Listen & Share
Show Notes
Dr. Chrystle Cu is giving all our listeners 50 FREE Cocofloss Minis! Head on over to our link to claim your 50 free Cocofloss Minis on your first order! https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/50free-cocoflossminis/
Guest: Chrystle Cu
Business Name: Cocofloss
Check out Chrystle's Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getcocofloss/
Website: https://cocofloss.com/
Website for Dentists: https://cocoflosspro.com/
Email: help@cocofloss.com
Other Mentions and Links:
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Host: Michael Arias
Website: The Dental Marketer
Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/
Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society
My Key Takeaways:
- Look past just the dentistry you're providing and think about the real values of the patients. Are they searching for more confidence, convenience, or preventing future problems?
- Having a fancy office will only go so far. Developing patient relationships is the real key!
- Adding vibrant colors and a colorful feel to your practice is a great way to stand out from the cold sterile environment.
- As a business owner, it is imperative to delegate tasks. Don't be afraid to give responsibility to team members in your absence.
- Make sure to find your true long term goals and work towards them on a day to day basis. It's easy to get off track and lose sight of these!
Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes!
[Click here to leave a review on iTunes]
p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.
Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)
Michael: Crystal, how's it going? Great, how are you? I'm doing pretty good. Thanks for asking. If you don't mind me asking, tell us a little bit about your past, your present, how'd you get to where you are today?
Chrystle: Sure. So I am, well first I'm a dentist.
Mm-hmm. And I have been a dentist for 15 years and I kind of fell into this industry. Most likely because my mom is a dentist, she's a general dentist as well. Mm-hmm. And I've, I mean, I'm not sure which part of today or or the future you wanna talk about, but. I, uh, had a dental practice in San Mateo.
I kind of built a scratch practice out of my mom's practice, so she kind of helped incubate me out of her one free chair that she had, and I built a practice out of that. And through working as a dentist and doing a lot of my own hygiene for the first few years in practice, I grew super frustrated with.
The state of oral hygiene as it was, and the lack of compliance or motivation um, for my patients. And so then I created coco floss with my sister in 2015. And it's since been very well received among dental professionals and in the dental community and consumers alike. So my goal as a dentist and as an entrepreneur is to help people achieve teeth for life, via small habits um, that they can incorporate easily.
And something, something small, takes a couple minutes out of your day, and it's something delightful. It'll help make you healthier and help you achieve teeth for
Michael: life. Gosh. So why um, well, we're gonna get into the why the cocoa. Bit right now or like part of it, but rewind a little bit. You were, you just decided to do dentistry because more like you saw your mom and you're like, I like that life, or, or why?
Chrystle: You know, It was actually pretty roundabout. That's why I'm always a little hesitant when I share that, you know, it's not, so, it wasn't so simple. Like if A then B it wasn't that. Mm-hmm. My mom's a dentist, so I wanna be a dentist. It wasn't at all like that growing up. I I did spend a lot of time in her practice.
You know, she would pick me up from school and sit me in her office and I would do my homework there. I would fill in for the front desk whenever the front desk was out sick, or if she had jury duty or was on vacation. I was the front desk and I would, Schedule appointments with pencil and paper and would do the patient ledgers and um, the claims.
But those were fun times as a, as a, young adult. And I, uh, also growing up I was a competitive pianist, so my mom being a dentist, many of her friends were dentists and they would say, you know, crystal, you know, with your fast fingers, you should consider dentistry because, those hand skills might come in handy for you in the future.
And so all these like little seeds were planted for me very early on in. And it really wasn't until college I was a chemistry major. I knew I had an inclination towards the health sciences because I have a lot of healthcare professionals in my family. And then I, just tried to explore various things.
I really tried hard not to, funnel straight into dentistry and I explored various things, but I, I met a group of other women who were determined they wanted to be dentists and they were part of a very small pre-dental society at our college, Wellesley. And together we volunteered at elementary schools in the local um, in suburban Boston.
And we taught young children how to brush their teeth and how to care for their teeth. And I had so much fun in this experience that, that that volunteer, those volunteering days alone were what really made me decide that, okay, I wanna be a dentist. So it was the education part of it that really um, got me the education and prevention.
So that, yeah, so it was a little roundabout, but definitely helped that, you know, I was exposed to dentistry very early on throughout my childhood.
Michael: Yeah. But it didn't become like what you wanted to do until you, until you volunteered.
Chrystle: Exactly. Yeah. So it was the volunteering, the community stuff that really got me why.
I care a lot about health personally. I just, just love, how, you know, just a little bit of education and education can be free and how that can really help impact a person's life um, you know, in a small way. But that can add up into, let's say, extra years of your life, for example.
And so I just, I just had so much fun, you know, that instant reward feeling of being able to teach children how to take care of their teeth and understand about oral health. It felt so good to do that and I, I, I continue to live off of that. I thrive on that feeling so. I continued on in dental school.
I was president of our community service organization, and I coordinated everybody's community service while I was there. And so through that I also got to pick and choose the, the coolest community service events. And so, you know, I, I thrived off of that and just really love the outreach work.
I love being able to just get in, help people immediately and just, being able to like, fix someone up in like 20 minutes and then them like, give you a big hug and like tears in their eyes and telling you that you've changed their life, that's the kind of stuff that really gets me going.
So, and as a dentist, I um, do some, like outreach work. I like to travel to the Philippines and I work out of a pediatric clinic in a very rural town um, in behold in the Philippines. So all of this just, it just keeps fueling my fire and makes me continue to be really passionate about oral health and about prevention.
Nice.
Michael: So it's more like the. The feeling of the empathy with the people. Right. Kind of like, oh, like, you know, you feel like you can do something right, and then you're doing it basically. Yeah,
Chrystle: yeah, definitely. And I would say that, you know, as a dentist, my favorite among, among the things I love about dentistry, one of my favorite parts about it is just building these relationships with people and trying to understand them and, understand what, what are their, what drives 'em, what motivates them.
And then I try to help them align. Their goals with better oral health. And it sounds kinda like a little abstract, but I usually can make it, uh, can connect the dots for them because they think they have very like, simple goals with regards to oral health. But when I ask a patient, well, you know, cuz they might say like, oh I just want white teeth or mm-hmm.
I don't wanna have to spend so much on my fillings every year cuz that's what I have to do every year. And then I'll kind of, you. I'll make them take a step back and we'll ask them like, how about teeth for Life? Would that be a good goal for you? If they're always like a little surprised, they're like, whoa, teeth for life.
I never thought about that. Cause like maybe you should, you could have a little control over it with the right with the right habit building and the right intentions early on. We, we, there are things we can't control in life and there are things that we can control and so why not, implement some small changes to your day-to-day that would help you achieve something that shouldn't be so abstract teeth for life. Mm-hmm.
Michael: And so these are like, when you're talking to a patient about that, are those like your new patient exams? Yeah. Okay. How long are those normally
Chrystle: for you? Um, Usually at least an hour, but of course in the beginning my assistants are doing like with a requisite ECRI rays and we usually do an IRO scan and photography.
Mm-hmm. But time with me is usually at least 30 minutes and sometimes it can go longer. but yes, it usually happens, like the, the most impactful conversations tend to happen in the first patient exam because that's the opportunity that you get to really like, dig in and ask about all their prior dental experiences and what brought them to your chair, your practice to begin with.
So that also is my favorite dental appointment, the first new patient exam.
Michael: Yeah, I like that. So in your practice, or I'm, I'm assuming you still have that Salmon Mateo practice, right? Or no?
Chrystle: Uh, so yes, very recently in July I sold my practice to, uh, a wonderful doctor who I I admire and I'm excited about seeing her grow and take the practice to the next level.
Wow. Okay. I'm
Michael: gonna ask you about that right now, but real quick, when it comes to the new patient exam, when you were doing it, a lot of the times I think we think like, the more we can run through, the more efficiency, the more numbers right, better collections and production, things like, In your mind, it doesn't really sound like you're worried about that.
You're kind of more worried about what?
Chrystle: I'm building a connection with the patient and I'm really like establishing, building rapport and I'm trying to understand them. So I am doing my like, clinical assessment and diagnosis in my head. They don't really need to hear that. They don't care. But I'm trying to understand what makes them tick, maybe my patient is. 29 years old and he's striking out on match.com that probably doesn't even exist anymore. I'm dating myself, Ben, like, and he's just, how can he build some confidence in his, in his personal, in, in his whole being, right? And mm-hmm. You know, obviously as dentists we can help with that.
So again, just trying to understand what makes people tick, right? What is it that's driving this person? Is it because they're trying to. And, and it, it doesn't necessarily be related to oral health. Like are they trying to achieve something in terms of like their personal fitness goals? are they trying to get a promotion at work?
Whatever it is. Like, I wanna know what is the, what does this person care about most and how can I align my recommendations with what
Michael: they want? Yeah. So then what questions do you ask for that? Like, it's a complete new person, you're like, Hey, what's up? Or how do you go? Doing that. Is it in the form beforehand and you just look at it or?
Chrystle: So I have, I mean, we've been a little lazy and we never made our own health history form. We just used the one from the ada. Mm-hmm. I like to read between the lines there. Um, and you know, the ADA form, it just has like really basic info, but it includes occupation, which is really telling also like who they're um, in case of emergency person would be, or like their spouse or partner.
And then of course there's the dental history and then the medical history. And then I just, ask questions, beyond what was on the health history form, and I ask them to tell me more, and then I'm not asking yes or no questions. I'm actually saying like, well, tell me about this.
I see here that you've circled that you have tooth sensitivity. Tell me about that. Mm-hmm. So it's not so much like, do you have tooth sensitivity? Yes or no. It's not a binary response. It's tell me about your tooth sensitivity. And then they're gonna tell you a story about like, well, every time I I make ice cream, they're gonna say like, I love to make ice cream.
And every time I try my ice cream, it's sensitive or whatever, where I remember I have a patient who. He does struggle with erosion, for example. But he really, really loves making beer, and that's just something that's so important to him. So for him, the decisions and the decisions we make are around like, well, how can we accommodate your passion for beer?
I'm not gonna tell you to stop drinking beer because that's part of something that, that's something you really care about, but how can we. Build a plan for you that would help you achieve teeth for life while keeping in, your love for making beer.
Michael: Yeah. No, no, no. I a hundred percent. I like that.
How you try to connect it, you know? mm-hmm. Especially like occupational, like, oh, mm-hmm. Why are you doing that? And then they're like, oh, I would love to be doing this instead, and be like, also, you love doing that. Right? And you get right. You dig deeper. Yeah. No, no, no. It's good. It's the conversation and the report that you're building, right?
Like the relationship. I think that's what we kind of have to look into it. But let's fast forward a little bit. You had a practice. Yes. So talk to me about that.
Chrystle: Sure. So first, my mom had a practice that she built from scratch. She had a two operatory practice an immigrant to the United States. So she didn't really have like a network.
Um, English wasn't even her first language, but she built a small practice and in for the entirety of her career, she used one. Out the tube. So that's like, nobody does that anymore. First of all, nobody builds two operatory practices unless maybe like very, very, yeah. Specialized. But two operatory general practice and for the entirety of your career.
The second chair was basically just, it was used as like a place to hang, a let apron or a place to put the patient's purse. We didn't use that chair at. I wanna say like after maybe 15 or so years, my mom switched the chairs so that at least she got a new chair on her side and the other chair, the older chair.
And then when I graduated from dental school in 2008, she didn't have any patience for me. Again, a one chair practice, it's not like a growing thing. And she, she didn't have any patients to give me. So I went and associated with another doctor. In San Francisco and I worked with him, I wanna say like three to four days a week to.
And it really was unglamorous. It wasn't, it wasn't anything that, you know, you would dream of. Mm-hmm. It's just, it was a very simple practice. But that doctor, he built an, amazing loyal patient base and had to give him credit. Like he built, these relationships and these patients were so, you know, they, they would never switch dentists even though, the patients were seeing me all the time.
Instead of him. They were very loyal to him. And so, I, I learned from there that it's not about having a fancy office at all, it's about the relationship that you build with the patient and of course, doing good dentistry. So a couple years after working with him and not feeling like I was the best fit there, because quite frankly, I wasn't him.
He's like this tall guy and he has like a presence and I'm like this little, little Asian 23 year. How old was I then? I was probably 26. And patients would look at me and think I was the assistant. So eventually I started to feel like, all right, I'm getting discouraged here.
Time to go build my own patient base. So I, I thankfully had my mom's empty, dusty chair to work out of really old equipment. It was all built in 1986, but I made it into my own, my own practice and I. Quickly, rose to the top of, you know, Yelp search results for having really strong Yelp.
And again, a surprise because I was a pretty new graduate and it, again, it had nothing to do with like my facilities. Mm-hmm. By no means state of New York, but it was, I, I, I do believe that it was my you know, how much time I spent with my patients and I had time because, I didn't have any patients to start with, so why not?
Spend extra time with the patient. And so I quickly, yeah, just built a practice out of that, just outta one chair. And then soon after that, I, encouraged my mom to take some days off so I could use her chair as well. And in 2018 I had to, well we outgrew our practice a long time prior to this, but in 2018, I, I bought another practice for their space cuz they had four operatories that I could change into five.
And so I built a five operatory practice and we, I moved everyone over there, my mom, myself, and our whole, whole team. And in 2022, I sold my practice to my associate.
Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So I. It came up right, like pretty quick, really
Chrystle: quick. And I, I, I think we would've, we should have moved out of our two operatory space a long time ago.
It's just in our town, San Mateo, there are a lot of limitations around, like zoning restrictions, about how you can build a dental practice. For example, downtown San Mateo, you're not allowed to be on the ground level. They want you. Walk down the street and see like coffee shops and restaurants and like retail spaces, but no medical practices or dental practices that allowed you to be upstairs.
And if you build a new place upstairs, need to have an 88 compliant elevator. These buildings are like a hundred years old. Nobody has room for an 88 compliant elevator. And so it was just hard. Like I looked for a new practice space for years and I kept striking out. and that, and actually this, this problem I had with like physical space and lack of chair time.
I would say was a really key ingredient in my ability to create coco floss because as a dentist, I really should have just been busy doing dentistry. Mm-hmm. And at my growing practice, I should have been doing, I should have been so busy doing the dentistry, but because I didn't have enough chair time I made myself busy making floss.
Michael: Wow. Okay. So then, Were people calling and like, Hey Dr. Ku, I wanna, I wanna schedule an appointment. You're like, six months from now, or something like
Chrystle: that, or, exactly. It was absurd. Mm-hmm. And I had patients like, tell me, I'll never forget I had this one patient um, for his first new patient exam. He told me he had been waiting for months and after his comprehensive exam, at which time, I don't typically do the first prophylaxis or periodontal maintenance.
I just, I do the comprehensive exam and I schedule them for whatever follow-up care they need. Mm-hmm. Basically demanded that I do his cleaning and I was, I was so upset. I was like, but then I also, I mean, I can't help but feel badly. He did wait months to have his appointment with me. And I, I don't know, I I, I dismissed him shortly after that.
I was like, this is obviously not a good fit. I don't feel comfortable. Like the way he, yeah, he basically yelled at me saying I had to do his cleaning, and I, I was really upset about it. I admittedly, I, I believe I was crying as I did his cleaning.
Michael: And so that wasn't, did he see you? Did he see you? Cry when you were, or No, I was in
Chrystle: my 12 o'clock position, so I, I doubt it, but I was really upset about it.
Yeah. And so I, I just missed him. But, it's unfortunate that a new patient like that I, I brought him to that point, right. That I've made him wait so long that he was that upset. A new patient exam. Like I know that some practices will preschedule block out time for new patients just to make sure there's always time for a new patient.
And I think that's a wise. Thing to do if you get really busy. But for me, it wasn't possible. and I also got to the point where for treatment for some people, you know, if they needed a lot of treatment, I would say, uh, can we do this treatment at your six month week care? Which is a long time to wait for treatment.
When I had five operatories, if somebody needed treatment, it's like, let's go do it in the other room right now. Mm-hmm. You know, I would make it happen right now. Whereas, for these, for my, in my two operatory. Somebody needed something, we would have to wait a long time for it. So it just became ridiculous.
And um, but that also made me, kind of obsess over prevention because if I was gonna tell a patient, mm, we're gonna have to do your crown in six months, so what I want you to do in between, in the meantime, and I really need you to floss every day, and this is how I want you to do it. And this is why it's important.
Yeah. And so that's, that's kind of how I became self obsessed with.
Michael: Gotcha. Okay. That's it. So then remind a little bit, you said you had a strong Yelp review, right? That helped you gain the traction. How'd you, if you don't mind me asking, like how'd you build that up? Did you just ask people or.
Chrystle: Yeah, actually I think I did ask people in the beginning and it was a little awkward.
Of course it's a little awkward to ask that question, but I started with just, you know, my patients when I first started, again, it started from no patients. So I started with just my friends, and my family, so like my cousin or whatever, and. And then I would have them write a Yelp review for me. And I didn't tell them what to write.
I wouldn't say like, oh, make sure you gimme five stars or anything like that. It's like, please, can you gimme an honest review on Yelp? Mm-hmm. and then I think at the time it just, there weren't as many like, places to look for reviews at the time. This was like in 2010 or so. So, Yeah, like the, the Yelp reviews just kept piling on and, uh, the phone would bring off the hook.
So I was scheduling anywhere from 30 to 50 new patients per month in my one year
Michael: off from Yelp,
Chrystle: basically. Yeah. Because otherwise I, I mean, the other, only other place to find me would be like, I don't know, maybe in the Yellow Pages, but who, who, who uses that anymore.
Michael: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That's interesting.
Let me ask you, how did it feel for you to be like, We're moving, we're moving to a bigger place like kind of thing.
Chrystle: it was hard. Um, But it actually like, it, it kind of happened. So how I mentioned that it was really hard to find his place. For years, I looked for a new place, but it wasn't until our landlord actually told us that we had to move and we didn't have a choice in the matter.
They. Evicted the entire building because they wanted to, redo the whole building and rent it out to a single tenant and it wasn't gonna meet any of us existing tenants. That was what really did it for me. They were like pulling the rug out from beneath us. And so they gave us less than one year notice about that.
And so I had to find a new practice. And again, I kept striking out. I kept looking and, and struggling with. So I, I, there actually was a point where I thought I might just have to sell our charts and, and maybe I wouldn't, I was like, maybe it's not gonna work out, or, um, you know, maybe we'd have to rent chairs out of a friend's practice, but what would that look like?
Cuz we have our own team and our own philosophy and it just might be kinda awkward and that would only be an interim solution. So that was definitely hard, but thankfully, you know, my mom and I, we, we, it all made, it all worked out. My mom I mentioned that she's an immigrant, so she's from the Philippines.
She went to dental school in the Philippines and grew up there and she just ran into. A friend from the Philippines mm-hmm. Who happened to have a practice in our town and happened to, it happened to be bigger. Mm-hmm. And when my mom mentioned to her our situation doctor was like, Hmm, well maybe I should slow down and maybe if Crystal can wait for me, I.
Maybe I'll just sell my practice to her. So, it was kind of an ins like, it was just a very lucky moment because I don't, I don't know that she necessarily had an exit plan for herself at the time. She was just enjoying dentistry and Wasn't necessarily of the age to retire, but you know, the idea of having someone like me take over her practice sounded kind of good to her.
So, and it just, my mom just happened to float the, I floated to her, so it worked out,
Michael: so, yeah. Nice. Okay. So then, is it just your mom or do you My
Chrystle: mom. Oh, as my, as works. Who works in our practice or
Michael: no, I'm sorry. Like in your family, like, oh,
Chrystle: um, at the,
Michael: as the dentist. As a dentist, but I mean like as far as like, cause you talk about your mom, I don't know if you have a dad or
Chrystle: Yeah, yeah.
I have a dad too. And a sister who's like
Michael: Coco. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, is he a dentist to the dad or your dad or no?
Chrystle: Uh, no, but he's more of an entrepreneur, so I like to say that my sister and I are basically mashups of my parents, you know, one being an entrepreneur, the other being a dentist, and, and that's kind of like what we're made out of.
Michael: Yeah. That's awesome. So then you started Cocoa Floss.
Chrystle: Uh, 2015 is when we launched our product. Though I had been tinkering with floss ideas for years prior for lack of anything better to do with my time. I, I had two hygienists working out of the two chairs, and I would just like twiddle my thumbs, like, what can I do myself?
Michael: What can I do by myself? Okay. No. And so at any moment, crystal, did you think like, I'm tired of doing, Or like, I'm tired of being a business owner. Like where was the moment where you were like, I don't wanna do this as much as I thought I did? Uh, dentistry. You mean dentistry or owning the business? Like as far as a practice.
Hmm. Oh,
Chrystle: that's really hard. So it only finally came to the like, clear decision that I needed to sell the practice or like, it was 20, it was last year, like in the fir in the spring of last year. And it was, it was so hard. And I still kind of like, yeah, I think I, I know I made the right decision cuz the doctor in there is wonderful.
But uh, it was because my sister had a health scare and she, she's floss and she was like, crystal, I, I can't do this if I have to go through all this health stuff. So, What do you wanna do about it? You gotta let something go. Are we gonna let coco floss go? Or are you gonna let the dental practice go?
And so, yeah, that's what happened. I was also pregnant last year. I was pregnant the entire year, last year. So had a, the entire year I was pregnant the entire year. I had a baby on the way. And busy with, already juggling both businesses and then my sister telling me that. She might need to take a step back from work and I would have to take over.
So I was like, I, I can't do them all. Well, I would love to do them all, but if I wanna do them all, well that's not possible. And then the, the baby on the way was not something that you could defer or put off like the baby's coming. So, yeah, I made the decision to solve a practice and it was a very swift thing.
Um, It wasn't even enough time for us to, tell the patients like I, I. Started to tell the patients now, because finally we've gotten around to sitting down and drafting a letter to explain it all to them. Um, but we did it with, you know, minimal upset to the practice, a very smooth transition. So I, I would say that I think patients don't even know, like they didn't know of the change because the team didn't change.
Nothing changed about the practice.
Michael: Gotcha. Why did the, I guess, cocoa floss weigh heavier, you know what I mean? Like, In this thing, right? Or in the pendulum. Right. Why did you guys decide to go, or you decide to go with cocoa floss instead of just your practice? Yeah,
Chrystle: so I think um, it kind of, I realized that, well, like any business owner, c e o dentist practice owner, you have to try to delegate as much as you can and anything that you can hire someone to do in your plays, if they, if that's possible, then you should and you should focus on doing the things that only you can.
So for example, like as a dentist, like if your a assistant can take great impressions or scan. Absolutely. The assistant should be doing it. The dentist should not be doing it right. It's all about managing that time well. And then what I learned through my first maternity leave in 2020 which coincided with Covid I was able to step away from the practice because I was on maternity leave and it was covid and the patients were doing okay without me.
I mean, certainly they asked about me, they wondered where I was, but they were all supportive of the fact that I, had a, had a baby. And it was, it was fine. And the associates that I hired they loved her, so they didn't need me. And so I just felt like I was able to delegate. And I mean, of course every doctor, uh, is different and every relationship is different.
So of course, like, I can't say that these, their relationships replace my relationship that I have with my patient. But I, I do think that, um, at Coco Floss, I'm. Uniquely positioned to help lead that business because, it was my idea to begin with, and I'm the one who cares so much about oral health and prevention.
So it wasn't right for me to just, to, if I had to abandon one I couldn't abandon Coco floss.
Michael: Hmm. Because, yeah, cuz of how unique the position is. It's, it's, you, you guys, you know what I mean? Like a lot of you is in it to where it's like you can't delegate.
Chrystle: Yes, exactly. Whereas for the My Dental practice and when I first started, my practice name was just my name Crystal Coo, d d s.
But um, some years, you know, maybe around 2014 or so, I rebranded the practice to Young Dental Group because my hygiene team was taking up both of my chairs. And so, um, I wanted to make sure that the name of the practice encompassed all of the providers of the practice. So it wasn't just about me anymore, it was about the whole experience for the patient and all the providers that contributed to the patient's care.
young Dental Group. With that practice being less about me and more about the whole experience I could take myself out and it would still be Young Dental Group, Coco Floss. My sister and I, we lead the bus, we lead the company. And if you take me out of it, it doesn't really make sense cuz my sister, she wasn't a flosser.
she doesn't care as much about oral health as I do. So yeah, I, I don't, I don't know. Basically I, I needed to be at Coco.
Michael: Yeah, it has, uh, your perspective on it. You know what I mean? Like your whole I side of it, so you kind of need to be in it, you know what I mean? So then when did Coco floss to you become like, oh, snap, this is guys, this is a business.
Like we're, we're making stuff happen here. Like, this is good mu or you know what I mean? Like when did it become a business?
Chrystle: I mean, we've been growing very steadily every year. I remember, I think early on we started out of my apartment and then out my apartment moved to my parents' home.
There were days when I would go home during my lunch break to help help my sister like pack boxes. And I think, uh, one of these days when I, one of the moments or times when I felt like, oh man, this is really business. When I go home for my one hour lunch break and see that we have like 300 packages to, to build, it's like, oh, now we're gonna do this all in one hour.
That was one of 'em. And other times, I think, you know, going to dental meetings we started very simply at dental meetings with just like a symbol. Booth, like a table with a tablecloth. And now we're, we've got like a double booth at larger meetings, like at C D A, we'll have like a double booth.
That's, and it's, it's always jam-packed. We need to have like at least six people manning the booth at any given time. And there's always people standing in line and that feels kind of crazy. It feels like, I don't know if you, I'm sure you've been to cda, but it feels like a wild bazaar. And so that, that feels, makes me feel like we have a business.
What's also really exciting is next, in two weeks we're launching at C V S, so this feels really grown up now.
Michael: Wait, you guys are gonna be in c v s. Wow, man. That's ok.
Chrystle: Hey, we're like, this is, this is real.
Michael: Yeah. I've always been curious, crystal, how does that work? Like do you just like, dear CV s, or what do you do?
Chrystle: Well, I would imagine that that's how you could do it though. For all of our wholesale partnerships to date, including c v s, they've all been um, obtained via, like inbound requests from the buyers at these companies. So we've been carried at anthropology for many years, and it's because the, the buyer asked to have us there.
And c v s likewise, the buyer. Is a personal fan of Coco Floss and she really, really, really wanted our product in their oral care aisle. So that's how it happened,
Michael: man. Where was the moments where you were super like, like where you're like, yeah, this is it. This is part of, I guess, being an entrepreneur where it's insanely stressful.
Chrystle: Oh, I feel that all the time. Um, My sister and I were always like schlepping things around. the number of like boxes we've had to carry and random things we've had to do. I, it just, it's kind of funny. Um, But I've kind of brought my family along on the ride for it. So, yeah, it is. I feel it every day and it's, it's really fun.
Michael: Yeah. Is it a different type of stress than moaning a practice? Or like, is it the same, do you feel like it's the same, like, guys, this is the same thing, I have to manage employees and manage employees over here, or No, it's completely different.
Chrystle: It feels a little different. So in the practice, it feels, I love how the practice feels so tight-knit.
I mean, you see these people more than you see your own family. and it's the same people. Your team is there with you every day at Coco Floss. We're all remote, so we don't get to like physically be with each other, like can't really hug each other, for example. And so when we do see each other, it, it's really exciting, but it's all like, I'm on my computer all day.
It's a very different type of work. And also the size of the business and the size of the team. Uh, coco Philosophy have about 30 employees now. The dental practice, it's always been around like 10 end to 12, so a larger team of Coco floss. the nice thing is that for both I, I still have as a dentist, they're both in pursuit of the same goal as just helping people achieve two for
Michael: life.
Mm-hmm. So then break it down for us, especially for the ones who are like coco floss, right? Or I've heard of it like coco floss. What is that? What is coco floss?
Chrystle: It's a woven dental floss and it's infused with coconut oil and it comes in a bunch of fun fragrances. We always have it in, uh, coconut, strawberry, orange, and mint.
And throughout the year we have seasonal limited edition fragrances. Like here we have watermelon and we have, uh, chocolate here. And, uh, I think there might be, well you don't see it in this picture, but we have like passion for it or pineapple. So just trying to make flossing delightful and fun.
Trying to turn a chore into a treat and make flossing into something that you look forward to and that you wanna do.
Michael: Gotcha. Okay. And so you guys, I know in some pediatric practices that we work with, like cocoa flosses in there, is there like a specific different price for practices compared to like, somebody from cvs?
Chrystle: Yeah, so we do have a dental sales program where we are selling direct to dentists. They get to order this size, this small size. It's like an eight yard, and it's like about a two week supply. And usually dentists are putting that into their hygiene goody bags. And we also have the 33 yard size, which is what people can buy to anthropology or at cvs and.
Practices are buying that at about half price and then they resell it to their patient for retail price. And then also we have like a large school that's like a professional size that, clinicians are using chairside and they use it in their procedures for all the perio procedures and also even restorative procedures.
Michael: Okay, so it's available for them? Yeah, it's available for them, yeah. Nice. Okay. So I guess. How can this, cuz I remember when I was working in a couple practices, like water picks was like coming up and it was like, this is it. Right? Is that something where you're like, okay, this is our, not competition, but like, how does that work?
Chrystle: Well, I mean, I, I think water picks are great. I don't have anything against water pick at all, but I don't believe that they're of true replacement for flossing. I think it's a great adjunct. unfortunately, I've had some patients, say that they were water picking exclusively and not flossing, and I've seen recurrent caries around usually like multi-unit restorations like bridges or even interproximal caries.
And so, I don't know. I, I just don't know that the water pick can always get underneath rest restorations or in between teeth in the same way that floss can physically deprive those areas. Mm-hmm. So I, it's not yeah. Not a replacement, but water pick's a great adjunct.
Michael: Yeah, because we were water picking.
Me and my wife are like a really, I still do it, but she's the one who. I'm gonna floss too because I'm, you know what I mean? And so I was like, okay. Yeah, that's interesting. I don't know, double clean, I guess, but I didn't know that until you just told me right now. So,
Chrystle: yeah, I mean that, of course curious doesn't afflict every patient, but I, I've seen it enough times where I can't tell a patient I can't do it.
Like, consciously, like, you know, I like to tell a patient they, oh yeah, you can just water pick. I, I won't, I can't feel good about it because I've seen the carries that people get still with using water.
Michael: Gotcha. What have you seen with people using cocoa floss with their marketing, like dental practices?
How have they used it in a, like a unique way or a different way that, you know, maybe like brings better brand awareness or even attracts new patients, things like that.
Chrystle: Yeah, so I've seen a lot of practices use Coco Foss as, one, as a way to draw patients to the practice. For example, I've seen patients, uh, practices, offer, let's say like a Yelp check-in reward, check in on Yelp and get a Coco Foss.
So, gonna incentivizes people to check in on Yelp and, and usually these people who check in on Yelp eventually write a review, which as we mentioned is, can be really impactful for growing a business or growing a. I also see practices using cocoa floss. To display in the, the front desk. The, the display that we have, it's like a jar and it's the colors of Coco Foster candy.
Like, so, de that feeling of delight that you have like walking into a candy shop or like walking into a florist where there's like this explosion of color. Like, why don't have that in the dental office? Because dental offices are typically thought of as like sterile, cold and fear-inducing places.
So when a patient walks into a practice and they. Oh, well that's kind of a nice surprise. Like it's an uplifting type of color to see. It kind of, it helps ease anxiety and helps kind of make the patient a little happier. So the PA um, practices will have the Coco FLS in the front desk area and they'll be, selling it.
And then in the. back um, in the chair side, when a patient is floss with cocoa floss, it feels so different. And usually patients just like, what is that? Mm-hmm. Because unlike a slippery floss, like a, like the Teflon types of floss and that are so slippery and thin and then they actually kind of can hurt sometimes when you floss.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Your gums and they make your gums lead. Coco fo is, it's thicker and it feels much more substantial and it's scarier. So, your hygienist, your dentist will floss with it. And it's like, whoa, what is that? Because your teeth feels so clean instantly, and it also smells good because plaque smells disgusting.
And then, you have this like waft of like sweet strawberries and the patient's like, oh, that's really nice. Yeah. that it makes a difference. And then again, with the hygiene bags, if a patient, uh, sent home with a coco brush and a coco floss it really tells the patient like, wow.
This practice really cares about using the best quality materials. they're giving me this amazing product. So, it speaks volumes about the values of the practice and then it, it becomes like a, a another reason for the patients to talk about it with their friends and family and refer more patients to the.
Michael: Hmm. Do you guys help the practice, I guess like the back office or anything, like when they order coco floss, do you guys help 'em with that? Like maybe the rep or anything?
Chrystle: Yeah. Yeah. We do have a little sales team and um, we obviously like really wanna help, help practices become successful with coco floss, so.
Mm-hmm. We are doing everything we can to handhold as much as we need to um, handhold practices through making it successful in our.
Michael: Man. It's cool how, uh, crystal, like throughout this conversation you can still see like the, when you were younger and you're like the volunteering kind of thing where you're just like, I just wanna help people out, kind of thing.
Right. That's it Still today, like you're just like, I just wanna help people out. Like I wanna hold their hand in. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask you one of the last questions. Throughout this process, I guess, from the moment you decided to own a practice mm-hmm. To. What's been some of your biggest struggles or fails or pitfalls?
Chrystle: Well, for the longest time, I mean certainly time management is something that I had, I've had to get really good at, but I've. Also struggled with the feeling of guilt because when I was working at the dental practice, I'd feel guilty about coco floss or if I'm working at Coco floss, I feel guilty about the dental practice.
Or for either of them, if I'm working more than, more than I should be, than I'm guilty about not spending time with my family. So that's something that I. Struggle with I'm getting better about it, and it's super helpful that I have a very supportive family. And we just do everything together.
Like, for example, I mentioned like schlepping boxes everywhere. Like my kids at this point have, come with me to dental meetings and they're, they're with me on these rides where we have like the whole minivan filled with boxes. So that's, but yeah, guilt has been something that I've, I've struggled with, but I, I think that this is all just a part of who I am and I'm always working on.
Michael: Yeah. How are you work? Like I know like right now you let go of the practice, but I, you know, a lot of people do, I guess, talk about, especially parents like mom guilt, right? I guess how are you working on that? Like what advice can you give us for that
Chrystle: advice? So I just, focus on, one of my personal.
For myself and what are the things that I care about and my passions and, and I just make sure that all of the things that I'm doing in my day-to-day align towards that goal. the good thing is that despite letting go of my practice, I do feel like my, you know, my professional goal in life is to help people achieve teeth for life.
And so I, I believe that I'm continuing to do that, so I don't have to feel so guilty about letting the practice go, cuz it doesn't ha again, as I mentioned, it doesn't have to be me going in and, and treating. Patients, like I have other doctors who could do that. And here I'm, leading this brand growth and hopefully hopefully inspiring even more people to um, take better care of their teeth.
So just focusing on the goals, like what are your, and then that's really hard and it's something that you probably, I think people should at least revisit at least annually. And just think about like, what is it that you're passionate about and what are the goal, your goals, and then how can you align all of your daily actions and how you spend your time towards those goals.
Michael: Mm-hmm. Have you ever caught yourself? It's changing constantly. Like maybe not constantly, but like pivoting and you're like, oh my gosh. And then you feel like what you've done in the past, you're like, I guess that was, some of it was pointless. You know what I mean? Kind of thing. Or cuz my goal pivoted.
Has that ever
Chrystle: happened to you or? Um, I try not to have too many regrets, but I, I'll say I have a lot of fomo. A lot of fomo. I mean, I actually really love clinical dentistry. I had so much fun being able to transform health and transform, you know, my patients. In terms of like confidence. I love Invisalign, for example.
I became totally obsessed with Invisalign, and I miss that. I miss that time with my patients and being able to like, really make an impact in their lives. So there's my FOMO and I, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet. The, the practice sale was very recent.
I don't know yet. I'm gonna own another practice in the future if I'll, you know when I'm gonna, Start working again in clinical dentistry. my baby is very young, and so it doesn't make sense at this time. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I, I don't know. We'll see.
Michael: Awesome. Crystal, thank you so much for being with us.
It's been a pleasure. But before we say goodbye, can you tell our listeners where they can find you?
Chrystle: Of course. So I'd love it if you would follow us on Instagram. Our handle is get coco floss. Our website for all of your patients is coco floss.com. And for dental professionals you can find us@cocoflosspro.com.
And if you'd ever wanna reach out to us you can just email us@helpcocofloss.com.
Michael: Awesome. So guys, that's all gonna be in the show notes below, so definitely check it out. And Crystal, thank you for being with us. It's been a pleasure and we'll hear from you soon. Likewise.
Chrystle: Thank you.
