March 11, 2025 • 28 mins
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!!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Have you ever had a side hustle, A side gig you
picked up for fun or maybe toearn a little extra cash?
Maybe you had a lemonade standas a kid or, like me, were fully
immersed in the world oftheater and dance, where each
experience ignited my passionfor the spotlight.
As we transition from thoseearly experiences into the
(00:24):
professional world, some sidegigs evolve into real passions
and sometimes even lastingcareers.
I've always been so curiousabout these stories, especially
the less conventional journeysthat redefine what a career can
look like.
They remind us that successisn't always a straight path and
that the heart behind ourhustle can lead us to unexpected
(00:46):
and fulfilling destinations.
I genuinely love exploring howother people's passions have
shaped their careers.
If you're into that too, joinme, Layla Palmer, as I chat with
a captivating lineup of guestsfrom various industries to
uncover how they went from heartto hustle.
Some families build legacies inreal estate or fashion, but this
(01:10):
one is building an empire indentistry.
Today's guests, Dr BobbyJohnson and Dr Stevie Roberts,
didn't just choose these careers.
They were born into them.
Coming from families ofdentists, they've spent their
entire lives immersed in theworld of patient care, running
successful practices andcontinuing a multi-generational
(01:33):
tradition of excellence in thefield.
Now, as both life partners andbusiness partners, Stevie and
Bobby are expanding their familylegacy beyond the dental chair
with Duo Toothpaste, aninnovative, environmentally
conscious tablet toothpastedesigned to revolutionize oral
care.
In this episode, we'll explorehow they transformed their
(01:55):
expertise into a brand, what ittakes to build a business
alongside your partner, and howthey're balancing
entrepreneurship and clinicalwork to shape the future of
their family's dental legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
My name is Bobby Johnson and I am a oral surgeon,
trained as a dentist.
First I'm at Stevian DentalSchool.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I'm Stevie Roberts.
I am a general dentist.
I have a practice in Kirkland,Washington.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And we're married.
That's the key part.
So we met at Tufts DentalSchool and got married.
A couple years after I was in aresidency for oral surgery.
That was a six-year programhere in Seattle, so doing that
for a while and Stevie's beenrunning her own practice
Dentiste for just as long.
And during the residencytraining I had some time in
(02:47):
medical school as part of mytraining and we started Duo
Toothpaste, which is a tablettoothpaste company we still run
today.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Well, before we talk about Duo, why don't we talk
about both of your decisions togo into dentistry?
Give a little bit of somebackstory about how you chose
the career path.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Sure, we both grew up around dentistry, so I am the
daughter of two dentists andthey practiced out of our house
actually.
So that's how I was exposed todentistry early on.
They're both general dentists,they own their practice and I
saw how, lifestyle wise, it wasjust a great decision for them
and I have followed in thosefootsteps.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When Stevie and I first started hanging out and I
first visited her house, it wassuch a crazy thing because I
also grew up around dentistrytoo, but a very different model
and her telling me yeah, myparents don't set their alarm
clock, they just wake up to thestaff arriving in the morning
and opening up the office, whichis just a crazy thing to me,
but that's really how it works.
(03:53):
People start arriving and thefirst two floors of their house
is the dental office and theirparents just make their way
downstairs and off they starttheir day, which is a pretty
cool model of when you talkabout work-life balance, when
it's all one like that, for sure.
But my experience is a littledifferent but very similar.
I'm a third generation dentistmy grandpa, dad and uncle all
(04:16):
dentists and so pretty much grewup around it as soon as I could
drive and get my way down tothe office and kind of work in
the front desk as a summer joband then got more involved with
it.
And, yeah, dentistry is just avery beautiful thing where you
can provide for patients andalso run your own business and
control your own life, and alsojust a cool skill set to try to
(04:37):
become master of over yourcareer.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, you'd mentioned work-life balance and I think
it's a very interestingconversation to have, at least
with the two of you, because,stevie, you have the experience
of basically growing up aroundwhat is now your profession,
having your parents both bedentists and live in their
practice and have it also betheir home.
So I'm curious if you, growingup, observed the challenge of
(05:04):
the work-life balance, becauseyou don't leave the office.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I mean I definitely took a lot of notes from my
parents.
I really appreciated howbecause, like the office was in
our home, we really became veryclose with the whole team that
worked there.
So that really became anextension of our family and
really is still to this day likepart of my family.
(05:29):
Um, so that's something Icertainly wanted to emulate when
I started my business.
I thought it was reallyimportant to like invest in my
staff, find a great team, um,make sure we all kind of got
along and then also get alongoutside of work, which helps a
lot.
(05:51):
I do not live in my practice.
I like the physical barrier.
Like I my commute is like 15minutes.
I think it's the perfect amountof time to kind of get ready
for my day and wind down from myday.
I guess one difference also myparents were both general
dentists and own their practicetogether, so like that
definitely could lead to a lotof dinner table conversations in
front of my sister and I thatwe had no idea what was really
going on.
We don't do that as much.
(06:13):
Like I'm a general dentist, hespecializes so what we kind of
talk about instead of the dinnertable isn't so much like the
nitty gritty day to day stuff wedo which we can talk about, and
I think that helps a lot indentistry specifically.
It's a weird profession, so tobe able to come home and talk to
your partner about like theweird things that happen during
the day, I think is superimportant and honestly like very
(06:33):
important to the work-lifebalance.
I think.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, but it is.
It is nice, like we haveseparate experiences during our
clinical work day and so wedon't share that.
But we can come home and sharethose if you know exactly what
we're talking about or, withjust a few words exchanged, kind
of understand what the otherperson's going through and also
be able to just talk to eachother and brainstorm through
(06:57):
some of it or just troubleshootor just say, yeah, that sucks in
there too.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It's nice, like talking the same language, I
guess, but we try to focus notso 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 dosomething else?
That's not the clinical aspectthat we both love, like I
wouldn't take that away.
(07:22):
That kind of keeps me going.
I love interacting withpatients, but we're like what
else can we do that we canactually work on together?
That still involves the dentaldegree that we got together, but
isn't kind of what we'refocusing on our day-to-day when
we're treating patients.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Stevie and Bobby may share a profession, but
launching Duo Toothpastetogether brought an entirely new
layer to their partnership.
I asked them what it was liketo navigate this hands-on trial
and error process as a coupleand how they balanced
professional expertise withpersonal preferences while
bringing Duo to life.
It's probably a rewardingfeeling to get to come home at
(08:02):
the end of your day, talk toyour partner and have them
really actually understand whatyou're talking about.
You know, I think that's a bigadvantage, especially now being
in business together on aproduct that is backed by
dentistry.
You know, when it came tolaunching Duo, what was that
experience like, workingtogether?
Talk about what that experiencewas like what was that
(08:25):
experience like, workingtogether?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Talk about what that experience was like.
Yeah, you know it's funny.
A lot of what started with Duowas just doing a lot of research
first, so that was just kind ofcomputer work and a few months
of just really trying to reverseengineer.
You know what the besttoothpaste is, what's in current
toothpaste, all that kind ofstuff.
So for a lot of that it waspretty objective.
Honestly, a lot of thatinformation was pretty clear
(08:47):
though, like what the bestingredients are, what
ingredients aren't necessary oreven harmful, um, so that part
was a little easier to align onand it was interesting because
some of the information that wewere finding was not necessarily
what we learned in dentalschool.
So we could kind of, I guess,check with each other like wait
did we?
Is this really how we learnedit or what was that point in
(09:10):
that lecture five years ago?
But then, after the research,came the part of actually
figuring out how to make thetablets themselves, which
involved a lot of time, justreally in our garage with a pill
press just putting themtogether.
And then and then it was moreof a subjective experience of
you know, how does this feel inyour mouth.
How's the foaming, what's theflavor like?
And that was probably the mostcontentious part of the whole
(09:33):
experience, because you knowthings I might like, she didn't
like.
We agreed on all thescience-based stuff, but then
there's a lot of just subjectivestuff when you're building a
product.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, there wasn't much back and forth in terms of
disagreeing on what we wanted toput in the product and keep out
of the product, like that wasclear.
But then taste is a reallytricky thing, like I have my own
taste, he has his own taste,and then we're trying to make
something that's going to appealto the masses.
So that was definitely like themost tense we got, if you will,
just having like 12 differentwith, I mean, and we're I'm
(10:10):
legitimately talking about likethe types of mint.
We have three different mintsin the base one spearmint,
wintergreen and peppermintobviously, um, so like just the
distribution of these threemints.
I can't tell you how manydifferent tablets we tried and
strongly disagreed on which weliked more, but eventually we
got our base tablet that we'revery, very proud of and tastes
(10:32):
delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yes, it does.
Duo Toothpaste is amultifaceted product with added
vitamins, supplements andeco-friendly packaging, all
while introducing consumers totablet toothpaste.
Let's hear how this dental duois communicating its benefits
and making the switch easier forcustomers.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Duo is communicating its benefits and making the
switch easier for customers.
Honestly, that's probably beenone of the biggest challenges
with Duo that we're stillworking through as a company.
I mean, there's more peopleinvolved than just us, but we're
fortunate that we have allthese value adds.
It's tablet toothpaste, whichmeans it comes in a glass bottle
, so it's plastic free.
(11:13):
We added vitamins andsupplements like vitamin D to
some of them.
We have different flavors.
It's made by Dennis, it's got adifferent mechanism of foaming.
So so many things that you wantto just launch out to all the
consumer, but you pretty muchbury it if you pick more than
one or two things, becausepeople just aren't prepared and
they're aimless scrolling onInstagram or wherever they first
(11:36):
encounter Duo, to decipher allthat information.
So it's something we're stilltesting with.
You know marketing stuff to see.
You know, is it the flavor thatmost resonates with people Like
you know we're just talkingabout with different mints, or
you know some other differentflavors, or is it?
Do people like theeco-conscious part of it?
And, to be completely honest,you know, we still don't know
(11:59):
and it depends what demographicwe're talking to, and we've
heard this from many otherfounders too, as we go through
this journey is you have allthese things, that you're
excited about your product, butif you've got to sideline a
bunch of them as far as themarketing and just you know see
what resonates with the peoplemore than anything.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, I think early on we knew that there were like
a lot of paradigm shifts that wewere asking people to
understand.
So there was like a hugeeducational barriers kind of
three main camps.
Honestly, bobby's kind of beendescribing me before Like we are
plastic free, it is good forthe environment.
That's a broader category,right.
(12:39):
Like people are doing it withlaundry detergents and
dishwashing detergents, likeplastic free, everything.
Then we're asking you to chewyour toothpaste, which is crazy.
There is a tablet, you knowtoothpaste following for sure,
and it's growing a lot, butearly on really, most people
hadn't heard of doing that andhow to brush your teeth.
(13:00):
And then we're adding stuff toit and we're telling you you
don't have to swallow it.
We're adding these vitamins andsupplements that are just going
to absorb while you brush yourteeth.
So like we're still figuringout what exactly to focus on and
the focus shifts depending onwho we're talking to.
But I think what was reallyhard at first is we wanted to
focus on all of them and whatwe've learned is that we really
(13:21):
have to almost focus on one at atime, kind of depending on the
audience.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, and to your point, layla, where there are
some products that are fun toshow on Instagram or whatever it
might be, whether it's a new,coolest golf club or a pair of
skis or something but brushingyour teeth isn't necessarily the
sexiest thing in the world,that's, you know.
Another barrier that fits inwith some of the challenges that
you know are fun to workthrough.
I mean, it's they're coolproblems and they're problems
for a reason.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I'm sure it makes for a very interesting conversation
.
You know, when you're talkingabout marketing, what's going to
reel somebody in the first fiveseconds so they don't scroll?
Or what platform are wemarketing on?
What demographic is thatplatform most likely going to
reach?
And I think Stevie brought up agreat point.
(14:07):
You really do have to focus onone at a time.
What is the number one valueproposition that for, like a
general customer, you knownothing about them.
You don't know anything aboutwhat their interests are, what
they like, if they're morefocused on a low price or
convenience or whatever, what isthe general value proposition
that you give somebody Like youshould pick this toothpaste
(14:27):
because X.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's a plastic-free tablet toothpaste with an
effective fluoride alternative.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, so I think, sustainability and then we, as
dentists, kind of focus on thefluoride-free alternative that
we use.
That's been proven to be aseffective as fluoride no shade
on fluoride but there happens tobe something that works just as
well, and so we use thatinstead, because there's a lot
of people who don't wantfluoride in their toothpaste and
so we use that instead, becausethere's a lot of people who
(14:53):
don't want Florida in theirtoothpaste.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Bobby and Stevie knew that successfully launching Duo
meant surrounding themselveswith the right people.
Their team includes marriedcouples, college friends and
family members, each bringingunique skills to the table.
It takes a village to build abrand.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Let's hear how they built theirs.
I'm from Seattle originally andStevie's from Philly, and one
of her best friends from collegeat Penn was Sam.
She grew up in New York andhappened to marry a guy, nick,
that was also from Seattle.
I didn't know him before thisbut we were already, because of
those connections, friends.
So the whole idea for Duo kindof came as a group and then,
(15:37):
after Stevie and I actuallystarting on the product
development stuff, it was reallyNick and Sam that took over the
branding and the operations andthe company and Nick very
quickly started working on Duofull-time.
I mean, we both have clinicalpractices and at the time I was
still in residency, but youreally do need someone pretty
(15:58):
quickly full-time and yeah.
So once we had a viable productthey really went to work on the
business side of it.
And then since then we've hadanother co-founder, mike, join
the team.
That's been an invaluable assetas well.
So we have a reallywell-rounded team.
I mean Stevie and I bring thedental side to it, and then Nick
(16:19):
and Sam had lots of experiencein law and creative and running
product and then now Mike alsohas some law background, but
mostly finance.
So just having a really dynamicteam behind you and we're all
friends, which makes it reallyfun.
So Mike and Nick are full timeright now and we're closely with
(16:40):
them building the brand still.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Weekly meetings.
And then I think it helps thatwe all kind of have our own role
, like Bobby is the product,like I'll help with nuances of
the product, but like he ownsthe product in full.
Um, I'm like the dental side.
I'm the one who's likeinteracting with patients who
brush their teeth.
I'm trying to, you know, getthem to brush.
(17:02):
More was really what I wantedfrom this.
Like, how do I make this abetter experience for you?
You got to do it like every dayfor two minutes a day, so let's
make it better.
And then Sam, early on, reallywas like the brains behind the
brand.
We all had input, for sure, butshe really helped create the
brand.
And then Nick was doingeverything to kind of form the
(17:23):
company, keep the company goingdealing with all the contractors
fundraising.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Hugely important Nick was.
I mean he would come back toSeattle or wherever he was
traveling and travel with thisbag that just had duo product
and, like his labels, printerand everything.
So because we didn't havefulfillment at that time.
So no matter where he was inthe world, he could just set up
shop and ship it out.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
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 successstory with that.
A lot of my listeners arecreatives, aspiring
entrepreneurs and people whojust are looking to further
their careers.
So what would you say toaspiring entrepreneurs or people
who are already in businesswith their friends about how you
(18:07):
can navigate that professionalworking relationship and then
friendship that you cherish andwant to?
You know, not be broken apartby, maybe a disagreement over,
you know, something that happensduring the workday.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, look, I don't want to sugarcoat anything,
because it's not easy, like it'shard.
Especially early on, we had twomarried couples.
So there's like relationshipswithin that that you have to
kind of navigate.
And then we're all friends ontop of it.
Again, I think kind of havingclear strengths, like we each
(18:40):
had our own strength andsomething to bring to the table
that was like pretty uniqueReally early on.
Like we had a bunch of moodboards and everything.
And what do we want to representas a company?
And it was super important,like always on there.
Like we want to be a funcompany, we want this to be fun,
like we are friends.
This should be fun.
So we would try to check inlike if, if we're all on edge
(19:03):
and stuff like this isn't funright 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 keepthose lines open, it's really
important because we might notagree, but as long as, like
(19:23):
we're all talking about it andwe feel comfortable expressing
that, we might not agree, that'sall you can ask for in life,
like you're not going to getyour way every time, but as long
as you feel heard, I thinkthat's the most important part.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Net it strengthened all of our relationships a lot.
But, like Stevie said, net, itstrengthened all of our
relationships a lot.
But, like Stevie said, therewere a few calls where we had to
find the fun again in Duo.
But that's okay because thatwas a learning experience too.
You know, especially at thebeginning, there's so much like
creative energy and like thestartup thing that's really fun
to work on.
You know, building the product,building a brand.
(19:56):
We had these Duo off siteswhere we'd all get together and
just like have a fun weekend.
But you know it's full of stickynotes and whiteboards and kind
of felt like out of a moviewhere you're just working
through the whole thing.
But then comes the reality ofthere's just a lot of work to be
done and a lot of it's not fun.
Or you know it's super timeconsuming and monotonous and
(20:19):
especially in the beginning, youhave a small team.
There's just you try todelegate things to things that
people want to work on, but atthe end of the day there's
always going to be the stuffthat no one wants to do.
So an expectation setting itjust is going to take a lot
longer and be a lot harder thanyou ever expected.
That's for sure.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
It's a mentality we went into this as friends.
We knew we were building acompany, as friends early on.
And even now, like we've workedwith as many people that we
already knew as we could.
Like we worked with my verygood friend from growing up,
Dani.
She did all of the design forDuo, like all of the kind of
brand creation expression, allof that we worked with her.
(20:59):
You know, we engaged withcousins and friends to kind of
help us with the social andthat's just kind of like part of
our mantra.
Like we are a friend, familybusiness and we want to kind of
bring in as many people as wecan.
I think if you go into it like,this is kind of our model we
want to work with people we knowand we like knowing that it's
not always going to work out,but we've been super lucky.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Duo is growing and Stevie and Bobby aren't slowing
down.
I asked them what's next forthe brand and what we can look
forward to in the future.
It's been a good few years fromconcept to delivery now, so
what's ahead for the future?
I mean, where is Duo now?
Do you guys have anything thatwe can look forward to in the
(21:45):
future or just like things thatyou are hoping to see with the
success of Duo moving forward?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
One thing that's been really cool.
So we're getting a lot oftraction and we're seeing a lot
of growth and status.
We're going from what was a fundriven company to very much a
data-driven company now.
So a lot of the excitementright now kind of comes in the
forms of numbers, Kind of havethese key performance indicators
or KPIs that you kind of tweakand work on, which has been a
(22:15):
cool shift internally for thebusiness, just to kind of have
those goals to focus on.
As far as the future, kind ofworking on some TikTok stuff and
maybe some retail, so expandingour marketing reach.
And then also as far as thecontroversy in the early about
flavors, we're working on apediatric flavor.
There's a whole nother realmbecause right now we have four
(22:38):
mint based flavors.
But now we're playing withthings like you know what
concoction of strawberry,watermelon, cucumber, kiwi, I
mean you know, and then there'severy combination of those
together.
So and their flavors, thatwe're not really.
You know I don't brush with astrawberry toothpaste.
I still like mint.
So not only do we need tofigure out what we like in a
(23:00):
kid's toothpaste, but we alsoneed to try it with some kids.
So that's one exciting thing.
You'll see, We'll be trying abunch of toothpastes with kids.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Stevie and Bobby's journey proves that passion,
expertise and the right team canturn an idea into something
bigger, from balancing clinicalcareers to building Duo
Toothpaste.
They've shared valuable lessonstoday, but there's still so
much more to learn.
Listeners, it's time for theCareer Countdown, a segment here
(23:30):
on Heart to Hustle that givesus one last look at our guest's
journey in a fresh, inspiringway.
Through five rapid-firequestions, 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 thatdescribe your relationship as
(23:53):
partners in life and in business?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Adventurous.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Devoted.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Honest.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And patient.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Lovely, all right, what are four activities that
you both enjoy doing together tounwind?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
We like hanging out with our dog Jojo and our new
son Casey, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
We have a travel trailer that we made during
COVID.
We like traveling around thecountry or just locally around
Seattle in the trailer.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
We recently bought a houseboat, so we live on Lake
Union in Seattle.
Bobby's got like a little kindof rowboat that he threw What'd
you put on it?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
A little outboard motor.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Yeah, a little motor on there so we can just zip
around the lake.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's like an eight foot plastic boat, so it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah, but it's enough , like we can get on it and kind
of zoom around, which we likedoing.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And then there's just good old laying on the couch
watching some good TV shows.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
For number three, what are three sacrifices or
trade-offs you've made tobalance your careers as dentists
and as entrepreneurs?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Time.
Both spent a lot.
Bobby spent an incredibleamount of time just kind of to
get the degrees to practice.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And I spent a lot of that time on Duo and also money.
I mean, all the founders put upa lot of money to start in Duo
and then time away from clinicalwork.
Maybe less money in our pocketnow, but that's an okay tradeoff
, that's part of it.
And then the last one is justfocus.
You know it's kind of adifferent skill set now to focus
both intently on a clinicalcareer Stevie's running her own
(25:28):
dental practice and then alsofocusing on Duo.
So it's working on that skillset.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So for number two, if you could go back to school and
study two completely differentsubjects unrelated to dentistry,
what would they be and why?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I would probably study law in some form, I think,
like as an alternative careerpath.
It's something I would haveenjoyed.
I think I would have wanted tobe a litigator, but that you
know there's a lot that goesinto that.
But I think just having theknowledge is super helpful, for
I mean things we're doing withDuo, things I do with my
practice, like it would be niceto have some sort of foundation
(26:04):
of law knowledge.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I think mine and I gave this answer when I was
interviewing a presidency, likeseven years ago, and I think it
still applies as a marinebiology for somewhat simple
reasons I like science and Ilike boats.
I like the idea of doingscience on a boat.
It's also super applicable tothe world of climate change and
energy.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And then I think we both share like engineering of
some sort we would both probablybe interested in.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
All right.
So for our final question,number one what is one piece of
dental advice you wish everyoneactually followed and didn't lie
to their dentist about?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yeah, we have dental cleanings here and I do think
that's like obviously superimportant.
I don't want people to not dothat.
I think flossing really is thenumber one and like I'll get
personal here Like me too, Iwish I flossed more, like I
don't want patients to lie to me, but like I get it.
It's the teeth routine, teethhygiene.
It's a two-step process, likeit's not just brushing you got
(27:01):
to floss.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I'm saying flossing is almost a cliche of an answer
from a dentist, but there's areason for that.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
It's an uphill battle .
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, so cliche that I knew that's exactly what you
were going to answer.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, you can find Duo Toothpaste at amazoncom or
at our website, duotoothpastecom.
And give us a follow onInstagram or TikTok at
duotoothpaste.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Dr Bobby Johnson and Dr Stevie Roberts took a bold
leap, launching Duo, whilecontinuing their work as
dentists.
From formulating the perfectproduct to navigating the
challenges of marketing a newway to brush, they've embraced
every step of theentrepreneurial process with
determination.
But no great venture happensalone.
(27:51):
Having the right supporters andcreative collaborators has made
all the difference in bringingDuo Toothpaste to life.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe to Heart to
Hustle and leave a review.
It really helps more peoplediscover these inspiring stories
.
And if you want to follow alongwith Stevie and Bobby and Duo
Toothpaste, check out the linksin the show notes or head to
(28:14):
duotoothpastecom.
Thanks for joining me today.
I'm so glad you tuned in andcan't wait to bring you more
inspiring stories next time.
Until then, thank you forlistening.
Have you ever had a side hustle, A side gig you
picked up for fun or maybe toearn a little extra cash?
Maybe you had a lemonade standas a kid or, like me, were fully
immersed in the world oftheater and dance, where each
experience ignited my passionfor the spotlight.
As we transition from thoseearly experiences into the
(00:24):
professional world, some sidegigs evolve into real passions
and sometimes even lastingcareers.
I've always been so curiousabout these stories, especially
the less conventional journeysthat redefine what a career can
look like.
They remind us that successisn't always a straight path and
that the heart behind ourhustle can lead us to unexpected
(00:46):
and fulfilling destinations.
I genuinely love exploring howother people's passions have
shaped their careers.
If you're into that too, joinme, Layla Palmer, as I chat with
a captivating lineup of guestsfrom various industries to
uncover how they went from heartto hustle.
Some families build legacies inreal estate or fashion, but this
(01:10):
one is building an empire indentistry.
Today's guests, Dr BobbyJohnson and Dr Stevie Roberts,
didn't just choose these careers.
They were born into them.
Coming from families ofdentists, they've spent their
entire lives immersed in theworld of patient care, running
successful practices andcontinuing a multi-generational
(01:33):
tradition of excellence in thefield.
Now, as both life partners andbusiness partners, Stevie and
Bobby are expanding their familylegacy beyond the dental chair
with Duo Toothpaste, aninnovative, environmentally
conscious tablet toothpastedesigned to revolutionize oral
care.
In this episode, we'll explorehow they transformed their
(01:55):
expertise into a brand, what ittakes to build a business
alongside your partner, and howthey're balancing
entrepreneurship and clinicalwork to shape the future of
their family's dental legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
My name is Bobby Johnson and I am a oral surgeon,
trained as a dentist.
First I'm at Stevian DentalSchool.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I'm Stevie Roberts.
I am a general dentist.
I have a practice in Kirkland,Washington.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And we're married.
That's the key part.
So we met at Tufts DentalSchool and got married.
A couple years after I was in aresidency for oral surgery.
That was a six-year programhere in Seattle, so doing that
for a while and Stevie's beenrunning her own practice
Dentiste for just as long.
And during the residencytraining I had some time in
(02:47):
medical school as part of mytraining and we started Duo
Toothpaste, which is a tablettoothpaste company we still run
today.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Well, before we talk about Duo, why don't we talk
about both of your decisions togo into dentistry?
Give a little bit of somebackstory about how you chose
the career path.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Sure, we both grew up around dentistry, so I am the
daughter of two dentists andthey practiced out of our house
actually.
So that's how I was exposed todentistry early on.
They're both general dentists,they own their practice and I
saw how, lifestyle wise, it wasjust a great decision for them
and I have followed in thosefootsteps.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When Stevie and I first started hanging out and I
first visited her house, it wassuch a crazy thing because I
also grew up around dentistrytoo, but a very different model
and her telling me yeah, myparents don't set their alarm
clock, they just wake up to thestaff arriving in the morning
and opening up the office, whichis just a crazy thing to me,
but that's really how it works.
(03:53):
People start arriving and thefirst two floors of their house
is the dental office and theirparents just make their way
downstairs and off they starttheir day, which is a pretty
cool model of when you talkabout work-life balance, when
it's all one like that, for sure.
But my experience is a littledifferent but very similar.
I'm a third generation dentistmy grandpa, dad and uncle all
(04:16):
dentists and so pretty much grewup around it as soon as I could
drive and get my way down tothe office and kind of work in
the front desk as a summer joband then got more involved with
it.
And, yeah, dentistry is just avery beautiful thing where you
can provide for patients andalso run your own business and
control your own life, and alsojust a cool skill set to try to
(04:37):
become master of over yourcareer.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, you'd mentioned work-life balance and I think
it's a very interestingconversation to have, at least
with the two of you, because,stevie, you have the experience
of basically growing up aroundwhat is now your profession,
having your parents both bedentists and live in their
practice and have it also betheir home.
So I'm curious if you, growingup, observed the challenge of
(05:04):
the work-life balance, becauseyou don't leave the office.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I mean I definitely took a lot of notes from my
parents.
I really appreciated howbecause, like the office was in
our home, we really became veryclose with the whole team that
worked there.
So that really became anextension of our family and
really is still to this day likepart of my family.
(05:29):
Um, so that's something Icertainly wanted to emulate when
I started my business.
I thought it was reallyimportant to like invest in my
staff, find a great team, um,make sure we all kind of got
along and then also get alongoutside of work, which helps a
lot.
(05:51):
I do not live in my practice.
I like the physical barrier.
Like I my commute is like 15minutes.
I think it's the perfect amountof time to kind of get ready
for my day and wind down from myday.
I guess one difference also myparents were both general
dentists and own their practicetogether, so like that
definitely could lead to a lotof dinner table conversations in
front of my sister and I thatwe had no idea what was really
going on.
We don't do that as much.
(06:13):
Like I'm a general dentist, hespecializes so what we kind of
talk about instead of the dinnertable isn't so much like the
nitty gritty day to day stuff wedo which we can talk about, and
I think that helps a lot indentistry specifically.
It's a weird profession, so tobe able to come home and talk to
your partner about like theweird things that happen during
the day, I think is superimportant and honestly like very
(06:33):
important to the work-lifebalance.
I think.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, but it is.
It is nice, like we haveseparate experiences during our
clinical work day and so wedon't share that.
But we can come home and sharethose if you know exactly what
we're talking about or, withjust a few words exchanged, kind
of understand what the otherperson's going through and also
be able to just talk to eachother and brainstorm through
(06:57):
some of it or just troubleshootor just say, yeah, that sucks in
there too.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It's nice, like talking the same language, I
guess, but we try to focus notso 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 dosomething else?
That's not the clinical aspectthat we both love, like I
wouldn't take that away.
(07:22):
That kind of keeps me going.
I love interacting withpatients, but we're like what
else can we do that we canactually work on together?
That still involves the dentaldegree that we got together, but
isn't kind of what we'refocusing on our day-to-day when
we're treating patients.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Stevie and Bobby may share a profession, but
launching Duo Toothpastetogether brought an entirely new
layer to their partnership.
I asked them what it was liketo navigate this hands-on trial
and error process as a coupleand how they balanced
professional expertise withpersonal preferences while
bringing Duo to life.
It's probably a rewardingfeeling to get to come home at
(08:02):
the end of your day, talk toyour partner and have them
really actually understand whatyou're talking about.
You know, I think that's a bigadvantage, especially now being
in business together on aproduct that is backed by
dentistry.
You know, when it came tolaunching Duo, what was that
experience like, workingtogether?
Talk about what that experiencewas like what was that
(08:25):
experience like, workingtogether?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Talk about what that experience was like.
Yeah, you know it's funny.
A lot of what started with Duowas just doing a lot of research
first, so that was just kind ofcomputer work and a few months
of just really trying to reverseengineer.
You know what the besttoothpaste is, what's in current
toothpaste, all that kind ofstuff.
So for a lot of that it waspretty objective.
Honestly, a lot of thatinformation was pretty clear
(08:47):
though, like what the bestingredients are, what
ingredients aren't necessary oreven harmful, um, so that part
was a little easier to align onand it was interesting because
some of the information that wewere finding was not necessarily
what we learned in dentalschool.
So we could kind of, I guess,check with each other like wait
did we?
Is this really how we learnedit or what was that point in
(09:10):
that lecture five years ago?
But then, after the research,came the part of actually
figuring out how to make thetablets themselves, which
involved a lot of time, justreally in our garage with a pill
press just putting themtogether.
And then and then it was moreof a subjective experience of
you know, how does this feel inyour mouth.
How's the foaming, what's theflavor like?
And that was probably the mostcontentious part of the whole
(09:33):
experience, because you knowthings I might like, she didn't
like.
We agreed on all thescience-based stuff, but then
there's a lot of just subjectivestuff when you're building a
product.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, there wasn't much back and forth in terms of
disagreeing on what we wanted toput in the product and keep out
of the product, like that wasclear.
But then taste is a reallytricky thing, like I have my own
taste, he has his own taste,and then we're trying to make
something that's going to appealto the masses.
So that was definitely like themost tense we got, if you will,
just having like 12 differentwith, I mean, and we're I'm
(10:10):
legitimately talking about likethe types of mint.
We have three different mintsin the base one spearmint,
wintergreen and peppermintobviously, um, so like just the
distribution of these threemints.
I can't tell you how manydifferent tablets we tried and
strongly disagreed on which weliked more, but eventually we
got our base tablet that we'revery, very proud of and tastes
(10:32):
delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yes, it does.
Duo Toothpaste is amultifaceted product with added
vitamins, supplements andeco-friendly packaging, all
while introducing consumers totablet toothpaste.
Let's hear how this dental duois communicating its benefits
and making the switch easier forcustomers.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Duo is communicating its benefits and making the
switch easier for customers.
Honestly, that's probably beenone of the biggest challenges
with Duo that we're stillworking through as a company.
I mean, there's more peopleinvolved than just us, but we're
fortunate that we have allthese value adds.
It's tablet toothpaste, whichmeans it comes in a glass bottle
, so it's plastic free.
(11:13):
We added vitamins andsupplements like vitamin D to
some of them.
We have different flavors.
It's made by Dennis, it's got adifferent mechanism of foaming.
So so many things that you wantto just launch out to all the
consumer, but you pretty muchbury it if you pick more than
one or two things, becausepeople just aren't prepared and
they're aimless scrolling onInstagram or wherever they first
(11:36):
encounter Duo, to decipher allthat information.
So it's something we're stilltesting with.
You know marketing stuff to see.
You know, is it the flavor thatmost resonates with people Like
you know we're just talkingabout with different mints, or
you know some other differentflavors, or is it?
Do people like theeco-conscious part of it?
And, to be completely honest,you know, we still don't know
(11:59):
and it depends what demographicwe're talking to, and we've
heard this from many otherfounders too, as we go through
this journey is you have allthese things, that you're
excited about your product, butif you've got to sideline a
bunch of them as far as themarketing and just you know see
what resonates with the peoplemore than anything.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, I think early on we knew that there were like
a lot of paradigm shifts that wewere asking people to
understand.
So there was like a hugeeducational barriers kind of
three main camps.
Honestly, bobby's kind of beendescribing me before Like we are
plastic free, it is good forthe environment.
That's a broader category,right.
(12:39):
Like people are doing it withlaundry detergents and
dishwashing detergents, likeplastic free, everything.
Then we're asking you to chewyour toothpaste, which is crazy.
There is a tablet, you knowtoothpaste following for sure,
and it's growing a lot, butearly on really, most people
hadn't heard of doing that andhow to brush your teeth.
(13:00):
And then we're adding stuff toit and we're telling you you
don't have to swallow it.
We're adding these vitamins andsupplements that are just going
to absorb while you brush yourteeth.
So like we're still figuringout what exactly to focus on and
the focus shifts depending onwho we're talking to.
But I think what was reallyhard at first is we wanted to
focus on all of them and whatwe've learned is that we really
(13:21):
have to almost focus on one at atime, kind of depending on the
audience.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, and to your point, layla, where there are
some products that are fun toshow on Instagram or whatever it
might be, whether it's a new,coolest golf club or a pair of
skis or something but brushingyour teeth isn't necessarily the
sexiest thing in the world,that's, you know.
Another barrier that fits inwith some of the challenges that
you know are fun to workthrough.
I mean, it's they're coolproblems and they're problems
for a reason.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I'm sure it makes for a very interesting conversation
.
You know, when you're talkingabout marketing, what's going to
reel somebody in the first fiveseconds so they don't scroll?
Or what platform are wemarketing on?
What demographic is thatplatform most likely going to
reach?
And I think Stevie brought up agreat point.
(14:07):
You really do have to focus onone at a time.
What is the number one valueproposition that for, like a
general customer, you knownothing about them.
You don't know anything aboutwhat their interests are, what
they like, if they're morefocused on a low price or
convenience or whatever, what isthe general value proposition
that you give somebody Like youshould pick this toothpaste
(14:27):
because X.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's a plastic-free tablet toothpaste with an
effective fluoride alternative.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, so I think, sustainability and then we, as
dentists, kind of focus on thefluoride-free alternative that
we use.
That's been proven to be aseffective as fluoride no shade
on fluoride but there happens tobe something that works just as
well, and so we use thatinstead, because there's a lot
of people who don't wantfluoride in their toothpaste and
so we use that instead, becausethere's a lot of people who
(14:53):
don't want Florida in theirtoothpaste.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Bobby and Stevie knew that successfully launching Duo
meant surrounding themselveswith the right people.
Their team includes marriedcouples, college friends and
family members, each bringingunique skills to the table.
It takes a village to build abrand.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Let's hear how they built theirs.
I'm from Seattle originally andStevie's from Philly, and one
of her best friends from collegeat Penn was Sam.
She grew up in New York andhappened to marry a guy, nick,
that was also from Seattle.
I didn't know him before thisbut we were already, because of
those connections, friends.
So the whole idea for Duo kindof came as a group and then,
(15:37):
after Stevie and I actuallystarting on the product
development stuff, it was reallyNick and Sam that took over the
branding and the operations andthe company and Nick very
quickly started working on Duofull-time.
I mean, we both have clinicalpractices and at the time I was
still in residency, but youreally do need someone pretty
(15:58):
quickly full-time and yeah.
So once we had a viable productthey really went to work on the
business side of it.
And then since then we've hadanother co-founder, mike, join
the team.
That's been an invaluable assetas well.
So we have a reallywell-rounded team.
I mean Stevie and I bring thedental side to it, and then Nick
(16:19):
and Sam had lots of experiencein law and creative and running
product and then now Mike alsohas some law background, but
mostly finance.
So just having a really dynamicteam behind you and we're all
friends, which makes it reallyfun.
So Mike and Nick are full timeright now and we're closely with
(16:40):
them building the brand still.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Weekly meetings.
And then I think it helps thatwe all kind of have our own role
, like Bobby is the product,like I'll help with nuances of
the product, but like he ownsthe product in full.
Um, I'm like the dental side.
I'm the one who's likeinteracting with patients who
brush their teeth.
I'm trying to, you know, getthem to brush.
(17:02):
More was really what I wantedfrom this.
Like, how do I make this abetter experience for you?
You got to do it like every dayfor two minutes a day, so let's
make it better.
And then Sam, early on, reallywas like the brains behind the
brand.
We all had input, for sure, butshe really helped create the
brand.
And then Nick was doingeverything to kind of form the
(17:23):
company, keep the company goingdealing with all the contractors
fundraising.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Hugely important Nick was.
I mean he would come back toSeattle or wherever he was
traveling and travel with thisbag that just had duo product
and, like his labels, printerand everything.
So because we didn't havefulfillment at that time.
So no matter where he was inthe world, he could just set up
shop and ship it out.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
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 successstory with that.
A lot of my listeners arecreatives, aspiring
entrepreneurs and people whojust are looking to further
their careers.
So what would you say toaspiring entrepreneurs or people
who are already in businesswith their friends about how you
(18:07):
can navigate that professionalworking relationship and then
friendship that you cherish andwant to?
You know, not be broken apartby, maybe a disagreement over,
you know, something that happensduring the workday.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, look, I don't want to sugarcoat anything,
because it's not easy, like it'shard.
Especially early on, we had twomarried couples.
So there's like relationshipswithin that that you have to
kind of navigate.
And then we're all friends ontop of it.
Again, I think kind of havingclear strengths, like we each
(18:40):
had our own strength andsomething to bring to the table
that was like pretty uniqueReally early on.
Like we had a bunch of moodboards and everything.
And what do we want to representas a company?
And it was super important,like always on there.
Like we want to be a funcompany, we want this to be fun,
like we are friends.
This should be fun.
So we would try to check inlike if, if we're all on edge
(19:03):
and stuff like this isn't funright 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 keepthose lines open, it's really
important because we might notagree, but as long as, like
(19:23):
we're all talking about it andwe feel comfortable expressing
that, we might not agree, that'sall you can ask for in life,
like you're not going to getyour way every time, but as long
as you feel heard, I thinkthat's the most important part.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Net it strengthened all of our relationships a lot.
But, like Stevie said, net, itstrengthened all of our
relationships a lot.
But, like Stevie said, therewere a few calls where we had to
find the fun again in Duo.
But that's okay because thatwas a learning experience too.
You know, especially at thebeginning, there's so much like
creative energy and like thestartup thing that's really fun
to work on.
You know, building the product,building a brand.
(19:56):
We had these Duo off siteswhere we'd all get together and
just like have a fun weekend.
But you know it's full of stickynotes and whiteboards and kind
of felt like out of a moviewhere you're just working
through the whole thing.
But then comes the reality ofthere's just a lot of work to be
done and a lot of it's not fun.
Or you know it's super timeconsuming and monotonous and
(20:19):
especially in the beginning, youhave a small team.
There's just you try todelegate things to things that
people want to work on, but atthe end of the day there's
always going to be the stuffthat no one wants to do.
So an expectation setting itjust is going to take a lot
longer and be a lot harder thanyou ever expected.
That's for sure.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
It's a mentality we went into this as friends.
We knew we were building acompany, as friends early on.
And even now, like we've workedwith as many people that we
already knew as we could.
Like we worked with my verygood friend from growing up,
Dani.
She did all of the design forDuo, like all of the kind of
brand creation expression, allof that we worked with her.
(20:59):
You know, we engaged withcousins and friends to kind of
help us with the social andthat's just kind of like part of
our mantra.
Like we are a friend, familybusiness and we want to kind of
bring in as many people as wecan.
I think if you go into it like,this is kind of our model we
want to work with people we knowand we like knowing that it's
not always going to work out,but we've been super lucky.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Duo is growing and Stevie and Bobby aren't slowing
down.
I asked them what's next forthe brand and what we can look
forward to in the future.
It's been a good few years fromconcept to delivery now, so
what's ahead for the future?
I mean, where is Duo now?
Do you guys have anything thatwe can look forward to in the
(21:45):
future or just like things thatyou are hoping to see with the
success of Duo moving forward?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
One thing that's been really cool.
So we're getting a lot oftraction and we're seeing a lot
of growth and status.
We're going from what was a fundriven company to very much a
data-driven company now.
So a lot of the excitementright now kind of comes in the
forms of numbers, Kind of havethese key performance indicators
or KPIs that you kind of tweakand work on, which has been a
(22:15):
cool shift internally for thebusiness, just to kind of have
those goals to focus on.
As far as the future, kind ofworking on some TikTok stuff and
maybe some retail, so expandingour marketing reach.
And then also as far as thecontroversy in the early about
flavors, we're working on apediatric flavor.
There's a whole nother realmbecause right now we have four
(22:38):
mint based flavors.
But now we're playing withthings like you know what
concoction of strawberry,watermelon, cucumber, kiwi, I
mean you know, and then there'severy combination of those
together.
So and their flavors, thatwe're not really.
You know I don't brush with astrawberry toothpaste.
I still like mint.
So not only do we need tofigure out what we like in a
(23:00):
kid's toothpaste, but we alsoneed to try it with some kids.
So that's one exciting thing.
You'll see, We'll be trying abunch of toothpastes with kids.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Stevie and Bobby's journey proves that passion,
expertise and the right team canturn an idea into something
bigger, from balancing clinicalcareers to building Duo
Toothpaste.
They've shared valuable lessonstoday, but there's still so
much more to learn.
Listeners, it's time for theCareer Countdown, a segment here
(23:30):
on Heart to Hustle that givesus one last look at our guest's
journey in a fresh, inspiringway.
Through five rapid-firequestions, 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 thatdescribe your relationship as
(23:53):
partners in life and in business?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Adventurous.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Devoted.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Honest.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And patient.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Lovely, all right, what are four activities that
you both enjoy doing together tounwind?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
We like hanging out with our dog Jojo and our new
son Casey, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
We have a travel trailer that we made during
COVID.
We like traveling around thecountry or just locally around
Seattle in the trailer.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
We recently bought a houseboat, so we live on Lake
Union in Seattle.
Bobby's got like a little kindof rowboat that he threw What'd
you put on it?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
A little outboard motor.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Yeah, a little motor on there so we can just zip
around the lake.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's like an eight foot plastic boat, so it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah, but it's enough , like we can get on it and kind
of zoom around, which we likedoing.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And then there's just good old laying on the couch
watching some good TV shows.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
For number three, what are three sacrifices or
trade-offs you've made tobalance your careers as dentists
and as entrepreneurs?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Time.
Both spent a lot.
Bobby spent an incredibleamount of time just kind of to
get the degrees to practice.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And I spent a lot of that time on Duo and also money.
I mean, all the founders put upa lot of money to start in Duo
and then time away from clinicalwork.
Maybe less money in our pocketnow, but that's an okay tradeoff
, that's part of it.
And then the last one is justfocus.
You know it's kind of adifferent skill set now to focus
both intently on a clinicalcareer Stevie's running her own
(25:28):
dental practice and then alsofocusing on Duo.
So it's working on that skillset.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So for number two, if you could go back to school and
study two completely differentsubjects unrelated to dentistry,
what would they be and why?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I would probably study law in some form, I think,
like as an alternative careerpath.
It's something I would haveenjoyed.
I think I would have wanted tobe a litigator, but that you
know there's a lot that goesinto that.
But I think just having theknowledge is super helpful, for
I mean things we're doing withDuo, things I do with my
practice, like it would be niceto have some sort of foundation
(26:04):
of law knowledge.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I think mine and I gave this answer when I was
interviewing a presidency, likeseven years ago, and I think it
still applies as a marinebiology for somewhat simple
reasons I like science and Ilike boats.
I like the idea of doingscience on a boat.
It's also super applicable tothe world of climate change and
energy.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And then I think we both share like engineering of
some sort we would both probablybe interested in.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
All right.
So for our final question,number one what is one piece of
dental advice you wish everyoneactually followed and didn't lie
to their dentist about?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yeah, we have dental cleanings here and I do think
that's like obviously superimportant.
I don't want people to not dothat.
I think flossing really is thenumber one and like I'll get
personal here Like me too, Iwish I flossed more, like I
don't want patients to lie to me, but like I get it.
It's the teeth routine, teethhygiene.
It's a two-step process, likeit's not just brushing you got
(27:01):
to floss.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I'm saying flossing is almost a cliche of an answer
from a dentist, but there's areason for that.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
It's an uphill battle .
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, so cliche that I knew that's exactly what you
were going to answer.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, you can find Duo Toothpaste at amazoncom or
at our website, duotoothpastecom.
And give us a follow onInstagram or TikTok at
duotoothpaste.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Dr Bobby Johnson and Dr Stevie Roberts took a bold
leap, launching Duo, whilecontinuing their work as
dentists.
From formulating the perfectproduct to navigating the
challenges of marketing a newway to brush, they've embraced
every step of theentrepreneurial process with
determination.
But no great venture happensalone.
(27:51):
Having the right supporters andcreative collaborators has made
all the difference in bringingDuo Toothpaste to life.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe to Heart to
Hustle and leave a review.
It really helps more peoplediscover these inspiring stories
.
And if you want to follow alongwith Stevie and Bobby and Duo
Toothpaste, check out the linksin the show notes or head to
(28:14):
duotoothpastecom.
Thanks for joining me today.
I'm so glad you tuned in andcan't wait to bring you more
inspiring stories next time.
Until then, thank you forlistening.
Host
Layla Palmer
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