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The Business Review - July 16, 2004
by Richard Goddard
Tim Brown never expected to become company president when he started working for ROI Corporation at age 11. Tim's father, Roy, also hired his wife and three daughters to start up his company in 1974.
At the time, ROI was the only company in Canada where a dentist could buy or sell an established dental practice.
Roy saw opportunity in a market flooded with new dentists and double digit inflation sending set-up costs through the roof.
Back then, buyers would pay between $5,000 to $10,000 for dental equipment and $1 for goodwill.
Today practices range between $200,000 to $700,000 with goodwill accounting for 40-50 per cent of the total cost.
In 1977, Lanee, the oldest of Roy's three daughters joined ROI fulltime after working for a bank in office management.
Over the next 15 years, she and her father doubled sales, moving ROI out of the house and into offices in Toronto and Ottawa.
During those years, Tim worked part time at ROI through high school and college and had no intention of going full time.
"I believed there were perhaps bigger and better opportunities or I that I could be bigger or better than my father...perhaps different, or more successful, says Tim.
Though many choose their '20s to gain wisdom by experimenting with sex, drugs and rock and roll, Tim got hooked on business ideas.
Tim's business ventures in photocopiers, dental equipment, sailing instruction and hospital directories to name a few, produced some success, but many more failures.
"Being the son of an entrepreneur, I am an entrepreneur," says Tim, "I was never taught not to try. So I tried a lot of things."
By 1994, Roy started his "phased retirement" at the age of 65, golfing two afternoons per week.
The time had come for Lanee to up her stake in ROI and become its new president.
She had other plans. She wanted to focus more on family and pursue interests in yoga and holistic health.
Roy was disappointed, but he understood.
Unfortunately, some businesses are in immediate need of transition because the health or the age of the owner doesn't match with the career ambition of the child, says Tim.
"Statistics show seven out of 10 family businesses do not pass successfully - it's due to poor timing. You can't manufacture timing in life. It's either right or it's not." says Tim Brown
Though it didn't appear that way at the time, everything was coming together just as it should.
Tim had just turned 30 and, after making his mistakes "on someone else's payroll," he was ready to join ROI. When Tim came in, Roy wondered if ROI was going to be another of one of his six month to year commitments.
All businesses reach that plateau where they need another level of energy to enter," says Tim. "That's pretty much all I did. I brought in some enthusiasm and a need for income and that's a pretty big motivator - a need for income."
Tim coming in was an adjustment for everyone.
Roy and Lanee had focused on planning and office procedure, where Tim was a risk-taker, less process-driven and more concerned with the day-to-day operations.
"I was ready for immediate authority and control," says Tim. "I thought it was time - I was ready to take all responsibility."
Tim's drive was driving Roy and ROI a little crazy.
"Sometimes I had to keep a soft rein," says Roy, "A very soft rein, because he gets very excited by ideas."
"I had to learn by blowing some money, upsetting people and missing deadlines," says Tim.
After two years, both Tim and ROI were ready. With Roy's business philosophy and administrative system intact, Tim took a 50 per cent stake in ROI and gave himself the title of president and CEO.
A title Roy still thinks is a little silly for a company with 20 people.
Roy says it's important to set a clear cut price when a family member takes ownership. It becomes their incentive to grow the business because it's their gain. It also means if they want to increase their stake, the price won't increase over time.
In the ten years since Tim took over ROI, the demand for elective and cosmetic dentistry has exploded.
Dentists are making more money and retiring earlier which means more appraisals and bigger deals for ROI. Along with opening three more offices, ROI sales have tripled.
As the need for dentists to become better businessmen has grown, Tim has become their "Dear Abby," according to Roy. Tim lectures regularly and publishes a column in "Ontario Dentist - the most widely read casual publication in the dental industry."
This year, Roy gave Tim two presents for his 40th birthday.
One was a photo album racking up all the business cards Tim accumulated through his '20s. The other was an offer for Tim to buy the remaining 50 per cent of ROI.
"It's a bargain for him to buy it and he deserves it," says Roy. "He made it more valuable."
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