 Hello everybody, Andrew Myeski here with Dental and Mobile Hygiene. It is almost two years since I've had my own dental hygiene practice November. We'll mark it two years. So I wanted to share you guys my thoughts, what I've learned, things like that. I did a video previously for my one year. So I thought two years just makes the most sense and so much has changed. So now I am working primarily for my own business. I have a mobile hygiene business, but also a little set up in my own home, which is just over there. Whereas before when I had marked my one year, I was still working in a dental practice and that had its challenges because things are busy, things were hectic. But now that I have my own practice primarily, it's the best thing ever because I can make my own schedule. I am very, very busy, which is a great problem to have, of course. And it's just a wonderful thing to be able to see your own patients, to be able to do what you want with your own patients. And I'm a dental nerd through and through. So I love to talk to people about dental and just having my own business fits me. And it's great. So what has changed? So it's been almost two years. And guess what happened? COVID happened. We were going through a pandemic. So business, well, we are going through a pandemic, I should say. Sorry, let me correct myself here. But I was off of work from March till June, which is a long time. I really missed my lovely patients and working. But business expenses are a lot more now because we have all the PPE. I had to buy things like a contactless thermometer, just all of that to really prepare for this pandemic and keep people as safe as possible. Initially, we had to wait three hours between patients. So all kinds of things, right? So that has definitely changed within my practice. I do offer a direct billing now. So that has really helped where my patients don't pay for their treatment right away. I send everything off to their insurance company and they pay me the difference, which is great. It helps them. I don't mind waiting to be paid because it helps them. I got into this business for my patients, not for myself. Patience is number one for me. And number two is business, you know? So you can't think about the business first. You need to think about your patients, your customers, your clients first and foremost. And it's really an amazing thing when patients say to me, I made them feel so much better about their dental hygiene appointment. They're not anxious anymore. They feel so much better when I come into their own home. It's easier for them. They might be a family of five or more. And it's just easier for me to come into their own home to see them. So that's really a nice feeling to have. I love that. What I have definitely been doing a lot more of is pre-booking patients. So I did do this at first as well, but it's easy to forget. But what I do now is I just simply book in everybody. So after I see a patient, I book them in for their three months, six months, nine months right away. I do realize that their their schedule might change. Even when I ask patients if they want to book their next appointment, they kind of say, well, I don't know what my schedule is going to be. So what do I do? I book it in for them. I just simply put in a time if I'm seeing them, let's say tomorrow, which is what's tomorrow, a Thursday at 10 30, then I will book their next one for three months or six months on a Thursday at 10 30. But then I do call them or get in touch with them at least a couple of weeks before. I do try to do it a month before because I do tend to book up a month in advance anyway. So I'll get in touch with them and say you're due for your cleaning. I did book you in at this time. Would you like to keep that or would you like to reschedule it for another time? That has really helped because there's nothing worse than seeing a patient and then never seeing them again. That's no fun, right? But as with me, I don't book my appointments as I should. It took me almost a year to get my hair done the last time. So even though I love getting my hair done, I don't think about it. Things get busy. So I pre book my patients. That really, really helps. What I need to work on you guys is the reports. Meaning I don't always notice when I don't hear back from an insurance company. So let's say Sunlife, you can't send anything electronically. The claim forms have to be sent by mail. So I might not notice if I haven't heard from them regarding a patient for two months until I look at the reports or I book the patient's next appointment a couple months later, three months, maybe four months later and go, oh, shoot, I didn't get the money from their last appointment. So that is something that I have to work on. I'm starting to is I make note of every patient and when I sent off their insurance claim to make sure that I do hear back from them. Usually insurance claims take a couple of weeks, but Sunlife takes a month or two months sometimes because they send out the payments once a month, which is ridiculous. Sorry, Sunlife, I shouldn't be saying this, but it's true. So that is something that I have to work on. But you guys, I love having my own dental hygiene business. If you guys are interested in starting one, let me know. I would love to help. There needs to be more passionate dental professionals out there because patients appreciate it and it's the best thing ever. I would not change anything. I could not work for somebody else again. I love having my own schedule. I love taking time off when I need the time off. As an example, it's Thanksgiving this weekend. I took the whole weekend off plus the Monday. So Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I have it off. I might even have the Tuesday off, which was not my choice, but just how it is, I'm not going to book somebody in. So it's going to be a great holiday for me. So thank you guys for listening and I'll see you guys very soon.