Dentist and business woman Estée Kriek trained and worked in South Africa before moving to New Zealand in 2008 with her husband Riaan, also a dentist, and two children. At their two surgeries – Pyes Pa Dentists and Omokoroa Dental Surgery – they are re-imagining traditional dentistry and putting clients at the forefront of their business philosophy. Passionate dentists plus business trailblazers – it’s a combination proving enormously successful for this business partnership. But entrepreneurial confidence has to start somewhere. Estée tells focus how a leap of faith, with the right support, can put you on a fast track to personal growth and business success.
Words: Millie Freeman
Images: Vanessa Laval-Glad, Indigo Moon Films & Photography
Hair & makeup: Sita Engling Hair & Makeup
How do you make that big, bold step into the world of entrepreneurship? Maybe it’s an easy side-shuffle for some, but most of the time we need a firm push into the murky waters without a full gasp of air. Finding oneself in such depths usually prompts a reflex to kick in: ‘Okay, this is really up to me now’ and, inevitably, we start swimming.
Estée Kriek is no stranger to facing challenges in her life and says every move we make outside our comfort zone rewards us with a shot of confidence to make our next bold step a little easier.
Estée was brought up in an entrepreneurial household and her mum Beatie still runs her own physio practice. At 16 she lost her dad and Beatie became a much bigger part of her life – eventually Estée’s greatest role model. Realising she wanted to work with people and be of service, she initially planned a career in medicine but swapped to dentistry when she didn’t get into the course. She quickly grew to love the work, thriving on the challenges and rapid technological advancements taking place in the profession.
At 21 she married Riaan, whom she’d known since secondary school, and by the time they’d completed their dental studies in their mid-20s, they wanted to start their own practice. A prime-spot opportunity came up in a shopping mall and they knew they’d be crazy to turn it down. However, with Riaan tied up on a contract elsewhere, Estée didn’t think she was ready to go it alone.
“I worried that I wasn’t ready, that maybe I should work for someone else first. But Riaan wasn’t prepared to back out: ‘You have to do it Estée,’ he said. I didn’t like being pushed, but in hindsight, it was the best thing. He still pushes me. I’m quite a safe person but I know he really believes in me and that’s what gives me confidence. Now I tell our staff the same thing – if I can do it, you can too; we believe in you.”
Having someone batting for you and giving you that little nudge is invaluable, she says. At the time, she didn’t have all the answers, but step-by-step she refined her skills and built a solid business. “When people said to me ‘you’re very young’, or ‘I don’t think you’re strong enough to pull this tooth’, I learnt to keep my head up and have confidence in myself; I’d done my studies and I was just as good as anyone.”
MOVING ON
In Pretoria with their dentistry practice and a game park to manage, and two children under 4, Estée and Riaan were busy. They loved their home but the uncertain future of tertiary education for Kaedin and Nica, staying afloat in a restrictive business environment and the deteriorating quality of life in South Africa were forcing the family to look at opportunities abroad.
Apart from the All Blacks, Estée admits she knew very little about New Zealand but when a friend emigrated to Blenheim and told them to ‘hurry up and get over here’, they sold up and put down roots in Tauranga because, according to Google, it had the best weather!
“It took us a while to understand what ‘lifestyle’ meant: It’s the freedom – to be able to walk down the street and feel safe. We didn’t have that in South Africa. We thought we had come to New Zealand for the children but we soon realised it was for all of us and our profession. It’s amazing how warmly we’ve been embraced by the people here,” she says.
While Riaan began work for a dentist in Cherrywood, Estée spent the first three months settling the children into preschool and applying herself to learning English. The family are Afrikaans and although the children caught on very quickly, Estée says getting to grips with a new language was her biggest challenge. Having plummeted to a low point, she soon realised it was up to her, once again, to step outside her comfort zone.
She worked for a dentist in Bethlehem – initially just two mornings a week – and gradually regained her confidence. The couple then bought a practice in Te Puke, and when development on the new Pyes Pa shopping centre got underway, they jumped at the opportunity to start a business from scratch. They opened their practice in 2015, followed by the Omokoroa practice two years later.
DOING DENTISTRY DIFFERENTLY
“It’s easy to fall into a rut and practise dentistry the same way as you were taught at uni – head down drilling teeth,” says Estée, “because dentists want to fix a problem, and sometimes they don’t listen to their patients. If a patient says they’re afraid of dentists or don’t like lying flat, and you carry on to fix the tooth, have you listened? No.”
It’s not hard to change that attitude, she says. She gets to know her clients, understands what’s behind the fear and finds ways to ease the concerns. For example, sedation is offered to patients who have a needle phobia and often that patient won’t even need it at their next visit.
It’s certainly a far cry from the dental clinics we remember from our school days when a trip to the ‘murder house’ was not usually a happy experience. At the couple’s Pyes Pa practice, you can sink into a comfy chair before your appointment and enjoy a flat white from the prized Italian coffee machine in the lounge-like waiting room.
“We want our practice to feel like a home within a business and for clients to feel they’ve been looked after and listened to – that comes with building a trusting relationship.”
WORKING ‘ON’ THE BUSINESS
Back to the ‘head down drilling teeth’ scenario – if a dentist is doing it all day, five days a week, they’re not working on their business; they’re working in it, and, Estée says, frequently burning out. Leading a team is a different set of skills altogether and that’s where Estée has taken huge steps as a business woman. She attends leadership courses and learns valuable lessons from other business owners with a similar vision.
“When you start a business you don’t necessarily see yourself as a leader but that is so important. I’ve definitely grown a lot – I’ve learnt to be a lot less direct when it comes to staff relationships!
“Staff need space to grow and stand up in their role, to make decisions for themselves and have opportunities to take ownership of policies and processes.”
Another way Estée and Riaan are shaking up traditional dentistry is with their vision to hire staff with different specialities.
“We want to build up a team who get to do the stuff they love. You can’t be everything to everyone or you’ll burn out. This way we have a happy team, and we support them to go on courses so our clients get the benefit of seeing dentists with special interests.”
And what about being in business with one’s husband – is that a good move?
“It’s amazing when we work together, but it’s only one day a week because I’m either at the other practice or mentoring staff. Our biggest obstacle is learning to leave the business at the business, and not talk about it when we go home.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH ENCOURAGEMENT
To others starting out in business or wrestling with a move way outside their comfort zone, Estée says you need a good support system in place: “Surround yourself with people who will encourage you and can honestly say ‘I know you can do it’, and get validation for your ideas from other people who share a similar vision.
“I think sometimes women try to be extremely tough but, actually, we’re emotional people and that’s okay; you need that in business too, so don’t be so hard on yourself. I just make sure I don’t sit for too long feeling sorry for myself. When that little voice pops up to say ‘are you giving up?’ I say NO! That’s also where my faith plays a huge part in giving me confidence.”
So, when giving up is not an option, take a breath, take a leap and switch on ‘swim mode’. As Estée says, if you do it once, you gain the confidence to know you can do it again.