How to become an industry leader and still be on top after 20 years?
Our visit to Lviv led us to deep thoughts. On the one hand, we had already bought space which we planned to repair and move our practice there. It was around 100 m² and was going to make a very decent clinic, at least compared to all others in Sofia at the time. However, I was aware that the dentistry I wanted to practice, needed another home - something radically different from the mainstream which would clearly distinguish us. It took us 5 years to make it happen. Until then, we either lacked sufficient funds, or the spaces were not appropriate. But in 2014 one bank believed in our plan and at the same time several suitable buildings in the Sofia center were available. The moment seemed right also from the perspective of the fact the loans for the previous clinic which we anyway built and had for 5 years, had almost been repaid. A franchise contract followed, then serious renovation of the space which we chose in order to create a dental clinic like no other in Sofia. Three months later, it was a fact. Its area was 440 m² and it only had three dental chairs. We had, however, a special operating room for placing dental implants, a 3D scanner, a sterilization room, a back office, a conference room and a laboratory. We also had a signed Picasso print!
At the moment when we finished equipping the clinic, we owed EUR 1 million - quite a decent loan for a dentist - most of our friends and colleagues called us “Titanic” and waited for us to sink. They also found it hard to believe we had borrowed all this money. There were rumors about money from the Chechen mafia and about a wealthy relative from somewhere who left us a fortune - these stories still circulate around.
When I say today that such clinics are very few in the world, I try not to convince anyone. After all, sometimes even I find unbelievable that such a clinic does not exist in London (in 2019 I visited all the important ones there – there really isn’t any!) The reason why this is so, is probably the fact our clinic is a boutique one. The equipment is constructed by a constellation of brands. When we ordered the dental machines, the surgical instruments, etc., the distributors all told us it would take them long to deliver, since the European warehouses simply don’t have such equipment. It is very expensive and had to be ordered from the USA or be specially produced.
Six years after we started Dental Clinic Petar Duchev, we repaid all our loans and a quote by the President of Canon keeps echoing in my thoughts: “In order to succeed, you must do something no one has ever done before”. The comparison to Titanic was obviously inappropriate and our clinic has a different fate!
Dr. Petar Duchev
