Episode Transcript
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hey, this is Lacey with Smartcast, and I'm joined today with two sisters, Carla and Mary from Smiley Aesthetics. And I'm really excited to talk to the two of you about your business model, which I find extremely unique. I love. Dave was telling me a little bit about you guys and what you've built, and so I'm really impressed with you all. So congratulations on your success. So far, so impressive. I also love that you guys are a family business.
As a lot of our listeners know, we're very family derived as well. Mary Margaret's my cousin, my brother, my mom. We had another cousin that was doing hair with us before we transferred that into an injectable space. So I'd love to talk to you a little bit, too, about that family dynamic in the business, too. So tell me a little bit about y'all's background, like, what brought you into the aesthetic space.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: I guess all starts so my background is in anesthesia and about going on, on. Five years ago, when I got pregnant the first time with my son, I just wanted to get out of the OR for a little bit. I started in a med spa, injecting traditionally, just like as their master injector. And then I did that for a couple of years.
And then when I got pregnant with my second son, kind of the same situation, but then he kind of decided, I want to do it. So we found a medical know, asked her, we do everything together. Asked her if she wanted to do mobile Botox. This was last year, which is kind of crazy to say, in February. And she started running around Nashville and me and Knoxville. And then after about three months, we brought our third partner on, who is one of my best friends and an attorney, which was the smartest thing we ever.
She and the model, as it stands, started in May last year, and then we kind of started bringing on the injectors and the independent meds.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: So you guys were just traveling around.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: In a bus, just going really, or.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Just going to different locations?
[00:02:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Just people's house. Like, if someone. People's houses are like concierge Botox. Yeah.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Or they came into our house or whatever.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: If we trusted them or knew them.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: Yeah. I did most of mine at my dining room table in the neighborhood.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: She barely left her neighborhood. She lives in a large neighborhood and people just flocked, too.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: They were very excited. I lived in Nashville and about 2015, minutes outside of downtown, and so the thought of not having to go to a men's ball, people think that's super sexy to be right in the mix of everything. And it's like, actually it's the rural people who really would love an alternative solution to not have to drive in. So I satisfied that for them very quickly.
So I'm Carla. She didn't say that was Mary talking.
My background is in critical care. I was an ICU nurse, and then I went pretty early in my career into nursing leadership with HCA, which they're not in Alabama, so you may not know them, but it's a large, for profit healthcare system and big fan of them. I always give them a plug because I'm where I am today because of them, but went through nursing leadership, was the director of Critical care, and then moved into the corporate world and became kind of like a joint commission surveyor, which usually tickles everybody, makes them roll their eyes at me. But that really complemented Mary and our attorney with the compliance and the regulatory stuff, which is really important in this space, as we know. And then my final role with HCA before I quit and did this full time, was as the lead nurse in the company for our contracting, for our GPO. So we would leverage our size to make deals with companies like AMP.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Also very valuable.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: Yes. Also, turns out that was a valuable skill set. So I run a lot of our business and operations and finances and do that side of the business. I did inject for a while, obviously, and now don't really do the clinical side. Mary runs that whole side and does that with our kind of mobile injectors, and then we have the attorney. So we really kind of did the clinical business and legal thing and created a model that worked.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really important to add that attorney into the mix. We've recently acquired a medical attorney, and just having him on board has made all the difference in the world because he worked for a lot of corporate mergers and things like that with the hospital company, so he knew all the ins and outs of that. And so he's been super beneficial for us as we're growing and expanding our business model as well, and making sure that we're not making mistakes and that we do it right from the very beginning.
[00:04:51] Speaker C: Yeah. And we just don't know how to, like, I mean, medical providers, we always say this. I say this all the time. We just don't know anything about that side of things. No one wants to read the fine print, and they make it small, so you don't read it. And that's where having that attorney who knows how to just like. I mean, I get the question, what is like all the time? Because it's in every single contract you're ever going to read. And it's like, what does that mean? So we couldn't agree more. The value that she brings to the company, and arguably, as a MedSPA law expert at this point, it's all she does.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: She's full time with us on our CLO now, which is amazing to have. We have a couple more that help her out on our legal team, but her being there full time is just invaluable. And to cross state lines, to your point about what you're saying earlier, I mean, having somebody that knows what they're talking about and how to read statutes and stuff, they literally go to school for that many years for it. And I find it interesting that we think we can Google something and read it, and it's like there's classes on how to read that one sentence. And if you think you know, you don't.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Right? Well, there's so much gray, too, so many contraindicating laws that one will say one and the other one will say something that completely contradicts it, and you're.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Like, well, where do I.
[00:06:01] Speaker C: How do we navigate this? She laughs about that. Literally every word, every preposition, every single word in every law is impacted.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: It's put there for.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: It can change the meaning of what's being said.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: It just doesn't mean what it's said. Like you said, you got to go find the real.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: So when did you guys decide to.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Expand out and start branching out to different places?
[00:06:25] Speaker B: So that was only like a couple months into in. It was in May when I remember the night sitting on Courtney's couch when we came up with the model or whatever, because I was still in Knoxville at the time. I moved back home to where we're from in.
But, uh. And we called Carl on the phone and we were know, I think we can do something that could be really big and something no one's.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: We sat to answer the question. We saturated. Like, I saturated. I had no more ability to do anything. And when we talked about needing to hire somebody or how we were going to do that. And I love managing people and I love leadership, and my doctorate is in leadership. I love it. But I also wasn't at a point because I was full time with HCA, how was I going to manage? I don't have time for this, to manage another employee. So that really led into how we designed the model as it stands today, that we didn't have to have an independent contractor or manage an employee.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: And I didn't want to I, yeah, we just didn't want to bring on employees and we didn't really want to do the contractor thing either. So it's like, well, what do you do? And so that was kind of okay because I had also just had a baby, my second baby and stuff too, in May, like she said, that's when the model as it stands today started. And it's just expanded extremely quickly.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: And so have you guys just provided medical directors for these injectors?
[00:07:46] Speaker B: It's a lot more than just it's medical director. Obviously, the legal guidance, the legal part of it, marketing, EMR policies and procedures, yeah, consent, all that.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: We essentially provide a turnkey solution for safe, compliant ownership and full operation of your own independently owned business. And aesthetics.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: They can use their own logo, they can be full on smiley aesthetics, or if they choose to do that, or they can use their own logo and be powered by smiley aesthetics.
They can take all our marketing and copy it, steal it, say, obviously not claim a set of lips as your own before and after, but they can take any of that. We have a marketing director now.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: This is terrible. We looked at a common medical provider or a nurse and thought of all the ways that we just don't know what we're doing, like marketing and how to set up a gosh darn LLC. And should I have an LLC? And what is an LLC versus a sole proprietor? What does that even mean? Just some of the business stuff and provided all those things.
And it really fulfills our mission, which is to help them own and operate their own business instead of going love med spas. Love. We have employees in our med spa. So we're all about that because people like that consistency, they want that schedule, whatever. But we all know that the injector is doing the work and a lot of times a lot of that profit is not realized by the injector. And so it just completely chaps me to see a lot of that lost. So we wanted to provide a way for them to be able to realize all that, to choose and to not be beholden to a physician. I'm also super strong with the whole medical directorship and see every value of the physician. But in most states, they don't really have to be associated with cosmetics. It's just cool.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: You're whatever you are kind of signing stuff. Love a medical director, love your medical director. Have them in every state.
But that's a good point about what she said. I think my part in the model and just kind of the mission and what we wanted to do was when I was in the med spa and can inject $5,000 someone's face in an hour. And commission is not really legal in any state. So I'm making just $60 an hour. Yeah, high end. 60. Even what I would make in AC, let's say not $100 an hour. And it's still not reflective of what I'm doing. And of course, there's more overhead in a med spa than just what I'm putting in the patient's face.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: But isn't that the point, though? There doesn't have to be that overhead. So I think the other key is what we realize doing the mobile stuff is you can be very safe, very compliant with the basics. There's not a lot of things that can't be done mobile, but with the basics, you don't need a fancy, fancy med spa.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: And we love amps. We love med spa, and we love machines. You don't have to start out with machines. Yeah, you don't have to start out.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: With all the bells and whistles. Do you guys have machines as well?
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we have all of them.
[00:10:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: We do have all of them.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: Part of our model was we put Med Spa's where we have like a density of mobile, of our kind of mobile injectors.
And then we do have the machines in the spas. And what that does for them is it allows them to have basically a full array of services, but they don't have to have the financial burden of these machines.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: So then they can refer them back into the spa. We give them the referral, referral fees. We're basically splitting it with them.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: And then their clients stay loyal to inject. Yeah, and we will not inject their clients.
[00:11:12] Speaker C: They can only come in for the services that they can't offer. So then it becomes kind of one big team while also supporting them. Because who can afford $150,000 machine when you're starting out?
[00:11:21] Speaker A: So you guys have some brick and mortar stores that have all of these devices, and then you have travel injectors that are then referring into the medical spa to have these services done.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Is that correct? Okay, so who do you have inside the spas that are operating these services? Are you having estheticians that you're delegating that to? Who is doing those services?
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Yeah. So we have gone pretty hard on RN and above because of the compliance issues with different know. Take Scarlett by example, microneedling. You can argue all day long in Tennessee law about who is able to go and interact with live tissue and we stand on the just pure fact and believe that it is a medical provider or above.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Well, it's a cosmetic versus medical procedure.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Like you can't. And someone will listen to this and want to argue to the death and I'll be at that table saying, change my mind and I'm happy to go toe to toe. So we just have always gone R and above. Now in all of our med spas, we have Vanced practice providers actually running the physical med spas because of good faith exams.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: We don't stand too hard on that.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: But it just has kind of worked out that way.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: And I do think that estheticians are in our wheelhouse down the road more of just the way our model was born, obviously on. Anyone injecting and stuff is obviously in RN or above. And so since it started that way that we bring on all of our providers so far started as they're in their own business and then we just kind of cherry pick. Not necessarily cherry pick, just based on who wants a more.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: Some people just like stability.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: They want a salary, they don't want to run their own business.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: Yeah, well, they don't have an entrepreneurial spirit and that's why it's okay. There's plenty of us that do, though, like medical providers make these great entrepreneurs. We're just so used to, I say it all the time, walking into a hospital, having our clients handed to us, going into the supply room, picking up the Foley. Oh, I dropped it. Getting another one, who cares?
We're so used to that. It can be hard to switch over, but that type a personality that we all have is really conducive to entrepreneurship. It's just helping them switch over into that, like bridging that gap for them to help them be successful.
But then there is the I have stable, I have a salary, I want to be the tractor supply of systhetics. We're building a culture of no one's going to leave. Make it so good. You don't leave.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I feel like definitely mid levels have had a much easier transition into the aesthetic world than doctors have.
I think it's just the way that they communicate with patients. You guys have had a lot easier time moving into this field. For sure. For sure.
So if someone wanted to be a part of the Smiley Aesthetics group, do they just reach out to you?
[00:14:08] Speaker C: What does that look like?
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Do they just have a menu of things that they can decide what they want to do? How does that work?
[00:14:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: So just reaching out is definitely. And then are we in that state yet. So we're in ten states now and moving into more.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: We vet the state heavily legally before.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: We ever even, like Alabama, put our toe.
[00:14:30] Speaker C: We're not in Alabama.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Yeah, the legal team just makes sure we know. We just have the answers to nearly every question. We've come up twice where we've missed something. We missed something that's relatively minor but so thorough to not miss things and see what we need. And then at this point, we don't try to find anyone because we have a very large waiting list, if you will, of just for us to go into the states. And then it's just otherwise spread organically. And then we did create an accredited training program.
So we train all providers that join Smiley or don't, but we do require that if they're coming on with Smiley, you go through our training program depending for a quality control thing, depending on if someone's come to us as an injector for five years and can show me they've done some training or whatever, then of course you don't have to go to our basic training.
But yeah, it's really been pretty organic and just kind of word of mouth for it for now. When we go to new cities, sometimes it's kind of hard to get the word out, but not really because we do have, like I said, like 800 people on our.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: We basically welcome everybody that are in and above PAs.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: It's not just nurses, nurse practitioners, pacificians.
[00:15:40] Speaker C: We love to catch people upstream, so we get a lot that show up at the class.
It's fine. I'll teach a business portion for a couple of hours at the start of class and typically scare the hell out of everybody. People are just like. Because I'm like, who's just decided last week they want to do aesthetics. And typically half the room is like. And I'm like, Okie Dokie. And then at the end they're like.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Can I take Botox home today or just start injecting? There's just this lack of knowing.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: They're like, just get me out of the hospital. I don't care what we do. Let's just not do that anymore.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Where do I get it from?
[00:16:15] Speaker C: For most people, I'm like, buckle up. Because that is unfortunately a misconception in nursing in particular, because we can shift into so many things. Like, I can be an ICU nurse and then be a case manager and then be a hospice nurse. And then. So we just assume this skill set is one that we can just shift into when in reality it's not. I mean, it's just not one you can. Unless you go and get a job at a med spa and they're willing to train you and do all those things. Sure. But otherwise, if you want to inject and want to be independent, it's much more than just getting trained. But they show up and we tell them all the things I tell everybody in the class all the things they need, and then, I mean, it is easy to be like. Then you can either go do this yourself or we have a solution built it out for you. Yes, but whatever. We train anybody.
But then, yeah, our doors are open to everyone. We do use the training as kind of like an interview process just to make sure crazies don't slip through. That does happen.
You just never know. Well, there's people that come that it's the wrong. They just see dollar signs. We're about protecting this industry and making sure that the people that come into are actually passionate about aesthetics. Not going to run around screwing up people's faces, which is just not going to do anything for us. So it's not a free for all, come one, come all. Plus, you ain't putting my name on your shirt and doing something crazy.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: So how are you vetting these injectors that are joining your group?
[00:17:38] Speaker C: Yeah, well, that's kind of what I was mentioning in the training, so. Because that's part of people a lot of times, I think from a business perspective, it's brilliant. Make them come through the training. That's not as lucrative as it sounds. It's more of a quality check and an interview process and then the normal.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Vetting, of course, of like, we have an online licensure and what they have to provide us the normal stuff.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: Yeah, making sure they're.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: And it's kind of nice that get your license, the background check and you have a little bit of a don't. And they are owning and operating their own business. So there's this level of like, yes, they represent Smiley in our brand, but also if you meet these requirements that are not too lofty, being a medical provider is already a lofty requirement. And then you come to train, like she said, and you present yourself as a normal, whatever that medical provider. And then you do have to complete.
[00:18:30] Speaker C: Our onboarding process, which isn't hard. It's just you have to do the orientation videos and practice on a couple of test lines, charting like a little skin in the game. And that actually weeds out more than you'd imagine. Just don't finish and it's like, cool.
You didn't have that spirit anyways.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: You weren't ready to dive in, weren't invested in this.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Yeah, and we're all about bootstrapping. So keep your other job. Do this on the side and watch this go like this. And then at some point it's a business. So we try to really catch them upstream and educate them on what you're getting into.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Or.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: I know the industry hates the whole side hustle thing, if that's what you want to do. What I tell them is my goal is for you to not work that fourth shift in a hospital because you need a little extra money. Like, if that's as far as you get, you've won. We've all won. More aesthetics is coming to more people in a safe and compliant way. So we all win in that regard.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: And if they're just starting out learning how to do injectables, is there a requirement of how many patients they need to see before you allow them to start seeing patients?
[00:19:31] Speaker B: So the training, we do have pretty strict requirements on what they're allowed to do as they start moving through the, I guess, injecting process to your, you know, FDA approved areas that were pretty Alleghen loyal at this point, but FDA approved areas for Botox. And then basically lip filler is kind.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: Of where they're able to start.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: And our training is so heavy, hands on, of course, and then just very focused on safety. You're not going to learn a perfect set of lips in any training, but as long as they walk out of there with the safety part of it, then they can only do that. They can get trained on microneedling and some other chemical peels and offer skin medica and vitamin B. Twelve shots. And we have a robust semiglutide program for advanced providers and stuff. But in terms of injecting and safety, they're starting out real small. And then a time limit on when they come back is based on how many clients to another advanced training. They can't start offering, even cheeks, anything else until they come to another training.
And this works, really. It's a matter of when somebody will have a vascular occlusion or something at some point. But it's worked really well safety wise. And clients are.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: We've never had happy and we've never even had a dropped brow. No, nothing so Jupy eyelid yet. We used to say we need to get numbers together to see if that was what that was about. But now after training hundreds and hundreds of them and having over 100 with us and not having an error.
It's a pretty safe and compliant way to go about it. And the other thing, the big thing I think that stands out with us is we are all about community and collaboration over competition. We stand so hard on that.
And Mary's so much more in the clinical space, in the injecting world with the other injectors. And I'm just kind of, in a lot of ways in the background and I just am so like, what is up with this?
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Just, I've warned her from day one.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: We are really working. Nursing are like bound together by blood and then we get into aesthetics and it's like, well, I won't tell you anything, it's happening.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Gosh, even across state lines you find people who reach out and they won't tell them.
How did you get connected with your Alleghen rep? I don't know, I'm like, girl, you're.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: In Washington, what is your problem? I don't even understAnd. Yeah, it's just so against what nursing and medical provider, all of it is all about. So that then you throw money in the mix, which is what the problem is, and it's just like, it just unfolds. Kind of mean that unacceptable. Our community is 100% a community of collaboration and that is our culture. And so you have access twenty four seven to every single injector on our team. Both employees. Our employees all work for our mobile injectors. You wouldn't work for them, but they're all there for any of the stuff they might need. Like, oh, my AR is not working, or oh, I don't know, whatever. They.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: All the things, pictures or clients that.
[00:22:27] Speaker C: They need response, but then also the clinical side. So if they're in front of a patient and they take pictures and put them in our group that has about 120 people in it now and then people just respond, oh, those dots look perfect. Oh, those lips, look at those. Those are great. It's just a community and there is no competition. We tell them how to do like Botox parties and bring another injector in town and throw them a couple of clients or pay them $200 and have them do your charting and you all just collaborate. So they do all kinds of stuff together. It's fantastic. It has never been an issue like we've never had just because we put our foot down on it.
I think that's half the reason people come is they're like, oh, wow, it.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Sounds like they're looking at it more as like a resource.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: So I mean, I think that's great. You've created this sense of community between these injectors that they can rely on each other and help each other. And you're so right about people not wanting to share that information. I feel like it's getting a little bit better as it's growing. Like I said, my mom started our company over 25 years ago, and there was no one to help her. She had to figure everything out on her own, and no one would tell her anything. And she was really one of the only providers in aesthetics doing these types of services, too. And so it's definitely been our mission to be able to help people that don't know if there's something that we can help them with. We're more than willing to do that, and I think that's so important.
I love that you guys are sharing with us, all of you, all's tips and tricks and everything that you guys are doing.
As far as your training, do you guys have, like, a training headquarters, or are they going out in the field to your different locations? What are you doing in regards to your training for, specifically your devices for these?
[00:24:10] Speaker B: These are just in our med spa. So the devices specifically, Karen. I'll go throughout the. Karen Cooksie came and has come to the med spa's that these are in and trained and done the day long trainings for each device. And then we do have a training facility in Nashville now for the injectable side and stuff. And so we were in know using hotel space.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: Well, when we go to other cities.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: We use a hotel space. And, yeah, if we travel another city and host a training, then it'll be in a hotel space. But we do have a home base now training facility in Nashville.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: So how many brick and mortar spas do you have with these devices in it?
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Three. Well, now just. Yeah, we just acquired another spa.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: Oh, five.
Yeah, that's. That's bad.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Terrible. Five.
[00:24:51] Speaker C: He ain't good. It's gross. There's three. One in Kentucky and one in Missouri.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, that's right. So now five.
[00:24:58] Speaker C: She'll kill us if we forget Missouri.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: How many providers do you have at each of those? Five that.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: I'll take that, because this is one of those areas that I feel really strongly about.
One.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Well, that's not true.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: No.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Two. Three.
[00:25:17] Speaker C: Well, okay, let's back up. How many providers do you need to.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Have running those locations?
[00:25:22] Speaker C: That's not what you do with these machines.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: That is not what she asked.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: One, it's going into that conversation of starting a med spa that AMSPA says the average is like $150,000 to start a med spa. And I'm like, in 2022, that was.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Their number that they put out in their huge executive report.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: Yeah, we love amp and all these machines, but I never tell any of our mobile injectors to. And we have a couple that have them and have them mobile and take them around and things, but they would never start that way. So they all start as independent operators. And I do believe an independent person can run a med spa all by themselves starting out.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: So AMSPA said the average startup price.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: For a med spa is $150,000, 100, and 5422.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: That's like one device.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. Well. And it's just like, wait.
That took me a second to register that I was like, wait, what are you buying?
[00:26:18] Speaker B: And what are they including in that report? So it didn't break it down enough, but it's like, are they breaking this out into the payments for a year?
Because, like you said, even one of these is like.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: Or are they only considering it injectables?
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Yeah, or just maybe the rent and maybe there's a limit on the product.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: It was like 250 the year before. In 2021.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: Well, they're saying it's too low.
I think they're saying that's a low number. If you're going to open a med spawn to inject with a device.
[00:26:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: And have two devices, you out.
[00:26:49] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. And I'm over here ordering Amp. Don't kill me. Why you'd open a med spawn, have a device right away is an interesting business move for me.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: Clinically, I'm like, one, maybe two. But I think what she gets salty about is like, you see a med spa or whatever that opens, and they do have everything. And you're $2 million in, $3 million in on stuff. You don't even have your first client yet. That type of is where she gets a little up in arms about it.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: But there's one provider. There's two in Knoxville. There's really one in Mount Juliet, one in Missouri.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Okay, there's two in Mount Juliet. There's two in Knoxville. There's technically three if you count me in the Nashville one. Missouri does have one. She's opening a new space and bringing in a second nurse. And then Kentucky has one for now.
[00:27:37] Speaker C: But we're identical twins. We love each other. But where was that question going? And the reason I asked is because you asked how many people were in the spa running it.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Well, I was just woNdering, how many people do you have to operate those devices and are they splitting their time between injectables and that, or what does that day to day look like for that provider?
[00:27:57] Speaker C: Yes, we can track the last five minutes.
So in each spa, somebody is splitting their time between injectables and that. We have our calendars right now wide open in terms of somebody can book something anywhere that they can find a spot in the Med spa. Now, our model, I don't think, is one that should be compared to anybody else's in an apples to apples scenario, because our Med spas, although we have these, have never been our true focal point because we focus so much on that independent injector. So the booking rates and stuff like that, I could see that becoming a challenge down the road to say, oh, I'm going to do a scarlet Agnes. That's 2 hours of time. I mean, your calendar is going to be full of these machines pretty quickly.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: And our stance on that is, for example, in Nashville, when it's 80%, she's at 80% booking on. If she's doing all the things, or in any med spa that we open, then before you get to 100, and it's such a good plug for it, before you get to the 100%, I'm booked out for three months, and it's like, that's really cute and really exciting for you, but you're missing out on it. You're leaving a lot of money on the table if you're booked three months out. So when you get 80% full in your next week or two, probably need.
[00:29:05] Speaker C: To consider another next provider or raise your prices. That can always lower your occupancy.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Bring them. It depends on how you want to.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: Do it, but, yeah, so that's kind.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Of how we've worked that with those. Yeah.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: So your average brick and mortar store, how many square feet is that on average?
[00:29:21] Speaker C: That's a good question. I have a strong opinion on this, too, that it doesn't have to be this, depending on how you start. So we've done it all. We've started in, obviously, the mobile and then renting a room in another, like a salon or something, which we do a podcast and had a whole, how should I start? And I'm fully in the middle of renting a room in a business, in a hair salon that already has clients. It's just an easy way to grow your client base so quickly. And when you leave that room, they will co with, they will follow, because the salon just doesn't offer that anymore.
And then the brick and mortar side we have Knoxville is what, eight or 900 sqft, maybe 1000. Yeah. And then another one's 1200. Then we're opening the one in Missouri that we're moving into a bigger space because we're ready. It's going to be 1800.
We have one that's in a room in a salon. So just all kinds of kinds.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Well, it sounds like that's plenty of space to grow into additional providers.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: It just can be very small and still be really upscale.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: And she does a lot of education on contracts and stuff. So don't sign a seven year lease. Get a commercial space for a seven year lease. Just talking through how to, because that's all the stuff. Once again, medical providers were just kind.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: Of like, we're really bad at it.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: We didn't really learn this. They're talking through what to ask for based on what you negotiate. We just aren't good negotiators because what.
[00:30:41] Speaker C: Are we going to negotiate with a doctor to do something? It's not even in our wheelhouse. So, yeah, I just definitely feel strongly about that.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: So when you guys are deciding locations of where you want to go, that's based primarily on where the physicians are or the mid levels are that you're looking to acquire.
[00:30:59] Speaker C: Yeah. When we go to looking at a brick and mortar, it's twofold. It is market. Now we do a pretty decent market analysis that includes what's there, but also because we really feel like there's a bajillion faces in the world. But then we do look at our mobile injectors and see where they are. And then finally the state law is probably the pretty much number one thing is how easy it is to operate that brick and mortar, because if you're a mobile or you're an independent injector, that is very different than the brick and mortar. I mean, there's everything from how much does it cost to register with a state to how often does a medical director actually have to be in the building. There's a million questions that vary from state to state.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: How many collaborating agreements can they have.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: In the.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Mile radius?
[00:31:42] Speaker C: Yeah, do they have to be within a certain radius of the.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: What type of certifications do they have to board certified?
[00:31:48] Speaker B: Like in Tennessee, they have to be.
[00:31:49] Speaker C: Board certified, which is also funny. Medical law has just. We're just band aiding over onto aesthetics and cosmetics, taking these antiquated, ridiculous things that don't apply at all. It's all written for hospitals. We just have it.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: Yes, push it over into the aesthetics market and we're like, that's two totally different things.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: Create a full blown board of aesthetics or whatever that's medical based, but has its own set of laws because they're hilarious.
[00:32:16] Speaker B: And then at your base, pointing out what she said or the base question she said, market analysis.
We were worried initially of having more than one mobile med spa or whichever type of med spa, an independently operated med spa in the same area. And we started out that way and then completely moved away from four days later.
[00:32:37] Speaker C: We're like, never move.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: Maybe in some rural, tiny towns, more than two is a little much, and we've not really run into that. And in fact, having two is more beneficial than just the one because they can once again kind of work together and help each other out. But in bigger cities or decent size, you can have four who live on the same street and they just don't like their social circles and the people they know and stuff, they always don't really touch. Not to mention the statistics surrounding seven and a half million people have got Botox and there's 350,000,000 people in this country. It's such a new industry still, even though it's been around 20 years in medicine, that's nothing.
And what he said yesterday, the physician on stage here, 4% had gotten dermal fill. I mean, it's just crazy. A wide open market. And let me talk about men. And so it's just kind of like this whole competition thing is like, we smash that.
[00:33:29] Speaker C: And for anyone who wants to challenge that, I tell them to go on Facebook or wherever their platform and see who they have in the mutual friends. And then when you see that, it's like, oh, the med spell down the street with their lead injector. I have three mutual friends. That should crush any concerns you have about your circles or not having enough people around you. I mean, how are you going to be worried about? And that's not the end all be all. But it's just like, I'll do it in the class, all of them, because people will be worried. Well, there's four of us in here training to be in Nashville. I'm like, yeah, and y'all even friends on Facebook, but y'all don't even know each other.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Throw a rock in Nashville and find an.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: Underserved.
It's.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: So are you guys providing marketing for these people, too, or are they bringing in their own clientele? And then you guys are just providing the business side of stuff. So what's your plan for marketing for your.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Yeah, so. So the one thing I always tell them is the one thing I can't give you is clientele. I mean, if you're in nowhere, Indiana, I don't know anybody in Indiana. However, what we do to help them with that is they are allowed, like she said, to copy and paste our marketing. So we follow a very specific duckduck Goose strategy in marketing. That's value, value sale. So you're not just always throwing up a sales post or a stock photo and try to give them a lot of those guidelines for that.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: We have like a oneDrive, they have access to that to use the marketing material that our marketing team makes and stuff. So if they do have their own logo or they want different colors, it's an editable one too. Talks them about canva, then it's a lot of education, right? Like using canva and how to do it. And our marketing director, we started a Patreon recently where she can put on videos and stuff how to's and just feeding as many people, really not even teaching them how to run a business, just teaching as many people they can. Because elevating all of these injectors is not a once again competition thing. It's only going to elevate the industry because you're going to reach more people. It's such an underserved thing already. So if we can just elevate people in the compliance and the safety and all this stuff, then it's only going to get us back, which is going.
[00:35:38] Speaker C: To make room for more injectors.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: So are you guys using a website with the different locations on there and where they can book online with those providers? Okay.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: Every one of them goes on to the Smileyesthetics.com, and then they have their own links. Some of them use the aesthetic record, use a certain booking link, others use something different. But whatever contact they want on there.
[00:35:58] Speaker C: And they're on there by state?
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah, you can search for them.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: So if you're in Indiana wanting to find one of our injectors, you can go see who's in there or from.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: In what county, I think, or city. Yeah, I think we do. To help find them.
[00:36:11] Speaker C: And then we put their links, like their, you know, their little links are.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: And people will just message on the website, maybe not find that and say.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I need injections in Memphis. I'm like, okay, well, here's, we just.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: Dispersed it amongst the injectors.
[00:36:24] Speaker C: Who wants a client in Memphis?
[00:36:26] Speaker B: First one to answer. Yeah.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: So I guess my question really is, are they paying to have all of those resources as a lump sum or are they paying you with a percentage of their profit?
[00:36:40] Speaker C: The way we do it is, in my opinion, the best way possible. They don't pay any fees, nothing month to month. There's no contract.
The better they do.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: It's like a pay as you go structure.
[00:36:50] Speaker C: It's like a pay as you go.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Basically, and nothing to do with profiting, because we know gets too much into fee splitting and all that stuff.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: So if they don't make a dime or don't do anything, then we don't make any money or do anything.
And if they do, then as they grow or whatever we grow with them, the better they do, then of course, the better we do. But also then the better they do in that regard, too. So we've tried to set it up truly where they have the best possible chance of being successful in a business structure.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: And we don't take more as they grow.
It's a very structured plan that they know from the start, and it has never changed. Our goal is ever lower now that we're tiered and stuff. With Allergan, we drip them down as much as so much so they're getting the benefits.
And I do want to speak to that because that's a huge. It's come up recently. Yeah, because they get the benefits of that. And I find it very frustrating when you hear about group purchasing or buying clubs, whatever you want to call them, and new injectors, new medsponders have no idea about it. And then they've locked themselves into this buying club where they don't reap any benefits. I mean, that's very sad to me, and very unfortunate. So they definitely get their alley and their rewards, obviously, that part of it. And then we're also getting stuff down to them that otherwise they may not be able to buy bikes in boxes, get two free. So we'll do buy two, get one free. We just try to do that stuff for them. And so that is a big value add that we don't speak to very often either.
[00:38:24] Speaker C: Yeah, and the fact that we'll back up some of our most successful ones, we have many that have quit their jobs. We're very proud of that. And then if they go and decide they want to open up their own brick and mortar, we have a full structured pathway to that to where we're basically like, yeah, we'll absolutely get the doors open, which is a whole nother thing. We'll help you, but when you're ready, we will back all the way up. You do almost nothing and you do your thing. And then they have their own account. They can do all those types of things so they can start straight up building that and reaping those benefits. So we just don't believe or stay with us and continue whatever the case is. Whatever.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Do you guys also offer concierge training services for other businesses? Like if they want to send their injectors in to have training courses and just they sign a non compete, they're not going to be like, oh my God, I love them so much. I'm going to go work for them now. Just protect those businesses. Do you guys offer that for.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I do. We train as many or about the.
[00:39:18] Speaker C: It'S probably 50 50.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: We train as many medical providers who don't join us or coming for other trainings and stuff as we do people who come on and join us. So the program is definitely accredited for anyone. For all medical providers. We still stick to the RN and above for the supervision rules to avoid. And I've traveled, we'll go to med spas and do private trainings. We do private, we do one on one. We do the group trainings that have ten or less people in them in the city. So, yeah, it's definitely both. And like you said, the training, it's the same no matter what the business hour is more just to help the provider and it may not be in the private trainings. Yeah, I wanted, but it's not necessarily, hey, come on with Smiley. It's more of like, you just need these things. You just need to know that you need these things.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Well, because like Allergan and all those companies are great with their trainings, but they can only do what they can do, right? Yeah. So I think that it's a really good opportunity for other businesses to be able to have access to some really in depth trainings more consistently.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I totally.
[00:40:18] Speaker C: And we also support them whether or not they come on with us. Yeah, we're like, reach out, we help.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Community thing once again, you have my email. Now you have whatever cell phone most likely if you've come and trained.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: And it might be really fun too for you guys to have some sort of a community for those people too.
Maybe not in with the ones that are a part of your injector team, but just have like, for them to have their own community to build on, make connections.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Now on Monday, I got to go.
[00:40:49] Speaker C: Figure out everybody create a group.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: That's a great idea, though. If we did a WhatsApp, even a texting where you can have all those.
[00:40:57] Speaker C: Providers have access to each other, create the community. That's a great idea.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Like event ideas or whatever.
[00:41:01] Speaker C: Yeah, because we support them as much as we can, but there's a level at some point of like, okay, I can't check your client's face.
There's only so much we can do. I love that. Yeah, I think that's a great idea.
[00:41:18] Speaker B: I love it. I'm like, where's my computer?
[00:41:22] Speaker A: I have one last question and I'll let you guys get back to it.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: But.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: So the Derma PRP, did you guys go to the training yesterday? What are your thoughts on that?
[00:41:28] Speaker C: Oh, I love it.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: I have been so excited. I heard about Derma months ago, or it coming out so long ago, so I've been excited about it for months. I think it's a game changer in the filler. It's not a filler, but in the volumizing industry because especially where we're based, Nashville, while it's a total mix of all sorts of people now, but the Southeast in general, and I think you guys would know this a little more natural and a little more that's how we are than out west and stuff. So having a product that can kind of provide the volumizing but not be so aggressive as these Ha fillers and stuff is just. I think it's a game changer and will suit half. We still have great. The clients that want this, this and the other. I don't necessarily see myself putting it in lips. I love what I do with Ha's and lips, but like temples and some of these other areas too, that are a little more dangerous. I think that it's a better. We're always doing safety and we're always worried about Bos, but I think it's a better option than Ha Filler. So I'm going to be a little nitpicky on where I put it, but for me it's going to be like, I'm so excited.
[00:42:29] Speaker C: I love the price. I think, too, that even if you did want to put it in the.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Lips, those patients that were just wanting a half a syringe, this might be a better alternative for them.
[00:42:37] Speaker B: And then the older lips, that was so true. They said on stage yesterday.
[00:42:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: And the older lips were like, if I fill those, those are not going to look good and they still want something. I mean, yeah, it's going to be amazing.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: I think it's the financial. I'm excited about that. Financial part of our mission is bringing aesthetics to more people, and especially those rural people.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Maybe don't, depending on whatever $18 a unit.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: It's like, okay, so this price point I think is going to be good to again bring more people into the aesthetics industry, which is only going to benefit all of us with a high.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Quality, like, good product.
So I'm really pumped.
[00:43:13] Speaker C: Yeah, me too.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: Our injectors are really excited about learning how to work with this new product, so we're excited to bring it to our practice as well. Well, thank you both so much for joining us today.
You all have a lot of really cool things going on. I loved hearing all about it. So I really appreciate you all's time and getting to know you all a little bit better. And hopefully we'll be able to send some injectors y'all's way for some training down the road.
[00:43:37] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. I love I already followed you guys on listening to this podcast. I'm excited for that. And thanks so much for having us. We love doing this and we like sharing. Absolutely.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Wonderful. Well, thank you all so much and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Get back out there.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Smartcast and our weekend in Arizona with our partners at AMP.
