The Making Of Pearl & Pine Dental Studio with Dr. Dixie Mobley

In this episode, Collin Al-Samarrie talks with Dr. Dixie Mobley, an Air Force veteran and founder of Pearl and Pine Dental Studio. They discuss her rapid transition from military dentistry to building a "bomb-shelter" startup in the Florida Panhandle.

Episode Timestamps

• [00:00] Intro & "This or That" with Dr. Dixie.
• [05:42] The Origin Story: Following her father’s private practice footsteps.
• [08:15] Military Life: The elite training and the "dual military" commute struggle.
• [14:30] The Turning Point: Why she chose a startup over an acquisition.
• [18:45] Pearl and Pine: The meaning behind the brand and using AI for logo design.
• [22:10] The Numbers: A deep dive into conventional loans, interest rates, and down payments.
• [28:30] Construction: Converting a concrete "bomb shelter" into a modern studio.
• [34:15] The Floor Plan: Designing for 9 ops and a unique "kids' flex space."
• [39:50] Decision Fatigue: Learning to make $20k choices on the fly.
• [44:20] Wellness: Running as "unplugged therapy" for the startup grind.
• [48:05] Advice for Moms & Veterans: "If you aren't building your dream, you're building someone else’s."

Dr. Dixie is looking for your advice on:

1. Sound Systems: Sonos vs. Flush-mount ceiling speakers?
2. Signage: Recommendations for national or local sign companies for her interior logo wall.

🔗 Connect with Dr. Dixie

• Instagram: @dr_dixielynnmobley
• Practice IG: @pearlandpinedentalstudio

Thank You to Our Partners

• Net 32: The dental marketplace that helps practice owners stop overpaying for supplies. Compare and save at net32.com/themakingof.
• Kasper Opportunity Finder: Fill those empty chairs and reclaim lost revenue with one click. Get it free at meetkasper.com/register.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Making of Podcast. And I have a very special new guest introduced to everyone today. My name is Colin Al Samri. I'm one of the co-hosts around here, and I am going to be talking to the lovely Dr. Dixie. Good morning, Dr. Dixie.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Good morning. I'm super happy to be here and thankful for you to have me.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

I'm super excited because we actually I spoke to you like what, four or five months ago, I think, and we just had like a little chat. Um, and I really wanted to get you on, but then life around here just got a little crazy with Ashley and Brian and everything going on. And I reached out a couple weeks ago, probably, and I'm like, hey, would you still be open to doing a podcast with me? And you're great. You really you just hopped in. You're like, yeah, sure. Just tell me when. So I wanted to first, we like to do this or that around here. Um, and everyone knows that. I'm gonna ask you some basic ones, so don't worry too much. Are you a cat or a dog person? Dog, dog person. Do you have any dogs?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I have a golden doodle, and she's great, but she broke her leg twice as a puppy and had to get surgery. So she's we're in debt from this dog right now, but she's great. Yeah, the things we do for our pets. Yeah. She was she I got her because I was pregnant with my second, and I wanted my son to have a companion since he was such a like mama's boy. But then we had a puppy and a newborn and my two and a half year old, and then she broke her leg, and I was trying to like keep her sedated so he wouldn't play with her, so it kind of background, but it's okay. She's great now. It was worth it.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

I love it. Are you a beach or a mountain girly?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Oh, that's tough. I would say something about the salty water. I'm gonna have to go with beach.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Okay. And this is my um most recent favorite one to ask. Would you rather permanently have a pebble stuck in your shoe or a popcorn kernel stuck in your gums?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Oh probably popcorn kernel. I feel like I should say the shoe thing since I'm a dentist, but now we use our feet more than our teeth, probably.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

That's why I think I like to ask dentists that question, just because it like falls into your realm, but the shoe would be super annoying to me.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Oh my gosh, yeah. Like blisters, and that sounds horrible.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

And then I was like, well, if the popcorn kernel is stuck somewhere that's like not as annoying and you don't notice it, then it's not so bad.

unknown 2:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Um, okay, thank you. Let's get a little bit into just who you are. Who is Dr. Dixie? What is some of your background? Do you have like family that are dentists? And just kind of tell me, like, just from the beginning, what made you want to get into dental?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Yeah, um, I feel like my story is pretty generic. No dentists in my family, so I'm not like a assuming a practice or anything. Obviously, I'm doing a startup. Um, my dad was a physician though, and I did kind of grow up in like that private practice setting. So he was a family care physician and grew up walking those hallways. You know, his patients and staff were kind of like family to us, and that entrepreneurial component and small business ownership. So I took that with me. And honestly, I just was pre-med. And as I started talking to physicians, they were like, no, don't do it, go to dental. And then I started talking to dentists, and they were like, do it, it's awesome. And it seemed like a good, you know, obviously, there's like the financial security component to it, but it seemed like something that would work as a mom, also having that flexibility, being able to dictate my hours, and just still have that patient connection. I'm so big on human connection. So that constant interaction and having like that patient base that you see regularly. It's a big deal for me.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

I love it. Does your dad still practice?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

So that's actually another component to the story. He passed away when I was nine. And oh, I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. I mean, that was obviously decades ago now, and I'm the youngest of five, so I have four older brothers. So oh my gosh. Yep. So I had four kind of mini ones of him helping raise me drying up, which was a blessing. But yeah, that was that was kind of another thing, like following his footsteps. I was the last one, and no one had gone medical. And there's something about like following his journey that's brought me connection with him that I've kind of like tried to grasp as I've grown up. Obviously, he's not here for these monumental life moments, and I wish he was, but just knowing that like what I'm doing right now, he literally did this. Like, my mom and dad bought a gas station and made it his medical practice. And now, like, my husband and I are doing the same thing, and our kids are gonna grow up in our practice. So it's just kind of like been full circle, and it's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

So that's such a sweet story. I love that. And you're the only girl of the family, four older brothers, that's intense.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Um, you mentioned your kids. Tell me about your kids. What are they boys, girls, ages? Three-year-old boy, one-year-old girl. Oh, you're like a new mama, and you're doing a startup. So all this is so crazy.

unknown 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

I love it because actually I feel like so many of the mom dentists that I know talk about doing it like all at the same time, pretty much. And I know this, but you were in the military. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Because I feel like I don't know if you would say this, but that's kind of crazy too. Like that's intense from just most people's generic lives, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yeah, it's um so my dad was he was actually also an I was in the Air Force. I was an Air Force dentist, and that was something else that I kind of followed my dad through. He was an Air Force physic physician. Um, and I did have a brother, my oldest brother was also in the Air Force, and we've had like multiple family members. I mean, our family reunions were like my uncle telling war stories and like pointing to the map and like where they were. So um I would say like I grew up in a pretty pro-military household, and it was always like an honorable thing to serve your country. Um, so very I'm I'm a patriot, like I love America, and I'm always up for a challenge. So I was like, you know, let's do it. And it helped out they were gonna pay for my dental school. So financially, it was it was nice too. But yeah, it was honestly it was the best experience ever. Their training, I did a one-year AEGD with them, and that just grew me as a clinician so much. Um, and then, you know, after your residency, at least like where I was stationed, I was always surrounded by specialists. So I had that like mentorship beyond even my residency. And you have all the technology, all of the supplies. But there's more to it than that. It's not just clinic all the time. You have a lot more additional duties as a military officer, uh, which will translate into private practice, but you do learn a lot more about having systems in place, being timely, even like HR stuff. There's a lot more leadership roles and just non-dental stuff that they have you doing. So it's it was awesome until it wasn't. And I very much struggled towards the end. And I'm not sure if you know this, Colin, but my husband, he, and I'm sure we will talk about this, he's also a dentist, but he was a Navy dentist. So I was in the Air Force and my husband was in the Navy. And we didn't coordinate that, we just met and happened to already both be in branches. So for the first two years, we were in different states. First, I was in Florida and he was in North Carolina, then I was in Virginia and he was in North Carolina. Then they finally co-located us to where we are now in the panhandle, which we were so thrilled about. We love it here. We're Floridians, it's a military hub with the most beautiful beaches and jets flying over you. So, I mean, for us, it was like a perfect hit. But I was commuting one to two hours each way because our bases were still two plus hours apart, and traffic here is crazy. So when we first got here, was like we couldn't even care less. We were just happy to live together as a married couple. Um, but once I had my son, that took a serious toll on me because I was ripping him out of his crib at 5 a.m. nursing him. And that I didn't see him again until 6 p.m. So I missed out definitely on a lot of his life. And the weekends, we were all just like he was sick from being at daycare all day. We were all just like so exhausted that we didn't want to like go out and do stuff and you know have fun family things because we were just tired. So towards the end, it was tough. Um, but the paid maternity leave was nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

So how long did you get?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

So it was three months and they upped it to four and a half, like right as I entered maternity leave, and they honored that. So I had four and a half months of paid maternity leave, which was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, that's amazing. I feel like in California, I think it's like eight to ten weeks or something crazy. It's it's not fair what us moms have to go through and expect you to go back to work.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, and I mean that is that's a pro of the military. When I had my second in the civilian, I took five weeks. So but I went back part-time.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

So just with that, I mean, it sounds like you had a lot of pros, but maybe kind of cons. Would you recommend like people coming?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

You would, okay. I think the the hurdle was being dual military because having that commute was really what made it harder. I think um the militaries, I almost I want to say they're becoming like more and more supportive of families. I would maybe not have like all your kids in the military unless you're able to monopolize on the maternity leave, I guess. But what I realized early on was I could work half as much and have the same income in the civilian sector. You're underpaid in the military and you're working Monday through Friday. Plus, if I want to go somewhere even on a weekend, I have to use leave days on a weekend to if you're going more than an eight-hour vicinity. So otherwise they can call you, and if you're not able to report to the baby hours, you're in trouble. And that was for four years. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Okay. That's yeah, and your husband was not in the same state as you. For two of them, yeah. Yeah. Um that made it challenging, as you can imagine. I'm like, you were more than eight hours apart. So if you wanted to see.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Well, for one of the years, we were like five hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

How long have you been out now? Two years. Two years. Okay. So when you got out, did you know you well, you talked about your dad being um a private physician and having his own practice? So did you always kind of know that's what you wanted to do as well? Have your own practice versus being in an associateship. Can you walk me through that a little bit? Like, what was your decision for doing that? And how did you end up coming to knowing you wanted to do a startup?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

The startup was always the dream. I toyed with the idea of being an associate when I had my second because it is nice not having to worry, you know, about all the business ownership components. But ultimately, I have always dreamt of building something together with my family that is our own and creating every single detail so that it is 100% something I believe in. And acquiring a practice, I'm too particular. I would be redoing everything, the staff would probably hate me, and it wouldn't work out. So I'm I'm a creator, and so it was it was always the goal. What when my husband when I found my husband and he happened to also be a dentist, just made that dream easier and seemed more like within reach because I had a teammate in this and we we were gonna do this together. So that just kind of furthered the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Can you tell me a little bit about his background being a couple dentist and just kind of like where he came from? Is he a first-generation dentist?

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah, he is through and through first generation dentist. First generation anything of higher education. His parents were nurses, so they were in medical. But his grandparents his parents came from nothing.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Um, he's very much first generation, yeah. Comes from a very like middle class household and go get her.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Did he always know as well then that he wanted to do a startup? Or maybe just being with you, that was just kind of became the dream.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

He never would have done it if he hadn't met me. Yeah. So here's the thing. I'm the risk taker and he's a conservative one. So he has a great job right now and never would have left. Honestly, originally he was talking about just staying in the military. Oh, okay. Yeah, but he eventually saw the other side. So you were able to um convince him. Yes, hopefully he doesn't regret it later.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

It's too late now, Dixie. It's too late now. So I feel like that's just like a big question, even I mean, we're obviously like a startup group, but I always see docs asking about that between acquiring a practice or starting their own. And you really touched on the point that I think a lot of the startup docs gravitate towards opening their own practice is having that control of everything and building it the way you want, and you don't inherit like grumpy team members or like grumpy patients. Um, but you came out and you are you still an associate right now? Because you did become an associate for a while, correct?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, yes, I am an associate right now. Um, and actually both my husband and I, when we were seeking associateships after transitioning out of the military, were very honest with our plan. And they knew from the beginning that this was the plan. We did dabble with them a little bit about what acquiring their practices would look like. They happened to actually also be a husband and wife team, two separate practices. Shane works for the husband, I work for the wife. Oh, but ultimately, we just it wasn't the dream. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Um you said you were up front with the docs, the owner docs right now. Can you just tell me a little bit about that? Has that gone well?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, it has. I mean, as well as it can, right? It's such a hard situation. And I mean, we work for amazing people. Like, and I think that's what it comes down to, is we all want what's best for one another. And I think they see a younger version of themselves within us and want to support us. So it is it is sweet in that way, but it's still hard. Like, I we just had the discussion at my practice with my team. Okay, am I going to stop seeing new patients? You know, obviously, my schedule is going to start dwindling. Um, what does the timeline look like? There's always that uncertainty with the staff. Will you still have your job when I leave? Which sounds like she's hoping to replace me. And I'm super supportive of that. And if she does find a replacement, you know, I may leave sooner rather than later. But I did have an opportunity, kind of just fall in my lap working per DM with the VA as a contractor doing dental exams. So I have kind of like a plan plan B buffer type of thing for the meantime. And Shane's boss is like doesn't want him to leave. So I think I think he's he's got some pretty good job security.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Hopefully they're not gonna listen to this and be like, you're fired, but no, they're they're not you could are you guys planning on leaving at the same time when the new practice opens? Or how okay?

SPEAKER_01 18:33

So I am spearheading this, and Shane right now is off most Fridays, so that will be his first day to pick up at our practice is Fridays, and then we're hoping for like a slow transition out for him once I'm like fully supported at our office. So within the next year, I would hope it can support both of us. And I'm I'm planning to stay part-time if possible, like three days a week or so.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah, cool. So you're the risk taker, you're the one spearheading all of this. So can you tell me from the very beginning about your practice? Dixie, I don't even know the name of your practice. It's like I feel like when we talked last time, you were about to start things, but like I don't think you had even started building yet. No. Okay, so tell me. Yeah, I and I remember you telling me like the timeline of it, and I was like, oh wow, that's like a quick timeline. Like I was excited for you because I mean, if you listen to like Tony's, it was a year long, but yeah, just walk me through that. Tell me your vision for your practice, and then maybe we'll start with like your location search.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Sure. So uh the name is Pearl and Pine Dental Studio. I love it. Yeah. And so the journey started years ago. Um, even when I was still active duty, I was like searching for stuff. My dream was to go straight from active duty into the startup. So we'd been on the real estate search for years. Oh, okay. Um, which honestly is probably a blessing. It didn't happen that way because military to civilian transition is a lot on its own. And we didn't have any family support until recently. So that's also been a big deal. Um, as far as like local family here. But yeah, we have been searching for years and nothing was coming up. We were looking at buying a piece of land and doing ground-up construction. That's pretty much what most of it is around here is empty land. Okay. Um, and it just seemed risky. There's a lot of wetlands here, and before you can even purchase the property, you know, you have to pay so much for like serving and impact fees and all that stuff. So we had a couple buildings fall through, which I don't know. Do you want me to go into that or do you yeah?

SPEAKER_02 21:19

You don't have to go like super detailed, but I love to know just kind of like because this is like real life stuff that happens to people.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So basically, my commute covered like a 10-mile stretch where there's not a single dentist. So I watched that place grow and grow, and there were no dentists there, but it was all empty land. So watching that, the years of my commute, I was like, this is where we want to be. And one building ended up coming for sale, and it was um a plastic surgeon's office who was right where I wanted to be. And I actually was like, Oh, there's a plastic surgeon there, maybe we'll have a referral base for like cosmetic dentistry, this and that. I didn't know him personally. And all of a sudden, the building was for foreclosure. Turns out he, and I don't know like the extent of the story right now, but currently he's being charged for manslaughter of a patient. Oh my gosh. Yep. So I won't get too much into that story, but it was kind of a crazy like local story. Um, and it's obviously extremely unfortunate, and there was some other stuff going on there. But I thought it was gonna be a great business move because who would want to buy a crime scene building? And it's like a foreclosure, so we can act fast and this and that. Well, the bank wanted to recoup like all of his loan and was asking an outrageous amount for it. So basically, we lost the building, and it's probably a good thing because it might be haunted. I don't know. But then we ended up touring the one that we ended up purchasing, and it had sat for six months. I hated it at first, it grew on me as the price dropped. So that's how we we ended up there. But we closed on it in like end of December, basically New Year's Eve, took a few weeks for permitting, and we're a month in, and trenching's done, plumbing's done, framing's done, they're doing electrical, like they work seven days a week. Shout out to Sky Echo Construction because they do not take a break, they've been amazing.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

So, how big is this space? 3,500 square feet. Okay, how many ops are you planning on building? Nine. And then what are you thinking about starting out with?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

We're so we're outfitting three.

unknown 23:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Plus nine. Now I will say two of those ops are on one like separate side of the building, and we're actually making it one big room right now, and it's gonna be like a flex space for our kids. Oh, yeah, and we've even thought of like renting it out to someone who would complement our business. So right now it's going to be structured for more like seven ops, but we have the floor plan laid out with plumbing and the event that we want to add two more ops and make it nine in the future.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Perfect. I love that. So three ops for you to start out with, and then yeah, I feel like nine is great for two docs, couple hygienists, um, as you guys continue to grow. I love that you're making a space for your kiddos. Are you gonna have someone that's like there like as a nanny for them when you're practicing, or what's your plan?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I don't have a solid plan yet, but it's all been around. I've even um talked about having like say my kids on school at noon and I'm there till three, having like a nanny there during that time and offering childcare for other moms. Um so we've talked about that. We've also talked about making it like an IV lounge and like all sorts of things. So we'll see how it develops.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Big dreams. I mean, you have to, right? And just see how it works out. Pivot if you have to.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Hey friends, I just want to give some love to Net32 for supporting this episode. If you're a practice owner like me, you know the back end of running a dental office isn't always sexy, but it is necessary. Net32 is an online marketplace where you can compare brands, vendors, and prices all in one place. That means you're not overpaying or wasting time. And when you're building a startup or definitely multiple practices, every dollar and every minute matters. I've used Net32 and it's honestly made a huge difference. Check them out at net32.com slash the making of. And now let's get back to the show.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Okay, I want to talk to you a little bit. You said that you pulled up some of your numbers and things. So do you mind talking about like the loan process too for you? If you're comfortable talking about what you're paying for this and like all the the fun numbers of where a lot of docs don't even know where to start with loans.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

One of the worst cards. Yeah, one of the worst cards for sure. And it's very scary. We're very poor right now. Um, okay, so we purchased our building and also have the business loan. So there's the loan for the building, the loan for the business, which includes like the build-out costs, equipment costs, all that stuff. So there's two ways to do this, assuming you're taking out loans for both. You either do them as one big fat combined SBA loan, or you do them as two separate conventional loans. The SBA loan is a much higher percentage, it's a variable interest rate, and it's basically like a five-year low payment followed by a balloon loan, and then you pay off like whatever's left. The nice thing is, other than a 2% funding fee, you don't have to put cash down. We didn't go that route, we went the conventional route, but that did require 15% down on the building. So we purchased the building for$700,000 and put$105,000 down. Um there was only one bank willing to supply both the building loan and the business loan, and that was Huntington. The other options were to use Live Oak for the real estate portion and then like Bank of America or Provide for portion. So we liked Huntington for that reason, but they also gave us better interest rates than everyone else, but um longer interest-only payments. So we're at 18 months of interest-only payments for the real estate versus it was six months with provide. Um, and it's paid over 15 years instead of like 10 or 12. So obviously, long term, we're if we keep the loan, paying more. But the other nice thing about Huntington was there's no prepaid payment penalties after three years versus like five years with provide, for example. And our interest rates were I have down here 4.79% for the real estate and 5.19% for the business loan. We had a 0.5% drop in our interest rates because we agreed to using Huntington for merchant services, so like a credit card.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Oh, okay, got you. And you kind of interviewed all of these banks trying to figure out which way you wanted to go. I feel like, is that like a longer process because you're trying to do the building and the practice loan?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I think it is, but we we kind of, you know, we started the search years ago. So we had just pre-approvals and then in trying to get the building, we're like, yeah, we'll close in two months, and then we had to start funding all over. So we were really worried about if we were going to hash this out in time because I was obviously, as you need to, going back and forth with all of the banks, but it worked out. We like just barely made it to the finish line though.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Congrats. I do, I just feel like your story is like you did things real fast. So you got your loans, you got your location. What was next? You designed it yourself, you had someone come help you with the floor plan. Did you already kind of know what you were looking for?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

We are using ideal practices. Okay. And their floor plan designer John probably drew me up 10 designs. Like this guy was in Europe emailing me back and forth. I'm like, I mean, it's okay, you can enjoy your vacation, but we also have a week until we close on the building. So I need to make sure this can work. So yeah, he was amazing. And even like after the fact, we ran into a hiccup because we purchased the building, and this place is a bomb shelter. It's cinder block brick walls and a concrete ceiling. So yeah, it's crazy. So, in that we realized the floor plan was based off of the wrong wall thickness because with these cinder block walls, they're like way thicker. So we lost like a foot, they're basically like a foot deep, the walls around the entire perimeter and load-bearing walls within the building. So we had to change the floor plan a little bit once we started demoing, which was kind of scary because I had already ordered all of my cabinets and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

So did you have a local person do that for you or did you buy them from somewhere? We get that question a lot.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

We are doing the DCI bundle, it's the DCI bundle. So you do chairs, you have to outfit like three ops, and you can also do sterilization for like some extra freebies.

unknown 31:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

But it basically came out to the same, if not slightly cheaper, going that route once you consider the bundle. So you get some like chair upgrades, you get upholstery upgrade, massage components in the chair, free hand pieces or free like handpiece motors. Um, but yeah, so we I want to say it was I might be totally wrong on this. Maybe like 5,500 for 12 o'clock cabinetry. Okay. And then we're spending 20 grand in sterilization. But what we actually did was just hit the minimum, which is 20 grand to qualify for the startup program. And my contractor is putting cabinets adjacent to those other ones in sterilization. So because our sterilization is like a decent size, and to do the whole thing would have been crazy.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

What size are your ops?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

They are eight feet ten inches by depending on the op, 11 feet six inches or 12 feet.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

That's a good size. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. So okay, so you kind of talked about one of the hurdles being the cinder blocks and a concrete ceiling. That sounds cool though. I'm going there for hurdles. Oh, that's so true. I didn't even think of that. We don't have anything like that in California. We get earthquakes though. What um tell me, like just I don't know, about permitting. Was that a huge hurdle going down to City Hall, talking with the city, any of that stuff?

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Super easy. My contractor handled everything with like a two to three week turnaround.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

And we actually didn't even need a permit for demoing, I guess, in our area. The exterior structure wasn't changing. So they were able to get started pretty much immediately with that.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

Anything you would have maybe done differently with like choosing your space or anything, or you're just happy with where you're at?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

I'm happy with where we're at. I think you have to be realistic with timeline and budget. And it's unless you have an unlimited timeline and budget, you're going to sacrifice maybe some aesthetics here and there. Um, you know, our building does look a little bit more like a warehouse than I would have liked, but we do have some plans to kind of spruce it up outside. So yeah, I'm just we're so ready that I I feel good about it. And it's in a really easy-to-access area. So although it's not right where we wanted it to be, um, it it is closer to some other dentists, which we didn't love at first, but no, we're happy with it.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

So did you do a demographics report?

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Yep. I can tell you what it told us. Yes. So the ratio I want to say was one to 4,500.

unknown 34:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

And then it's all like upper middle class. The ink the incomes are trending up annually, 4.5% annual growth, which is like way above average. This area is growing a lot. And average age is 38 with a ton of families. So exactly who we're looking to treat. Um, and there's also there's not a ton of specialists here, which does also help us in a way because we are doing pretty much everything in-house.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

So okay. How far is it from your house? Are you pretty close now?

SPEAKER_01 35:12

I am like 15 to 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Oh, even better. And how far from your current practice that you're working in?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

It is, I want to say like 10 or 12 miles away.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Okay. Was that part of like your agreement with your current dock?

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Yeah, I had an eight-mile radius.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

I will say there aren't many dental offices actually between the office I'm at and the office we're opening, but they're separated by a huge body of water and it's a toll bridge. So it's kind of like a separate region. Yeah. Basically, my commute to work, 90% of it is over a bridge.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

So oh, okay. There's our wetlands.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Yeah, yeah. It's more like a bay, but there's definitely a lot of like wetlands. I mean, our backyard is marsh.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

So which city exactly are you you located in? You said the panhandle, but I don't think we actually got to where are you.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Our closest major city is Pensacola. I live in Elton, and our practice is going to be in Gulf Rees.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Tell me a little bit. I love the name Pearl and Pine. Can you tell me just a little bit about what's like what your vision was and like what your what was your inspiration?

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Very hard to pick out a name. I'm just gonna throw that out there. Um did you have to look like um make sure there was like nothing similar to that? Oh, we did, yeah. And there's nothing. I think we're the first. Okay. So I can hear Ashley already telling me, like, are you gonna trademark that?

SPEAKER_02 36:52

I was just gonna say, make sure you get that trademark in.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Yeah. So we it's this was actually one of the most difficult parts for us because I'm a woman working with a man and we have totally different vibes. And it was like, how do we mesh this? I wanted it to be very like relaxing, spa-like, like similar aesthetics to Bloom. Okay. And it's funny, like, she was talking, Tony was talking about her logo being very like thin lines and stuff, dainty. That's what I wanted. And my husband was like, No man is ever gonna want to come to that, make it more masculine. So that's where Pearl and Pine came about. Pearl is kind of that like feminine representation, and pine is that more like masculine repet representation to just like reflect the husband and wife team that we are. Also, we live in an area that's pretty populated with oyster farms, and pearl is kind of like a way to honor the oyster farms in the area and the the pine tree forests surrounding us. So we're really big into nature, and this is like a very coastal and countryside type of area, and we wanted to like harness energy from all of that and put it into a name.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

So how did you come up with your logo and stuff? Did you have someone do it?

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Not even kidding you. We have a team that helped us with a logo, but here's where my like I have to control everything came in. Nothing was like, nothing was speaking to me. Okay. I spent so many hours on Chat GPT, and I limited my, it would be like, you have to wait 10 minutes. I've generated too many photos. And I would wait 10 minutes and like have it generate another one, and we uh it ended up making our logo. I I was telling it what to do and showing it pictures of stuff off Pinterest that I liked, and here we are.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

You were paying people to help you design it, and you just went on AI and had it do it for you. Have you this is random? Have you used like AI and Chat GPT for a lot of this kind of stuff for you?

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Well, I didn't even know like what ChatGPT was until like two months ago. I think I was on a girls' trip and someone was talking about it. And listen, my husband and I, I'm like so not into like I like technology if it's gonna help me with dentistry, but we don't like sitting on our phones, like we're outdoors people. We like to unplug as much as possible. And my husband doesn't want robots listening to him, so very much was not doing the TikTok thing, not doing okay. I was like off social media, and then we're like, we need to start getting onto this and marketing and learning what chat GPT can use for our business. And I have some other business ownership friends who helped me. So yeah, we use it to clean up pretty much everything our bios, mission statement, you know, all of that stuff. Like we wrote the core context, but then chat GPT made it sound much nicer.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

That's amazing. Ashley's husband, Brian, loves Chat GPT, loves all of the AI things, and he's been using it for years and always trying to get me to like do things with it. And I was like, no, it's okay. And once I started, you can't stop. It literally does everything for you. It's crazy. It makes everything sound so professional. It just makes you sound like you know exactly what you're doing when I have no idea what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

I'll send in a picture of my plant and be like, what does my plant need? And it gives me this detail around that. There used to be a separate app for that. Now it's all just as you can see.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

That is so funny. Tell me about like the colors and like just all that kind of stuff, the flooring, all the fun things that us women love.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Yes, that's the most fun part. And I wish I had more time to like devote to that. Right now, I feel like we are so busy with all of the logistical stuff, and that's the most fun part. Um, but it's definitely like organic looking, very like natural, different wood tones, greens, neutrals, some like champagne gold, I think is the finish that it's called plays on like texture, but very just airy and simple inside. Probably a lot of plants. Speaking of plants.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Um did you have you worked with ideal practices, and did they help you like with an architect, an interior designer, that kind of stuff, or how did that work? Did that play into it?

SPEAKER_01 41:35

So those are additional fees. If you want to do anything with an interior designer, that's out of ideal practices realm. Okay. The architect, you're still paying the architect for the plans, but they hand it to the architect on a silver platter because you do the architect works with our contractor, which I think is probably the route most people should go. Um and it was kind of bundled into our fee with the contract for the contractor.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

I see, I see. Yeah, because I think that's like always another question, too, is like if you get an architect or you just kind of have like Patterson drop your plans for you, but you did a lot of that through ideal practices and your contractor and construction and everything already. But then the interior design part is all you.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Yep. And unless you want to hire someone out, yeah. And I I will say ideal practices save me a lot of money helping me with the floor plan. And that's where I get a little like personally, I wouldn't do it any other way. I would not take a free service through Patterson or Henry Schein because they're obviously trying to sell you equipment and cabinetry and all of that stuff, so there's a conflict of interest there. Um, and just having sinks and optories versus having a hand washing station, just there's so many things that you can do.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Did you have like as many change orders?

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Haven't had any so far, and our contractor is known for not having any.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

Yeah, he's like super just sticks to his word and honorable, at least up to this point. I couldn't recommend him more. Just everything's been like such a pleasant experience with him, and he really like loves what he's doing and bringing the vision to life. So if I ask for something here and there, he just doesn't sweat it. He's like, it's on me, don't worry about it. What was the name of the company again? It's Sky Echo, S K Y E C O, and they're based in New Jersey. Oh, okay. But he kind of like, and that's part of why things are moving so quickly. He moves the crew here, they stay in an Airbnb and like live out of sight. So yeah, he wants.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Things done quick then.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

Well, so do the workers because they're away from their family and that stuff. But in that we've saved a ton of money on materials because they're trailering it from New Jersey, where it's like 10% less than Florida. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Interesting. I've never heard of that before, actually. Where are you right now? You kind of touched on um where you were in the construction process, but where are you? What's next? When do you think when are things supposed to be done?

SPEAKER_01 44:28

We were thinking early June, but it is moving ahead of schedule. So it we did a walkthrough with my contractor and this past Friday, and he was like, We're still waiting on a few things, but it could be as soon as end of April.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

And oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

We just started this early February. So they are like really moving quickly. And let me also say the demo was not easy. We had those center block walls that they had to like reinforce with steel framing. And I went in there while those guys were like knocking those walls down, and it's like no small feat. But right now, the plumbing and electrical is getting in, and then walls are going up. They're closing in the framing. So I need to make sure I know everything I want done.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

Yeah, now your timeline is also moved up a little bit. Are you visiting the job site a lot? All the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Yeah. It's five minutes from my mom's house and she watches my daughter while I'm at work. So pretty much every time I go to see my mom or pick up my daughter, I stop by the side.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

That's that's the best way to do it because things change and like little details can get missed, but it sounds like your construction crew is on top of everything. What has been like just the biggest growth portion for you in this whole journey? Like personally, between being in the Air Force, now you're out, um, you're doing this startup. Like, just uh what have you found uh yourself like being able to do that maybe you didn't think you'd be able to do?

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Make decisions quickly. Okay, okay. I'm normally that person who like if I'm at a restaurant, I'm yelping every single meal so I can make a decision on what I want for dinner, which drives me like crazy. But we've had to so naturally, like with every single purchase and a contract and everything, like I've wanted to just know everything, and sometimes you have to like make some this decisions on the fly and just kind of roll with it and know that it's gonna be okay and and trust in like your team too, yeah. Um, so luckily I've got a solid team who has my back, and I wouldn't be able to do it without everyone else that's been involved up to this point.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

So speaking of contracts, you have a lawyer. Um can you just tell me real quick? I know I feel like I could talk to you over another episode, so we probably will do another one. Tell me a little bit about finding your lawyer.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Um, it was we were given a few options through ideal practices and and I'm blanking on the name, but Rob Montgomery, I think. No, wait, it's like my dentist lawyer or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Okay. Let me pull on the specialize in dental.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

And my husband had heard them speak through like dental nachos or some other podcasts, and okay, we liked them. Um, so we went with them, yeah, Rob Montgomery. And they've been awesome. Our lawyer fees were up to this point only like$2,500, which is really good. Yeah. Um, we were told to expect eight to ten grand. And I think part of the reason it is was less for us is because we had no lease negotiations. We just had the contract, and our contract to buy our building was very standard. It was like a templated commercial sale contract for the state of Florida. So they just helped us with stuff we probably could have done on our own, like creating our LLCs and that kind of stuff. But yeah. Yeah. Well, I created my own LLC for as a contractor for dental, but I was like, I should probably make sure this is done right. You know, this is a little bit bigger for the moment, but it was 2500 bucks, so not bad. Not see if more of that we can incur throughout the process.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Yeah, I think Tony said hers was like five, I think was what she said recently. So cool. What is one thing you're loving right now? Because we're almost at an hour already, Dixie. We've like blown through this. What is one thing this week that you are just loving? It could be related to the office, it could be completely personal, it could be anything.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

I have been loving running outside. We've had like 70 degree sunny weather, and I love going for a run and getting some vitamin D, getting exercise, working on my breathing, being alone. Sometimes I don't even use anything. I just listen to the verge chirp. That's kind of my reset right now that I've been loving.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

Ashley, Brian, and I did a podcast we recorded together last Friday. And yeah, because I'm a big runner. And so we're getting Ashley to become a runner now. Because Brian also, once he's done with his treatment and stuff, he wants to start running again. And I am with you like a hundred and ten percent. When you're a mom and you're like working all the time, running outdoors, and I don't listen to anything either because like you just get that nature and you like spend time with yourself, and it is it's like therapy, right?

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Therapy. It's very rare nowadays that we completely unplug, and it's not like you're gonna be running and scrolling through your phone or hopefully not answering phone calls or anything. So it forces you to just be one with yourself, which is very important.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

Have you always been a runner?

SPEAKER_01 50:13

For decades now, yeah. I was actually a gymnast um up until college. That was like I was a very competitive gymnast like my entire childhood, and then took up CrossFit and running, and that's still what I do to this day.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

So I love that. A little you time. Um, any advice for anyone that maybe in this process, just kind of over the stuff that we talked about, um, anything thinking about it. And then I also want to know if you have any questions for the group that I can pose to everyone and they can help you with.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

That's awesome. Um, my advice would be if you're a mom, there's never a good time. So just pursue your dreams and it's gonna make your kids proud. I can say from experience watching my parents go through it, um, and having that legacy that is part of your entire family. If you're in the military, you're way more prepared than you think you are. So don't let them scare you into staying in. So follow your heart. And my biggest thing that like changed everything when someone told me this, and now I will share with you, is if you're not building your own dream, you're building someone else's. So that is something that made me really realize it's time to pull the trigger. So what questions do you have for the group? I actually just posted one, but we're trying to do audio, like a sound system for the practice. And I was reading, like I know a lot of you guys use the Sonos speakers, but I'm a little bit concerned with like what the aesthetic looks like with those. I like the speakers that are like flesh them out with the ceiling for the look. Um, but I've heard it's more cost effective to go with like the Sonos route and that they're just better quality. So just advice on sound systems, who set them up, how did you decide where the speakers go, or should you just not have any music playing at all?

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Just the sound of the drill. That's what patients love.

SPEAKER_01 52:18

And then if there's any like national sign companies, or how you guys went about getting your signs made for your logo wall and um your exterior sign, those are my two big tasks right now.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

So perfect. We will pose that. And then people listening, I mean, because not everyone's in the group, and if you're not in the group, go join our Facebook group, follow us on social media too. Um, where can people find you, Dr. Dixie? If people want to just reach out to you, where do they do that?

SPEAKER_01 52:48

So my Instagram handle is probably the best. I'm on TikTok, but I'm trying, guys. It's just so much. But I definitely do respond to Instagram and actually know how it works for the most part. So it's Dr. Underline Dixie Lynn Mobley, L-Y-N-N for Lynn. And we also just did our practice Instagram. It's Pearl and Pine Dental Studio. So if you guys want to give us a follow, that would be awesome. But yeah, we're excited to share this journey with everyone.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

So you guys have a website?

SPEAKER_01 53:28

We actually I got in my inbox today our landing page, so I need to look at that. Of course, I have some edits because I'm a control freak.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

So of course. I mean, it's never perfect the first time, anyways. Right. Awesome. Thank you so much for being on, for sharing everything. I feel like I'm gonna need to talk to you again just to get more updates once things start moving so fast for you, which is crazy. I will link all of the contact info for you as well in the show notes and the newsletter that goes out. If you guys want to reach out to us, also I will link everything. Join the Facebook group, follow us on Instagram. Um, yeah, and just thank you for being a listener. Thank you, Dr. Dixie, for reaching out and just wanting to share your story too. Um, I think that's what makes this group so special, is just the community of it. Because there's only so many different ways you can build a startup, but just knowing that you're in it with someone else and you're not doing it alone. Your story is so different. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Yeah, I appreciate you guys, and I'm always posting questions on Facebook. So definitely join that because there's a wealth of information on there.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

So you guys heard it here. Awesome. Well, we will talk to everyone next time and have a great day, Dr. Dixie. Thank you. You too. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 54:45

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