This opportunity sounds pretty good. You should really look into the real reason that her practice has a high turnaround. Does she have a strong controlling personality? Does she seem like someone who would be difficult to work with? Get a feel for her work ethics, how important patient care is to her, versus profit.
You're right, buying into the practice would be a much better opportunity. Buying into a practice is different from a partnership, because you will be the sole owner of this practice. For partnerships, you will have somone to share the expenses and profits of the practice. Sounds like this senior doc is looking to retire, so this relationship would not be a partnership.
This new opportunity sounds pretty good to me. Well established doc and office, good staff, steady stream of patients, onsite lab. Pros - you can control the way you want your practice to be run, and how you want to handle your patients, you set your own hours, income is much better than working for someone else.
Cons - you have to cover all expenses for the office, repairing or replacing equipment, staff payroll, employee benefits like insurance, and all the stress associated with this. You have to pay for all the bills, and if finances are tight, it will affect you and your family. This is a situation where as an OD you will be taking your work home with you. If you work for someone else, when it's time to go, you're done. You do your work and you get a steady salary, regardless of production.
Again, find out why no one else has took up her offer. Maybe you could work for her as an associate for 6 months, then decide on buying in?
had dinner with an OD in my town yesterday. it was a semi-casual dinner with some business chat on the side...
she wants to know if i would be interested in "buying in" to her practice. She is looking to retire and wants someone to look over the practice. She currently has 3-4 associates working for her. She has a high turnaround -- her associates have either left for maternity leave, moved into a bigger city, or switched practices.
I was only looking for a position as an associate, but I believe that buying into a practice would be a much better opportunity. Her practice is in a good location - middle to upper class families, and in a retirement community. She is a well-established optometrist, has 5 staff members working for her, and has an optical dispensary and lab on site.
can someone explain to me the pros and cons of buying into a practice? i have a large amt of student loans to pay off after school and don't know if I will be able to afford this opportunity.
Thank you!