What would it take for you to just give up and quit. Would it take recession? Would it take struggles in life?
Maybe you would give up if you had difficulty with the sale of your practice and the buyer decided they just couldn’t make a go of it after you had agreed on a price.
Maybe you would give up if you child had some health problems, some very serious. Just what would it take to knock you down and out?
Read below and see how a true champion handles adversity in life. Real adversity. Not a broken bridge appointment. Not a hygienist throwing a fit. A real challenge.
Pay special attention to how this champion stepped up and met the tough times head on. It’s really no wonder why some people are successful. Is it?
David Phelps began investing in real estate while still in dental school in 1980. His first joint venture partner was his father, whom David convinced to be the financial partner in a rental property that David managed during professional training at Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas. After graduating dental school in 1983, he never looked back and began a steady and continuous progression in real estate education and investment for the remainder of his practice career. “Creating multiple streams of income that would provide for me and my family, in an emergency, for college tuition, and for retirement, was always a primary goal.”
In 2004, David’s then 12-year old daughter was diagnosed with end-stage liver failure, the result of years of chemotherapy and drug therapy to treat leukemia and epileptic seizures. Jenna was fortunate to receive a liver transplant in time to save her life, however the recovery period was long and arduous. It was during this time period that David made the decision to run his dental practice as a true business entrepreneur and transformed the business to enable him to spend more time with his daughter.
As a result of what became a new-found freedom, David quickly went to part-time practice and subsequently stopped being the provider of dental treatment and ran his practice remotely for another six years before selling to one of the associate dentists.
Today, David is a firm believer that time is our most important asset – “you can’t buy your life back at the point when you think you have finally reached the pinnacle and have enough money – there’s no such thing – it’s an illusion that unfortunately escapes many.”
Freedom is his mantra; he is a crusader for dentists, small business and professional practice owners, to achieve the same life that he has engineered. Real estate continues to be his passion as a proven investment vehicle over many years and economic cycles, a subject on which David mentors other enterprising individuals.
“Dentist Freedom Tips” was written by David to provide dentists and professionals a clear-cut blueprint to creating freedom and options within the scope of their professional practices and personal lifestyle. “Dentists and other professionals simply have not ever been given permission to operate their work and their lives in a different manner – I did it because I was forced to do it. Others can do it because they should.”
David was awarded the coveted Marketer of the Year for Professional Practices at the Glazer-Kennedy SuperConference in Chicago in front of 1,200 of his peers.
“Your life is your life, your business is not your life.” David’s life is one that can be celebrated as proof that adversity can certainly lead to opportunity. Until we are uncomfortable enough in our present situation, change is not likely to happen.
Follow Dr. Phelps’s timeline closely and see if you can learn anything to take home with you:
- Private practice dentistry 1983 – 2004 – 45 miles east of Dallas, TX (Greenville, TX)
- 32-year real estate investor (since 1980) while still in dental school
- Left full-time practice in 2004 due to 12-yr old daughter’s end-stage liver failure and subsequent transplant
- “Sold” practice in 2005 with Seller-Financing and had to take practice back in 2007
- Re-built failed practice without going back into the practice (became the “CMO” – Chief Marketing Officer)
- Ran the practice remotely from 2007-2010 and then sold to associate with 100% bank financing
- Glazer-Kennedy 2011-2012 Professional Practice Marketer of the Year
- Today – full-time real estate investor and coach/consultant to professional practice owners showing them how to achieve
“Breaking the Chains” is not just some cool motto David came up with. He lives it every day. Now he has an abundance of independence and financial freedom, more time off, less stress, and passive income streams through low-risk real estate investment.
That’s a Winning Dentist.