David VS Goliath Podcast – S1 – Episode 39 – Heather Paul

Speaker 1:
Coming up today on David vs. Goliath.

Adam DeGraide:
You don’t slow down your vision because other people can’t see ours.

Adam DeGraide:
Why should I brush my teeth if it’s just going to get dirty again?

Heather:
Oh, no, no, no. Oh yeah, that’s not going to fly.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to today’s episode of David vs. Goliath, a podcast dedicated to helping small businesses leverage technology to not only help them compete against their large competitors, but win. Your host is currently the CEO of Anthem Business Software, a three time Inc 500 recipient and a serial entrepreneur with a passion to help small businesses everywhere find, serve, and keep more customers profitably. Please join me in welcoming your host, Adam Degraide.

Adam DeGraide:
Hey everyone. It’s Adam Degraide with an early morning edition of the David vs. Goliath podcast. This is the first time I’ve ever recorded a podcast before lunch. And I literally just got out of bed 15, 20 minutes ago, showered up, made myself fresh for today’s interview with Heather the Hygienist from Simply Silver Mouthwash. She’s a mompreneur, and she’s in between in her revolution of running her own business. She still has a full time job. She has a company that she’s running full time and that’s that difficult place that entrepreneurs find themselves at. And at DVG, we like to talk to people in all walks of their entrepreneurial experience, and we are excited to have Heather with us today.

Adam DeGraide:
Before we get to the interview though, today’s episode is brought to you by Anthem Software, where you can find, serve, and keep more customers profitably, with their all in one CRM software, marketing services and consulting platform built specifically for small business. Take the 120 tour at anthemsoftware.com. Every business has a song, let their software and marketing system sing yours.

Adam DeGraide:
Also, you could visit us online at davidvsgoliathpodcast.com. There, you could subscribe for our newsletter and apply to be on the podcast. I’m pretty sure that’s how we found Heather. I’m not exactly sure, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly how we found her. And it’s a great place for me to get to know you a little bit, to see if you’re going to be a good fit for the show. Don’t be afraid. If you got a business and you’re running it, we’d love to interview you here on the DVG podcast.

Adam DeGraide:
Also, my album is out. Adam Degraide, The Calm. If you’re ever stressed out, like I get sometimes, I wrote this album specifically to chill you out. It’s one of those things you can just put on and just relax and enjoy. It’s acoustic piano, acoustic guitar, and a string quartet. It’s beautiful. You can visit it on Apple Music, Spotify music, check it out. Last couple of episodes, I highlighted a couple of tracks so you can get an idea the flavor for it, but I highly recommend you go check it out. If you like it, leave me a positive review. If you don’t, don’t say anything. No, I’m just kidding. Obviously, you can speak your mind. This is America still. Thank God. But anyway, with no further ado, let’s get right to it with Heather the Hygienist. Heather, welcome to the David vs. Goliath podcast.

Heather:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.

Adam DeGraide:
It’s going to be a lot of fun. One of the things that we love to do here at DVG is talk to people of all shapes and sizes on their entrepreneurial journey. And what I liked about yours is I have most of the… I’ve never had anybody on it that’s still working a full-time job and running a full-time company at the same time. I typically have people after they’ve moved from that on the show, but I think it’s a great story because everybody has a different evolution as an entrepreneur as to how they end up at their end goal. And you’re right in that spot where it’s got to be a little bit challenging, I would imagine. But before we get into the challenges of having a full-time job and also running a full-time business, which by the way, I don’t say this often, you did a great job on your branding.

Heather:
Thank you.

Adam DeGraide:
The website is well done. The branding is well done. My wife and I both use natural products ourselves on our teeth, except for I’m still using, what is it? I think it’s a Scope or something like that, because I just…

Heather:
No.

Adam DeGraide:
I know, I haven’t found anything that I like even better, but I actually flossed my teeth twice for this interview and I thought we’d have some fun with it. Why don’t you tell the folks quickly a little bit about what Simply Silver Mouthwash is and does, and then we’ll take the interview from there.

Heather:
Okay. I’m a dental hygienist, I’ve been practicing for well over 25 years, and it’s an all natural colloidal silver baseline because I wanted to create something that was not only clean and green, but safe and effective as well. Your mouth is the most vascular part of your whole body. Whatever goes into your mouth, goes into your bloodstream. If you just read the ingredients on commercial products, like Scope, you’d really be surprised as to what they can put in there. I just wanted to give people a natural alternative.

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, I love that. And I tell people that there’s a few individuals in my life that I don’t necessarily like enjoying and visiting and it’s all for the same reason. It’s my doctor, my dentist, my accountant, and my lawyer, because they all tell me what not to do, and I’m like, and it drives me crazy. Although, I’m glad that I do it. We switched for away from the fluoride based stuff years ago, and I’ve only recently gone back to using the mouthwash that’s there that has the evil chemicals in it. And my wife and I are big believers in natural things. I mean, we try to be as natural as we possibly can.

Adam DeGraide:
Now, you’re still a hygienist for 25 years. You still go to work and then you’re running this really cool brand on the side. You probably work some dental shows, I would imagine. I might have even seen you at one when I was in the medical space. We worked with, my last company, we worked with, I think, 50 dentists office, and we helped them with their marketing, their email, their CRM, their social media, their websites. And I sold that company, so I’m not allowed to work with dentists office right now, but I did see similar things and similar products when I was at those events. For the Watchers and listeners, how difficult is it right now for you to balance the two, and where are you exactly at, in that tweener development as an entrepreneur?

Heather:
Yeah, that’s a great question. I feel like I’m on the verge of some really, really big things happening, but also, the challenge being an entrepreneur, and specifically in the oral care business, is when you’re trying to get into larger stores, like your Whole Foods or Sprouts, they only do a category review once a year. You get one time a year to apply.

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, one shot.

Heather:
One shot. And then if you don’t get in, you wait till the next year. I’m at that point where I’m really tired of just waiting on these big companies. I’m taking it into my own hands, and that’s why I’m really glad that you have appreciated my branding because that’s what I’m trying to do. [inaudible 00:07:24]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, you’re doing a good job. I would tell you, believe me. I’d be the first one to tell you if I didn’t think you were going in the right direction.

Heather:
Yeah. I’m trying to create a landing page. I have my book, Dentistry for Dummies, but I’m also going to be branding that more as an ebook and try to bring awareness through maybe TikTok, or more Instagram reels, and try and bring in more organic business through just getting my brand out there.

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, I think you can definitely do that. I still run a marketing company. I run Anthem Software and we do-

Heather:
Which I checked out, by the way.

Adam DeGraide:
Oh, you should check it out. Yeah, definitely. And we actually could work with you, but that’s not the point. The point is, when I looked at your brand and I looked at the photos, your photographer did a great job capturing the spirit of what you’re trying to do. And so that also, and I encourage the watchers and listeners of all shapes and sizes in the business to go check out what she did on her website, because I tell people, if you have a great personality and you look decent on camera and you run a business, you should probably be on camera. But if you don’t really like people and you don’t have a great personality and your spouse has told you’re not the best looking thing in the world, maybe you get a spokesperson.

Adam DeGraide:
But what I loved about your business is it’s your passion. And so, what’ll start the brand for you, Heather, as you grow and as you continue, is going to be you. And so, to your point, you can’t sit around and wait for somebody to make your dreams happen. You have to do it yourself. I noticed that you are in Chamberlains. We do shop at Chamberlains from time to time, so that’s good. But I can imagine that has to be so frustrating for a smaller provider of a great product that they have to wait every year. And if they miss it, they’re like, dang it. You’ve only got so many years left in life, so I like the fact that you’re grabbing the bull by the horn.

Adam DeGraide:
I noticed you got some of the products back there, and I never do this, by the way. I never ask people to hold up their product and talk about it. It’s like, that’s not what DVG’s about. But when you decided that you were going to start this, because when I was reading the info form, you had the same complaints over and over again. I floss every day. I use traditional products. My gums still bleed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I still got cavities, all these things. You’re like, there’s got to be a better way. How long have you been doing this for, to the point where you are now, and what made you start it in the first place?

Heather:
Okay. Well, that is a great question. Honestly, I read a proverb every day out of the Bible. And one day, I was reading Proverbs 8:12, and it says, I wisdom dwell with prudence and give knowledge of witty invention. So I said, okay, God, I want a witty invention. This was in [inaudible 00:10:13]

Adam DeGraide:
Which proverb was that again? What proverb was that again?

Heather:
Proverb 8:12.

Adam DeGraide:
I’m going to write that down. Proverbs 8:12.

Heather:
So I asked God for a witty invention, and I think this was in two thousand and, was it ’15 or ’14? Anyways, months and months went by. And then one day, I’m standing in front of my kitchen and I’m ready to open up the fridge, Adam. And I swear to you, God downloaded the ingredients to Simply Silver Mouthwash. And I was like, oh my gosh, that’s so revolutionary. There was nobody in the market with that. I ran over to the computer. I started Googling and there was nothing like it. I just started telling people all about it. And my patients are like, well, I want to try it. I’m like, oh, okay. [inaudible 00:10:58]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, I got to formulate it.

Heather:
I got to formulate this. All I had was the ingredients. I just started playing around and finally came up with something that I felt tasted great. I wanted to have something that, because okay, you use Scope, right?

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah. That’s new by the way, but it drives my wife crazy, just so you know. It drives her…

Heather:
But she [inaudible 00:11:20]

Adam DeGraide:
I just like that fresh… Yeah. To me, it’s just like, it feels fresh.

Heather:
That’s what my original one, the mint, that’s what that does. It competes with your Listerine, because Listerine has 588 million sales a year. Mine is an all natural alternative to the Listerine. It’s really that clean, wow, oh my gosh, it has great stinging power. And then from there [inaudible 00:11:47]

Adam DeGraide:
Does it tingle? Does it tingle?

Heather:
It does because I have menthol in there. I’ve got a lot of peppermint oil, but [inaudible 00:11:53]

Adam DeGraide:
Peppermint oil is awesome. I love peppermint oil.

Heather:
It’s fantastic. But I also have an ingredient in there that no one on the market has, and it’s, I know it’s crazy, it’s dragons’ blood. The technical term is raw croton lechleri sap, but it’s a coagulant. That means if you were to cut yourself and put the sap on there, it’s like a liquid bandaid. I’ve got very medicinal ingredients in there, but it gives you that fresh breath that you’re looking for. It started with just the mouthwash and then it expanded to toothpaste and then a breath spray and then a different flavor, cinnamon. And now I have another line that is geared for the people that are really cavity prone. Instead of using Act, which is setting fluoride, you can use nano hydroxy appetite, which is superior than fluoride [inaudible 00:12:42]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, I think fluoride causes… I mean, this is not to get… I’m not a health expert, by the way. Let me just put a disclaimer out there. I am not a dental hygienist. I am not a dentist. I really have no idea what I’m talking about, but I am not a fan of fluoride. I’ve read a lot of stuff on it myself, as well. And I think it has more downside than it has upside. And I think that’s the case with a lot of things. Do you know, Heather, what frustrated the Dickens out of me, is I used to take silver almost on a daily basis. You can’t buy it at Whole Foods because they stopped selling it because of misinformation, this whole misinformation nonsense we have, about silver and people were saying it could prevent COVID and all this stuff. It’s like, it’s still a product. Why can’t I buy the product? They politicize this stuff. It drives me nuts.

Heather:
Yeah, I know. [inaudible 00:13:32].

Adam DeGraide:
You still can’t buy silver, by the way, at Whole Foods right now. You can’t do it.

Heather:
Well, I’m not surprised, and I wonder if that’s part of the reason why I’m not getting into some of these bigger chain stores, because I am colloidal silver based. And that’s why I’m like, you know what, I’m done pursuing them. I want to build my own brand. I want to make myself be able to get out there enough that people will come to my website and buy from me directly, or they’ll get it on Amazon or some other platform, because I am not waiting for these bigger stores. They are not going to dictate the sales that I’m going to end up getting. And then, you know what, I think maybe they’ll come to me someday. But I’ve written a couple of books. I’m trying to get out there more with [inaudible 00:14:15]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, I saw that. I saw that. What was the… I like the… You wrote The Great Tooth Deception.

Heather:
That was my first book, and then my second book is Dentistry for Dummies, because-

Adam DeGraide:
I like that too. I like that too. Dentistry for Dummies, because that’s definitely, that would definitely fall into my category. Now, how did you get into the formula? How did you find someone to help you create the formula and then make sure that it’s high quality and that… Because obviously, people are putting it in their mouths.

Heather:
I did it all.

Adam DeGraide:
You did everything.

Heather:
Yeah. I did everything in my kitchen. We started out in my kitchen, literally with my Kitchen Aid, and just coming up with the formulations and oh my gosh, I don’t even want to tell you how many times I have made toothpaste. Toothpaste is such a beast to make. You want to make sure that it can squeeze out of the tube, that it’s shelf stable, that it does all of these things. And it’s like, to get something from an idea into a manufacturer and actually have it be growing, because we have been growing despite COVID and everything like that. It was a challenge and many times I’m like, I wonder if I knew now what I knew then if I even would’ve prayed that prayer, because it’s very challenging.

Adam DeGraide:
I pray every morning myself. I read the scriptures daily. And it’s funny, because David vs. Goliath is not a religious podcast. Although, I did get the name, obviously, from the Bible story, David vs. Goliath. And your story is really great for this audience because it is truly a David vs. Goliath. And especially because that they’ve cracked down on their, whatever, their mental insanity on silver, it makes you even more of a David vs. Goliath. And we’re going to believe that you’re going to get in there and you’re going to start selling your product there. That’ll be a lot of fun, but we got to take a break, Heather. And when we come back, I got a few more questions for you. We’re going to have some fun.

Adam DeGraide:
You’re with Heather the Hygienist. That must be her last name, because I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s Heather the Hygienist, your handsome host, Adam Degraide. You’re watching and listening to the David vs. Goliath podcast where the small guy takes on the big guy and we try to beat them here on this show. We’ll be right back after a very important message from our corporate sponsor, Anthem Software. Stay tuned.

Speaker 4:
Anthem Business Software system is designed to specifically help small businesses just like yours, find, serve, and keep more customers profitably. We do this by providing you with the most powerful software, automations and marketing services to help your business compete and win in this ever changing digital world. Take a short video tour at anthemsoftware.com.

Adam DeGraide:
And we’re back with Heather the Hygienist and Adam Degraide, the maniac. The true dummy in dentistry here on today’s show is me. What’s really cool about my audience, Heather, is Rumble, as you know, is a David… I don’t know if you know Rumble, but Rumble is a direct competitor to YouTube and they specifically don’t censor and block people for misinformation, or disinformation, and they let people do what they should do, which is give their opinions and their thoughts and their evidence and let people decide for themselves. And so, the biggest part of my audience is on Rumble. And so, the good news is, we are naturally have an antipathy. I don’t even know if that’s the right word. That’s not the right word, but you know what I mean? We have a reaction to the big guy that’s trying to suppress the little guy. I think it’s going to be a good audience for you to be able to hear your story.

Adam DeGraide:
Now, you’re a mom because of twins. I read that. That’s pretty interesting. You work a full time job. You’re married. You’re running this full time business. How do you do it all?

Heather:
Well, some days are rough. It depends on how much business I get on my website. I mean, there have been times that I have gotten up at 3:30 in the morning, packed and shipped for three hours, went to work, worked 12 hour shifted, came home, packed and shipped till 10:30 at night. That doesn’t happen too often, but you do what you got to do when you have a small business and it’s something that you’re passionate about and you believe in, and I know God gave it to me. I know that he didn’t bring me this far to leave me. I know the doors are going to open. I’m just not sure how he’s [inaudible 00:19:27]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, you’re right in that, I’m glad you’re on the David vs. Goliath podcast. You need to listen to it weekly, by the way, because the big part of what we try to [inaudible 00:19:35]

Heather:
I have listened to you. Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:
That’s good. The big part of this show, by the way, is inspiration, because there is a critical point where that extra leap of faith has to happen, where you’re literally going to get to a point where it’s not going to be, your life won’t be sustainable on either side and there’s that chasm you just got to cross over, and it’s very scary. But to your point, if you believe this has been given to you, the question is, when? And so, I always tell people that hesitancy is the death of the entrepreneur. Action’s the life of the entrepreneur. And the reason why I say that is because you don’t… And a guy I interviewed two weeks back, he said the most amazing thing. He said, regret is embedded in the risk you didn’t take. His name was Clay Cook. He’s a photographer. And he went from being a rhythm guitarist in a rock band to building this photography company that he does shoots now for big brands and everything.

Adam DeGraide:
And he said that and I said, man, that’s just a great way to say hesitancy is the death of an entrepreneur. My encouragement to you is, when you do spend your time in prayer in the morning, just say, hey, when is that going to be? Because at some point, it’s going to happen. And this is what’s so great about having you on this podcast. It’s either going to happen or it’s never going to happen. And so, you’ll figure that out when the time comes, just be open for it. And I always tell people, belief, nothing greater truly worthwhile, everything starts with one word and that word is belief.

Heather:
Absolutely.

Adam DeGraide:
It has to be belief. And if you have that passion and you have that conviction and you’re watching this podcast right now and you’re in the same place that Heather’s in, I would encourage you, just take the leap. What’s the worst case scenario? You can always go back to doing what you’re doing, but the best case scenario is, oh my goodness gracious. My idea took off and I poured my heart and soul into it and we did it. That’s my encouragement to you. Now, with the formula, you must have found a manufacturer. You’re not making it in your kitchen anymore.

Heather:
I started there, but, and again, I know God has his hand on this company because of the doors that have opened. At first, when I tried to get into manufacturing, do you know, I couldn’t manufacture in the state of Florida? They wouldn’t let me. Then I’m like…

Adam DeGraide:
We’re going to have to talk to Ron DeSantis about that, Anthony Sabatini, all of our politicians here and say, what the heck?

Heather:
It was Rick Scott at the time, and I was writing letters. I’m like, why can I not manufacture here? The door was closed. I had to go to Georgia. I found a very small mom and pop manufacturer, and it was out in Dawson, Georgia. And it was actually a blessing because they were less expensive. They weren’t going to be charging me all these other fees that the larger manufacturer that I wanted to go to, I’d be out of business right now if God had opened up the door in the beginning. I’m like, thank you, because you were protecting me and you put me here in Georgia for a season.

Heather:
We actually, and again, the door just opened, found a manufacturer in Orlando. And we literally, within one week, we found the manufacturer. We went, drove over there. We live in the Tampa Bay area. It’s like an hour and a half. Drove over there, met with them and were like, okay, we’re coming here. Without even knowing if they could… They’re a GMP certified facility, so I did have faith that they were going to be able to do everything right. But we rented a 26 foot U-Haul trailer in Georgia, loaded everything up, and in one day, moved it all. It filled up that entire 26 foot trailer and moved it to Orlando.

Heather:
Now we have the capability of being able to manufacture three times the amount that we were in Georgia that’s. And that’s why I’m like, sometimes it’s timing. If I had gotten into say, a Whole Foods or something a year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to make those orders because I wasn’t able to produce enough. Well, now I’m in a different manufacturing facility and now I can.

Adam DeGraide:
That’s great. I got to tell you, man, it is never a straight line. I talk about this all the time. It’s like the journey of your own idea, coming from concept to completion. You have ideas and thoughts. You go in a direction, you start marching there and then you realize you’re going down a different road. Sometimes you have to be redirected, but other times, that road that you’re going down is where you’re supposed to be. Every great business and every great idea has pivot points, and those decisions are what either make or break the business. And so, it’s fascinating, but thank God you found a great manufacturer in Georgia that was that stepping stone for you. And now you’re in O-Town, which is awesome. And hanging out in O-Town is a good place to be. And now you’re going to be able to distribute more and have more fun.

Heather:
Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:
I always ask people, how did you decide that you wanted to work in people’s mouth? Because that is not my… I don’t like going to the dentist. I don’t think I’d like being a dentist. I don’t think I want to clean anybody’s teeth. I hate cleaning my own teeth, but I do it because I have no choice. How do you decide, wake up one day and say, oh, just like the guy in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, he’s like, I want to be a dentist. How do you decide that?

Heather:
Oh, well, it really wasn’t my decision. I say that because when I graduated high school, I thought I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I started taking classes geared towards elementary ed, and then one day it dawned on me. I never did ask God what he wanted me to do with my life. I really started to pray and through a series of divine appointments, dental hygienist came up. Well, to be honest with you, Adam, I started to cry because I’m like, oh my God, the thought of saliva literally made me want to throw up. I’m like, there’s just no way. I’m not hearing this correctly. And I mean, it’s a little bit of a longer story how he ended up proving to me that I was to be a hygienist, but it was a miraculous, you are going to be a dental hygienist.

Heather:
And when he did that, I had such peace. Like, okay, he totally put me here and there is a reason behind this. And it’s been such an awesome career for me. I mean, having twins, in dentistry, you have great hours. I mean, you can work one day a week up to five days a week. It’s really been a blessing. I’ve been [inaudible 00:26:09]

Adam DeGraide:
Maybe I do want to be a dental hygienist. Are they hiring?

Heather:
People?

Adam DeGraide:
I do like people. I do like people.

Heather:
Yeah. Great. I love it.

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, and I think one of the nice things about being a dental hygienist or a dentist is, I’m working in their mouth and they can’t talk back to me, so they just have to listen to my nonsense for 30 minutes.

Heather:
They’ll try.

Adam DeGraide:
They got to listen to my nonsense for 30 minutes without interrupting me. That would be very fascinating. I give you all the credit in the world because, and I think some people listening to this podcast, because you’ve talked about your faith more than anybody I’ve ever had on the podcast. And we’re not opposed to that, by the way. I’ve had on agnostics, and I don’t care. I love talking to people and entrepreneurs of all shapes, sizes and walks of life. You talk about your faith as if it’s this person that you’re talking to. And I think there might be some people listening that don’t really understand that connection, because they’ve never done that. I mean, do you really feel like you hear God?

Heather:
Absolutely. And the Bible says that my sheep know me and they hear my voice. He’s always talking, it’s whether or not we’re even listening. I mean, people will say, well you’re crazy. Jesus doesn’t talk to people. Well, was Dr. Martin Luther King crazy? Because Jesus talked to him too. He’s just [inaudible 00:27:34]

Adam DeGraide:
I think anybody who does great things has to be a little crazy. What I mean by that is, crazy is as crazy does, and when you… Dr. Martin Luther King is a great example. I mean, he had a dream. He believed God gave it to him. And then he had the courage in the guts to actually go live out that dream and he changed the world.

Heather:
He did.

Adam DeGraide:
That takes a little bit of crazy. I always tell people, there’s two types of crazy. There’s bad crazy and good crazy. I got a little bit of both. And at the end of the day, it does, you have to be a little bit crazy to get up at 3:00 in the morning, stuff packets with mouthwash and toothpaste, go to work on people’s saliva, come home and make toothpaste in your kitchen, because you believe some higher power told you to do that. The average person listening to this and watching this is going to say, that’s a little crazy. But crazy is genius because at the end of the day, if you didn’t do it, we wouldn’t be here. People’s mouths would be dying all over the world and you’re trying to help them. Do you have help right now? Are you still in that really difficult place?

Heather:
It’s me and my husband. [inaudible 00:28:55]

Adam DeGraide:
Okay, so you do have help.

Heather:
Yeah. We call him the warehouse manager. In our home, we have a, it’s a tandem garage. It’s a three car garage, but the first two spaces are tandem. We actually converted the one part of the garage and it’s all air conditioned and we have all of our product there. It’ll get shipped from Orlando into our warehouse. My husband does all of that and he helps me pack and ship.

Adam DeGraide:
Have you ever looked into, I know there’s companies now that’ll store that stuff for you and ship it for you and they’ll manage the whole process. Does it make the price point tough on the customer?

Heather:
It does. Right now, because everything that I’ve done, I started out with one product. Well, I have 10 now. Everything that I have made has gone right back into the business. Technically, we’re not profitable, because doing the whole what Bezos did with Amazon, is that those 10 years, he put everything back into the business. And so, that’s what I’ve done. And I just launched a new line and there’s so much that goes into launching a new line and you’ve got to do testing, shelf stability and all of this [inaudible 00:30:09]

Adam DeGraide:
You got to make sure that people don’t die when they use the product [inaudible 00:30:13].

Heather:
The FDA does make it difficult. Although, in the cosmetic realm, which oral care products are considered cosmetics, it is a little bit easier, but still there’s all this stuff that you don’t realize goes into making a product and launching a product. And so, I just cut costs however I can. And I just-

Adam DeGraide:
If you were going to do it again, because I know there’s people listening right now that have an idea and they’re like, I don’t even know where to start to get my idea manufactured. Obviously, they probably have worked, they’re working on it themselves right now. Some formula of something. What would you have done differently if you were to go back and do it again?

Heather:
Hmm. I think what I would have done, because I was so excited with my toothpaste and stuff, I just started to sell it before I had done any shelf stability testing or anything. Then I had to change my formulation. I had put a product out there and then I changed it. I originally started out in a jar and then this… Oh my gosh, ordering from China can be an absolute nightmare because I ordered one type of tube and got another and then I was stuck with that tube and it was like… Then I had to change again. That’s not good. When you have a product, you don’t want to be making changes like this because you have people that like [inaudible 00:31:36]

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah, people that started to use it and they like it, so they’re…

Heather:
Yeah, and then I changed it on them, but I had no choice. I would say, make sure that your formulation is really perfected before you do something crazy like me and just put it out there.

Adam DeGraide:
Yeah. That’s great. That’s great. Well, we got to take another break, and when we come back, I got a fun question to ask you and then we’re going to switch gears and talk a little bit about courage, because we want to inspire people that have great ideas in their businesses, and maybe they have a new product for their business that they haven’t launched yet. We want to give them a little kick in the fanny to get them going. You’re with Heather the Hygienist, Adam Degraide, your host of the David vs. Goliath podcast. Here’s another message from another great sponsor. We’ll be right back.

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Adam DeGraide:
And we’re back with Heather the Hygienist and Adam Degraide. The handsome host is what I’ve been. I don’t know where that came from. It just rolls off the tongue now. And although, I watch these things back and I say, man, I’ve got to work on myself, but that’s the best part. Now, Heather, I find this fascinating. I find humanity in general fascinating, because you would assume that a hygienist that is concerned about cleanliness and the health of the mouth would be concerned about cleanliness everywhere. One of the questions we have on this little sheet here for people when they come on is, do you collect anything? And you said, honestly, as I think about this one, I must be totally boring. Other than my house collecting dust because I hate to dust, I would say no. And I say to myself, this is fascinating. Humans in general are fascinating. Cleanliness to you, anti-dusting of the teeth, is critical, but dust around the house, not a big deal. How would you describe that to people?

Heather:
I am a clean freak, really. I just don’t like dusting. I just hate it. But I do [inaudible 00:34:36]

Adam DeGraide:
Why do you hate dusting? Is it a little tick or something that… Because dusting to me is like, you’re just moving things around and…

Heather:
I do. To me, it’s pointless because it’s just going to settle right back. It’s like, why am I wasting my time? [inaudible 00:34:52]

Adam DeGraide:
Well, why should I brush my teeth? It’s just going to get dirty again.

Heather:
Oh, no, no, no. Oh no, that’s not going to fly. No, no, no. Sorry.

Adam DeGraide:
I know, but this is my point. This is why I love humanity because we are filled with contradictions and things in life. And that’s not, I’m not… By the way, I’m having a little fun with you here, obviously. But we all have our things that we like to do more than other things and dusting is not your thing. But cleaning mouths is your thing. Now, when you made this decision and you heard that voice in your mind and you were convinced that God gave you this idea for Simply Silver Mouthwash, there’s a big difference between getting the idea, hearing that calling in the back of your mind and in your heart and in your soul, and then actually doing it.

Adam DeGraide:
There’s a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt that surrounds people that have that burning desire they know they’re supposed to do something besides what they’re doing. And even non-Christians and people that aren’t religious have this, by the way, because I believe God talks to everyone. And I believe that people are given these ideas and these sparks of wisdom and enlightenment for the betterment of their families and the betterment of society at large. But there’s something that happens in that person where they can get gripped with fear and they never move forward. Now for you, it was just purely the fact that you knew you were convinced and you heard from God and that was what made you go forward. Am I assuming that correctly? Or was it something else? Was there another intangible for you that said I’m going to do this and no matter what?

Heather:
That’s true, but there were times when I was like, did I really hear from him? Because it was so difficult. And like I said, I couldn’t manufacture in Florida and I did start to have a lot of doubt. Like, am I crazy? I mean, was this really from you, God? And then I have a great friend, her husband is a pastor, and I went to their per meeting one night. And this lady that I didn’t know, she started to say the craziest thing. She started to say, and she said it three times. She said mega in the marketplace. And she said mega in the marketplace three times. And then she looks at me and she goes, I don’t know what you have, but God has said whatever it is, it’s mega in the marketplace. And do you know, I have stood on that word because this woman didn’t know me from Adam, and for her [inaudible 00:37:22]

Adam DeGraide:
No pun intended, folks. [inaudible 00:37:26] No pun intended.

Heather:
No, no pun intended at all. But that, I have really, I have stood on that because I know that I am right where I’m supposed to be. And so, sometimes things don’t work out the way that we think that they should. Maybe I need to let go of the whole, Whole Foods and Sprouts thing, because I had been trying so hard and focusing on [inaudible 00:37:50]

Adam DeGraide:
I wouldn’t give up on it yet, but to your point, [inaudible 00:37:53] don’t slow down. We don’t slow down vision because other people can’t see ours.

Heather:
Right.

Adam DeGraide:
By the way, I’m going to say that again. You don’t slow down your vision because other people can’t see yours. You have to push through it because if you have vision and you have a direction, you walk in it, and before you know it, you will get there. And the clouds do settle, the sun does go away, but just keep walking in that direction that you first found. And before you know it, the clouds will clear, the sun will shine, and then there you are. You’ll be in Whole Foods smiling, with your silver product that is no longer the devil, and… People are so cra- I mean, honestly. One of the things I’ve learned in the last two years is that most of us are nuts. I think that’s basically where I’m at, but there’s still hope because we can become sane once again. And I believe that that’s going to happen for our world and our society. You have to, otherwise, what’s the point?

Adam DeGraide:
Now, for somebody that’s not religious, that doesn’t have that backbone, they still deal with the same types of things of courage. And obviously you would say, hey, you should definitely look into that, and I’m not saying they shouldn’t, but is there any other practical advice? When you were going through, besides just going to those prayer meetings, there had to be practical things that you did, whether that be get up and work hard. To me, one of the things that I’ve always learned is that whether I’m feeling it spiritually or not, I always find that just having a great work ethic, getting up and walking in that direction makes a huge difference. Is there any other advice that you would give to somebody, besides your personal faith?

Heather:
I would say be objective too, when it comes to criticism of your product, because you might really, really like something, but then the feedback that you’re getting is not what you were expecting. You have to be willing to adjust and maybe go back to the drawing board and say, okay, well, what is it that I can do to make this product better? I’m getting feedback that is maybe not what I was anticipating, but there’s got to be a way to maybe still accomplish what it is that you’re trying to accomplish, but maybe you just got to look at it from a different viewpoint.

Adam DeGraide:
Oh, I like that.

Heather:
And be flexible because I think sometimes we can be our own worst enemy, where we’re so gung ho and dogmatic, but then we’re not taking that criticism about, okay, well, I really need to look into this because I’m getting all this feedback on this particular thing, so I need to readjust.

Adam DeGraide:
It’s interesting that you said look at it at a different angle, because I remember back when we used to have DVDs, nobody… I mean, some people still have DVDs. I had the largest DVD collection you can imagine. And I remember on DVDs, there became a special feature at one point where you could switch the camera view of a scene. And all of a sudden, when you would watch that scene again, it would be a completely different feel. And one of the things I’ve always trained my sales individuals on is when they’re running into a barrier of nos, you can’t just keep pounding the same door that you’re getting the no on. You have to sometimes say, oh, one second, and you got to push a button and you got to come in through the window because at the end of the day, if you can’t help the person see from a different angle, they are not seeing the full picture.

Adam DeGraide:
And to your point as a business owner, and if you own your own business, which I know many of you who watch and listen to David vs. Goliath, you already have very successful businesses. If you are getting feedback that is not necessarily what you like to hear, or maybe what you don’t have yet, look at it from your customers’ perspective, put yourself in their shoes, look at it from their camera angle and say, Hmm, what can I do to make this better to serve the community at large? And you said something great. Try not to be too prideful because, especially with a guy like me, I think I’m right 99.9% of the time, and I probably am, but see, and that’s my problem. It’s a strength, but it can also be a blind spot to me of listening to what the customer’s telling me as well, too. That’s really, really awesome advice, Heather. Heather the Hygienist, have you had fun being on the David vs. Goliath podcast?

Heather:
I did. It’s been great. Absolutely.

Adam DeGraide:
How can people find your product and tell them a little bit about that quickly.

Heather:
They can go to my website, it’s www.simplysilvermouthwash.com. I do consultations as well. I know so many people, like a hundred million people don’t go to the dentist a year. I do consultations. You can book with me. You can order my products. I do public speaking. I really am just so passionate about teaching people the importance that true health starts with your mouth. You can find me on Amazon. I am in a lot of private independent stores, mainly in Florida, but always through my website. Definitely reach out that way.

Adam DeGraide:
I love it. I love it. I think you’d be a fantastic speaker. You clearly have passion for clean teeth and a healthy mouth, and I think people have really enjoyed your story. I know that I personally have enjoyed spending some time with you and I will be making an order, if not today, some day soon when I run out of my other natural healthy stuff and my horrible toxins are gone. This has been another amazing episode of the David vs. Goliath podcast, where you get education, inspiration, and hopefully most of all, activation. We’ll see you next week. Have an awesome day.