Moving On Without Burning Bridges

Andrea (00:04):
Well, hi there. I am Andrea Watkins. And if you're listening to this, while juggling three patient calls, checking in a couple patients, taking a payment, selling skincare, and trying to catch your doctor in between procedures, you might be working in an aesthetic practice.

Blake (00:18):
And I'm Blake Lucas, and this is Practiceland. This is not your doctor's podcast.

Andrea (00:24):
Hi, this is Andrea Watkins and you are listening to Practiceland, the podcast where we help you tame the chaos, get shit done, and gain the recognition you deserve. So today we have Bridgette DeBrino here. Welcome to the pod.

Bridgette (00:36):
Thank you. So excited to be here.

Andrea (00:39):
We're so excited to have you. So we wanted to talk a little bit to you today about your career path. You have a really great example about having a love for aesthetics, being in the industry for a really long time, and then kind of breaking off and doing a few other things and never burning bridges along the way, maintaining really, really great relationships. And so it's just a really wonderful example to share with our listeners who may be senior in the industry or just starting out and really wondering what's really out there, what's available and how do we really enjoy ourselves become successful and really follow the path that we're called to. So first just spill the tea a little bit. How did you get into aesthetics?

Bridgette (01:26):
It's always been a passion of mine. It's funny, even my grandmothers were involved in aesthetics on both sides. They loved that world, the beauty world, anything that can make people feel good and feel better about themselves is something that they're passionate about. And I've lived it since I was a little girl. My mom has pictures of me with bright red lipstick. When I was three years old. I turned my cute little dress into a halter and I just thought I was this grown little woman. But I started through getting certified honestly in everything that I could get certified in aesthetics. So I took a couple years and just really jumped into every single part that I could so that I was really well-rounded. I like having options. I didn't want to be restrained to just one piece. So started with just a cosmetology license, skincare license, and then a laser and electrolysis license, and it expanded out from there.

Andrea (02:17):
Awesome. And how long ago was that that you started getting your certifications and learning more?

Bridgette (02:22):
Oh, it's 15 years, A little over 15 years at this point, which is kind of scary to say. I don't know where the time goes. It goes quite quickly. I mean,

Andrea (02:29):
That's amazing. So you started when you were like 10 because you're only 25 now,

Bridgette (02:33):
Right? Exactly, exactly. I'm so happy you understood what I was putting down.

Andrea (02:37):
Exactly. That's the joy about our industry too, it's the perks of having really great access to all the great skincare and the things that we learn along the way too. So Cliff notes, you started off, you learned a ton more on the clinical side as far as being a provider and doing some of those things. Where did you go from there?

Bridgette (02:57):
So I ended up in Dr. Allenby's office and I worked for her for 14 years. So I started as a clinical component to her practice and I was doing the laser hair removal aesthetic services, and then she trained me to be one of her medical assistants. So obviously that opened me up to the world of med spa services and I was trained on all the various devices that we had in her practice, and then eventually that evolved and we started to really hyperfocus on body contouring and that provided me an opportunity to step into more of the marketing piece of her business. At that point, I was feeling like, okay, I really love what I'm doing, but I do really feel this call to do more. I want to use my mind just as much as I'm using my hands. I loved patient engagement, but I definitely just felt the need to continue to expand.

(03:47):
So she gave me the opportunity to start dabbling in the marketing for the practice, and then that evolved to us coming up with the concept of Body Squad, and that was a second practice that was fully dedicated just to body contouring treatment. So CoolSculpting, CoolTone, Morpheus, we had the privilege of being able to pilot the ReSonic device for about three years, which was absolutely incredible. And when that transition took place, she afforded me the opportunity to really just run with that practice. So I was overseeing everything from start to finish and building that team out, building out the services that we used, the marketing, just really handling all the operations and I had my hand in both practices. So I handled backend operations for both her derm clinic and then for the body contouring clinic as well.

Andrea (04:37):
I love that you have both the clinician side and experience and lens as well as the administrative sales and marketing side because typically those are two very, very different mindsets. What was the biggest mindset shift that you needed or that you would think that you went through in the transition between clinical into the more business operation, sales, marketing because they're different.

Bridgette (05:01):
They're so different, so that's why this answer is going to be interesting. They played so beautifully. The fact that I had that clinical experience, the fact that I experienced that perspective as an employee, but experienced it in the eyes of a patient and experienced it from the combination of the two, I really think is what led me to be successful in that next role. There's a lot of nuances to our industry and to our space, and I think anybody that you talk to that's a practitioner, they have their unique way of communicating with a patient. And even though they have their unique approach, there are still certain things that just we know speak to a patient's heart because we're talking to them all day long and we genuinely care. Our heart does want to reach the hearts of our patients, we want to connect with them, we want to build that rapport.

(05:50):
So actually, even though they're two different mindsets doing completely different work, they blended so beautifully. And I really think that that is what helped me to understand how to achieve success in the marketing and sales component because I understood what it looked like from the other side of the lens. So it was a much more organic approach. And I think that anybody who's been in this space for any amount of time, the amount of marketing services that are out there astronomical. And unfortunately, oftentimes you're promised the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and we're lucky if we get a pebble out of it. And it's because traditional methods do not work in the aesthetic space. It is so nuanced, there's so many small details that can really make or break a campaign. There's a lot of rules and regulations around what we can and cannot say and do in the marketing world when it comes to the medical aesthetic space. So again, I think all of it just blended really beautifully. And I'm a firm believer that when you're building and scaling a team, one of the most valuable things you can do is have these team members start from a baseline and work through the company versus just putting them in roles in a company because that's how you get that well-rounded and organic approach to what you're trying to accomplish.

Andrea (07:10):
Yeah, absolutely. Having the experience and in those shoes and in that seat really does give a more holistic approach to, oh, we really need to think not just one track mind, how do we get butts and chairs, but how do we make sure that these are great patients that we're going to build long-term relationships with and really be able to treat and help them have very realistic expectations about what we can and cannot do so that we can again, develop a long-term relationship and have that continue our cycle of also going into referrals and all the other things that we need when we're trying to build and grow a business as well as, of course, maintain really great patient relationships. So I love that. So by the time you had gone through the clinical, you moved over into the sales administration operations. How long were you kind of doing everything in your old practice?

Bridgette (08:06):
Forever. To be totally honest, I mean, obviously the amount of time that I spent doing any type of clinical work was significantly reduced, but down to the last day, I mean, to be honest with you, even after my last day, my very first week of officially not being with the practice anymore, I went in to cover an emergency situation to help treat patients for one day. Just you do what you need to do in this space, and these teams become more than just people that you work with and you care about these individuals and you care about these patients. You've heard their stories. Oftentimes we've been around them for years, and so you just want to put them first and you want what's best for everybody that's involved in the circumstances.

Andrea (08:49):
Yeah, there's a clear passion that shines through in what you're saying of all the different hats that you wore and the seats that you got to sit in as a provider and an administrator and all the different things. What did you love the most about being in your role when you were in the practice?

Bridgette (09:06):
I really learned to love the business side, and I think I loved the business side as much as I did because it was still so entrenched in the aesthetic side. So it wasn't like I was just sitting there and looking at boring spreadsheets. But

Andrea (09:20):
Wait, did you just call spreadsheets boring? You need to backup.

Bridgette (09:24):
No. I'm sorry. No, of course not. They're brilliant. No, but it was definitely so satisfying to see all of that hard work start to come together and paint a picture. So you start to invest in the education of your teammates and you start to build them up and build into them, and then you see how they start to transition with how they're engaging with patients. And then the patient engagement transitions into increased sales, increased sales affords us to invest more in marketing, and it's just a really beautiful circle, and it was so enjoyable to watch how all these pieces could play together and then how we could adjust and how we could pivot and how we could make exceptions here, but we had to stay firm in this sector. So that piece of it, it just felt like a constant puzzle that we were always building out and always trying to piece together, and I really enjoyed, every day felt like a learning experience.

Andrea (10:17):
That's incredible. So you're doing this, you're loving it, you're growing your team, you're empowering your team members, you have all these happy patients. When was it that you just kind of got the thought, maybe it's time to do something different and take everything that I've done now and move into something new? How did you come about that? And then what was this next new adventure for you?

Bridgette (10:41):
That was really, it was probably one of the hardest decisions of my life because it felt like I was leaving a family and definitely had a lot of emotions around it. And it took me quite a while to make a final decision. We started to see a pivot in the body contouring sector, so we pivoted, and the final piece of it was such a silly thing, but we had a huge construction project pop up right next to us. Literally the building was physically attached to us at one point, and they started at basically a 20 story high rise. And that was after so many other shifts that had happened. Obviously CoolSculpting got hit pretty hard with the Linda Evangelista stories, and then we had GLP ones hit the market, and that totally transformed how we treated patients and what the patient's needs were. So we ended up moving the business back into our initial practice.

(11:37):
So Body Squad and Allenby cosmetic dermatology merged. And that was exciting and great for a lot of reasons, but at that point, it really felt like this team that I had been working with and really striving to grow through all these years, it felt like if I stayed, there was an opportunity for growth for them anymore. At least I couldn't see it. And I think the number one killer is when your team doesn't see a way to continue to move forward and to move up. Everybody has that right and deserves that privilege, and everybody here had dedicated a lot of their heart and soul to making all these things a success. And I didn't want to be what was standing in the way of that. But in addition to that, personally for me, I also was starting to feel like I hit that ceiling and it was feeling like, okay, I want to make sure I'm showing up as my best self. I want to make sure I'm coming to work happy and motivated and that I can continue to motivate and give of myself. And I felt like I was starting to lose that, and I gave it a good amount of time. I gave it quite a while from when I started feeling it to when I actually talked to the doctor was a significant amount of time. And then even after that,

Andrea (12:45):
How much time?

Bridgette (12:46):
Almost a year I would say, because I really wanted to be sure that it wasn't just, again, you go through ups and downs and ebbs and flows, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just something that we could kind of overcome and then pivot to another direction. And it became clear that, no, these are very real things and they need to be addressed and we need to talk through it. And then once I did talk to her, I actually gave the office six months notice. So it was not a quick situation. I didn't want to leave with anybody feeling like they had pressure on their shoulders that they weren't prepared for. I didn't want anyone to feel surprised. I know over the years when I lost team members that I loved working with, and if it was a shorter amount of time that was given, it was so difficult because you had to rally everybody else, get everybody else to feel okay and comfortable and confident. I just didn't want to do that to anybody. So I wanted to ensure that I left in the best on the best terms possible.

Andrea (13:41):
Yeah. Did you have any fears when you made the decision? What did that feel like, just for you personally to think, I mean, I assume part of that is you're going into the unknown. Did you already know what you were going to do next? Did you have those next steps planned out, or you were just like, this just isn't going to be the future?

Bridgette (13:59):
Yeah, no, not at all. I, I really wanted to take time to just reconnect with myself, rebalance, restructure, really figure out where my priorities lied, what was fueling my heart where I wanted to go. And to be completely frank, I wasn't even sure I was going to stay in aesthetics. I felt like I had done everything that I could do in this space because I had such an incredible woman that I was working for, and she supported me in all of my initiatives and all of my endeavors obviously offered me incredible opportunities to learn and grow. So I already felt like I worked for the best of the best. So where am I going to go in aesthetics that's going to be better than this? It just felt like it was time to actually move on and start to explore other things and really start to maybe play with this passion that I had found around business and see how I could develop that.

(14:45):
And I was really looking into med tech and things along those lines. AI has definitely got my attention, and that was something that I was heavily exploring. But to your question, I mean, I was terrified. It was a massive decision, and in making it, you don't even realize how much of your identity is wrapped up in what you do day to day. And I wasn't anticipating that. I really didn't think that I had that as a part of me, but it was, and it's nerve wracking. Obviously with the economy being what it was, I was leaving a very secure job that I did appreciate with a team that I loved, and it was very nerve wracking. I'm still a little bit scared, even though I've made the jump. Okay?

Andrea (15:22):
So how long ago was the end of the six months?

Bridgette (15:26):
So I ended with them in April, so it hasn't been too long.

Andrea (15:29):
Oh, no, it's pretty recent still.

Bridgette (15:32):
It is.

Andrea (15:32):
I mean, you could still squirt a little lemon on there and it probably Ouch. A little bit.

Bridgette (15:36):
A little bit. Yeah.

Andrea (15:37):
So what are you doing now?

Bridgette (15:40):
So I am now with an incredible company called Belvara. So I'm leading the way on another startup, which I swear I'd never do again, but here we are. But I'm so excited. I have some really incredible partners in the space and we chatted truly for probably about almost the entirety of those six months. So I met them just shortly after sharing the news with Dr. Allenby, and then I started conversations with them and those conversations pivoted quite a bit over those months and just exploring what the aesthetic space looked like. They have a deep medical history and they were looking to expand into aesthetics for the last few years, and they had dabbled with a few different ideas. And throughout those conversations, this concept of Belvaro was born and it was born through really healthy conversations around what's working in the aesthetic space, what led to feeling a bit burnt out in these sectors, and then how can we solve for that?

(16:39):
How can we correct? And really that's how we approach this. It's like, okay, what is within our control to improve upon within the space? And now let's build on that. So Belvara is an aesthetic collective, aesthetic and wellness really where we are providing physical suites for entrepreneurs who would really like to explore essentially having their own mini practice. And the piece that really distinguishes us is outside of having these beautiful suites available to you, we provide all of the backend support that you could possibly need in order to run your practice. So we provide the medical oversight, malpractice insurance, incredible marketing support. There's even onsite support, and that's just the top layer. So essentially this is a turnkey operation. If you have a practitioner who is highly passionate about what they're doing and is extremely qualified and has loyal patients who are ready to follow them wherever they go, it's an incredible opportunity for them.

(17:40):
And I'm so excited because it was one of the pieces that was so hard for me. There was always this point where I did feel like some team members hit ceilings and I could tell that they wanted more, but I knew they loved what they were doing, loved who they were doing it with, but they had this itch for more. And I feel like this really does solve for that, and it affords people the opportunity to take control of their life and gain much more financial freedom and still do it in a very structured, supported, and most importantly safe way. We're ensuring that everything is at the top tier of the standards in the space.

Andrea (18:15):
Got it. So from the provider's perspective, are these aestheticians, RNs, PAs, MPs?

Bridgette (18:22):
All of the above. I've even had some conversations with doctors who are just looking to streamline and simplify, which I love. It's open to really anybody who, again is striving to be the best of the best within their space. So it's something that can be for any of those sectors that you just mentioned. And ideally, I really want a very healthy mix of health and wellness. I'd love to have some hormone and IV health in here. I'd even love to have a psychologist, maybe somebody who helps with stretching, maybe even teeth whitening. There's just so many different directions that we could take this, and I'm really excited to see how we do and how it builds out.

Andrea (18:57):
That's interesting. And it's making me think of, kind of go back to where it all started with the cosmetology license and everything, how people go and they'll go into a salon and rent a chair basically, and then the person who owns the salon carries the liability insurance and all those types of things. So then with the providers, they just pay you a flat fee on a monthly basis, and that covers the insurance and everything that you guys are doing as a business in the marketing, and then they pay you and financially then their bill is done for the month and whatever they're making is theirs.

Bridgette (19:31):
Exactly. Yeah. We wanted to keep it very simple, very streamlined. We're not taking a piece of their business, we're not taking a percentage. We felt like that was very important because it's their business. We're providing services, so you would pay for a service that's customary, that's normal, but they should be able to benefit from the complete upside of their hard work and their initiatives. The only other thing they would be responsible for is they're consumable, but we set up the accounts for them, we handle the negotiations, we provide better pricing, and that will only get better as the company continues to grow. But these are things that we've built into the model, but that is the only piece outside of our monthly fee that they would obviously be paying for in addition.

Andrea (20:10):
Interesting. I love it. That's a great model for people. Also, a lot of the providers are moms or they have all these other things where they don't really have the ability to maybe work full time, and so this gives them flexibility with their schedules and things like that, which I know for working in dozens of practices across the nation and having all these clients, there's a lot of people that are like, I can only work two days a week or this or that or the other, and now they can actually control that.

Bridgette (20:40):
I'm so happy you said that. Yeah, because that was actually one of the driving pieces is that especially over the last 15, 20 years as women, we've definitely been told we can do it all and we should do it all, and this is it. This is where everybody's just been in boss girl mode and now we're seeing

Andrea (20:58):
Or you're a failure and you're like, no, there's only 24 hours in a day.

Bridgette (21:02):
Yeah, exactly. And you shouldn't have to be penalized if you want to have a career and you want to have a family and you want to have a life. It is feasible to have all these things and to be able to give a hundred percent to them. But you have to find the balanced structure. So you just brought out this is fantastic for somebody who's at the heart of their career, but also is still at this pivotal point where they want to be a mom and they want to be a wife, and they want to go and travel and see the world. You have no problem working hard and dedicating yourself to your craft, but now you're using this structure to be able to prioritize why you're dedicating yourself to your craft. You're doing it so that you can enjoy the life that you're building, a life that you want to live. Then you should be able to enjoy it. This affords that opportunity in so many different ways.

Andrea (21:50):
And from the other side of that too, it creates hustle where sometimes I think there is actually hustle lacking in providers and whether you're a provider or not, sometimes people just come in, they want to hone it in depending on if they're paid incentives or hourly or whatever. Sometimes they're just like, nah, don't have patience. No big deal. I'm getting an hourly wage. If you're in control of your fate, you'll hustle on those hours that you're scheduling yourself in your room so that you can have that freedom with your time to be able to pour into those other areas of your life as well. So I love that. To kind of get back to how you left, you gave six months, incredible. I mean, with someone with a role as important as clearly what your role was with the practice, giving a two week notice is almost a slap in the face nowadays when you're a really important role.

(22:42):
A few months is very generous. Six months. That's the most generous I've ever heard of anybody. So kudos to you. That was really, really lovely. How else did you go? That's obviously going to put you a step ahead as far as not burning bridges, keeping really great relationships, maintaining the goodwill that you had already created through 14 years with your previous boss. What did you do? What were those steps that you took in those six months to make it a really smooth transition so that it wasn't like pulling the rug out and everyone felt completely safe and they knew exactly what they needed to do, even though you came back the next week for an emergency patient thing, which again is a testament to you and who you are as a human, but what were those steps? Can you share some of those things with us?

Bridgette (23:28):
Yeah, I would love to. It's actually some of the work that I am most proud of and I really enjoyed working through and working on. So we did a few different things. We brought in a woman who I absolutely love, her name is Karen. I recommend her to anybody. She is a co-founder of a company called Firepower Seminars, and she does incredible work specifically with women in helping teams to find their passion, helping them to find their stride, helping them to overcome communication issues and things along those lines. So we started to have her come in for some trainings and helped to facilitate just the conversation around some of the shifts that were happening, why they were happening, but in line with that effort and really that investment. That's kudos to Dr. Allenby for taking the time and the initiative to invest in something like that to ensure that her team felt secure and prepared.

(24:26):
But we also sat down and we reformatted all of our roles and responsibilities, and we had had roles and responsibilities throughout the years, and they obviously just changed and they pivot through time. People come and go, they don't always get updated. So we did a massive overhaul in so many different ways. So new titles, new lists of rules and responsibilities, and then it sounds a little bit crazy, but everybody's brain sees things differently and needs to absorb information differently. And so we then distributed the information in three or four different ways. So some people really like checklists. There's a checklist. Some people really like to read through paragraphs and they need the details and they need the explanation, they need the why. We had that option for them. Some people just wanted a very brief overview. We had that option for them. We put this on a Google doc that was shared amongst the entire team, so everybody saw everybody's roles and responsibilities.

(25:17):
Everybody saw how it was outlined, everybody could absorb the information in whatever way that they needed to. And then we had meetings around it, but we incorporated that with the work that we were doing with Karen. And then we did one-on-one meetings around these roles and responsibilities, and I talked to 'em about what they're passionate about. What are you loving? What don't you love? What do you think you excel at? What's the hardest part of your day, the best part of your day? They were very lengthy conversations, and that's what we built the roles and responsibilities around. So over the years of practice, what we found, or personally, what I found was instead of trying to make everybody amazing at everything that's unrealistic and it's not fair, and we can't keep putting people in a place just because of the timing or just because they seem to be able to handle it.

(26:01):
Let's put people in places where they can thrive. If they're already good at something, let's make them better. So we really tried to customize it around what they wanted and what they felt like they could achieve so that everybody really did buy into it. Now, this sounds great. It looked great on paper, but functionally, you still run into things. It's still a process. And I don't want anybody listening to this to think, oh, that's all I have to do and it's all going to work perfect. And if it doesn't, I'm a failure. No, there's still working through these things and they revamped it again after I left. This is just life. But I think if you're open to having the conversations and you're open to doing the work, and I think if you can get everybody on the same page, what is the goal? We want to be happy when we show up to work. We want to feel like we can communicate with our coworkers. There was an amazing book that Karen recommended to us, and I think it's the Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Andrea (26:52):
I love that book. I love that book. It's great.

Bridgette (26:54):
Incredible, right? The key pieces in there, the one thing that really stood out to me was if you cannot disagree with your team, you don't have a team. You don't, right? And everybody's all this positivity and happiness, like, yes, we want to be positive. Yes, we want to be happy. I want you to tell me if you don't think something's going to work because of your experience, I want to hear if you think this is a horrible idea, I want to hear if this just sounds boring and I just simply don't want to do it. Don't just nod your head yes, because then we're all going to be sitting in a place that we don't want to be in. So if you have that uncomfortable conversation upfront and just lead with respect, you don't have to be like, that's a horrible idea. What were you thinking? Absolutely not.

Andrea (27:34):
But those conversations only come in teams where there is a foundation of safety and people don't feel like their job, people are pitted against each other or they don't feel like they're always on the tightrope of maybe getting fired or something. So the safety, as long as they feel safe and feel valued, we can have those open conversations with the mutual respect because no one has, we can act out of love or we can act out of fear. So it sounds like you guys have done an incredible job or had done an incredible job of creating an environment where people felt valued and where they did feel safe and they were respected so that they could have those very open conversations about what's important, what works, what doesn't work. But I totally agree with you having spent years and years in the practice as well, of course there's going to be conflict. Of course, there's going to be one person wants something, it doesn't work for the rest of the team. Why? Why not? But until the team feels safe so that they can actually bring those issues about, you're not really going to get anywhere and make progress.

Bridgette (28:41):
Right? Exactly. And you have to if you want to continue to move forward in a healthy way. And again, sometimes we got it right, sometimes we didn't. And there's absolutely bad days and there's absolutely good days, but this is what we did to try to solve for the things. Not to mention you also were emerging two practices, two practices that while owned by the same person were quite different in how we approached things and how we structured things and the communication styles. One was significantly larger and one was just a small, very tight knit group. And so on top of the changes of me, you also had two teams that were coming together and had to learn how to live together with these differences. One of the other things that we did is we actually pivoted to a four day work week for the team. And Body Squad had been living on that model for several years, but the Allenby team hadn't, and again, this came with a lot of fluctuations, a lot of trial and error, there's no doubt about it, because the Allenby office was more robust.

(29:41):
Body Squad offered three to four services. It was much smaller, it was much more compact. Whereas Dr. Allenby's practice, you have three different injectors you've got, and then you have several women who are performing all of these med spa treatments. So it just took a lot of fine tuning, a lot of organizing to try to navigate. But again, speaking to quality of life, yes, they were working four tens, but now they had a day during the week where they would just be able to handle life. You could go do your practical things, clean your house, go do a doctor appointment, do your food shopping, whatever you need to do so that on the weekends you actually could be with family, be with friends, relax, rest, do whatever you needed to do. You felt like you actually got a little bit of a reprieve and a little bit of a break so that you could come back more refreshed. At least that was the goal.

Andrea (30:24):
Working through those, we made some big scheduling changes when I was in the practice as well, and our doctor went from five days a week to four days a week, and so it's compressing that schedule for, we did more plastic surgery, so it's compressing the consultations and the follow-ups and all of the things into a lot less time, but just making sure that your hours are effective and efficient and then it does free up time and give you the availability to have that breathing time that you talked about, which is so important. Those are great pointers as far as really setting up a team. And again, of course, this is going to help you keep that goodwill as you're moving on into the next new stage of what you're deciding to do with your life. So now that you're in the new job, is there anything you're thinking about differently with new perspective of now that this is just a totally different ball game for you from what you were doing with Allenby and Body Squad?

Bridgette (31:23):
Yeah, I definitely think I'm striving to lead with balance. I think that one of the things that I learned about myself personally, when you care, right, when you're passionate, when you love what you're doing, it's very easy to get caught up in that and to burn yourself out. And once you're to that point, you're no help to anybody. So all the good you want to do and all the benefits you want to bring and all the impact you want to make goes out the window because you didn't do what you needed to do first and just approach it in a balanced way. So I'm not saying I have that figured out, I'm just saying that I'm genuinely putting real effort towards it. I'm really trying to be realistic and be authentic and be honest and just lead with what I know. I can share what I know, and then I want to hear what the people around me know, and then we should be able to have just an honest, respectful conversation about the best way to move forward.

(32:19):
Whereas before, I think keeping peace and keeping harmony was such a big thing for me. And I'm not saying I'm coming in here, I'm blowing things up. That's not what I'm saying by any stretch of the imagination. And that's not even a dynamic here. I'm just saying that sometimes I'm so quick to just respond because I know what somebody may want to hear or I think I know what they're thinking or whatever the case is, I've forced myself to slow down. I will pause. It's painful. It's painful. I'm sure if somebody's watching me, I look so awkward in that moment because it's uncomfortable for me to do and just try to really breathe. And you know what? Let me just think on this for a minute. Let me process it. And then can we circle back to this in a little bit.

Andrea (33:02):
To wrap things up, I think you are a case study in how to successfully leave a job you love for something else that the universe might be calling you for, which I think is just an awesome story. So what advice would you give to somebody who's like, you know what, I really love my job and I think there might be something more out there. I'm not really sure. I love these people. I don't want to pull a rug out from under them. What would be one or two things that you would just say, here's some really great advice for setting yourself up to not be the bad guy that ran away and left people empty handed or whatever.

Bridgette (33:36):
I definitely think give yourself some time and really do a deep dive and try to find authentically what you're looking for and what you need. Really look at your why's. Why are you feeling the way you're feeling? Why do you feel like it's time to move on? Are these things that are within your control to change or are these things that are not within your control to change? Because if you're just running from something that you have to navigate personally, you're going to find those same patterns present and no matter how you move forward and where you move forward. So if you give yourself some time to do that work and work through it and then give the person that you respect time if you can, if it's feasible, I understand that sometimes circumstances just don't allow for that, and that's a different conversation entirely.

(34:22):
But I think if you're just honest and you lead with heart and you express gratitude, one thing that I definitely saw when a lot of people left in the past was they left because they thought that they reached this level. And they're just like, well, I've done it all and I'm here and now I'm just going to go and I'm going to soar. And obviously we want nothing but for everybody to soar. That's the point we're building into one another so that actually can take place. But you don't have to leave with that energy, right? Like you are where you are because somebody took a chance on you, somebody invested in you, someone believed in you, give out the respect that it's due. Find that humility and lead with that because I think it's something that is important. You want to show how grateful you are.

(35:04):
You wouldn't be where you are without them no matter the good and the bad and the in between. So if you can try to incorporate that in your conversation, and one thing that I tried to do was sit down and ask her what she needed and what she wanted, what would make this better, what cadence do you think is appropriate? And just talk through it. And it's hard. I'm not going to say it's easy. I think it was hard and hurtful for both of us in different ways. And it takes time, like you said, right? A little lemon juice might still burn a bit. It's not like it's just all roses. But I think that when you reflect back, you want to be able to stand on your two feet and you want to feel a healthy pride around how you handled it. You want to feel like you were a good person and true to yourself. And I did everything within my power to show up as a good person. And what happened beyond that is outside of my control. So just again, give yourself time to reflect on that. If you can give them the courtesy of time, I think that there's nothing kinder that you can do.

Andrea (35:59):
Perfect. I love that. So gratitude and asking, thank you for this opportunity and for everything you've done to help with my growth and with the transition, what can I do to make it as easy as possible for you and the team? I think those are two of the best words of advice that I've heard in a really long time. I love that, and I hope for anybody that's listening that is thinking of making a move, again, no matter what situation you're in, you've learned a lot from the position that you've held. It doesn't matter if it's been all roses and rainbows and unicorn farts or if it has been really hard, but speaking from experience, all of the things that I've been through professionally, whether they were wonderful or absolutely awful, I can look back with gratitude and say, I'm so thankful that I went through that because it's brought me to where I am today.

(36:59):
And so I can't look back on it and say it was the worst thing in my life because it brought me to where I am. So just having that silver lining, looking at the perspective and figuring out what do I have to be grateful for, is always going to put you more on the high road and thought of, I think in a better light than trying to not appreciate how you've gotten the skills and the experience that you have. I totally agree. Well, thank you so much. I think that this is such a great conversation and really, really important for all of our listeners that are out there, maybe in the roles of their dreams, maybe just starting out in a role where they do want to grow in aesthetics and just knowing that there's so much opportunity from where you started as a clinician and doing lasers and all the different services that you are providing into the operations, the administrative, the sales, and now this new venture that you're working through and providing an environment for other providers to come in and have freedom and really control their financial future, which is literally why I wake up every day, is to provide opportunity like that to other people.

(38:08):
So thank you so much for all of that. Before we go, we do this little segment and it's called She Did What? And it could be a crazy patient story, an incredible coworker story, somebody did something absolutely asinine or they went above and beyond and you were just like, I can't believe that somebody actually did that out of the kindness and goodness of their heart to make someone's day better. So wide spectrum that you could pull from, but what is an experience that you had that you observed someone else just doing something wildly outrageous, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent?

Bridgette (38:47):
I feel like there's so many. This was a really hard one, and I didn't know which direction to go in. I know it's going to sound so cheesy, but I really had a team that knew how to go above and beyond. I had incredible women that it was insane what they would do for patients. So I feel like there's just way too many stories to pick from there. And I couldn't hone in on one. There was one patient who was an interesting duck. I mean, she truly just, it was an adventure every time she came in, and obviously we ask all the appropriate questions to try to find out if there's some medicine involved and if there's this going on, if there's that going on.

Andrea (39:22):
It was an adventure anytime she came in. That is incredible. Okay, Bridgette, go ahead.

Bridgette (39:27):
That was every time. So she had been in and all of a sudden we noticed that our toilet's not working. And I'm like, okay, well what's going on here? And we are a bunch of girls trying to navigate the situation and figure it out, and that's just making the situation worse. And so eventually we had to get a plumber involved because it really started to not work, and it turned into an entire mess. And when he pulled everything out, she had flushed a pill bottle down the toilet, literally no idea why. I mean, at this point, we had garbage cans everywhere, literally everywhere in the bathroom, in the rooms, anywhere you could possibly imagine. She was having a situation that day. She was in a mood, she was in a place, and I think we were just really trying to calm her down, and we don't know. We think she went into the bathroom and finished whatever was in there and then proceeded to flush them out. And the plumber's just kind of looking at us and we're looking at him and we're like, we don't even know what to say right now. This is not us. Do not judge us. We are not just flushing pills here.

Andrea (40:33):
You looked at the bottle, you were like, she did what? She flushed this down the toilet.

Bridgette (40:37):
Like, why? I just don't understand. But it was absolutely crazy. We had someone else bring it a hundred pound dog in for her treatment. That was completely one of the furriest animals you could possibly imagine who was not a service animal who just jumped all over everywhere the entire day. Thank God we did not have another patient that particular day. I was covering a shift by myself, so that was really fun to navigate.

Andrea (41:01):
Oh my gosh. And then you had to get the vacuum out and try and get rid of all that hair. Oh, good Lord.

Bridgette (41:06):
And I was like, I'm not that person. I'm not good at that. The girls that I worked with were incredible, keeping everything pristine. And so I just remember being like, listen, I did what I could do. This is not my fault. When you come in tomorrow, do not be mad at me. You're going to, you're have some surprises.

Andrea (41:22):
Oh my gosh.

Bridgette (41:23):
Yeah. So we had a couple doozies, but definitely you look back and those are the fun days. You just laugh and it's things that bonded you and things that make you go,

Andrea (41:36):
Yes, exactly. Remember when that lady, she flushed the pill bottle and then the toilet overflowed all over the bathroom and it caused such chaos?

Bridgette (41:44):
Such chaos. Yep.

Andrea (41:46):
That is too funny. Well, thank you for sharing that. I love it. I'm sorry you had to go through it. It sounds a little shitty so to speak, but I mean, what are you going to do? It's a good story to tell in retrospect, for sure.

Bridgette (41:59):
Yeah, exactly.

Andrea (41:59):
Perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

Bridgette (42:01):
Thank you.

Andrea (42:02):
For any of our listeners out there that are looking for you online, where can we find you, Bridgette?

Bridgette (42:07):
So you can find me on LinkedIn. You can find Belvara on Instagram, LinkedIn, and then we are brand new, so we just started operations in May, and you'll find our website very shortly here. But definitely please reach out. I'd love to have a conversation with you if you're interested in exploring this, even if you just want to talk through it and just really see if this is something that will fit and if something makes sense at this point in your life. I can tell you from honest experience, I really can understand where you're coming from as you make these shifts. So I'm excited to be able to connect with practitioners on that topic, and I would love to have a conversation if you're ready to take that step into entrepreneurship.

Andrea (42:42):
That sounds fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Bridgette. We super appreciate it.

Bridgette (42:46):
Thank you.

Andrea (42:46):
And thanks for listening out there in Practiceland Podcast world, and we will be back with additional episodes next week.

Blake (42:55):
Got a wild customer service story or a sticky patient situation? Send us a message or voicemail. If your tale makes it into our "She did what?" segment, we'll send a thank you gift you'll actually love. Promise no cheap swag here.

Andrea (43:07):
Are you one of us? Subscribe for new episode notifications and more at practicelandpodcast.com. New episodes drop weekly on YouTube and everywhere you can listen to podcasts.