Enter Dr. Brandon Prior - startup founder, owner of 100 West Dental in St. Louis, TikTok dentist you know and love (even those of us who don’t care to admit just how many of his videos we’ve seen…you know who you are).
Today I sat down with Dr. Prior for a down-to-earth chat about where he’s at after opening his new practice in the midst of COVID-19 and all that launching a new business entails. Although there were some ups and downs, as with any new venture, he chose to take on the advice of our mentor and coach, Alastair McDonald, to weather the storm.
“Do what you can control, that’s really all you can do.”
With a successful launch and having received positive feedback from the community, Dr. Prior continues to have strategic foresight for his practice - envisioning what he wants the future to look like. Creating a successful business is one thing, but creating one that is significant can revolutionize the way we think about and approach entrepreneurship.
Still in the beginning stages of his practice, Dr. Prior wanted to find a way to give back from within the dental industry. Once he found the mission he was passionate about, he didn’t need to wait to start making a difference. From the start, 100 West Dental has partnered with Healing Action, a non-profit organization committed to offering an assortment of services to help the healing process for survivors of sex trafficking.
“Trying to give back and find fulfillment in what I’m doing, not just running a business and making money…finding purpose.”
From donating money for every new patient acquisition, to helping with emergency and preventative care, to offering a yearly free smile makeover for an individual in need - Dr. Prior and his team are humbly doing what they can with what they have to impact the lives of others.
We, of course, had to get into his increasingly popular TikTok account he’s become known for over the last few months. Once the social platform began picking up with the pandemic, Dr. Prior jumped on the bandwagon and decided to push out fun and lighthearted content to start breaking up the preconceived notions about dentists.
“You don’t have to do any of that to have a successful dental office…but I wanted to send a message to people [to show] what we’re about and what it’s like to be here.”
When you put the marketing mindset on the back burner, you can see the real value in making genuine connections and having authentic interactions through social media. He creates videos to humanize dentists and show the type of experience you can expect when you walk through the door. Maybe not a dancing welcome committee, but would you take the chance of missing that if it ever happened?
Follow along with Dr. Prior on social media at @priordmd or @100westdental.
