Radical Podcast - EP 12 - Ryan Interviews Dr. Rich Constantine

 Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, this is Ryan Alford with the Radical Company Podcast.
 Super excited about today's podcast with good friend and client, Dr. Rich Constantine.
 You may know Dr. C. As he's now known, I'm going to call him Dr. I might call him C. I might
 call him.
 Damn it.
 I don't know, you know what I'm getting mad at him, but Rich really appreciate you being
 on the podcast.
 Dr. C.
 Yeah.
 Cool.
 We've got a lot of topics we want to get into with Rich, we want to keep it conversational.
 It's been a whirlwind for months, for Dr. C. You know, it is most people that are probably
 listening to the podcast or follow any of our other content.
 They know that Rich has been a client of mine across a couple of different agencies.
 For right at probably two years, at least in a consultive role on his marketing, doing
 videos and different things.
 And then the summer happened and everything blew up.
 Rich had a little piece of content to viral and you may have made that, I've seen it or
 a song by Drake, but Rich did what he does well, actually.
 I'm jealous due to this day of his dance skills, you know, I don't mind saying that man
 to man.
 But did the in my feelings, it was the fillings challenge actually over the summers late July.
 And 150 million views later, just on Facebook, you know, the world has changed a lot.
 And Rich, I mean, I'm going to walk back to that a minute.
 You know, a lot of our listeners, you and I have been through this on, you know, a lot
 of talk shows.
 We did Steve Harvey, we'll get into all that, but walk through a little bit for kind of
 people listening kind of what's what happened, you know, over the summer, like I know, you
 and I talked about getting your content out there more.
 We did, I'll take the credit for giving you a tripod, like video stuff, but you know,
 all fairness in saying, hey, get your image out there, but talk through kind of just
 where this all started and, you know, we'll bring a full circle of everything else.
 Yeah, I think it was a real crash course because, you know, we had talked in the past about
 the importance of Instagram, I had only been a Facebook guy in the past and, you know,
 I knew what kind of, you had advised me to do, I would take a picture when it was convenient,
 something that, you know, we thought it was interesting or fun around the office, but
 it was, you know, there was no rhyme or reason to when we took a picture or posted it, there
 was no schedule on how we did things, you know, fast forward to the day, you know, that
 the girls in the office encouraged me to do the challenge and I didn't even intend
 to post that, but I set that phone up and I filmed myself doing the dance, so no one
 would see me and the girls put it on our social media accounts and then you called me that
 evening and said, hey, man, have you seen this?
 I didn't know what you're talking about.
 And I was like, oh, it's not a big deal.
 I'm going to keep watching this movie and watch it and maybe I'll talk to you tomorrow.
 You call me the next morning and say, yeah, I think you need to take a look at this.
 And from there, it just took off and I had no idea what could have come from that and
 you really helped navigate through all that because I wouldn't have had a clue.
 Well, it was interesting, you know, just to give a little more background.
 You know, I was the admin on Rich's page, you know, we had started working together for
 a while, but just were ramping up.
 We had done a really nice branded video piece for you.
 We had talked about doing some other videos.
 We've been coaching on the channel, so I was already an admin on the page.
 We'd run some ads.
 We'd done a couple different things.
 And so my phone started peeing, a mediums, a Thursday, I mean, and this was like right
 on coming to a weekend.
 My phone started peeing because I get notifications like when people like something or comment.
 And it was like, what is going on?
 I didn't even know, you know, that it was your account, my phone, it goes in another
 client of me, I don't know what was going on.
 And that's when it was like three o'clock or four o'clock and it was like, okay, Houston,
 we have a problem, but something's happening here.
 And you had messaged me, I think, I sent you a text or something and, you know, you
 had said, yeah, I was going to post this video and I'm like, yeah, well, yeah, it's like
 after you post it or something, I don't remember every second of it.
 All I remember is the notifications going and like, we need to get together, get our arms
 around this.
 Yeah.
 And at that point, I still didn't know what you meant.
 I was around what?
 I posted a video, some people were watching it.
 What's the big deal?
 Yeah.
 Well, the big deal was we had a million people that had engaged with it by the next morning.
 And some of our numbers that have come since then make that even seem a little small
 now.
 It's funny, is that same?
 But when you're a dentist in Greenville, South Carolina, and you have a million impressions
 or engagement within 24 hours of anything in no offense to the dental community, there
 it is.
 But nonetheless, we had to get our arms around it.
 And it kind of went into that mode we met that morning and I'm like, this is something,
 do you want to run with this thing?
 And we kind of just put an axon plan.
 I said, because once things go viral, it kind of happens in a moment and the new cycle
 will catch up with it pretty quickly.
 But we kind of let the fire a little bit, I work most of that, we can just ping in all
 the news outlets.
 And I think by Monday, it was Monday, we did a good morning America, and then inside
 addition after that.
 For people listening, I think it would be interesting for them to know.
 And I know that it was a surprise and you weren't ready for it.
 No one's ever ready for it.
 But when it was going through your mind, once we met, I was like, here's what this means.
 Here's what we need to do and we kind of started mapping out that plan though.
 Was it like, I know it was excitement, but what was kind of the mindset?
 It was, yeah, it was super exciting, all the, you know, all the, I'm not as much of an
 attention guy.
 So it was a little bit concerning because I didn't really, I was nervous about, you know,
 put myself out there because I, it was just weird to me that people were so into it, I
 guess?
 Yeah.
 But at the same time, when you have that amount of interest in anything that you do that's
 something positive, you know, you want to make the most of it.
 And that was, that was something that, yeah, it's really helped me with because I didn't
 know, I didn't know how to make something good out of something silly, yeah.
 So, but the whole experience was, was great, people, family, friends, seeing me on news outlets
 that I never thought I would be asked to be on, especially for something like that.
 Yeah.
 Well, what's interesting, you know, like, I've been, I've been in marketing for 17 years and
 I've never, I've been at agencies working with big clients and it prepared me for no one
 what you're supposed to do in certain situations, but viral and the real time moment of all
 of those things requires you to kind of like condense, you know, it's kind of like it
 couldn't speak more about today, like everything's condensed, everything's now.
 But it was like this culmination of PR, marketing, like, next steps that kind of got us into.
 It also became like controlling the message a little bit because let's face it and, you know,
 let's just get this out there, you're good looking guy, and you, but you're married that.
 And you know, you're doing a dance and, you know, the message could have gone a lot of different
 ways real quick, not that it wasn't already and it's not that a lot of your fans, of course,
 you know, were human beings, were sexual creatures and all this, so let's not put that, you
 know, an act like that's not there, but I think the importance of what we were able to do
 was really to control the message and spin it towards the positivity and the fun of
 dentistry and, yeah, he's a good looking guy and yeah, we're dancing to pop culture and
 vegetarians and all that. But this isn't a sexual message. This is about raising awareness that
 dentistry doesn't have to be boring, that we can turn this into a positive. And I feel like,
 you know, that really worked in our favor. Yeah, I'm super thankful, you know, for the way that you
 asked everybody to help me do that because when we did the dance, you know, it's for our patients,
 we do fun stuff like that around the office because we get it, people don't look forward to
 coming to the dentist a lot of time, a lot of time to have anxiety because they don't know how
 they're going to be treated, they don't feel like they're part of a family that wants to take
 care of them and that was really why we did the dance in the first place and then, you know,
 we saw all the comments on Facebook, you know, the tension's great, but we don't know if we want
 that kind of attention, but, you know, let's try to use this attention, this platform to really
 communicate the message and do some good things and you guys have been in a role and helping
 me do that. Yeah. So to that end, you know, I know you and Trish
 lost a parent to cancer and that was really important. You guys were already active in the community
 in that regard, but talk, you know, to, you know, the foundation, kind of the passion behind that
 and, you know, kind of where that kind of came into play with what we were doing.
 Yeah, so the more time we've spent here in Greenville, let me back up, when we first moved here
 within a year of having moved here, we both lost a parent within that first year.
 And it was tough, but the great thing was that our parents got to see what Greenville was all about
 and why we were so happy to relocate here from our hometowns, which was really special to us
 that they kind of saw what we saw in Greenville. And after we lost them, we wanted to find a way
 to honor their memory and be involved in the community here. And just as our parents were in
 our hometowns and Greenville's such an amazing place as far as cancer research goes because we
 have such top nuts, facilities here, you know, that really helped with that. And so we looked into
 ways that we could, you know, contribute to that. And before it was just, you know,
 us donating some time and then some money to some of the local organizations that put on events.
 But then when this happened, you know, it allowed us to move up in our timeline,
 what we've always wanted to do. And that was to create something of our own to help get back.
 So small and cancer was born. You know, kind of everything that we'll kind of walk through like
 some of the process, you know, the viral video happens. And, you know, we decided to keep
 doing the dances and doing the content to kind of keep it out there. I think we averaged
 what I think is a Facebook record. 10 million engagement on like every average of every post
 even to this day. Again, for Dennis and Greenville. And so we we keep the content going.
 We start small and cancer immediately as the benefactor, a large percentage benefactor of what
 comes from the notoriety of the fame and all of that. Around, you know, we had continued to PR
 effort. And we ended up talking with Steve Harvey's producers. I remember you and I had a call
 with Iantha Jones to start. You know, she had reached out to us through the social channels,
 just loving the message and all that. I mean, what goes through your mind? I mean, you know,
 again, I mean, you've been out there and you've been marking your own your business. So you've
 been successful. But I think even successful people, what was the mindset of, okay, Steve Harvey
 wants me to be on the show. What's the thought process? Well, it was wild because you go from a
 guy that is self-conscious, doesn't want the three team members in his office watching him dance.
 So he sets up his camera in his office and dances alone to then realizing that you may be a national
 television and being asked to do the dance again. So you really have to have to really get your
 ganglion in it and realize what's happening. Steve wants to dance. We're going to dance, right?
 But, you know, being a business owner and having, you know, all of that and then this on top of it,
 you want to get everything right and it's, you know, important to have the right people around you
 to help navigate through all that. And when you don't have any experience in any of that and
 you don't want to miss out on any opportunities, it gets a little bit overwhelming. You know,
 we, the foundation was just a thought and you guys really helped Trish and I put it together
 and not only put it together but put it together in a short amount of time so that we could
 get it out there and make the most of it because, you know, you're getting ready to go on national
 television. Hey, let's let's mention the foundation, which is what we want this all to be about.
 And to talk about the experience with Steve, I mean, people who wants the episode, I mean,
 another, we had five million engagement, like just posting the episode alone,
 so being a lot of people has seen it. But what, what did you think of the overall experience,
 you know, being on Steve? It was amazing. You know, a lot of the stuff we saw out there is stuff
 we've only seen in movies and on TV. You had spent some time out there before, so you were
 able to show us around in a short period of time, but the show itself, although I was really nervous.
 I am the whole crew there and you can Steve himself were just super, super nice day.
 They made us feel way more important than then we were, we really felt like we were
 someone really impressed. I mean, I've been in the business and I'm not doing the Steve Harvey
 show with clients every week either, but I was really impressed with their team. And, you know,
 even if it was, you know, a viral moment or even if they saw the bigger, you know, presence of
 Dr. C in the foundation, they made us feel important, you know, and I was very impressed with that
 overall and I thought Steve was great and they followed the narrative, you know, that the
 positive being the story and the foundation. I mean, they were first class. Yeah, and just to give
 you guys an idea, they flew us out there, they put us up in a nice place. We had transportation
 to the studio, gave us our own little room there for the pre show and people walking in and out,
 you know, kind of prepping you on on what you're going to be asked and making you feel comfortable,
 it was just, it was just a really, really cool experience to have. What your agent did say,
 this is Dr. C. Motherfucker. No, we didn't, we didn't have the pre-mode room. We didn't have the
 doing any of that. They just did it themselves. No, but that was a fun trip. We got to tour Hollywood a
 little bit and we went up to the conservatory and nothing else we've made. Another great video.
 I always got arrested for it, but hey, hey, don't you go find the drone over the grip of the
 conservatory? That's not legal. I'm apparently not. I'm apparently not, but they let us get away with it.
 Well, I told you, I said I like to ask for forgiveness and not permission. Yeah, and that's what we were doing.
 You made that video look hot though. Yeah, I do.
 But, you know, I think that's actually an interesting turn. I think, you know, radical company,
 our agency podcast and trying to blend in the marketing. It has been
 related to your stuff. I think what's been new, and we were trying to get you in that mental headspace
 before the dance that made it all happen. But it's the content headspace. You now know the content
 word, and thinking about every moment, much like this podcast that we're filming, we've got
 on live stream, we're doing all that. Thinking about every moment as an opportunity to capture
 a degree content. And I think that's been a learning process. And it's still definitely a work in
 progress because, you know, I've never been, I'm never going to be a guy that documents every single
 moment. And I don't think you have to be that, but now I catch myself when Trisha and I go to
 an event and go to someone like, maybe we should just get a couple pictures, you know, just to have.
 I saw some pictures last night, actually. Yeah. It's like, why didn't we have one or one of me
 or somebody else that had taken some photos? Yeah, well, I posted it. And I was like, I'm going to be
 a piece of, I was proud of me. I'm really proud of your support. It's a little like a moment,
 a little videographer there. What he's talking about is last night, we had the Greenville
 givers, Gain Gallaudis, but for special Olympics, that's at the high, which is a really
 good event, lots of great people there. So, yeah, but they have a good turnout for that. Yeah,
 it was good turnout. I don't know. This is the first time we were invited by a friend of ours.
 2-10, there was a first time there, but I don't have to have it every year or not.
 So, let's talk about some of the transition of, you know, where we've gone. I mean, let's just
 be raw about the dancing portion of it. I mean, let's just talk about it. You're a good dancer,
 but you're a dentist and you want to be taken seriously. That's been a struggle a little bit for
 you, hasn't it? Yeah. It has been. You know, you don't want to be the, you know, the dancing
 barrier at the circus when you're trying to be the ringmaster, you know, or the lion practice.
 But, you know, at the same time, you need to open, you know, I find that I need to open
 my mind up to, to, you know, keep being that level of interest up. It doesn't necessarily have
 to be the dancing, but I think the reason why I don't like the dancing is because I'm just,
 I may have rhythm, but I may find I'll have to confidence in my dance skills and I don't want to
 just be this dancing dentist. I'd rather be the good, good dentist that people know does good
 dentistry and treats his patients well that can dance. So, you know, it's one of those,
 and that's been the balance, you know, it's like, it's like you can't abandon the
 the Ferrari that got you there. But, you know, and we've been taking that turn, you know,
 back to more of the lifestyle side of things. We started just to ask Dr. C,
 an episode two coming out, I think today, if I had good response to that,
 but there has been that balance of, you know, and I think it's mainly, honestly, as we
 delved into it more, I think it's the perfectionist and you a little bit that's, that probably
 isn't the dancing because all of your dances have been so kind and so great. It's like,
 I think it's tough for you to not practice or like, and know like what exactly your stuff's
 going to make, because it's, yeah. I mean, everything that, you know, everything I've ever been
 good at was, you know, practice, practice, practice sports, you know, anything to do in dentistry,
 any instrument I ever played, you practice, practice, practice, and then you do it.
 Yeah. So, this whole, you know, opening yourself up, being, putting yourself out there,
 sort of the moment kind of stuff is all kind of new because you don't know how it's going to come
 off and your word is going to come off wrong or how you go wrong too, but then to the day, I think,
 I probably cared more than the people that were watching. So that's what you tried to teach me.
 Yes. So I'm trying to get better at that. I'm going to ask this and we didn't pre-plan this,
 so I get it like, you know, strategically ahead and winged not because of, you know,
 I need an answer that is a certain one, but if dancing with the stars called for a next season or
 even the next, would you consider it? You consider it. I consider it, but I would be more towards
 you. And the reason being is, anything that would take me away from what I care about most,
 which is, you know, a wife and really my practice and my patients, you know, I didn't do this
 asking for that. And so I don't think that that would be something that I want to do. A lot of
 people are going to think I'm crazy for saying that, but that's just how I feel about things.
 But we'd make them, we'd make them make you say no. Right? Yeah. In case any of the producers
 were listening, you know, we could be persuasive around here, but you know, we need to know how we're
 getting Trish out there and staying there. And we need to make sure our sponsors are listening.
 So I mean, you know, back to kind of the story. I mean, how's the
 business? I mean, you know, you do all these things. We talked about all these things. How's
 business? You know, like, how's the practice? The practice is great. The crazy thing with all of this
 is was, you know, two weeks before, two or three weeks before this happened, I bought the practice
 of an older dentist in Greenville that was thinking about slowly, you know, slowing down and maybe
 getting one, I do the business portion of dentistry anymore. And so, you know, he and his team and all
 his patients merged with my office. And so we not only had the influx of all of that,
 up then we had all the the new patient calls from the video. Then a lot of people, you know,
 think that, you know, thousands and thousands of people from all over the country are calling. We
 those are, you know, real patients. Those are just, you know, the reality is you have one
 then off. It's Greenville. Exactly. So everyone that watched the video, if there was a million
 people in Greenville, yeah, they'd only watch the video then whatever. But, but it's safe to say
 that business has been good. Oh, yeah. It's definitely a business in it. It's been a very positive
 thing for you. What, where do you see a know that you've gotten more, you know, I want to keep
 it away from every technical aspect of dentistry, but talk a little bit about like where you see,
 you kind of taken the practice as far as your specializations and those kind of things. Yeah. So
 one of the great things is, you know, being a general dentist is you can kind of,
 you can kind of conform your practice once you have a, you know, full patient mode towards,
 you know, the procedures that you enjoy doing more. And with this recent popularity and the merger
 of the two practices, I find myself being able to to schedule more the procedures and to advertise
 more the procedures that I like doing more. And those are, you know, the smile make over aesthetic
 cases, but also the implant surgeries and prosthetics that I enjoy so much. And the enjoyment
 comes from basically, you know, two different, two different sides there. There's that, you know,
 changing a patient's life, you know, by giving them the smile that they've always wanted or in
 some cases, given the ability to chew. Yeah. And then that they have not had for so long. And
 so many people don't don't realize the possibilities in dentistry today, just because they've never been
 taught or exposed to those things. So those are the two things that I enjoy doing the most. And I
 hope to do to do more of now that we have so many people watching it. What about Trish? How's Trish?
 Yeah. She's been a trooper through it all. I mean, back to some of the things we said. I mean,
 yeah, I think, you know, the first couple of weeks, it would be, you know, it was it was silly,
 it was fun. But then, you know, some of those comments on Facebook, I think it'd be hard for
 anybody to see so many people objectifying your love one in a certain way. You know, as guys, you know,
 we, you know, pull up a little bit when somebody, you know, whistles at a girl or something like that.
 But, you know, once we started, you know, kind of digesting and realizing what this
 what all was and what it could be, we're getting a little bit more used to it and more comfortable
 in our new skin. But we're surrounded by great people, great friends and family. So it makes it so
 much easier. Vita. So we can talk about Vita. Vita is, I mean, I love that. I didn't think, like, I grew up
 with dogs, uh, big dogs and, but my mom made me took care of them. And when we got this dollar
 and Trish said she wanted a dollar and I was like, you know, okay, the dog will probably like,
 Trish and just going to be in a head in the house. I don't know what I'll do if something happened
 that guy. Like, he's the first guy I've seen in the morning. He's always happy to see me when I come
 home. Um, it was a great decision. Once it's a great and rodigian ridgeback. Yeah, rodigian ridgeback.
 And he's, he's five months old and very curious. Way stricty pounds. How big is he going to get?
 I think he's supposed to get, I think his dad was getting close to a hundred pounds. But when we tell people
 that and then they look at his paws and how long his legs are already, they, they laugh. So I think he might
 be pushing, pushing one 10, I don't know. He's definitely motivated by food to, to do anything.
 Most of those kind of like his back. Well, toward, let's kind of wrap it up. But out, you know,
 you're being in a fitness. So I mean, you know, I think people will be curious, especially listening.
 You know, routine, like your history with fitness, like where you won't, you know, any goals
 down the future. Like, you know, talk about the importance of fitness and kind of, you know,
 how that's played a role with you in your life. Yeah. So, you know, just being involved with sports
 my whole life and then playing college athletics, the nutrition app of, you know, we,
 we are so used to saving the side part of our day for that because we always had to.
 Then now it's like, you know, if we're not doing that, there's something missing. Yeah, it really
 helps keep us balanced with all the other things we have going on in our lives. And don't get
 me wrong, sometimes it gets too busy or, you know, you skip a day and that day turns into a string of
 days. But, but really, you know, getting to the gym early in the morning and getting that knock
 down is really when I have my most productive days and I'm the happiest. The solo lifting sessions
 by myself are probably almost like therapy sessions because, you know, you're getting in doing
 something for yourself, doing something good for yourself. But every now and then I like mixing
 it up and doing, you know, group classes and some of the places right here in Greenfield because
 they're something good ones. Yeah. We're, we're due for our metabolic sessions. Yeah, we are.
 I keep dodging. I keep dodging. Yeah. I'm just starting to get tired.
 I don't think those are already getting up anyway. Yeah, he gets up at five. That's his time.
 So what's just riding the train with Dr. C? I mean, where do you, you know, like what's your
 ideal headspace for where you'd love for it to get in? I mean, is it, and I know that we're kind
 of planning all those things out? We're talking with, you know, for people listening, we are working
 with some new sponsors. We're talking with the things we're starting to head in some different
 directions, but love to know, you know, what your thoughts are. So it's funny to say riding the
 train because I saw him doing it because you're driving it. But, but I think, I think it's just the
 excitement of just seeing what comes of it. This is also new to me that, yeah, I have no idea what
 we can make of it, but I'm open to, you know, putting in the work and doing whatever we can
 to see where it can go. At the end of the day, I live in Greenville. I'm a dentist. You know,
 that's who I, that's what I do. And that's where our plans always continue to do. But if we can
 do some great things in addition to that, you know, I'm all for it.
 Well, Rich, it's been a fun ride, Van. I'm just excited and appreciative of you,
 as a friend and as a client. And I really appreciate you. I know people are going to be fascinated
 to kind of hear the story, kind of the backstory. And we'll have to just keep telling it.
 Yeah. This is why I offer for the Radical Company podcast. I really appreciate Dr. Rich
 Concentrate coming on today, follow everything that Dr. C is up to on Facebook, on Instagram,
 which you can find them easily by googling them. We've also got Dr. D.R. Rich Constantine.com
 links to all of the content, links to Merchandise. We didn't even talk about Merchandise,
 but boy, we've got some good ones. You want your Christmas ornament?
 And with that, I've only got three words to kind of close out. Just keep smiling.
 Just keep smiling. Yeah. Thanks man.