About This Episode
50-year industry veteran Jay Shorr explains why most new aesthetic practices fail for business reasons, not clinical ones. Part of the Business of Aesthetics podcast collection, Episode 280, “The A to Z of Starting an Aesthetic Practice Effectively,” adds useful context for aesthetic-practice professionals. It helps practice owners think more clearly about value, positioning, and decisions that support both patient trust and healthy practice economics. Listeners can use the conversation to reflect on their current approach, discuss relevant questions with their team, and identify practical next steps.
Read the full conversation
[00:00:11] Introduction & Speaker/Topic Setup
Welcome back to the Business of Aesthetics podcast. I'm your host, Don Adeesha. And today we are breaking down the A to Z of starting an aesthetic practice effectively. Joining us is a man who has spent over 50 years in the medical field, from being a paramedic in the 70s to managing multi-million dollar practices. He is the founder and CEO of Shorr Solutions, Jay Shorr. Jay, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. It's an honor to be a guest on the podcast because I'm usually the one hosting the podcast. And now I'm even a guest on my own podcast as I'm turning it over to my crew and my team.
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[00:01:18] From Paramedic to Practice Administrator
Before we dive into the business side of things, Jay, I wanted to ask you, since you started your journey in 1972 as a paramedic in Philly, looking back at those high-stakes emergency situations, how did that experience shape your no-nonsense approach to fixing medical businesses today?
When you are in an emergency trauma situation, you have better think about what you're going to do before you get there. It is basic instinct and triage. You really don't have time to think because you don't have seconds to waste. As I got older, I was a corporate director of safety, health, security, fraud, and embezzlement. I ended up falling in love with a cosmetic surgeon, a dermatopathologist, Mohs surgeon. She owned a very large practice here in Fort Lauderdale, and I retired from corporate America and joined her practice as an administrator. My late wife became ill and passed very quickly from stage four cancer. Right before then, I decided to take the show on the road to teach businesses how to be a real business.
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[00:04:34] Why New Aesthetic Practices Actually Fail
When someone tells you they're about to open their first aesthetic practice, what are the biggest mistakes you already know that they're about to make?
Most new aesthetic practices don't fail because of the clinical skill that they have. They've been trained at all stages. They fail because the owners underestimated the business. The biggest mistake is they act like clinicians opening a room, not a CEO building a company. Medicine's a business. So I usually say, when you want to open up a practice, let me give you two key takeaways. You're not going to come in on time. And you're not going to come in on budget. Are you prepared for that? Because you've got a lot of predictable mistakes ahead of you.
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[00:06:13] The Mindset Shift From Clinician to CEO
What is the hardest mindset shift for a doctor to go from being the lead provider to being a CEO?
The biggest mistake first-time aesthetic practices make when they first want to do this is they don't have a business model. The failure to plan is the plan to fail. You assume Botox, fillers, laser equals revenue, and it doesn't, because you don't define your true price strategy, patient acquisition costs, or even your service mix. They don't understand the capital requirement and the needs. And they sign terrible leases. They hire too much. They hire out of emotion. You don't have a compliance infrastructure, policies, procedures, protocols, HIPAA, OSHA training. You need to do it within your first 10 to 30 days of opening your business or hiring somebody. You have no marketing engine, you have no social media, and you have no financial dashboard for KPIs. So what are you doing? You're opening up a business, you don't even know how to open it.
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[00:11:59] Setting Up the Right Business Entity
Before a single patient walks through the door, what are the non-negotiables in setting up the business properly? I'm talking about the LLCs, PLLCs. Where do most people get this wrong, and what should they be doing differently?