1816 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
Phone: 916.442.7000
In honor of Black Business Month we are profiling owner of D2O Dental, Dr. Edward Wiggins
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: Grew up in South central Los Angeles and Inglewood.
Q: What do you like to do outside
of work?
A: I play tennis, run with my dog Bruce along the river, travel, and
scuba dive.
Q: How long have you lived in
Sacramento?
A: I've been here in Sacramento since 2008.
Q: Are you married, do you have
children?
A: I have been married going on 6 years and we just had twins in February,
boy and girl, Austin and Presley.
Q: When did you know you wanted
to own your own business?
A: I never took directions that well even when I was younger so I
think I've always wanted to be independent and control my own destiny through
my own business.
Q: What made you choose your
profession?
A: I had a great orthodontist and dentist growing up and we had a
fantastic relationship so I looked up to them. Then I met my mentor,
another dentist from Inglewood who was giving a talk while I was at Morehouse,
I started working in his office during the summers and haven't looked back
since.
Q: What were some challenges you
faced starting your business?
A: Finding great employees was the most difficult challenge I faced.
It took a while to get our A team together as well as get everybody on the same
page.
Q: How did you fund your business
initially?
A: Funding was totally secured through financing
If you
have employees, how did you find them?
All of my current
employees come directly from colleagues that I trust or past relationships.
Craigslist and monster.com like sites haven't worked for me.
Q: How do you find your customers
and clients?
A: Clients find me through referrals on the internet such as yelp.com
(presently the highest ranked provider in our area), visibility of my
location, and direct patient referrals although initially I did have a magazine
ad and did some direct mailers which I think helped in the beginning.
Q: What is the worst business
advice you have ever received?
A: Worst business advice I had was don't start a business at the
height of the worst recession since the great depression.
Q: What advice would you offer aspiring
entrepreneurs?
A: Listen to your inner voice, it’s usually right. Don't
procrastinate, if nothing else, get started with a business plan, it can help
you discover challenges you may not have thought about and give you a good
starting point.
Dr. Wiggin's 5 Pillars to business success
1) Market disruption.
What makes your product different? Whether it’s keeping your prices low with
the same or better quality, or offering a new or better service, there needs to
be something that distinguishes your business from others.
2) Visibility. There’s
no point having an outstanding product or service that no one knows about.
Whether its location, networking, or the internet, visibility and marketing is
key.
3) Employees. A
major key in any great company is putting the right people in the
right places. Then keep you staff happy. Employees need to be rewarded and
share in the growth and profitability of the business and be appreciated.
4) Learn from the best.
Look to the leaders in your industry and other industries to help refine your
ideas and systems. Good to Great, Any of John Wooden's leadership books are
good places for anybody to start with.
5) Believe in yourself.
Your team and customers have got to believe in your message, and so you have to
believe first. Then you can come up with a ever evolving mission statement that
will guide your business for the future.
