 Hello everybody, Andrea Maesky here. Okay, so before I continue on with the video where I will be talking about the pros and cons that I have experienced so far in owning my own business, a dental hygiene mobile business, check out this sample that I got of a mask. Do you love it? Do you hate it? I hate it personally. I think I look like a robber. Like I don't know why any dental professional will want a black mask. I'm so glad that I got a sample because you think, I'm gonna take that off now, you think at least I thought that a black mask would look, you know, nice. Well, like because I wear black pants and a black lap coat as my uniform. So I thought, oh, well, this would actually match really, really well, you know, like a black mask with my black uniform. But honestly, I feel like I look like a robber, but let me know what you guys think in the comment. Do you love the black mask? Do you hate the black mask? I'm kind of curious. I won't be wearing one. I feel like I would scare my patients. So I won't be wearing it, but let me talk to you guys. And sorry, it's so funny. Every time I do my videos, I feel like my hair is so messy yet I just look in the mirror before, but I don't notice the messiness. But anyways, you guys don't care about my hair. Let's talk about the hurdles that I have experienced so far owning my own practice as a dental hygienist, as an independent dental hygienist, the things people don't talk about. And, you know, I've been doing it now since October, November. It's been it's been a while. It's March now. So I mean, not a super long time, but long enough where the hurdles that I'm experiencing now weren't the same as I experienced when I first started, right? So number one, and I think I've even talked about this before, it's really hard being a mobile dental hygienist because you have to lug your stuff in and out. I have cut back a lot. Like I used to carry my piezo, my like large compressor tub, where all of like the water saliva goes into. I would keep my piezo, that tub, my gloves, the disinfectant solution, like in a big carry-on bag. So I would have that. And then I would have a little like carry-on luggage where I would keep all of my instruments, like any extras that I might need, like extra masks, gloves, instruments, saliva ejectors, air water syringe tips, you know, like cheek retractors, bleaching stuff, just everything, right, in that carry-on. But now what I've done is I have gotten a larger luggage. So that carry-on luggage, everything that was in there, I put it in the larger one. Plus my piezo, my compressor tub, all of that that I had in the carry-on bag, I now put that also in my larger luggage. So that's just one less, or sorry, two less things that I have to carry. The luggage is larger, but it's on wheels. So it's awesome. But that's the hardest part, is just kind of lugging things in and out. And it's not even that bad. Like it's not that it's heavy, it's just I have two hands, two arms, that's it. So I need to make about three trips, three or four trips from my car to the patient's house. So I always like it when they have a porch, because then I can just leave my stuff on the porch. I ring the doorbell or knock on the door to let them know that I'm here, and then I bring my stuff in that way. That's easier. But if they don't have a porch, I don't just want to leave all my stuff on their front lawn, knock on the door and say I'm here, right? So that's the hardest part. And then by the time I get in, I'm kind of tired, but I still have to unload everything, right? And that takes about 20 minutes. That's it. But first I take out the patient chair, I take out my stool, I take out my compressor unit and set that up. Then I take out my like, I have two folding side tables. And I do list all of this actually inside my mobile RDH Academy course. So if you're thinking about opening up your own practice, I have all of that information for you. It's awesome. I wish I was able to take a course when I was first starting because I had so many questions, but that's why I like to offer it to other people. So if you're thinking about starting your own business, you need that course because I list everything that I have, where I bought it, the price, everything. Love it, right? But yeah, so I bought these two awesome like portable side tables that can collapse. So I said those up next. I put my trays on there, put on my piezo on one, and then my like instrument set up on the next one. It helps to be organized, trust me. So it seems like a lot, but it's not a lot, but it is. But that's the hardest part is just lugging in everything. You're tired. And then you have to set everything up. And then you're tired because you had to take everything out, set it up. So the easy part to me is cleaning the teeth. That makes me happy when I can finally stop, talk to the patient and clean the teeth. It would be great to have an assistant to lug in everything for me set up. And then while she or he is setting up, I can talk to the patient about the medical history. I can even get started. Like I could even just have like a table with the instruments out, start to clean the teeth and my assistants like setting up around me. That'd be awesome. Something I definitely want to look into. But that's the hardest part, you guys. Another hurdle that I've come across is I talked about the whitening system that I use in office. I just uploaded a video on that, actually, but I find it does work. But all of my patients have been sensitive so far. If they use Sensodyne before they whiten with me, which I do recommend, they're not sensitive, which is awesome. So Sensodyne works. But 95% of the time they forget. They didn't think it was a big deal. So I do the whitening and they almost tell me to stop. Like after the third and final application, they're like, it's really sensitive. Can you get this off? You know, so I've been looking into different whitening systems and for the best cost too. I want a whitening system that works but doesn't cost a fortune because I don't want to charge my patients a fortune either. I want to give them a good product that doesn't contain sensitivity, but that I don't have to charge them $500 for. The in-office system that I was using, I was charging. If they had a cleaning with me, it was only $150 to whiten in office. If they didn't, it was $200, which I should have actually charged more like maybe $250. But it costs about to buy at cost about $90 a patient. I think. I don't remember. It's been a while, but I seem to remember thinking at the time, okay, this is going to cost me $90 per patient. So I need to be charging more than that to actually make it worth my time because especially being a mobile hygienist, me traveling to them is my time, right? Each appointment is one hour long. Whining a half an hour, but if they're having a cleaning, that is one hour long for the cleaning. 20 hours to set up, or sorry, 20 hours, 20 minutes to set everything up, and then 20 minutes to tear it down. That's about 40 minutes, right? Like take or leave like five minutes or so. But you always have to talk to the patient first for a good like five minutes, their medical history. So it's a two hour appointment that I'm there, right? It is, if you think about it. So two hours, it needs to be worth my time too, right? So that's just kind of something that I'm looking into is different whitening systems because I want to also offer a take home whitening system for patients who do want to save some money and do it at home over a longer period of time. So I've been looking into that. My patient care, that is a hurdle a little bit. So I did tell you guys, and sorry, allergies again. I did tell you guys in some videos that I had ordered a zero gravity chair from Amazon, which is awesome by the way, simply because it's good for up to 350 pounds. And I did need something like that. I needed something portable because I am in and out. I needed something that I could carry. So obviously my chair choices are different than for somebody who has their own like own practice, right? Like I'm mobile, I go to people's houses. So I needed something portable. But the chair is so wide, you know, that I can't get close to my my patients. So I'm cleaning like this. Not good for your back and shoulders. I haven't noticed pain. But as I'm cleaning and like trying to adapt, I'm thinking this isn't good for me. I need a new chair. So I'm looking into a new chair. The dental convention in Toronto is in May. So I kind of want to see if they have any chairs there. But it's March now. It's probably better if I don't break my back. And I should really look for a new chair there before then. But finding a portable chair, you guys is hard. Like if you guys find some, let me know. I've been looking on eBay, which is great. But you have to pay customs. You have to pay customs and things like that. And I don't know if I want to do that. Sorry, it's you know, it's like I don't know if like how much customs are going to be, it could be $100, it could be $200. And what if I don't like the chair, right? So I kind of want to sorry, my eyes are watering like crazy. I promise I'm not sick. It's just allergies. So I kind of want to be able to see these chairs first. So I don't know. So that's a definite hurdle. I'm looking for a new chair, but chairs are like 700 bucks. So I don't know, we'll see. But those are kind of the main ones. Everything else is working amazing. Patients love the intraoral camera. That's like the best expense that I had ever done. Oh, another hurdle, my new pro freedom handpiece. I bought the real stat attachment for it. It doesn't work like I'm supposed to be able to sync the attachment to the handpiece, but I can't. I know technology like I'm not like I'm pretty good with technology. I can kind of fix anything. But I can't figure out how to sync the foot pedal to the new pro freedom handpiece. And as I'm thinking about it, like that's just one more thing for me to have to carry with my patients. And one more thing that I have to kind of step on because when I'm cleaning the teeth, if I'm using the piezo and my and the suction at the same time, I need to step on the foot pedal for the piezo. And I have to step on the foot pedal to run the suction. So that's two hands, sorry, two hands. That's two feet. And that's kind of hard, actually. I mean, you get used to it. Like it took me a second. Sorry, guys, no, I have something in my eye. I'm falling apart today. It took me kind of a couple minutes to get used to it. But if I have to have the real stat for the new pro freedom handpiece, I'll have to put that on the floor so I don't step on that accidentally. If I'm trying to run the piezo and suction at the same time, so I kind of want to take that back. And that's about a $400 like attachment. Seriously, I'm not kidding. It does work better in the sense that I can control the power of it better. But for 400 bucks, that can buy me a new chair. I think I am going to take it back. I'm going to send the rep an email right after I do the video. And I think I'm going to take that back. So yeah, guys, those are kind of the main ones, but all in all, owning your own business is the best thing ever. Okay, everybody's hesitant about the cost. But again, inside my mobile RDA Academy course, I talk about the cost. I talk about how to save money. I talk about what I bought that I maybe didn't have to buy or things that I should have bought right away that were on sale, but I didn't because I didn't know if I would want it. So I talk about all of that. I talk about loans. I talk about how to get started. And if it's worth it for you, you know, because I do know actually many hygienists now that started their own practice and they gave it a year and they gave up. So and I kind of feel like I knew that they would be that hygienist to give up because they just didn't have the attitude of I'm going to do whatever it takes. You're not going to see 10 patients a day every day starting off. No office does. It takes time. You have to market. You have to advertise. You have to be a good hygienist. You have to purchase things that you might not want to purchase per se, like as an example, the disinfecting like containers. You can't buy one. You have to buy like five. So your business starting out, you might be saying, I don't want to spend like over $100 on disinfecting wipes. Well, you have to, you know, so you have to have the attitude of you're not going to give up and you're going to do amazing. So but let me know if you guys need help. Okay. But all in all, I love it. I can't wait to be doing it full time and be seeing my own patients helping my own patients, being able to see them do amazing and love their dental cleanings and whitening. So hope this helped you guys. I'm going to go blow my nose and oh my God, my allergies are horrible today. I apologize, but I didn't want to hop on to say hello. So thank you guys so much for watching. Any questions? Let me know and let me know honestly, what do you think about this mask? Would you wear a black mask? I'm not going to scare my patients, but let me know if you think it looks nice, if you think it looks cool. Like, do you think I look okay? I don't know. Let me know you guys. Thank you for watching. Bye.