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Dr. Dar Radfar: Financial Mistake
32 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of Dental Fuel, Dr. Dar Radfar returns to share priceless advice for young dentists! From avoiding common financial mistakes to finding mentorship, Dr. Radfar emphasizes that in the beginning, it’s not just about the money—it’s about learning and honing your skills. He shares how working in the right office can give you access to free education from experienced mentors, helping you grow faster and smarter. Start small, invest wisely, and focus on building a solid foundation for your career.
Key Takeaways:
- Avoid Unnecessary Purchases: Start small and only invest in essential equipment once you are confident in your skills and consistent in the procedures.
- Value of Mentorship: Working under experienced mentors can provide invaluable practical knowledge and speed up skill acquisition.
- Continuing Education: Take affordable, impactful courses to enhance your practice offerings without straining your finances.
- Hands-on Experience: Gain exposure by actively working in various dental offices to learn different procedures and operational efficiencies.
- Long-Term Vision: Focus on adding to your skill set and toolbox early in your career to increase your value and prepare for potentially owning your practice.
About the Guest:
Dr. Dar Radfar is a seasoned dentist with over 22 years of experience in the field. He is a key advocate for integrating sleep apnea and snoring treatment within dental practices. Dr. Radfar began focusing on sleep apnea in 2009 after experiencing a life-changing car accident caused by his own undiagnosed condition. He has since become a pioneer in developing dental solutions for sleep apnea, creating over 1600 mouthpieces, and sharing his knowledge through RadSeminar.com where he educates other dentists.
Connect with Dr. Rad: @dr.radhealth
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about 90 Day JumpStart : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
Overlooked Aspects in Dentistry
00:00:00
Speaker
Dental Fuel, the podcast that focuses on what no one else is talking about. Mistakes. The dental world is full of before and afters, and no one is talking about the middle. Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in-between. Welcome back to another episode of Dental Fuel. Dental Fuel is brought to you by 90 Day Jumpstart.
00:00:21
Speaker
a program to help you increase production and break free from financial stress.
Financial Pitfalls for Young Dentists
00:00:25
Speaker
We are back with Dr. Dar Radfar. In this episode, Dr. Radfar sheds light on financial mistakes young dentists should avoid and the importance of continuing education and the benefits of mentorship in shaping a successful practice. Dr. Radfar also talks about some financial pitfalls that dentists face while investing in expensive equipment and not being ready to take the next step in their business. Let's tune
The Trap of Expensive Equipment
00:00:49
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in.
00:00:49
Speaker
As you were taking, you know, some of these courses and building your practice and and bringing in, you know, sleep more into your practice. Were there any financial mistakes that you found yourself making while you were trying to grow your practice? Yeah. You know, a lot of courses teach you to purchase equipment, right? And the equipment to purchase sometimes is not necessary to do the trait that you need to do. Of course, when you're placing implants, you need the proper instrumentation to place implants. But do you right away need a CT scan? Maybe not because you don't know if you're going to be doing this and you're comfortable in doing this consistently. So what I would always recommend to people is first try to get into it. Don't purchase the $80,000, $100,000 equipment that's associated with the trade that you just learned.
00:01:42
Speaker
unless it's a necessity to do the trade. and then And then you can add so you don't lose out on money. I got offered a skin treatment for patients that dentists can do to help with like the wrinkle lines and the and whatnot. And dentists can do that in in the state of California. and I bought the machine because it looked good and all that and it was $124,000 for the machine and I was super excited to use it. Now I pay to use it once or twice a month because it's just not something I feel comfortable in quote unquote selling or presenting to the patient because it doesn't really have much to do with dentistry. It does have to do with the cosmetics of the face, but it doesn't have anything to do with dentistry. So
00:02:30
Speaker
Make sure before you purchase any expensive equipment, it's something that of a procedure that you're really comfortable in presenting and doing before you make that investment. Do you still use that machine at all or is it collecting dust somewhere? It's it's still in the office. it's I probably used it twice in the last month and it's that's not enough for what it costs to get it. so You know, it's there, I've got posters about it in in the front of the in the lobby area. it shows But most people are psychologically coming into the dentist for the mouth and head and not necessarily wrinkles and and acne scars and whatnot. And there's some dental offices that do succeed in it. i just it's It's not something I'm fully believing in. That's why it's kind of a waste of equipment at this point. sir Sure, sure, sure.
Affordable Learning and Gaining Experience
00:03:25
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you You mentioned earlier the importance of taking continuing education courses, and it can be challenging to you know get your your finances in order to allow yourself to go out and take these courses. What will your message be to maybe younger dentists or and middle of the road dentists who want to take more courses, but they they really can't find the time and the finances in order for them to do that?
00:03:53
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Uh, you know, if you can't have the, if you don't have the time or the money, uh, then you need to still do the bread and butter stuff that you've learned. Uh, one of the first things I learned how to do was Invisalign because it's clear orthodontics seems to be a very popular thing that you should add as a part of your practice that didn't cost much for me to make it happen. I think the the course fee was like $1,200 for the whole weekend. Uh, and it was something that right away I felt comfortable in doing.
00:04:24
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and and maybe ah finding a mentor really does work. If you're an associate, finding a job. I have 13 different locations that I worked at before I bought my own office. Some of them were just for the day because some of the stuff I saw in there made me feel uncomfortable ah to work as a dentist. But a lot of them were, wow, this guy does a lot of implants or this gal does a lot of uh, um, Invisalign. So it was like, I didn't care relatively how much the money was for my minimum guarantee when I was working. It was, had to be respectful. And that was my main reason was I'm going to go work there for at least a few months because it was free training and I'm getting paid as an associate to understand how to do more Invisalign. Cause this doctor is really more well versed Invisalign. So I'm sure there's private offices and of course some DSOs that
00:05:16
Speaker
cater to a little bit more procedures. And as a dentist, if you're doing this early and you're still as an associate, I would recommend you find a job. I had sometimes in one week, three different offices, just because one of them specifically wasn't about me making any sort of a living from it, although I would have got paid. It was specifically to learn more because this guy was really good at implants and he showed me a lot of things after I took my own course.
00:05:45
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That's very cool. So were you you were kind of or you like moonlighting at these different practices or you were just going in for a working interview and saying they're a little bit longer? Yeah, if it if it was a working interview, I would, you know, I'd ask them what procedures they do more of over there. It would a lot of sometimes it would be for maternity leave, I'd be there for three months, helping the practice, or someone was hurt as a dentist, and I would be, you know, helping them out and or or their associate got hurt for eight weeks. So a lot of these offices were just go in, see how it is. And I liked that I stayed it one of the jobs I was at,
00:06:22
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for three years and he was a big time mentor for me in the way he cut his crown. I mean, I do a crown in about seven to 10 minutes max. You know, I could do 20 preps in less than 50 minutes. And that he taught me things I didn't learn in dental school, like using a big football burr and getting a reduction, buckling, occlusal,
00:06:44
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All these little things that I didn't get at USC taught me a little bit more of a step-by-step fashion that would take longer. My speed improved, which is more valuable and priceless, I think, than any procedure that you had. So you got to feel comfortable associating at some of these offices that you're interested, like I've had, my associate right now is really interested in sleep apnea. She's never done sleep before.
00:07:11
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And she's like, wow, this is a big game changer in people's lives. And she's been out for almost four and a half, five years now. so And so I'm teaching her. So you know finding a good office that you can learn from is free education. I think it's so nice to to be mentored, but also to serve as a mentor to others. I think that it's just kind of of a full circle moment for dentists as they move on through their career.
00:07:37
Speaker
for me um from a financial stability point, would you would you recommend your dentist to go that route and maybe try a different associate ships out before you know they make a decision as to what's best for them? ah you know Some people are just uncomfortable having their own
Gaining Experience Before Practice Ownership
00:07:53
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offices. I truly believe that after two or three years of working four or five days a week, you should jump in and dive into having some sort of a practice of your own.
00:08:04
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so you know Right now, associates can make some really good money, but you got to have tools in your toolbox, right? You got to be trained to do implants. You got to know how to do clear orthodontics. You got to know how to do sleep apnea. All these things increase your production collections numbers, and then if you're getting paid on a percentage,
00:08:24
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and a base pay or poor percentage, which is what I used to get paid, which is very much much more incentivized. So yeah, I mean, it's not about the money the first couple of years. I know we all have student loans and in some of that we wanted to have the lifestyle already. it's It's more about adding tools in your toolbox, putting those extra things on the menu so that when you're as an associate, you'll be more valuable, let alone when you open up your own shop.
00:08:51
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How did you transition from going to you know different different roles and different positions into starting your your own practice and building that?
Learning Business Operations from Mentors
00:09:00
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Oh, ah you know, I was very thirsty to having my own office. One of the major reasons was the tax, right? Often the benefits of of having your own business, right? And so ah for me, it was more just paying attention to the private offices that I've worked for some of the bigger corporations as well as an associate, but it was paying attention to what my mentor
00:09:24
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um did for me, Dr. Dumanium, when I was with him for three years, just seeing you know how he runs payroll, what he uses for payroll, um you know, what does someone want to raise, i just communication and having that open line of communication so that he can share his trials and tribulations of the negative things that are happening and what happens when this hygienist and show up and what he does. So I kind of, you know, literally learned from him And that's why it's really crucial to be set up with someone that you can actually learn from, not just work for. Yeah, mitigating those challenges in a dental office is hard. You don't learn that in school or before that, unless you're in a ah similar setting. But that's just something that um you know having a mentor or shadowing somebody who has good management skills can really help you in the long run. We hope you're enjoying our conversation with Dr. Jara Redfar. Be sure to tune in next week, where we talk about a team mistake.
00:10:19
Speaker
If you're looking to grow your practice and need some help along the way, be sure to check out 90 Day Jumpstart. You can start for free by contacting Dr. David Rice. Check out the link to his account in the show notes.