The Aesthetic Owner Bottleneck:

BUSINESS OF AESTHETICS | EXPERT PANEL TRANSCRIPT

EXPERT PANEL / TRANSCRIPT

BOTTLENECK

WHY YOUR PRACTICE CANNOT GROW PAST YOU

Recognizing when the owner has become the growth bottleneck

Delegation, decision rights and team confidence

Training systems that create consistency without micromanagement

Building a practice that can perform without constant owner involvement

PARTICIPANTS

Angie • Robyn Sheppard • Terri Wojak LE • Brittany Shiply

Full session transcript

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The Aesthetic Owner Bottleneck: Why Your Practice Cannot Grow Past You Until You Make This One Shift

Angie 00:00:07

Hello everyone and welcome to another Business of Aesthetics expert panel. My name is Angie and I'll be your moderator for today's discussion. Now, whether you're joining us from your practice, your office, or from home, thank you so much for taking the time to be here with us. We know how busy life can be, especially for practice owners and healthcare professionals, so we truly appreciate you investing this time in yourself, in your business. So today's discussion is one that I think will resonate with so many of you. We're talking about the aesthetic owner bottleneck, why your practice cannot grow past you until you make this one shift. So if you ever felt like your business depends on you for every decision, if your team constantly comes to you with questions, or if taking a vacation feels almost impossible because you're worried everything will fall apart. then today's discussion is for you. So our goal isn't simply to tell you to delegate more. It's to explore how successful aesthetic practices create systems Empower their teams and build businesses that continue to grow without relying on the owner to solve every problem. So we brought together three outstanding experts with decades of combined experience in clinical education, leadership, operations, and practice growth, and I'm looking forward to hearing their insights. throughout today's discussion. Before we begin just a few quick housekeeping reminders. Today's panel is being recorded so if you'd like to revisit any part of today's discussion we'll be sending the recording to everyone who registered. We'd also love for this to be an interactive session so please use the chat. to, you know, introduce yourself, share your thoughts, and engage with fellow attendees throughout the webinar. If you have a question for our panelists. please submit it using the Q&A feature rather than the chat, because that helps us keep everything organized, and we'll answer as many questions as we can toward the end of today's discussion. Don't wait until the Q&A session, though, to submit your questions. If something does come to mind while our panelists are speaking, go ahead and send it through. We'll be collecting questions throughout the palate. So before we meet today's panelists, I'd like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Aqua Marketing, for making today's webinar possible. Attracting new patients today takes more than simply being an excellent provider. Patients are researching online, they're comparing practices, they're reading reviews and making decisions long before they ever pick up the phone. So for over 15 years, EquiMarketing has helped healthcare and aesthetic practices across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom grow their online presence, strengthen their digital marketing, and connect with more of the right patients. So we're incredibly grateful for their continued support of education programs like today's panel. And you'll also hear a little later. About complimentary opportunity they're offering exclusively for today's attendees. So, what are we going to explore today? So, we'll be discussing how to recognize when you've become the biggest bottleneck in your own practice. Which responsibilities should be delegated first, and which shouldn't? How to build systems that create consistency and confidence within your team, and ultimately, how to create a business that continues to grow without depending on the owner to be involved in every decision. So this is going to be a practical conversation. Our panelists will be sharing real experiences. lessons they've learned, and actionable advice that you can begin applying in your own practice. So our first panelist is Robin Shepherd, clinical manager at Widens Medical USA. Robin works closely with physicians, advanced practitioners. and industry leaders helping practices improve provider training, clinical education, and the successful implementation of aesthetic technologies. Her experience working with practices across the country give her a unique perspective on what separates business that simply stay busy from those that truly scale. Robin, welcome. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Robyn Sheppard 00:05:03

Thank you, Angie, for having me tonight.

Angie 00:05:06

Next, I'm delighted to welcome Terry Wojcik, LE owner of Aesthetics Exposed Education. Terry brings more than 30 years of experience in medical aesthetics and is an internationally recognized educator, consultant, speaker, author, and mentor. She's dedicated her career to helping aesthetics professionals grow through education, leadership, and clinical excellence. Terry, thank you so much for joining us today.

Terri Wojak LE 00:05:36

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Angie 00:05:40

And finally, we're excited to welcome Brittany Shipley, owner of Spa Sundry. Brittany is a registered nurse, master statistician, entrepreneur, and nonprofit founder who understands firsthand the journey from clinician to business owner. She brings valuable insights into leadership, operations. patient experience and building sustainable systems that allow practices to grow. Brittany, we're glad to have you with us today.

Brittany Shiply 00:06:11

Thank you, Andrew. Glad to be here.

Angie 00:06:14

Amazing. All right. We're really, really excited to start the discussion today. All right, Terry, let's start with something that I think many practice owners have experienced. It may seem like a small everyday situation, but it often reveals a bigger issue within the practice. So when a staff member texts the owner mid patient asking how to handle a scheduling conflict. Who on that team has already stopped thinking independently?

Terri Wojak LE 00:06:46

Well, not only is the staff member not thinking independently because they're going straight to the owner, but it's probably, it goes back to a training issue because during training, either that. Either that provider doesn't feel empowered to make a decision, or that scheduler. Or they have a training issue where they don't know exactly where to go. So they don't have a system in place where this is what we do when a client wants to reschedule and they're 15 minutes late, or this is what we do when a client needs to get in 'cause they have an emergency. There should be set standard operating procedures for those things.

Angie 00:07:30

At one point, at what point does this stop being a scheduling issue and become a leadership issue?

Terri Wojak LE 00:07:37

I mean, it… it really does, as soon as… if they don't feel empowered to begin with and they don't have the set standards to begin with then it's definitely a leadership issue so if they're not sure if they don't have the guidance to know what to do they're not going to go where they're not going to know where to go and that's when they're going to be texting the owner hopefully there is a middleman there's someone a manager or someone In between, that they could go to, but there should be a direct… Like, schedule of who to go to, and for what reasons.

Angie 00:08:17

Robin, does this align with what you've seen across the practices you work with? How common is it?

Robyn Sheppard 00:08:24

Yep.

Angie 00:08:24

Open.

Robyn Sheppard 00:08:25

It's very common, but it is also very simple just to have a system in place initially when someone comes in, you know, if it's their first week of training to just say, hey, this is the protocol to follow if there's a scheduling conflict, if there's a no show, if there's someone running late, this is how the practice likes to handle these situations. I think it's a very quick thing that can be addressed very early on when someone starts within the practice.

Angie 00:08:50

That's perfect. Alright, so that actually leads us into the bigger picture. When every decision flows back to the owner, it doesn't just impact daily operations, it can also limit the overall growth of the practice. So, Robin, across the practices you work with. How common is that the owner's production hours are actually Are the actual ceiling on total practice revenue.

Robyn Sheppard 00:09:16

So what I hear when you're saying this or asking this question is, is the practice scalable or is it just dependent on one person? And I think the definition of being scalable is growth. And if you are the owner, and you're a provider, and your schedule is jam-packed, and everyone else is sitting around, the solution isn't adding more time slots to your schedule. It's… Transferring some trust, it is delegating. I know we don't wanna say the delegating word, but if there isn't trust and if your providers are not performing treatments that are within their scope because you're just taking and taking and taking, then you have to invest in that clinical education. And if you have certain devices, it may mean that you have to pay the company to come in and offer a full day of training. Which seems like a lot to do at the time, I understand that, but the benefit to doing that is where you're gonna reach your scalable growth.

Angie 00:10:11

What are some of the earliest signs that a practice has reached the seedling?

Robyn Sheppard 00:10:19

Okay. I think when you see burnout. And it's not one person, so… I think that's showing that you've kind of reached a ceiling and that something's not working here. And so when everyone is, you know, evenly keeled, happy, performing well, and they don't feel exhausted or burnt out, then I think that means that you're still able to scale.

Angie 00:10:44

All right, Brittany, many practice owners begin their careers because they're exceptional clinicians, but running a successful business requires a completely different set of skills. Most aesthetic owners entered as clinicians, not operators. What does that gap actually cost a practice once revenue starts growing?

Brittany Shiply 00:11:06

Yes, Angie, it's not just financial cost, you know, there's a lot of things that just become dependent on, on that provider, you know, as, as it's been said that, you know, when people don't feel confident in making those decisions, it doesn't. it doesn't get solved, it doesn't get resolved, and it goes back to the owner. That, that owner, again, will have burnout, they, they end up approving refunds, they, you know, answer scheduling questions, they keep solving the problems instead of putting systems in place. I think if you have those systems in place, that's That's where I think you notice it, where the owner just keeps repeating over and over the same… The same answer, instead of setting up systems in place, so…

Angie 00:11:58

Looking back at your own experience, what's something you wish you'd understood earlier about making that transition?

Brittany Shiply 00:12:06

Yes, so that's… that's one thing that I… I've learned in some of my business classes is to make sure that each provider, that you set it up as a clinical practice that way, so that whether they're going to you or another provider that you've hired. that person doesn't really care who they go to, because it's done the exact same way. As I've learned in the practice, when you're hiring people, there are certain people that are okay to do it that way, and some people that want to do it their own way. So, I really had to take the time to, you know, slow to hire, quick to fire. So, that's been something that has really helped me to… you know that I had to learn the wrong way, you know. I'd let people keep trying to do it their own way, and it was. I'd lose employees. You know they wouldn't want to do kind of the sundry way. I made the mistake of not trusting them to do it their own way, to do it, that way, so I've restructured my business completely, where… I've noticed especially that providers want to have their own autonomy. They don't want to do it how they taught me in business school, right, to make it all the same. So just giving people more the autonomy to have their own special expertise and delegating and trusting them. That has been like a lesson that I've learned along the way.

Angie 00:13:43

That's amazing. Terry, do you find this is one of the biggest mindset shifts owners need to make?

Terri Wojak LE 00:13:51

Yes, it's… it's very hard to delegate, you know, because it's… it's your work, it's your business, it's your time, it's your passion, and then you are putting your trust into these other people. So, it is very important, I know, again, the word delegate, but it's important to put your trust and Into other people and I love the quick to fire or slow to hire.

Angie 00:14:17

Yeah, it's.

Terri Wojak LE 00:14:18

I say that all the time because it's, you know, that you could put so much investment into the wrong person and with the training and all the expense and the time and energy that goes into it, you know, it's not you really have to find the person that fits into your practice.

Angie 00:14:35

Yeah. All right. So, Terry, one area where owners often struggle to let go is anything related to patient care, and understandably so. So which clinical decisions genuinely require owner sign off? And how do you draw that line without defaulting to everything that touches a patient?

Terri Wojak LE 00:14:57

Well, I think it's, you know, again, having those set protocols, having your, your providers know their contraindications. If it's anything like, if it's an adverse response, then I would want to know about it as an owner. Or, you know, the clinical provider would need to know about it as the owner. And… any adverse response, any abnormal, condition that is not maybe a set contraindication, but maybe you're not sure about. You know, like. maybe a thyroid condition, and they're doing a neck treatment, or something like, you know, where it's not in the direct contraindications. So, anything that could possibly hurt a patient. hurt the practice legally, or give them more liability, I think that is when the owner should be involved. Besides that, it should be able to be resolved within the practice.

Angie 00:15:54

Okay. Robin, do you have anything that you'd like to add, you know, from a clinical education perspective? How do practices successfully build that confidence in their providers?

Robyn Sheppard 00:16:06

So, yeah, I would like to add, Brittany and Terry and I kind of got into a little discussion before we went live, and it was about… one thing that I've seen as a clinical educator is the pendulum swinging both ways. Is the owner taking on all the treatments, whether they're kind of moderate to advanced treatments. Even though, like, they should be focusing on advanced treatments because a lot of times owners are doctors, and then leaving the rest of their staff to do treatments that are below their scope. But then I've also seen practices where they overwhelm and push providers to do treatments that are outside of their scope. And I think that there's that difference of building confidence within their scope. And like Terry said, there's a difference in going to the owner about a scheduling issue versus a true problem or something that could impact the business in a negative way. And I think you should have an open door policy when it comes to those issues. It's those little ones that could be ironed out with better training.

Angie 00:17:03

Brittany, is there anything you would like to add into that?

Brittany Shiply 00:17:07

No, I think that they've, they've really hammered that on the head, so good job of dropping into it.

Angie 00:17:15

Perfect. All right. So, Robin, another challenge many successful practices face is that patients often become attached to the owner personally. So when an owner's personal brand is driving patient acquisition, how do you decide what to transfer to the practice before the dependency becomes a valuation problem?

Robyn Sheppard 00:17:36

Yes. So I think you have to decide to transfer trust. I think that's the most important thing. I think, of course, if you've made a name for yourself, and we see practices all over social media that are, you know, the name of the person is the name of the practice. And they're going to get the notoriety and they're going to get the patients in the door. But I think then you have to transfer the trust and the education into your staff. that they are going to make sure every person that walks through that door is going to have a consistent experience from the people working at the front desk to if they're having a treatment by the esthetician, the nurse practitioner, the PA, or the owner or doctor themselves. It's gonna be a consistent experience. But of course, the name brand is going to get people in the door. It's what happens once they're in the door that will increase value.

Angie 00:18:27

How early do you think owners should start thinking about this rather than waiting until they're considered selling or scaling?

Robyn Sheppard 00:18:36

I… I think that's a difficult question. I think a lot of times, these providers that build that name brand, it's because they start on their own. And once they realize they can't do it all and that things are growing, which is a good thing and they have to scale, that's when they have to take those considerations and build. But I think… I guess you have to have that intuition and faith within yourself that if you have a goal and your goal is to grow, to start those processes as early as possible, even if it is just you in the beginning, have that in mind for when you do scale.

Angie 00:19:12

What are some practical ways owners can begin shifting their trust to the wider team?

Robyn Sheppard 00:19:20

Training.

Angie 00:19:22

I think…

Robyn Sheppard 00:19:23

It's investing in education and not just initial education, it's continuing education. Not everyone is motivated by money.

Angie 00:19:31

Mmm.

Robyn Sheppard 00:19:32

Those people, I mean, money's good, we need it, it's great to have, but if I am working at a job where I feel like I'm just at a hamster wheel and there's no opportunities for growth or continuing education, and let's face it, the aesthetics industry is always growing, it's always changing, it's always evolving, and if you're not offering that continued education, I think that's where you're going to have an issue. Oh.

Angie 00:19:57

Yeah. Brittany, how have you approached building trust across your entire practice rather than around one individual?

Brittany Shiply 00:20:07

Yes, I'm… I'm a big… one with trust, and I feel that, you know, trust isn't given that it needs to be earned. I, you know, with my practitioners, I am seeing how they're doing things, making sure that they're safe for one, making sure that they feel confident. making sure that they know the safety protocols if anything were to go wrong. Like, once they've proven that, I do have an easier time, you know, giving the trust. I think that, for me, hindsight looking back, I wished I would have thought about delegating and scaling right from the beginning. I think when I first started, I didn't expect to grow as as big as I did, and I hired people to do marketing and things like that, and I didn't have the systems set up in place to… to grow as fast as I did. So, I think that hindsight, looking back, if people can learn from me, it starts to, like, having those systems set up in place before you reach that bottleneck, where you're just like, I can't do this anymore, so…

Angie 00:21:24

Terry, is there anything you would like to add into that?

Terri Wojak LE 00:21:28

I think she said it very well.

Angie 00:21:33

Amazing. Alright, Brittany, getting back to you, right, how do you decide between solving today's operational fire yourself and building the system that prevents it when patients are waiting?

Brittany Shiply 00:21:48

Yes, I have learned… By error of mistake, you know, having to say the same things over and over, of putting systems in place, taking… if you just spend the time, if you've answered a question that you know is going to come up again, instead of having to solve that problem over again, just taking an extra 20 minutes to set up a procedure and a protocol of next time that happens, where they don't have to go to you. you're already setting up your organization in place to where, you know, you have your handbook. I think it's McDonald's that they have a handbook that's, you know, this big, that if there's anything that goes wrong or anything like that, they just have the rulebook. It's kind of the same thing. If you'll take the time. to fire… not necessarily, in a sense, fire yourself, but give that… that person the trust and the autonomy to make that decision and know exactly what to do in that situation.

Angie 00:22:52

Is there a particular process or habit that has made the biggest difference in helping your team become more self sufficient?

Brittany Shiply 00:23:02

I personally, when I started to realize I was solving the same problems over again with each person. I… I have started to make note of, you know, anytime that someone asks me a question, we add it to a forum of, okay, this was a question that arose. so that we can pinpoint every single, you know, problem that might arise, that there's a solution for every single situation that comes up, so I don't have to see it again. It's already in the process and the procedures. Up to Luta.

Angie 00:23:56

Brittany, I think your internet is… Giving you a little bit of.

Brittany Shiply 00:24:01

Trouble. Trouble. Okay. Shoot, let me… let me go try and go to another room.

Angie 00:24:12

Yeah, no worries. Terry!

Terri Wojak LE 00:24:16

Yes.

Angie 00:24:17

Yeah, does that reflect what you've seen in practices that successfully scale?

Terri Wojak LE 00:24:22

Absolutely. I mean, again, it's all about the, what you put in place and what your, you know, your management, what you're directing and what you're putting out there is what is. you know, gonna be shown to your customers, your clientele, so it's very important that you have your own passion, your own systems in place. Especially, I love the way that she said that every time a question comes up, she adds it to the forum. I think that's amazing, and that's a really good way to do things.

Brittany Shiply 00:24:55

Sorry.

Terri Wojak LE 00:24:56

Yep.

Robyn Sheppard 00:24:56

Can I…

Angie 00:24:57

Yeah, some.

Robyn Sheppard 00:24:58

thing really.

Angie 00:24:58

Yeah, of course, of course.

Robyn Sheppard 00:25:00

That kind of popped in my mind, and it's more from my clinical educating standpoint. A tool I found that people would come to me asking for answers, like direct answers, and it would always come up with like settings. Hey, I have this patient. what do you think I should do? What settings do you think I should… I should do? And I think it… this is translatable into, like, businesses as well, with people coming to the owner. But I found that that got really, it became a lot, and I was, like, spoon-feeding answers to people all the time, and I stopped doing that because it wasn't making anybody more confident. So I said, I'm not gonna give you answers, you can't ask me for settings, but you can text me and say, hey, I'm thinking about doing this, come to me with the answer. And then I can help guide you through it. And it's same thing with with business. And if you have employees that are coming to you asking for direct answers, if you want to make them more confident, have them come to you with the solution. first, or what they think the solution is, and then if it's not quite right, then you can tweak it, but most of the time, they already know the answer. They're just looking for you to kind of reassure them.

Angie 00:26:09

Brittany.

Terri Wojak LE 00:26:10

I agree.

Angie 00:26:11

Yeah, I can just nail it.

Terri Wojak LE 00:26:17

Bye.

Angie 00:26:18

Brittany, yeah, you, we couldn't really hear what you were saying when you answered the question. If you could just answer it again, that would be really great.

Brittany Shiply 00:26:28

Okay, sure. Is the internet a little bit better?

Angie 00:26:31

Much better.

Robyn Sheppard 00:26:33

Okay.

Brittany Shiply 00:26:33

Yes, so, yeah, just what I was saying is when, you know, at first when I started, I would keep answering the same questions, and so, as I've had to hire different people, when a question arises, I just put it In a forum of, okay, we need… this kind of written out in a protocol procedure, this written out in a protocol procedure of step-by-step, you know, how do you… how do you do this? So whenever they would ask me a question, I would take the time, because if we just took the time to set up that, you know, took 20 minutes, yeah, it might take a little bit of time to set that up. And once it's set up, you don't have to redo it anymore. So that time is actually saving you time.

Angie 00:27:20

All right, those have been some fantastic insights and I hope everyone joining us today is already thinking about how these ideas apply to their own practice. Right now I'm going to take a moment and before we continue our discussion. I'd like to share something with you. We've talked about recognizing the bottlenecks, empowering your team and building systems that support, long term growth. And I think we've already had some fantastic takeaways. So before we continue with the second half of our discussion, I'd like to take a brief moment to recognize a sponsor that is Equitable Marketing for making today's panel possible. So one of the biggest themes we've heard throughout today's discussion is that growing a successful practice isn't about working harder, it's about working smarter. You can build great systems, you can train an exceptional team, you can deliver outstanding patient care, but there's one more piece of the puzzle. The right patient needs to be able to find you. So today's patients are researching online long before they book an appointment. They're comparing providers, they're reading reviews, they're exploring websites and looking for a practice that they can trust. That's where Equomarketing comes in. So for over 15 years, they've helped healthcare and aesthetic practices across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom strengthen their online presence, attract more qualified patients, and build sustainable growth through proven digital marketing strategies. So as a special thank you for joining us today, Equal Marketing is offering everyone attending this panel a complimentary practice growth strategy meeting. It's normally valued in $900. So during this personalized strategy session, their team will help you evaluate your current digital presence, identify missed opportunities for patient acquisition. improve your online visibility in marketing strategy, create a customized roadmap for sustainable practice growth. So whether you're looking to grow your patient base, improve your marketing performance, or simply understand where your biggest opportunities lie. This is an excellent opportunity to receive expert guidance tailored specifically to your practice. So a support team will drop the booking link into the chat. You can also simply. scan the QR code that is on your screen. I'd encourage everyone to take advantage of this complimentary session while it's available. It only takes a minute to book, and there's absolutely no obligation. So, I will give you a minute to scan the QR code. All right, let's jump back into the discussion. Terry, so we've spent the first half of today's discussion talking about delegation and creating stronger systems, but delegation only works when your team is truly prepared to take on the responsibilities, so when a new provider finishes their first 10 patient treatments. What does the competency checkpoint look like when it doesn't require the owner in the room?

Terri Wojak LE 00:31:00

I think the owners should definitely, do random checks, like, well, they have to check their charts, usually, like, if it's an esthetician, or if it's a sub-provider, they have to check their charts. But I think especially when it comes to any provider doing lasers, because lasers are so high risk. I think checking the settings along with their Fitzpatrick types, making sure they look to write contraindications, going over before and after pictures. maybe asking the patient, if they know the patient, like, just, oh, how was your treatment today? You know, just kind of, Overlooking without having to be in the room, just kind of making sure that they're still on track.

Angie 00:31:41

What are the key indicators that tell you a provider is ready to work more independently?

Terri Wojak LE 00:31:48

That is ready to work more independently. Well, they would just. their… their passion, and they would, you know, they would have the competency, obviously seeing the 10 treatments, and then afterwards, just making sure that they're confident in their treatments, too. If they're not confident, then I'm not confident in them, so it has to be someone with confidence and… passion for what they do, where they can make these, you know, it gives them the ability to make these educated decisions. that makes sense.

Angie 00:32:21

Are there, have you ever seen any common mistakes that practices make when assessing competency too early or even waiting too long?

Terri Wojak LE 00:32:33

Yes. I mean, I've had providers that were not… doing laser treatments strong enough, so we're just really nervous about doing the treatments, so they weren't actually, like, none of the patients were getting hair removal reduction. You know, and I've also had where… patients or providers were over-treating, you know, and always getting burns or redness or irritation or sensitivity. So, I mean, it definitely can happen, and sometimes, too, they're perfect when they're… when they're in with the, owner with the 10 treatments. And then, you know, like, I think Brittany was saying earlier that they get off on their own and they just wanted to do their own thing, you know, so there needs to be those set protocols and that I think everything goes back to the education of the practitioners and being You know, educated enough to be confident. To do these treatments on your own without having to hold the hand of the owner.

Angie 00:33:38

Robin, from your experience working with practices across the country, what does a successful competency process typically look like for you?

Robyn Sheppard 00:33:49

I think it's dedicating appropriate time to a training. So competency to me when a practice is willing to shut down. And fully involve everyone that works in the practice from the front desk, at least for the didactic portion of any training. And then, of course, anyone that's going to be involved with whatever that they're training on. I think I've seen a lot of instances where someone is only willing to allocate. a very small amount of time to a training. Or they'll have a training, but they'll be seeing patients at the same time. And I think that is just not a confident way to go about instilling a successful practice. I think if you want, you need to invest, which means you're not making money at the time. It's called an investment in proper training and education and getting all of your team on the same page because it starts with everyone. It starts with the front desk. They have to know what you're providing. They have to know how to answer questions. Appropriately. And, Yeah, I think not going stingy on trainings is going to be an indicator of competency.

Angie 00:35:03

Right. So one of the biggest barriers to developing that confidence is when training takes a backseat because everyone is simply trying to get through the day. So, Robin, when training gets skipped because the owner can solve the problem faster. Which staff member pays for the shortcut six months later?

Robyn Sheppard 00:35:23

I mean, I think everyone pays for it. I think ultimately the owner, because I think they think at the time it's quicker and easier to just take that shortcut, and almost in a micromanaging type way, just do it themselves. But it's doing a disservice to, of course, the provider that they kind of overstepped or didn't allow for that confidence to build with providing appropriate education. Not everyone is a teacher. And you could be really, really good at something. You could be really good provider, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're a good business person and it doesn't necessarily mean you're a good teacher. And so I think you have to give the opportunity for someone to be truly educated by a professional who does this for a living and can actually help your business. grow in that way by instilling confidence. When you shortcut it, when you are seeing patients in between, you're just doing a disservice to yourself. It will come out in the long run. It's going to be a delayed result, but eventually it's going to catch up to you.

Angie 00:36:27

How can we see practices make training a consistent priority instead of something that's always postponed?

Robyn Sheppard 00:36:36

You're still asking me. Okay. Yeah, I think it's that mindset of save. It's hard to shut down a successful business to provide education. And I've seen it happen so many times. I literally had a text today where someone was asking for more training because of staff turnover. And my question was, are they gonna allocate time? Because this has been an issue. Before, and they might, again, do it, and then they always regret it, and then I have to come back. And then when I have to come back. you have to pay for it. You know, additional training might be provided in the beginning, but if you don't take that time seriously, and you don't truly allow for the entire team to be immersed in the education, you're gonna need it again, and it's gonna cost you more money in the long run.

Angie 00:37:28

Brittany, have you experienced a situation where investing more time in training upfront ended up saving significant time down the road?

Brittany Shiply 00:37:37

Oh, definitely. Definitely, it takes… If you do invest, how Robin is… is describing, it makes such a world of difference, and that's what we do at our practice. When we do a training, the whole office shuts down, we don't see any appointments, we are really immersed in the whole process, and I see a huge Change in the staff of the confidence. And it also takes that weight off of the owner, where, you know, they've had this training of the laser, we're all on the same page, we all know what to do, and it definitely saves money in the long run.

Angie 00:38:25

Alright, so Brittany, another area where owners often find themselves becoming the default decision-makers when difficult conversations arise. So, when a front desk team member receives a refund request. What does the handoff look like in practice where the owner is not the next call?

Brittany Shiply 00:38:47

I think there should, what we've set up in our practice and it didn't start out this way. It all started out with it all coming to me. And the more I've trained my staff is we have a standardized checklist. We say like what service was provided, what's the timeline, what's the patient's concerns? Photos, that need to be taken, any commution that's already been taking place. And it goes to a clinical office manager. If they can't solve the question, then it can go to.

Angie 00:39:25

Copy.

Brittany Shiply 00:39:25

The owner, but has a timeline of going through different… different hands so it might start with the provider then it might start with the you know manager if the manager can't resolve it then it might start with like the then go to the owner it just needs to try to be resolved before all of that look at all the the photos everything taking place and so that by the time if it ever does need to reach the owner they have everything in place they have the the timeline, they have the treatment, they have the photos, that it doesn't take them all the time to go through everything. They already have the communication in place. So that if it does get to the owner, it's a quick decision of if they need a refund or not.

Angie 00:40:09

How do you empower your team while still ensuring consistency and protecting the patient experience?

Brittany Shiply 00:40:18

I really take the time to… have my staff shadow me in those situations. You know, I don't just let them hand it off to me. I'm working with them and delegating with them, so that they know, oh, you know what? Brittany, the owner, she would do it like this, so I know that if I did this, this is exactly how she would have solved it.

Angie 00:40:48

Amazing. Terry, what role does training and communication play in preparing staff for these types of situations?

Terri Wojak LE 00:40:56

What role do they play? I, I think it's, it's huge. I mean, like we've been saying, I think education is, is number one to, you know. to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I think it's very important in the communication as well. Obviously, yeah.

Angie 00:41:14

All right, Terry, back to you. So let's assume owners have successfully delegated more responsibility and created additional time in their schedule. So the next question becomes, how should that time be invested? So when reclaimed owner time becomes available, what framework determines whether it goes toward clinical growth? Team leadership or practice, strategy?

Terri Wojak LE 00:41:40

So, it really depends on what's going on in the practice. If it's a newer practice, they're likely gonna be… the owner's likely gonna need to be building clientele, so maybe going more towards client-patient interaction. If the client is struggling You know, if they're struggling, if they're busy enough, but they're struggling getting up on their own, then the owner should focus her time on training and education. And then if the business is. like, you know, it's further down the road, the business is doing good, but we need to, like, increase it, then she should focus on strategy, leadership. marketing, how to grow the business. So I think that it really depends on which level you're at.

Angie 00:42:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How, how do owners avoid slipping back into spending that time on day-to-day operational tasks?

Terri Wojak LE 00:42:39

Oh, that's hard. No, it is because everybody, you know, it's just hard not to… Fall back into that. But I think again, it's, you know, another time saying it's having those systems in place. So it's knowing that your manager can take care of it, having that trust in your manager, having that system. So you know that if anything goes wrong, that you have that trust in the manager and that they'll take care of it. And if they need to, they will contact you.

Angie 00:43:08

Amazing. Brittany, I'd like to get you into this conversation as well. Once you started creating more time for yourself as an owner, where did you find your focus had the greatest impact?

Brittany Shiply 00:43:20

Well, let's see… probably my… my focus was best used at training the staff. getting them feeling confident to handle situations. You know, I loved what Robin and Terry had said, you know, of just giving them that trust and autonomy, and just building that confidence in them, I felt the more I felt that confidence in them, the more I could step back.

Angie 00:43:55

Amazing. All right, Robin, a great way to test whether systems are truly working is to imagine the owner stepping away for a period of time. So if a practice operated at full capacity during the owner's two-week absence, which specific number would confirm the system's health?

Robyn Sheppard 00:44:16

Okay, so, I don't know if there is a specific number that I think would be a true testament to if systems are working if the owner took a vacation. The metrics that I would look at would be slot utilization. You know, was it busy while you were gone or did somehow things dip? And your staff was kind of sitting around. If there was a cancellation, did the team work together to try to get that slot filled, and reschedule, or try to schedule a patient? Because a lot of times, some providers will take advantage of a cancellation and just kind of sit around versus trying to, like, work together to generate some more revenue and take advantage of that. Were there follow ups? That are people that visited and had an actual follow-up appointment or consultations. How did those follow ups go? And out of the consultations that were seen, how many booked from that consultation? And then how many of the appointments that were seen rebooked or created a new appointment? If those things happened while you were gone, so your slot utilization didn't dip. that your team worked together to fill a spot if there was a last-minute cancellation, if you saw follow-ups and patients were happy, and they felt seen and heard, and then you had consults who booked future appointments, and then you had people rebook. I think those metrics will show that your team is working together like a well-oiled machine, even if you are on vacation.

Angie 00:45:51

Hmm. Terry, I would love to bring you in as well. When practice go through this kind of exercise, what tends to surprise owners the most?

Terri Wojak LE 00:46:04

I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last, what? Yeah. I'm sorry, what was that.

Angie 00:46:09

When practices go through this kind of exercise, what tends to surprise owners the most?

Terri Wojak LE 00:46:15

Oh, you know, I think it's… sometimes it's that their team can… can function without them, and it's… it's a good thing. You know, they… sometimes they'll go on vacation, and they'll come back, and they'll be like, oh, well. they can do it, you know, and it makes them feel good that they've put their systems in place and that they've trained them properly. And then, on the other hand, there's… They leave, and there's a mess. No, but I think that one of the surprises is sometimes they think, like, especially when it's their first time taking a couple weeks away, that they're not going to be able to practice without them, and a lot of times they'll be surprised that they can if they have those systems in place.

Angie 00:46:59

That's all right. Brittany, as we come to our final discussion question, I'd like to focus on the first steps owners can take to begin making these changes. So what is the first owner behavior you can observe in week one that signals the bottleneck is actually starting to break?

Brittany Shiply 00:47:22

I think, you know, just going back to the last question, of when you can step away, and you realize, oh my goodness, I can step away and money's still coming into the spa, it's still running, it doesn't need to go, you know, doesn't need to have… me run it. The, you know, and the team members are being used you begin to start using the systems instead of relying on the owner's approval, that they can be autonomous. Make those decisions. They notice fewer interruptions. Decisions are made closer to where the work is happening, not, you know, going all the way, steps up to the owner, and that the patients are still receiving excellent care, and that they're happy.

Angie 00:48:07

If someone attending today's panel wanted to begin making that shift tomorrow morning, where would you encourage them to start?

Brittany Shiply 00:48:18

Oh, I would encourage them to start right away. Right away, making systems, putting everything in place, spending the time to do the trainings, spending the money to bring in Bring in really good trainers for the devices that they have, because it will pay in the long run.

Angie 00:48:39

Mmhm. Robin, before we move on, I'd love to hear one additional thought from you as well. What's one early sign that tells your practice… that tells your practice is moving in the right direction?

Robyn Sheppard 00:48:52

When they don't call me as much. No. Well, it's kind of true. When you kind of stop hearing from people, you know that they're starting to just take off, that they're starting to trust in themselves, they're starting to have that confidence, and they don't need you to hold their hand anymore.

Angie 00:49:12

Terry, is there anything that you'd like to add?

Terri Wojak LE 00:49:16

No, I agree. It's just really building the practitioner's confidence so that they can support you. And building that confidence is by training and support.

Angie 00:49:29

All right. I think that's a perfect takeaway to end this part of our discussion. Breaking the owner bottleneck isn't about making one big change overnight. It's about consistently building the habits, systems, and leadership that allows the practice to grow beyond one person. So thank you all for such thoughtful insights throughout today's discussion. We've covered a tremendous amount of valuable information, but I'm sure many of you joining us have questions about your own practices. So now we'd like to turn the conversation over to you. Let's move on to, our live audience Q&A. If you have anything you'd like to ask. Please, you can, type into your Q&A feature. We have a few audience questions. Our first audience question comes from Daniela. Thank you for your question, Daniela. When is the right time to hire help? Does the right time exist? Maybe, Brittany, we could start with you.

Brittany Shiply 00:50:38

Yes, I… I think I hired on sooner than I should have, or needed to. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted that person to do. I think, I felt overwhelmed and just thought bringing someone on would be great. I think a good time to bring someone on is you know that you're being spread too thin. And you have a list of all of the things that you need to delegate to someone. You have a specific, these are the things that I need taken off of my plate, so that when you do hire, you can hit the ground running with them, train them up on all of the things that you need them to take off of your plate instead of just having them, I don't know what, I know I know I need help, but I don't know what. So just being really clear and precise on what you need help with, and making sure that it is going to be valuable, and bringing Value to your business and to your clients.

Angie 00:51:41

Terry, I'd love to get your perspective as well. Are there common signs you see that owners actually waited too long to bring someone on?

Terri Wojak LE 00:51:50

Well, I think Brittany is correct, but I think that… Really bringing someone on when you get to that point where. where you're booked, where you know you're comfortable, where you know you're making enough money, but again, like Brittany said, you need the help, like, you need that support. I think that's the best time to bring somebody on. I think bringing someone on too early could take away from your… business, especially if you're just starting out. Like, a lot of people are going independent now and starting in, like, their own little place, you know, which I'm sure Brittany did, which she says she did. So, you know, they start at their own place, and then they build from there. So it's really when they get to that capacity where they're like, okay, like, I know that I have enough clientele now that I can share my clientele, and I also need that help, I need that support.

Angie 00:52:46

Wonderful. Our next question comes from Brian. So Brian asked, how do you successfully navigate the day to day of a small practice in keeping your employees and clients happy while still maintaining the business side of things yourself? Terry, maybe we could start with you again.

Terri Wojak LE 00:53:05

That's why it's very hard to be a business owner. It's not easy. It's not for everyone. But, yeah, it's very hard to do, but you just have to you have to be structured. And maybe you can you know, some people are more structured than others, and some people need more structure. So delegate a certain amount of time. Okay. So this is the amount of time I'm gonna see patients on these days. I still love to see patients. I'm gonna do patients on these days. I'm going to do my marketing business on these days. I'm going to put my time into leadership and education these hours these days. So kind of trying to structure it where I think that would make it. easiest to not over… over-put yourself in one box, you know, like, overfill one box.

Angie 00:53:52

Brian is actually in the audience tonight. I hope that has answered Brian's question. But Robin, I'd like to bring you in as well. From what you've seen working with practices across the country, is there one common habit or system that helps owners balance those competing priorities more effectively?

Robyn Sheppard 00:54:12

In terms of keeping everyone happy?

Angie 00:54:14

Mmhm.

Robyn Sheppard 00:54:15

I think so. I worked for a plastic surgeon one time, and, she took the time to figure out what motivates everybody, what makes everybody tick. There are all kinds of personality assessments. You know, those fun little quizzes that you can do, which is a really good team building exercise, but then it also gives you insight to what motivates one person might not be a good motivator for someone else or what, gives someone like a love language situation, like what someone, what makes someone happy, what keeps them motivated? So I think taking the time to really get to know your staff and figuring out what keeps them happy. motivated, growing, and successful will keep everyone happy. And I don't think it takes a lot of time and energy to do things like that, but those little team-building exercises, I think, will go a long way, because I think your patients could feel that if your team is all happy and working together synergistically. And then I think your team will feel seen and feel heard if you take that extra initiative.

Angie 00:55:18

That's amazing. Brittany, is there anything you would like to add into that?

Brittany Shiply 00:55:22

Yes, I… I would just like to agree with Terry and Robin. I think it's really important that, you know, it fills… Now, I've had my staff tell me that, like, you know, this feels more like a family. And I want that to be the case where, you know, they feel like they can express, like, when they're upset or that there's a problem, that it doesn't have to be this passive aggressiveness. It's a safe environment. There's trust between the staff members, between the clients. I think I've heard. my clients say that they feel that when they come in the door at Sundry. And so, I think creating that kind of atmosphere where people can feel seen and heard and validated and respected, it makes a big difference.

Angie 00:56:10

All right. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions today. We had some fantastic discussions and I hope the answers provided practical ideas that you can take back to your own practice. So before we move on into our final wrap up, I'd like to take just a moment to remind everyone about the complimentary opportunity being offered by us. sponsor, Egg for Marketing. So if today's discussion has inspired you to strengthen your systems, grow your practice, or attract more of the right patients. this one-on-one strategy session is a great next step. Normally valued at $900, it's being offered complimentary to everyone who attended today's panel. So if you haven't already, our support team has shared the booking link in the chat. You can also scan the QR code that is on your screen. I encourage you to take advantage of this exclusive opportunity while it's available. So before we wrap up today's panel, I'd like to ask each of our panelists one final question. So if everyone attending today's panel remembers just one piece of advice from you, what would you want that to be? Terry, let's start with you.

Terri Wojak LE 00:57:33

I think that education is number one. When you're… When you're hiring and bringing on new people, I think education is is very important. I think it's the most important, and I think everything kind of follows that.

Angie 00:57:53

Thank you, Terry. Robin, let's come to you next.

Robyn Sheppard 00:57:56

Sure. So I think it's continuing education, it's initial education, continuing education, because we're in an industry that is constantly growing and evolving and learning. And then investing into your staff and showing them that you trust them and then taking the time to get to know what motivates them so that you can keep them happy and successful within your practice.

Angie 00:58:22

Thank you so much, Robin. And Brittany, we'll let you have a final word.

Brittany Shiply 00:58:26

Yes, I love what Terry and Robin have said, and I think if I could add to what they've said, is to… also have the steps in place. Know where you want to go, but know each step of how to get there. There's many steps, and if it's 99 steps, just know, okay, these are my steps of where I need to get to.

Angie 00:58:50

Alright, that's amazing. What a wonderful way to conclude today's discussion. On behalf of Business Aesthetics, I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to our incredible panelists. Robin, Terry and Brittany for sharing your knowledge, your experiences and your valuable insights with us today. We truly appreciate your time and expertise and to everyone who joined us. Thank you for spending a part of your day with us. We hope today's conversation has given you practical strategies and fresh ideas that you can apply to your own practice. Now, before you leave, you'll see a short feedback survey pop up on your screen. We'd really appreciate if you could take a minute to complete it as your feedback helps us continue improving these panels and bringing you topics. that matter most. So thank you once again for joining us. I'm Angie, and it's been my pleasure moderating today's discussion. Have a wonderful day, and we look forward to seeing you at our next Business Aesthetics Expert Panel. Now, panelists, if you could please stay on the line for just a few minutes. We'd love to have a debrief session with you, if that's okay.

Brittany Shiply 01:00:10

Yep.

Angie 01:00:12

Yeah, all right. Let's see. how we can transfer you. Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm having a hard time transferring everyone into a room. Let me see what I can do about that. All right, you know what? It's not going to be easy to do that. But yeah, thank you so much for, you know, everything. And the discussion was amazing. I think I believe you've had a good time as well.

Robyn Sheppard 01:01:23

So fun.

Terri Wojak LE 01:01:24

So, yeah.

Robyn Sheppard 01:01:25

Yes.

Angie 01:01:26

Waiting for.

Robyn Sheppard 01:01:27

Thank you.

Angie 01:01:27

Alright, thank you so much, and have a good night.

Brittany Shiply 01:01:31

Thanks, Angie, you too.

Terri Wojak LE 01:01:32

Thank you.

Robyn Sheppard 01:01:33

Good night, ladies. Good.

Nice meeting you. Nice to meet you.

Brittany Shiply 01:01:37

Your turn.

BOA •