450: Rates Have Never Been Lower to...

Kiera is joined by Morgan Stump, sales manager with Provide, to chat about dental financing. Provide is a leading lender for a range of medical practices, and with Morgan as one of the top people in the industry, he has a lot of answers to your financial questions. He gives tips about the following in this episode:

• How to qualify to be an owner as a student or first-time buyer

• How conventional loans work compared to Provide

• Why now is the best time to refinance, expand your practice, or purchase equipment

• What to look for when buying a new practice

• And more!

Episode resources:

Try out Provide

Get in touch with Morgan directly through email ([email protected]) or phone (503-686-3284)

Reach out to Kiera

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Podcast Transcript:

[music]

0:00:05.6 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives, I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants, where we have traveled to over 165 different offices, coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I could help elevate teams grow VIP experiences, reduce stress and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys, I am so jazzed to have a special guest on our podcast today. He and I actually met at a breakfast in Utah put on by Brian Hanks. That's how we know Brian Hanks is incredible for practice transition, he kinda helps with that. And he connected me with some of the coolest people I have ever met in my life, so today, I'm super excited to bring on to the show, Morgan Stump.

0:01:14.8 KD: He is from Provide and they do lots of financials for... Help you guys get financing for your practices and a million other things, and he is one of the top people in the industry, if not the top... And you guys know that this is not my world, this is not my expertise, but I love to bring on really, really, really smart people to talk about this. Morgan, welcome to the show. How are you today?

0:01:35.7 Morgan Stump: I'm doing great, thanks for having me.

0:01:37.1 KD: Yeah, absolutely. I did a very, very fast overview of what you guys do, who you are, so why don't you take it away, who you are and how you even got to this point, 'cause obviously I think I didn't quite do you justice. Take it away kinda give us your background on this...

0:01:53.0 MS: Well, I appreciate it. I've been doing dental finance for almost 15 years now. I'm not sure how I got into this niche, but the niche finds you, as you probably know. And I worked for a big national bank for many years, built a territory over there, and then I left to go lead business development over at Lendeavor, which is now turned in to Provide, same company. We rebranded at the end of last year. Did that about four years ago, and we've just been scaling out the team and growing the team, and we've quickly become the second largest originator of dental loans nationally. Our thing is we're a financial technology lender, so we're completely paperless. We spent the first few years of our existence building the software from scratch, so it's completely paperless process, so our doctors can get pre-qualified through an app, all online. You're not having to fill out a bunch of PDFs and take a bunch of time doing that. It really geared more towards that younger millennial doctor that is a new owner or exploring getting into ownership.

0:02:58.4 KD: Awesome, I love it Morgan because that's really... A lot of people know I worked with the Midwestern dental students, and that was one of the main reasons I started Dental A Team, was just to be a resource and just to give them the best of the best of the people out there. And Morgan, there was a pretty strong claim made about you at the... We called it the Utah Hot Shots was where all these different people came together. And your name was literally listed as the top finance company for all of the dental practices, which I thought was a really strong stance and something that I have seen that reputation to hold strong. So talk to us about... Because I know a lot of the students who were graduating, I helped a student purchase a practice right out of dental school, we took it from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months, but a lot of people ask us, "How did you actually get the financing for it?" And I agree, it was a struggle. We went to nine different lenders to get financing, and it was not easy. The big banks were not lending, we were struggling. Talk us through who you're made for, how they can go about this because I think that that was our bigger struggle.

0:04:03.6 KD: We didn't even know who to go, what we needed to do you hear all these different rumors of what you need to do, how much you should be producing different? I've heard people say, here, "Do I need to buy a house so that way I can get a loan for my practice," and I'm like, "I literally have no idea." So Morgan, kinda take it away. What are some of the things that students or first-time buyers should be looking at things that they need to do so they can get qualified for these loans to be practice owners versus just going the associate, then the owner route. Is that even possible?

0:04:31.6 MS: It is, and you just covered a lot of things right there.

0:04:34.8 KD: I did. I'm glad you're writing it down because that's how I operate, that's my mind of like, "Hey, Morgan, I've got one question for you that's actually 20 into one question." [laughter]

0:04:43.1 MS: A shin with the bunch of bullet points under it, right?

0:04:44.6 KD: Exactly.

0:04:45.9 MS: Yes. Well, to kinda start from the top there, I think that you probably ran into some challenges if it was a brand new grad trying to get financing straight out of school, so no production reports, no 'real world experience.' If you probably ended up landing at it, maybe an SBA option, where that is a little bit more of a cumbersome process, you're actually probably the most aggressive conventional lender when it comes to dental banks, and how quickly we will into a new grad, but even us, we wanna see six months of experience outside of dental school or a GPR program, a GPR, whether it's one year, two years, does count as that experience. The minute that they walk out of a program like that, our full suite of products would be open to them. All the big banks out there wanna see 12 months of experience before they lend to you, for us, it'll be six months, but we do wanna see some production reports. If you're out there, my advice to doctors is don't necessarily take the first job that comes along that might pay you the most money, find a practice that A.

0:05:58.7 MS: Isn't gonna necessarily be in the area that you wanna own, because there could be non-compete issues depending on what state you're in. But also ask questions, say, "Hey, ultimately I do wanna become an owner and it's important that I'm able to capture my production capability," so when you're talking to, whether it's a DSO, whether it's a private Doc. Or a group practice, where you're gonna be working as an associate, ask those questions upfront. You don't wanna have to be sneaking around once you're an employee trying to take pictures of the computer screen and try to figure that out, because if you're trying to become an owner as a new to a recent grad, banks are gonna wanna see some production capability, and I think your audience is gonna understand why. You guys have seen your peers, some folks come out crank in ready to take on a million dollar plus practice, others, they need to take some time to get their hand speed up and really be able to walk in and carry the load as the main producer for a private practice once they become an owner. Those things are really important.

0:07:00.7 MS: And I can kinda roll into the question about the house, 'cause that's something that I get a lot...

0:07:06.0 KD: Yes, I'm so curious, 'cause I'm like, I literally have no idea what's gonna make you a better candidate for getting qualified for a loan versus not. I have no idea. Just look pretty and smile and say, "Please lend." I don't know.

0:07:20.0 MS: So there's a couple of different ways to look at this. One is just factual. And if I become a new practice owner, how soon am I gonna be able to buy a home. Most conventional mortgage banks out there, whether it's the loanDepots or your Wells Fargos or Bank of Americas, they're gonna wanna see that you have at least two years of filed tax returns as the owner of that practice before they're gonna wanna lend to you. They're not able to kinda look at the historic historic performance to that practice and then translate that over to you, because your name is not on a tax return. They're not used to that specialized underwriting to make that happen. But there are some banks that are now emerging that are comfortable lending to new practice owners. I do have a couple of contacts there, so if that's something that would interest, I can forward over their contact for you so that you can be a resource for your listeners. But if I had to choose one, I would probably choose to become a practice owner before a homeowner, one is gonna be earning the income, the other one's gonna be a big expense, one of the biggest expenses.

0:08:29.1 KD: Right.

0:08:29.6 MS: You're young and it's not necessarily important to you to set up roots, maybe you don't have kids yet, maybe you're not where you wanna be long-term, then go ahead and rent, buy your home and then accumulate some wealth and then buy your house.

0:08:45.7 KD: I love that. That's really good to hear because so many people do ask this question and I'm like, "I legitimately don't know, guys," I can get your systems up and going, I can make your practice more profitable, we are like a Miracle Grow on practice profitability and production and growth and systems and happy teams. That's where we thrive, but to get there, we need Morgan Stump and Provide to help you guys finance these practices. Morgan, you guys specialize with new grads, new owners, what about people that are wanting to refinance or they're wanting to expand their practices? 'Cause I know about a lot of practices right now that have outgrown, that are looking to do expansions right now to buy other practices. With COVID, and I know there's a whole myth out there which I know we wanna dive into of many people are talking about with COVID, with everything that's gone on, a lot of practices are wanting to sell potentially because it's just like, "I'm done. I'm at the end of my career, I'm ready to be out." So I have a lot of practices right now looking to bring on another location another place. What are your thoughts about... Do you guys do financing for expansions for second locations, third locations? How does that work with you guys as well, or what should doctors even be looking for when they want to start do it.

0:09:58.5 MS: Absolutely. Rates have never been lower, so if you've got a practice with existing debt, you can probably refinance it right now on 10 years fixed rates down into high twos. That's out there right now. What we're seeing coming out of COVID and practices being forced to shut down for a couple of months, is the practices that were slowing down and kinda struggling a little bit going into COVID, they're the ones that are just fed up, their practice is declining further and they just kinda need to get out all together. And those were the more sun setting doctors that had already lived through 2008, 2009, their 401k got beat up, so they're probably working into their 70s. And now with all the new COVID protocols and the staff struggles that are out there, they're ready to hang it up. On the flip, those folks that were doing well going into it, into COVID, and they've kept their eye on the ball, they've brought on people like you and your team to look at the systems, and they've got more of a mindset of abundance. Like, this is our time to get out there because we've got all these practices that are kind of flesh lean, let's go harder, let's take that market share.

0:11:08.2 MS: And now is the time to do that, so we are absolutely financing expansions, second, third, fourth locations for people, equipment, now is a great time to get equipment and side note, everything you hear about maybe not being able to find Christmas presents for your kids during Christmas due to flight change, same goes for dental equipment. The CEREC combine, some of that stuff is somewhat back order. I know end of year is an important time to try to buy equipment, and so keep that on your folks radar as well, if they might need longer lead time than normal. But bringing it back to that original question, the haves are even more haves now than they were previous, and so banks are absolutely lending. A lot of banks for 6-9 months after COVID did not lend, most of the big national banks just freeze up when there's that uncertainty out there. We did continue to lend throughout COVID. Honestly as the new kid on the block, we saw that as our chance to take market share and be there to support dentists when they needed it most. We actually rolled out a refinance program with cash out for the doctors during that time, which was a lifeline while they were all trying to scramble to get the PPP loans.

0:12:22.1 KD: Interesting, that's awesome to hear because... And I'm glad you said the different pieces, like you said, of thinking about if you want to buy that equipment, maybe do it sooner than later because you're right, so many things are hard to get. A lot of offices doing expansions, yes, it's hard to get the construction build, but it's also hard to get the equipment. I have a doctor, and it was funny, I walked into their practice and I say, "Guys, what's the number one thing I can help you with?" And all of them said, Kiera, we are at maximum space, there's no way we could do it. We're building a building across the street," well, as sometimes happens, I actually found space in that current practice they were in to add two more operatories, and they were like, "We should have called you before we spend however much we're spending across the street. But we talked about it, because there are other buildings that are not going to be done for a good year, year and a half, and I said, "How much will these two ops produce for you if you added them in?" So we agreed, it made a lot of sense for them just to add those two ops that they could add.

0:13:17.5 KD: But they struggled to even get the equipment and to find chairs, to find extra units, to find the deliveries, those are all really, really hard.

0:13:26.0 KD: We're scrapping off of Craigslist trying to find these practices, just so that way they could be producing in these offices. I really love that you talked about that, and also expansions. I'm curious from your stance of what you see with a lot of offices, they're getting a lot of lending, I'm curious just... This is me being selfish, this is one of the reasons I love to podcast. I get to ask the dumb questions that I would never ask anybody else for the sake of everyone on the podcast. But what would you say are some of the best things that you've seen people lend for, and then obviously, the real thing I wanna know is what are some of the worst, worst scenarios that you've seen come through people that should... Maybe not be lending people that should maybe where they just get themselves into hot water. I'm really curious of the best of the best and the worst of the worst of what you've seen in your 15 years of financing hundreds of different people.

0:14:16.6 MS: And that's a good question. So let's start with the good, right?

0:14:20.5 KD: Yeah. Save the juicy bad for later. I can't wait. Full of the popcorn guys, I can't wait. Hey Dental A Team family, as some of you know, I've recently found and become obsessed with one of my favorite companies out there, studio 8E8. They are incredible. Josh and Joanna and their team make marketing simple, fun, effective and affordable. You guys, they just finished a website for me and I am obsessed. They figured out exactly what I wanted to share without even knowing what I wanted, and their process was so simple. Studio 8E8 is dentistry, story-driven marketing agency. They started in 2014 by Joshua Scott, owner and CEO, and their mission is to tell a better story. Josh says, "Marketing becomes great when it's true. Dentistry is innovative. Inspiring and beautiful. Let's tell that story," and I will tell you guys from first hand, I love working with them. They are so freaking fantastic, they're on time, they're fast they're efficient, and they deliver better and better and better results.

0:15:24.2 KD: What they do is they're focused on the digital space, they lead each client through their proprietary process, which includes discovering your story, telling your story and sharing your story with your community, they do a combination of high-end custom design with storytelling messaging, they create marketing that's truly unique to you, and their tagline is because your story is worth it. You guys, I would love you to go check out my dear friends, Josh and Joanna with Studio 8E8. You can check them out on their website at www.s8e8. That's the letter S, the number eight, the letter E, number eight, dot com, studio 8E8, they're incredible. You guys will love them, and Josh and Joanna, thank you guys so much for all of your support of the Dental A Team, and you guys be sure to go get your story told because your story is worth it.

0:16:15.7 MS: Well, so very rarely does a doctor that is successful and starting to burst at the seams, very rarely do they regret either building out onto their additional space or relocating into a larger space. A lot of established doctors are afraid that, Hey, I don't... Change scares me if I move to a new location, will my patients follow me? Your patients want a nice space to go into every single day, even if it's just a faceless lift of your existing practice, that's gonna make them more loyal to your practice. If you are truly maximizing your space, if you're booked out and scheduled out in a time frame that you and your team suggest is healthy, you're not gonna regret building out additional space, additional ops, whether that's in your existing practice or a new space to move into or even to open up a second space. And I think it was the ADA I was reading. I was reading, I am a nerd, so I was reading some statistics about when somebody... When a doctor, a solo practitioner does move into a new space, they typically see over 25-30% growth in the first 12 months after relocating. And that's with... That's usually without you or somebody there to help them focus on the levers to pull.

0:17:39.2 MS: That's just from purely switching and having a spruced up space, new equipment, and just staying on the ball. And that good can lead to the bad as well. Oftentimes, I'll get a phone call and it'll be a doctor and he or she will say, "Morgan, I've had my practice for five or six years, we're not super busy, but it's paying the bills, I'm making decent money, but it's not where I wanna be. We're doing 700,000 a year," I'm like, "Alright, well, how many ops do you have? "Oh, we've got six," like, "Okay, how many days a week you open." "We're open four or five days a week," and then my head's going and I'm looking at holes in the schedule and...

0:18:24.0 KD: Morgan do you want a job? Do you wanna get out of finance, you can come be a consultant with me, I'm sure you could see it.

0:18:28.7 MS: I don't know, this might not be the most appropriate of analogies, but it's like your friends, the married couple that isn't that happy to begin with, and then they figure that just let's have a kid and that's gonna make everything better. Adding a second location when you're already floundering with one is just gonna make things way more complex, and you're not gonna double your income just by having two locations because you've gotta get those systems dialed in and you've got to maximize your existing space before you take on a bunch of debt, so the good can be the good, but the good intentions can lead to the bad scenarios that I've seen...

0:19:08.9 KD: Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm glad you brought that up because I think so many gosh... I say this with love. I feel like so many offices are competing with other practices, and I feel like sometimes ego drives versus brain drive what is smart, what is a smart decision to make, and so many people say, "Well, my friends have second practices, so I need to have a second practice." When do you suggest from a financial standpoint of when is the right time to buy a second location or a third location, what is kind of... Some of the stats you've seen or some of the trends you've seen... When they can be very, very successful.

0:19:43.8 MS: I think it all comes down to... Are they maxed out in their existing space, and I always encourage people to look at their one-year, two year, five-year, 10-year growth plan.

0:19:54.3 MS: And I'm a huge believer of not adding new locations too quickly until you've been able to see a large enough sample size to know that you are maximizing your locations or at least well on your way to, and then I'm a huge fan of pulling demographics and really understand the new markets that you're going into, and my favorite model for somebody that wants to grow into a group practice is once you're bursting at the seams, pick up another location, whether it's a start-up from scratch location, or buying an existing practice for a second location, get one that's close enough where it's gonna cannibalize some of your patients to basically pull them over to the new location, and thus that's gonna open up additional bandwidth in the their current location, so the second one's gonna be off the ground very quickly because you already got these patients coming over to it, but then your initial practice in your existing location, now it has a pressure valve kind of relieved, and now you can move everybody up in the schedule and continue to maximize that location.

0:20:58.8 MS: So don't try to do it on your own. I mean, that's kind of what it comes down to... The vast majority of business folks, Well, we need to be careful here because of our audience, but the younger dentists these days are coming out far more educated on the business side of things because of podcasts, because of the study clubs that they're doing. It's really good to see and they're also coming out capturing more of the procedures than any generation before them...

0:21:25.9 KD: Totally.

0:21:26.8 MS: That presents opportunity to come out and be successful relatively quickly with the group practice approach, but you still have to do it right, and rapid growth and opening new locations before you have the previous styled in. I think that's the quickest way to get into some trouble.

0:21:44.3 KD: Hash tag, that was me, that was our practice, it was like, Yeah, it's fun to say 500000 to 2.4 million in nine months, and then opened our second location like that fuels my ego and our doctor's ego so much, I mean, that's a pretty impressive stat, but dang the stress and the headache and the sleepless nights and the constants... I was up at 2:00 AM working till 10:00 PM every single day, and it was bananas. It was downright psycho. I felt like we had terrible systems in play, we were just going after ego like complete and total honesty we're like, Hey, we got this one, we're doing pretty well, we think we are maxed out, let's buy our second one, we were not maxed out at all. And so many people think they're maxed out, and I love the ideas of, Are you open every single day, are you open extended hours? Have you maxed out the procedures that you can have there, are you running assisted hygiene if you need to add an assisted hygiene, so many things that people might not necessarily want to do, but I would definitely explore those avenues because it's much cheaper to max out a current location and have that super profitable and successful before adding a second location.

0:22:54.3 KD: Morgan, are there any other things that you've seen that if I was a new grad or a new doctor looking to buy a practice of just some... Maybe some things to look for when I'm looking for a practice, like you already said demographics to look for, any other... Like for you, when you're just looking over, say a prospectus or you're looking practices, things that are just green light that you're like, I love to see this, this and this, these are not always, but more sure fire decisions when I'm looking to buy a practice.

0:23:21.9 MS: So that's really hard to answer because a buyer can come to me and you look at their profile and they've done everything the right way, they've got the liquidity that they need, they've got the production history that they need, and they just wanna walk into a well-performing robust practice, that's cash flowing, it's kind of like buying in that whole house that's move in ready... That's gonna be a good fit for them. And that's what they want. I can have another buyer come to me and say, Listen, I might not have the production history, so I need to buy a smaller practice, I need to find something that has an older doc that they were working four days a week now, they're only working two days a week, I know that if I go in there and I'm hungry and doing what I do, I'm gonna boost that thing up and I can have that be a million dollar practice within a year or two. And so what I really try to coach my buyers on whether or not they're in dental school, and I'm talking to them as a D-2 all the way through, Hey, I'm a 10-year associate, and I need to get into ownership, it's...

0:24:24.5 MS: Where do you wanna end up? Look down the road, when you're 45 years old, what does it look like to you in a perfect world, do you have multiple practices, do you have one big robust practice that allows for you to have a great lifestyle or where maybe you have an associate, maybe you have a partner, and you guys can take vacations and you have each other's backs... Everybody has their own vision, when what I'm finding out now is that the younger dentists have their own vision much more than the generations before them, and so reverse engineer that vision, so if you do want a group practice eventually, then maybe go work for a DSO, maybe go work for a group practice and see how the sausage is made, so you could go tweak it, correct it, and then recreate it. So I'm all about gaining experience and mentorship within a practice that you kind of wanna emulate, and oftentimes they'll you'll come out knowing what now you don't wanna do it. That I can be as valuable as anything else as well, so... Embrace your vision. By the time people get done with dental school, they usually know which path they wanna go, whether they wanna dominate the world and build a DSO, or if they just want that really niche solo practice that they can have a nice quality of life in.

0:25:42.8 KD: Totally, I love that, and I love that you pointed out that. And I hope people listened and heard this, that there is no one right practice that is the perfect practice to buy. It really is dependent on the skill set of the procedure make-up that you are gonna have, of the location of what type of a lifestyle you wanna have, that really does solidify that perfect practice. So Morgan, my last question for you, I appreciate all your time, I love... I just love hearing lenders that are educated in the dental space as well, where you literally can talk competently about our world and about the things that we're dealing with, so I'm just... My last question for you is, let's say I'm a buyer, I want to purchase a practice, I know that my long-term vision is I wanna be a practice owner, what are like step A, B and C that I should be looking at before I contact you or contact a lender. Do I contact you first? Do I contact you later? Like, what's kind of my ABC to get this process started? From your perspective.

0:26:40.8 MS: Sure, so speaking personally, I've been going down and doing education and in dental schools as early as D2, D3...

0:26:50.7 KD: Agreed.

0:26:50.9 MS: I don't think it is ever too early to have the conversation with a lender and make sure it is a dental focused lender, your cousin Tom that works at Wells Fargo as a teller isn't gonna have the same experience as somebody that has been in this game...

0:27:06.7 KD: I don't know why I thought that was so funny but I... I just couldn't see us all being like, but 'cause Morgan I've got a friend who's a friend of somebody... Okay, perfect guys for a dental...

0:27:16.6 MS: Your attorney that's in the the family that's trying to do a dental transition, it's just like everywhere, so any lender in the dental space that is kind of worth anything or worth you giving their business to down the road, they're gonna talk to you as soon as you connect with them, because I would rather get a hold of you right now and tell you what to focus on, other than coming to me saying, Morgan, I found my dream practice, we need to close at the end of the year, which is what? 70 days out. Less than that. Good God. So I need to close it then and then I dive into it, and I pull up their personal financial statement, they're trying to buy a million dollar practice, and they got 10 grand in the bank, and I say... Banks are gonna wanna see that you've got 5% to 7% of the amount you're looking to finance, they're like, Well, that's okay because I've been paying 20 grand a month to my student loans, and I'm like, Oh, oh my gosh, somebody, I really wish I could have gotten a hold of you sooner, it's nonsensical. I tend to be pretty fiscally conservative, and I don't wanna be in debt either, and you get out of dental school, you got $400000 or $500000, your instinct might be, I gotta pay this off to make myself more attractive to a bank...

0:28:28.9 MS: It's the opposite, you need to get on the income-based repayment program, you need to not look at your statements each month because the bill is gonna grow, or your monthly payment is not gonna grow, but your principal balance is gonna grow, and you need to just suck money away, if your goal is to finance a somewhat robust practice, then you need to plan on having at least 5%, 7% of the amount that you're looking to finance, so it's really good to kind of touch on this right now and talk about a couple of the key components that they can work on really quick is liquidity is everything right now coming out of the pandemic, we were literally... We saw practices, that they were forced to shut down for two months, not being able to create revenue, burning through working capital, burning through their savings, that was the most stressful time in my career, just fielding in calls from these new owners that didn't know what to do, so not 5% to 7% liquidity, if you think about it, is on only a million bucks, that's trying to say save $50000 to $70000. That can sound like a lot, but if you're running a million dollar practice, you know what that monthly overhead is.

0:29:34.3 KD: Like, to me, I'm like, No, no, no, that's not enough. You need so much more in the bank because your monthly costs are so much more than that...

0:29:42.0 MS: Yeah, and so the liquidity piece is really important right now, it really it comes down to credit, your liquidity and your production capability, so if all of that aligns well with the practice that you're buying, you're generally gonna get approved... Doctors pay their bills, and I don't want it to be all doom and gloom around the pandemic, I will say this, in the last three years, we've probably originated $1.2, $1.3 billion worth of dental loans, and...

0:30:08.3 KD: That's what the B guys, B as in billion, Biden, billions...

0:30:14.5 MS: Careful, and we've literally had one loan for $600000 go bad, and it was because of a personal situation happened where the doctor just had to leave. So these practices have proven to be pandemic proof, if you will, but what it's shown is that the operators that have their systems dialed in and their overhead down and an aggressive mindset, those are the folks that are gonna really separate themselves from the pack...

0:30:45.1 KD: I love it, I love it so much, and I love that you broke it down so simply, I love what you do for our industry, and I also love that you said, systems, liquidity, have your decks in order. I always find it, just be prepared. Be working on those systems. That's why we have this podcast to give you guys a system so your practice can be there, my doctors, they were pandemic ready, they had lots in the savings, I'm very... I am a stressed out person, and I agree with you, it's so hard, Jason, we had financial... We had our student loans on us, and I will say it was very hard not to want to pay those down because it's a noose around your neck, however, you have to look at the bigger picture, you've got to extrapolate yourself out of that and see what really is the big picture. And what's my long-term goal? I remember having a podcast several years ago where they talked about doctors, you can make so much more if you will invest that money into a practice versus paying down those student loans... I know it's scary. We were 2.5 million and at one point in time, and I was like, whoa, keep that back straight and keep those hands good because they're worth a lot right now.

0:31:49.3 KD: But bottom line was, there are so many things that they can do, and I love that you just broke that down so simply Morgan, so if people are interested, they have questions, they're looking for expansion, they're looking for refile, are looking for they're their students they're first time buyers, they just have questions Morgan... And that's why I like you, you're very approachable, you're very good at what you do, billions of dollars of financing for practices gives you a huge base of just knowing... So if they wanna connect with you, what's the best way to contact you? And I know you're super nice, you'll answer any question, guys, Morgan is nicer than me, he will answer any question you guys have, so... How is the best way for them to connect with you?

0:32:24.3 MS: I am very accessible, 'cause now that I've been doing this so long, it's like I'm seeing those D2s from many years ago now buying their second, third practices. So it is a long game, right?

0:32:35.1 KD: It is.

0:32:36.1 MS: And my email is simple, it's just [email protected]. So [email protected], and then my cell phone is 503-686-3284.

0:32:44.8 KD: Awesome, and Alex will add that to the show notes too, guys, so you can just contact Morgan, but Morgan, I'm just I am grateful that we know each other, super glad because so many practices right now, guys are like money is cheap and make sure you're doing it right, but money is cheap right now, and opportunities are sitting, and I believe that when we take advantage of opportunities, our lives can look completely different, one decision can completely change the trajectory of our lives. So Morgan, thanks for your time today. Thanks for getting on the podcast with us, guys, check him out [email protected], let him know you heard 'em on the Dental A Team, he'll take amazing care of you and share with friends you got dental students, anybody... Morgan is fantastic, and I'm sure you speak at dental schools, so I would highly guess that you are pretty popular at those dental school, so if you guys are wanting him to do study clubs, I'm just gonna brag about him 'cause he's so nice, I'm sure he'll do all those things, but reach out to him, I think you are an incredible resource that people should utilize, so... Thank you again, Morgan.

0:33:37.8 MS: Thank you Kierra and thanks for all that you do for the private practice industry, it's... We need to stick together.

0:33:43.3 KD: Absolutely, Morgan and I are a good peanut butter and jelly guys, he helps you guys get into the practice, we help make it profitable, then you go back to him buy your next practice, we just gel over here. So guys, as always, thank all of you for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast. And that wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.