In the world of independent dentistry, when we are small standalone businesses, little islands in an ocean of larger corporate organisations, it's easy to try and benchmark ourselves or compare ourselves to the bigger businesses and what they're doing and bring it into our own practices.
This would be a mistake, wouldn't it? We just don't have the resources, brainpower, or expertise that big organisations have, but what we do have is agility and speed of reaction.
I'll refer you back to the blog that I wrote previously about another world.
I was talking about the visionary panel that I was involved in at the dental conference this week and how big tech corporations with extraordinary amounts of money and extraordinary amounts of data are looking at their ability to change and alter the market. That's not our job, not as independent. Our job is to be at the cutting edge, looking after the patient.
It is worth remembering that the independent dental practices in the United Kingdom number somewhere in the region of 8500. Corporate dental practices (dental service organisations – DSOs) numbers somewhere in the region of 1500.
Collectively, as a cooperative, we are a much bigger organisation, but we don't work together as a much bigger organisation.
This gives us the ability to adapt to technology faster and with more agility, but that means that we have to choose.
We, as small independent organisations, have no ability to take on everything at once (if truth be told, even the large organisations don't); therefore, we have to take our strengths and examine our weaknesses, look at the opportunities and the threats (that would be a SWOT analysis in business) and then use what we have where we are right now and make the best of it.
This is what is commonly known as FOCUS.
The difficulty with independent practices or any independent business is that they jump and jump and jump and jump and jump and jump and never stay in a straight line.
I learned a lot from being at the dental conference, what I would like to do for our business, but also what I wouldn't.
It's OK for Bupa to exercise their size and their weight, the data collection, and the resources that they have.
It's fine, but it is very much like looking at an oil tanker that's steadily ploughing through the water, changing course to get to its destination.
Independent dental practices are like small military inflatables, bouncing around on the waves, able to change directions, hop over here and come back in a minute, much faster than the old tanker, much more agile and adept but with much less weight behind them.
Understanding your 3-year business plan and what you're going to do and focus on without being distracted by what's happening at Apple, Starbucks, or Bupa is fundamental and critical to your success (and also your happiness).