Recognition of a Business Mind Part 1

Recognition of a Business Mind Part 1

What motivated you to become a nurse?
I started in 1999 in A&E as a patient support worker and went on to do my nursing and became a sister in A&E and flipped out working with substance misuse, also as a homeless practitioner, and I then took all of that experience back to A&E and became very interested in drugs and alcohol and homelessness. That all continued until, well, they say burnout is real. I was completely burnt out. I trained back in 2010 to do aesthetics and did it as a sideline and then took everything I had personally invested into opening my own clinic in 2016. I did a couple of weekend training courses but realised this was not going to be enough to go off and be independent and inject so I worked alongside a colleague to gain more knowledge for 12 months and then after that went independent with friends and family then mobile then a garage conversion into a clinic and eventually opened my clinic in 2016. It took a long time to move from foundation to advanced treatments and then doing my prescribing, but we are always learning. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where I am now, it’s not been easy, its not a sideline its all or nothing.

What would you say to your student self?
I wouldn’t tell her anything different as the moment I stepped into A&E I loved the work and it’s given me a plethora of grounding, I always think A&E nurses know a lot about everything and not necessarily a lot about anything. We have to have that overview of everything but don’t necessarily have to go that in depth. Those who work in surgery have a more in-depth knowledge. I wouldn’t change anything.

This edition of HLM is about recognition. What would you advise to those thinking of going into business?
I can honestly say its not as easy as we all think it is, it’s all about learning about business, we think we know enough but we never ever do. We think we know how to do a consultation but mine are different, its about keeping up to date with themes, changes in adult medication and more, anyone thinking about stepping into aesthetic medication needs to look at the bigger picture its not just about injections, its about health and wellness, and mental health, body dysmorphia, everything changes every day. You must take every client as an individual they are not your standard consultation, and you have to get to know them and what makes them tick, someone who appears straight forward can become quiet complex and you have to advise them on their health and wellness, food habits their living and exercising habits it’s not just about injectables.

Do you have a mentor as this sounds quite heavy?
Well I’m a member of the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) and they have been really helpful and provide advice and I also work with and employ a Doctor who deals with male health, so I have lots of sounding boards, and friends who are ex-nurses and Doctors, so I always have someone to sound off to. There is also the Aesthetic Complication Association, which is really good for things that are not going to plan. Networking is really important when you are an independent practitioner.

How do you deal with the HR and business accounting side of things?
It’s been really hard to think as a businesswoman rather than just as a nurse. As nurses we just want to wrap our arms around people but as a businesswoman its more about money, but I still after all these years put money second and put the patients first. Its been difficult learning about HR and risk assessments, and we still make mistakes but learn from them.

How did you cope balancing business and nursing during the pandemic and what supports did you have?
Terrible business….. because we accumulated a lot of debt, I stepped back into my old shoes, back into my A&E nursing role. Business wise… we did receive government bounce back loans and grants, but we weren’t aware that they were going to be taxed so we had large corporation tax bills, then there was rent and payments on rental leases on equipment that accumulated, and this has a massive impact on business. It’s been really tough, because the business is very viable, and we have a massive client base we are still to some extent having outgoings exceeding incomings.

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