IPHA NEWS is proud to kick off our spring 2022 feature spotlight series on female role models in our community. Welcome January Howard, owner of MedSpa 101. Her business is coaching medical professionals who are new to aesthetics- looking for financial freedom. January found her passion with coaching professionals find their next interest in the world of aesthetics. She is among a set of remarkable women chosen as part of the EMPOWERMENT SERIES by our panel of public advocates for their leadership in their respective careers or fields of study, while others have been chosen for social or technical achievements that can inspire us all.
A VENTURE IN PERSONAL ENHANCEMENT
By: January Howard
If process of elimination is a direction finder, I learned at a very early age where I didn't belong. I started out with a degree in exercise science and went the gym route as a personal trainer. The hours were exhausting, the pay was defeating and it didn't lend itself to a truly fulfilling existence. I hate to admit that my mother may have been correct about choosing the wrong degree, but lets face it, many of us never end up in the first field we start out.
We are at a great age when we can access inspirations to explore and evolve in a better direction. You can learn just about anything on YouTube. Nowadays, you can become an expert at just about anything. Finding those kinds of resources and just being inspired to question life and find better ways in life-- and when you surround yourself with those innovators, I took note and chose to look for the positive. A mentor taught me that 'you don't sell your product, you sell the solution... your product solves". So it's whether it's pain, whether it's anti-aging, whether it's just straight vanity and/or it's the newer cooler best thing. I enjoy being healthy and happy, so I choose to inspire others to find their own healthier, happier ways as well!
I just kept evolving- but I've always loved helping people. I had a successful marketing company for a while and it crashed when the economy crashed. I became an event planner for a booming network marketing company where we launched a game-chainging 90 Day Fitness Challenge and set a world record for the largest simultaneous flash dance to date! Alas the rockstar life was awesome because when the economy was down, we were growing but I totally burned out on that and went back into aesthetics and evolved into the person I am now. My evolution in aesthetics started when I took on a microneedling device. Microneedling found it’s self on the FDA's radar, a competing pen got the FDA clearance first and I temporarily got swept into a nasty battle with a less than ethical local rep. In reflecting, I simply decided to be better.
I formed a new business model focused on edutainment as we call it, thorough yet entertaining skill and marketing training. Most clinical trainings, are mundane and boring, educational, but far from inspiring. Simply put my courses are more fun, more condensed and just better all around. This program was more focused around the client and their growth- and took off beautifully. My retention rate is literally at 99.5%. After a while, we created an elevated culture where our students left fulfilled and ready to not only preform a skill but to thrive
I won't take all the credit for a successful business. There's Tony Robbins, which was my catalyst, and then there is Jeff Henderson, which is a direct mentor of mine. He was actually the CMO of Chick-fil-A. He teaches very similarly to likes of John C. Maxwell and Napoleon Hill, A major lesson I learned from Jeff is that "you must become a raving fan of your clients, in order for then to become a raving fan of you... and that's the goal is our clients be our raving fans!". I choose to surround myself with like-minded, grounded individuals who strive to evolve into the best versions of themselves! When I am not teaching Drs aesthetics over the weekend. I serve at my non-denominational church by teaching 4 year olds in Sunday School, I get by giving and am grateful for the teachings and support I get for free every Sunday I attend.
I love what we do. Even though our line of work can be the more on the vane side, we do help people look and feel better about them selves. We help people with scars, hyperpigmentation and hair loss, we help soften fine line and wrinkles, which improves overall texture. This truly helps people build their self-esteem. It's not just for the socialites that want to look amazing-- aesthetics is also for someone scarred from a fall, or that's had a bad bicycle accident and her lip has been scarred and we help bring their face a back to symmetry. And for that child that was acne ridden or a beautiful woman that's full of acne scars - we can smooth her face out. I did it. We worked on an accountant that works with us and we had done six treatments-- acne takes a while (some take several couple years). I had not physically seen a difference and I asked her thoughts, after a while, she tears up and she said, "oh my God, I can smile without it hurting... I can move my face now, like a normal person.". We literally worked on her to address a major piece of scar tissue. So this part of her face used to hurt when she smiled. Stories like this make it a beautiful space to work in. Also, there's a lot in PRP for wound care including diabetics, treatments that actually save limbs, and restore burns to the natural color and texture!
We provide accredited classes and that's my specialty. This can be ongoing and speaking of evolution, I've had to evolve again because of COVID. My primary focus is working with clients who are medical providers who are new to aesthetics. I help everyone from ophthalmologists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants- anyone that that hunger and wants to grow into aesthetics because we're the fun part! And I use the word 'FUN' a lot but I truly believe that once you get into aesthetics, you don't really want to go back. In addition to FUN, aesthetics is a cash based business which is an immediate retun on investment for the practice!
WHAT IS MICRONEEDLING?
So in very layman terms, micro-needling Is the exact same thing as aerating the lawn or the golf course. So aerating for some ladies that don't know, you put little pivots into the grass and it makes the grass come back thicker and greener. In creating perfect micro injuries to the skin in which the skin comes back firmer, tighter, more polished, more radiant. It works on skin, scars and hair. It's just a moderately aggressive treatment. It is literally is like a tattoo needle with 12 to 16 needles in the little cartridge and you use a topical numbing cream then you put the little holes in the skin. The best treatment I believe is with PRP -that's called the vampire facial coined trademarked by Dr. Charles Runels. For best results a series of 4 sessions spaced 4 weeks apart is needed.
MEDSPA 101
I'm great at branding everyone else but a little slow to brand myself. It's been up and running but formally launching the website was a little challenging. This is how you can open a med spa with as little as 5,000, as much as 20,000. And I can teach you to easily make a hundred thousand dollars in a year with that. So it's very simple. I am focusing on the beginning stages of med spas. That's where I would rather work and building a library of resources for my clients and those clients mainly general practitioners that want to just start offering Neurotoxins, Fillers, micro-needling and PRP.
To me, microneedling and PRP should be your first investment in launching aesthetics in both new and or existing practices! Simply because with those two, you train and immediately start earning income. Botox takes time and practice. You need to practice on your friends a lot before you really start charging for it. With PRP, if someone's a confidant injector, they can immediately start making money. PRP is actually platelet rich plasma. You would take a vial (or six). Some, some treatments require around 60 Ml's of blood (it's not even equivalent to a cup of coffee) and it's way less than you give if you donate blood. The provider will spin the blood in a medical grade centrifuge. In which the machine separates the red blood cells from the white blood cells. Red blood cells have absolutely no value. And then you will extract the platelet rich. So typically if you did that 60 ML draw, you would typically have anywhere from five to 10 Ml's of platelet, rich plasma, after you can dilute it depending on the procedures that you're doing. PRP for are the platelet rich plasma facials, which we call the vampire facial. The VAMPIRE FACELIFT, which would be injecting the PRP with a synthetic filler can be used for joints, The O-SHOT and P-SHOT for sexual function, (and yes they really work) for hair loss and just about anything. It's great for acne. PRP just brings the body back to a state of homeostasis- correcting, scars, softening the skin, thickening hair. However if a man's been bald for 10 years, his hair is not going to come back. If someone is thinning we can thicken the hair up, wake it up quicken up the hair cycle. Hair loss has been on the rise due to elevated stress levels, a rise in hormone, issues, as well as a lingering side affect of the Covid virus. Women with these root causes have great results with PRP therapies! In addition BioFiller requests are on the rise this is where the provider uses heated plasma mixed with PRP instead of synthetic filler. This is perfect for those more on the homeopathic side, as well as those looking for a softer more natural look.
ON PARTNERSHIPS
I've been very lucky. I think maintaining my ethical values and my core beliefs throughout running a business has really paid off. I remember working with a med spa and Dr. Reynolds came to town and we hired him to speak at our event. I loved what he was doing. I love the Cellular Medical Association teaches medical professionals, life changing therapies that also create financial freedom for the provider at the same time! I joined his affiliate system and working with him motivates me because I'm continuing to learn about the benefits. For example, in a weekly training, there was a situation about people getting synthetic filler in their temple and a provider injected PRP to reverse necrosis. The patient could have been scarred for life yet PRP to fixed that! I am also a product of the product! I micro-needle myself every 4 to 6 weeks, have thickened my own hair, and navigated a gnarly injury to my face without scaring; do to my access to PRP and micro-needling! In addition to working with Dr Runels I also have the privilege of working with Dr Arun Garg, one of the original inventors of the very first centrifuge! It’s truly a privilege to work with these innovators, and living legends!
Conclusion There is truly a plug and playbook to aesthetics, and or I/ she call it a spa in a box! Navigating aesthetics is a fun and fruitful journey when you partner with the right team!
