Three Characteristics of Successful Practitioners & Ten Things They Do
Over the last 5 years I have immersed myself in the aesthetics industry as I have researched, built and grown Glowday.com and GlowdayPRO
I have spoken to thousands of practitioners. My Instagram community is exclusively aesthetic practitioners. I follow exclusively aesthetic practitioners. My business “sees” the booking data and pricing of hundreds of practitioners. We see the booking and search behaviour of patients looking for practitioners, treatments and appointments.
I have a pretty good overview of the industry.
In this blog I’m going to highlight three characteristics or traits, and the common things they do, in practitioners who have been in the industry 2-5 years, who have seeded and grown their aesthetics businesses to be sustainable.
It’s worth stating here that the concept of an aesthetics business is a tried and tested service-based business model. It’s not a Tesla, or an iPod, or a Facebook or Airbnb.
It’s not an unvalidated idea. It’s not an untested proposition. Starting, running and growing an aesthetic business has been done before. So it’s possible. It’s been proven. If you’re thinking about starting an aesthetics business, know that it’s possible to build a successful, profitable business.
That’s not to say that it’s not incredibly challenging, even difficult at times. Or that it’s for everyone. But it’s possible.
The practitioners who I have seen start and grow successful, sustainable businesses all share some similar characteristics and traits. And have done certain things, quickly and well, following stepping off their training courses.
Let’s dig in…
They have a bias for action. They plan AND deliver.
This is perhaps the biggest difference between those who succeed and those who flounder.
They just get stuff done. They know where they want their business to go, have a vague plan and they get stuck in. They are quick to hone skills they’ve been taught on training courses. Give things a go. Learn as they go. But are willing to pivot and adapt. Trial and error.
They don’t shy away from getting themselves out there. They’re marketing their businesses, from day one. They’re being seen. They quickly drilled down their brand and ideal patient demographic, honed in on marketing messages that would resonate with them. They used reviews and before and afters from friends and family to market their services in the early days. They treated friends-of-friends and then got that magical first booking from someone they didn’t know. Rinse and repeat. Their business grew.
I’ve known practitioners build their own websites in a weekend. I’ve seen them set up and send their first email newsletter within a matter of hours. I’ve seen them plan and launch skincare lines within a few months. Refurbish clinic spaces in a weekend. They don’t just have the idea. They execute. They deliver.
Other less successful practitioners have a bias for professional procrastination.
They spend a disproportionate amount of time planning. Researching and re-researching. Focused on the minutiae. The things that are largely unimportant and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. And 12-18 months after stepping off a training course, they are no further along. They’ve not really left the starting blocks.
They are paralysed in the quest for perfection. Agonising over the wording of a question in a form. Obsessing over which treatment to add to their treatment menu next…when they don’t have enough patients for the treatments they’ve already trained in. Talk about getting a website…and 18 months later there’s still no website. They’re tatting about the edges.
Waiting for the stars to align before they sort a website/show up on stories/set up their Google business profile/book professional photography…these are all just different forms of procrastination and they suffocate a business.
All this professional procrastinating makes practitioners feel busy. Like they’re making progress. Like they’re doing things “the right way”…after all, that approach served them well in school, university & the NHS. Meanwhile, they’re handwringing and moaning about “the competition” and envious of those who trained at the same time as them who are seemingly smashing it.
The difference is, those who are smashing it have a plan. They put themselves out there. They get shit done. They don’t wait for someone or something to make it easier for them. They just do it.
They try and fail. Often.
Those who are successful are natural experimenters. They try things out. Sometimes those things work. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they work out a little bit, but need tweaking. But whatever the outcome, they learn something, iterate and try again.
When they fail, they don’t dwell on it. They don’t get annoyed or angry that a particular marketing idea or treatment offer failed. They change things up and try again.
They are resilient, resourceful failures!
They don’t compare, moan or take things personally.
Something I was told often when I was younger was “the world doesn’t owe you a living”.
And for a while, probably up until my 30’s, I was irked that there were people out there, more successful than I was, who were nowhere near as qualified, intelligent, or in my naive mind, deserving. I’d worked hard in school, done well in uni, so surely I should be suitably rewarded?! But here’s the thing. You get what YOU get.
At some point, I realised that the reason I wasn’t as successful as others was because of me. And that if I wanted what they had or to do what they did, it was on me. It was on me to figure out whether I was willing to do what I needed to do to get it, and if I was, to get on and do it. I’m not sure when the penny dropped, but when it did, I was no longer irritated when I saw other people being successful, I was interested and keen to listen to how they did it. Their success didn’t limit mine.
I see many practitioners with a mindset similar to my “old” one. Where they have this belief that just because they’re a Dr/Dentist/Nurse/HCPC, it makes them more deserving of business success. Just because they’ve spent £££ on training, it means they’re more bookable than another practitioner.
The more successful practitioners know that this mindset is a waste of time. They know that the success, or failure, of their business is largely down to them, their skill, how quickly they learn and adapt, and the choices they make for their business. They take knock backs on the chin, dust themselves off and move on.
They don’t compare and moan. They just get on and do.
Now, I get it. This all seems pretty nebulous. And I know you love a list! So here are ten of the more tangible elements of what successful practitioners are doing.
They get to it - they deliver treatments AS SOON as they finish their initial training course
They deliver excellence - They deliver an exceptional patient experience where patient expectations are managed (during an open, honest and thorough consultation) and met (through great patient and product selection and clinical skill)
They chose the right location - one where there are lots of the right demographic (affluent enough to afford treatments OR motivated enough to prioritise spending on treatments)
They have processes in place - for bookings, forms, payments, reviews, complaints - and they stick to them
They don’t over-train - they stick with a small, but popular range of treatments until they’ve figured out how to reliably, repeatably attract customers
They show up…visibly and consistently - in video, photos, written word online and on social media. They come across well - knowledgable, friendly, approachable, confident, kind, they smile.
They’re online & on Google - they have an informative, easy-to-navigate, mobile-optimised website and have a complete and up-to-date Google profile
They know their numbers - they have intentionally set their pricing to be able to penetrate the market and earn a margin. They raise their prices as they become more experienced, as they collect more social proof and they hone their craft
They are self-taught entrepreneurs - They do everything themselves for the first 2-3 years - they learn all the fundamentals of running their business, then they outsource/employ when their business can afford it
They prioritised social proof - They were intentional about collecting reviews and sharing before and afters from day one