Illume Dental Care

"We were first made aware of Breathe's services at the end of 2007 when a flyer arrived at our practice.Tim and his previous partner were both at a stage when they had different needs and desires from their professional life and Simon steered them both to a successful outcome.

I was still teaching in a pupil referral unit at that time and genuinely believed (mistakenly!)that I was a career teacher. Following discussions both with Simon and between Tim and myself we realized that my skills were transferable and we had a marvellous opportunity to work together and develop a very special business.

The Breathe Retreat is a life changing experience giving you a very rare opportunity to take a step back in beautiful surroundings

When people ask what's changed since we became business partners it would be much easier and much shorter to list what hasn't changed! Illume had been a long standing, successful private practice but there is always room for development and as we all know if we don't develop and evolve as a business we become extinct. And so we have changed and developed the name, many team members and the roles they carry out, the organisation of the practice, the services we offer, the systems we operate, the client journey, the way in which we train the team, the financial planning and reporting that we carry out and we have ensured that we are properly resourced.

The result of these changes and developments is that Illume is a happy place to work with a fantastic team spirit. We are all clear on our common goals, all dentists and hygienists are clear about and focused on hitting their targets. Our clients give us consistent and wonderful feedback on our treatments but more importantly to us, the atmosphere and 'feel' of Illume. The man who came to change the electricity meter here a few weeks ago declared we are all too happy to work in a dental practice and we thought - result!!

Our relationship with Breathe has been life changing and we are privileged to be able to call everyone who works there a friend. From early 2008 we undertook bespoke coaching with Simon and from mid 2008 until March 2011 regularly attended the South West Business Club. This not only has the benefit of quarterly coaching and training from the Breathe personnel but also the opportunity to participate in a 'mastermind' group with like minded dentists and managers.

We have now taken control of the organisation and planning of our business in a way that we believe would not have been possible without our involvement with Breathe. This also means that we are clear about our personal diary planning and so focus (dentistry), buffer (planning) and free days are organised a year in advance. Although we couldn't honestly say we have our work/life balance running perfectly (few self employed people can in our experience) we have made great and important progress and ring fence our free days most of the time.

Too many dental professionals and their partners - either business or life - don't know where they're going. And if you don't know where you're going you probably won't get there! The Breathe Retreat is a life changing experience giving you a very rare opportunity to take a step back in beautiful surroundings, with like minded people and make a firm commitment to improve both your professional and personal life - and in our case make friends for life.

Whether you need coaching or consultancy to recruit and manage the right team, develop sales systems and marketing strategies, ensure you have financial control or run a systemised practice then Breathe is the team to help. And if you need all of the above then you definitely need to contact them!

Underpinning all of this is the ability of Simon and his team to assist in vision planning and writing.

We would highly recommend all Breathe services to any forward looking dental practice but the Breathe Retreat is not to be missed.”

Alison Rumney BA (Hons)
Illume Dental Care
www.illumedentistry.co.uk