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Success in aesthetic medicine takes strategy, resilience, and a little bit of moxie.
Aesthetic Visionaries is where bold entrepreneurs come together to share real, actionable insights on building and growing a thriving aesthetic practice.
You already have the talent, the intelligence, and the clinical expertise. This series is your guide to navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship with confidence and clarity so you can reach—and stay at—the top of your game.
Think of it as your business coach, industry insider, and hype squad all in one. Minus the jargon and bad advice.
Ultimately, we’re here to help you stand out and sculpt a business that’s as polished and bold as your work.
Show ID [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Aesthetic Visionaries, the show where we hear from bold entrepreneurs building and growing a thriving aesthetic practice. Let's get into it.
Dan Friedman [00:00:13]:
Hello everyone. Thank you for joining our Aesthetic Visionaries fireside chat. We are excited you're here. I'm Dan and I'm the Founder of Moxie. In just a moment, I'll hand things over to two incredible leaders in aesthetics, Hilary Baer Hogan and Kaeli Lindholm. To introduce Hilary, Founder of Bare Skin Marin. Bare Skin has won multiple awards and Hilary attributes its rapid success to deep intentionality behind building a winning team. Her trademark techniques, skin to structure, the release and lift over lines are novel to the medical aesthetics landscape and the reason patients travel from out of town to receive care at Bare Skin Marin, Hilary's practically calls Marin county home where she lives with her husband, two sons and the red toy poodle, Brooklyn.
Dan Friedman [00:00:57]:
And last but not least is Kaeli. Kaeli Lindholm is a high performance leadership coach and business strategist dedicated to inspiring female entrepreneurs to build lucrative life first businesses in aesthetics and wellness. As a CEO of KLC Consulting and Founder of the POP Leadership Academy, Kaeli has guided hundreds of seven and eight figure practice owners to redefine success on their own terms without sacrificing vision, values or well-being. Kaeli has been recognized as a top 10 inspiring woman business leader to watch by both Forbes and USA Today, making her a sought after advisor for elite female entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for conventional. And finally, while the session is not about us, if you're not familiar with Moxie, we help medical professionals launch, run and grow compliant and profitable aesthetic practices. We've had the privilege of supporting Hilary and the Bare Skin Marine team for the last number of years. Hilary, would you mind sharing the 30 second summary of how it's been working with Moxie?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:01:54]:
Absolutely. I've been so grateful that Moxie has been willing to be flexible to support me at my unique stage of growth. I highly recommend anyone who's aspiring to launch a medical aesthetics practice to enlist Moxie's partnership or support.
Dan Friedman [00:02:12]:
Awesome. Thank you, Hilary. When we created the series, our goal was simple. We wanted to give influential injectors and entrepreneurs the spotlight in space to have meaningful conversations that educate and inspire. With that, I couldn't be happier to hand it over to Hilary and Kaeli.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:02:25]:
All right, so I think the idea here we're going to ask each other some questions and just brainstorm and go to town on this really incredible topic I think is so relevant right now in today's world, all about creating A luxury guest service experience. And it's something that I know you have done very intentionally. Hilary, when we think about luxury and excellence, what do those words actually mean when it comes to aesthetics?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:02:55]:
Absolutely. So when I think about luxury, it can refer both to a tangible item like a piece of jewelry, a piece of artwork, or a greater experience at large. Excellence, on the other hand, is the relentless pursuit of luxury and being able to deliver that luxury with consistency.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:03:19]:
I love that. So let's talk a little bit about your experience as you grew bare skin. How did you ensure that the luxury experience was carefully curated as you scaled up your practice?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:03:32]:
Absolutely. So I always tried to think about items that inspired me. I love artwork. And I therefore sought to use Bare Skin Marin's space as a platform to elevate the visibility of other local female artists. And it was so fun to see other fellow moms who were just coming out of the trenches of toddlers and having babies and wanting to enlist with their artistic sides again and being able to showcase their artwork in my office. And people will come in and think it was beautiful. Some. Some items were purchased and it kind of sent other, other artists on their way as well, so that felt really special to me.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:04:18]:
Well, yeah. And you think of luxury, you know, I mean, there's so many ways to interpret it, but it's really just so bespoke to you, like art, the things that you love. Like, what are some of the common mistakes that med spots make when it comes to patient experience?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:04:34]:
Yeah, I think that med spas often assume that the patient wants exactly what they're requesting, whether that's, I'd like to come in to do some Botox. When in reality, that request is often an umbrella statement for just make me look better in general. And the way to kind of ensure that you're not just doing that is to allocate the sufficient time to patient appointments. Not box yourself into 15 minute time slots, but really give yourself ample time, maybe 30 minutes, 45 minutes longer, to tease out what that individual is coming in for on a given day.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:05:15]:
That makes sense.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:05:16]:
I'd love to know from you. Also, you have so much experience working with all sorts of med spa owners and women in health and wellness. How do you think, in your experience, med spot owners can differentiate themselves in a competitive market?
Kaeli Lindholm [00:05:31]:
Oh, yeah, totally. Well, listen, we're certainly at a really interesting, pivotal turning point. I think just in society today, developments in AI, you know, economic fluctuations and uncertainties, we have got the influx of private equity advancement and technology and innovations in our industry. And it feels like things are moving so fast and we're all addicted to, you know, the thing we can't put down our phone. Social media just being, I mean, the speed warp speed, right? And I think there's like a huge craving for human connection. And I like to think we're like in a trust recession because anybody can say anything, anybody can pretend that they're the best or they can offer the best results.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:06:17]:
And so I think that the one thing you can do to differentiate yourself as a med spa owner among any competition is like actually value the relationships, the connection and provide that human connection and social interaction with your customers, right? I think one of the like main six or seven human needs is the feeling for significance. And so if you're making your guests feel like they're special, like they're the one, then why would they want to go anywhere else, right? And I think that also when we talk about differentiation, we have to remember that that means being different. And so insourcing some of your ideas like you did with your art, right? From other influences, not just what other med spa owners are doing.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:07:02]:
Do you think that there's specific branding strategies that work best for attracting higher value patients? Yeah, absolutely.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:07:10]:
I mean, for one, pricing, right. So if you want to attract high net worth individuals or even just people who you think about the consumer brain, right. Some people are shopping. Think about yourself as a consumer. You're walking into a department store. Are you trying to look for the cheapest thing? Are you trying to look for the thing that's going to make you look and feel your best? And we have to remember that and like honor and give credit to our guests that come into our practice that, you know, they just want to have the best experience and get the best results. And so when we price ourselves accordingly, one, it's a wonderful brand positioning and value positioning strategy because, you know, as consumers we, we tend to think that if something's higher priced, it's probably better. Usually is, right?
Kaeli Lindholm [00:07:54]:
Higher quality, higher quality fabric or, you know, whatever it is. But that also allows you as a business to expand your profit margins and have that cash flow to reinvest back into the experience for the patient so that you can have the better, finer details. When they walk in, they're seeing Craftsman furniture instead of Ikea. I think pricing is certainly one of them. And then team training, I can't overemphasize enough how important and how I think we underestimate how critical it is to have a team that's totally bought in and understands the expectation, what's expected of them when they arrive? How are they interacting and communicating with that patient? What kind of professionalism do they have? What are the systems that you're putting in place that your team can deliver on? And then thirdly, and I think you're a brilliant example of this is specialization. And there's a thing called the halo effect, which means people see you as an expert at something, you're an expert at everything. So I think having your proprietary methodologies and the things that you are specifically known for that nobody else has, that would be a really powerful third branding strategy to attract high value patients, for sure.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:09:11]:
Love that. I think you nailed that on the head.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:09:14]:
So I have a question for you to branding and marketing. How important is social media in building a strong brand presence?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:09:21]:
Absolutely. So it's been extremely important to us in particular, I don't think that what works for one practice is necessarily pivotal or paramount to another practice. Our industry is undeniably visual, similar to how an interior designer would want to create a portfolio that is accessible to those who are interested. Our social media presence also showcases our work and our specific proprietary method. And so I think when people see that, they see that we have a unique approach that's very dialed in, that's very clear, step by step, how to get from point A to point B. And then they also realize that we're not so dissimilar from them. And, and it's like this idea of like, you attract your tribe. I think because of the way we've communicated who we are, we have attracted our tribe and it's therefore much easier to make our patients happy.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:10:17]:
Yeah, totally. You can talk specifically, like, how many times has a patient come in and said, I felt like you were talking right to me. Yeah, just called me out.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:10:25]:
Absolutely. I mean, honestly, I enlisted your help, Kaeli, because I knew that I was at a point in, in the evolution of Bareskin Marin where I, I wanted to create an amazing experience not only for the patient, but for my team, like for the patient through team. And I just didn't know how to do that. And I was so grateful that Moxie put me in the direction of you and showcased you. And I would like listen to Fierce Factor like it was gospel every Monday morning. I think I listened to like 150the episodes in like the first month that I encountered it. And that became like gospel as I, as I started to create framework for how to enlist team and, and train team and create a larger framework for the growth of bare skin. We're in very on brand for you.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:11:14]:
You go all in.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:11:15]:
Any suggestions for how a smaller boutique practice might be able to hold court?
Kaeli Lindholm [00:11:22]:
Yeah. So many advantages, like we talked about. I think that if you really think about what you're trying to do with a luxury experience. So I'd love everybo here to just think about what was the most wow luxury experience you ever had. And usually it's something where there was something you didn't expect, right? There was something that made you feel really special. That is the beauty of what you can do when you're a small practice and you can make those agile moves and decisions and really get to know your customers even better.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:11:52]:
So I think it's just creating those wow moments. It's relationships, it's sending out customer surveys or having high VIP focus groups where you're having conversations about with your actual customers that you have in your practice of, like, how's your experience been? How could we do better? What. What's your favorite part of what we do here? And just little things to create a memorable experience. So things we do, for example, in our company, like when we enroll somebody into our programming, we ask them, as part of our philanthropic efforts, who their favorite charity is, and we contribute on their behalf to their favorite charity, right? There's things you can do in your practice. Like, if somebody leaves something behind, instead of calling them to say, you left this here, you're actually sending it to them, putting it in a box with a little note and maybe a sample of a product that they might enjoy. You might have a separate Sonos player in each room so they can pick and customize their music when they're in there.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:12:47]:
And I think, take initiative when serving your guests. You know, make sure your team is engaged and all in. These were things that are readily available to anybody that don't cost a lot of money. And it's just a matter of being very intentional about thinking to yourself, what are the standards of excellence here? And then how can I create an experience that's going to provide a consistent, excellent luxury experience to our customer every single time? And then obviously training a team through that.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:13:17]:
Yeah, totally agree with that.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:13:19]:
So how is the concept from your opinion of luxury evolving in medical aesthetics now?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:13:25]:
I think that people are becoming more aware that there's, first of all, not a one size fits all. And two, there's no magic lotion or treatment that can deliver a comprehensive outcome. It is truly the marriage of multimodalities that can transform a patient to what their clinical endpoint or their goal is and being able to break that down. I think the thought of doing multiple things can be really overwhelming to the patient. But being able to break it down into piecemeal steps so that there is a milestone at the end of each and there's a proof of concept and a proof of progression at the end of each of those components, stages also. It inspires trust and help the patient feel like they're moving in the right direction.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:14:22]:
I think that's totally key. When we think about luxury and we think about creating an experience where we're basically saying to our patient, you know, you're worth it, and I'm going to show you what we can do and whether, you know, they can decide on their timeline and budget. But like, you're offering that the total comprehensive solution to them because, you know, they're deserving of it. And I think that's like, we sometimes forget when, oh, someone calls and asks us how much Botox is, and it's like, you know, actually, I'm here to empower and inspire a more confident human to come in and walk out of my practice. And that is a way bigger conversation than Botox in itself. And I think that just goes hand in hand with creating an experience of luxury where somebody feels luxurious, right?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:15:06]:
Absolutely. I remember last year we had a bride come in who wanted microneedling. And I looked at her and this person was not a candidate for microneedling. She was undeniably beautiful. Did she need anything? No. But there were a number of options for her that would have helped her optimize for her wedding. We've created a plan aligned with skin to structure, where we first enabled her lifting muscles to work better. We then optimized her skin health, and we polished and perfected all of her light reflections with conservative and judicious use of filler.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:15:38]:
And the outcome was absolutely beautiful. She looked just like herself, but better. And she now has an outcome that will uphold over time. Low maintenance, long lasting. And just to think that had we just, like, done the micro needling, that would have not have served her.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:15:55]:
Wow. And what does a bride want more than anything than to look beautiful in her photos? So, kudos.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:16:03]:
Yeah.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:16:04]:
I think we're coming up on time. So if somebody who's here watching this, what is one action they could take right now to improve their patient experience?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:16:12]:
Make your appointments longer.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:16:14]:
I like that.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:16:15]:
Okay, what key leadership traits that drive success in aesthetics? I want to know the answer to this one.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:16:21]:
Oh. I mean, it's leadership in aesthetics or in any industry. And that is simply setting the standard of excellence, writing it down on paper, and then training your team to exactly what is expected and holding them accountable to delivering that. So we teach a five star greeting protocol in our training, right, where you're, you're using their name and repeating their name back to them and you're creating as a leader that entire expectation. And that is important no matter what you know, in any industry.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:16:59]:
Right.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:17:00]:
That's our job as a leader to, to empower and to enact what we put in place.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:17:05]:
Amen.
Dan Friedman [00:17:06]:
Thank you both so much. That was a really good conversation. We have a couple of audience questions that I would love to run through. First, can you provide a checklist of your top three or four items when creating a luxury experience for patients?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:17:21]:
Greeting them like a concierge at the first initial touch point. Second, having them complete pre assessment so that we know the appropriate amount of time to allocate to their appointment. Then three, when they arrive, greeting them by first name, as Kaeli mentioned. And then four, making sure they come back for a progress check or progress assessment after their appointment or after their treatment was completed.
Dan Friedman [00:17:52]:
I love this. Where do you go for inspiration for some of those touches?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:17:56]:
Oh, my God. I go to Kaeli. It's a different podcast. No, but I also, I am inspired by art, so I go to museums, I travel, I read a lot, I listen to a lot of books on tape. I'm hungry for information. I was hugely inspired by Will Gudera's unreasonable hospitality. He's the general manager of eleven Madison park in New York City, and he talks about this marriage of the back of the house and the front of the house and delivering a luxury experience with also very hospitable familiar touch points. And there are just so many of his pearls that I've tried to integrate into Bare Skin Marin.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:18:34]:
I'll piggyback on this for a second too, because I think it's a really, really valuable question. Most of all of the guest service training that we've built in our programming came from inspiration of going and living examples of luxury, right? So I actually went with a client in Utah to an exquisite resort for a spa day and we documented every little thing that was a standout, like little touch. And I highly recommend doing this and also reminding most of us here have team members who may not indulge in those kinds of experiences on their own. So part of that is actually in inviting your team into those experiences or bringing it back into the practice to show them what it's like to be at a white tablecloth dinner and have them scoop the crumbs off of the table for you before they set down the next plate. Or for example, things we can do in our practice is making videos. So when somebody asks about a procedure, instead of sending, oh, go to our website and you can find out more on the link, you send them a video to their inbox, personalized. You know, they're little tiny touches that we can do to kind of slow down. And I think you can be scanning all over your life for these types of inspiration.
Dan Friedman [00:19:44]:
And then finally, one other question. What metrics do you track to measure excellence and make sure that you're maintaining excellence, Especially as you have, you know, a growing team and you may not be there to see every individual touchpoint.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:19:59]:
Well, number one is going to be surveying your customers and finding out their experience. Experience. So that should be obviously done in any business. How is our customer service? Are people coming back for more? So I'm looking at retention, I'm looking at referrals. Are they inviting other people to come into our practice? These are really good signs of a healthy business. And then down to the team part, you know, I'm putting kras in place or key results areas for them to say, you know, when you answer the phone, these are the expectations and there's a script and they know how to greet. And maybe there's every new guest is coming in and getting a tour and maybe there's a checkbox. Did they get their tour of the practice versus just would you like water? But they're getting to learn about all of the procedures together, doing role plays and things like that.
Kaeli Lindholm [00:20:46]:
So we're actually testing and making sure like there's constant training happening. So these would be some of the KPIs that I would recommend putting in place.
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:20:54]:
Retention is one of ours as well. We also like to see that we are not only getting Google reviews, but that Google reviews are mentioning the team experience, not necessarily an individual provider. One thing that I'm really proud of is if you go to our Google Reviews, the most commonly used word in them is team. And I just think that that's really cool and speaks to the standard of excellence that we've set. We also track who's made it through the bare skin method because that is truly our brand promise that if this is completed, you will be delighted and experience an incredible outcome. And so that's something that we track as well.
Dan Friedman [00:21:31]:
Awesome. I love that. Thank you so much, Hilary and Kelly. We appreciate both of you sharing your expertise and sharing those insights today. If our audience would like to keep learning from you, what's the best place to find you?
Hilary Baer Hogan [00:21:42]:
You can find me at Bare Skin Marin on Instagram or Bare Skin Marin.com is our website.
Dan Friedman [00:21:49]:
And how about you, Kelly?
Kaeli Lindholm [00:21:51]:
Yeah, so I actually have a special guide for you guys. I have a freebie you can download. It's our Luxury Guest Service Self Audit & Training Guide. So you can use that to assess your practices, guest experience and discover areas for improvement in your practice. So I'm active on Instagram. It's my name, Kaeli, K A E L I dot Lindholm, and you can DM me for it too. I can send that over your way. Follow me there and listen to The Fierce Factor Podcast.
Dan Friedman [00:22:16]:
To everyone who joined us today, thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's session, we'd love to hear from you. Let us know what resonated, let us know what you'd like to see next. I would also love to invite you to next month's Aesthetic Visionary session with Dr. David Sadat, triple board certified facial plastic surgeon and aesthetic nurse injector and founder of Skinique, Cindy DeAngelis. They'll be talking about PDGF and regenerative aesthetics and you can register for that at joinmoxie.com/events as a quick reminder, today's event was brought to you by Moxie. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to check out our website at joinmoxie.com thank you again for joining and huge, huge thank you to Kaeli and Hilary. We hope to see you at our next chat.
Show ID [00:22:56]:
Bye. Thanks. Thank you for listening to Aesthetic Visionaries. For more resources on building and growing your med spa, visit joinmoxie.com/learn.