Heart to Hustle
Heart to Hustle is for those who believe their passion can become their purpose. Every Tuesday, we share stories from people who’ve turned their hustle into thriving careers. From creative sparks to business breakthroughs, we are diving into what drives them, how they made it happen, and the challenges they’ve overcome along the way. It’s not just about what they do, it’s about why they do it and how they’ve shaped their lives around their passions. Tune in for inspiring stories, unexpected lessons, and a whole lot of hustle. Because when passion meets purpose, incredible things happen!!
Heart to Hustle
Dr. Bobby Johnson and Dr. Stevie Roberts, The Dental Duo
In this episode of Heart to Hustle, Layla sits down with Dr. Stevie Ames Roberts and Dr. Bobby Johnson, the husband-and-wife duo behind Duo, the toothpaste tablet company revolutionizing oral care. Stevie, a general dentist with a creative background in music, and Bobby, an oral surgeon, met at Tufts Dental School, where their shared ambition sparked a vision beyond traditional dentistry. They dive into the challenges of launching Duo while managing their full-time careers, the trial-and-error process of developing their product, and the unexpected lessons they’ve learned as first-time entrepreneurs. They also discuss the importance of sustainability in oral care, why the industry has been slow to evolve, and how they’ve leveraged their unique skill sets to build a brand that blends science, wellness, and eco-consciousness. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about passion, partnership, and the power of innovation.
Learn More About Duo Toothpaste: https://duotoothpaste.com/
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Heart to Hustle is for those who believe their passion can become their purpose. Every Tuesday, we share stories from people who’ve turned their hustle into thriving careers. From creative sparks to business breakthroughs, we are diving into what drives them, how they made it happen, and the challenges they’ve overcome along the way. It’s not just about what they do—it’s about why they do it and how they’ve shaped their lives around their passions. Tune in for inspiring stories, unexpected lessons, and a whole lot of hustle. Because when passion meets purpose, incredible things happen!!
Have you ever had a side hustle, A side gig you picked up for fun or maybe to earn a little extra cash? Maybe you had a lemonade stand as a kid or, like me, were fully immersed in the world of theater and dance, where each experience ignited my passion for the spotlight. As we transition from those early experiences into the professional world, some side gigs evolve into real passions and sometimes even lasting careers. I've always been so curious about these stories, especially the less conventional journeys that redefine what a career can look like. They remind us that success isn't always a straight path and that the heart behind our hustle can lead us to unexpected and fulfilling destinations. I genuinely love exploring how other people's passions have shaped their careers. If you're into that too, join me, Layla Palmer, as I chat with a captivating lineup of guests from various industries to uncover how they went from heart to hustle.
Speaker 1:Some families build legacies in real estate or fashion, but this one is building an empire in dentistry. Today's guests, Dr Bobby Johnson and Dr Stevie Roberts, didn't just choose these careers. They were born into them. Coming from families of dentists, they've spent their entire lives immersed in the world of patient care, running successful practices and continuing a multi-generational tradition of excellence in the field. Now, as both life partners and business partners, Stevie and Bobby are expanding their family legacy beyond the dental chair with Duo Toothpaste, an innovative, environmentally conscious tablet toothpaste designed to revolutionize oral care. In this episode, we'll explore how they transformed their expertise into a brand, what it takes to build a business alongside your partner, and how they're balancing entrepreneurship and clinical work to shape the future of their family's dental legacy.
Speaker 2:My name is Bobby Johnson and I am a oral surgeon, trained as a dentist. First I'm at Stevian Dental School.
Speaker 3:I'm Stevie Roberts. I am a general dentist. I have a practice in Kirkland, Washington.
Speaker 2:And we're married. That's the key part. So we met at Tufts Dental School and got married. A couple years after I was in a residency for oral surgery. That was a six-year program here in Seattle, so doing that for a while and Stevie's been running her own practice Dentiste for just as long. And during the residency training I had some time in medical school as part of my training and we started Duo Toothpaste, which is a tablet toothpaste company we still run today.
Speaker 1:Well, before we talk about Duo, why don't we talk about both of your decisions to go into dentistry? Give a little bit of some backstory about how you chose the career path.
Speaker 3:Sure, we both grew up around dentistry, so I am the daughter of two dentists and they practiced out of our house actually. So that's how I was exposed to dentistry early on. They're both general dentists, they own their practice and I saw how, lifestyle wise, it was just a great decision for them and I have followed in those footsteps.
Speaker 2:When Stevie and I first started hanging out and I first visited her house, it was such a crazy thing because I also grew up around dentistry too, but a very different model and her telling me yeah, my parents don't set their alarm clock, they just wake up to the staff arriving in the morning and opening up the office, which is just a crazy thing to me, but that's really how it works.
Speaker 2:People start arriving and the first two floors of their house is the dental office and their parents just make their way downstairs and off they start their day, which is a pretty cool model of when you talk about work-life balance, when it's all one like that, for sure. But my experience is a little different but very similar. I'm a third generation dentist my grandpa, dad and uncle all dentists and so pretty much grew up around it as soon as I could drive and get my way down to the office and kind of work in the front desk as a summer job and then got more involved with it. And, yeah, dentistry is just a very beautiful thing where you can provide for patients and also run your own business and control your own life, and also just a cool skill set to try to become master of over your career.
Speaker 1:Well, you'd mentioned work-life balance and I think it's a very interesting conversation to have, at least with the two of you, because, stevie, you have the experience of basically growing up around what is now your profession, having your parents both be dentists and live in their practice and have it also be their home. So I'm curious if you, growing up, observed the challenge of the work-life balance, because you don't leave the office.
Speaker 3:I mean I definitely took a lot of notes from my parents. I really appreciated how because, like the office was in our home, we really became very close with the whole team that worked there. So that really became an extension of our family and really is still to this day like part of my family. Um, so that's something I certainly wanted to emulate when I started my business. I thought it was really important to like invest in my staff, find a great team, um, make sure we all kind of got along and then also get along outside of work, which helps a lot.
Speaker 3:I do not live in my practice. I like the physical barrier. Like I my commute is like 15 minutes. I think it's the perfect amount of time to kind of get ready for my day and wind down from my day. I guess one difference also my parents were both general dentists and own their practice together, so like that definitely could lead to a lot of dinner table conversations in front of my sister and I that we had no idea what was really going on. We don't do that as much. Like I'm a general dentist, he specializes so what we kind of talk about instead of the dinner table isn't so much like the nitty gritty day to day stuff we do which we can talk about, and I think that helps a lot in dentistry specifically. It's a weird profession, so to be able to come home and talk to your partner about like the weird things that happen during the day, I think is super important and honestly like very important to the work-life balance. I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it is. It is nice, like we have separate experiences during our clinical work day and so we don't share that. But we can come home and share those if you know exactly what we're talking about or, with just a few words exchanged, kind of understand what the other person's going through and also be able to just talk to each other and brainstorm through some of it or just troubleshoot or just say, yeah, that sucks in there too.
Speaker 3:It's nice, like talking the same language, I guess, but we try to focus not so much on like the day-to-days of our like dental experiences, and that's actually kind of how we came up with Duo. We were like, how can we do something else? That's not the clinical aspect that we both love, like I wouldn't take that away. That kind of keeps me going. I love interacting with patients, but we're like what else can we do that we can actually work on together? That still involves the dental degree that we got together, but isn't kind of what we're focusing on our day-to-day when we're treating patients.
Speaker 1:Stevie and Bobby may share a profession, but launching Duo Toothpaste together brought an entirely new layer to their partnership. I asked them what it was like to navigate this hands-on trial and error process as a couple and how they balanced professional expertise with personal preferences while bringing Duo to life. It's probably a rewarding feeling to get to come home at the end of your day, talk to your partner and have them really actually understand what you're talking about. You know, I think that's a big advantage, especially now being in business together on a product that is backed by dentistry. You know, when it came to launching Duo, what was that experience like, working together? Talk about what that experience was like what was that experience like, working together?
Speaker 2:Talk about what that experience was like. Yeah, you know it's funny. A lot of what started with Duo was just doing a lot of research first, so that was just kind of computer work and a few months of just really trying to reverse engineer. You know what the best toothpaste is, what's in current toothpaste, all that kind of stuff. So for a lot of that it was pretty objective.
Speaker 2:Honestly, a lot of that information was pretty clear though, like what the best ingredients are, what ingredients aren't necessary or even harmful, um, so that part was a little easier to align on and it was interesting because some of the information that we were finding was not necessarily what we learned in dental school. So we could kind of, I guess, check with each other like wait did we? Is this really how we learned it or what was that point in that lecture five years ago? But then, after the research, came the part of actually figuring out how to make the tablets themselves, which involved a lot of time, just really in our garage with a pill press just putting them together. And then and then it was more of a subjective experience of you know, how does this feel in your mouth. How's the foaming, what's the flavor like? And that was probably the most contentious part of the whole experience, because you know things I might like, she didn't like. We agreed on all the science-based stuff, but then there's a lot of just subjective stuff when you're building a product.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there wasn't much back and forth in terms of disagreeing on what we wanted to put in the product and keep out of the product, like that was clear. But then taste is a really tricky thing, like I have my own taste, he has his own taste, and then we're trying to make something that's going to appeal to the masses. So that was definitely like the most tense we got, if you will, just having like 12 different with, I mean, and we're I'm legitimately talking about like the types of mint. We have three different mints in the base one spearmint, wintergreen and peppermint obviously, um, so like just the distribution of these three mints. I can't tell you how many different tablets we tried and strongly disagreed on which we liked more, but eventually we got our base tablet that we're very, very proud of and tastes delicious.
Speaker 1:Yes, it does. Duo Toothpaste is a multifaceted product with added vitamins, supplements and eco-friendly packaging, all while introducing consumers to tablet toothpaste. Let's hear how this dental duo is communicating its benefits and making the switch easier for customers.
Speaker 2:Duo is communicating its benefits and making the switch easier for customers. Honestly, that's probably been one of the biggest challenges with Duo that we're still working through as a company. I mean, there's more people involved than just us, but we're fortunate that we have all these value adds. It's tablet toothpaste, which means it comes in a glass bottle, so it's plastic free. We added vitamins and supplements like vitamin D to some of them. We have different flavors. It's made by Dennis, it's got a different mechanism of foaming.
Speaker 2:So so many things that you want to just launch out to all the consumer, but you pretty much bury it if you pick more than one or two things, because people just aren't prepared and they're aimless scrolling on Instagram or wherever they first encounter Duo, to decipher all that information. So it's something we're still testing with. You know marketing stuff to see. You know, is it the flavor that most resonates with people Like you know we're just talking about with different mints, or you know some other different flavors, or is it? Do people like the eco-conscious part of it? And, to be completely honest, you know, we still don't know and it depends what demographic we're talking to, and we've heard this from many other founders too, as we go through this journey is you have all these things, that you're excited about your product, but if you've got to sideline a bunch of them as far as the marketing and just you know see what resonates with the people more than anything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think early on we knew that there were like a lot of paradigm shifts that we were asking people to understand. So there was like a huge educational barriers kind of three main camps. Honestly, bobby's kind of been describing me before Like we are plastic free, it is good for the environment. That's a broader category, right. Like people are doing it with laundry detergents and dishwashing detergents, like plastic free, everything. Then we're asking you to chew your toothpaste, which is crazy.
Speaker 3:There is a tablet, you know toothpaste following for sure, and it's growing a lot, but early on really, most people hadn't heard of doing that and how to brush your teeth. And then we're adding stuff to it and we're telling you you don't have to swallow it. We're adding these vitamins and supplements that are just going to absorb while you brush your teeth. So like we're still figuring out what exactly to focus on and the focus shifts depending on who we're talking to. But I think what was really hard at first is we wanted to focus on all of them and what we've learned is that we really have to almost focus on one at a time, kind of depending on the audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to your point, layla, where there are some products that are fun to show on Instagram or whatever it might be, whether it's a new, coolest golf club or a pair of skis or something but brushing your teeth isn't necessarily the sexiest thing in the world, that's, you know. Another barrier that fits in with some of the challenges that you know are fun to work through. I mean, it's they're cool problems and they're problems for a reason.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it makes for a very interesting conversation. You know, when you're talking about marketing, what's going to reel somebody in the first five seconds so they don't scroll? Or what platform are we marketing on? What demographic is that platform most likely going to reach? And I think Stevie brought up a great point. You really do have to focus on one at a time. What is the number one value proposition that for, like a general customer, you know nothing about them. You don't know anything about what their interests are, what they like, if they're more focused on a low price or convenience or whatever, what is the general value proposition that you give somebody Like you should pick this toothpaste because X.
Speaker 2:It's a plastic-free tablet toothpaste with an effective fluoride alternative.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think, sustainability and then we, as dentists, kind of focus on the fluoride-free alternative that we use. That's been proven to be as effective as fluoride no shade on fluoride but there happens to be something that works just as well, and so we use that instead, because there's a lot of people who don't want fluoride in their toothpaste and so we use that instead, because there's a lot of people who don't want Florida in their toothpaste.
Speaker 1:Bobby and Stevie knew that successfully launching Duo meant surrounding themselves with the right people. Their team includes married couples, college friends and family members, each bringing unique skills to the table. It takes a village to build a brand.
Speaker 2:Let's hear how they built theirs. I'm from Seattle originally and Stevie's from Philly, and one of her best friends from college at Penn was Sam. She grew up in New York and happened to marry a guy, nick, that was also from Seattle. I didn't know him before this but we were already, because of those connections, friends.
Speaker 2:So the whole idea for Duo kind of came as a group and then, after Stevie and I actually starting on the product development stuff, it was really Nick and Sam that took over the branding and the operations and the company and Nick very quickly started working on Duo full-time. I mean, we both have clinical practices and at the time I was still in residency, but you really do need someone pretty quickly full-time and yeah. So once we had a viable product they really went to work on the business side of it. And then since then we've had another co-founder, mike, join the team. That's been an invaluable asset as well. So we have a really well-rounded team. I mean Stevie and I bring the dental side to it, and then Nick and Sam had lots of experience in law and creative and running product and then now Mike also has some law background, but mostly finance. So just having a really dynamic team behind you and we're all friends, which makes it really fun. So Mike and Nick are full time right now and we're closely with them building the brand still.
Speaker 3:Weekly meetings. And then I think it helps that we all kind of have our own role, like Bobby is the product, like I'll help with nuances of the product, but like he owns the product in full. Um, I'm like the dental side. I'm the one who's like interacting with patients who brush their teeth. I'm trying to, you know, get them to brush. More was really what I wanted from this. Like, how do I make this a better experience for you? You got to do it like every day for two minutes a day, so let's make it better. And then Sam, early on, really was like the brains behind the brand. We all had input, for sure, but she really helped create the brand. And then Nick was doing everything to kind of form the company, keep the company going dealing with all the contractors fundraising.
Speaker 2:Hugely important Nick was. I mean he would come back to Seattle or wherever he was traveling and travel with this bag that just had duo product and, like his labels, printer and everything. So because we didn't have fulfillment at that time. So no matter where he was in the world, he could just set up shop and ship it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, that sounds so cool Going into business with your friends. A lot of people frown upon it. You two seem to have a success story with that. A lot of my listeners are creatives, aspiring entrepreneurs and people who just are looking to further their careers. So what would you say to aspiring entrepreneurs or people who are already in business with their friends about how you can navigate that professional working relationship and then friendship that you cherish and want to? You know, not be broken apart by, maybe a disagreement over, you know, something that happens during the workday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, I don't want to sugarcoat anything, because it's not easy, like it's hard. Especially early on, we had two married couples. So there's like relationships within that that you have to kind of navigate. And then we're all friends on top of it. Again, I think kind of having clear strengths, like we each had our own strength and something to bring to the table that was like pretty unique Really early on. Like we had a bunch of mood boards and everything.
Speaker 3:And what do we want to represent as a company? And it was super important, like always on there. Like we want to be a fun company, we want this to be fun, like we are friends. This should be fun. So we would try to check in like if, if we're all on edge and stuff like this isn't fun right now, like what are, what are? What are we doing wrong? We got it. Let's get back to that. And it's not all like roses, it's not. It's tricky. I think, like any relationship, you know communication's super important. So as much as you can keep those lines open, it's really important because we might not agree, but as long as, like we're all talking about it and we feel comfortable expressing that, we might not agree, that's all you can ask for in life, like you're not going to get your way every time, but as long as you feel heard, I think that's the most important part.
Speaker 2:Net it strengthened all of our relationships a lot. But, like Stevie said, net, it strengthened all of our relationships a lot. But, like Stevie said, there were a few calls where we had to find the fun again in Duo. But that's okay because that was a learning experience too. You know, especially at the beginning, there's so much like creative energy and like the startup thing that's really fun to work on. You know, building the product, building a brand. We had these Duo off sites where we'd all get together and just like have a fun weekend.
Speaker 2:But you know it's full of sticky notes and whiteboards and kind of felt like out of a movie where you're just working through the whole thing. But then comes the reality of there's just a lot of work to be done and a lot of it's not fun. Or you know it's super time consuming and monotonous and especially in the beginning, you have a small team. There's just you try to delegate things to things that people want to work on, but at the end of the day there's always going to be the stuff that no one wants to do. So an expectation setting it just is going to take a lot longer and be a lot harder than you ever expected. That's for sure.
Speaker 3:It's a mentality we went into this as friends. We knew we were building a company, as friends early on. And even now, like we've worked with as many people that we already knew as we could. Like we worked with my very good friend from growing up, Dani. She did all of the design for Duo, like all of the kind of brand creation expression, all of that we worked with her. You know, we engaged with cousins and friends to kind of help us with the social and that's just kind of like part of our mantra. Like we are a friend, family business and we want to kind of bring in as many people as we can. I think if you go into it like, this is kind of our model we want to work with people we know and we like knowing that it's not always going to work out, but we've been super lucky.
Speaker 1:Duo is growing and Stevie and Bobby aren't slowing down. I asked them what's next for the brand and what we can look forward to in the future. It's been a good few years from concept to delivery now, so what's ahead for the future? I mean, where is Duo now? Do you guys have anything that we can look forward to in the future or just like things that you are hoping to see with the success of Duo moving forward?
Speaker 2:One thing that's been really cool. So we're getting a lot of traction and we're seeing a lot of growth and status. We're going from what was a fun driven company to very much a data-driven company now. So a lot of the excitement right now kind of comes in the forms of numbers, Kind of have these key performance indicators or KPIs that you kind of tweak and work on, which has been a cool shift internally for the business, just to kind of have those goals to focus on.
Speaker 2:As far as the future, kind of working on some TikTok stuff and maybe some retail, so expanding our marketing reach. And then also as far as the controversy in the early about flavors, we're working on a pediatric flavor. There's a whole nother realm because right now we have four mint based flavors. But now we're playing with things like you know what concoction of strawberry, watermelon, cucumber, kiwi, I mean you know, and then there's every combination of those together. So and their flavors, that we're not really. You know I don't brush with a strawberry toothpaste. I still like mint. So not only do we need to figure out what we like in a kid's toothpaste, but we also need to try it with some kids. So that's one exciting thing. You'll see, We'll be trying a bunch of toothpastes with kids.
Speaker 1:Stevie and Bobby's journey proves that passion, expertise and the right team can turn an idea into something bigger, from balancing clinical careers to building Duo Toothpaste. They've shared valuable lessons today, but there's still so much more to learn. Listeners, it's time for the Career Countdown, a segment here on Heart to Hustle that gives us one last look at our guest's journey in a fresh, inspiring way. Through five rapid-fire questions, bobby and Stevie will share the key inspirations, insights and lessons that have shaped their careers. Let's dive in For number five. What are five words that describe your relationship as partners in life and in business?
Speaker 2:Adventurous.
Speaker 3:Devoted.
Speaker 2:Fun.
Speaker 3:Honest.
Speaker 2:And patient.
Speaker 1:Lovely, all right, what are four activities that you both enjoy doing together to unwind?
Speaker 3:We like hanging out with our dog Jojo and our new son Casey, yeah.
Speaker 2:We have a travel trailer that we made during COVID. We like traveling around the country or just locally around Seattle in the trailer.
Speaker 3:We recently bought a houseboat, so we live on Lake Union in Seattle. Bobby's got like a little kind of rowboat that he threw What'd you put on it?
Speaker 2:A little outboard motor.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a little motor on there so we can just zip around the lake.
Speaker 2:It's like an eight foot plastic boat, so it's not.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it's enough, like we can get on it and kind of zoom around, which we like doing.
Speaker 2:And then there's just good old laying on the couch watching some good TV shows.
Speaker 1:For number three, what are three sacrifices or trade-offs you've made to balance your careers as dentists and as entrepreneurs?
Speaker 3:Time. Both spent a lot. Bobby spent an incredible amount of time just kind of to get the degrees to practice.
Speaker 2:And I spent a lot of that time on Duo and also money. I mean, all the founders put up a lot of money to start in Duo and then time away from clinical work. Maybe less money in our pocket now, but that's an okay tradeoff, that's part of it. And then the last one is just focus. You know it's kind of a different skill set now to focus both intently on a clinical career Stevie's running her own dental practice and then also focusing on Duo. So it's working on that skill set.
Speaker 1:So for number two, if you could go back to school and study two completely different subjects unrelated to dentistry, what would they be and why?
Speaker 3:I would probably study law in some form, I think, like as an alternative career path. It's something I would have enjoyed. I think I would have wanted to be a litigator, but that you know there's a lot that goes into that. But I think just having the knowledge is super helpful, for I mean things we're doing with Duo, things I do with my practice, like it would be nice to have some sort of foundation of law knowledge.
Speaker 2:I think mine and I gave this answer when I was interviewing a presidency, like seven years ago, and I think it still applies as a marine biology for somewhat simple reasons I like science and I like boats. I like the idea of doing science on a boat. It's also super applicable to the world of climate change and energy.
Speaker 3:And then I think we both share like engineering of some sort we would both probably be interested in.
Speaker 1:All right. So for our final question, number one what is one piece of dental advice you wish everyone actually followed and didn't lie to their dentist about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have dental cleanings here and I do think that's like obviously super important. I don't want people to not do that. I think flossing really is the number one and like I'll get personal here Like me too, I wish I flossed more, like I don't want patients to lie to me, but like I get it. It's the teeth routine, teeth hygiene. It's a two-step process, like it's not just brushing you got to floss.
Speaker 2:I'm saying flossing is almost a cliche of an answer from a dentist, but there's a reason for that.
Speaker 3:It's true.
Speaker 2:It's an uphill battle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so cliche that I knew that's exactly what you were going to answer.
Speaker 3:So there you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can find Duo Toothpaste at amazoncom or at our website, duotoothpastecom. And give us a follow on Instagram or TikTok at duotoothpaste.
Speaker 1:Dr Bobby Johnson and Dr Stevie Roberts took a bold leap, launching Duo, while continuing their work as dentists. From formulating the perfect product to navigating the challenges of marketing a new way to brush, they've embraced every step of the entrepreneurial process with determination. But no great venture happens alone. Having the right supporters and creative collaborators has made all the difference in bringing Duo Toothpaste to life. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Heart to Hustle and leave a review. It really helps more people discover these inspiring stories. And if you want to follow along with Stevie and Bobby and Duo Toothpaste, check out the links in the show notes or head to duotoothpastecom. Thanks for joining me today. I'm so glad you tuned in and can't wait to bring you more inspiring stories next time. Until then, thank you for listening.
