Cassie Kellner [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Bloom Effect.
Cassie Kellner [00:00:02]:
I'm your host, Cassie Kellner, former chairside assistant turned team coach and founder of Everbloom. This podcast is all about the real stuff. Honest convos, leadership lessons, and the heart behind thriving orthodontic teams. If you're ready to grow, lead and
Cassie Kellner [00:00:19]:
bloom, let's dive in. Welcome to The Bloom Effect. I'm your host, Cassie Kellner, and this guest. Oh, this guest. Okay. Dr. Jorden Mortensen. Okay, so I don't know if you know this Jorden, but you are my very first general dentist guest.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:00:43]:
Am I?
Cassie Kellner [00:00:43]:
That's.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:00:44]:
I'm honored. I'm honored. Yes. That's awesome.
Cassie Kellner [00:00:46]:
That's a big deal. So, Jorden, thank you so much for being here with me. I'm so, so excited for this conversation.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:00:55]:
Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm happy to be here, Cassie. I'm excited about what we're going to talk about, but yes, honestly, I'm honored. The first GP here.
Cassie Kellner [00:01:02]:
That's great.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:01:03]:
I know.
Cassie Kellner [00:01:04]:
Okay, so are you ready for this? The question everyone, like, either sweats or they're prepared for it. It's totally up to you. Okay, ready? Here we go.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:01:15]:
Yeah.
Cassie Kellner [00:01:16]:
Who is Dr. Jorden Mortensen?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:01:21]:
Oh, that is a good question. It's a loaded question.
Cassie Kellner [00:01:24]:
I know.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:01:25]:
Who. All right. You know, I would consider myself just. I am a small town kid, Cassie. I'm a small town kid who grew up in small town Florida on a very large cattle ranch. And I had a church leader who was a dentist, and he inspired me to go into dentistry. And here I am, a dentist serving small town Texas. And I would say I'm just a small town kid who, who honestly, I'm just a. I'm a small town kid at heart who. Who happened to get into healthcare, specifically dentistry, and honored to be here. I think I bring a lot of my small town values with me. But yeah, I'm a small town kid who happens to be a dentist.
Cassie Kellner [00:02:08]:
Okay. So, you know, I'm from a very small town. I think we, we. We kind of nerded out on this in our. Like, we have a lot in common, which I think there was such a cool connection when we first connected. You are from a small town. So am I. And I feel. And I live in New England now, so the small farming community I grew up in is very different than this New England vibe I have going on. I mean, but I love that. And I agree. Like, there's, in my opinion, like, there's just something different about your upbringing when you grow up. One in like a farming community. I, there's just, I mean, I can't explain it. And you know, I'm from California, but when I, and when I tell people that because I live in New England, they're like, oh. They immediately think la, San Diego. Like, you're this California girl. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Know, I am from Farmville, USA, Northern California, where there's nothing but fields and farming and animals.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:03:21]:
Gorgeous.
Cassie Kellner [00:03:22]:
Yes. So anyway, I, I love that. And I also didn't know that you were influenced by someone in your church to become a general dentist.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:03:34]:
Yeah, yeah, there was, he was a general dentist. And you know, he, when his son who was my age was playing high school basketball, he actually worked part time as a dentist and then coached his son in high school basketball. And I thought that was just so cool. I'm like, what an interesting career because, you know, I was surrounded by cowboys. You know, my dad is, you know, he's an accountant and he was an accountant on the ranch I grew up on. But I just thought, like, what, and what an awesome life to like, be a dentist and provide, but then have the opportunity to go coach your son. And so I just thought, I was just fascinated by the career and life that he led. And that was my inspiration to get into dentistry was this, you know, this man that when he was, was providing great care to his patients, but also being a great dad. And I was just like, I was inspired by that. And so that was kind of a little bit of the, at least the, the beginning, you know, story interest. Yeah. Of getting into dentistry. Absolutely.
Cassie Kellner [00:04:31]:
Oh, my gosh. Okay. Can we talk about your journey? Because, you know, also I, I love to actually just kind of put this together. I love that you grew up in a small town. Do you currently live in a small town?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:04:45]:
Small, kind of a smallish, you know, we're just on the outskirts of dfw, so we're like the last like, town before it becomes just open fields. And so, I mean, in all reality, it's like we, we still kind of feel like we, we're, we're not part of the metro, at least everybody in the community would say. But you can, you can feel the growth going on, though.
Cassie Kellner [00:05:03]:
Yeah.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:05:03]:
Like every, you know.
Cassie Kellner [00:05:05]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, same. Okay, okay, let's, can we talk about your journey? Because I, I, I'm amazed by it. You started with one practice.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:05:17]:
Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:05:18]:
And then you had a moment Right. Where you were like, oh, wait a minute, there's more to this. Was that always the goal to go from one to where you currently are right now.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:05:37]:
You know, I definitely. The business side of dentistry was where my passion was. I would say, okay, you know, when I got into, you know, when I was in dental school and you know, I went to a private dental school, graduated in 2019, but I remember my D1, D2 year, like spending a lot of time building out spreadsheets, trying to figure out how am I going to pay back my student loans. And when I, when I had this realization that I was like, okay, I've got to be into the business of dentistry if I'm going to pay back my student loans. And so I just went like head first and dove in to try to learn everything I could about the business of dentistry and ended up buying a practice right out of school. You know, and I talked to 12 different banks, finally found one banker that I convinced to give me a loan. And they gave me some stipulations. They said, all right, all right, Jorden, you've got to pick up a part time job and then you also have to have the seller carry part of the note. And if you can, you know, so if you can find that opportunity, come talk to us. And we're pretty sure we can get it underwritten for you. And so I did. I was just like, all right, great, you give me the rules, I'll go find it, I'll do it. And so I, you know, I went to school in Salt Lake in Utah, and so I took every $100 frontier flight between Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. Austin is kind of where I decided I wanted to, you know, start my journey. And I met with all the brokers in Austin and looked at a lot of different practices and finally found one that was downtown Austin, Texas. We're talking in the SOCO district of South Austin. And bought my first practice directly out of school. I was, you know, I was broke. You know, like the weeks leading up to closing, I slept in my car in a Walmart parking lot. Just like, just trying to like, what a story. It was just my story of just hustling. And I knew this stewardship of being a business owner. I was like, I just got to save as much money as I can. You know, I was, I had two young kids at the time and so my wife and the two kids were staying at my in laws in Houston and I was just doing my thing in Austin and I had to go see them on the weekends. But we ended up closing on the practice in July after I had graduated in May. And then I slept in the Practice in an open operatory that we had. We had a little couch in there, and I would wake up and go to the gym in the morning, and then before my team would show up, and then I'd, like, I'd shower at the gym, and then I'd come back into the office like I had just gotten there, and we would have our day. And that is my intro into dental practice, ownership, and entrepreneurship. And incredibly grateful for that journey because it gave me appreciation to what it takes to grow a dental practice, and then also a little bit of the sacrifice to get there. Like, I was now a dentist, you know, quote unquote. But, like, there I was, you know, I was just trying to. Just trying to survive.
Cassie Kellner [00:08:35]:
Yes.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:08:36]:
And. And so that was my entry point into dentistry. Like I said, I was a 2019 graduate. And so, you know, nearly 10 months later, Covid hits us. Ten months later, I mean, eight months later, we're slapped with COVID and, you know, you've got the state board rule, you know, they're rolling out new rules to say we can only provide, you know, emergency care. And here I am as this new grad, just trying to, like, figure out, how do I. How do I survive this? You know? And like many of us experience, like, dentistry, you know, once we got through those that kind of regulatory period, dentistry got really busy. I ended up buying a second practice in Austin that was just a couple blocks away from me. It was. The whole deal was seller financed, and we merged his practice into mine, and we grew that practice tremendously. I had two associates there, and we grew to a point where I had removed myself out of the chair and started looking for other opportunities. And then from that point, from 2020, I saw that all the opportunities, Cassie, that I saw popping up, that I was most interested, they were the small town practices. They were the baby boomer doctors that, you know, they had their practice that they had been working in for decades. And it. They, these practices, they looked like the 70s. They smelled like the 70s. You know, they had the popcorn ceiling and the crow's foot texturing on the walls, you know? Yes. And I fell in love with them. I was just like, man, these people, these patients that they're serving, they're my people. Like, I mean, that's where I grew up. Like, I, you know, as I first I went and shadowed one of these practices, and I'm like, these are my people. And I fell in love with small town dentistry. And so since that moment, you know, you know, we're talking 2020, we kind of got through that with my Austin practice and grew it. And then in 2021, I have since purchased six more locations in small town dentistry, you know, small town Texas. And I have really found my passion and strategy, which is small town dentistry. We go in and we revitalize the space. We'll scrape down the popcorn ceiling, we'll take off the wallpaper, we put in, you know, nice.
Cassie Kellner [00:10:46]:
Oh, developer machines. Please tell me there's developer there.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:10:50]:
Well, there are developer machines and we throw those directly into the trash. In fact, we have a, we have a new build going on right now where we're moving the location right next door. And so the old doctor, that's still my associate, we have a new doctor coming in to replace him here in a couple of months, but he still has his developer machine. So they're still developing like that's just, you know, dentistry. It's, that's just how they've always done it. And so I have found this passion behind bringing in, you know, digital sensors, Nomad, you know, the, the portable X ray units. We bring in a CBCT scanners and we just like bring the standard of care back up to where it's supposed to be in 2026. And honestly, it's been one of the, it's been a privilege to do that for these small towns. And we bring in a doctor, a doctor just that wants to be in small town, that wants to have the opportunity to not only have a few Invisalign starts, but then also, you know, same day, do some invisalign starts, some RPDs and extract a couple teeth and do a crown. Like they're doing everything in these small towns. And, and really my goal is, is I just want these residents in these small towns to feel like they don't have to travel an hour to two hours to the next biggest kind of city or area to receive the best care possible. I want them to feel like they can get it right there in these small towns. That's, that's my journey and that's where
Cassie Kellner [00:12:16]:
it like I feel all the feels, Jorden, because I am a small town girl and I grew up, you know, I had a lovely dentist who I adored and my mom still goes to them and his son has taken over and he's very, very tech savvy and all the things. So I didn't it, I mean actually that he's the reason my dentist was the reason why I wanted to go into dentistry. I was like the girl who, you know, like back in the day they had Like a, you pulled out a drawer and you got to pick a prize, whatever that crazy prize was, it was probably like a sticky hand or something, you know, But I was like, I don't want that. I would like some latex gloves so I can go home and play dentist with my cousins.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:13:01]:
That's awesome.
Cassie Kellner [00:13:02]:
Okay, Cassie. Like, so they gave me gloves. They were like in my bag every time, Every time. Because they knew how much I loved it. So, you know, the influence is real. And also that small town feel that people deserve these things, they absolutely do. Is also real, you know.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:13:22]:
You know, and it's, and it's not that these older doctors have bad intentions or, you know, they, they have hearts of gold and they've just tried to take care of their patients the best way they know how. But what they don't realize is that like, as much as they may say that, you know, my patients don't mind the goopy impressions, I promise you, when they have a, you know, a three minute scan of their mouth, they'll be like, oh, that was awesome. You know, it's just like, like the, the dentistry that we can provide, you know, nowadays is incredible. And so, you know, we're looking at getting, you know, some printing going, you know, being able to provide inlays and onlays and all these cool things that are coming out. But, you know, nonetheless, I digress. It's been a passion of mine to come into these small towns. And so that's what I do now is I, I am now completely non clinical, leading and guiding all my teams to just provide the best care possible. So I spend a lot of my time making sure systems are strong, checking in with my office managers, and then of course, making sure that my doctors feel supported. And so, you know, we have a wide array of doctors, some that are quite experienced and others that are, you know, recently out of school. And so they all need different, you know, mentoring opportunities and guidance. And I do my best to kind of stay with my lane. I know what, I only know what I know. Like, you know, being a 2019 grad, I think many, many dentists may still consider me a baby dentist. And so I know what I know and I do what I do very well. And so I can mentor them through those things. And then of course, we have other dentists that I've reached out to to help, you know, mentor my doctors as well. But it's, it's been my, my passion to be in small towns and, and we're going to continue growing, you know, we have Our seventh location under contract at the moment. And we're just going to continue forward, making sure we're doing. But set up in a way that's. That's centered around systems so that, like, each office in a very. You know. And I know that speaks your language, Cassie. You do, but my eyes light up.
Cassie Kellner [00:15:19]:
It's like, yes.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:15:21]:
Yeah. But. But that really, it's the only way that scales and it's the only way that ensures that we can have a consistent patient experience across the offices is that these. That these offices are centered around systems. And when I say systems, in my world, I specifically mean checklists.
Cassie Kellner [00:15:37]:
Oh, Jorden. Okay. All right, here we go. Okay, wait. I. Before we go into this, because I actually did not know this beginning part of your story.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:15:45]:
Yeah.
Cassie Kellner [00:15:46]:
Also, I mean, okay, there's so many things I didn't know. One, I didn't know you had two children already when starting this journey. Your wife is an angel. Okay.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:15:57]:
She is the only reason I. I was able to do what I could do, you know, And. And we just. Like, I just. I've always been the dreamer, and I've always just expressed those dreams to my wife and to, you know, to. To give full credit to her. She has always supported me in those dreams. And I mean, honestly, I could not do what I do without her support. You know, we've had two more kids since then. We're done. We have four kids, and that's. That's it. But, like, you know, I. Honestly, it's. It's a. It's. I mean, and really, life is. That's what it's about. It's about the family, and it's about the kids, and it's about, you know, just helping them become great people. But along the way, I'm. I'm honored to have a career where I get to serve other people. But, like, she was the one that. I mean, honestly, she's the reason I was able to do everything that I'm doing and still have a strong family life and everything else.
Cassie Kellner [00:16:47]:
Right. All of it, like, all of it in this big, like, you know, I always sit on these pods and I know so much about my guests. Typically, then I find out these little nuggets and my mind is just blown right now that in a matter of seven years. At this point. You have seven years.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:17:08]:
Yeah. Which is crazy. It's crazy that much time has passed.
Cassie Kellner [00:17:11]:
That is wild that you have gone from sleeping in an operatory. Well, first, sleeping in your car. Okay. Sleeping in a car, knowing. And at such a young age. That you were like, hey, these student loans are real, by the way. Those are, that's still real for all these new grads.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:17:27]:
Like that is, I mean, it's, it's
Cassie Kellner [00:17:29]:
crazy, you know, and you're like, okay, I work so hard, I'm in school for so long, I have now all of this crazy school debt and now I'm going to go take out a wild loan if I want to start my own practice. And, and then I'm going to go, I hope this works.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:17:50]:
Right?
Cassie Kellner [00:17:50]:
I hope this works. I, you know, and that what you did, I think is so incredibly brilliant. So I hope people listening are really taking this in is like the business side of what you were doing. Not, not just the, the teeth side, right?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:18:06]:
Yes. And the teeth side, it's amazing. Once you go into ownership, you realize that like the teeth side of things is, is kind of becomes like your second worry. Like you're, you're worried about the, you know, the hr, making sure team members are happy, patients are having a good experience. And then when it comes to the dentistry, you're just like, all right, well you know, I'll, I'll do my best. Like, you know, that's like, it's amazing that, but there's all that has to be balanced and it's, it's incredibly tough.
Cassie Kellner [00:18:30]:
It is. And people don't have the money, you know, to be able to hire an office manager right out of the gate. So you are all the things immediately. Yeah, you know, and so, and for years people can't, you know, or don't hire management or have leadership teams or, you know, and so like they are single handedly the foundation. And so, you know, I think it's just so magical and incredible that you, you had this thought of business. You were like, oh no, I'm going to go to 12 banks, I'm going to sleep in an operatory. My. I, I am going to do it. And you know, it's just, it's just so incredible. And then now you are going in seven years, now you're going into your seventh practice and let's talk about the system piece because obviously that's where I geek out here as well. But for sure you had a point. At what point did you realize like, like, ooh, something like has to change for us operationally? Some. I've got to get something in here that is accountability, that is very transparent and clear and I need like a solid checklist foundation. When did that happen? Like what happened in your brain, in this entrepreneur brain? Because that is like, that doesn't shut off for all the entrepreneurs listening, for
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:20:12]:
all the entrepreneurs out there. It's like, you're always like, we have shiny object syndrome. It's like, oh, there's this idea and that idea. And it's like, yes. Yep.
Cassie Kellner [00:20:20]:
I can relate on so many levels. It's ridiculous. But at what point did you go, like, I need more and I'm gonna build it?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:20:31]:
Yeah, well, I mean, the building aspect was. We'll get into that for sure.
Cassie Kellner [00:20:37]:
Okay.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:20:37]:
All right. But I would say when I bought my second location, because it's one thing, Cassie, when I was able to be at my first location and we brought on the second doctor and I started to remove myself clinically in that moment, as I was removing myself clinically, all of a sudden I wasn't needed. The only reason I would be at my practice was to ensure that systems were followed. Hey, let's make sure our huddle goes correctly. To make sure that the office gets opened correctly. And they were still doing everything. But then in that moment, I realized, okay, there's another level that if I'm truly going to remove myself and purchase practice number two, location number two, like, I have to make sure that the team understands the expectations, because it's, you know, they were. They were doing everything. But we. I. I was introduced to a concept. This is actually early on. I. This is where I was first introduced to checklist. I'm not sure if I've told you this part. I. I got engaged to my wife my last year of my undergrad, and I worked at a gas station at night to pay for her ring. And the gas station at night was. He had a closing checklist. And there were, like, 30 things on that closing checklist. And if you did not initial it, you would get a phone call in the morning and be like, hey, I saw that you stocked the back fridge, but you didn't initial it. Please initial it tomorrow night. And I was just like, oh, yeah, no problem. Sorry, I forgot to do that, you know. And so I was first introduced to checklists working at this gas station at night. And so when I knew coming into dentistry and you start to study, like, the business of dentistry, it's very common to be like, hey, you know, you should have opening checklists. You should have closing checklists. You should have maybe downtime checklists of like, hey, you have a, you know, a cancellation. What do the assistants do during that time? You know, there needs to be, you know, checklists that keep your office, you know, in compliance with OSHA and The, you know, the radiograph, you know, you know, the radiograph equipment that you have, like, there's all these checks that you have to make sure you're in compliance with. And if I was truly going to remove myself, like the owner of that gas station did, you know, I was just like his, you know, his college, you know, his college employee that like, you know, just like did his closing shift. I needed to make sure that these checklists, but that also that we built a, that we built a culture around the checklists. And so when I saw how things were being done in the dental industry, it was like literally, Cassie, it was like, okay, build your checklist in a spreadsheet, print it off, and then you give it to your teams at the beginning of the week. There's gonna be things that they do on a daily basis. And so you kind of set it up in a weekly format where Monday they check it off and Tuesday they check it off. And so at the beginning of the week they're printing off their checklists and then they're holding themselves accountable in the back to get everything done. And then at the end of the week or the beginning of the week, you turn them in and print off new ones and you do it again. And so we started to build this culture around checklists and we started to say, okay, great, this is how we do at Hometown Dental Partners. And these are our checklists. And this is the opening checklist for the assistants in the back and for the front office desk, here's your opening checklist and vice versa, here's the closing checklist at the end of the day. And we started to build our systems around just like, hey, these recurring tasks that we do. And it's a one act play, you know, like, really, dentistry is this one act play. We put it on every single day. And if we can ensure that we've done everything that's within our power that like ensuring patients have a great experience coming up for tomorrow and everything else. Like, we've gotta make sure that these checklists get done every single day. And so we got together as a team, we built our checklists and then I would essentially print them all off for all the offices as I continued to grow. But Cassie, I so frustrated with printing these checklists off. Like, oh my goodness, like the administrative burden on my office managers and then on myself. And it was just like we had the desire, like, we just like, we were like, okay, hey, we wanted to, like, we, they wanted to print them off. But the moment that we all had like a Monday morning, you know, and we all know what those Monday mornings happen. And, you know, it's like, for some reason, the compressor turned on all last week, but then Monday morning, it's not turning on. Like, why? And it's just like. So the moment that we had a Monday morning where things didn't go as smoothly was the moment that the team didn't print the checklists off. And then it was the moment the team learned that things still went smoothly, although we didn't print those checklists off. And then operational drift would happen. They may remember to do everything, but then after a week or two, like, all of a sudden, like, things are getting forgotten and it's like, hey, did we run the sport test this week? I don't know. Did you run it? It's like, you know, and all of a sudden things start falling through the cracks. And so, you know, so, like, as we set into, like, a direction that we wanted the team to go, we learned that, like, without the checklist, operational drift happened and it's normal. It's almost expected as an entrepreneur that, like.
Cassie Kellner [00:25:33]:
And another layer to that, Jorden, is you hired someone new and they have no idea what they're.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:25:38]:
And they have no idea. Yeah, exactly. And it's. As you grow and it's like, yes, there's always. There's a little bit of team turnover. And I've been grateful that, you know, in the small towns, we've been able to keep things relatively, you know, stable as far as teams. But, yeah, there's.
Cassie Kellner [00:25:51]:
There's real turnover.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:25:53]:
Oh, it's totally real. And it should be expected.
Cassie Kellner [00:25:55]:
Yes.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:25:56]:
And so it's like, what culture are they coming into? Are they coming into a culture of, like, listen, we're going to just, like, you know, you're going to put your scrubs on and you're going to grab the suction and you're just going to figure things out and you'll just learn things as they go. Or are you coming into a system? Are you coming into, like, this beautiful symphony of, like, hey, here's your checklist. This is what you're going to do. And here's your collaborative checklist. And that we're all responsible for these things. And so, Cassie, I. I was kind of fed up with printing off the checklists. Ultimately, I gave my offices, like, two options. You can print them off or you can laminate, you know, you can laminate them and then you can just dry erase marker, you know, take a picture of them at the end of the week so that they're you know, so that they're logged with the picture and heaven knows where those pictures. Um, and, you know, and then you swipe it clean with the Kleenex and you're ready to go for the next week. So that was like, that was the easiest, least friction way that we were able to, like, finally implement this in a way that, like, didn't really let the Monday morning, you know, chaos derail our system. But I still wasn't satisfied. Like, I was just like, this still doesn't work. Like, there's still not a strong system around this. And so that's when I called a good friend of mine. And Cassie, you've met him, his name's Josh Dance. And he. He's the best and he the smartest person I know. And we geeked out. You know, we lived in the same apartment complex at school, and that's how I knew him. And I reached out to him and we just connected. And he had just recently gotten married and starting his family, and we just connected. And I said, hey, Josh, I know you probably get pitched a lot of things because he's a software developer. And I was like, hey, I have this idea. This is how I run my offices. It's this culture of checklists. And these are opening closing checklists. And they're collaborative in nature. You know, many times the back office office, you know, between the hygienists and the assistants, they're all responsible to making sure the sterilization room is clean. So, like, these are collaborative in nature. Sometimes they're individual by nature. But, like, there's. I haven't been able to find a digital solution that I'm happy with, you know, that works for me in a dental setting. And so. And he's like, jordan, like, we geeked out about checklist for a while. He, you know, he had just finished. He may have just finished reading the checklist manifesto for Just, like, random. But he's just. He, he, like, he referenced it frequently in our conversation. But yeah, so we. So, Cassie, we geeked out over these checklists. And then he brought up. He's like, jordan, this is a checklist software that you're asking to collaborate on. Like, every software developer, like, this is their first task of like, hey, learn how to code. And literally it's like, hey, let's build a checklist. And then you click it off and you can see that it checks off. And he's just like, this is like, there's a bajillion of these softwares out there, you know, And I know Your audience is very familiar with what you do and this, you know, and everything. Everything. And so I, I just told him, I'm like, hey, I don't think there's one out there. Like I'm describing, you know, that needs to be simple to use. Like, there's a reason why we ended up with a laminated sheet of paper. Because it was, it was agnostic to. Anybody could see it. You didn't have to log in to see it. You could. It just sat there front and center for everybody.
Cassie Kellner [00:29:03]:
Yeah.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:29:04]:
And I said, I think that's the challenge that we have in dentistry, is that most team members, most back office team members, specifically, they're patient centered. They are looking at their schedule, they're grabbing patients from the waiting room and they're coming in and, you know, and they are, you know, getting seated and they're taking care of them and doing their procedures and they're sending them home. And so there needs to be something that's front and center from a software standpoint that's easy to use, that's not complicated to use, where it's just like, they log in. And when I say log in, they literally, like, they click on their profile, like, that's it. Like, there's no, like, password anything. Like it's workstation acknowledge, and they check off what needs to be done, and then they go back to taking care of their patients. And so he did a lot of research. He went like, for weeks, he did a lot of research trying to figure out what is dentistry using. He came back and he's like, it just looks like dentistry is using a lot of printed off pieces of paper. And he's like, and I'm not seeing what we're. And so we collaborated, Cassie, and we built a software that is built for dentistry that it allows you to host your standard operating procedures and present those standard operating procedures in checklist form. That's simple for your team to understand that. Like, hey, here's the opening checklist, here's the closing checklist. In your downtime, please get these things done. And then on top of all that, here's some compliance items. And if you don't know how to do the spore test, here's a video that's associated with that to do on how to perform the spore test and where to send it off to. And it's like all of a sudden, when we do have a new assistant, they just simply get added to the software that I now use to manage all six of my locations, and they get assigned their Checklists, and then they just take care of their patients. And we have this beautiful culture of checklists and systems. And if they ever have a question on how things need to be done, they simply look and they can search it. They look at the TO DOS and the descriptions are all right there. And so that has kind of been the evolution of our systems is. I didn't like what was out there. And so I collected, collaborated with a very good friend and we partnered and built what is now known as Mint Checklist.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:14]:
Oh, Jorden. Okay, so. Oh, it's so magical. I can't even begin to start. Okay, okay, so here's what I love. Where do I begin? Look, my brain is like going crazy. Okay, here's the thing. I'm a task list nerd. We all know this.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:31:33]:
Like, we have connected over. Over this. Cassie.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:36]:
Yes. Like, do you know what a skylight calendar is, Jorden?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:31:40]:
Oh, yeah. My wife loves hers.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:42]:
Okay. Yes. So you and I.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:31:43]:
And you could put the pictures would be good. You can put the pictures on there. The kids love looking at them. Yes. Oh, yeah.
Cassie Kellner [00:31:49]:
So it also has a task list you can create for your children. My son, who is going to be seven this year, loves a task list. Oh, my God. It's my. It's me. He's me. You know, he comes home, he puts his backpack. He takes his lunch out of his backpack. He does the thing and then he. And go. And he get. He checks off. I just started doing this. He checks off backpack like he loves it. Then he gets stars for it. And it's like a thing.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:32:17]:
And there's a little celebr. They. They've done a good job with that product. It's. It's a great product.
Cassie Kellner [00:32:21]:
It's brilliant. Okay. But here's the thing. Consistency, transparency, it's all the same. And so here's the. The thing that you have created with me, Mint, is that it is incredibly simple and straightforward for practices who have everything going on in their worlds all day long. Right?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:32:49]:
Yeah.
Cassie Kellner [00:32:49]:
And you're continuing to build, which is like actually the magic behind what is happening, because it's really, really fun. However, it is one of the. The best products that I have seen from a checklist perspective to keep it clear and consistent and simple. And here's the thing that I've been talking, I've lectured on this for years, is keep it simple. And I say this, go back to the basics, keep it simple. Like, we've, we've layered on all of these things in our industries because. Because there is, again, shiny object Syndrome. I am guilty. Guilty as charged right here. However, when we go too far, where it's like. And then you can do this and this and this and this and this and this, and they're like, oh, my gosh, where do I even begin? I don't. This is too much. That isn't where Mint even starts. You can literally log into Mint and do all the things in a matter of minutes. Minutes. Because you guys have. It came from a dentist's brain, and I think that that is the difference, Jorden. That and it came from a developer who gets it right. So, like,
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:09]:
we spent a lot of time, like, making sure, like, hey, I need to make sure you understand what I'm looking for, because, like, it can't. It has to be simple. The moment there is friction involved with using it is the moment the team stops using it.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:23]:
Yep.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:23]:
And so it has to be simple. And so. And he's done a good job, like, hearing me out there, because, like, yeah, we've trialed and errored how to make sure it was simple. And it's, you know, with my teams, and we finally found something that works there. So.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:38]:
So you and I had a conversation last year.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:41]:
Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:41]:
We started talking last year. Right.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:43]:
We started talking. It's been a while. Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:45]:
Yeah. Okay. We.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:47]:
Yeah. Through. Through a random DM I sent you.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:49]:
Yeah, random dm.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:34:50]:
I was just like, hey, love what you're doing. Let's connect. Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:34:53]:
Yes. And we connected. And then there was, like, immediate. Josh was on the call too, and there was, like, immediate, where, like, my. My crazy entrepreneurial shiny object syndrome brain went.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:35:09]:
Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:35:10]:
Like, yes, yes, yes. So this is the fun, exciting announcement part. Are you ready?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:35:19]:
I'm ready. I'm ready.
Cassie Kellner [00:35:21]:
Okay. So Everbloom has spent months building Mint bundles for both orthodontic and dental practices we have created. At this point, we're at 25 plus checklists that people can plug and play. We've taken our checklist brain, me and my team, Our checklist brain brains, and created incredibly simple checklists with many descriptions on the how and why you need to be doing this, that people can plug and play into their practice and essentially get started the very next day.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:36:07]:
Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:36:07]:
And we are like, I want to shout from the rooftops how excited we are. Are that this has finally come to fruition. And we. I'm in this partnership, and I said this to you, Jorden and Josh, when we had these initial conversations, and I will continue to say this. I. I always want to build more. I always, you know, I. I'm Very guilty of this. Where I'm like, ooh, what about this? And what about this?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:36:40]:
Yeah.
Cassie Kellner [00:36:41]:
And I had.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:36:41]:
We wanted to be perfect and just every little piece of it. Yep.
Cassie Kellner [00:36:44]:
But I have told you and Josh, like, I also want you to put. Pump the brakes on my brain sometimes to go, wait. The goal for Mint is to actually keep it incredibly simple for teams so that they can log in and hit the ground running. Because the number one, the number one focus in these practices is patient care. It's patient care, you know.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:37:11]:
Exactly.
Cassie Kellner [00:37:11]:
It's not checklist care.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:37:13]:
It's not checklist. And it's like. And the last thing I want to do is like burden the team with like, more things to do. It's like, there's so many things to do and just taking care of the patients, but there are also so many important things that drive the practice forward, not only from a compliance standpoint, but also from just like a production standpoint. There's these little daily inputs that we have to do do that. Like, unless you have a checklist remind you to do them. Like, there's no, you know, there's, there's no reminder there. And so it's like, it just has to be simple and patient centered. And I believe we've accomplished that with Mint.
Cassie Kellner [00:37:47]:
I agree, I agree. I think I have to really talk to about this too for just a second. I'm, I, I don't know if people maybe are thinking like, but Cassie, don't you use asana? And the answer is, yes, I do use asana. I will continue to use asana. However, asana is a very, very different tool than Mint Checklist Asana is. It's very different, very robust, very workflow focused. You know, it's, it's a. Actually, it's an entirely different animal. And while once asana was a task management tool, it is actually so much more than that. And I think that I don't want there to be any confusion in that. Mint checklists are for four checklists themselves. Right. So it is onboarding a team member. And I'm, I'm taught, I'm not talking training, I'm talking the onboarding checklist list of like, you walk in our practice, we assign you to this, you fill out this paperwork, we do this. And then there's the off boarding checklist of like, are you offboarding your team members that are either leaving no longer a fit, like, what did you do? All the things that you need to do to be able to off board them. I'm talking marketing events Everything is templated in there for these teams, and Everbloom has created it, and I am so excited. There's also, obviously, there's the open and close. There's the end.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:39:17]:
Yes. Just the daily running.
Cassie Kellner [00:39:18]:
Yes. There's the. The monthly reminders, the quarterly reminders. You know, there's the office manager reminders, you know, the. There's, oh, my gosh, new patient coordination and. And what needs to happen within that process. But it is very checklist focused. It is not like this big, massive workflow as asana. So I want to be very clear of the. The difference between the two. I am so thrilled for this product. I am so thrilled for people to get these Everbloom bundles. What you and Josh have created, it's magic. It's magic. It's simple magic. And I think keeping that word simple is really, really important. And it's really important for me to reiterate because I know how overwhelmed teams can get. I know the feeling. I've been on that floor, I've been in the trenches. I know what it feels like. And creating these bundles of 22 years of that knowledge and going, what do people want and what do they need to stay afloat each day without feeling like they're being micromanaged as just a simple reminder is what we have done in this really fun partnership that we have going forward. Forward. So, Jorden, it's just such a beautiful thing. I am. I am thrilled for. For these checklists that are officially live and for people to experience the. The mint experience that. That you and Josh have really, really worked through and created together. It's a really amazing thing. And our community and our industries in both ortho and general dentistry and other specialties, deserve this.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:41:21]:
Yes. You know, Cassie, like, we are thrilled about this partnership because we believe, like, you and Everbloom, like, you guys embody everything that we like, at least that I have built my organization off of, which is like saying, hey, let's document everything that's supposed to be done in the dental office. You know, obviously, you know, I've done this through checklist form, but. But, you know, in all reality, though, like, we are just incredibly grateful for this partnership. But more importantly, we feel like the dental industry as a whole, they deserve something that works for them from an operational standpoint, because up until this point, it's been. It's. It's honestly, it's been old, antiquated ways to manage your practice. You know, it's like, hey, let's build spreadsheets and print them off and let's, let's manage our team that way. And it's like, you know, and I know you at Everbloom, like, you guys have been like, like, really focus on saying, hey, let's digitize this. Like, it's time. Like, let's digitize everything in your brain and let's put it down somewhere so that when that team member does have to leave, like, you, you don't have to think about like, oh, where's that checklist? Just, just pull it up, offload them correctly, check it off, and they're done. You know, you talk about, like, the automation of what we built at Mint. You know, like, the one thing that I would say my office managers love more than anything is now they don't have to be the, the, the micromanaged managing police to make sure everything gets. Mint actually sends out text messages to your team so that when that spore test, if it's not checked off at the end of the week, you know, it'll just, it'll send them a text and it'll be like, you know, hey, Cassie, the spore test isn't done. Please log in and complete it. You know, and so now like the micromanaging of the. These tasks that need to be done is no more like, you just, you set it up. Mint self manages your office and now you can focus on your, on your team, you can focus on your patients, more importantly and, and onboarding and off boarding team members becomes that much more simple.
Cassie Kellner [00:43:25]:
It's really, it's magic. I'm not kidding. And I don't say this lightly, and I don't stand behind companies that I don't believe in, you know, and I never will. That's just not in my character and it's just a really, really cool thing that you guys have built. And I'm honored that I get to be a little tiny part of it and, and continue to work with you and Josh out these bundles because we're, if I'm being honest, Everbloom is just getting started in, in what we've built for this initial launch. There's still so much more.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:43:58]:
So it's been fun to see what you guys are building, you know, inside the platform. It's, it's actually quite incredible what you guys are building. And it's got the ever Bloom flare with it.
Cassie Kellner [00:44:07]:
Sure. Yes, it does.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:44:09]:
And I love it. We love to see what you guys are building in there and on. And more importantly, we're just excited to see, see what your clients and those that listen to you, we're excited to see what they do with Mint and how they implement it into their offices and how they take your checklists and really become an organized office moving forward. So I'm excited for them to get a hold of your bundles. And when we say bundles, these are like, these are packs. These are bundles of all of your checklists that through a couple of clicks they import all of those into their profile. It's going to be a beautiful thing and it's going to. But we're just very excited for people to get their hands on them.
Cassie Kellner [00:44:46]:
Oh, me too. I really, truly cannot wait. So, okay, let's talk about before we end this. What's your Website Jorden, like? Dr. Jorden Mortensen. Where can we find Mint checklists?
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:45:00]:
Yes. So Mint Checklist, I mean it's mintchecklist.com it's very simple. You type in mintchecklist.com we will have a very specific link to all of Cassie's bundles that we can give you. Cassie, you can share that out wherever you would like. But Mint Checklist, check us out. We are. Yes. I mean you can if you're wanting more information on just like, hey, how does it work? How could we use it? We're happy to hop on a demo with anybody that hits the website and fills out our form and also show you how the bundles work. We can show you how working with Cassie would work, but we're just excited to connect with as many people as we can and finally give them a digital solution that works. Because the old printed off channel checklists like those, they've got to go by, they've got to go by the wayside.
Cassie Kellner [00:45:46]:
No, they're in the trash. They're officially in the garbage.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:45:49]:
Officially in the trash. Yes.
Cassie Kellner [00:45:50]:
Yes.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:45:51]:
Yep. I don't care where you put solution.
Cassie Kellner [00:45:54]:
Yeah, they're, they're gone. Y. I also. Mint will also be on my website under my services tab. So they can also. You guys can go to discover everbloom.com and find more about Mint and the bundle bundles and it will direct you straight over to Mint Checklist too. So, you know, they can go to both of our websites and really understand what this looks like and how to get these bundles and how to get started with. With Mint as well. Jorden, I cannot thank you enough. This has been so much fun. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I knew some of it, but that was really, really incredible. And, and I love what you've built and I'm so excited for this partnership. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Dr. Jorden Mortensen [00:46:39]:
No, absolutely. Cassie, it's an honor. It's. You're doing very. You're doing incredible things there with Everbloom and, and your clients, and we're just excited to be a part of it as well. So thanks for your time. Thanks for inviting me.
Cassie Kellner [00:46:49]:
Thank you so much.
Cassie Kellner [00:46:52]:
Thank you for joining me on The Bloom Effect, where we keep it real, keep it growing, and always keep it team first. If today's episode sparked something for you, an idea, a shift, or just a reminder that you're not alone. Take a second and share it with your team or a fellow ortho leader. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a convo. And if you're loving the show, leave a review. It helps more practices. Find us and join the movement. And if you're ready to bring this kind of energy into your practice, visit DiscoverEverbloom.com to learn more about working together. Until next time, keep leading with heart, keep building with intention, and keep blooming right where you're planted.
