EPISODE NINE: SYSTEMS
We're getting into Dr. Naomi Sedani's world!
Follow her journey, week by week, as she creates her start-up: Lil' Dente
Naomi is scheduled to open up her practice in February 2023... that's only a couple of weeks away!
Listen each week to hear the raw truth and the "behind the scenes" details that not many talk about publicly when it comes to starting up a practice!
We uncover unexpected struggles she is facing, what "life-saving" practice tips she discovered, how much everything is costing, what equipment/ companies she decides to go with and why, her vision to grow in the community, all her financials, how all of this is affecting her personal life, and everything in between!
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[TRANSCRIPT]
Michael: What's up Naomi? How's it going? Good. How are you doing? Doing pretty good. T today a snowstorm. Snowstorm hit you, right?
Naomi: Yeah, unfortunately, supposedly the biggest one, New York has gotten ak. The only one New York has gotten. Are you serious? Yeah. That's the first snowstorm in the area, basically.
It's crazy. It's like in March.
Michael: Was it, was it like a legit one or were you like, uh,
Naomi: I feel like they were making it out to be like something really bad. Um mm-hmm. . I mean, it definitely snowed and there was freezing rain last night, but it was like all the schools canceled. Everyone was two hour breaks.
Businesses were closing and then we drove, or like we came in by train just so we didn't have to deal with the highway, and it's totally fine. ,
Michael: is it real? So there's nothing No. Is it, has
Naomi: it passed? Uh, yeah. It's not even snowing. Like The snow has stayed and it's definitely there and it's like slushy icy status.
now, but. Nothing wild like New York, it was fine. I don't think Connecticut knows what a snowplow is, but that's all good. Does the snow in Connecticut? No, it definitely does. It's just like the roads here are way worse off than New York roads.
Michael: Oh, I get you. I get you. You don't, they don't, they don't know how to like, to plow in people get, just get stuck.
Gotcha. You. That makes sense. Yeah. So has that set you back today or what has it done?
Naomi: Yeah, um, I had four or five patients on like the calendar today. And three of 'em canceled, yesterday just because of like the snowstorm and snow days and they were gonna have to be home with the kids, blah, blah, blah.
And then we had, I had an op this morning, like a nitrous op and then her brother was gonna be getting a new patient exam and we kept trying to contact them to see if they wanted to reschedule, but she was insistent on coming in, so we opened up the office to be able to see them.
Michael: Were you trying to reschedule people today
Naomi: or.
I mean, I was just asking them, I didn't wanna force the appointment or anything. I know some people just don't feel comfortable driving in snow and mm-hmm. right now. My schedule has a lot of flexibility in open spots, so I didn't mind like being like, Hey, if you're not comfortable, I totally get it.
Yeah.
Michael: So then were they all able to reschedule or were they like, oh, I'll get it back to you, or,
Naomi: um, one of them's getting back to me, she tends to only come here because right across the hall is like that pediatric therapy group. Mm-hmm. and their therapist is supposed to come in on my dental visit with him, so she has to re coordinate that whole thing.
And then the other one is my cousin and her kids . So you better come, we rescheduled her. I was like, you better be coming. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other ones were just the op and the sibling and they definitely came and it was actually good because I got to spend more time with them and. . It was like easier for sure, and I, it turned out to be a good visit, so it's all good.
Now. I'm just here doing admin work.
Michael: Oh, that's good. How long is normally like that new patient or that patient visitation that just happened?
Naomi: I mean, I think if it was like recalls and then more frequently, I wouldn't say it would be take more than 20 minutes, but just because you're trying to get to know the families, you're talking, you're trying to understand what they're coming from.
I would say it takes 30 to 40 minutes and I did some like same day like sealants and all that stuff on him, so.
Michael: Hmm. Yeah. Are you asking for like reviews and referrals already or No.
Naomi: So the mom today, she on her own says she's gonna refer a family friend to us, which was like really sweet. But like I'm starting to ask Beatrice to.
say at the front like, Hey, if you had a great experience, which it sounds like you did, we really love a review, I'll be happy to send you a link once you're home. so we're starting that dialogue here. Mm-hmm. , no one has done it like in our face quite yet. And then 24 hours after the appointment we always send like a follow-up text Hey, we're hoping blah, blah, blah.
Did. Well as you know, we're a brand new business and readings and reviews mean a lot to us. if you enjoyed your experience, we'd love to hear about it and here's a link. Gotcha. So you're doing that now? Yeah. Yeah. We started like those texts. So I have to work with Casper on like if it can be automatic because right now Yeah.
I'm the one that's going in 24 hours after the appointment and sending that text
Michael: message manually all the time.
Naomi: Yeah. Right now. But I think there has to be a way to do it through Casper. Yeah, I was
Michael: gonna say there has to be. Yeah. I would assume,
Naomi: I dunno, they're very good at automation, so
Michael: that's good.
That's good. So far out of all the, I guess, software that you have, has any of 'em been like, I didn't really need this, or, eh, I expected more from you or kind of thing or No?
Naomi: Mm-hmm. , Casper truthfully has been like my, I don't wanna call it saving grace, but I think it's the one that's like showing like a lot of great feedback.
Beatrice, my front desk slash assistant, she loves it. she loves the patient communication, like she loves, like the ease of being able to see everything. the forms are something I'm just still trying to get a little bit more used to, but everything has been like really seamless so far in terms of like, at least the communication side, being able to do whatever I want.
And so I'm, I'm extremely happy, but I love the fact that I don't have like Mango Flex. I don't know what else. Swell.
Michael: I dunno what's like in those Ed Dental, all
Naomi: that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Next health, whatever. I'm very happy and as a minimalist myself, I just really appreciate it's a one all be all and one program.
I don't have to like contact all these different people. it's just there. And what's also great on Casper, if none of you guys have like ever demoed it, they have like a little chat button, like on the main desktop page itself. So it's kind of nice that while I'm dealing with an issue or a question comes up, I can still have a chat text with them and they'll be able to fix things.
While my day is going and it's up on a web browser, it's not like a software program that's integrated onto your desktop so I can access it from anywhere. Hmm.
Michael: When it comes to the forms you mentioned, you're still getting used to that. .
Naomi: So theirs is definitely more set up for gps, I think just PS just has a little bit of a different need.
So like the extraction form, ? Mm-hmm. . Um, it's saying please don't smoke after the extraction. . I don't think my , my little seven year old today is gonna be having a cigarette afterwards. Yeah, yeah.
Michael: Yeah.
Naomi: I keep telling the parents, I was like, I'm so sorry. This is an adult form.
I'm still working on the kids form. . Please ignore this part when you're signing the paperwork. .
Michael: Yeah. They're like, oh no, he does. He does. They're like,
Naomi: I, I, I assume Luna is not like smoking. Right? And she's like, no. I was like, okay. Just making sure ,
Michael: uh, that's funny. Okay. So just stuff like that you have to adjust.
Naomi: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's good. I'm learning. I'm learning as we go. So far it's been Okay. .
Michael: And then you also started your work, huh? Or your associateship.
Naomi: Yeah. Yeah, so that's, I'm actually gonna be there for three days this week. Um, my boss that's usually there three times a week. He just got married last weekend, so he's kind of escaping for a couple weeks.
So I opted to cover him cuz I haven't had a job since December. The bills are gonna be coming, so I figured might as well work the next three days and I'll just consolidate everyone as much as I can.
Michael: Okay. That's cool. You're working what, three days?
Naomi: typically I'm there Wednesdays and Thursdays, but this week I'll be there Wednesday, Thursdays, Friday.
Michael: Gotcha. Okay. Have you done any marketing since last week?
Naomi: So I'm trying to reach out to one of the most local schools. right now, the daycares, we had dropped them off cupcakes and like tote bags for the employees. So I've been trying to contact the director. like about doing a presentation for the little kids.
turns out like a few days after we went, some other pediatric dental office went and dropped off toothbrushes. So the director was getting us confused with them and blah, blah, blah. But basically he just said send him over an email. What we'd like to do, he's gonna forward it to the teachers and see which teachers wouldn't mind us
Michael: Did you
Naomi: forward the email? No, I literally just found this out last night, so, okay. That was part of my plan today to send an email, but I also don't wanna just send like a little text, email with like, bullet points. I think it would be a good idea for me to have maybe a small presentation or p d f like thing about this is like what I usually do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
just so I can have it for like future daycares or school presentations.
Michael: Do you have something like a presentation already, or No?
Naomi: I have an idea of what I would wanna do, but it really depends on the age of the kids. , like I think for more of a daycare sort of developmental thing, like having them, for example, you can do a happy tooth and like a sad tooth and kind of put foods mm-hmm.
that like go towards a happy tooth or the small sad tooth. Another one would just be taking like a toothbrush and they can dip it in white paint and paint the tooth with the toothbrush. There's like little things like that just kind of just depends on what the teacher is up to.
But I wanna be able to have, marketing materials also available as well. So outside of like the toothbrushes, I wanna be able to have like a small little, not just business card, but like a little detailed sort of like, I don't know what you call postcard. Yeah. Mm-hmm. , I guess a postcard.
Mm-hmm. like some more bullet points that are a little bit more, um, catchy and stuff like that. So I'm just trying to make sure I have all the right stuff. Like available too. Yeah. And then the other marketing thing is we're having like a five day local business giveaway. starting next week. Mm-hmm.
So I've been in contact with a few of the businesses in the Darien area. Um, three or four of them have offered to donate some product or services, and we're just gonna be matching each other on the days of the giveaway. Uh, so some like local people can get some swag two of them have been like really, really sweet and like totally on board to help promote me, like both internally as well as like on their social media. Mm-hmm. . So one of them is a local soccer league that just opened up in the past like six months.
So we obviously definitely have the same age groups, like two to eight. they have currently like 50 people in the, 50 kids in the area that are part of their. Soccer league thing. And then in April they're gonna be doing spring registration, which is definitely gonna be even more people at that time.
So they said that I could come in with swag bags and they would be giving it to all the parents for me, which is like really nice of them. So I'm trying to create like marketing materials dedicated to that. Like I'm trying to go the trauma route if your kid has this, here's a few bullet points.
Don't forget to call us. We're also here. You know, stuff like that. And then, um, there's another business, it's like a stretching sort of thing. It's called Limber. Mm-hmm. . But, uh, they have a lot of middle school and high school students, so it's a little bit of a different age group than the soccer one, but they have a lot of like sport athletes as well who come and like, get their services.
Um, a lot of the families like come into their thing and she was like, yeah, just drop off your business cards or whatever else you want. And I'd be happy to give it to anyone who I know who's a family. So. Nice. That's gonna be good.
Michael: Yeah. we literally just came out with an article on the dental marketer.org website about how to do a presentation and get into schools.
I'm reading it right now. There's a sample email reaching out to school administrators if you ever wanted to use it. Um, it's kinda like a good outline, you know what I mean? On saying like, the presentation will be approximately like, you know, this long and we'll cover topics such as the importance of brushing and flossing.
Then you can kind of ensure what you're gonna do, the role of diet, oral health, blah, blah, blah. I don't know.
Naomi: Wait, that sounds like right up my alley. I know that in the marketing course you guys have really awesomely covered, like this thing. So that was my goal tonight, which was like, part of why I also didn't wanna send anything out like quite yet.
I wanna be able to go in like sounding like a little bit more professional. Yeah. I was gonna re-listen to that part of the course and like, well
Michael: read this, read this article about you. Like this one is a little bit more like up to which I'm gonna, we're gonna add it to the. Of course here pretty soon.
But if you want to, um, look into this one, cause I think that would be cool. Also, at the same time I wanted to ask you social media-wise, what are you doing?
Naomi: So I have, uh, someone who's doing graphics for me, she's putting out 12 graphics like a month. Um, I don't know if you can even get access to it, like right now while we're talking, but,
Michael: it Instagram or
Naomi: what?
My, my Instagram. it's a little Denti Smiles, but basically I just sent her my branding stuff. I sent her some like pinpoints of like things I wanna cover for the month. So we just actually had a call like yesterday. My goal is obviously this giveaway for the next, like for next week we're gonna start promoting it.
I'm starting to try to promote educational content through reels, um, and then. . I also have just, one of the things I keep getting a lot of questions from parents, just because it's on my website quite yet, is what insurances am I in network with? And that's something A, I'm working on the website side, but B, I wanna now start like publicizing through social media.
I was waiting to get in network with few more before I started putting the word about it out there. And I also created an in-house membership plan, so I just sent her all those details. So that's gonna be starting to get pushed out during the month of March.
Michael: Gotcha. So do you guys have like a specific day where you're like, this is the day we're gonna create a ton of content for Instagram?
Or is Instagram your main, I guess what's gonna be your main. .
Naomi: Yeah. And anything that's going from Instagram is going straight to like our Facebook page at the moment. And I'm still playing with Facebook ads like a little bit, but what I, I haven't created any specific ad just for Facebook. I've just been boosting some of the posts that are a little bit more engaging, more educational or more about come to little DTI for X, Y, Z.
And I'm just kind of seeing right now like what is biting and what's not biting so that then I can kind of know where do I want my efforts to go into a little bit more. Am I getting more engagement on reels and cool, I'll make a reel. Um, am I getting more from some of the stuff that I spent more time on artistically fine.
Then I'll try to come up with a little bit more creative posts. I just don't wanna keep bleeding money out into something that's not actually gonna be working for the sake of saying it's a Facebook ad. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So I'm just trying things out right now with
Michael: the little things that you've been trying out.
Mm-hmm. , I mean, not the little things, a lot of things that you've been trying out, but the little time that you've, I guess, been trying it out. Mm-hmm. , what have you seen where you're like, This looks like it's moving the needle
Naomi: Interestingly, um, one is like my business card logo.
I don't have it with me right now, but it's, I had done like a specialized like photo shoot months ago that I'm gonna plan on be putting out on like social media. Um, they're just like basically taking everyday objects and it's gonna be the way I speak about like dental education mm-hmm. . But in that photo shoot, one of the images was specifically for my business cards and like any sort of related content.
when I posted that on Facebook as like we are opening up February, that one just blew up. Like the amount of dms I was getting about like, oh, I love the creativity, I love this. It got a lot of engagement, I think just like from maybe the way it looked. and then secondly was anything that's been involving my.
which I wasn't expecting. . ,
Michael: you're like my face, which I wasn't
Naomi: expecting. . like, that's a good thing though, I guess, right? No, it's great. Like, thanks guys, like for liking, but I kind thought uh, initially Little DTI was the office and I'm kind of like an actor for a little enti.
Hmm. So I wasn't planning on like promoting me solely as this is Dr. Naomi's office, this is Little Denti. So as a provider I started showing the staff a K, me, and Beatrice. So when I start putting my face out there like a little bit oh, this is Dr. Naomi, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Those have been getting a lot of more engagement than I was like expecting. So I think I'm just gonna start trying to promote things like of me doing stuff around the office or whatever, not specifically for Dr. Naomi, but just. little dentists, providers, or whatever you wanna call it. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. .
Michael: So, yeah. Are you, are you also taking pictures of you going to these places, where your ground marketing or doing events and stuff like that? Like, that'd be good, I think.
Naomi: Yeah. That was, uh, a mistake I made when we went around and I didn't do that. Mm-hmm. , but, as a small, like refresh, I'm in a medical building and there's seven other businesses in my particular building, but we have a neighborhood build, literally right next door to me is another medical building full of 10 businesses.
they're all owned by the same like landlord. And he gave me all their information so I could connect with them. So I'm gonna be doing stuff with them and I think through them I'm gonna. Showing that like, I'm coming to these businesses, going to the pediatrician's office, blah, blah, blah. The hardest part that I'm actually finding, and maybe it's just because I'm in a suburb and I'm coming from like a city in the city, pretty much every single location and company has a social media page.
Like it's probably one of the most widely used ways to connect with like customers in New York City here. Like not so much, if they do have an Instagram, I would say 60% of them are actually active. There's been some that are just, haven't even been touched since 20 20, 20 21. And then at least like 15% of them just simply do not have Instagrams.
So for example, the pediatrician here, there's two of 'em, Stanford Pediatrics and Healthy Child. Neither of them have Instagrams and I don't know how to show, Hey, I went to blah, blah, blah, and have them possibly repost it or something like that. Just because they don't have an account. .
Michael: Yeah, I wouldn't, try to be a collaborator with them.
I'd just more just take it for the content, you know what I mean? Like, hey, like we're here. And people would be like, oh my God, my kid goes there. Mm-hmm. , you know, and then that's it really. And then you can like, do the hashtags of their, the community. Not so much like, cuz they have one. That's
Naomi: actually funny you were saying that because I'm trying to figure out now now that I'm getting my groove and I'm kind of understanding things a little bit more, I wanna do something silly for St.
Patty's Day. Get a little bucket and fill it up with like gold Hershey kisses, even though I'm a dentist, whatever. I like to give out candy . Yeah. Just like little things like that. Easter is coming. So like, the fun of these holidays that are coming up my way along with delivering them to like other kids, kid-friendly places like around here, e pediatricians, um, maybe like even nursing places, lactation places, doulas, like, all of that sort of stuff.
I wanna try to find these businesses and just start connecting just like have some fun with it.
Michael: Yeah, I think it'll be nice. I think you'll, you will, but yeah, I'm looking at your Instagram right now. It's pretty good. Like as far as like the colors and everything, you know? Yeah. And then the, the content, I think last time it was at in the hundreds and now we're looking at it and it's in the two hundreds. So, .
Naomi: Yeah. It's slowly like getting built out, like a little bit more. It's kind of fun, like seeing it grow. I remember, last, I think you and I spoke last, like Wednesday maybe and mm-hmm.
when I saw Beatrice on Friday, I was like, Beatrice, we're at 1 99. I can't wait till we get 200. And then at the end of the day, we had 2 0 2 or something. And I like high-fived her. I was like, yo, ,
Michael: this is, this is fame bro. This is fame. . Yeah, .
Naomi: I was like, do we get our blue check? Mark
Michael: a message Instagram right now.
Be like, I'm ready for it. Like
Naomi: this. You right. I'm ready to be
Michael: verified. . No, but it's gonna be good. It's gonna be cool. I think that's the key though. You have to, um, everybody I talk with who, you know what I mean, obviously has a lot of followings where they do have the blue check mark. They kind of do say that.
They're like, yeah, even though it's your business, you gotta somehow make it your own kind of thing. Right? Unless you're like a big brand like Nike, you don't see the c e o posting his face or anything like that, right?
Naomi: I'm taking all, like the little wins, like when Charlie, my dog comes and visits, I'm constantly showing him, like throughout the day we had the photographer come in yesterday for the giveaway, so we kind of showed him sitting in like the midst of all of this.
People are like, oh my God, he's so cute. it's nice to get those like little engagement stuff. today before we walked into the office, Beatrice and I took a picture in like the snow for example, the snow day. And it's just like little silly things. And now I'm starting to get a little bit more patient, um, content.
So like today I extracted a tooth. she took a picture with her tooth fairy certificate that I give for any kid that whose teeth I take out. Um, and so she looks like miserable cuz she was like hardcore like standing, but it's still a cute picture Nonetheless. ? Yeah, . She's like wearing a mask and like her eyes just look like she.
So intensely .
Michael: So I'm like,
Naomi: who's the sweetest person? Um, oh, just not in front
Michael: of the camera. . Maybe like if, if you could, but that you make people, the parents sign a consent
Naomi: or? We, I have been like having them just sign something. But through Casper, again, I need to actually create like a real social media form because I'm not loving like what I do currently have right now.
What are you doing right now? so when I hired Beatrice, there's like a thing that says like, oh, you'll be allowed to be on like the social media, blah, blah, blah. I just kind of took that blurb and I like send it to them and I'm like, Hey, just like acknowledging this. Yeah. So yeah.
Worst case scenario, they yell at me to take it down. That I take it down,
Michael: but yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's like the worst case I think. Yeah. Wanna say. But that'd be cool, like to post that up and make it like a caption contest. , what is she thinking? Like best, funniest one wins or whatever Right.
Kind of thing. That would be, that would've to be really funny.
Naomi: Yeah. Yeah. Like I swear that Luna really had a great visit, but what do you think she's actually thinking? .
Michael: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Funniest catch wins. Yes, exactly. . Think about that. Think about that. Awesome. Okay, so this episode we're gonna talk a little bit about systems that will be implemented and ones that you implemented already.
Okay. What have you implemented already? And what I mean by systems is like, it can be anything from not software related, right? But like anything from like morning huddles, downtime, protocol, patient experience, new patient experience, uh, recalls, things like that.
Naomi: I guess first I'll start with uh, we had Jean, my consultant come in for two days before opening, and she kind of went through the idea of systems, like with us a little bit.
some of the systems that she's pretty rigid on is obviously she's a consultant, so she's always thinking like financially. Mm-hmm. , she. Was very big about making sure that you don't lose track of your patients. Um, so she set up if a patient like requires treatment, say, I don't know, an extraction of a tooth, she has like paper forms that we have to fill out that stays in a binder right by the front desk that we constantly have to refer to.
So on down days, like when Beatrice is like here at the office, when I'm at my associate job, she has like a stack of papers that she can go through and make sure there's no unscheduled treatment. She also has like in that same binder, kind of like a follow up schedule of every seven day, seven days you contact this next batch.
And so she put in a lot of paperwork systems, if that makes sense. Um, she just believes that like electronically, like things are really great. . There also needs to be a paper trail as well. Mm-hmm. tracking patients. so that's been like one thing we've been trying to work on.
It's a little bit weird doing it. It seems kind of excessive only because it's just me and Beatrice right now. We don't, we only have 20 patients, like in our roster, . Mm-hmm. . But I'm pretty sure once we add on like more staff, more front desk and all of that, it's probably gonna be a system that's good to implement just so that anyone and everyone who's involved in the office knows where to find unscheduled treatment.
now in terms of morning huddles, that's not something we're doing per se officially, mostly because Beatrice and I traveled together. When we come to the office, um, we either take the train together or we're both in the car. That's kind of when we connect and we sort of talk about like our day. Hey, we have X, Y, Z coming up.
Hey, we have these tasks. we're just constantly checking in with each other. So we haven't exactly done that. properly in the office itself, but we do have the talks that we expect. So for instance, what I usually bring up whenever I'm talking with Beatrice is like, okay, what patients do we have for the day?
Anything special that we need to know about them? I would like you to do X, Y, Z. Mm-hmm . Then she'll bring up, Hey, I've been following up on this claim. I haven't done this. I need to do this with Open Dental doc. You have to also like call this person, like she also does like her check-ins, and then we just kind of talk about other things that.
Kind of feeling need to be adjusted and stuff like that. So that's just a daily conversation that me and Beatrice always have together. when we do plan on like adding on a third person, I am probably gonna make it more of an official morning huddle, but right now it's just working for us because of the way that we travel together.
Michael: Yeah. That's kind of like your morning huddle right there you know
Naomi: what I mean? Yeah. . Yeah, exactly. But I do think it's actually vital. I remember in my associate jobs, they kept trying to push like morning huddles on us, and we had like treatment coordinators that we worked with individually, and it just always felt like a waste of time.
Maybe it was just the way that the office was set up or something, but I'm finding personally a lot of value in them and just having those check-ins. And God, I feel like I'm promoting Casper, like hardcore in this, in this. But, um, Casper also has like a task list that I can assign Beatrice. So it'll be like, Hey Beatrice, I need you to do like this, this, this, this.
And I can even put due dates on it. Mm-hmm. . And then I can see when she's checking it off and if she needs something from me, she can also task me. And it's just like really nice that I can go back home and she like put in something like, yo, you need a, I don't know, email Mike about like changing the podcast.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Or something like that. It's nice to have that system there as well and that all of us have access to so we can kind of see what we all need to do. , patient experience. That's actually funny that you bring this up. Um, this is something that me and her have been having more conversations as of late.
I think the past like couple weeks, I've only been open 20 days. Wow. So it feels like
Michael: longer. Have you been open 20 days? 20 days Wait, 20 working days or like 20 days? In
Naomi: just 20 days in total. I open up. It's still a lot. That's a lot. That's a, that's a lot. Yeah. It feels kinda weird though when you say that.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's good though. Out loud. I think the past couple of weeks though, have been a lot about like just us getting our footing in like our own space and like just trying to figure out we're both friendly people. We're nice people. So I think just naturally we're like, Hey, how are you?
Blah, blah, blah. But everything I'm doing right now really needs to have a foundation so that when my team grows, all those people are acting in the same boundaries that I want for my brand to have. does that mean like for example, when someone walks in, do you stand up or walk around the desk?
Do you give 'em a tour of the office? Do you go by first name? What are all of those like little minute like patient experiences and interactions that are part of your brand and also part of the patient experience that you want? So now that we're having a little bit more downtime on like during the day, Beatrice, I am trying to make our focus on stuff that has nothing to do with me on the days I'm not here.
But yesterday we were having like a pretty good dialogue about like patient experience and what we really want and what does that mean. those are systems that we're just trying to create like a little bit more and whenever we decide on something, I'm having her create like a manual in a way that, so when someone, or, yeah, hopefully soon, but like whenever someone does join the team, they have the words that we're using, the dialogues that we expect and blah, blah, blah.
Michael: What? How would it work if, when someone comes in, right? Mm-hmm. and then they're, they come in from a practice that, you know what I mean? Like another practice. they come in how would you know if you're like, Hey, no, use what we have, but what if they're like, but this works better.
Naomi: I think better is different for each person, right?
but I think that's also on me to be open and receptive to hearing what they say. Cuz it could be true, it could be better, right? Mm-hmm. , I, I might not know. I don't know everything, and I might be like, oh, whoa, wait, that's actually like a really good thing to use.
Yeah, let's like implement that and let's like all try it out. , but better to them might just be that they don't understand little density quite yet. And like what I want out of the patient experience and maybe hopefully through conversation or seeing the way that we interact, they'll actually be like, oh, this actually works for you guys.
But I'm always open to hearing what someone thinks is better. it's kind of nice for someone else to be thinking about it instead of me . Um, but it doesn't mean that it will
Michael: work. . Yeah, no, a hundred percent. Yeah. Because I know sometimes people want to come in and you know what I mean?
Depending on Yeah. I've felt like it's depending on a couple things, like their experience and also like age, if that makes sense. Yes. You know what I mean? Like you hire like a old like, no, I don't wanna say older, but like a really, really older right person. And then they're like, no, older than you, is what I mean, right?
Naomi: Oh, no, totally. Totally. it's amusing to see even like for example, gene Gina is older than both me and Beatrice. , she's fantastic with communication. She's dealt with it on multiple different levels throughout her career, but the way that we even would go about something, what she views as like a great patient experience, I'm like, we could do one step better.
I'm valuing like these minute details while she is like, well, I'm valuing this part. So it's like funny to kind of like see the differences, like right
Michael: there. What minor details or minor details are you battling then?
Naomi: I think what makes your practice stand out besides like maybe your demographic reporter and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
All that's fun stuff is really like when a patient, the moment that they contact your office, right? Mm-hmm. , even if something as simple as like how many rings before your front desk picks up the phone. Is it two or is it. . all of those like tiny, tiny little details make such a big difference. for a patient experience when they're placed on hold, how long do you keep on, on hold for?
How do you communicate with them? when they walk through the door are you saying, hi Michael, it's really great to see you and what's your name? And things like that. Do you stand up at the desk? Do you offer them a water? Do you do all those things? Those little details I think is what's gonna make your office stand out versus the office, like down the street if they have the exact same thing.
So those are the experiences like I value, I might, I do think I'm a good clinician, but like I think dentistry, like the actual clinical dentistry is maybe 10% and eighth of what it is that you're actually doing on a day-to-day. Mm-hmm. , you really need to make sure that a patient, and in my case, the parents are really getting care and value and like trust within our office.
and the way I might interact with a new patient would be different than maybe a recall patient. I haven't reached a recall phase. , I've only been open 20 days. Right? Uhhuh? . But , maybe the time that I'm taking with a new patient and just like discovering who they are. Like those interactions, those little details, like what is a kid's favorite color right now, for example, it's gonna be different than a recall patient, which I've already built up that rapport with a little bit more.
So all of those, like I think details really, really do make a big difference. And I would hope that when I bring on an associate, that's the stuff that I have written down of what I expect of them to be doing as
Michael: well. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Do you have a protocol or like system for like the end of day, like this is what everybody, Beatrice is what you need to do At the end of the day, Naomi, this is what I need to do at the end of the day kind
Naomi: of.
Yeah. So I think we just naturally fell into the roles versus like it being listed. But since I'm the one in the back, like kind of dealing with the kids and like more of the op stuff, I'm the one that's basically cleaning up the rooms. I run the autoclave, I run, I do all of that behind the scene stuff.
Beatrice is like confirming everything was checked out. Okay. She'll run the production reports, she'll make sure like the phones are being forwarded to my cell phone. Um, there's no pat last minute patient communication stuff. Um, any admin related things, that's what Beatrice is taken care of at the end of the day.
So I'm definitely the one who's in charge of making sure all the sections are off, all of this is off, blah, blah, blah. Um, and it's just, it's been working for us so far. Um, but we'll see. I'm open to it changing, but it hasn't been too drastic right now. Yeah.
Michael: I think when you get like an assistant and stuff like that, it's, it is gonna, you know what I mean?
Hmm. Change the Oh, yeah.
Naomi: Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Michael: What's the like. Have you guys, or did Jean ever give you guys like a weekly maintenance, monthly maintenance kind
Naomi: of thing? Yeah. So that's actually funny that you're saying that because me and her name Beatrice have been talking about like how we wanna implement this.
Jean gave us like just through her training manual, kind of like what you should be doing weekly, what you should be doing monthly. And me and Beatrice have been trying to figure out what's gonna work for our office. So for example, I don't even think this is written Gene Sing, but I have AAC chairs.
when the guy came, he was like, you have to make sure that you maintain them a certain way during the week. Definitely cabby, wipe them down, do whatever it is you need to do, but you need to actually like, rinse off the cabby, wipe residue with some simple soap water and a microfiber cloth, but one time a week.
It doesn't have to be anything more than that, but you have to do that to maintain the longevity of your chair. So now like, When do we do that? ? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Could be every Friday. Cuz Fridays, I'm trying to close a little bit early just so we can use like the last hour to do those little catchup things.
It's right before the weekend. Mm-hmm. , maybe every Friday is when we do all the cabby wipes up. That's when we do anything autoclavable and like blah, blah blah. So we're now approaching that one month mark where we have to like kind of run through the stuff with my chairs, my autoclave, all that stuff.
I just haven't figured out what day of the month I want that on. so T B d .
Michael: Okay. That's good. Wait, the chairs are a weekly maintenance thing or a monthly? Yeah,
Naomi: so definitely he told me just like once a week, just wipe down the cavi, wipe residue. That's all you need to do and it's going to expand the length of your chair.
Michael: Yeah. I wonder if that's every chair or, cause I don't, I don't remember Never doing, I mean the CBI wipes here all the time. Right. after every patient, but. The sofa. Yeah,
Naomi: I know. I never, I personally haven't seen that myself, but like I haven't worked in an office that had eight x chairs, so I don't know if it's because like their leather is like a little bit softer and like more malleable.
Like I think I've used Peloton and cranes chairs and I've used uh, forest chairs and you can definitely feel the difference in the leather. It's like way more like firm, so Yeah. As porous. Yeah. Yeah. So I dunno if that has anything to do with it, but I'm listening to the guy right now. best
Michael: you do? Yeah.
Listening to the guy. Yeah. Okay. That's good. So you're gonna have, now are you writing all this stuff out, Naomi? Like the weekly maintenance, are you thinking about it throughout the month or how Yeah,
Naomi: so just because I'm running the OP stuff, like the backroom stuff, like at the end of the day, I'm the one that's like remembering it.
But I think what I might do is. Uh, calendar, in the back, and then just like for the entire year, like right on the Fridays with the checkbox, like next to it. I, I don't know what system to really implement right now. Honestly, if anyone has one for like, how to handle that, that would be great.
But I can easily, assign tasks, I can do all that stuff. But I think it's important that it's written somewhere, almost like a monthly, like repetitive thing. We have a Google calendar that Beatrice and I share for like the office. office. I don't know if I should put it on there, but I have room in my sterilization to put up a calendar, so I was like tempted to kind of just put it up on there.
Michael: Hmm. you, you and Beatrice have your own separate Google
Naomi: calendar? Yeah, we both use like Gmail, so I just, Before we physically were coming into the office so that we could like kind of, she knew like when I wasn't gonna be available, um, what I was expecting when I was expecting her to be in the office.
We have a shared Google calendar on there and also through Dark Horse. All of my email platforms are through Gmail. So even though it's like hello little denti.com, it's a Gmail workspace. Mm-hmm. . So everything is done through Drive and the calendar.
Michael: Okay. That's nice. So that's like a little, or not a little, but like a whole system in itself kind of thing, right?
Yeah,
Naomi: exactly. Exactly.
Michael: Are you gonna add more of your team members on that calendar or no?
Naomi: I think so. I think especially who whomever's third, I'm assuming it would be an assistant, but, whomever is on there. I think they need to be on there as well, because just because your assistant doesn't mean you wouldn't be doing admin and all that stuff, so,
Michael: mm-hmm.
when it comes to admin work and your systems for that, how do you know what to do? .
Naomi: so Jean did kind of like guide us like a little bit about what your expectations should be like in terms of the insurances, blah, blah, blah. I think just an understanding from working as an associate in other offices, I've been able to get a grasp of what needs to be done, but quite frankly, if I'm really honest, I'm still learning.
for example, yesterday was the first time I got an insurance check like ever to the office. it's just like a fuzzy feeling. I finally got paid . I haven't put Beatrice on like my checking account yet for the office.
So I'm the one that has to go and deposit it at Chase. I'm trying to figure out like that system for it. Am I comfortable yet with her doing it? Am I not? Even in putting in the check number into open dental, having her like input the things like properly, are we scanning every single e o b in the check?
all of that stuff. I'm just trying to figure out the systems, like as it comes and I'm hoping to make a proper protocol as it's like kind of
Michael: echoing right now. You're doing all that though,
Naomi: kind of slash I'm telling her to do it. So . Okay. . Like for example, the checks came yesterday. Me and her were driving in my car, so she was opening it up.
We got it like right before we left. , I kind of thought they were gonna be claim denials just because I've been dealing with issues with Delta Dental. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Then we thought they were checks, and I was like, okay, great. I took the checks home with me, and then when I brought them in today, I was like, all right, let's like get this scanned into each patient's chart because it has the EOBs on there.
I was like, let's make sure that all the insurance checks are like put into like their accounts. So I kind of tell her, but then she actually does it and then, I mean, one of her best qualities is her problem solving, so we we're having some issues like understanding some like minute things with like payments on open dental.
She immediately gets on the chat with them and like, we'll figure it out. and then she'll update me. She'll be like, yo, by the way, this is like how you do this. I'm not doing it per se, but I'm letting her know what to do.
Michael: Makes sense. do you trust her already to be like, go to the bank?
Make this deposit?
Naomi: I think so. Um, I have Chase for my bank account. Um, it's literally right across the street. Mm-hmm. , so I don't think I care so much if she deposits and stuff, but I'm just trying to figure out the system of am I, do I want the, we're gonna be doing EF fts soon, it's not gonna be these personal checks.
So will she have access to a checking account of any sorts? will I give her access to electronically deposit all the checks, or is that something I should be doing? I'm trying to figure out where my comfortability is when I research online or just see what others are doing. It seems to be a 50 50 split.
I just have to figure out where my personal I think one of the hardest things for me, and at least anyone else I'm talking to is that it's hard to give up control. But there's gonna be a time that I just don't have the bandwidth to be doing this. There's a reason I'm paying someone to take care of like, ,, all this stuff.
Mm-hmm. . But it's just, I think right now it's a little bit hard to kind of give up that control because then I know exactly what checks are coming in. I know exactly what this and this is, but I do know I need to let someone do it and start to learn to kind of let go control a little bit while keeping an eye on it.
Michael: Yeah, no, makes sense. Makes sense. Awesome. Okay, so then monthly performance reviews. are you gonna have those or not really? Are they gonna be quarterly, weekly? I don't know. What are you thinking? or yearly.
Naomi: Definitely quarterly. I think that's really important. Quarterly, it allows me to do the three and six month checkup, which I think is really good.
Mm-hmm. , um, once again, Jean, she had created like an employee review sort of thing about are you up to standards on X, Y, z I just have a personal angst against objective criticism of someone. And I mean that in the sense of giving someone a, say for example, a score of four out of five that just.
Sounds awful to me. I don't know why. I'm just, I don't know. Like maybe it's because I've been in school for too long, so like numerical grades or like anything on this sort, yeah. Just doesn't really like work for me. I do think it's important though, to always like, highlight someone's positive traits and what they're really, really doing great on.
and then things I would like for them to work on. But I think those are so individually based versus even like somewhat agree, agree, strongly disagree, like all of those sort of like things, I don't know. I, I'm just trying to figure out like what works for me on that front. But I think would, like for example, bhs just because I have her, I think probably sometime in May, I do wanna catch up with her and be like, Hey, I'm noticing you're doing a really great job with like, communication, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I would like for your role to start including, more responsibility with the back. So I've noticed like we haven't really like done that before, so now I want you to do this. Mm-hmm. and let go of like X, Y, Z I think it just needs to be like almost like a dynamic dialogue
Michael: a little bit.
That's interesting. Yeah. in Jean's performance review, I guess outliner template, is it like, hey, number them from one to one to five, one to six, and you're not comfortable with that. You're not like, I don't wanna number, but you kind of have to see it. Like maybe you don't have to do it that way, but You know what I mean? Kind of like how good are you doing?
Naomi: I know I. . I think if I had an office manager underneath me, for example, and she was the one that was like doing these, I would want her to probably do it. But I think with just such an intimate team, I feel uncomfortable doing that at this moment in time.
I do think it's important to like let someone know where they need to improve. Because for example, these quarterly reviews are also to see if and when they get a raise, right? Mm-hmm. , if I'm constantly just only giving positive feedback and then suddenly I'm like, yo, you're not getting a raise.
That's not gonna make any sense. . Yeah. Yeah. but if I'm, for example, say in three months, I'm like, Hey, I need you to be on time a little bit more. I'm just noticing we're having some, a lot of discussion around like your, timeliness. Mm-hmm. . And then in six months I am still noticing it. At least that's documented even though they're doing a great job and everything else.
And then when it comes time to the raise, then I have it the ability to be like, you know, this is just a common theme that we've been like bringing up. So I just need to figure out how I actually wanna do it. I, I guess I'm just taking it how I personally am, and I would hate to be graded out of score of five or even 10.
I think I would prefer like more specific bullet points that are just related to me, but maybe I'm just being like sensitive and
Michael: need I agree. But at the same time, I think, if I were to like, okay, yeah, you're a Naomi, I'm sorry, but when it comes to like interpersonal skills or personal or whatever, I don't know.
Right. Like Picking up the phone, timeliness, timing, let's just talk about that timing year or two, but here's why. Right. Kind of thing. Here's the thing, there's two ways I think you can do this. Have you heard of the sandwich compliment?
Naomi: Oh, like start with a compliment about them.
Yeah.
Michael: Yeah. I've heard of that. And then do you know who, um, Irene Iku.
Naomi: Sounds very familiar. I feel like you've brought her up
Michael: before. she's been on the, on the podcast. She's, um, on Instagram, tooth life, Irene. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's what, yeah, she's, I think she has a practice in Canada or something like that.
She thinks that's, she hates that sandwich compliment. She, on the, she says, she's like, I think if you're giving enough good appreciation to your team, then you won't have a hard time saying what the heck? You're late. Right. Kind of thing. Um, but obviously in a better terminology, right. You're not gonna be like, what the heck?
You're late. You know? You're gonna be like, Hey man like, is everything okay? Like, You're, you're, you're late, you know, again, this time. But I've gotten enough good feedback and appreciation from you to be like, okay, all she does is tell me negative stuff, which is not true. I don't know. Which one do you prefer to those two?
Naomi: The latter. I think Irene's for sure, I think you really need to motivate your staff and I think sometimes motivation comes in positivity. I don't think it always needs to just come in what? What they need to work on. So let me just use Beatrice for example again.
Mm-hmm. , she has been getting actually a lot of compliments from parents about her communication through text. people who haven't even seen us yet, they're like, Beatrice, you've been, you're so great at like your job. Thank you for communicating. This is like the first time I've ever gotten like such good communication before.
And she's feeling very proud of that. Mm-hmm. . And it makes me happy that she's feeling proud. And that's one of my biggest pillars, like in this office, is like transparency and communication with my patients. So the fact that she's doing it, I couldn't be more thrilled. I constantly motivate that side of her by letting her know, I see this and I appreciate a hundred percent that you're doing a good job.
At the end of the day. If she handled, for example, an insurance claim that. Has been one of our biggest pain in the butts. Mm-hmm. all I have no problem. And think it should be said like, good job, like high five, like you're doing really, really great at this. It did make it easier when I did have an issue, with her, it was a miscommunication between us.
I wanted her here at the office not working from home and she like misunderstood what I had said and landed up like working from home. It was a quick fix, not a big deal. Yeah. However, when I was able to tell her, hey, let me just like restate like kind of what I expect from you, blah, blah, blah.
This, these are the days I expect you to be in the office. It made it very easy for me to talk to her about it. And she knew I wasn't coming from like a bad place. She was receptive to it cuz she was like, oh, normally, like Dr. Naomi would never say this. Mm-hmm. . So, and it was received well and so. , would it also work in that manner as well?
If someone was constantly critiquing me, I'm just gonna be like, let down and would wanna distance myself. So
Michael: yeah. I think sometimes people feel, or back then, I feel like it used to be like that where it's like you can't always compliment them or else, you know, when they, you do give them a compliment, they're gonna be like numb to it and it's, I don't think that works like that.
You know what I mean? I don't think it's like that. I think you, it it's building blocks. You're getting built, built, built.
Naomi: Yeah. But you also have to be confident to actually let someone know, like when they're not doing a good job. I think that's like where a lot of this stems from. It's like that anxiety about letting someone know that they're doing something wrong.
I think that one of the reasons I don't love the sandwich technique is o oftentimes when people implement it, they use that word, but. instantly negates any of the positivity that's been said either before or after. Mm-hmm. . Cause you just send me, you focus on like the meat of the sandwich, , you're just like, Ugh, they're mad at me and this butt, it doesn't even matter.
It's Hey Naomi, you're nice, but . Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, okay. And you can say all these different things, but I still know the technique enough to know that you're just trying to soften the blow. Yeah,
Michael: I agree with you. I feel like it does that, or I've noticed what I do is I'm like, Naomi, man, like I appreciate you coming on the podcast.
You know, you're a fantastic person, but you need to say more things, right? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then I'm like, but you know, other than that, you're really great. So don't even worry. You know? Don't even worry about then now I just like the one thing, the negative thing. Yeah. I like even undermine that myself even more.
I'm like, don't worry about that. You know? So, It's kind of um, that's weird.
Naomi: It, it does undermine it. And then honestly, like if you would've just told me that right now, then I think I leave confused. I'm like, but isn't really that big of a thing cuz you just complimented me too. So . Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Michael: yeah, yeah.
I'm like, uh, . So it's better to just do the other thing than how what I, yeah. Yeah. What new idea. Okay. That's good. That's good to know. I also
Naomi: think, I don't know if this has been something that's been talked about like with Irene, maybe I should look into it, but I think intentionality behind someone's mistake also is a big thing too.
I don't know, just I'll even use dating or relationships or whatever. Mm-hmm. sometimes when like our partners like do something that irritates us, it doesn't mean that they came from a bad place. They might have no idea. They might not. They might just be going about their day and they're like, oh, I like this person, but I'm still acting as me.
And then you're like, Ugh, what you just did is so annoying. Um, it doesn't mean that they did it to annoy you, it's just whatever they did was just like the wrong thing. I think that kind of goes the same in business. for example, if Beatrice like misunderstood me or did something that I don't really love, I don't think that she came from a bad place.
She's not purposely like, I wanna screw you over Dr. Naomi. why would I go after her with like such judgment?
Michael: No, yeah, I agree. But then let me ask you, how much of that would you tolerate where you're like, you know, that's not her intention, you know, but she keeps not maybe the same thing but different things.
It's like you're just misinterpreting, or I'm misinterpreting your actions and we're not hitting the ball
Naomi: here. . Well, I think it's like dating. Then you gotta break up. It's like, I love you, but our communication sucks and no matter what we're doing, it's not working. So , I just think maybe we're not suited for one another.
Michael: Do you have a system for that firing
Naomi: policy? Yeah, through HR for health, but I don't remember it. .
Michael: Wait. HR for health
Naomi 9 DRAFT: fires?
Naomi: People for you or if I remember when I made the employee handbook, there was like a section about if you don't do X, Y, Z, there's like the right to it or termination or something.
So they wouldn't do it for me, but they have all the paperwork and all the stuff that I would. Need to kind of go about it. But yeah, I would probably have to just be like, this is not working. It's like breaking up with a patient. They don't believe in what I'm doing. Audios.
Michael: Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
There has to be systems for that too. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Naomi: But you know about the firing. I'm hoping it doesn't come anytime soon. never
Michael: happening is open . I know, but would, would you prefer having to fire someone or someone just ghosting you? Fire you
Naomi: prefer firing? Yes, 100%. I don't do well with no communication.
Michael: Was it me? What happened? What's going on?
Naomi: Oh my gosh. I would be questioning it like all the time. I'd be like, what did I do? What was wrong? Yeah. I'm totally the girl that like needs answers.
Michael: closure. You're like, I need this closure right
Naomi: now. Yes,
Michael: closure. There we go. Got you. . Gotcha. Gotcha. Awesome. Okay. Uh, so then what's.
Naomi: so definitely, and I think marketing is just gonna be a really big push for the next four weeks. So we're starting off March strong with like our five day local giveaway. I'm trying to get more personal, um, relationships going with gps, orthodontists, oral surgeons, pediatricians, like just in the area.
I just really wanna start developing, ties with the community and that's just something I w really wanna dedicate, like my admin time and like time off to. So that's kind of like the goals for the next, next month. Yeah. Nice.
Michael: Take as many like videos and pictures as you can with all that stuff.
That's the key. That's gonna be it right there, you know what I mean? I think
Naomi: the content is just something I'm I need to like remind myself that I have to do it. I'm also. Beatrice has also gotten to the point. She's like, I'm taking out my phone doc. I'm like, thank you, . Or I'll be like, Beatrice get out your phone.
Cuz her camera's better for some reason on hers, even though we have the same iPhone, it makes no sense. But ,
Michael: I know the consistency with iPhones is weird, man.
Naomi: But yeah, it's so annoying. Like mine is always hazy and I'm constantly having to wipe it down. Hers is like clean as a button, every single time and I'm like, what the heck?
But do you
Michael: think you got in the lens dirt and stuff or? No,
Naomi: I, I have a gut feeling there's something wrong, but quite frankly I really wanna update my phone anyway. So maybe I'll just write it off as a business expense sometime soon.
Michael: Yeah. , which one do, which one do you
Naomi: have? the 11 Promax.
Michael: Oh. Oh, that camera's good.
I don't know why you, I know, that's
Naomi: but like hers is like awesome. So I don't know. But yeah, like I think getting content's gonna be the other thing.
Um, I'm just trying to really push out reels now. Someone messaged me saying I should really try to go on TikTok. She was like, it just allows you to branch out like further than just your community. So that's something I'm gonna consider. I don't know if I really want to, I had one viral video go on TikTok, and it had nothing to do with dentistry and then I got freaked out that it went viral.
So I made my account private. .
Michael: What was it about? It was
Naomi: something so dumb. It was like about, um, there was like different sounds. It was like, uh, ambulance, gunshots, like all that stuff. Then there was like a sound of no more fan going in the background. And what it was, was just basically like New Yorkers can sleep through all these noises, but the moment the AC turns off, we all get up out of our bed.
And it was just solely because I just wanted to see what TikTok was about. Yeah. I think I did it in like 2021 or something, and all of a sudden it just blew up. I think it got like a million views and then I was like, oh shoot. And then Oh yeah.
Michael: Can you share it with us? Yeah. Yeah. I'll send play
That'll be, yeah, yeah. Share it with us. So I was on the, literally right before this, uh, recording I was with, do you know who Dr. Simon Chart is? I don't think so. Okay. He's, um, he was telling me a little bit about, if you want, you can look him up on Instagram right now if you want, while I'm letting you know.
But, um, he was telling me how he grew his, following and his patience and everything through Instagram. . But he said if he had to do it again, it'd be through TikTok. And he's like, and I know I would instantly kill on TikTok. Like, it would be, it'd be amazing. But, um, it's a whole different reach, a whole different, ballgame, like a machine.
So if you want,
Naomi: Well, dental, I just feel it's taking over and it's actually kind of fun because I think Instagram is all about like professionalism, making things look good. And I think Instagram is trying to make it toy with the reels. Yeah. I think the fun part about TikTok, at least when I'm enjoying like other creators, is like, , you can just go on like TikTok and you can mimic a kid just like acting up and like how you feel about it.
But everyone finds humor in it because they expect TikTok to be lighthearted and mm-hmm. , I kind of wanna take advantage of that because like with kids it can be like funny, it could be horrible. It could be like, you could just like kind of make fun at it and parents could enjoy it. So my might as well, it's just like putting yourself out there is so hard sometimes and I just don't wanna be like, talked about or teased.
So I, I just have to suck it up and do it. But I think you're right. Oh yeah,
Michael: yeah. Him, him, yeah. Yeah. So he, he doesn't have TikTok, but he's like, if I did, if I did have to do it again, it would be on TikTok and he gave us like the reasons why. So, I don't know. It's something to think about. Something to think about.
If you wanted
Naomi: to go, why doesn't he go for it though? Like did he say anything about why he wouldn't just start right now? Even with a large Instagram following because he
Michael: knows it will take time. . So he, he has like a family. He has some kids and then he has a wife and he has a practice. He has that business.
He's running the toothpaste, right. Company. Yeah, yeah. All this other stuff. Um, and so he's like literally . Yeah. Yeah. He's like my pa Literally, I knew I would have to take some time out in order to make content for that. Right. And so that's the only reason he, I mean, he hasn't yet, I don't know if you will, but it was interesting to know like, oh, he would shoot for TikTok, you know?
Yeah.
Naomi: Well it's, I think like the other talk is just like, how much longer will TikTok be around for? Yeah. So I've been like hearing those little whispers and stuff, but might as well take advantage of it while you can. And I think the good part about TikTok, cause I can translate it to reels.
Michael: I hear that.
I hear also, I think it was Manal who told us or something, but like, if they know, if, if Instagram's algorithm can detect or figure out that it's from TikTok, it won't try to boost it cuz they're competitors, right? They'll just be like, Hey, you gotta make your own stuff. Maybe you can just use the same video.
I don't, I don't know. I
Naomi: don't know, you know. Okay. Well, I'll keep you posted. Maybe I'll go public , make it, make it, I'll, I'll reopen up
Michael: my page. Real. If I were you, I would do it for like, just this month in March. Do it. Mm-hmm. , like open it up, give it all you got. And then after that you'd be like, let's see what happened.
Really. You know what I mean? And then,
Naomi: yeah. Okay. I'll do that. That will be a challenge for me. Yeah. I I'll take it. I'll do it. I'll do it just for you, .
Michael: Okay. Yeah. Do it just for . Check blue, check mark, get everything out end of March. Exactly. Um, but send us the link of, uh, so we can put in the show notes.
Yeah. No, no, no. I definitely will. . Awesome. Awesome. Alrighty, ma'am. So sign us out.
Naomi: All right. Well, as you know, I'm Dr. Naomi. Uh, you can find me on Instagram personally at Dr. Naomi Sudani, but then my. offices, pages, little Dent Smiles. also another thank you for everyone's that been sending like those little, cute cabinets and all that stuff for like the way that you guys have been storing stuff in your, sterilization.
Thank you. Um, you know who you are. I appreciate all of our conversations, . Um, but if anyone has some like good systems in place for following up with pediatricians and general dentists and anyone that you've reached out to in the community, please let me know as well. I would love to share what I'm doing, but to get some ideas would be really, really helpful.
Obviously, I'm already talking to the Pro, but would love to also talk to some dentists who have been doing this for a while. But other than that, this is the making a lil' Dente. Go
Michael: follow her on TikTok guys. Oh yeah, .
Naomi: Find me on TikTok. I don't even know my handle yet. .
Michael: Go in show and check it out. All right, we'll talk to you guys later.
Bye.
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