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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.
Brandi Eppolito (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.
Brandi Eppolito (00:14):
First off, thank y'all for being with us. We're so excited to do this virtual happy hour. I know I personally have been counting down and was sprinting through the kid bedtime routine and lunchbox packing so I could make it here to celebrate and unwind with y'all. So welcome officially everyone to Poor Decisions, part webinar, Part Virtual Happy Hour, where we're going to wrap up 2025. We're going to make some predictions for 2026. We hope you'll have a cocktail or a mocktail or two to celebrate all of the amazing work each of y'all have done each and every day of this long, but rewarding on most days, I think, year. It's been one, but it's been really fun and I hope you'll join us in celebrating us and you. So I'm Brandy Eppolito. For those of you that don't know me, I'm head of marketing at Moxie and Scale Society, which is a fun new title.
(01:02):
And I want to start off by sharing a sincere thank you for joining us during this event at a crazy time, during bedtimes, during the busiest time of year for aesthetics. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. As we settle in, please continue to share where you're joining us from tonight. We're really excited to learn more about y'all and especially more about our amazing panelists, which I'll get to in just a second here. You're about to hear from no surprise, some heavy hitters in the space. We've talked to them and we're so pumped about it. Talking about what actually worked for them in 2025, what didn't, what they're betting on in 2026. They'll spill the tea, they'll have hot tips. I can't wait to dive in. The more we drink, the juicier it gets. So cheers everybody. Moxie is at the drinking game, Moxie.
(01:45):
For those of us joining. And of course, we did name this event Poor Decisions and we all may have cocktails in hand cheers, but this doesn't have to be about boozing it up, of course. If you are like us just ready to have a break and to relax, you're in the right place. So this can be about celebrating with or without a cocktail. It's also about, we kind of wanted to take a moment to peel back the layers of it always looks shinier on Instagram. And we know, I think each of us personally, that that doesn't tell the full story of what life as an entrepreneur or an injector really looks like behind the scenes. So we'll get to some of that today as well. We all know there are good days, bad days, momentum, burnout, wins, flops. We're going to go through all of it tonight.
(02:26):
Quick heads up, yes, this will be recorded. We will be sharing it tomorrow. This event is exclusive to members of Scale Society, which hopefully, since you're part of it, you know what it is, but is an application only community bringing together the country's top performing aesthetic injectors and practice owners. So we can level up together our careers, our success, our ambitions, and keep going. And also, I think really importantly, it's also about providing the catharsis and the support that we all need because again, not every day is the highlight reel. Some days aren't quite so glamorous and it can be hard to keep going in the individual days, but we're here together to remind each other why we love this space and why we're so lucky to be part of it. So Scale Society is free to join for all accepted members. Thanks to Moxie's underwriting and support.
(03:10):
If you're not familiar with Moxie, give me 20 more seconds here and then we'll dive into the fun part that we know you're all here for. So if you're not familiar with Moxie, that is Moxie with an IE. Not to be confused with Moxie the laser. There are two cute kids in the block and we're here to tell you about Moxie IE. So Moxi is the all- in-one, and I said it a bunch because I want you to play the drinking game. So dive in, y'all. Moxi is the all- in-one growth and operating engine for high-performing aesthetic practices. We support hundreds of practices across the country, truly of every size, helping unlock whatever that next phase of growth looks like. For some, it's better balance and more time with their kids. For some, it's growing that top line revenue. Maybe it's taking growing bottom line.
(03:48):
Maybe it's like a path to acquisition. It can look a lot of ways. Whatever your goal, we're here to support you in getting there. Moxie's purpose built for aesthetics, which means 100% of our team's time across every department at Moxie is devoted to growing aesthetic practices and helping ensure that you have a stronger patient experience and a stronger practice in business. And we do that through our very own practice management software MoxiSuite, which includes the best of an EMR and a CRM so you can run your entire practice in one place. That means charting, online appointment booking, proactive compliance, learns, payments, memberships. We'll share it with you after. But I do want to share before I move along to the good part that Moxi is also more than just software. We help carry the weight of running a practice, which we know is really, really heavy.
(04:32):
That looks like personalized one-to-one business coaches, coaching sessions each month, done-free marketing campaigns, ads, medical director matching, and up to 55% savings on injectables, devices, skincare. We can take a little bit of that stress off your plate and put a little more profit on it. If you want to learn more about Moxie, of course, I encourage you to book a free intro call with our team. We'd love to chat. We are happy to offer benchmarks and advice and support. Even if you don't work with us, we believe in providing value first. So please visit joinmoxi.com/call to book a free intro call. No pressure, no charge. We're just here to help you. Thank you again for joining us tonight, for joining Scale Society, and we're just getting started and we can't wait to see where we go. So without further ado, that was long-winded. Let's get going.
(05:18):
Let's meet our amazing panelists. I feel like none of you need an intro, but here I am. I'll do it anyways before we get into the really, really good stuff. First up, we have Erika Barry going in the order of my screen. You may know her as Injector Bunny, one of the top aesthetic injectors in the country, serving as an international trainer, a speaker with Galderma, Revance, Evelys, partner in two state-of-the-art aesthetic practices. You name it, she's done it. We're so happy you're here, Erika. Thank you. We also have Olivia, board certified plastic surgical nurse practitioner, international trainer, speaker, KOL, social media expert, 10 plus years of experience, one of only 350 certified plastic surgical nurses in the US and one of only 14 in Tennessee. Trainer, speaker, advisory board member for Revance, Aryescence, and our self-skincare. And I should say everyone here is also a member of Moxie's Aesthetic Business Advisory Board.
(06:09):
Thank you. We love working with you. Next up on my screen, and on yours hopefully too, we have Dr. Saadat, of course. World renowned triple board certified facial plastic surgeon, CEO of Beverly Hills Aesthetic Surgical Institute, affiliated in contributing to some of the top medical schools in California and often called upon to lecture on stages at every aesthetic conference and at schools on the latest surgical and non-surgical techniques. And last, but certainly not least, we have Jonathan Lesture, Bird, the martinis and y'all, board certified nurse practitioner and founder of Talks Impound Aesthetics, known for evidence-based patient centered aesthetic care. Trainer and speaker for Allergan, Ariescence, and co-host of my favorites, The Film Me In podcast. Okay. Let's get going. Let's make some poor decisions together. Let's get this first question going rapid fire. Before you answer it though, we want to hear one word to describe your 2025, and we also want to know what is the cocktail you're drinking with us tonight for the virtual happy hour.
(07:10):
And just so our audience members know, we are going to bribe you into getting that A and participation grade along the way. So we will be picking out those of you that participate in the chat. We'll pick winners at random to ... We'll mail you some of the cocktail kits that we sent our panelists tonight. So please do participate. Audience members dive in. What's your one word for 2025 and what you drinking over there? Dr. Saat, you want to kick us off?
Dr. David Saadat (07:34):
Sure. I am drinking spicy mil gurito, but my favorite. It's great actually. This box you send me is fantastic. So I need more. So I can't even make that happen. You want to do winners or not?
Erika Barry (07:49):
It came with this glass because I opened my ... It was like a frozen...This glass you can put in the freezer has this ... I don't know what it is inside of it, but it looks amazing. That is incredible.
Dr. David Saadat (08:01):
This morning and then I just added all the stuff to it. Looks
Brandi Eppolito (08:04):
Amazing.
Dr. David Saadat (08:06):
It's cold. It's great. Your
Brandi Eppolito (08:08):
Preparation video was really truly top last professional.
Dr. David Saadat (08:14):
I was telling John earlier, you guys should come over. I'll make you drink. I love you. When's that? Hobby.
Brandi Eppolito (08:20):
You heard that next scale society event in LA at Dr. Saadat’s. We'll be there.
Dr. David Saadat (08:26):
Can't wait. So thinking about this when you send me this question, my word of 2025, controversies.
Brandi Eppolito (08:32):
Can't wait to dive into that. Yes. Hanging with that. Oh my goodness. Okay, Olivia, what you got?
Olivia Salmen (08:38):
So my drink is espresso martini, and yes, I know it's late at night, but honestly, once I'm ready to sleep, nothing could keep me up. So it really doesn't matter what hour I drink, Cassie. And I would say my word 2025, I'm going to cheat and do two words. I would say it's organized chaos because it was self-inflicted chaos, but it was chaos nonetheless for everything that I signed myself up for. But it was a good year.
Erika Barry (09:02):
You're blessed to be able to drink STD at this time. I would give anything to have that power because I love the taste of it. I love everything, but my heart's pounding and then I can't sleep. So how's it been God's favorite?
Jonathan LeSuer (09:16):
Don't worry. She'll hear her heartbeat in her ear later tonight.
Erika Barry (09:20):
She's not real. She's a not real person. I'm convinced that she's an alien because she's so perfect in every way. I'm like, how? I love you, Erika. All right. Erika, you're next. What
Brandi Eppolito (09:31):
Are you drinking and what's your word for 2025? Oh
Erika Barry (09:33):
My gosh. Well, I'm supposed to be drinking as Spicy Marg with Dr. Saadat, but my word is kind of just a perfect description of my everything, of the whole year. Wild. Wild is my 2025 word because I was all planning, coming home early. My last patient flew in, and then she was late, and then I was late. So I came home. I'm like, "Well, shit, don't have time." So I just poured ... This is Camus. So I poured a glass and I have a really strict reel of not drinking Monday through Friday, just because chaos and wildness. But I'm like, "You know what? Tonight for Moxie, I will do anything." But I'm excited to be here. Tonight's going to be, I think, pretty incredible. Everyone was really excited. I got text all day, people excited. So I'm honored to be here.
Dr. David Saadat (10:17):
We'll take a rain take on that spicy mark. 100%.
Brandi Eppolito (10:21):
Yeah. All right, Jonathan, round us out.
Jonathan LeSuer (10:24):
Yes. So I'm drinking an Apperal Spritz because I should have been born in France is number one. Actually, it's an Italian drink.
Brandi Eppolito (10:33):
It might be Italian. Yeah.
Jonathan LeSuer (10:35):
Yeah. I should have been on White Lotus. But no, I'm drinking Apperal Spritz. And honestly, I want to back Olivia up on this. I think my word is just chaos. It's not organized. It's just chaos. I've tried my best to be organized, but we're building a new space next year, which is so exciting. There's so many positive things. Thank God I hired a personal assistant this year that was the best thing I ever fricking did. And I've learned to delegate more, so that's great. So cheers-.
Erika Barry (11:01):
Yeah.
Jonathan LeSuer (11:01):
Cheers. So thank you so much for letting me be here tonight.
Brandi Eppolito (11:06):
Oh my gosh. Look at us. We're like four minutes into the content.You're already giving out hot tips over here. Personal assistant, you heard it here first. Delegation. Who
Erika Barry (11:13):
Cares what rug is picked? Just double out so you don't
Brandi Eppolito (11:16):
Have to pick it. That's what I say. Who cares? Yes. I can't wait to talk more about this. So we're just getting started. Thank you. Okay. So going into our next non-cocktail related question, though you may keep imbibing, we threw out some really enticing words that honestly I need to hear more about. There's controversy, there's chaos, there's all these great words. And so maybe you elaborate on that here, or maybe you take it down a different path, really curious to see where you go with it. But as we alluded to a little bit in the beginning and the name of transparency, we know that life and aesthetics isn't always the highlight reel on Insta. Maybe sharing a little bit of color to the controversies and the chaos or another WTF moment that you've had in 2025 throughout your career. Any brave takers out there and want to dive in?
Erika Barry (12:03):
Oh my God, I'll take it. I feel like this is my question. I think we put our lives out there and we show on Instagram a very curated part of our life. I always tell people that anything on Instagram is so fake. And a lot of people come to me, they're like, "This person on the street's doing this. I don't have this and should I be doing this? " I'm like, everybody shows what they want to show. And for me, myself, I try to be so authentic on social media, but it's still curated. And I still go in and I delete something around, I can't believe I show that now I've definitely taken a corner of my career where I don't care. I'm here to serve my patients. I'm here to serve my Patreon people. I'm here to serve the other injectors in this community.
(12:44):
But other than that, I don't care. I really don't. And I think that's something Libby taught me. Libby's one of our skill society members and board members, and it's just like stop. It's not that big of a deal. So really have to put on blinders and not really think about other things. And you know when you see someone looking crazy in the airport, you're running to your gate, you're running late and you see something like crazy loooking a hot mess. You literally think about them for one second and then you don't care because we are consumed with your own stuff. No one really cares if you say something wrong. I got in front of 2000 people and I was giving a talk and I was exhausted. I flew into Toronto and I literally said the wrong company's name. The wrong company. I'm not even exaggerating.
(13:25):
And I could have pooped my pants. I was like, "Oh my God, that did not just happen." What did I do? I made fun of myself. I was like, "You guys, I'm so sorry. Just kidding." So you have to just keep on trucking. People love engagement like that. They love when you sell things wrong, when you say things wrong. Blueprints are fun. Don't be so curated and fake. You can see through that. They love to know the real you. Just ride with it. But I think the biggest controversy this year is definitely the PDGF drama. And I think a lot of filler misconceptions like fillers bad And just dosages of neuromodulators. So Dexify, I think biggest controversy, but you'll hear controversy. I think all bad and good press is just you getting out there. Think about your patient and patient safety first and not making it feel weird.
(14:14):
So you don't want to be fearmonger. Be honest, fearmonger. What do you guys think, John? Well,
Jonathan LeSuer (14:20):
I think the most annoying thing was everything was put on social media, like TikTok for Instagram for all of our patients to see. So that was so annoying to me. And it should never ... All of us providers, we should have a WhatsApp group. We should have another platform where we can debate or just talk about other treatments. And honestly, for me, if you don't want or don't feel comfortable doing a treatment in your practice, don't do it.
(14:43):
You just don't do it. If people are doing these treatments, they're going to have the protocols, they're going to have the consent forms, they're going to be working with their aesthetic lawyer, they're going to be making sure they're doing everything right. And obviously, like you said, the patient is number one. And I think what annoyed me the most about the PDGF drama was the patient suffered. I feel like so many patients benefited from it. So many patients that ... We all know there's PRP, PRF, but PDGF is so much stronger and it was yielding such good results. And I feel like my sculpture patients, my PDGF patients were my happiest patients. So that was the most annoying thing for me. And I agree with you, Erika. I think the other thing that I learned the most this year was just focusing on my brand and what I'm building and my team because it's true.
(15:29):
It's so easy to get sidetracked and to look and see what other people are doing. "Oh my God, what are they doing? Why don't I have that on? "No, just focus on what works for you and what works for your team or what works for your patients and just go from there.
Brandi Eppolito (15:43):
2000 before we hand it over to Dr. Zadat and Olivia. Okay. One, Scale Society is announcing the private message board feature only for providers and practice owners in January. So that will be out. It will be locked. It'll be private. There's an app. It's very mobile friendly, so that will be available for y'all very soon. I don't know. I lost the number two. This is why we don't drink markinis on a Tuesday. It's not forever. Dr. Saadat, Olivia, who's up next? Dr. Saadat, go ahead. I'll go off the record.
Dr. David Saadat (16:07):
I'll go ahead. So for me, everything you guys said, I think it's all about collaboration really. I think the biggest problem that we have is that every time we put anything negative on social media, it's going to affect all of us negatively.
(16:22):
Where it's filler or the PDGF or whatever it is, surgeries, even surgeries. Because believe it or not, I think a lot of my colleagues, I do a lot of facelift surgery and a lot of the facelift surgeons are responsible for a lot of these filler problems. So we were able, my committee was, and we talk about this all the time in our little chat and stuff. My community single-handedly was able to give a bad name to fillers, which I'm really ashamed of because honestly, fillers are great. It's just they're not used correctly. This is what we did. So my prediction about 2026 is that actually fillers are going to come back with an understanding of what we're doing right now, using it more correctly. It's all about education and collaboration. It's all about teaching each other as opposed to trying to badmouth one or the other.
(17:13):
So the controversy for me last year was that we had all these problems from patients, from other injectors, other surgeons. And being on the forefront of anatomy and doing all that stuff, they're all coming to our offices and contacting and talking about this. And you don't know whose site to take. And there's no site to take. It's the side of the patient and doing the right thing for the patient. And all of these things are great. You just have to use them correctly in the right patient.
Erika Barry (17:42):
Or the down, basically someone coming to me or then like, "I don't want this. I want to dissolve this. " The dissolving controversy where everyone's like-
Dr. David Saadat (17:50):
Yes. So annoying.
Erika Barry (17:51):
And this is terrible, but I saw one of my patients who was an amazing patient on someone else's Instagram and the injector was like, dissolved our whole face. And I'm like, my mouth hit the floor. I'm like, "How do I respond to this? " And he's like, "Just you gracefully smile and nod." And when you have a complication in your office or you have something that needs ... I'm sorry, you are not a true injector or provider unless you have a complication. That's
Jonathan LeSuer (18:14):
It. 100%.
Erika Barry (18:15):
You have to have grace. When someone comes to you, you don't badmouth that person, you very gracefully, you take care of it, but you never blast them on social media. And it just very.
Jonathan LeSuer (18:26):
And the more patients that you see, the more potential complications you can
Erika Barry (18:30):
Have.
Jonathan LeSuer (18:30):
But
Dr. David Saadat (18:30):
It's all about how you handle them.
Erika Barry (18:32):
Yes.
Dr. David Saadat (18:33):
Talking about what you were just saying, dissolving is not a complication. Dissolving is part of your practice. So we have patients that come to us. Now we are in the world of plastic surgery. We're now doing a lot more endoscopic facelifting. 2022, 23 was extended deep plane facelifting, all that. Now we're doing endoscopic where we have a lot of younger patients coming and we're going from above with the telescope underneath the face all the way to the neck and lifting everything endoscopically without making the incision around the ear in patients that are good candidates for it.
Dr. David Saadat (19:07):
When we do this, we do see the fillers and the bicimulators and all the problems in the planes that are the incorrect planes. So oftentimes what we do as surgeons, we ultrasound the area and if there's a filler in the way, we just dissolve it. It doesn't mean that it's bad. It's just we're trying to improve the surgical result. Fortunately, that has given a big, huge, bad name to all of us here. I think the key is to collaborate and make sure we support each other. Let's say if a patient comes from John and I feel like they want to have surgery, and I'm like, "Listen, John, for this particular surgery, we need to dissolve this. " That doesn't mean anything bad. We're just collaborating with each other.
Olivia Salmen (19:45):
Remember that case that blew up on social media where it was like the imaging showing how much was underneath her skin and showing how many species it equaled. And if you looked at her picture in real life, she looked amazing. And she was not unhappy with her result, but that part of the story wasn't told. They just used that post to fear monger. And then there was this wave of patients saying, "Should I just dissolve my face when they looked perfectly fine?"
Jonathan LeSuer (20:10):
I remember. I feel like that's where it all started too, Olivia, don't
Olivia Salmen (20:13):
You think?
Dr. David Saadat (20:14):
Yes. That's virtual. MRI. The biggest pet peeve ever, I can't believe we did that. And that was a surgeon starting that. No
Olivia Salmen (20:21):
Longering. Yep.
Dr. David Saadat (20:23):
I can't believe we did that because just because a filler is there, it doesn't mean it's bad. So if it's good, don't touch it.
Olivia Salmen (20:29):
Yeah. I was glad the provider came out with the patient's testimony because that got pretty big where I think people saw it to an extent that, okay, this wasn't what we thought it was. This wasn't what it was built up to be because it got way blown out of proportion for what it actually was.
Jonathan LeSuer (20:46):
Well, how many patients did you guys have to talk off a ledge after that though?
Olivia Salmen (20:49):
I had several.
Dr. David Saadat (20:51):
We're still doing that. We're still doing that.
Erika Barry (20:54):
Yeah. But I think the proper etiquette, just for people, maybe you guys correct me and let me know. But I think if you have a complication from another provider, and this is what I would want, this is what I want, call me, text me like, "Hey, just want to let you know, I saw Libby in clinic, beautiful girl, you did such a great job. Just to let you know, this is something weird that happened because we all have issues and I would want to know. " And then I would say, "Thank you. Thank you for seeing them. Thank you for handling this. Let me know what I can do. Could I need more highlights? Can I do this? " But I would want to know because then it makes me a better provider. And so I think that's the etiquette instead of slandering them on social and blasting them like, "I dissolve this.” Pick up a phone, just let them know.
Olivia Salmen (21:31):
I feel like my opinion was kind of reiterating with the fear mongering on social media and how it created that wave of patients wanting to dissolve things, even though they didn't look bad. They were just scared of what was under their skin because of that image that went so viral that that was one of the biggest pieces of 2025 that I think I saw such a shift in with filler where like Jonathan, we had to talk people off the ledge, even though they looked great, they were just scared, is this going to expand and over the next year I'm going to look like a freak? I'm like going to work.
Brandi Eppolito (21:59):
This is the stranger space to say in this mixed company group that I'm just going to happy hour with my marketing girlfriends, but not to cut off your nose to spite your face, but we're in a room of people that might be able to do a lot of things with your nose. But I think people do short-term thinking and we need to do long-term thinking versus I'm going to do this thing because it elevates my personal brand or makes me look better as an injector versus what does it do to the specialty as a whole? What does it do for global sales as of products as a whole? You can see it globally across multiple companies and devices, how it impacts. So I think long-term, play the long game, right? Let's play the long game, let's play the good game. We are all on this together.
(22:41):
Rising tide lifts all the boats. Let's not take the short-term thinking. Let's shift gears to the pros, the silver linings. What's your biggest win in 2025? Maybe that's growing your team, finally delegating, as you mentioned, Jonathan, maybe it's launching that practice. Maybe it's simply just surviving. No shade here. We're here to celebrate all versions of success and it looks different for everyone. So please be proud no matter the answer. Okay, who's up first?
Erika Barry (23:07):
I'll start because I'm just the pushy one. I think my biggest win is just happiness, which is kind of the goal that we want. And I always tell this to injectors, and this is not me just blowing smoke up your ass. Am I allowed to say swear words? 100%. Some
Brandi Eppolito (23:23):
Of my favorite words, keep it coming.
Erika Barry (23:25):
That I am just as happy now where I am in my career is when I worked and I worked in Wasim Garbia, Wasim's closet, my mentor, my best friend, I worked in his closet and my studio space was a closet. I literally had to climb over the patient. And I'm just as happy then as I am now with two practices and a training company and a Patreon and speaking engagements. The happiness does not mean more clinics or more patients or more money, especially please hear me, more money, more problems. More money does not equal more happiness. I'm happier now because I am very good at boundaries and I don't have a social life and I spend time with my husband and my two piglets right here and my son and I work out every morning and I just, that is my piece and my happiness.
(24:12):
But I am not happy with more money. I really think the injector look at like, "Oh my gosh, this person has this and this and this and this. " And that's not happiness. Happiness is just freedom. And I think that is the goal. The goal is freedom and the goal is to make your own schedule and see your patients. And I honestly get the most joy. I have goosebumps thinking about making my patients happy when a patient texts me and like, "Best Daxi ever." That is the ultimate high. That is all I want. That's all I'm going after. So that's it. That's my high is just being happy and content with, I don't have clean underwear for the next foreseeable week, but I am here and I am here with you guys and that's all that matters. I feel that's so hard. Oh my God.
(24:56):
Who's up next? Jonathan because he's back on with internet.
Jonathan LeSuer (25:00):
I think for me, my biggest win for this year was I finally got people in my corner, especially in my office. I got a good office manager. I got a good front deck perception. I got, like I said, I'm a personal assistant. I know not everybody can have that, but I really needed that, especially because my husband's a family doctor. We're literally never home. We're always working. We're both growing our careers. I'm turning 34, so I'm really in that stage of growing and getting to where I want to be. I have so many goals that I want to achieve. And so I think for me this year, I told myself that 2025 and 2026 were going to be my yes years. So we're going to continue that into 2026. So I just wanted to make sure, especially growing into a bigger practice next year, I want to make sure I have people in my corner so that way they can work on all those loose ends and I can make sure I'm focusing myself as being the best provider in the room and achieving the best goals possible and being there for my patients.
(25:54):
Because like you said, Erika, it's the number one priority. Like you said, getting those DMs, those texts from patients saying, "Oh my God, I love my face." And that person was scared of filler and I injected the five syringes and they look amazing and they're so happy. So yeah, I think that's my biggest win.
Erika Barry (26:12):
Wait, John, do you think you'll do a second location? Is that something you foresee in a different city or different ... Is that something you foresee in the next couple years or what's your next step?
Jonathan LeSuer (26:24):
I think my next huge step would be I really want to start training, doing more private trainings and maybe doing that in conjunction with someone else in the industry. I think that'd be fun because I'm going to have a huge conference room in my new location so we can do more trainings and host them. Yeah, I think that would be my biggest thing.
Erika Barry (26:42):
If you guys ever want to train with anyone incredible, John, hit John up. Or do you do private trainings now?
Jonathan LeSuer (26:47):
Yes.
Erika Barry (26:48):
Okay. How do people find you for private trainings?
Jonathan LeSuer (26:51):
You can literally email toxinpow@gmail.com and then my office manager will set you up. We'll come up with a date. We can go over what your goals are, what you want to learn, and we'll get models and we'll have a good time.
Erika Barry (27:02):
Two of my girls trained with him and they said best training they've ever had.
Jonathan LeSuer (27:06):
Erika, Olivia, Dr. Saadat, the amount of people that have trained with all of you guys, seriously. Dr. Saat, your cadaver lab is incredible.
Olivia Salmen (27:13):
Feel good.
Jonathan LeSuer (27:14):
Me too.
Olivia Salmen (27:15):
You're the best.
Dr. David Saadat (27:16):
You guys are all
Jonathan LeSuer (27:16):
Amazing.
Olivia Salmen (27:17):
This is the way the end of year. Olivia,
Brandi Eppolito (27:19):
What you got?
Olivia Salmen (27:20):
I would say for 2025, my biggest win ... Well, mine kind of builds off of Erika’s. I learned better balance for what I was doing. 2024, I ran myself into the ground. I was so sick for most of December because I just wore myself out. I frequently did three, four hour trainings a day when I was traveling to train. It was unsustainable, but I was just saying yes to everything as opposed to prioritizing how I could better fuel myself and what actually helped me grow my career. So 2025, I shifted. Even though via my social media will still look like I do a lot and I do, it's not the same as it was 2024. So I'm so much happier with my balance for how I do that. But I would say my biggest win as far as what I was the most proud of this year was that I got to launch Daxify in Australia, but to do that, I had to take a whole month off of work.
(28:13):
So that kind of came back into the balance. I was like, no, to me, that's worth it. I want to go do that. That's a big deal for what I want out of my growth. So it took me away from a lot of my busyness that I do in the States, but it was a big piece that I wanted from my growth that I wouldn't have been able to do with my 2024 mindset. So the balance comes in handy once you start prioritizing that and looking at steps to grow instead of just doing the same thing all day every day where you can burn out so much easier.
Erika Barry (28:40):
Yeah. But you're so smart. You have this cross the bear of you are so smart. And when I listen to talk, when you say anything about Revance or Daxify, I'm like, oh, it's clicks for me. And I know it's hard to tick off to go to Australia, but how many people you've helped and you are just the most talented speaker and trainer. I mean, oh my God, you're doing
Olivia Salmen (29:02):
It. You too. This whole group.
Erika Barry (29:04):
Yeah, you're amazing.
Olivia Salmen (29:04):
Honored to be here
Brandi Eppolito (29:05):
Too. I love it. Dr. Saadat, you want to round it out for us?
Dr. David Saadat (29:09):
Mine is similar, but more on the patient side. I was able to get rid of some of my harder to deal with patients because we all have those.
(29:20):
I'm stocked in LA and Beverly Hills and they're a lot of entitled people, and I don't want to badmouth anybody, but we have a lot of them. And I was one of those people that kept saying yes, yes, to patients, to trainings, to do this, that. And now that we're doing, again, I have a more of a surgical practice. So now that we're doing longer surgery, bigger surgeries, all these newer upscale surgeries, it takes more time. So I was able to select the kind of procedures that I want to do that makes me happy and get rid of the ones that don't want to do because it was chilling. It was a lot of time. I was working seven days a week We seeing patients on Sundays and Saturday because I was away for two days on Friday and Saturday, and then I had to see them on Sunday for post-op or this and that.
(30:09):
So I think the biggest change I made was get rid of, for lack of a better term, entitled patients.
Erika Barry (30:15):
Wait, what's your number one favorite procedure? If you could only do one surgery or one procedure, what would it be?
Dr. David Saadat (30:22):
Facelifting. Facial rejuvenation surgery.
Erika Barry (30:24):
Like deep plane?
Dr. David Saadat (30:27):
Okay. Well, no, I should take that back because there's still a lot of people that do the old school thing. But if you think about the progression, kind of like everything else, the progression of facial rejuvenation surgery, we went from regular SMAS lifting to deep plane facelifting. Then we went to extended deep plane facelifting, meaning that it comes all the way to the nasolavial fold and the marine area.
(30:48):
Then we do preservation extended deep plane facelifting where we don't lift the skining anymore. Do we directly go underneath into the deep plane? Then we added deep plane neck lifting where we go under the platysma and contour the entire neck. Now we're doing it all endoscopically where in those patients that don't have a lot of excess skin that needs to be cut out and excised, we just go into the deep plane, release everything, reposition everything and looks really good. It's a very time-consuming surgery, sometimes eight to 10 hours, but really it's worth it because there's only two incisions here and the whole thing lifted. So it's incredible. Do
Erika Barry (31:25):
You see me? I'm holding my face and I'm like, "Oh, like this? You do this? Oh my gosh." It's
Dr. David Saadat (31:30):
Good
(31:31):
For younger. And this filler problem that overfilled patients, unfortunately, with the mid-face, those of you who are listening, I hope that you kind of take this into account because this is what we're seeing and this is what's giving a bad name to our industry. We want every single patient of mine, yours, this group and everyone who's participating here to look beautiful. That's our goal. If all the patients look beautiful, our industry will just go up and up and up and we get better. So the problem was that because a lot of people had a little bit of a stagginess and droopiness, descend of their tissue, unfortunately we were seeing a lot of overfilled patients. So for some reason, because of this filler, dislike and dissolving, all of these people are coming back at age 30, 32, 35, they have a little bit of a mid-face droopiness and jowling and they're all looking for facelift and it doesn't make sense.
(32:26):
It's ridiculous to do this big, huge incision around the ear to do it. So hence that endoscopic facelifting that you go above has emerged and you'll see more and more about it in 2026, 27. There's only a handful of us doing it, but you'll see that there's going to be tons of people doing this because of this filler dissolving situation and now more deflation and sagginess.
Erika Barry (32:50):
Angie, if you want. Yeah. Everyone's asking the comments, Dr. Saadat, when is your next cadaver lab? I
Dr. David Saadat (32:56):
Have a lot of them. So please-
Erika Barry (32:59):
Foxy can put them up or if you text
Brandi Eppolito (33:01):
Them to us while we can- We'll put it in the follow-up email tomorrow. We can post it in Scale Society tomorrow for all of y'all.
Dr. David Saadat (33:06):
That would be great.
Brandi Eppolito (33:07):
We'll post the link to Jonathan's screenings. Olivia, Erika, y'all let me know what links. So make sure that we get all the good stuff in that follow-up to all of y'all here. Thank you for doing it. And Dr. Saadat, since you're talking about predictions for 2026, it's actually a great segue to our final question that we have as an official part of this, Dr. Saadat, what's your biggest prediction for the breakout trend of 2026?
Dr. David Saadat (33:30):
I think, and this is actually good for all of us because I think what I'm predicting is that in our field, we realized that a lot of the patients are getting procedures or surgeries or fillers or injectables just because they have a line or they have a loss of volume, but they're not looking good. So just because you can do it, that doesn't mean you do it. So I think 2026 is going to be all about beautification. How do we make someone more beautiful with the procedures that we do? And I think, for example, in my field, in facelift surgery field, we realize that lifting is not this way and it's not linear. Our lifting, it's more of a curve and linear up because we think the aging process starts from the upper face and top of the scalp. And as it goes down, it goes this way in this direction.
(34:25):
That's why we get the resting bitch face where the eyebrow come down, the nasal labial pole comes down, the jaws and the neck. And instead of us lifting it posteriorly that we used to do, now we're lifting it more superiorly and in a curve and linear fashion. So the face looks pretty and fun. It gets out of that depressed, sad looking, old lifting face into more of a fun, happiness look. And I think it's the same thing with non-surgical where we now know how to use neurotoxins to make the upper face better, to lift, to position the eyebrow much better, not just get rid of wrinkles, but how do we position the eyebrow? How do we position the midface by doing lower face tox? How do we position the neck, improving the jawline instead of doing overfilled midface looking with fillers, now we know that fillers are great for jawline, chin, angle of the jaw, temple area.
(35:20):
So my prediction is that there's going to be a huge improvement in beautification of the face, whether it's surgical, which is the advent of the endoscopic facelifting or non-surgical better use of neurotoxins and fillers. And obviously we have all these biostimulators that we're talking about, PDGF and sculptra and hyperdiluted radius. Those are all amazing, beautiful things that are coming into the market. And I think the combination of all of these will make all of our patients beautiful.
Jonathan LeSuer (35:50):
I think there's going to be a better understanding going into 2026 of the reallogy of the fillers too, and when and where to use them, I'm hoping. I feel like, especially Olivia, Erika, Dr. Saadat, all of you guys' round tables and all you guys' lectures are all so much about that and multi-layering and what products to use. So I think that there's going to be hopefully more of a better understanding on how to use the fillers and multilayering with them. I think going into 2026, I mean, fillers here to stay, regenerative medicine's here to stay. People need to learn how to use both of them together. And it's not a cookie cutter treatment for these patients. Everybody is individual. There's those runners that are super gaunt, so they need to prime the skin first. We need to do laser resurfacing or we need to do sculpture or hybridilute radiS, and then the skin will then hold the filler better and to integrate better.
(36:42):
So I think that assessment going into, I think hopefully with all of the ... Dr. Saat, your cadavers and so many more cadavers that are available, I think that's so important. If you are listening and tuning in and you haven't done a cadaver, do one. You have to understand anatomy because if you don't, you're not going to know what plane they're injecting and you might have a negative outcome. So I definitely think that going into 2026, biostimulators and fillers will still be there. We're just going to find that happy medium of them both living together and having them be happy together.
Dr. David Saadat (37:18):
And to add that surgery with that, I'm hoping my surgical colleagues would also understand that it's not just surgery, it's surgery plus bistimulator, plus fillers, plus neurotoxins, plus skin treatments of all kinds, lasers, microneedling, all those good stuff.
Olivia Salmen (37:34):
Yeah. And to build off of what John said, kind of marrying our injectable dermal fillers with regenerative, I feel like in 2025, GLPs were all about weight loss. I think in 2026, you're going to see this huge influx of GLP-1s microdosing for inflammation and the other benefits we get from them. I think everybody's going to be on it at some point, truly because what- Are you doing it? Loving it. Your visceral fat, right? Visceral fat's the main one for health reasons that you'd want to be at a lower percent. The things it can do for our inflammatory markers is amazing. So treating it not just as a weight loss drug with the microdosing, I think is going to change a lot for our patients. And even though it's not necessarily global weight loss in the face, if it changes their inflammation in the face, we're going to see that difference too, even on people that aren't losing 50 pounds.
Brandi Eppolito (38:21):
So
Olivia Salmen (38:21):
I think that's going to be a really interesting shift that's going to be across the board as everybody starts doing this and looking more at functional medicine with aesthetics.
Erika Barry (38:32):
I think no more Botox, no more filler ... No, I'm kidding. Just kidding. Just okay. Very hot take. Yeah. I think it's going to be the year of collaboration because I went to Hopkins, then I was raised by these 13 amazing plastic surgeons that we ... I was like 23. I was the internal service and it was all these residents and attendings and we all worked together, but we definitely had like, oh, their kidneys are going to shit or something's going on, call neurology, call internal medicine, call GI. And it was just anything going on in the body. We knew we were plastics. We didn't know what to do, so we had to get anesthesia, their ABGs off. And so in aesthetic medicine, we're not like that. And it's so weird to me because for me, I'm like, "Well, I suck at scar revision. You got to go see Wasim." And the patient's like, "What?" I'm like, "Yeah, you got to go see Wasim." And then I'm freaking obsessed with Daxim is like, "I don't want to deal with pretarsal or ptosis.
(39:33):
You got to go see Erika." And so it's just weird to me that a lot of places aren't that way. So I think we have to realize you are not a generalist. Please specialize in three things that you're love and you're passionate about. It doesn't matter what it is. If you're in love with it, but me, I hate body contouring. I don't want to see a butt. I don't want to see a vagina. I don't want to see a scrotum. I don't want to see any of that. I just want to see. I don't want to see a neck. For me, I know what I'm good at. And then for me, I'm like, Christina's then a neck girl, go see Christina. So I think-
Jonathan LeSuer (40:03):
What about penis teller, Erika? Oh
Erika Barry (40:04):
My God. I don't see penis. Oh, I don't want to see any with penis. But I think at the end of the day, you're good at what you love. When you're passionate about something, your patient knows that. And patients are like, "You don't do hormone replacement therapy." I'm like, "No, because I'm going to mess ... I don't know what to do. " So I'm like, "You have to go see Mimi in Miami, Florida." Or just patients really appreciate you being honest with them and doing the full ATP. This is how you're aging, this is your asymmetry, this is your assessment, this is the technique, this is the procedure, their products. Patients love that. Be honest with them and please don't feel the need to do everything. And this is the end of the year talk and every device company, I'm going to get texted from this.
(40:44):
You don't need that device. Don't buy the laser unless you have cash for it. You do not need it. Find someone in your town that you love and you trust and punt them to them and then they'll punt them right back. I didn't have a device. The first five years I was open, I didn't have a device at all. It was just my hands. I was injectable and that was it. And Wasim had the IPL, I had the Moxie, the whatever, and we just traded patients. Please do not spend the cash you don't need.
Olivia Salmen (41:08):
Yeah.
Erika Barry (41:09):
Yeah.
Dr. David Saadat (41:10):
Honestly, I think that is the biggest lesson for our scaled society is do not buy expensive devices if you don't have a long-term plan. Well, why am I saying that? Moxie people can help them with that to tell them when to buy something or when to not to buy it. But one of the biggest mistakes that people do is just they get fooled into buying a big device or a big ... It doesn't have to be a device that's expensive. And then it's just sitting in the corner, you'll hype it for about a month or two and then it just sits in the corner.
Erika Barry (41:41):
Yeah. And your flex isn't showing all your fillers in a closet or all your skincare. That's not a flex. Your flex is empty shelves. For me, I constantly run out of things. I'm like, "Well, shit, I ran out of this. Now I'm going to use RG3." It's okay to run out of something, you call a friend, but it's good to run out of things. You don't want a shelf full of things that you're not going to eat. You don't need 400 boxes of anything. Listen to me. You don't need 400 boxes of anything.
Dr. David Saadat (42:04):
I mean, the right thing to do is to make sure your inventory is not so high that at the end of the month, you're stuck paying for all these lease payments and this and that. 100%.
Olivia Salmen (42:13):
And just don't buy a million devices that sit in a realm. Like Erika said, you don't need to carry every filler. If you don't use it, don't buy it because a rep talks you into it. You can pick which SKUs you're really good at and that you know work well, and it doesn't have to be every SKU from every brand.
Erika Barry (42:29):
This
Olivia Salmen (42:30):
Idea of you have to be loyal to one brand is stupid. You can pick products from each brand that work really well for you and customize it for your own patients and your practice. Otherwise, things will expire and you didn't even take advantage of the fact that you bought filler at a certain tier because then you paid for it and you didn't use it. Only buy what you're going to use.
Erika Barry (42:48):
Yeah. The cheers are not a big deal. When someone's like, "Oh, you're 100K away from presidents, blah, blah, blah." No one cares. I don't care. I don't care if you're Allergan, I don't care if you're galdermat, I don't care if you're Revance. I know what I love and that's okay, but it's not the Bible.What I do is not the Bible. It's okay. You can do whatever you want and to each their own. And that's what makes us ... It's like oranges and apples. We all love different fruits and as long as your patient's safe and happy, that's all that matters.
Jonathan LeSuer (43:16):
Yeah. I remember Olivia at that dinner in Syracuse when you came up, there was someone we were talking to opened up a business a year ago and she was wondering, she's like, "I just don't know what filler company to tie myself to. " And it's like, don't pay attention to that. Figure out what products you like and what you believe in and provide the best outcomes for your patients and focus on those. Don't try to just say, "Oh, I'm more with Allerganor. I'm more with Galderma. I'm more with Revance."
Olivia Salmen (43:42):
And some reps can make it really stressful. It depends on the territory, but some of them will be like, "You have to order this for the end of my quarter. Don't be guilt trip for that. What comes first is your patient. If your rep says anything to you like that, you say, Why would I buy a product for the company? I'd buy products for my patient.
(43:59):
Shut them up every time. You need to take control back on what you buy. Don't be guilted into things because of relationships you have. All you need to buy is based on reology. That's what I always teach on. When I go through fillers, I just want to break down what the reology of is each one. Then you make your decision. It's not based off price and tier and all these other things because once you get busy with it, those things will come in time anyway. Start off with the best products. You're not dealing with complications and having to fix things down the road.
Erika Barry (44:26):
And we've all been in the game long enough that I've had reps, God bless them, go from one portfolio to another to another. I'm like, "Wait, Uswa, this was the best. Now you're going to swear this one with us." And I see them bounce around. So they're not bad people, but they're just working for a company and they're selling a product. We are best providers. We're not selling anything. We are providing a multitude of different products, just like different amount of hypertensive medications to our patient. We're not selling anything. We're doing a set. They come with chief complaint, we give a differential diagnosis and we provide different treatment plans. Even if that doesn't meet us, it means go see Dr. Sedat, go see Jonathan. You have to tell them everything that's best for them, which might not include you and that's
Dr. David Saadat (45:06):
Okay. And like Jesse said, we're not selling products. We're selling our services and our skills. So these products are just tools. And listen, we're lucky that we have all this industry support because this is the kind of field that we need the industry to help us out. So we're lucky we have the reps. We lucky we have all the industry support. But at the end of the day, you're selling your skills and depending on your skills, what tool you decide that, not this rep, not the company, not the tiering, not the system that goes out there. It's just you got to see what works the best for your patient.
Brandi Eppolito (45:39):
100%. I think this is a good plug, a good time. We're getting near the time. We did a webinar a month or two ago with another board member, David Weir, on the device dilemma, knowing when it's time to buy. There can be a time in a practices lifespan and for the patient efficacy where it's a great time to buy a device and where it makes sense with your ROI and long-term thinking. David talks through all of the ROI that we're coming out with a written playbook of that and can share the recording with you. For those of you that are kind of weighing that decision. We also have a four week, one lesson per week course coming out for Scale Society members in January featuring yours truly here plus even more of our board members, including sessions on CEO operating rhythms. What do you do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly to set you and your practice and your patients up for success?
(46:25):
We have one quite pertinent to the conversation at hand here, knowing your numbers and understanding the impacts on the business. And I will say, maybe this is the wrong approach. Patient outcomes are everything and you can't provide your excellent patient outcomes if the practice goes out of business. Not to be an asshole, but both have to make sense. We have to be great at the outcomes and we have to do it in a way that supports our business so we can keep continuing to provide that amazing experience. So knowing your numbers ensures that you can continue to support your patients with that great experience and the outcomes that only you as you, the unique provider can provide. And then we'll also have the final session. We'll have one on hiring culture incentives and then the final session with Erika and Dr. Rivkin on finding balance when the business rests on your shoulder.
(47:11):
And I think the TLDR is, maybe there's not balance, but we can find our ways around it. So lots of- There is no balance.
Erika Barry (47:18):
Just let you guys know. There it is. There's balance. I would just be ready for it. There's no balance.
Jonathan LeSuer (47:23):
Chaos. Survive. Yep. I have the chaos.
Erika Barry (47:26):
Just you deal with ... Don't have underwear. I'm going to be ... Commando. Commando. Commando. I'm going to be commando tomorrow. Sorry.
Jonathan LeSuer (47:34):
I mean, I'm immediately commando when I come home.
Erika Barry (47:36):
Yeah. It's okay. It
Jonathan LeSuer (47:38):
Is what it is.
Brandi Eppolito (47:39):
I told you all. Cocktails, the truth comes out. Here we are.
(47:41):
Thank you all for attending. Thank you to our amazing panelists. If y'all will please share the links that you'd love for us to share with training, cadaver courses, all of the Patreons, all of the things, podcasts, all of it. There's so much to share with this amazing group. We'll be sure to follow up with those and the recording tomorrow. Big thanks to Erika, Olivia, Jonathan, Dr. Saadatfor really bringing the heat and the honesty. I love this conversation. Before you head out, don't forget if you have questions about how Moxie can support your practice or again, your vision of a practice. We support entrepreneurs at every stage and size. Please visit joinmoxi.com/call to set up that free intro call. Keep your eye on Scale Society for these upcoming events that we mentioned. A lot more coming here. And I will say many of the events are the ideas of the board members you see here and the ones that weren't featured on this call, but will be on others.
(48:29):
We're doing it based on your feedback via those surveys, what you share in the community and on socials with them. And we want to make sure that this content serves you, your patience, and your practice. So please don't be shy about what could be helpful for you. Reminder, keep your eye on our Instagram tomorrow to figure out who won those, I think, six cocktail kits. We can't wait to share those with you. And until next time, thank you to each of you again. Thank you for our audience for joining and cheers.
Erika Barry (48:56):
Cheers. Cheers.
Brandi Eppolito (48:58):
Thanks everyone.
Brandi Eppolito (49:06):
Thank you for listening to Aesthetic Visionaries. For more resources on building and growing your med spa, visit joinmoxie.com/learn.