Building a Business with Purpose with the Co-Founder of Cocofloss

Join us for an incredible conversation with Dr. Chrystle Cu, founder of Cocofloss. 

In this episode, we discuss 

• • The organic growth of her practice from one single chair to a busy five chair practice

• How she discovered a pervasive problem and went about creating a solution

• Why “it’s all about the why,” and how living with intention leads to a purposeful life

• Advice to budding entrepreneurs hoping to build a business with a lasting impact.

Dr. Chrystle Cu is a graduate of Wellesley College and University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. She practices general dentistry in San Mateo, California, in the center of Silicon Valley. As a prevention-focused dentist, she created Cocofloss in 2015.

Outside of private practice, she volunteers to provide dental treatment and oral health education to underserved communities without access to care. She’s passionate about finding creative ways to inspire folks to start flossing – and to love it! For Chrystle, success as a doctor means she’s helped patients achieve a healthy mouth and broader understanding of how oral health relates to the body overall.

Instagram, Twitter: @getcocofloss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovecocofloss

Website: www.cocofloss.com

Young Dental Group: @youngdentalgroup   www.youngdentalgroup.com

Empowering Through Education and Entrepreneurship

In this episode we discuss how Sonia went from building her practice to building her educational empire, and how she continues to carve time out for her family and personal development. Sonia gets deep about her experience with coaching, and how integral coaches have been in her personal and professional life. We discuss how she built her incredible team and how she strives to use her business to help her teammates realize their dreams.

Sonia teaches and embodies the following lesson; understanding where your peers and patients are in their journeys is the key to building strong relationships and a stronger practice, and it’s all rooted in self-empowerment. Her entire career has been characterized by pushing herself and empowering others to grow—as entrepreneurs, leaders, and patient advocates—all in the service of creating a more educated, balanced field. You don’t become the first female endodontist in Charlotte, NC (and board-certified, to boot) without a serious growth mindset and a strong dose of hustle. 

Because Sonia refuses to mind the dentistry status quo. When no one would hire her out of residency, she started her own practice. When she felt she was losing time with her family due to how many hours she was spending in the office, she became more intentional with her schedule. And when she realized she could save more teeth and improve people’s lives by providing dentists and endos with the proper education, she took it upon herself to lead the charge.

Now, on top of running her thriving practice, Sonia provides groundbreaking digital education and community support to general dentists and endodontists who want to uplevel their technical skills, patient experience, and overall business models. Through her thoughtfully designed online course, E-School, she is revolutionizing the reputation of endodontics through the simple, tangible lessons rooted in her own diverse experience. By empowering dentists to perform better root canals, empowering endodontists to run better practices, and empowering patients to make better health decisions, Sonia is paving a new way forward for the next generation of healthy, confident, empowered people—both in and out of the chair. 

Subscribe to Sonia’s blog for endo case studies, tips, and tricks.

Learn about E-School, her online CE course for general dentists.

Follow Sonia on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

https://soniachopradds.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/soniachopradds/ 

Thoughts on Business & Success in Dentistry

We are honored to share our episode with Dr. Sampada Deshpande, who recently won the ADA 10 Under 10 Award: an award honoring dentistry’s rising stars who are making an impact on the profession less than 10 years after graduating from dental school. We discuss her path in founding the New Dentist Business Club; the power of blogging and sharing your true self in building a patient following; how she is learning to accept recognition and success; and the power of pivoting and redefining goals. One thing we love about Sampada is her passion for learning and personal growth, and how there is a lesson in everything we do and everyone we meet in life. Listen closely for some 🔥 book recommendations. 

Dr. Sampada Deshpande is a general dentist based in Seattle. A foreign trained dentist from India, Sampada earned her DDS from the University of Washington in 2018. She is the founder and president of the New Dentist Business Club, and truly enjoys providing interactive business education to new dentists and dental students. She has been recognized as a 2020 Top 10 Dentists to Watch by the Academy of General Dentistry and a winner of the 2021 ADA 10 Under 10 Award, and is also currently a full-time trainee at the Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program at the University of Washington. Dr. Deshpande is a guest blogger for the ADA New Dentist Now and sits on the Seattle King County Dental Foundation’s Board. Outside of clinical dentistry, she enjoys biking with her husband and reading books on Finance & Management. You can reach her directly at @dr.deshpande or get more info on NDBC @newdentistbusinessclub on Instagram.

*Recorded in 2020

https://www.instagram.com/dr.deshpande/

https://www.instagram.com/newdentistbusinessclub/

https://www.sampadadeshpandedds.com/

Creating a 2021 Vision

Creating a 2021 Vision.  A new year! A new season!

How do you create a vision and set goals for yourself? In this episode, Dr. Shivani and Dr. Priyanka discuss their methods for creating an annual vision, setting quarterly goals, and cultivating daily habits. We challenge you to set a 2021 intention, not a New Years resolution. Consider digging deep and asking yourself who you want to be and why you want to be that person, and use the power of goal setting as a roadmap to get there. We talk about the importance of journaling, creating a vision board, reflecting on progress, and celebrating wins. We even share our one word intention for 2021, what is yours?

Bonus Episode: Yoga Nidra

BONUS EPISODE! Dr. Diana Liu (@the.zentist) is gifting us a beautiful yoga nidra practice! If you didn’t catch our last episode on the power of contentment, head back to episode 9 to listen. We discuss the difference between happiness and contentment, and why is it key to develop strong roots of contentment for a truly fulfilling life.

What are the practices we can bring into our lives to cultivate stronger roots of contentment? For Dr. Diana, yoga nidra has been an essential practice. If you’re curious to experience the magic, set aside 20 minutes for Dr. Diana to take you through this sleep guided meditation. We recommend this practice upon waking or right before bed, in a comfortable, undisturbed space.

We also discuss an upcoming retreat hosted by @dr.shivasana and @the.zentist; A Journey Into Your Wild. As high achievers and over-workers, we all deserve a pause and the opportunity to nourish and replenish ourselves. Allow the energy of breath, awareness, movement, connection, play, and deep rest reignite your body’s intelligence of healing and rejuvenation. Learn how to use your yoga and mindfulness practices as a training ground for life. Connect with other open hearted and minded women in medicine and dentistry as we explore how to live with more intention, heart, aliveness, passion, purpose, and one that is true to us. More info here: https://bit.ly/2HmKYEr.

The Power of Contentment

Episode 9: Dr. Diana Liu joins us for a discussion on the power of contentment. What is the difference between happiness and contentment, and why is it key to develop strong roots of contentment for a truly fulfilling life?

Dr. Liu is a general dentist focused in Dental Sleep Medicine and a certified Yoga and Yoga Nidra teacher in Sechelt, British Columbia. She loves to help women access their rest, stillness, creativity, and intuition through the practice of Yoga and Yoga Nidra. She has been through burnout, illness, divorce, breakdowns, and breakthroughs. Yoga and Yoga Nidra didn’t prevent tough times from happening, but it gave her the resilience, perspective shifts, forgiveness, and self-compassion through those times.

https://linktr.ee/zentist.ca

The Reality of Imposter Phenomenon

Recovering Dentist turned Career Coach

Social Media and Dentistry

This is the one of many exciting co-hosted episodes with Dr. Priyanka Patel and Dr. Shivani Kamodia.  We talk about how we connected through social media and how social media impacts both of our lives.  Social Media can be very powerful in many different ways: forming a community, sharing and sculpting your identity, etc.  

Lessons Learned: A journey of entrepreneurship

This episode highlights myself, Dr. Priyanka Patel, and my journey to entrepreneurship.  I speak about my path over the last 9 years and what I have learned along the way about myself.