Leverage the Rules: Stop Waiting and Start Trading What You Have

Sarah Beth Herman
Jun 5
6 min read

Sarah Beth Herman, Founder & CEO, Dentistry Support®

In today’s dental world, conversations around profitability, expansion, and entrepreneurship often focus on numbers, margins, and overhead. But underneath the numbers lies something more critical: mindset. For many in the dental industry, from solo practitioners to office managers, the fear of investing in growth is real.

It feels safer to keep things small, stay in the lane of routine, and hope that patient volume will grow on its own. But in Episode 71 of No Silver Spoons, I reminded listeners that growth costs something. It costs comfort. It costs predictability. And most of all, it costs the mindset of waiting for the "right moment." This blog post is your pre-conversation primer. It’s the warm-up before the real talk. And trust me, the episode that follows will go even deeper.

Money Isn’t the Start Line. It’s the Toolbox.

One of the biggest myths in dentistry is that you need to "have money to make money." While finances do matter, what's often overlooked is how resourcefulness outpaces resources. A 2023 article in the Journal of Dental Practice Administration showed that dental practices with high innovation scores saw better long-term financial outcomes, regardless of initial capital (Stein & Yamada, 2023). In short, it’s not about how much you start with. It’s how well you leverage what you have.

In the episode, I shared a story about a colleague who thought my perspective on business came from privilege. She assumed I made certain moves because I had a cushion of wealth. But that isn’t how it began for me. Like many dentists or office owners starting out, I was scraping by. I built everything from sweat equity, creativity, and a thousand small pivots. What I had wasn’t money. It was vision, paired with a willingness to take risks.

Dentistry's Comfort Trap

Many dental professionals stay stuck not because they lack opportunity, but because they’re holding onto comfort. You may be earning enough to get by. You might even be hitting a six-figure salary. But if your systems are outdated, your staff turnover is high, and you’re spending more time reacting to daily fires than planning for growth, you’re stuck.

In a 2024 ADA survey, 64 percent of solo dental practices reported wanting to grow, yet only 18 percent took any active steps in the past year (American Dental Association, 2024). That gap isn't caused by a lack of money. It stems from the unwillingness to disrupt what is familiar.

The Risk-Reward Mindset Shift

A story I told in the episode about a client negotiating with a high-ticket mentor perfectly illustrates the point. She didn’t have the money. But what she had was drive and a vision. So she offered a percentage of future revenue instead of upfront cash. That’s what strategic thinking looks like. In dental practices, this could look like profit-sharing with team leaders, investing in a new software tool through phased payments, or even bartering marketing support with a local agency in exchange for services.

Dentistry is not just a clinical service. It’s a business. And business means negotiation. According to Koltveit and Hjertager (2022), modern healthcare leaders succeed when they learn to adapt traditional business models creatively to their specific context.

Scarcity vs. Strategy: What Neuroscience Tells Us

Scarcity doesn’t just limit your bank account. It shrinks your brain’s executive functioning, the very thing you need to make clear, creative decisions. A widely cited study by Mani et al. (2013) published in Science showed that financial stress reduces cognitive capacity. What this means in real life is that a stressed-out dental office manager or dentist will struggle to plan for the future, not because they’re incapable, but because their brain is overloaded with immediate survival tasks.

In contrast, resource-based thinking expands your options. It pushes you to ask, "What can I offer besides money?" For dental teams, this could mean leveraging time, team skills, community contacts, or even underutilized office space. Could that unused consult room become a space for CE courses on weekends? Could a slow Thursday afternoon be converted into a workshop that builds brand authority in your city?

Income While You Sleep: Passive Revenue in Dentistry

Let’s talk income that isn’t tied to the handpiece. For many dental providers, especially solo or small group practices, time is the ceiling. You cannot physically see more patients than your schedule allows. But that doesn’t mean you can’t earn more.

There is a rise in dental offices creating passive income through digital courses, hygiene kits, oral health memberships, and affiliate links. A 2024 study in the Dental Economics Review found that 29 percent of practices that introduced a passive revenue stream saw over a 10 percent increase in net profits within six months (Hernandez & McBride, 2024). The key? Creating once and marketing consistently.

Lessons from Real Negotiations

In the episode, I also shared about leveraging two companies against each other to get a better deal for my business. I approached both, evaluated what each could offer, and used their bids to make a strategic choice. Not based solely on price, but on principle, ethics, and long-term fit. In dentistry, this same method applies to everything from lab contracts to hiring agencies. You are allowed to ask questions. You are allowed to negotiate.

Let’s say your lab fee is too high. Have you ever actually asked for a reduction based on loyalty or volume? If not, you’re leaving money on the table. The American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) has emphasized that regular renegotiation of vendor contracts is one of the top cost-saving strategies dental offices overlook (AADOM, 2024).

From Stuck to Strategic: Action Steps for Dental Leaders

Let’s translate all of this into tangible takeaways. Here are five strategies every dental leader can implement this week:

Inventory Your Assets: List what you offer beyond money. Skills, relationships, equipment, time, expertise. You have more leverage than you think.
Audit Your Mindset: Ask yourself where you are choosing safety over progress. Are you making decisions from fear or from faith in your future?
Identify One New Stream of Revenue: It could be a whitening kit, a virtual CE course, or an affiliate partnership. Choose something simple that can run without your daily involvement.
Practice Value-Based Negotiation: Pick one vendor or contractor and ask for a better deal. Present your case respectfully, clearly, and with confidence.
Say the Scary Yes: Whether it’s hiring that marketing coach, offering bonuses to retain top staff, or investing in new tech, stop waiting. Move now.

You Are Not Too Late

If you're reading this and thinking, "That sounds great, but I can't do it like she did," let me tell you this. I didn’t have it figured out either. I started from scratch. I built while I was still healing. I invested before I had a full safety net. And I still say yes to things that make me nervous.

In dentistry, and in life, there is no "silver spoon" moment when everything gets handed to you. There are only moments of choice. Your success will not be measured by what you had. It will be measured by what you did with what you had.

So stop waiting. The clients are out there. The patients are waiting. The growth is possible. But you have to be willing to go beyond what is safe. Because growth always costs something.

Ready for more? Listen to Episode 71 of No Silver Spoons titled "Leverage the Rules: Stop Waiting and Start Trading What You Have" wherever you stream your podcasts. It's a raw, honest conversation you didn’t even know you needed. Let it stir something in you.

References

American Association of Dental Office Managers. (2024). Cost-saving strategies in vendor negotiations. AADOM White Paper.

American Dental Association. (2024). 2024 Dental Practice Economic Report. https://www.ada.org/resources/research

Hernandez, M., & McBride, S. (2024). Passive income strategies for dental offices. Dental Economics Review, 18(2), 56-62.

Koltveit, B. J., & Hjertager, B. H. (2022). Adaptation of business strategy in healthcare: Lessons from innovative models. Healthcare Management Journal, 34(1), 22-30.

Mani, A., Mullainathan, S., Shafir, E., & Zhao, J. (2013). Poverty impedes cognitive function. Science, 341(6149), 976-980.

Stein, L., & Yamada, J. (2023). Innovation outcomes in low-capital dental startups. Journal of Dental Practice Administration, 27(3), 39-45.

Disclaimer:

To learn more about Sarah Beth Herman, the author of all free training content you can read her bio here. These materials are intended to provide helpful information to dentists and dental team members. They are in no way a substitute for actual professional advice based on your unique facts and circumstances. This content is not intended or offered, nor should it be taken, as legal or other professional advice. You should always consult with your own professional advisors (e.g. attorney, accountant, or insurance carrier). To the extent, Dentistry Support ®has included links to any third-party website (s), Dentistry Support ® intends no endorsement of their content and implies no affiliation with the organizations that provide their content. Further, Dentistry Support ® makes no representations or warranties about the information provided on those sites. You can view our privacy policy and terms and conditions by clicking those pages in the footer of our website.