Lara & Mike’s Story

The dental industry holds a lot of untapped opportunity, but there is no reward without risk.

Our personal journey was not linear, throughout there was constant learnings & continuous improvement, there are no short cuts, but there are key principles which we have developed over the years and now share with our clients. If you share similar values, have authenticity and willing to be open minded in order to grow, then Hesketh Healthcare might just be for you.

Our journey began back in 2012

In 2012 we purchased Castle Square Dental in Exeter for £280k, and sold for £3.2m in just over four years. Associate led, award winning, market dominating & open seven days a week, our little practice soon became quite the success story. We started from three chairs, paper records, little customer service and a under utilised building, undertreated patient plan list, no specialist skills and with minimal clinical technology investment. Utilising Mike’s leadership training from his eight years in The Royal Navy and the dynamism of Lara ‘s time spent in the talent management industry, we achieved a stellar success as a team, that allowed our business to grow exponentially.

Watching inspiring talented leaders and operators

in high performing organisations for many years prior to dental, gave us the insight, drive, skills & discipline needed in the 360-degree pressure environment that so often comes with dynamic practice ownership. We invested in a business consultant ourselves for nine months and it was best investment of our time and money in our early set up days. We also worked closely with our now Chief Financial Officer who always had our best interests at heart, a great advisor and friend who helped steady the ship when things got hairy.

We spent five years building, branding and bringing the practice to life

driving standards for patients and growing opportunities for staff. We began the early days of our consultancy business in 2013, coaching fellow practice owners giving tours of our practice, providing invaluable insight into the working of this autonomous operation. Michael undertook an MBA at Exeter University and enrolled at Henley Business School to consolidate his leadership and professional coaching skills. Selling our first practice within five years, achieving our personal goals to travel the world on a family gap year with our small children.

At 35 years old we packed our bags and set off for a lap of the globe for a year, exploring as a family was one of the best experiences of our lives and was the real reward of the hours of work and risks taken in five years earlier with our first practice. After returning from our travels, Mike was in-undated with requests to learn about the ‘Walk Away Deal, dramatic growth, associate led model’. Our consultancy and coaching has since flourished. Fast forward to 2024 we are have now built Hesketh Healthcare Consulting & Accountancy with bespoke like-minded clients. Collaborating whilst embarking on our second practice transformation, Dartmoor Dental in Devon and new site for 2024 a fresh start up practice.