gives free teeth whitening for life to new patients which costs virtually nothing but draws them in, converts them into long-term patients.

>> I'd say the best part about is skillset is his touch. He can take a person afraid of needles and give them a couple novocain shots without them feeling it. His old practice used to be called Gentle Dentistry.

This is a great USP. People are more afraid of the dentist than death. If you can bang that USP into their heads, build a whole new practice around it, and use some online/offline marketing strategies from what you've learned over the past four years, you (both) should do well.

I'm all for helping parents out. They brought us into this world, raised us, etc... it's the least we can do.

However, I also agree with a lot of other posters that he needs to learn how to manage money better. It's not how much you make, but how much you keep. It doesn't matter if you're making 10K/month and spending 12K or making 100K and spending 120K. You're still going to be broke in both scenarios.
 
He doesn't need to make more money - he needs to learn how to budget. WF is not the forum for this.

I'd suggest checking out Fatwallet.com finance section - have him post up the details of his budget and let them rip it to shreds. If you listen they can seriously help - but it will be tough love.

It's really the single most helpful thing he can do to have more money - finding and cutting what is draining the money more then it should.

Good luck!
 
SUP3RNOVA said:
Like I said, the economy here (like most places) went to shit, and the first thing people drop is dental coverage. His practice was successful (had 3 offices that he ran himself at it's peak), he owns a $300,000 home, has put 3 kids through college and has 1 more on the way. The economy busted, he sold his practice, and nobody needs a dentist now because they don't give a shit about their teeth. You're honestly a fucking arrogant idiot if you don't think the economic condition has put good people out of jobs.

Thanks for throwing a pointless insult out there though, nice to see you're a good person.
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The economy in my area tanked as well, 12-15% unemployment. Both my parents have lost their jobs and don't have insurance currently since it was tied to my dad, but they and my sister do get teeth cleanings done.

Know why? Because the dentist said that he'd squeeze them in and work with them on the price, so don't miss their scheduled appointments. He's currently the busiest dentest around because he is working with struggling customers that've been with him for awhile. The other dentist in the city is a snob and won't lower his prices or work with customers, so he is off playing golf while their dentist is fitting in the other's customers.

Tough times either make or break someone's business. If you're willing to work with your customers and do a "per-customer" negotiation on pricing, they'll give you some money and give you a ton of positive referrals out of the deal because they feel special. When the economy swings back around, they will also be your most loyal advocates.

It's much better to lose some money on your current prices and keep your appointments booked. Vacant rooms are a much worse opportunity cost loss than filled rooms at a discounted rate.
 
SUP3RNOVA said:
I'm sorry you don't care for your family as much as I do, but I don't want my dad to have a heart attack from stress and die.
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Ok, fair enough. Enough of me bashing the situation.

This one is for you and you only Paul... Please write the next line down and have it tattoo'd on your inner eyelids..

"Better him than me."

The more you become codependent to his problems, the more you suffer. Two years ago I was personally where you are now, I imagine a lot of the common problems between dads are nearly identical. I hired him on, taught him how to manage already successful campaigns. I took him in for 16 months, rent-free. I bought a truck for him. I paid his loans each month, for months on end, to the tune of 2K+ a month.

Know where that got me? He had no motivation to change his behaviors whatsoever. He managed a 50mm+ construction implement, he made ridiculous money. He didn't manage it AT ALL. Then, when shit hit the fan, he came to me, thinking he was a changed person I helped. Thankfully I only have to learn that lesson once.

I had a wife and 2 little boys, I was paying cash for her gradschool, I was paying 100% more to live in my new town than my old. If I didn't have internet marketing to support me, I'd have been fucked, and so would have he been. Instead of me reinvesting into my business, I paid his shit, and some of my mothers. It totally fucked me. Guys I started in the biz with are now living in 400K homes and have stock accounts in the hundreds of thousands. I chose to help family and at the time it felt right, it fucked me hard. Since March 2010, when I booted his ass out, I've done nothing but make money and it's been the best feeling ever.

I know how you feel, dude, trust me.

Looking for solutions isn't going to turn out well for you personally, no matter how good it feels at the time, you're just polishing the brass on the Titanic, it's all going down baby.
 
The bottom line is that your dad needs more cash now not six months from now. He needs to find a way to leverage his current knowledge and skillset, and branch out to other cities/states.

I would have him do what Joe Polish did for Carpet Cleaners. Teach dentists how to grow their practice. Hard part is he can't walk the walk.

Fuck it, your dad is screwed.
 
Definitely need to focus on your father's skill-set of 30+ yrs which is being a dentist (not selling dentistry related promotional products, consulting, etc) re-open another practice in a busier area with a better demo (higher income) and less competition.

Not sure if you have seen this presentation Jeremy did about his success with booking a local dentist office using only FB advertising but it's worth a watch.

Start at 31:55 min

 
Not interested in any of the bs debates raging through this thread but I am kind of working through the same situation atm myself. So heres what I suggest.

Your dad has a wealth of experience in the dentistry field. Use That.

Built a local directory.

Get him to sell spaces on it to local dentists.

You will spend money advertising it. Its his job to get clients.

Clients pay a monthly fee of $x.

You spend half that monthly fee (or other %) on advertising.

He builds relationships and the business leaving you hands off.

You pay him a salary from the business that he developes.

Im doing this right now and it works. All the people that say fuck him, screw him, he'll drag you down - ok Wolfe - you have some real reasons and thats fair enough.

The others - read what you just typed and think about it. Some cold shit.
 
out of curiosity, what kind of vehicle does your dad drive?

also as mentioned above, how come your dads home isnt paid off yet in 30+ years?? My parents houses have been paid off for the past 10 years. (they are 60).

seems like tons of money issues in your family :)
 
at 60 it's too late to change people's minds about things- I've seen this before - the 'oh but my law practice was good for 30 years doing nothing besides going to a local rotary meeting and drinking beers! lulz!"

Fuck that.


Have the hard conversation with him - WHY did your practices do well? ALL referall/word of mouth business? OK good- at least people liked them, this is a good start.

Did they buy ANY marketing over the years? Track ANYTHING? Local leadgen efforts are like shooting fish in a fucking barrel if done right.

My neighbor's construction business was depleted after 10 booming years. He was going to spend $10k on some email and print nonsense.

Instead he spent $600 on adwords that I ran (as a personal favor) driven to a great looking LP and closed 2 jobs - one for $130k and the other for $45k.

He then shut the campaign off b/c the big bid had him do 2 more stores (commercial construction) and the smaller job also referred clients. Coupled with his other biz picking back up w/ money being lent again and he's booming again.

Total cost? $650 + a lot of pride swallowing.

Swallow the pride first- then make some shit happen. At a bare minimum generate more profitable business for him at his 'hours away' practice (whitening, etc) to show him it can be done and convince him to take the jump to leave and open up another practice.
 
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Sonny Forelli said:
at 60 it's too late to change people's minds about things- I've seen this before - the 'oh but my law practice was good for 30 years doing nothing besides going to a local rotary meeting and drinking beers! lulz!"

Fuck that.


Have the hard conversation with him - WHY did your practices do well? ALL referall/word of mouth business? OK good- at least people liked them, this is a good start.

Did they buy ANY marketing over the years? Track ANYTHING? Local leadgen efforts are like shooting fish in a fucking barrel if done right.

My neighbor's construction business was depleted after 10 booming years. He was going to spend $10k on some email and print nonsense.

Instead he spent $600 on adwords that I ran (as a personal favor) driven to a great looking LP and closed 2 jobs - one for $130k and the other for $45k.

He then shut the campaign off b/c the big bid had him do 2 more stores (commercial construction) and the smaller job also referred clients. Coupled with his other biz picking back up w/ money being lent again and he's booming again.

Total cost? $650 + a lot of pride swallowing.

Swallow the pride first- then make some shit happen. At a bare minimum generate more profitable business for him at his 'hours away' practice (whitening, etc) to show him it can be done and convince him to take the jump to leave and open up another practice.
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I know this is done on the Orthodontics side, but some guys in the field turn to consulting. They contact existing practices (in this case dental offices), and see if the current owner is planning on selling within the next five years or so, and if so, for a fee they will go to the dental school and get a soon to be graduating student lined up with that doc to buy the practice. Because the student isn't going to have any money when they graduate, the way it usually works is that they start working in the office with the current owner for a few years and then the doc retires and the new owner pays out $x amount per year to the previous owner for x number of years. Win, win, win.
 
Thanks to all that posted a valid idea/piece of advice. I sent the responses to my dad as well as a few of my own, hopefully he'll man up and make a move.

bb_wolfe said:
Looking for solutions isn't going to turn out well for you personally, no matter how good it feels at the time, you're just polishing the brass on the Titanic, it's all going down baby.
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The most I'd contribute cash wise is just some local ppc marketing, $1-2k to see what kind of leads I can generate. I'd ask for a cut of the profit if there was one too. I can make him a leadgen website myself and host it.

All office/equipment costs would be on him, and whatever loans he can take out for them.
 
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