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Dr. Jamine Ifedi and Dawn Ifedi: Financial Mistake
22 Plays14 days ago
In this episode, Tanya Sue Maestas, Doc Ifedi, and Dawn Ifedi delve deep into the financial realms of the dental industry and beyond. This engaging discussion reveals the challenges dentists face when managing finances and the potential pitfalls in attempting to keep services in-house for better profitability. Tanya queries Doc and Dawn about both personal and observed financial missteps, helping unravel their practical experiences and strategic management of dental finance matters.
Doc Ifedi shares a detailed account of his venture into Airbnb real estate, highlighting a significant financial lesson from a property mishap in 2022. Using this real-life example, he emphasizes the necessity of establishing a strong team and safeguards to mitigate financial risks in any investment. Dawn switches the narrative to dental practice management, discussing the critical importance of understanding insurance complexities to prevent costly mistakes. Their stories illuminate crucial strategies to handle finances efficiently, both in general real estate investments and within the dental sector, underscoring the necessity of knowledge in safeguarding against substantial losses.
Key Takeaways:
- Diversifying income through real estate, like Airbnb, can be lucrative but risky; having a backup plan and a reliable team is crucial.
- Understanding insurance intricacies is vital to avoid financial loss within dental practices.
- Aligning with trustworthy partners can lead to successful business ventures and long-term growth.
- Leveraging other people’s expertise can fill knowledge gaps and enhance business operations.
- Effective claims handling and correct billing in dental offices lead to better financial outcomes.
Connect with Dr. Jamine Ifedi and Dawn Ifedi: @mydentalwealth
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about Ignite Coaching : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Dental Fuel Podcast
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.
00:00:11
Speaker
Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in between.
Sponsorship by Ignite DDS Coaching
00:00:14
Speaker
Dental Fuel is brought to you by Ignite DDS Coaching, empowering dentists to build self-determined futures. Together, we're shaping the next generation of leaders in dentistry.
Financial Insights from Doc and Dawn
00:00:24
Speaker
Doc and Dawn are way better with finances than I am. They share some incredible insights as well as some mistakes that I think we can all learn from. And I think that sometimes many dentists may run into some financial issues with wanting to try to keep everything in-house to, you know, help hopefully make a better profit for them. And so, you know, I think finances are a big issue with a lot of dentists because there's not a really big understanding. And so I would love to know a financial mistake if you all have made any, but probably not because it sounds like Doc's got it covered.
Airbnb Financial Loss Experience
00:00:56
Speaker
But if you all really haven't had a huge one, I would love to know if you have helped
00:01:01
Speaker
other dentists kind of work through any financial mistakes that you have seen? Sure. I mean, we could probably start with a personal one first. And then we can definitely so many examples. will say, people are trying harder, i will say.
00:01:15
Speaker
People are really trying to get the information necessary for people to see financially. For ourselves, personally, we've been doing Airbnb since 2016?
00:01:26
Speaker
first Airbnb was up in Philadelphia, actually. So from there, were and acquiring ah airbnbs and building them out that way We didn't have our first, I'll probably say, big financial loss from an Airbnb in 2022, I want to say.
00:01:44
Speaker
I just remember being in clinic and then getting a message of guests standing in water. Standing in water. And what thing that was big for us was like any any city that we spend significantly
00:01:58
Speaker
our goals by house there a property there now we if we're in town we can work there. If not, let's say if another travel dentist is coming to town, they need somewhere to stay for week or two while they figure themselves out.
00:02:10
Speaker
wanted to be able provide housing free your charge to anybody who actually needed it who was on that track for maybe a week or two to help bridge you where you want to get to. These were Airbnb guests. They weren't doctors. And they were, I'm not exactly sure what happened.
00:02:23
Speaker
They didn't really go into much detail on what happened. All we know is that there was water everywhere, standing in water. And no one wants to, so our days are from 7 to 7 a.m. Longer, actually. that was
00:02:39
Speaker
We get to the office around 6.20. And I want to say around 6.30 when I got the picture set. We're standing in water. Come figure this thing out. I'm in a whole different city. Two and a half hours away.
00:02:52
Speaker
We're not coming. And it really just highlights the importance of to be able to mitigate your financial risks. It's been important for you to have team in place. So the first thing we did was call our property manager.
00:03:03
Speaker
And then call a business associate law that we do all of our real estate. Right. Gave them a call, let them know, OK, this is what's going on. He said, don't worry about it. I'll hand It's hard you not to worry about something that you have so much money tied into, um especially when you're going through the middle of the day.
Mitigating Risks in Property Investments
00:03:20
Speaker
um But what I will say, bad situation could have been a lot worse if we did not have those safeguards in place. So it was it was a lot. And remember when they first gave us a poll for how much it would cost to fix everything for the water.
00:03:34
Speaker
um remember he said $40,000. thought he said, did he say $4,000? He said, the first time in my had to ask somebody three times to make sure I I said $40,000.
00:03:51
Speaker
okay. I don't understand what you're saying right now. So you call your insurance company. They say the month they're going to pay out is five. Then now you've got to really start getting creative, right? You've got to figure this thing out. But again, understanding those safeguards in place, you work directly with Airbnb on that particular property.
00:04:07
Speaker
So they had their own form of insurance. So when it all came out and ended up being a wash, it was just really downtime that was off on the property. But thank God it was a duplex. So we actually had one unit still going while other still being figured out.
00:04:19
Speaker
But the biggest thing is, regardless if it's a property or if it's stocks, it's your practice, the best thing you can do to help mitigate downside when comes to anything financial to make sure you have a good team in place and you have safeguards in place because it's not bad and go to worse really, really quickly.
00:04:35
Speaker
And the question isn't if it's going to happen. The question is when it's going to happen. So when it does happen, how low is your low going to be, right? Is it going to be a deep valley or is this going to small blunt that, you know, that a few thousand dollars can fix this problem or is it going to be of the ones that's going to ruin your entire year?
00:04:53
Speaker
That's a really good one. Yeah. What a, ah what an experience. That's, that's crazy. i do love that you all are, are, you know, treating that in an event as an investment and, you know, providing a space for perhaps traveling dentists to arrive and, and, you know,
00:05:09
Speaker
maybe find a ah home when they're traveling. I think that that's really awesome. almost Almost a business idea, you know, to have that across the board, especially where there are big CE courses and maybe you host tennis when they go, you know, maybe just a little business. yeah
00:05:26
Speaker
I have ideas, but I'm not the finance person, like I mentioned, but ah I'll kick that over to you all. in It's all about the business partner, you know, yeah but else enjoys it. you know That's right. Maybe that's right you have the in income. Maybe you have the credit in place. Maybe you have the ability of all doctors have access to a doctor's loan.
00:05:44
Speaker
Whatever it is like that, now you just have to somebody trustworthy that you've done things with in the past. Believe it or not, the best food forms are the ones that are already around Not necessarily the ones with all the titles behind their names. Maybe somebody who is interested and has a passion for finances that would love to do a small project with
Trustworthy Partnerships & Investment Time Management
00:06:00
Speaker
you.
00:06:00
Speaker
You start one project, maybe one project turn two projects, and the next thing you know, look back five years later, you've done a lot together. ultimately someone with the time though. I'm sure your schedule is busy. Yeah, you know, I'm sure that you guys can relate just being in the dental field. I mean, you also already shared that your hours are so long. It's so hard to find that extra time to do fun activities like that.
00:06:21
Speaker
ah But it's a great way to, you know, save up for retirement, which I think is so important, especially for dentists who are practicing and others in our profession. Right, exactly. And they even with Dr. Fetty, how he mentioned just different opportunities for dentists to be able to invest outside of the dental practice.
Insurance Knowledge in Dental Practices
00:06:40
Speaker
um Even for an example, inside the dental practice, if you have like any owners or doctors that just want to become well-versed and knowledgeable about how things operate in the dental practice as far as like a financial mistakes. One thing that we learned pretty early on was just like knowing insurances in and out, like having a full understanding of, having a full understanding of insurances, what that looks like, the language of insurances, because if an insurance says they pay 100% a certain procedure, is that 100% of your office fee or 100% of their allowable amount?
00:07:14
Speaker
So that was one thing that we had to really dive into. made a a few mistakes until like getting those first EOBs back, those explanations of benefits, and understanding how much insurances were actually like paying for certain procedures to have an understanding of what it was that we needed to ask So that was the biggest thing of knowing what questions to ask, when to ask them, how to ask them, and really send high for that information.
00:07:39
Speaker
She's a collection queen. Oh, I love that. I I was good. I remember bringing her, like, five figures in accounts receivable. And next thing you know, see checks the mail line.
00:07:51
Speaker
Like, how did you get these things paid out? i don't know how she does it. Her collection things, they get it done. We have sharks on our and love it. You have to be aggressive. But you have to know what you're looking for, know what insurance is saying. Sometimes it's just pausing and reading. I think we had a ah case where it was a ah simple switch of a code. It was an implant case, and we just had two implant codes paired together incorrectly.
00:08:17
Speaker
So it's certain things like that that makes a difference between The patient, giving that as the patient is their responsibility or the insurance as they should write this note, pay for that for the patient because it's in their benefit.
00:08:31
Speaker
So knowing what it is that you're sending as far as claims, having the proper coding and billing, having the proper ar team, having the proper team even that is gathering that initial information, knowing your frequency, things like that. Yeah.
00:08:45
Speaker
Very, very early on, we made a lot of mistakes figuring out insurances because you know insurance from the consumer standpoint, but not necessarily took from the provider standpoint.
Episode Wrap-up & Next Topic Teaser
00:08:54
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to this episode with Doc and Dawn Ifedi.
00:08:58
Speaker
Next week, we're back talking about team mistakes. we're Ready to take the next step in your journey? Book an intro call with Ignite DDS Coaching today and level up your future in dentistry.