THE BUDDING DENTIST AND THE SIDE HUSTLE: Establishing additional income streams to supplement a new set up instead of digging into hard earned savings!
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expressed in this blog are the authors own and are derived from the author’s
experiences and observations. This blog is the intellectual property of the
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“A side hustle is a way to make some extra cash that allows
you flexibility to pursue what you’re most interested in. It can also be your
true passion – a chance to delve into fashion, travel or whatever it is you
care about the most without quitting your day job.”
www.entrepreneur.com
Let’s face it, the present scenario of
clinical dental practice is such that, establishing a new set-up, paying your
bills, supporting yourself and family while at the same time raking in a decent
profit is no easy feat. Getting down to the numbers which I have already
discussed in a previous blog about the financial hurdles of running a
successful urban practice, a budding dentist looking to set up a new practice
and making a living off it should take into consideration the cost of set-up, the
running cost of the clinic, the cost of supporting your family, savings and if
they’re lucky, a decent enough profit (during the initial few months or years
in some cases). To sum it all, a newly established dental set up carries the
risk of being financially uncertain at least in the initial phase which is the
case with most new businesses.
There is no denying the fact that
today, dentistry has become more of a business in terms of how dentists run their
practice, be it marketing or advertising or even offering specialised treatments
with an aim to gain more patient footfalls in their clinics. So, it is fair to
say that for a budding dentist, raking in huge financial gains from their
newly launched set up is not going to be a piece of cake given the situation
today. This means that the budding dentist needs to have some sort of a financial
cushion, in other words something to fall back onto at least during the “slog”
phase till his/hers practice starts generating a stable amount of income every
month. This “financial cushion” for most involves paying the rent and other
expenses out of their own pockets (their parent’s pockets!) for months or years
(in worst cases). Not the ideal situation you want to be in where at the end of
the month you find yourself to be in the negative financially instead of at
least breaking even if not being in profit. The situation gets more complicated
as you delay setting up your practice after graduating from college i.e. when
you start taking additional responsibilities such as providing for family,
taking care of elders at home etc.
The only problem with the “financial
cushion” is that for most individuals, this cushion is nothing but hard earned
savings that were meant to be used for rainy days or some collective dream of
your loved ones. Digging into those savings not only messes up the financial
equation at home but also is not the brightest move one can make as far as financial
planning is concerned. I’ll be clear here that I am not advocating that you don’t
do that under any circumstances, obviously these are just temporary hardships
everyone faces during the initial years of practice and in the long term, the financial
returns more than make up for what you initially had to go through. The whole
point of the discussion here is to emphasise the fact that given the way the
world has changed in the past decade especially with the internet now proving
to be source of income for many people worldwide, budding dentists today can
very well utilise this tool and “create” a financial cushion instead of “eating”
into it.
While there are plenty of options
available out there for you to explore on just how you can do this, this blog
is going to focus primarily on how the side hustle is something a budding
dentist can afford to carry out with just one simple investment : TIME.
Here’s how;
#1 The budding dentist and free-time.
How often do you notice a colleague who
has just established a set up all of a sudden be more active on social media
and Whatsapp groups especially when he/she should be working?
Well, this is nothing to be embarrassed
about! A new set up will definitely mean fewer footfalls during the day and
more free-time to you as you sit in the clinic. But what can make a difference
here is how you choose to spend that free-time! either stay online all the time
and forward Whatsapp jokes and senseless facts to everyone or use the internet
to your advantage and learn a new skill online, carry out stock trading, drop
shipping or work remotely part-time. The options are endless given you make the
primary investment wisely : TIME!
#2 The budding dentist and the 10-2,
5-9
There are hardly any dentists out
there who work 9-5! Those who do are well-established, have a confirmed patient
base that is loyal and don’t have to worry about financial returns given the
amount of time they’ve been in the field. For the rest of us, especially
budding dentists, the day is split into two halves, the morning and the
evening. This leaves a good couple of hours or more of time in the afternoon
for budding dentists to explore! The reality however is that these hours are
mostly spent hogging on a good meal and that ever so inviting afternoon nap! For
someone who has just established a dental practice, utilising these hours as a
way to generate some extra cash on the side can make a huge difference in terms
of their overall financial performance in the beginning.
#3 The budding dentist and the hobby
Everybody has at least one hobby or
that one thing that they are innately good at. The advantage of the internet
today is that not only does it allow one to showcase their talents on a large
scale by serving as a platform but there is also the possibility that those
talents can be monetised by someone who is smart enough to do so. Budding dentists
can utilise the internet and their talents as a source of pulling in an
additional source of income to help them tide through the initial “slog” phase.
How one can do that? What fields are
available for budding dentists to explore as far as the side-hustle is
concerned? Where does one start? All these questions will have varied answers
based on your interests, hobbies, strengths and willingness to explore the
side hustle domain. Be it an online business, writing, running a channel on a
video platform or something to do with online trading or drop shipping. Whatever
the “hustle” is that fits your path of expertise will end up working for you. The
only investment common to all of these is TIME...something that is available in
plenty to the budding dentist but is the least efficiently utilised!
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