Browsing through my breakfast newspaper not long ago a column headline in The Vancouver Province caught my attention: Don’t ask and you shall not receive. Reading further I noted it was a Question and Answer column under the title of “Coach’s Corner” written by Linda Hamilton.
Linda is a Master Certified Life and Executive Coach and a winner of two Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2003 and she writes the Province’s Coach’s Corner monthly. The question directed to her in this particular issue was from a couple of consulting business contractors who questioned whether they should bid on a contract they would love to have even though the particular contract had been awarded to another company over the past five years.
Ms. Hamilton’s response to the contractors was quick and positive: “Unless you throw your hat in the ring, you aren’t going to get the contract or grow your business”. She went on to develop her positive response with the headlines Don’t assume anything and Ask for the business and then went on to emphasize that asking demonstrates strength, confidence and initiative. She concluded by giving three tips for asking: ask clearly and confidently, keep it real and keep it simple.
When we take a moment and think about the title of our publication – The Professional Advisory – and even take “Advisory” to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary for clarity, we find that the dictionary’s definition having the power to advise: giving advice is truly what The Professional Advisory is all about. And by reading each of the articles you can ask yourself questions and you will be sure to get answers. If you don’t ask you shall not receive.
If you are thinking of purchasing a practice, read with care Ron Weintraub’s article, Caveat Emptor: Buyer Beware the Importance of Due Diligence in the Purchase of a Dental Practice. There you will find real answers to the many factors influencing purchases and sales. Thinking of retiring and asking yourself if you will have enough income? Mark McNulty’s Be Retired and Grow Your Portfolio, with its emphasis on what he calls The Portfolio Paycheque, answers the retirement question in four steps that shows growing your portfolio while retired is possible. And who doesn’t think family is important? In Associate Professional Corporations – Include Your Family Members David Rosenthal carefully outlines the many factors/questions involved in family benefits and concludes, “proceed carefully and with benefit of proper and expert professional advice”. Don’t Ask and You Shall Not Receive!
Day to day which one of us doesn’t give some thought and asks questions about paying taxes? In their article, Exemptions: Protecting Your Most Important Assets From Taxes, David Chong Yen and Louise Wong provide real answers to sheltering two of your most important assets from taxes – your principal residence and capital gains. In buying and selling a dental practice no doubt questions such as – what will happen to the patients and will the dental team stay with the new owner – will arise. David Lind’s Smooth Sale-ing” clearly answers these and other questions. Any reader wondering and questioning the status of their lease will certainly find answers in Ian Tom’s Current Trends in Dental Practice Leasing. Ian, step by step advises, “You need to change with the times or the times will change without you”.
Yes, within these pages there are excellent answers to questions you may be asking. Because here is a truth: none of us are perfect. And if we’re not perfect, ask for help. Because if you don’t ask, you shall not receive.
