Olsen Thielen’s relationship with Gustafson Family Dentistry began back in the late 1980s when John Gustafson, DDS had a practice serving the local community of Arlington, MN and surrounding counties. During this time, Olsen Thielen provided John with tax planning and tax compliance services, individual tax preparation, and corporate tax preparation.
Planning for the Next Generation
John’s son Jared Gustafson graduated from dental school and was welcomed into the family practice. In order to help facilitate this change, Olsen Thielen partnered with Gustafson Family Dentistry to perform compensation formulas and coordinate ownership buy in services. This allowed Jared to become a 50% owner in the practice. It also made sense at this time to move the accounting services-in house, with John handling the bookkeeping with assistance from Olsen Thielen’s BAS team. To this day, Olsen Thielen continues to supervise the internal accounting process. This allows the practitioner to have the independence of handling their own books but with the supervision and support that the partnership with Olsen Thielen provides.
With father and son sharing 50% ownership of the practice, a very amicable business relationship was well established. Built upon this strong foundation, the Gustafson Family Dentistry prospered.
Navigating a Challenging Transition
Unfortunately, in the summer of 2022, John Gustafson passed away, with Jared now owning 100% of the practice as had been previously planned for. “In taking over full ownership after the sudden passing of my father, the Olsen Thielen team went above and beyond to make this difficult process as seamless as possible.” Jared says. Olsen Thielen has since served Jared in the business valuation of the practice and coordination with the family in handling John’s estate.
A Strong Partnership
Olsen Thielen is proud to have been a longstanding partner with Gustafson Family Dentistry and getting the privilege to work with both John and Jared. Seeing such a successful father/son business relationship in action has been a great delight for Olsen Thielen over the years. We look forward to further serving Jared and the Gustafson Family Dentistry practice and eventually helping with the practice of an associate buy as needed.
