How to Choose the Right First Job If Your Goal is Dental Practice Ownership

Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership

Dr. George Hariri | Shared Practices Network

Business, Practicemanagement, Dental, Businessofdentistry, Management, Entrepreneurship, Dentalpractice, Dentist

4.9 • 559 Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do you bridge the gap between being a clinical student and achieving dental practice ownership? In this episode of the Shared Practices Podcast, Dr. Andrew Clingan returns to the mic to deliver a "survival guide" for D4s and associates planning their move from clinician to CEO. Andrew bought his practice straight out of school in 2023, and he’s pulling back the curtain on what it actually takes to double revenue in year one. If your goal is dental practice ownership, your first job is not an investment—it is a means to an end. This episode breaks down the four pillars of readiness: clinical confidence, practice management, cash runway, and leadership.

We address a common dilemma for future owners: choosing between a DSO, a private practice, or a multi-location group. Andrew argues that if you want to succeed in dental practice ownership, you must prioritize clinical volume over brand names or base pay. We analyze why many private practice associate roles are "dead ends" for growth and why the "dead space" of mid-sized groups can hinder your development. Transitioning to a CEO mindset means understanding financial management for dentists; Andrew explains why keeping your personal overhead low is the key to securing bank financing for acquisitions in dentistry.

Stop waiting for the "perfect time" to start your journey. We discuss how to identify a ready-to-grow practice and why most buyers pass on "diamonds in the rough" because they lack the dental business strategies to see past old wallpaper and film X-rays. This is a masterclass in dental practice management designed to help you build the clinical and financial cushion necessary for sustainable dental practice growth. Whether you are navigating the associate to owner transition or performing due diligence red flags checks on a potential acquisition, this episode provides the roadmap. Don't let your "pre-owner angst" fade into the comfort of a corporate paycheck. Learn how to stack your skills now so that when the right opportunity appears, you are prepared to execute.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of the Share Practices podcast. My name is Andrew Klingan.
0:08.9	And it's been a minute since I've done one of these solo. Many of you back in the day,
0:13.2	if you listen to the original Share Practices podcast, remember myself and Stephen Beard
0:17.5	on the pursuit of ownership for a few years. Did that for a while. But since that time, I've bought a practice in life of a practice owner. You get pulled in a hundred different directions. And some things slide. And the podcast was one of those for a bit. I had to prioritize my practice. But I'm back. And I just figured the best way to reintroduce myself would not be a big formal thing,
0:39.0	but just to tell you guys where I'm at.
0:39.8	I'm Andrew.
0:44.5	I bought a practice straight out of dental school in 2023, something we at shared practices don't always tell you to do exactly.
0:47.3	But, you know, I happened to know what I was getting into, mostly because I spent
0:50.7	three years inside the shared practices ecosystem before I ever owned a chair.
0:54.7	In year one, we took our practice from about 550K to over a million.
0:59.9	Year two, still growing tracking towards probably 1.8, and so headed towards the third complete year.
1:06.0	We have an associate on staff now.
1:07.6	We have operations manager and a team who are really good at their jobs. And
1:12.7	yeah, the growth has been great, but it's also been really hard. And so hoping to bring some of that
1:16.4	perspective onto the podcast now, I'm not the guy with all the answers, but I'm the guy with
1:20.9	several years under my belt and I'm in the trenches. I'm just like you guys. I'm a practicing
1:25.4	dentist every day. I prep crowns. I don't do big cosmetic cases and nothing but full arch implants. I'm just like you guys. I'm a practicing dentist every day. I prep crowns. I don't do big
1:28.3	cosmetic cases and nothing but full arch implants. I'm just at everyday normal dentist running a
1:33.0	private practice. So, you know, that's going to be the show. Let's get into it. Okay. Quite often here
1:38.1	at shared practices, we're counseling with what we call pre-owners or dental students or young
1:43.0	associates. And one of the most common
1:46.4	conversations we have here is around what type of associate job you need to get ready for ownership.
	...

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