Why Most Medspa Owners Try to Sell 3 Years Too Early

Jessica Hunter (00:09):
So for today's episode, I really want to go down the rabbit hole of understanding what it actually takes to build a business that someone wants to buy and why time and consistency beat talent every single time. And I'll tell you, this episode really came from me feeling a little bit frustrated with constant calls and people booking in for meetings to discuss selling their business. And so I'm going to share a little bit more about this. So for the last month, on average, I've probably had about five or six people book in to discuss selling their business with me. More than happy to sit down with anybody and talk to them about what that really looks like. But there has been a really consistent thread from all of these people that have sat down with me. And the number one thing is that they really haven't had enough time in their business for it to be viable.

(01:05):
So for example, I had someone last week, they sat down with me. So they're month 13. They just finished their first year of business and they're doing ... He's like, "We're doing really well. It's really great." I said, "Okay, well tell me about that. What is really well?" We did $250,000 last year. And so I said, "Okay, I think that's a great start. You have one provider, you're just starting." And the reality is when he's like, "Okay, so what would that multiple be? " Well, there is no multiple, right? You just started your business and you're nowhere near being able to sell it. And my advice is time. I don't know how else to say that. If you started your business today, expect to be doing this for three to five years to build something that would be sustainable and profitable and that actually would be a viable sale versus a rushing to get out of it sort of asset purchase at best.

(02:01):
And so I think that is my big piece of advice is that you just haven't given it enough time. And I think we hear this a lot that somehow having your own business is supposed to be easy. And somewhere along the way, somebody said, "Hey, if you start your own business, it's going to be way better and way easier than working for someone else." And I think the reality is, listen, it's all hard. I'm not going to say someone who's an employee somewhere, it isn't difficult. It is. But having your own business is twenty four seven. It honestly never stops. And you really got to love it. You really got to be passionate about it. You got to love your team. You got to want to help them. You really want to continue to kind of educate yourself and just be curious about what you're doing because if you're not, it will drain you and it will be exhausting.

(02:57):
And you will be one of these people on the call saying, "Hey, I'm a year, I'm two years, I'm three years, and I would like to sell my business." And I'm sitting there saying to you, "You haven't had enough time yet." It's not that the business is crappy. There just hasn't been enough time yet. And they're like, "It's really hard." And I said, "Yeah, it is really hard." And listen, there are paths to help you feel like you can manage being a business owner and having a life. There is. And I think one of those is really understanding where to focus your time, where you really want to put your energy into, because I think a lot of you guys as business owners just don't know where to focus your energy. And that's what becomes more consuming is it's just focused on the wrong things and we're all over social media and all we're looking at is what so and so posted or what this clinic is promoting.

(03:47):
And we get so sidetracked to, "Okay, what are we trying to do? Let's stay focused on our goals and our objectives." And I'm constantly telling that to clients, "Let's stay in our lane. Why do we care? If you're sending me something a competitor's doing, why do I care?" And that's the question to always ask yourself and it will really, I think, put you back into that area of focus. And where time comes into play is that this business, I really believe it is a compounding effect, which means everything that you do today is going to compound for tomorrow and the next day and the next day. I'll share with you, I think when I first started my consulting business, I was at every conference I could be at and I really burnt myself out in two years. I'll just be so transparent. I mean, it was exhausting.

(04:37):
Traveling, trying to manage my client workload because I do one-on-one consulting and a lot of one-on-one time with my clients that being out of the office for three, four days, multiple times a month, that workload doesn't end. And so I would have to try to find the time and work at night. I'm working all the time. And I came to a point where I thought I can't sustain this forever, right? So let's pick and choose where I want to go, where I really want to focus my time, where's my energy best used, and let's focus on that. And I will tell you that a year of not doing that, my business doubled. And someone's like, "Oh, you must have been out a lot and doing a lot of stuff." And I was like, "No, I was just focused on the right things." And also, it was just the compounding effect that it was time.

(05:21):
It was time. I had been in business multiple years and it compounded over time. People knew what I did, people understood what my offerings are, people saw how I could help them, and it just compounded over time for me. And it's nothing that was magic. It was just that thing of me focusing on what was going to really drive it forward, which was really being with my clients all the time and delivering and improving on the service that I was giving them. And then it was just a compounding effect. So- and-so knew me and referrals, and it just happens that way. And I want to give you a rhyme or reason for it, but there isn't. It's just time. It's just time. And I sound like I'm preaching, but I just want you to know that it's okay if you're two or three years in and you're not there yet.

(06:10):
And you're only going to fail if you stop because that's where all the other people have failed. It's not because they weren't good at what they did, they weren't passionate about what they did. It's honestly just because they stopped because getting over that hump and getting up every day and doing it is the hard and it will become easier at a point, but you got to make it to that point. And that's the part that's really hard. And so I share this with you because I feel like I've been sharing this a lot with a lot of people that have reached out and really interested in knowing and selling their business. And listen, I would love to help you with that. I really would, but I want to make sure it's actually something that interests you too, right? It's something that's viable for you, that you have a business that you feel that is going to be worth it to sell because it takes a lot of hard work.

(07:00):
One other thing I'm thinking about that I want to share with you too, I was talking to a client this morning, we were talking about a provider. It was actually an RN versus a nurse practitioner. And it was this concept that we've realized, obviously, is that the RN does the same skillset every single day. And the NP does a variety of different services and then also works at the hospital and does a bunch of other things. And at some point, that credentialing is not the differentiating factor for many, many of our clients in 2026 in aesthetics. The differentiating factor is doing the same thing over and over again and becoming an expert at it. And I will tell you, the consultant I was 10 years ago, I mean, I feel bad for those clients. It is absolutely not who I am today because I just have so much more experience because I've been doing the exact same thing in my office every single day.

(07:57):
And I share that only with you because it's just back to this idea of time. It just takes time to get better at something the more you do it. So one of my rules to live by is consistency is a strategy. The more consistent you are with everything, that compounding effect is going to allow you to be more successful in your business for yourself. So if you want to talk more about what kind of behaviors and activities and tasks that you can do that compound time over time to make you more successful, reach out to Aesthetic Brokers. We're happy to help. We're happy to learn more about your business and be able to give you the guidance and support you need to make the best decision for you in your future.