should i start my own lab?

[kmart]

hey everyone,
new to the site. Have been recently thinking of starting my own dental lab. I have only been in the business for about 4 years so I know what your all thinking. I was working for my employer for about 3 years when he opened a satalite lab about 300 miles away. I now have been running that satalite lab for about one year. The docs that I work for are all very happy with my work so I've been thinking of going on my own. I get paid well now but I work very very long hours, with no paid overtime doing about 20,000 to 25,000 a month with a little help from a retired tech. Should I make the jump or should I stick it out longer. I forgot to mention it is a crown and bridge lab.

 

[grantoz]

no don't. if you think you are working hard now it will be worse when you go it alone and lot more stressful. also even though you have experience running a lab you are still pretty green to the way the dentist work and just new at business. i have been asked before how long before you start yourself I would recommend about ten years experience .Please don't fall for the dentist whispering in your ear telling you how great you are and you should start your own lab and I will send you all my work and my friends too by the way you need to drop your prices a bit.I have seen this many times ending in tears.and always the techos tears.

 

[Alex R.]

Stay where you are for at minimum couple of years

 

[Terry Whitty]

It all just seems so dreamy owning your own show...but remember the buck stops with you when you do.

Owning your own lab is necessarily all about doing all the work yourself either... Well it should not be if your a modern business person.

A clever business person has a business plan, a bit of cash up their sleeve to invest and an exit strategy.

Crown and Bridge is a tough game, ask anyone doing it.. And it's all about CAD/CAM these days like it or not so you will need to invest some bucks.

I admire anyone having a go.. But beware of the pitfalls that chain the inexperienced to the bench for years.

 

[Marcusthegladiator CDT]

If you really want to open your own lab, take the time you have now to continue your education, and later, much later, open your lab...

 

[doug]

If you do open your own lab, please don't screw-over the person who gave you your current opportunity. Integrity should still have some meaning to you.

 

[Gru]

Running a lab business is NOT the same as being an efficient, high quality, highly qualified tech. The business end of it is it's own animal: sales, budgets, accounting, inventory, etc.... not to mention account "management" as in keeping them happy and sending work. I did the satellite lab thing- very efficiently, but it never prepared me for being on my own.
Likely if you make the jump, initially your hours will increase, your income will decrease, you will take on unwanted debt, and if the doctors aren't loyal to the lab you work for, they won't be very loyal to you either.

 

[charles007]

Before you spend a dine building your own lab, post many pictures of your work !
If you only have 4 years in the business and no schooling, you may not be ready yet ? Then again, pics of your work will tell the story.
No one can give you an honest, educated answer, until we see your work.................

 

[desertfox384]

Crown and Bridge is a tough game, ask anyone doing it.. And it's all about CAD/CAM these days like it or not so you will need to invest some bucks.

I do very little cad anything in my lab - there seems to be a big push to go towards cad from the companies selling it but its not like I have doctors calling me up demanding stuff made by a computer.. if that was the case they would still be using their Cerecs and not me. Maybe I'm just ignorant but at this point anyhow I don't see the big rush to get into CAD unless you are just trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of your crowns and a few more employees into the unemployment line.

 

[desertfox384]

As for your question Kmart - you need more time.... When you go out on your own you need to be able to wow your prospective clients with your work and knowledge. They wont send you work unless you have both of those. You aren't making much and that sucks but you are in a great position where you can learn everything you need to learn before going out on your own. As a 4 year tech I was making about that as well - What kind of hours are you working? Not sure what other lab owners are putting in but its not abnormal for me to work 60 and sometimes 70 hours a week.

 

[rkm rdt]

" Not sure what other lab owners are putting in but its not abnormal for me to work 60 and sometimes 70 hours a week."

"I do very little cad anything in my lab"


That's why cad is so popular. It has nothing to do with the dentist requesting it.

It has everything to do with working smarter not harder.

 

[desertfox384]

Working smart AND hard is more my style and for me Cad is not a smart choice. I can wax copings faster than I can scan them without fit issues, and without spending 100k on equipment, training and burs etc.
Most of my docs want pfm and emax, about 5% of my work is FCZIR which I send to Parkway and they do a great job. I can't make the numbers work until the good equipment is much cheaper, and the point is that you don't have to go that route (at this point) if you don't want to. This guy wants to start up a lab and he can do it without CAD.

 

[rkm rdt]

whatever

 

[Terry Whitty]

I have to agree with rkm.. It is about working smarter not harder. It's all about growing your business not being a slave to it.
I hear it all the time " I can wax xyz quicker". I appreciate your skill , but that's not the point. To really have your business evolve you will need to
at least look at CAD/CAM. I'm sure lots of labs around you are, and when they get it happening their productivity will increase, and they will be able to "better, cheaper, faster" and be on the hunt for more customers.
Maybe its not for everyone, I meet people that it's really not for, but they are fully knowing their days are nearly over in dental technology.

 

[desertfox384]

To really have your business evolve you will need to
at least look at CAD/CAM.

No doubt, I have and plan on giving it another look over this next year. We'll see if anything has changed since the last time I looked around.

 

[DMC]

I did the 2 1/2 yr school, then almost Seven yrs in local labs learning the trade in the real world....not on paper, and then started my own business.

This is even with my father being an ex-Dental Professor and having a large private practice.

We both knew better than to have me try and run a business any sooner than that.

I say, you are not ready. LOL ??

The first Ten years of owning a C&B lab sucked!

Never saw my family and made not much more than working for another lab.

Second Decade was much better! Much much better!

Scott

 

[Cbite Dental Products]

hey everyone,
new to the site. Have been recently thinking of starting my own dental lab. I have only been in the business for about 4 years so I know what your all thinking. I was working for my employer for about 3 years when he opened a satalite lab about 300 miles away. I now have been running that satalite lab for about one year. The docs that I work for are all very happy with my work so I've been thinking of going on my own. I get paid well now but I work very very long hours, with no paid overtime doing about 20,000 to 25,000 a month with a little help from a retired tech. Should I make the jump or should I stick it out longer. I forgot to mention it is a crown and bridge lab.

Kmart,

Good afternoon! I think you are progressing quickly since you have only been the field for only 4 years. Glad to see you have motivation too.

I like the suggestion to at least wait 2 more years. You can save a little more money and you can continue to learn the tricks of the trade. In that time you can also make it a goal to become a CDT. There is a lab owner by the name of Mark Jackson, I think he is a member here, and I also believe he gives some courses as part of the NADL that teach some really important basics on how to run a successful dental lab business. If you contact him I am sure he can point you in a very good direction.


Mark Jackson, RDT
Vice President, GM at
Precision Ceramics Dental Laboratory

Mark co-founded the laboratory in 1981. A member of the ICOI and Cal-Lab, he serves on the Board of directors of the National Association of Dental Laboratories

 

[DMC]

Mark was on here all the time Chris.

His success stroy is kinda unique.

He and his buddy/business partner had a jump-start from friend's Dad, who is successful Dentist.

Whatever Mark says, probably would not apply. LOL

They had it easy in the beginning and had a very large safty-net.

I recommend not calling him, unless you want to get brainwashed into Sirona stuff, and filing papers and documentation everytime you take a poop. He is obsessed with paperwork and various non-sense tracking and protocol beyond the norm that has no real benefit to the bottom line of profits IMO.

We also prefer to use this pic of Mr. Marky-Mark if you would please.....

 

[Marcusthegladiator CDT]

Do you have a name for your lab yet? Ok then, first things first, you need a name.

 

[rkm rdt]

If you decide to go digital then a good name would be

scantily cad