Introduction

When I started my practice there were a lot of things I didn’t know. I went through 7 years of college to become a Nurse Practitioner (NP) and had 10+ years of healthcare experience, mainly in critical care, but none of that prepared me to start a business.

One thing I did know was that I didn’t want to take out massive loans and end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

My husband works in tech and introduced me to the idea of  “boot-strapping”; which is the concept of  lifting a business up by it’s ‘bootstraps’ so to speak. Meaning that no outside money (investors, loans, etc.) are used to start or fund the business.

The bootstrap model is common in tech but not so much in medical, so naturally I wanted to try it. I was really excited to get started but my journey was paved with speed-bumps in the beginning, especially since I worked in a different specialty at the time.

Trying to find information and resources on how to legally start my business within my scope of practice, without paying a consulting firm or agency, was quite a headache. 

I wasn’t ready to pay for consulting services so I decided to find another way. Now that I’ve done it, I’ve had a lot of fellow healthcare pros asking how they can do it too. So I decided to write a book!  This article will give you the basics to get started for free but the book is available for sale below if you need more help.

Best of luck in your adventure! 🙂

If you want to know more about Medical Spas, who can own one, who can inject, etc. Please check out this article first before moving on 🙂 .

Know your scope of practice

This article assumes that you are already some sort of healthcare professional, i.e. RN, NP, PA, MD, etc. Regardless, even if you are an aesthetician or cosmetologist, know your scope of practice.

What can you legally do under just your license and what will you need a Medical Director or supervisor for?

If you plan to bootstrap consider starting with just what you can do under your license so you don’t have to pay for assistance right away.

If you know what you want to do and know that you’ll require a Medical Director, try to find someone that’s trustworthy and will add value to your business. Don’t hire the guy that is Medical Director for 100+ locations that you can never get ahold of.

Know what you want to offer

The most simple advice I can give is to start small and work your way up. Depending on your license and specialty maybe start with just facials and peels and then move on to neurotoxin injections or whatever other procedures you want to offer and can do under your scope.

Remember that you don’t have to offer everything for everyone, that would be impossible anyway. It’s better to be great at a few procedures than just ok at a hundred. Try to become an expert in the first product or procedure you offer then move up from there.

Pick a name

This part is easy and fun. Pick a name that is meaningful to you and maybe describes what you offer. It could be as simple as your name, or your name and your title, or any other combination. You can usually check online through the Secretary of State (SOS) website to see if the name you want is available.

Examples: Wagstaff Laser and Aesthetics, Ali Wagstaff NP, Wagstaff Aesthetics, Injections by Ali

Register your business

Once you find your name, and ensure it’s available, you’ll need to register your business.

You might want to hire a lawyer for this part, or do some research on the different types of businesses, i.e. a LLC versus a corporation.

After you decide what is best for you, you will need to register your business through your state and federally for tax purposes. I go through all of the detailed steps on how to do that in my book above if you need more help.

Figure out how you will fund your business

Every business will take some cash up front. If you’re not already trained in what you want to offer, i.e. chemical peels, then you’ll have to take a course or pay for some training. You’ll also need to buy the products and supplies to get you started.

If you don’t have any money saved calculate what you need and start saving each month until you hit your goal.  After you’ve done that, consider charging  “cost” while you get experience so you can at least break even. Once you’re proficient charge introductory prices and then regular prices once you’re an expert.

It took me $5000 to start-up my business and get  started with the basics. I continued to work at the hospital full time as a Nurse Practitioner my first year and a half in business so that I could still financially contribute to my family. I took 100% of the profits I earned from my business start-up to continue to grow it. I used the money to expand my skills and services and to get my office set up. The costs were fairly high but I had a full service Medical Spa within a year and a half and no debt.

Figure out what works for you. Maybe you keep working on the side to start, or you go all in right away. There’s no one way to do things.

Register with the product or pharmaceutical companies

After you know what you want to offer and how you’re going to pay for it, create accounts with the specific companies. For instance, if you know you want to do Image peels, create an account to order product. Same goes with Botox, etc.

A simple way to get in touch is to go to google.com and search the product you want to offer and then find a contact or registration page. Let them know what you’re interested in and ask for help setting up your account if needed. Make sure you have your medical license # handy, your medical director’s information (if applicable) and the appropriate shipping address.

Note, I do not have any affiliation with Image peels, Botox or any other brand mentioned in this article.

Get supplies

Depending on what you want to offer you may be able to get supplies directly from the company you order your products for, i.e., Image peels has products and supplies.

There are also supplies and equipment you can get online through Amazon.  I bought all of my initial office equipment and basic supplies on Amazon while I was waiting to get approved by the medical supply companies.

Find a space to work

To keep things affordable when first starting out consider renting a room from a spa or salon, assuming they don’t offer competing services. Do a local search and research options and then call, email, or physically go in to check them out. Ask them if they have a private room you can rent daily, weekly, monthly, or however you plan to start.

You can also look into renting from a co-working space, but not all of them allow medical so call ahead.

Legal

I can’t give you actual legal advice here and would recommend hiring a lawyer for this part. These are just a few of the many legal considerations (informational only):

• As above, know your scope of practice. You can double check this through your state regulatory agencies.
• Buy or create legal consent forms for the products and procedures you are offering. Check with the pharmaceutical companies or supply companies for free resources.
• Make sure you are not creating a business that is in competition with your current job. If it is, check to see if you have signed a “non-compete”.
• Get the proper liability insurance, business insurance and renter’s insurance if indicated.
• Follow privacy laws, such as HIPPA and check OSHA and other work-place standards that you may need to follow.
• Make sure whatever documentation or software you use for documentation is HIPPA compliant

Education and training

There are many online resources you can start with for education and training. I would recommend getting a base online and through textbooks before paying for in person training. Don’t start performing any procedures without in person training and getting a mentor that can guide you as you advance.

You want to be able to do safe and effective procedures and give your clients great results. Word of mouth is the best way to grow your business.

Check out Elite Medical Spa training for healthcare professionals  HERE if you’re interested.

Create a website and business pages

This can easily be hired out and there are many affordable developers and contractors that will do this for you. Contact us if you need more information on hiring this out for as little as $1500.

However, if you’re bootstrapping you may have to figure this out yourself. Check out godaddy, wix, wordpress, square and any other platform that helps you build your own website.

This part is fairly time consuming but it doesn’t have to be complex. Start with a simple landing page that describes who you are, what you offer and how people can schedule with you.

I would also recommend starting pages on social media that target your demographic, such as: twitter, facebook, instagram etc.

You can also create business pages on google, yelp, indeed and more. Take it one step at a time and only create what you can manage. You can always create more later or hire this out as you grow.

To learn more about opening a Medical Spa from scratch, including:

• Deciding what kind of practice you want to start
• Actual steps to start your business with links
• Legal steps and some things to watch out for
• Creating a website and an online presence, and
• Tough love and advice when starting a business in this industry

Check out my book below! You can also learn more about Elite Education and Training HERE.

Click the book image to be redirected to Amazon.com