The Alimond Show
Christy Cowell of Harmony Dental Center of Leesburg
Ready to uncover a captivating story of taking bold strides in the face of a global crisis? We're thrilled to welcome the owner of Harmony Dental Center of Leesburg to the show, who gives us a first-hand account of rebranding and expansion during a pandemic. They share the intricacies of their journey, from purchasing land to build a new practice, to the pivotal role of their supportive spouse, to the concerns surrounding the SEO impact of a new name. This real-life narrative is a testament to strategic planning, trust in your instincts, and the strength of a supportive partner.
As we steer the conversation towards the realm of open communication and feedback in the world of dentistry, our guest emphasizes their significance in delivering exceptional patient services. Through tales of grappling with labor shortages and assembling a cohesive team, we delve into the importance of constructive criticism and staff training. Trust us, you'll want to hear our guest's insightful take on these challenges and how they foster a culture of excellence in their practice.
Finally, we navigate the intersection of technology and dentistry. Our guest enlightens us on how tools such as photography and 3D scanning can revolutionize patient engagement in discussions about potential procedures. We also touch upon the conundrum of balancing work with leisure activities, underscoring the need for personal hobbies for overall wellness. Packed with invaluable advice for success, this episode is a must-listen. So, tune in and immerse yourself in this engaging and inspiring conversation.
Ready to uncover a captivating story of taking bold strides in the face of a global crisis? We're thrilled to welcome the owner of Harmony Dental Center of Leesburg to the show, who gives us a first-hand account of rebranding and expansion during a pandemic. They share the intricacies of their journey, from purchasing land to build a new practice, to the pivotal role of their supportive spouse, to the concerns surrounding the SEO impact of a new name. This real-life narrative is a testament to strategic planning, trust in your instincts, and the strength of a supportive partner.
As we steer the conversation towards the realm of open communication and feedback in the world of dentistry, our guest emphasizes their significance in delivering exceptional patient services. Through tales of grappling with labor shortages and assembling a cohesive team, we delve into the importance of constructive criticism and staff training. Trust us, you'll want to hear our guest's insightful take on these challenges and how they foster a culture of excellence in their practice.
Finally, we navigate the intersection of technology and dentistry. Our guest enlightens us on how tools such as photography and 3D scanning can revolutionize patient engagement in discussions about potential procedures. We also touch upon the conundrum of balancing work with leisure activities, underscoring the need for personal hobbies for overall wellness. Packed with invaluable advice for success, this episode is a must-listen. So, tune in and immerse yourself in this engaging and inspiring conversation.
So tell me a little bit about your new rebrand, new building, new name, new everything Gosh.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny, everything just kind of came together.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's how my career has been like from conception, when I was like six years old and my mother told me I should become a dentist, and I said, okay, it's probably more like okay, yeah. But when I bought the practice five years ago, I had this vision that it would be probably a good idea to eventually move into a new space, that we were either gonna grow out of it or it would need a remodel and a fresh look or whatever. And we've just definitely grown out of it. So right around pandemic time which is a crazy time to think about making a big investment this opportunity came up to purchase the land to build a building. So on a whim not really on a whim, I mean, I say that because I think everything I'm just a sense of tequila. I just think everything for me is kind of like it's calculated and strategic, but it's also like a major leap of faith. I had been working with a broker and I'd been talking with my financial planner and it all made sense and the opportunity was there. So, leap.
Speaker 1:I went. Is there a net You're like to be continued?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, to be continued? I guess I think so. I mean just the support of my team. More than anything in my family, it's exciting.
Speaker 1:Does your husband support you? Of course, yeah. It's always so important to have that spousal support.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean he's been there every step of the way Just helps with all the household and childcare responsibilities so that I can be a dentist but also a business owner.
Speaker 1:So Animal, it's a pretty smart, yeah.
Speaker 2:well, I gave him the childcare responsibilities.
Speaker 1:Well, you can always give him kisses second minute at night. It's the way I love him.
Speaker 2:That's pretty much what happens. No, that's not true, but yeah. So with the idea of moving into a new building, I just thought what better time to consider having the brand better reflect who we've become and evolved to become over the last 15 years. So I've only been part of the practice for 10, the owner for five, and so there was five years before my time even, and that's when Latin dental smiles was created, with an amazing foundation of relationships and all of that. But it was still in its infancy, you know, it was trying to figure out what it was.
Speaker 2:And now, 15 years later, we have an identity and that's really important that our brand reflects that. And so we're changing the name from Loudon Dental Smiles, which is kind of just generic. We're a dental office in Loudon, we like smiles, but there's a lot of other offices with similar names and in fact, we have patients who come in and they are in the wrong place. They came to us but they were supposed to go somewhere else, and vice versa patients are looking for us but they've ended up somewhere else. I just wanted something that differentiated us.
Speaker 1:What is it now?
Speaker 2:So the new name is Harmony Dental Center of Leesburg, and that was sort of born out of the idea that dentistry is this beautiful connection between art and science and technology, our overall health and our oral health, the relationships that we build with our patients and our team, and just feeling that it all, every part of it, matters to make it sound and feel just right. So, and harmony, harmony. I love it and it's so hard because I'm a dentist. I don't know anything about marketing.
Speaker 1:Which is a lie, because I've worked with you before and I know how good you are at the whole marketing.
Speaker 2:Well, it's just that, it's all gut feeling. It's not because I know that there are certain metrics or targets or things that you're supposed to be seeing and tracking and whatever. It's just like again a leap, like I put it out there and see what sticks, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is really what most marketing do.
Speaker 2:okay, don't let anybody fool you, all right. Well, good then, I'm a professional. There we go. I can have a side hustle, is that what you're?
Speaker 1:saying, just get some software that tracks those stats, and then you'll see, I threw these 10 things, this is what stuck. Here's the numbers, and so I know, do that again repeat. Do that again, that's right.
Speaker 2:Okay, you'll have to hook me up with the software. I can do that, and maybe a few extra hours to review it.
Speaker 1:That's all done. Yeah, and so how did the whole rebranding process go Like? Because I know you're really good at design and laying stuff out. Thank you, Because I see that actually in a lot of orthodontist and dentists and surgeons, plastic surgeons yeah.
Speaker 2:They've got the best creators. It's the artistry, right? Yeah, I think that's what has made this profession so great for me is I just I love to create and so it sort of seems like a natural extra thing. That we do is like how we put our services out there, what does it look like? And the visuals and everything is really important. So it's gone really well.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of concerns. So we have 15 years of history online with a certain name and the way SEO tracks that and all that stuff. And again, I don't know anything about this stuff. So I'm like is this a bad move strategically? Like I can live with the name, even though I don't love it. It doesn't mean much to me other than the history that's there. But is it a bad move strategically to say goodbye to that and start fresh? So you know, I asked a lot of friends, colleagues, some professionals, and I know I'm going to practice for another 20 years, so I'm going to be in this building for 20 years. It's 20 years is much longer than what I've already put into this, so it makes sense to do it. So just kind of in my head on paper, drawing logos, writing things out. You know thinking about core values and vision and mission and all of that stuff. I thought that was marketing things.
Speaker 2:Well, I read this really good book that told me what to do. So here we are, but it's gone well. I, you know, lined up kind of a strategic plan on when the rollout would happen. You know, in dentistry we book our hygiene appointments six months out, so we needed to tell our patients that this was happening at least six months before we intend to move into our new space, which will be in the spring, so hopefully sometime in May yeah, 2024, may 2020 to four. So October 1st was our deadline. We pretty much had to have everything ready to go by October 1st.
Speaker 2:So, kind of busy little bee made the logo, got a designer to do it properly and then just went to Canva and started making banners and stickers and magnets and pens and all this stuff. This is kind of fun, fun stuff. A little departure from the dentistry. We launched a new website and the. You know we love our patients. You know like we're all relationship based, so they're super excited too and everyone at least five times a day our patients come in and are saying that's your building. I wondered what was going there. I'm so excited, I can't wait. Our next appointment is going to be over there. I hope you know it's really cool.
Speaker 1:That's so exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so exciting.
Speaker 1:So how are you? What are you adding? What are you changing with the new space, Any new services, Any new besides the marketing and the branding, and the building Right.
Speaker 2:So our biggest challenge right now in our current space is capacity, sort of hit a crossroads and had to make a decision to either continue serving our patients the way that we do and that's by accepting insurance and, you know, working with patients, financial constraints and grow or shrink and become more boutique, more concierge and although our service, our customer service initiatives are all more on the concierge boutique side, I love the. It's so exciting, there's like an energy in the practice with a lot of activity. So it just seemed like growing was the direction that I wanted to go, and I have colleagues going the other direction and they love their practices too. There's no problem with that.
Speaker 1:So the other direction means are just to clarify means no insurance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Moving away from participating directly with insurance, and there's really nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with working with insurance. It's just a different philosophy or approach, business model, whatever. You see fewer patients in a practice that's less insurance dependent, but we have a good thing going and it works from a business perspective. So we just decided to continue in that direction. So we want to just expand on our capacity. So that was kind of the main objective to begin with.
Speaker 2:One thing I'm really excited about is we have a VIP suite that we're building. I call it the smile studio. So it's a. It's a dental operator like a typical one, but connected to it is a really nice sort of consultation lounge space. So I envision being able to sit down and talk with patients about their smile makeovers, in-visaline, more comprehensive cosmetic cases. We can also use it during long procedures when we're doing those full mouth reconstruction cases or cosmetic case. When there's downtime or patients need a break, they can then use the lounge space as a private area to relax.
Speaker 2:Multitask. A lot of patients come in and bring a laptop and try to get some work done while we're in between. The thing we do in our office is make our crowns in-house using CADCAM technology, and so we are able to prep the tooth, make the crown and deliver it all in the same day, rather than having to send a patient home for two or three weeks in a temporary where there's some potential issues like it could break, come off. You know different things like that. We've also been loving this addition to our. You know the way we do crowns in our office, but there's about 45 minutes of time where we're doing the lab work in the background and that's a great amount of time for someone to be able to put their feet up, take a nap, watch TV. You know.
Speaker 1:It's like at the airport. Yes, yes, that's the vision.
Speaker 2:Like really high end, luxurious business lounge in an airport or hotel, like a really nice five star hotel experience.
Speaker 1:I love it and it's all I know you're big about experience as well in relationships. Is that where it stems from?
Speaker 2:Yes, Having the VIP lounge yeah, definitely. Again, it's a differentiator. You know we want patients to want to come in. Most people don't think of the dentist as a place that they are excited to go, but when we transform those scared or apathetic, whatever it is, they just don't. They're not excited to come like they are to go to a fancy hotel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you said I'm going to bring a hotel experience into this.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, exactly, and that's the idea. And even today I had a lovely patient come in and say you know, I probably am not the norm, but I just love coming to see you guys, I will never miss a cleaning, I will never miss an appointment, and that's just the best feeling.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. You're like everybody could be like this. Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so many are, but we still work with our patients, who are scaredy cats no matter what.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to answer that. Do you guys do like the laughing gas?
Speaker 2:Yes, we do, we do and we have colleagues that do more intense levels of sedation. We don't in our office. It's just not a niche that we've found our way into, but it's really. It is really rewarding to find a patient who couldn't even walk through the door get through their treatment and feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in in getting through that. It's really beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, in terms of what you wish more patients knew about going to the dentist and I know I didn't ask you any of these questions up front, but are there any things that come to mind that you wish more people knew?
Speaker 2:Ask all the questions and if you're not and this is really, I think, important in any service industry or anything, and this maybe comes from personal experience but ask everything that you can. Don't leave any stone unturned. If you don't feel confident in what was presented, call, call back. I will get on the phone, no matter what, and help overcome, whatever those questions are, any obstacles to getting treatment, because truly our goal is to help patients get to the end goal, like to achieve their goals, whether that is optimal dental health or just whatever they're capable of doing in that moment. And I don't want anyone to feel afraid to say that I can't do the best, like the premium plan, whatever it is you know, restore everything, reconstruct their whole mouth, because there's a lot of people out there who need a lot of dental work, but maybe now is not the right time in their life to fit that in, and I totally get that. But that don't shy away from doing anything. Ask the questions. What is a phased approach? What could we do to at least stop some of the damage from progressing? And we'll get to this later, if it ever fits into their life. So really it's just be open. Find a provider that you trust, ask all the questions and don't be afraid to ask simple questions too. It's amazing and I welcome when patients give me feedback that maybe we didn't know about, give me feedback that maybe we didn't communicate something properly.
Speaker 2:It happened this morning. A gentleman came in and he was disappointed to find out that we got to the end of the first round of his Invisalign but needed some more aligners because we were 90% there. But we wanted to tweak a few things and he thought it was just going to be over. And I get that you can get burnt out on some of those longer treatments, but we want the end result to be perfect or close to perfect, or at least satisfy his objectives. And we weren't quite there, but it was just going to take a little bit more time and I appreciated that. He told me that he wished he had known or we could have explained that it might have gone a little differently. But so now we know and we'll be a little more communicative or you know whatever.
Speaker 1:So I was going to ask how do you address that's a really good question for me, to ask you and for me to ask myself how do you deal with constructive feedback? Do you guys have an internal process of handling that, or is it just kind of like?
Speaker 2:Probably not. I think just honestly. There's no process, it's just humility. Like I know, I don't know everything. I am always interested to do better for myself or for my patients and for your team.
Speaker 1:Yes, You're always looking for ways to improve everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean yes, I'm never. It seems like I'm never satisfied that once I overcome some obstacle or hurdle, or something gets perfected, I'm like what's the next project? On to the next, on to the next. I never, never stop. But I always welcome feedback. I want to do better. I want our process to be smoother or more engaging or have better, more predictable outcomes, whatever it is, I mean, if there's a way to improve, I want to hear about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or at least the problem, and then you can figure out the way, yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yeah, definitely. What are you? What's one of the biggest struggles that you've had in your business so far?
Speaker 2:I think this is probably not just in my industry, in the dental world, but across the board. There are challenges with staffing and labor shortages.
Speaker 1:It's literally the number one answer that I've heard yeah, yeah, so you're not.
Speaker 2:I've had well, I've had incredible. I don't want to call it luck, because these are just. I think there is. I don't know if spirituality is the right word, but my clinical team has all come together really well and I think there's some divine intervention there. People are put in your path for a reason, right. I've had some challenges with my administrative team over the five years of ownership, but I am more excited than ever with the ladies that I have on my team right now. They are just spectacular, hardest working, smart, sharp, customer service focused and just really solid team players and lovely people to be around, and that's.
Speaker 1:I just want more of that.
Speaker 2:You know I'm not out of the universe manifest Yep. My clinical team has always been solid. They've been there. We all are very like-minded.
Speaker 1:And. I was going to say I said, how you hire fine people Is do they have the same ethics values as you, or are you looking for competency? Obviously looking for competency as well, but yeah, I mean it's all of it.
Speaker 2:I haven't always made the right choices, but when I'm more real, when I can sit down and have a nice face-to-face conversation and I just feel more comfortable that we can then talk about the hard stuff, we can do reviews and talk about constructive criticism and it's not a scary conversation. Because they are like-minded, they want to hear the feedback too, they want to improve, they want to be better in whatever capacity that happens to be. So just finding people who are open, nice to be around, I'm actually happy to train anybody from scratch.
Speaker 1:Are you? Yeah, it's hard. You're a people builder, then yeah. I have a lot of. I used to think that I was personally, but now I'm at that point of wanting to grow at such a fast rate that I can't dedicate the appropriate amount of time that it deserves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's absolutely true, that is a challenge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's a lot of one-on-one Not just your time, but your mental energy as well. Emotional energy.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, that's absolutely true. I love it. So I think that you're right. It's cyclical. Maybe there are moments where you have that time and energy and other times when you don't, and then sometimes it's the applicants that you have and what you're willing to work with, their skills or their personality.
Speaker 1:Personality always wins.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's what I'm learning.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, the personality, and if there's any training that needs to happen, then it'll happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, that's such a difficult thing and that's what I'm hearing from a lot of business owners is like we get into business to do our thing, we love the client aspect, the client experience, but then we're like wait, we can't do it by ourselves, so we need help. And then it's like oh, now we've got to be trainers and managers and accountability partners, right.
Speaker 2:And some people are all for it and some are not, and you find that out as you're working through it, as you're doing it. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not supposed to ride the bus with you the whole journey. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's hard though, because that's been my biggest challenge when I've been doing it is I fall in love with people and I love the person. And then I quickly learn, realize see, this science, this isn't going to work, but then I don't want to let them go because I love the person and I'm thinking about the fact that I just left their job to come here. Absolutely yes, and I'm in a lot of other situations. So then it becomes such a hard spot for me personally, even though you know it's not going to be a good bit. But something I have learned is you've got to do that, yeah, quickly, at least for me. Yeah, you're right, because otherwise it just turns into a mess. It's not easy for them, it's not easy for you. No, you're hurting your business, you're hurting your clients, you're hurting everybody by not doing the hard stuff.
Speaker 2:Yes, and there was something I don't know. I think I always reflect on what it was that I saw in them in the first place, and there will be a good fit for them out there, and if we hold on to them and they're not flourishing, we're holding them back too. So it's probably the right move. It makes you feel better, at least to say that.
Speaker 1:That's what I say. I'm like you know what makes me feel better to think that, and I hope that that is true and it's true.
Speaker 2:I think it is true. I mean, I've been let go from a position before and you're going to be here for ten years after or five years after, yeah, yeah, and I you know more and more I reflect on that situation, for better or for worse. There was so many good things that I learned from the positives and the negatives, and I think I still say some of the things that that guy used to say.
Speaker 1:Like the negative stuff.
Speaker 2:No, no, like just little, like I don't know little things. That, yes, but made him more human, I guess, like to his patients, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I think that's that's funny, like just one of the best attributes that he had was just kind of not taking himself too seriously, and I don't know, I don't know, I think about it all the time, but the the idea there is just that it's okay to let someone spread their wings somewhere else.
Speaker 1:I know, at one point I was like I'm not going to say fire, I don't like that word. Yeah, I'm not going to say let go, I'm going to say release, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then I was like was I a captor?
Speaker 1:Like, yeah, the whole, that whole relationship between hiring, or or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, manager or boss whatever word you want to put on there team leader and employee it's such an interesting dynamic. Like, like Lil, I consider her like a home girl, like I will reach out to her and like I could talk to her. Like, in between these podcast episodes we talk about the deepest stuff. Yeah, Right, and so that's the type of relationship I want with everybody. Yeah, it gets difficult because not everybody is supposed to be on the bus, Right and or they don't want to share, and that's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, yeah, it's good to. I mean, I'll still share, yeah, yeah, they may just want to listen, they don't. Yeah, it may not be a two-way street, I don't know. But that's okay too.
Speaker 1:But it's a hard relationship when that is your style, because it's not for everybody. But, moving on, tell me a little bit about Now. You don't just do though You're not strictly a cleanings and Invisalign practice. Yeah, Right.
Speaker 2:So we're a general dentistry office, which really means we can do anything, but you know there are certain procedures that require more advanced training and so as a general dentist I can decide what that is. So I happen to really enjoy doing smile makeovers and cosmetic stuff, so that smile makeover.
Speaker 2:You know it's anything. Any dental procedure can be involved in a smile makeover. It's whatever it takes to make a person smile what they want it to be. It could be brighter, just whitening. It could be as simple as just whitening their teeth. But truly what we're talking about is restoring damaged teeth from wear, chipping, grinding, old, failing restorations anything from trauma to missing teeth that are congenitally missing, so they were born without that tooth. Or what do you mean by trauma? It could be like car accident or getting hit in the face.
Speaker 2:You know how many kids have like gone over the handlebars on their bike and knocked out a front tooth, like too many, or broken a tooth off. And it's just, it stays with you for your whole life. And there are so many patients who come in and you know we really just start our new patient experience or examination with a conversation. We want to get to know a little bit about them. You can't help but look at their teeth as they're telling you these stories or whatever a little bit about themselves. But then we look at everything. We point out whatever we see and it's not meant to be judgmental or critical in any way, it's really just to see what ignites their interest or what shows me what they're concerned about.
Speaker 2:So one of those front teeth you know, like what do you think about this bonding? It looks like it's a little discolored or it's chipped. Does that bother you? If they say no, then we move right along. If there isn't a problem with it like it's not decayed or broken or anything we can move right along. If it really doesn't bother them, it's interesting, though.
Speaker 2:Some people think that a simple fix that, I think, is, you know, not too much money, like $200 or something. They think it might be $2,000. So they are hesitant to say that it bothers them. So sometimes they'll interject and say, well, if you're ever interested, that would be just a simple filling replacement and we can make it look really nice. Does that sound like something you would want to do? Oh, yeah, definitely Okay. Well, now we've opened the door a little bit, but I'm really just trying to address what their concerns are and help them see that their procedures or things out there that maybe they weren't aware of or familiar with, and then let them decide if they want to go in that direction and they just take me along with them.
Speaker 1:So you're their advisor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and technology has made this amazing, so even just as simple as using an iPhone and taking a picture and blowing up their smile and showing that there's some asymmetries or so proportions that are off or alignment problems, or gums are unhealthy because of, maybe, alignment problems. Whatever the case may be, we can very easily have a more collaborative approach because we can show them what we see and get them involved in the discussion. So we take a lot of, we do a lot of photography, 3d scanning.
Speaker 1:She's a marketer, she's a photographer. I'm sorry. Are you hiring? Well, aren't we just talking about that?
Speaker 2:As long as you want a novice, then I might be your girl, you have so much fire on your face?
Speaker 1:Yeah right. So you do the photography, you do the.
Speaker 2:We take digital models of our patients using a 3D scanning technology and we can use that software to overlay the scan with the photo and then design, come up with a smile design. And to take that one step further, we can then print a 3D model of the design and transfer it onto their teeth and then we take these. Really, oh for right on right, yeah, yeah, we put it right on their teeth and then take what we take before pictures but then after photos and show them the difference and really allow them to connect emotionally with what it might feel like to have that smile.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like we're looking at getting a pool installed in our backyard and they come out and they take the picture and they get the survey and they lay it out and they put it in your backyard and you see it and I'm like, oh my God, I need that. Then I drop the price point and I'm like, okay, okay, we're going to make this happen. We got to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, that's it right. You have to know what you want. That's right To know what you're saving for what does it cost? These are higher ticket dental procedures, depending on what's involved. Like I said, it could be as simple as whitening, but you could spend $40,000, $50,000 on a full mouth reconstruction, or more sometimes, depending on if there's missing teeth, implants, whatever. But if you don't even know that that's what your goal is, you're definitely not thinking about saving money for it. It's people. It gets the wheels turning and then they start putting money away or they find ways. We have a lot of options available. I won't get into it, but that's what my financial coordinator does.
Speaker 1:She helps them bring that dream to reality and she's the same.
Speaker 2:I mean she'll sit down with a patient, find out what their goals are, connect with them and then help make it fit in their life, in their budget, because everyone deserves a smile that they're proud of. They're not afraid to hide. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Do you actually have time to do fun stuff outside of work and family? What do you do for fun?
Speaker 2:Well, right now we're super into our kids sports, which is hilarious. I mean, they start young, right? So I think it's hilarious to say that, because my oldest is only seven. But they just had their playoff baseball game and I mean talk about proud mommy moments. He hit a line drive into the outfield and got two RBIs and I mean everyone was on their feet for this seven year old little league game.
Speaker 1:Are you the crazy mom screaming? I am just so you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I mean I'm a clapper and a cheerer honor, so I know all the kids' names.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're not crazy, You're kind of more of the modest.
Speaker 2:I mean I will yell at my kid for playing in the dirt out there.
Speaker 1:No, I'm jumping up and down screaming people looking at me like, oh, that's you so small, so what I do? I decided to coach this year Stop. I actually let my screaming football oh, my God, I'm just you know what, though. Before I started the season, I knew nothing about football. Now you're an expert. Now I'm like talking to the rafts. I'm like hey, hey, hey, you got to call that one. Aw, that's funny. So we're doing team sports for the kids.
Speaker 2:I have a group of really close friends here. One is one of my dental school classmates. I think she was on your podcast too. We just like to get together. We're three couples and we like to cook dinner together, enjoy a bottle of wine or four.
Speaker 1:That's my hobby, Aliyah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm letting her plan our next family vacation and going well, it's really her family vacation, we're going to go with her.
Speaker 1:So she's planning it because she's also going on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, yeah, but she like that's really an area that she has excelled in. She's an amazing travel guru, points, guru. I don't know anything.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. No, it's great, though, that you're getting, you're going to learn.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, I like crafty stuff and I like to travel, I like hanging out, I don't know. It's pretty low key.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'm still like that. You know it's funny because Lil and I were talking about this earlier. She had asked me. She's like you know I would love to learn, because she gets as much enjoyment out of listening, editing, being here for these podcasts as I do. She's like I'd love to know, like, what do these people do for fun? And I'm like I can tell you right now.
Speaker 2:Nothing.
Speaker 1:I have families. You don't like that answer, lil. I've been like, because it's me, I get it. You've got families. You've got even if you don't have family. If you're an entrepreneur, you're running a business, you're running your team, you're dealing with a lot of stress, yeah.
Speaker 2:It just never stops.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's like it's, it's not like. Oh well, saturday and Sunday, I'm just going to unplug it and yeah.
Speaker 2:It takes a long time to unplug. In fact, I think what I really do for fun is like marketing campaigns in Canva.
Speaker 1:Thank you, ditto.
Speaker 2:Like, ooh, let me go through my phone and scroll past the kids and the dog and all of that and I just find, like my before and after pictures and the goofy staff stuff and make some Canva posts for Instagram.
Speaker 1:Does that answer your question? This is what our, our guests do for fun. I'm like something they de-stress with. You know? I don't know. Read a book. I like to read books. Please go.
Speaker 2:But I'm tired, so I read like three pages and I promptly fall asleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's me too. I know, yeah, now I'm just doing the audio that way because I've got a 30 minute commute so I'm like I'll listen an hour a day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. My commute's not long enough. It's only like 10 minutes and it's immediately like from the office to daycare, pick up the kids to elementary school, pick up my other son home. Dinner, sports, bedtime 30 minutes on the couch asleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, I know.
Speaker 2:Back to bed. Do it all again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's like.
Speaker 2:It's crazy.
Speaker 1:We are like wonder women when it comes to just I don't want to be, I don't want to either, but when you think about it, it's a lot that working.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Not even working, just mothers in general, yeah, but when you add on also running a business, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:I feel really blessed, though. My team really gets it. They don't. If I'm having a bad day, they get it. Or if I'm running late, like I expect them to be on time, yeah, yeah. So here's a great example. I one of my team members said we should have margaritas on Friday. So I like rush into planning mode. I borrow a margarita machine. Don't get any ideas Down to a neighbor like my neighborhood Facebook group secure a margarita bill margarita machine. This was in May, maybe Like a run sing-go-to-mile. I think I still have it. It's at the office. I essentially stole it. She texted me yesterday and said can I have?
Speaker 1:my margarita machine back. You're like what she's like. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Yes, I look at it every day. It's in my office on my desk.
Speaker 1:Do you use it, though, every Friday for no? No, I don't drink at all. I don't drink at all. That was the one time, okay, yeah, well, see, unfortunately for my team, I don't drink at all, so, if anything, it's like. Well, I like to eat, though, so we have lunch.
Speaker 2:Well, there you go. I'm always eating Breakfast or lunch, well, and you're in like a great little town, we just walked. Yeah, I was. If I had gotten out of the office earlier, I was going to try to go to South Street Under or something and grab.
Speaker 1:They're yummy. Yeah To soup, to soup.
Speaker 2:To leek.
Speaker 1:Yes, ma'am, high five, those are the best yeah.
Speaker 2:Everybody so good With the ciabatta, I mean.
Speaker 1:I know Like hopefully it's going to be four pieces at first.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes I only give you three, I'm like, darn it, I know Not that I need that fourth. I need more to scoop up the residual. That's right, it's good, all right. So just to wrap things up, what is? I know you've got a lot coming up, but is there any like advice, tips, projects that you would like to share with our listeners?
Speaker 2:I think, trust your gut, take a leap, have good advisors.
Speaker 1:You need. Your eyes got really big on that. You need a good CPA.
Speaker 2:Who can tell you that it's okay to leap first? That's your parachute. Yeah, just lining up a good team, good advisors, and letting them make your dreams come true.
Speaker 1:That's it. I love it. Thank you so much for being a guest on the Alamo Hot Gas. Thanks for inviting me. See you. Yeah, you too See you. Yeah, you too See you See, you See, you See, you See, you See, you See, you See you.