Cameron Hemphill and Lindsay Brinehold discuss the medical esthetics industry, focusing on the growth and challenges faced by Med Spas. Lindsay, a nurse practitioner with 13 years of experience, emphasizes the importance of patient care over financial gain. She highlights the need for proper training and ethical practices, criticizing the trend of quick, low-cost treatments. Lindsay’s Neos Esthetic Academy offers affordable online training to new injectors. They also discuss the impact of social media and celebrity endorsements on patient perceptions. Cameron notes the industry’s rapid expansion, with 7,430 Med Spas in the U.S. in 2021, projected to grow to 8,840 by year-end, each generating an average of $2 million in annual revenue.

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, 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 cosmetic space, you’re in the dermatology space, plastic surgery space, this podcast all the episodes that we create. It’s 100% designed for you. My team and I, we’ve consulted with some of the top providers, injectors and practice owners all over the country, even in the United States and Canada at this point in time, and we hear stories left and right, right. So we’re constantly on the phone, and we’re constantly giving consulting and advice, and we see practices that are doing very, very well, very sustainable practices, and we see ones that are trying to figure it out. So throughout this journey together, we want to help you take your practice to the next level. And in this episode, I have a great friend, colleague, client. I want to introduce everybody to Lindsay brinehold. And Lindsay brinehold, she is a nurse practitioner. She’s a gal Derma trainer. She’s been in the medical esthetic space and injector for 13 years. She has a course that is the NEOs Academy. Please go check it out. Neos academy.com and she works for the number one Allergan account provider. So she works at skin spirit. And from what I’ve heard, and from what she what she tells me, is they’re the number one Allergan account, and they they sell a lot of Botox, right? So, Lindsay, thank you so much. Welcome to the show. Yay. Thanks
for having me. I love that you’re giving me a voice farther than my own reach. Absolutely,
absolutely no. I mean, it’s, I love doing these types of things and doing interviews and I mean, you and I have a have a cool relationship, because we, you know, we, we didn’t meet in this industry. No which is, which is really cool, right? And so for the audience, like Lindsay and I, we met. We’re both live in Salt Lake City, Utah, and we met at the at the gym. It’s there, working out together, working out exactly. And it was like, what was that class called? It was hard. What was it called, though, Kinesis.
Kinesis. We used to stare together and, like, swear in our brains and just suffer, yeah?
And like, this was years ago, right? And then we would just, like, the lady that was teaching the class, it was just a fun it was a fun class. And anyway, we became friends, and
you and my, your wife and I were pregnant together. So that was pretty fun. That’s right, good friends because we were both, you know, barely surviving also at the gym shoot,
I miss those days. I feel like, when I hear that, it’s like, oh my gosh, I forget. Like, like, my wife was pregnant. Like, man, forgot. I Yeah, and then I became really good friends with with her husband, Scotty. And so, I mean, what I want to what I want to talk about is like, you have so much experience in this industry and and you’ve seen, like, you’ve probably seen it all right. You’ve definitely here, yeah. Like before, social media during social media now. Like, talk us. Talk us about your like, about your background, your day to day. Like, what do you like? Just, just bring us up to speed.
Okay. I mean, I have so much to say, so you just stop me when I when I get carried away. But I’m I got a lot of us get into the industry by default, especially when it was just, you know, older, I mean, 13 years ago, it really wasn’t Botox is obviously around, but it wasn’t like every corner store was a medical spa, and now, I mean, it’s just, you know, the industry’s growing So quick, and I think, I think there’s a lot of misconception. I think there’s been a lot of good things that have come, you know, out of the industry, and then there’s a lot of confusion. And one of those, particularly, and I think you would agree, is, is social media. You know, back in the day, all of us got into medicine for a reason, right? We care about people. So whether you’re a nurse or a dentist or a, you know, doctor, we all want to take care of people, and so I think a lot of us that got in the industry, I mean, that’s our foundation, and unfortunately, I see it shifting a little bit. And I don’t know what you see in your space, but there’s this big dollar bill sign that’s hovering over i. Say he’s the internet, social media that let’s get into the industry and fill our pockets. And it really saddens me to be honest about that image. Have you noticed that?
Yeah, I mean, shoot, you know. So as you know, I’m the CEO of growth 99 and and we, we talk to practice owners all the time. And what’s interesting is, we go to, we go to a lot of the medical esthetics conferences, right? So, so we speak there. We have, we exhibit there. And you know, it’s our job to kind of keep up with new trends in this space. And it’s crazy how many people I’ve seen over the years like these shows explode and expand and, and I would say the majority of the people I talk to are, I’m opening up a practice, I’m opening up a spa, and, and they’re coming from all over, right? And, and it’s hard to pinpoint,
it’s cool. You’re like, good for you. Like, I love that you’re going to have that ambition and open up a business. But you know, the back end of that
I totally do. And, in fact, I have a flagship talk that I do at some of these conferences. It’s, it’s called, How to run your practice like a business. Because, you know, the people that we see get into this space, they have a lot of, you know, background from an educational standpoint, in medicine, right? Which, which is great, and I, I know nothing about and I’ve learned over the years, but I’m not a nurse practitioner. I’m not a doctor. So it’s, it’s interesting to see from that part, but I, I don’t, I mean, I want to hope that a lot of them are getting into the industry for the right reasons to help. You know, like, consumer confidence, like, like, helping people, like, change their their lives and like that, like, really, like, getting to the grassroots of, like, being a nurse, right? Like, helping people. So I have I seen it ship. I mean, shoot, I go on our social media because we follow a lot of medical spas, like plastic surgeons. And sometimes I’ll go in there and I’ll just look. And sometimes it’s sometimes I have to be honest, sometimes it’s hard to relate, because I don’t know, is the purpose to get more patience or is the purpose to give value? I do see the mixture of both, but you see it from a different lens. You know. Yeah, what do you I
think this idea of it happened or get happening organically is getting lost, right? And you’re right. We did go into medicine. We don’t have a lot of business background, so that’s why I personally hired you, and I appreciate that. But we’ve, you know, this name Botox, or Allergan or gal Derma. You know these images that are being sent across our our heads, you know, I feel bad for the next generation. I feel bad for our daughters, you know. And it was interesting. I was invited, actually, to allergans campus last month. And I mean, you know, how big of a company they are, and they it was really cool to see this huge company come down to grassroots. And they actually are asking, we’re asking me and my colleagues our opinions about how they can better, you know, support injectors, about future, you know, about involving us in their campaigns, and how does, how, what does it look like in the future? And the main thing we talked about is, you know, getting rid of the celebrity endorsements, getting rid of, you know, these influencers that just something comes out of their mouth, and people sadly go buy it. And you know, when you I go back to the consumer, they’re on Instagram, and everyone’s an expert, a self proclaimed expert. Well, let me tell you about the training that you do for injections, which is what motivated me to do Neos esthetic Academy is pick a two day course, you show that you have a license, and you go and you inject half a lip, maybe a quarter of a lip, a fourth of a fit of cheek, maybe a chin, and you get a certificate, and now you’re hireable. So it’s our industry’s fault, you know? And it’s like, I think we can do a better way. And I think I really do think Allergan and gal Derma are trying, from the roots, you know, that foundation up to really help support us, and they are reaching out to us, injectors that have been in the industry for a long time to figure that out. So, you know, one comment that from this little you know, advisory board that I was involved with. It was an Allergan employee, and he essentially said, you know, I out joined Allergan, you know, just not really as a botox fan, just really as a business perspective. And he sat in on his first injection of this man, kind of vomiting his emotions and his life experiences to his injector. And it was really touched by this 30 minute, however, long visit. And he really looked at all this injectors. And if you’re an injector, I know you’ll be nodding to this comment. And he’s like, You guys are legitimately like, psychiatrists, psychologists. He’s like, I’ve never seen a more emotional. A connection between a provider and a patient than your guys’ job, and that’s why I keep my job, and that’s why I love my patients, and I think that’s why my patients come back to me, is that we really are helping this person from the inside out. And the way I describe it is I want you to look in the mirror and and how you feel on the inside is resonated on the outside. And I’m not here to plump your face full of stuff. That’s not my job. I’m here to, you know, restore and help repair. And it’s interesting, you know, it’s just kind of true, our bodies are a reflection of how we feel on the inside, and if we’re not the most healthy, we may not feel the best. And, you know, we start to see our face doing things that we can’t control, kind of doesn’t feel good. So I think I would love this movement, and I think there’s enough of us in the industry to really press forward with, with this kind of self reflection, you know, really working organically and inside out and and just knowing what an impact we are in our patients and vice versa. I mean, I have private investigators. I have I mean, these people’s lives are so awesome. I have all these things I learned about from them, and I’ve supported people through divorces, marriages, births, children, issues, you know, parent it’s so there’s so much real life in our chair, and I feel like it’s an honor I have, like truth serum. I think my chair has truth serum in it because they sit in my chair and they tell me things intimate things that they’re like, I haven’t told my kids this, and it’s a really, really cool support system, if you’re willing to let it be, yeah,
and that’s, that’s funny. You bring that up because, you know, my, my wife, was in she retired this year, which she’s struggling, sure, not full time retired, because she still does a lot with growth 99 but she was in the beauty industry for many years, and she had the same thing, like her clients would come in and just like, spill the beans, right? So I can definitely relate to you on the psychiatrist psychology part, and and you are like you’re conducting, you know, medicine, enhancing their their experience, their confidence, while at the same time talking them through some sort of maybe midlife crisis or change or whatever, they’re there. Why do you think that is like, Why do you think they come in and they sit in a chair and they they just like, may open up, like, naturally, what? What is that
good question? It definitely, I think it does. It’s a safe space and and the one thing that occurred to me is, my background is gynecology and obstetrics. And I’ll be honest, my cute gynecology patients, I wouldn’t even know who they were for four years. I see them once a year. I’m like, hi. Oh yeah, I did see you last year. I mean, it’s really hard to get to know someone sometimes in the medical space, in this space, it’s so unique. We get to see our patients every three to four months and, and if they do become loyal, which hopefully they do, you really do build a friendship. I mean, I tell people, This is my social life. I’m I have two young kids, and I pack my schedule really full, and, and there’s definitely, I think, as a provider, if you’re willing to kind of throw out that truth from the beginning. Maybe they just feel it. Maybe it’s just a feeling that they receive. Yeah, yeah.
That makes total sense. I mean, it’s, I think it is a feeling. And I think you know that on the head in the terms of, like, the frequency of visits, right? Because build that rapport. You can see change, and you can see like, the light shine, right? And so is that what like? I know how busy you are before you got on. You told me how many hours you worked yesterday. I think it was what keeps like, what keeps you going, is it
100% it is Kim, like I that is why. I mean, it’s so rewarding for me. And this is going to sound rude, but I feel bad for people who just go to work, they just go to a job. I mean, I go to my lifelong like, happy place, my career, and I obviously have a really good support team and all of that. But if I could work more hours, I would. So I’m the person trying to find boundaries and trying to, you know, do some quality time with my family and and say no to things, and that’s what’s been hard. But I think for a new injector, I guess, like advice for a new injector is just to do it for the right reasons and and it does take that grit. It does take kind of failing. It does take hustling, you know. And one thing I tell my new injectors is do a follow up visit, you know, treat someone. Look at your own work. So do a two week follow up visit, a three week follow up visit, get that opportunity to treat that patient different than a number, you know, and so that’s one thing I’ve found, to maybe build that trust, and why we build such a great friendship and relationship. But I think, you know, because we’re not that business, not all of us are business oriented. In medicine, I just go back to that golden rule, do you want to someone if you would have done to you?
Yeah, yeah. No, that, that makes total sense. And so I so we work with some companies, and you can, you can pretty well peg the ones that are, like, are trying to build a sustainable practice, versus ones that are so focused on, like patient acquisition, if you will, sure the ones that the clients that you that show up right and you do your analysis, and you give them the right treatment, and you and You give them the right service. I mean, I’m sure there’s, there’s areas that you guys would know way better than me, of like, maybe you could over inject and charge more not need to, and I don’t know much about that. In fact, I would be interested to learn about that. Yeah, but the ones that you treat fair and you give them like, a treatment plan, yep, based off of their needs and requirements. I’m sure that patient retention has to be, like, 100%
it is. I mean, it should be right. And I think, though, this is the bummer about our industry, can we get paid for what we do? So I get paid to inject 10 units of Botox in a 30 minute visit, or 60 units of Botox in a 30 minute visit. I get paid, you know, to inject just one syringe in an hour or six. And so it is this little integrity line. And again, you know, in theory, we don’t want to do harm, but part of it is being educated, you know, to have multiple tools in your toolbox. Am I going to put six syringes in someone’s jawline, or am I going to change my tool? Do they need a facelift? Am I going to give them Sculptra? Are they a thread candidate? You know, these Barb threads are awesome. They’re amazing. They’re $3,500 it’s a procedure, you know, it’s going to give you a year result. It can be great for a lot of candidate, you know, a lot of people. But are they a candidate for that? So it’s just really fine line of like, balancing your numbers, per se, like, what are you charging per hour? What is retention? And then kind of efficiency? And I will be honest, and there’ll be injectors too that might laugh or nod behind the camera, but, I mean, I’m a 30 minute visit for my Botox. That can be a long time for someone, I’m an hour for my filler. And you know what? It’s because I’m giving them a full assessment, a well rounded, you know, approach on this, and then you’re right, I’m coming up with a treatment plan, and it’s typically a year long. And I say, You know what, today, let’s focus on this. And I love that idea of you coming back and we can do this and this and this. And I always tell people and I top cost. We’re not used to doing that. I tell someone to get a mammogram. I’m not going to tell them it costs. I don’t know how much it costs. Does it cost two grand, four grand? I don’t know. So we’re not used to it. We’re not used to saying you’re going to go get your ultrasound, and it costs this much, right? Right? Do for me in the industry, and I’ll be honest, I do it with everyone. I say, Okay, this is what I would say. It’s this much for syringe. This is what I’m assessing budget this. And I always kind of tease people are paying $60,000 for a facelift, and they’re paying $15,000 for a facelift. They just want to know what’s in that. What do I get for 60,000 what do I get? 15? So I guess if you’re, you’re a churn and burn, and you’re, I don’t even know how people are selling Botox for $9 unit, $10 unit, because that’s how much that is. How much? What year did I start? 2009 people Botox. We were charging people $10 a unit. Stop doing
nine. I’ve heard Yeah,
we used to even sell it for nine. Like, people are selling it for nine. It’s insane. And I it’s like, it is that Botox is no longer $10 unit. Like, I don’t even care about your experience, actually on that one. But, um, yeah, so anyway, Interesting, huh? Yeah,
I didn’t know. I mean 2009 I mean that we’re talking, you know, 13 years ago, you
was, and same price is today, like, Huh? And I know
allergans raised their prices. Like, I know that the cost of the product’s gone up. It’s
more than $100 a vial. I think, Gosh, I think it’s six something now. And I definitely bought it in around 500 back in the day.
Okay, okay, so, so you, so a patient comes in and you have to, you have to make a hard decision, right? That’s part of your job. Is like, Okay, if it’s, if it’s an existing patient, they’re coming in for a treatment or whatever. I’m sure that’s more systematic, but a new patient comes in or a referral, or they found you online, or whatever, you have to do an assessment. Yep. And do you? You, is this based on experience? Is this based on the condition? What makes you say, Hey, I’m gonna do fill our Botox threads or whatever, like, is it? Talk to me, but I’m curious. Yeah, oh,
under Education, right? Someone’s got to train these people and, and that’s it does get tricky. And, okay, my bias is going to come through. There’s a lot of people going straight into esthetics, like they’ve literally never, they’ve gone in the hospital for a little rotation under, under someone’s supervision. They’ve never, you know, been at risk. And I’ll be honest that critical thinking is insanely important in my job. And I never thought it was, I will be honest in 2009 I didn’t think it was, whoops. Um, the more I learn, I’m like, I’m I’m not scared, but it’s like I’m getting called out. The more I learn about my industry, the the like, riskier I feel like it is, and the more, the more I want to continue to learn and perfect my treatments. So I think, don’t go in there. Don’t go into this industry thinking you just randomly poke people’s faces and it’s like a hair appointment. It’s just not, it’s medical. It’s not a beauty appointment.
Yeah, it is medical. I mean, you guys are using medically grade tools. I mean, these are single, you know, device throw aways in some cases, right? So when you made an interesting point earlier, you coming from your background before esthetics, like everything was like, insurance based and like code still get your mammogram. I don’t know how much it is, you know, I’ve always found that interesting is like the patient or consumer, like my wife, she broke her leg in a snowboarding accident years ago, and we had to get her, like, some crutches and get an x ray at, like, the clinic before we found out everything. And I’m like, well, and I was just I asked him, I’m like, Well, how much is the X ray? Well, I don’t know. I don’t know. And I’m like, well, everywhere I go to buy something, I know how much it costs.
Yeah, that’s a whole different podcast I was talking about. No doubt,
no doubt. So now they now that you are like, that’s your mind. Because you’re like, Well, I don’t know. And it’s just kind of like that. Now they come in and and you do, you guys do talk price. And so because
I think you should, like, when you’re going to buy a piece of clothing, you you turn the tag over, you put it on, you make sure you love it. You’re in the mirror and the dressing room, you’re like, Woohoo. And then you turn that tag over, and it says $500 you might go, I don’t love it that much, right? So, so there’s this push pull of like, not letting someone come in your chair and say, Hey, I only want to do 20 units. You know, did you ever go into the doctor and say, just only prescribe, I think I need amoxicillin. Blah, no. So you have this balance of not letting your patient put drive you and push you in that direction, but also just the consumer awareness to go I think you need 30 units. It’s this much per unit that puts you at this number. How does that work for you? But I’ll be honest, that’s the last thing. I say, What do I do first? Cam, I educate them. Okay? I say. I give them a mirror, and they look at their face. I say, What do you like about your face? What do you want to improve? Okay? And I make them say something they like, because it’s, I’m in, like, fix, fix, fix. I’m like, no, what do you love? What’s What’s wonderful about your face? And then about muscles or aging, and how we lose bone and the fat descends, and we get these creases on our face, and we can’t control them. And you know, these lines and wrinkles are honestly just caused from the muscle underneath. There you go. I love that little muscle movement there, but those muscles move and move and move, and then our skin breaks down, you know, and that’s why we get that little residual liner crease in those higher mobile areas. So I educate them, and at the very end of my console, I tell them the cost
i i 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 Spa 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. Check out the companion course to this very podcast. Back to the show.
Okay, okay. And then you go into treatment, yep, depending on what they’re comfortable with,
yep. And then they go out fully informed. So when the forefront desk person goes, it’s, you know, $680 I mean, that’s more than Botox treatment, typically. But then they go, okay, because they know what they got for that, right,
right, okay, all right. And I mean, and then they’re comfortable, they know what they’re getting into. Expectations are set, right? And so,
yeah, right. Okay, information. Who reads that paper? Who no one so but we really there. It’s informed consent. They’re saying that we told them all the risks, all the benefits and and I keep it pretty sure. I just say I’m not perfect. I can fix most things. That’s my consent
question. On this part I’m curious to know, because I we do a lot of integrations with, like, care, credit or cherry. And I see cherry exploding in this industry right now. I’m sure you know who they are. You guys probably partner with them. No, okay, they’re like a payment. They’re just, they’re like competitors credit, right? Yeah, so how much of how much of that do you see, I guess, at your guys’s clinic, or is it like, how much of that news? I mean,
that’s such a good question. Um, case so you jaw drop, we don’t take car credit, believe it or not, or cherry, and I’m not sure why, but I my previous spas have, and I will be honest, it’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming. We get that question asked all the time. I’ll be honest, I don’t know why we don’t take it, because I feel like, again, the consumers are using it. It’s a
credit card. Basically, it’s the ability to finance your medical esthetics like
that. It’s interest free for a certain amount of time. Is that correct for the for the patient, right? Like, it’s,
I think so. I’m not 100% sure on the terms, but I do know it’s a hedge. It’s the ability to leverage your your services, right,
right? Yeah. So I think it’s 90 days like interest free. And I think that’s cool, um, we do, like a loyalty program. That’s another way you know that you as the you know the business wouldn’t pay as high as fees, so essentially, but it’s a little tricky. The patient pays, like a standard amount per month, whatever one, 150, whatever it is, and that money kind of rolls over in their beauty bank. That is, I feel like we get a lot of returning customers, a lot of loyal customers, and it just auto charges per month, and then they come in and they receive their treatment, and we offer, just like a small like, a 10% discount off of services and products for that loyalty.
I love that. I think that’s a great plan. I think it’s a great way, from a business and a financial standpoint, it’s recurring revenue. It’s, it’s building up the loyalty, and it’s, it’s, that’s their own cash, right? That’s their own, yeah, so, but I’ve, I’ve, I saw cherry come up on the map a couple years ago, and man, they have. They have really done a pretty incredible job. And so what? What? When I look at some of the data points, and not all of them, I would assume a lot of that financial capital that that is being used to fund a Botox treatment or filler or whatever, is coming from the younger generation. Would you see that like, like, how much of the like the younger generation? It’s getting younger and younger and younger, you know? So I don’t
know how they have the cash for it. Cam, I’m just gonna be honest, but I my money for my Karen and my jerbos back in the day. So, I mean, I’m having a having a job and saving those dollar bills. But, you know, especially, and I kind of hope this trend is going away with these big booties, you know, these big PBLs. I mean, damn, those are 1000s of dollars, 10,000 plus dollars. It’s not a $500 treatment. So I think it makes my heart hurt a little that these young girls, whatever guess guys, you know that their partners, their boyfriends or girlfriends, are buying them esthetic treatments. It’s kind of crazy.
Um, that fueled, I mean, I would assume some of it’s fueled by social media on social comparison, right? I don’t
like to say this word’s a swear word to me, but Kardashian, yeah, terrible, terrible role model, sorry for you lovers. Because, you know, again, back to our original conversation. I see real patients, real people, and, you know, and I think it’s okay to have fun a little bit, you know, do we all splurge on a certain outfit or a trend or a hair color or nails, sure, but this is, you know, this, this is a bigger. Spectrum of that so, so I hope people are responsible with their money, but they probably aren’t, and I bet a lot of them are using those two, you know, using the charity and the care credit. And I think it serves its purpose, you know. And I will be honest. I haven’t. I don’t even want to say the word older clientele, because I don’t consider myself old, but the first time clients that I get are honestly all referrals. At this point, a lot of them. I’m not getting a lot of 20 year olds. But again, I’m not a churn and burn clinic. I’m not the cheapest in the valley. So all of it makes sense. The benefit of those churn and burn is at least in a in a good way. I guess they are introducing a patient to Botox or, you know, any type of neuromodulator. The bad thing is, if that person doesn’t have a great experience, it gives us a bad rap. And so I have people tell me, I will never get lip filler. It was worse than childbirth. It hurt so much. I mean, that’s not cool. That’s not okay.
No, I’ve had I’ve had filler, I’ve had Botox, and I actually, I never, maybe I’ve just been lucky, because I know, you know, so many of you guys, but I’ve never experienced, had a bad experience. I haven’t, I don’t get worked on that that often, but when I have done it, it’s never, it’s never really hurt, right?
Like it should be a returnable art again, it’s all about that full, rounded, beginning to end experience, right? And so you know that that client retention comes from, you know, helping calm their fears and not making them grab onto the chair in pain.
Oh, yeah, for sure. And, I mean, it’s no, I mean, back to your point, like, you know, getting into it for the right reason. You know, the loyalty will come, the money will come, right? And so, and you just have to be disciplined. You have to have accountability. Yep. I mean, I talked to a lot of we have lots of conversations. Because everybody needs a website, everybody needs social media, and so, well, where do they go? They go to they go to growth, 99 which, which is great, and we help them. But there’s some times where, you know, it’s, it’s they, I’ve seen people that have invested a quarter million dollars into a laser. They sign an expensive lease, and they, you know, like 10 year expensive lease. They’ve done 100 $200,000 build out. Maybe they’ve hedged their house, maybe they’ve taken a loan out or something like that, and then they need all of the marketing they can get just to fund the expenses they have. And they’re quite you know, there’s a lot of risk and liability, and maybe they haven’t invested in like the compliance part, or invested into the education, invested into the right training and the right resources and going to to the right events, and so coming back to your point, like, it’s, it’s so important that they that they educate themselves before they invest, right?
But I would say, I mean, I, in my mind, it doesn’t make any sense to have zero experience in the esthetic world and go start a business like, you know, train under somebody else, you know, even if it’s, you know, a small side hustle that you’re working with a, you know, a team, and it’s not your own. And then you’re, it’s this concept. And you, I’m sure you’ve said this to a lot of people, but about sometimes you have to spend money to make money. So I get that like, I’ve had to, you know, pay people to do certain things to help me out. And I love that idea that, hey, you’re I’m weak in the business world, so I’m going to pay for it. So I think that makes sense. But you’re right. How much leverage, how much you know, just like you’re saying with that the lease and the laser, that’s a lot of investment before you even have one client in your door. So that’s what I would hire you for. And you know that that brain that’s saying, Hey, you’re you need a percentage. These all need to work out that you only spend this much percentage and you’re going to gain this much, and this is how slow you grow. So that’s a part I don’t know much about. And, and again, that’s why I hired you.
Oh yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a discipline thing, and it’s an accountability thing. Like, you know, we do see some people that, you know, kind of get in and they’ll, they’ll maybe want to set up a couple things from a patient acquisition or marketing or website standpoint, or whatever they want to do, and and they don’t realize that they have to continue to work in the business continuously in order to this, yeah, it’s, it’s, and that’s why we talk about, like, look, this is a business at the end of the day, like, you know, it’s meant to turn a profit, obviously, in the right way, yeah, the tools, the resources, the training, you know, everything in that regard. But I received this report recently from American Med Spa association. So shout out to those guys. I think they do a really great job in terms of like providing some data points.
There was 7400
medical spas in the United States last year. Okay, 74 430 to be exact, by the end of this year, there’s projected to be 80 840 No, what? Yeah. I mean, that’s 10 times. Yeah, yeah. So 7400 to 8800
okay, sorry, I did bad math. But still, that’s a lot.
It’s it’s a lot. And the average annual medium spent, med, spa revenue. By then, this year, we’ll do about $2 million in in top line revenue, okay, on average, which is a, I mean, you’re talking $180,000
a month in revenue at the right, yeah.
I mean, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a growing industry. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a great industry. And, you know, it’s, you just need to, I mean, I would just hone it on your point like it down to the to the right reasons, and focusing on patient care, right? Yep, yep.
It focuses on why we got in medicine in the first place. I think it’s a wonderful industry. I think we truly are changing lives, which is rad, you know, and I do. I just think gathering all the information you can using your peers. I’m always about community over competition. There’s plenty of faces to go around. I think the statistic Allergan gave. I mean, it’s kind of it’s insane. It’s like 10% of the population are getting Botox or something like that in the United States. Like, there’s plenty of room for growth so, but grow for the right reasons, right? Like, start, you know, and it is tricky to navigate cam, which is why you’re probably a great resource for some of these newer spas. And that’s where I’m trying to share my knowledge to to people, you know, anywhere, not just in my, you know, zip code, but it’s, it’s, it is hard to navigate, and it’s expensive, you know, any type of continuing education thing you’re going to do, I’m your two to five grand to get trained as $5,000 and you don’t even know what the hell you’re paying for until you get there. And now you’re just, you have the certificate and you have nowhere to go. So it is tricky where it’s like that kind of spend money to make money, but, you know, I would go back to the hustle, you know, just get yourself out there, meet people. I mean, I hate to say, work for free, but go shadow someone you know, find out if you can shadow an expert. Work as the front desk person, you know, if you’re a physician, go, go work a half a day or two days. You know, on get your job that you’re making money with, like, make sure you’re getting your finances met, and then use it as a side hustle. And then hopefully, at some point that bubble burst in the side hustles your your full time job.
I hear that all the time, like I hear that all the time because of kind of what’s happened within the hospital environment and what?
Oh, no, one’s going to be taking care of us. But for old cow, I
know, I know, but we’ll all have, like, Botox.
Our heart condition
is over, yeah? But I hear like, we talked to so many people that are like, Oh, I just, you know, I do this on the side, and then eventually we see them, like, exit the hospital environment, because they’re, they’re, you know, their medical esthetics practice took off. So
that’s a reward. So cool, yeah? So cool. There’s growing tape.
There’s for sure, good to have your failures and identify those failures and then overcome them and look at those as wins, right? So a couple other points I want to point out. And I know that you’re busy and you got to get going here soon, but so if you know there’s resources out there, right? And I’m just curious you have taken the time to build Neos Academy, right? So I think it’s cool that the audience understands, like, what, what is Neos Academy? How can they get there? How can they find you, and what would they learn by going through the course that you’ve created? Well, that’s
thank you for asking. That’s a great question.
Part of this, it’s, I love it, because this is all transitioning into why I created the course is just, I do a lot of trainings. I’ve been lucky enough to work with gal Dermer for about four years now, and I’ll be honest back to you talking about that growth. I mean, I’ve been doing minimally a training a week this entire year, and 90% of my injectors have less than a year of experience. So the cool thing about that is, it’s growing. The scary thing is, you know, we’ve got to train these new injectors as best we can, you know, with kind of limited time and funds. And so it really has been a privilege to for me to just say, Guess what? I have 13 years of experience. I’m going to funnel it all down and give you really, really good foundational skills and Cornerstone skills, and that’s what I’ve done on NEOs. It’s an online training so you can’t, you know, take my course and never have a hands on experience and go start poking people’s faces. Please, don’t do that. Anatomy is very important in our job, but it’s the perfect step too. And I’ll be honest, it’s really cost effective. Back to what you were talking about. It’s easily five grand for most of those initial training courses, and you’re just going to have to bite the. Bullet on that one, but you might be a little bit disappointed and overwhelmed. So what’s cool about my course, is you have to have an underlying just like, hey, I understand the turbo talks. I know what fillers made out of. Like, you kind of have to have just a mini Foundation, and then I go in and basically solidify all that information, you know. And they’re very short introduction videos. I do anatomy review on every like, pretty much, you know, hairline. I actually do some buttocks treatments, but I do some neck treatments and and I kind of just categorized it per area, so every treatment that I do on the face has an anatomy review and then the actual injection where I treat the client. And what’s good about that is, you just talked about it time, right? We lack time. Time is like, you can’t make more time, so 10 minutes. It’s so awesome. You can sit in your bed, throw it, you know, jammies, computer, do a review. You have someone on your schedule the next day that’s an under eye patient. Great. I’m going to quickly watch Lindsay’s video her anatomy and her treatment. And I still prepared for that, you know, that person, that client, that next day. So currently I have 37 the course call it’s my master course. It says 37 different videos on it. The other benefit of doing this, there’s consent forms and treatment forms that I have that I’ll in PDFs that I’ll send my my trainees, and then I’m doing a monthly Q and A, and I’ll be honest, that thing’s going to be liquid gold. That’s where it’s all going to come together, where we as peers, sit like you and I are right now and talk about real life stuff. What are you finding in Kansas? What are your barriers, you know, to care someone has a vascular occlusion? We can talk about that a different day. That’s no one’s talking about this elephant in the room. How do you, you know, deal with, you know, unexpected outcomes that you need to manage. It’s, it’s hard, and it’s, there’s not a lot of people to turn to. So creating a community I’m super excited about with my course as well.
Congratulations. I know how hard you’ve you’ve worked on it. I know how much you’ve invested into it. It’s not easy, and it’s, it’s almost like you’ve opened up a business inside of your business, right?
I forgot it’s not easy. Cam, you’re right, succeeding. I’m like, oh, it’s really so back to those growing pains. It’s, it’s hard when you have something so great, and again, you could be this amazing injector, and you’re trying to, like, Hey guys, here I am. And, and it does take time. And so I have this wonderful course, and it’s just grown, you know, at the Perfect Pace, and it’s still growing, which is cool.
So where can people find it? If the degree
just Neos esthetic academy.com
on Instagram, I’m lifted by Lindsay. That’s a really easy way to reach out to me. And then I do have an Instagram, you know, account for that’s Neos esthetic academy.com as well. So those are all very easy ways to get a hold of me. And I guess I would say to a fall I might I think mentoring is like my my life purpose. And so I need to, like I said, I need to tell people, more people know I’m really bad at that. So it’s been actually fun to have these new injectors take my course. And you know, they’re asking me questions back and forth, and we’ll face time. And so I guess the cool thing is, you’ll get a mentor out of my program too.
Which, which is fun.
Yeah, that is cool. I mean, I think there, you know, with how long you’ve been in the industry, you have a tremendous amount of value to give, like someone could go through, you know, an environment like that, have a conversation with you, and just basically put them in a position to just gain so much time by going and through something that you have created, right? It’s, it’s everything you’ve gone through. You put it on page,
lbs. No, you don’t watch YouTube videos and go to your patients, please,
for sure. Okay, so I got one more, one more question for you, because I have seen skin spirit grow very fast across. Yeah, yeah. They probably have opened up acquisitions and continuing to do so, yeah.
How many practices do they have now?
25 and growing. We get all these fun emails about the next, latest and greatest. So there’s going to be another one in Seattle area. We opened up in Maryland. We have a New York location. And then I think we’re headed to Scottsdale, which is pretty cool.
Nice. There you go. That’s cool. So they must, I mean, they where did originate? Wasn’t it in the Pacific Northwest? Oh, okay, say that again. Sorry.
Palo Alto and I, um, they have a really great business model. Kim and I’ll be honest, this is maybe another cost you might have to do another podcast, but another, you know, mishap in the industry is just, you know, all of us are being hired as 10, nine. Nines, and we’re all a percentage base. And again, it serves its purpose, but it’s a little bit like the dental industry that these dental hygienists, you know, they just, they’re never hired full time. There’s no benefits, and they do get paid a reasonably hourly rate. And sometimes that can work, you know, for a double income family or someone that might have insurance in a different way. But you part of skin spirit is we, they’ve really, truly made a successful business out of it. So I’m lucky, you know, to have joined, join their team. And I have a 401 k I have benefits. I have, you know, this really tight PTO, what is that? Every time I would take time off, I was paying my assistant to be at work when I was losing money every time patient. So that’s been cool, is they have a really wonderful business model, and I hope that more clinics can kind of follow in their lead and and create, you know, a really great practice that that we can value our employees, and that’s the number one thing, is they’re all about culture. It’s all about us employees, and they do everything they can to support us, which is really unique.
Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. I mean, I’ve heard really great things up here. I’ve always hear you. You speak very highly of them and and, you know, they’re well known around at a national level, so definitely Hone on that. So, I mean, I know you’re super busy. I know you’re putting in 12 hour days yesterday, and so, you know, I’ll go ahead and let you go, and I thank you so much for coming on and really sharing your your story and everything in terms of, you know, helping people get into the space and getting in for the right reasons, and giving them areas and ways that they can go get resources very quickly and help you know, impact lives in themselves.
Yes, I love it truly is an honor, and I hope to be back on again. And I always love talking with you. So
thank you awesome. This is one of my favorites. So thank you so much. Lindsay, yeah, and everybody else. Thank you so much for turning into medical millionaire again. This is Cameron Hemphill. If you found this content Bible, please share it. Let’s keep the conversation going. Uh, head into iTunes, head into Spotify. We’re on all of the major channels. And if you guys need any help with any of your marketing, technology, consulting, marketing automation, you guys already go growth internet.com, we can assist you with your guys needs there so until next time, happy injecting you.