The Luxury Med Spa Experience Men Didn’t Know They Needed

Bill Walker (00:04):
Hi everyone. Welcome back to Aesthetic Appeal Podcast. The Aesthetic Appeal Podcast is sponsored by Aesthetic Brokers. With us today, we have a very special guest in the world of aesthetics. Oftentimes, we look at things through the lens of a female client, and today's guest is taking that in reverse engineering to their soulmates that are out there, if you would. We've got a very, very interesting podcast episode today with none other than the chief flycatcher himself, the founder and CEO of Flycatcher, Chris Heiler of Austin, Texas, who is focused on men's health and wellness in the aesthetic space. All hail the chief Flycatcher. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Heiler (00:53):
Appreciate that. I don't know if I'll ever get a better intro than that one. Thank you. Appreciate you inviting me on.

Bill Walker (01:00):
Chris, you take a very luxurious and such an impressive take on the interest that is rapidly growing momentum in men's health, and that is the aesthetic industry and how it influences the overall picture for how men think of themselves and want to take care of themselves. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, Chris, into aesthetics and what inspired you to focus on men's health with Flycatcher?

Chris Heiler (01:35):
Yeah, so a couple of things kind of happened at the same time about, I think it was seven years ago. I have another company, I actually own a marketing agency, but I was stepping away from that a little bit and looking for some other opportunities and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something that had to do with men or helping men in some way, but it was very abstract. I didn't really know exactly what that looked like, but that was just kind of in the back of my mind. So I had that kind of lingering there. And then seven years ago, I met my partner Aurora, who's now my fiance and mother of two children. So we met and she's an aesthetician and a laser tech. So we met, she immediately on the first date, pointed out what was wrong with my face.

(02:39):
I think it was my enlarged pores or something like that she was staring at. And being in business and marketing, I'm just always very curious about different industries and different models. So I was always picking her brain about what she did, and it was just so interesting. I went in to visit her a couple of times, got facials and chemical peels, and then I visited two or three other med spas, just some simple laser treatments for some sun damage. And it was very uncomfortable going into these places and the experience wasn't great.

Bill Walker (03:23):
Tell me why.

Chris Heiler (03:24):
When I say that, well, when I say that, I don't mean the treatment itself. The treatment was fine. The treatment was effective, but it was just like how comfortable I was there, how I felt like I was treated. And it was just very clear to me that men are an afterthought at most of these places. That's how it felt to me. And I knew, okay, I'm not the only guy who must feel this way when they come into these places. So it was just through personal experience that I saw this gap. And with my marketing background, it was this light bulb. It's like, okay, someone just needs to do the same thing, but for men, because I knew the business model's really good. There's a ton of money in the space.

Bill Walker (04:18):
Yes.

Chris Heiler (04:19):
I did more research into men specifically, and I know men make up 15 to 18% of visits. I know they spend a lot of money per visit. So if there's this giant pie, the aesthetics industry, and men are the small slice, but that's a lot. It's still billions of dollars and the overall pie is getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year, as you know. So that slice, that slice is growing. So we're trying to, we're I guess attacking that slice you can say. So I'm able to help men in some way, I kind of found that the thing that I wanted to do to help men, and so I jumped in. That's kind of how it all started.

Bill Walker (05:09):
So expanding on that, can you share how if anybody out there is listening and you go to the Flycatcher website or you see any of their social media, it really kind of, I don't know how to say this, I feel like it's like a 21st century Gatsby effect, if that makes any sense at all. Can you share what you think of incorporating luxury and the sense of success that men maybe want to feel in their life? And how does that incorporate into your customer experience at Flycatcher?

Chris Heiler (05:49):
Yeah, I mean, it was no accident what you see online and everything, the brand, it is not an accident. It's really just a reflection of my own personal bougie taste, I guess Aurora would say,

Bill Walker (06:06):
If you're not seeing the video of this and you want to watch later, you could probably hit Chris up and ask him who his tailor is for his turtleneck, for his winter cream turtleneck wardrobe.

Chris Heiler (06:17):
I've got some guys. I've got some guys.

Bill Walker (06:19):
He's got a guy.

Chris Heiler (06:21):
So the whole brand and everything just kind of comes, it's just authentic to who I'm and how I try to live. And I love the Art Deco aesthetic, which is from Gatsby, right?

Bill Walker (06:38):
Sure.

Chris Heiler (06:40):
I love the old Hollywood aesthetic. That's the main thing I wanted to start with Old Hollywood. It was a time when men really cared about taking care of themselves and looking their best. And that kind of inspired this whole thing. I wanted that to be the aesthetic for Flycatcher. So everything comes out of that. So the interiors are mostly Art Deco, which I think appeals to men, a lot of darker colors, things like that. Colors that are very different compared to any other med spa, but colors that really I think men find comfortable. But then everything from each treatment room has a different theme. So we have the James Bond room, we have the Frank Sinatra room, we have the Cary Grant room, all the artwork throughout is that old Hollywood kind of vibe. The music we play, we play a lot of forties, fifties, Sinatra stuff, the standards. We've got a big display TV out in the lobby where if you walk into most med spas, they're putting a bunch of promotional stuff up there from all of these different brands. Well, we don't do that. We show classic movies. We might have James Bond Goldfinger playing, right?

Bill Walker (08:10):
I love the Bond series. You're singing in my heart, man. That's great.

Chris Heiler (08:13):
Yeah. If a guy comes in and he's sitting there for a few minutes, he doesn't want to be looking at an advertisement for Botox or whatever. I was trying to sell him more, so we put up something cool that fits with the vibe.

Bill Walker (08:28):
I love it.

Chris Heiler (08:30):
So everything we do, I just try to do it different. If you ever remember that Seinfeld episode with George when he decides, oh, I'm just going to do the opposite of everything I've ever done in the past. And that's kind of the approach I take. I see how people are doing. I'm like, okay, I'm just going to do this differently.

Bill Walker (08:57):
So I love it. It really does resonate for me as a male who was associated deeply within the aesthetic industry. And what's really funny, as you say, this is my favorite restaurant, and we've got to have you out to San Diego and La Jolla, my favorite restaurant downtown is Anime, and it's Asian fusion with an Art Deco, Hollywood, old Hollywood vibe. And then probably a favorite cocktail, cocktail restaurant bar is a few blocks away from the offices in La Jolla Village, and it has an original authentic Art Deco theme at the Whaling Bar, and they preserved a ton in the renovations of the Art Deco. And maybe that whatever research you've done in marketing, it definitely, it seems to resonate.

Chris Heiler (09:51):
Well. I think just the whole Art Deco vibe is, to me, it's very masculine.

Bill Walker (09:56):
Tell me.

Chris Heiler (09:56):
So it's kind of a no-brainer to me to go with that.

Bill Walker (09:59):
Chris, tell me something about you as a founder. What are the challenges you faced in establishing and growing Flycatcher medical aesthetics, being a male entering into the industry, that's not a surgeon, it's not a surgical place. So what are some of the challenges you've faced as a founder that you can think of, and how have you worked on overcoming those challenges?

Chris Heiler (10:27):
Yeah, it is interesting and you identified part of it and that I am a non-physician. So when it comes to getting a small business loan or getting financing for equipment and things like this, companies were not interested in working with us because of that, because I'm not a physician and because I don't have a physician who's part owner. So that was difficult, but I got past it. Now that we're open, I think the biggest challenge we have, which is also our biggest opportunity, is that this is a whole new concept, especially for Austin. This idea of a med spa that's designed for men, people just aren't doing it. So it's an entirely new concept. And so I understand that's going to take time to catch on and for men to gravitate towards that. And the other interesting thing too is this is just based on what I've seen, but I feel like a lot of med spas are started by, let's say it's a nurse practitioner leaving one practice and starting their own, or it's a surgeon leaving a practice and then starting his or her own practice, and then they bring clients with them. So they've got a little bit of a base when they launch

Bill Walker (11:54):
Right.

Chris Heiler (11:54):
With us it's Aurora and I, well, Aurora, she didn't work with a bunch of male clients, so it's not like she's bringing her book of business with her. So it's a new concept, we have no customer base. So I like that part, the challenge. That's fine. Yeah. But that's fine. And that's also part of the opportunity is that it is a new concept, but when it really takes off, there's all the opportunity in the world there.

Bill Walker (12:27):
What't the buzz, what's the buzz around Austin, Texas with regards to you opening your doors and how's that been received at the early onsets?

Chris Heiler (12:42):
I think it's been received really well by everybody who sees what we're doing, male or female. Females are probably even more excited than the men we talked to. I don't think I've talked to anybody or brought up the idea with anybody who said, oh, that'll never work. What a dumb idea. It's always like, wow, now is the perfect time. It's the perfect place being in Austin, what a great idea. So people have been very supportive, really good energy around it. And we've only been open for four months, so that's what people should know. It's only been four months.

Bill Walker (13:25):
So talk to me about that. How did you determine your specific demographic and what were you thinking were going to be the needs of that target audience for the men coming to Flycatcher with this concept?

Chris Heiler (13:39):
Yeah, some of it honestly was just like a hunch, kind of my gut, trusting my gut. My thought was if I was seeking out these treatments myself and I was looking to improve different things and I was willing to spend money at these med spas, and there are other men out there similar to me who are looking for the same thing and who also want a space where they're more comfortable. That was my bet. And so I thought our demographic, it's not really like the 20 somethings, it's going to be 40-year-old, 50-year-old, even maybe older than that. That's going to be our demographic, professionals, right? Business owners.

Bill Walker (14:35):
And these are people who have been very successful, I'm assuming, in their different endeavors, and they've got the resources that they want to take care of themselves and elongate how they look, how feel I'm assuming?

Chris Heiler (14:48):
Exactly. So I can tell you we've only been open four months. So it's not like we have a thousand clients or a hundred clients, but the clients we do have, I bet 90% of them are all business owners.

Bill Walker (15:02):
Interesting. So they're entrepreneurs.

Chris Heiler (15:03):
Maybe more. They're all entrepreneurs. And that's part of the reason too, is exactly where we're located, like west of Austin, that's just where a lot of the money and a lot of the entrepreneurs and people are, but it's like 40 to 55-year-old men, entrepreneurs, business owners. And what's really exciting is that's kind of what I envisioned before we opened this, and then the people coming in are exactly what I had envisioned. So I'm really encouraged by that.

Bill Walker (15:39):
What specific products and treatments do you see your clients asking for? What gets the most interest? And when you're educating them on the different benefits of certain types of services, what do they seem most interested in?

Chris Heiler (15:57):
So I think it's a little different than with women in that, to this point, there isn't one thing that men are most interested in. Most of the time they schedule a consultation, they come in to meet with Aurora. They're not necessarily looking for a HydraFacial or something specific, like women are searching for a specific brand. Men are more coming in saying, Hey, I want to do something. I don't know what I want to do. I'm 50 years old. I want to take care of myself better. What do I need? And then Aurora can talk to them about is it the sun damage? Is it acne scarring? Is it wrinkles? Is there a scar or something they want to get rid of? So it's a lot of different things that they

Bill Walker (16:51):
Interesting.

Chris Heiler (16:51):
It's not always one specific thing, but some will come in specifically for laser hair removal. That's a big one. And then once they talk with Aurora, they'll start, they'll look at doing all sorts of other stuff.

Bill Walker (17:10):
It's interesting you talk about that.

Chris Heiler (17:11):
That's a really cool thing. Yeah, go ahead.

Bill Walker (17:13):
Right there, what you said, that strikes me very interesting because when you look in the medical space as a whole, percentage wise, men are much more likely to want to do a procedure and do a procedure instantaneously or quickly, whereas a female patient may be more interested in some sort of a medication. And so there's a little bit of physicality, it seems like in men traditionally and historically when it comes to, percentage wise, wanting to do a procedure that is more, for lack of a better word, tactile. And I've seen that and listened to surgeons say that men are more apt to say, let's do this cosmetic or plastic surgical procedure today.

Chris Heiler (18:05):
Yeah. Oh, interesting.

Bill Walker (18:06):
And so I find it interesting how you just stated very uniquely that it sounds like, and it feels like men come in and say, I don't want this specific brand. I don't want this specific treatment. Tell me what we can do. What do I need? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it today.

Chris Heiler (18:26):
That's exactly right. Men don't have the same awareness that women have when it comes to aesthetics and all these different brands and all the fads and trends that are out there. So no one calls up saying, Hey, do you have HydraFacial? How much is it? Or do you have whatever the big thing is at the moment, CoolSculpting, no one ever calls asking for a brand. They just come in asking Aurora, Hey, what do I need to do? And then we talk about solutions, not brands. They're not buying a brand.

(19:06):
And what's been really cool, and I didn't necessarily expect this, but so when these guys come in, they're very open to trying all sorts of different things because they don't even know these treatments exist. So a guy might come in for laser hair removal, let's say it's his back, and then you might have a birthmark back here, and Aurora will be like, I can take care of that spot. They're like, oh, really? Yeah, all we have to do is such and such. So then they'll do it and they'll be like, Hey, what about the spot over here? Can you do something about that? Yeah, we can take care of that. Say, oh, okay, yeah, let's do that next. What about these wrinkles? And they end up trying a bunch of different things, which I wasn't really expecting, but they really do. Everybody that comes in, they end up trying all sorts of different stuff, which is super cool.

Bill Walker (20:01):
Chris, looking ahead, what are your goals for Flycatcher over the next few years and how do you plan that evolution and what do you see as being the next for Flycatcher with regards to trends in the market?

Chris Heiler (20:20):
Well, I mean short term, by the end of 2025, I want to be breaking even or making a little bit of a profit. That's the thing I'm most concerned, not concerned.

Bill Walker (20:32):
Great goal.

Chris Heiler (20:34):
That's the first. Yeah, I mean, we need to get there and show proof of concept. So that's step one. And then I think, I think we have the opportunity to have multiple locations on the west side of Austin. So that's kind of the, I don't know, five-year goal starting multiple locations. And then after that longer term, I think if we really prove the concept and show people how cool the brand is, I think we could take it further, whether that's a franchise model or it's just growing it to other markets. That's the plan. But I'm so focused on what can we do right now just to get more people in the door and get to profitability.

(21:29):
And like you asked about trends now, honestly, I don't worry that much about the trends and fads and all that stuff because this industry is growing so fast. There's always something new. There's always a new device, there's always some new, something the Kardashians are trying, then everybody else wants to try it. It's like, I try not, I see what's going on, but I don't rush into trying to do that stuff. It's like, we've got the equipment we need, we've got the tools we need, now we just need to do an awesome job at using those and helping these guys, and we'll be fine. We'll be fine. So I'm not a big trends guy, honestly.

Bill Walker (22:20):
For everybody out there who's listening that are in the Greater Austin area and beyond who are fascinated, like I am about the Flycatcher experience, could you give us maybe some coordinates on where you guys are at on the west side of Austin?

Chris Heiler (22:38):
Yeah, so probably we're about 15 minutes, I would say west of Austin. We're out in the hill country. It's the Bee cave lakeway area.

Bill Walker (22:51):
Got it.

Chris Heiler (22:54):
It's a beautiful area, the Texas Hill country. It's a beautiful area, but we're not far from downtown, 15, 20 minutes.

Bill Walker (23:00):
Perfect. Ladies and gentlemen, we look forward to having Chris Heiler back on the show for an update as they progress. We wanted to get out in front of the story because I do think it's so cutting edge of innovation for men in the health and wellness space. All hail the Chief Flycatcher. Chris, thanks for being on the Aesthetic Appeal podcast.

Chris Heiler (23:26):
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I look forward to catching up again. It'll be fun when I'm making a profit.

Bill Walker (23:33):
Alright everyone, that's this episode for this Aesthetic Appeal podcast series and we'll get you updates as we go. I know there's going to be a lot of following of the Chief Flycatcher in the Austin market. Thanks.