Transcript: 

Hey everybody. Cameron Hemphill, here your host for Medical Millionaire.

Hey, first off, thanks so much for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Our goal is to give value and insight in the into the medical spa market. So my team and I, we’ve consulted medical spa owners, folks in the esthetic space and some of the top injectors throughout the country for years, and we see businesses that are absolutely thriving, ones that are trying to get the next level, ones that are really trying to grow their business, whether you’re at six figures, multiple six or seven or trying to just get to multiple locations, are really just trying to figure out where to start.

This podcast is for you. And so when we’re talking to business owners that are running these practices, they all have their unique challenges, and we’re always trying to get some sort of competitive advantage right. And so throughout this journey together, our goal is to help you, and we want to help you take your practice to the next level. So in this episode, we actually have a fantastic friend, client, and somebody who’s been in this space for a long time.

And I want to introduce you to Neekan Rivera. She has been with growth 99 for a long time, and I thought it was important to bring her in and talk to you from her perspective on what she’s going through, the challenges that she’s seen, and really about her story and where she is. So welcome to Neekan Rivera.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, absolutely.

I appreciate your time. I know that you’re super busy, and really, we have a tremendous amount of gratitude for you blocking your calendar out for this. So thanks so much.

Of course, I’m honored to be here.

Yeah, so talk to us a little bit. I want to know just at a deeper level, if you could be so kind and for the audience that is listening to this, they’re either on their way to work, they’re on a jog, they don’t have a you know, like they’re trying to figure out how to become a next best version of themselves and how to grow their spa so tell us about your story and really how you got to where You are now.

Sure, so I, when I was I remember being just young. And I know this sounds silly, but I remember being in restaurants and like, looking at people and just thinking, like, oh gosh, you know, there’s ways to do, like, little facial enhancements. And I used to play around with makeup, you know, I used to do, like my friends makeup in high school, and didn’t really, I wasn’t, I think at that age, I was more into, like, the artistic side of things. And as I got older, I realized, like, wow, there’s, there’s a way to do this in a medical space, because I wanted to always merge the medical background and the the love that I have for helping people, but I also had this artistic side.

And it wasn’t until I was in college where I got a research internship for Dr Frederick Brandt. He’s now passed, but I had no idea at the time what a big name he was and what a pioneer he was in the space. So here I was who just, I just, like, walked into his office and was like, hey, I want to get into dermatology. And wanted to see if you guys have, I saw you guys have a research institute. Do you have any openings? I’ll work for free. And the research coordinator just happened to be there that day, Alex casaniga, and he comes out, and he’s like, yeah, actually, let’s take you back.

Let’s talk. Let’s see what you want to do. And I was, I was pretty much just like, I’m here to do whatever you guys need me to do. I just really want to get some experience in dermatology. And again, it just so happened to be that Dr Brandt was one of the pioneers of esthetics at the time. So he was working, he had a clinic in Paris, in New York and Miami, and kind of had this high profile celebrity clientele. And he was working on getting some of the FDA approval for some of the fillers we have on the market now.

So I started doing I started helping with those research studies on like side effects duration, and all of a sudden my mind was blown because I was like, Okay, here’s a way where you can do enhancements and kind of help with confidence in a way that’s more scientific than just makeup, you know. And that’s where I found the merge of my love for medicine and skincare and esthetics. And realized like, gosh, there is a space here, and he happened to have a PA working for him. So that’s when I realized, like, Okay, I. Want to go into PA school.

I want to specialize in dermatology and cosmetics or in esthetics, and then I just kind of was able to focus it from there. So then I went to George Washington’s PA program and did my electives in dermatology. And when I graduated, I worked in internal medicine. I wanted just like, a general foundation in medicine. And every day I was just like, oh my gosh, I can’t wait to start doing Botox. Oh, you know, like, if there was any skincare concerns, I’d be like, schedule them with me, just so I can get, like, experience with skincare.

And around nine months, I was like, Okay, this is it. Like, I need to make this jump into esthetics, and I’m going to do whatever, whatever it takes. So it actually required me moving from Denver to California, because there weren’t a lot of opportunities in Denver. There weren’t a lot of men. I mean, Denver has blown up now. I mean that that’s I’ve relocated to Denver since, but, but at the time, everyone wanted experience it was really hard to find someone who was willing to train and train the right way, which is something I always talk about.

So, you know, California, LA at the time, had so many opportunities, and, you know, a lot more places that were willing to train. And it was just the best move at the time, because when I moved to LA, I had a really great opportunity with a doctor who was willing to train me from the ground up. They send me to so many trainings. I mean, I was doing Allergan trainings all the time, Gal Derma trainings, palette trainings, so I just dove in. And within a few years, I got asked to be a trainer for Allergan and gal Derma, and it’s just kind of grown since then. I started getting really busy. I started realizing the importance of social media and marketing yourself.

And, you know, it just, it kind of became this big, big web for me, of realizing, like, gosh, there’s so many aspects to this. You have to stay on top of your training. You have to stay on top of the social media. You have to understand, you know, just even malpractice things. And so after almost eight years of practicing, I decided to, we decided to move back, and that’s when I decided to, you know what I’m going to do my own thing.

I think I’m well equipped. And so we’ve started up a business in Denver and in LA. So I still travel back and forth between the two locations and see my clientele in LA, and I have an injector there, Jennifer, and just hired an injector here for Denver, and it’s just growing and booming. And it’s been great.

Jeez, I love that. And so you’ve really like, you’ve formed your craft from, from having that, that art background, right, and then being able to transition that with with your love for medicine into enhancing the beauty of of someone’s body, right? Like that. Yeah, I can see that like as you talk about that story, I can see and feel the passion that you have have around it, because you’ve been able to merge those two.

And I like, from me outside looking in, I can see how your clients really love that and that you embrace that passion that’s that’s super neat to hear, yeah, and I think that’s really the core of it. You know, I see so many people who want to get in this field for the wrong reasons, and I think patients can feel that now, like they can see on Instagram who has a true passion for this. I think that’s the beauty of Instagram, is that it really allows the people who are investing in their talents to kind of shine. But the negative is that patients now have a way of, kind of finding that provider that’s for them.

And so I think the people who just want to jump into this space for the wrong reasons kind of get, you know, they feel some of those barriers. But I think if you have a true passion for helping people, boosting their confidence, being the best injector you can be, that’s now we have a platform that really shines. That with just social media. So, yeah, it’s been, like, I said, it’s something that gets me excited every morning to, like, wake up and go do still.

Yeah, that’s, that’s awesome. I mean, if you enjoy what you do and have passion and what you do, like, it shows right? And, and if you’re having fun every single day, doing what you’re doing. It’s really not a not a job, or it’s not, it doesn’t feel like a job. It feels like you get a really embrace your hobby every single day. And I think that’s, I think that’s super important and unique in the same time, because if you get into a business for the wrong reason, like you can feel it right, and you want your clients, like, if they’re going to invest in taking the time to enhance their confidence, like you have to hire the best, right?

Yeah, it’s almost like, if you’re going to hire a business coach, make sure they have, like, the right credibility, and they actually have a resume, kind of before you go there. Totally. Yeah. So let’s pivot for a second and talk about, since you were talking about Instagram, now, you have a very credible Instagram and social media profile, and you have a tremendous amount of followers. I think you have over 45,000 followers, and a very active, very active engagement. And so obviously, everybody starts with zero followers, right? And a lot of people, as you know, every day, that are saying, well, how are they getting so many followers? And, you know, what are they doing different?

And I can’t figure it out, and I don’t like to post, but I sometimes I post, you know, I just, I hear everything. And then, of course, I talk with ladies like you who have nailed it and embrace it and love it. So talk to us about a little bit about your your social success and why it is working for you and why you embrace it.

So I think I luckily jumped on the platform, I think before it got pretty saturated. But I don’t think that’s really a barrier. You know, I hear the same thing, like, gosh, it’s just so hard to grow. And now there’s so many accounts. And yes, I do think it’s probably, there’s probably more challenges now, because, you know, when I first got on, I didn’t even know there was an algorithm like, I, you know, I was just posting. I had no idea that there’s all these algorithm changes. And I do think there are some barriers with Instagram now that do make growth a little bit harder, but at the same time, I think there’s a lot more services that can help people grow. So when I first got on, you know, I started getting help, to be honest.

Like, from the beginning, I realized very quickly, this is not something I want to spend so much time doing. I don’t want to be on my phone all the time. I need help. So I had a couple of patients who actually were kind of in the digital space, and they started helping me understand, like, what works with Instagram, what doesn’t you know like how to make your befores and afters more appealing. Then you know, came the concept of hashtags. And so I realized, like, gosh, this is a lot more enjoyable when I’m not trying to do it all on my own. I think people who are doing it all by themselves, it’s just it’s 10 times harder now, because I do think the algorithm is made it in a way where you have to constantly show up, you have to be on your stories, you have to be posting, you have to use strategic hashtags, you have to be engaging.

And if you’re just trying to do all that by yourself, I do think it can get very overwhelming and discouraging. So I think the plus now is again, it’s pretty easy to find you know, even what you guys have helped me with, with my air esthetics page, getting that content out, that’s not something I could have done on my own. Like I wouldn’t have been able to do two pages, my page and the med spot page, like I knew from the beginning I’m going to need help with the med spot page. And that’s where you guys have been so great. So I do think there is, I think the secret is getting help. You know, again, I think people think they can just jump on the platform and understand it, and then they quickly get overwhelmed.

So I think it’s totally fine to even in your clinic, like, if there’s assistance in your clinic. I know providers who’ve done this where, you know, their assistant might be a little more savvy, and they might just say, Hey, can you help me grow on Instagram. Can you take more stories while I’m doing injections? Can you get patient testimonials, you know, and they just have that extra set of hands that’s willing to even capture the content, and then they may go home and post that themselves, or they have, you know, a social media manager who helps them. So I find a lot of the a lot of my growth was due to realizing, gosh, this is not my this is not a skill I have. It’s not necessarily something I 100% enjoy doing.

And I think that’s where people, you know, sometimes they see this facade like, oh, gosh, you’re so great on social media and like, it must be so easy. And I’m like, no, no, no, it’s one of the biggest challenges. It feels like a part time job, and I needed help, and I’m open to saying that. And I think a lot of the more successful pages who are showing up all the time, especially business owners, they do have help. I mean, they might not come and post their help, but a lot of my friends who are doing really well on social media, you know, experience big growth. They have help. They have a social media person, or they have an assistant who’s helping them. They’re not doing it all by themselves. So I would say, look at resources. Look at you know, is there anyone around you that can help you? Look, you know, check out Growth99 and I know you guys have some social media services that have helped me and other business owners.

So I would say that’s, honestly the secret. I can’t say it’s all myself. It wasn’t I had to figure out. A lot of the stuff. I learned was by having people who do this for a living kind of help me figure some of these things out. And then I was able to say, Okay, well, I can get the content, I can build my voice, but if you can help me with more the posting and the algorithm and the hashtags and all those things that can do. Suck up someone’s time. And I think that’s where the growth really started for me, because, like I said, if I was doing all by myself, it would be too much. It would be too challenging.
Yeah, yeah.

And I completely agree. I think that, you know, people get into this space no matter what the businesses it is, they’re always looking at at cost, which and time, like, like, cost is important. And they’re like, Well, I can, I can post, and I can do my accounting, and I can build my website, and I can, like, acquire my EMR and EHR and build that out. I can send out my emails. I can do my newsletter, you know, and they almost feel like they have to take everything on because they because they’re constantly worried about, you know, what is it going to cost me? Well, I think the one thing that they’re missing out is it’s going to cost you time, and it’s going to cost you the ability to work on your craft.

Yeah, and your craft is your skill set, and as you know, like you shine when you have that client in your environment, yeah, yeah. And I think where, where business owners have done very well is they have figured out, okay, like, I’m not that great at this, or I don’t enjoy doing it, but it’s part of one of those pillars and check boxes I have to do. Yeah, let’s delegate it to somebody who has the time and enjoys it and knows how to have success in it, right? Yeah, I feel like, like, part of like, let it. You almost have to let go a little bit to get two steps ahead.

That’s it. That’s exactly it. I mean, I’ve seen plastic surgeons who were phenomenal, but until they had a strong social media present after they found the right social media person, or after they found the help they needed, once they were able to kind of hire that out and kind of let that go, it just, you can’t put a quantity to how much it’s boomed their business. So I think it’s a little small minded to want to kind of keep control of everything, and not realizing, gosh, if I can hand this over to the people who specialize in this. This is going to feed my business tenfold, and that’s what I’ve seen on Instagram. I never blink an eye at the, you know, the help I’ve had on Instagram, or help I’ve had with my websites.

And I’m happy to hire those things out, because that’s I always see that return tenfold, and it makes my last my life easier and allows me to enjoy what I do, rather than trying to get bogged down and oh, gosh, I got to get this post out or, Oh, I have to get this newsletter out. And that’s not really the reason why I did this, you know. I did this so I can enjoy my and create the role I wanted. And part of that is letting go of all the little things and allowing that to kind of feed back to your business,
yeah, absolutely.

And it frees up time, right? And it helps you really, yeah, not have to worry about, you know, so much activity where you can really sit down and focus and and think long term like, what is the long term strategy here, versus getting bogged down? So that kind of brings me to my next point, because you have, you have a pretty cool like you, I would say, unique setup, in the sense of you, you’re from, are you from Denver? Are you from there?

I’m from Denver.

You’re from Denver. So you move to LA, you have this practice, you have the success. You move back to Denver. But what happens? Well, shoot, you actually have a business in LA, and you have a business in Denver. And I see you know folks that are struggling going from one location in one town to the next location are with with clientele in two different states. So I think that would be cool to chat about for a second. How are you managing that? And I know that there was fear in doing so, and how did you kind of overcome that fear and step into no woman’s own and run it?

You know, that’s a great point you bring up, because I don’t think at the time, I thought of the fear. I mean, I knew it was going to be a struggle, but I just decided, You know what, you’re going to do this, you’re going to make this work. If it I would. You know, it wasn’t easy, because I would have to travel with my son. I took a couple trips without him, and then I realized, like, gosh, it’s going to be hard to keep coming back and forth and taking time away from family. So we made it work. Where, like, we pack up the family, we go to LA for a week, you know, I see all my patients and and then it got to a point where I was like, Okay, I can’t keep up with this demand. I need to hire someone.

And then I found Jennifer, who’s been amazing, and it’s just it. There was so many challenges along the way. I guess I didn’t really think about it, you know, I think I sometimes, I think when you overthink, you kind of limit yourself. So it was just like, each trip was like, Okay, we got to get there. We got to start getting people on the schedule. And of course, we had all these obstacles with COVID, because LA had some major restrictions and shut down. So there was one trip we canceled because they had canceled all, um. And unnecessary travel to LA, and we could have maybe gone around it because, you know, technically, I’m a medical provider, but I was like, You know what it’s let’s just be safe right now.

So there was a lot of challenges with keeping both. And I was growing in Denver. So although I had some Denver clientele that would fly to LA to see me, this was like a whole new market for me. So trying to figure out both was pretty intimidating. And I’m just kind of a doer, you know, to be honest, like, I don’t really overthink things. And I think when it comes to, like, planning a five year plan or a 10 year plan, that’s a little bit more of a struggle for me, because I like to just get the job done. Just do it. Don’t really think about it.

Do it the best you can. I think the website has been pretty crucial for me, because that’s what helped me kind of manage or direct patients. Like, okay, here’s our Denver scheduling line, here’s our la scheduling line. That’s where they can read about, like, the different providers. It kind of helped me organize the whole thing. Rather than doing everything through my DMs, you know, I would have patients DM me like, oh, how can I get on your schedule? How can I do this? How can I do that? So that’s when I realized, like, alright, you need to start kind of organizing the two businesses, you know, having different lines for scheduling, creating wait lists for each location. And I had to kind of start getting into the nitty gritty of organizing the businesses so it doesn’t get overwhelming and out of hand.

But it’s been a sacrifice. It’s been a challenge, you know. Now we try to make it fun. So when we go to LA I try to make it like half work, half play. I’ll see patients for three days, and then we try to enjoy a couple days go to the beach, because that’s the only way we can make it work, you know, with especially with a family. Now, I’m seven and a half months pregnant, so we’re trying to figure out, Okay, how are we going to keep going to LA with a two year old and a newborn? So it definitely has its challenges.

But again, the challenge for me is kind of what makes me thrive, so I just try to embrace it and just say, Okay, we’re going to, we’ll plan our trips there, if we have to stay there longer, see more patients, and come back to Denver. And again, I think letting go of some of the more time consuming aspects of the business allows me to have the time to travel back and forth. And that’s I think that’s where I realized, like, okay, these are things I can delegate out.

So that way I can spend my time and energy, you know, attending to patients. Or that’s when I realized I got to hire, you know, an injector in both locations. So that way, if I’m traveling back and forth, patients can still be seen from these other injectors. And it’s, it’s actually led to more growth by having the challenge of two locations.

Yeah, that’s that. I mean, I love that you said something that was just that sat with me, and I’ve heard time and time again from successful entrepreneurs, no matter where they’re at but, but there’s action takers.

Clearly, that’s what you are. And then there’s individuals that that are, they think too much, almost like they’re they their brain gets in the way instead of just taking action. And totally Yeah, you’re going to have problems like and you’re going to have challenges and whatever comes in the next month or two or three or year, whatever those challenges will come when they come. But the successful business owners that I see, especially in this space, are action takers.

They’re not afraid. They just do things and then they’re faced with a challenge, and they can quickly overcome that challenge, and that’s That’s you, right? And so successful people are those action takers, and so I love hearing that. And what’s interesting is I hear that from a lot of successful entrepreneurs, because you’re like, well, we’ll figure out you found a problem, like people. Started DMing you. They started DMing you. Like, oh my gosh, okay. Like, how am I going to figure this out? Got it? Here’s the solution, implementation.

Boom, done. Okay, what’s the next challenge, right? And by the way, like coming back to the website comment, so I share your website a lot, actually, for individuals that are looking at us to say, hey, like, show me some of your guys’s work, and your website is always really stunned. Stuck out to me. I think you’ve done an incredible job of of like, working with us in the sense of creating diversity, right? And I think your brand and how it’s represented, the call to action, ease of use. It really is a really classic, timeless design, and you’ve done a good job with that. And so I mean, hats off to doing an incredible job with the limited time that you have so thankful for that well.

And I have to say, like, I interviewed a lot of website designers, I mean a lot, and I think I saw Shelby’s website, because I know, I think I heard her podcast with you, and you know, just, I’m sure she gets a lot of inquiries about working with you guys, and I have to and but what I found was so helpful with you guys was how responsive you Were to me creating kind of the vision I wanted. So I remember when I was, you know, when me and you first spoke, I was like, All right, this is the team, like, this is, this is the team that’s going to allow me to kind of take what I really want to create and bring it to life.

Because I felt like a lot of other designers weren’t going to allow that. You only had a certain number of revisions, you know, you could only do a certain number of templates, and I wanted it customized because I had a vision. But of course, again, I don’t, I don’t have the skills to bring that to life. And so the fact that you guys can just create so much and and it was a little back and forth, you know, I know, like some of the images we put on there, I just kept feeling like, gosh, this isn’t my brand. But the the patience, I guess, and the responsiveness and the willing for the willingness your team had to get it right, is what allowed me to kind of create this site, and where a lot of web designers don’t offer that, you know, they don’t offer that unlimited number of revisions, and just being able to really work with you and and as I saw it coming together.

I was like, Yes, this is and now I’m obsessed with my website. Like, I sometimes I’ll just go log on and, like, look at it, because I’m like, Yes, this is exactly what I wanted. And I just I knew right off the bat when I spoke with you guys, even after all the interviews I’ve had, like, this is, this is the team that’s going to allow me to, like, really bring this vision to life. And so I thank you guys for that, because that’s kind of what helped me create it and kind of get it to exactly where I want it to be, and continue to improve it.

Yeah, no, I thank you so much. And it’s, it is challenging, of like, okay, so who do we hire? Are they the best, you know, and then can they be accountable, and how agile are they and how quick, and what is their support? And so I think that’s definitely one of the things that we’ve done really well, is we have a relatively small sales team, actually, because we don’t want to overflow. The amount of counts that we bring in. Our support team is very large, and they’re also incentivized. And so when we looked at like, okay, like, how can we really be different than what’s out there? We’re not, although, like, we need cells to survive.

We’re not constantly sell, sell, sell, sells. It’s like, okay, if we give them what they want as many times as they want it, and just don’t stop and give them the support that they require and what we’re telling them, then we’re going to have a win, win relationship. Yeah, and I love that. You bring that up, so I think that brings, you, know, a lot of transparency into our relationship. So now, besides, like, the website in social media, talk to me a little bit about, like, as you opened up your new practice and as you I mean, okay, so like, when you open it up day one, to where you are now is completely different, yeah, And you never know what it’s going to turn into.

But of course, you’re going to show up every day and you’re going to grow it, and it’s, it’s kind of funny to, like, look back and then see where you’re at now. What type of, like, continuous education, from like a business standpoint, from like, your craft standpoint, learning new techniques, like, how much of that do you recommend or suggest is important to staying on top of, I guess, the latest innovation, if you go, yeah, you know, I think what was the biggest challenge for me was exactly what we touched on time.

Because when I was just an employee. It was easy to go to work, see patients, come home, do some trainings. I was also a trainer, but when you have this constantly evolving business that’s constantly consuming your time, I find it really hard. And I see this with other business owners, you don’t have the time to go to every conference and go to every training anymore, and you almost have to pick and choose what is going to benefit the most with the time you have. That’s been the biggest challenge for me, because I was always that person who was at every conference, every meeting, every training, and once I went on my own and kind of got so busy with all the business side of things, I realized, like, I can’t sign up for everything the way I used to. I used to be present at everything, and now I have to really pick and choose.

Like, okay, there’s a season of growth right now, so that’s where I have to do more research on growth services. And, you know, things like Google, things that I didn’t really understand before. And then once we feel like, okay, you know, like, again, once I partnered with you guys and was like, Okay, I got this part of it going. I have a team managing this part. What’s the next step? Then the next step was like, hiring. Okay, now I need to learn about hiring. And this two states are so different. I mean, California and Colorado cannot be more different when it comes to employees versus independent contractors. And like, learning all of that.

So same thing. I got on the phone with lawyers, and was trying to kind of go through all the contracts and stuff like that. So I realized I’ve had to almost compartmentalize, like, what I need to learn for the business at this time, rather than being able to just sign up for everything, you know, like I did a couple cadaver labs last year. And there’s another one I really want to do, and it’s, you know, I just, I essentially want to go back to the cadaver lab and do it all over again. And I, I’ve had to, kind of, like, look at be like, Okay, can you do this right now? Can you, is there something more important that you need to do for the business?

And so I’m constantly trying to balance my own education as an injector with the education of running a business. And that’s, I think, what’s been the biggest challenge is that I’ve always been the kind of person like you invest and it comes right back to you. Every training I’ve invested in has getting those skills and putting it into my practice. It’s never failed. And same thing with learning on the business side, every time I invest money to, like, learn things on the business side or get help with the business side, it always comes back.

But now the biggest thing is just kind of deciding, okay, what can you do with this time? You know, this month you need to focus on this once you’ve kind of gotten some more information on that, then next month you can focus on other things. So, you know, like, even with our frank conversations, like, I kind of came to you and was like, hey, added a new injector. Want to understand how to do more ads. Like, that’s what the business needs right now, and then I know, okay, maybe when I’m on maternity leave, that’s when I can cope go back and, like, look over some of my anatomy stuff and my ultrasound that I just bought.

So it’s more like, it’s just the time of trying to prioritize what does the business need right now, and for me as an injector, and then kind of plan that, rather than just kind of signing up for everything. Now, I think the biggest mistake is I meet injectors who just don’t sign up for anything. I mean, they want everything free. They want trainings to be free, that you know, they want the business stuff to just come to them, like we talked about. They want their Instagram growth to just happen. And that’s not the case with this field, like you have to constantly be investing in yourself, either as a business owner or as an injector, and your own skills for safety. So I’m constantly investing. I’ve just had to kind of prioritize now versus having the time to sign up for everything.

Yeah, I mean, I You said a couple points there that really stood out to me, and one was basically the ability to say no, and I think that’s really important, because you can get yourself in a position to where you do say yes to everything, and then you’re spread too thin. You’re kind of running around. You’re like, Okay, you almost get busy with zero output, right? Totally, totally, yeah, yeah. So where you’re departmentalized and basically said, Okay, what is important, what is basically needs to go on the back burner for a little bit.

And, and, and the having the ability to say no and focus on what’s going to move the needle is, is another place I see a ton of people get stuck in the growth stage. And so if you can do that, and it’s okay to say no, like, there’s so many times, even in my life, where I said, Nope, can’t do it, Cameron, can you meet Nope, can’t do it, yeah. Can you come to this I’m a big golfer. Can you come to this golf event? Nope, can’t do it. And even though, like all that stuff, hey, I probably, probably could or but if you’re focused on on taking your business to the next level, and you can you have that vision to see long term without basically even having, like, a road map, because you’re going to have these hurdles along the way, it’s going to put you in a position to focus on what matters to. Totally
Exactly. It’s like, you don’t want to dilute your energy, because exactly it makes it, makes it harder to focus on what is going to give you the greatest output. And even for trainings, like, I’m being an Allergan and gal dorma trainer, there’s, there’s been months where I’ve had to just really cut back and say, You know what? I the business needs more of my attention right now.

I need to meet the demand of the patients, and as much as I love training, I’m not going to be able to do as many training. So it’s even saying no to avenues of revenue, to kind of focus on other aspects of revenue that that can give you a little more output, which is been the other challenges. Like I said, before I had the time to say yes to everything, and with a business, I realized that energy output can get drained very quickly, so you might have to say no to things that initially feel like an income loss, but now you’re putting more energy to things that are going to give you a greater output.

That is, that is well, well said.

And I think that should actually be the highlight of the podcast, of what you that was, that was, that was great. So, well, I don’t want to take up too much more your time. I know you’re super busy, but tell me just really quick. Like, as you’ve been in this space, you’ve, you’ve had the challenges, you’ve you’ve overcome those challenges and up. And what’s funny is, like, as you constantly train your mind and as you constantly are, are basically like, putting yourself in a position to know that challenges are going to come in the future, just the way life is.

And be like, Okay, well, deal with them when they come talk to me about three to five years from now, like, where do you want your Where do you want your practice to be? And also, like, from a personalized standpoint, you know, in all honesty, that’s where I think I I wish I was more of a thinker, because, again, I’m such a doer that sometimes I I don’t really think, like, long term. And so it’s funny when I’m on the phone with some of my colleagues who want to kind of go on their own.

When I, when I see how much they’ve thought things out, I’m like, oh, gosh, I need to, you know, maybe I need to start making more of a plan. And I think in the first six months of my business, it was like, just get things up and going, like, get it up and going, you know, just, just get familiar with the laws, make sure you can meet the demand. And in the last few months it that’s where I really found the time to be like, Okay, it’s time to start planning. You’ve got the wheels going, the doors are open, patients are pouring in, but you have to have a plan. You can’t just keep going day by day. And so it’s really that’s been really kind of a journey for me.

Because if you were to ask me, like, three months ago, where do you want to be in three five years? I’d be like, I don’t know. I’m just trying to, like, keep up right now between LA and Denver. And now I’ve realized, like, No, this is another pillar to your business. It’s not just going day by day and making making sure things run smoothly. You have to have a plan. So that’s something kind of that I’ve, I’ve realized over the last few months, needs time and attention as well.

And I’ve, you know, I’ve met with some business analysts and business strategists to kind of talk about, like, how could this grow? You know, I really love being in two locations. And I realized that’s kind of what I prefer. I prefer having different locations that are going to kind of have different challenges in that community. And the, you know, the strategist I was talking to was kind of like, this is something you could definitely do.

You know, you have a model, you have a social media presence, you have injectors flying from all over the country to your trainings. If this is what you love, if you love being in different locations more than just, you know, growing one massive Med Spa, that’s something you should definitely look into. So, you know, I had my first private group training, and we were supposed to cap out at 10 injectors, and we had to open up more spots, and we finally maxed out at 16 injectors. And again, I see so much potential in these injectors to possibly go on their own.

And so that’s definitely something I think we’re looking at, is future locations outside of LA and Denver, and just kind of seeing like, Okay, how could we find the right talent and kind of merge our business model with, you know, the best patient care, the best trainer education, and kind of allow that for someone who may not want to do all the business stuff themselves, but kind of want that opportunity to be more independent. So I think we’re starting to definitely think, okay, in one year from now, what will the next location be? And we already have a couple spots we’re considering, so I think that will be more the growth on our aspect.

I want to continue growing in Denver as well. This is my home base. But again, I just realized for me, I love spreading the services I love, like, when patients fly to me, I’m like, gosh, we’re having a lot of patients fly from Texas. We’re having a lot of patients fly from the East Coast. So to me, it’s really exciting to think of, okay, we can expand our services there, and we can expand our our motto, and, you know, kind of like our philosophy, into these different geographic locations. So I think. That’s kind of you know more in the future for us.

But as of now, it’s just, you know, we’re definitely expanding. We’re looking at a second location, or a bigger location in Denver, since I brought on Teresa, who’s an experienced injector, and Mindy, who’s a newer injector. So we have three injectors now, and so we need to move into a bigger space in the immediate future, but long term, it’s definitely kind of looking at nationwide and what those opportunities are.

Awesome, awesome. That’s, that’s exciting.

Yeah, I think that, you know, anything that’s thrown your way, you’re gonna figure it out, you know. And I can just tell, just just you’re having this conversation, and the conversations that we’ve had over the years, and so, I mean, that’s, that’s awesome to hear that. And I think, I think you’re right. Like, it’s, it’s challenging when, hey, things are going well, like, you have people flying to you to get service treatment done.

It’s like, that’s super cool, by the way.

Um, thanks, yeah. I mean, that’s, I mean, obviously people love what you do to to take the time to do that. And I think people, they do get a little stuck, because I’m very similar to you, I’m an action taker. I do think long term, but at the same time, like, we’re busy, right? There’s so much to do in the day, it’s like, oh my gosh, okay, I want to think long term. But how can I do it when I think there’s freaking, you know, fires coming at me every single cycle, yes, exactly like, you’re dodging in like, but, but I think, you know, there’s those, there’s those times where you have a little bit of downtime, almost like, like, for me, I do this little gratitude walk every single morning, and I’m an early, early riser, and and I think about, okay, what were your wins yesterday?

And from a business level, from like, a personal level, health level, a family level, my kids, my wife and I kind of go through those, and that kind of brings, like, a smile and a joy to my to my life, to, like, prepare for today. And then I also take a little bit of time to say, okay, like, what, where can I work on our business to help move the needle for long term, take a little bit of time there, just to, just to kind of think and plan that out. And then I think your day to day activities almost correlate with that long term strategy, because it’s in your head.

And so you’re doing like, Hey, you’re running around like crazy all day long. You almost like, already know what the end goal is. You know, as crazy as that can, can can sound, it’s been, I don’t know. It’s been helpful for me. I’ve heard some other people that do it, because, shoot, we are very busy and it’s challenging.

So no, thanks so powerful. Thank you for sharing that, because I can only imagine how much more fueled I would feel if I woke up every morning. I definitely don’t. I mean, I’m a night owl, so I’m the one who’s working till like, 2am and then, like, exhausted in the morning. It’s not a good habit. But as you said that, I just remember I was just thinking, like, gosh, imagine how much less burnt out you would feel if you spent a little time in the morning just reflecting. And I think that’s important, because I do think the burnout is real. I definitely think there’s times where, again, I’ve had other business owners just say, I just want to be done with all of it.

I just want to sell. I don’t want to do it anymore. I’ve felt that way, and I think it probably comes from a lack of spending that just quiet time being able to reflect over there. I’m going to try that. Thank you for sharing that. I’m going to see if I can get up a little bit earlier and just spend some of that quiet time reflecting. I tend to do it in the middle of the night, but that doesn’t really help me the next doesn’t really help me the next day.

Well, yeah, I mean, whenever you want to. I mean, it’s, it’s, it is. Because the other thing that’s helped me too, that that also kind of correlates with this, and I’ll let you go here in a minute, but, but it’s, it’s your why, and something like that has been very helpful for me, because, trust me, like I feel you, there has been times where I’m like, I can’t handle it anymore, like, whether it’s like internal staff, external clients, some sort of broken technology, or whatever it is, maybe it’s even outside of of the business and it’s like, personal, or it’s all of what’s going on the economy. Like, there’s a lot of it’s crazy times right now, right?

Yeah, and I’ve heard, like, fact, I just got done with this guy’s book. Tim Grover, he wrote a book called relentless, and then he came out with a book called winning, and he actually trained Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and I don’t really read books like that, but I kind of took to it. And he talks about that, and he talks about, like, the ability to to keep to keep moving, and those are the ones that that do win, and you’re gonna have wins, and you’re gonna get knocked down, you got to get back up. Up, and it’s almost like happens to us every single day, throughout whatever happens, yeah, you know.

And I think that if you kind of have that, why of like, okay, why am I doing what I’m doing? It kind of helps with because the burnout is real. It helps with that, you know, yeah. And then I think people also think that the grass is greener on the other side and, and I’m like, No, it’s really not, you know, know your lawn.

Give us water, fertilizer on there.

You’ll be good.

Exactly, exactly, all right. Well, I just got a couple other questions for you, and I’ll let you and I’ll let you go. This is just called Rapid Fire, and then I’ll wrap everything up for you. But really quick.

Favorite movie.

Oh gosh, I still love coming to America. It’s one of my favorites.

I love that joke.

All right, so favorite late night snack now you’re I know you’re up late.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch while I’m pregnant, that has been my gosh, like I never ate that before pregnancy. I have to have it once a day now, and it’s usually, I love it, okay?

And then favorite hobby.

Ooh, playing with my son. I love playing with him. It’s just feeds my soul.

Cute. Love it. Love it. I got myself and and, man, they are so innocent and cute. And talk about a big smile, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay. So, well, everybody, I’ll leave it at that.

Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to Medical Millionaire again. This is Cameron Hemphill. If you found this content valuable, please share it. Keep it going. And by the way, if if you happen to be in Denver or LA or anywhere for that matter, connect with Neekah. She is amazing at what she does. Visit her website. It’s www.aereaesthetics.com that’s a e r e, aesthetics.com and and check her out.

Reach out to her.

Um again. Cameron Hemphill here with Medical Millionaire, thanks so much for joining. Until next time. Happy injecting, you.