If you would have asked me 6 years ago
if I would be where I am now, I would
have thought that was a really crazy
story and I wouldn't have believed it.
The last year our revenue grew like by
78% in one year which most med spas were
staying the same or declining.
Hello, welcome to Illumine podcast. This
is my very first episode. Uh, my name is
Kim Peters. I live in Kansas City. I
have two med spas in the Kansas City
area and I am wanting to talk about how
I got to where I am and share that
experience with everyone. Illumine uh is
a word that I when I first discovered
it, I hadn't even heard of it before and
I had to look up the description of it.
And what it means is to it's very close
to illuminate. So, it means to shed
light or to enlighten someone. And I
feel like in my life, that is really my
goal um for my patients and for others
who are in the same boat as me, whether
they're women in business um while
they're trying to improve their health,
uh look better, feel better, their
leadership roles, I want to help bring
everything that I've learned along the
way and share that with them so that
they can in essence step on the head of
a giant, right? instead of trying to
figure it out over and over, what have I
learned that I can provide for those so
that they can also be successful. My
journey um to where I am today, if I
mean, if you would have asked me six
years ago if I would be where I am now,
I would have thought that was a crazy
really crazy story and I wouldn't have
believed it. Um, I was working as a
nurse practitioner in um, orthopedics
for a while and then I was in internal
medicine and I would round on patients
in nursing homes and I did the classic
very typical nurse practitioner role of
working in medicine, working for a
hospital, being paid hourly. Um, and in
my mind that was just kind of where I
would start and end my career. And it
wasn't until much later in my life that
I realized that I was actually more of
an entrepreneur. And looking back, I can
see little um tidbits or crumbles of
things that I've done through my journey
of life that have led to me being an
entrepreneur. The the entrepreneur that
I am now. Back in 2017 2018, um I was
working four jobs at one time. One of
them was a business that my husband and
I had built and we went through some
marital struggles. Um, and that led to a
point where we were no longer a good fit
for each other. And I'll just probably
just leave it at that. Um, and he left
and I had two kids, a business that we
built together as well as the three
other jobs that I was working and I was
left with all the bills and it was a
stressful time. Um, I did not like that
feeling. I really think that that's what
drove me was the feeling of un
instability. And so I needed to find
something that would provide me
additional income um to give me that
security back that I was going to be
okay, but it needed to be flexible so
that I could still take care of my kids.
I had this idea um that I would do
mobile orthopedics. I would provide um
care for patients in long-term care
facilities that had a hard time getting
out to the doctor's office. And it was a
great idea as far as like being
financially lucrative or beneficial. It
ended up not being quite that. However,
I was traveling to I made my own
business. I got my own business. I got a
medical director. I was traveling to
about 25 different facilities in Kansas
City and it worked really well because I
was able to make my own schedule and
make that little extra income.
Then um a friend of mine approached me.
He was the rep for Galerma and he said,
"Um, you should get into aesthetics."
Like, I'm not that's crazy. Why would I
do that? That's I I didn't even do
anything in aesthetics. I'd never done
Botox. I probably used Clean and Clear,
which is like a brand of facial cleanser
that most people don't use anymore. And
he kept hounding me and he said, "I
think you'd be really great at this. You
should give it a try." I really just
thought he was being a sales rep. But
long story short, I ended up thinking,
well, maybe I could do this on the side.
I could do it for friends and family for
my neighbors. So, I went ahead and went
through the training, got the product,
started injecting. I trained a little
bit. I injected um my neighbors. I gave
them 50% off. I got some before and
afters. Well, then they started telling
their friends about it and they had a
great result. And most people in my
community had not been doing that as
well. So, this was like a new thing for
Fast forward, um, I had gotten to a
point where that just got busier and I
needed to have a place to go and see
patients that was a little bit more
formal than my living room couch and um
cuz I had dogs so I had dog hair and I
have kids and I'm I wouldn't say I say
I'm organized but I'm not the cleanest
person in the world. So I was tired of
trying to get it all cleaned up all the
time. So, I rented out a room from a
um for $500 a month and I started seeing
patients there. Um I'm going to go back
a little bit and talk about kind of
where this desire came from. Um so, when
I was working in internal medicine, I
would have a lot of women coming to me
their weight and how they felt and they
felt tired. Um they felt like their hair
was changing. They felt like their skin
was changing. um they were gaining
weight and they were doing everything
the things that all the things that they
have been doing before. So they're
exercising, they're trying to diet,
they're almost starving themselves and
they're making no progress in the
direction of feeling good about
themselves. And so as a working in
internal medicine and not being really
appropriately trained on hormones or
even weight management, I didn't have
many answers for them. And so I went and
got some training on this and I came
back and I started applying what I my
knowledge of weight management to these
and it just became so rewarding because
they would come like if I could get them
just to lose a little bit of weight the
next time that they would come into my
office they're standing taller, they're
smiling, they're um wearing clothes that
are a little bit more form fitting. And
so this reward of seeing them come back
over and over again feeling better and
better and better about themselves
really fueled me. That was that was my
gratitude or that was my my drug of
choice was to see my patients get better
and feel better. It was genuinely
rewarding to me. So fast forward now
we're back to um to our aesthetics. So
that bleeds into that as well, right? So
if somebody gets Botox for the first
time, they have wrinkles on their face
that make them feel old. they get Botox.
Um, those wrinkles smooth out, they feel
younger, they feel fresher, then they
start to feel better about themselves.
So then I start to realize that this
this area of weight loss and then this
area of aesthetics, I was combining
those two and I was really changing how
people felt about themselves and it just
unfolded. Um, I feel very fortunate. It
just kind of unfolded naturally on its
on itself. I those people that I saw
told their friends and then those
friends told their friends and it just
grew and grew and grew and finally I had
reached a point where I needed to make a
decision about do I stay in this space
that I'm at where I work full-time and I
have that, you know, very reliable job
that gives me health insurance that I'm
going to get paid the same no matter
what. It's a salary. Um that even if we
slow down on patients, I'm still going
to get paid. Like I don't there's a lot
I don't have to worry about that. But I
wasn't happy in that space. Um, and I
lacked control in that space about what
I wanted to do for my patients
and or do I make this leap and
gra jump fully into aesthetics and
wellness space? So, I did obviously um
for those that know me have a few places
that I run. It was one of the best
decisions I made was to jump into that
space and I quit my job. The last year
our revenue grew like by 78% in one year
which most med spas were staying the
same or declining. Part of what I do now
is I consult with other med spas and um
wellness centers and other practitioners
or professionals in the space and they
ask what are you doing or what do you do
different or why are you so successful
and I don't know that I could tell you
specifically because it's really hard to
track that in my opinion. I think a lot
med spa and wellness space because it is
very it can be potentially very very
lucrative and I when I started it I had
no idea that it was lucrative. I truly
and genuinely did it because I was I was
seeking that reward of having somebody
feel better about themselves. And I know
that sounds sappy. That's generally
where I started. And I think that that
focus of getting people the results that
they're looking for and doing it safely
and effectively and doing it over and
over over again and then layering things
for people so that they continue to get
that grat get that gratification of
feeling better is really what got us to
where we are now. And the the cool side
is that it's very lucrative. So, I
definitely um appreciate that part of it
cuz you know, you got to you got to have
a job and make money somehow. But
when I think about all the years that I
have put into this and all the time that
I've put into it, um I've enjoyed the
entire process, but I've learned so much
about who I am, what kind of person I
am, how I think, and how I work. Um I've
learned a lot about people. I've learned
about how they all function differently
um and how they receive um appreciation
differently and that they grow
differently. And I've learned how to
have greater boundaries for myself and
I've learned how to grow and I've
learned what not to do. I've learned a
lot of what not to do because I've just
kind of tried things and figured out it
didn't work. One thing that I truly
enjoy is um is also teaching and
teaching other people how to do things.
Um, I do that. Uh, I contract with I do
some consulting on the side that's
independent, but I also contract with a
company um called InMode and train other
med spa owners on how to use their
devices, how to use them effectively.
And I I believe that I've been
successful with that because there is
some skill that I've earned or learned
is to be able to communicate things to
others in a way that makes sense for
them where the light bulb goes off. And
that light bulb is also rewarding for
me. If I can help somebody be successful
with something that they've struggled
with, it's very rewarding and fun. So,
as I'm building my business and this
podcast, really the intention is that I
um further share those things with other
people. and not only from my own
experience, but I want to bring in other
people that have had a similar but
different um experience and different
perspective and see how they can also
contribute to sharing to others that are
in the space that we are that are trying
to grow and change and get better at
what they're doing. We're going to talk
about being a woman and and all that's
surrounding that. Um we're going to talk
about being which is like a mom. um
fitness, wellness, health, being in
business, being a career person, um
being a leader. I want to talk about all
those types of things as well as all the
challenges that I've met, how I've grown
from that and how I can share that to
other people so that they can also grow.
Um I and it's not just I it's not just
the business aspect. I also want to talk
about hormones, uh, weight loss,
cortisol levels, um, aesthetics,
injectables, um, different treatments so
that we can all kind of understand and
grow on the knowledge that I've earned
over the past several years. What I want
for those that are listening are to
is is to find value in what I'm
learn from my mistakes, but also my
successes. Um, there's things that I
have failed at. there's things that I've
succeeded at and I would love to share
that to make somebody else's journey to
reaching their goals a little bit easier
and a little bit more attainable. And
also my goal is to make it very
relatable. I've listened to a lot of
speakers um and some of them are just
kind of hard to listen to um and hard to
grasp. Not that they don't have value in
what they're communicating, but my hope
is that I can communicate everything
that I would like to share in a way that
makes it sense to somebody and it's
applicable to what um what their needs
are. I think something else that I want
to communicate is that um a lot of this
stuff isn't quite as hard or as
intimidating as it seems. For example,
I wanted I recognized that managing
people's hormones was going to be
exponentially bene beneficial to my
patients that I was doing them a
disservice by not educating them on that
and providing some sort of service to
solve that problem. However, I wasn't
educated or wellversed in it. And what I
didn't want to do was go to I was very
intimidated by the whole concept of
hormone replacement therapy because I
didn't want to hurt anybody. I wanted to
know exactly what I was doing. I wanted
to be an expert right away and I wanted
to be effective in making people feel
better. And so I probably spent a year
and a half researching different um
education tracks of how to become sex
successful with this. And I did not like
the idea of going to a weekend course
and then coming back and treating people
for hormones. There was in my mind there
was no way that that was possible or
reasonable way to start doing something
so big as hormone replacement therapy. I
mean, we're talking about people's
health and how they feel. And I kept
calling other nurse practitioners and
colleagues and trying to find out what
they did and how they were successful.
What do they recommend? How do I do
this? Do I can I shadow you? Um and it
all everyone said the same thing. They
told me that um you just have to start
somewhere and so you start with that
weekend seminar and then you you you
execute that knowledge at a at a basic
level and then you grow on that and you
keep educating yourself and you just
keep going to more conferences. So where
I'm I'm using this as an analogy is that
people look often at the big picture of
doing something really grand and they of
course that's going to come with
problems and challenges and it's going
to be intimidating but if it was
simple everybody would do it but it I
guess what my message is is that it is
it's attainable and that um I hope that
I can lead people in a way that if you
take small steps and look and kind of
break it down and cut it down into
little slices and just chip away at it a
little bit at a time. Those great things
are very attainable and just about
anybody can be successful with that. If
you are relating to anything that I've
talked about and you want to grow your
business or you just really need some
validation or some encouragement and
want to hear from other women who have
met similar challenges, have already
conquered them and you hope to grow from
that, then I strongly recommend that you
follow Illumine podcast. Thank you for
listening. This is Kim Peters. You guys
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Audible
