Congratulations, you made it! You are now officially a DDS or a DMD. You graduated from dental school after many years of hard work and extremely focused dedication. But, now you must make some career decisions that may affect you for the rest of your dental career! Do you associate? Do you start your own practice from scratch? Do you purchase an existing practice? Do you become a co-owner in an existing practice? Or, do you continue your dental education for another year by accepting a position in an accredited General Practice Residency Program (a “GPR”)?

Possibly one of the biggest career decisions you will make is whether to delay your career earning potential another year (read article #1101 – “Career Income Potential”) by committing to a GPR program. The logic is that the lost income you experience during that “one more year” will be made up in multitude by the effects of the increased education you will receive… but, is that always the case?

The reason most stated for entering into a GPR program is that they wish to learn the business side of the profession and to gain more clinical speed. They feel the investment of “one more year” will be beneficial in their overall career path. This is logical. You do need to learn how to effectively manage your own business and you do need to increase your clinical speed so that your time invested is financially rewarding.

However, our years of experience reveals that the REAL reason many new graduates enter a GPR is because they are just too undecided on which career move to make and the GPR allows another year of delaying a hard decision! Unfortunately, a year career delay also delays the most important year of your earnings potential!

While GPR programs have proved valuable to some, these same programs have been an unnecessary step for others. The question you must ask yourself is if the GPR program is the best possible source to satisfy your goals. And, before you make such an important decision, you need to look at all of your options.

The PARAGON Presale Program (for purposes of this article, the “PPS”) is one such option that should be carefully considered. In the PPS, a dentist such as you is able to immediately acquire a practice that will provide instant income fulfillment AS WELL AS the additional education you are seeking from the GPR. This is because in the PPS, you can acquire both a practice and a seller who is vested in your success. The PPS is designed to allow the seller to remain with you for as long as you desire to serve as your mentor. In other words, the PPS provides “on the job training” with the financial benefits of practice ownership!

Like in a GPR, the seller has the clinical experience and will teach you what you wish to learn. Like in the GPR, the seller has the practice management expertise you are seeking and will teach you how to manage a dental practice. Like in the GPR, your seller can often provide additional guidance in many specialty procedures such as endodontics, oral surgery, prosthodontics, etc. But unlike in the GPR, the PPS seller has a true vested interest in your financial success! Your PPS seller actually needs you to be as successful, if not even more successful, than he or she has been!

What do we mean by a vested interest? It is really quite simple. In most cases, the PPS seller is actually investing in your success by providing a large portion of seller financing that allows you to acquire his or her practice. The PPS seller is also willing to work for you as your “associate” and allow you to make substantial profits on his or her clinical production. In fact, it is not unusual for the purchaser of a practice in the PPS program to earn enough profit on the seller’s production to provide 100% of the cash flow needed to pay the bank and/or seller loan payments required for the practice acquisition. In short, with the PPS, you get paid handsomely to learn and grow as a professional.

Examine your options carefully. There are different and sometimes more financially rewarding means of satisfying your goals. Contact a PARAGON consultant and invest a little time in a complimentary consultation… I assure you that you will be glad you did!