Personal Branding, Mentorship, and Growth: Insights with Anna Lee from Merz Aesthetics

In this episode of The Elevating Aesthetics Podcast, Brittany interviews her friend and Merz Aesthetics representative, Anna Lee. 

They discuss her journey into the aesthetics industry, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic while she was working in corporate insurance. Amid the shutdowns and increased self-scrutiny from Zoom calls, Anna Lee discovered her passion for skincare and aesthetics, leading her to pursue a career in the field. 

They explore the importance of personal branding, networking, and the evolving nature of the aesthetics industry, especially regarding new technologies and treatments. 

Brittany highlights the significance of education in aesthetics, the role of mentorship, and the need for a supportive community among practitioners. The episode is a celebration of embracing one’s passions, the importance of positivity, and the potential for growth within the aesthetics field.

The Zoom Boom: The pandemic led to increased self-awareness through virtual meetings, prompting many to seek aesthetic treatments.
Gateway to Aesthetics: Anna Lee's journey into aesthetics began with her first Botox treatment, which sparked her passion for skincare and injectables
Networking for Success: Anna Lee emphasizes the importance of networking and reaching out to industry professionals to create opportunities.
Education as a Foundation: Brittany underscores the significance of education and knowledge in aesthetics, both for practitioners and patients.
Community Over Competition: They advocate for collaboration within the aesthetics community to foster growth and support.
Positive Mindset: They discuss the importance of maintaining a positive outlook, which can lead to success and fulfillment in personal and professional lives.
Future of Aesthetics: They touch on emerging trends and technologies in the aesthetics industry, including biostimulators and holistic approaches to beauty.

Transcript

 Hi, welcome to the Elevating Aesthetics podcast. I'm Brittany Perez. And today I have with me Anna Lee. She is one of my friends and the Merz Aesthetics rep for our area. So I just wanted to chat about the company, what got her into aesthetics and just talk about, you know, being a young woman. Ooh, we love. Okay. Tell me what got you into aesthetics.

 Ooh, girl, how much time do we have? Okay. Three minutes. And go. Okay. So like we go back to 2020. Um, so I really was like, I've always been into skincare. My mom got me on moisturizers when I was 13, like very much adamant of like, take care of your skin.

 But it really wasn't until like 2020 when I was in a job, really it's corporate insurance, finance, that then the pandemic shut down like all of Kentucky. And I used to be a sales rep for all of Kentucky. I lived in Nashville. Were you a skincare sales rep? No. So corporate insurance. Okay.

 Yeah. Really exciting stuff. Very stimulating. But really, it was like it was a career straight out of college and it was absolutely the best sales training, the best like business training. I mean, it was fabulous because I worked with companies of all different sizes and like worked with insurance brokers and presented to hundreds of people at a time. You know, it really was just like a cut your teeth in the world of business. But it was not my passion. Just making money was my passion. Okay.

 But anyway, so during COVID, all of Kentucky shut down and I was doing a million Zoom calls. And I just remember looking at myself in the mirror on the Zoom call. I was like, what is happening? I have fallen apart. Well, let me tell you how many patients we got after the pandemic from being on Zoom calls. I've heard Zoom boom.

 Yes. The zoom boom of aesthetics. People were looking at themselves and they're like, oh, hell no. Some like pores, tone, texture. I was like, I feel like I've aged 10 years in like a five year period. I knew my job was stressful. Like it was a very stressful job, but I just, it was like this moment of like, oh my God, I need to do something right now because I look 40. And I'm like, at the time I would have been, I don't know, like mid to late twenties. Anyway.

 So anyway, I scheduled my first Botox patient or appointment ever. And afterwards I was absolutely hooked. And I was like, this is what I'm passionate about. I love skincare. I got on a medical grade skincare routine, got my first injections. And then it was like, then I got lip filler the first, it's like the typical steps into the gateway, the gateway drugs into the aesthetic world. And I remember talking to my injector because I mean, like,

 I loved her. My injector was like one of my favorite people. She would always catch up and it's like we wouldn't miss a beat. Like even though I'd only see her once every three months for my tox treatment or like I'd come in in between that, maybe get a microneedling treatment or a laser IPL or like, you know, again, the gateway drug. You start with one thing and then you're getting all the things. You need all of it.

 And I was like, I want to sell this. Like, I literally feel better about myself. I feel so much prettier, even though I understand it's just skin deep. I'm like, it literally has made me more confident. And I'm just like, the world needs to do this. You're the perfect testimonial. I'm like, how do I sell it? Like, okay.

 whatever i'm doing now it's not my passion i want to sell this because i love sales and i love aesthetics like how can i marry the two and she's like i'm giving the name of our reps and i was like yes and i was like i will beg them to coffee so i i can't tell you how many reps i texted i was like please can i take you to like can i take you to starbucks where do you want to go favorite place you name it like what's your office address i'll send you a bottle of wine like

 pulling out all the sales stops, finding out if I didn't get in touch with them, I'd get in touch with their boss.

 I'd get in touch with like a different division rep to be like, Hey, I know you're, you're not an aesthetic to your breast plants, but like, can I please talk to you? Who do you know? Tell me all your friends. I'm like, can you please give me a contact list? Like I'll do anything. And so in Nashville, there's a big aesthetics conference called scale. And I did not know about scale. I did not find out through any reps. I was just looking at companies in general, like aesthetic companies on LinkedIn. And then I found their social medias and some of them posted about going to the scale conference. And so I,

 I found the number to call for scale, talk to the scale organizers.

 And I was like, how much do I need to pay to be there? Like, what can I do to come? And they were like, oh, well, are you with a provider or a vendor? I was like, so no. And I was like, to preface, this is not going to be a normal request. And they were like, okay. And I told them, I was like, listen, I'm in sales. I really want to get in front of all these people. If anything, to me, this is a hiring event. And I'm interested in the industry. And I kind of want to just navigate and figure out which direction I want to go. That's genius, actually.

 I thought of it, I was like, again, sales brain, like there's going to be topicals, there's going to be device capital, there's going to be injectables. Then there's going to be the whole therapeutics, pharmaceutical divisions. And I was like, this is, this is all the people that you want to talk to. This is my Superbowl. Like, so anyway, I took my mutual Omaha business card in. I have to cap cut all the time. So if you mess up, I just cap it. Okay. So tell me what got you into aesthetics.

 Ooh, girl, how much time do we have? Okay. Three minutes. Go ahead. And go. Okay. So, like, we go back to 2020. So, I really was, like, I've always been into skincare. My mom got me on moisturizers when I was 13. Like, very much adamant of, like, take care of your skin.

 but it really wasn't until like 2020 when I was in a job, really it's corporate insurance, finance, that then the pandemic shut down like all of Kentucky. And I used to be a sales rep for all of Kentucky. I lived in Nashville. And- Were you a skincare sales rep? No, so corporate insurance.

 yeah really exciting stuff very stimulating uh but really it was like it was a career straight out of college and it was absolutely the best sales training the best like business training i mean it was fabulous because i worked with companies of all different sizes and like worked with insurance brokers and presented to hundreds of people at a time you know it really was just like a cut your teeth in the world of business but it was not my passion just making money was my passion okay

 But anyway, so during COVID, all of Kentucky shut down and I was doing a million Zoom calls. And I just remember looking at myself in the mirror on the Zoom call. I was like, what is happening? I have fallen apart. Let me tell you how many patients we got after the pandemic from being on Zoom calls. I've heard Zoom boom.

 Yes. The zoom boom of aesthetics. People were looking at themselves and they're like, oh, hell no. Some like pores, tone, texture. I was like, I feel like I've aged 10 years in like a five year period. I knew my job was stressful. Like it was a very stressful job. But I just it was like this moment of like, oh, my God, I need to do something right now because I look 40. And I'm like at the time I would have been, I don't know, like mid to late 20s. Anyway.

 so anyway um i scheduled my first botox patient or appointment ever and afterwards i was absolutely hooked and i was like this is what i'm passionate about i love skincare i got on a medical grade skincare routine got my first injections and then it was like then i got lip filler the first it's like the typical steps into the gateway the gateway drugs into the aesthetic world and i remember talking to my injector because i mean like

 I loved her. My injector was like one of my favorite people. She would always catch up and it's like we wouldn't miss a beat. Like even though I'd only see her once every three months for my tox treatment or like I'd come in in between that, maybe get a microneedling treatment or a laser IPL or like, you know, again, the gateway drug. You start with one thing and then you're getting all the things. You need all of it.

 And I was like, I want to sell this. Like, I literally feel better about myself. I feel so much prettier, even though I understand it's just skin deep. I'm like, it literally has made me more confident. And I'm just like, the world needs to do this. You're the perfect testimonial. I'm like, how do I sell it? Like, okay.

 whatever I'm doing now, it's not my passion. I want to sell this because I love sales and I love aesthetics. Like, how can I marry the two? And she's like, I'm giving the name of our reps. And I was like, yes. And I was like, I will beg them to coffee. So I can't tell you how many reps I texted. I was like, please, can I take you to like, can I take you to Starbucks? Where do you want to go? Favorite place? You name it. Like, what's your office address? I'll send you a bottle of wine. Like,

 pulling out all the sales stops, finding out if I didn't get in touch with them, I'd get in touch with their boss.

 I'd get in touch with like a different division rep to be like, Hey, I know you're, you're not in aesthetics, you're in breast plants, but like, can I please talk to you? Who do you know? Tell me all your friends. Literally, I'm like, can you please give me a contact list? Like I'll do anything. And so in Nashville, there's a big aesthetics conference called Scale. And I did not know about Scale. I did not find out through any reps. I was just looking at companies in general, like aesthetic companies on LinkedIn. And then I found their social medias and some of them posted about going to the Scale conference. And so I,

 I found the number to call for scale, talk to the scale organizers.

 And I was like, how much do I need to pay to be there? Like, what can I do to come? And they were like, oh, well, are you with a provider or a vendor? I was like, so no. And I was like, to preface, this is not going to be a normal request. And they were like, okay. And I told them, I was like, listen, I'm in sales. I really want to get in front of all these people. If anything, to me, this is a hiring event. And I'm interested in the industry. And I kind of want to just navigate and figure out which direction I want to go. That's genius, actually.

 I thought about, I was like, again, sales brain, like there's going to be topicals, there's going to be device capital, there's going to be injectables, then there's going to be the whole therapeutics, pharmaceutical divisions. And I was like, this is, this is all the people that you want to talk to. This is my Superbowl. Like, so anyway, I took my mutual Omaha business card in there that said president's club on it. And I was like, none of this means anything to those scratched out my work email, put my personal email and was like, I need a good job.

 And I met with every company under the sun and like several people are like, you're going to get a job out of this. And I was like, that's the goal. So I kept in touch with everybody. Somebody there gave me the great advice of aside from keeping in touch, try to get a like side job at a med spa. And I was like, I don't think you understand how busy I am in my current career.

 And they were like, you're going to have to just make a sacrifice. I hate to tell you that. They're like, none of these people will probably tell you that, but if it's one of these jobs that you told me, because I was like, I want to work for a MERS, a Galderma, an Allergan. I want to go straight to the top. I don't want to start off

 hustling toe cream, you know, like I ain't a toe cream salesman. Don't hate on the toe cream. I'm not, I can tell you, but I'm like, no, I have been in the trenches of corporate insurance for six and a half years. Time is a waste and I want to go straight into time. I want everything or nothing. And so anyway, after getting blown off multiple times and being told no a thousand times more,

 Which we'll get to that later. I ended up taking that person's advice, like, thank God to this rep. I can remember her name to this day and the company she worked for. And anyway, I ended up getting my bonus check that following March from Mutual and then saying adios. And it was the biggest risk, scariest life change, like, wow.

 But it was so worth it. And then I actually, through a friend, knew a girl who had opened a med spa and needed somebody to operate her whole back office. She's like, I need you to run inventory. I need you to manage our subscription service, talk to our vendors, talk to our reps, talk to a commercial real estate agent because we're looking to expand. So I need you to handle that. Aside from there are going to be days our front desk person is not going to be available. So I'm going to need you to sub in for that. And I was like,

 All right. I was like, what else? Take the trash out? Like, I got it. Like, literally, I was like, I will do whatever it takes because I know the end goal is to get back into sales. And she knew that. Like, she and I talked about it. She's like, you're an outdoor cat. Like, you are meant for big things. Yeah. And so she's like, I'm just thankful for the help in the meantime. And like, do your thing.

 So I actually took several months before I did that, traveled, you know, just had a wild time. And then that bonus hit good. It was hitting hard. Went to Europe. It was great. And then started there and I was there for a year.

 I interviewed many times, still took a lot of people to coffee, kept in touch with MERS consistently. MERS and Allergan really consistently interviewed several times with both of them. And MERS really stuck out to me. The manager, Rhett Butler, was like, I will do anything to hire you. Do not go to the competition, please.

 please like whatever deal they proposed to you, please send it past me first. Like, so I can like vet it for you, you know, like being like, listen, they're going to like throw all these crazy good opportunities at you. Like any company will. And so I just felt really comfortable with them. And I interviewed for three different positions all across the country. I didn't want to stay in Nashville. I was like willing to move, willing to sell my soul, please. And yeah,

 Rhett. Rhett was like, I think we finally got something for you. It's down in Florida. And I was like, send me there. That's my dream. Like that is peak for me. So I was like Florida and an injectables job. And here I am. And we're so glad. Me too. I love Rhett too. Rhett's been so awesome. Yeah. He, whenever I opened, we were like, he and Thomas both were like, that's what they told me. Like they were literally waiting. Like, what do you need? They did. They hooked it up.

 Yeah. And I remember falling into that and being like how beautiful that they like really care about their accounts. I think that's one thing that's really consistently said in the industry and all the companies are great. But what I have found and what I've heard repeated is that Merge does like support the smaller guys and they really like seek out to help the smaller guys. Whereas some of the bigger companies, like they're such small fish and they don't really like appreciate how much growth you can have with a smaller business. Whereas we know, you know, if you support them from

 and they explode and they open multiple locations, then you guys have our heart because you helped us from the start. Right.

 And I love that. It is. And that's, I even talked to somebody on the phone today. Like, you know, we have different levels of, not levels really, but you know, we have strategic partnerships, we have agreements, contracts, all these things. And, you know, like it's good to meet with us and meet with me and then meet with, Hey, like, you know, you're maybe not a mega, mega account yet, but it's always good to like, see what does that include? Like, what could you, you as a,

 Early in your career provider, you know, you're just an apple seed, but you want to eventually be an apple orchard, you know, and like, how do we get you there? And, you know, with my past business experience in finance and all that corporate insurance benefits, then being at, you know, opposite end of the spectrum, small med spa, seeing those two worlds and now being in this, I'm like, it's a perfect advisory role. Right.

 sales role, business coaching, along with something I love, which is aesthetics. I mean, it could not be a better fit. It's such a good fit. So what do you, what would you say for like smaller med spas, newer injectors that are just getting started? You know, we have people that come to Method and they're like, it's so overwhelming. They don't know how to start. And so what do you do with like brand new accounts whenever they're just getting started? Like what type of advisement do you guys offer for your company?

 I would say huddle up with your rep. That to me is the most important thing because we are boots on the ground. We see what is going on in a large scale. You know, like I've got over 100, I think we counted around 170 accounts. Yeah, that's like people, providers. So it's a lot to juggle. But, you know, that's a lot of different places that I have eyes and ears on, you know, and I can see what works, what doesn't work.

 I'd say it's best to huddle up again with your rep aside from them kind of knowing everything. It's like, there's a lot of resources that MERS provides that you, and probably any company, but I know just speaking for MERS, like what we can offer, just, you know, setting up an account with us, you have all these different resources like marketing, different social posts, different, um,

 promotional ideas, lots of things that kind of like, that's where a lot of folks kind of struggle at first. Like, I don't even know how do you sell this stuff? Or like, how do I get patients in? Or how do I leave the hospital, my full-time job and make the transition into injecting? Which that's my favorite conversation to have, you know, like, cause I'm like, that's the big jump. Everybody loves a jump. I did it. Everybody's going to do it. You know, if you really want to make this work, you got to make the jump. Um,

 So I don't know, I would say then to those people. So aside from huddle up with your rep, you got to make the jump. Like, and I know it's kind of scary because a lot of people hang on for benefits purposes. You know, if they're working in a hospital, they're working in, you know, primary care or whatever.

 But I would start small. I would start with tox parties because that is a great way to not have to quit your day job if you want to keep it for benefits purposes. Yeah. And with experience, you get the highest amount of money off your tox treatment too, like $50. Yeah.

 so yeah with um you mean with the experience rewards program yeah so mers is pretty great in that we offer with each xeomin treatment all patients get fifty dollars off yeah and it's every three months yep every three months so it's pretty nice because i mean if you're doing talks parties number one you're building clientele those parties if you want to migrate from that then you partner with another injector who might already have their own place you know and they're just looking for a place to come in it's like hey i've been doing all these botox parties i love it but i'm not ready to open my spot

 Can I work with you like three days a week? Answer usually is yes, because most of these providers might need help. Yeah. You know, and then from there, there's plenty of faces to go around. They might say, hey, I kind of want to now go open my own place, you know, and that's kind of an easy progression for a lot of folks. And I think it's so nice to like be friends with your reps, too, because they do have the inside information.

 you said if you are a business owner especially and you are looking for a new injector or you're looking for a new esthetician or whatever it may be like you talk to all these accounts and you have your ears and eyes open to all these things yes and you definitely have the inside scoop so yes and like knowing what personalities might fit together like that's the biggest hurdle i see is like personalities meshing under one roof you know because a lot of women that start these businesses they're all very type a very driven like

 have their own like mantra and like you gotta gel with that or it's just not gonna work um you know i literally put two people in touch today and they're both crnas they're both know each other like and don't even realize it i'm like you just told me two weeks ago you need somebody to help and like you're looking to get out of the hospital and start injecting like y'all talk and you know like you know each other that's me so

 I love that. I love that aspect, too, of like community and bringing this community together. That's it's just like a beautiful thing because all of you have so many wonderful qualities and good personalities. I'm like, listen, we're just getting started in this world of injecting and aesthetics. We're literally just getting started. So I'm like band together now. I love it. Like I know that not everyone is going to have the same opinions on things or not the same take and not, you know, like we're all slightly different. But I feel like

 there's no reason like there's what 7% of the market that's tapped. Correct. And we're all, we all have our unique qualities. Like even within Milo, we have four injectors, but as you know, like we're all totally different. Yes. And we all have different special techniques and special things that we bring to the table. And that's true with every single other injector. So I, you know, I am like,

 I love being collaborative. It's so true. We could all just agree to be that way. I know. You know, and I heard this analogy. We were at sales meeting last week, so I cannot credit this to myself, but we're talking about the aesthetics industry and how early days we are right now. Even though it seems like we're moving a thousand miles an hour, we aren't. If we look in the grand scale of like when Botox started to like where we're at. Yeah, there's been a quick uptick during COVID from the zoom moon, but overall that's pretty much leveled out.

 I mean, it's like gas stations back in the day. Like I'm sure when people were first getting cars and there was not many gas stations around, they were probably saying to themselves when more gas stations started popping up, there's too many gas stations. We'll look at the growth of drivers. More cars. And now there's a gas station on literally every single corner. And there is no gas station that goes out of business. It can be the dumpiest gas station, but it's going to keep pumping gas. So am I using that analogy completely correctly? Apples to apples? No, there's not going to be a mess on every corner.

 but the market share is gonna be so much higher in the next 10, 15 years. The technology is gonna be changing, I feel like, because yeah, we are seeing a soft HA filler market, but biostimulators is really coming in strong over in Europe, Asia, South America. I think we're gonna see a huge uptick in that, more natural approaches, exosomes is still working on FDA approval here for injections.

 I it's just to me, I'm like, there's so much room for growth and different demographics of people that haven't even tapped yet. So I absolutely agree. I think the more that we bring in like the holistic regenerative, like gut health hormones, weight loss, peptides, it's all connected. It is. And I think that that is going to even widen the scope of,

 it's going to widen the scope of aesthetics too. So we're not just going to have the injectable patients. We're going to have like all these different patients that are coming in for different causes. And then they see a flyer for radius and they're like, Oh, maybe I want that too. So it's going to grow the whole market.

 Yes, because it really is connected. And I think the more like people are waking up to like, hey, just getting taking a medication for like a symptom doesn't actually fix the problem. And now like aesthetics is taking on this animal of like holistic wellness and like, let's do all the things that your doctors aren't really talking about. And then this whole side is like growing even more than just being skin deep.

 And that's what I want for myself. Isn't that what you want for yourself? A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Because for duration, like I love hyaluronic acid filler also, but the more we learn about it and the more we know, like how long it lasts and hydrochloricity and things, like we use it a little bit more sparingly. Right. And that's why it's nice to have biostands come in and say, okay, like you maybe don't need as much volume replacement, but you do need some collagen and elastin and

 you know, you need all these other things to go with it. So I'm super pumped. Agreed. Agreed. I look at biostimulators as

 fixing the problem versus just fixing the symptoms. Whereas HAs are awesome and have their place just like a lot of medications, but it doesn't actually fix like the root. It's like biostems are like, let's make your body do something. It's like the structure and the foundation and then the HA is like the gloss on top. That's right. The icing on the cake. The icing on the cake. So what makes, what do you think makes Radiesse different? Because we have lots of hyaluronic acid fillers, but we only have

 one radius we only have one calcium hydroxyl appetite and it really stands out in my practice and in everyone else's practices that use the product what do you feel like because you've been a consumer of it and now you're on the selling side so yes what do you think is like the selling point for it well for full like can we talk about yeah yeah we can um i mean full disclosure from here to here i have like five to seven syringes of radius

 I have a little bit of RHA, so hyaluronic acid filler, in my lips and a teensy bit in my chin. And then I have one syringe each of Radiesse in both my hands. And then got some of the Badonkadol. And the peach. That's right. Hey, because God didn't gift me in that area. That is a lie, first of all. That is a lie. He was like, she would be too powerful. He gave her a J-Lo booty. So Radiesse is going to give her the power.

 Radiesse gives you your power back. Well, okay. The beauty of Radiesse is that it stimulates collagen, elastin. It's collagen one, collagen three, elastin.

 It also promotes angiogenesis, which is the stimulation of new vessel growth, which is super important when you're building new tissue, that it has blood flow. Because otherwise, how is it viable? How is it dynamic? Does it create dynamic movement? Probably not if it doesn't have vessels. And then it also stimulates more proteoglycans, which are basically a chemical reaction that creates a good glow. So you get a nice glow.

 So it's really great because I mean, AJs can't do that. Um, you know, it can fill a void and it does stimulate a little bit of collagen growth just because it creates inflammation. Um,

 You know, so Radiesse, it's a biostimulator. So aside from doing all of those things that make your body work for yourself, it also is a great structural filler. So it creates a beautiful cheek, jaw, chin. The jaw lines. Oh, cuts like a knife. Yes. Isn't that a Guns N' Roses? Cuts like a knife. But it feels so, it's an 80s song, I don't know.

 But yeah, no, it is. It's the highest G prime. Yeah. So it literally has double the amount of either Juvederm or Restylane. It has double the amount of G prime. And G prime, for those that don't know what that is, it basically is pushing force. So how much push force lifting power does it have? And it's got double the amount of any of your highest HAs, your thickest, most viscous HAs. It's got double the amount of pushing power.

 So you have to use a lot less for the same areas. And it comes with more. Correct. So each syringe has 1.5 cc's or 1.5 ml's. Two come in one box. So basically you're getting 3 ml's of product. So where you might go down on midface of 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 of an HA filler, you really only need 0.2.

 So you end up with a lot left over in the syringe, which a lot of folks... You can do your cheeks and your jawline. Right. Cheeks and jaw, or you can take what, you know, let's say you have 0.5 left. You can dilute that and then do kind of a global lower face for like to efface some of the midface area for the nasolabial folds to help because this is a big aging area. So take some cannula, fluff that. I think my favorite thing about the product is the dual plane approach. So I have patients that I will do...

 um, down on periosteum for their cheeks, but then they have those like ribeds on their cheeks and that skin quality. So then I'll do exactly what you just said. I'll use part of the syringe on periosteum to give them that contour. And then I take the other part of it and mix it with saline. And then I take a cannula and I'll do it on top. So dual plane with the same syringe. Beautiful. Yeah, that's exactly its intended use.

 so we love that we love that i mean because like again it's you're not going and filling it with any kind of ha it's not going to turn puffy it's also not going to migrate that is the beauty of radius because it is so viscous and it has that pushing power that g prime and because it's calcium it's not a water or gel base it's not going to move so where you put it is where it's going to stay which is nice because as we're studying more about the filler world

 You know, a lot of our studies in, and by our, I mean the injectables world, not just at MERS, you know, our study for HAs is really only 12 to 24 months. There are no studies beyond that. Long-term, like 10 years. Right. Which now, I'm sure there were studies started then. I can't, you know, I could ask Allergan or Gonderma, like, hey, what are those studies showing now that you started them 10 years ago? But you don't know where some of that filler is going, where it's migrating to. Is it moving different planes? So is it moving from...

 up or down, left or right, you know, especially if it's on bone, on something that, you know, muscles pushing constantly. And that is something that I am super interested in. And I love science and I love learning. And that was the reason that I bought the Mind Ray, the ultrasound, because I feel like, you know, we need some type of diagnostic tool in aesthetics because every other field of medicine has diagnostics that we use to see what we're doing.

 And the vein finders are great, but it's only showing you what's on the surface. And so with an ultrasound, that is really the only way, the only thing that we have at this time to actually look and see where our HA filler is. And you can see, of course, where the radius is too. But it's nice to see, okay, this is where I initially placed it. Like for myself, as an example, I had hyaluronic acid filler placed like five years ago by a surgeon.

 and it was placed in the subcutaneous tissue and not down on periosteum. And interestingly, because of the plane that it was placed in, I started, I now have like this little bit of malar edema that didn't pop up until like years after I had the product done. And I went to ultrasound to see where to spot dissolve it. And it has totally integrated

 into my tissues. So in order to help with the malar edema, I would still, even using ultrasound, have to do quite a bit of hyalinex throughout this whole area because it's fully integrated. Wow. But you can see the particles. You can see certain parts of the particles where it's integrated, but there's no way for me to spot those all. So it's just something that I take into consideration more as a provider. The plane that I'm putting it in, the quantity that I'm... Whereas I used to do...

 a 0.3 bolus or 0.4 bolus of hyaluronic acid. I'm a little bit more careful with the amount that I'm putting in one place.

 and the plane. Right. Just to make sure that it's staying where I want it. Yeah. So I do more of like raindrop techniques and less like big boluses. Good. Yeah. And I think that's where everyone is headed. Like much less or much more injections, much tinier boluses. Which is actually good when you're thinking about like delayed onset issues as well, because you're going to have an inflammatory reaction or like an autoimmune reaction or anything like that. It's typically going to attack a bigger particle.

 Yes. It's going to latch onto that bait for sure. It's safer in general, even, you know, from, from a vascular perspective, like doing little raindrops is safer from a vascular occlusion perspective rather than doing big boluses at one time too. So I think overall it's a safer way.

 And that is why you're a top tier injector, Brett. Okay. And I think that's such like a good, I mean, just to already have that ultrasound too. Like it's just, it's just another layer of safety protocol as well. And like, you know, to your point, we don't know where that HA is going. You know, you can dump a bunch of Hyalinex into somebody. Like that's been eating all of your natural collagen. And it comes back, but it takes months. Right. You know, so you want to use the least amount possible.

 And I think for me too, I, the reason I went ahead and got an ultrasound is because I know it's going to take me five to seven years to be like really, really competent and using it because you basically have to be a sonographer. Like you're in order to use it and use it well. And, and then.

 like in an adverse event situation you can't be playing around like you're gonna know right how you have to know how to use it right and so right now i actually have a sonographer that we have like that could call that we could call and she would come in and use it but i want to be that skilled at work as well so i'm now focusing instead of on injecting classes i'm focusing more on like ultrasound anti-aging lasers things like that because i feel like i have like a good handle on my injecting and so now i'm kind of focusing on others

 on other things. I love that. So ultrasound is one of my things. And then once you learn, you can pass that knowledge to all the other injectors too. Yeah, absolutely. Yep.

 I love sharing the knowledge. I was going to say, like, I feel like I should turn this over to you. Like, what is your goal? What is your path? Like, what do you want to do? Cause like you want to be in charge of everything. And like, I love that. And like, then you just impart all of this wisdom and knowledge on the rest of your injectors. And it's like, then you've given them all the tools that they need. I think I love being a leader because I, while I had, you know,

 a mentor and some mentorship. I never really had a leader that was ever in my position to say like, these are the steps we're going to take to make you great. You know, like I had a plastic surgeon that was already so much elevated that he didn't really, he didn't understand how to lead me because he had never been where I was before. And so I feel the responsibility for other

 PAs and MPs and nurses and whoever it may be to like be their little, you know, their little helper whenever they're trying to get started in the industry. And just from a business perspective, I've always been super interested in business. So, you know, opening a med spa and just going from zero to a hundred really quickly, I feel like I have learned a lot already and I can offer business advice and things like that. So I just really, I love helping.

 yeah you really are somebody i feel like that anyone no matter the level they're at could come to and ask you know whether i mean whether it's an md who's been doing this for 20 years and he's like i feel like i'm missing the boat because i've been doing botox or i've been doing a little bit of filler but like what am i leaving on the table you know or a brand new ejector straight out of mp or pa school you know and i will say i think one of the you know one thing that i

 that I do have the ability to do is find the resource because I don't know everything and I will never admit to knowing everything. And I always have tons to learn, but I do know where to find the resources. And I think if nothing else, I can help lead people to the answer. Yes, I do agree with that. But this is about you. I know, but I just want to pick you right now. Okay. So you lived in Nashville. Where'd you live before that?

 Grew up in Augusta, Georgia, born and raised, and then went to Georgia Southern for five marvelous years. What is your degree in? Logistics and supply chain management. It's actually now called industrial engineering. Imagine that. Imagine that. Really, it's because...

 For the whole program, there was, like, I don't know how many dudes, and there was, like, five chicks. That's engineering in general, right? Yeah, but it wasn't called engineering because I am not smart enough for that. So I remember sitting in my marketing class because I was a marketing major, and I remember sitting in there one day. It's clear as day, this vivid memory. And I was like, we're all in our sorority oversized T-shirts, all of our, like, Nike shorts and tennis shoes because that's what you wore to class.

 And this is like a marketing class that had like, you know, 50, basically 50 chicks in it. We all look the same. We all came from the same socioeconomic backgrounds. We all have the same interests. We all were generally the same, like hobbies, grades. And I was like, well, how the heck am I going to get a job over her?

 Like other than my amazing personality, I really have nothing to bring to the table. First of all, we need to change your mindset. First of all. Okay. We've worked on that the last 10 years. We're improved now. But I remember thinking like, literally, if this is a hiring event, like it's just a duel to the death, I guess. So I was like, no, I need to market myself better and actually take what little I've learned in this class and go change my major down the hall because like I need to have employers begging for me to come in the door.

 And so that's why I went to logistics. And it was the best decision ever because it opened up this whole world of like, logistics is a huge, broad thing. But I ended up taking a sales class and I was like,

 And then I was like, can I minor in sales? You're a natural at it. Right. And so then I got to meet like all my professors. I got really close with all my professors, all my logistics professors. And they're all these like retired military guys, like in the Army, Air Force, Navy, all these colonels that are like teaching these logistics courses. And they were like.

 This is not the field for you. They're like, you're great and you're going to get any job you want, but you just need to be in sales. So I was like, okay. And so then I talked to my sales professor. She got me, one of my professors is like, I'll give you whatever internship you want, but promise me you'll go into sales. And then I went to a big sales, basically hiring event. And that's how I got in touch with my employers and then moved to Nashville right after graduation.

 Um, and was there from 2015 to last year, July of last year. That's crazy. And it was, it was a wonderful chapter in my life. It was great. And you're technically still in a sales role.

 Yes. I never left. Yeah. So from all the education that you have, because I'm also in a sales role, every provider's in a sales role, but our sales is more of education. Like I'm never going to sell a patient something that they don't need, but it is still a soft sell is basically what we call it because in order to get the patients to buy the treatments that they need, we need to like explain them well.

 So from all the sales training that you've had, can you give us like two or three like little pearls or tips about sales? Like, is there just something that like really stood out? Like, if you do this, you'll be good at making connections. If you do this, like you'll know how to talk to a person and get them to close. Ooh, yeah. Well, first, number one rule in sales is shut up and listen.

 So that's a good rule. I need to do that. It's so very simple that people make it so hard. Like if you just sit there and ask questions, like tell me more about that. Could you please expand? I would love to hear more about this.

 floodgates open and it's not like this is a trickery move it's not it's i don't know what to sell you because how would i possibly know what to sell you until you tell me what you need do you go to the doctor and the doctor just writes you a script without you saying what's wrong with you no you don't that would be poor medical practice so life is sales like how can you help someone you need to know what they need help with and i think as a provider like obviously the consult the most important thing step one hi i'm so-and-so

 Tell me about why you're here, you know? And I think that's actually where a lot of us miss the mark. Big time. Because we are too fast and they'll tell us one thing and they'll say,

 Well, this line bothers me. Okay, we're going to go get your 20 units to treat your glabella. And we like walk out and they, if we would have asked the questions and let them talk, well, you know, tell me what really brought you here. You know, like even other questions, like I have a list of questions like, oh, well, like what do you do for work? What's your family life like? Like you kind of get them to open up and talk about things and like why they're actually here and what's really bothering them. And they'll say, yeah, my skin and, you know, yeah, I've lost some volume here and in my lips.

 And I totally agree with you. Let them talk and they'll tell you everything that they need. Right. Because it's really it's you're trying to consult them because like you said, they might. Yeah, they have wrinkles, but like they also have all these other concerns. And then we talked about wellness earlier. It's like once you hear about what's going on at home or like what's bothering them, it's like, oh, wow. OK.

 there's a lot of things I can help you with. It's not things I can sell you on. So I think providers need to throw that out of their mind because that's the number one thing that I talked to. They're like, I just don't want to be salesy. I'm like, you're not salesy. And I will say too, that I have had over the years, many patients that have come into my practice and they see me like do consults online and they're like,

 I like the person that I went to, but I felt like they only ever did what I asked them to do. And I didn't feel like, you know, I didn't feel like they were like willing to like go outside of my regular treatment. And so I'm here for you to tell me what I need. I love that. And so for whatever reason, I don't know why they didn't do that with the person that they were with because they could have easily gone into their office and said,

 okay, this is what I normally get, but tell me what you think. And I think that's a good reason to represent yourself online as someone that takes the time and consults and has a conversation and educates. And that's why I lead with education in everything that I do, because a lot of times we think that the patient's like, we're assuming they don't have enough money. Well, that's offensive to them.

 They're like, do I look poor? Right. You know, and they want to know everything. And that is up to them whether they decide to move forward with it, but they want the education. So I just say the consultation is just an educational, you know, it's time to tell them everything that you offer and everything that they could benefit from and whether they get it or not, it's totally up to them.

 yeah you're uncovering needs yep just all you're flipping over rocks information yeah so and i think a lot of you know people for that example like i think i'm sure that provider was it's fear-based like they don't want to say too much they don't want to offend it's like but also like you usually go to these places because you want to be expert you want to be led absolutely and i do ask i'm like okay like i hear you this is your concern and if they don't bring up anything else i'm like

 would you like me to do a full face consult today? A question. And they might say no. Right. And then they'll, they'll answer the question and then we go from there. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So shut up and listen. What else? What else you got? Give me one more. Oh, I mean, what, tell me what murders has taught you.

 Giving one thing Marissa saw you. You know, they taught her so much. No, they really taught me so much about product and like science. So that is a whole direction. But if we're talking about sales, I mean, really, it was my first sales, my first sales professor in my life.

 this guy named Jeff Eilers was my sales coach, like at my first job. And he was a terror on weekly sales calls that I had. Like I'm sweating thinking of that. Actually like he was broker Bob, but he was the best coach I could ever have the rest of my life. Like, cause it was so, it was so. Have you kept in touch? I have. That's awesome. Yeah. He lives in Laguna, Laguna beach. So just surfs every day. Like living the life. It's a fricking life. And it's like from Florida. I remember him telling me, he's like, you got to get to Florida. And I'm like,

 Jeff, look at me. He mentored you all the way to Florida. Yeah, he did. That's cool. Funny enough. So, um, but the second thing is like, what's your why? And I remember him asking this question. I literally was about to like jab his eyeballs out. Not really. Cause I was at the time I was afraid of him. Now I would jab his eyes out, but

 He was like, you've got to be able to sell with passion, like show your passion, like figure out what it is about the job that you love and dig into it because people can see right through if you're not being genuine. And like you said it earlier, education is yours. You love to lead with education because that's what you're passionate about. I mean, you're just talking about ultrasound. You want to be the expert in the room, you know?

 And for me, my passion is aesthetics and like making people feel confident. And because like of that Botox experience that I had during like the Zoom boom during COVID, that changed my whole mentality about the whole injectables aesthetics. That changed the trajectory of your life. It did. Like think about that as a provider. Like if you're listening to what she's saying right now, like that injector impacted the rest of her life.

 Yes. That's crazy. She did. Madeline, thank you. That's amazing though. Like we hold so much, like we don't even realize how much responsibility we hold to people's lives sometimes. You do. Or if they're depressed or if they're like going through some things or, I mean, that's huge. That's a huge impact. I remember each of my conversations with her and that's every like, ooh.

 eight weeks. So like as a provider, it is so important. It is imperative. Front desk people too. They're your patient's experience from when they walk in the door to when they exit critical, critical. Cause you never know what that person's wearing on their back emotionally or physically as they walk in the door. And like, this is an escape for so many people. So it's like, Oh my God, I, you know, like it's ridiculous. Like how, how,

 these little tiny 15 to 30 minute appointments can like change your life. Like literally change your life. That's actually, I, I've never really thought about it like that. Yeah. So, yeah. So shut up and listen. And what's your why? Yes. Why do you do this? And I would like to just go back and say, you know, you actually said that MERS just trained you on the products and like the rheology and they don't really do that much sales training. I actually think that that speaks highly to the company. It does. Because they also care about education.

 yeah and that's really cool they love to lead with education and science because i'm like when you look at the science of mers i'm like you can't be it i mean you can't yeah we all want to take jabs at each other but i'm like we're stronger together just wait till like asia gets on the market guys it's gonna be a fun day wild yeah so i'm like again yeah we all have our strengths and shortcomings but and i also think it speaks to the the nature of mers of who they hire like they don't hire a bad apple

 Like they don't. Or they get rid of them quickly. They do. And so I'm like, they already knew what they're getting into. They already hired like top talent, not to like pat myself on the back, but like they want, they know the culture. They know how they want to keep it. They're like, we're not going to hire someone and then have to sell. And Patrick is like the coolest dude ever. Nicest person you would never imagine. Like he is so humble. He is so nice. Like I want him to be my boss. I know. And that's the level. Like it's somebody you could easily go talk to and,

 You feel like you've known him for 20 years. Yeah. He's the most down to earth, chill dude. He had no idea who I was. And he, I went to talk to him one day at a Mer Summit and he was just took his time talking to me. It was so nice. Wasn't in a hurry. Like answer my questions. Yeah. That's him. So nice. Um, so I'll pause it. Yep. Do you need me? I can cap cut it. Oh, good. Oh,

 The angel. Look at his little ears tucked back. He's so asleep. He's like, I've had my poops. Bye. We had to take a quick break so that we can get this little cutie. This is Louie. We met Louie today. He's from

 Rolling Hills Farm. Shout out to Rolling Hills. Look at how precious. Soon to be the new mascot of Camila. Yes.

 So yeah, I love Patrick. I do think it's so cool because I use, you know, everyone knows, I use all portfolios. Like I care about my patients at the end of the day and what's best for them. And I don't have company loyalty. I have patient loyalty. And I know that there's some controversy with that with some people, but I do appreciate the companies that allow me to like use what I think is best and the minimum for my patients as a provider.

 But the rheology with most products is different than every other portfolio. So you really have to have them in your practice because there's nothing that compares to Xeomin, Radiesse or Bellatero. We've already talked about Radiesse with the high G prime and you can use it dual, you can use that hyper dilute or straight up.

 And then with Belotero, Belotero is so interesting to me because it is like water or butter. Like it is very spreadable, but it also has a higher hydrochloricity than a lot of products. And that is interesting to me because in certain areas, like even the lips, like with smoker's lines, you want something that's buttery and blends in with the tissue, but you want it to pull in some water.

 to plump the lines out or like the little nasolabial fold lines where your makeup settles. So you want something that's smooth, integrates, but also can pull some water. So that's different than any other very low G prime product. So you have two complete opposite ends with the Radiesse and the Belotero. And then with Xeomin, it's the only one that doesn't have the human serum of human. And so talk a little bit about Xeomin. Yes. So Xeomin is the only neurotoxin on the market that has been double purified.

 So all neurotoxins on the market, so in the US at least, all have accessory proteins or they have peptides. So they are surrounded by accessory ingredients. These accessory ingredients are what your body forms a resistance to over time.

 So right now, especially post-COVID, post-vaccine, in general, just a lot of us are having inflammatory issues, underlying autoimmune issues. It's kind of weird. It's like in our food. It's in what we're eating. Anyway, so we're having odd adverse reactions. Oh, whoops. I have that all. It's fine. Okay.

 I might have gotten muffled for a bit because you said so many good things. I'm just going to real quick say, I'm just going to repeat it real quick. Okay. So we talked about Radiesse, which is the highest G prime filler, and you can use it dual. You can use a hyper dilute and you can use it straight up, which is different than any other product on the market. And then we have Bellatero, which is the super low G prime product, but it has a higher hydrofolicity. So normally with a low G prime product, it doesn't pull very much water into the tissue.

 But with Belotero for like smoker's lines, fine lines around the mouth and nasolabial fold lines where the makeup settles, you have a buttery product that's going to perfectly blend in. But it's also going to have that waterfall to the tissue, which is what we want for these areas. So it really stands out. And then with Xeomin, it's different than any of the neuromodulators on the market because it doesn't have the risk of antibody resistance. And after COVID, that was such a huge risk. It still is. We still have patients that are having antibody resistance. So talk a little bit about Xeomin.

 Yep. So Xeomin is the only neurotoxin on the market that is filtered. So it's the only double purified neurotoxin out there of all of them. So all current, at least in the U.S.,

 are all of the neuromodulators are either surrounded by accessory proteins or peptides. So either way, all of those accessory ingredients is what your body will eventually form a resistance to. It is the most recognizable thing that your body can latch onto, recognize it as a foreign body, and then slowly but surely grow an immunity towards.

 So post-COVID, like you mentioned, vaccines, et cetera, stuff that we're eating now, a higher incidence of autoimmune issues. We're seeing that normal dosing of Botox or whatever is not working. It's either not really working at all, it's wearing off sooner, or it's taking what we call dose creep. It's taking more units to have the same effect as previously done. So somebody that might have started their toxin journey

 at let's say 30 units, 20 units, whatever. Now they're having to have double the dose in the same area to get the same lasting effect. Um, and you know, that's no bueno. So Xeomin is the only one that is purified to have none of those accessory proteins. It still has the same core molecule that all the other toxins have, which is 150 kilodalton weight core, that core neurotoxin.

 Because they all break apart anyway, like that carrier molecule isn't really necessary because they all have 150 kilodaltons, like you said. So if you're going to choose a product, it does make sense to choose Xeomin, especially if you've had resistance issue. I actually transitioned my sister to Xeomin.

 because she was having some, it wasn't even resistance. It was really duration. Like it would kick in, but then it would wear off after four weeks. And we had to do like a complete washout for six months. And then she did Xeomin two or three times. And now she gets like eight weeks.

 So she's kind of creeping back up to like a longer duration. And that's usually, that's what I find. I tell everybody, I'm like, this is a scary thing to say to your patient, but they're not going to have any result with anything because their body is now resistant. And that's the scary thing is when your body not only now recognizes the accessory proteins, it also recognizes that core molecule and the core molecule ain't working.

 So you need to have a six month washout of nothing, which believe it or not, for people that have been doing this year after year, six months, you can handle it. You're not going to get good skincare, get some facials, do some microneedling, take zinc, you know, substitute what you normally would get injected. Like you said, get some laser treatments, peels, microneedling, do all the things because six months is going to fly by. You're not going to be developing more skin.

 wrinkles, you're just going to have movement in your face because you've been atrophying your muscles for years. You'll be fine. So that's step one. But another thing I hear about, you know, this is kind of a counter argument to the accessory proteins falling off after reconstitution for all other neuromodulators. Yeah, that's true. So when you do reconstitute, a lot of, you know, competitors of mine like to say that, well, you know, the accessory proteins fall off in the vial. And so it's not an issue anyway.

 Little concern there is, well, when you draw it up in a syringe, you can't really pick and choose how many accessory proteins are going into per unit. And that one vial that might be shared with three different patients, some might be getting injected with more accessory proteins versus the other. So some people are getting hyper-injected almost with more accessory proteins, a stronger chance of resistance than the next person.

 Yeah, and that's really interesting because I've never heard of a study where they take that same vial and they're not testing the whole vial. I've never heard of them taking multiple samples from the one vial, like 20 units, 20 units, 20 units, and seeing how many accessory proteins. That's actually a really good point. I've never thought about that. You should bring that to my competitors. I'll ask them. Shout out, guys. You know, for me, again, I have loyalty to my patients, and I love all companies. I love you. I support you.

 all the education and science, but at the end of the day, because I'm also a patient, I'm also a user of the product. I want to know the science for myself, for my patients, for my colleagues. Like I want to use what's going to be best long-term. So that's why I have myself moved away from HA fillers. You know, I still use them here and there, especially in the lips, um, in, in other places on the face, but I use them in a lower quantity. It's not that I don't use them. I use less and I focus more on biosimulators and lasers and skin quality.

 Um, but I'm always going to focus on the true science and, and not about what the rep's saying. And it's not because it's not, it's not because the reps want to lie. It's just, it's from an educational standpoint, like they don't necessarily have all the information because they only work for that one company. So we need, we need the science as a whole. And that's why I love going to conferences, you know, I go to conferences constantly and

 And Olivia Salmon was one of the speakers. And I don't know if she's from Nashville. Yeah, I've talked to her before. She is very, she's all about anti-aging and she has a very clear picture on the science. And that's why I love anyone that's going to like actually show me the papers. There was another lady, her name was Dr. Gretchen, I think Freiling or something like that.

 And she did the same thing at this conference that I just went to. I went to AES and they just, they weren't talking brand specific. They're like, let me show you the papers. Like, let me show you what I've learned. And I love that. And that's where I go back to several paragraphs ago of like, this is why we all need to learn.

 community over competition where we all need to band together which i know in corporate america that never happens which is very unfortunate because especially in the us just wait till asia really amps up their market and then we really have some heavy-hitting competitors that have a lot have a lot to bring to the table you know um because i think you know if we got all of our

 medical science liaisons together in a room and it was like, hey, this is not a contest to see who can sell the most. Wow, that would be amazing. This is like, let's actually talk about the science of all of this stuff and really do a black and white wash of everything and talk through it because there's probably improvements we can all make and like bring all the studies to the table. That would be incredible. We know that'll never happen. Ever. People can't let their egos, you know, leave them at the door. Wow. Could you imagine like how amazing that would be? I can't imagine. I can't even imagine. Yeah.

 you could do sweet little boy he's precious he's like this is exhausting he's so sleepy he's had a long day he's like too many pets how am i gonna get rid of him i don't know you just give him honey he's so sweet we just need a mila dog mila hi mila because there's not one in in town that has a emotional support so i don't know that's gonna be our thing

 I just have to figure out where to put them at night. Your house. I need an air conditioned dog kennel outside and then he won't be inside. What else did we miss? Okay. So we just hit the aesthetics and what it's like to be in cells and all the more serious things. So let's kind of transition over to the more personal. He's given us some ASMR here with his noises.

 Let's talk about dating a little bit. Something that, you know, I'm not familiar with because I've been married for a long time. And I, you know, actually we, so let me tell you, we have tried to learn how to date again because we have an almost 10 year old and we have forgotten what that looks like. And when we do go out to dinner, it's like, oh, so what, how was work? Or, hey, Andy has this school thing coming up. And so we made an agreement that whenever we go on dates and

 that on the way there at the date and on the way home we act like it's like a first date and we have these questions we've both like crafted questions and we find some on tiktok and we can only like get to know each other and talk about fun things yes that's really been helpful oh dating okay tell me the dating scene in pensacola and how bad it is i mean it's like shooting fish in a barrel

 So how is the military for around here? Oh boy. It depends on what branch. Just kidding. God, people are going to see this and be like, what an animal.

 Where did you get her? But going back to what you said about learning how to date again, that is so freaking important. Like it's kind of like catching up with a friend. Like, you know, you can't just go through a checklist of like, how was your day? It gets so boring. Yeah. I dated a wonderful person for seven years. Been there, done that. Didn't get married. Don't have a kid to show for it. None of that. That just wasn't our path. But yeah,

 still try to like come up with new ways to invent yourself, like forcing yourself to do something, not forcing as if this is like pulling teeth, but you know, like, all right, let's get creative. Like, what do we want to do? We need to make a set date that we go on once a week, you know? And like come up with creative questions, kind of going back to sales, like shut up and listen. Yeah. We've had to go back. We have a standing date now every other Wednesday because he's home every other week. So, and I'm off Wednesday. So we have a standing date every other week.

 And I think it's going to be good for us. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and like just doing stuff that maybe neither of you have done before, like doing creative hobbies, taking lessons, you know, just stuff that's like, it takes effort. You need to do that. I think the one thing and the one request that I had to my husband was I will like travel an hour or two to like go do an activity, especially if you have eight hours. And my husband, you know, he is, I get it. Like he's flying a lot and he's in the car a lot.

 But we live in pace and he doesn't even want to come back 20 minutes into Pensacola to go to dinner. And so that was like a tough conversation we had to have too. I was like, look, I said, we only live once. And if we are going to date every other Wednesday, we're going to run out of things to do in Pensacola.

 yeah so we have to be okay like traveling two hours to go do something for a couple hours and then being back before andy needs to be picked up that's right i think that's possible 100 because like yeah i mean pensacola i think offers a lot but you know you can go over to like fairhope mobile go the other way dustin 30a rosemary hello i mean then if you like the outdoors florida i could be like a poster child for a while in florida so freaking much i'm never leaving the state but

 I'm like, there's so much outdoor stuff that you could do that if you're not outdoorsy, it's like, well, hey, that's going to get you out of your comfort zone with your significant other, which is always exciting. And then you've got stories to tell. And who knows, you might pick up another hobby. Like I just started scuba diving. Which is so fun. I'm really into it. Do you love it? I freaking love it. I saw it. It's a very scary experience, you know, like just in general, because it just, again, puts you out of your comfort zone. But it's just something I'm like, hey, this is just another experience.

 quiver in my era like just of like something else I can do with people and we all need more dopamine you're getting so much dopamine from like trying new things and having excitement and

 Yeah. That happy hormone, you know? But yeah, so dating. Dating has been fun. I had a really fun summer. I've seen all your social media stuff. It looks like you're having a blast. I really am. This is the season of yes. I'm just like, sister, do it. And I have said over the last three months, four months, I've had the most fun, the best summer. I've had the most personal success.

 work success like that I've ever had. This is the happiest I've been in years. And again, it's because you're meant to be here. Yes. And it's been nothing but green lights. Like ever since I lived here, moved here, made the decision, made the jump, like green light after green light after green light, ever since I made that big jump. And this is providers listening to this. Like ever since I took that big jump from my big corporate job and then took a giant leap of faith, it has been nothing but green lights.

 And I feel like it's just like, you know, when you're coming down a stream and you might be in a canoe and all of a sudden you hit that current and you're like, it's like nothing but green lights. And yeah, there's been some minor speed bumps along the way. That's life. But like, for the most part, it's like, this is exactly the trajectory my life was going to go. And I feel it in my veins and that's my why. But anyway, Jeff, if you're listening, um,

 But, yeah, so it's been the best summer. It's been the most fun. Keep dating light. That's what I can say to most people because when they – I feel like people get fed up with dating when they just take it so seriously. It's like we need to go back to – Like they're trying to get married, like –

 Like that, like they think they're going to meet their match if they get on the apps like, oh, I heard X, Y, Z friends all met on Hinge or whatever. Like, no, do not do that. That stuff is poison. It is poison for your brain. Do not do that. Go back the old fashioned way of like going out organically, get hobbies, get happy.

 and go meet people. And don't kind of meet people to go get married. Meet people to go have fun. Yeah, be friends. And be friends and connect. And you never know how big your network's going to get professionally, personally. I've made more friends in the last three months than I have in probably years. Just because if your mindset is right,

 everything is wide open. Do you believe in the, what you think about you bring about? A hundred percent. If you put it out there and you think it, you believe it, it will absolutely come to you tenfold. I feel like that is what has led me in the direction that I am now is I am very positive and optimistic and I think positive every day. And even we all have our moments where like, Ooh, you know, we, we kind of have that moment where we're not feeling good about ourselves, but I

 I like find myself and I snap myself right back out of it. Yes. Because whenever I take that path, it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. And whenever I change it and I'm like positive and like things are going to work out, this is going to happen. Then.

 everything is good again. It always does. Positivity. Everything always works out. It does. Like, yeah, you can fixate on the negative, but the more you fixate on negative, the more negative things surround you. And negative people. Bingo. And you don't want to be around negative people because negativity is a virus. Yes. And like, it's hard to rid yourself of those viruses. Absolutely. Like, I only want to be around, you know, and we have, again, we have those moments where we have to lift our friends up, but you want to be around people that like have a positive outlook on life and are happy to be alive. And

 happy to like grow. And even with, with work success and things like that, like I want to be around professionals that are driven and have goals and have motivations, like not people that are just okay with like barely getting by. No, there's nothing less motivating and just deflating than being around people like that. And I get everybody has their struggles and they're at different, different chapters in their lives. So their chapter might be just a resting chapter or like, I need to sit with myself chapter, but I'm like, I've done all that. So I'm like,

 you're here to thrive right time to thrive right and i'm like relishing the moment because i know that life is not always going to feel like green lights and it's always going to feel like you hit that fast current like so i'm just like relishing every freaking minute of this

 I love it. I love that for you. And I love seeing you happy. I honestly, like even with Mila, I was so nervous to take the leap because I had worked for someone else for 10 years and no matter, because I always like feel the need to learn more, like, and I never think that I'm going to know enough. I was like, do I know how to be a business owner? Do I know how to take this step? And I was like semi-forced into it at the very end. And it's been for me too, like nothing but

 a straight trajectory up i mean so i know it's meant to be y'all your story like you and katie's story with mila i'm like that is almost the exception to the rule like it really is and that's where i'm like providers anyone starting a small business need to come talk to you first because like again it's been nothing but green lights i can see that in y'all and like this business and i think it is because like for katie and i whenever we were first even talking about building a business when we were very small

 the primary thing that we cared about was culture in our business. Like it wasn't about sales. It wasn't about like, we knew we would figure it out, but no matter what, we were going to hire people for their personalities, their positivity for their work ethic. And then, you know, we would teach the skills and we have, um,

 had most of the people that we've had we've known in the past and then we've had a few people that we've had to let go because they didn't you know necessarily fit with the culture and it kind of stinks sometimes but Andrew Martin my financial advisor he is the one that taught me like you have to hire slow and fire fast and that's just because like you were saying before it can it can become kind of like a virus for the rest if they're not pulling their weight and doing the things that everyone else is doing and

 Yep. And so that's another thing that, you know, she and I were very firm on is that if it doesn't feel 100 percent, then we're going to make some changes. That's right. And that's been that's been really good for us. Yep. And move quickly. Don't sit on that. I mean, even personally, you know, like if something isn't feeling right and you've tried and tried and tried and it's not it, move on. Like, don't be frozen in fear of indecision, because there's a great analogy of like.

 The road is paved with many flat squirrels that were too afraid to like make a decision left and right. Hallelujah. You know? Yeah. And women are so intuitive. Oh, we are. You know, the minute you either meet somebody, dating, or like anything, you know. Your red flags are like going off. It just depends if you want to listen or not. Yeah. Everyone's got that voice in them. Yeah. If they're too cute, what do you do? Ooh, that's trouble. If they're too cute, like, ooh.

 They know it usually. And that's the red flag in itself. And there's some that are like, oh, he's really cute and doesn't know it. Like he doesn't do social media. He's too bit into his hobbies. Like go for that guy. Like go for that guy that has daddy energy. You know what I mean? I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

 it so what do you think like where do you see yourself in the next five years like what do you what are your goals like in your aspirations yeah well I never want to leave Pensacola so if anyone tries to drag me out of here I said you're gonna have to drag my cold dead body so if it's a job like if it's if we're talking about like um like workplace and like job work life yeah

 uh work i would love to be in some sort of like leadership position um maybe not so much managerial like over like a team like i don't know about that i feel like i i don't really have a desire to manage people oh that is so much harder than just managing a one-woman show which is me yeah like this is so much easier i don't want to you know what are those what do those roles look like like what is it what is a role that you consider yourself in

 Uh, so they have like field trainer roles that you could go around and not really mentorship, but it would just be, you just help. Yeah. Cause I love to help. And like, I love fixing things. I love looking at like things at MERS or like things at my past company. Cause I was always close with corporate, even though I've always been in a sales role, I always love being close with corporate and being like, yo, this is not working. How can we make this better? Like, this is what other companies do. Why are we not doing it this way? We still need to have that meeting. Yes.

 So like that is my favorite thing is like fixing problems. So in regards to like leadership, I just, I love that. And I also usually paint a picture like it is. I don't really sugarcoat anything. So I don't think I could,

 might be a flight risk, but you know, I could be in like some sort of corporate level or like, again, just like advisory level, something like that. Yeah. I think being direct is a great personality trait because being direct doesn't mean being mean. Exactly. I mean, and I think that men can be direct. I'm not trying to be like a feminist or anything, but I get it. Men being direct is normalizing women being direct makes us a bitch.

 A hundred percent. Because I'm direct. Yes. You know, I say it like it is, but I'm not, I'm, I would never say anything ever to like hurt someone's feelings or something that they couldn't change. Like I would never say something, you know, but I, I love that about other women. Yeah, me too. And I think women need to like embrace that because a man can deliver a message and a woman could deliver it the same exact way. And people are like, when she says it versus if he says it, they're like, oh, that's good. That's good. We're going to, we're going to make note.

 Like I literally saw it last week at sales conference. I was like, somebody would say something that a man would say it and you're like, oh yeah, that's great. I'm like, did I even realize what just happened that this course. Just put on a beard and keep it. Right. Wear a big oversized suit. It'll be great. So yeah, that I'd say is my goal professionally, like being some sort of leadership advisory role. Personally, I mean, I am definitely like,

 would love to get married and like have kids and do that whole dance. How many kids do you want to have? What's your dream? Oh my Lord. I've always, this is wild. My grandfather was a twin and my first cousin miscarried twins. And so she was like, Hey, my OB was like,

 hey, it's probably in your bloodline, FYI. You know, I don't really know how all that works, but they're like, if you have any other female cousins, you might just want to give them a heads up. Hey, but then you could be like a one and done. Exactly, which I would be thrilled with. Just have two, be done. I have a younger brother, two kids. That'd be perfect. That's man-to-man defense. I don't want zone defense. I just want... I'm going to pray that upon you.

 Yeah. Thank you. But yeah, that, that's just, you know, that's the next chapter, which right now I'm like loving this chapter and I've never felt rushed. I've never felt like, oh my God, time's a ticking. And you're still young. Right. I know. I mean, would you believe that I'm like only 21? Not a day over 42. Dr. Butler used to always tell patients that I was in my fifties. Like, doesn't she look great for her fifties? That's right. I jokingly say that when I go out to bars. Oh,

 He's so cute. Angel. I jokingly say that when I go out to the bars and I bump into flight students. I'm like, would you believe I'm like 39? And they're like, are you serious? They're like, I thought you were 26. I'm like, yes. And here's my card to get some demon. Literally, you should start now because this military path for you is only going to get harder. True, true. But yeah. I love it.

 Well, I see nothing but success in your future. I think that you are so well-spoken and you are so great with all the people that you call on and we appreciate you so much. Oh, I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Cause you are part of this journey. Thank you. And I think that we can all grow together.

 We certainly can. And be successful together. Agreed. Cheers to that. Cheers. Whee. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me. You're so welcome. You had such a good time. I loved it. I know everyone's going to love it and they're going to love Louie. The baby. We're going to have to make Louie our Mila dog. Seriously. Well, we hope you enjoy very much. If someone has questions for you, like say they want to get into the industry. Oh, yeah.

 AnnaLee.ZeeLee at MERS.com. It's Anna, A-N-N-A-L-E-E dot Z as in zebra, E-A-L-Y at MERS, M-E-R-Z dot com. Awesome. We will talk to you guys again soon. Have a good one. Bye. Bye. He's so cute.