Are you "unmanageable"?

Dr. Megan on the identity crisis of ownership and building the "Shell-Start" of her dreams.

Author

Ashley Joves
March 31, 2026

"I think my husband says I’m kind of unmanageable... I just want to do things my own way."

That’s a quote from our latest guest, Dr. Megan of Soleil Dental Co., and honestly? It’s a sentiment most of us in this community can relate to.

We’re often told there are only two paths to ownership:

  1. The Acquisition: Buy someone else’s charts, someone else’s team, and someone else’s "old ways."

  2. The Cold Start: Start from a dirt floor in a retail strip and pray the contractors finish on time.

But Dr. Megan did something a little... different.

Megan found an old office that had the equipment and the plumbing, but zero patients. No charts to transition, no legacy staff to "re-train," and no $700k construction bill.

She bought the bones, but she’s building the soul from scratch.

In this week’s episode, we sit down for a raw conversation about the "Founder Shift." We aren't just talking about clinical protocols; we're talking about the mental evolution required to go from being an employee to being the person who chooses the paint colors, hires the lean team, and decides that "good enough" isn't enough anymore.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • The Identity Shift: How to know when you’ve officially outgrown your associate role.

  • The Power of Proximity: Why Megan chose a 3-minute commute over "perfect demographics" 40 minutes away.

  • Integrating Your "Why": How Megan’s personal journey with 14+ missing teeth and a traumatic birth led her to build a practice focused on airway and lactation support.

  • DIY or Die: The reality of fixing broken breakers and being locked out of your own CBCT software 6 weeks before opening.

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON

The "Making Of" Moment

During the recording, Megan mentioned something that stopped me in my tracks: “Meeting who you’re becoming in the process of ownership.”

Ownership isn't just a career move; it’s a personal transformation. You don’t just wake up as a CEO. You build that person one DIY paint job and one difficult hiring decision at a time.

If you’re currently an associate feeling that "founder itch," this episode is your permission slip to start dreaming about your own version of Soleil.

P.S. Are you wrestling with the "Front Desk vs. Cross-Trained Assistant" debate? Megan is currently in the thick of it. Hit reply and let us know what worked for your startup—we’ll share the best advice in next week’s wrap-up!

Stay gritty, The Making Of Team

Connect with Dr. Megan:

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts—it helps other dentists find us and fuels this mission we believe in so deeply.

The Making Of has partnered with Net32, the dental marketplace that lets you compare vendors, brands, and pricing in one place. → Net32: www.net32.com/TheMakingOf