Building a Dental Brand

From DSO to Start-Up?

The Story of Michael T. Williams, DMD

Backstory:

I'm not afraid to tell my story. I'm also not one of these people that feels the need to tell people to learn from my mistakes. I feel very strongly that mistakes are what drives success and without them we won't know how to truly feel successful. 

For over five years I was a partner in a regional DSO. I had explored numerous paths to ownership as an associate but joining a group felt safe. It allowed me to share ownership but be free from the responsibilities of running the office. But freedom is not what I found.

I found that success or failure would be attached directly to the behavior of my team and the success of my marketing. Unfortunately, my partners didn't agree. We hired more consultants to help create more efficiencies. We ran the same marketing campaigns that every other office did and we always ended up with the same results. 

I eventually got burned out, sold out, and took a different path to ownership. I decided to do a start-up in the neighborhood where I lived. A neighborhood that already had too many dentists and very few local businesses to be a provider for their insurance. It was also during a global pandemic. 

I reached out to Ben and his team at Venture Practices.  He saw the challenges and asked the right questions about "why" was I doing this. I explained I wanted to be a dentist in the area where I live and raise my family. I'm a parent and a community leader and want to serve my community.

His response "I can work with that." He explained that to be successful with branding you have to be relatable. Being relatable helps build trust and a trusted brand builds relationships. Those relationships help you move past service offerings and builds a business based on ideal patient referrals not one and done transactions.