At some point during this process, I realized the question I was asking myself had quietly changed.

That answer was easy. I did.

The harder question was whether being a dentist was still meant to be the primary way I defined myself moving forward.

For most of my life, that identity had fit cleanly. Dentistry gave me structure, direction, and a clear path. It explained the long hours, the stress, the ambition, and the sacrifices. For a long time, it was enough to be able to say, “I’m a dentist,” and have that sentence fully describe my life.

But as my life evolved, that box started to feel incomplete.

I wasn’t just a dentist anymore. I was a husband. I was becoming a father. I was increasingly interested in investing, building wealth, and planning for the future. Those identities mattered to me, and I didn’t want them squeezed into the margins of my life or treated as secondary.

I no longer felt like the label “dentist” captured the full picture of who I was becoming.

That realization came at a time when a lot of things were changing at once. Marriage and fatherhood has completely changed and restructured my life. It felt natural to ask whether my career should move forward in parallel with my family life, instead of remaining static while everything else evolved.

From a practical standpoint, the timing also made sense. I was near a local maximum in my clinical capacity. My production was strong, the practice was healthy, and years of effort were clearly reflected in the numbers. If there was ever a moment where valuation would fairly represent what I had built, this was likely it.

Waiting longer didn’t guarantee a better outcome. In many ways, it simply increased the risk.

At that point, there was really only one thing standing between curiosity and action: valuation.

I didn’t need perfection. I didn’t need the absolute top outcome. I just needed to know whether the numbers made sense and what a realistic deal structure might look like.

What I had instead was confusion.

I’d heard off-the-cuff rules of thumb about private practices selling for some percentage of revenue while DSOs were paying higher multiples of EBITDA. I’d also heard horror stories about low-ball offers, poorly structured deals, and brokers taking outsized fees. None of it formed a clear picture. Valuation became the single unanswered question that kept me from moving forward.

I needed clarity.

I needed someone who lived in this world to tell me what was realistic, what wasn’t, and how these deals actually worked in practice. Guessing based on anecdotes and hearsay wasn’t enough anymore.

That decision — to stop speculating and start getting real answers — changed everything.

But that’s the story for next season.

Season 1 was about recognizing that my identity — and my life — had already moved forward.

Season 2 is about what I learned once I finally started asking the right questions.

If any part of this season resonated with you — especially the questions around identity, timing, or readiness — I built a short, free readiness assessment to help dentists think through where they actually stand. No pressure, no obligation — just clarity.

Thanks for reading FUTURE // NOW.

More soon.

— Kevin

Not sure where you stand? Take the 2-minute Dental Practice Readiness Quiz and get clarity before you make any big decisions.