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Getting Started in Aesthetics Dr Sadequr Rahman shares his ‘ABC toolkit for aesthetic medicine’ and details the qualities he believes are necessary for a successful career There are a lot of things I hadn’t been told when I first considered a career in medical aesthetics, and so many things I wish I knew before embarking on this journey. Having said that, the lessons I have learnt along the way mean I wouldn’t change a thing. In this article I will share what I call ‘the ABC toolkit of aesthetic medicine’. I believe these eight qualities form the basis of a truly successful career as an injector in aesthetics. You don’t need to have mastered them all before you can start building your aesthetic career, but there has to be a plan for how you will achieve them.
A is for ability It goes without saying that to be a top-level injector, you need ability. Our patients put a lot of trust in us, which should never be taken for granted and we owe it to them to perform to our best ability. Our abilities improve when we seek knowledge and apply it over and over again. To gain knowledge and ability, you must choose a reputable training provider, read textbooks, medical journals and magazines, follow practical webinars, and listen to lectures from experts at industry events. You should also seek good advice from experienced professionals. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions, even ones that seems basic or ‘silly’. You can’t build knowledge without asking questions. You then need to use this knowledge. Of course, early in your career, it is unlikely that you will have a ready supply of willing candidates to practice your new skills on; thus, the conundrum. How to improve skills without patients, and how to gain patients when in the early stages of a career and with only rudimentary skills? I would suggest that there are three options: • Slowly and patiently build a presence by word of mouth and online marketing. This is the most ethical self-made approach, but can be expensive and take many months to develop a reputation. • Flood the market with offers of ‘cheap’ treatments and introductory offers. This can help you build a list quickly, but your patients will be bargain-hunters. And when you want to raise your prices to ‘normal’ levels, they will disappear in a flash. Not the most ethical approach. • Attach yourself to an established clinic. This has the benefit of using someone else’s name and reputation, and they will likely have an established patient base. Of course your profit share will be reduced and you will be an employee. This may not suit everyone. Attaining ability will require patience, absorbing knowledge, and treating as many patients as you can, as often as you can. There are no short cuts.
B is for belief Over the years I’ve met a lot of practitioners early on in their medical aesthetics training and noticed that many struggle to really believe in themselves, despite being committed and competent injectors. Make no mistake; aesthetics is no easy-option career. There should be no assumption that having mastered any other branch of medicine, aesthetics will be a straightforward step. At the same time, you have to believe in yourself that this is something that you can grasp. The basis for this should be the desire to help your patients, and the willingness to risk that there may be mistakes made along the way. Once you have scratched the surface of the ‘foundation’ courses, it becomes evident that there are so many things to master. There are numerous types of product. Every lecturer and demonstrator you meet has their own unique way of doing things within the context of the basic principles. People who have taught me, and whom I have taught, have used different approaches to achieve their results. It is quite daunting, not to mention confusing, when you hear on one course to ‘do this’ when you’ve heard others
say ‘never do that’. If you look like a rabbit in headlights holding a needle, this will not inspire confidence in your patients. Sooner or later you have to approach with confidence. I could write a great deal on self-confidence and motivation, but for now I will say this: when you learned to walk as a baby, you didn’t just give up on walking because you fell over many times. Neither did your parents berate you for not being able to walk – instead they encouraged you at every step and celebrated your success when you did. If you intend to succeed, you have to: • Believe you will succeed • Have a strong reason to want to • Be prepared to fall many times • Have people around you cheering you on
C is for collaborative spirit Something I learnt years ago is that success is a team game. Most aesthetic clinicians set themselves up initially as a ‘one-man band’. This is fine and to be expected early in your career, but the limitations soon become obvious. A few things you will need to do beyond just being an injector are: marketing, bookkeeping, stock taking, attending courses, keeping track of regulations and arranging the calendar. All of this has to be done whether you have 10, 100, or 1,000 patients a month. Can you really see yourself doing all that by yourself? The point should be clear; you need some form of team, whether they are employed in house or outsourced. You therefore need to consider, are you the sort of person willing to share a piece of your pie, in return for a potentially bigger pie? When I talk about collaborations, I also mean using colleagues to help build your skill base. When I started out, I talked to other clinic owners in my area, as well as through conferences and courses. Sometimes I just rang them up directly – you’d be surprised at how many of your ‘competitors’ are interested in helping. It turns out that the best in the business aren’t worried about the ‘competition’ in that respect. In fact, they know that having more and better practitioners in this industry improves the reputation of medical aesthetics. The more the public recognise that there are reputable and caring injectors, the more they would like to try (and continue trying) treatments, and the more the industry grows. That helps everyone. So don’t be afraid to approach your peers. You may even end up working with them or referring between each other if you have specific, complementary skillsets.
Reproduced from Aesthetics | Volume 7/Issue 10 - September 2020
