What You Don’t Know About Going Out on Your Own in Aesthetics

Bill Walker (00:09):
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Aesthetic Appeal Podcast, Aesthetic Brokers official podcast for everybody out there in the wellness, longevity, injectables, lasers, all of the spaces, all of the things for aesthetics. Today we have a very special guest with a very unique business model. When I met this individual, I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness with which she had approached a gap in the market that injectors and providers who are really quite phenomenal at what they do for their patients, but were missing something in their lives. Bridgette DeBrino is the chief executive officer of Belvara. And I think that as a strategic leader, Bridgette brings a depth and breadth of experience from being a chief operations officer at a luxury facility in Florida, all the way to a C-suite as the chief executive officer to create opportunities for people who were maybe being overlooked in the space before. So please welcome in this very exciting episode, Bridgette DeBrino of Belvara. Bridgette, welcome.

Bridgette DeBrino (01:24):
Thank you, Bill. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for the opportunity to have a great conversation together, and I'm excited to meet your audience. So thank you for having me.

Bill Walker (01:35):
So before we dive into what Belvara is, maybe give a background of how did you get into aesthetics in the first place?

Bridgette DeBrino (01:44):
I started as an aesthetician and a laser technician. I even had my cosmetology license at a point and I loved everything that the industry had to offer. I loved being able to serve people in that capacity. It was a small way to make a big difference in someone's day and help them present themselves in a stronger, bolder way to the world. And it felt really good to be able to do that. And as my journey through just the general aesthetic world continued, I found myself with working for a cosmetic dermatologist in South Florida and was very privileged to work for one of the best right outside of the gate. So it's not lost on me the opportunities that were afforded to me because of the incredible dedication that she had to her practice and her career and her team. So I started my journey with her.

(02:40):
She trained me through many different facets of the hands-on provider component to aesthetics. And then I reached a point where I loved her, I loved what I was doing, I loved the team that we were doing it with, but I'm like, "I feel like my brain needs or wants something more. I'm not sure if this is going to be it. I feel like I just want to be challenged a little bit. I want to use my mind. I want to expand it. " And she allowed me the opportunity to start handling her marketing for her practice. And I very, very quickly fell in love with the business side of the aesthetic world. And it was incredible to watch how, because at that point I still had my hand in the treatment room and I was also working on the business side. And so I could see the direct connection between our efforts and our initiatives digitally speaking and how that would translate into a more productive or happier day in the office as we had new patients engaging with us.

(03:42):
It really helped me to start building bridges between these different worlds. And I saw how important it was to have a really well-rounded and robust approach to anything that you're doing in this space. It all has to be really intentional. And then from there, she afforded me the opportunity to open up a second practice that was fully dedicated to body contouring. So I went from helping with the backend of a very well-run, well-oiled machine to a startup. You could not have more of a different experience there. And we built that from the ground up and it was absolutely incredible. And that's ultimately what led to this next venture of Belvara. But it's been an incredible journey. It's been a lot of fun up until, honestly, the very last moment I was still seeing patients and handling things on the operational side. So I always had a hand in both, which I really felt like genuinely did make a difference in how I was engaging with those teams, how I was building out the operations for the practice to make sense so that both sides were respected.

(04:50):
The owner felt like they were seeing the results that they wanted and the team felt like they were getting the respect that they deserved. So I think that actually having a foot in both of those worlds helped tremendously. And again, really helped in the formation of this newer concept.

Bill Walker (05:06):
So I want to back up to something you said where you started to take over marketing, but at the same time, you're still doing hands-on client care with patients.

Bridgette DeBrino (05:18):
I was.

Bill Walker (05:19):
How does your mind switch back and forth from marketing and other business functions into taking care of a patient?

Bridgette DeBrino (05:29):
I have to be honest with you, I was really surprised at how easily those two things did bounce back and forth because as I was seeing patients and talking to them and working with them, they would ask specific questions. They would have different concerns. They'd have certain things that really excited them and made them happy that I wouldn't have necessarily thought of. So I was getting this direct feedback and I understood what the process looked like for them, like what they were looking for, what type of journey and experience they wanted. And then I was able to take those conversations and those moments, and then I was able to build it into our marketing. So one of the things that I think a lot of aesthetic practices across the country struggle with is that there's a lot of companies that come in and over promise and under deliver because they're really successful at marketing.

(06:17):
They understand that component in their realm, right, within their context. But the aesthetic space is so unique and there's so many different variables in finding success and really sharing who you are to an audience that I think a lot of times that gets lost in traditional marketing initiatives. But we were able to build in these conversations and these questions and these different moments into our marketing. So it felt authentic because it was authentic. It was like we were talking directly to the patient.

Bill Walker (06:56):
What was an aha moment that you can think about when you're taking what patients are asking for in the chair and being able to translate that into marketing and see other people respond to that?

Bridgette DeBrino (07:07):
So a lot of times when we were working with marketing teams, they wanted us to phrase things in a very clinical and specific way, right? Like, come and get your Botox and treat the lines on your forehead and get this neuromodulator to help freeze frowns. And they just wanted us to use these terms that they thought were normal or average or common, and they weren't. We could say something like, "How frustrated are you when you wake up and you see this spot and you just don't know what to do about it? " We could just make it be more of a commonplace conversation. And so patients would see these advertisements or they'd read these emails and they'd be like, "Oh my God, you hit the head on the nail. This is exactly what was frustrating me. This is what I was looking for. " And this is ... Sometimes they just don't know what to ask for.

(07:56):
They just know what's driving them crazy. And so we were able to weave that in and it went against traditional concepts. And it sounds like a really small pivot. It doesn't sound like a big deal. It's just a turn of phrase, so to speak, but it actually made a huge impact. And again, it allowed us to be able to engage with these patients differently. I will add another layer to that was that at that point, I would also be engaging with lead follow-up. So there's something to be said for having somebody that can speak to these patients and understand how to answer questions. And that was something that allowed us to gain insight and then make a pivotal change in our practice. We actually put somebody in this role specifically. So it wasn't just the front desk spending a couple of minutes answering a question and getting somebody booked. It was somebody who could spend 15 to 30 minutes answering questions over the phone, building that rapport from the start and then being able to navigate how to move that patient forward from there.

(08:55):
So before the patient even stepped into the door, they already felt like they had an intimate connection to us.

Bill Walker (08:59):
Now let me ask a question about operations. What were some of the functions that you started to expand responsibility over as you went from marketing into operations?

Bridgette DeBrino (09:10):
Honestly, everything. When you're in operations, you have your hand in every single aspect of the business and you need to because you need to understand how one piece affects the other. So I was handling on the body contouring side with that second practice, I was handling everything. I was involved in marketing, payroll, accounting, scheduling, hiring, firing, onboarding devices.

Bill Walker (09:36):
All the fun stuff. It sounds like fun stuff.

Bridgette DeBrino (09:39):
It is fun. It's what makes it go round. It's what makes it make sense. I had incredible team members that would step up and take lead in these things, but you need to have one to two people that just understand all those different dynamics to bring it all together because everybody who takes lead in something, they're going to be hyper focused on their specific area as they should be, but you need to understand how they all connect and play together so that you can build these operational processes that make sense for all the members involved.

Bill Walker (10:10):
You talked about operations and you spoke to the marketing, you spoke to all what you get excited about as being tasks that help make the world turn on its axis when it comes to aesthetics. But when I hear those things, it feels like it's a little bit of a extra rock in my backpack perhaps. So I'm curious, what was it that made you think, "Okay, I need to create Belvara," and kind of tell people what Belvara is, if you would.

Bridgette DeBrino (10:44):
Belvara is a company that is designed to help with that rock in your backpack as you put it, because you are like the majority of people out there, these things are stressful and daunting and not exactly fun or easy to navigate. And so Belvara was created to help providers who want to take that step into independence, but they need additional support to find their stride and reach maximum success. A provider is just that. They love to see patients, they understand the science, they understand the nuances of their industry and they want to be engaged and they want to be able to give 100% to those patients. That means they don't necessarily have time to fully understand the nuances of a P&L or how to make their marketing campaigns stronger or how to troubleshoot if their software goes down. Who has time for that if you're treating patients and trying to run a solopreneur business or an aestheticpreneur.

(11:39):
That's what I love to call them. So that's where we come in. We provide all of that backend support. We help providers from A to Z. We help them to set up compliantly. We provide them with the medical director if they need it, all of the different things that they need to be compliant in their state and then safe in their treatment room. We assist with marketing software, CFO support, buying power with consumables, as well as a virtual receptionist who also can spend some time with them on a monthly basis in person. So we really try to think of all the needs that someone would need to be able to maintain the excellence that they may have been able to provide if they were in a traditional setting, but to be able to reap the benefits of their hard work and dedication by being the owner of this business.

Bill Walker (12:28):
So if I'm an aestheticpreneur, I love that. If I'm someone who ... I inject. Can I use that as an example? I'm an injector.

Bridgette DeBrino (12:41):
Absolutely.

Bill Walker (12:43):
I like being my own boss. I like the independence of being a solo practitioner, but I don't have, as you put it, I don't have the time to do all of my marketing, to do all of my profit and loss statements, all of my bookkeeping, all of my payroll. This is an alternative that has not existed in the space to date.

Bridgette DeBrino (13:05):
Correct. Exactly.

Bill Walker (13:08):
Where do they practice at?

Bridgette DeBrino (13:11):
So there's a few different opportunities and to your point, this is a newer concept in the aesthetic space. It's a newer vertical. There are a couple of companies out here that are supporting providers, some from a more virtual component, some from a more physical component. And I like to say that Belvara is really trying to blend both worlds. So we can support providers who may have already gotten started and perhaps are working out of a medical suite or renting a room from another office. They may already have something structured, or we can help them find something to get structured. And then we'll also have a physical component that'll be launching later this year that we're incredibly excited about. And that physical location will be small but mighty. We'll be able to house eight to 12 providers and it will have medical suites that are fully built out to the top tier of excellence.

(14:05):
It'll have a shared space for these providers to be able to spend time making their notes or taking a training, hosting perhaps a lunch and learn or an event, a welcome, like open house. We'll have an area specifically for patients who are doing more of those wellness services like IVs and things along those lines. And we really see this as an opportunity to bring together professionals throughout the entire medical aesthetic and wellness space. So we may have an injector, a chiropractor, someone who's more focused on hormones, someone who's focused on female care or even mental health. We're really open to bringing together professionals that are just experts within their space. Ones that have found these niches that they are so passionate about and that they've dedicated their career to. We want to support that person. We want them to find success within that niche. And so we'll have both options readily available.

(14:57):
So that's going to be Belvara Collective and Belvara Circle is live today. So we're helping providers in what I will call remote locations, but it can be a location of their choosing or, like I said, that we help them find.

Bill Walker (15:10):
This is so interesting, Bridgette, because I can give an example where I can think of a couple different provider examples where they joined a group, found happiness there for a while, gained experience, gained exposure, gained confidence, and they came to realize, not with any predetermined estimation, but just through happenstance that they really wanted to have more control over their schedule and their lifestyle, and they wanted to just be on their own. But it sounds like to me that you guys provide some of the same kind of buying power for them to keep their costs of goods low and not have to worry about the headaches of owning all the burdens of the business.

Bridgette DeBrino (16:00):
Exactly. That's exactly right, Bill. You've got it. So, and you asked how Belvara was created and where it came from. And ultimately, those were some of those leading factors. When I met my partners, they were looking to join the aesthetic space and had explored it for several years and did have their hands in a few different areas. And so when we were talking through what the space needed, we had some really intentional and meaningful conversations for over six months, just really diving into what's working and what isn't. And the things that ... Because truthfully, I felt I worked for the best of the best. And again, I loved my team. I loved the company that I was with. So I wasn't leaving because of a hardship, but there were certain things about the industry that were hard to overcome and it was frustrating. And I felt like women were constantly being sold this story of having it all where they would have a full-time career, which requires 50, 60 hours a week to truly commit yourself to and still have a family and children and a husband and a life and friends and all these different things.

(17:09):
And I saw firsthand how so many of them were struggling with, "Well, why am I not good enough to have it all? If I want it all, why am I not capable of doing that? " And these unrealistic expectations, I think, are not helping anybody at the end of the day because as a business owner, when you invest in bringing team members in and you train them and help them to become better and get exposed to different things, you're carrying the entire financial burden, operational burden of making that a reality and a success. And so you hope you receive loyalty back. And the flip side of that is these providers, to your point, they join very happy, very excited with no thoughts of leaving, but then their life changes. They get married, now they want to have a baby and now they want to ... None of these things are bad or wrong, but how do you navigate both of them?

(18:01):
And that's where there's been a real struggle in finding that balance so that everybody can have their needs met. And I do think that Belvara provides that because ultimately they're building into a business that is theirs. So what they choose to dedicate to it is what they receive back from it, but it'll afford them an opportunity to design a schedule that will allow them to still be present and things that matter at home and still be very present in their career, which matters to them greatly as well. Because let's face it, if you have a sick child at home and you can't be with them, you're not going to be as focused on what's happening in the office that day, right? And vice versa. If you know that a patient is having a complication, you're not going to be enjoying a birthday party with your child.

(18:45):
So having the autonomy to be able to navigate life, because life just comes at us and then it's up to us how we choose to handle it and how we choose to process it and work through it is such a huge gift.

Bill Walker (18:59):
When you partner up with an independent provider and they're interested in Belvara Circle, what's the first one or two things that you mentioned to them to be aware of that they may not be thinking about? And then what's something that you give as advice to them as they want to get started down this path?

Bridgette DeBrino (19:18):
I love to ask them what their dream is. I want to understand what's motivating them, what's their why, why are we having this conversation today and what brought them to this point? And then once I have a better understanding of that, I usually try to tie in my experience with their desires. So I try to be as realistic as possible in setting expectations and try to give them insight into different things that may be a little more difficult to overcome, things that are going to really propel them into success, and then help them to really sit down and structure a game plan and get clear on timelines, goals, and expectations.

Bill Walker (19:58):
So Belvara Circle and Belvara Collective, which Belvara Collective's coming online at the end of this year in Chicago, there's two things that I want to go down a path of this because I find this very interesting. If I'm a provider and I'm looking for straightforward answers on what are things that I pay for, what are things that I don't pay for or maybe what are things that I pay for, but it's at a significant discounted cost if I were to have to run it on my own, maybe give some of the listeners out there an idea of why it's beneficial to be a part of the circle.

Bridgette DeBrino (20:36):
We actually go through this in two different directions when we meet with the provider in their initial Zoom call and we show them what these things would cost on average if they were to be sourcing them independently. So things like a medical director, structuring your PLLC and your MSO, getting a marketing team in place who can handle the build out of your web presence and your SEO and your ads. This is something that we're doing for you. So it's included in your monthly membership with us. We have a very easy to understand membership pricing. There's a couple of different levels just depending on the needs of the practitioner and then things that they would need to handle independently are their insurance, which we do have a resource that will allow us to help them with that, but that would be an additional payment. Their rent would be additional payment if they are in the above our circle, their consumables would be.

(21:27):
But when we go through our business model with them, we get an average of where they're at with their numbers and then we show them all of these things, all of the traditional expenses. We build in averages for them so that we can give them a really realistic expectation of what they would be looking at financially for at least their first year of business. And then we show them what things would look like on a low level and a high level so that they have a really good average and a good range of what to expect.

Bill Walker (21:55):
So we talk about some of the different types of suite models or management service providers that are out there that are coming online. What do you think is a differentiator that you guys are building that maybe somebody else isn't right now?

Bridgette DeBrino (22:10):
We are very hands-on. We are going to handle everything from A to Z for these providers and we're building with them. We want quality over quantity, so we want to make sure that their success equals our success and we're building it together ultimately.

Bill Walker (22:28):
I want to circle back to the concept of Belvara Collective. This is such a creative concept in this space. It's such a great descriptor because for me, as an individual, if I want to come in for an aesthetic treatment, but then I also want to be seen for my peptides and my wellness, and I may need my back cracked, right? And I need to see the chiro. All the things that you're talking about, these are all like a very 360 taking care of yourself that I believe is the way forward of the industry.

(23:09):
We see it more and more that people are starting to incorporate wellness into their practices. They used to be purely aesthetic and people who were at the forefront of functional medicine started to incorporate some aesthetic into their practice because they realized that once you look good, you want to feel good, once you get feeling good, you want to look even better. And so maybe talk through what was the impetus for creating the collective? Because as I look at it from the layman, I look at it like almost like a sola salon. If like in the West Coast and Southern California, there are these facilities that you recognize just by their name that you can go there and there's like a really quality A, B, C, X, Y, Z type of need that I have that's going to get taken care of and it's so convenient.

(23:59):
How did you guys come up with the idea of the collective?

Bridgette DeBrino (24:02):
You hit the nail on the head. Exactly what you just explained was our goal. We wanted to just bring together experts who would be able to help the patient in every single way and make it really convenient and easy for those patients to be able to see multiple practitioners that were experts. In addition to that, as providers go independent, they really missed the ability to collaborate with like- minded providers and they struggled with the amount of competition that was out there. And we believe that the collective is going to solve for both of those things because we're hand selecting these providers. So it will minimize competition, but still allow for a really healthy collaboration and really source of referrals to help each of these practitioners to be able to grow.

Bill Walker (24:46):
A hundred percent. You did exactly what I was going to say, which is I think of it almost like a specialty dental group. If I need a root canal, I'm going to go to the endodontist. I would love it if it's in the same building as my hygienist and my general dentist. And because I'm not wearing my retainer at night, I need to go back and get ortho for another set of tracks. So you're like, "I don't want to go to an orthodontist like halfway across town. Can I just get all of my things taken care of in the same facility?" And I love that there's a specialization there and there's a selectivity there because everybody knows this to be true. If you're out there and you're listening, you know, referral sources are incredibly valuable for your independent businesses. And if somebody trusts you to take care of a back issue that they've got and you say, "I know because I work in the same building complex that this is a great wellness provider.

(25:51):
This is a great injector." And I think that's such a unique idea and I can't believe it hasn't been executed on in the past. So kudos to you.

Bridgette DeBrino (26:02):
Thank you. I'm excited.

Bill Walker (26:04):
I want to ask a question about independence because we talked about this a little bit. You work closely with providers who are considering independence. What do you think is one of the main reasons so many talented injectors hesitate and what actually moves them to act?

Bridgette DeBrino (26:25):
This has been really interesting for me. It's actually confidence. I talk to so many incredibly talented providers and they get very nervous when they think about the fact that it's all going to be on them and they start to doubt themselves. And this is something that I would love for us to start building into and to start supporting because they deserve to have that confidence. They deserve to take this next step in this career. They've earned it and I want to continue to build into these providers so they can feel that and see it and then execute upon it.

Bill Walker (26:59):
I think one barrier that happens sometimes in the confidence realm for anybody who's starting a business is they may misunderstand what profitability looks like on their own versus when they're with somebody else. So maybe talk to you if you would, like how can they avoid becoming busy but broke because that is a real thing.

Bridgette DeBrino (27:22):
It is. And I think it's something that makes our models stand out even more. And Bill, I'm sure you can understand this with everything that you see and do and all the practices that you look at. A successful practice can easily sit around a 20% profit margin when they're doing everything perfectly and everybody thinks that those margins are quite a bit higher because they don't understand how expensive it is to be successful in this space. And so with our model, we're able to be able to get those margins at a much healthier place. And it's just about education and creating awareness around what things cost and how to execute and how to structure your business so that you're still treating in a way that you respect and value and appreciate, but also making sure that your margins are healthy on the backend so that you can continue to support patients in the best capacity possible.

Bill Walker (28:12):
I really do think that you guys have cracked the nut on what I would term as hybrid aesthetics because it's an independence that is distinct. It's a coalition that is defined. I think there's going to be in that hybrid model. There's some things that people may take on as a fixed cost for themselves, such as rent, but the idea of having a cost of goods that shares across multiple providers who are independent like themselves, but under one umbrella like a Belvara, where they can gain the buying power, that is so powerful because I see so many million dollar injectors that are like, "I'm going to go out on my own and start my own business." And they forget that like fixed cost, rent, fixed cost. You just added 30% to your cost of goods, right?

Bridgette DeBrino (29:02):
Yes.

Bill Walker (29:03):
Fixed costs. Now you've got to pay for all the marketing, like fixed costs, all these things that become fixed costs that they can't get away from. And all of a sudden variable costs are no longer variable costs, they're fixed costs.

Bridgette DeBrino (29:16):
Right.

Bill Walker (29:17):
I think what you provide is incredibly powerful.

Bridgette DeBrino (29:20):
Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm excited to see how it can impact lives. I really am.

Bill Walker (29:25):
Last question. Would you rather build a hundred independent providers or one 100 location platform and why?

Bridgette DeBrino (29:34):
A hundred individual providers, absolutely, because these providers are so invested. It's their direct success. They, again, get back what they build into it, and so they're just building from a totally different perspective and receiving the reward that they deserve. So I believe that really is how you can meet with absolutely tremendous and unmatched success.

Bill Walker (29:58):
Bridgette, it's been a pleasure. Everyone One, Bridgette DeBrino, she is the chief executive officer of Belvara, an alternative space with Belvara Circle and soon to be in Chicago towards the end of 2026, Belvara Collective. I think they're reshaping how people think about holistic wellness for themselves, both on the inside and the outside. Bridgette, thank you for joining us today.

Bridgette DeBrino (30:24):
Thank you, Bill. It was a pleasure.

Bill Walker (30:26):
If you like that episode, tune back in next time on the Aesthetic Appeal podcast. We're here to not represent any one side. We're here to represent the industry of its own right and how it transforms and evolves and hope that you enjoyed that episode. Be well.