The Anchor Dentist Plan That Can Unlock a $4–5M Dental Practice | Nate
Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership
Dr. George Hariri | Shared Practices Network
4.9 • 559 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transitioning from a solo clinician to a CEO is a journey fraught with operational hurdles, particularly when navigating the "yo-yo" effect of doctor turnover. In this episode of Practice Underwater, Dr. George Hariri sits down with Nate, a 2011 grad who successfully grew his office from $700k to over $3.1M. Despite this massive financial success, Nate finds himself back in the "whirlwind" of daily clinical operations, struggling with the common industry Achilles' heel: attracting and retaining productive associates. This conversation serves as a survival guide for any future dental practice owner looking to build a sustainable group practice without being tethered to the chair for the next twenty years.
The transcript reveals a common paradox in dental practice management: having world-class systems—including a 97% reappointment rate and an impressive AR ratio—yet still facing a revolving door of providers. George analyzes Nate’s history with five different associates to determine the difference between a "good leave" and a "bad leave". For dentists pursuing sustainable dental practice growth, understanding these nuances is critical. Are you settling for the wrong cultural fit because the candidate pool feels thin? George challenges the listener to move beyond the desperation of hiring and into a phase of selective patience.
As Nate looks toward an associate to owner transition or an eventual dental practice valuation for a DSO sale, the focus shifts to long-term profitability and cash flow. George argues that many owners sell too early, missing out on years of EBITDA. Instead, the discussion explores whether offering a minority equity stake is the key to stability. This episode is a masterclass in entrepreneurship for dentists, emphasizing that while doctor turnover is a natural part of the business, it shouldn't dictate your personal life or your clinical schedule.
Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Practice Underwater. And I believe this isn't the first time, but we have a 2019 |
| 0:08.9 | Practice Underwater guest back on air before we were chatting myself and fake name Nate. We're |
| 0:15.4 | having a conversation about what was the name from 2019 in case anyone has amazing memory |
| 0:20.1 | and wants to connect the episodes. |
| 0:22.2 | And the best thing we could come up with is Nate, but we're like 50-50 on whether or not |
| 0:26.4 | that was the actual name used in the episode. So we have our doc, Nate. And I'll just tell you |
| 0:31.5 | what I remember about that initial conversation. Nate came to shared practices and came with |
| 0:37.3 | a request of, I'm a solo dentist. I've been doing, you know, around 1.4 million for like seven years. And I'm ready for something to not be dependent on me. And so then what we've done over the years is a solo to group transition. We got to the point of three doctors and then I believe there was a doctor lost. So |
| 0:54.3 | Nate's practice has grown quite a bit, and I look through the analytics, and I'm wondering, |
| 1:00.0 | what do we have to talk about? So, Nate, welcome back to the show. Whatever you have to say to |
| 1:04.5 | introduce yourself to the audience, and the burning question that I have is, from everything I saw, |
| 1:10.1 | things look like they're going quite well. There's always some pain point or something for us to take care of, and I'm wondering what it is. So like, that's for me, like very top of mind. But Nate, welcome back. It's so nice to talk to you. So yeah, just why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself a bit to our audience, you know, just remind them who you are. Then give us the like, why you're here part, because that's the thing I'm dying to know. |
| 1:31.7 | Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me back, George. Yeah, so I was back in 2019. I believe I was actually your |
| 1:36.9 | last coaching client. Ah, that's how I know Nate very well, yes. Yeah, so just a little bit about me. |
| 1:43.9 | I'm a 2011 grad, I purchased very well, yes. Yeah, so just a little bit about me. I'm a 2011 grad. |
| 1:45.7 | I purchased my practice in 2015, so about 11 years ago. |
| 1:50.2 | We were doing about 700K when I bought the office and then kind of organically grew the office. |
| 1:56.8 | We doubled it from 2015 to 2020. |
| 2:00.1 | During that time, really during the pandemic, like most people, I had some time to do a little bit of soul searching and spending a lot of time at home with my young kids. |
| 2:07.8 | Yeah, one of the things I think that really stuck out to me during that time, one of the pain points I had with being a dentist was the fact that prior to owning my own office, I was always in like a practice with least one other |
| 2:19.3 | dentist. And I was just in the solo office. And I was just thinking there's no way I can do this |
| 2:24.4 | for the next 20 years of being a solo doctor. That kind of lit the fire under my butt to grow the |
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