Join us on the introductory episode of The Injector Business Blueprint Podcast as we dive into the inspiring journeys of Brandon and Erin. Discover how they transitioned from their early careers to becoming leaders in the MedSpa industry. Learn about their setbacks, resilience, and the mindset shifts that propelled them forward. 

Whether you're an injector looking to scale your business or seeking motivation, this episode is packed with insights and encouragement to help you build a practice you love. Tune in now!

I'm so ready for this. So, Erin, I'm gonna start with you. Right now, people are watching this first podcast, and they're sizing us up. And they're like, Hey, who are these people? How can they help me? I want to know first and foremost, Erin, give me a little bit of your journey from Esthetician to MedSpa Consultant?

So, I wasn't confident to apply to business school. So, I went and I did aesthetics. But I always had it in the back of my mind that I really wanted to pursue the business side of it. And so, I knew it was going to take me a few years.

So, I started out as Esthetician and the year that I joined, MedSpas were really becoming a thing. So I then decided, I'm going to figure out, how can I be a Laser Tech? And then I became a Laser Tech, so I could work at a MedSpa. And then I got really good at that part, and then I found my mentor. My mentor was a business guy, a marketing guy, he had masters in both.

And so, I just really hung out with him as much as possible. I sat in and listened to him negotiate deals on the phone, and listen to meetings, and spent my free days following and just shadowing him. And so, with his MedSpa company, I went from Laser Tech, to Trainer, to Manager, to Regional Director.

So, I learned a lot about running a corporate type of spa and resort spa. And so, I married my Business Acumen from running like a smaller MedSpa to the corporate world, and got recognized for how easy it looked for me to turn around these failing spas within this hotel group. And so, I then got asked to work in several different countries.

I'd been through the ringer, in terms of experience, and what I had learned. So, I bottled everything up in 2021 and launched my coaching business. So, that's what I do now is, focused business coaching on how to run your MedSpa with numbers, operation, and leadership.

Chris: Love it. Okay. Brandon, give me the details, man.

And I did that for a couple of years, I transitioned into case management for an insurance company, which was more of a personal lifestyle choice, because I had worked night shift for about 10 years before I was a nurse, I should have predicated that I was a nursing assistant. And I was just tired of it, I needed a life change, the money was good at the time, not all the best attributes. But I got a lot of experience and kind of started to delve into the business side of nursing.

She said, I don't know how to do my website. I don't know how to manage all these leads. I don't know how I'm going to [00:05:00] manage my vendor partners. I said, I don't know how the hell to do it either, but I'll figure it out. So, at the time, she is in Virginia, I'm still in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Chris: Awesome, guys. Great to hear just a little bit of backstory. Now, it's my job to think about, who's listening and watching this podcast? They see you both, they're like, look, Hey, two great looking people, they seem like they really have their stuff together. And someone might think, Oh, look, Erin and Brandon, I'm sure they were just born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Erin: Yeah. So as mentioned, I grew up in a small town. And there wasn't a lot of room to dream because money was scarce, everything was scarce. And I was really taught that money is difficult to come by, opportunities are hard to come by, and it's best if you just pick something, stick with a good company, and get into what we call CPP here in Canada, get a little pension going and all this.

Since I was a kid, I just knew that I didn't fit in. I just did not fit in, and I was always dreaming like, I got to get out of here. And I even have journal entries, I think I was about 12, that's like, I don't fit in my family. I don't understand why all these people just want me to stay here and stay small.

So, I had to grow up pretty quickly, not by my own choice, but just lack of parental guidance. And that innate survival skill that you need, that you feel like, I'm on my own now, and what am I going to do about it? And so, I always knew I wanted to get out of this small town. Again, it was just like, if I could give it a character, it's Eeyore.

It's always a rainy day in the world that the people who live in that town. And I just didn't want to live my life like that. Again, I wasn't encouraged a lot, and I didn't have a lot of confidence, and I didn't have a lot of self belief, which is why I was looking for the easiest way out.

And so I didn't, but I tried to figure my way out through aesthetics, through the industry of like, how can I use this opportunity to gain the same knowledge as somebody would if they went to school and got an MBA? That was my ultimate goal. For me growing up, it was really tough.

When I say, I was orphaned by the age of 8. I really was. And yes, I had someone raise me, but for all intents purpose, I had to get a job by the time I was 13, had to pay for a lot of things on my own, paid for my own, college, everything, working two jobs during college. And even again, any opportunity, what I learned or I should say, what it really forced me to look for was the opportunity in everything.

And so, really understanding, I'm not special, I just figured out and not by choice, but just by sheer will and resilience is, I have to figure this out, so if I can do it, anybody can do it. I'm not special in that sense. So, yeah, I think for me, my background is, it was a struggle and I've used every single opportunity to get me closer to whatever my ultimate goal is.

It changes year by year, or decade by decade. But yeah, I've learned to really appreciate and love my story, because it really got me to become who I ultimately am meant to be.

Brandon: I wish I had a silver spoon, and I can't wait until we get to the future episode where Erin and I talk about how we met, but we have oddly parallel upbringing. My childhood wasn't too tumultuous, I made it very tumultuous myself, but my parents divorced when I was probably 6 or 7, and as nurturing and as loving as they were, and it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, I love my parents very much.

I took it upon myself to be very self starting from the beginning. I didn't really have too much of a push to get good grades, or to do this or that, but I had a lot of pressure on myself to perform, to get straight A's, to be whatever I thought I needed to be.

Now I can see that as an opportunity, and some other characteristics, and character defects that I deal with. But I used it to survive when I was in purgatory with accepting myself and who I was. I got a job when I was 15, I thought that money equated to success and that is not always the case. But learning those kind of things, and going through what I did built and shaped who I am today, and I'm very thankful for that.

I feel like those foundations really speak to what I do today and how I drive and continually evolve myself in it. I love when people always say, what are you doing now? Are you doing this, that, and the other thing? What are you going to do next? I'm like, I don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

I'll figure it out next year. This is one other thing, doing this podcast and meeting wonderful people like you and Erin, it's been amazing. I'm just so happy to be on another chapter of this journey.

Chris: So good. I'm sure people are watching this and listening to this like, okay, why are we going into the story? Like you mentioned, why aren't we talking about how Erin and Brandon met? Because honestly, everyone has a story. And we know you and Brandon have success in your own right through this particular industry within, helping these injectors who want to scale their business, and want to build a practice that they love.

Erin: What's interesting when you look back in hindsight, they don't feel like setbacks, you're like, Oh, I was redirected in the right way. But while it's happening, the first one that just felt so earth-shattering was, I applied to aesthetic school, I got in, and I believed that I had sent in the credit card.

Chris: Oh dang.

Erin: Yeah. And I got no Email, I got no mail to say that we didn't receive your acceptance into the program. And I had to then think on my feet, I've already moved, I can't move back, I've prepaid my rent, I have a new job, all of these things. So, I went in and I sought out who was the program director at the time.

I think I was 18 years old, set out the program director, and sat them down, and said, listen, here's what happened. And I had to give a bit of my backstory as well. Around the fact that it wasn't my credit card, it was my aunt's credit card who wasn't very supportive. So, it wouldn't be a surprise if there was no room on the card.

All of these things, but ultimately, I convinced her to let me into the program and give me a seat because there were only 40 seats and she was like, we don't do 41? Because there's an odd number. And that means when you pair up, cause when you're in a study school, you have to do treatments on each other and all that.

Had I not had that conversation, I don't know that we'd be sitting here. That was a big one, and one other one that really stands out to me, when I was moving up the ranks in my corporate spa director career, I really wanted to be the director at the crown jewel of the portfolio of this hotel group.

Given all the track record of turning around spas in the portfolio, and launching spas, and helping create other managers and directors. And I just thought, I was so let down by it. And for a hot minute, I was like, forget this, I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore. She doesn't know what she's talking about. These people don't appreciate me, for a hot minute.

But then, I was like, you know what? That job belongs to me, and through perseverance and just waiting, but also strategizing, and just watching, and evaluating when my right moment to strike per se. Eventually, the person that they did hire, I became that person's number two, but they ultimately resigned because they were like, you're better at this job than me. And the job was mine within a year.

Chris: What do you say to the person that heard those two examples and said, well, look, that strength just comes from being orphaned when you were young, and all these different things like, I didn't have a past like Erin. And so, I haven't necessarily experienced that type of thing. And I tend to fall on the passive end. What do you say to them?

Erin: Oh, I usually ask why? Why don't you believe in yourself enough? Like you have to want it. And sometimes, being passive means that you aren't really sure what you truly want, which is also okay. But at the end of the day, if you know that it's something that you want, I always ask people, why not you?

And I do explain, I'm not special, I just know when there's something that resonates with me that I feel truly belongs to me. And I will try to exhaust every resource or every way possible to make that happen. And if it doesn't, then I know it's not meant for me. But typically, yeah, if someone says, I'm going to let things happen.

You have to take action to a certain degree, you can't force things, but you do need to take action. If you are waiting for someone to hand you the job, the title, the location, the staff, whatever it is that you're looking for, you might actually wait forever. You have one life, time is an unrenewable resource that you will never get back.

Chris: Me and Brandon are about to run through a wall right now. But that's amazing, that's so good. Brandon, oftentimes people feel like their problems are unique. Give us an example and share with the listener and the watcher, some things that you've experienced that are going to make them see, Hey, look, your problems aren't altogether unique.

Brandon: I'm a firm believer in the fact that everything happens for a reason. Good, bad, ugly, and indifferent. One of the things I was thinking of, what's my biggest setback? Erin was sharing, and the one thing that I think really helped to put things in perspective was the first time I went to nursing school, I had a scholarship to a local community college right out of high school.

Was very young, very naive, very impressionable, and I let a lot of life influence me while I was going through my first semester. And for me, that involved a lot of alcohol. It didn't really get too bad until the second half of the semester. And I was always a good student in high school.

Like they make you just redo it the next year. And after that, I felt such feelings of like guilt, shame, and remorse that I didn't go back to nursing for a while. Because after that, a lot of other life things happened and I just didn't feel confident that I could ever be a nurse. There were so many regrets from my past, and what drinking had done to me that I didn't think I could be one.

And like Erin mentioned, I wasn't going to sit around and wait for the board of nursing to be like, Brandon, you've improved and you've done very well. So, we're just going to give you this diploma now. I had to put forth the work, and I had to go through a lot of things, and jump through a lot of hoops to get my license because that's what I wanted. And I'm so glad that I did because I wouldn't be here either. Everything happens for a reason.

Chris: Brandon, where would you be had you not have put forth the work, and not have crawled out of that place?

Brandon: I probably would be a patient care tech working at Western Psych still with crazy people. Because that's the last job that I had before I left bedside. No, I don't know, I probably would have still been in healthcare in some capacity, just not in the way that I really wanted.

Erin: Yeah. Actually, I've never thought about it like that. Because even before I started coaching, I would have teams of 70, 50, 20, 30 people at a time where you're responsible, you're the mentor, you're the leader, you're the guide, you're the person who's giving them tissue when they're having a bad day, or rubbing their back cause their boyfriend broke up with them or whatever.

So, yeah, I've never actually thought about it. But yeah, it's definitely in the hundreds at this point. I've never really thought about, where I would be or more importantly, I guess, I wouldn't really have any kind of impact. And ultimately, I always think about, if I don't keep pushing forward with the thing that feels really like resonant with me? I'm going to prove everyone who told me I was going to be nothing, I'm going to prove them right.

I was always called bossy growing up. I don't really think about it because I truly feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. So, I don't bother to spend time wondering where I could have been or should have been. I'm like exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Chris: So good. The reason I ask that question is because, I know there are so many defining moments in someone's story who has reached any amount of success. You can look back at all these moments, and you're like, what would have happened? Had I not talked that 41st spot forward? Brandon, what would have happened if you just would have accepted, what was going on with alcoholism and all of those things.

Brandon: Through so many experiences in my life. I just learned that, for me, I can't spend time looking in the rear view mirror. I grow and I learn from mistakes, I make them time and time again. I'm an Aries, I'm very impatient, I don't like to ask for help, I'm very self will run riot sometimes. And I just know that about myself.

I would rather try to take everything on my desk, hold it in my arms, and still move it with my feet, rather than ask someone to help me move my desk. But It's my own fault if I continue to do that, knowing what I know now. But if I spend time looking at, Oh, woe is me. I had a DUI, this, that, and the other.

Chris: Both of you are so wise, my goodness. Erin, what about you? Mindset shifts. What mindset has to be adopted to be able to accomplish what you've accomplished?

Erin: The mindset approach that I take now that I didn't really realize I was developing was, it would be unreasonable to think I'm good at everything the first time I try. It would be unreasonable to think that I'm supposed to be an expert or that I would get it right. Sometimes, when I'm talking with clients and I'm like, I should know better.

And so, I give a very simple example of like, when you first learn to tie your shoes, do you get it right the first time? No. I've been tying my shoes for, I don't know, 30 plus years, and there are days that I still mess it up. Like where I'm like, Oh, like I didn't get the bow right, or like I did it too fast, and then, it didn't tie up.

Something so simple that I do every single day. And again, whenever I'm learning something new or I'm trying something new, I'm going somewhere where there is a unknown factor. I have to remind myself that this feels really uncomfortable, but in order to feel good about it, I have to put myself in it.

Chris: Brandon, Aaron, as we conclude this episode, I'm gonna ask you a fun question. I love, I love this question. So let's say somebody meets you all at an event and it's, it's the younger version of you and they're so inspired. Because you spoke on a stage. Okay. Cause I know both of you are speakers and they were like, Hey, like, I know you only have like one minute, but just what piece of advice could you give me to get to where you are?

Brandon: I would say just keep moving forward. That's really it. I mean, that has been monumental in my life. Like I said, I, I know many people in my life that spend time just dwelling in the past and that's not going to do you any good. So, you know, learn from those mistakes and just keep doing the next right thing.

Keep moving forward.

Erin: Yeah. I love that. And I a hundred percent agree with that. And what I would add to that is like, I'm picturing my younger self and I, I remember what I used to be like, and I ha I outwardly projected, I was so confident. I'm like, yeah, I got this and, and, and I'm going to do it. And you know, I can't be wrong.

You have to know who you are. You have to be able to regulate yourself, understand yourself, correct yourself, push yourself, motivate yourself. And if you don't take the time throughout your career or throughout your life to really build yourself, put the work into who you are, you can't do that for other people.

So. I call myself a forever student. I am always learning. Some days I learn more than others. Some days I don't want to learn. But the thing that I refocus on the most is if I want to get to where I'm going, there are skills that are required that I currently don't have, and I need to keep putting in the work.

But it does take resilience and hard work and grit and determination and moving forward and continuing to be a student and all the things you guys mentioned today. And so I cannot wait to see what comes of the rest of this podcast. But for now, guys, thank you. For joining me, your your guest co host on this episode.

And I will hand this podcast off to you both moving forward.

Brandon: Thank you.

Erin: Thank you so much.