Meet Eileen Chen-Mizuuchi | Entrepreneur & Dentist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eileen Chen-Mizuuchi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eileen, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Having a great team that believes in the core values and culture of the brand is one of the most important reasons we are successful. A very simple trait many people overlook is effort. All of our team members work hard everyday by focusing on putting an effort in making a difference in someone’s life and doing dentistry differently. Their efforts are clearly shown in our Google reviews. The responses we’ve received help motivate the team to gain more knowledge in improving not only patients’ positive experiences but in becoming a better person.

What should our readers know about your business?
After graduating dental school and working as an associate dentist for six years, there was a day where I felt defeated. That day wasn’t consumed by a challenging patient, but it was a day where I fought for my values and beliefs against practice management to ensure we had the best interests for our patients. From that day on, in a McDonald’s parking lot, I set a course towards owning my own practice with a vision of creating an environment unlike the practices I worked for. That experience taught me to always fight for what you believe. As silly as it sounds, no one should control you. The journey since that day definitely had it’s speed bumps. There were many people who discouraged me by saying, “Why do you want to start a business? It’s so hard.”, “Wouldn’t you be happier just going home at the end of the day and not think about the business?”, or “Don’t you want to have a family?”. None of them had seen my vision, and once I showed them the direction I wanted my life to lead, there were no denials that this vision of mine would be great. This became my motivation. Building a great support team inside and outside the practice was essential. Working with a great financial team, with experience in dental startups, helped me gain business knowledge that wasn’t taught in dental school. The team has helped provide balance in my business and my personal life. Providing consistently great service and providing an incredible experience are great practice builders. Soon after we opened our doors, we were getting referrals from our existing patients and from our social media following.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Great food and art keeps my blood boiling with excitement. I would have to take her to my favorite GNO restaurant, rise nº1, where we would drink champagne in celebration of her arrival while indulging in a charcuterie cheese board, savory and sweet souffles, and warm baguettes. We would then go to the Dallas Museum of Art and to the Nasher Sculpture Center for a movie in the garden. The next day we would hangout at downtown Mckinney where we would eat lunch on the patio at Rick’s Chophouse people watching. After lunch we would grab pie at Emporium Pies and walk off our lunch around the square. We would take pictures with the police on those cute horses and post them on Instagram. At night, we would visit The Star at Frisco hoping for a Cowboys sighting while drinking a cold drink on the patio at Neighborhood Services.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In the beginning of my startup planning, I’ve read so many posts from dentists around the country about their experiences in building their own startups. The forum I used was Dental Town created by Dr. Howard Farran. Concurrently, I listened to a podcast with Dr. Mark Costes called The Dentalpreneur. These two resources have helped me in my development into becoming a dental entrepreneur.

Website: https://dentistmckinneytx.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illumedental/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/illume-dental
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IllumeDental
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illumedental/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/illume-dental-mckinney-2

Image Credits
Lee Ann Photography, Studio Smithson Art & Designs