Accelerate My Practice Blog

"A thousand mile journey begins with a single step."

Taking the first step is always difficult but eventually it will get you to the top of the mountain. If you have been in business for any length of time you have had challenges within your business that have led to having some tough conversations and making some difficult decisions. How do you survive during difficult times when you feel like your business is failing or perhaps you develop a health issue or unexpectedly pass away? What will happen to your family, employees, and patients? Even if you are not in dire straits, an escape plan is essential in order to be prepared. What is the plan in place if your business goes south?

Whether it is your dental patients, your dental team, or yourself change is often met with resistance. I recently read a book called The Five Second Rule that discusses this. The concept of the book is that anytime we are resistant to making a change there is some fear or something that is holding us back; this is the same mindset that holds our patients back from accepting treatment. Research has shown that when we face a challenge and feel resistant that counting down from 5 to 1 is an absolute game changer in how we move forward.

Are you familiar with the ADA Standard of Care? When was the last time to read up on it, making sure that you were providing the best Standard of Care to your patients?

Have you ever spent an excessive amount of time on the phone with customer service just to get a simple question answered? It can be frustrating waiting on hold for an hour just to reach a live person. We have all been there and it got me thinking about the dental industry: what is the standard of care and why do some practices accept the minimum standards?