In 2008, my then bosses (husband and wife) turned up at my house to tell me that they sold the practice that I had worked in for them for nearly 11 years to MyDentist (was then Integrated Dental Holdings).
They asked me to sign a form to say that I would work for the corporate for 18 months.
I declined.
I left the practice a few weeks later and went to seek my fortune somewhere else.
In this case, though, the meaning of fortune is 'control of my destiny'.
I decided I wanted to earn the right to be able to choose my own path and accepted all the consequences that went with that.
If you fast forward 16 years and, people will say to me, "It's all right for you with your fancy big building and your fancy practice and your 55 people in your team" and all of that stuff, but there's a price to pay for the right to choose, there's a price to pay for the right to go your own way.
Initially, the price to pay in 2008 was a 66 or so percent cut in income and the uncertainty of thinking that you'd made the wrong decision and wouldn't be able to support your family in the way you had previously.
And then there was the drip drip, day after day after day of decision-making and trying to stick to your values and horrible conversations and difficult decisions.
I am enormously privileged, and I know that I am.
I get to choose the direction that our organisation goes in, but the responsibility that comes with that is great because if I choose wrongly now, it's not just me; it's everyone; everyone else's life would change, and everyone else's life would alter because I made the wrong decision.
I would never change a thing, and I never regret the direction I took, but it's important to understand that when you see someone who has the opportunity to choose their own way, the likelihood is that they will pay the price to get there.
Blog Post Number - 3973
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