Office Visit and the vintage turquoise sink cabinets to give historic character to the white room. What has been the greatest reward of your career so far? What has been the most difficult challenge? The greatest reward has been that I get to build a lifelong relationship with the patients-patients with rich, inspiring life stories and exciting futures. The most difficult challenge was when I needed to keep working right after I'd had surgery, because I couldn't afford to take weeks off from my business. That's when I experienced the challenge and cons of active income. Without me being there physically, everything stops. That's when I realized I should start planning ways to have a passive income as well. Before breaking off to open your own spot, you worked as an associate. What carried over from that experience to help you run a practice? Working with various dentists as an associate, I observed the strengths in each practitioner that made their practice thrive (or at least sustain). I thought if I could successfully combine and incorporate all those strengths into my practice, I would be able to thrive-and I've been implementing them in my office one by one and seeing a great result so far. I learned clinical techniques in cosmetic work such as veneers and full-mouth reconstruction cases from a talented, AACD-accredited cosmetic dentist. Another boss had a plethora of patients because of building sincere rapport with them, as well dentaltown.com \\ SEPTEMBER 2022 35http://www.dentaltown.com