Cameron Hemphill and Ashley James discuss the challenges and strategies for success in the medical spa industry. Ashley, with a background in nursing and esthetics, has founded and sold multiple med spas, emphasizing the importance of proper business planning, compliance, and effective sales and consultation training. She highlights the necessity of having an MSO and MSA for non-physician owners and the critical role of immediate follow-up in lead generation. Ashley also stresses the importance of thorough training for estheticians, offering hands-on courses through the National Med Spa Training Institute. Their conversation underscores the complexities and necessities for running a successful med spa.

Transcript

This is medical millionaire the podcast, helping your Med Spa 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
Hemphill,
Hey, everybody. Cameron Hemphill, here your host for medical millionaire. Hey, first off, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to tune into our podcast. Our goal is to give incredible value and insight into the medical spa market. So if you’re an injector, you’re in the esthetic space, the DERM space, the plastic surgery space. This podcast is designed for you, so wherever you’re at within your specific journey of your practice, we want to help you take that to the next level. And today, we have a special guest on the show. We have Ashley James with dermaesthetic Consulting and the National Med Spa Training Institute. Ashley, welcome to the show. Hi, Cameron, thank you. I know how busy you are, like we talk a lot and we have a lot going on. Thank you for taking the time to really, you know, join us today. And what I want to really kind of get into. First and foremost is your background. Like, talk to me about what got you into where you are today. And so, because I know a lot of people in this space are always curious, like, where are they going to go next, and what got you to where you are now? And just walk us through that journey. Yeah, absolutely.
Well, it was quite the journey. Let me start off by saying that, you know, I started my career off in the nursing industry and then quickly transitioned into the esthetic industry. I was actually my third year in nursing school when I decided that being a nurse was not something I wanted to do. In hindsight, I should have probably completed that degree because I had no idea that the nursing field would end up merging into the esthetic field. So I dropped out of nursing school, transferred to Iowa State University, where I was able to get into business. And the reason that I transferred there was because of one of the esthetic schools that was, at the time, one of the top three in the country. So my third year in nursing, I discovered the field of esthetics, and it was one of those aha moments where I’m like, that’s what I’m supposed to do. So I completely did a gear shift and went into the business mindset of, I’m going to get a business degree, I’m going to become an esthetician. I’m going to own a med spa, and one foot from the other, I launched my first facility, literally, like two years later. So I started off running med spas. I’ve actually owned four esthetic practices. My first one I opened at the age of 23 I’ve had a plastic surgery clinic, I’ve had a dermatology facility, all started from the ground up into multi million dollar entities, and my last facility was a dermatology practice that I ended up selling and honestly Cameron, my goal was to retire at that point, but that didn’t happen. I think I was retired for about six months before I launched dermocetic Consulting. And the reason that I launched the business is because my husband Eric actually identified that this is what I do. I like to start businesses. I like to grow them to be these amazing, thriving, financially sound companies, I get bored, and then I sell. And so what’s better than being a consultant, where I can now help other people open up their businesses, get them to be successful, and then move on to the next project? So I’ve done my success in the industry. I’ve had my own skincare line, spent seven years producing that I’ve grown a variety of medical facilities, and now I’m really enjoying this next phase of my career where I can take my experience and help other doctors and esthetic professionals, you know, really launch sound practices and really thrive, thrive within them.
Okay? That, yeah, you, you are, I mean, that’s very impressive, right? So that, I mean, you have a fantastic resume, and in very much understand so many more things than that. Go into a like opening up a practice. What does it take? How do you, how do you take it from, you know, point A to to sustainability, profitability, and then take it to the point of making it attractive enough for somebody to actually want to, wanting to acquire, right? So, you know, as I, as I talk to medical, you know, practice owners and in the med spa space daily, hourly, like every you know. So. Do is a lot of them, they get into this space, and I feel like they don’t have the right assets or tools to be equipped to run a very like a successful practice without having the right consulting and the right team. I hear it a lot, and so like, and I do think in, you know, tell me what you think, but I feel like social media has kind of played a role, right, where people follow people, they see success, and they’re like, Okay, cool. I’m a nurse. I’m gonna go get the esthetics. I’m gonna open up a med spa, I’m gonna go finance a laser. And they and they come to find out quite quickly that this is a real business, like you have to be well equipped with right tools, the right resources to have success. And so I’d like to hear from your perspective, like what your thoughts are on that because you’ve done it, you’ve done it right. You started it, you built it, sustained, sold it so and I think people in our audience that are listening to this would love to hear how is that possible and talk us through that? Well,
I think, you know, I think what you said, I think you nailed it on the head, where social media has really kind of played a part into physicians and practice centers, you know, really some of the growth in this med spa industry. You know, 20 years ago, we didn’t have access to everything, like we have access now, I think when I opened my first Med Spa, we had MySpace, like Facebook didn’t exist yet, or if it did, I was I was not. I was not. It wasn’t like an everyday name, like nobody knew what Facebook was. So I think now you know, consumers have access to everything they want to obtain their information right away. They’re not taking the time to really go in and do a lot of consultations before they make the decisions. They’ve pretty much made decisions now before they even, you know, call the practice. I think this exponential growth has also attracted a lot of these physicians to thinking that this is just easy money. You know, what I have seen is, you know, as medical reimbursements go down, a lot of, you know, family practice providers and er providers are, are wanting something that’s more stable, more cash based business. But honestly, Cameron, what the problem is is, you know, business is not easy. It. You know, even though I’m located in Iowa right now, this is not the Field of Dreams, if you build it, the patients don’t always come so you you definitely have to have a solid business plan. And you know, physicians are extremely smart individuals when it comes to medicine, but when it comes to running business, sometimes they just they don’t have the tools to be successful. So that’s honestly where we come in. We do a lot of business restructures, we do a lot of consulting, we do a lot of startups where we’re providing that foundational plan that they can easily follow and making sure that they have the training they need to really, you know, have a successful practice. But I think, you know, it’s not as easy as everybody says. It is, like, like you, like you played into I think, I really just think that the conception is that this is all a high revenue, easy return on investment, without the right training, without the right business plan. You know, we see a lot of doctors that also fail.
Yeah, I completely agree, you know, and so, you know, sometimes it’s, it’s unfortunate, you know, it’s like, I feel like you can finance like anything, and it’s not hard to really finance, like, in a very expensive laser, right? And then lease a building, and then, you know, it’s,
I mean, you can do all those things. You know, the laser companies are really, really good at selling the Field of Dreams. Buy this $400,000 device, and you’re going to make a million dollars. And that’s just not how it goes. You can have the space, and you can hire the staff and you can bring in the best devices. But you know, if you don’t have a sales process, if you don’t have a good marketing strategy, if you don’t have good advertising that really captures the attention of your audience and your ideal customer, you’re not going to survive.
Yeah, that’s, that’s very, very true, you know? And it’s running like a lot of times I’ve done, I’ve done some podcasts and some speaking engagements and, and I really like to talk about how to run your practice like a business, because at the end of the day, right? You know, you know this, it’s running a business where, look, you have to have patient acquisition, you have to have a facility, you have to have equipment, you have to have staff, you have to have sales training, you have to have follow up technology, like all of this stuff. And then it rolls into accounting, P and L, you know, like filing taxes, like paying employees benefits. It’s, it’s the real deal. I mean, hey, you can have a tremendous amount of success in this space, but I think somewhere along the line, like setting expectations, it’s, is important, right? It’s like, here’s a good way to put it. You can go. Get your real estate license. That’s fine. You can read, you know, read the thing, go, take the test, and you got a license to sell homes. Okay, cool, but do you really know how to run a real estate business? Right? No, it’s like, it’s the training comes after the training, right,
right, right. You have the you have the startup training, and you have all that training to prepare for the doors to open, and then you have the ongoing training to make sure that you’re hitting your sales, you’re hitting your benchmarks. And you also have to have the training to identify when there is a problem, and then what that you know how to implement solutions
absolutely so. So when it comes to DERM esthetic consulting, you have on your site developing tomorrow’s professional leaders. I think that’s a really cool tagline, and it’s and it’s so true, and it’s like, so So if I was to open up a practice, right? And maybe I’d worked at a practice, you know, for years, and I’m like, You know what, I’m going to branch out on my own, go do my own thing. We see a lot of that happening right now, you know, like, talk me through and for the audience, like, what does that process look like? You know, because I want, let’s, I’m going to open one up, let’s just say hypothetically, and I want to be successful, I’m going all in, right? What? How do, how do I do that?
Well, it’s, it’s a process, right? So when I meet with a customer, the first thing that I like to do as a strategy call just to really, kind of understand their background and really what their goal is, I try to identify what their business niche is going to be. You know, I there’s a med spa in every corner nowadays, it seems. And so what is going to set this customer apart? Was going to set this Med Spa apart from the other owners. And so I do that, and then what I like to do is develop a, what we call a five phases to success plan. It’s really a business startup plan that’s going to do everything that you know, it’s going to really just kind of, it’s like a road map on how to open your business, but then identifies a lot of things that need to be done that most people forget about. And so, you know, I if it’s a non physician, as we see, a lot of that happening right now, where we have a lot of very, very skilled and experienced esthetic practitioners wanting to go out on their own, but they’re not doctors. So I think the first thing that I always have to identify is, is this a physician, or is it a non physician? And if it’s a non physician, then I know that they’re going to need an MSO and an MSA to even be compliant. Not every buddy knows this, but not you know, medical spas are classified as medical entities, and in some states it’s illegal for a non physician to own a medical practice. So if either in a state that that has that, then we definitely get am spa involved. I work with Michael bird all the time, and they help us to develop MSOs and MSA structures for non physician owners so they can be compliant when they’re owning their Med Spa. So that’s the first hurdle to get through. Is really just the infrastructure and the legal legalities of the business to make sure that they are, you know, following rules and laws and regulations. This isn’t just any kind of business anymore, you know, it’s a medical business. So there’s a whole a plethora of compliance that they need to follow and be aware of, and it that, in itself, is a little bit overwhelming. So we, we actually, because it’s overwhelming, we created a med spa full compliance manual. It’s like 260 pages of everything they need to know and schedules to make sure that they’re they’re running their business the right way so they they don’t get in trouble. But it, there’s a lot that goes into it. So that’s the first step. Is just, you know, the compliance and the legal structure, and then from there, you know, really just chiseling out what their services are going to be, what their niches, what training needs to take place, you know, and then determining what type of profit margin they can expect from those services. A lot of times, people want to immediately offer laser services. And because of the high expense to purchasing those devices, it’s not always the first thing that I recommend that they do. And so that’s always a little bit of a conversation is, you know, you can do other services and be a med spa without bringing in lasers in right away. My plan of attack is to open the business, have an establish a stable patient base, where you’re having that return on investment, and then bring in a laser that is a multi platform laser down the road when the business can can afford it.
Wow, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s when you say MSA and MSO. What are, what are those? What do you what are those? Talk to me about that.
So a medical service organization, it. Is basically, how do I put this? So a non physician can’t own the medical practice, but they can. They can own a business that manages the medical practice. So essentially, an MSO is the medical service organization that the non physician would own, and then the MSA is the agreement, or the operational agreement, on how the medical practice and the MSO work together. So essentially, the medical director, or the physician that is going to be responsible for the medical spa is going to be the owner of the medical practice, and then the actual Med Spa owner is the owner of the MSO and then the MSA is basically an operational agreement. It sounds a lot more convoluted than it is. This is actually pretty standard in the industry, but unfortunately, honestly, Cameron, about 80% of non physicians who own med spas don’t have this in place. So those owners are actually not compliant, and they’re practicing illegally.
Wow, wow.
80% Yeah, yeah. We do this a lot. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called Michael over at am spau and says I have another company who has hired us to help them grow, but they don’t have an MSA or an MSO in place. So we then have to backtrack, and we have to basically restructure the entities that they are compliant, and that can be, you know, 25 $35,000 worth of investment to get the company compliant, interesting
or, I mean, or else you got potential lawsuit, like, like, who is, who is monitoring that, if there’s a claim by a patient, or, like, HIPAA or, Oh,
yeah. So you know who, Biggie, Smalls is, right? More money, more problems. So, yeah. So you’re that, if you’re a clinic that’s really, you know, booming and, and, you know, kicking ass and taking names. And you, you know, you have a dermatologist, for example, that is really pissed that you’re, you know, their competitor, and you’re not a doctor that you’re playing in the physician arena. If they file a complaint against your professional license or with the medical board, the medical board, an investigator can come in determine you’re not compliant and can fine you, or it could even result in jail time. So you know, if you know the whole goal is for us all to be successful, but if you’re not set up the right way, a simple complaint from a competitor can turn your world upside down.
Oh, wow. Okay, so I hope everybody heard that right. Make sure you have your MSOs and your MSAs in place. We see we sign MSAs with our clients. Well, growth 99 does right to kind of protect both parties. It’s just a master service agreement as well, which, which is important, just to kind of set expectations. But you know when you’re when you’re dealing in this space, you know you’re dealing with patients, bodies, like altering in the face, like injecting pharmaceuticals, right? Like, yeah, you better be compliant. I would imagine, you know, I don’t know what the insurance is like in terms of like from a financial standpoint, but I would imagine that is that something that you you kind of go through as well, just as, like, a check box type of thing, or,
yeah, yes. So legal structure and compliance and rules and regulations is kind of something that I’m very passionate about, because I’ve actually been through this myself, you know. So, like I said, I opened my first practice when I was 23 there was no am spot back then there, there were no really rules and regulations. And in my area, you know, I was very successful, and I attracted the competition, the wrong competition, and I had doctors that filed complaints against me all the time. And, you know, thankfully, like nothing ever came about of any of them, but the last one that I went through, they, like, took it to the news and and, you know, made all these accusations that weren’t, weren’t. They had no, they had no evidence of the accusations they were making against me. And you know, the whole, you know, innocent till proven guilty, doesn’t apply in board law, um, you know, if someone complains about you, that’s a charge against you, and then they do the investigation. So I spent like, $150,000 defending myself one time I was accused of practicing outside of my scope. That’s all that it was. And I didn’t practice outside of my scope. We had dermatologists, we had nurse practitioners. Everyone was licensed. I was set up correctly, legally, but that’s what it routed from that. I was a non physician, owning a medical practice, and I had a competitor file against me, and it cost me about $150,000.03 years to clear my aim and defend myself. Yeah, gosh,
yeah, the time compounded with the, you know, the financial liability and the stress. Right? Like, not fun, not fun at all. Okay, so
when I Yeah, so that’s why I’m so passionate about it, is, you know, I don’t want anybody to have to go through what I went through. And so from the get go, you know, and you that’s, that’s just an example of, even when you do things the right way, you can still have problems. So had I not had everything in place, oh my gosh. Like, I can’t even imagine what would have happened.
Thank you for listening to medical millionaire. I wanted to take just a few short moments and tell you all about growth 99 University, naturally, if you’re listening to medical millionaire, the success of your Med Spa is extremely important to you, and as it should be. And if you’re listening to medical millionaire, you are obviously looking for the best, most effective ways to take your Med spot to the next level in both profit and customer success, enter growth 99 University ranging from online education courses all the way to the full suite of marketing and web services. Growth 99 has your Med Spa covered. No matter the challenges that you’re facing, we are ready and able to help you achieve your next level in business profit and freedom to inquire about all of our support services and products. Please visit growth 90 nine.com and while you’re there, click the university link and check out the companion course to this very podcast. Back to the show.
80% like, that’s a, that’s a huge, yeah. Okay, so, so now let’s, let’s pivot and say, Okay, I’m compliant. I’m all good. I got my MSO, my MSA, and, you know, and that’s good, like, I’m structured correctly. It doesn’t, it doesn’t stop there. That’s like, your compliance stuff, right? And so now, like, shoot you, you have to know how to, you know whether, whether some people want to say it or not. I mean, you really have to know how to you have to know how to sell. You have to know how to, you know, like, like, close deals, right? And so
it’s, I
don’t know, a lot of times I hear entrepreneurs like, I’m not a salesperson, I’m a business owner. And I call, you know, I Call Bull crap on that, because if you’re an entrepreneur, no matter what industry you’re in, you have to know how to communicate, right? And so, and you guys help with that as well. Yeah,
so, you know, sales training and and consultation closing, these are things that we we spend a lot of time helping customers with. And, you know, I always get that, you know, I don’t want to sell, or that’s not really my job. Well, it is your job. It is your job to sell, if you are in this business in the esthetic industry, you know, that’s how you grow. You’re not just providing a service. What I like to tell my customers is selling is just education. So your customer is coming to you for solutions. If they are taking the time to visit you for a consultation, they’ve already decided that they’re going to do the service. It’s just, are they going to do it with you? So, you know, this industry, you know, it seems to be hard, oh, you know, to sell all these services. But really, it’s not because the customers already know that they want to do this. So in this industry, people purchase based on how you make them feel, rather than out of a need. So, you know, traditional medicine, they’re going to you because, you know you’ve had a heart attack, or, you know you’re you have the flu or COVID. In this industry, they’re coming to you because they want to feel better. They want to they want to feel better about how they how they look. They want to feel they need more confidence. They, you know, want to slow the aging process down. And so when you’re educating the customer, not selling. You’re educating them on services and products that are going to help them achieve their overall goal. And it’s a very personal situation. When I do consultation training, I have to remind customers, you know, my customers, that you have to get on to the patient’s level. You know, when someone says to me, you know, I’m here for laser hair removal, but then I see that they’re tugging and pulling at their face. I want to address that, and an easy way to address that is say, you know, I understand that you’re here for hair removal. I hear that you’re saying that, but I’m also seeing you tug and pull at your face. Would I be correct to assume that if we could provide a solution for maybe tightening some of of the jowl areas, that that would be something you’d be interested in, and the customer will say, Oh yeah, of course. And a lot of the times, their body language don’t even know they’re doing that. They’re talking about a service, but they’re maybe touching their skin or their face or their body in other areas, and, you know, inadvertently telling you that these are other things that bother them, that they’re not verbalizing. So, you know, saying to the customer, you know, how would that make you feel? If we can, if we can, refresh your appearance? Or, you know, I hear that you’re a busy mom of three, I bet you don’t have a lot of. Time that you really dedicate to yourself, or I bet you feel guilty doing anything for yourself. Am I correct? And you know, they say, Oh yeah, I never do anything for myself. Like, you know, I every my kids come first, my husband comes first. I’m the last I can I can see that I understand that, you know, well, well, I’m proud of you for coming in today and finally taking the steps to do something for yourself, because you deserve it, and you know, as your provider, I want to help make that happen. So you know, it’s not just selling, it’s educating about the services, but it’s connecting with your customer, and the easiest way to do that is just talk to them like your friend. And I think when you can and when you can get the customer to relate to like that, then it’s just about. It’s just about, you know, all right, let’s do this. Let’s, let’s go ahead and work towards the customer’s goal.
Does that make sense? No, it does. Well said. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s very well said in the sense of applying like your your background and your education, to giving information to help solve the problem, right, right? So they come to you for that example, hair, you know, restoration, whatever it is, hair loss problems. And you’re noticing other things that’s where, like, the skill set should come. And it’s like, Hey, I noticed this, like, we have this product or this service, this treatment, it’s going to solve that problem, because chances are, like, there is other things going wrong. And if you can apply your area of expertise to solve problems and at the same time, like, approve, you know, get them to where their self confidence, you know, goes up right? Like, that’s why they’re there in the first place, you know, to help them expand that horizon. It’s really just, it’s conversational.
It really is, yeah, confirmation. You know, a lot of, a lot of providers say, you know, I don’t want to point things out. Like, if they have acne, you know, I don’t want to point that out and embarrass them. Well, it’s your job, you know, to give them all of the options to create solutions and say, you know. So a good introductory for that is, you know, I hear that these are the things that you’re concerned about. Would it? Would it be okay if I provided you some suggestions on other services that I think you could benefit from? And then from there, I always do what I call the compliment sandwich, the Oreo. So like, if I’m approaching someone that has acne and they didn’t mention that they want to take care of their acne, I would say, you know, you’ve got, you’ve got beautiful, you know, you know, or I wouldn’t say beautiful. I would say, you know, you’ve aged really, really well. Your skin’s done really well. You have very minimal fine lines and wrinkles. However, I do notice that, you know, you may have suffered from acne and that you’ve developed some, you know, acne scars. Would this be, is this something that bothers you? And if it does, would you be interested in learning about solutions where I can, you know, smooth that out, and maybe, you know, restore your skin, and then, you know, I’ve done it in a way where, you know, I’m complimenting them, and then I’m outlining, you know, what I see, and then providing them a solution on to make it better. And that’s a very gentle way to point something out without, you know, making the customer embarrassed or apprehensive. Because, I mean, they know they have acne, they know they have scars, and they just may not be, they may be insecure to the point that they don’t want to ask for help. Does that make sense? Oh, yeah, absolutely,
absolutely. And it’s probably, it can become a very emotional conversation, which then, yes, up like, you know, now you’re developing trust, right? Right? You peeled back that next layer, and now you’re you’re not selling. You’re helping, right,
right? Yes, I understand, you know, I know you had acne, you know, I understand this bothers you. I can understand how this maybe affects your self confidence. But I’m here, you know? I can, I can help you with this. I can make things better. And, yeah, I mean, there are a lot of times people cry during consultations, you know, it is a very emotional process, but these are the customers that will stay with you for life. And so, yeah, you know the consultation process, honestly, that’s, that’s where the rubber meets the pavement. If you’re not closing nine out of 10 of your consultation you need, you need sales training. You need consultation training. Because if they’re taking the time to come out of out of their day to come visit with you. They’ve already decided that they’re going to do something just, are they going to do with
you? Yeah, yeah. They’re already there, right? They’ve already made up their mind. They’ve, they’ve, is it going to be you? And, I mean, you could either, you know, I guess, win that opportunity and solve problems and assist people, or not, you know? And that kind of brings up, like, to the next point, in terms of, like, part like process, you know, automation, where maybe this person was referred to you, or they found you through social media, or they did a Google search, or whatever it is, like they found you somehow, some way, you know, word of mouth or whatever billboard, I don’t know, but, um. If they reach out to you and and you’re not responsive, right? Like, there is medical esthetics practices, like, like you said, all over popping up. There is options. You know, people want instant gratification, if you will. And so if you don’t have systems and processes in place to, like, capture that information follow up, you know, book, book, an appointment, a consultation, whatever it is like you’re also missing out on those opportunities. So what do you guys do in that aspect? Well, it’s very, very important
for the follow up process to be immediate. So how many I know that listeners are going to are going to verify this? So how many times have you called a place of business and the receptionist picks up and it’s like, hi, please hold Yeah or Hi, thank you for calling ABC Med, spa. Just a minute. Okay, I’m so sorry about that. How can I help you? I mean, it’s, such an unprofessional first impression, but even simple mistakes like that can cost you 1000s of dollars in revenue. So you know your your phone person, your receptionist, is honestly your most important person in your practice, because they’re your, they’re they’re the first, usually the first point of contact with your customer. So having someone dedicated who just answers the phones and isn’t doing checkouts with patients and isn’t doing check ins and can’t be distracted is something that we recommend, but yeah, the follow up process, you know. So if you’re doing, you know, utilizing your services at growth 99 doing SEO and doing lead gen, you know that response time is so important. I think it’s you’ve got five minutes to respond to a lead or your opportunity conversion decreases by 2,000% and that crazy.
Yeah, you’re exactly right. And I mean, it’s, I mean, you just gave me chills, right? Because I like one of the things that you said resonated with me so well. Which was the example, like, hey, you know, this is XYZ Med, spa. Can you please hold or the other example, with the whispering, Hey, okay, we’re here. Like, that is unprofessional. Remember, like, this is a practice, right? It has to be super professional. If that person is the first person of engagement, like, it’s, it’s um, immediate turn off, right? Your no show rate. I would be curious to know what the no show rate would be on a on somebody calling in that right?
Or you have that receptionist that just you can tell hates their job. I mean, it’s just, again, this is an industry where people purchase based on how you make them feel. So if you are making the customer feel like you’re too busy or you’re unorganized, they’re certainly not going to come to you to do a laser procedure.
No, you’re going to touch my body and my face. No, thanks. Oh, yeah, there’s options. That’s, yeah, that’s so true. And then the other point that you made in terms of, if you don’t get back to them within five minutes to 2,000% ratio, it’s so true because there’s, you know, I’ll tell you what, it’s a tremendous amount of work to to do. You know, what growth that end does in the SEO, the lead gen and and how competitive it’s got, and how many people are on Facebook and Instagram and Tiktok and spending money on Google AdWords, and it’s got more expensive. And then if you get that lead, you know, like when it hits and you don’t do anything with it. I mean, it’s just, it’s like, hard work for nothing,
they’re gone. That goes back to what I what I said in the very beginning. You know that 20 years ago, things were so much different. I mean, I used to do newspaper advertisements on two a and, you know, magazine, you know, big, big, you know, slicks in magazines, and wait for customers to call and wait for them to come in for a consultation. Now, everything is so accessible. And so, yeah, if you don’t, I mean, if they call you, you get that lead, and you don’t respond. There’s another there’s another ad popping up in front of them on Facebook, or they’re going to just go down to the, you know, down the list on Google and click on the next med spot, it looks like they have a good website. So it’s, it’s, it’s so important to respond and to have a process in place so that you earn that customer right away. Totally, totally.
And then there’s other times too, if you take it to the next step, is like, hey, maybe that lead hits. You do call them, they don’t answer, or, you know, or you’re not, like, let’s say if they inquire on Sunday night at 7pm for example, okay, you’re probably with your family. You’re not at the practice, which I hope people are not, you know, but they but your ads are running, for example, and they hit that lead should be sent into an EQ incubation system that sends out the auto, Auto Replies, right? The text messages, emails. So at least there is something they know you’re awake even when you’re not awake,
right? Right? Absolutely. And we even have that for our company. You know, if someone messages us on on a Sunday, it’s we immediately send a text message reply. Thank you so much for reaching out to us. We value you, and can’t, you know, wait. Help you grow. We are closed. We will call you in the morning, you know what I mean, and then it’s usually followed up with an email. So I will say I am guilty of being that crazy entrepreneur that if I see something like that come through, I’ll pick up the phone at 10pm
I’ve had that problem too.
Think we’re all guilty of that, for sure, because we were accessible as well. It’s like, oh, I got an email, I got a text message, oh, I got an alert. Yeah. So yeah, I totally feel you in that regard. But what’s funny too, is it’s like, I think a lot of people, you know, they’re not investing in in the in technology and process automation and the proper like, you just follow up process and how much money they’re leaving on the table, because maybe they didn’t want to sign up for, like, some sort of, you know, texting tool, or whatever it is, or lead capture tool, because maybe it’s a monthly fee, and who wants another monthly fee? But at the same time, that inquiry was a $5,000 appointment that you never knew that you you didn’t have, right? Like in technology is very, very much it, it’s more cost effective than people like, right? So resonate it. Resonate with that. Now. Let’s pivot just for a sec. And I know you’re busy, I’ll let you go here soon. But so national Med Spa Training Institute. Can you educate us more on that aspect, and how does it tie into dermocetic Consulting? So
another passion of mine is training and education. So I was one of the first nationally certified laser technicians in the country, and I work very, very closely with the NCLC, which is actually the only committee for official laser training and certification. So as an owner I was, I was obviously having tons of estheticians or nurses coming in wanting to work for me, and their training just was not up to par. And within this industry, especially doing with lasers or neurotoxins, you can really severely damage a patient if you don’t really know what you’re doing. And unfortunately, many people are not properly certified or trained. I can’t tell you how many times I go on site to a clinic and they’ve they’ve informed me that their laser technicians are are certified. And then when I get on site, I learned that really their certification just consisted of a laser company coming in and teaching them how to use their machine for a day. That is not certification, that is not training, that is that is setting yourself up for a liability down the road, because there’s no possible way that you’ve been able to provide all the education and tissue indications and proper usage of a medical device like that in just eight hours. So that is something I saw more than I’d like to remember. And so in creating and starting the national med spot Training Institute, we started this school with the passion of providing more effective training in education. And one of the ways that we do this is we keep our classes very, very small, so our classes are accredited. They are they’re small, intimate learning environments, partially, some of them are done online and in person. Some of them are just in person, but we have a five to one ratio, so five students to one instructor, and we just provide a ton, a ton of hands on training and education in order to effectively put more experience, more skilled providers out into the world. So, you know, we have no there are plenty of good, good companies that are out there. But, you know, to the listeners, I’m sure you, you’re familiar with, you know, Botox training that’s done in a seminar like style, you go to a hotel, there’s 100 other people there. There’s five or 10 instructors. You’ve got to bring your own model. You got to purchase your own product. And, you know, they literally line them up and teach how to inject, you know, on a PowerPoint presentation with one instructor at the front of the of the ballroom, and then, okay, go ahead and inject this. How you do it? To me, that’s just scary. So we’re just very passionate about providing more thorough training and education and smaller classroom settings, and we’ve been very successful with it. Our students really appreciate that we include a little bit of business training with that too. So on the last day of their training, they we have kind of a Q amp a where they can ask us how to start their practice, or how to do better consultations, or how to grow their practice. Whether they’re a provider or they’re an owner, it’s beneficial either way.
Got it? Got it very cool. Okay, so it’s, it’s very hands on, right? It’s,
it’s very hands on. We just have a few classes we do. Pdothreading, you know, neurotoxins and cosmetic fillers. We do laser training and certification. We do PRP, P micro needling. We’re getting into exomes and some other services. So basically, your top treatments in the industry where you need proper training and certification, kind of the fundamentals of being an esthetic provider. Those are the services and certifications we provide.
Got it. Got it. Okay, very cool. And so if, if I was a practice owner, I could find all of this information, like, where’s the best resource to find out about dermacetic Consulting, and then also national, you know, med squad Training Institute. Where should I go? So we have that.
We have two separate websites, but you can access everything from dermacetic consulting.com we do have a tab on our website that directs people directly to the school that they can review our classes online and see what’s available. We offer business courses to online courses, and then the most popular, which are dual online and in person courses,
got it. Okay, cool. So Durham esthetics consulting.com Yes. Okay, very cool. So just curious, like, I know you work your tail off. We exchange emails a lot, and I know you wear a lot of hats and you’re busy. Like, what is your why? Like, what? What’s keeping you going? Because you still talk with a tremendous amount of passion. You probably don’t need to be doing this right? Like, but what is it? You
know, when I I’m just that weird person that’s wired for business I love. So first of all, let me just say like I am a Christian through and through. And I really believe that I was set on this earth to make a difference in people’s lives through his work and and when I went through my last investigation where I was, you know, I was very successful. You know, my clinic was doing millions per year, and went through that last investigation where, you know, it took me three years to get through, I can’t imagine what would have happened to, you know, someone that went through that, that didn’t have the financial backing, or, you know, didn’t have the emotional support system that I had at my home. And so I’m really passionate about bettering people’s lives through their businesses. So it really makes me happy to to see somebody living out their own dream and being successful and supporting their family and, you know, just kicking ass. I’m not really sure why that gets me. It just does. I’ve been through a lot and using my experiences positive and negative to better someone else’s life. Just, I mean, it just makes me so happy. You know, I think that the ones that are near and dear to my heart are the ones that, you know, they’ve been that doctor that’s bought all the equipment, and they’re upside down and on the verge of bankruptcy, and their wife’s getting ready to divorce them because they can’t support their family, and being able to turn their business around and get them back on their feet. You know, I like to joke that, you know, I save marriages so, you know, it’s just, it’s no honestly, it’s no different from your patient that’s feeling insecure about the way they look, and then you transitioning them into making them feel confident about their skin. It’s really the same concept, but from a business aspect, now I’m just, I’m able to take everything that I’ve done over the last several decades, and apply it to the industry as a whole, rather than just to my community. And, yeah, I mean, I feel like, you know, obviously I’m not God, but I feel like, you know, he does his work through me, and you know, I’m very fortunate and very blessed to be able to do that. Wow,
that’s that’s very meaningful and well said and resonates with me. You know completely it’s, it’s your giving back, right? Like you’ve been through shit, and you you know how to position people to avoid what you’ve been through, right? And you know what not to do and what to do. So in well, said it in the sense of, it’s not, it’s the, it’s kind of the patient example. Now you can now it’s, now it’s the business, right, helping people in saving marriages. That’s a big why. And it’s, it carries a tremendous amount of responsibility. And, you know, that’s, that’s amazing to hear. And I know, like, there’s so many people that that need the services that that you guys offer, like probably everybody really, right? They can learn something wherever they’re at, even if they get, you know, 20 locations or whatever that whatever they are. So, no, I really appreciate everything that you do. I mean, you know. A actually, you’re a Jagger, not when it comes to the space. You have incredible resume. Like, I just before we hopped on here, I was reading your entire bio, and it’s like, wow, like, this woman is the real deal. Well, thank you. It’s just, it’s really cool. It’s inspiring. And I have a lot of respect for entrepreneurs, and because I know what it’s like, like, I know what it’s like, it’s, it’s, it can be lonely. It can be dark. You can miss family things, you know, you can get emails you don’t want to get phone calls you don’t want to be on but you have to, you know, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns.
Yeah, it’s a, it’s a hard gig. But, you know, we’re wired differently, you know, like, it’s just, it’s just how we’re wired. And I love how you said that, you know, as an entrepreneur in business, like it can be lonely because you’re building a dream that not everybody understands. And so what I like to call myself is just, I hold hands, you know, like you’ve got the vision, you’ve got the dream, I’m just going to hold your hand and make sure that
you get there. I read once where it’s like,
they, they build sports cars as two seaters for a reason.
Don’t have any friends because they’re entrepreneurs.
I love that, I love that. I love that. Or, yeah, because you lose friends when you’re at this level. You know,
time for friends. There’s no barbecues. I mean, that, you know, maybe every once in a while, but you miss a lot of things because you’re very, very focused. And so, no, I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. So look, I know you’re busy. I’m gonna let I’m gonna let you go, but everybody reach out to her like contact dermocetics Consulting. Go to Derma dermocetics and consulting.com the phone number is on there, the emails on there. She’s got all the call to action on her site. You can inquire. She has her systems and processes in place. And you’re going to be at a site next, right? You’re coming up in September. Yeah,
we’re launching, I’m launching another business at that show, but I’ll be there at esthetic next and, yeah, I am excited come say hi to me. I’ll be at the mobile Med Spa Solutions booth. I’m speaking at the show as well.
Very Yeah, that’s in Dallas, September, what? Seventh through the 11th,
yep, at the Omni Hotel. Omni Hotel, yep.
So she’ll be there. If you guys haven’t got your tickets, get them. I mean, like everybody’s gonna be there. We will be there as well with the booth. So I’m excited to, you know, to see you there. And, yeah, looking forward to, you know, continue this conversation. So thank you so much for joining the show
today. Cameron, thank you so much for having me. It’s been fun. Absolutely so
alright guys, until next time.