In this episode, Cameron is joined by Brandi McAndrew, founder of The Aesthetic Haus, and they discuss Brandi’s journey from travel nursing to opening her own MedSpa. They emphasize the importance of technology, particularly her tech stack, which includes tools for patient communication, EMR, and rewards points. Brandi highlights her successful strategy of integrating her MedSpa with a beauty house, offering a range of beauty services under one roof, which has boosted her client base. They also talk about her social media strategy, the significance of authenticity, and the challenges of managing inventory and product purchases.

Transcript:

Welcome to Medical Millionaire, the podcast helping your medspa increase in status, visibility, and profitability. Join your host as he dispels myths, shares trends, and gives you actionable steps today that will take your medical practice to the next level. Here’s your host, expert marketer and founder of Growth 99, Cameron Hampiol.

“Hey, what’s up everybody! I’m Cameron Hampiol, your host for Medical Millionaire. Thank you so much for taking the time to tune into the podcast. Our goal is to give incredible value and insight for practice owners. If you have a medspa or are thinking about getting into the medical aesthetic space, this podcast is 100% designed for you and to help you take your practice to the next level.”

“Today I have a guest on – Brandy McAndrews from New Orleans. She has a practice out of Louisiana. She’s been a nurse for six years and an NP for three. She has an incredible business practice. She’s done some really unique things in the space and has lots of insights when it comes to using technology, how to get patients, how to secure patients, how to retain patients, and a really cool way of even adding some real estate value to her business. She has a podcast too, so there’s a lot to unpack.”

“Brandy, what did I miss? Thank you so much for joining.”

“Thank you for having me! Like you said, I was a nurse for six years. I was actually a travel nurse, ICU nurse, and always had a passion for beauty aesthetics, but followed that medical dream to be a nurse for stability. I ended up travel nursing to get out of New Orleans – very small place, you’ve got to get out for a little while – and ended up in a medspa getting Botox at a very young age because I had pretty bad wrinkles. I knew in the chair that that’s what I wanted to do. A nurse had actually done my Botox, and she mentioned she was going to nurse practitioner school. I decided in that moment I was going to go to nurse practitioner school, and that’s what I did.”

“I went to UTA Arlington online, graduated, moved directly home, and opened a medspa like a crazy person! No regrets today. I think this is going to be great for us to kind of hash out how to get started and address all the overwhelming things that happen in the beginning that we can help people with who don’t know where to get started.”

Cameron: “We met and had a wonderful conversation at the Aesthetic Next conference last year. That conference is coming up in about a month in Dallas. For the listeners, if you haven’t been to that conference, it’s amazing and I definitely encourage you to attend. There’s a tremendous amount of resources there.”

“We had a conversation there about your tech stack and your journey. You’ve done a wonderful job of investing in tools to help run your practice. For the audience, it’s the Aesthetic House. She has a super cool brand, big social media following, and people just love going there. There are a lot of referrals that come from the real estate side of the business too.”

Brandy: “My job as an owner – I’m injecting all day too, so it’s difficult to manage all the systems within the building and employees. I firmly believe in bringing in tools to help me do that. I’m kind of a control freak, but it makes for a healthy business. In the beginning, I couldn’t really invest in some of the things that I have now, but I feel like if I would have found the money to do it or invested less into other things, I would have gotten where I am quicker.”

“These tools really catapult your business a lot quicker and more smoothly so that you don’t make mistakes. I spent so much time doing things outside of work, where now these companies do it for me and I can enjoy being a mom and a wife. My husband appreciates that!”

Cameron: “Time is money, and I look at tools as a way of saving time. Right now, every tool seems to be a monthly subscription – you license software, you log in, you have an app on your phone. You can kind of run your practice from mobile at some level. Obviously, you can’t conduct the treatments, but there are ways to give you that autonomy and flexibility.”

“From a technology standpoint, what do you use for patient communication, EMR, rewards points, and stuff like that? I talk to practice owners all the time, and sometimes I still talk to owners that don’t have an EMR and they’re using paper records – I don’t understand that. They’re almost paralyzing their growth by not investing in some of these platforms.”

Brandy: “Time is money to me now. Maybe in the beginning when I had more time, it was different. I started with paper charting – I bought Etsy facial consent forms, everything. So I know what it is to start from that and grow. I can tell you right now, the longer you’re on paper charting, the worse it’s going to be to transfer everything over. The sooner you can get onto some type of medical record EMR, the better. Not only is it HIPAA compliant, but it’s also user-friendly and keeps everything organized.”

“I have Aesthetic Record, and that’s the company I chose to go with. I attended some of the Aesthetic Next events and followed some of the really big injectors who talked highly about it. It’s a great program, but there are things it’s missing. That’s where Growth 99 comes in, along with RepeatMD and now a new company I’ve brought on called Weave.”

“When you’re getting started, it’s scary to see the signup costs and monthly fees. But I remember when we started, we were just focused on how to pay rent and how many people we needed to see. The overhead for these systems is actually very affordable, and they’re bringing patients into your chair, unlike that $10,000 couch you might buy for your lobby – that’s not bringing patients through the door. Start small, invest in the things that can truly bring patients to you, and then go from there.”

Cameron: “You made a great comment there. Especially in this vertical, this specialty, there’s a vanity aspect to it. We’re in the space of making people look young, beautiful, feeling great, building confidence – which is wonderful. I can’t think of a more rewarding work environment than putting smiles on people’s faces all day.”

Brandy: “It’s literally the best! But then everybody wants to do it because they think it’s fun. There’s such an artistic aspect to it – you either have it or you don’t. It’s really hard to learn it. I’m a trainer, and I go to some places and think, ‘Ooh, good luck.’ I’ve never worked so hard in my life. I thought I was going to have it easy and take days off when I want. No – if I’m not injecting, I’m not making money.”

“I’ve now incorporated ways to help me make money when I’m not here. It’s like the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, but it’s not for everybody. That’s what scares me about where the aesthetic industry is going – people who just see the fun in it and not the reality of it.”

Cameron: “I think social media has had a pretty big impact on that. I’ve been watching this industry grow since late 2016, early 2017, and seen it change rapidly, mostly for the better. From a technology standpoint and practice growth – I think in 2016, there were only about 5,000 medspas in the US, and now it’s just north of 12,000, projected to continue growing, especially with weight loss and other treatments.”

Brandy: “That’s crazy to me that there’s only 12,000 in the US! When I got started, I was about 24 miles from New Orleans. I opened up three years ago and was the first medspa in my area. Now there are about six or seven. We only have 13,000 people in our population around here, so the fact that I’m doing the sales I’m doing is mind-blowing.”

“My parents don’t come from a background that understands the beauty industry. When they see my success, they’re like, ‘What? Are people spending that much money?’ But they do, and when they trust you, that’s where loyalty comes in. The good thing is we don’t sell things we don’t truly believe in. There are a lot of products I don’t offer because I don’t stand behind them. I hope the medical industry stays that way and that people aren’t just in it for the money.”

“Everybody knows I’m obsessed with this, and they can feel that when they’re in the room with me. They know when I’m talking to them, I’m just talking about something that I’m in love with – I’m not just trying to sell it to them. There’s a difference, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful.”

Cameron: “It comes off as very authentic – like, ‘Hey, I’m a believer in my product, I’m a believer in my quality and everything that I’ve invested in.’ You have the craft, the skill set, the artistic side to actually make a difference for someone’s human spirit and their belief in themselves. And I’m sure you use your own services, so you can say, ‘Hey, look, I use it, it works, it’s great.’”

“Going back to your point about the $10,000 couch – I see a ton of people get into the industry and spend a fortune on the buildout and decorating, which I understand because it’s the aesthetic space. It has to go with the design element of beauty. You have to look good, feel good, have a really great experience when going to a practice. But I think there’s also a specific time when you’re able to actually invest in maybe your second space or third space.”

Brandy: “My story’s a little different. I co-own with one of my best childhood friends – we grew up playing sports together. We came together when I was in Dallas working, and she was at a local wellness clinic shadowing and getting to know the hormone and wellness side. She called me for advice, and I started thinking maybe I could do this with somebody. For some reason, I didn’t want to do it alone, and I’m glad I didn’t because I can’t imagine carrying all this alone.”

“I had just graduated nurse practitioner school and didn’t have a lot of money to get started. We each had about $20,000. We had a made-up business plan, and this little place we’re in now has fountains and is really pretty – we don’t know how they approved us to rent! What I had was my dad and my brother – my brother’s a designer and my dad is a contractor. I really had a leg up on a lot of people because of that.”

“Don’t get me wrong – my dad put us to work. We were hanging walls and painting, doing all the things. We had to cut corners, like having some half walls because we didn’t have the money to drop AC into each room. All in, we were in for about $40,000, including the buildout and cheap Wayfair furniture. It looked nice – no one would know our couches were that cheap. We had HomeGoods paintings.”

“You’ve got to start somewhere and really invest in the things that matter while you’re getting started – you can always grow from there. If you look at our spa now, it’s absolutely insane. People walk in and they’re literally like, ‘Holy shit!’ I have reps saying there’s no plastic surgery office or anybody’s office that looks like this. I do think that makes a difference now, but in the beginning, no one cared what our office looked like. It was cute, but now I think it’s more important to me than anything.”

Cameron: “How long did it take for you to move locations or did you just do additional buildout at your current location?”

Brandy: “We actually moved locations after realizing we couldn’t see enough patients. We had three rooms – one was an esthetician room, and me and my business partner are both injectors/nurse practitioners. We were getting to the point where we were tapped out. That’s when we found another space within our complex that was available. It was completely empty – like a far dream that we had.”

“When we started calculating the numbers, we thought maybe we could make this happen with my dad’s help. We grew faster than we could have ever imagined. Looking back, I wonder if we should have just done this in the beginning, but we couldn’t have. We hadn’t even made two years, so the bank wouldn’t even look at us without two years of sales to prove we could afford it.”

“We cash-flowed our entire new buildout. We were hungry for a little while – me and Lauren were starving for a bit because we had to just suck it up and cash flow the business. It was crazy. I still can’t believe we did it. Construction nowadays is insanity, and these contractors hear ‘medspa’ and automatically charge you more. I just used my dad’s last favors – he’ll never build a house for me, but he’s proud because he sees that everything he’s done for us has made us successful.”

Cameron: “That’s super smart. You got into a space not knowing how you were going to initially fill it, but you were strategic about your finances and location. It got to the point where you had more demand than supply. At that point, you had the financial track record for the banks. How many rooms do you have now?”

Brandy: “Six total. We doubled in size. And now out of the 13,000 people in our area, I can actually take a room from the Beauty House – I have eleven rooms if I need to.”

Cameron: “That’s super smart, and I’ve only seen one other practice do it. I want to definitely talk about that because it’s really cool and unique. This is something I would encourage practice owners to think more about, especially if you’re thinking about doing a buildout. Talk to us about the Beauty House – from the real estate play, who’s in there, the referral network, tell us the whole story.”

Brandy: “When I thought of the Aesthetic House, I wanted it to be a one-stop shop where you could get everything done from head to toe – brows, lashes, everything. But when I got into running my own business, I realized quickly that means a lot of employees and services that I don’t know much about, so I didn’t feel confident about that.”

“When we did our second buildout, we thought of opening a sister company called the Beauty House. It has a door connected straight to our medspa, but it’s eleven salon suites. I have it filled with a brow girl, permanent makeup artists, wax artist, a couple of hair people, spray tan, scalp spa, and a clothing boutique. You can literally spend an entire day there.”

“We just opened in January, and we’re completely full except for one room. I really think they valued being connected to the Aesthetic House – that was the draw that brought a lot of people in. We both saw value in collaborating and sending clients to each other, and it just makes sense. A lot of people in my chair say they heard about us from the Beauty House next door – they see their hair person there. It’s working really well.”

“The professionals in the Beauty House are taken care of by the Aesthetic House – we hook them up, and then they give their clients 15% off their initial appointment with us. So we really have people walking right into our door that we have potential to convert as clients.”

[Commercial Break]

Cameron: “That’s incredible – you have this referral network with ten people renting those rooms. They’re all focusing on beauty at some level. It’s a perfect setup, a perfect network. And they all have Instagram and social media platforms – now you have eleven promoters.”

Brandy: “As part of being part of the Beauty House, I actually run their Instagram as well. I’m always sharing their stuff, tagging us, and sharing them on the Aesthetic House and vice versa. I get every service there – my hair, tanning, everything. Every time I go, which happens frequently, I tag them as a courtesy. I have a lot of influence over local people here.”

“It’s working well, and it’s crazy because we did it without really knowing if it was going to work or not. When some of the best people in the industry started reaching out to me, I knew it was going to be successful. We have this thing called ‘Northshore’s Best’ – we won Best Medical Spa, and a couple of the girls have also won Best in their categories.”

Cameron: “In a population of 13,000, you’ve really pinpointed the market in terms of creating something unique. What a wonderful place for women to go – now they don’t have to go to appointments all over town.”

Brandy: “Exactly! We’re in Mandeville, and there are a couple of little cities around here too, but we’re getting people from New Orleans that’s 25 minutes away, from Lake Charles, and even from Florida. It’s really crazy how our brand and social media have reached so far.”

Cameron: “And the real estate play too – I’m sure you’re making cash flow, which is wonderful. I’m a big real estate guy. I love real estate. I think it’s a wonderful vehicle for financial freedom, retirement, peace of mind. It’s a way to make money when you’re sleeping. Bolting on the suite aspect is just brilliant. Creating that referral network – I’ve only seen one other practice do it. She’s out of Scottsdale, Arizona, and she owns a medspa, is big in the hair industry, very similar.”

Brandy: “The initial investment was scary. The Aesthetic House is an investor, and my dad and brother are actual investors too. I think it’s going to take us about two years to break even, and then after that, it’s cash flow. We pay rent – we don’t own the building, which I’m kind of thankful for with all the insurance issues we’re having here. We were able to do the buildout at cost with my dad, and in two years we break even. Then it’s smooth sailing from there, and we’ll be able to invest in expanding, hopefully more Beauty Houses, maybe another Aesthetic House somewhere.”

Cameron: “You made a comment offline about product shelf life. I see some practice owners investing a lot in product because they think there’s a discount offer or buying in bulk is beneficial.”

Brandy: “In the beginning, they all try to get you. They’re like, ‘If you buy this much, you get this much off.’ But when you think about it, you’re talking cents per unit. In the grand scheme of things, I like to know exactly how much of each product I’m going through monthly on average. I don’t even buy in bulk anymore. My money is invested in technology and other things that are going to make me more money, not product that’s going to sit on the shelf.”

“I learned my lesson that way. There were times where we owed vendors for products that are still sitting on our shelves and our money was tied up. When you get started, do not think you need to buy all this product. There are a couple of injectors that really talk about this, and it hits home for me because it happened. You spend all your capital on products when you need patients first. Remember that.”

Cameron: “Sometimes it can be so attractive to get bulk pricing discounts – almost hard to say no. But make sure you have the demand to fill the supply. What’s your inventory purchasing philosophy now that you’ve grown from three rooms to six rooms? How do you manage that effectively to avoid expiring product and ensure you have the supply that fits the demand?”

Brandy: “I’m not necessarily worried about expiring product – unless you’re not seeing enough people, that’s not really the issue. The issue is tying up your money and not being able to use it to invest in a good website, loyalty programs, and ways to get people in your chair, rather than $50,000 worth of products from companies trying to force you to buy everything.”

“Like I said earlier, I bought a lot of products that I don’t love now, so I sold people on things that I realized pretty quickly I didn’t like. Make sure you’re using the product long enough before you really commit to it, and get the workhorses of your business and make sure it makes business sense.”

“Once companies realize you actually sell product, they’ll let you do 90-day terms. We shifted from ordering five vials at a time, then when we had to order every couple of days, we went to ten. When that became too frequent, we moved to bulk orders. It really has to make sense for your patient volume.”

Cameron: “Now you probably have an inventory purchasing system based on what’s available and upcoming appointments. You’ve nailed some sort of system that keeps the supply ahead of demand?”

Brandy: “We have data that shows us how much we’re purchasing from each company per month based on dollar amount. I know if it’s Botox or filler based on the price. I have an office manager and a medical assistant that keeps track of all that. It’s not easy – there’s a true system. You just figure it out. But the best advice I can give is don’t figure it out the wrong way by ordering too much stuff that you end up not liking.”

Cameron: “You have a wonderful social media presence with a big following. How important has social media been to the growth of the practice? What was your strategy initially, and what is it now?”

Brandy: “That was my second job for a while – I was injecting all day and then in the bathtub at night making posts. It consumed my life to the point where I had to delegate it to somebody else. When I started in Dallas, social media was way different than back home in Louisiana. I stood out the minute I moved home because nobody was doing what I was doing.”

“We have about 8,000 followers, which is pretty good for locally. It’s just so hard when you get caught up in the numbers. I hate social media at times, but what really stood out from the beginning was that I started doing Stories. Even when I was uncomfortable, I just did it without overthinking. If I planned what I was going to say, it came off weird. But when I just hopped on, doing my makeup while talking about aesthetics – those are the ones that sold.”

“To this day, people sit in my chair and say, ‘I’ve been watching your videos for a year, and I feel like I know you.’ It makes me cringe when people say that, but it really has made our business. My business partner’s not as comfortable on camera, so she does a lot behind the scenes. You really have to get yourself out there. People feel like they know you and you’re relatable. I’m on there without makeup, talking personally about real life.”

“Now I have a marketing team – there’s no way I could do it all. We work through Basecamp. She uploads everything and I review it. I still have to provide a lot of information because she doesn’t know aesthetics as much, but she’s learning and that’s taken a lot off my plate. When you have the ability to delegate that, do it as soon as possible. Get somebody young in there because they can do it so much faster than you can, and they’ll keep you from being cringey. They know analytics of social media – it’s its own thing.”

Cameron: “It’s a tall order being a practice owner. You’re busy all day with patients, doing treatments, ensuring high-quality service, plus there’s admin work. Marketing is an entire job outside of injecting. There’s so much pressure to maintain a certain amount of posts.”

Brandy: “It’s definitely a lot. I know a lot of new practices are feeling overwhelmed with social media. When I train new practices, I tell them to just do it – don’t think about it. The more you think about it, the more you’ll overthink it. I would hate to be starting in the medical spa industry now without being good at social media because it’s hard. I just kind of figured it out and now I delegate it.”