One of the frustrations of being a practice owner is riding the ups and downs of the weekly New patients coming into your office. I used to be the effect of the weekly new patient number in terms of how it affected my mood and my enthusiasm for my practice. When the new patient numbers were high I always had some pep in my step and became much more creative as an owner toward expanding my practice. The new patient statistic became a bellwether to my own personal happiness and professional confidence when it came to expanding and trying new things. Later I learned that the new patient stat needed to be something I drove and not the other way around. Only after extensive study of this topic of marketing, sales, and prospecting was I able to comprehend the full recipe for success. Up until then, I was always looking at the individual ingredients and never the big picture. Only after fully understanding the importance of committing to an annual marketing plan with monthly marketing campaigns that were measured statistically was I able to be more at cause over how I felt about my business and myself versus the effect of my NP stats.